#finally I'm getting into the actual spade arc after this

[christine-ye]

Thinking about that one moment in Kamen Rider Blade where Kenzaki mentioned about having a crush on a random girl he liked in elementary school and how my ace headcanon for him was initially based solely on vibes and self-projecting but looking back on his character flaws and growth throughout the show alongside my own experiences with realizing my ace identity helped validate that even more.

I like to think (and I'm definitely reaching here) that given how Kenzaki has struggled making lasting relationships or friends especially after his parents died and the constant betrayals he experienced prior to the show's events, he never really got to develop the time or a high need to form a strong intimate (let's call it that for the sake of simplicity) connection to someone for him to actually consider a crush that he pretty much lied about doing so because he thought everybody else needed to have someone they're really into (you know, that one preteen/teen phase where a lot of people get more serious about falling in love/romance in general).

On a related note, I did have a similar experience in middle school where I thought the same thing about how everyone has to get into a serious relationship since I thought it was the right time for that (it's not actually lmao) but nothing worked out for me outside of developing what I thought were crushes just to fit in. Additionally, none of my friendships went beyond being just platonic, which combined with my overall introverted personality and the trust issues I developed upon reaching adulthood made me feel very distant from intimate relationships specifically.

Ultimately, Kenzaki needed that strong connection to someone who would understand him despite his initial inability to do so in the past (including having crushes) and fears of betrayal. Hajime (who I also headcanon as ace) was one of the people helped make that possible despite their inevitable fates, and he himself learned to develop strong connections through the Kurihara family and later Kenzaki himself despite not being human, hence him wanting to defy his prophesied role as humanity's destroyer. Shiori and Kotaro also helped Kenzaki in developing that strong connection to Hajime, with Shiori telling him that he needs to look after himself out of worry and Kotaro saying that he'd "rather befriend someone who has been betrayed 100 times than someone who's been a traitor 100 times."

In the end, Kenzaki's arc can be viewed through an ace lens as yearning for someone who would connect and understand him despite his inherent loneliness and trust issues in the past that prevented him from forming lasting friendships (or any relationships in particular), and both his growth throughout the show and interactions with his friends and eventually Hajime would contribute to his final decision to protect Hajime at the cost of his own humanity instead of sealing him.

In other words: I love my ace (of spades) son 🖤🩶🤍💜

(On a related note: as much as I want to think that Kenzaki and/or Hajime might also be demi given how I've basically worded things here that's a conversation for another time lol)

[cyanide-e-pistachio]

Shuake Spicy Fic Recs✨

Hi everyone! I’ve noticed a lot of amazing Shuake fic rec posts, but not a lot when it comes to the spicier variety 🔥 so I’m gonna link a few of my favorites! When it comes to Shuake, I like dynamics of all varieties and read a lot based on mood. So I’ll try to divide these as best as I can!

What are my credentials, you may ask? I'm just a simple gal who likes to read and write :3

If You Want Something Deceptively Wholesome - The Joy of Asking for It by Stealth_Noodle (One-shot, 6k words)

A post-canon, established relationship fic that is simply a wild ride through and through, ending with a lovely little domestic scene that warms the heart <3 I love this author's writing style and how they make everything so engaging!

If You Want a Good Top!Goro Fic - Advantageous Positioning by coleslawed (One-shot, 7k words)

Starts off with a really captivating cold open, has a fun mini-character study of Akiren, and has a good, assertive Akechi! I remember really loving how this author could write such compelling prose.

If You Want a Good Top!Persona 5 Protagonist Fic - We'd Feed Well the Land and Worry the Sheep by cookietosser (Multichapter, 34k words)

This is an older fic, but still so good. If you want a confident, doting Akiren, this is the fic for you! It's set during Sae's Palace arc where the two start to bond through nap dates, things escalate quickly, and Akechi has a bit of a crisis about it, lol. Aside from the smut, this is also just a great fic overall and a true classic for me!

If You Want a Great Switcheroo - change places! by bangandawhimper (One-shot, 6k words)

I guess if I'm preferential to any dynamic, I love switching, and this one has that in spades. An unspecified AU fic where Akechi tries bottoming for once, much to his (initial) irritation. There were some moments in this fic where I genuinely laughed out loud.

If You Want Something Actually Hilarious - spin cycle by androgenius (One-shot, 6k words)

Again, another fic where I genuinely laughed out loud several times while reading. Akechi and Akiren are neighbors, and a lot of hilarious shenanigans regarding a washing machine ensue (and not in the way you'd think, you heathens!). The writing style makes it an absolute joy to read.

If You Want a Good Amount of Plot - Bullet with Butterfly Wings by CloudMenaceBird (Multichapter, 127k words)

If you want a good plot to go with some incredible smut, this is one of my favorites. It's just an amazing post-canon shuake fic where Akechi wakes up in the Velvet Room and manages to find Akiren again after the events of Royal's final Palace.

If You Want the Oddly Specific Category of “Two People Who Have No Idea What They’re Doing but Pretend to be Experienced Anyways” - what matters most is how you bring joy to life by futuresoon (One-shot, 8k words)

This is simply a classic, through and through. Pretty much everything by futuresoon is, but this is my personal favorite of theirs. I have nothing to say other than this is probably my favorite characterization of Akechi, and that all the subtleties in this work are *chef's kiss*

If You Want WHOLESOME WHOLESOME WHOLESOME - Fools Rush In by Atalan (One-shot, 35k words)

I actually read this work recently, and being. Simply. FLOORED by how good this fic is, and how much it establishes in a one-shot. Essentially, Akiren and Akechi speedrun their entire confidant on the day they first meet at the TV Station, and it has a delicious way of writing that "instant connection" vibe. And it's incredibly wholesome. That is all.

If You Want a New Fav - Good For You by Chaoticconstellation (Multi-chapter, 14k words)

This came out just recently, and it is a new favorite of mine! A wholesome fic where Akiren and Akechi agree to try an experiment to see if physical touch improves Akechi's mood. It features a very touch-starved Akechi Goro who needs (and gets) a hug.

If You Want a Classic - To Catch a Tiger Cub, One Must First Enter the Tiger’s Lair by AyuOakhay (Multi-chapter, 77k words)

This is my personal favorite Shuake fic ever! I don't know what draws me to it - maybe it's because it has a little bit of everything I like! And despite what the tags may suggest, it does have some surprisingly sweet moments. It also inspired my current work!

And there you have it! I have more I can think of and other oddly specific categories, so I may do a Part 2 one day! 💚

[lyloneliness]

Just a pattern in dazai as a strategist

Well, now that I've read @sorcerersandskillusers 's amazing post (if some of you still haven't, READ IT or you won't understand this one), I've come to think of how asagiri really likes to make card symbolism for the place that a character will take in a battle and in the story in general. (Talking of this, I wanted to make a theory based on it but still can't figure out which card game the Meursault arc could be).

Anyway, in dazai's case, that change between the king of club and eight of heart (the leader mori wanted to make him become and the the person who is centered on his relationships he is now, thanks to oda and chuuya even if he didn't make anything voluntarily) is kinda like a pattern with dazai.

I don't think it's just a before/after thing. Sometimes, he still acts like a leader, which translates into a king card (even though it resembles more the king of spade than the club one as this post shows). And well, oda says it : dazai changed the king with an eight of heart, but brought the king back afterwards.

Also, maybe the reason oda doesn't know where that cards come from it's because it's something within dazai that changes when this happen (of course in terms of symbolism).

In each battle he is at first in the center of all the plan and places the pons, create occasions, and at some point he places himself in a situation where he can't do anything and all that follows is on the connections/ relationships he has with his allies. He places everything on this trust (first with chuuya, the with oda and now in approximately any ADA member, akutagawa and now sigma).

We've seen it multiple times already:

(⚠️15, Stormbringer, dead apple, the day I picked up dazai and dark era spoilers, for those who haven't read the light novels⚠️)

In fifteen, he literally abandon in the middle of the fight against Rimbaud for a moment, is inactive and then it's revealed by chuuya that everything goes as dazai planned it.

In Stormbringer whith the final not so final fight with all the ability users, he is indeed the gamemaster. But becomes a simple spectator when verlaine turns into guivre, and then mori convinces him to save chuuya and he elaborates a new strat for chuuya to save yokohama.

In the dragon head's conflict part, when he places the microacope hint in a conversation with chuuya and then go to the enemy and get captured. After that he waits for chuuya to take the hint and come save him, even though he can free himself alone.

With oda, he planned all situations but ended up letting oda save the day each time (the day I picked up dazai side A, and against a mimic member in the allyway, when he pushed the sniper to shoot him). It applies even for the tiniest of things...!

Obviously how he trusted that chuuya would come and rescue/punch him as the sleeping beauty after he took the poison in dead apple.

Even how he put everything in sskk and kyouka's hands to handle Francis and the fall of Mobydick, even though we know afterwards that he planned it all with ranpo and is therefore the king of clubs but inactif in the 'actual' battle, so somehow simultaneously the eight of hearts.

and later, still trusting sskk with the poison master in the cannibalism arc, before he tries to catch Fyodor...

Yeah, in EVERY fight, dazai chooses to let the people he trust be the key element to his plan and he just watches it unfold as an eight of heart, before it's revealed he was the one that made everything happen the way it did, and was leading everyone in the shadows.

And since the day I picked up dazai was made for the beast movie, meaning when the Meursault arc had already debuted and was probably thoroughly planned in Asagiri's head, I think it will apply in the Meursault arc too. No, I don't think... I'M CERTAIN it will. It's not because dazai is an eight of heart right now that it means he won't come on top at the end

Thanks for reading my rumblings y'all, hope it makes sense at least... (　；∀；)

[novemberhope]

Summary: Niara and Ginny finally come face to face in Dressrosa in the colosseum. Notes: The third fic in a short amount of time. I'm rather pleased with myself actually. Let's hope I can keep this up. Please note that it's been a while since I've read the Dressrosa arc, so the surroundings here might not be 100% canon accurate. Word Count: 2466

The Colosseum stood high against the bright sky of Dressrosa, a symbol of cruelty and entertainment. The air was heavy with the smell of sweat and fear, as warriors battled for the twisted enjoyment of Doflamingo and his cheering crowd. This was a place of violence where only the strongest would win and earn a great reward—a chance to possess the Flame Flame Fruit.

In the shadows, Ginny stood with her long red hair flowing down her back. Scars marked her skin, each one telling a story of the life she had led ever since she had departed from the Spade Pirates. The latest one went right across her face. It still felt fresh. She had gotten it while being held prisoner, forced to fight in the Colosseum. She hated this place. But a small spark of hope filled her now. If she could grab that devil fruit, it would mean freedom from slavery and the knowledge that she would ever again be dependent of anyone. But she wasn't alone. 555 fighters would be competing against each other, sorted into four blocks. And only the strongest would remain.

"Well, well, look who it is," a voice behind her interrupted her thoughts. Niara stepped into sight, already having gone through a round of fighting. She looked bruised and her clothes were torn and dirty. Apparently fighting in close combat was still not her thing. But she seemed fine otherwise. Her brown eyes narrowed as she stepped closer. “Still trying to make it big, huh?"

Ginny’s green eyes narrowed. She balled her hands into fists. As she stood her ground, she faced Niara, who wore an infuriatingly carefree expression. As always, everything seemed to be a joke to her. It always had been like this. Niara had to smile and turn on her charm and everything was handed to her on a silver platter while Ginny had to fight for everything all the time, only to be let down again and again by everyone around her.

“What do you want, Niara?” she wanted to know.

Niara rolled her eyes, twirling a strand of her brown hair. “Oh, come now, Ginny. Can’t a girl just drop by to catch up? We haven’t seen each other since, you know, Marineford.”

“Don’t bring Marineford into this,” Ginny hissed. “Or Ace.”

“How can I not!?” Niara replied. “After all, we both are competing for the same thing - the Mera Mera no Mi. Which I want to point out you of all people have no right to after what you did!”

When the past was brought up, it always felt like a punch in the face to Ginny. She was haunted by the memories from that day of betrayal. And for what? She’d done it for the man she had called her father only to learn later on that he had just used her to get a promotion and she had ended up betraying her real family in the process. Regret gnawed at her, but she pushed it away, covering it with pride and anger, as she usually did.

“I was just hoping to have a family again!” she exclaimed angrily. “You wouldn’t understand. You always knew your father is a shitty person. I got told tales of his heroism and bravery all my life. I never met him but he was my hero. After my mother died, I was hoping he’d come to get me. And when he did, I…”

Niara looked at her. “You’re right; I don’t get how someone could betray their crew, their true family. Leaving us to be with a newly found parent, yeah, sure. That I could have gotten behind. But selling us out? We were your family, Gin. We laughed and cried and fought and partied together, shared adventures and fun and late night talks about our dreams and fears and hopes. How could you, Ginny?! How could you!? We trusted you - every one of us - HE TRUSTED YOU…”

It was very clear whom she was talking about. Both girls glared at each other.

“But here we are now, battling in this horrible arena for a chance at Ace’s legacy,” Niara concluded. She could see that Ginny had gone through a lot in the last few years. She would always resent her for what she did, but she wasn’t a cruel person. She did not wish Ginny more harm. She had done the right thing and changed sides in Marineford. Never again would Niara be her friend, but she could acknowledge the fact that Ginny might feel regret over her past decisions.

Ginny turned away. She didn’t like the way Niara looked at her. It made her feel angry and ashamed.

“I don't want your pity or your judgment,” she hissed. “Just let me fight. I'm not scared of you or anyone else."

The next match was announced. Ginny's heart raced. She knew she had to win. Winning meant facing Niara, someone who used to be her ally. Winning also meant facing a ton of devil fruit users and people who were more than twice her size. There was a actual giant out there. Niara was the smallest problem. She knew she could take her, even with her devil fruit. But some of those people out there… that would not be easy wins.

As the two stood facing each other, Niara spoke again.

“Are we really going to fight?” she asked. “Is this how you want our story to end?”

“Shut up, Niara!” Ginny yelled, her frustration boiling over. She didn’t want to feel guilty or remember the crew had sold out long ago. She wanted to get out of here, to be free, to have Ace’s fire powers and become a stronger fighter so she would never ever have to rely on others again.

Gatz shouted for the fight to start, and right away, the battle began. Ginny rushed in with strong blows and quick dodges, showing the skill she had built over years. The crowd cheered loudly, full of excitement. They didn’t cheer for her though and she did not want them to. Never again she wanted anyone’s approval.

As Ginny fought, she couldn't help but notice how different her fighting style was from Niara's. Niara moved gracefully through the attack, flowers blooming in her hands and vines wrapping around Ginny's arms, trying to hold her down. Ginny broke free immediately, her anger making her hit harder. But Niara stayed close, dodging her punches. All around them, fighters were battling each other. Which was a good thing, Niara thought. The big guns could take each other out that way. But once there weren’t that many fighters left, what then? Eventually there would come a point where neither of them could continue. Niara knew she would be out soon. Ginny was a strong fighter, she would last longer. But in the end, Luffy was their best bet to get to the end. Now, if only Ginny would see that… In working together, they could tackle bigger enemies. Enemies that Luffy would not have to worry about later on. But was this something Ginny would agree to? Right now, she rather looked like she wanted to smash Niara’s face into the nearest brick wall.

“I have a plan, Ginny, and I need you to listen. There’s more at stake than just us.”

“We’re on opposite sides, remember?” Ginny said. “I’m not letting you get to the end, Flower Girl.”

“I will not get to the end either way and you know it,” Niara replied, trying to wrap Ginny’s whole body in vines to stop her from being able to move. “I trained but I’m not made for these kinds of fights. You are, yes, but have you seen your competition? You can’t win this either, Ginny, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, you know you’re going down and you think I’m letting you drag me down with you!?” Ginny growled, ripping apart the vines with her bare hands. The girl had some serious strength going on. She certainly had trained a lot more in the past few years than Niara ever had.

“Whether you deserve it or not, I’d rather have you have the Mera Mera no Mi than those guys!” Niara cried, throwing herself on the ground and rolling away when someone attacked her from behind. Crap. They were already coming after them.

Ginny took one look at the guy going after Niara and sighed. It was very clear that all Niara could do here was dodge until she couldn’t dodge anymore. He wouldn’t be bothered by any of her powers. Ginny scanned the arena and looked at the people still fighting - powerhouses, all of them. Huge, all of them. Devil fruit users, some of them. Even if she made it through this round - the next one would be even more difficult. She didn’t like trusting Niara. She had vowed to herself to never let anyone in ever again. People had the nasty habit of disappointing her every time. And she had the sad habit of placing her trust in the wrong people and making wrong decisions.

“Just so you know, if you stab me in the back, I’ll kill you,” she said, pushing Niara out of her opponents way. He immediately went after her and stepped into someone else's path. Now those two were fighting.

“I won’t,” Niara replied, catching her breath. “I think Ace’s brother is our best bet to win this. But Luffy can’t eat the Mera Mera no Mi and neither can I. If I promise you to ask him to give it to you when he wins it, will you work with us?”

Niara didn’t know if she was making a mistake in trusting Ginny again. She also knew it was Luffy’s decision who he wanted to give the devil fruit to. Ginny might be all the way down his list or not on it at all. But Niara also knew that she herself wasn’t a fighter. But Ginny was. It would only be a matter of time until Niara would be taken out but Ginny could be Luffy’s ally all the way until one of the last rounds.

Ginny couldn’t answer because she was locked into a fight with a guy twice her size. But she was lighter and quicker and used this to her advantage. Niara herself was now using her vines to swing around and get away from people, dodging attacks and making opponents stumble. But as the battle continued, Ginny's anger started to fade a little, giving way to memories from the past. She recalled the laughter they shared on the Spade Pirates' ship. She recalled training with Ace and she even remembered spending time with Niara. They had never been best friends but they had gotten along just fine.

With a growl, Ginny rushed forward again, but this time, she was motivated by understanding rather than anger. Her attack slammed into Niara’s flower-based defenses, sending petals flying like snowflakes through the air, giving the others fighter the impression that they were busy fighting each other.

Niara made a spiral of plants that wrapped around Ginny's fists, stopping her mid air. "If you win and gain the Mera Mera no Mi, what will you do?” she asked. “What will you use your powers for?”

“I want to be strong and powerful so I’ll never have to be anyone’s slave again,” Ginny said. “And I never want to have to rely on anyone ever again.”

This was not the answer Niara had been hoping for. But she had no choice. And really, she couldn’t force Ginny to live a certain way. At least she would not be their enemy or use the firepower to aid the marines. And then -

“GINNY, WATCH OUT!!”

Without bothering to check, Ginny threw herself to the side. The long blade only touched her hair, sending most of it flying.

“FUCK!!” Ginny cried, jumping to her feet again. Her hair barely even touched her shoulders anymore. Not that it had looked that great after many months of being a prisoner and being forced to fight for Doflamingo’s entertainment, but still -

“Little girls should not play gladiator,” the guy with the blade said, showing them his ugly grin. He had more muscles than everything else and was missing his hair completely.

“The only one playing here is you!” Ginny cried, jumping at the chance to get back at him for cutting her hair - everything other than not having to think about the fact that she had let her guard down long enough for Niara to having to shout a warning to her. She did not need others, especially not Flower Girl Kaito Niara.

The guy suddenly put his hands to his mouth, paying no attention to Ginny. He was making weird noises and was grabbing his mouth, as if he wanted to rip his own tongue out.

“What now!?” Ginny asked impatiently.

“He’s choking,” Niara said.

“On what!?”

“Bunch of flowers…”

“Oh… I didn’t think you could do that?”

“I didn’t know I could do that either but it kind of worked…”

“You realize it’s killing him, right?”

“Yeah…” Niara sighed, biting her lips. She did not want to kill these people. At least not those who, like Ginny, were forced to fight by Doflamingo. To be honest, she would rather not kill anyone if it could be avoided. But playtime was over. She had volunteered to join Luffy in the Colosseum and now she had to do her part.

In a surprising moment, the reality of their situation sunk in. The old grudges lost their sting, and the anger between them began to fade, leaving more room for understanding.

“Let’s go,” Ginny said, dragging Niara away from the suffocating guy who was now spitting out flower petals. She did not tell her to remove the flowers or change them to smaller ones to give him more air. The harsh reality was, if he survived, he would be after them relentlessly.

“What now?” Niara asked, trying her best to tune out the noises of the guy they were leaving behind.

“Stay behind me and back me up with your vines,” Ginny ordered. “And once we’re done here, you bring me to your captain.”

As the roars of the crowd echoed in their ears, Ginny locked eyes with Niara, an unspoken understanding passing between them. They turned to face the attackers side by side. Niara rose her vines from the ground and let them wrap around their foes. Ginny was right next to her, punching and kicking. Niara's vines tangled and tripped the enemies, while Ginny struck with fast, precise blows. The strength of their combined powers was a force to be reckoned with and eventually, they both ended up as the winners for their respective blocks.

[ciphers-fr]

NotN 2023

well look at me doing this for the 6th year now

anyway

1464 Total Strange Chests

0 - Galore 25 - Gathering 739 - Coli 288 - Higgins 32 - Brew 380 - Random Events

Y'know, until the last few seconds ago where I just totaled up the numbers, I'd been thinking that I'd be down in comparison to years prior. Turns out to be just a few more than before, so I'm still getting more chests year after year. I guess that's because the random events drops are just so easy to accumulate when you know how to do the quick familiar bonding. On that note I've gotten far more chests via that method than the year prior even with never actually bonding with all my awakened familiars at once this time, multiple days where I did only 3/4 dozen of them, and even a day or two where I really couldn't do it at all. Which then leads into my Coli numbers, which has finally been not a constant growth, because there were multiple days where I could only be in the Coli for a few minutes, if at all. (cause, hey, what's 'family' other than people who waste your time, eat all the cookies you make, and get you sick... but i digress >.>) But I knew that this would eventually happen, so I'm not too pressed about it. A few more Higgin's trades but that's probably from the RE drops (Also something, something Coli'ing in only a few areas so the trade stuff gets out of wack. Blah, blah, blah I have ~2100 caterpillars and <200 of every other food for example). I did brew more chests this year than the one prior, and could have done more... but I kinda got bored of it and started to just replace my stores of transmutation stuff. Also saw somewhere that brewing chests is actually pretty inefficient and thinking about it, yeah that makes sense. Pretty average gathering numbers at first glance, but remember that we didn't get the extra 15 turns this year, so really not that bad if you think of it. I think I actually got 4 one day.

Chest Usages: 666 Sold : 1 Traded : 797 Opened

Interesting Chest Loot*:

Nocturne Egg Count 2023: 55 (2 Scav) Nocturne Scroll Count 2023: 2 Smirch Scroll Count 2023: 1 Fern Scroll Count 2023: 8 Paisley Scroll Count 2023: 15

AH Sales:

Normally I address the sales after the loot, but it kinda goes hand in hand this year. I usually sell more than I open, but with chest prices being as they were this year, I think it would have been more trouble than it was worth on my normal listing amounts. At least I was able to maintain my egg # from last year, albeit two were from scavenging, which is interesting considering that I can't remember if I've ever scavenged a Noc egg before at all. But that means that drop % on eggs was lower for me. Noc, Smirch, and Fern scroll #s are average if not down but I did get more Paisleys this year. Such is RNG.

Other Notable Coli Drops:

Arc, Diamond x2, Scroll of Renaming x2, Flutter, Berserker, Banescale Skeletal, Spade, Morph x3, Batty x3, Weathered, Rally x5, Sailfin, Python x3, Eliminate x2, Ambush, Nature Egg, Wind Egg, Shadow Egg, Marlin

Not bad! Not to mention all the other familiars, apparel, mini chests, etc. I also scavenged a Lightning egg during the time.

And now my favorite part! :)

2940 more Mimic Powder! Only a meager 5 less than last year. So now I have 18,133 Powder piles! Can't wait to hit over 20k next year!

And as for everyone trying to make Mimic Powder have another use, I am beating you back with a stick. Let me have this.

So long, until next year!

[janiedean]

How are you Lavi? I was wondering, have you have shared your opinion about the end of Supernatural? I would especially love to hear your thoughts about Destiel and that love confession.

hey! I'm... extremely tired because a lot of stuff is going on that I will partially share on main about soon but has been sapping my energies a lot (i'm OOOLD) but it could be worse, thank you <3

also, wrt spn: I think I did say it in scattered posts but if you want the condensed version:

I had quit spn like early s12 at the hitler episode then I finished it after the ending because I figured I owed it to them after watching the finale live as it aired so... it was something but going in order

I actually greatly enjoyed s12-15 up to the end and I was pleasurably surprised - like okay it was the usual crazy shit half of the time and it def had gone on too long but 12-15 were eons better than the slug that was 9-11 and I had a lot of genuine fun when watching them and like they actually look/are extremely coherent for spn standards so I mostly have positive stuff on the topic like the apocalypse universe was cool, the ketch redemption arc was cool, tombstone and the tarantino episode were a masterpiece (and the 80s rock episode too sdlgkjd same as the scooby doo crossover) and I loved chuck as the villain and how meta that was

concerning deancas and the love confession: I mean as the resident idiot who had written her first deancas fic after 4x03 aired I always thought that they didn't know what they had been doing until like s5 when they realized what they were doing (sorry no one convinces that 5x03 wasn't written by someone who didn't have the deancas agenda in mind in spades) but like I generally thought that if it went somewhere it was gonna end with sam retiring and being a man of letters or smth like that and deancas going off to fight monsters in a way where you could frame it as THEY ARE BEST FRIENDS™ in places where them being gay would be frowned upon

I also thought that if anything happened whether like... either canonization or adjacent-canonization it was gonna be the last five minutes of the series finale because otherwise some parts of fandom wouldn't have let anyone involved with that show live which is why I was pleasurably shocked the confession was in ep 18 and not 20

now: I think the network authorized it and then chickened out when covid hit because the way the entire thing is structured... like sorry but this story starts with cas rescuing dean from hell, in 18 cas ends up in the empty from which he can obviously be rescued, in 19 every single plotline gets wrapped except that one in an episode that can work as a finale-finale if you leave it at that and I'm supposed to think that the og plan for ep 20 didn't include a reverse thing where dean got him out and they made out? sorry at this point bite me I'mma put my money on that esp given that...

... episode 20 is the most useless finale i've ever seen in the sense that literally nothing happens in it, the show itself had fillers where more shit happened like honestly I've never seen 40 minutes of a show that were more... a waste of time and resources and effort as that one, it looked like they told the writers they needed to have dean and sam be bros™ one of them had to die and they met in heaven again and they did that but just that X°D like sorry but the vampire porn diaries had the exact same finale template - one brother dies the other lives a happy normal life and they meet again in heaven -, s8 of tvd was vastly worsely written than spn s15 like i'm not even arguing that, but if you look at tvd finale actually shit happens in it and when you watch it it actually looks decent/wraps things up/makes you feel stuff, the spn finale is just stupid but I can't even be angry at it because imvho it's obvious they did it on purpose X°D but like tldr if the og plans hadn't been scrapped whatever they were they would have had an ep 20 where shit actually happened and that wasn't the drag it was, and like if it had come at the end of a badly written season (like tvd) I'd have just shrugged and whatever but... it came after an actually well-written season that was actually coherent with the previous four ones so I can't believe that was the real endgame content really XD

anyway: the confession was imvho absolutely ic and coherent with the entire thing starting from s4 because like sorry cas being in love with dean since then is just blatantly making sense, I never thought once it was baiting or teasing because only ppl who never watched the show would think the delivery was bad or that either misha or jensen were cringing while saying their lines, cas saying exactly the stuff he said made absolute sense in context, dean's reaction (as much as I'm sure they cut stuff) was absolutely sensed as well and no one tells me he didn't reciprocate bc the entire thing was built so that he'd admit it to himself at the very end and I mean anon my friend my comrade when I watched that episode I cried for twenty minutes straight after I finished it so X°D

like okay yeah part of it was the SEE WE WERE RIGHT ALL ALONG FUCK THE DENIERS but most of it was that I honestly was moved and I found that entire speech extremely heartfelt, meaningful and a whole lot of things I'm not sharing on main because I don't want people deciding stuff based on it but like I have zero negative things to say about that confession, I'm glad it happened and I don't regret catching up also because it happened as it really felt like the natural reaching point of cas's whole arc, I'm just sad that whatever the fuck went on with the cw they didn't let dean have a decent ending bc honestly what the fuck was that thing and they deserved to be happy without presuming they met offscreen in heaven or whatever the fuck but honestly all my issues with spn's ending are with the cw obviously getting cold feet concerning episode 20

tldr: the ending-ending sucked but up until 15x19 I thoroughly enjoyed most of what I saw nonsensical or not because at that point spn was the kinda thing you watched bc you liked it with all the faults it has, I 100% believe that the last episode sucked on purpose because I've never seen a finale done with so little effort after four seasons full of effort ever like not even penny dreadful whose finale imvho sucked on purpose sucked this much but like getting there was worth it and deancas being canon in itself was smth I never thought we'd get this explicitly and I'm very very very happy it happened, peace

[one-leaf-grimoire]

“triad”

Chapter 14: the sleeping world

Shorter chapter than usual, but get ready to see the result of all that secret true time magic training!

“Jesus Christ, you’re with a WOMAN now?!” Both Augustus and Sekke look like their eyes are about to bulge out of their faces, gazes snapping back and forth from me and Adeline’s clasped hands and our faces. Augustus splutters incoherently before pointing his sceptre at me accusingly. “I knew it! I knew  you were just using Julius for the power! And now that he’s gone-”

“Your majesty-” I cut him off before he can actually start to upset me. “There’s such a thing as bisexuals, you know.”

“JFDSKL WHAT ON EARTH-”

Adeline bites her lip to suppress her words, and gives my hand a squeeze. I glance up at her, noticing that she’s starting to get a little uncomfortable. It’s fair, given that her history with Augustus is less than pleasant. I smile and squeeze back before continuing to walk past Augustus as he has his tantrum. We’ve just arrived on top of a large overlook, in the same area where the Royal Knights exam took place months and months ago. I had some of the royal mages terraform it, creating a large lake, plain, and forest. But from up here, we can see it all perfectly. What is this all for, exactly?

In order to increase morale and get some intense training in, I decided to make the Captains fight each other in a crystal destruction tournament. Not the most original idea, I must admit, but it will do its job. These last few weeks have been absolutely insane. The Devil Banishers/Believers incident was a real hassle to get through, and ended up costing us more than we thought. But it’s all over now, and it’s time to get some real work done before we send our representatives over to the Heart Kingdom.

And for me… 

Today, I’ll see if my own intense training has paid off.

“Hey, where’s Fluffy?”

Yami crosses his arms before looking around. He and the other captains are already here, milling around awkwardly. I haven’t told them their teams yet, but everyone is already shooting each other dirty looks. “Huh, that’s weird, Rill didn’t tell me he was skipping.”

“Of course that brat skipped! At his age, he’d be skipping school, too, Keh Keh!” Jack cackles, licking his lips. “I was looking forward to slicing him up…”

“Well, what if he ended up on your team?” Charlotte points out.

“... did I stutter?”

“Please, save the fighting for the battlefield,” Nozel steps in before Charlotte can retort. “You’re going to need all the energy you have.”

Fuegoleon looks very eager to go, bouncing on the balls of his feet and flexing his fiery arm across his chest. I eye his movement suspiciously, getting distracted. “How come your shirt doesn’t catch on fire too?”

He shrugs, but gives me a grin. “Maybe today will be the day I burn so hot it does char my clothes.”

I clear my throat awkwardly before turning away to look at everyone. “Anyway- if Rill is a no-show then it’ll be 4 on 4. Now…” Admittedly, this changes my plans a little, but no matter. “Team one will be Yami, Jack, Nozel, and Kaiser.”

“WHAT? I have to be on a team with this stinkbug-” Yami immediately objects, but cuts himself off as I shoot him a glare. “Fine, whatever.” He catches Charlotte’s eye and suddenly grins. “Heh, looks like you’ll have to fight me, prickly-queen.”

“Good. I’ve been looking forward to teaching you a lesson.” Charlotte’s eyes only harden.

“Ooooh, why do I kind of like the sound of that?”

“Why-” Charlotte quickly turns pink. “You vulgar-”

“SO! Those are the teams!” I step in between them, smiling brightly despite the mounting tensions. “Marx just gave me the go-ahead for the broadcast, so I want you all to go down there-” I gesture out onto the plains. “-and await my signal!”

“Thank you.” Without another word, the eight of them split apart and jump down to their stations, gearing up for what promises to be a spectacular fight. I let out a sigh before turning to walk back to my chair, where Adeline, Augustus, and Sekke are waiting. William didn’t say a word… I don’t even remember him looking me in the eye while I was talking to the captains. Well, that’s just another thing I’ll have to do today.

“Hello?” A screen suddenly opens up next to me, and I see Marx’s face appear. “Are we ready to go?”

“Yep!” Before I sit down, I turn back to the arena. I raise my arm, two fingers pointing up, and set off a powerful blast of magic, a bolt that goes careening into the air with a loud whoosh. It’s the signal to go, and boy… do they GO! 

The battle that commences is like nothing I’ve seen before. Each of them knows they’re being watched by the entire kingdom via Marx’s communication magic, so they hold nothing back. Fire, mercury, darkness, plants, and everything in between goes flying, each of them desperately reaching for the other’s crystal while keeping theirs just out of reach. Half of the fight moves into the forest, the trees warping and billowing as William builds his own path out of his magic. Nozel and Fuegoleon only have eyes for each other, Salamander burning so hot that the lake starts to evaporate and steam up underneath it and Fuegoleon.

Their magic heats the air, sends vibrations through the earth, and towers high into the sky.

For a moment, I can’t help but feel guilty.

All three of them… would have made wonderful Wizard Kings. They are men who put their duty first, men who wouldn’t get caught up in the cycle of grief and greed like I would.

They are human men… they could care for this Kingdom far better than I could.

A soft hand squeezes my shoulder. Somehow, Adeline always knows what I’m thinking.

But… at the end of the day… the responsibility falls to me. Maybe I’m running out of time, maybe I’m compromised emotionally, but I made a promise, to Julius, to Adeline, and myself. 

I am the Wizard King… and today, I’ll show everyone why!

Right then, without warning, the entire earth rumbles. I reach up and grab Adeline’s hand with one of my own, the other grasping the arm of my chair. Augustus yowls with fear, and Sekke goes tumbling to the ground. “What on earth is that?!” Adeline gasps.

My eyes widen, and I quickly point out into the forest. “Look!” A giant slash of darkness appears, tearing through the trees. A chill shoots through the air, causing every hair on my arms to stand at end. Oh shit! That’s Yami’s Dimension Slash! A grin grows on my face as it dissipates as soon as it appeared, leaving nothing but an eerie silence in its wake.

“Um… are they okay?” Adeline asks, narrowing her eyes as she scans the area. “I can’t hear any more fighting?”

“Huh… did Yami kill everyone?”

Just as I ask the question, I spot a group of people emerge from the forest. A few minutes later, they’re back up on the platform, and drop the shards of their crystals at my feet. I arch a brow, glancing between their faces. “What happened, exactly?”

“It’s no fair!” Dorothy grumbles. “I had Yami trapped in Glamour World, but then he just cut his way out!”

“And he destroyed both crystals while he was at it.” Kaiser gives Yami the side eye.

“Hey! I think our team should win. I did destroy the enemy’s crystal, after all.” Yami looks terrible; he’s covered with bruises and his white shirt is stained with what looks like dirt. His hair is so out of place he looks like a different person.

“BUT! You destroyed your own as well,” Fuegoleon objects loudly. “That lack of care should lead to a loss for your team!”

I can’t help but laugh, drawing their attention back to me. “This sure is a weird circumstance that I didn’t see coming… but…” I smirk as I start to realize my plan. “Maybe we should do a tiebreaker instead?”

“What is she doing?” Augustus was watching from his chair, talking to no one in particular. He glanced over at Adeline for a moment, who started to look very worried.

What is she up to?

“A tiebreaker?” Yami almost laughs at the suggestion. “Do any of us look like we’re ready for a tiebreaker?!”

“For once, I agree with him,” Nozel adds. He doesn’t look as bad as Yami, but his trademark braid is barely holding together after the furious exchange he and Fuegoleon just traded. Fuegoleon’s clothes are crisped at the edges, soot and smoke clinging to every part of him. During this tournament, even his own flames scorched through whatever usually protected him.

“I know you’re all exhausted! At least, you look exhausted.” I smile cheerfully between all eight Captains. “But, like I said, ending this with a tie isn’t all that satisfying… but!” I hold up a finger, finally getting to the point. “You’ll like what I have in mind! It’s easy!”

“Oh yeah?” Despite how tired he looks, Yami manages to grin, his hand already moving to the handle of his katana. “Spit it out, then.”

I keep smiling, almost giggling at his eagerness, but when I speak, my words are deadly serious.

“All you have to do to win… is make me move from where I’m standing.”

The earth stands still for a moment as my words sink in. Yami’s lighthearted expression suddenly fades into worry. Out of everyone here, he’s the only one who knows I’m pregnant, I think, maintaining my smile. He’s probably a little hesitant about attacking me… but the others…

“So…” Fuegoleon frowns. “We just… hit you? Knock you down?”

“If you want!” I reply cheerfully. “I’m sure some of you are angry at me for one reason or another, so…” My gaze sweeps over and lands on William. His eyes widen just the tiniest bit, but for once he doesn’t look away.

“Take out your anger. Make me move, if you can.”

Each of them is tired, exhausted, beaten and bruised, but that gleam enters their eyes as I tell them to come at me. That gleam comes back into William’s eyes. Because, above all, these Captains are the best in this Kingdom… and they want nothing more than to prove themselves. For glory, and for death.

All at once, their Grimoires are out, their faces shining with determination. Spells are being cast, and eight bodies move towards me with as much speed as they can muster. A moment of frenetic fury, because the first of them to hit me will be crowned the victor.

If they can hit me. This is my time to prove myself.

With a deep breath, I close my eyes before any of them can reach me. As soon as darkness falls, I can feel it; mana pulsing from the earth, up through my legs, and out with each breath I release. 

The laws of nature… Time is at the center of them all.

I open my eyes, and the spell activates. Mana words, glowing whitish-blue, burst to life around my head in a spectacular double halo. Mana courses through my body; a body that was made for the purpose of holding mana. The body that deems me as inhuman, that houses a broken, dying soul, yet gives me the power I want more than anything.

“True Time Magic… Domain of Thanatos.”

Each rune circling my body spells out the same word: Stop.

And that’s exactly what happens. 

------

This ability is True Time Magic: Domain of Thanatos.

Thanatos… the god of peaceful, non violent death.

Julius’s Time Magic had the power to steal and give time as he wished, from any object that he could please. But he could not control TIME itself. Time as it exists in nature, a rushing river, always moving forward.

But even a river can freeze.

This magic gives me control over that river, over the speed that it flows. Although I cannot force it backwards… I can slow it down until it stops.

With this ability, I put the entire world to sleep.

With this ability… no one will ever stop me.

-------

The moment my spell activates, all eight of the captains freeze, and their attacks become suspended in midair. I let out a slow breath, allowing a smile to grow on my face. My hand stays frozen in the air for the time being, because I have to calculate every single move with the upmost precision.

See, the catch to stopping time is that it doesn’t last very long if I just start moving. Maybe two or three seconds at most. However, I managed to find a condition where I can stretch the length of time within Domain of Thanatos; I allow time to start to flow with my movements, so slow and smooth, but just fast enough that I can do what I want.

So… easy now…

One finger. Then the next. And another. Until I’m no longer reaching out; I’m pointing. My first target is Yami.

Sorry… this’ll only hurt for a second.

With each finger, he only twitches slightly, moving forward a mere millimeter. 

Flame magic: Solar Bolt.

My attack shoots through him, as fast as outside of this spell.

And now… the others… 

I move in a half circle, one by one, casting my bolt and watching them fail to react to being hit. It’s surreal, being here all alone in some weird little world. But I remind myself that this solitude is because I am in control. 

Finally, William is hit, the last of my eight targets. I let out a shaky breath, my smile widening. So… now I just have to worry about their spells. Each of them have only moved a few inches, but are now getting dangerously close. With each Solar Bolt I fired, they clipped closer, sped up in time with my spell. I can feel my control weakening, and something that smells like blood is starting to bubble up in my nose. Despite that, I stay calm, letting Blazing Spear materialize in my hand. 

And…

I take one last breath of air within Domain of Thanatos. 

Release.

My arm swings through the air, bringing the spear along with it, and I slash through the spells, my trajectory carefully calculated due to the observations I made earlier. I have to duck once though, avoiding Yami and Dorothy’s spells. I look up just in time to see the eight of them stumble back and fall, stunned by the instant attack that came from seemingly nowhere. 

“Look at that… I’m still standing.”

Yami groans and rolls back up into a sitting position, a curious glint in his tired eyes. “What the Hell was that?”

“I’m wondering the same thing.” Nozel winces, clutching the spot where my bolt hit him. “How fast did you just move?”

I let out a little laugh, a twinkle in my eye. “Actually, I moved very slow… I made everything move very slow.” 

Most of them have sat up by now, all of them still shocked and disoriented, but now they’re looking at me in a new way. The look in their eyes is familiar; it’s the same way they all used to look at Julius in battle. The shock, the awe… the admiration.

Are they really looking at me?

In that moment, my pride deflates. Despite the fact that now, maybe, they can see me as more than just Julius’s replacement, I feel so… humbled. These eight amazing people accept me.

Even William, the one I manipulated and betrayed, sits there with a smile on his face. An easy, happy smile that I remember from our days together long ago.

Finally, I clear my throat.

“That… that was true time magic.” I take a step towards them as I explain. “I developed it by applying the Heart Kingdom’s methods to my Time magic. There’s still a lot to explore, but one thing is certain.”

I come to a stop in front of William, then hold out my hand.

Please William… forgive me.

“We can all get stronger… think carefully about who you send to the Heart Kingdom.”

William’s smile fades, but the expression on his face is one of understanding.

Of course I forgive you. You’re my friend.

“This magic is our hope.”

He takes my hand, and I pull him to his feet.

NEXT TIME!!!! Chapter 15: the devil comes knocking. A short time skip into the future, and shit is about to go DOWN.

[thoughtfullyrainynightmare]

Ok, so obviously spade isn’t over yet - not even close…

But whenever Asta and Yuno meet back up again… most likely to go after Yami and William finally

Angsty/Silly HCs of Asta being all hyped to officially introduce Liebe to Yuno & show Yuno their Devil’s Union… and Yuno shows up now with his 2 high power ranking grimoires and near flawless use of his brand new Star Magic that’s he’s been using for like an hour + his 4 leaf level wind magic + the fact they found out he’s a royal + etc. everything else….

How does poor baby Asta react to being all excited and Yuno AGAIN shows up with this massive boost in mana/power like it’s nbd?

(Does Liebe laugh at Asta a little bit?)

Yuno’s gonna break poor baby Asta’s brain one of these days

We were actually talking about this some days back, about Yuno, I mean. And I think that Asta, being the person that he is, will be surprised, but it's not gonna discourage him. If anything, I think that Asta will be dumbfounded, but he'll be happy for Yuno.

But to better align with the conversation that we had: Yuno really is the Mary Sue of BC. Perhaps that's an unpopular opinion, but we talked about how Yuno used to be an interesting character, but he's so op that he's not interesting anymore. With every half-of-a-step he "stumbles" back, he gets to take about 10 steps forward right after. Because he really now has 2 grimoires, one of which is 4-leaved, an elemental spirit (and he can just do Spirit Union like no big deal), and he is a prince.

Now, of course the being-a-prince -part, comes with a lot of responsibility, and it'll be a lot to process (or it at least should be), which... might mean something with Yuno's character.

I'm just... lost with where is Yuno (as a character) going. Because he's just there, he's op, and he.... exists for the idea of rivalry, that doesn't really feel like proper rivalry. And the reason (in my opinion) why it doesn't feel like proper rivalry, is that we never really see Asta inching closer to Yuno. It's like Yuno just is there and whenever Asta gets something cool, Yuno has gotten something even better with no effort. (Perhaps this is a story telling element where we don't see Yuno eg training, but I'm not convinced.)

So, where is Yuno, a character who seems to just get everything, going? Does he just continue to become insanely powerful while doing nothing, or is Tabata gonna pull something on us?

Given how much Tabata seems to be planning, and foreshadowing, and building the story, I'm still holding on to hope that there'll be something. Eg, with the very unsatisfying non-existent-William-redemption arc, there's now been talk about it all being a part of Julius' masterplan to get the Tree of Qliphoth to form. And if that is the case, then the canon events would be far more satisfying (don't get me wrong, as a Fue lover I do want to see him to get a proper slap on the wrist, at the very least). But there'd be a real reason for why he never got that redemption.

Now I feel like I'm just rambling, but as one might see, we had a discussion about this, and it could go on and on. Anyways, this is my two cents about Yuno, and how it'd be nice to seem him have some character development.

[silvyavan]

Asta's name theory

DISCLAIMER: IF YOU ARE AN ANIME ONLY FAN/HAVEN'T CAUGHT UP WITH THE MANGA, SPOILER WARNING FOR THE END OF THE ELF ARC AND RECENT MANGA CHAPTERS!!!

*slaps asta* this bad boy can fit so much symbolism.

Asta's grimoire is the cover of 23rd volume "As pitch black as it gets" and Asta has a LOT of black imagery surrounding him.

Black bulls, black asta demon mode, black swords, hell his grimoire is the only black one.

Yet his name means star.

Now obviously stars shine brightest in the dark but at the same time pitch black is (in this manga at least) associated to demons.

Now there might be some niche demon association with astrology but off the top of my head it's Astaroth and Lucifer.

Lucifer is the fallen angel, the morning star ie the first star in the sky when dawn breaks.

Now the thing about Lucifer is that originally he was a fallen angel with no association with demons. He was first regarded as an angel but somewhere down the line literary sources started referring to him as a demon.

Which could be foreshadowing that Asta isn't actually anything related to a demon, despite literally everyone assuming just that. This could be a possible way for Asta to get the blame of the Kotodama demon shifted off of him. After all, if he (or his demon) does end up as a fallen angel and not a demon, then Asta would technically have nothing to do with demons, thus technically making innocent. Though it might add to Asta being seen as "less human".

But while we have the demons we don't really have angels?? Or maybe it's simply that they all used to be angels, who gave the beings from the other world magic but then got corrupted and starting manipulation from the shadows. (A theory that is more of a shot in the dark than anything).

The Greek name also can be translated to dawn bringer, with dawn being the main word for volume 22 and with it being the end of the fight with the demon. Which is to say he dealt the final blow and his demon was the one who sent (flipped) him off.

The first time Lucifer was mentioned in the Bible, it recollected of him facing off the king of Babylon (which might say he's going to fight the king of Spade or the king of Clover. I'm mentioning both of them because the king of Babylon had to be struck down due to being consumed by sin so both of them fit the criteria in different ways.)

Lucifer is described as the guy who's killing demons so far. And with the way the plot is going, it wouldn't be far fetched to assume Asta is going to face off Megicula. It also would make sense meta wise- demons are beings that have incredible magic power and can increase the magic of their hosts (if they have one). Who's more fit to get rid of them than the guy who's magic is antimagic?

But with Astaroth is where it gets... tricky?

So Astaroth is a Duke of hell, very well known, and he's in the same trio as Beelzebub and Lucifer, which is a rule of three. Pretty damn popular if you ask me. It wouldn't really make sense for Kotodama not to recognise one of the three Dukes of hell.

Now, disclaimer, Astaroth is rather blatantly ripped off of Astarte/Ishtar/Innana so we're focusing on the demon part.

Now this guy occurred a LOT in occult grimoires in the 15th century. Like, this guy was a figurehead of sorts.

He's strong as shit, is regarded as a Foul Angel (like a bad apple or smth) and holds a viper in his right hand (the part where Asta's transformation originally begins).

People couldn't talk to him because of his pungent breath and had to wear artifacts to be in his presence which be a might call to Asta being... loud.

This guy uses laziness, self doubt and radical philosophy against humans. Which might be associated with Asta with how he would often rather want to talk it out with some of his enemies by instilling doubt via his philosophy but laziness? Not this guy.

What asta is not in comparison to Astaroth is smart which is said to be one of the things that he was known for. But his demon, from what we can assume in the instances we see him, knows information that nobody else does. (His haughty and smug attitude towards Kotodama when he died, the way he said "There are things that you can't do" and the way he was in Lichts grimoire which I'm pretty sure no one else knew how to do.)

This is because similarities can only be held at face value with Astaroth.

Hes depicted as a naked guy, crown, snake in the right hand and rides on dragon wings and a serpent like tail.

The crown could be Asta's headband, the hand and wings are obviously callbacks to his demon form and the serpent tail is the thing his demon has.

So technically, Asta takes after BOTH of them but Lucifer meta-wise and Astaroth character design-wise. Or maybe Asta could represent Lucifer while his demon could represent Astaroth.

Asta, at face glance, can be seen as Astaroth but in reality is Lucifer, which is pretty parallel to Lucifers actual progression in literature .

As to how this affects the manga, whether or not Asta is a demon, a fallen angel or (as my crackhead observations show) even a half human half demon would be a pretty big reveal in the story. Yuno's origin story was shocking enough as it was, Asta's would probably shake him to the very core. It's something special but no doubt in a bad way.

When I say "bad" I meant towards Asta's goals. Asta and Yuno are both foils when it comes to each other but parallel enough that they match. Ying and Yang in a way. So Yuno was a prince, sent away for his own safety and suddenly being told to go back to reclaim the throne.

Asta could be a half breed, and not just any type of half breed but half demon. He could have been thrown away because the people who made him feared him, by throwing him into the river. But he survived and ended up living as a human. Then, when news of this suddenly hit, there's almost no hope in safety. An abominable child who managed to evade death itself. If news were to spread, he'd be hunted down by every kingdom. Even with friends who would put their lives down for him, he'd never be able to stomach living onwards in a world that hates him, while knowing his family died for him.

Or if Asta was a fallen angel. Stuck in a human body, be it reincarnation with no memories or a form of spell taht erases them, it'd be no wonder he was treated as such an outsider. Being too much where it's not needed, too little where it's needed, Magic that was never meant for human use in the first place. Never truly meant to be human. Then the news comes out and it really kicks him in the nuts. You were never meant to be the wizard king, you were never meant to be like this, you were never meant to be human. Born with a sole purpose of eradicating demons and never meaning to interact with humans in the first place. Every kingdom would come to the conclusion that he could be a literal magic weapon. Someone who would be able to topple other kingdoms. It's dehumanising.

That'd be pretty fucking intense either way.

[incarnateirony]

*chef's kiss* Your "honk honk" seems of a different... attitude. I can't help but think you got information, and I wonder if it's the "‘Supernatural’ Boss on Season 15’s ‘Chance to Let Both Boys Be the Star of Their Own Story’" interview on Variety. If it's nothing, that's cool. If it's something else, I'm intrigued. Most of all, /if/ you write something about it, I/we always love hearing your thoughts. 🤡🤡

Hokay so this is going to be difficult to write out, because I do want to clear this up. Given, it took considerably longer than I intended, a few life kidnappings and one really strong IPA later, so if I get rambly, forgive me, I’m kinda buzzed.

That said, arrogant as it may sound, I’ve been told many times that people take me as a sort of seat of common sense and realism in this fandom, and “honk honk” can have many readings, so let me explain where I’m at in regards to the show, our canon, DeanCas and everything in this tangled web.

For those somewhat new to my blog, I didn’t really “ship it” until season 13, episode 5-6; I’d argue myself in reverse that my foundation was shaken by 12.19 in reverse, so put it somewhere in that time frame. Before that, I simply defended the validity and, frankly, sanity of Destiel fandom for seeing what they saw after years of them being gaslit, times confusion spawned from fandom levels that birthed all kinds of weird bitterness.

I kept it at arms length because realistically, on a production level, it just wasn’t a thing until somewhere in the ballpark of S12, which is when I joined fandom, and for a reason I will continue to vague blog about but I think some people have picked up on.

Even still, I have always endorsed being mindful of ones’ own emotions and expectations, and despite my honk honk, that still floats as a background element to everything I am about to say.

The TL;DR is that, quite frankly, any babbling about marketing or production issues aside, since season 14, Andrew Dabb has been seriously fucking my head up. Seriously.

I don’t know how long you’ve been with me, Nonnie; but early S14 I started blogging about the God of Control, Ialdaboath, Abraxas and other shit but also said I had no faith in it since in S11 already the network shut down killing god for fear of pissing off the fundies, and still, making him the villain holds about the same effect even if cruising on technicality. I built entire meta series pondering the pattern and direction of our canon, laying out how it was due to be Chuck, in reflection of Yellow Eyes and the sins of the Father, and then Dabb turned around and smacked my reservation out of my mouth in 14.20.

I spent hiatus blogging on about the next alchemical step being death of the relationship for birth of something new by Art and Lovers arcana; I referenced that old meta project, but spent equal time dismissing the balance of it, too Destiel, too front facing, to not expect it at all. Season 15 turns around smacking us with divorce and marriage shit all around and knocked that reservation out of my mouth too.

I blogged about Belphegor and patterns having a DeanCas breakup by 15.03 within mythology, but not to expect it to be forward facing; and ep 3 was so loud TVG and soap reporters started calling a spade a spade. Dabb knocked that reservation out of my mouth.

Structurally speaking, we continue to tread forward into louder and louder territory, and any time I try to apply any form of reservationist logic to it, Dabb cockslaps me into the dirt so hard I don’t know what to call logic anymore.

The interview may be part of it, for sure, but full honest I’ve been honking since before that.

Now, what “honking” is lacks a specific goalpost. As someone fully at peace with the level of effort our crew has been giving us beyond restrictions, as someone respecting the low key textuality plugged into this season even if it failed to meet “good representation” boundaries as people have identified, or the performative release anyone’s after, I have no specific expectation beyond:

Louder.

It’s going to get louder. It’s going to get harder, and harder to miss. And they aren’t shy about it anymore.

When it comes to corporate level shenanigans, there’s other things at play; some associated with certain topics I vagueblog about; others less vaguebloggy but related, like the WB losing 5 of its and its sister companies’ CEOs in the last year and complete corporate turnover that led to Pedowitz’s recent promotion to make CW more self-standing without babysitting as much by its parent company (not even minding the CBS-facing Moonves disaster which makes it 6 in CW’s blast radius).

Whether it be the first-female-WB-CEO making a change in how the business is handling its business decisions and marketing decisions, or simple “Forgotten Child Syndrome” that has given Dabberens the right to get away with everything but murder, in all we know of the crew, and all we see, the direction is only one thing: Louder.

And for that, I’ll gladly honk to death right now.

This crew is taking it as far as they can, and I will gladly blast the circus music announcing them in their wake.

We have truly reached a “roll the dice” point, which at no other point in history have we been at a horizon of beyond the curtain. We could still turn up snake eyes. That’s fine. Or we could nat 20. Or it could be a tepid 10. But the fact that the dice are rolling at all – honk honk.

I don’t know what’s real or logic anymore at this point, it’s one big muddy mess. So I may as well enjoy the ride, throw the dice, honk my heart out and see just how far these fuckers manage to sling us. 

But if I could get in a TARDIS and zap back to season 7 fandom and try to tell them what was going on, right here, season 15, the final season, with Dean and Cas, everybody would tell me I was on crack or full of shit, and that’s the kind of perspective this bitter ass fandom desperately needs to wrap their heads around and hands over rather than being lost to waves of irrelevant arguments.

I mean let’s look at S8-9 fandom that weren’t paying attention to the production curve at the time. A large sum convinced themselves it was “going to go canon”. But where, when, how? What was canon? They didn’t know, they just knew they got mad when a corp exec went “dafuq is a Destiel” in sum, because he was rightfully blindsided and everybody went bananas and didn’t come down from it since. If you had asked them then what “going canon” meant, you’d get a million different answers much less explanations why they thought it, some being really bizarre meta about fish or other RANDOM shit that literally makes you go “the FUCK?”.

And that has plagued the DeanCas community ever since, frequently addressed as “moving goalposts”, wherein person just needs XYZ and then it happens so somebody else makes a new thing they want and so on into eternity.

But as of late I’ve noticed a large, and I mean large section of fandom has detected certain patterns in Dabb era and have pretty unilaterally set an idea– for example, fandom has come to realize Korrasami, right down to the handholding, seems to be putting off beacons and pulses in the show time and time again. It’s not the loud rep some want, but a great deal of people are out here, seeing this groundwork laid down. There’s a how and a where and a when and I really can’t think of any other time in the history of this fandom that’s actually been in conversation, and I don’t think fandom has really grokked that as a difference, as well. 

Because it’s, for the first time, actually been handled like a genuine potential. How far that potential goes is up in the air, but it’s no longer punch line subtext or weird “oops I tripped and fell in the gay” shit. It’s not even just lowkey background parallels. It’s entire goddamn story arcs crafted front and center with loud cultural resonances, partial text level breaking dynamics and more, just lacking the affirmative sentiments people want– and suddenly, fandom actually has a formulative idea of what those sentiments might look like in the show.

And that my friends? That’s different.

Honk honk.

[nonbinarylatula]

Gideon Jura - Rogue??? of Doom???

Illustration: Oath of Gideon by Wesley Burt

Warnings: discussion of suicidal thoughts, spoilers for War of the Spark story

Gideon's actually surprisingly tricky to classpect. I was tempted to go with Life, since his powers are all about healing and protection. His main ability is a powerful regenerative factor that basically renders him immune to harm. Knight of Life should be a pretty clear-cut answer, right?

Well, I'm not going to flat out say that's wrong. Classpects are pretty much 100% up to interpretation. But the way Homestuck in particular handles Life and Knights makes me think it's not the best combination for him.

For starters, Life is generally represented by money and political power. The Condesce, a Thief of Life, has an unjust rule over the Troll empire. Her pre-scratch counterpart Meenah (also a Thief of Life) is greatly attracted to wealth and material possessions. Feferi Peixes, the Witch of Life, is also the heiress to the Troll empire and is very wealthy. Finally, Jane Crocker, Maid of Life, is the heiress to the Betty Crocker Corporation (the face of the Troll empire on post-scratch earth.) In the epilogues, she also gains an immense amount of political power.

Actually, "Life" doesn't exactly represent some ethereal life force like in most fantasy magic systems, although it definitely is related to that concept. I think it's more based o how we use the word in everyday conversation. Someone has had a "long life," or is "going to do something with their life," et cetera. It represents the period of time during which we have agency and the ability to affect those around us. (There's a reason it's adjacent to Light on the aspect wheel.) Political power comes with a great amount of agency, as does wealth. The Condesce, as a Thief of Life, rules a fascist empire that robs its subjects of the ability to control where their life is going.

The White/Black Orzhov Syndicate of Ravnica is pretty much the Life aspect defined, if you're more familiar with MtG lore than Homestuck.

Gideon is not at all that. He works closely with the White/Red Boros guild of Ravnica, which makes sense, because if I had to give him a second color after White it would be Red.

White and Red are enemy colors on the color pie. This means that their relationship is more defined by their conflict than anything else. Red's individuality and penchant for chaos clashes with White's authoritarian leaning and desire for order.

That's not to say they're incompatible, though. Red, as the color of emotion, and White, the color of harmony, both believe in the power of friendship. Red's immense passion and White's faith make them the color combination of Zealotry. And White's strong sense of justice combined with Red's tendency to take matters in its own hands create the perfect mindset of vigilantism.

The first one (the power of friendship) is what I'm interested in right now, though. Gideon is the leader of the Gatewatch, a group of planeswalkers who have sworn an oath to "keep watch" against interplanar threats too big for a single planeswalker to handle. People who know a lot about aspects should be going "HMMM" right now. Sounds a lot like Blood, right?

Karkat, a Knight of Blood, is the first "leader" of his "team" of friends who play the game Sgrub. Though he doesn't stay leader very long, he's the one who creates that connection. A lot of what he does is through making deals - his blood bond and deal with Spades Slick being what gets them through the game. Blood is about connections, pacts, and team-ups. It's about the power of friendship, and about social customs and unspoken rules that help people live in a society together. (The Joker's a Bard of Blood, by the way.)

So it's a perfect fit for Gideon, right? Well, again, I think it's a valid theory, but there's still one option I like better. Something that ties together the very beginning and end of his adventure, and provides him with a lot of conflict in between. I think he's a Rogue of Doom.

After his mother died, he became the leader of a gang. They had a whole Robin Hood "rob from the rich and give to the poor" thing. That's what Homestuck's Rogue class's whole deal is about. They're the passive form of the Thief, so instead of taking their aspect for their own benefit, they do it for the benefit of others.

Then, he gets put into prison. One day, monsters attack, and the prison warden frees any prisoners who are willing to fight off the monsters. Surprise surprise, he saves the day with his troop of irregulars.

Then Heliod (god of the sun, ruler of Theros's knock-off Greek pantheon) gives him a quest to kill the Titan of Erebos (a god of death.) After defeating the Titan, he tries to throw Heliod's spear at Erebos himself in an act of hubris - but Erebos redirects the spear to kill all the irregulars instead.

Gideon is now the only one of his irregulars alive. In his grief, his planeswalker spark ignites and he teleports to another plane. The rest of his story is driven by his guilt about killing his friends, and his desire to die heroically in battle both as penance and as a way to get to see them again in Theros's Elysium.

You see, I have a theory about the stealing classes. While they can have a great amount of their aspect, none of it rightfully belongs to them. The Condesce does not rightfully rule her empire, which is why Roxy, the Rogue of Void, dealt the killing blow. Taking an empire from an unjust ruler could easily be considered "stealing nothing."

So Gideon, the Rogue of Doom, tried to take a glorious death by engaging a god in battle - an act of hubris. But he's not a Thief, he's a Rogue. So he didn't get to keep the death for himself, he distributed it among his friends instead.

Throughout his story, he's constantly taking on opponents too tough to handle. But his powers of regeneration stop him from getting the death he thinks he deserves. As the leader of the Gatewatch, he's doing this when he takes them to fight Nicol Bolas on Amonkhet. And the evil dragon Bolas is even able to see what he's trying to do. The entire Gatewatch suffer a humiliating defeat, and are scattered throughout the multiverse. That's when Gideon finally gets over himself.

In homestuck, your classpect guides your hero's journey. Going against it leads to suffering. I absolutely wouldn't call Gideon evil or selfish, and all that stuff I described isn't something he's consciously doing. But it's definitely there in his subconscious, as that nugget of guilt that impacts every decision he makes. Subconsciously, he's trying to be a Thief. There are contradictory forces inside him (two wolves, you might say) that makes him want to die a hero's death while also believing he's not worthy of being a hero.

He chills out though. Then his friend Liliana gets manipulated by the evil dragon Bolas into helping carry out Bolas's "kill a lot of planeswalkers (and also regular people for the heck of it) and use their sparks to become a god" plan. Her friends don't know this though, and feel super betrayed and stuff. Eventually, Liliana revolts, but the pact magic binding her to Bolas's will starts killing her. Gideon sees this, and his suspicions that she hadn't actually turned evil are confirmed. He places his hand on her shoulder, and his regenerative magic fights against the pact sucking her life out. She's saved, but he dies and finally goes to see his irregulars in Elysium.

So, his arc comes to an end! He's embraced his classpect, and found out a way to meet his Doom heroically, while still taking a death that isn't "his own," and simultaneously acting in someone else's benefit because he's a passive class.

Rest in Peace, Gideon.

Again, though, I'm not entirely sure about this - it's just the classpect I've been able to find that most explains all parts of his arc. I could easily see Blood or Life, too. (Is it a coincidence, though, that Life is opposite Doom on the aspect wheel, and Blood is directly adjacent to Doom? 🤔)

[saltwukong]

What bad messages, writing conventions, and tropes do you think MKG are taking from their "anime homework" , I'm curious now.

I will grant that on making that remark, I can’t be sure if they do still do said homework, but if they are, here are some things I’ve noticed line up with a lot of problems that bother me in anime.  I can cite examples from the last three animes I’ve slogged through–Fairy Tail, Attack on Titan, Bleach. I’ve located three “anime problems”:

“Reactionary heroes”.

Ideally, your heroes should have a goal in mind that prevents them from simply settling down into non-activity once the latest arc ends. Ichigo from “Bleach” is pretty fairly criticized for being a reactive protagonist, in that his biggest goal is “protect my friends” which requires an external threat to menace them in the first place. Attack on Titan tended not to have this problem, even if it had misattribution (most fans cited Erwin’s greatest goal as getting to the basement, but that should really be Eren’s goal above anyone else’s) so we’ll skip it. Fairy Tail had this problem in spades, and every arc is pretty much just one more display of “hey, let’s watch a group of Evil Bad Villains Decide To Fuck With Fairy Tail”. 

Revenge is a popular motivator. Yeah, it requires someone’s actions against the protagonist, but you can spin it so many ways that it can easily carry an entire narrative. Revenge is one of the motivators of AoT, and is one of the motivators for RWBY–or at least it was.

Ruby’s and Jaune’s quests for revenge on Cinder are now null. Not only has that goal been overshadowed by the larger goal of “find the relics”, but the relic quest is reactive. They wouldn’t be looking for them at all if Salem’s company weren’t after them, and thus the goals of revenge have been put on hold, especially now that Cinder is temporarily out of the picture. Even if Cinder comes back, there are four relics to find, and they’ve only gotten one after five volumes. This reactive goal is going to carry RWBY through at least another three volumes. Anything personal on the part of our heroes is indefinitely on hold.

“Redemption”.

This sort of problem is the one heard in grumbles and murmurs throughout several anime fandoms, never quite reaching the proportions that call for subversions, but always there like a bad itch that keeps coming back.

You have a group of villains. Generally, they’re bad people, and do bad things, sometimes evil things that can’t be forgiven. Except, of course, any woman that happens to be among them. A woman will be absolved of her crimes provided she never bothers the heroes again (and some times in spite of how much she bothers the heroes) seemingly because she is in possession of a vagina. It doesn’t really matter if the woman’s crimes were as bad (or in some cases, worse) than that of their male compatriots’, she’s good now and everyone just better get used to that fact.

In some cases, this is noticeable, but not terribly done (Bleach, for example–Tier Harribel and her all-female Fraccion are spared due to their general pacifism and good nature, while equally pacifistic men like Starrk are killed), so it just ends up a tad annoying. In other cases (Fairy Tail, to use an infinitely worse example), women are often the ones who commit the heinous, utterly unforgivable acts over their male allies, yet are redeemed, dragged kicking and screaming onto the side of good whether they really deserve it or not (Ultear Milkovich, Meredy Milkovich, Flare Corona and Minerva). In another case (Irene Belserion), the woman was utterly sadistic and needlessly cruel, yet ends her life as a motherly figure who can’t bear to kill Erza, and so kills herself instead to take it out of the heroes’ hands. Brandish Mu and Dimaria Yesta similarly are spared and leave the war alive of their own accord. In nearly all cases, the males in their respective groups are made out to be unrepentantly evil, killed, or both. Mashima has a very clear problem with letting women be evil, presumably because it doesn’t fit his fantasies.

I won’t sling such harsh mud on Rooster Teeth, but the fact remains that they’ve yet again fulfilled a piss-poor redemption for a woman with no real effort or repentence despite her serious crimes, yet her male White Fang allies are painted with the black and white brush of evil. This is of course Ilia Amitola I’m talking about. Her confirmed actions include attacking Blake, attacking Sun and nearly killing him, assaulting and attempting to kidnap Blake, and attacking the Belladonna house and attempting to murder Blake’s parents unprovoked. Her unconfirmed actions include participation in the White Fang’s attack on Beacon, which resulted in all of Vale being lost to the Grimm. But five minutes after she’s defeated, hey, Blake just blatantly forgives her. 

But…but she didn’t want to attack Blake’s parents!

Fennec and Corsac didn’t want to either, but did so because they were ordered to. Fennec is actually the one to voice his hesitance the greatest, yet he is the one who dies as is deserved.

“Fight Reduction”

We’re doing this one last, because I know everyone and their mom is tired of me yammering on about it.

If I were to count how many times I had been cheated out of a fight scene because A) it was skipped or B) a fighter was suddenly far inferior to the hype they’d been built for, I’d be here all damn day.Fairy Tail (like every arc, sometimes more than once), Attack on Titan (Levi vs. Female Titan and Beast Titan), Bleach (literally every fight Ichigo, Kenpachi, or Byakuya are involved in). The most obvious reasons are 1) laziness, 2) favoritism, 3) having written oneself into a corner and 4) any combination of the first 3.

Yeah, I know for RWBY, I’ve harped on and on and on and on and on and on and on about this, but it’s been happening more frequently lately. For certain characters (SSSN, I’d say) it’s favoritism–or perhaps the opposite. I can only think someone on the writing staff dislikes them. But then take Volumes 4 and 5–we skip: 

Sun’s involvement in the debut of Ilia. 

Yuma’s skirmish with Kali

Blake and Sun vs. Adam

The finale with Hazel, Emerald, and Mercury.

With those last two in particular, I’d like to draw back on fights in Bleach and AoT in particular. In Attack on Titan, we’re hyped up for literal months of our lives about what a big deal the Beast Titan is. He beats Reiner (offscreen, so that we’re left asking how the hell that even happens) to a pulp without trying, and Reiner himself calls him someone without equal on the heroes’ side. Specifically, Isayama ends up pushing us to think that the Beast Titan and Levi are going to have a badass fight, and that Levi might’ve finally found his match. So what happens when they finally fight?

Levi decimates him in the span of two panels. Levi moves at speeds that are beyond physically impossible (yes, even for this setting). The Beast Titan goes down with embarrassing ease and we all feel betrayed (except Levi’s fanboys). Roughly the same thing happens later with the heroes. The Beast Titan in fact ends up calling Levi a monster. This example packs all three reasons: laziness, favoritism, and writing into a corner. But saddest of all, we can only shake our heads, because apparently the Beast Titan wasn’t at all as scary as he was hyped up to be, was he? Despite evidence to the contrary?

The Beast Titan is Adam and Yuma. Miles and Kerry didn’t want to write big badass fight scenes, they wanted the White Fang plot over. They didn’t want to pay animators to deliver a big badass scene, so they tried to play it off. The realization was that they’d written themselves into a corner. Adam as is would still annihilate Blake in single combat and Sun probably wouldn’t be that much help. So what they did instead is try to play Adam off as a paper tiger–someone who was only really terrifying because Blake was afraid of him. 

Which isn’t how it works. We’ve already seen very physical evidence that Adam is a walking bloodbath, someone far above her level. You may also notice how both of these wins were “hero beating villain”. And the common reason for that, I suspect, is that creators think (quite incorrectly) that if it’s the heroes curb-stomping the villains, it’ll soften the blow. We should be happy, right? After all, the heroes are the ones we’re rooting for. We should want them to win and triumph, right? They rely on that idea to get away with cheating their audience out of what has already been established when they don’t want to provide.