#but at least I'm aware of it so you know. less of a clown than someone who lives in denial

[batmanfruitloops]

Alright long but silly post, going into the reason why the furry versions are the animals they are. A few choices are influenced by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles v.s. Batman, some choices are already associated with the character (Catwoman, Penguin, etc.). Most choices are an uneven mix of visual, symbolic, and behavioral. So some have more thought put into them than others but it's all for fun.

Batman (Bruce Wayne) -Vampire bat

A pretty obvious choice. I think specifically a vampire bat is fitting, they are very stealthy and aware. They come built with the perfect tools for lapping blood and cause little harm (excluding diseases). Just as Batman always comes with what he needs and only causes as much damage as necessary. Bats are also social creatures and thrive in groups, so there is a bit of irony there. Bruce can put on a good face for the public and business but isolates himself and therefore goes against his nature. He craves family but keeps his loved ones at arm's length in fear of losing them.

Joker (John Doe) - Red-banded spitting cobra

This is a choice influenced by the TMNT v.s. Batman. Also haha Lego Batman clown snakes. I chose this because I'm tired of both snakes and clowns being seen as evil. John is already the way he is because both Sarsee and I agree clowns should be silly and whimsical instead of how more modern media portrays them as creepy and scary, which also includes the Joker. Snakes are my favorite animals. So keeping Joker as a cobra represents what we have set out to do with the au in the first place.

In terms of behavior, John acts mostly the opposite of what you would expect. Snakes are mostly solitary and overall not very social. John is a very outgoing person and extraverted, but he's social skills are stunned from both being autistic and his childhood. So not quite fitting in but he enjoys standing out. Though cobras are a more intelligent species of snake. John is very clever but most wouldn't guess that. As the Joker, John relies on the element of surprise and subverting your expectations. As a bonus spitting venom is similar to a clown's flower spraying water.

Two-Face (Harvey Dent) - Puma

A partial TMNT chose. Instead of just a cat, I went with a puma. Pumas are not classified as big cats but are the largest cat in North America. Despite not being a big cat their presence demands respect. Even when you do not see them if you are in their territory you would be wise to be careful. Pumas know how to pick their fights, taking on challenges with strategy and retreating when they know they are outmatched.

I think these things fit Harvey and Two-Face quite well. He may not be as high on the social ladder as say, Bruce, but he is no less of an important figure in his community. You know when he is in the room and you think about him when he isn't there. He is intelligent and strategic. He's never to be underestimated and most fear and or respect him. These things apply as a rogue or as a candidate. These strengths are what put a target on his back and thus becoming Two-Face. I also do not know enough about this but pumas are not as solitary as other cats. Which fit with Harvey's ambivert personality.

Harley Quinn (Harleen Quinzel) - Spotted Hyena

This one is also an obvious one I would think. Spotted hyenas are a matrical species, meaning the females are in charge. Harley as a character I think usually represents feminine strength at least in recent years. Hyenas are very strong, they take what they want and fiercely protect what is theirs. They have a nasty reputation but live in a pretty unforgiving environment. Hyenas actually do hunt and have to protect their prizes from animals like lions. They have good reason to be the way they are.

Harley is a pretty unpleasant person but she has her reasons. Having dealt with a lot throughout her life. Her actions come from a place of pain though ruthless. She is not satisfied with what she does at the end of the day. She knows she has a lot work to do and a lot to figure out. Scary as she is.

Poison Ivy (Pamela Isley)- Orchid mantis

Another animal associated with feminine power. Mantis are fierce and confident, they stand their ground even against other animals much bigger than they are. They are not very fast and can't fly very well, but are a top insect predator. They have no need to chase, just sit and wait until the opportunity to strike comes to them. Of course, they have the reputation of eating the head of their mates, but that's actually common for insects. Still fitting.

Ivy is a powerful person literally and personality-wise. She has incredible control of her environment as long as there are any plants around. She is beautiful and deadly. Anyone who can get close to her is very lucky. She's pretty content keeping to herself and her plants and is laid back when she is comfortable. She takes opportunities when they are presented to her with full force. Best stay on her good side and give her space. She makes a wonderful mantis.

Bane (Antonio Diego) - Grizzly bear

Bears are incredibly strong but it's not just brawn they have brain too. Bane is not just a brute, he knows how to use his strength well and is incredibly strategic. A bear can be a very scary animal but also fun to observe. Some find them cute, and some find them terrifying. Bane also comes off in a similar way, it just depends on what you know about him. He is someone you can have deep and philosophical conversations with but most would be too scared to approach him. Unfortunately, his addiction makes him unpredictable and behave in a way he would not want to. Bane does have a code he follows and will return the respect you give him. Just a bear will respect your space if you know how to behave in their territory.

Catwoman (Selina Kyle) - Domsitic long-hair cat

Yeah, Catwoman is meant to be a cat in person form so, I don't think there is much to explain. She comes and goes as she pleases and does what she wants. She likes to bother those with no interest in her. The whole shebang. Not bad but not good, just her own brand.

Mad Hatter (Jervis Tetch) - Arctic hare

Arctic hares are one of the largest species of hare. They mainly live alone but come together for warmth and mating. I'm still not too sure about this, I haven't found much on this yet but it seems like rabbits are much more territorially and aggressive than hares. Either way, most think Jervis is a rabbit and not a hare, because of his height and demeanor. Hares are often seen as crazy and generally have a wild reputation, and Jervis is pretty demure. This instead comes out as passion for the things he loves. However, if he is pushed too far all of his pent-up emotions and frustrations will come out in an explosive response. Despite his appearance, he's very fit and strong. He has metabolic issues that make it difficult to lose weight so in his efforts to lose it he instead makes himself stronger. A similar effect to powerlifters. I thought specifically an Arctic hare was fitting because of this reason, as an arctic animal it's incredibly important for them to gain weight to survive the harsh weather. Something that others believe including Jervis himself thinks is a weakness actually becomes a strength. He does become more comfortable with himself eventually, but he has a lot of trauma to overcome to fix his own self-image.

Riddler (Edward Nigma) - Domestic rat

Rats are very social and intelligent. Despite media depictions, they keep themselves clean and are very affectionate. Ed is very much an extrovert and hates being alone, though he can be overbearing at times he loves those close to him very much and gives as much as he takes. Rats are great at getting around being able to squeeze into most places and can tread water for a long time (ironically Ed cannot swim). Ed can also squirm his way into anything be it physically or finding information. Rats enjoy causing mischief and are often high-energy, they need a lot of enrichment. Ed is functioning at 100% and crashes to 0% once he's out of energy, he has to keep himself busy and do little evil genius tasks until he's completely exhausted himself.

(I drew these on stream and Marxtheimpish asked to give Ed a cheerio, and Jervis lettuce, Ed is mad he only got one single cheerio.)

Scarecrow (Jonathan Crane) - Milksnake

A pretty biased pick since I mentioned snakes are my favorite animal, and Scarecrow is my favorite rogue but I have a good reason for my choice. First of all, as someone raised in the South, I associate milk snakes (and therefore corn snakes and rat snakes) with the country. They can often be found on farms and are great pest control and that also makes me also associate them with scarecrows. Milksnakes mimic coral snakes to scare away predators. Jonathan does something similar and comes off as scary and intimating but for the sake of his own protection. Snakes really want to be left alone and so does Jonathan. Snakes are often misunderstood and seen as something evil (especially by some religious people), but they are anxious skittish creatures and will stay out of your way. The religious association is another reason I picked a snake. Most people assume the worst in Jonathan because of his appearance and aloof disposition. He's pretty tired of trying to prove them wrong and has convinced himself he can't be anything else. But know this, there is no such thing as an offensive snake there are only defensive snakes.

Music Meister (Darius Chapel) - Golden-breasted starling

This one is mostly a visual choice. Darius is a pretty boy so of course he should be a pretty bird. Starlings are also a songbird and incredible at mimicking sounds. Just as Darius is an incredible singer and has a wide range of expressing himself musically. I think starlings are sometimes seen as pests or nuisance, I've only heard that in passing. If that's true that fits with Darius. Some people find him annoying but he's a very pleasant person.

Polkadot man (Abner Krill) - Spotted newt

Spotted newts are poisonous and their spots and color advertise that. Just as Abner has dangerous spots. This is mainly the reason why I chose a newt for Abner. I think aposematism, when an animal is colorful because it is toxic, is a really cool thing that happens in nature. I couldn't pass up the chance. Newts are also very cute and humble animals so all the more reason.

Mr.Freeze (Viktor Fries) - Polar bear

Of course, Viktor is a polar bear. Polar bears are solitary animals, especially the males. They only need themselves, and can only afford to care for themselves in the environment they live in. Viktor is a very independent person. He's confident in his abilities and can do almost anything by himself. Nora is an arctic fox, I bring this up because arctic foxes often follow polar bears around. So they are a perfect match. Polar bears are very formidable, you do not want to get in Viktor's way. Though he may seem cold, he is a good person with a big heart.

The Penguin (Ozwald Cobblepot) - Emperor penguin

Yeah, penguin. Emperor penguins care very deeply for their families and don't much care for anyone else. They will brave harsh weather and dangerous waters all for the sake of their families. Oz does not like anyone besides his family. He'll go through any extreme he needs to, no questions asked. Just a cranky old man that wants to give his loved ones a good life.

I'm much better at expressing myself visually than verbally so I'm not sure if this was comprehensive enough. I don't feel like I got out what I had in my head properly. So please feel free to ask any questions. Also, most of these facts are from my memory and may be inaccurate, but I did my best to fact-check myself when I was unsure of something. So if I got something wrong please correct me, I love learning more about animals. Otherwise, enjoy this word vomit infodump.

-Fluffy

[felixcloud6288]

Fullmetal Alchemist Chapter 73

It's been more than 24 hours since chapter 70. There's nothing of note that could imply any time convolutions, so it's likely been a day at most since Ed and Kimblee started their search for Scar.

Major General Armstrong and Buccaneer's chat is supposed to be about the hearts of people not being purely black and white, but it kinda falls on its face narratively when your bad guys are BAD guys. The good guys in this story include people who have done horrible things or can be horrible people, but they have good aspects that make you want to root for them and cheer when they become greater people. The bad guys are driven entirely by selfish and evil desires. They may have enjoyable personalities, silly quirks, or be fun to watch; but they are not people who can be described as being good or having redeeming qualities.

You notice how the guy from Central doesn't even look at the Briggs soldier as he hands him a letter? Raven was just as bad. These people feel like they're so above the common soldier that they don't even deign to acknowledge their existence.

Later in the chapter, we learn the two chimeras are Zanpano and Jelso but we're not told who's who.

Winry gets the gold star for coming up with the cornerstone of Heist 4. Good for her taking the initiative on how to solve everything.

Meanwhile, Al has convinced Jelso and Zanpano to join them as well. Al really managed to give them hope. It's like that saying "I had the blues cause I had no shoes; until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet."

Their surprise at finding out Central is doing something that could destroy the country is an example of how the common soldier is kept in the dark about everything.

In an FMA databook that came out in December 2004, there's a bonus comic called "Simple People". It takes place before the main story. In that story, we learn all of Winry's earrings are gifts Ed and Al bought during their travels (in the hopes she'd be less mad about Ed breaking his automail again). She even got multiple piercings so she could wear all the earrings Ed got her.

Those earrings are precious to both Winry and Ed.

Kimblee really does not like being told he screwed up.

Also, A slight error: The symbol on Kimblee's left palm is upside-down. It's supposed to be an UPRIGHT triangle with a crescent moon inside it.

After being clowned and mistreated, I kinda like how Yoki is carrying the party right now. He may be a horrible person who will happily exploit the working class for his own greedy ends, but at least he actually knew the ins-and-outs of operating the mines he oversaw.

I've never experienced a blizzard before so I'd need someone to confirm this for me: Do phones work in a blizzard? I'd assume modern phones might have spotty connections at best and be completely cut-off at worst. So I'm just wondering if a phone with early 1900's technology could work at all.

And the chapter ends with Father listing out the names of his human sacrifices. We now know he needs 5 sacrifices. Him listing Hohenheim confirms Hohenheim had previously opened the gate. And Wrath did report Izumi to Father. Not sure if they're aware she opened the gate though.

back

[elmaxlys]

Hi I’m giving you another one if you’d want it, if not just ignore this. 003 for Shikorae or Itori! Clowns my beloved, Sorry for doing this twice the only thing I like more than answering questions is asking them.

nothing to apologize about you can send as many as you want haha! thank you for these :3

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you: Itori edition

How I feel about this character:

I!!!! Love her!!!!! She's my wife!!!! She is fun and depressed and crafty and manipulative and 🥰🥰 wish we'd seen more of her because she slaps so so severely.. she was done so dirty, with this little screen time :v

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character:

I'm not deeply involved (positively) in any Itori related ship. She simply doesn't interact enough with anyone for me to.. I do have nOTPs tho lmao (like ut*t*ri)

I don't mind Itorize, Itorieto (Etori?) and Itorizeto but that's about it (no OTP here because aro hcs too strong)

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character:

4th ward gang my beloved 🥰

My unpopular opinion about this character:

I simply do not see enough opinions about Itori but I guess seeing her as aroace probably is. Jessica Rabbit kind of situation u_u

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

MORE!!!!! SCREENTIME!!!!! This is CRIMINAL how little she appears, even for a Clown!!! There were counts of "how many chapters since Hide" and there also were "how many chapters since Itori" and guess who appeared less and later in :re haha *sobs*

I wish we'd seen her kagune ability properly, too! with a little explanation at the very least!! I'm not even sure the flutes were Itori and not Donato's, to tell you *sobbing intensifies*

Her character deserved more respect than to be shipped off with "she's sexy, she's in love with her gay best friend and so she does whatever he does" like what kinda bullshit is this?? since fucking when??? URGH (*inhales* 179 isn't real and cannot hurt me 179 isn't real and cannot hurt me 179 isn't rea-)

Favorite friendship for this character:

Again with the 4th ward gang, but also with Nico and the Clowns, tho, again, I wish we'd seen more of them RIP

My crossover ship:

None

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you: Shikorae edition

How I feel about this character:

Skrunkly. Activates Protec Mode, Extreme edition. Close second place right behind Souta in the competition for who's more of a tragic character in Tokyo Ghoul, solely because of 179. I haven't played the game or read the scenario book (please Glénat.. we all know I hate you but I'd buy it I am begging. please translate it) so my feelings are limited to what little we know of him in :re but oh my good. poor little baby of my heart...

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character:

None

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character:

ROMA. As I said, I don't know shit about the game so I don't know his brother or anything about him and stuff, so while I am aware that, knowing myself, he might have been my answer if I did know, that simply is not the case and so his mommy wins. Look at them..

My unpopular opinion about this character:

OTL I haven't read the Jail book so I don't even know the character all that well and therefore I am very not confident in any deeper opinion I have on the character. But, as I do every Clown (and most every character lmfao), I see him as aroace. Idk what the consensus on this baby is but this bears mentioning I guess?

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

HOW'D HE END UP WITH ROMA?? He's with Aogiri on Rushima and the next thing we know he's with Roma and quite close already, at that, so they've clearly got history beyond Cochlea cell neighbors but - and if this was in the Jail game someone please tell me orz - what history?? I want to see!

Also more interaction with the other Clowns as a whole.. with Souta especially...

Favorite friendship for this character:

With Seidou, they're cute :)

My crossover ship:

None

---

The Ask Game

[taiblogcomics]

Muddying the Waters

Hey there, unrelenting accrual of clowns. Let's do some Countdown this fine summer's day, huh?

Here's the cover:

…Oh. Well. Pretty sure I've seen art like this on DeviantArt. Like, a lot of art like this. But regardless! Maybe it'll at least sell this issue to folks with that fetish. I dunno! I've occasionally bought a comic coz I have the hots for whatever superheroine's on the cover (usually Rogue). Maybe it works for other fetishes too! Anyways, of course it's clay because it mentions Clayface in the blurb down there (which is not included in the trade I'm reading from, by the way), but personally I think it looks more like chocolate pudding. Again, not my fetish, but if it's yours, does chocolate pudding increase the appeal more or less than clay~?

Okay, new recap rule: If a character appears on the cover, I should mention them first. Unless otherwise for theming purposes. So Mary Marvel is stuck with Black Adam's powers and also in Clayface. Jason Todd and Donna Troy have been stuck with locating Ray Palmer. Pied Piper and Trickster are stuck together after killing the Flash. Karate Kid is stuck in the past in the JLA's custody. Jimmy Olsen is stuck on how to use his powers for good. And Holly Robinson is stuck in a women's shelter after going on the run. And we're stuck reading this for another 42 weeks~

Okay, so you remember how last time, I ended by being all "I'm counting Bart's death as this series' fault even though technically it didn't happen in this comic"? Yeah, so this issue opens with a graphic recreation of the Rogues' murder of Bart Allen. That's a lovely way to open a comic. I bet all the quicksand fetishists who picked up this issue for the cover really regret it now, and so do I! And it doesn't matter that this is quickly revealed to be a nightmare that Trickster's having, that doesn't absolve it of depicting it!

Pied Piper and Trickster are in the custody of the Suicide Squad at present, under arrest for the Flash's murder. I wasn't aware this is what the Suicide Squad did, but I didn't know Multiplex was a member, so fair enough. Anyway, Deadshot explains that the pair are chained together with a high-tech handcuff. If it's pulled too violently, the pair of them will get an electric shock. And if too far or damaged/removed… The shock will be lethal. It might not be brain bombs, but it's still the Suicide Squad's go-to solution to all problems!

We cut over to Gotham City, where we get some crazy upskirt shots of Mary Marvel. I'm not quite sure how old Mary is in these, but she was discharged from a hospital on her own, so she must be at least over 18. Still, the introduction to her in this comic is the entirety of her thighs. Anyway, she's checking out the site of a recent explosion, and who should be at the scene but the Riddler? She immediately assumes the worst and flies off with him, but at this point in DC history, the Riddler has gone straight, and he spends the entirety of the next page explaining this to Mary until she finally puts him down. Physically, I mean, though I suppose she continues putting him down emotionally as well.

Over in Metropolis, at the women's shelter, the artist is clearly not done drawing women's thighs, as we watch Harley Quinn exercise on the balance beam while she and Holly Robinson talk. So this is actually a start of an arc for Harley Quinn to go straight (much like the Riddler a page previous). This would more firmly take hold in about 7 years, post New 52. But they were already laying the groundwork here! Anyways, long story short, Athena sought out Harley to make her assistant director of this women's shelter and lend guidance to these women. But Holly is still suspicious, because Athena is a literal god, what's she getting out of this?

Now then, in a new location for once, Jason Todd and Donna Troy decide to start their search for Ray Palmer by checking in with the man who took over his identity: Ryan Choi, the All-New Atom. I haven't read Ryan's run, but i should change that some time. Personal reminder! So it does mean I don't know these supporting characters. But they postulate that since Ray went sub-atomic following Jean Loring's incarceration to Arkham Asylum, he must be in the Palmerverse. Ah, man, I don't think Into the Palmer-Verse is the animated blockbuster you think it'll be, DC. Nah, actually it's what they call the sub-atomic universe in DC, like Marvel's Microverse. Hey, he discovered it, he can name it after himself if he wants. That's a scientist's privilege. So Ryan Choi joins the party!

Back on the ground, Riddler and Mary Marvel follow a mysterious trail of dirt leading from the crime scene. They discover a back alley where the trail stops. Riddler deduces that this isn't dirt at all. Instead, it's clay. And Clayface attacks them from behind, giving us our cover shot. Except Mary doesn't even get sludged, she dodges it while Riddler is the one mucked. Mary does the Flash tornado move and sends Clayface into space. She thinks it's fine, he was just dirt. As Riddler uncovers the stolen goods, he recommends that Mary should seek out a mentor in things magic, if she doesn't know her strength so strongly. Or anger management

Speaking of Gotham, no one goes around Gotham without Batman's notice, and you see him up above, eavesdropping on Mary and Riddler. Karate Kid approaches him from behind, and without looking up, Batman says "People who sneak up on me usually regret it." He's letting Batman know that the Legion is about to depart to the 31st century, and Batman's like "Don't let me keep you."

Karate Kid starts a bit where he wants to let Batman know what an honour it was to fight a skilled martial artist like him, and Batman retorts that "I lost once, it wouldn't happen again in a rematch." Karate Kid leaves in a huff, because he wasn't trying to rub Batman's nose in it. Batman smugly watches him fly off, mumbling something about "Did you expect a sidekick offer?" And I don't know why he's smiling other than that Batman is kind of a dick sometimes.

Speaking of being a dick sometimes, we cut over to the Daily Planet offices in Metropolis. Jimmy Olsen's musing to himself about his powers, wondering why he can't get them to activate at will instead of just under stress. He's also doodling some costume ideas, but when Lois comes by, she wonders what all the art is for. Jimmy hastily provides a cover-up of a comic strip idea he's pitching to the paper. Here's where the dickishness comes in: Lois then offers her opinion on his art, then says Jimmy should stick with photography. All Jimmy can manage is a weak "Good one, Lois."

Back over with Piper and Trickster, Trickster requests if there's any way they can be cuffed separately, and Piper takes this as a homophobic insult. Deadshot isn't stupid, and knows Trickster would try something the moment he was uncuffed. Trickster's all like, "What? No!" in the least convincing way possible, even when he points out they confiscated all his tricks. When they don't reply further, he uses his tongue to remove a false tooth implanted with a bomb. But, like, you look at this thing and it has a huge screw-like spike and clearly went down into his gums like a real tooth. That seems painful as hell to remove, especially without using your hands.

Trickster spits his nasty tooth-bomb straight up, where it explodes, knocking the whole transport around. And despite that one of the guys guarding them is Multiplex, a man whose powers are being able to make copies of himself, the two of them manage to push past him. Note also that Trickster hasn't communicated this plan at all to Piper, and he's just following Trickster's lead. The pair pushes past them and slams their way through the door and exit the transport. And the comic ends with revealing why this was a dumb plan: the pair of them fall out of an airborne plane and are plummeting to the ground miles below.

So, hey, remember when I began this review questioning why the Suicide Squad were arresting and detaining individuals? That's because I forgot Salvation Run was a thing, which was another tie-in miniseries to Countdown. Seriously, this whole maxi-series is just setup for other tie-ins. Not a lot else happens in this one aside from that, it feels very incidental. Clearly they had to do the fetish cover because there was nothing else interesting in the comic. Though I think this is the first issue with all six plotlines getting a scene, so that's something novel, at least~

[violetsystems]

Some of my neighbors are participating in performance art that seems to act like they know everything about my life down to the jobs I apply for and are under a background check for. Acting like they are the police which at this point I already know who the police are. It'd be dumb of me not to. Since some of those jobs are government related I kind of wonder who they think they are. If they really believe they're going to get away with that level of targeting and intimidation who knows? It is Chicago for the record and I'm sure everyone is bored about me writing about it over and over again. But honestly if you are that amateur about it then it just means you are nothing special to write about online. I don't have any plans for the holidays at all really. I spent one Christmas and thanksgiving in Japan. Two different occasions. I'm sure somebody will go do a background check on those. China and Korea too. Always alone. Wandering around with no plans exploring. Makes up for the fact that I'm basically held hostage in my own neighborhood by freaks. I'll be fine for the winter but I just think people should know that realistically what I'm going through isn't normal at all. And I'm fully aware how badly it has jumped the shark. I figured I'm supposed to understand this is what you go through when you mean something to somebody. I just don't really know what to do other than pay bills and ignore the haters. This block definitely isn't Hollywood and yet people act like they can be famous for clowning me every time I step out the door. The world is getting more dangerous though and if you keep acting like you can dump on someone so much because they aren't famous? You actually make them more famous than they could ever be just trying to be seen. I don't need to do anything to be famous anymore. Just proving people wrong is good enough. Without me to use every second of my life in public these people have no real purpose at all. Maybe they're trying to be film makers. Maybe they're trying to start a revolution. It'd be incredibly boring if I just disappeared and moved to Shanghai or something. Not like I'm not applying for jobs over there, here and everywhere. And having my neighbors following me around in an intimidating and bullying fashion dressed in shirts from the university I'm under a background check for since August seems incredibly illegal and fucked up. There's such a thing as oversight to a point and subtlety is not this particular group of terrorist's forte. Diehard was a Christmas movie. So maybe this is just my own personal Nakatomi Plaza. But if you asked me point blank what I thought was going on with my life? I'd tell you I'm under duress with no clue. So no need to write about it too deeply like I have in the past. I figure somebody is going to get caught conspiring eventually. And if they don't then it's the same shit for me really. Nobody cares who these people are unless you fuck with my good name. So without me a lot of people are nothing. Less stressed out than usual about it for the time being. But I have no idea what's going on other than people practicing how to get away with domestic terrorism. If anyone thought that was a problem they would have handled it by now. So I'll handle it my own way by kiting it all into a brick wall one day at a time. At least then somebody can actually say I did something good for the world. Don't let it ever be said there's no consequences for bad behavior. It is just that sometimes you have to take the good with the bad to prove you are worth more.

[ukulelegodparent]

I'm turning into that "I want to study in xy" meme but like unironically

[niicevibe]

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐒𝐨𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐞 + 𝐘/𝐍 𝐇𝐂𝐬

Hello again, everyone. I've come to you on this fine day with some headcanons for Sōsuke Aizen. I hope the things I provide to you on this god-like specimen don't disappoint; however, you'll be disappointed.

I... don't know why his was so hard to write for considering I simped for this man for a majority of the 2010s... so this is a little shorter than I'd wanted and I apologize.

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: manipulation, "subtle" emotional abuse; a mention of Stockholm Syndrome; a mention of n/sfw (kind of) for the sake of explanation.

𝐇𝐂 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐌𝐇𝐀, 𝐉𝐉𝐊, 𝐁𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡, 𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐨, 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 + 𝐂𝐒𝐌 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦…)

I can make an easy comparison and simply say that Sōsuke Aizen is like The Joker, but he's so much more than a man that wears clown makeup all the time. I won't even put this lightly because we all know how manipulative this man is -- manipulative, and hot.

And he's well-aware that you think that he is. Absolutely nothing gets by him and it never has. He probably knew you'd be attracted to him before you even knew. He's not very tied to his emotions, and in fact, he'll utilize them like a weapon because it's easier for him that way. But while this is the case, he wouldn't involve himself with someone unless you both shared similar ideologies.

Dare I say, he could even be demi-romantic and demi-sexual. I wouldn't doubt it.

He is not a man who would tolerate a weak partner, not that he'd be likely to ever consider you equals, but you'll need to at least be on a certain level that he can't consider you less than some sort of insect. There's a chance that any semblance of a relationship might turn out to be one-sided, or that you would simply exist for him as a form of amusement.

He is one hundred percent a sapiosexual -- someone who finds intelligence highly attractive.

We know that he's a deep down kind of person when it comes to his true emotions. He's good at hiding what he's truly thinking and feeling until he becomes painfully honest about them, something that's a rare feat, however, if you're around, he might just be a little less jaded about things. Maybe.

He's likely allowed you into his life as some kind of cover story, something to make blending in to his surrounding society more doable -- He doesn't need easier, not at all. He's planned things so far ahead into the future that he knows it's foolproof.

For example: Where was "he" when the Hollowfication events to place? With you, of course... working on tasks together...

It's hard to say whether Sōsuke would use his Kyōka Suigetsu on you, but he'd be that untrusting, I'm sure, so he'd hypnotize you anyway, just in case you'd even think about betraying him. Would he make it known to you that he's done it? Definitely. He's not going to bother hiding it, and he hangs it over your head like a pendulum.

You won't be an exception to his manipulation tactics. If Sōsuke wants something out of you, there's no method he won't use in order to get what he wants. He has no shame the attempt, either.

He's still, quite obviously, human. Soul Reapers are always so worried about their mortality; their infallibility; their egos drive them, fuels their souls. Sōsuke would argue this to his death, that he could never be so weak, that even being a Soul Reaper is so below him. But you've seen him through it all, through his sudden decision to enact such an insane plan, to seeing things to near-fruition. You know the truth.

Sōsuke isn't someone who desires to be vulnerable -- not in battle, not in any sort of a relationship. It's not in the cards, and it's not something he's planned for from a decade ago. The fact that he's decidedly candid with you? It's one of the biggest surprises of your life.

But you're so whipped by him that you'll take what you can get.

Though maybe it's even Stockholm Syndrome and not just "whipped" because, well, he's Sōsuke Aizen.

He still has a major superiority complex, and that won't go away any time soon. There's a high chance that he'll end up talking down to you if you decide to stick around.

If any affection that comes from the man happens to be genuine, you'll find him to be quite possessive. He's not a man of jealousy, nor will he ever be, but you'll be his, an object, a possession. Sōsuke won't ever make it so obvious that you are an object to him because he's just so charming.

You're one of the few people to use his first name rather than calling him "Aizen". Saying "Sōsuke" at him invokes a sensation of being equals, and he knows that's why you say his first name. He allows it, keeping you on the edge of feeling some kind of control.

The whole situation he's concocted might stress you out a little. Whether you're on the side of the Soul Society or on Aizen's side, you know there won't be a great outcome and so for the majority of the war, you try your best to remain a neutral party, for the sake of things.

Don't bother being overly emotional around Sōsuke; he genuinely won't bother to care of your feelings. If they happen to come out around him, he's likely to ignore them. You shouldn't bother seeking emotional validation from Sōsuke, either; you just won't get it.

You have to be something of a constant interest to him, otherwise you won't even be in his sights. He wouldn't be an extremely passionate partner, with you initiating most of the interactions between you two. And, intimacy is rare. Seriously, expect very little of it.

Shunsui will allow short visits to Sōsuke during his stay in Muken, something that amuses the imprisoned man greatly -- Why bother? Seriously. He'd find it laughable whenever you show up, but you'll still give him updates on the Seireitei and its condition. But he did once call it his Soul Society. You're doing him an unnecessary kindness.

[aerltarg]

Maybe this is a stupid question, buuuuut:

I just can't imagine a world that Rhaegar comes back from the Trident, wins the war and becomes king. No, I'm not a anti Rhaegar, matter of fact I like him very much, I'm just can imagine how would Lya, little Jon, this whole affair, would settle in the capital. The norm that fics (at least those I read) tend to follow is to make Rhaegar:

1. A douche, paranoid and destiny-obessed king.

2. Completely incompetent, aloof monarch, that deep down has a heart of gold, but can't really be understood.

I mean, isn't he supposed to be a scholar since he was a kid? What's are your thoughts about it?

oh, yeah, i can totally understand this! it's is the whole point in canon actually, "the wrong man came back from the trident". you would expect a hero win against his antagonist and have a happy ending w his lady love but it doesn't happen. instead the subversion happens to them with rhaegar being killed by robert who becomes obviously a shitty king and lyanna dying after him. they were never supposed to have happy ending, they were created as tragic and doomed and dead from the beginning for the whole plot to start, jon to have his parentage mystery and dany to take the passed baton as the last dragon, prophesied savoir and the heir who has to carry entire house on her back now.

as for the realistic rhaegar wins aus that's the difficult question. tbh we just don't know enough abt their situation, plans and wishes. you see, e.g. in agot we can be right in ned's head and see his motivations, what he was thinking abt, what he was planning, what he was hoping to do. but if his story was told the way rhaegar's was i bet he would have his own crowd of haters and ~intellectuals~ jumping out every two seconds w their "hot takes" how actually all hints abt what rlly happened (ned being a good man w his own sense of honour, justice and experiences affecting him and the deal w cersei's children) doesn't matter and he was an ambitious prick, planned to grasp the power by being joffrey's regent and make his daughter sansa queen. (you can actually insert there any bullshit and still don't reach the level of stupidity of such "hot takes" this fandom loves so much lmao). also he would be blamed to the hell and beyond for being too stupid and not foreseeing the future and actions of other ppl bc ofc after everything happened it's so easy to say what was so obvious to notice. also they would say that the deaths of his men and horrible fates of his kids are 100% his fault and even straight up say he killed them lmao. i can rant abt it for hours so yeah. this is a situation w too many unknown variables bc it depends too much on actions of too many characters we don't know enough abt. the only thing it's possible to tell for sure is the fact that there couldn't be any perfect solutions since things got too complicated at this point.

such fics as you've mentioned tho are just a part of this dumb fanon where rhaegar is "too prophecy obsessed"/"incapable of love"/shrodinger's rhaegar both smart and stupid at the same time/whatever/all of this combined lmfao. the man was notably intelligent from the early age as you've absolutely rightly mentioned, his guesses abt himself being tptwp have nothing to do w egocentrism as some parts of the fandom would want us all to believe unless he wouldn't be so reasonable abt it and later on, after so many years, wouldn't have changed his mind and thought his son could be tptwp.

and literally fuck all antis that think you shouldn't consider prophecies that hold real power in this fantasy world lol. you know, aegon the conqueror was said to be motivated (or at least partly) to unify westeros by the prophecy and still got the treatment of perfect/maximum close to perfect figure of a leader everyone should look up to from the narrative and grrm. prophecy obsessed much, huh? i don't even talk abt all these parallels between him and rhaegar grrm put there not for bitches to ignore them completely! and i will never get tired of reminding that dismissing prophecies is UNWISE for targaryens of all people. the house whose story is built on the dream of young daenys and her father aenar that listened to her despite common sense (or what local "anti magic"/"anti prophecies" clowns consider to be common sense). targs would be as dead as the rest of dragonlords if not for daenys the dreamer. who else in the world has as many reasons to take prophecies seriously as them?

yet antis out there act as if rhaegar is one dimensional weirdo whose every character trait is abt mf ~prophecy obsession~. like how can they miss one of the main points so badly?? the game of thrones distracts ppl from the real danger beyond the wall, yk, the one rhaegar was aware of and meant to deal with. there wouldn't be such a problem if he became king and had as many years of head start before ice zombies apocalypse as ignorant bobby b did. rhaegar had to die just for westeros to sink in shit and our main heroes to save everyone to make this story more epic LMAO

so yeah, too many ppl portray rhaegar as this one dimensional robotic creature without any knowledge of what feelings are idk even for what reason. it seems these ppl can't read for real bc rhaegar was not only intelligent af as well as dutiful ("it seems i must be a warrior" but "he loved his harp more than his lance") but also. ugh emotional?? my boy had constant emo sessions w brooding at ruins of summerhall, sleeping out there beneath the stars all alone and writing songs that made all women cry. does it sound as someone who "isn't capable of love" lol? folks act as if he was completely heartless from the day he was born (bc he didnt play w other kids ig??) but in reality their emotional range is less than the one of a spoon in comparison to rhaegar's lol. i'm not even gonna address the horrible attitude of demonizing him for his implied depression, vile clowns never listen to themselves when they talk abt targaryens and their "madness".

tldr; these fics are mostly lame af and suck at characterization if they're making rhaegar like that lol. anyway his character isn't abt being a good or a bad king, it's abt being a would-be-king for characters in books and readers in reality to sigh over his tragic aura and pretty aesthetic abt how it could've been. however, grrm clearly doesn't write rhaegar as evil or incapable as some parts of the fandom would want to try to persuade others. realistically speaking in the scenario where he wins there couldn't be any perfect decisions but it's a territory of speculations on thin air and lit nothing more since canon doesn't provide us with enough information to rlly theorize anything instead of building biased headcanons some ppl call "analysis".

but remember what barristan said about rhaegar while practically watching him all his life, from a literal baby to the man grown:

“I know little of Rhaegar. Only the tales Viserys told, and he was a little boy when our brother died. What was he truly like?”

The old man considered a moment. “Able. That above all. Determined, deliberate, dutiful, single-minded.” (ASOS, Daenerys I)

“Prince Rhaegar’s prowess was unquestioned, but he seldom entered the lists. He never loved the song of swords the way that Robert did, or Jaime Lannister. It was something he had to do, a task the world had set him. He did it well, for he did everything well. That was his nature. But he took no joy in it. Men said that he loved his harp much better than his lance.” (ASOS, Daenerys IV)

[darkacademicfrom2021]

The Dark Team (part 11)

<<Previous part Masterlist   Next part>>

Warnings: Cookies and idiots. You might get diabetes.

N/A: I'm on a family trip right now so I'm being a little unactive but I'll do my best to be still updating on here. Thank you so much to everyone who reads and comments, you truly make me want to write twice as much.

The Dark Team: (Taglist: @lucywrites02, @louieboo87, @the-departed-potato, @jesuswasnotawhiteman, @idontknow296, @beksib, @spythoschei, @geekwritersworld, @whatafuckingdumbass, @mysticunicorn7 @shadowolf993 @toe-vind-ek-jou @joscelyn02, @t00-pi )

“Are you sure that’s how you should be sending those?”. His nosy ass telling you how to do your job in your midgardian electronics was just amazing, truly. “It would be faster for them if you send it with that link instead of…”.

“Listen, Mischief”, you interrupted his unnecessary corrections “I don’t tell you how to levitate, what about you don’t tell me how to do this?”.

“I don’t levitate”.

“Not the point. This is my deal. Besides, since when and how do you know how to handle midgardian tech?”.

“I… I’m bored”.

“Do I look like an entertainment to you right now?”.

“What do you mean right now? Are you planning on entertaining me later?”.

“I will choke you if you keep doing that”.

“Do you promise?”.

"Yes, my dear".

"Can't wait, then", he smirked. You rolled your eyes, about to answer something snappy, but the work was more important at the moment.

Your phone beeped, pulling you out of the very one sided discussion. You went back to your work in silence, getting your full focus and concentration on it. If it weren’t for Loki, you would’ve already done a thousand more other things. But, as a bug on the lenses, he was stuck to your side. It seemed like you were babysitting him.

Peter was staring at the roof from the couch. A pile of homework laid by his side, untouched, and his unlocked phone seemed to be waiting for him to make a call he didn’t want to. Loki observed him, unsure if it was a good idea to ask. You looked at his uncertainty from over your shoulder, and watched him finally give up on the idea of socially interacting with the kid, sitting down by your side on the big, big (and, exaggeratingly pointing out, big; yet he sat in the nearest chair from you) table.

The compound certainly was a boring place when uninhabited, and the sun was already teasing with coming down, making the common room’s lights turn brighter and warmer. Maybe it was automatic, maybe it was Friday. You couldn’t care less, for you were too distracted by Loki’s gaze on your work.

“Loki, for fuck’s sake, would you stop staring, my dearest?”, you asked, imitating his tone of voice, hoping it’d make it less aggressive and a bit more fun. He rolled his eyes and smirked, understanding your intentions. You sounded as tired of him as you were.

“I’m...”.

“Bored, I know. What about you go entertain Pete? He looks equally, if not more, bored as you. And you’re interfering with my work, which I do not appreciate very much”.

“How am I supposed to entertain him? I’m not a clown”, he argued, slightly offended but just wanting to make time and conversation. You sighed.

“Then why do you act like one?”.

“What is that supposed to mean? Is that a midgardian insult I’m not aware of, pancake?”.

“Stop calling me that, it’s not derogative”.

“It wasn’t intended to be deroga…”.

“I’d kill for some pancakes”, interrupted Peter, trying to pull you two out of your quarrels. “Or something sweet”.

“Oh, the kid got peckish. This is perfect; you can go get him something sweet and leave my workspace alone”, you said, patting his back with an exhausted grin.

He rolled his eyes, but walked down to the kitchen looking for whatever could satiate Peter. There wasn’t anything. One would think that a billionaire would have the fridge full of chocolates, wouldn’t you?, he thought, exhausted by the idea of having to actually leave the compound to get him something. Last time he tried to buy something in Midgard, he accidentally paid three salaries to the workers in the name of Stark. He was so embarrassed, he said it was on purpose and called it an act of mischief. But it was, in fact, pure and raw unawareness of midgardian’s use of money.

“What about we bake something, Mr. Loki?”, proposed Peter, with a flaming interest in seeing what those magic hands could do with food. You chuckled, pretty sure they could do nothing; he had been a prince for over a thousand years, when could he have learnt to bake by himself?

Loki lowered his gaze, confronted with both thoughts of his companions, and their respective expectations. Truth was, you were right. But he couldn't disappoint the kid like that, he had to at least try. Peter's eyes shone brighter than ever, and you wondered if Loki was actually enjoying his company. They looked fine. And, finally, you had some space to work without distractions.

“In normal circumstances I’d reject you, spider boy, but since y/n seems to be about to hang me by the neck on the tip of the tower, might as well do this”, he said, stealing a glance at you and smirking.

“It’s an honor you decide to spend your last moments baking with me, Mr. Loki”.

“Sure, let’s go, child”.

“I’m not a child”.

“Alright”.

And just like that, they left the working area and moved to the kitchen. Both rooms were connected by a huge glassless window and a counter, so you were able to peep in and make sure they didn’t actually burn down the compound (which was the only rule Tony had) and work peacefully at the same time.

After what seemed like an eternity, they still couldn’t accept they were failing miserably, and kept stirring the mix in a bowl. Flour formed clouds around them as Peter sneezed it away, and Loki’s hair had some cream on his (now not so) impeccable hair. Peter laughed at Loki’s commentary and poor baking skills, and Loki playfully mocked how his stickiness wasn’t helpful at all.

“Have you ever baked before, Mr. Loki?”.

“I haven’t but I’ve seen people bake, I figured I could imitate them”.

“Your mum, right? I used to bake with my aunt May a lot, but just now I realize maybe she was doing everything and I was eating the dough by her side”.

“That sounds more like it”, he chuckled. The mixing bowl trembled in his hand as he got distracted by the flying eggs coming at him, and it slipped out of him, smashing near half the mix onto the floor. “Oh, fuck”.

“It’s fine, we can use the one that’s left!”.

“Your positiveness astonishes me, spider boy”.

“Spider man”.

“Right, apologies”.

“We have already put in the flour, the sugar, the eggs, the milk… What else is in the recipe?”.

“I’m trying to remember, let me see”, he closed his eyes and muttered to himself “they used cinnamon, I think. And maybe butter? Yes, and chocolate chips”.

“Who?”.

“Ah, this recipe isn’t my mum’s. She didn’t bake either, you know, Queens don’t get their hands dirty” he laughed. “It was my companion’s”, he spat and suddenly realized what he had said. He lowered his head and sighed.

“Your companion?”, asked Peter. “As in partner? A spouse?”.

“Not spouse, just… you know, I’m just realizing I shouldn’t be talking to you about it”, he brushed it off, absolutely regretting it. Because Peter, unlike any other person, lacked filters.

So he would ask and ask and not realize where to stop. And at that point you could say Peter had become some sort of a weakness in Loki’s roughness. Peter was the softest, purest and better intentioned person he had ever met (or at least that’s how he saw him; of course, Loki had never seen him in action, fighting crime), and Loki was incapable of actually denying things to him. It didn’t matter how much Peter insisted on not being seen as a child, Loki was a thousand years older.

“No, please do. Now you’ve caught my attention”, he insisted, trying to clean some of the dough from the floor. Loki sighed, watching how the kid begged him to tell him more from his feet. “Please, Mr. Loki, I swear I won’t tell”.

“Well, my lover was the one who used to cook for us”, he explained as if he was telling someone else’s story. He clearly was trying to disengage his own emotions in order to tell them out loud. “And they’d usually bake some kick-ass cinnamon cookies”.

Peter had to grab the counter to steady himself from laughter, and you couldn’t help to snort at the conversation you were indiscreetly eavesdropping. Loki smiled.

“Then we have to replicate them, if they’re so kick-ass to make you say a midgardian expression”.

“We must, but I can’t remember quite well the next steps. It’s all sort of a blur now”.

“Can’t we ask them?”.

“No”, he said quickly. The air tensed, and untensed as fast as he realized. He especified again, trying to sound less affected by it “we can’t”.

“Oh”, Peter sounded so disappointed, Loki’s heart broke a little. “Are they dead?”.

“Oh my God, Pete, you can’t just ask…”, you intervened, trying to save Loki from further discomfort.

“It’s okay, they’re… well, they’re gone”, he said with a soft voice, raising his eyebrows as who tries to explain to a little kid why their fish is upside down, leaving to the imagination the typical trace of sadness that would follow. His eyes focused on the mixing bowl, reminiscing another time, another way. Eyes of someone who tries his best to never forget the little details from someone who’s not here anymore, because memories are all he has left. He immediately snapped out of his thoughts and tried to play it cool. “But guess who’s not gone? This dough on the floor. Let’s clean it up, kid”.

“Gone as in dead?”, insisted Peter, who had a very poor self control. You would’ve grabbed your face with eight hands if you could.

“Peter, don’t…”.

“Yes, they’re dead. Inside a coffin, rotting, getting eaten by worms. You know”, said Loki, this time jokingly, trying to scare off Peter. But it didn’t work, since Peter just kept asking about it. Loki was already too tired of having to take his brain yet again to places he didn’t want them to be.

“I’m really sorry, Mr. Loki. Must be very painful”. The empathy in his eyes gave Loki the hint that he was not only being sincere, but curious about Loki's life. Interested, engaged. Not just morbidly curious, but wanting to get to know him better. Unfortunately, Loki couldn’t allow that. He would have to get the mission done, not make any friends, and go back to Asgard as alone as he came. It was the deal, the price he had to pay, the invisible handcuffs, the imaginary rope tying around his neck. Tightly, tightly, tighter.

“It’s alright, it was long ago”.

“Was they Asgardian, like you?”.

“I’m not actually Asgardian. I was raised there, but I’m from Jotunheim”.

Loki managed to move the conversation further than his lover (which he regretted highly to have brought the subject in the first place), and Peter got more and more interested in confirming how many of his mythology stories were true or not. The kitchen was the warmest place in the whole compound, and something started to smell like burnt sugar.

“So you did actually make Sif, Thor’s wife, bald? And did he make you go get her a wig in Svárthelfeim?”, he asked at the speed of light, and Loki laughed.

“Lady Sif’s not actually Thor’s betrothed. And no, I didn’t make her bald”, he said, and then muttered “she just happened to have a very low quality shampoo”.

“Ah, the cookies!”, Peter turned off the stove and took them out carefully, as to not get burned (again).

Loki peeped through the window to check on you. Your head, laying tiredly over your hands, seemed to be about to give up on you out of exhaustion. You haven’t slept properly since the mission started, and you couldn’t get your head off work for a moment. He approached you from behind and left a fresh cup of coffee and a couple of warm cookies by your side. You smiled at him gently and thanked him. If it wasn’t him you were talking about, you could’ve swore he blushed.

You have gotten so tranquil after one simple gesture, you hoped to get all your nerves down before going to sleep. Maybe it wasn’t that bad to have been stuck with them in the compound. They seemed to be having a good time, and Loki had nothing on his mind more than to have a rest after such hectic days.

“How long until you finish there?”, he asked with a low voice, a raspy, almost groany voice, that made you want to shut your computer down and throw it out of the window. You didn’t, instead, you checked your clock.

“Very soon, I’ll join you guys in a bit”.

[purple-stuck]

I'm sorry that happened but at least now you know for future reference! I was hoping you could write purple Kankri trying to flirt with Cronus (key word being try assume it seems like purple Vantases are pretty intimidating) but if you don't like Cronkri (which is super fair!) would you please write about purple Kankri in general? c:

Cronus didn't even know why he still went to this bar in the first place.

The music was always pretty bad. Between hip hop artists who just said the same lines over and over again and rock and roll bands who could barely be heard over the sounds of their poorly tuned guitars, it was a miracle that any of these artists even managed to sell their music to this place in the first place. Credit where it was do, it did make him want to drink. Besides, if these guys could make careers out of their songs, there was still hope for him yet.

Cronus cast his gaze out to the bar around him, trying to push the negative thoughts from his mind. A good flirt should improve his mood, even if he knew he was likely to be rejected. His gaze honed in on a small bronze blood girl, sitting alone with three empty bottles littered beside her. Faygo, from the looks of it. Incredibly powerful for a non Purple Blood. Looks like someone could use a little company.

"Hey, doll." Cronus said, leaning seductively against the wall beside her. He figured he might as well take a note from Rufioh's playbook before he dropped the pick-up line. "Are you a math book? Because I take one look at you and think 'fuck me'."

The troll glared up at him dismissively, before craning her neck up even more. Her face twisted into an expression of terror as she looked behind him, before she quickly grabbed her empty bottles and hurried towards the door.

"What, hey! It wvasn't that bad of a line, wvas it?"

"Excuse me."

Cronus instinctively jumped at the sound and spun around to come face to chest with a lumbering highblood in a baggy purple sweater. He looked up to see Kankri Vantas leaning against the wall like he was, looking down at him with an unreadable expression covered in face paint. From this angle, Kankri's nubby horns were nigh invisible underneath that wild bush of untamable hair. Somehow, Kankri always looked like he'd never left his hive in his life.

"Oh, shit. Um, hey Kan. What are you doing here? This place really isn't your kind of scene."

Cronus never knew how to act around Kankri. If Kurloz was creepy, Kankri was genuinely intimidating, but unlike the mime, it was impossible to tell if he was doing it on purpose. Kankri seemed to exist inside of his own little world.

"Oh, my apologies. I didn't... trigger you, did I?"

...huh?

Kankri's eyebrow was wiggling, as if he was expecting Cronus to get something, but Cronus was just confused. "Um, no, I'm just confused. Why are you here?"

Kankri blinked, seemingly not expecting the question. "I don't see what's wrong with dropping by my brothers favorite bar." He glared at the juicebox in the corner. "Although, I expected your music taste to be better."

Cronus forced a laugh at that. "Heh, it's not really. I just go here whenever I hit a writer's block."

"But you're always here?"

"....Yeah." Cronus deflated. "Yeah, I am." He could never read Kankri. Anyone else and he'd swear they were mocking him with an exchange like that. Or at least teasing him. But you could never tell with Kankri.

The larger clown was so withdrawn and stoic. His every word was carefully, almost robotically chosen, like he was trying to carefully avoid possibly offending anyone. It was a strange contrast against how casual his words were and how irreverent clowns normal were. It put him right in the uncanny valley and his large size didn't help.

Kankri rested a hand on his shoulder, causing Cronus to freeze. The clown leaned over him like a robot trying to look casual. His back was perfectly straight, his grip was too tight, his posture was too perfect and tense even as he tried to unwind. It made Cronus' fins stand up on his face.

"Well, why don't we head somewhere more comfortable? Just the two of us."

....Wow.

If Cronus was talking to anyone else, he would swear he was being flirted with. But, Kankri didn't do flirting, so he was clearly just misreading signals here. Was this an attempt at being friendly? Mocking? Trying to get Cronus away from a "triggering" environment? Was Kankri trying to abduct him or something and Kurloz was waiting the back ally with a bag to drag him off to clown church in? This was all so surreal.

"Oh, no. You don't hawve to vworry about that. I don't drink so I can still vwalk back to my hiwve just fine."

Kankri shot him a weird look. Cronus thought he looked annoyed but that couldn't be it because Kankri didn't act like this when he was annoyed. Nornally, he just lectured whoever tried to bother him until they scuttled off slightly terrified.

The clown pulled a paper out of his pocket. Cronus could recognize some of Rufioh's handwriting on it as it unfolded, but that only confused him more. Kankri cleared his throat, cocked his hips, and pointed his fingers like Cronus did whenever he was about to deliver a particularly bad pickup line.

"Hey, doll. Does this place serve fish food? Because you look like a snack."

Awkward silence. Kankri's voice sounded even more robotic and forced than normal, which only made things more surreal.

"So, is this a caste outreach thing? I heard the Empress is havwing the more 'vwiolent' castes do that nowv."

Kankri starred blankly for a moment before consulting the paper again. After a quick skim, he reset his posture, crossing his arms and giving Cronus a toothy grin. Problem is, Kankri had the Kurloz problem where his smiles looked less like "hello friend" and more like "I'm going to eat your soul." Still, he was clearly trying.

"Hello, doll. Dat, er, pardon my language here, ass is looking fine."

Another awkward silence as Kankri waited for an answer. Cronus squirmed awkwardly. "So... this is a dare then? Did Meenah put you up to this?"

Kankri deflated with a sigh, ripping the paper up indifferently. It was weird to see his perfect posture slip, which was only punctuated by his words sounding less robotic and more genuinely annoyed. "Cronus, you really need to learn to take a hint."

Cronus stared as Kankri sulked out. "Uh, alright, bye then."

He quietly made his way back to his seat, aware that the whole bar was now staring at him. He picked up his guitar to distract himself. "You knovw something, bar keep? If I didn't knowv better, I'd say he vwas flirting wvith me right novw."

Thankfully, Cronus was too preoccupied with his guitar to notice the incredulous look the bartender was giving him.

[m0e-ru]

Hi Hey Love you nd your art but what is your take on the relationship (not romantic but like, interaction wise/thought wise) of Nana-Chan and Mimi? I don't remember but have you done any scribbles of them?

Thank youuu 💕💕💕 and you can say relationship! Of course I'll regard it as platonic (english is weird).

You can look through my Nanako tag and see I've drawn her with Mim (considering I love to plug that cryptid into everything that coincides with my interests HA).

These two in particular being the clearest presentation of their relationship I've made so far: 1 2

I'll admit, either I haven't thought about these two interacting enough or I find their relationship hard to tackle considering both of their perspectives, I have...yet to properly solidify anything.

The one thing to remember about Nanako's perspective is that she initially found Mim, the attendant, to be "weird" or "scary."

Although the narration says Nanako's looking at bancho, it's clear that she's looking at the attendant. Her model even approaching bancho and looking up at him.

11:57 https://youtu.be/nOS7zw34dj0?t=717

Which she clarifies later on 3/20.

46:48 https://youtu.be/5Q0RABx5-5M?t=2808

That being said, au-wise, with Nanako warming up to Mim after hearing Souji talk about them, I think Mim would be afraid of Nanako.

A six (6) year old girl (she turns seven (7) in October) whose mother died recently, and with her father being busy as a detective, she's been left alone at home majority of the time until her cousin stays for the year. Being a child, she has nothing to suppress or hide from others to have her own Shadow. And her only desires are things as simple as loving her family and friends, keeping the company she already has, and yearning for her late mother which manifests in (albeit, shared) her TV studio in the world of the unconscious.

And a cryptic entity born of a collective unconscious, serving them as a deity and executing a plan to fulfill it. It's not as if they're meant to be remembered by anyone at all. They might as well be forgotten; imperceiveable, really. Slapping together a temporary identity just to shake hands with a few people. Why bother sealing the little gaps seeping out fog only perceptible to those they'll never meet again. First impressions? What about no impressions.

But there was an impression.

A guy twice a little girl's height does their best not to crumble in front of her, to say the least. Afraid of children being more perceptive knowing the truth better than those older than them and simply not being aware of it. Being piercingly blunt and honest as per their nature as individuals still learning about the world around them.

What if you were a decaying mass with a face you can't change bound to fulfill a duty that could end the lives with the same will that powers your existence, hiding under a myriad of physical and metaphorical layers. And you hear

"Oh, thank you!"

"Thanks for taking care of big bro."

"You're really pretty!"

"You really are big bro's big bro."

No, no, no. Go back to being afraid. Go back to never remembering.

It takes twice the effort to try and smile.

(more under cut where I'm less poetic and this is getting long lol)

sorry for getting poetic lol woww i love being dramatic /gets dragged off stage/

Mim can take compliments from anyone else which they could easily brush off. But from kids who probably aren't even aware of euphemisms yet Mim would probably die.

s: wow senpai youre really pretty for a guy

m: haha jk right whatever lol

n: mister attendant i think youre pretty

m: say sike rn

For clarification, yes Mim would still act in their attendant facade with Nanako but it takes twice the effort to be with her.

Having to swallow everything nice she has to say about them and keeping up the clown act to be consistent with everyone they meet.

It's hard to feel spite or plain heartlessness and 'i dont give a shit about what you think about me actually' bc Mim is growing their own heart after it unwillingly tore apart from them, while they gradually returning to the caretaker aspect of their whole being that they lost at the same time. So they care about a child's opinions taking them as how other people may actually think about them if they ever admitted it, especially the fact this same child is connected to so many people and Mim already knowing if this game they enabled keeps up, she's going to inevitably get caught up in it making them fully aware of her fate.

And as much as they already care about her, they aren't supposed to stop the game they started since they're bound to their duties that they begin to loathe, but also at the same time take personally since, at its core, it's meant to better the lives of the people they've grown about at an intimate level ever since they turned human themself and /shepherd's cane cartoonishly pulls me off stage for the second time/

Do you know how much guilt piles up on literally everyone associated with Nanako by November when shes kidnapped and hospitalized?¿

Out of everyone, Mim doesn't want Nanako to care about them the most. They don't want her to think that they, a monster formed by the cognition of the collective, is "pretty" or "nice" or "kind" or "funny." Mim cares about Nanako and they don't want her to go down that line of thinking and be betrayed by her beliefs based on how Mim presents themself.

But then again, it's already been a long while ever since they made "themself" different from "Izanami." So maybe Nanako's allowed to think that way.

[sugar-petals]

Out of all of our subby kpop boys, who do you think is mtl likely consciously and intently giving us sub queues ? Most likely would be very aware of their preference and very likely to be practicing, least would need time to reflect if one were to tell them they give off subby vibes -an under appreciated compliment?

I'm esp curious to see where you'd put taemin, jin and jungkook!

some subby crack awards.

the king of self-awareness has got to be our dude taeyong. “shawty give me whip, whiplash, whip me more so I can feel it more?” such succinct prose, he’s knee-deep in. fuck a stage image, he pens it all into his music at maximum warp. lee soo man can’t stop him. this guy has written the most jawdropping shit aimed at confusing anybody who isn’t in on the femdom grind.

very likely to be practicing: probably someone you’d not expect, a lowkey mf... kang daniel, e’dawn, that kind of person, he dates kinky mistress hyuna after all. but i especially nominate mister seokjin. “nice, i like things like that” — ok mate, speaks volumes. he knows the deal. so, award for knowing his stuff goes to him. probably told jimin all the details, thottius park is THIS close to spilling the tea to us.

the #1 when it comes to sending signals and being out there, taemin of course. he’s done all bdsm practices in the book on live television. without anybody ushering him out, we’re that used to him pulling the masochist card and grinding on the floor. as we know, he tells his art directors what concepts and details he wants, it’s not all the company’s idea. his classic request, i quote: “the ropes were my idea!”

where to put jungkook... probably most knowledgeable after religiously studying every femdom hentai out there. he’s curious, he knows what he needs to know in his own words. you bet your ass the guy has a less than vanilla browser history. bts have admitted to sharing clips back and forth so there’s that.

unsurpassed most open to be nasty and kinky, yuta nakamoto is all about that stuff. oh jesus christ, we all know the guy is a menace. down for things u didnt know existed. but he especially takes the crown for horny disease. the members often talk about how openly nsfw he is. quote by johnny: ‘red youtube’.

the dark horse award goes to none other than baby bear taehyung, if you tell him he’s a sub he’s gonna be confused af but think about it for hours while hugging a pillow at night m’kay. 

similar to taeyong, there’s a reason why clown in charge baekhyun has roused the femdom community since years, one wiggle of his hips at a time. most likely to do puppy play of course.

[charliedawn]

The Joke's on Us part 4

Warning : possessive behavior.

A dark shadow floats on top you and gently caresses your face.

" Soon..We'll be reunited, old friend."

Penny gasps, recognizing that shadow from the deep confines of his memories..Maturin had mentioned him when they were still friends.

" Shardik.."

At the mention of his name, the shadow quickly turns towards Penny whose breath stops. Shardik's smile widens and he floats on top of Penny to stare at him straight in the eyes.

" Ah..You must be one of the creatures Maturin created. A shame, I really thought you would be more..impressive ?"

Penny only snarls at him before responding with a threat.

" What were you doing ? I swear that if you touch her..I'll kill you."

The entity, far from being intimidated, only laughs loudly at Penny's menace which seems to amuse him more than anything.

" Really ? And how will you do that without your powers, Penny ? Don't forget that I am as powerful as you were and as old as Maturin. Funny, the old turtle really thought you and Pennywise could stop me when he is gone. Imagine how much he was disappointed when he realized that your hatred towards humanity was blinding you. He never got you those powers to use them against humans, or children..He wanted you to protect them. But, now that the old turtle is dead and you two are too weak to stop me. I'll be able to rule over that planet. I'll suck upon its energy until there is nothing left. I'll even start with you little charming town. Derry, is it ?"

Penny glares up at him, but had to admit that he can't protect you like this. Now that he is only human, he is happy, happier than he's ever been..but..The shadow chuckles evilly in the shell of his ear.

" That planet has been without order for much too long..It passed its life expectancy hundreds of years ago..But don't worry, as soon as I will have ate her, Maturin's powers will be in me and I will make sure to bring an end to humanity.."

Penny growls at the mention of you being eaten by Shardik and tries to jump on him with a roar.

" Don't you dare touch her !"

However, he suddenly wakes up, covered in sweat and sees that you are the one who woke him up. Your eyebrows are tensed in obvious worry and, without any words, Penny wraps his arms around you. He had felt fear before..but not like that..never like that..His heart is racing against his ribcage and he is holding onto you like it is the last time.

" P..Penny ? Are you alright ?"

Your question makes him open his eyes and come back to reality. You are running your hand gently on top of his head, smoothing his hair in the process to calm him down. He finally steps back and looks at Pennywise that had woken up as well. The both of them had felt it..He was coming back. You look at the both of them with a confused expression and finally ask, tired by the secrecy of both men.

" That's it. What's going on ? Why do you look so grave all of a sudden ?!"

Penny doesn't answer, he only stands up and gets out of the room without another word. You turn towards Pennywise, hoping for some kind of explanation. He doesn't peep either and only returns to the sofa that had become his bed for the time being. However, you don't let it go and sit in front of him with a determined look on your face.

" Now, you're going to tell me what's going on."

You didn't mean to make it sound like an order, but you couldn't just let them fend for themselves anymore. Pennywise finally turns towards you and sighs loudly before telling you what this was all about.

" Penny and I always had a very deep connection with Maturin, we could feel his presence and so could he. However, Maturin is not the only entity out there. The world has at least 12 entities guarding it. One of them being Shardik..Shardik is one of the twelve guardians of Beams that hold up The Dark Tower. It is a cyborg bear that stands over forty feet tall and one ugly unkillable bastard with more energy than millions of suns. He was pissed to know that I killed his brother and wanted to come and exterminate this planet on which lives his brother's murderer..But like many, he was scared of us. But now that we lost our powers ? He's coming, and with you being the turtle's successor ? We will all die for sure."

You lean against the back of your chair and sigh loudly. You only are a painting teacher..Of course he would crush you. But, that didn't mean you had to give up.

" Well, aren't you the optimist ?! Why don't you show me how to fight instead of complaining ?!"

He ignores you and only turns his back to you as he pretends to fall asleep again. You stand up and suddenly throws his blanket off. That get a reaction and you can hear a growl from him as he stands up to face you menacingly.

" Why ?! You want to know why ?! Because of this !"

He suddenly takes you by the shoulder and digs his thumb in your wounded flesh. You whine in pain and Pennywise immediately retracts his hand.

" Do you really think that you'll ever be able to vanquish Shardik the bear with a human body ?! He would squish you in an instant! Learn how to heal yourself, then we'll talk about your fighting skills.."

You glare at him: deep inside, you know he is right, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating. You humph at him before leaving the room to join your bedroom, but then, you hear someone crying upstairs. You follow the sound and find Penny, sitting on the floor and leaning against one of the corridor's wall. He looks up at you when he hears you approaching and you crouch by his side with a reassuring smile.

" Hey..We're going to be okay..Alright ?"

You try to comfort him, but he only sobs.

" What if..What if you can't beat him ? What if the only solution is for us to get back into who we were ?"

You sigh, knowing that if there were to be no other solution, you would have to break your promise..You would have to hurt them, one way or another.

" I guess I'll have to change you back. I know that I prefer you to have the choice but..If there are no other solution, I'll have to break my promise. I can't let you die. Not when I know I could have avoided it.."

You sit next to him and you both stay quiet for a moment, lost in your thoughts until Penny looks at you with his eyes full of uncertainty.

" And what if I don't want to get back to what I was ? What if I want to stay human ?"

You can't help but smile and tears start to build up in your eyes..Why couldn't the universe leave them alone ? You are so close to them finally accepting their new forms..

" Then, I'll guess it'll be my job to be sure that you don't have to."

He smiles back and before you know it, you are both holding hands. You don't try to get it out, even though you know that at any moment, Penny could come back to his old ways. You're not scared of him, you aren't even sure if you ever really were ? You don't even notice that Pennywise had climbed up the stairs and is now looking at the both of you from afar with a slight frown. He only turns away and waits when he is safe in is bed to grunt.

" What does she find in him..?"

Unaware that his eyes glow a slight orange in the dark for a second.

The next day, you decide that it's grocery shopping time. However, the two clowns are still sound asleep and you take the opportunity to get out alone. Once in the street, you take a breath of fresh air and start walking towards the shop, wondering what you should buy for the two men. You enter the shop and start looking around. You are lost in your thoughts and don't see another person coming in your direction. You suddenly collide with said person and look up to see a man with blue eyes and a nice smile.

" I'm sorry. I didn't see you there."

He extends his hand towards you and you take it with a grateful smile.

" No. It's me. I should have looked where I was going."

His smile widens as you shake his hand. He introduces himself.

" I'm Dan. I don't really know my way around here. I'm the new teacher from down the block."

You smiles politely and introduce yourself as well.

" I'm Y/N. Nice to meet you. I'm the Art teacher of the neighborhood."

His eyes seem to light up at the mention of you being an Art teacher.

" Really ?! You're the Art teacher ? My cousin never stops talking about you. Tom ?"

You seem to remember last time and wince at the memory. Seems like Tom hadn't said anything about the incident..You try your best to keep your composure and automatically feel that you need to make amends somehow.

" Do you want..Do you want a coffee ?"

He smiles again and nods.

" Sure ! Lead the way."

You take your groceries and pay them before getting out. You end up in a small coffee shop and both take what you want before sitting outside.

" I'm sorry. You must think it's weird that I never came before. I just moved in from the States so..Tom isn't even aware that I'm back yet."

Oh. Well, you still hoped that Tom hadn't talked to anyone about what had happened. You smile and shake you head.

" Not at all. Tom is a very nice boy and I always like to meet the families of my students. It helps to understand them better. Although, it's the first time I actually invite a member for a coffee."

" I should be honored then."

He takes a sip of his coffee before winking playfully at you. You blush and let a small chuckle.

" To tell you the truth..Tom and I have been quite distant since our older brother died. I do sometimes feel guilty for leaving him, but.."

You see that he is concerned and put you hand on his compassionately.

" I'm sorry..It must have hurt."

You had heard about Tom losing a brother, he did have a period when he could only draw dark things. Horrible things. It must have been a shock for everyone in his family. Dan smiles gratefully at you before answering.

" Don't worry. It's been a year now. I'm stronger than this."

You smile sadly at him, but then feel two very familiar shadows looming over you from behind. A hand grabs your shoulder and squeezes it in silent warning.

" Hi Y/N. Who is this ?"

Penny..And Pennywise is certainly not far behind. Dan stands up and stretches his hand towards them with a bright smile.

" Oh ! Sorry ! My name is Dan, I'm the brother of one of Y/N's students. And you are ?"

You are about to answer when Pennywise does it for you. He takes his hand and smiles forcefully.

" Pleasure. My name is Robert, and this is Bob. We're her roommates. Unfortunately, she seems to have forgotten about us this morning. You should have woke us up, Y/N. We would have helped you with the groceries."

He may sound calm, but you know better: the way he pronounces the last word makes you understand that he is pissed. Even Dan seems to understand as he retracts his hand and addresses you one last smile.

" Well..I should go. It was nice to meet you, Y/N."

However, he still writes something on a piece of paper and hands it to you.

"Here is my number, just in case."

He then gives one last nod in acknowledgement to the two men before turning and walking away. You have cold sweat running down your back as you can feel the murderous glares of the two clowns behind you.

" Let's go. Shall we ?"

Penny finally ask, more like commands as he grabs you harshly by the arm and drags you towards the house. You just have the time to get your bags. As soon as you are home, you run towards the kitchen and pretend to be busy with putting the grocery items on the shelves and in the fridge.

" W..What do you want for..?"

You don't have the time to finish your sentence as Pennywise suddenly comes behind you and wraps his arms around you.

" Now, princess..You're going to turn around and face us. We're not angry. We just want to talk."

"..Just want to talk..?"

You repeat with a broken voice, making sure that you heard right. Pennywise only nods slowly and you gulp loudly before turning around with your eyes closed tight.

" Come on, darling..You know that we want to see your eyes..Come on."

You tentatively open one eye, then the other in shock. They are not angry..They are very mad. You see that their eyes have changed colors and their skins are white..the same white than a few weeks ago. Suddenly, Penny takes you by the throat and pins you to the fridge while Pennywise presses his nose again your throat. He then inhales deeply and growls perceptibly.

" Looks like your little stunt hurt us more than we thought..I'm smelling your fear, sweetheart. And it smells delicious..One more minute, and we would have surely taken our true appearances back."

You don't understand. You hadn't hurt them, so why are they taking their clown forms back ?! Why are they angry even ?! You try to breathe, but Penny's mouth is against yours in a second..You open your eyes wide 'Everything makes sense now. They are jealous. Pain..They're in pain. You whimper when he bites your bottom lip. But, you don't open your mouth and he groans.

" You are going to open that mouth, sweet thing..Or I'm not sure you'll have a mouth to close at the end of the day.."

You open your eyes wide and tears are falling down your face. You don't have a choice but to open your mouth. But before he could do much, Pennywise gets a hold of him and throws him away from you.

" What the heck, Penny ?! When I said we were supposed to talk, I didn't mean by putting your tongue in her mouth ! Jeez ! Get a hold of yourself, kid !"

For a moment, shame and guilt seem to take a hold of Penny and he shakily stands back. He seems confused himself..Why did he do that ? Pennywise is taken aback by the clown's kiss..Where the heck did he even learn that from ?! Pennywise then returns to you, curled into a little ball on the floor and his heart tightens..Sh*t. They got carried away..Again. He sighs loudly and takes back his human form. Penny also loses his white skin and his yellow eyes. He wants to approach you but, you cry out.

" Don't touch me !"

Penny freezes and tries to nuzzle your neck as an apology, but you frown and push him back.

" No, Penny ! I'm angry ! You didn't have the right ! I didn't want you to be my first kiss ! I wanted someone who loved me !"

He looks up to Pennywise for help, but the older clown just shrugs. He has no idea of what to do..Truth is, he doesn't even know what all the problem is with "first kiss". He knows that a girl had to remain pure in order to marry when he was still alive..But he thought that rule had been abandoned long ago ? However, you seem very upset and Penny doesn't like it when you cry. He tries to think of a solution, of anything to make you forget what happened..He wants to get out the music box, but in your rage, you grab it and smash it against the wall. To your horror, you realize too late what you've done and Penny roars before pouncing on you, his teeths bare and ready to chomp on you. Pennywise tries to make him get off you, but he is too weak and Penny doesn't have any problem pushing him aside. However, Pennywise falls and knocks his head against a nearby table. You can see blood, and so does Penny. Penny quickly gets back to his human form and shakes Pennywise to wake him up.

" Pennywise ! What's going on ?!"

Pennywise only groans in pain when Penny shakes him again. You instantly come by his side and automatically feel the sweat covering his arms and forehead. You then see a strange mark on his neck and blood starts getting out from his nose, eyes and ears. You quickly unbutton his shirt and gasp in horror.

" Oh my God.."

He was covered by black sports that seemed to spread all over him like a..a disease.

" P..Pennywise. Did you have the..?"

" The black plague ?"

He guesses and you nod. He sighs and finally nods.

" Yes. It was not as bad as my family though.."

You bite your lower lip..By how fast it was spreading, he had a few hours at best. The disease seemed to have survived with him. You are about to call the ambulance when Pennywise stops you.

" Don't..Don't call the hospital. Those bastards won't know what to do..They're not prepared. Plus, they could get infected."

You sigh before remembering that..

" Pennywise..You bit me."

Your voice is shaking as you wonder if you will have it too..? Pennywyse's eyes widen and he curses.

" Sh*t. I have no idea.."

You have trouble breathing and put your hands in your pockets as you pace back and force, wondering what you should do ? You suddenly feel something inside your palm and quickly get it out to look at it. Sam's number..Inviting him could maybe break the deal and make them return to what they were ? Save them ? You shiver at the thought. Yes..But at what price ? You look back at Pennywise, his eyes are closed and his breathing very bad..You don't have a choice. You call him. It doesn't take you long to have him on the other side of the line.

" Hello ?"

" Sam ? Hey ! Could you come over ?"

You emphasize on his name, which make both of the clowns groan loudly in disapproval. However, they know what you're trying to do and don't try to stop you.

" Yeah ! Sure! I'll be right here !"

You force yourself to smile, still wanting to sound excited as to see him. However, the clowns seem to slowly change and growl loudly in the background. You hang off and look at them with a small sad smile.

" You know that it's the only way..Please, don't make this even more complicated than it really is."

Both clowns seem to understand your sacrifice and Pennywise slowly takes your hand with, for the first time in forever, tears in his eyes.

" Thank you, sweetheart."

You only nod and then, ask Penny to move him upstairs, as for Dan not to see him. He reluctantly agrees and helps you move the man upstairs. You then ask Penny to go hide in the basement. You prepare yourself and it doesn't take long for the doorbell to ring. You take a big breath before opening the door and letting Dan in. He looks around and finally smiles at you.

" Hi. So, what did you want to talk about ?"

You bite your lip and start thinking of a good reason for his presence.

" I..I just thought that it's been a long time since I've last had company and I wanted to see you again.."

He smiles and nods before sitting down on the couch. You gulp loudly before sitting beside him and looking at everything but him. He seems to catch on your nervousness and gently runs his hand on your back to soothe you.

" Hey, if you're not ready, I understand. I can wait and.."

" No !"

You hadn't meant to sound so desperate, but Pennywise was dying and you didn't know how to save him but to hurt him the only way you could. You take Dan by the collar and suddenly kiss him on the lips. He seems surprised at first, but reciprocates soon enough. You open your eyes and see that his are closed, he is actually enjoying the kiss. You smile. Maybe it wasn't so bad ? Penny and Pennywise would go down to the sewers and you would get to have a normal life back. However, you should have known that things wouldn't be so simple. Dan starts to be more persistent and slowly slides his hand up your thigh.

" No, Dan, wait.."

But he doesn't wait and only deepens the kiss to shut you up. Suddenly, someone pushes you apart harshly and you see Penny that took back his original form. He glares at Dan and growls menacingly before taking you in his arms and running in the basement. When he stops, you call him, nervous and scared that he would hurt you.

" Penny ?"

You ask, afraid that something had gone wrong..But, Penny only smiles with his multiple rows of very sharp teeths before answering you in his familiar high-pitched singing voice.

" ~I'm back.."

You smile in relief, but Penny suddenly takes you by the throat and you only have the time to look at him with widened eyes.

" Don't look at me like that..We wouldn't want Shardik to come and get you.."

When you fall into complete darkness, you barely hear Penny adding something in the shell of your ear.

" Don't worry. When all of this is over, we'll make sure to remind you who you truly belong to..You've been playing with us for too long, pet. With no humanity to abide by, there will be nothing to hold me back.."

Whereas upstairs, Pennywise enters the room transformed as you and takes Dan by the neck to kiss him harshly. However, when Dan opens his eyes, Pennywise is standing before him with a large grin.

" Surprise, shawty ! Not the person you were expecting, huh ? What ? Never kissed a clown before ? Remember that when the girl says no, it means no."

And then, without a warning, Pennywise sinks his teethes into Dan's shoulder. However, he doesn't scream. Pennywise feels something acid in his mouth and quickly steps back with a sour growl.

" You aren't human.."

Dan only chuckles before sitting on the couch in a nonchalant manner. His skin quickly turning to a pale shade of white and his eyes brighten almost mischievously.

" Man..Didn't think it would take you this long to figure it out.."

[magnusgoetia]

Transcript of a Sinner’s Conversation: A Meeting with Caecus

--Begin (In Medias Res)--

Sinner: You kiddin'? Dyin' was the best thing that's ever happened to me.

Caecus: There’s nothing you left behind? No family to miss?

Sinner: My family? Fuck 'em, I'd ‘ave hired 'elp to kill 'em already if it meant they'd be dead-dead, and I wouldn't have to spend time wiv 'em down 'ere. It wouldn't be right for me to force this on my friends either, but they'll be 'ere in due time anyway. I can wait.

Caecus: So, you’re expecting your friends to join you here as well. The wait must be awfully lonely.

Sinner: Ah, not really. I’ve made friends while I’m ‘ere. The shit I can do ‘ere is like, fucking magic and with it I can make up for what I lack in a lot of different ways. Just wish I could remember how I ‘ad died.

Caecus: Maybe it’s better not to remember… Not all of us intended to be here, after all.

Sinner: No. No, perhaps it’s best not to remember. I quickly found out that it's not just evil folks that end up here, lots of good folks, plenty of weird ones too. I'm sensing you’re of the “gooder” ones, you radiate...well, it’s 'ard to describe, but I don't sense any hostility from you at the very least, even though you were born ‘ere.

Caecus: How amiable of you. But remember, a birth is just a new beginning of sorts. You couldn’t have been alone since you were… delivered to us.

Sinner: Ah, you’re a poetic type aren’t ya? Anyway, I’ve not made many friends but I do ‘ave a particular fondness for this one clown...me an' 'im seem to 'ave this weird connection wiv each other. Actually, he's more of a jester type, though rather embarrassingly his name escapes me...

Caecus: Are you, by chance, referring to an imp named Blocko?

Sinner: Yeah, don’t surprise me you know ‘im. He seems like the type to ‘ave a particular reputation.

Caecus: That he does, and yet a divine will connects us. I’m being led to believe your intriguing appearance has an even more… intriguing history.

Sinner: Riiiight...Well, you know what they say about skeletons and closets. Though I suppose I ‘ave nothing to hide ‘ere...Well, to put it simply, I was a broken kid. I never got help, and I did... unspeakable things to anyone who ‘ad wronged me—or simply didn't like.

Caecus: Even the purest of souls can be corrupted by another’s sins.

Sinner: Yeah...Well, it's not like I'll stop doin’ what I did while I was alive, with all that murder and hedonism. Though death has a way of humbling some people...In any case, the murders mostly stopped as I grew older. I seemed to have preferred to just traumatise people instead, ruin lives of the people I saw as bad or evil.

Caecus: Then you found a different punishment for those you had judged.

Sinner: I suppose so. A lot of it involved me spying on groups of people. I'd worm my way into the seedy societies that thought they were safe in their little circles and collect dirt on them. Really sick shit too by the way but don’t worry, the hypocrisy wasn’t lost on me either.

Caecus: Oh? You judged yourself a hypocrite yet continued along a path of self-appointed righteousness... Why?

Sinner: I don’t know, maybe a sense of catharsis? A lot of these were people who I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about killing or whatever. Sometimes it was more personal too, there were—still are people I am attached to up there that got hurt, and I took my revenge on them in their place.

Caecus: Ahh, how noble. Fighting for your friends.

Sinner: Yeah, there was this one particular bastard. Actually, there were a few…but…eh, nevermind…this one particular guy who was essentially lying to one of these “friends” and caused them a psychotic breakdown. I didn’t take action right away, but I did end up killing ‘im. Didn’t even bother hiding the fact it was a murder.

Caecus: What made you wait?

Sinner: Money, mostly. It makes the world up there spin, and you need a lot of it to get anything done, right? Well, I ‘ad to wait until I ‘ad enough money to fly to the states on top of all that shit involved in immigratin’. When I settled in, that’s when I made my move on a buncha grudges. This guy was just the first. Moving to the states made my life a lot easier in some ways. Was a lot easier to sleep when I took care of the grudges too.

Caecus: Oh, wow. You must have had remarkable resolve to keep a “grudge” that long… Tell me, did all of them truly deserve it?

Sinner: No, most didn’t, but I am…was, an angry person. I found I was very much capable of venting my anger, to put it mildly, and I was much too young when I had...shall we say...discovered it.

Caecus: Young minds are impressionable.

Sinner: Right, and the fact that I was generally good at getting away with it made me feel just that little bit better about it.

Caecus: So, you exploited that validation to continue justifying your actions. Most sinners in your position never reach awareness...

Sinner: Yeah? I’ll take that as a compliment, but I was totally emotionally disconnected when committing my crimes. Afterwards I pretty much always dealt with conflict. Cognitive dissonance is a bitch. Though I had largely stopped my ways. I’m ‘aving way too much fun down ‘ere, and even though I won’t drag ‘em down here with me, I’d love to have my friends join me eventually.

Caecus: Would they be pleased being here, embrace this existence like you have?

Sinner: I dunno, some of them have a hard enough time as it is with one existence, I doubt they’ll be too happy to find out there’s another waitin’ for ‘em. The others I’d imagine would be quite surprised all the same, being atheists and such, but I reckon they’d come to like it.

Caecus: An existence you cannot escape is itself a prison. Albeit, choosing to enjoy it in spite of that perspective is a marvelous thing. If you could imagine them in your presence, what would you do?

Sinner: Again, I dunno. It’s hard to tell when they’re not here yet but I am somewhat interested in what’ll end up happening should they get here. I dunno if I’ll be able to tell if it’s them even.

Caecus: And how do you dare to enjoy existence now?

Sinner: Well, I’ve been doing everything I’ve ever wanted to do but could never do in life amongst other things. It’s kinda embarrassing, but I played a bunch of video games, so I miss those quite a bit. I’ve found plenty of ways to fill that void though. Some of your movies are pretty sick down ‘ere, and importing goods from the other rings to ‘ere means I don’t miss out…mostly, on their fun too. I just wish I could explore the other rings; I don’t get why us sinners can’t.

Caecus: Decretum is often difficult to understand. However, it would seem a blessing that you’ve been placed with the multifarious company of the pride ring.

Sinner: True enough, whatever that means. There’s a lot of strip clubs, greedy businesses and shit, stuff you think you’d only find in the other rings. Though I think I probably would’ve ended up in wrath if we landed in the rings based on our sins.

Caecus: Most catechisms view wrath as an excessive anger. You strike me as having more control than the average sinner.

Sinner: A lot of people on the surface woulda said the same too, I was and I suppose still am really good at keeping it in check, well, good enough to not make it obvious anyway. Though it’s been a lot tougher down here.

Caecus: This is a realm of collective temptation, after all.

Sinner: My only judge here is myself and perhaps my peers if I let them. I still kill down here, but it’s been in self-defence. I don’t think I’ve killed anyone out of anger yet but let’s just say I’d feel sorry for the poor sod who happened to piss me off on a bad day.

Caecus: You’ve always been your own judge. I suspect the lack of good comparisons for your behavior here has coaxed you further.

Sinner: Actually, I could tell you about the first person I “killed” down here. It was soon after I woke up. I suppose this guy thought it’d be easy—fresh sinner, just in time to be another tally mark on some statistic.

Caecus: A second death, the lake of fire…

Sinner: Uh...yeah, I reacted on instinct and it musta been a sort of “kiss of death” type shit. I only touched the dude with my hand, and he just kinda…shrivelled up and died. You know…like when a cartoon character eats a lemo—ah sorry, you can’t watch TV.

Caecus: Ah, yes… a shrivelling death is nevertheless descriptive.

Sinner: Anyway, I have a bunch of other powers too but that one I’m most afraid of you know? I can drop the ambient temperature of an area so shit gets cold, have some form of telekinesis and a buncha other stuff, like I have some kinda control over this weird glowy energy, it’s how I have my eyes, which are purely for show, I don’t need them since I can see perfectly fine without ‘em...not that you’d know I even have ‘em.

Caecus: I’m aware you observe our world, in a traditional sense. My observations are just a bit more… unorthodox. And I feel as if your fear is not from a lack of understanding.

Sinner: Well I seem to have it under control, but I’m afraid in a moment of weakness I might react without thinking, you know? I’ve not had it happen yet, but it would be so easy when flippin’ out that I just give ‘em the ol’ touch of death.

Caecus: Even a king��s heart is just a stream of water to the hand of… fate.

Sinner: Gonna be honest, I haven’t the foggiest of what you just said. Though if I’m being honest myself, I couldn’t care less if it was someone I didn’t know anyway. Only really care about my friends and such. You seem pretty neat yourself.

Caecus: The impression is mutual. It’s not often that I’m seen as anything other than senseless and intimidating. I don’t find it unwarranted, granted; my appearance is as disconcerting as my psyche.

Sinner: How do you even know what you look like? It’s not like you can just look into a mirror.

Caecus: I was presented with a vision soon before I arrived, my last blessing I suppose… Regardless, my rebirth is a tale for another time. I’ve relished in your company long enough, and I must answer my calling. I’m sure our paths will converge again.

Sinner: Hey, I hope so too...uh....

Caecus: Please, call me Caecus.

Sinner: Well, it’s only polite to give you my name too. I go by many names here, but I am quite fond of “Mr. Death” as silly as it sounds.

Caecus: Silly, yes, but very becoming of you. A pleasure, Mr. Death.

Mr. Death:Well, don’t let me keep you. I’d like to see you again sometime, Caecus. I’ll take my leave.

Caecus: All in due time.

--End--

[dungeondicedivaarchieve]

A few months ago I typed up some comments about the anime-only scene between Otogi and Honda on the blimp. Found here.

Well... now I'm here to talk about what happened before that scene. Because I read so much more into it.

Let's take a walk.

Please keep in mind that a great deal of this speculation comes from the belief that, despite Mr. Clown not being seen in the anime, he still exists and his relationship to his son is very similar. Also please keep in mind that this is all speculation from someone who has spent waaaayyyy too much time looking into everything Ryuji Otogi says/ does.

~~~

We join our heroes shortly after Yugi's Duel with Bakura. Ryou has fallen unconscious and the stab wound he sustained earlier has re-opened (unless you're watching the dub where blood doesn't exist.)

Otogi's first line comes after Shizuka has asked Kaiba to land the plane, and the camera cuts to her making a pose that demonstrates both uncertainty and discomfort. Kaiba stares at her and Honda and Otogi both get between them... to Honda's annoyance.

More on this in a second.

Kaiba ignores this and turns his attention back to Jonouchi and Yugi, telling them that it was Bakura's choice to Duel and that he will not be held responsible for the repercussions of another's mistake.

This causes Shizuka to shout (probably for the first time in her life.)

Otogi makes this face. Personally, I think it looks like a combination of surprise and concern. But why would he be concerned?

Because Shizuka is a lot younger, a lot smaller, and a lot less powerful (both physically and financially) than Seto Kaiba.

He is fearful of what Kaiba will do in retaliation, ans so.

He gets between Shizuka and Kaiba in hopes of transferring whatever Kaiba's about to do to him instead of her.

Because Ryuji Otogi is an abuse victim that knows what happens when you challenge someone bigger and more powerful than you. They put you back in your place.

Also Honda continues to not like this. Otogi is cutting him off each time he tries to speak, and while this could be seen as Otogi trying to one up Honda (and the dub absolutely took it that way) I can see it taken a number of ways. There's a chance he's trying to team up with Honda and hope that Kaiba won't start anything if it's two against one. It could also be that Otogi's not paying a lot of attention to Honda. He does see Shizuka and start moving in front of her before Honda moves into the frame the second time.

Going on a small tangent here but...

Keep in mind, Otogi stepped into a fight against four other guys and got himself involved in the fight against a cult to protect Honda and Shizuka. Sure, you can say that he did that to have a chance with her, but that's a lot of risk to have a chance with a girl he knows nothing about... especially for a guy who could have any number of girls with minimal effort. He will also shortly after this put up his own body as a gamble to protect Shizuka from a creepy old man that wants to wear her body like a suit. Personally, I don't think Otogi has any romantic feelings towards Shizuka at all, since each time they interact, he isn't so much flirting as he is trying to protect her. He treats Rebecca in a very similar way when he joins the duel between her and Varon under the assumption that Mai is also dueling, and that Rebecca will be outnumbered (and the correct assumption that a 12-year-old is about to pick a fight with a cult member who has the power to steal her soul. I've heard critiques that Otogi is very sexist because he won't let Rebecca nor Shizuka fight their own battles, which, yes, that's one way to take it... or you can take it as him stepping in when people significantly younger than even he is (Shizuka is 13) are put into incredible danger.)

That was lengthier than I meant for it to be, I'm sorry, back to the actual post.

So, despite everyone's best attempts, Kaiba's not landing this plane. Now get out.

Shizuka makes this face as they leave.

She's not having a good time.

Again Honda tries to talk to Shizuka and again Otogi cuts him off. He also grabs her hands and makes a very dramatic show of himself.

He makes this ridiculous face (that the dub skips because right after it, Shizuka blushes, and the dub really wants to portray Duke as the bad option in this love triangle. So we can't let it be known that she's happy he's doing this.)

This. This is not a face you use when you're trying to be suave and impress a girl. Heck, this is not a face we'll ever see him use again. We've seen him be suave and flirtatious, we know what it looks like, and folks, this ain't it.

To me, he knows he's being ridiculous and over-the-top. That's the point. He's trying to make Shizuka smile or at least stop making that face.

Now... this is where things take a turn.

Disclaimer: This might come across like I don't like Honda. I don't dislike Honda at all! It's just the nature of this scene.

Honda volunteers to go look for the Millennium Ring. Yugi agrees that they should all look. Honda says no, Jonouchi and Yugi should focus on their duels.

We cut to Otogi (still holding Shizuka's hands, I think she's okay now buddy you can stop) and he asks if Shizuka wants to help him search (he does not speak for her like he does in the dub.)

Honda insists Otogi come with him and very forcefully shoves/pushes Otogi away from Shizuka (who does, admittedly, look relieved.) When Otogi tries to protest that this isn't what he wants, Honda grabs his face to silence him.

This is not the first time someone has silenced Otogi by forcefully touching his face.

And this is not the expression of someone who is at all comfortable with the person touching him.

Honda then proceeds to drag a flailing Otogi away from the group while covering his mouth.

Otogi is doing everything in his power to communicate that he does not want this without being able to speak or break the guy's hold around his neck and no one is recognizing this as a sign of distress... or they are and they're just not stopping it. Heck, Jonouchi thinks Honda is being nice.

We can also see in this still that Honda's got a few inches on Otogi. Not a lot, Honda is 5'11 and Otogi is 5'8, but that's a considerable difference when you're intimidated.

Honda drags him to the top of the blimp and, while Otogi is looking about the blimp for the ring (what Honda claimed they were going up here to do) Honda stays still. Directly in front of the door. Blocking Otogi from being able to get away. (I can't post any more images in this post I'll have to rely on hyperlinks now.)

Otogi can't get away and he's been pulled away from the group. He is very aware this guy has a problem with him and can very easily overpower him.

So Otogi does what I've dubbed activates smug mode.

I'm going to make another post elaborating on activate smug mode (this one's long enough as it is) but, basically, Otogi only acts this way when he's trying to get the better of someone or when he's feeling threatened. He is also incredibly smug when he approaches his father to tell him that he lost to Yugi, knowing full well how his father will react to that news. It's a defense mechanism. Honda's taller and stronger than Otogi, all Otogi can really do is badmouth him and make him feel smaller in hopes that that will make Honda back off.

He then makes this pose.

I'm no body language specialist, but I worked as a counselor at a battered women's shelter for a while, so I was taught a few things.

1. He turns to his side. When you're intimidated by someone, you don't face them directly. You tilt your body away to give the illusion of distance, and to keep your vitals out of their direct reach.

2. He folds his arms in front of his stomach. Remember, Shizuka crossed her arms in front of her stomach when she was facing down Kaiba. Otogi is masking it a little by pointing and propping his elbow on his hand, but folding the arms over the chest or stomach remains a typical sign of insecurity/fear.

3. He is clutching his arm. This is something people do during severe bouts of anxiety in an attempt to ground themselves.

In conclusion, yes, Otogi sounds very confident and like he's egging Honda on. He sounds confident. Because that's the only thing he really has over Honda. Honda seems insecure about his appearance when compared to Otogi, thus why he gets deeply irritated whenever Otogi gets close to Shizuka. Otogi taps into that and uses it because it's his only defense in this situation. Maybe Honda will get fed up and leave to go lick his wounded pride.

It doesn't work. They throw hands. Well, Honda throws hands. Otogi stays in a very defensive stance the entire time. Fun fact: Keeping your arms raised close to your face and blocking your chest is one of the main stances in the more defensive based martial art of Tae-Kwon-Do.

In conclusion, my name is Axel and I think about this way, way, waaaay too much. I am of the belief that Otogi is very intimidated by Honda. I was going to attach images here of all the times Honda grabs Otogi's shirt/ threatens to punch him in the face but since I can't attach any more images and hyperlinks are a pain, I'll save it for another post. There are at least five instances.

No, I don't hate/dislike Honda, in fact, I'm pretty sure if Honda knew about Otogi's background, he'd feel terrible. The fact is they're both insecure teenage boys, Otogi because of his home life and Honda because of his family's social status and perhaps his lack of success as a duelist.

And... while I've thought about this scene a lot ever since posting that other post, I never realized how sad it makes me. Otogi's not hiding that he's not okay with being manhandled and dragged off, and his friends just sorta. Let it happen. Again, I don't blame any of them. Both Yugi and Jou have a lot on their minds and they don't seem to notice that this is a problem. Probably because 1. Honda and Jou are very physical/ playfully threatening people, that's just how they are. 2. No one knows about Otogi's homelife. They have no way of knowing he would have issue with any of this. They do it to one another all the time.

I have a lot of feelings.

Thank you for coming to my TEDTalk.

[rpbetter]

Hi Vespertine. Sorry to add to the pile, I promise I will send in some writing related things to compensate later. I also misgendered that user in a comment by accident with she/her. I blocked them, but they still looked at my blog, and they made a post that said by using the wrong pronouns, which they thought was intentional and meant to hurt them, I purposefully called them a hysterical woman stereotype. Obviously that wasn't true. I was just going off a comment someone else made on my blog where they used she/her, and I thought I had to correct myself. It was a case where good intentions, even if I was not happy with the user's behavior or expected to talk to them again, I was still going to use the right pronouns, but my intentions were warped by someone with an agenda. I'm sorry to hear you're getting the same heat. I didn't use my rp blog to interact with the user or talk about them because I was sure something like this would happen, either by them or other people like that callout blog, and I think other people had the same idea. I dodged a bullet there, but I'm still paranoid. I'm paranoid I'll hear a notif and see my rp blog in a callout for this, because someone hunted it down, or a callout for trying to talk to the person who started all the drama. Nobody should be scared to talk about someone on their own blog. Nobody should be scared to talk openly, in general. Nobody should be called out for trying to talk with someone either. This culture of fear is so disturbing to me.

Hey there, Anon!

Oh, I would love that, but you totally don't have to, of course. Don't feel bad for adding on, I'm here for anything at all, and honestly, with the job I'm doing IRL right now, it's really hard for me to concentrate well enough on finishing any of the advice posts (at least, to be the quality y'all deserve). It's a hot topic, it's included so, so, terribly many people in the RPC. It's also one that's generating some great, needed conversations. So, it isn't like you're adding to anything bad, annoying or distracting me, or contributing to the inflammatory side of this.

Hell, it's got to be really nice for some of the people in messages I've received to see proof that they weren't alone in this experience. I can keep publishing the hate anons for exactly that reason, and I can promise people they aren't the only ones (in this or in any such horrible behavior), but it's different to see it coming from a third party! So, thank you for that.

Though, I am deeply sorry that you were treated to more than a ringside seat in this debacle.

It's not very encouraging to be thoughtful and respectful of other people when literally nothing you can say or do will result in anything other than more twisting of your words, and that's a big problem I have with this shit. Things like actual transphobia, intentional misgendering, actual infantalization and shit treatment of ND people, actual harassment, etc. etc. etc. matter. It's just more trivializing of real problems for the sake of blowing nonexistent bullshit up, and that is immensely disgusting to me. The fact that you damn well know someone out there has had the reaction to this behavior of, well, fuck you then, fuck trans people is really upsetting.

Like, yeah, let's be real, if you require social rewards to do the right thing, you have some problems lol but at the same time, you know who does require social rewards to develop themselves? Young people. And the RPC is largely comprised of people in their early twenties who, for a variety of possible reasons, are still at that point

Furthermore, no, it's not anyone's job to be good representation at all times, especially when that performance comes at a cost to themselves, but maybe don't go out of your way to be the person that is the necessary push in the wrong direction of someone's formative experience with people of your community. If it's costing you nothing to not clown on serious issues, but is costing the entire world another bigot for you to clown on serious issues, the choice should be a bit obvious here. Whenever you're in a safe place - physically, emotionally - and capable of that kind of logic, exercise it, damn.

It's definitely a better course of action than playing out skewed activism by vilifying innocent people, more worthy of one's effort than losing their collective shit over a very easy mistake. One that I'd say was even less avoidable in your case. AGAIN, how, exactly is anyone supposed to know this shit when they're blocked? When they aren't subverting the blocks they, themselves, put in place? I know for a fact none of them are looking at the information of the people they choose to try to drive out of the RPC, but everyone else is supposed to make zero reasonable assumptions, check and recheck blogs they have made an effort not to visit for good reason. Sounds absolutely reasonable and sane!

So, you know what? I'm going to be even more offensive here and talk for a moment about why these mistakes are reasonable.

When we see a post and reblog it, it's not unreasonable to assume that the OP had knowledge we didn't. Since we blocked the offending party, but they're discussing them. OP uses the incorrect pronouns, we end using the incorrect pronouns as well. This is not malicious intent. It isn't intentional at all, it's just having a discussion. A discussion that wouldn't have even transpired if they hadn't taken it upon themselves to (what a coincidence) take personal issue with a RPer they repeatedly took out of context and decided to shame for it, before proceeding to get an even bigger stick and pot.

When we decide to block a blog, it's our responsibility to stay off of it. Not go looking at it for any reason. That is now off-limits. When someone blocks us, it's also our responsibility to respect that decision, no matter how outrageous it was, no matter what we might need to verify. That's the issue with blocking when we don't exploit how easy it is to get around blocking on tumblr; we've cut ourselves off from any further meaningful communication, including passive communication like rules and posts. Kind of like how you cannot expect an apology to mean a damn thing when you've blocked everyone you harassed, then made that apology in a post on your blocked blog. Don't put up walls you expect people to see through, then get upset when they can't see through them.

As a community, the RPC is primarily afab. That's never a problem to bring up when someone wants to be angry about their female muse not getting equal attention and so on, but it's a problem to discuss any other time, about any other problem. Dealing with the things that we're socially raised to ascribe to as afab people is that problem. It's reflected in our behaviors, interests, and speech. We may not want to live in a gendered world, we may eschew that, but we were raised in a gendered world and it shows. One which has a lot of complications for being that, like almost everyone feeling safer around afab people by default of the All Men Are Bad, All Women Are Harmless bullshit.

We not only know that the RPC is primarily afab, we tend to assume comfort, especially in hostile situations, by assuming those pronouns in others.

And it so does not matter how much any of us like it, some people have more masculine or feminine tones. Even in text. That means neither that someone's gender identity should be disregarded nor that this text-based presentation is correct, but like every other unfair thing that exists, it's a thing. Like you, Anon, you genuinely come across in tone as primarily neutral, slight lean toward masculine. Even if I wasn't inclined to do so, not knowing you and all, I'd use they/them for you instinctively because that's what your speech is giving me. That isn't any more unreasonable than ascribing another set of pronouns based on the same information.

Oh yeah, I know, lurkers, the difference is that they/them is the appropriate choice when one does not know. I know that logically, but people aren't always operating like robots, weirdly enough. We default to a lot of instinctive behaviors, and we aren't always operating at the top rung of cognition either. Being human works like that, it's really that simple and not malicious if you're not reading that into it.

As we're all aware, it is being read into, and your experience is exactly why; you now feel worried every time you get a notif, you've been outed as a supposed transphobe, and while it is incredibly fortunate you stopped this from transpiring on your RP blog, it still transpired somewhere and has had a negative effect. If they find they correct thing or set of things, they can get so many more people to dogpile you over it. Get enough people to do that, make someone miserable enough, especially people who are already going through a hard enough time already, they'll leave.

It is a terroristic act, and it has the effect of all terroristic acts; people are afraid to exist outside of shifting bounds (that shifting is a part of the terrorism). They can't have an opinion, write any muse/topic they wish, be honest on their own blogs, support the "wrong" topics, muns, or blogs. Attacking people for a mistake, not allowing them to address it either, just furthers all of that. It's showing the community what happens when you aren't on the "right" side, even if that isn't even the case. They certainly turn on their own quickly enough.

So, of course, it's a culture of fear and it is disturbing as hell. No one has any right to make someone feel unsafe over fiction or a hobby or a difference of opinion. Everyone has the right to say whatever they want on their own blogs, to talk openly, and yes, to try to talk to others without feeling at risk.

Even if what someone says is genuinely unpleasant. This isn't the way one handles it. By all means, have a problem with something, have a problem with someone, but grow up and talk to them openly, without bringing everyone you can dredge up to join in. I have no issue with people arguing, I have an issue with bullying. If it's your whole goal to harass people without consequences to the end result of deactivation and lockstep behavior from everyone else, that's what you're doing, folks. Bullying.

If you can't win an argument, especially one your own ass began, in any other way than this, you're not engaging in an argument.