#because she's trying to subconsciously play up her own role?

[dw-flagler]

funny how much victoria places squarely on the shoulders of tattletale. she COULD HAVE STOPPED THE ENDBRINGERS AT ANY TIME but she DIDN’T just so that leviathan could KILL MY FAMILY. honey you sound insane.

[buddieism]

tommy's character, bucktommy's inherent flaws, tommy & eddie as mirrors and buddie endgame; a (lengthy) meta analysis

honestly, what's really confirmed my feelings about tommy (and the imminent bucktommy bones -> buddie pipeline) is that there have now been multiple opportunities for the writers to actually make tommy a likeable/serious love interest for buck and they just…haven’t. because while fans are naturally going to overanalyse every little thing, the vast majority of the show's audience are regular viewers who consume the show at face value and don't think twice about it -- so if tommy was intended to be buck's endgame or anything remotely close to it, they'd absolutely want to make the most of his (very limited) screen time to present him in the best light they could. think about karen, the only non-main LI, and how she was introduced to us -- despite hen's cheating, we can see how dedicated karen and hen are to each other and how karen is a complex character in her own right who is immediately easy to root for and love.

comparatively, when we look at tommy's s7 appearances and specifically his interactions with buck, it becomes abundantly clear that there isn't really much depth to their relationship at all. which is fine! it's just... you know. fine. let's get into it.

following the cruise arc, we watch tommy through buck's eyes in 7x04 where he's basically wining and dining eddie -- flying him to vegas, getting them front row tickets to a fight, sparring with him in muay thai, playing pick up basketball with him -- tommy and eddie are so similar (which we'll come back to later), and we even get that line from eddie about how well they "click." as the audience, we are being subconsciously told to align tommy and eddie together -- and furthermore, we are told that tommy can easily make grand gestures when he wants to. now let's compare that to the bucktommy moments of the season.

bucktommy's first date: tommy makes a shady comment that would have outed buck if eddie or marisol caught onto it and then proceeds to abandon him on the sidewalk because he thinks buck isn't "ready" for a relationship with a man

i'll be objective here -- i understand in a show like 911 there's always going to be "unnecessary" relationship conflict for the sake of drama and i can also see how buck trying to play off their date as platonic to eddie might have put a bad taste in tommy's mouth. but we hear from tommy himself that he struggled with being open about his sexuality when he was at the 118 so he could have absolutely extended some sympathy towards buck for not wanting to come out on the spot to his best friend -- especially when tommy fully knows how important of a role eddie plays in buck's life. at the very least, he didn't have to leave buck alone on the curb. this isn't me trying to woobify buck because yeah, he's a grown man, he's fine -- but that doesn't mean it still isn't a bit of an asshole move.

the bachelor party: tommy doesn't dress up for the theme and dismisses buck when he's clearly disappointed about him doing so

tommy showing zero interest for the bachelor party buck planned is practically the writers waving a massive red flag in front of the camera -- him having to leave because he's on call is an understandable 'conflict' plot point but why not have him show up in an 80s themed outfit? it wouldn't have changed anything except that he and buck would have had a positive interaction; buck would have been happy that tommy cared enough to make that small gesture and it could have been a cute way to establish their relationship as one built on mutual effort. (btw, the bucktommy hospital kiss could be seen as a big gesture, sure -- but from a more practical viewpoint knowing how rushed this season had to be, it was also just an easy way for buck to "come out" to the rest of the 118 without having to spend too much episode airtime on it.)

the medal ceremony: tommy says 'enjoy it while it lasts' (which, LOL) and also is not shown reacting to buck receiving his medal. he also has a conversation with henren in a deleted scene.

again, i'm going to try to give tommy the benefit of the doubt -- i'm not saying he has to be sunshine and rainbows all the time and i have no issue with a character having a snarky/sarcastic side. but when his screentime is so minimal, every line of dialogue matters. and it's pretty damning that the writers aren't taking those few chances to give us something to appreciate about him. with buck, tommy makes a dismissive comment for literally zero reason, and with hen and karen, who are rightfully looking out for their friend, tommy refuses to take them seriously at all.

bucktommy's dinner in the finale: buck displays some vulnerability about losing bobby, and tommy... really doesn't seem to care.

honestly i refuse to rewatch this part of the ep because it really icks me out on another level but iirc: buck says he's glad bobby's okay because bobby is like the father he never had -> tommy says "your father's alive" -> something something joke about daddy issues. ignoring #that joke entirely, it's really insane to me that they have tommy even acknowledge the nuclear bomb that is buck's relationship with his parents. yes, we had a bit of a ham-fisted 'redemption arc' in s6 but that doesn't negate the buckley parents being absolutely heinous and the fact that buck verbalises how bobby played the role of the father figure because philip didn't -- all for tommy to basically deny that to his face -- is absurd. tommy has expressed on multiple occasions that he's jealous of the 118 family bond, so this line is just... very interesting to me.

now, let's recap all these events and bring eddie back into the mix!

post-bucktommy's first date, buck is more torn up about the fact that he lied to eddie than the actual date to the point that he has to vent to maddie about it. he then comes out to eddie, who is incredibly supportive (and oliver and ryan make some very curious acting choices indeed). eddie is reiterated as one of buck's most significant relationships.

pre-bachelor party, eddie is the one to suggest he and buck dress in matching (queer-coded) costumes. he then stays by buck's side at the party when everyone else leaves and although we'll never get to see it (tim minear i'm inside your walls👹), they sing an absurdly romantic karaoke song together. eddie is reiterated as one of buck's most significant relationships.

during the medal ceremony, when the camera pans to each member of the 118's love interest/family, it is eddie we are shown smiling at buck, not tommy. this is especially interesting considering we get buck reacting to tommy. i honestly can't get over how a reciprocated tommy reaction would have been an easy yet significant moment to cement bucktommy as a relationship, but they gave us eddie's instead (with chris in the background and marisol conveniently obscured, mind you). eddie is reiterated as one of buck's most significant relationships.

in the final episode, when eddie is experiencing his personal worst nightmare, buck is the one at eddie's side every step of the way. buck talks to christopher, buck reassures eddie (without judgement), and it's made clear that buck will be there for eddie, whatever he needs.

at every possible opportunity, we the audience are being implicitly told that eddie is buck's person. he is his place of support (buck having his more vulnerable coming out scene with eddie rather than his sister); he has buck's back (the bachelor party); he is his family (medal ceremony reaction), and ultimately, this goes both ways (finale).

some other things worth noting: when buck has his coming out scene with maddie, she tells him he's confused about his feelings in a way that seems to indicate she's talking about his feelings towards eddie ("if you there's something you need to tell eddie, you will"). in bobby's conversation with buck in the firehouse, he's verbally supportive of tommy and even asks if buck is going to see him, but buck goes to eddie's house instead. these were deliberate choices made by the writers; eddie has been consistently intertwined in bucktommy's relationship both overtly and subtextually throughout the entirety of s7. and let's not even get into the whole 'evan' thing, because that could be a whole other post in itself.

from the first moment we start to learn about tommy's character (beyond his... coloured past), we find out that he and eddie are practically mirrors. why not make tommy and buck share similar interests? why not give them something to bond over? why present tommy and eddie as almost identical in every way? because tommy is a placeholder for eddie. buck's initial bisexuality journey can't happen with eddie when eddie still hasn't come to terms with his own feelings. so, in the meantime, tommy is the "safe" choice in buck's mind because buck has nothing to lose with tommy whereas he's got everything to lose with eddie. buck can't confront what he truly wants yet because the risk factor is far greater and it's been repeatedly asserted that buck has an issue with people in his life leaving -- he would never do anything to jeopardise his relationship with eddie.

but ultimately (and in my opinion, fairly soon), we are going to get that moment where it "clicks" for buck and he realises that it is eddie he has feelings for. and when that happens, there's basically only one way it can go. we know buck can't keep secrets from eddie; we know eddie is going into s8 feeling "isolated"; we know tim loves making his characters suffer before they can be happy. in my mind, the narrative is going to go something like this: buck feelings realisation -> pining buck era -> eddie healing journey and a reevaluation of what buck means to him -> some insane life-threatening situation that really doubles down on how buck and eddie care more about each other than anyone else because it is 9-1-1 at the end of the day -> love confession induced by their dramatic near-death experience -> #BUDDIE_CANON !

when we factor in how there was a possibility of eddie having the sexuality arc this season instead, how tim has said buddie is one of his favourite dynamics of the show, and how supportive both oliver and ryan are of the ship, i really can't see how everything isn't building to buddie endgame. every other main pairing of the show has had seasons of development, of conflict, of bonding moments. buck and eddie have gone through that with each other time and time over (tsunami/lawsuit/shooting arc etc), which is why every other random love interest that's introduced for either of them falls flat in comparison. they quite literally are exactly what the other person needs; buck wants the stability of a home, a family, and unconditional love; eddie wants someone he can trust, a caretaker for his son but also a partner. buddie is the ship the audience wants to root for, because we know they work! now that we have canonically bisexual buck and eddie finally having to face his complicated feelings about losing shannon, buddie isn't just the logical conclusion -- it's the inevitable one.

[paddockbunny]

List a + #3 + landonorris

The Miracle

Summary : You had fancied Lando Norris for as long as you could remember, which was kind of awkward seeing as you were his sisters best friend and his family treated you like one of his own. But then at the Annual Norris Christmas Shindig you play the role of his fake girlfriend and things progress further than you ever could have thought. Rating : 18+ Pairing : Lando Norris x Reader Word Count : 3, 932 ONE SHOT Trigger Warnings : 18+, NSFW, adult language, sisters best friend trope, angsty, longing, oral male receiving. Images : curated from Pintrest

List : List A Prompt : "Do you know how many times I've imagined your lips around me?"

Until the Annual Norris Christmas Shindig came along. The week before Christmas Lando’s parents flung a big holiday party to celebrate the season and being Flo’s best friend, you were always invited.  The event was held at their sprawling home in Glastonbury and really was a “no expense spared” sort of atmosphere (something which you had come to expect of the Norris family.) As you got ready with Flo in her bedroom you couldn’t help but think of all of the other parties you had attended and of course how many times you and Lando had come close to crossing that invisible border. While dabbing the red lip stain you had chosen to wear with your finger you couldn’t help but smile at yourself in the mirror. There was a part of you that always felt you were invited because Lando’s parents were trying to secretly play matchmaker between the both of you. But again, wishful thinking. 

As you secured the lid back on the lip product you saw Flo’s reaction in the mirror. “Wow.” She kept blinking erratically. “You look insane.” A smile appeared on your face and your confidence shot up. You had never worn anything to this party that was so simple before. It wasn’t like you were a glittery type of girl but you would always try dress to theme. This time you just stuck to a plain simple burnt orange slip dress that really made your eyes pop and made you look like you were glowing. It was a non traditional colour for Christmas but somewhere subconsciously you landed on it because it reminded you of the exact McLaren shade - perhaps it would help you finally move past the barrier holding you and Lando apart. 

As you secured the lid back on the lip product you saw Flo’s reaction in the mirror. “Wow.” She kept blinking erratically. “You look insane.” A smile appeared on your face and your confidence shot up. You had never worn anything to this party that was so simple before. It wasn’t like you were a glittery type of girl but you would always try dress to theme. This time you just stuck to a plain simple burnt orange slip dress that really made your eyes pop and made you look like you were glowing. It was a non traditional colour for Christmas but somewhere subconsciously you landed on it because it reminded you of the exact McLaren shade - perhaps it would help you finally move past the barrier holding you and Lando apart. 

The party was in full swing by the time you arrived downstairs with Flo. A glass of expensive French champagne was thrust into your hand by the patriarch of the family, Adam, and almost immediately as you landed off the bottom step and you accepted the words of praise (“God, don’t you turn out well”) he lavished you with. Glancing around it dawned on you that you knew some familiar faces from all of the other parties you had attended at the Norris Estate and to those who weren’t so familiar you nodded politely. It didn’t take very long until Flo was telling you she was off to wish her cousins a “Merry Christmas”, absentmindedly leaving you alone. You nervously sipped your champagne and scanned the room. You weren’t purposefully trying to find him. It was as if your brain just consistently landed on him every-time you were alone without distractions. You thought of those grey green piercing eyes and his cheeky smile. To you, those were his most attractive features. Eyes and smile. Which made you stifle a laugh as you figured Lando would probably say your boobs and butt were yours if pressed on the question, typical boy. 

By the time you found him, an hour had passed and you had already drunk three glasses of champagne, which loaded your confidence. He was standing near the patio doors, attempting to look interested to someone who seemed super boring drone on and on about his own car collection. The boy needed rescuing. In your mind you hoped the bubbles and fizzy wine would do the trick and you’d be able to do the following smoothly. You picked up another two glasses from a circling waiter and took a deep breath, on the exhale you took off. With an extra sway in your hips and shoulders pinned back to display more of your cleavage you sauntered on over. 

“Sweetheart, there you are…” perhaps it was more cosplaying as Lando’s girlfriend rather than acting but act you did. And as this older man’s attention was firmly swallowed up by your tits and ass you lowered your head to give Lando a “don’t-blow-it-I’m-trying-to-save-you-look” which he gleefully gobbled up.  “Here I am, baby.” Lando’s flirtatious nature suddenly took hold of him. You could see it happen right in front of your eyes. He glanced down toward your silk covered chest himself. He was just trying to “sell it” and be convincing you told yourself. Unfortunately, the man didn’t get the hint by your entrance and remained standing opposite which lead you to saddle up along side Lando after pressing the glass into his hand. His body was warm. Dressed only in a pair of smart black pants and matching black dress shirt you wondered what you must have looked like together. Then as his free hand wrapped around your waist and rested on your hip you felt his eyes on you again. This would be easy with him. It didn’t need to be an act. As the thought of being his real girlfriend began to clutch hold of you you suppressed it as best you could. Which was hard considering he smelled so intoxicating and your body moulded against his perfectly.  “Sorry…” and then Lando made introductions. He avoided calling you his girlfriend (thankfully, you would have spontaneously combust if he had) but the intonation was there. Niceties were exchanged and then you made excuses as to why you were dragging him away. 

At some point Lando’s hand had found yours and you didn’t even notice until he pulled you through a set of doors out into the cold English air of the patio. He thanked you almost instantly.  “Every year he tells me the exact same thing about his classic car collection and every year I feign an interest.” You laughed as he pulled a bored face and rolled his eyes. “Really? I mean he’s eighty-seven, I don’t know how he’s even made it through the year let alone come here to drone on and on.” You laughed again. “That’s the first time I’ve managed to duck out on him though…because of you.” It wasn’t a laugh that left you this time but a coquettish smile.  You wanted to voice record him saying “because of you” so you could play it back over and over again. He drank the champagne in the glass and pulled yet another face. Lando didn’t like champagne. You knew that. He complained bitterly about having to get doused in it when he made a podium and it was worse when he was forced to take a swig of it. It was a running joke in his family that Lando liked fruity cocktails and non detectable spirits. Anything too strong or liquor tasting would have him gagging.  And you clocked the fact these were the type of pointless things you knew about him. You were almost so lost in the thought of his drinks choices you almost completely missed the look he gave you. He drunk you in from head to toe and back again. His eyes lingered a few moments on your boobs and you almost jokingly turned round so he could see your butt and bare naked back as well, but as the door to the patio opened behind you you decided against it. 

“There you are!” His mother exclaimed and started rattling off some family members and Adams colleagues names Lando had to go speak to. She made a sound noise of surprise when she happened to clock you - the person Lando was all alone outside talking too. 

“That’s some dress dear. You look magnificent.” She couldn’t stop smiling as she said it but Lando turned into his usual boyish self and made his way back inside behind his mum. He only done half a glance toward you as he did and you of course rolled your eyes again at the situation. You thought you had it in the bag. He was going to at least tell you you looked nice. But no, he just reverted into the Lando everyone else knew (because this wasn’t the Lando brimming with confidence that you had come to know.) 

As guests started filling out of the family home you went to try find your phone. You had forgotten where you had placed it during the course of the evening and it was much easier now the vast, mansion styled building was sans so many bodies. You checked the kitchen and the dining room because for some reason you spent most time in there. Then you swiftly checked the nice sitting room before checking the casual sitting room. No luck. It dawned on you that you might have left it in the Den when you went in there to gossip with Flo and Sav so headed straight there. Your heels click clacked on the marble floors so loudly you thought you might wake some of the family who had already snuck into their beds upstairs. And you feet ached in your fancy heels you had bought specifically to go with the dress - the ones you had to know pay off your credit card after the Christmas break was over. Reaching the Norris Den you swanned in and immediately went to where you had been sitting. The family relaxed most in here, watched movies and had together time. It was where you felt most comfortable whenever you visited and the room felt like laughter resided within the walls and posh wallpaper. You found your phone straight away and instantly unlocked it to check your messages, swiftly typing any replies you needed too. 

You weren’t startled until someone coughed behind you that made you jump out of your skin.  “It’s only me, sorry!” Lando. Of course, it was him. You laughed off your shock and rolled your eyes playfully.  “Why are you not away to bed?” You asked between glancing up at him and back down to the screen in your hands.  “Jet lagged.” He replied softly. In these moments you always forgot what he did for a job. You forgot the told it took on him physically and mentally just like you forgot what a rarity it was for him to be at home. And then, against your body screaming at you to go to your own bed (in Flo’s room), you simply asked; “Do you want some company?” To which he sheepishly nodded.

You talked about all different things from Christmas traditions to how he recently moved to Monaco. He asked about your horse and the fact you won a trophy recently (which the mere fact he knew that shocked you) and in return you asked about McLaren and the last few races of the season. The conversation flowed so easily between you just as it always did. And although the nerves never fully went away around him they were so much more manageable when you were alone with him. You just had to hope he never saw the glances down to his lips you kept making. 

“Your uh…your dress is the same colour as my car.” His focus suddenly switched and he finally decided to reference the fucking obvious.  “I chose it deliberately for you.” You were being sarcastic. Kind of. You were between the orange and the blue and figured Lando would have liked the orange more so picked it. In a way, you actually did choose it for him.  “You did?” He sounded gullible but it was cute “It fits you so well.” So he had been checking you out tonight. “I mean, you wear it well.” He was stumbling over his words and you weren’t about to dive in to save him yet. “Your curves. It fits your curves and your ugh…” he flustered himself right out of words so nervously laughed.  “Thank you. I know what you’re trying to say.” 

As it moved on again you became lost in the conversation about how hard it was to work and live so far from home. He was talking to you as if you were his friend not his sisters. Lando was so open and honest that it made you feel all the more attracted to him. You were listening to how he planned to change the furniture in his apartment come the New Year when your feet started cramping inside your high heels and you awkwardly tried to ignore it, and failed. “What’s wrong?” He asked immediately. “Are they hurting?” He saw your attention go toward your poor little feet and suddenly without even asking they were in his lap and he was removing the stupid high heels. “How do girls walk in these without falling over?”  “It’s a skill.” You let out a sigh of relief when Lando finally got you out of the torture devices and gently kneaded the soles with his thumbs. It was perhaps the most intimate of things you had ever done with him. The kisses aside - considering they weren’t very romantic. He was so tender and his hands were so nice and warm that you closed your eyes for a second and let a small sigh leave your lips. It was an act that went so far beyond that of friends but you were reticent to lean into the idea it could be anything more until his hand slipped further up on to your calf. 

You breathed out his name and that was all it took. The look he was giving you was a look you had seen from guys before leading up to the moment they kissed you. God, you wanted him to kiss you. You wanted to feel his lips, taste his tongue, you wanted him. But Lando being Lando glanced away and you knew he was trying to talk himself out of it. But you would be dammed if you were going to let this moment slip away from you again. “Nothing ventured” you told yourself. You sat up and grabbed him by the shirt. Lando didn’t put up any hesitation. He came willingly to you. His mouth acted like it had been expecting yours. And as soon as your lips glided across his he clicked into action. One hand went around your waist while the other went through your hair, as he pressed your lips together harder, hungrier. Lando was a far better kisser than you remembered. He was feverish but took his time. He caressed your tongue with his own and groaned lowly into your open mouth.  “Lando…” you gasped his name.

“You’re so fucking beautiful.” You believed him when he said it. Lando had a tendency of being brutally honest and therefore always said what he meant. It was one of the reasons you had had such a ridiculous crush on him for all these years. You always knew he was telling the truth. His comment filled you with this strange, warm, fuzzy feeling that you hadn’t been expecting. “I’ve been thinking about doing this all night.” He added as he used his strength to pull you into his lap. His hands gathering your McLaren coloured dress up around your hips. He kissed like a man possessed but then you were equally as desperate for him. You were getting exactly what you had wanted for the past ten years of your life. It was a Christmas fucking miracle.

Instinct gripped you when his hand went to your hip and settled you down into his lap. You could feel how tight his black dress trousers had gotten as you moved your hips back and forth across him. In truth, you were only trying to aid the pulsating ache that had begun to increase between your thighs. You hadn’t intended on feeling the impressive bulge growing in his pants. But you did and your stomach knotted with pure enthusiasm and passion at the thought of him being so aroused by you. He let a deep moan rumble up through his throat and you knew he was enjoying your movements. You sighed his name into his mouth and knew you had to show him how badly you wanted him. How you would do anything for him to stop seeing you as his younger sister’s best friend. Your hand found his neck. You almost decided against giving it a little squeeze in case he thought you were some kind of sexual deviant but he smiled against your lips.

“You’ll have to do it harder if you want me to feel it.” And so you did. You pressed harder and Lando responded by grinding up against your panty clad core. You always figured this would be what it was like with him. You had just spent a long time trying to get to this point. As he rolled against you for the fourth time your nerves had all but evaporated. Boldness replaced it – spurred on by the fact he was enjoying what you were doing to him – and so you broke your lips away from his. Showing no hesitation, you slipped down from his lap and got on your knees before him.

“Fuck…” Lando groaned at the sight of you before him. His hooded eyes gave everything away. He wanted this. He wanted you. You ran your hands up and down his thighs and slowly parted them so you had a place to slip between. Nothing else seemed to matter in the world. Time just slipped away. Lando watched your hands as they undone his belt and zipper. You smiled when you realised he was having trouble breathing but enjoyed the state you had managed to get him in. The tent that had formed in his trousers from your earlier actions was almost free. Lando helped you by lifting himself off the sofa while you tugged the designer trousers down his thighs. You wondered if he had dreamed about this and if he had pictured (or perhaps fantasied) about you in particular. You finally rid him of his black boxer confines. Your quick, steady movements proved to him you knew what you were doing and to just lie back and enjoy.

But Lando kept his eyes on you. Watching your hand as you slipped it up and down his impressive member. You always suspected Lando would be big but never so girthy. Your hand nearly didn’t fit around him. Glancing up you accepted his silent permission and your mouth watered. Never in a million years did you expect tonight to be the night you got to do this, blow him, fuck him, whatever was about to transpire. As your lips parted against his throbbing tip, Lando’s heavy sigh told you you were already doing a good job. And as you took more of him, his salty pre-cum already leaking on to your tongue, he groaned and admitted; “Do you know how many times I’ve imagined your lips around me?”

His comment spurred you on. It filled you with sheer confidence. It confirmed to you what you always knew. Lando wanted you just as much as you wanted him. You bobbed up and down on his cock, making sure you hollow out your cheeks as you glanced up at him. The pleasure you were giving him was written all over his face and you allowed it to go to your head. You had every right to feel smug. More so when his hand collected up your hair so he had an unobstructed view.

It didn’t take long for your work to be having the desired effect. You pulled him out of your mouth and paid some attention to the underside of his glistening, palpitating cock. Your hand moving up and down the long shaft whilst you did so. You were sure you were causing a mess. Your eyes had watered when he hit the back of your throat at your make-up no doubt ruined and yet Lando still continued to keep his eyes glued upon you as if you were the face of heaven. While you paused a moment to catch your breath – and perhaps register what you were actually doing – you ran your thumb over the beads of milky white cum that had slowly seeped out of the head of Lando’s member. It made you smirk knowing he came undone so easily for you and would be begging for his high in only a few moments. But as you let those feelings of pride settle in you also registered the feeling of hope blowing him was creating inside of you too. You hoped Lando wouldn’t regret this in the morning and you hoped he wouldn’t write it off as just “some fun” instead of what you wanted it to be – the beginning of him seeing you as something more and maybe even girlfriend material. But just like you had done earlier you reminded yourself “nothing ventured” and took him back into your mouth again with the sole intention of making him come this time.

Lando’s thighs tensed. His stomach muscles clenched and his cock twitched as he let out a deep, low moan as you took him over the edge. His hot, salty seed spurted into your mouth and you took every last drop he was giving you. The product of his orgasm – the orgasm you were responsible for – gathered and collected upon your tongue. Swear words flowed from him muddled in with gasps of your name and it was a sound you wanted to hear forever. You sucked a few more times to make sure you got it all before you felt his hand slacken and you pulled back. His eyes had momentarily closed but reopened when he felt you moving. You made quite the point in swallowing so he knew you had enjoyed what he had given you, which made him smile. You could see his brain working inside of his head. Desperately trying to think of words to tell you that he enjoyed what you had done but you already knew.

“Just…let me catch my breath.” He laughed and you really loved his laugh. You placed your hands on his thighs to help yourself back up and in fact raised straight to your feet instead. It was a move that perhaps was risky but you decided not to give him everything he wanted tonight. You wanted to hold something back so he was hungry for you and would be begging to fuck you from this day forth. He watched as you fixed your dress and picked up your heels and phone. All of your actions were quick and swift.

“Where you going? Don’t you want to fuck?” He was confused. His eyebrows knitted in the middle, as he looked up at you, cock still out and now lazily lying on his stomach. “That’s the thing about us good ones Lando, we always leave you wanting more.” You smiled at him and with every single shred of confidence inside of you strutted out of the room. You padded straight toward the staircase and paused briefly at the bottom. You hoped your plan of seducing him would work. You hoped your Christmas wish would finally, after all these years, come true now he had a taste of what was to come.             

[princess-nobody]

Neytiri's inability to accept Metkayina culture, and why I LOVE it

Sadly Neytiri didn't play a huge role in ATWOW, which though is upsetting as a fan of her makes sense since the movie isn't really about her and is more so about the new generation. However, one aspect of her characterization that is prevalent in both the deleted scenes and the leaked early script is the fact that out of all the Sullys, she is the one that struggles the most in assimilating to the Metkayina lifestyle.

I adore this detail because it is such a deep understanding of who Neytiri is as a person, as well as a representation of all she has been through in her life. Neytiri, at her core, is a woman that dislikes change and views it as a harbinger of the worst to come. She is a woman that cannot be seperated from her culture and lifestyle as an Omatikaya because of how much of her indentity has been molded by it, and the few times she has been seperated from it has been by force.

For example: her inability to learn how to ride ilu. Riding ilu is essential in Metkayina culture because it is the most baseline way to hunt, and as Tonowari states, being unable to ride one makes you useless because you can't hunt. In one of the deleted scenes, Neytiri is trying to learn to ride ilu with Ronal but can't seem to get it down, only to eventually give up out of frustration. Ronal even makes sure to reiterate to her that ilu is not ikran, and ilu cannot fly, because fundamentally Neytiri is approaching riding ilu the way you would ride ikran.

The obvious answer as to why she does this is muscle memory, to Neytiri this would be like someone who rides bicycles trying to learn how to ride a unicycle – it may be similar, but approaching it the same way will yield wrong results. However I feel it is also because her experiences with ikran and losing her own has made her subconsciously hostile towards learning a new way of riding, because in her mind it is her again being seperated from her ikran. Seze's death was obviously traumatic to her, in that moment she not only lost a dear ally, but was forcibly seperated from a part of her culture and lifestyle by invaders.

So naturally, now that she has a new ikran, even if she wants to learn how to ride a different mount, her body won't let her. Her subconscious won't allow her to be seperated from the one thing she has left from her people since their relocation. I believe Neytiri learns how to hunt with her ikran, developing a diving technique which means she no longer needs to learn how to ride ilu. This not only feels very in character for her, but I also think it's just a sweet way to allow her to keep this part of her while also allowing her to contribute to the Metkayina way of life.

Another example of this is the bombing of the Omatikaya hometree – again, Neytiri was forcibly removed from a part of her lifestyle and culture against her will by outsiders. So her hostility to leaving their new hometree, even if it is for their own safety, makes more than enough sense. To her, she is yet again being ripped away from a part of her, yet again being forced out her culture and made to abandon a significant part of being of the Omatikaya. I wouldn't be surprised if she still struggles with being a part of the Metkayina clan in the coming few movies, because out of her whole family she is the one with the least positive experiences in change.

Throughout both movies, and some non movie pieces of media, change has brought almost nothing good to Neytiri personally, and accepting change has lead to more losses than wins. Her children are just that, children, so even through homesickness, they view Awa'atlu as a new start, because they never had to go through the loss of the first hometree, nor any of the losses Neytiri faced in the first film. Jake's entire character has been defined by him learning new cultures and ways of life, so to him, leaving the Omatikaya and seeking refuge with the Metkayina isn't nearly the life shattering decision it is for Neytiri; he's done it before, he can easily do it again. Neytiri though? Of course it would all be too much for her, and I doubt she'll ever fully integrate into Metkayina life.

TLDR: Neytiri's inability to assimilate to Metkayina life is very in character and I really like it actually. I wish it was touched on more but sadly there is no nine hour avatar cut so that won't ever happen. 😔

[approximateknowledge]

beater syndrome or: "why people misunderstand vriska and kirito for the same reason"

so a little while ago i made a random shitpost that ended me up with this image

^cursed entity

and it's come back to haunt me with ungogly revelations which i will now share because i have to it feels important

context: originally i was just gonna make a post about kirito, explaining how people misunderstand the character and *why* (and why it's completely understandable); but then i realised there was a real pattern here and the subconscious connection that led to the above cursed image suddenly made sense in my mind

so here it is:

the reason kirito gets mischaracterised so often has entirely to do with the combination of:

a) most people only having watched the aincrad arc (<;keyword watched),

and

b) the fact the anime gives a twisted image of the characters due to the fact the internal dialogues from the light novel get cut out completely

the end result of this is that when most people talk about "kirito", they're actually talking about "the beater", and those are crucially *not the same*!

the "beater" is a *role*, and a very specific one at that; it's what happens when you try to "own up" to accusations and unreasonable expectations (internal or external) to such an extent you're always playing the same self-destructive part, and because it's fundamentally a defense mechanism you just get stuck in it until things change drastically enough it finally feels safe to stop playing that horrible role and try to remember who you really are, after everything's over

that's what's happening here; when people say a character is "a kirito" they're actually referring to the beater, and the reason those characters suck ass is because they unironically use what's actually a coping mechanism in a horrible situation for a character's actual personality; of course it sucks! because they're doing it wrong!

it's about trying to convince yourself being a loner destructive scapegoat is "cool" despite always having a nagging insecurity it might just not be, but given the circumstances you're in too deep and so the sunk cost fallacy compels you to keep going

it's not *actually* cool; if anything it's depressing

now i think it's becoming obvious how all of this applies to vriska as well, but there's one crucial difference: the death game never actually *ends* for vriska serket; even now in post-canon she's arguably the *only* character who seems to still be playing sgrub, or maybe she never even stopped flarping

except for one version of her. for (vriska) the game did finally end. and they're the same

the beater dies when the game ends, and we see it happen to both of them

(also they're both transfem i didn't know how to fit that in but they are and that's a fact)

[samcarpentersgirlfriend]

Can you write some fluffy amber headcannons

|| AMBER FREEMAN X READER HEADCANONS 𖤐₊˚.

warnings: brief mentions of possessiveness, reader wears makeup, kissing, drinking

⨯ . ⁺ ✦ ⊹ ꙳ ⁺ ‧ ⨯. ⁺ ✦ ⊹ . * ꙳ ✦ ⊹

- loves horror movies, obviously. her perfect idea of a date night is watching one of her favourites cuddled up with you on the couch

- gets super excited and will info dump facts or details regarding them whilst she lays with her head in your lap as you play with her hair - you can’t help but love how passionate she gets

- speaking of movies, her comfort movie is something completely cheesy, like high school musical or some bad mid 2000s rom com. she tries to play it off and calls it stupid, but you don’t miss the way her eyes brighten at every joke and the way she almost subconsciously mouths the words as they’re said on screen

- also likes to draw. sometimes you’ll glance over to her and she’ll be sketching a little book, her features etched with concentration as she tries to get the little details right

- she’s definitely drawn you a fair few times, although you had to peek when she wasn’t looking because she wouldn’t outright show you

- she’s one of those people that seems to be good at everything - it’s infuriating and incredibly attractive all at once

- amber feels as if she has to protect you, so if anybody tries to flirt with you and makes you uncomfortable, she’ll come up and be all over you and tell them - not so nicely - that you were very much taken, thanks

- on a related note, she’s definitely into pda, whether it’s handholding, kissing, or anything else. you’re her partner, and the more people then know that, the better

- definitely pushed you against a wall before and kissed you

- if the two of you are out and you’re drinking, amber makes sure to stay purposefully sober enough so that she can make sure that you’re okay and not too bad. if you do anything stupid whilst drunk she’ll tease the hell out of you, but nobody else is allowed to make you feel even remotely bad about your actions

- tells you that she loves you very often. it doesn’t matter if you’re walking down a crowded street or if it’s just the two of you together, she needs you to know how much you mean to her

- she loves doing your makeup, and you love feeling pampered and seeing her happy - it’s a total win - win situation <3

- strangely great at comforting you when you’re sad. she has your favourite food on standby, your favourite tv show cued up and is ready to listen as you vent. she knows when you need space though, and won’t overstay if she can tell that you need to be on your own

- is very good at reading people, especially you. she can look at you once and practically know what you’re thinking about - it’s honestly kind of scary and hot??

- amber likes to feel like she’s in charge. if cuddling, she likes to be the big spoon, but even apart from that, it’s the little things like you laying on her chest or even her initiating kisses with you. it’s not only with you though, you realise that even with her friends, she seems to gravitate to a leader role - it’s like she can’t help herself

- compliments you constantly. you’re trying on a new outfit? “look at you, you’re breathtaking, baby. I’m so lucky to have you.” you get a new job? “yes, I’m so proud of you! I knew you’d do it - you’re so fucking amazing.”

- never forgets anything. from your favourite artist or the name of the pet you had as a kid, amber remembers it all. she’s so captivated when you speak, so why wouldn’t she?

- drinks so much coffee. it started as a way to help keep her awake so she could cram, but now she practically starts shaking if she hadn’t had at least two cups by 10am. you feel as if you should stage an intervention.

- likes pet names - baby + princess (if you’re fem) are her faves. amber is one of those people that if they call you by your full first name, you know that you’re in trouble - with amber, it’s definitely either a pet name or a nickname

- a morning person?? idk I can see her as both but I think she would just prefer the morning - waking up earlier helps her feel more productive and she can get things done- by the time you wake up, she’s already making breakfast for the two of you and humming along to the radio

- if you come home hurt somehow, amber goes into full nurse mode. she’ll help patch you up and sit with you as she ask what happened and if she finds out somebody hurt you, you’re the one that has to calm her down

- the two of you just work and balance each other out

- after you’ve been together for a while, amber starts planning your future for the two of you. she wants to move in together when your ready, and is already planning on asking you how you feel about a pet dog

- because she loves animals - you can’t help but find it adorable how she melts around them.

- if you’re with her when she’s ghostface, she genuinely tries her hardest to keep you out of it. she still wants to stick to the plan, but there’s no reason to get you involved and for you to get hurt, and she’s determined to get away with it and live happily ever after with you - you’ll watch the new and improved stab movie together

[seventeenlovesthree]

Going thoroughly insane over how on completely different ends Sora's and Koushirou's roles and relationships with their mothers (and in extension their parents in general) are portrayed in Adventure. And once again, it was ALL based on miscommunication:

Sora is perceived as the tradition-defying "tomboy" who is "loud" and plays football; Koushirou is perceived as the "good boy" who is always "polite and correct" and never acts spoilt or out of line. The key word here is "perceived", because we see both of them display traits in front of their peers that go beyond the "role" their parents witness (and that both of them are willingly or subconsciously displaying in front of them); Sora is actually the caring mom/big sister friend who literally and figuratively takes everyone under their wing, Koushirou is opinionated, forward and outspoken when things are dire and at stake.

Sora's mother wants her to act more like "the daughter of an ie-moto", more feminine, less out of line - at least, that is the message that reaches Sora, since her mother asks her to quit her beloved football. Her polite and aloof attitude appears to be rather cold and dismissive to Sora, which is basically what makes her rebel against the whole flower arrangement business. She feels unloved and misunderstood, as if she cannot be appreciated if she isn't "perfect" in her mother's eyes. Thus she is unable to understand that her mother may just worry about her hurting her injured leg even more. Furthermore, Sora has a very poor grasp on the fact that she herself is acting towards her friends and partner in the exact same way, albeit in a more gentle way most of the time.

Koushirou's mother wants him to be more selfish, to tell her what he dislikes and what bothers him, to stop being perfect at all times - but that is exactly what he physically cannot do, as he himself is doubting his whereabouts, who he is and where he belongs to after learning that he's adopted and simply tries to just shove all doubts and worries aside. Instead of acting "normal", he is hiding behind that barrier and mask of perfection towards his parents - and has to realize that this attitude is worrying them even more.

In the end, it all gets (mostly) resolved through them realizing that they're still loved regardless of what happened; they don't necessarily HAVE TO change, but it is up to them whether they want to or not. Meaning, their respective arcs of self-discovery have not ended yet, but the foundation for better relationships has been established here. Sora will start playing tennis (a.k.a changing her hobby) in an attempt to move towards her mother more, choosing to do so for her own sake. Koushirou will try to act more open and casual towards his parents, even though he is actively being reassured that his hobby (being into computers) is exactly what he is all about and that he doesn't have to change that.

[pixelnrd]

obvously river ultimately made his own choices, but april put a lot of pressure on him to conform and join her dad's company and be someone he ultimately wasn't for her own gain (which wasn't necessarily NEGATIVE gain, their family needed to be provided for but still). Now it feels like instead of having learned her lesson from her own road with unhappiness from conforming she's just...doing the same thing to Dustin?? Instead of trying to figure out why he's so unhappy she's just trying to push him to do things because he's interrupting her time with the woman she left his dad for??? at least that's how it feels, idk i'm annoyed with her lol.

I can understnad this interpretation of April as being a bit... selfish? Hypocritical? She definitely is, and from the sentiments in comments about April on recent posts I get the feeling that others feel the same way about April (which is valid! not devaluing that at all).

BUT I want to counter this with a different interpretation (long post sorry!)

For all her faults, April isn't meant to be seen as unfeeling or callous. April is a product of her own upbringing and time period, and if anything she is a victim of changing societal norms in the 70s/80s with second wave feminism. Her parents gave her a great education and expected big things from her with college and a career - she became a doctor. But society also expected her to have the husband and the house and the babies. And she did all that, she played her life by the book as it was laid out to her - and ultimately found that cumulatively, over time in was a burden. It made her burnt out and unhappy. She was expected to uphold her own career, raise the kids, look after the house, have dinner on the table for them all. That's a huge burden to bear, and at a time when men weren't expected to pick up any of the slack to allow women to enter the workforce and become more than homemakers (and let's be real, plenty of men still don't do this in the 21st century). River in that sense did not make it any easier for April - he was playing his own role, one that didn't expect him to share that burden of homemaking and childreading beyond hanging out with the kids on the weekend and doing the odd handy job. He was blind to the burden that April was bearing.

April was also running in the rat race from college, to career, to wife, to mother. She didn't get time to stop and check in with herself on whether she was having a good time. In fact I don't think April could pinpoint when it started to go wrong either. It was the wearing down over time of a person who was expected to do it all and be everything for everyone.

I do feel like everyone comes out in defence for the heir (which, hey, is fair - its their story!). But I've tried to portray all my characters as having flaws and negative traits, making mistakes and not being perfect. River was far from perfect as a husband and Dad. He just slid right on into the breadwinner male role without question because in the era he lived in, that was what husbands did. He grew up in a non-traditional household and was always subconsciously rebelling against that. He grew up poor and got himself to college. He was given a career opportunity that would make him a lot of money and he genuinelly wanted that. He wanted to have material wealth to show for himself after having grown up with no electricity, eating home grown vegetables and wearing thrift clothes. Ultimately he didn't realise the cost of the lifestyle he sought, or why ultimately his parents rejected it - they were happier people, even though they had less.

It's not entirely April's fault that River went down a path that didn't make him happy. Being with April presented opportunities and a lifestyle that River bought into. But as time went on, and they had a house and kids, River became trapped in the cycle of upholding that lifestyle.

River and April were only 20 when they met. They got locked down too young thanks to societal expectations and familial pressures and ultimately they grew up during that marriage into different people. I think the beauty of their separation - even thought hurtful for all involved - was that they were finally able to explore who they really wanted to be.

That's not to say that they didn't learn their lessons. April tries to tolerate Dustin's apathy, but probably finds it hard considering the pressure her parents put on her, and the sacrifices she feels that she made to give him a great upbringing and feeling taken advantage of - after all, she was full time Mum and and a full time doctor.

When writing the character of April, I thought a lot about my own Mum and my Grandmothers and other Mums I have known in my lifetime. And I thought about how they all did double shift, coming home from their paid work to do the unpaid work of being a wife, Mum and homemaker. I wanted April to have her liberation from this system, so that was what I gave her.

I worry that April's character hasn't come across the way I intended, and that makes me feel like I haven't done her justice. If anything that's a lesson to myself in storytelling! But I hope this essay-like response can give others a different way of thinking about April 😊

[xanvasofxords]

Thoughts On SaiTeru & Why It Makes Sense To Me

Honestly speaking, I wasn’t too big on this ship but over the time, it has definitely grown a lot on me and I’d actually like if they took that route. Mainly because Saiki ending up with someone other than Kokomi wouldn’t make sense, after all the progression they went through, ending up with each other is natural. Besides, whatever Kokomi wills eventually happens so if I had to guess I’d go with the prior lol. That aside, imo they fit each other the best.

I haven’t done ship analysis posts before so the sequence is pretty messy but I’ll try to keep it as organised as possible so it’s easier to read. Let’s start anyways :

Starting off with the very thing that places Kokomi at the top of the food-chain : her charms. Due to Saiki’s x-ray vision, that ability is rendered completely useless against him. As a result, Saiki recognises her for her true self and knows her inside out. While he’s aware of her flaws, he also witnesses her growth as a person. She makes true friends and starts to enjoy their company and care about them. For Saiki, she stops dreaming about marrying a rich guy and rejects Saiko.

Kokomi even gives up on playing the perfect pretty girl which she has been doing for years, just for his sake.

Likewise, Saiki’s psychic powers have little to no effect on Kokomi because she’s loved by the God himself and she gets whatever she wants. Regardless of how hard Saiki tries to win against her, he always ends up losing instead, all the while her likability with him increases.

Her efforts in her role, her wits and abilities surprise him enough to make him wonder if she’s actually perfect. He even goes as far as to say that they’re invincible together. Saiki goes from being half-scared of her powers to fully acknowledging and admiring her by the end.

Before Kokomi, Saiki has dealt with people who had crush on him- Imu and Chiyo. He made them give up on him with ease which resulted into him believing that it’s easy to move people’s hearts. Kokomi however, breaks that misconception by moving his own and shows him that she loves him just as he is and that won’t change.

And it’s because he’s aware that her feelings are genuine, unlike the other two, he stops resisting her completely and starts avoiding possible misunderstandings. When Kokomi changes herself to suit his tastes, Saiki doesn’t actively try to make her give up on him instead tries to revert her back to her usual self. He isn’t bothered by her feelings for him anymore, rather prefers her the way she is.

There are only a few times in the show when Saiki gets nervous. Even Nendou and Kusuke who he can’t use his telepathy on, don’t have that effect on him. Yet being alone with Kokomi makes him nervous. Prior to the mixer event, Saiki has been alone with her on more than one occasion. After that day however, Saiki’s perception of Kokomi changes. He’s aware that she truely loves him and won’t give up on him no matter how indifferent he acts towards her. It’s fairly new to him, accepting the fact that someone loves him despite all the odds and she actually manages to make him happy because of it.

Just like how Kokomi gives up on the most important thing for Saiki, being perfect that is, he does the same for her. Saiki hates drawing attention to himself and he puts a lot of efforts in that. However, he gives up on that without a moment’s thought and catches Kokomi in his arms in front of the entire school and takes her to the infirmary. There couldn’t be any better way to draw attention.

My point remains the same even if I don’t include this because Kokomi’s beauty has always been irrelevant in their relationship and this is the first and only time we see Saiki being attracted to someone. Ironically, Saiki reacts to seeing Kokomi just as any other guy would and he’s too transparent about it. Not to Kokomi but to the readers.

From time to time, Kokomi’s likability with Saiki increases to such point where he subconsciously sees her differently than others. I’m sure there are people who would disagree because Saiki makes exceptions for all his friends and Kokomi shouldn’t be different. There are multiple counter to that arguement.

One of the two is when Saiki turns invisible and shares a drink with Kokomi. Honestly, whatever happened in that chapter doesn’t make sense in the least.

Saiki has gone out of his way to get Kokomi’s valentines chocolates. I can say that’s because he loves sweets. He buys her a birthday gift : the cat mug, I can reason that he even got Chiyo a soft toy back when she was dating Takeru to make their relationship last. Several times he has gone out of his way to check up on his friends such as when Aren received a fake love letter or when Kaido and Chiyo had a misunderstanding and stayed with them the entire time to make sure everything was alright.

However, this time the only thing he has to do is avoid her and go home. Kokomi isn’t in any trouble nor does she need his help for anything. So he succeeds the moment he manages to lose her by getting up in the air. All he needs to do his teleport home.

But he doesn’t. We don’t know why.

He just turns invisible which saves him from the men searching for him, again he can teleport home or even walk home. But he just decides to sit there with her and share her drink for some reason and leaves only when she thinks of doing the same. Which is outright ridiculous because he could just leave the moment Kokomi lost him but he does the opposite and does exactly what Kokomi wanted on his own free will except, differently.

Last but not the least, the most significant moment is when Saiki hears Kokomi’s voice in the end. Having read the manga, it’s clear that Kokomi’s part is supposed to stand out from others but the added scene in the anime makes it more obvious.

I think there’s more to this moment than most talk about. Other than the fact that Saiki reacts to Kokomi’s name, what makes him smile is that even when Kokomi knows that her life is in danger, she still thinks about him. He realises that the girl he finds so troublesome truely does love him. And he knows that in the end, what she wants, will happen. Through him this time. Personally I think this scene acts as the trigger to Saiki realising that he needs his powers and he doesn’t actually hate being a psychic.

All in all, Kokomi is the only one who balances out Saiki perfectly and Saiki is the one who made her develop as a person. They’re compatible with each other and even Saiki believes that. Both have lasting impact on each other even without being able to use their respective powers which solidifies the fact that the progression is genuine. Both have polar opposite nature, Kokomi loves receiving attention while Saiki hates that. However when push comes to shove, Kokomi’s willing to sacrifice her perfect pretty girl role while Saiki’s ready to draw attention to himself despite all the efforts they both put into their respective places.

Kokomi influences Saiki’s thought process despite him being able to read her like an open book. She makes him guess his choices and decisions. She brings surprises and challenges in his life. Saiki does the same since he isn’t affected by her charms, he makes her focus on other things beside looks. And he’s literally the only one who recognises her for herself and not her beauty unlike her own brother. I could go on forever about how they complement each other but that’s for another day.

I may not be the biggest SaiTeru shipper out there but I most definitely think Saiki should either remain single or end up with Kokomi. I prefer the later.

[indigos-stardust]

Mom's Scales/ She's Here, I think I know what it's about based on the name alone from what you've told me about your aus and hcs, TELL US MOOREE

Ok so I didn't have a lot of words to give so I made some art

For context: The death of Links mother (only a few months after he was born) is a pretty recurring undertone of my four swords series Color Spectrum. Its effected their dad and Link's relationships a lot...

From their father grieving when Link was little and Link trying to pick up the emotional strain as a kid... to feeling like it was his own fault or like he was a burden due to how "difficult" he was as a teen. A lot of this was subconscious in Link before the manga, but it definitely plays a large role in their dynamics between each link and also each of their relationships with their father.

I can go into more details about this if you like, but that's more of a "What if I exploded and Generational Trauma just Splattered Everywhere" (#14) starring Red lol

anyways, I had this idea that like, links mother (im calling her Mia for now) got some freshly dead privileges esp considering her relationship with fairies and yk, giving birth to the kid with the soul of the ancient hero or whatever.

Point is she wanted a way to be able to come back and protect or aid her little one in some way in the future. Hylia gave her an offer and she took it. And uh-

Also forgot to mention shes Soo autistic <3 which is fun because link (or the linkS) are very autistic and that like??disconnect is what caused SO many issues between them originally, I really feel like links shaky relationship with his dad is overlooked but eh just my opinion

Listen this originally just started out as "lol what if the dragon from the manga was sweet and kind to shadow" but I'd also just finished thinking about how links dads grief paralleled vios and uh-

Well I connected the dots (I forced them together very aggressively while sobbing) and now their mom came back as a half sentient dragon who saw bebe shadow and went "this is mine" and decided to lick his wounds (literally) and teach him how to fight when he was just like... yk being forced to become stronger thru survival

to be clear she didn't mean to like burn down crops and whatever, half sentience and all, but she just wanted to support her new lil monochrome bebe (shadow) and then SHE DISCOVERED MORE IN DIFFERENT COLORS AND WAS ABSOLUTELY THRILLED

(links father is terrified but also mystified by her) and she thinks that this little fella who has been taking care of her babies is very nice to keep alive as well

Also shadow originally named her "Blood Hunter" but in private? When its just her and him? He calls her Mai-Mai because well. Dragons do communicate and her little noises while she took care of lil shadow? Sounded very much like "mai a maiamaimai"

(also I just love the name I stole it from ALBW)

they do reunite after shadow is reborn btw

ANYWAYS HERES HER DESIGN

(thank you @here4dragons for helping me with the anatomy and abse THANK U THANK U THANK U)

lil doodle^

[yepthatsacowalright]

Doctor Who, The Process Of Healing From Trauma, and Me: A Text Post Essay No One Asked For

Back in 2006ish, when I first started watching Doctor Who as a teenager in late high school/early college, it captivated me mind, body, and soul. I ate that early 2000s, broody-complex-hero shit up.

I loved that the Doctor grappled with the guilt and regret from some truly fucked up shit he did, and I loved that he gave the middle finger to it by going on wild, ridiculous-special-effects-ed adventures instead of attempting the mortifying ordeal of opening up about it.

I'm sure, judging by how popular the 2005 version of the show became, a lot of my generation felt similar. 9/11 hadn’t been that long ago. We were coming of age and starting to sense that the world kind of sucked major ass, and perhaps the older generations had been super lying to us about most things this whole time.

As such, Rose Tyler was living the dream as far as I was concerned. Abandoning her place in this bullshit society to go help people and save lives with someone who never settled, who always ran towards the darkness, who found ways to laugh and dance in it even…Rose's lifestyle was goals.

Not only did the Ninth and Tenth Doctor's struggle to opening up about what they'd been through or forgive themselves for it not bother teen me at all, I preferred it. It was understandable and relatable. I wasn't ready to actually look at and deal with any of my own problems either, I just didn't want to pretend like I had none. Admitting there's a problem is the first step, and that's where Nine, Ten, Rose, and me all hung out and had fun.

Rose’s "death" was when I started to feel differently. It wasn't that I didn't still enjoy the show - I kept watching through Martha and Donna's seasons, and also a little bit into Eleven's run - but it wasn't the same. I could never quite get over the loss of Rose, or how the Doctor chose to get over it by doing what he always did - ignore and repress.

It had been much easier to watch the Doctor do this with trauma when I didn't know much about what he'd been through, but every time he avoided the topic of Rose, or minimized who she was, it pissed me off. It felt bad to watch him do that to the memory of someone who mattered.

I was starting to realize that just admitting you had problems wasn't sustainable. I couldn't stay on that first step indefinitely, and Doctor Who didn't feel like it was my show anymore, which was fine. After all, it's a family-friendly series. An episode on intergalactic talk therapy is not going to be a hit with the kids.

I was off to have the one adventure the Doctor never could - to understand and manage my own mental health. Learning about psychology, learning about trauma, going to therapy. I processed, I surprised myself, I found new stories to obsess over that resonated with a different, older version of me.

Whenever I popped back into Doctor Who, it felt more nostalgic than anything else. It reminded me of how I used to feel, and how far I'd come. I had that bittersweet feeling of wishing I could connect with it the way I used to, but being grateful that the reason I couldn't was a positive, therapeutic one.

And then…the 60th Anniversary Specials.

David Tennant didn’t even do anything that different in his performance, and he admits as much in interviews. Trying to replicate what he did as the Tenth wouldn't make sense because he isn't the Tenth, and trying to do something completely new wouldn't make sense because then why bring back David at all?

He just played the role as an actor who's lived 10 more years since the last time he played the role, and brother that shit hit me hard.

All the natural, subtle, perhaps subconscious changes in him made me feel the weight of slightly too many years passing. Despite knowing I am relatively young, l’m at a point in my life where I, for the first time, feel old.

Gray hairs and smile lines that were only on the faces of grownups are now on the faces of me and my friends. I know I don't know it all, and also realize I know even less than I thought I did. Love feels deeper, loss feels heavier. I'm compelled to express feelings of gratitude and affection I used to always keep to myself. Oh, is that who I am now?

I love that the Doctor's body didn't just go back to Ten's face, but to an aged version of Ten's face. A version that would align with the aged version of Donna's. I know this was not a creative choice, it was literally just what David and Catherine look like now, but how perfect for time itself to play a role in the story, too.

I love that the Doctor, at last, had to catch up with what his body was telling him. To notice his feelings and learn what those feelings meant. Like the title of one of my favorite (and extremely relevant to this this post) books says, the body keeps the score.

And I loved the bi-generation.

I loved that Fourteen made the choice to stop and ask his friends to help him do it.

I know that RTD proposed a theory that in that moment all the previous regenerations became bi-generations as well, but I like the idea that all the others could have bi-generated, but didn't. They weren't ready to look at themselves, or ask for that help from anyone. Not until now.

And I love love LOVE Ncuti Gatwa as Fifteen. I love that the healed next Doctor is a millennial. That he is a Doctor who can freely say he loved his friends, he loved Rose, can tell his former self, "I love you."

The show's become such a beautiful portrayal of generational trauma and healing that did not know that's what it was until its end.

And now, it begins again.

[classpect-navelgazing]

do you have an analysis where you talk about why you disagree with what canon has to say about classpects anywhere? i looked but tumble isn’t exactly the greatest at searching for stuff. i’m just curious to know what the issues are with what was said in canon

Sure. Though I don't know if I'd say I "disagree with canon" so much as I think the more someone tries to give us a straight up, clean answer on it, they're probably an unreliable source. My source is canon, but more holistically.

For me I think this started two places. First: I just..... don't really buy the idea of Pages being the Slow Burn class. I never bought it, honestly? As soon as I figured out how Jake English manages people and their expectations of him to get what he wants, it threw into question the whole concept of the class. Because Jake is the second most emotionally intelligent character in HS after Karkat, but he uses it for himself rather selfishly instead of for a greater cause. When Jake subtly or subconsciously tries to bend the story to his will, he's remarkably effective.

So, of course, I looked at Tavros. What does Tavros Nitram want? Well, he wants to have fun, to progress at his own pace, and to kind of do his own thing. I found it very interesting how the people around him sort of bent to what he wanted. No one stopped Tavros from dreaming on Prospit. He didn't do anything to get those mechanical legs, which he textually wanted, other folks took care of that for him. No one really stopped Tavros from playing the game (both FLARP and SGRUB) the way he wanted to. Aradia enables his allegedly bad class choice, Karkat orders Vriska to save his life, and when Vriska wants to force Tavros to play her way, Kanaya interferes. It's all very cohesive to me in a way that I genuinely do not know if the creator intended, but the pattern is absolutely there.

So, whoop, Pages Are A Slow Burn gets tossed into the garbage where it belongs.

The other one that really made me go "huh" is Calliope's Active/Passive thing. From the moment I read it the first time, I was like "i'm........ not sure that's a thing" and on every subsequent reread and relisten, I became even more certain she's just theorycrafting and its not borne out in the actual text. Which, frankly, fits into Calliope's whole thing of being a proxy for fans, particularly their speculation. She outright says to Dirk she gets carried away with her theorizing.

Like... for me its the Prince thing. I flat out don't think Princes are "The Most Active Class," at all, full stop. The idea is kind of silly to me. Eridan wasn't fucking Super Active, he just became extremely potent when he finally went off. And Dirk, similarly, is the king of Hurry Up And Wait. When shit pops off, he acts with incredible effectiveness, but the rest of the time he's zoning the fuck out, white lying about how cool he is, and fishing.

Same with Seers on the opposite end. Am I meant to take seriously the idea that Rose Lalonde and Terezi fucking Pyrope are the most passive class, nah. No sell. I literally and actually think I could make a better argument that Witches are more passive than Seers.

And then I just... don't agree with Calliope's verbiage of the classes. Dirk was not a destroyer of heart/soul, his most dramatic and effective moments in the story are harnessing his aspect, and in the conversation where Calliope tells Roxy her verbiage, even she says its a little esoteric and hard to grasp.

Calliope's trying to apply very firm wording and delineation to something that Terezi much earlier calls a "hyperflexible mythology." That reading of classpect frankly bears out a lot more, imo.

Which just led me to the conclusion that: all the stuff Calliope says, its her opinion. What I am interested in is action. What do these people do, what do they think of their aspect, how does it manifest.

My conclusion was basically: fuck passive/active, this is all about your role in the narrative. Which, in my opinion, fits very well into the two ways HS is structured: as a video game (the vernacular, the commands, the literalization of abstractions like inventory and leveling up), and as a stage play (the acts, the curtains, the intermissions).

[fiskesprett]

yea i'm so back this time with maruyama reina, a tryhard no-good daughter of disgraced ex-terrascape software engineer, dr maruyama akemi! if you've ever known of a prissy nerd with like 2 friends and a lot of shit to talk then you definitely know her! as usual, i've got a lot more info under the cut but in the meantime, please hit that LIKE button to plot with reina! thank u luv u mwah! 💖

capricorn sun / aquarius moon / taurus rising

reina's basically only had one parent her whole life: her mother. dad was never really in her life. they had a falling out when reina was really young and have been separated since, and their divorce was finalised when reina was ~7yo. mom got full custody!

because reina's only parent was only really her mom, reina really looked up to and idolised her! akemi was a phd graduate in computer science and a weapon in her field. she was fast tracked into everything and landed her role in terrascape at a relatively early age. her dad cited her mom's workaholic tendencies as a reason for their divorce which... he's not wrong except he tried to use that to justify his cheating so

point being, reina idolised her mom but her mom was never really around either : / reina was mostly left to her own devices as a kid. like of course she had a nanny to take care of her, but a young reina definitely felt a certain type of way about the whole situation that she wasn't really able to process at that age

anyway! this meant that growing up reina was just really conflicted about a lot! on one hand she idolised her mom and tried her best to be exactly like her, which meant giving up going out with friends to study, always trying to get the best grades, and generally being a high achiever! long term goal was that she wanted to follow in her mom's exact footsteps and eventually get an internship at the company her mom's working in ( the one and only terrascape ) as a software engineer, just like mom!

the other hand comes into play when she's ~19. basically, she's been noticing her mom spending a lot more time at home in her study, and one day she found out that her mom was laid off. to her it was like her whole world was crumbling down because she couldn't believe that her mom, of all people, would be let go

that is, of course, until she finds out that her mom was one of the handful of terrascape scientists that basically spoke out against the zero glitch policy and tried to get people to speak out against terrascape so they would actually do something

...yeah, so basically what reina ( and a lot of other people i'm sure ) gathered from this is that her mom is a gifted scientist who went a little mad : > of course, reina gets really weirded out by her mom and starts to think all this time her mom neglected her wasn't because she was out there trying to make the world a better place, but because she's bought into some wild delusion and is genuinely embarrassing

there's talks of how her mom and a group of scientists went a little crazy and reina's brought into it so her resentment for her mom which was once kind of in her subconscious starts to really surface

but never mind all that! reina's in too deep now and sunk cost fallacy is a real thing, so she's told herself that she's just going to pretend her crazy mom doesn't exist and keep working hard to get that internship and be the akemi that they wish they had!

...except reina shares her last name with her mother ( who shares her last name with reina's worthless father ) so even though she surpasses all their requirements for a fast track internship as terrascape's software engineer, they refuse to let her in

so yeah... she has nowhere else to go so she applied for any company and finally got in at re:skin! reina absolutely hates her life there because she frankly doesn't care much for aesthetics, but it's the only place that'll have her so who's a beggar to choose?

personality-wise: reina is honestly very earth sign heavy ( i swear she has a virgo placement somewhere too so really the rock trifecta ), so you can expect her to be very practical, leave your emotions at the door kind of person. reina can also be quite judgemental and resistant to making new friends, but when she does make a friend, she truly does not let that person go! that said, her care and concern for the people she actually vibes with can be hard to spot sometimes!

ugh yea so i haven't learnt to be concise but anyway! here's some plot ideas! i really hope they're helpful but i'm also incoherent most of the time so🧍‍♀️

because i'm uncreative i'm back once again with childhood plots 🤲 someone her nanny's let her have playdates with, or maybe her nanny happens to be your muse's older sister / cousin so the both of you end up being really close and you're possibly one of her besties?

not sure if anyone's watched sweet and sour but i would love! a plot concerning two interns at re:skin who are kind of battling it out trying to impress the superiors and are later forced to work together! i think it'd be cool to explore workplace drama and having them step on each others' toes!

on that note, anyone working at re:skin, please adopt her! this is also kind of... bad to say but reina being reina thinks that re:skin is just a place for bimbos so i'd love to see you prove her wrong ( or right )! maybe she ends up accepting her role here and actually learns to enjoy it?

i genuinely have no idea how reina acts in front of celebrities, but it would be cool for her to maybe interact with her favourite singer! if i had to think of songs she'd like, i'd imagine it'd be more alt stuff, but i'm def down to discuss! not sure how they'd meet either but i'm just putting the feelers out!

on that note imagine if reina kind of wrote your muse off when you guys were younger because reina was always that smart high-achiever and now your muse is rich and famous and she's in a job that she fucking hates? like it would genuinely be sweet revenge though i don't know how relevant reina would be to your muse at that point 🤷‍♀️

reina just graduated from her computer science undergrad! she skipped a grade in high school so she started her degree @ yonsei university between 18-20! it'd be cool to have some uni friends in her life! imagine your muse got into terrascape and she didn't get in when everyone thought she'd be the first pick given her grades and extracurriculars too! might be fun to explore!

reina currently lives in the megabuildings so i'd love for some neighbours! could be friendly or otherwise, i'm down for anything!

[moodyseal]

Any thoughts on the Buffy season two premiere where we see her dealing with her trauma etc?

I'M SO SO SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG TO ANSWER I put it off for a while because I wanted to give a good answer and then forgot 😭 anyway now I'm finally going through my askbox and I do have thoughts about that episode! Many of them, actually, especially now that I have finished the main series and can look at Buffy from a whole different perspective.

Throughout the seasons, Buffy is pretty consistent in the way she deals with stress and physical/emotional pain: since she's pretty independent as a person, she tends to push away the people around her, preferring to deal with her problems on her own (see: her running off to New York after the whole thing with Angel).

This sort of behaviour is not as evident in "When She Was Bad" as it becomes later on (especially in the form of her very complicated relationships) but it's still there, and it's strictly tied with the fact that, for the first time, between her "death" and the amount of danger her friends went through, Buffy finally understood the meaning of her role as a Slayer, and the very lethal risks it came with. Before, she seemed to think that she was invincible, and that her friends were as well; but after experiencing what death feels like, after the pain and the horror, it seems that the prospect of not being able to grow old, and others risking the same because of her, hit her for the first time. Right at that moment she, a 16-year-old, actually started feeling responsible for everyone's safety, and it was too much for her to bear:

"I can't do it anymore. I can't look after the three of you guys while I'm fighting."

And what I think it's fascinating about this is how deep a show from 1997 went into her response to this knowledge, how it even went as far as to show us all the subtle little ways in which this independency of hers and tendency to alienate herself were starting to develop, all the negative effects it had on her and her relationships, and also why, exactly, her reaction was so severe; because you see, it's true that Buffy went through an incredibly stressful experience, and all in all she would've probably behaved nearly the same way in any other situation, but it's also true that she was a bit more reactive here than she would've been normally, and that's because she never managed to get closure by killing the Master herself.

She never actually staked him, nor did she exactly kill him herself in any way, since he fell through the roof of the library and basically got impaled on his own; she never defeated him. It wouldn't be unreasonable to think that this made her very, very insecure about her own strength.

She wasn't even part of the burying, since she took off nearly right away, so she never actually witnessed him getting buried. For all she knew, he might've not been killed properly so, at least subconsciously, she must've felt as if she were still in danger.

Danger makes people act differently: some freeze in fear, some take off, trying to save themselves by getting somewhere safe. Buffy fights; and a fight response makes aggressive, reactive people.

So that's why I think she was so insistent on fighting on her own, why she lashed out so much and why she was much more brutal than she usually is. Before they found out about the ritual, with the lack of a Master for her to fight, she needed to wipe out as many vampires as possible to make up for the mistake of getting defeated by him; afterwards, her frustration stemmed mostly from the urgency to find him and kill him (on her own!) other than from the burden of having to protect everyone (that I've already mentioned) and from the intense, overwhelming feeling of being alone with this burden.

Because that's another thing that played into how she behaved (despite no one acknowledging it because, I mean, when is anyone ever held accountable when it comes to Buffy's feelings?): no one cared. Everyone else acted as if nothing happened at first, as if they didn't seriously risk their lives, and she couldn't understand why. Why was Cordelia so superficial when there were worse things to be worried about? Why was everyone acting so cheery? Why did she have to shoulder her pain alone?

One of the songs used in this episode actually explains this feeling SO well, and it's probably intentional that it played right at the moment when Joyce tried to ask her what was wrong:

It doesn't matter what I want/It doesn't matter what I need/It doesn't matter if I cry/Don't matter if I bleed

This is what's wrong. Her being powerless in the face of something bigger than her, risking her life either way, and others acting as if it were just a regular Tuesday.

In later seasons, she matures from this way of thinking; in fact, in 03x18 she comes to the conclusion that, more often than not, it's not that people don't care about her feelings, but they're just busy juggling their own emotional baggage (sometimes an invisible one) and they don't have time to deal with hers too.

"You have all this pain, all these feelings, and nobody's really paying attention. Every single person down there is ignoring your pain because they're too busy with their own."

However, at the start of the second season she was still 16, and she didn't have those two years of experience behind her back, so she couldn't have possibly known that, and therefore she had to deal with it in the only way she knew how to, in order to protect her feelings: by pushing everyone away.

The vampires trying to bring back the Master might've seemed like just the usual monster-of-the-week sort of plot—a way like any other to start the season and tie it back to the finale, remind the viewers of how the last season ended—but it's actually so much more important than that, because it's actually a way to give Buffy a way to process all those feelings.

By destroying the Master herself through a manual, powerful tool like the sledgehammer she used, and by destroying whatever remained of his bones until they turned into dust, she made sure that SHE had been the one to kill him, SHE had been the one to protect everyone, SHE had been the one to take revenge for all the grief she'd felt in those few months. This might even explain why she was seemingly fine in the next episode: after such a cathartic experience, she was finally at peace.

I definitely didn't expect a show from more than twenty years ago to deliver such a delicate situation so nicely, but they did a great job. The show has some issues for sure, but in my opinion it was absolutely brilliant for its time.

[kozykricket]

knight ramblings

alright so, im watching this video on how theres not only one knight, and going in im like. YEAYEA everyone is "the knight" for their own reason... and im only 3 minutes in and. well, the stuff talked about gets me thinking, and i pause at 3:27-ish and... i comment this: oh my god its gonna be the WILL of the knight is probably the only thing they know. she was GUESSING based off the knights ACTIONS of creating a dark fountain (and thus their will, their desire to delve into fiction) ...that they want more. that they desperately need even more escapism taken literally, this is a computer seeing someone reach out to them as a form of escapism and being like "this person WANTS to spend ALL of their lifetime enveloped in fiction." aka they must clearly want the world enveloped in darkness... heck maybe the will of the knight ends up... having the knights desires be given to the darkners, and their desire is . that theyre sick of the light world and the way it treats them. that they subconsciously DO want the roaring, even if they dont know its the roaring. they want more fantasy

and also... re-reading queens monologue during her fight... (also thanks to the video) soon the world will be covered in darkness... and then no one will have to suffer THATS OKAY YES I KNOW ITS VERY OBVIOUS WE ALREADY KNEW DELTARUNE WAS PLAYING WITH ESCAPISM AND FICTION BUT LIKE GOD "NO ONE WILL HAVE TO SUFFER" is SO on the nose how didnt i think of that its. when you just step back and look at the narrative as "this is toby tryna tell a story about how fiction can be great, but it can be dangerous to just get absorbed solely in the world of fiction." "also hey what if the fiction you get absorbed in... was sentient and actually believes you want or need more, to stop your suffering..." like honestly. thats a more innocent take on the messed up way tech companies design social media. like. oh, you need MORE distractions to be fed your way... so that you need not suffer. we will bring you all the comfort of never having to face the real world.

these are all just.. toys, games, and other things, that see our desire to escape from the real world using them... and who will gladly accept that role. but end up tryna take it too far when they try to fulfill our subconscious desires to stay enveloped in fiction. one can argue that since King doesn't believe in serving lightners, this falls apart... but still, maybe he... sees the knight as a Special lightner, and . thinks that the other lightners are those who dont want to "play" who just want to cast them all away. and THATS why hes against serving them. because he thinks if hes just a temporary escape for them (one to be thrown away when we're done with him, like a card game) ...then well, ofc he doesnt trust lightners. but someone who wants to just... not live in reality, and live in a world like the card kingdom forever? that'd be someone he'd appreciate, and gladly try to help. even if they didnt TELL him that they *wanted* that... maybe its just a thought they, again, subconsciously have and queen takes it in a more innocent way where shes just like oh dam yea lightners r all kinda sad arent they. hm. and hm im gonna continue watching the video, even though they're kinda getting onto a different point about the knight(s) involving how... the king and queen knew each other. hmmm. dont entirely agree? but i still think there are multiple knights, for plenty of reasons. i just think the "agenda to cover the world in darkness" and the name "roaring knight" just come from the will of a lightner who crave escapism. though ...admittedly THAT truly falls apart when you consider queen didnt know what the roaring was. yet still calls them the roaring knight. why would she call them that, unless they specifically called themselves the roaring knight? edit: upon further watching the video, i dont really agree with who they think the knights are exactly... the reasoning feels fairly off however yes alvin will definitely be making a fountain lol i do think its very plausible noelle was the knight in ch2!! if we ignore the uh, knight calling themselves the roaring knight.. but like, i think its REALLY funny to envision. noelle. doesnt know what a dark world even is. but shes just really determined to ... take a break from the stresses of home life. wants to stay at the library. and in some frustration at a question on her homework, she stabs her pencil onto the table. and opens up a fountain. and then berdly and noelle just both kinda forget wtf happened

[servamp-musings]

Thoughts on Chapter 125

I swear these chapters will be the end of me-

Before I forget, Jeje’s face! After so long, we finally get to see it aaaaa :D

From the start, that played out a lot differently than what was expected. So Jeje was the one who killed Kiriko, to stop her from killing herself and so she could ascend to heaven.

I do find it interesting how Mikuni didn’t really react much despite literally watching his mother get killed, and that his first suggestion was to use Jeje’s power to convince Misono that he was the one who did it. Honestly, there could have been another excuse he could come up with and I don’t really see how that was better than telling Misono the truth as both were kinda hard to hear. Perhaps Mikuni’s always been more unhinged than we thought.

Ooh so the spring/key is their contract item. In some sense, the fact it was from a music box is really fitting for them, considering how they have a theme of puppets, dolls and in a way, clockwork. I guess that since Jeje saw Kiriko pick the box, it’s still a little reminiscent of her as well.

All three of them were in the Alicein’s basement the whole time?? Jeje we knew about, albeit differently, but Kuro and Tsubaki too? Finding out that Jeje was voluntarily sealed was interesting too, unless that fits into his desire to die as stated before due to everything that happened with his previous Eves and it was the closest to what he wanted.

Personally, I don’t know how to feel about the double barrier thing. On one hand, having that with both the Alicein and Tsukimitsu families makes sense as it’s extra security and when the heads of the families change, the barrier is broken down and reconstructed so it prevents the whole thing breaking apart if something happens to one of them. On the other hand, the changing barriers thing just doesn’t feel like a good idea to me. Then we found out Kiriko broke the barrier when the Tsukimitsu’s side was down, and accidentally freed Tsubaki when she let Jeje out.

Linked with the previous point, I’m now thinking that it probably really was Lily that put Kuro in Mahiru’s path.

To be fair, you can kinda feel sorry for Kiriko and understand her actions. Her husband cheated on her, and in wanting to make a contract with Envy, she unintentionally let Tsubaki out and then since she killed Misono’s mother, she was trying to atone but is still hearing about the things Tsubaki did. As this was only possible because of her, it really weighed heavily on her. At first, I questioned Jeje’s choice to kill Kiriko as if he really wanted to prevent it, there was other methods but then again, it could also be that it was his way of showing her mercy, knowing that she was going through that.

Jeje in a jar asdfghjkdjs-

I’m sorry, but there’s something weirdly ironic about Shirayuki giving Iori the role of head of family when he was eighteen to prevent him from doing something reckless, and then we know he’s gone and done something reckless anyway.

Mikuni having done his own research was something I had always expected from him. What I didn’t expect was him going to a fast food restaurant so soon after but him not liking it was predictable.

Jeje taking the bag, plopping it over his head and Mikuni’s reaction 😂 Mikuni laughing was cute, I think that’s the first time we’ve seen him genuinely smiling like that? It was adorable how Jeje stacked more bags on to make him laugh more too. And thus, the origins of the paper bags xD

Tsurugi and Touma! :D So this is when Touma took Mikuni into C3 :o I genuinely thought that he would be a bit more wary as seen in Touma’s subconscious before, but Mikuni agreed quite quickly, supposedly because it might have been in his best interest.

I guess everything further established that Jeje still binds himself to Kiriko by choice, through both her son and the music box key.

I do hope that we can see what happens next and that Misono manages to interact with Mikuni since he now knows most of the truth. As always, looking forward to the next chapters :)