#debating if i should post this here or on my main but here it goes!

[rpgdisc]

i love you t4t romance i love you my daughter zelda she has always been the only girl...

[bulbabutt]

ok i wanna talk about tmnt 2007 and the way i think this is the best version of a leo and raph conflict, and also leo as a character

for context i've been talking about tmnt things kinda chronologically, so i'm gonna mention an unconditional understanding in 03 i bring that up in a previous post about that show and the family dynamics in it here if u want context for what i mean

i think this movie can really be appreciated for the place it has between adaptations, and the way character-wise everyone is more or less the same as they've always been but with a more interpersonal relationship as the focus. the main villain of this movie doesn't really matter, the conflict, the fights, that's not where the strength is (although, it is reflected in the conflict and ill get into that)

so tmnt 07 is one movie that kind of combines the 90s movies, 03, and mirage all in one place, and tonally is is similar to the show that will come after it, 12. if the 90s movies give us conflict between leo and raph, and 03 gives us the unconditional understanding between the two, 07 takes these two aspects and creates a story out of it. (debate in your own mind if this movie is a literal sequel to the 90s ones or not, its not that important)

the set up of this movie is we are in a post killing the shredder world. leo has been told by splinter to go get training elsewhere, there isn't much context for what happened to cause this, but i would bet its a similar cause to 03, where he had ptsd and lashed out at his father to which splinter sends him to his grandfather to get better advice than he thinks he can give him. the difference here is there is no grandfather hes sent to, he's sent on a journey of self discovery around the world to learn about it and himself.

the thing about leo as a character, and this goes for all leos, he's has a very black and white way of thinking. leo thinks he's been sent away because he's failing his family, that he's not a good enough leader. so he stays away for longer because he doesn't feel good enough. he finds a place where he can help and he does that. leo always needs a bad guy to fight, or else he's fighting his own demons. so he stays there for a long time. finding a place he can help quietly, never letting anyone see him, and becoming a legend to the locals because no one knows what's really going down.

april manages to track him down and tell him about whats going on with his brothers, how they're holding up without him and without being a team, and i think thats a good reminder for him that they miss him. he doesn't tell april but he finds a way home only after hearing about this. when he arrives and speaks to splinter, he says "i was so caught up in my own world i forgot about everyone else, i'm sorry i failed" he still doesn't feel like he's done anything of worth.

i'm gonna jump in here and say, you know how we all love rise raph? cuz hes the big brother and some traits that come from that are like being overprotective and taking on everyone else's problems and trying to handle emotions alone? well that's a trait thats usually leo's. but the difference with leo is sometimes that concept doesn't make you as likeable. sometimes it means you come off like a nagging mother hen who thinks they know best but in an arrogant way. sometimes it makes you mirror being a parent when no one asked you to be. leo's less of a passionate character than raph, hes more analytical and full of himself. he takes splinters lessons more seriously, and hes always trying to do whats best for everyone so they don't have to worry. this is something evident with 03 and 12, but its so specifically noticeable here because these traits make up the main conflict. i just want to bring that up so we start seeing leo as no different than some of our other favourite iterations.

splinter responds to his apology by saying "you owe me no apology, but perhaps you should talk to raphael, your absence has been particularly difficult for him, though he'll never admit it" but when leo greets him raph is brushing him off.

on raph's end, this is him being angry that leo left, and angry that hes back and everyone wants to pretend that he wasn't gone at all. as if the time he was gone didn't happen. hes lashing out because he too cant handle talking about these emotions. and hes lashing out by becoming a vigilante in his own right.

i see a lot of people misunderstand what raph is doing here, that "this is what the turtles always do" or "this is the same as what leo was doing how could he be mad" when that is not true. that's what casey does. its true that both leo and raph have been fighting bad guys on their own (as a way of dealing with their issues) but raphael has made himself a costume to disguise himself which means hes prepared to be seen. hes riding a motorcycle around, which is loud. this isn't stealthy, this is aggressive. his vigilante name is in the news. the turtles are ninjas, they silently help where they can and fade into the night and, very specifically, they work as a team. these turtles live in a dangerous world, what if something happened to him while no one else was around? they would never know because he never told anyone.

so raph is lashing out, and leo doesn't have a good way of dealing with it. he tries to slide back into being leader, doing what splinter says but he forgets how his brothers are, and with raph egging them on they get into fights they shouldn't. which leo specifically gets in trouble for, as the oldest brother, and as their leader. leo tries to be this better leader hes supposed to have learned to be, but it doesn't work and raph ends up back out there in his vigilante get up. leo tracks down said vigilante, and in his peak "leo knows best" moment, lectures him, not knowing its his brother. there's a scuffle, and the mask comes off. let me point out that casey knew this vigilante was raph but his own brother didn't, because leo has been gone that long.

so lets get into what this fight is really about. on the surface, its "wow you've been going out at night alone putting yourself in dangerous situations with no backup" and "so what you're just mad that i can do it without you" which leo would be right about. and this is the analytical leo, he really thinks that's all that's going on here. what hes missing is that raphael has missed him as a brother, and hes hurt that leonardo left and just came back no big deal. that he wants everything to be normal. raphael is always a character with big emotions and the only outlet he knows to express them is violence.

leo, who as we've established, went away to learn to be better for his family is angry that raph doesn't see that. he's mad raph doesn't appreciate the effort he went to, and he thinks he's just angry because he's not in charge. each brother sees the other as being arrogant.

this leads them to the big fight. no one can disagree that this is the best part of the movie (seriously watch the movie for this scene if you haven't seen it before) , but the real best part of it is that raphael wins. raph proves hes just as capable of a fighter as his brother, if not more-so. he uses those sais as they're supposed to be used, catching leo's swords and in a fit of rage he fucking breaks them, leaving leo defenceless and completely vulnerable to attack. you'd think he'd be smug that leo lost but he pauses, going through a lot of emotions in a moment, questioning what he's doing, why hes doing it. and leo finally looks his brother in the eye and sees raph going through something he didn't before, realizing raph hasn't been angry that he's back, but that he's angry that he ever left. they don't have a conversation, because raph cant handle all these emotions and he runs away, crying as he does. leo just watches him, taking it all in and realizing the error of his ways.

hearing leo scream turns raph around, but he's too late to help him, and this is where raph regrets his own actions because right then, leo is also proven right in his argument. because he gets kidnapped. if leo hadn't chased raph down, there is a very good chance that would have been raph being kidnapped. with no backup, with no one knowing what happened to him. that's why its important that the turtles are a team.

raph goes home full of guilt, and there's a good moment of showing how he cannot open up emotionally here, because he grunts, punches the wall, knocks over some weights and forces splinter to ask him what happened, because that's how raphael is. he laments to his father that he finally understands why leo is the better son, proving that to raph none of this was about their team, but about their family. conflating the two ideas in his head. splinter gives him a talk that mirrors what he said to leo when he returned earlier in the movie, encouraging him that he is a good son and brother. this shows that these brothers have very similar insecurities about their value to their family.

the rest of the movie plays out as you expect, they go save leo, they stop the bad guy, they reconcile and behave as the team they're supposed to be. but i just want to point out that the villains plot is mirrored in leo and raph's conflict. the 'villain' here is a brother who has been cursed to be immortal without his own siblings. for 3000 years he lived to regret his actions and decided to undo his curse, but he used the cursed stone versions of his siblings to do so. no communication, just thinking he knew better (which maybe he did) and lying about it. that caused them to lie to him right back, and try to overthrow him and destroy the world. this is just one family whose inner turmoil could have destroyed the world. you might say, oh that's not a very interesting turtles villain, but its not supposed to be. its not the focus.

this movie is all about the complicated relationship between a family, and i see so many people talk about it by trying to ask who's right and who's wrong. that's not how it works. life is more complicated than that, people are more complicated than that. its boring to look at this movie and just say "leo is wrong and raph is right" because that's not even how the characters see it. this movie is about leo and raph being mirrors of each other in their arrogance, in their insecurities, and in their stubborn pig-headed refusal to let the other know how they feel. splinter says as much at the start of the movie. this whole movie shows that without each other, they need to be fighting something so they don't get swept up by their own emotions, which they are both bad at processing. they are SUCH brothers. they are so similar emotionally, yet they have such a hard time understanding each other.

personally 07 leo is my favourite leo for his complexity, his flaws his strength, his growth. its sad we never got those sequel movies to get into the other brothers heads as much as we got into leo and raphs heads.

also nolan north and james arnold taylor gave the best vocal performances in this movie and they deserve all the credit for it.

[yuri-is-online]

Do the timeline post!!

Right so before I get cracking on this I want to make a few things clear:

This is all speculation and should not be taken as fact, due to how XP and stamina gain work in this game I will probably re-vist this post once I am finally able to work on Zayne's myths card (i am prioritizing Xavier since I have both of his as opposed to just one of Zayne)

For simplicity's sake this post is just going to be focused on Zayne, though I will reference things from the other boy's lore where applicable. He ironically seems to have the easiest timeline to understand, which is saying something.

I will gladly make a post for Xavier later this week when I am able to unlock his last anecdote, but if you are more interested in Rafayel I will have to direct you to this post by u/joonmin on the love and deepspace subreddit as I don't have a lot of Rafayel cards and lack the information they posted. I will say that he seems to have the most complicated timeline out of all three of the love interests, and that a lot of the information on that thread won't make sense if you have not read chapter 7.

Ok? Ok. Here is my best attempt at a timeline for Love and Deepspace Zayne: SPOILERS FOR ALL IN GAME CONTENT UP TO CHAPTER 7, VARIOUS MOMENTS, AND ANECDOTES, PROCEED WITH CARE.

I lied I have one more thing I want to clarify: yes there is a timeloop/alternate reality thing going on in this game. That is not really something that I think needs debating because that's kind of the genre this developer does, and the game starts off telling you that the deepspace tunnel is a spacetime anomaly. It isn't subtext, it is just text.

Current Timeline

The current timeline where the main story of LAD takes place is set in the year 2048 in a place called Linkon City. We are told that the Deepspace Tunnel opened 14 years prior and that is when wanderers started invading earth. There is a lack of understanding about why this has happened, and it has sparked an interest in space exploration in the hopes of finding a solution.

The hunters association is sort of like an adventurers guild? It's supervised by the government, and is sort of split between Hunters like MC and researchers attempting to understand what makes the wanderers tick.

This includes researching protocores, currently the only thing the hunter's association knows for sure is that they contain a great deal of energy, and that they can cause disease in humans based off of which category the protocore falls into. This is confirmed to be what is wrong with MC.

It is also mentioned that protocore energy is used for lots of things, in technology I assume. This will be important later so keep it in mind.

The "arctic" that chapter 5 is set in appears to be referring to the Northern arctic circle. The in game "spacepedia" says there are lots of energy fluctuations (and therefore wanderer attacks) due to its close proximity to the earth's magnetic pole. The epicenter of these fluctuations appears to be Mt. Eternal, where most of the research institutions in the arctic are based.

There seem to be sort of "fixed points" that repeat themselves within Zayne and Rafayel's timelines, and a theme of MC forgetting things. The lyrics to the opening theme even say "Time goes by but memories rewind" and while Zayne doesn't say MC has forgotten anything to do with him specifically, she has forgotten something about both Xavier and Rafayel. For Rafayel, the thing she forgets also seems to be his "fixed point": he and MC always meet when they are younger. For Zayne, he always hurts someone with his evol at age 12.

While there are technically three versions of Zayne and two of them seem to be aware of each other: current/Dr. Zayne and Dawnbreaker Zayne. They both started dreaming of each other at 12. It is unclear if either version dreams about Forseer Zayne, or if he is aware of them, but all three versions of Zayne are fond of jasmine. I haven't made much progress with Zayne's myths card, but it is clear that this like has something to do with MC, just from the little bit I have been able to read.

Dr. Zayne dislikes talking about the incident when he was 12, simply telling his friend Will that he lost control of his evol and hurt someone. He refers to this someone as a friend, and I might be a smidge delusional... but I think that friend was probably MC. If she's forgotten about it, Dr. Zayne might see that as "for the best" and not wish to remind her of it.

It would also explain why Grandma trusted him with MC's care and those secret documents. He has gone very far out of his way to try and not be someone who hurts people, and is obsessed with working himself to the bone to save as many people as possible. Grandma might seem like a sweet old lady... but we know she has some questionable morals so I could see someone like her thinking that since Dr. Zayne feels like he owes MC he is a good choice to protect her since he won't betray her.

The Fragmented Dreams moment is typically pointed to when talking about Dr. Zayne and Dawnbreaker's dream connection, but after reading the Never Ending Winter anecdote I don't really think it is. Look at what the nightmare actually says:

I think this moment starts out with Dr. Zayne dreaming about MC coming to visit him at work and bring him lunch, but devolves into him dreaming about what he did when he was 12. Dr. Zayne's dreams of Dawnbreaker as depicted in the anecdote are almost always related to his mercy kills, he doesn't seem to see the finer details I'll get into when discussing Dawnbreaker's timeline. The anncedote makes me think that Dr. Zayne sees Dawnbreaker as a sort of manifestation of his fears for himself; he fears becoming a killer, he fears hurting people, the only things Dr. Zayne wants is to save lives. That wish applies to more people than just the MC, he genuinely enjoys being a doctor and is very popular with his patients.

Beyond Dr. Zayne seeing his friend turn into a wanderer and being forced to kill him, we don't know much about his relationship with his teacher or the arctic. We do know that he still visits the arctic from time to time to help Dr. Noah with his research, and we can only assume it has something to do with protocores. I think it might specifically have something to do with humans being transformed into wanderers, but that's wild speculation on my part.

Dawnbreaker Timeline

The concept of Dawnbreaker Zayne is introduced in the annecdote Still In Dark. It is set in an unknown time and place, but it is confirmed to not be Linkon as Dawnbreaker mentions wanting to visit there, but that it was destroyed a long time ago.

In this timeline in this unknown city, wanderer attacks are so common that people don't really leave their homes. Most menial jobs (such as staffing convenience stores) are done by robots and most people find their entertainment through VR.

It is known by the government of this unknown place that prolonged exposure to protocores and their energy transforms people into wanderers. These infected can then kill and infect other humans. When Dawnbreaker Zayne was 12 years old, he watched his adopted father transform into a wanderer and turn his mother. He used his evol to kill them both to save himself. This is also when he begins dreaming of Dr. Zayne, though he is much more interested in MC.

In the anecdote he is under investigation by the police as a suspected serial killer, as he has been mercy killing infected people as they transform so they can't turn more people. This includes children, which is what Dr. Zayne ends up dreaming of in Never Ending Winter.

The police officer investigating Dawnbreaker ends up learning about the infected, and destroys his investigative files after realizing his superiors know about these wanderers. He wishes Dawnbreaker Zayne luck in finding a solution before things get too far gone.

This anecdote does two very important things. First and foremost it confirms/introduces the concept that some wanderers used to be human, and that this transformation is caused by prolonged exposure to protocores. The second is that it suggests that MC is not a part of that world's timeline. Why is not clear, but Dawnbreaker doesn't know who she is, just that from what he can see in his dreams he wishes to be loved by her. I mentioned that Dr. Zayne hates Dawnbreaker, but it doesn't seem that Dawnbreaker hates him at all. He likes to watch medical dramas, and seems to genuinely want to be his other self even if he is aware that's impossible in his current reality.

Forseer Timleine

I haven't made much progress on this one, so we are going straight to bullet points on things I think are relevant.

Each of the myths cards take place in a world called Philos. It is unclear if this place is a planet, a country, or just a city as each Myths card seems to have a distinct cultural feel and history to it. I am leaning towards planet as Xavier is an alien and refers to earth as if he is foreign to it.

Xavier and MC also talk about how Philos is dying in his Myths card because of the wanderers, and that the wanderers will eventually leave Philos and make there way somewhere else.

It is a commonly liked head cannon that Dr. Zayne became a cardiologist because of MC's heart condition, and while that still might be true I think it might be a sort of residual desire to help her from his Forseer self, as MC breaks into his prison to try and cure her heart condition, which is slowly turning her into ice.

... forseer's MC is a little out there tbh. Kind of out of pocket and honestly I love that for her. If I was told I only had 3 years left to live my reaction wouldn't be to break into the Vatican to see if the Pope had any reliquaries that could prove my doctor wrong but I guess we all deal with grief differently.

I talked in the original timeline about the fact that all versions of Zayne like jasmine, but I am noting it here again as he agrees to not kill MC if she can convince his houseplant to bloom. Did I mention she broke into his house? Did I mention she did this practically claiming to be a government official? Of course Zayne is just going to shrug off her antics, even if he doesn't remember it he has seen worse.

My last sort of point I want to make here is that Xavier has a bit of throw away dialogue in battle asking whether or not something is "immortal or undying." Forseer Zayne refers to himself as undying, and has an issue with controlling his ice evol to the point it should be killing him, but isn't for some reason. It is also implied in MC's dialogue he is being used as a tool by Philos, which is something she can't stand. As for why this distinction is important, as of this point in time, I don't think Zayne is aware of his life as the Forseer because he is not immortal, unlike Rafayel or Xavier. When the Forseer dies, his memory of his life will go with him while Rafayel keeps his and Xavier- Well he just hasn't died yet.

Dr. Zayne and Dawnbreaker Zayne might be aware of each other because they still posses the same gift that the Forseeer (allegedly) does, or it might just be because of their connection to the MC, or because of the rift in spacetime above Linkon. It might even be a combination of all three. Whatever it is, it's a lot less complicated to understand than whatever the hell Rafayel has going on and makes me wonder how exactly all of these various timelines fit into place.

When I get more familiar with the rest of the lore I will make a very pretty diagram on my white board complete with color coding because this story has me in a chokehold for no good reason.

Final Thoughts

While I was thinking about all this, an idle thought came to mind that maybe the three current ROs sort of represent the past (Rafayel), the present (Zayne), and the future (Xavier) even though all three arguably have some sort of past with the MC in their Myths cards. The mystery fourth RO would then represent an alternate reality in my deluded mind, maybe a split timeline created by MC's current actions???

I am doubtful that the events in Linkon city we are currently experiencing are meant to be MC's "origin point" (or whatever timeline she originally came from), but that just makes me wonder what the hell is. I want to know who or what caused the deepspace tunnel to appear. I said on another post that it probably has something to do with the destruction of Philos, and while I do sort of still think that I have no real reason to beyond a hunch.

[mcytshipsandmore]

I was debating if i should post this on my main or idk send it here, but yeah no the demons lost and I'll just send here yk yk. Something interesting about team pe [ pentar and ecorridor on lifesteal season 6 ], is that they clearly care about each other however they are WILLING to lie to keep the other safe, or walk on eggshells so that the team won't fall apart, they won't fall apart. with Pentar hiding hearts from E, telling Flame to remove the part where he got himself killed, when E logged off Pentar goes back to hunting people for hearts [ what a freakazoid btw/pos ] and Ecorridor lying to Pentar about dying and probably much more because ecor doesn't stream much idk [ E release a ls video or stream and MY LIFE IS YOURS ] ... It's just so interesting because Pentar goes through extreme lengths to hide the fact that he kills and dies for Ecor, and for what? to keep E naïve? Is it for Gratification? It's quite selfish and hypocritical to keep someone in the dark so that they don't experience the bloodshed that you've been doing to other people among other things. then E finds about this he's like.... understanding? And is thankful for what pentar did for him?

"did you really think that I would think less of you if I knew all of that stuff?" <- actual ecor quote btw, what a crazy world.

they then promise to each other, that they would no longer keeps secrets but here we are with E hiding the fact that he already died [ and im betting 100 bucks that Pentar will continue lying ], so is the promise already broken? Is it even a promise by that point?

they're so supportive of each other but not open at all, so selfish and selfless. The things they do for each other like sdhiasldhusfef waow i lauv characters that have issues. <3

I wonder how long they would keep lying until it all blows up on their faces, and in this essay I will explain on how TEAM PE BREAK UP IS STILL ON THE TABLE !!!!!!! anyways I would say more but this is already too long of an ask lmao. Anyways I'm groveling on the floor, I am surviving off a couple of team PE fanart, analysis, and like one really good Ecor Introspection fic #starving. Also whoever mod reads this, I hope you guys have a good day. I like team pe 👍

I will power through any length of ask for you guys 😤

I haven't watched Lifesteal (I may get around to it eventually) so I dont know enough about these two to give a good comment about the ship, but from what I can tell about them, these two would make for good angst

-🍫

[bookwormbynight]

that sounds like misa is raping light and we're making fun of him for not pleasuring his abuser tbh

Oop I've reached a level I think.

I'm going to answer in good faith, although admittedly I'm fairly wary because my friends (REAL PEOPLE) have gotten really serious hate (SOMETHING THAT AFFECTS THE EMOTIONAL WELLBEING OF REAL PEOPLE) from anons once we've gotten into this territory. But the topic is important and should be treated with actual gravity for at least a minute.

Serious, real life bullshit:

Yes, rape and abuse are serious issues and real survivors of that deserve all of the empathy and respect they can get. I myself have been in incredibly toxic situations (both parental and romantic) that have fucked with my boundaries, sense of self-worth, and perception of reality. And rape - especially coercive rape - is a crime that goes dismissed and unpunished way, way, way too often. This is plain fact and I will fight with people over it.

However.

We're all adults here, correct? My blog is a page intended for 18+ users who are generally in the same circle of the fandom as I am, meaning, in broad terms, that they ARE aware of the social issues and nuances and general things about consent and morality. And with this assumption in mind, that we all understand that this is FUCKED in real life, we're enjoying a show in which we understand that the two main characters are a genocidal serial killer and a selfish man who has no qualms with literal torture in order to get his way. Death Note is not a story intended to be enjoyed for its moral character! It is a story where we watch terrible people be assholes and monsters and its fucking entertaining!

The acceptance (not condoning) of murder and torture as themes are inherent within the fabric of the fandom itself - as is Light's canon onscreen abuse of Misa and Misa's literal stalking and jealous threats of murder that would legitimately victimize Light if he was a real person. (Quick reminder that he is not.) Do not treat real people like this!! Just as you shouldn't treat real serial killers like your pathetic meow meow babygirl!!!

If rape in this fandom is a step too far for you, I can't blame you, everyone has their triggers and boundaries (the amount of horror movies I've had to walk out on because of pet death triggering memories of an incredibly traumatic event for me is more than zero), but you would be better off blocking me and moving on with your day than attempting to start some sort of ethical debate with me about the morality of joking about a mutually abusive couple from source material that is entirely fictional. Everyone needs to know, the block button is not a bad thing! It is a useful tool for disengaging! If you don't want to go that far, I am absolutely open to suggestions for trigger tags I should put on my posts that you can block. I myself have tags that I've blocked, which keep my bubble safe from some topics that my friends enjoy.

Take care of yourself and others out there.

Unserious response:

I'm not making fun of Light for not pleasuring his abuser, I'm making fun of him for being really bad at being in the closet (relatable), being a misogynist (icky), and staying in an abusive heterosexual relationship he hates when he canonically has zero qualms with just killing her and no longer has an obstacle stopping him (plothole).

[entropic-saudade]

For @wellofdean (we interacted on your post on my main, but I had most of this in my drafts on this account).

Re: My disjointed, hastily verbalized thoughts on The American Dream as queered (and unqueered?) by Supernatural

The thing about Supernatural is that the thing that keeps the boys from being unable to reach The American Dream (a house, a successful job, a nuclear family) is that compared to the systemic issues (and the fact that it’s all a dangling carrot of a construct anyway) that keep most people from reaching it, what prevents them is the fact that monsters exist—at least, this is a premise as outlined by Pilot. These are two white, handsome, (debatably) cis, (arguably not) heterosexual men, and it should be something that should come as easy to them as others presume it should (See: Wishful Thinking). But a demon burned Mom on the ceiling, and then Jess, so that world is not for them.

But then the show does some interesting things.

They align supernatural beings with corporations (Hell and Crowley, Zachariah and Heaven), in S7 they use Leviathan as the literal embodiment of Thomas Hobbes’ defense of capitalism Leviathan, the all-intrinsic, insidious, corporate greed of corporate America. Even a lot of minor monsters who don’t get half-season or whole-season face times face the same underlying issues that hunters and other Americans (and people in general) face: they just want to survive. They want to keep food on the table. It’s eat or be eaten. Often, especially in later seasons (most notably in S15), we see glimpses of monsters living in dumps for houses just living relatively normal lives before the boys come in and kill them. To the monster, society at large and the hunter is what keeps them from their Dream of family and home and stability.

Monsters like Garth, Benny, etc, have to either be reformed or cooperative with humans, or else they face death. (I want to write on Benny and Garth later bc they’re SO fucking interesting, even among the monster archetypes).

Then, consider the fact that, yeah, monsters exist, but they’re just a decoy/byproduct of the fact that there IS an overarching systemic force that keeps them from ever exerting true free will, (note Hobbes’ social contract says we sacrifice a little bit of will in exchange for safety, that’s the condition of society; the safety here being so long as the boys follow Chuck’s stories they’ll forever be reincarnated into the rat race; if they want real free will they’ll no longer be safe from permanent death): God.

So the show in Pilot establishes that the American Dream apple pie life isn’t for them. Sam wants it, but he feels like a freak no matter where he goes. Dean claims he doesn’t want it, but you brush past his layers and you see how deeply he just wants a family and home (which John says he wants for him too, despite being the major force keeping him from it. Of course even without John, the other forces above kick in, because the system keeping them from it is God—John as an absent god figure represents that from the get go). They talk about the “apple pie life” with fluctuating tones of want and disdain throughout the show depending on their circumstances, but any time they get close to tasting it (Sam’s time at Stanford, Dean’s djinn dream in What Is and What Should Never Be, Dean’s time with Lisa, Sam’s time with Amelia—notably those examples stop after the boys get the Bunker, which I have more meta about I’ll RB & tag later, because it’s the closest thing to a home the show allows them to have), it gets poisoned by their past and snatched away by their path to the future.

Which makes the themes of “family don’t end (or begin) in blood” so important. (Though… consider also that most of their found family dies or isn’t shown by the end).

The way they get their American dream— a home (the bunker), a job (hunting, legacies, a hacked credit card), a family (all their found family, including Jack and Cas) is unconventional. In Lebanon, when John “I want this to be over, I want Sam to go to school, I want Dean to have a home” Winchester tells Dean he wanted him to have a home and family, Dean fully accepts and verbalizes that this is the best the life is going to give them. And that’s beautiful, and they’ll do anything to protect that. They make their little found families repeatedly: Ash, who burns down with the Road House; Jo and Cas and Ellen and Bobby, their family photo burned after Jo and Ellen die in AHBL. Every version of family they get is torn apart but they don’t stop, to the point that God literally has to take away everyone- and they still don’t stop fighting.

There’s smaller ‘jokes’ throughout— Dean never getting pie (never getting the apple pie life), Mary’s pie being storebought instead of homemade as representative of the fact that her home life wasn’t “real”— it was borrowed time. Even the pie in finale, is horridly, literally, delivered as a pie in the face. A joke. The apple pie life Sam got in the end isn’t necessarily even because he wants it anymore (Sam tells Dean such throughout, though he’s a little harder to read), but because Dean wanted it for him. The life Dean got in the end was in death.

Going back to Kripke and The Hero’s Journey as presented in his era of S1-5, the ending really subverted the ideas from Pilot. Dean got the apple pie life (and suffered), Sam did the furthest thing possible from normal and TOOK BACK POSSESSION FROM LUCIFER TO JUMP INTO A CAGE HE KNEW HE’D BE LOCKED IN FOREVER to save the world.

Then you get Gamble doing some interesting things with Leviathan/monster as Capitalist force, literally bringing the Campbell in Joseph Campbell back with Mary’s extended family— notably, Sam only fits in among them at the time because he Wasn’t Sam, and Dean feels like an outsider both in Lisa’s home (on the surface he keeps it together, but the life holds on), and among them even when he is hunting. They make fun of him for the traces of the American Dream apple pie life (golf clubs, magazines… even things he can’t control, like the ‘delicate features’ he gets from his mother, who waged a normal life so badly she made a deal with a demon while he inhabited her father’s body—the force that kept her from a normal life. More later on Mary and how she’s revealed to not be able to stop hunting regardless). The Campbells get killed off, and we get Mary in the form of Eve, Mother of All, who likewise is trying to protect her children. Is soulless Sam’s return in Exile on Mainstreet a “call to adventure”, presented as more of the inevitable same from Pilot— one so close that it’s Dean’s fear, that Azazel is back and will continue the cycle with Lisa and Ben? Ultimately, it’s not Azazel, but other demons and the existence of monsters, those pre-existing systemic family forces that keep Dean from his supposed idealized version of a normal life.

Carver’s era does some interesting things with Amelia (whose flashback scenes are so brightly lit they bring to mind the false cheery lighting of Dean’s djinn dream in What Is and What Should Never Be, of the false light lighting in It’s a Terrible Life— to the point that some have theorized the whole thing was a cope hallucination by Sam), with Benny (who I have meta written about elsewhere I need to post on here— but Benny is one of the most self aware, narratively echoed characters who aligns himself with every member of Team Free Will in just a few episodes. The notable/relevant thing here is that like Sam, Benny the blood drinker is a freak among freaks, feeling like he doesn’t fit in anywhere, has no home, and when he tries to find it (Andrea Kormos, Elizabeth in Carencro), he can’t get it either), with even the angels being thrown from the only home they’ve ever known, with Cain and Death and Rowena and God as a broken family with Lucifer and Amara and Chuck-as-God.

And then you get Dabb’s era, bringing Mary Winchester/Campbell back, the chance to unfridge a woman and tearing all expectations about who she is down, never acknowledging her family was also resurrected at one point, the boys living as “Campbells” in Lebanon (which I loved, but the “I have a home and I have a family” gets kind of thrown away by the end), Dean’s “I have a home,” The Heroes Journey even being lampshaded in S15 with the episode with Garth (more thoughts on Garth and how that episode shows the only real American Dream on the show, and he got to keep it, doubly queered by the fact that they’re monsters who are also hunters). Dabb’s finale brought the Heroes Journey story circle back, quite literally in the sense that time is a flat circle and Sam and Dean are returned to their Pilot expectations— right down to their clothing choices in Heaven. (I know some people find that beautiful, and there is a nice symmetry to certain elements, and I understand the need to end the story that way, BUT it’s the broader story and structure and narrative and message that upsets and baffles me— it undoes Kripke’s whole “rip up the ending” bit, the subverted Hero’s Journey from S5, and combined with everything else in the show (not going to touch Heaven rn but I have Thoughts about that too), it sends the message that what meaning you create in life doesn’t matter (the found family (who we don’t see in the finale and barely gets acknowledged. SAM’s new family barely gets acknowledged, his son is a xerox of Dean and his wife is a blur in the background who doesn’t have any family photos in the home), the queered way in which they create the American dream doesn’t matter)— true happiness comes in death.)

Something something “the one thing I want is something I know I can’t have.” Cas’ confession is not only a confession to Dean but a show thesis. To me.

[mihrsuri]

My (main) AUs: An Overview

I thought I’d do this because (a) new people and (b) I like to do a summary for self indulgent sharing reasons. Also I have a Lot Of AUs but the main one(s) you are going to be hearing about here are:

The Tudors OT3 Cinematic Universe aka The Emotional Support Tudors AU aka The Tudor Triad

The Grishaverse Hunger Games Found Family + Poly Verse

Crown Of Ashes aka The Tudor Triad Verse In Universe Hist!Fic AU

The Tudor Triad

Fandom: The Tudors (TV + Some History)

Works: On AO3 here (WIP) - check out my pinned post for more information as well.

Tags on my tumblr: ot3: political power trio, tudors ot3 verse reference

Summary: In another world this is how it might have gone between the three of them. The story of how the love between three extraordinary people change the world for the better and made it the kindest. The story of a fight for a fairytale

The OT3 verse is a story at base about an alternate history that leads to the kindest possible world, written by a mizrahi jewish woman who really really wanted to write it. Or ‘bi poly triad/hot thomas cromwell saves the world dot gif’ ;).

In which Anne Boleyn is born in 1510, Thomas Cromwell in 1505 and Henry VIII does a (debatably?) better choice and goes for a divorce in 1520. And all three of them dramatically come together in 1536 (Anne and Henry have been married for three years but) and Anne Boleyn’s oldest son marries Mihrimah Sultan, who here is the youngest child of her parents and whose brothers have made a pact to end the fratricide independently of anyone English and they bring about a golden world.

Aesthetic:

Grishaverse Hunger Games

Fandom: Grishaverse (Show and Books) Hunger Games AU

Works: On AO3 here (WIP)

Tags on my tumblr: au: grishaverse hunger games

Summary: In the end, they will be more than what has been done to them. Kaz, Inej, Nikolai, Nina, Zoya and Genya in the Hunger Games and around it.

My contribution to my Grisha-Crows-Nikolai (and Mal) found family poly feels - featuring not Darkling friend Darkling/Alina/Nikolai in which he takes them as sex slaves while calling it love essentially and gets bought down.

Aesthetic:

Crown Of Ashes

Fandom: The Tudors (TV + History + In The OT3 Verse Universe Tudors AU Fic)

Works: On AO3 here (WIP)

Tags on my tumblr: au: crown of ashes

Summary: It is everything Mary has ever wanted - a good Catholic husband, the crown upon her head, retribution upon those who had wronged her (not that she was giving in to so base a notion as vengeance, merely that the Lord had seen the righteousness of her cause and she was glad of it), the stamping out of heresy in England. No, all is well. All is very well. 

Crown of Ashes is very inspired by the Taylor Swift Song Castle Crumbling. It’s a ‘what if Mary Tudor made similar choices to her father’ for better (and worse and maybe in between) reasons to her. What if everything the world tells you you should believe and want is wrong actually - what if you get everything you thought you wanted and it sucks.

Aesthetic:

[tickletastic]

Fear Toxin, Love, and Other Sh*tty Drugs

Fandom: DC

Ship: JayRoy

Warnings: canon typical violence, panic attacks (sort of- after effects of fear toxin?)

Summary: Jason and Roy have a rough night out on patrol in Gotham, nothing goes as planned, and an Arkham breakout is just the cherry on top. (not a whole lot of tickling, i got carried away, cross posted to my AO3 bc I planned a second, non-tickly chapter)

The streets of Gotham had not been kind last night.

The previous night started just as expected, a crime syndicate carelessly offloading giant tin shipping containers of the world’s most dangerous weapons, a plan in the works for them to leave them in crime alley, to leave them with the most desperate people in the city and watch Gotham crumble. It was a kid that had tipped Jason off, just some kid with a shitbag dad who thought Jason could save them, thought Jason could save anyone. Jason found out the rest from some of his undercover contacts, who sounded nearly afraid when discussing the kinds of weapons that would soon reach Gotham’s streets. 

Jason was now waiting, impatient and annoyed, on the corner of a tall building, waiting for the right time to jump into action. The building used to have some mom and pop restaurant on the main floor, one that Jason would frequent after long nights of patrol, when he couldn’t drag his body any further. Apartments were above, but they had been condemned at some point after the restaurant closed down. Now, Jason has a safehouse set up in one of the old rooms, and, though he’d never admit it, he uses Wayne funds to stock the old restaurant with frozen pizzas, chips, mac n cheese, and other snacks for the kids that wander by, hoping that they’ll find food somewhere like this. 

Roy is at his back, eating greasy chips from a tupperware container. Jason had insisted that Roy didn’t need a patrol snack, but, after caving in, he made sure, at least, that the snack wouldn’t be so loud. If it weren’t for Roy, Jason would’ve lunged into the action by now, not caring if the syndicate dealt him a broken leg or a dislocated jaw while he took down enough of them to get the weapons somewhere far from here. Roy had always been the patient one, and he manages to keep Jason’s irritability at a low by talking about some book he wanted to read.

The crimes are cresting, the final load now on Gotham’s dock, a sound of trucks in the distance. Now would be the best time, Roy can see every opportunity laid out in front of him, but then Oracle’s voice is ringing out over the comms, panicked and urgent, announcing that tonight, some random fucking night that was just supposed to involve stopping petty robberies and killing a syndicate boss, was the seemingly biannual Arkham breakout. 

Roy and Jason are caught in a heated, whispered debate, Jason thinking they should strike before some goofy D list villain can come interrupt them, but Roy thinks it’s too unpredictable now, that they should return the following week, when Jason knows the syndicate planned to do inventory of their new stash. Jason stands up, Roy grabbing him by the leg of his pants, just as Oracle makes another announcement, the silence between Roy and Jason so tense that it could be broken in half. Roy’s heart started to beat faster, his palms suddenly sweaty where he gripped his bow, the world around them suddenly a cacophony of noise. In spite of the precautions, the two-foot thick concrete walls, and the fucking manual entry external lock system for the cell, he had gotten out too. 

Jason tensed, but otherwise showed no emotion towards the situation– no reaction to the fact that the man who killed him is roaming the same Gotham streets that he is. It was always like this when it came to the Joker, Jason always tensed up and pushed people away, claiming he’s okay until the second he’s not.

Bruce had a protocol for this exact situation– Jason would be moved to Star City, or JL Tower, or Central City, or even the Amazons– just as far as Bruce could get him as quickly as possible. Then, Tim would find Bruce, Duke, or Steph, and stick to them like glue. Damian was expected to find Dick and stick by his side, but that was more of a formality of the plan, since Damian was usually glued to Dick’s side on patrol anyways.

Jason had never been aware of the plan, too stubborn to ever leave in the face of danger, too eager to throw himself back into fear. Sometimes, Wally would come, taking Jason back to Dick’s apartment in Bludhaven despite Jason’s displeasure and squirming. Sometimes, it would be Diana, or “Aunt Di,” as the Robins had always called her, and Jason couldn’t help but agree to whatever she asked, still awestruck by her presence. One, it was even Hal and Barry, Barry gushing about having gone back in time and seeing a Shakespeare play at the Globe. Usually, though, it was Roy calling Jason, coaxing him back to Star City by faking some non-emergent emergency or begging for Jason to help Lian with a spelling test. Usually it was Roy, but Roy was in Gotham tonight. Roy was in Gotham and he would have to physically pry Jason from the roof to get him to give up the sting he had been planning, and there would be nothing that would convince him that his life, his sanity, might be more important for the time being. 

Nothing except for Oracle’s frantic voice, followed by Nightwing’s– Red Robin hasn’t reported, and nobody’s seen him for at least half an hour, caught up in the noise of the Arkham breakout. They have no clue where he is, and, before Oracle can formulate a plan, or even examine the situation with his non-functioning tracker, Jason is hastily grappling from building to building, searching the database in his helmet for a list of every abandoned warehouse in Gotham. 

The communications system is entirely silent, creeping on as each of the bats scramble to understand where Red Robin would have gone, how they had managed to lose track of him for so long. Roy gives panting, out-of-breath updates periodically, telling of the buildings Jason has checked, falling behind as Jason throws himself from rooftop to rooftop. 

Oracle’s gasp rings out over the speakers, hollow and practically shouting, “we have CCTV! The car manufacturing place on the East Side, the corner of 2nd and Church– Hood is the closest!”

“No!” Bruce shouts over the comms, the worried ebb in his voice coming out more like Bruce than Batman, “Signal and I are not much further, we’re on our way.” 

“Absolutely not, 30 minutes is more than enough time for the clown. I’m not letting another fucking Robin die tonight,” Jason grits, hauling ass towards the building as soon as he can see it, the car company’s logo practically decaying, peeling off the building’s facade. 

“Arsenal, do not let Red Hood enter,” Bruce grits over the line, a hardened command, before his voice softens, “please, don’t let him go in.”

Bruce sounds the most scared Roy has ever heard him, and Roy is terrified. He’s desperately trying to keep up with Jason, throwing himself recklessly over the edges of roofs and down rusty fire escapes, but the distance keeps growing. 

“Jay, I can’t keep up,” Roy shouts, a desperate tone, almost a plea, “Jason Peter Todd, you better not go in without me, you better fuckin’ not.”

“It’s him or me,” Jason grunts, “it’s him or me, and I’m not letting him kill another fucking kid.” 

Jason disappears from Roy’s vision, dropping from the sky, and Roy curses, desperately trying to catch up. When he finally drops from the roofs himself, Jason isn’t there, and the door to the warehouse is wide open, dented where a heavy boot kicked it in. Roy rushes in, zeroing in on the direction of the noises he’s hearing– loud clanging and snotty begging– but there’s another door in the way, another door between him, Jason, Tim, and the monster.

“Fuck- fuck! Jason, let me in!” He screams, throwing his body against the door, desperately trying to make a dent as he bangs and kicks and yells. Over the comms, his own voice, shaky and desperate, shouts to the bats, “he’s in there! He’s fucking in there and I can’t get in, I don’t know what’s happening!”

Roy isn’t calm enough to hear any of the responses, breathing heavily, fighting the encroaching panic. He takes one of his explosive arrows, backing up until he thinks he’ll be able to take the door off its hinges with his shot. He lines it up, shaking in spite of all the practice he’s had, all the years he’s spent protecting himself, protecting Jason. There’s a thick thud heard from the other side of the door, and a staticky buzzing playing out in the building, and Roy sees plumes of smoke seep out from the door’s cracks, he hears maniacal laughter announcing itself, the sound of metal dragging on concrete. 

“Jason, if you can hear me, tell me if there’s someone on the other side of this door,” Roy tries to sound commanding, supportive, but his voice is betraying him, hoarse as he shouts, “Jason, I’m going to blow this thing to shreds, I need you to fucking answer me!”

There’s crashing on the other side of the door, noises that sound pained, gasps and shouts and pleas. Roy starts screaming Jason’s name again and again, desperately hoping he has clearance to blow the door to pieces. He finally backs up, aiming again at the rusted, bolted door, when it swings open, Roy hearing the voice over his comms and in person simultaneously. 

“We’ve got them,” Nightwing announces, and he emerges with Tim over his shoulder, gas masks on both of their faces. Despite the masks, Tim looks less than conscious, slack where he hangs over his older brother’s shoulder.

“Where the fuck is Jason?” Roy asks, shaky and scared, caught somewhere between vomiting or hyperventilating, “please, Dick, please don’t tell me-”

Bruce emerges, the sweat on his face visible between the cowl and his own air mask, one arm under Jason’s knees and the other under his back. Unlike Tim, Jason’s eyes are wide open, frantic, while he shakes violently in Bruce’s grip, muttering horrified under his breath. 

“Why isn’t he wearing a mask? Dick, why isn’t Jason wearing a mask?” Roy shouts, hysterical, “Jason, Jace, are you okay? What the fuck happened?”

When Roy approaches, Jason flinches away with a piercing scream, fighting desperately to get out of Bruce’s grip, seemingly terrified. 

“It was fear toxin, Arsenal,” Bruce responds with a grunt, working hard to keep Jason in his grasp, “Jason was given a direct dose, the mask wouldn’t have helped.”

“What the fuck will help? He looks terrified, what is he seeing? What did that fucker do to him? Where the fuck is he?”

Dick takes a second to turn around, having begun making his way to the front door, “Arsenal, the Joker’s dead.”

Roy just gapes, obediently following Bruce and Dick out the door, hoping to god that the bat won’t use this as another opportunity to ice Jason out, hoping the bats have some hidden remedy to Jason’s current paranoia.

The Batmobile awaits them outside when they get out, the Gotham streets feeling quieter than they had when Roy entered, his heart beating in his ears. The Batmobile is small on the best of days, but Roy ends up taking Damian back to the docks and equipping him with enough padding for a skydiving mission, strapping him securely to the back of Jason’s motorcycle before climbing on. Jason would never forgive him if he left the bike in crime alley anyways, knowing a bit too much about crime alley kids and their penchant for stealing expensive tires.

By the time the two are back at the manor, Tim and Jason are in separate medical rooms, Tim out cold, hooked up to machines galore, and Jason fighting with everything left in him to escape the room. He still has the same terrified look in his eyes, and he’s begging, over and over, not to die, crying for help as if he’s back in Ethiopia. 

Roy can hear Bruce trying to shush him, saying comforting, paternal things in Jason’s ear in spite of the physical force he’s using to keep Jason in the room. “You’re not there, Jay. You’re home, you’re with your dad.”

In spite of the comfort, Jason keeps thrashing, tears freely streaming down his face. Roy looks on from outside for a moment, scared that he’ll make it all worse for Jason if he tries to intervene. 

Roy visibly jumps when a voice sounds from next to him, turning to see Dick, discowled but otherwise still in his costume, his brow furrowed, “we gave him the antidote, but it’s going to take a couple hours. The Joker gave him three times what Scarecrow would have, and strapped the mask to his face so he’d have to breathe it all in.”

“Fuck,” Roy sighs, rubbing over his face with one of his hands, “there’s nothing we can do until then? We can’t just let him go through this.”

Dick sighs, mirroring Roy’s tense expression, “Bruce is trying, I’ve tried, you can give it a shot? Maybe you’ll be able to remind him he’s older than he was back then, that might break the illusion, at least a little bit.”

“Okay, yeah,” Roy says, dropping his hands to his sides, “yeah, I’ll try.”

Dick gives him a reassuring pat on the back before entering the room, dropping his voice to say something hushed to Bruce. Bruce nods, turning to glance at Roy, exhaustion written all over his face. He motions for Roy to enter, and, once he’s sure Roy could hold his own, exits with Dick. 

“Hey, Jay,” Roy says, just above a whisper, “Jay, it’s Roy.” 

Jason is silent now, entire body shaking violently, entire face painted with terror. He’s got a thousand yard stare, seemingly aware that someone is in the room, but looking past Roy. 

“I’m going to come closer, Jason,” Roy announces, stepping towards Jason as if he were some scared animal, because, in some way, he is.

Roy is afraid to touch Jason, afraid that it would trigger him to fight off whatever the hallucinations are making Roy look like. What does he do when Lian’s scared? How does he get her back to sleep when she thinks there’s something lurking in the darkness of the bedroom?

Roy tries to touch Jason as little as possible, maneuvering him so he’s at least close to the edge of the bed. He then rounds the bed to the other side, dropping the weird hospital handle softly so it doesn’t block his way, lying down on one side. He laughs a bit to himself under his breath, trying to shed the shyness from the possibility that one of the other nosy bats could walk in at any time. 

Softly, just loud enough to break the room’s silence, Roy starts to sing Total Eclipse of the Heart, melodic and sweet, like he would sing to Lian when she got scared and crawled between him and Jason in their bed. Roy gets through three quarters of the song before he notices Jason’s shoulders are no longer tensed, that he’s leaning against the bed voluntarily.

Just as Roy is about to start his lullaby rendition of Faithfully, Jason slumps, turning his head. His face is still covered in nervous sweat, and Roy still gets a sense that Jason is not really seeing him, but Jason tries for a hoarse whisper, “R-roy?”

Roy reaches out carefully, easing Jason so his back is on the bed, so he can maneuver them so Roy is holding him, Jason’s head listening to Roy’s heartbeat. “It’s me, Jaybird. Just close your eyes, it’ll all be over soon.” 

Roy feels the spot Jason occupies on his chest getting damp, and starts to run a hand up and down Jason’s back. “I c-can’t stop seeing him. He’s here, he’s g-going to kill me.”

Roy shakes his head, though Jason doesn’t see it, “he can’t hurt you, Jay. He’s gone, and I’d never let him.”

Roy is not entirely sure if Jason believes him, not sure if Jason even knows where he is, but he keeps singing until Jason is shaking a little less, until his breathing has evened out and the spot on his shirt starts to dry. 

When Jason wakes up the next morning, feeling like he has the worst hangover of his life, he coughs hard and long until he’s being manhandled upright, a glass brought to his lips. Dick is helping him drink before passing him a handful of pills. Jason has no clue what any of them are, just that he’ll swallow all of them dry if it means he won’t have to deal with the headache and the nausea anymore. Instead, he feels almost instant drowsiness, and he falls asleep yet again. 

The next time he wakes up, the pain is mostly gone, though there’s something foggy in how he’s perceiving everything around him. He hoists himself up so that he can see the entire room, sitting on the edge of the bed. Sitting with his legs open on the floor, facing the bed, is Roy, reading Jason’s well-worn copy of Pride and Prejudice. 

“Didn’t know you knew how to read,” Jason tries to joke, but his voice doesn’t work the way he wanted it to, coming out garbled and hoarse. “What the fuck happened to me?”

Roy looks up, a soft smile on his lips when he sees how different Jason is from last night, “you don’t remember?” 

“Ran into a warehouse,” Jason shrugs.

“And after that?”

“Not a lick.”

To Jason, Roy has a weird glint in his eye, a slight strain in his brow, “I honestly think that’s for the best, Jaybird.” 

Jason rolls his eyes, sore as he picks himself up from the bed. He goes to where Roy is sitting and plops himself in between his boyfriend’s legs, his back to Roy’s chest. “You know, it’s pretty fucked up not to tell me what I experienced first-hand.”

It's Roy’s turn, now, to roll his eyes. He sighs, putting Jason’s book off to the side and hugging Jason tight, his chin on Jason’s shoulder, “it was fear toxin. Fear toxin, you, Tim, and the Joker.”

“Fuck,” Jason sighs, “of fucking course it was.”

“You’re fine, Tim’s fine, everything is alright,” Roy says, running soft fingers through Jason’s hair, curly and unruly from his sleep. 

Jason turns his head to the side, making quick, anxious eye contact with Roy, “I think I’ll take your word for it.” 

“You better.” Roy has a mischievous smile on his face, one that Jason can’t see, but he senses the shift in tone, feels Roy’s fingers migrating down to his tummy. He’d rather huff fear toxin for a second, even third time than admit it, but sometimes, when he feels the fear thrumming in his veins, feels like if he’s not touching Roy then he’ll disappear, that he’ll be underground at 15 again, he yearns for Roy’s soft fingers, his teasing touch that ebbs all the fear from Jason’s system. 

When the fingers start to move, Jason doesn’t even try to hold back, giggling freely into the sleeve of the old Gotham Academy hoodie he’d been put into sometime last night. Roy’s fingers tickle in teasing circles around his belly button, clawing at the skin. 

“C’mon,” Roy says, his voice dripping with the sickeningly sweet softness he always showed Jason at times like this, times when Jason would just accept it rather than prickling away from it, “I want to hear you.”

Jason blushes a light pink, his face heating up, but he moves his hands from his face in favour of lightly grasping Roy’s wrists. “Yohou’re a dick!”

“Oh am I?” Roy’s voice rumbles in Jason’s ear and Jason squeaks, throwing his head back. Roy is grinning so hard it almost hurts, and he kisses the top of Jason’s forehead. Jason scrunches his nose, shaking his head back and forth. 

Roy leaves soft kisses down Jason’s neck, his hands moving up to draw soft shapes over Jason’s sides. Jason’s giggles are bubbly and uninhibited, letting Roy explore. He starts to squirm when Roy’s fingers nearly reach his ribs, scratching just below and eliciting a snort and an embarrassed whine. 

Jason leaves his neck wide open, and Roy takes the opportunity to give him a raspberry, Jason kicking his legs out with a squeal, on the verge of real laughter. Roy makes sure his fingers stay just soft enough, his lips just teasing enough, to have Jason giggling himself silly, happily leaning in to the redhead.  

Roy’s fingers slow a bit, wanting Jason to hear everything he’s about to whisper, “you don’t even know how fuckin’ glad I am that you’re alright.”

Jason’s blush grows hotter, feeling another wave of shyness creeping up. He moves his head to give Roy a kiss on the cheek, his boyfriend’s blush almost matching his, just to even the playing field and all. “I’m soho glad you’re hehere.”

Roy smiles before leaning in for a proper kiss, his fingers just barely grazing over Jason’s sensitive spots. When they both pull away, breathless and awestruck, they’re wearing matching goofy grins, Jason still giggling under his breath. 

Jason spots his book again and uses the very tips of his fingers to pull it close enough for him to pick up. He places it into one of Roy’s hands, smiling mischievously at Roy’s confusion. “Nohow read to mehe, asshole!”

[gimmethosedaddymilkers]

Chubby (Modern) Arthur with Chubby reader Headcannons

This one was requested from @mrsarthurmorgan7​! We love to see some Chubby Arthur and Chubby reader representation, and seeing some modern ones!! 

There will be a little bit of that domestic life kinda stuff in here which was requested from another reader, but I will do a full post full of just domestic life with him I promise! 

Let’s get into this >;) 

Warnings: May be a little NSFW but for the main part should be fluff

Arthur being I mean cute arthur but chunky, Female reader mainly GN but there will probably be a few instances of female mentions 

Arthur is a chunky man himself, and when you see him looking really uncomfortable, all by himself in the corner of a bar you think maybe he might be there on the same circumstances as you.

Your friend nearly commanded that you came with them, an attempt to try and get you to out of your comfort zone and maybe meet someone.

You were chunky, big, and you didn’t often think of yourself as very attractive.

You friend was trying to prove to you that, that wasn’t true, but no one had approached you for the entire hour you’d been here.

But, that man in the corner, he looked just as uncomfortable as you, but you couldn’t understand why.

He was handsome, I mean

Gorgeous, his face was like sculpted by the gods themselves.

A little bit of stubble littered his face, he had a few scars but I mean, all they did was give him more character, they made him more attractive. 

His nose looked like it’d been broken a few times, but again, it only added to his looks, in now way did it make him ugly.

He was a large man too.

I mean

Massive.

Huge thighs, a wide torso, even from where you sat you could see the strength in his shoulders and arms. He was wearing long sleeves but he’d rolled up the sleeves, and every nervous movement of his arms flexed in his forearms.

You sit and debate with it for a while before you finally take a deep breath and start heading his way.

“Hi, I’m Y/N L/N.” You stick a hand out towards him and smile, doing your best not to be intimidating, or intimidated. 

He blinks at you from the corner barstool he sits upon, and smiles back before taking your hand and offering you a strong shake

“Arthur Morgan.” 

“You get dragged here too? You don’t exactly look like you’re enjoying yourself.” You chuckle.

“You could say that, my dumbass of a brother made me come with him.” 

He gestures towards a leaner man with dark hair, and snorts. 

“Can’t even drink, I gotta drive that idiot home.” 

You laugh yourself and gesture towards the open seat next to him.

“You mind if I sit?” 

You feel incredibly nervous as you wait for an answer, swallowing as you watch his face.

You’d never been so forward with a man, but for some reason, something about him made you feel terrified and incredibly at ease

“Sure, anythin’ for a pretty woman.” 

You feel your face heat and quietly take the barstool next to him, your face breaking out into a smile. 

“So, Miss L/N, tell me about yourself.”

For the rest of the night the two of you keep talking, ignoring everyone around you, and you end up staying with him until the bar closes at 3 am. You’d never felt so connected talking to a person as you had with him.

Your friend had graciously stayed with you, and waited patiently, just happy to see you actually talking to someone

Of course you an Arthur exchange numbers and he asks when the best time to call you would be

He heads home exhausted, but glad he went, and in modern times this man still keeps a journal, and of course before he completely passes out on his bed he writes all about you and how he thinks that theres something special about you he won’t be able to get out of his head.

It’s only a day or two later when he calls you.

You see his name pop up on your phone and your body just goes into a kind of shock. You would have never thought it possible for him to text you, let alone actually call you.

He was the most handsome man you think you’d ever met. 

But

To him its the exact same way

Hes a fat old man, who really has nothing to offer to anyone besides his love of cars and such

So why would a beautiful amazing person such as yourself take any kind of liking to him?

So when he calls and asks you to go on a date with him and you almost instantly say yes he nearly drops his phone

He's estatic.

I mean

Jumping out of his seat

Calling John

Getting a haircut and oiling up his beard kinda excited

He shows up at your house with the biggest smile on his face and a literal boquet of flowers

Now the date hes asked you on is casual, so he's shown up wearing a nice shirt and jeans and for him even that's dressing up.

He just asks you where it is you'd most like to go, anywhere in town, and you tell him you've always enjoyed window shopping at places, and that even though you don't know much you like to look at cars!

He is the definition of heart eyes

He asks you if you'd like to see the shop he works at, nervously and he's scratching his neck with a sheepish little smile on his face and you say you'd love to see it!

He takes you there and he's blathering away the whole ride there, talking about his favorite cars and what's the most fun to work on

Of course he pays attention to you too, listening to the things you love most and what you enjoy, he can't help but smile at you the way you talk about some of those things

He tells you he loves the outfit you wore and you tell him its actually your least favorite but you were out of clothes

When you tell him you don't like it because it makes you feel as though you're too fat he simply furrows his brow and bites his tongue because if he didn't he'd probably be coming off a little too strong

That and he knows that feeling all to well himself, it wouldn't be very fair of him to chastise you for saying the same things he does to himself every day.

When you finally get to his shop he takes you around, proudly showing off the little place he and his brother started up, and he can't help but feel a little warm in the face when you shyly tell him it's impressive that he owns his own business.

He shows you a few of the old hot rods that some of the older customers bring in to them to do basic upkeep on, and he tells you theres a great car show just a town over and asks if you'd like to go.

You of course say yes and he offers you a smirk before pulling you along to hop in his car and head that way

The two of you enjoy the car show so much! You spend the entire day out, and it's late when you get back on the road to go home.

You're too nervous at first to do anything, but Arthur sneaks his hand into yours and interlocks his fingers.

From there you felt safe enough to lean your head on his shoulder and you fall asleep like that on the ride home.

He wakes you up when you get there and then he walks you to your door

He smiles and tells you he had such a fantastic time with you, and he'd love to do it again if you'd feel the same.

He then asks you if it would be okay to kiss you.

Which of course you say yes

And he kisses you oh so gently

I mean

He cups your face

Sweetly, gently, feather light touch, but just perfectly pressured.

And his kiss itself was just....

Beautiful.

Soft but chapped lips, it wasn't rushed

It wasn't too slow

It was perfect

And it made you realize you wanted to be with him more than you thought

When he breaks apart from you theres a look in his eyes that makes you feel a spark

Nervous and yet so at ease all at once

You wanted to be perfect for him, you wanted to be everything for him

Everything he wanted and more

But from that first kiss Arthur was pretty much convinced you already were

Its just you're own negative body image that holds you back.

After that first date you two start going out more, until he asks you to officially date him

Although he calls it courting

Hes old fashioned

Its one if his quirks and you love it.

Obviously you agree to dating him

One of your favorite dates with him was going to the movies

The first time he put a hand on your thigh was your fourth date, you went to the movies together and sat right next to each other, moving the arm rests up and preferring to lean on one another

His big palm just happened to land there, sneaking around your sensitive upper and inner thigh like it was nothing

Needless to say you did not pay any attention at all whatsoever to what happened in that movie.

His hand was MASSIVE and it's all you could think about.

You had big thighs, being chubby, of course you did, but his hands? They were big enough hold on to a pretty good amount of your thigh without problem

It just sent you into a frenzy

If his hands were this big and felt this nice just holding your thigh through your jeans....

Could you imagine what else was big? And how nice it would feel without jeans on?

When you keep squirming throughout the movie he tries to ask if you're okay and you tell him you are but he doesn't quite believe you.

When you exit the movie he is talking away explaining how he thought the movie was good but there were certain parts he really enjoyed.

You try your best to match his enthusiasim about certain parts but you really don't remember them happening.

Like, he mentions an awesome car chase that happened but in all honesty you don't even rememeber the main character getting in a car

When the two of you get to his truck he asks again if you're okay and you again tell him yes, you just explain that you think he's really handsome, and that it was difficult to focus on anything but him

It was a half truth

Of course he blushes and you do too, you aren't sure where this brazen sort of boldness comes from, he's so handsome you're sure you'll stumble over your words when you speak but it always comes out smoother than you expect it to.

On the ride home he does it again, puts his hand on your thigh and steers with the other, like its second nature to him, and you can't help but squirm under his touch

After he drops you off

(And you assure him once more that you're okay and can't wait to see him next Friday)

He leaves with a smile on his face and it's not until he's halfway to his house that he realizes why it is that you were squirming around in his truck seat and in the dark of the theater.

It makes his face run red and he is incredibly thankful you aren't in the truck cab with him

When the two of you go out again he tells you to dress fancy and you panic

You're bigger, you absolutely HATE how your body looks even when the outfit is nice.

Granted when he said fancy he meant semi fancy, he wasn't tsking you to some massive important resteraunt, but it was still a nice place.

So when he shows up, wearing a nice white button down and black tie, you panic some more.

You aren't even dressed when you open the door and he furrows his brow at you.

"Hey Darlin' I told ya I'd be here at 6, am I early?"

"No, no...I just...I don't have anything fancy to wear."

"Well sure ya do! I've seen ya wear a buncha nice things-"

"I don't look nice in them though-"

"Don't you even start. Don't you dare say that."

He talks you through it, listens to you, and even though you've only been dating for a little while he's got all the rjght words to calm you down without even trying

Telling you just how beauitful you are and that he loves how big you are.

Which when you tell him how much you like his stomach and how big he is he brushes you off, but you insist until he believes you

He finally gets you to get a dress on and he does nothing but compliment you the rest of the night.

The resteraunt he took you to was wonderful again, fancy but not too fancy

You did end up drinking a lot of wine, due to your nerves, and Arthur being the guy he is refused to let you be at your place alone

So he got you home after and made sure to get you in comfy clothes (he didn't look I swear!)

And then made sure you were comfortably in bed, and placed himself on the couch

He woke up in the morning and you'd crawled your way onto his chest during the night. From your room upstairs into the living room

He literally panicked cause he was like "she was drunk last night this isnt allowed she can't do this she probably doesnt wanna cuddle with me I'm fat and ugly"

But then the other part of his head was like

"O h this is nice, I havent cuddled with someone in a long time"

That part ended up making him cave and rather than waking you he decided to go back to sleep and wrapped a strong arm around you, offering a quiet and groggy hum when you in your sleep wrapped your arms around his neck.

It may not have been a very long time before the two of you stayed the night together, but it felt right when it happened.

As the two of you grow closer you do more things together, obviously. About 5 months into the relationship he takes you swimming with his family

You've met everyone once or twice and they all love you

I mean

They met you and decided you were perfect

Hosea is just happy Arthur is happy. He hasn't seen his son smile in so long that he practically sobs when he meets you

Anyway

You go swimming with his family and god

This man was testing you

You were sure of it

He acts like its nothing

To just whip his shirt off and hop in the in ground pool in the back of Hosea and Dutch's yard.

He's BUILT

BULKY

I mean

Wide shoulders, strong muscular arms but a muscular, fatty chest and stomach.

His stomach hangs over his swim trunks a little but in the best possible way

He's got some thick chest hair dusted on his chest but it's not too much, literally just the perfect amount so good like 👌👌👌

And mind you

Seeing him hop into the pool is the first time you've seen him shirtless in this relationship

You've seen him in tanktops sure, but never completely shirtless

So when he hops in the pool in swim trunks and no shirt you have to force yourself not to look at him

You feel self concious as it is because he convinced you that you looked absolutely delicious in a two peice bikini rather than a one piece, even though all you could focus on was how your fat rolls looked and how your stomach wasnt in any way close to being slim or flat

So you were wearing a simsuit you felt a little more exposed in

Well

Little did you know Arthur was in the pool in hopes that maybe the cold water would get rid of his boner lmao

That you had given him because you were wearing that bikini he'd asked you to

When you finally join him he tries to keep you from getting to close but eventually he says fuck it and splashes you happily to get you to chase him.

You end up being squeezed in his arms and eventually under the water his hands glide over your thighs and that little smirk you'vd come to love so much over the past few months shows up on his face.

You were just happy that the others in the pool weren't paying too much attention.

Though John and Abigial definently noticed and made fun of the two of you when you got out.

Arthur's size by the way

Is just

BARK

I mean

He's bigger than you, mainly height but he's still chunky too, and it makes you feel so happy, and so protected

And there was somdthing about how dominating his presence could be that just

O h

It riled you up

You were far to afraid to make the first move though

I mean

Think about it

Thats a massive man.

I'd be a little afraid myself.

So of course you would be

But

As most intimate times go

It happened kinda naturally

Arthur has been practically living at your place since like the 4th month of dating, because your house is bigger than his

So you're in the kitchen, cooking dinner when he comes home and he makes his way into the kitchen

He's covered in grease, and he's hyped up

He had a great day at work with the guys and he got to come home to you, a beautiful woman, his woman.

He came up behind you and placed his arms around your waist and kissed your neck

All you can smell is him, the grease mixed with his natural smell and what was left of the whiskey cologne he wore.

He was just ON YOU

Muttering nicknames in your ear, gliding his hands over you, I mean, what else was supposed to happen, not sex?

This man literally leans around you, turns the stove off and straight up CARRIES you upstairs

Like

Throw you over his shoulder squeeze your ass on the way up kinda carry

Like bro tried to tell you that you weren’t fat and that he liked how you looked

if that didn’t prove how much he loved all your chubbiness he really didn’t know what would

I mean

he carried you like you weighed NOTHING

It was very attractive

LIKE

oh my god

please

Arthur

all you have to do is throw us around 

we will obey your every word

He pretty much throws you on your bed and crawls over you, before he’s kissing all over you, your neck downwards.

Now of course, Arthur being Arthur, he’s gonna ask you if this is what you want

He’d never do anything you didn’t want to do.

Yeah, you’d been together for about half a year now, but he wasn’t gonna do anything you didn’t like or want.

So when you tell him yes and it’s all green lights you better be ready because he goes all out, especially since it’s your first time with him.

He wants to see every inch of you, and obviously you wanna see every inch of him too, and once he gets you undressed you kinda have to coax him into getting undressed himself

He’s a little 

well like you he’s a little shy about the way he looks, how big his stomach is, but you absolutely ADORE how large he is, it is just so attractive to you to see how big he was as a man

it’s impressive and you tell him that.

It does give him a little bit of a confidence boost, and from there he's a bit more willing to undress himself, though he claims theres no way he could ever look as good as you

When you run your hands over his stomach and chest he rethinks that statement just for a moment

You truely make him feel spectacular

He feels his absolute most handsomest around you and in the bedroom is no different.

He knows what he's doing in there, trust me

He lowers that voice of his and it makes your entire body feel like its on fire.

His hands? He knows how they need to work, where they need to go and when

He's like a master

You need to guide him a little bit but he's a fantastic learner

He listens to your every word because he wants you to feel good because he gets off on you feeling good

Literally the hottest thing to him is you calling his name and telling him that hes in the right spot doing what he needs too

Telling him "right there" is exactly what he wants to hear

If you are having a good time he is.

By the way during foreplay, if you mess with his thighs, glide hands over them, ride them, do anything with his absolute monster thighs you will get him harder than a rock

When it comes time to actually having sex, not just foreplay, he is gentle at first, making sure you, ya know, don't rip in half.

He loves having scratches on his back, so when things do pick up, make sure your hands are there, dig your fingers into his shoulders he can handle it, have you seen those muscles?

He does this thing where he practically folds you in half, it's his favorite position. You facing him, but your ass like right up next to him, your ankles on his shoulders

He keeps his hands on your thighs the whole time, squeezing until there's bruises.

(In his defense he doesn't mean to he literally can't control his strength when it comes to fucking you. When he gets into it he just I mean all he can just think about is the faces your making and the sounds and how good you feel, he literally cannot think about how hard he's squeezing you)

It's the same for how hard he thrusts, you might have to like attempt to calm him down if you can't handle it but lets be honest the two of you are both chubby

You can handle the unbrideled strength.

Obviously after everything is all said and done he makes sure you had a good time

(If he finishes before you he'll finish you off do not panic he LOVES it. Granted, embaressed he didn't last but he does love making you finish even if its not with his dick)

He cleans you and he even gets in the shower with you, if its big enough that is

The next morning the two of you are closer than EVER

He asks you to shave his face for him

So he'll sit you on the counter

(You'll protest and say you're to big and he'll tell you to shut up or he'll shut you up)

And then he'll stand between your legs and let you shave his face.

You're literally so gentle he nearly falls asleep standing there

He loves the feeling of your hands on his face

You're leaving him stubble of course, you love it, but like still

You're SO gentle

Him on the other hand will just go as quick as he can without cutting himself and his hands have calluses so like its a MAJOR difference when you do it

He plays with your thighs the whole time too :)

And your tummy, he just squeezes it gently, a guesture of affection, and how much he loves it

Needless to say the two of you are literally soulmates and you are convinced that you're gonna marry him

Jokes on you Arthur is already looking at rings, he knew he wanted to marry you 15 min into talking to you.

Please, enjoy these crumbs while I do my best to catch up on requests lmaoooo

I promise I am working on things!! School is kicking my butt and my roommates and I are now attempting to get housing as well, because we pretty much got kicked out of our dorms lmao

Its okay, cowboy man is here to save us

[dragonfly0808]

Why Stormy?

SPOILERS FOR A MAJOR PLOT POINT IN SEASON 3

The first of a few posts explaining some of my fave/most iconic moments in the series so far, some of you may wonder, why was it Stormy that died? Especially since some may believe Darcy might’ve been the ‘better’ option.

First off I will admit, I did pull a red herring with Darcy with a few conversations she has in s3 about maybe leaving and in general her always having been the ‘lesser evil’ of the Trix.

This wasn’t a straight up red herring but I did want to set up Darcy as the most regretful of the three, the one who’s willing to keep going as long as the witches stay together. Once Stormy dies, the three are no longer together and Darcy finally refuses to keep going, seeing that the path Icy is on will only end in Darcy being on her own.

Now, as for why it was Stormy, I knew the ends of each Trix when I was like, a fourth into season 2. I knew one would die, one would be driven mad and the last one would return to Light Rock, utterly defeated and alone.

I debated with myself on whether it should be Stormy or Darcy to die, but in the end, I chose Stormy due to the thought of escalation and liking the idea of Stormy’s rage being her undoing.

Stormy is the one without a proper ‘origin story’, she was loved, she grew up privileged and had the opportunity to chose whatever she wanted to do with her life. However, from a young age, Stormy has an inexplicable rage in her very soul.

I love my morally gray villains/antiheroes, but I also love when villains are just… evil, no real explanation. That’s Stormy, she just craved power and chaos, her mom saw that and, from very early on, tried to help Stormy, get her into therapy, keep her away from anything that might trigger that deep-rooted rage that she didn’t know how to keep at bay.

Stormy’s doom is that rage and impulsivity, she goes too far, starts a curse that she can’t truly control and the curse starts turning against her, which leads to Musa having to bring the building down, killing them both in the process, but only one of them comes back.

I thought of this as, almost a bit of a self-fullfiling prophecy, even if the term doesn’t fully apply here technically speaking. Because Stormy has every chance to not be this, to turn back, to stop. She has resources and help from a young age, she shows that she’s willing to let Darcy go, but she herself cannot let go of that hunger, even knowing that it’s not very reasonable.

In the end, there as no real reason for Stormy to die, she knew how dangerous the curse she attempted was, she wasn’t supposed to even be there. And, even being there, she wasn’t supposed to initiate a curse, only take it. But no, she makes bad choice after bad choice and it leads to her death.

It felt appropriate for her. And, I won’t lie, I did consider having Stormy’s rage wind up causing Darcy’s death but the story would have been VERY different that way and it just didn’t fit for the story narrative (it would’ve been a beautiful, tragic narrative for the Trix, but they’re not the main characters so they weren’t the ones I wanted to explore in such a deeply traumatic way)

So, I chose Stormy to be the one to kick the bucket as a way of showing a self-fullfiling prophecy ala Haunting of Hill House, all along, she would be the cause of her own death and she had no idea.

[aroacesafeplaceforall]

I'm sorry wait people think youre aphobic now??? LMAO

Like okay sure whether Alastor is sex-repulsed aroace is kinda up for debate (I strongly believe he is, I think there is a lot of evidence for that, but whatever). But you were very clearly taking issue with allos shipping canonically aroace characters with no thought for how them being aroace affected the relationship. And beyond that, you NEVER said something about them being evil or awful or deserving of death threats, you more or less said you thought it was a shitty thing to do and that you judged them for it.

You even specifically mentioned that if someone was araoce and shipping an aroace character, you weren't as worried about that, and that if thought was put in to how being aroace-spec affected the relationship, that was good.

Beyond that you have always been extremely supportive of all sorts of "imperfect" araoce identities (to anyone who doesn't believe that claim, please read the damn pinned post).

Yeah, you messed up with the one person, but you apologized and deleted the post. You never said to send death threats or harassment, you specifically said to "block and move on." The individual is being hypocritical, saying it's your fault people are sending harassment to them but not their fault people are sending harassment to you.

And if that one individual reads this: People unfamiliar with Hazbin have no idea that radio has a connection to Alastor. And alter doesn't only refer to system alters. While on Tumblr that's the main implication, it can also mean stuff like an alter-ego (for superheros and the like). Additionally if Jamie was tired he may not have fully read it out. He may have just copy-pasted the username. Yes, he should have done his due diligence, but when his error was pointed out he did EVERYTHING IN HIS POWER to correct it. What else do you expect?

(I'm a bit nervous to be posting this instead of using an anon ask but here goes. Definitely turning off anon for asks on my blog).

[velvetroomkeeper]

Is Danganronpa 2 sexist

A response to @serahne

A few years ago serahne made a post on why the girls in sdr2 are written in a sexist manner and I’m here to go over

Now first off this was made years ago so it’s debatable if she still holds these opinions however that doesn’t exempt this from proper criticism

(For example)

And another thing while I do disagree with her points about this that doesn’t mean she doesn’t make good points and the points I do agree with will not be present in this response

Let’s begin

This is ignoring a few things regarding the characters Akane for instance did take action on her own accord during the series

For instance she tries to fight monokuma after the second trial

Or strangling nagito during the fifth chapter

This also ignores chiaki’s goal to stop the killing along with hajime granted it’s a pretty simple one but it’s still a motive regardless

It also ignores the contributions characters like Sonia have in the narrative such as her knowledge of military weapons coming into play when she’s the first one to realize nagito’s bomb plot was a bluff

Another thing she doesn’t bring up is that while Mikan did kill for love the person she killed for was female shouldn’t this go against the sexist narrative if the person in question is female

Again I’m not saying their writing is perfect it isn’t but you shouldn’t gloss over things like this when making your point or criticizing something because it weakens the point and makes you look like a fool who doesn’t know what they’re talking about

Now I’m pretty neutral about whether hiyoko should’ve died or not because while I do have issues with her dying these mostly stem from execution which I’m not going to get into because it has nothing to do with the main point here but blaming it on sexism feels unwarranted and presumptuous here

Another thing here is that she makes a few mistakes

First off nagito doesn’t actually develop in the context of the game the fact that he still goes with the murder plot should be proof enough that he hasn’t changed within the context of the game while characters like kazuichi did develop as he went from not trusting anyone to finally trusting in other its not the strongest arc in the series but it’s still an arc regardless

Another thing is that when writing this serahne at the time really disliked nanami claiming her writing was sexist for pretty bad reasons that ignored details I made a response on my blog you can check it out if you want

But again she’s ignoring nanami actually giving herself up and resisting her programming so the others can survive

Akane became less rash and more patient

Sonia became more determined to push forward and stop the game

So (say it with me)

Don’t ignore things like this it’s going to ruin you’re credibility

(Damn you gamergate!)

If I had to describe this it’s a massive generalization of all female characters in the game and it’s really does more against her point

So apparently because most of the girls in the series are good people that automatically makes them waifu bait only made to please the men

(Oh boy where do I start with this one)

First off “All the characters were created to be potential waifu”

Danganronpa is part dating sim of course they’re all going to be potential waifu’s even the ones you praised before

Secondly “they are all nice polite caring are all following the fetishized innocence”

Okay first off how is writing a character to be nice and polite and caring automatically fetishizing innocence (screw you gamergate)

Secondly not of the characters are these sexually submissive dolls you’re making them out to be when most of them have a few quirks that would turn other away

Akane is about as conventionally feminine as mondo meaning she doesn’t act like waifu bait especially not with that gluttonous behavior of hers

Sonia loves serial killers and dark magic

Ibuki is constantly portrayed as very eccentric to the point where is got her kicked from her former band

Mikan is very unstable and possessive to violent degrees

Mahiru can be very demanding and abrasive sometimes

And Chiaki the gamer girl you constantly call waifu bait enjoys games like this

So yeah real waifu bait there

And you end with a circular argument that bases itself on a faulty premise

Oh boy this is rich

Miu and Angie both have the most sexualized designs in any mainline Danganronpa game

Not to mention miu becomes totally submissive when someone pushes back at her

Plus celes is wearing a gothic Lolita outfit

And you had to cite mostly antagonistic characters to make your point which is pretty indicative

And Sakura doesn’t actually argue or try to fight the male player and she’s one of the more polite and kind hearted members of the first class so by your own logic she should be considered waifu bait regardless of how her character is meant to break down gender stereotypes

Conclusion

Yeah this is not a good meta

It ignores details and makes dumb reasons for why a character is waifu bait that don’t make any sense

Now I’m not going to go after the part about fanservice because I actually agree with that one however this for the most part is very poorly construed ignores details makes dumb reasons for why this is waifu bait and is pretty terrible

[saikolikes]

I Played Persona 5 Tactica, Here Is What I Think About It

I have long awaited Tactica since the first announcement trailer (yes, the one that got "accidentally" published by Atlus). After playing through the main story + DLC I needed to sort my thoughts & have decided to subject every other person on the internet to it.

First of all a few disclaimers: Did someone ask me to write this? No Do I care? No Do I need to sort out my thoughts out loud? Yes :D There will be spoilers for the entire game + DLC so read this post knowing that! Lastly, this post is highly critical but it comes from a place of enjoyment of the game and love for the series. If that hadn't been the case, I would've never spent literal days collecting all these words in one place.

So.

Let's start by: have I enjoyed my experience? Yes, most of the time. Would I recommend the game to someone else? Now that is a good question. Let's start from the theory.

What does Tactica want to achieve?

According to this interview by Business Producer Nomura, Director Maeda, and Composer Konishi, P5T had -- extremely summarized -- three main goals:

Maintaining the Persona 5 allure and imagery despite having a different gameplay and visual style

Making a strategy rpg accessible even to non-fans of the genre and non-navigated trpg players

Capturing "the straightforward and highly passionate feelings of the high school students, along with a slightly precarious, fleeting danger inherent in their straightforwardness" (Maeda, quoting from the Persona Central article previously cited)

If we hold what it said into this interview as our sole criteria for judging the game, Persona 5 Tactica aces most of it. I will go into each section deeper as this post goes on, but this game was clearly made with passion by people who have very clear in their minds what Persona 5 means, sounds, and feels like.

There is only one problem: it's not as clear who this game was made for.

Who's Tactica targeted at?

At its core, despite being a game that most likely only the more passionate P5 fans will buy, especially so far from P5's original release and so close to both P3:RE and the (plausible?) announcement of P6, Tactica's main story is so clearly made with the intent of being enjoyed by every possible P5 fan that the hardcore fanbase would probably be the last segment of players I would suggest that should play this game. Right from the start, it supplies you with practical notes about who is who, what key places you need to know, and other recap information from the previous game -- a nice feature, and very helpful... but clearly targeted at people who haven't touched P5 since 2017, or at least haven't been participating in some form of fandom in the past 6 years.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing bad with wanting to appeal to every possible player -- Strikers, too, was purposefully designed to be enjoyed no matter your starting point for the series, the game, the anime, or the manga (or none of these things, actually). I find some form of contradiction, however, in the fact that not only the DLC, which acts as a prequel to Tactica's main story, technically has light spoilers for Royal, but also... of all the people I know -- irl, on the internet, among gaming creators -- who played P5 the majority of them still has only played P5. They haven't been interested in the slightest in all these spinoffs that have come out in the meantime, not even in Royal. (more about this on Reddit)

My point is: at this point in time, with the infamous cow-milking reputation Atlus has especially regarding P5, the people who have bought and are going to buy the spinoffs no matter what are the hardcore fans. But this game isn't made for them for the most part -- and that is something that can sour the whole experience.

I won't get into the debate about the canonicity of the P5 timeline, but Tactica seems to have a few ideas and well-confused about the whole thing. Because the DLC is Royal compliant, even touches upon "Kasumi"'s bond with her sister, and is technically set parallel to Sae's Palace. Which sort of makes sense since Royal and Tactica share their producer (Wada). But then there is no mention of Royal canon whatsoever in the main story (01.29.24 EDIT: I stand slightly corrected, as Maruki does get hinted at... but I also stand by the fact he's not mentioned in a way that truly matters, and my point about the Third Kingdom I talk about later on is still valid). Sure, much like Strikers, Tactica does not contradict Royal. But between not contradicting and actively enforcing there is a world of difference.

During the game, specific events of P5 are referenced, much more heavily than what happens in Strikers, with Shido and the political scandal being addressed more than once -- to the point where the December calling card is what prompted Toshiro out of his subservient attitude towards his father. Even Yaldabaoth is mentioned and compared to Salmael, the Big Baddie of Tactica, something that in Strikers was left much vaguer ("it's been x months since we fought a god"). And this does not happen for any of the Royal content. Despite the DLC, the Royal-compliant DLC, very clearly linking its story with the main one. Even more, the Third Kingdom and Salmael have an unmissable resemblance with the themes of the Third Semester and what Maruki was planning, parallels so apparent that you would expect someone to at least hint at what happened between January and February at some point.

Instead, there is silence. The themes are loudly there (and I don't know if it's just me, but the Hideout -VT- ost has interesting similarities to Ideal and the Real - End Version -) yet not once, not in the slightest does Maruki ever get mentioned or referenced or hinted at. (01.29.24 EDIT: as I added before, Maruki does get hinted during a conversation that takes place in the Thrid Kingdom... but it's no where near how deeply interwowen Tactica's story is with the ending of vanilla P5. This is what I meant in the following sentence where I say there is a disparity of treatment because there absolutely is.) It's clear to me, given the disparity of treatment, that Tactica's main story doesn't want to contradict Royal in the same way that Strikers didn't, but Persona 5 vanilla is clearly the game you're supposed to have played before starting this one. Which, of course, is also reinforced by Akechi and "Kasumi" being locked behind the DLC. And I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that, if you're a hardcore fan (= most likely to buy Tactica), this probably isn't what you would have wanted from this game.

What Tactica does best

Tactica is a good game for the most part. As I was saying in my introduction, 2 out of the 3 main goals for this game have been not only achieved but aced.

Gameplay-wise, the loop can become quite addicting, especially between the last portion of the First Kingdom and the first half of the Second Kingdom, where imho the story peaks. The development team has done a damn well good job in reducing the structure of a trpg to its core and mixing it with what makes Persona 5... Persona 5. Much like the base game, for example, getting the upper hand through chains of One Mores and All-Out Attacks is basically how you progress through maps. Each Thief has his own Persona + 1 equippable sub-Persona -- even Joker can only use Arsène -- but they made sure to translate each different element into a different mechanic. I adored that, exactly like it happens in the first game, despite the combat being turn-based the characters seem to dance on the battlefield, with each action flowing into the next one as the hype builds up and either Lyn's voice or catchy drums accompany you turn after turn. Don't expect something too complex, as the game is designed to be accessible even to non-strategy players -- and surely I was disappointed by having to play with only 3 characters at a time -- but the fun is there, and to an extent, you can build each character how you most like them through a minimal but very efficient skill tree.

The music is another thing Tactica does very well. By now (Strikers, Royal, and Tactica) it's clear that Konishi favors aggressive guitars over groovy basslines and I didn't mind it one bit, as this became kind of his personal signature. The first portion of the game especially is full of banger hits that get later reprised and remixed as you progress through the Kingdoms. Some of my favorites:

Maxim, like many tracks, has an excellent use of percussions that resemble war drums

Tension, with clear Life Will Change influences

Infiltrate, back at it with the Life Will Change vibes and an exceptional use of strings that resemble horse hooves running on the cobblestones of a medieval city

Master of the Castle, which plays during the Marie bossfight, is an excellent mixture of the Tension theme with the addition of a more aggressive guitar and... bells! Because she's about to get married!

Amusement Park of Trauma, a strong detachment from the general mood of the Second Kingdom that perfectly serves its purpose

Recollection, a melancholic theme that through its notes perfectly sets the mood for what the player is about to go through as soon as they set foot in the Third Kingdom, much like Gentle Madman before it

01.29.24 EDIT: as the beta version of Last Surprise was discovered, I was able to catch a bunch of notes between 0.18 and 0.30 that I am fairly sure are present, rearranged/with guitars only, inside one of Tactica's OSTs too. I just can't seem to find it so I will add the specific one as soon as I spot it lol

Along the new tracks, some very neat rearrangements like Beneath the Mask (which somehow they managed to make it sound even more lo-fi than it already was) and Disquiet make their apperance, as well as a version of Prison Labor.

Also, contrary to what happens in the hellscape of info dumping that is the first hours of Strikers, tutorials are actually paced wonderfully here, and you get to be introduced to each bit of gameplay with little steps, and nothing gets shoved down your throat leaving you with so many information you actually have no idea how to play.

Additionally, the story is quite captivating, especially if you pay attention to what can seem to be minor details. Right from the start, the sheer need to understand what the hell is going on is what drives you forward, and by the end of the First Kingdom and Marie's reveal as Toshiro's fiance, you start to understand that the scope of the entire thing is much more limited and personal -- which is something I appreciated a lot. Toshiro is a good character, his cowardice at the start isn't just a funny trait for the laugh, but a flaw that is deeply connected with his personal history and, much like with Zenkichi and Sophia, the team did a good job in tracing parallels with the other Phantom Thieves in order to quickly build empathy towards him -- with Haru and Futaba being the absolute best matches. The same thing happens with Erina, who shares the rebellious fire of the Phantom Thieves and leads the rebellion against Marie. What I loved about her is her goofiness, I was afraid she would be the nth Strong Female Character -- seeing as Kasumi was very much your Manic Pixie Dream Girl -- instead I found a lady with a sharp tongue and a strong heart, who's deeply loyal but doesn't hesitate to fool around. She's really valid, I admit I wouldn't have bet on her character to be like this but I'm happy they took this direction with her.

So... all is good, right? Why do I say that the game "is good... for the most part"?

Tactica's recycling problem

Fundamentally, and believe me it pains me very much to say this... Tactica doesn't have a lot to say, despite what its developers declared.

The game's themes, characters, morals, and climax are all heavily derivative of themes, characters, morals, and climaxes that have already been more than explored within the various iterations of P5. Past the final portion of the Third Kingdom, the repetitiveness of it all became seriously unbearable. No thing, big or small, gets spared: this is how you find yourself with Toshiro mathematically relating to all the Phantom Thieves, even when it feels forced; how you have the battle against Shadow Toshiro and then Eri that is 1:1 what we saw in Futaba's Palace with the fight against Wakaba; how you have the nth Deity Wished By Mankind that wants to rule over Free Will; how the "Fourth" Kingdom is nothing more than a recycling, reskinning, recoloring of what you already played through the previous Kingdoms -- mobs and bossfights included.

It really does a disservice to the game, the fact that so many of its final portions are stretched out to the point of exhaustion, I imagine only for the sake of justifying the cost of the game with more playtime, something that is deeply wrong, especially if we take into consideration that the game is actually sold at (less) than the current average market price (60€/$, compared to PS4/Switch games being 60-70 and next-gen games being 70-80). It kills the climax that Tactica so painfully had built up to that point, and it made me feel like completing the story was more of a chore I had to do in order to get to the final cutscene (which... is fine, I guess) than something I did with heartfelt conviction.

Moreover, the deeply derivative nature of this game causes more than some issues, character-wise. Because this is a game with the Phantom Thieves... but narratively speaking, they aren't the protagonists: Toshiro and Erina are. This leads to a weird situation where the group, who has by now 2 god killings under their belt, remains stagnant throughout the whole game, as they have nothing to learn or improve about them, and too often they become nothing more than the mask (ah-ah) of themselves, with characters acting just like their archetype -- Yusuke, the starving artist; Morgana, who gets angry when he's called a cat; Ryuji, the dumb guy who's the butt of the joke. Incredibly speaking, the one who feels less like herself is Makoto: in P5 she can be tough and confrontational, sure, but you have to provoke her, first -- she's usually kind and collected, with a sort of mom-friend attitude. Strikers played a bit more into her punk side, and Royal gave us her wonderful Showtimes with Haru and Ryuji... but in Tactica, she's straight-up aggressive and quick to violence, often excessively, often for no reason. I have no idea what happened with her honestly, the day of the wedding in the imaginary vignette she even accuses you, unprompted, of cheating on her. Are the writers Makoto haters?

Anyway. My point is, as much as Toshiro and Erina hit home and do their job as characters, and as much as it's heartwarming to have the whole gang together again... sometimes, especially near the end, it sure feels like everything is just an excuse to have more Phantom Thieves content. Which would not be bad! But it is the moment Royal gets ignored and all the progress and maturity they gained is erased.

Overall, I think Tactica has a great cast and great premises, but the final portion of the story has really been dragged for too long, and the amount of recycling between ideas, assets, plot points, and maps is... not great.

Tactica's mysterious mysteries

There is a whole lot that is never given clarification in this game, and well beyond the realm of plausible fan speculations.

So many things went unexplained or even unaddressed. The Metaverse should by all means be gone at this point -- yet it's still working, and the only comment you get on the matter is "I guess it can't be erased completely" which is fine seeing how it's so tied to the human subconscious but an element so important to the worldbuilding really is treated like Just A Thing That Is Said and never given more consideration. Additionally, it is said that Kingdoms aren't Palaces... but functionally speaking, we explore Toshiro's Palace. There are cognitive versions of his family and acquaintances, there are memories locked inside the maps, there is his Shadow... there is no formal reason for it not to be Toshiro's Palace! Except that they needed to market it like an Entirely Different Thing somehow! On this front, Strikers did a really better job in connecting to the canon worldbuilding of P5.

Another thing that goes entirely unaddressed is how exactly the Phantom Thieves have been summoned inside Toshiro's cognition. The game explains that Shido's calling card was what roused Toshiro from his complacency, and what generated Erina as the spark of his rebellion... but it's never explained how the Thieves got in, especially given that it's explicitly stated that they entered in a different manner than Toshiro, who was kidnapped by Salmael, Persona 4 style. All the weirdness of this new world, Personas not working as usual, the Velvet Room changing form... everything is addressed merely in passing, diverted back to Salmael's doing, or even straight up commented by Lavenza with "I have no explanations for this behavior."

Again, lastly, some things are brought up and never addressed again, like the fact Erina can plant the Flag of Freedom but the Flag itself, as a mechanic, only has relevance in the First Kingdom; or the fact that doors with a projectile on it are used to traverse Kingdoms and are what evoked the Phantom Thieves, but no one will ever explain to you what those are or why the Phantom Thieves don't traverse one back to return to the real world, instead they simply... *fades to white*

But what about the DLC?

The DLC is enjoyable but has, on a smaller scale, the exact same problems the rest of the game has.

Some bits of dialogue and character interactions sent me flying, like the way Joker can tease Akechi in a way he doesn't do with any other character or the fact that whether or not Akechi is a Phantom Thief is treated as a complicated matter, and you can trigger some interesting remarks about the whole situation going on outside of Tactica.

Aside from this, the DLC most than anything else suffers from being set in a pocket of time that needs to be wiped from memory, firstly because these three characters aren't exactly a trio yet and only had one interaction together before this moment yet they act like they're closer than that... and secondly because the whole Guernica situation is a parallel to Kasumi and Sumire's story. So it really hits the wrong way, and it even verges on horror if you have the hindsight, that Akechi, Joker and Violet have to save a girl that lost her sister and is being brainwashed to forget her... while Sumire is still "Kasumi."

I liked the setting and I liked the paint mechanic and I liked how frankly brutal and visceral some scenes are. That is exactly my jam! But I couldn't enjoy them to the fullest because I knew they would have amounted to nothing in the grand scheme of things. The memory wipe solution was in store, of course, I saw that coming, nonetheless I found it deeply unelegant, seeing as they didn't even try to offer an explanation as to why or how the trio had their memory erased.

Also, it makes no sense for Guernica to be active in the real world at that scale if only because there would be no reason for her to never be mentioned anywhere after, and I quote, "pulling a stunt like the ones from the Phantom Thieves."

On a final note, since I mentioned the base game's price... contrary to that, Tactica's DLC isn't worth the 20€/$ you pay it. Not only because it's very short (4-5 hours if you rush, 6-8 if you take some more time to maybe restart some maps or replay some dialogues and gush like I did) but because the experience is overall nothing memorable, and the additional maps aren't enough to cover that. I stand by the fact you shouldn't judge a game's price by its length, but length isn't Repaint Your Heart's sole problem, sadly.

My final thoughts

Overall, I enjoyed playing Tactica (save for the final part) and it gave me some really stellar content, like the fake wedding scenes, Ann's best characterization across the entire series, Erina as a character, and overall a new occasion to spend time with my favorite band of outlaws teens.

I'm glad I had more P5 content... but I still feel I could've gone by with no problems without Tactica. Which is a sad thing to say, but it's true. Because I loved Strikers and I would never want to live without having played that game. Tactica, well... despite me being hyped for it a ton, it made me come to the conclusion that I am done with P5 content, especially if it has to be like this. If I feel nostalgic, I'll just boot my PS5 and replay Royal for the second time. And for everything else, there is fandom.

Thank you for reading this far if you have. You can find me on Twitter, Ao3 and BlueSky!

[charbon-et-eau]

I recently discovered your account through Pixvi. I'm afraid to ask this question, but here goes. I hope not taken the wrong way. I genuinely like your ship art. I gotta wonder how old Brendan is, like, based on your headcanon wise? Forgive me. It's dumb to ask. (If that's the case, I tend to do the same with another Pokemon ship.) If you don't feel comfortable saying it, I completely understand. If you don't want to respond on post, I completely understand; I simply can on DM. Post a chocolate cake picture to let me know.

I've actually already answered this here. I like to hc him as an older teen. I try to reflect that in my art, but I tend to draw Brendan really cute, which probably makes him look younger to most people.

This should go without saying, but I am very much against adults trying to date 16 year olds in real life. However, in fiction, it's fair game. If fictional age gaps involving a teenager make you uncomfortable, that's valid. You're welcome to ignore my headcanons or unfollow/block me.

I just think it's an interesting dynamic to explore in fiction. And I'm actually feeling a bit chatty rn, so for anyone who's interested, I'm gonna expand a little bit on why I find this dynamic interesting under the cut.

For starters, I was a teenager once, and I definitely fantasized about how cool it would be to date someone older. Surely I wasn't the only teenager with fantasies like that, right? Of course, even as a teenager, I knew not to try to make that fantasy a reality.

I was a pretty smart and mature kid, but maybe a little too much. I matured way faster than I probably should have, and as a result, I was always very careful and never took any risks or did any of the stupid things that people usually associate with teens. I was safe (aka boring). I think sometimes I feel like I missed out on the true teenage experience by being too safe. And while that's probably for the best, it's nice to be able to still explore those scenarios through fiction by putting Brendan (or any other fictional character) in Situations.

The other main reason I like making Brendan a teen and sticking him in a relationship with an older man is because it kinda just makes sense given the setting of the source material. In the Pokemon world, it's perfectly normal for kids and teens to leave home and go on potentially dangerous adventures across the region. They can also become gym leaders and champions. I think it makes sense to imagine that kids in the Pokemon world are treated with a lot more respect and agency than in our reality. So it makes sense that the general population in the Pokemon world wouldn't really see any issues with young trainers getting into relationships with older ones. If these young trainers can command a team of up to six incredibly powerful magical creatures in battle, then why would it be weird for them to make out with an older cooltrainer behind the pokemart?

Whether or not this is a good or a bad thing is debatable. My point is that it's interesting to think about what the societal norms surrounding relationships with age gaps would look like in this setting. Also, I think it's funny to imagine Brendan's mom internally cheering "FUCK YEAH!" when she finds out that Brendan is dating the richest man in Hoenn instead of some loser collector or hex maniac that he found on a random route.

I could probably ramble about this more, but I think I've run out of steam for now. Anon, I'm so sorry for rambling, you didn't ask for any of this lol. But thank you for the ask!

[moku-youbi]

List of Current Klive Projects

So I have waaaaay too many unpublished WIPs in various stages of completion, from just plot bunnies, to complete outlines, to partial chapters, to almost completed fics, lmao. Currently my main focus has been If It's Not Love (Then It's the Bomb) with some oneshots or short multichapter fics scattered. However I've just started posting the follow-up to my Hitman Five fic (Kill Me Twice), Let Me Tear You to Pieces, which is going to be multichapter, and later this month or next month I'll be posting something else--but what that is remains up for debate, as I'm spoiled for choice on what to work on.

The question I have, I guess, is what of my 9 billion ideas sounds most appealing to others. So poll time! Here's a brief(ish) rundown of my various projects for Klive. Take a look and tell me what you'd most like to see!

*Accidental Sugar Daddy AU (~50k ish?) Season 4 AU where the rest of his siblings are making lives for themselves without their powers, but Klaus has no idea what to do with himself. Luckily for him, Five is more than happy to take care of him in the meantime. But as Five goes to more and more extravagant lengths to keep him happy, Klaus feels like he should be giving something back. And when Diego jokingly calls him Five's Sugar Baby, Klaus can't stop thinking about just how he could show his appreciation. Basically Didn't Know They Were Dating followed by Mutual Pining While Fucking, Misunderstandings, Angst, and a delightfully cheesy Happy Ending :D

*The Professional Cuddler AU (likely ~20k) - Ben is a professional cuddler who has an emergency and asks his BFF Klaus to take his appointments for him one day. Five is a maladjusted, touch-starved little psycho and his BFF Viktor buys him a session with a professional cuddler to see if it might help. *Danger Days AU (multi-chapter probably in the 75k+ range) Set in the Danger Days universe (from My Chemical Romance's album/videos/comics), Reginald rules the world and various of his adopted children run major cities. Five runs Battery City, with the Handler training his SCARECROWS. Five ends up with a new sexbot that doesn't behave like bots are supposed to, but as angry as it makes him, he's not about to return the bot... Klaus, meanwhile, is a top of the line, self-aware, true AI and secretly working with the underground, sending info back to Diego and Lila, and trying to find out where Reginald's last son, Viktor, has disappeared to.

*Time Travel What Ifs # 1 (multi-chapter ~25-50k) When Reginald throws Klaus out of the tunnel in season 3, he doesn't manage to die in time before the Kugelblitz gets him...and he wakes up back in the season 1 timeline, tied to a chair in Hazel and Cha-Cha's motel room. Klaus sets about fixing the timeline in a decidedly Klaus way, much to the bafflement of his siblings who wanna know what the hell happened to change their brother so dramatically overnight. (Also, Five keeps walking in on Klaus in various stages of undress. This is not essential to the plot, but I do adore it :D)

*Time Travel What Ifs #2 (probably a fairly porny oneshot ~ 10k at most??) Five's equations end him up in the mid 00s in a hot young 20-something body. 15 yo Klaus is super fucking into it, and trying to seduce Five, while Five tries to resist. He eventually fails to resist...

*Mob AU (?? 15-30K ish??) Psycho Mob Enforcer Five is the Boss's favourite, but has to leave town a while to lay low. Upon coming back and he takes a special interest in, and starts stalking, the Boss's newest sidepiece Klaus. Klaus is, predictably, super into it (and all the glorious fallout of that relationship when Five's not willing to share with anyone, boss or no...)

*Old Man Five/Hooker Klaus (25-50k) Old Man Five hops through the timeline trying to help improve his siblings' lives, even if they don't know it's him. When he gets to Klaus, he figures some money could improve his situation, but Klaus is disinclined to take money without providing services in return...Five doesn't mean to fuck his brother, but once he gets started, he's not about to stop. Klaus becomes his kept boy, and Klaus, despite the fact that he doesn't know much about his mysterious benefactor who disappears for long stretches of time, starts to fall in love. Except then Five disappears for good (after the Handler threatens to kill Klaus if Five keeps going back). Upon returning to his 13 yo body, Five doesn't want to tell Klaus the truth, assuming he'll be pissed to find out it was Five all along. But then Luther, the only one who's seen Old Five finds a photo of him in the background of some major historical event, and upon seeing it, Klaus blows up like wtf how could you not TELL ME??? and there is DRAMA and a fair amount of angst, but an eventual happy ending.

*Daemon AU (a la His Dark Materials; 10-20k ish, oneshot-ish, probably with other short one-offs in same ' verse) I have SO MANY FEELS ABOUT KLAUS' DAEMON OKAY??? And I don't want to get into them too much without being spoilery. But basically some vague timeline what timeline where they avoid the apocalypse and still have their powers and settle back into the manor. No one has seen Five's daemon since he returned to their timeline, leading his siblings to believe she must have been severed from him. No *humans* have seen her, but Klaus' daemon has, and the two of them hang out a lot. Meanwhile Klaus' daemon is as much of a mess as he is, thnks to various experiments Reggie performed, and of course the issue of what becomes of the daemon of a person who can die and return to life, when upon death, a daemon becomes Dust? Basically these two have some fucked up issues that are reflected in their daemons, which leads everyone around them to jump to conclusions. But mostly it's a really soft, romantic fic, of Five's daemon taking care of Klaus and Klaus taking care of Five, and just...lots of feels guys, okay?!

*Meet as Teens AU (25-50kish) Cancer Patient Five's family move to America for treatment. In the small town nearby, he meets Amish Klaus, who works at his family's market. Five's going through a bit of a rebellious phase (facing some really bad odds with his cancer) and Klaus lives on the fringes of his society, an outcast because of his weird abilities. Of course they gravitate towards one another, but when Five gets bad news after his most recent round of treatment, Klaus decides to visit the Girl and ask for a favour. *Commune AU (under 20k oneshot/maybe several short ~2-5k ficlets) Instead of selling Five when Reginald comes calling, Efa, whose family has a plot of land, invites other mothers of the powered children to drop off their babies if they don't want them. And if you want your baby but can't keep them because of shitty family situations, drop yourself off, too. Basically some of the moms stay and together they raise and teach and train the children together. The kids grow up happy and moderately well-adjusted and Reginald gets none of them, the dick. Five and Klaus are good friends, but then genius Five heads off to university pretty young, then a year of study abroad, and they mostly only keep in touch via mail. Five comes back from his study abroad to find Klaus has finally moved off the commune, and when he mentions not wanting to live in the dorms next semester, his mum mentions Klaus having space in his apartment. The last time Five saw him, Klaus was still that sort of wary, fluffy farm boy. But then Five walks into Klaus' gallery and both of them are all "oh no he's hot." Klaus is all cool and sexy and tattooed, and has all these friends and Five's despairing "what is he going to see in me, his square, nerdy friend." and Klaus is all, "ugh, Five is so hot and serious and he must think I'm so immature and stupid"

IDK if this will get any response whatsoever, since Klive fandom is so small, but I figured I'd try!

[autumnmist101]

Secret Life Aftermath

“Ah!” Scar yells falling onto the main street of Scarland. He opens his eyes, blinking away the dizziness before looking at a curious Jellie.

“Oh man Jellie. You wouldn’t believe it.” Scar says sitting up. “It was the craziest thing. I was in Secret Life, and lost all my friends, became a huge villain and I— I won. . . I— I won. . . But. . . it didn’t— it didn’t feel like a game. It— It felt real.” Scar’s smile faulters as Jellie nuzzles against him. “Oh my gosh.”

He picks her up, scratching under her chin as the guilt begins creeping. . . He had killed them. . . He had killed so many of them.

“There were so many— so many deaths Jellie, and— and I was the cause of it. Oh no.” He frowns before Jellie gives a meow. She hops out of his arms and goes to a chest, pawing at it. However, Scar hadn’t listened. She meowed again, much louder this time for Scar to blink.

“Jellie can’t you see I’m having a crisis?” Scar says for her to meow and scratch at the chest once more. Scar gets up and walks to it.

“Honestly, I don’t know what could be in here that could—” Scar stops as the chest opens to reveal his average mess of blocks and such, however in the middle of it all laid a pair of elven ears. A common staple of his first few hermitcraft shops. He looked at his cat.

“You’re a genius.”

______________________________________________________________

“Sweet dreams are made of thee. Who am I to disagree? Traveled the world and the seven seas. Everybody’s looking for something.” Pearl sings walking through her base, three shulkerboxes in her arms. She had adjusted well back into Hermitcraft after losing to Scar in the finale. Though she would admit seeing Gem in her post game state had been quite an emotional rollercoaster. Nevertheless there was still much work to before the end of the season and no time to waste.

“Some of them want to use you. Some of them want to be use by— Woah!” Pearl yells tripping over something. After shaking out the dizziness of the fall, she rolls over and finds a chest. She slowly stands, dusting herself off before going to the front of it.

“I don’t remember leaving a chest here.” She says pulling out a pickaxe. She digs down a few blocks only to find no observers. She blinks before letting out a chuckle.

“Hermitcraft. We’re safe.” She tells herself, patching up the hole. She then opens the chest to find it full of Scar’s Eleven cookies as well as a few bits of Scarland merch. However in the center of it all sat a single book. Pearl takes it, opening it to find just one line of text. She gives a sad smile.

______________________________________________________________

“Okay, how should I start this?” Grian questions to himself as he sours around his base. He had had this question rolling around in his mind for an hour now. However couldn’t fully commit to thinking about it due to other projects needing his attention.

“Okay, how did the last time go? Mmmm. Well a bit better than Scott’s time. Mmm.” Grian hums before landing on one of the stones that overlooked the entryway of Scarland. He had debated flying over first thing when Scar had come back to the world. However decided it best to give the man time to process his victory.

“Pour fella’s probably just realizing everything was real.” Grian sighs before noticing someone flying over. However that one soon became two.

And then three.

And four

And five.

Grian hears a rocket sound behind him before turning to see Tango pass by and join the flock of flying hermits at the entryway of Scarland. Grian himself, having his interest piqued, flew over as well, however remained atop the entry structure. He peaked out to find not only Tango, but also Gem, Etho, Cleo, Impulse and Pearl as well. The group stood in a circle bashfully taking out booklets and chatting.

After a bit, each one begins placing down shulkers, comparing what was inside. Grian debated on using his powers to see in, but knew the glowing purple would give him away. Finally, after Pearl got out a crafting table and made something, the group piled their shulkers next to Jellie before Pearl popped down a lectern. Leaving a book on top of it. The group then dispersed for Grian to swiftly fly off and look busy by the back of his base as Tango passed by once again. Though once he was sure everyone had gone, he flew back to the pile of shulkers. Checking around and telling Jellie to stay quiet, he peaked in.

“Holy Mother of Jackpot!” He exclaims finding one filled with quartz blocks, and another filled with multiple stacks of the different log types. His mind whirled as he checked the others to find similarly important blocks for Scar’s builds.

“What made them want to give Scar all this stuff?” Grian questions before spotting the book. He walks over and reads it.

“Oh— Oh Scar.”

______________________________________________________________

“Okay. Okay. New day. All swept up— Not swept up. Slept up. That’s still not the right grammar but we’re going with it. Anyway, time to get to work grinding so we can start the interior of— Oh!” Scar rambles flying to the main gate where he finds a big stack of shulkers.

“I don’t remember leaving a shulker monster here. Why is— Why is this here?” He questions before looking around. Jellie meows, walking up to nuzzle his leg.

“Hello!? Did anyone leave a shulker monster here?” Scar laughs, “Whose even is this?” He opens it.

“OH!” He cheers making Jellie jump, “Oh we’ve hit the motherload! Ha ha ha! Provided no one’s actually left it here, of course though you know what they say. . .” Jellie tunes him out, deciding to take a more direct approach. She saunters to the lectern, leaping onto the shulker next to it, before meowing.

“Yes Jellie. I’ll get you your breakfast in a moment. I’m just saying that you know finders keepers, looserssss I still can’t remember the rest of the term.” Scar continues as he climbs to the top of the shulker pile. Jellie however, notices a skeleton swiftly walking their way from the inside of an unintentional mob farm, and aiming their bow at Scar.

She hops down just as an arrow lodges in Scar’s shoulder knocking him off the top of the pile. However his footing had apparently given out because after he fell from the top, he stumbled over the lectern and fell with it into a mess on the ground. Jellie meows.

“How was I supposed to know it was there?” Scar huffs removing the book from his head. After standing and fixing the lectern— and making a mental note to block off that area— he looked at the book. Apparent it had been signed as from ‘all the ones he wronged.’ He gulps.

“Well Jellie cross your paws and toes because there’s only two ways this can go.” He says before opening the book and finding a single line for the former villain.

Yes, we can still be friends.

Hi! Meant to post this yesterday but I hope you enjoyed. Happy Holidays to all and a Merry New Years too!