#help to take care of the objects and exhibit them

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

I just want everyone to know that there's a museum on the sub-Antarctic Island of South Georgia which is visited by over 10,000 visitors a year from Antarctic cruise ships. Combined with the population of the research station South Georgia Island has a population of like 25 people. South Georgia is like. A Rock. and there is just a building that if you go inside it it's a whole ass museum about whaling and Shackleton like that's some magical realism if you ask me.

[cybertron-after-dark]

I was gonna ask a question but i honestly forgot it 😅 so just tell me something you want to rant about

If you do happen to remember what you were gonna ask feel free to do so, do not worry about spamming my inbox bc I live for that shit.

As for the rant

Transformers Rescue Bots had some of the best, kindest, and most respectful representation of neurodivergence I have ever seen in media and I'm tired of pretending it didn't.

While there are obvious complaints to be made about neurodivergent traits (especially autistic traits) usually being portrayed in media by inhuman characters like aliens or robots, this being a case of both, I feel like thats a pretty negligible sin given just how human the show makes the robots feel. (Also it was like 2011 and we were STRUGGLING for any scraps of rep anyway)

But like. The behaviors all these robots exhibit are all shit that I do that was always deemed unacceptable when I was a kid and seeing it portrayed with the level of kindness and gentleness they do in that show has me fuckin crying a little man. I wish I had actually watched it when I was younger and it was first airing because maybe if I did I would've had an easier time explaining what the hell was going on with my brain a LOT sooner.

Blades being anxious, overly sensitive, and WHOLEHEARTEDLY queer (which they had the absolute unparalleled balls to just casually confirm by having him swoon over "hunky vampires" in one episode and NOBODY commented on it. Fucking iconic) and getting so so deeply invested in the shows and movies he loves that he acts out the roles with enough passion to steel his nerves and completely flourish.

Boulder getting really confused at concepts that are basic and intuitive for most people, but still being so fucking intelligent, and never being made to feel stupid for the mix-ups, as well as just being so wholely, unabashedly in love with the planet he's found himself on, even if he doesn't understand all of it (Also apologizing to inanimate objects when he knocks them over 😭)

Chase being obsessed with rules and law because he NEEDS the structure to not fall apart at the seams, even feeling the need to fabricate a minor crime to justify using the emergency line to get a hold of the firehouse when he can't find the other bots. As well as just fully not understanding comedy (BUT TRYING HIS DAMNEDEST), taking things super literally, and having a lot of trouble with tone and expressions (even though you know just how deeply he feels All The Time).

Heatwave being desperate for attention and recognition, but completely allergic to asking for it. And honestly allergic to showing any genuine emotional responses other than aggression. The constant sarcasm and sass and defensiveness that he POORLY maintains because everyone knows that underneath that tough guy front is the loneliest robot on earth that wants to be loved SO bad but would rather jump into unicron's mouth than voice it because if he lets his guard down who knows what will happen to him or the people he cares about.

Just. All of it man. Seeing them exhibiting all these behaviors and quirks that all too often get met with poor reactions from people who don't want to deal with what they don't really get, but here they're met with patience and understanding?? It's got me fucked up. They get to be functional adults that struggle with what they have going on but still push through. They get to have unconditionally loving relationships with people that treat them with respect. And that's the kind of shit that gives me a lot of hope for folks like me because maybe some neurotypical kids that watched it picked up on what's helpful when their friend who acts like one of the bots is going through it. And maybe some neurodivergent kids watched it too and for the first time they just felt SEEN.

Okay rant over, I'm gonna go cry over some plastic robots 👍

[patchwork-crow-writes]

Why Good Doggies Are Also Bad Doggies

(And What That Means For MyHouse.wad)

There are two dogs in MyHouse.wad. One's a sweet, harmless puppy, and the other's a relentless, deadly hellhound. Both of these dogs reside in what's commonly known as the Brutalist house, a vast concrete structure that shifts in size from small to large as you explore it.

The smaller dog, quite naturally, provides little in the way of an obstacle, and indeed its presence is surprisingly uplifting in such a bleak, sad game. It's the big, two-headed brute, the "Bad Doggy", that aims to prevent your progres; it's swift, deals a lot of damage, and takes a lot of firepower to subdue. It rules the space it resides in with an iron jaw, and will not take no for an answer. Your only options are to avoid it, or to kill it.

But there's a catch - kill the Bad Doggy, and the Good Doggy also dies. And while this does open up a loophole to allow you to deal with the Bad Doggy with no risk - killing the Good Doggy yourself - the fact remains that an innocent creature's life has to end for your journey to become easier.

Of course, you know this, and likely opted to "spare" the Bad Doggy so that the Good Doggy could join you on the beach at the end. And yes, the sight of our canine friend napping by the waves does help to complete the sense of a "good" ending - or at least, a "peaceful" one.

But... have you ever stopped to consider what this actually means? How, rather than being a throwaway device to make you feel sad, or a lazy reference to Tom's fear of dogs, this "Good Doggy"/"Bad Doggy" actually serves to reinforce the core message of MyHouse.wad?

Consider these dogs again... or rather, consider this dog. Singular.

There is one dog in MyHouse.wad. Sometimes it is a Good Doggy, playful and diligent and affirming to our wellbeing. Other times, it is a Bad Doggy, aggressive and domineering and striking fear into our hearts. Kill one, the other dies. You cannot separate the two. Where the Good Doggy goes, the Bad Doggy must inevitably follow.

How do you stop a Bad Doggy from being a Bad Doggy? You can't, not entirely. A Bad Doggy is bad only in the context of its owner's view of it. A doggy that shreds the furniture, is overly-aggressive in its interactions with its owners, jealously guards spaces and important objects, is deemed bad because of its actions. When it exhibits behaviours that are more paletable to the humans that care for it, it becomes a Good Doggy.

As a child, Tom was scared of his family's pet dog. Viewed through the lens of a terrified young boy, a dog that might be only the most loving and attentive creature, excited to play with someone similar to it in size, may appear vicious and unrelenting, causing fear and injury with its exuberent actions and disregard for its own strength. These experiences, whatever form they might have taken, left a visceral impact on Tom, as we see in his sketchbook containing the multiple-headed hellhound.

What happened to that dog? Was it ever rehabilitated? Did its status as a Good Doggy outweigh the trauma it potentially inflicted upon Tom's psyche? Or... did something else happen to it? Were its actions deemed too harmful, too Bad, to continue living with its owners?

We can only speculate on these points, but they do serve to provide an answer to the above question on how to stop Bad Doggies - you get rid of them. Give them away, abandon them, put them to sleep. Problem solved. But that doesn't just remove the Bad Doggy from the picture - it also eliminiates the Good Doggy that can provide comfort and companionship, as well as any potential future joy that same doggy could bring to its owners.

Which brings us back to the beach, and our Good Doggy having a nice nap there. Of course, I'm sure you've realised, it's also the Bad Doggy.

But what exactly does that mean for our "perfect", "happy", "peaceful" ending? Are we going to be savaged on the beach the moment we let our guard down, having fought so hard for the happiness we were so desparate to recover? Of ocurse not. But consider what its potential presence means for the future.

The Good and Bad Doggy are inexorably linked. To have the potential for joy and companionship and love, you must also accept the possibility of pain, conflict and loss. For better or worse, the bad has to come with the good - either you have both, or you have nothing at all. That's why there's no dog at the fake beach - that ending represents attempting to escape bad things altogether, but the world that results is unsatisfying and devoid of meaning. The reason things hurt so much is precisely because of the joy that came before it. Denying pain and sorrow is no better than giving up on life.

To live a meaningful life, we sometimes have to accept people as they come, warts and all.

Happiness, as Steve opines at the end of his journal, has to be fought for. But the fight doesn't stop just because you won once. Having resolved to come to terms with the world as it is, the world where your dearest friend has died, you therefore choose to re-enact that battle every single day. Some days it's easier. Some days, it's torture. That's what being alive is all about. That's what makes the moments of peace, the moments when Good Doggies really are Good Doggies and nothing more, all worth it in the end.

Thank you for reading :)

[furiousgoldfish]

If you're often wondering why do abusers do this to kids, and why they don't change their behaviour even when it's pointed out, I have a few insights to share.

I believe abuse is an easy way for people to get out of parenting their own kids, while still getting credit as if they're doing it. And even more, they get special privileges and resources that normal parents wouldn't try to get, because the price of them is too high for the children to pay.

For instance, in order to take care of a child, you have to deal with their development needs; meaning you need to be educated enough about human development to know why the child is acting the way they do, you need to know if they need guidance, support, boundaries, stability, schedules, or entertainment, fun, play-time, attention, comforting, more resources, more interaction. You also need to deal with their random behaviours, like children will sometimes get loud and careless, break stuff, cause damage, turn against you, get sick, get into bad moods, get sulky, throw tantrums, get stuck in bad groups of people or be predated upon, have trouble at school, wander off, develop mental illness, and as a parent, you are expected and required to be there for all of that, on top of regularly caring that they're well-fed, bathed, that they have fitting and functional clothing, that they're well socialized, and that their living condition is clean and functional enough for them to be happy and safe.

Now, if you're an abuser, and your child is struggling or giving you any of the random behaviours that annoy you, and you lash out at them, tell them nobody is ever going to love them, threaten to 'give them a reason to cry', yell at them until they get frozen in shock and pain, they're not going to come to you next time for help. In fact, it's unlikely they'll feel safe around you to exhibit half of their normal behaviour, instead they'll be sheepish and too scared they'll accidentally annoy you, so you won't have to hear about their day, their bad moods, their worries, their loudness, them making any trouble for you; in fact, your mental energy will be yours only and you will effectively not have to emotionally raise a child anymore, it will be just another human who is too scared of you to ask you to fulfill any of your parental duties.

What about when your child is sick? You know you have to care for your sick child. Except, you're an abuser, so to you this is a drain on your energy and you'd rather not have to deal with it, because a child to you is not a real person but an object that is in your way. So, you yell at your child that they got sick on purpose because they hate you, you tell them it because they did 'x' and 'y' (which they maybe did because you failed to watch out for them) and inform them that you will not be taking them to the hospital. Now your child will not expect any care while they're sick, and in fact, they'll be too scared to even come to you next time they're sick. Again, you got out of childcare and have all of your energy for yourself, at the expense of your child's health.

If you continually call your child a financial burden, ask them when they're going to pay rent, force them to work in order to deserve to eat and sleep at your house, complain about how 'money doesn't grow on trees', then your child will be too scared and ashamed to confess when their things are broken, clothes no longer fitting or torn, their shoes too small or breaking apart, their hygiene products at their end, or for anything they might like or want from the store. Now your child will try to make ends meet on their own, and you can financially save up and buy yourself what you like, and then buy the kid something when it's convenient for you, maybe for like a birthday present. Maybe at this point you are starting to see that if your child runs around looking very rugged, people are going to notice the visible lack of care, so you either make sure the kid does have some new-looking clothes, or, you tell the kid explicitly what they're allowed to wear outside, to not bring shame on you and the entire family, once again putting the responsibility on the child to look 'cared for', while you do almost absolutely nothing to make it a reality.

Now you're having a child who is, out of deep-seated fear of you, acting politely and socialized in company, giving you ever chance to pretend that you care for them daily, while you're effectively living as if you didn't have a child at all. But maybe that's not enough for you. Maybe, you also want to use that child to earn money as well; after all, they're scared of you and will do as you say. You can put them up to any kind of labour and call it 'chores', and tell them you're just 'teaching them work habits', while they're doing your part of household chores, heavy physical labour, maybe even your job, if they're good at it.

But maybe this is not the area where you need assistance, but you're looking for a free, non-judgmental therapist who will be on your side completely and never dare to call you out or confront you - and voila, this child is so desperate to make any sort of connection to you, they'll carefully listen to all of your woes and trauma, even when it's deeply inappropriate for them to hear it, and they'll of course, be on your side as you're the only person in the story they care about, so you can cry to them as much as you want and even encourage them to fix you, to run around looking for ways to cheer you up, make your life easier to you, influence other people to give you what you want. And if they ever dare to stand up to you or defy you, you can just snap at them and call them something that makes their blood freeze in shock and they'll back down and become even more obedient.

Neat, isn't it? Not only you don't need to parent this child anymore, but you can draw any kind of benefit out of them, groom them into any kind of behaviour, extract physical and emotional labour from them, take their anger out of them, control their life so it benefits you and not them, all while convincing them it's their duty to give it to you.

As a result, you will be untouched by the chore of parenting, and your child will grow into a terrified, deeply insecure, always wondering why they're not enough, never feeling good enough, neglected but not aware of it, hyper-independent, ashamed, desperate, unloved, depressed, traumatized, engulfed by grief and loneliness, never understanding why their own parent didn't want them, care-deprived adult. Because it's all that effort, all that responding to child's needs, all that attention and care and warmth and energy put into a child, that is necessary for them to have proof that they're a worthwhile human being, that they're not only alive to be filled with emptiness and serve others.

But that's also why the abusive parents will never stop what they're doing. The benefits they get by abuse far outweigh the cost (the cost being the well being of their child, to them cost is zero), so they will not suddenly become willing to do the job of parenting, after they've spent so much time successfully avoiding it, and only put the energy into gaslighting the child into believing this is normal.

This is also why they put so much effort into making the child dependent on them, and sabotaging the potential escape - they're benefiting from having that child around, they're actively extracting what ever they want from this young person that they barely have to cover the living cost for, who doesn't know or understand how many of their human rights are being violated. There's truly no easier way to isolate, trap, groom, brainwash and then control a person.

[rambyol]

You know what doesn't sit right with me? The fact that in E4C4 [<-spoilers:] when Bruce finds John in Harley's old room there's the option to Slap John (while he has a Bruise and Tears around his eyes) or Yell at him, but never an option to actually COMFORT (hug) the guy? What kind of conclusions are we meant to draw from that? (Are we meant to believe Bruce is just... more likely to be insensitive or cruel... towards John?... ;-;)

I completely agree with that sentiment. There really should have been an option to comfort John more, however I understand why there wasn’t and what we can dissect from that scene. So let’s jump in!

Now I like a healthy balance between canon, subtextual, and subjective interpretation. So I think it’s important to start with the context behind that scene. Here’s what we know; The Interrogation with John takes place Post-Bodhi Spa/Lab scene. The stakes are very high because Harley has the virus, Riddler’s body has been ruined and is no longer preserved meaning there’s no chance to get a cure, and Avesta and Bruce noticed makeshift bombs around the hideout.

So their main objective is to find Harley. And they were anticipating that the person inside Harley’s office would be Harley. They weren’t expecting John, since he’d disappeared after the agency raided the Lab.

John is the closest and only chance they have to find and stop Harley, so everything that Bruce did in that scene was done under stress and a sense of urgency. And if you play Bruce as a good person in that scene he exhibits a reasonable balance of empathy and compassion whilst also keeping grounded in their situation;

Joker: “There’s no point. It’s over. The Pact. The dream. Us.”

Bruce: “Not yet it’s not she’s still out there. With a deadly virus in a city full of innocent people.”

Without the luxury of time, Bruce comforts John in the only ways he could’ve. Remember, John is supposedly drunk, being erratic, and at times wielding a gun whilst stating he doesn’t care about the deadly situation they’re in. So it’s not extreme to suggest that Bruce, or anyone in such a situation would act cautiously. I mean Avesta is on guard that entire scene because of how erratically John acts.

The alternative to the slap option is the hand on the shoulder gesture that Bruce does, in a way it’s the closest physically intimate act he did which was a step or two removed from a hug. In my ‘The Stab’ post, I mention how physical contact between John and Bruce is gradually built up throughout the narrative, so I guess since John hugs Bruce in the Carnival Bro’s scene, we could interpret Bruce’s touch to John’s shoulder as a moment that anticipates a bigger act of physical intimacy.

There’s definitely something to be said about the lack of acknowledgment towards John’s black eye. He’s just told them that he was physically hit by Harley and there’s no attempt to console him or show concern. Now again, this could be due to the high stakes at play, but of course there’s a broader discussion to be had about male victims of abuse not being treated/taken seriously. (I’m saving my thoughts on this for a future post)

Lastly, I wanted to bring your attention to this moment.

(and I don’t want this to discredit the point about male victims of abuse but rather relate to John’s character and his dynamic with Bruce)

No matter what choice we pick for Bruce, John has the exact same response. I think that, John may have been ‘milking’ this time with Bruce.

He has Bruce’s complete attention (albeit not for the reason one would hope) and spends the majority of the scene venting about how Harley and Bruce let him down whilst also ignoring Bruce and Avesta’s pleas for help only to suddenly change his mind at the end. I think that moment serves as a reminder that John’s intentions and emotions are ambiguous.

And Bruce understands this which is why he doesn’t tolerate any of John’s ambiguity when you select the harsher/objective choices, which can come off as cruel.

I hope that gives you some new ideas or reaffirm ones you had! I’ve been meaning to analyse that scene more but I think all my ideas come under separate topics so we’ll see if I get around to that sometime!

[greenerteacups]

i humbly write to beseech you to pummel me with your thoughts on rhaenicent

I loooove Rhaenicent conceptually it's so much better than the estranged stepdaughter arc in the books. I also think they have some of the best dialogue in the show because the writers love them so so much. Does the dialogue make sense in the context of the plot happening immediately before and after the scenes they have together? No! Does the bitterly-tender-lesbian-divorcées plotline seem to be taking place in a different show from the rest of HOTD, which is about their two families actively trying to kill each other and often succeeding — deaths that they should technically be attributing to each other by dent of the way war works? Yeah! Do I care? Not that much! And even if I did, would I let it get in the way of a nice nasty friends-to-lovers-to-enemies arc? Like, I've read fic where Hermione Granger and Tom Riddle fuck. Who am I to harp on whether the characters on the R-rated Dragon Tales show are exhibiting literary realism?

Anyway I can't waaaaaaaait for S3 to go whole hog on the "Rhaenyra the Cruel" storyline so that she can complete her evolution into Fantasy Paul Atreides and Alicent can have a total crisis about which of the two tyrants that she's brought into the world — both of whom she loves dearly — she has to kill. The whole story is centrally about mothers sacrificing their children, with the idea that political leadership and parenthood are intrinsically incompatible (Viserys is trying to be a good father but fails in his pursuit of being a good king, Alicent tries to be a good mother but fails in her pursuit of being a good queen, Rhaenyra tries to — you see where I'm going. Ironically the only one who doesn't seem subject to this is Daemon, whose daughters have 0 scenes with him and hence can't object one way or another to his parenting style, but who seems to have escaped the dynastic curse by not trying to be a dad OR a king. Failhusbands #FTW.) And I think it would be the coup de grace on Alicent's storyline if she did betray Aegon for Rhaenyra, in an effort to escape the machinations of politics, only for it to backfire catastrophically. Because:

(1) Rhaenyra is no longer the girl who would have helped Alicent run away from all this. She was lost to Alicent and Cole (who is Alicent's foil and their affair is so obviously an awful wonderful voyeuristic attempt for them both to fuck Past Rhaenyra) the moment Viserys told her she was fucking Dragon Paul Atreides. That's it, game over. You can't love a Messiah without ending up on the altar or the stake. And:

(2) Alicent and Rhaenyra are both arrogant and entitled women, but they're arrogant in different ways; Rhaenyra thinks she's entitled to rule a continent because of her noble parentage and quasi-magic bloodline, and Alicent thinks that she's entitled to rule a continent because she's morally superior to everyone else at court. They are both wrong about this, but they can't let go of that idea without dissolving what's been the basis of their identity for the past 20 years. These girls were raised by the Red Keep. Even when Alicent goes on her spiritual journey to realize that Politics Is Bad, she has staggering gall to talk about being "free," as if it isn't slightly fucked-up that she can just start a war that kills thousands of peasants and fuck off to Essos once she's not having fun anymore. Like. Sorry? Aemond is successfully executing a war that started the moment you crowned Aegon, knowing damn well Rhaenyra (and Daemon, moreover) were not going quietly, and you're blaming Aemond for the fact that people are dying? Baby girl, you did not give a stone cold shit that Aemond was a bit of a maniac until he removed you from the small council (which I honestly didn't think you cared about, since you haven't made a political move all season). And then you wrote him off to Gwayne as like "bro :( look at my horrible awful bloodthirsty son," but BABY YOUUUUUU STARTED THE WAR!!

(Also: youuuuuuu went full Cersei and demanded to carve one of the Velaryons' eyes out when they hurt Aemond by accident, plus also tried to carve out Rhaenyra's eye with a knife in full view of the court when that didn't work, so like — maybe we can think about where Aemond might have learned to use violence as a first resort?)

All this to say that both of them have been poisoned by the Red Keep and I don't think they would know how to interact with each other outside of that circumstance. They've been doing politics since they were teenagers, and their identities have been built around that fact. And even when Alicent realizes this, it still isn't enough to change her into someone different! She is Alicent Targaryen, née Hightower, and Targaryen women do not fucking let go. They are doomed to fight each other forever until one or both of them die. Which is sexy and awesome and I personally look forward to watching.

[cosmicjoke]

Of course Levi has a selfless and compassionate side, but objectively speaking, I don't think the manga/anime emphasizes these qualities as much as some people are exaggerated. For example, in the manga, the garrison soldier they captured during the uprising arc says that he even killed people he shouldn't have killed (I think those people were servants idk)

Or like in the trost arc when he doesn't react to the deaths of all those people who died in the chase for the female titan. There's a scene in the uprising arc where Hitch talks about this genocide and sort of berates him and his corps, but Levi doesn't react to it. He values human life, but not enough to talk about it or to go on about it.

He characterizes people who are inferior to him, who are not of equal status, as weak. In the Shiganshina arc he says he hates weak people.

I think his role in the anime is more of a supporting weapon character than these actions. He's more of someone who stands out in battles and with his strength. And he can play a supporting role in some characters, including the main character.

This may sound like slander, but that's not my point. My point is that in some fandoms, people tend to exaggerate one aspect of their favorites and either don't acknowledge or ignore their flaws or make excuses for them. In the anime and in interviews, we see Levi touch upon his compassionate and selfless aspects. But he also sometimes exhibits cruel, reckless actions on some issues.

No, the manga and anime makes it expressly clear how much Levi cares.

Levi didn't kill anyone during the Uprising arc outside of Kenny's squad, who were first trying to kill him and his squad. Purely self-defense and purely justifiable. He only hurt the people at the military base where they captured the soldier from. They didn't kill anyone there. These are Levi's exact words:

"Unfortunately for you, they won't be coming to your rescue. Killing them would've been a bother, so they'll just be off their feet for the time being."

This, accompanied by panels showing Levi's squad taking the soldiers out, only injuring, not killing, them.

Levi reacted during Trost. What are you talking about? We see a close up of Levi when the shit hits the fan, his expression clearly troubled and his fists clenched at his sides. His fists clenching is plainly highlighted because the reader is meant to understand that he's upset. A clear expression of anxiety and frustration at not being able to help.

Hitch is talking about the people that died during the incident in Trost, not a "genocide", and Levi takes full responsibility for it, making no excuses for what happened. Hitch is shocked because she thought Levi would try to make excuses and deny any responsibility, because she thought he was heartless, but he didn't, because he cares and he's just as upset as she is. She didn't expect that.

Just because he doesn't blubber and cry outwardly doesn't mean he isn't feeling anything. He knows it's messed up and that it went sideways when it wasn't ever meant to, just like so many of the missions the SC conducts.

When he says he "hates weak people", he means he hates the situation. He's frustrated and upset. He hates that these people who have no experience fighting titans are on this mission with them, because their ranks have been so thinned out, and because of that, they're likely to get killed. You have to pay attention to Levi's actions, not his words. Levi is known for not being good at expressing what he means when he speaks. His actions are what's important. He works himself to the point of exhaustion trying to save those people you say he "hates" for being weak. Does that seem like something someone would do who doesn't care about their lives?

The problem is, you just aren't paying enough attention to Levi's character, and further, you don't understand his character. You seem to need it said and spelled out in literal terms in order to pick up on what's going on, which, if that's the case, this isn't the story for you. Levi's emotion isn't blaring and in your face. It's subtle, but still obvious if you simply pay attention. You see it in his actions and expressions. We aren't exaggerating Levi's compassion and kindness, you just don't want to or aren't able to acknowledge it because it isn't spoon fed to you and it doesn't fit with your preconceived notion of who Levi is. You need to pay more attention in order to understand Levi, because he's a complex character, not the one-note "weapon" that you want to define him as.

You talk about bias and not being able to see clearly as a result, but your own bias is pretty evident on this topic. You get basic facts wrong and then present them as "evidence" for your claim that Levi is reckless and cruel. It's just that you don't understand him as a character.

[aishangotome]

Elbert Greetia: Chapter 4

Chapter 3

♡———♡

Alfons: While it is tempting to deceive an innocent girl with my abilities and create a temporary salvation...

Alfons: Might there be a blue poppy in Elbert's room?

Kate: Huh?

Alfons: I seem to recall seeing a framed pressed flower before. If my memory serves me correctly.

Alfons: Why don't you search that junk room tomorrow?

Hearing Alfons' suggestion, Elbert placed his hand on his chin as if in thought.

Elbert: ... If Al says so, it might be there.

Kate: Really...!?

Elbert: ... Shall we look for it?

Kate: Yes, please...!

(If I can give her the real one, Daisy will surely be happy.)

If there's a possibility, it's worth searching.

Alfons: To think the day would come when Elbert would look back on the things he threw into that room... It's quite baffling.

(Elbert's room...)

*flashback*

Alfons: The things that don't meet El's standards are left in his room like junk.

Alfons: I sell them off without his permission.

Kate: C-Can you really sell them without permission?

Elbert: ...Yeah, it's fine.

Elbert: I have no interest in things that aren't beautiful.

*flashback over*

(A room where "things that weren't beautiful" are stored, huh?)

(... I wonder what kind of room it is.)

Alfons: Hehe. Feel free to search to your heart's content.

Elbert: Al, won't you help us?

Alfons: No way! You know, right?

Alfons: I hate unpleasant physical labor.

––And the next morning.

-

Elbert: Please... come in.

Kate: Yes, excuse me...

Stepping into Elbert's room, I was stunned for a moment.

(His words about having no interest were true...)

Beautiful butterfly specimens, exquisite bird taxidermy, oil paintings and pottery, jewelry...

First-class items that wouldn't be out of place in a museum or art gallery were--

Incredibly messily placed, creating a rather unusual sight.

(Even with so many things... It feels a bit lonely.)

The room, filled with numerous objects haphazardly left behind, had an air of emptiness about it.

Elbert: Well then... let's start searching.

Kate: Do you have any idea where it might be...?

Elbert: ... Actually,

Kate: Actually...?

Elbert: I've never looked for anything in this room... I don't know what's where.

Kate: Even though it's your own room...

Elbert: It might take quite a while to search...

(Well... There are a lot of things that catch my eye, but...)

(For now, let's just focus on finding the blue poppy.)

Kate: It's okay. If we search together, it should be much easier to find than searching alone.

Elbert: ...

Kate: Let's do our best!

Elbert: Yeah... Let's do our best.

We started our search, being careful not to bump into the items placed without any consideration for human movement.

Kate: ... Ah, could this be it?

A vivid blue color peeking through the gap in the cover of a frame placed on the floor caught my eye.

Elbert: That's... what was it again...?

Kate: Let me see what's inside.

I lifted the slightly heavy frame and unwrapped the cloth, revealing a beautiful oil painting.

Kate: It's not a poppy or a pressed flower... But it's a really beautiful landscape painting.

Elbert: I think... At some exhibition, everyone was praising it, so I wanted it.

Elbert: They said it wasn't for sale, but I insisted and got it.

Kate: To get a non-sale item, you must have been asked for a considerable price...

Elbert: ... About the price of a townhouse, I think.

Kate: What!?

My hands suddenly stiffened, and I almost dropped it, but I hurriedly supported it.

Elbert: ... Are you alright?

Kate: I-I'm sorry! I didn't drop it, so I think it's okay!

Elbert: Not that... I meant you.

(Huh...?)

Elbert took the oil painting from my hands and casually propped it up nearby.

Elbert: You're not hurt...?

Kate: ... Y-yes, ... I'm fine.

(I'm glad he cares, but...)

My eyes are drawn to the oil painting that was placed haphazardly on the floor again.

(Even though he insisted on getting this expensive item, he's not interested in it anymore.)

(Because it "wasn't beautiful"...)

Kate: Among the things in this room, what is most precious to you, Lord Elbert?

Elbert: ... Precious?

Kate: I wanted to know if there's anything you don't want me to touch.

Elbert: Let's see...

Elbert's gaze wandered vaguely around the room.

Finally turning his deep blue eyes towards me, Elbert smiled faintly.

Elbert: There's nothing in particular like that...

(Nothing...)

I felt like I understood the reason for the emptiness I had been feeling.

(This is... a room where the owner's cherished belongings don't exist.)

It's Elbert's room, but a room without anything for Elbert.

(Then, all these overflowing beautiful things...)

(For whom... For what purpose?)

Elbert: Kate?

Kate: ! ... I'm sorry, I was spacing out.

Elbert: ... It's okay if you break something, just be careful not to get hurt.

Saying that, Elbert started searching elsewhere.

(Focus on the blue poppy for now!)

Trying to change my perspective, I got down on my hands and knees and crawled into a gap.

(...!? )

Suddenly, I made eye contact with hollow black eyes, and my heart skipped a beat.

(Ah... A taxidermized bird. Beautiful, but... a little scary.)

There wasn't a single moving thing in Elbert's room.

The clock hands were frozen in their beautiful shape, and all living creatures were taxidermied or specimens.

(Speaking of which... Where did the cat I brought home from shopping the other day go...?)

While thinking about such things, I was backing up, and because of that--

Kate: Whoa...!?

Elbert: Ugh...?

I bumped into Lord Elbert, who seemed to have been crouching nearby.

Kate: I-I'm so sorry... Ouch!

As I quickly pulled away, I bumped my elbow on a shelf.

(Ugh... How clumsy of me...)

Elbert: ... Are you alright?

Kate: I'm fine. I'm sorry for making you worry all the time.

Elbert: It's because the room is messy, so don't worry about it...

At that moment, something fell from the shelf and hit Elbert's head with a thud.

Elbert: ...? What was that...?

Kate: I wonder what it was...?

We both looked down at our feet, and there was a white rabbit plush toy rolling around.

(Cute...)

Kate: You have such cute things too.

Elbert: Ah... I think the shopkeeper said this one was the most beautiful, so I bought it.

(This one has its ribbon tied vertically.)

In this room full of beautiful things, the slightly crooked ribbon was strangely eye-catching.

Kate: I have to put it back. I wonder where it fell from...

I stood up and let my gaze wander in the direction the plush toy fell from, and then--

(Ah!!)

Kate: Lord Elbert, is that...!?

Hidden behind an object on the shelf, inside a frame attached to the wall, was a poppy with bright blue petals, beautifully pressed and in full bloom.

Elbert: ... It really was there...

Elbert: Al might know more about my room than I do...

Kate: It's real, right?

Elbert: Yes.

We huddled together, staring intently at the frame, then looked at each other almost simultaneously.

Kate: Can I take this to Daisy?

Elbert: Of course... I have time after this, so let's go together.

Kate: Yes!

(I wonder if Daisy will be happy.)

(Even when I can't visit her, if she sees this...)

(I hope it will give her even a little more time to smile.)

Thinking of Daisy's innocent smile, my heart swelled with anticipation.

Elbert: ... I've never seen you smile so happily before.

Kate: Huh...?

I raised my face at the softly uttered voice, and deep, ocean-like eyes were gazing intently at me.

(Lord Elbert...?)

Elbert: ... Show me your smiling face more clearly.

Beautiful, sculpture-like fingertips gently touched my cheek.

Kate: ...

A handsome face drew closer, and I couldn't help but hold my breath.

The dimly lit, moist gaze was very similar to what I felt in the garden on the night of the incident when I first met Daisy – it made my heart flutter.

Elbert: ...

(What should I do?)

(I can't look away.)

– At that moment, a knock broke the silence.

Kate: Y-yes...!?

My reply came out in a squeak.

After a brief pause, the person who peeked through the door was – Alfons.

Alfons: ... Oh my, excuse me. Did I interrupt something?

Alfons: Please think of me as a slightly larger doorstop and continue.

Kate: N-no, it's fine! I'll go get ready to leave.

I left the room as if escaping Elbert's gaze.

Elbert: ...

Alfons: ... Don't glare at me like that. It wasn't intentional.

-

(What was that just now...?)

(Show me your smiling face more clearly...)

It sounded like a pick-up line, but it didn't seem like Elbert had any such intentions.

(More than flirting, it felt like he was trying to confirm something...)

Remembering that gaze, my heart started to flutter again, and I hurriedly shook my head.

Kate: ... Right now, I need to hurry and give the blue poppy to Daisy.

I changed my mindset and ran down the hallway to my room.

-

And as the sun passed its zenith, Elbert and I were walking down the hallway of the clinic.

Elbert: I wonder if she's awake. ... She hasn't been feeling well lately.

Kate: Yes... If she's asleep, shall we wait a little while?

While whispering to each other, we couldn't suppress our excitement and approached the door of the hospital room when...

Daisy: ... Ugh... Sob...

(Huh? That's Daisy's voice...)

(Could she be crying?)

Elbert: ...

Daisy's tearful voice could be heard through the door, as if she was talking to someone.

(I shouldn't eavesdrop.)

I reflexively thought that, but... I couldn't help but listen closely.

Daisy: I... was mean. ... I said I wanted something I could never have...

Daisy: Because... those people are kind...

Daisy: It makes me think I want to... live longer...

Daisy: ... It's painful.

Kate: ...

My heart tightened as if it was being squeezed.

Daisy: S-so... I kind of wanted to make them suffer a little.

Daisy: You don't forget sad things, right? So, if they couldn't find the blue poppy...

Daisy: Those two would remember me forever, right...?

It was a shock, like being hit on the head.

I had intended to visit her to cheer her up.

(I thought that being by her side would lessen her sadness and loneliness, even a little... but)

(Maybe Daisy has been suffering all along.)

And yet, I didn't realize I was hurting her...

Elbert: ...

Elbert stood next to me, saying nothing, quietly staring at the door.

(If we visit her now, will we hurt Daisy again?)

(But... if we don't visit her without saying anything, she'll surely be even sadder.)

(... Then, what about this blue poppy?)

Even though we finally found it, if we give it to her, she might be even sadder.

Kate: ... I'm sorry, Lord Elbert.

Kate: Let's... pretend we couldn't find it.

Elbert: ... Yeah.

Elbert: ... You're right.

Eventually, Daisy's crying subsided, and–

-

After the nurse who had been listening inside left, we visited the hospital room.

The blue poppy frame was hidden outside the room.

Kate: I'm sorry! We couldn't find the blue poppy.

Daisy: ... Oh well, that's disappointing.

I apologized exaggeratedly so that the lie wouldn't be exposed, and Daisy scrunched up her face as if to hide her red and swollen eyes.

Kate: I'll definitely find it tomorrow.

Daisy: Hehe. Make sure you find it before I die, okay?

I returned Daisy's smile with a smile of my own.

Elbert: ...

Elbert just silently watched us.

It was the next day that we learned Daisy's condition had suddenly worsened and she had passed away.

-

The setting sun, signaling the end of the day, dyed the castle corridor crimson.

I was staring out the window, feeling like there was a gaping hole in my chest, when I heard a slow footstep approaching.

Elbert: There you are...

Kate: ... Lord Elbert.

Elbert: ...

Kate: ...

A gentle silence fell, as if sharing the pain in our chests.

Just that – I knew Elbert had also heard the news of Daisy's passing.

Elbert: ... Kate.

Elbert: Won't you give me your time tonight?

.

.

.

.

.

Chapter 4 Premium Story

If you’d like to support my translations, feel free to buy me a coffee here! :)

[sassykattery]

Dollface Pt. 1

In a world where magical objects sometimes end up in places they shouldn't be, sometimes even the most careful end up in precarious situations. This fic is "Dollface," a story about a particular demon falling into one of those very situations.

CW: The main character is afab, uses she/her pronouns. This story is meant to be somewhat curvy/plus-sized reader insert, but the main character is given a physical description, but it's not crucial to the story or mentioned often after Part 1.

Themes: Romance. Magic. Adventure.

Characters: Main Character. Diavolo, mention Barbatos.

Minors and ageless blogs DNI

18+ only

Enjoy.

Masterlist

I suppose this is what I get for opening that cursed text, Diavolo thought. Barbatos is going to be quite cross with me when I get back... Whenever that will be at this rate.

While the Demon Lord, his butler, and the seven brothers were visiting the human world, Diavolo had heard of and found a magical artifact exhibit to see if there were any authentic pieces. Often times, when these exhibits took place, they were full of fakes. However, he still enjoyed looking through them nonetheless. He was intrigued by reading the tall tales that accompanied these items, amused by the stories humans would come up with. On occasion, there would be an authentic item left behind by a witch or careless demon that somehow ended up there, and he would work to bring it back to the Devildom.

However, he was distracted by a commotion down the hall, and when he accidentally touched this cursed book before inspecting it, opening it just slightly, he found himself motionless on the floor, staring up at the lights on the ceiling and unable to move.

Hm, now, how do I get out of this? Surely there's a way to undo it...

The prince then began to cite a spell in his mind but felt the buzzing sensation of being barred from completing it. This curse had locked his magic, leaving him unable to perform anything to help.

Damn, this is a strong curse. I wonder what I am–

"What an adorable doll! I think maybe a child or someone dropped this. We should take it to the front desk," a woman said, hovering over the prince.

A doll?

"Alright, but hurry up. We're going to be late if we don't leave in two minutes," a man said next to her.

The woman picked up Diavolo, her gentle hands holding onto his entire body. He merely watched as he took in her features as she peered down at him. She dropped him back down to her side and began walking away from where he was once standing.

Oh, I'm going to be sick. This is worse than some of the rides at Devil's Coast, he thought. Ah, I suppose I won't actually vomit now. Still, this is dizzying.

"Hi, I found this doll on the ground and wanted to know if a child was looking for it?" The woman said, stopping at the front desk of the exhibit.

"Not yet, but we can hang onto it just in case when the kid realizes it's gone," a man replied.

"Oh good, here," she said, handing the prince to the employee.

Diavolo looked to see a grouchy-looking older gentleman holding him now and was quickly thrown into a dark desk drawer with little decorum.

Well, now what?

---

This is definitely not good, Diavolo thought as he stared ahead at the envelope he was in.

About two weeks ago, he was taken to some adult woman's house, still unsure how he came to her possession, where he was given a tag around his back left leg, sealed in a plastic bag, and sat to wait in what seemed to be an office. He looked around at the other dolls, figures, and toys around him, wondering if they had met the same fate as him. It was unlikely, but at least he could look at a few of them, finding some entertainment in imagining what movies or games they were from.

Then, one day, the woman took him and placed him in what seemed to be a mailing envelope, along with a card he decided to read as entertainment while he spent two weeks being shipped to hell knew where. It was in another language, but some of it he could read, as it essentially said thank you for ordering this product.

Barbatos is going to kill me, he thought to himself at one point. It seems I have been purchased and being sent to someone else.

While he was loaded into airplanes, thrown into trucks, and passed from person to person in this envelope, he was coming up with ways to apologize to his butler and the brothers, no doubt thinking they were absolutely frantic looking for him. Surely, all eight of them will lock him up in his castle for an eternity to work on his paperwork for causing such a fiasco.

Finally, he had come to rest in one place for two days, and that's when he heard her voice for the first time.

"Hi there, I have a package I need to pick up. I'm not sure if you have it or if the postman took it," he heard a youthful feminine voice call out.

"Let me see... Yes, we have it! From out of the country– Japan, I see. How interesting," another older sounding feminine voice replied, picking up his envelope and carrying him a few feet before placing it on a surface.

"Yes! I'm very excited," she replied.

"Just sign here."

After a few moments, Diavolo was moving again as he heard a "Thank you so much!" in a highly cheerful voice.

As he was carried away, he could tell the envelope was being hugged tightly, as he wasn't moving too much and felt pressure around him, though he could tell they were walking. He heard what seemed like a car door unlock, and the two swung inside of it, the door shutting and an engine starting.

Suddenly, he could hear the envelope being torn open, and a hand reached in to carefully pull him in his plastic bag out. He was faced away from the person holding him, looking to see the black interior of the car he had been taken to, taking in the new scenery for the first time in weeks. The clear plastic wrap was peeled open, and he was carefully pulled out of it, seeing an ivory hand with black, sharp nails holding him. He was then turned around, and he saw for the first time who was now holding him, the first new face in weeks.

Oh.

"Hi there. You're so cute..." she murmured a greeting with a sweet smile on her lips. Her thumb ran across his body and hair.

Diavolo took her in as well. She was an adorable blonde with intricate makeup applied to her face. He saw her glittering purple lids with sharp black liner, beautiful lashes batting as she looked at him. He felt that he would be blushing if he actually could with how she inspected him so closely. Her eyes crinkled with adoration lacing her gaze, and he noticed her darling shadow blue eyes sparkling down at him. He also appreciated her full cheeks and round face. Her soft touch wasn't unnoticed either, how she gently caressed his form, even with her claw-like nails. Her lips held a soft shine to them, small in size but with a pouty lower lip and very muted pink in color, now curling into a charming smile.

Well, it could be worse.

"I'm so happy to have you..." she murmured again, holding his body gently in her palm as she continued to thumb over his hair. Her hand was warm, and her touch was careful, as if he was porcelain instead of a plush velvet doll. She turned him over a few times, carefully pulling on his garnet overcoat, before turning him to face her again.

Could be a lot worse. She seems nice, at least.

He was then placed on what seemed to be the seat next to her as she started buckling a seat belt and turning on some music in the car. It sounded like pop music, and from his seat in the car, he could easily see her, watching as she reversed the car and then drove off.

Their car ride lasted for a little while, and Diavolo had the privilege of listening to her sing to the radio and pick up what seemed to be her lunch.

This isn't so bad. She's a good driver, her voice is lovely, she seems sweet. Well, I guess this is better than the alternative while I wait for help.

When they reached their destination and the car stopped, he watched her eat a sandwich, switching radio stations to a orchestral one. After she was done, he saw her reach over to hold him again, and he was face to face with her once more.

"I'll just take you to class with me," she mumbled. "I don't want to leave you in the car."

Class?

After a few minutes, he was placed into what he saw to be a pink backpack, and he looked ahead to see a textbook, calculator, and some other items he didn't quite recognize. The zipper closed, and he felt them starting to walk again, followed by a car door shutting and a beep to lock it.

It was a few hours before she picked him up again. He sat through what sounded to be some physics and chemistry courses, and he was rather impressed with her. She answered questions like a pro, and he was rather curious to know more about her. He also overheard her conversations with others, like her professors and how friendly they were to each other. She was clearly studious and on top of things, sounding like a successful student, but he noticed how she always seemed uncertain, or rather, he realized, how anxious she seemed.

It was finally when they reached what he thought was her car again, that the bag was set down, and she opened it to pull him out. She seemed a little tired, some creases under her eyes now, but he was distracted when she put him in the front pocket of her jacket up high on her chest, facing out to see the world ahead.

Oh, this is lovely, I can finally see where we're going, he thought cheerfully.

She put on her seat belt, reversed out of the parking spot, and off they went again. He took in the scope of her world, watching the soccer fields, parks, buildings, and scenery that passed by. She started singing again, now listening to heavy metal, to his surprise.

An intriguing human. As sweet as she sounds and looks, she listens to music about rage and death, but still in her lilted and soft singing voice right in my ear. Now that I think about this, this is an excellent opportunity to learn more about humans.

After around fifteen minutes, Diavolo watched as they entered a residential neighborhood, small and large houses whirling by as she drove down the street. They pulled into an alley and then a driveway around the back of a house, the garage door opening as she straightened her car to pull in. After putting it in park, she got out and walked back to retrieve her backpack, close the garage door, and then walk inside the house.

He tried to take everything in as she walked inside the house. She walked down a dimly lit hallway, and then she made a turn to open the door. He looked out to see a turquoise room. There were black furnishings throughout, clothes strewn in a couple of places, and what seemed to be a vanity with makeup, lights, and mirrors on it.

The woman set her bag down on the floor near the door and started to take off her shoes and jacket, but not before taking the prince out of the pocket while she hung it up. She held him firmly but gently in her grasp as she walked around, and finally, she plopped down on her bed. Laying him on a pillow next to her head, he watched as she pulled out her phone and began scrolling through it.

Diavolo felt a little bad for looking, but he was at a point where he could easily see her phone, right next to her head, and he observed as she scrolled. He learned her name, figured out her age, a little bit about her interests, that she was a college student and caught a glimpse of what she was studying, and that she loved to write. It took him time to realize what she was doing as she opened an app and began typing quickly. From what he could read, she was a talented writer, clearly knowing how to illustrate feelings and showcase not only interesting but well thought out characters.

She suddenly yawned, clicking off her phone and rolling onto her side, facing him. Her eyes closed, and he looked at her in his peripheral.

She's even cute while she sleeps, he mused fondly. It's lovely to meet you.

After half an hour, she was up again, bringing her backpack over to the bed to pull out a laptop, tablet, and stylus. He watched her with interest as she played music from the laptop and began drawing.

Drawing, too? She has quite a few talents, it seems.

She looked over at the prince, tilting her head as if in thought.

"Maybe I should draw you sometime," she mused, turning back to what she was doing.

I'd like that.

---

Diavolo felt the human woman stir the next morning, and suddenly another light came on for about an hour, and she was out of sight for that long, until she came back and he realized she had put makeup on. He watched as she moved around, and suddenly, he was up in the air too, her small hand taking hold of him to place him in her pink backpack again. And thus began another day.

The prince listened to her music, her singing, the lectures she attended, which seemed vastly more challenging than the previous day with biochemistry and microbiology, and rode home once more. When they arrived home, they laid on her bed again while she scrolled through her phone.

She sure seems to lay in bed a lot.

"Ugh, my back," she groaned, rolling onto her side. From how he was laid up slightly against another pillow, he could fully look at her as she scrolled through her phone.

Well, that would explain it. Poor girl.

"Mm," she giggled wickedly, a naughty smile gracing her lips. Diavolo listened as she scrolled through many different videos over the next hour, her laughs and cackles like music to his ears. He watched her nearly cry with laughter, how her eyes and brows gave away so much of what she was thinking.

This was far better, he thought, than being locked away in some office or drawer, bored out of my mind.

Diavolo came to like this human woman. He enjoyed her company, even if she wasn't always directly talking to him. Her laugh and singing made him smile internally. The way she moved and spoke entranced him. They were somewhat like friends then, at least to him, as much as he was learning about her habits.

A friend. A human friend.

Though, it didn't take much to steer his thoughts away. He had been gone from the Devildom for quite some time, likely longest period yet without a way to contact everyone. Likely, Barbatos and the brothers were frantic to look for him, and here he was, a doll living with an adult woman who treated him like a beloved childhood toy, even after just a couple of days.

But maybe, just maybe, this wasn't so bad. He was learning so much about humans from this experience, and he could just relax while time ticked on. And if he had to spend this time with her until help arrived or the curse broke, then it wouldn't be so bad. She was sweet, good company, and rather loving. She was endearing. He was at the point where he wished he could talk back to her, desperately wanting to interact, to see how she would react to him in his full form.

Then it hit him. Would she like him? Would she be afraid of him? She was rather short, so maybe he would be too intimidating. He knew she was an anxious person, so what if he scared her? What if she wanted nothing to do with him?

Or would she enjoy him too? Would she let him get close? Could they touch? Would she like him gently caressing her as she had done to him? It felt a bit unfair how she could just hold, touch, or carry him as she pleased, when he wanted to do it and more to her as well. Would she want to kiss him? How would her lips feel? How do they taste? Maybe he was just curious about her, and his nature was getting the better of him. Or maybe, he could see himself getting to know her and finding there is more between them.

These thoughts and that many more plagued his mind as time passed, occupying him constantly.

Hear me, denizens of darkness, for this curse shall be broken in parts. First, the demon shall in perpetuity remain in motionlessness and silence until the beloved human shall retain affection for the doll and vice versa. For the love of a doll is to place one's emotions onto the doll. Once affection is reached and matained, may the effected demon be vocal in their returned affection. Second, should the effected demon hold these affections mutually, shall the two get closer. Let there be a forged fondness for one another. Only when the human may voice this fondness shall the doll be set free.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed.

Post made by sassykattery. Do not repost. Reblogs and comments appreciated.

Tags: @delphi-dreamin @itsmeninerz @flemmingbamse @attic-club-sandwich @bite-sized-devil @marvelous-maniac @themythicaldisaster

Next

[intergalactic-garbage]

(tsartistry on my main) I'm so glad you see my vision!! Imagine Blitz making magical accessories for his new niece and nephew. Amos appreciating and modeling every article of clothing Blitz makes for him.

I suppose it would technically be a polycule since I also ship Amos/Set in that Symbrock kind of way.

Which leads me to Set adopting Samirah and Alex by proxy like "I'm going to be a significantly less sucky Chaos God Parent because pissing Loki off would be objectively hilarious."

(which also gives Set plausible deniability, he's just committing to the bit! Of course he doesn't ACTUALLY care about Sam and Alex. He's just attending all of Alex's sculpture exhibitions & helping Sam attend flight school & supporting their interests and defending them from prejudice IRONICALLY shut up Sadie!!)

ohmygod hiiii love! I SEE YOUR VISION

amos is such a babygirl, he's so soft for all the kids, and set is like one of my favourite characters, he's just the typical trickster guy who was an antagonist in trp and pretty much nothing about him changes in the following plot, except that he's on the side of the good guys. honestly set/amos is SUCH a fun dynamic. im almost tempted to read some fics of them now

oh but amos is absolutely very caring about what he dresses in, and only takes the finest fabrics and gets every little thing tailored (the guy definitely has to have a matching pocket square and tie), and he carries this quiet sort of old times gentleman charm to him (of which he isn't that much aware)

he appreciates blitzen's expertise so much and loves talking to him, he really values his opinions on pretty much everything, and before they become actual friends who go for coffee together, just spends always nearly an hour talking to him while he's supposed to be running errands. they eventually become well-acquainted and go for dinner to each other's residences as well as fancy restaurants

oh loki and set absolutely know about each other and have even met a few times, and you know, they hear about what the other did from time to time, and appreciate it, generally; realness recognizes realness and all that.

once during dinner, blitz talks about the happenings in the norse pantheon, and how loki's just been fucking insufferable lately, and how his two nieces suffer needlessly simply for being his children. set perks up; "his children?" "oh yeah," blitz says, dabbing his lips with a handkerchief, "samirah and alex, one a valkyrie and the other an einherjar. they're like family to me." and amos smiles, and comments on how that sounds lovely, and with a smirk remarks that he's sure blitzen would be a wonderful father (all through this, set is already going off in his head about how he'd be SO MUCH of a better father than loki)

the next month, amos quietly shows up next to blitzen at one of alex's pottery showings near the chase space. "oh, amos, what are you doing here?" amos' eyes flash with a light sort of reddish orange "oh, i find it hilarious that as a superior chaos god, i can show up for the children of chaos when they need it." blitzen grins, and gently slips his hand into the other's

this becomes a typical occurrence .

[haine-kleine]

My thoughts on the ending

The new chapter gave me some food for thought and some hope. Also, I'm writing this post from the perspective of the mysterious man wandering the city being Shigaraki.

One thing that never made much sense to me is Shigaraki Tomura being his preferred name. He was used, manipulated, brainwashed, went through body modifications and even mind-control all by the man who gave him his new name, and shared his own surname with Tenko, essentially adopting him. Shigaraki once his character development kicks in, doesn't exhibit much attachment to AFO, and his trauma bond to him is all but gone in the last arc, where they actively fight for control and are determined to destroy each other. He also doesn't express or ruminate on the regret associated with his happy childhood taken away from him by AFO, the way Dabi ruminates about his own constantly.

It started making sense to me once the story established narrative parallels between Midoriya and the first user of AFO and Shigaraki to OFA, and the Shigaraki twins' past was revealed to us.

Despite the horrible world-destroying actions and manipulations of AFO, his driving motivation, the essence of his character was revealed to be love for his brother. It was rejection by Yoichi that kickstarted his downfall, and in his quest of getting Yoichi back all for himself, he ended up destroying both himself and his brother.

Shigaraki is the same way, but in reverse. He started as a wild force of chaotical destruction going against the current of the hero's society and terrifying Izuku and all of his friends. Their first one-on-one interaction happened with Shigaraki purposefully isolating Deku from his friends and threatening him. He is a brat who throws a fit when the plans don't go his way, he needs Kurogiri to baby him, he attacks Toga and Dabi as soon as they don't immediately accept him as their new leader. This is the Shigaraki we get introduced to, and that's his starting point for growth. And wow, does his character develop beautifully. He takes responsibility, repeatedly and actively chooses to take responsibility simply because he wants to take care of the people by his side. He takes the power he is given, and he develops it into more power, constatly evolving. Both of his stated objectives: to destroy everything that stands against him and to support his teammates' wishes are fullfilled to a degree by the end of this story: he shaked the society to the core, and all remaining teams of LOV are hinted at to be alive, with both Dabi and Toga getting their wishes fullfilled by the end of their respective arcs: to be accepted as she is by the person she loves, and to be heard and aknowledged by his family.

Both of the aforementioned objectives connect Shigaraki and AFO: the desire to be close and protect another and the desire to destroy. The latter leads to both of them being destroyed, and the final moments of AFO show how his decision to commit to destruction took the chance of getting his other objective fulfilled away forever.

But what about Yoichi? He is a hero, a kind, noble and responsible weilder of the All For One ability, that stood up against his villain brother and protected society. How come the narrative leads both of them towards the same end? Unlike AFO, Yoichi doesn't even get to make his feelings known one last time. He's is just gone after the last battle.

Unlike both Shigaraki and AFO, Yoichi doesn't get a chance to exhibit love for another. He is all about responsibility, about the duty, protection, being a hero, and all of that only leads him to his ultimate destruction.

Being a hero is not about love, or sympathy, or helping others. Protection is the duty, but heroes' sympathy demands the victim to fulfill their conditions - to be a perfect victim, otherwise it all boils down to destruction. It's a two-way destruction: the villains get killed, harmed, abandoned, but the heroes also suffer the damage. Almost every single character we've seen in the war arc sustained serious and long-lasting, or permanent damage. That's pretty much the job description: you get to be as violent as you want, but you will get the same violence thrown back at you. You are supposed to give, give and keep on giving pieces of yourself until not even the embers of the memory of you are left. The perfect example of this is All Might - a living husk of a man giving out nothing but empty platitudes, only remembered by his hero name and the hero he used to be. He doesn't get to have an identity outside of his short past as a hero and all he gets for this is a life-long health problems that won't allow him to live for much longer.

To be a hero, you need to inspire hope, to appear to be kind, but being a hero doesn't allow you kidness, just a little amount of it. Everything is stricly controlled so that the civillians remain ignorant of just how wrong the picture-perfect image of the heroes truly is. To be a hero, you need to have the capacity to be cruel. Whether to promise something you can never fulfill, or to leave a teammate behind.

This is why Izuku Midoriya became the greatest hero. He is everything the hero system wants: an enthusiastic and willing bright-eyed hero who will destroy himself to make his quirk as useful to the chosen objective as possible, but is unable to look at anything past his perfect little circle of friends and mentors. He appears to be kind, and will give out motivating speeches for sure, but his words are empty and have nothing but the sinsere incapability to understand anything but his own privileged perspective behind them. He would never be able to save anyone but a perfect harmless victim, and obviously, to him saving Shigaraki Tomura equated to letting him die. He saw a crying little boy inside of the creepy villain he had first met, and decided to save him, except for Midoriya, saving that little boy meant forgetting and ignoring all the bad things he had done as an adult, and keeping the memory of his pure perfect victim child self alive.

He does not even spare the good, or 'better' victims! Aoyama, whom he had come to know as a friend, his classmate, whose parents were held hostage by AFO, who was forced against his will to be AFO's spy and expresses clear regret about it, is not given the slightest bit of empathy by Deku. Just looking at him is the greatest kidness he has to offer, and he does nothing to protect Aoyama afterwards. He is fully fine with Aoyama leaving his class, doesn't think to reach out, even moreso, all of the classmates barely care about Aoyama leaving, and don't take any action to convince him they don't hold what happened to him against his will against him.

This is also why Izuku is so lost and dissatisfied in the epilogue chapters. He didn't suceed in his goal of saving Shigaraki and whatever he tells himself or whatever his friends tell him to make him feel better, will not change that. All Izuku did was punch really hard, and the narrative rewarded him for it by taking his arms away for a chapter, and then taking his quirk, his greatest treasure, the tool that allowed him to become the focal point of this story, away for good. That's the end of the story for him, and to get a new beginning, he needs to learn and change, but the story doesn't have much time to fit that in. Either way, it's a dissatisfying conclusion, but one that makes sense. The first user of OFA loses himself for good, the last user of OFA loses the quirk for good. Both fail to connect with the people the narrative puts them against, and the ultimate choice they have is to connect and empathize or to destroy.

For the LOV it's another story though. All three of the main LOV characters succeed in their stated objectives. Their characters's arcs end in success, not a failure. Toga is finally not rejected by someone she loves, but embraced, and gets verbal confirmation of her affection being reciprocated. Touya is not avoided, ignored or shunned by his parents who feel guilt about what they did to him, and his siblings, who don't understand him. The entire family unites and makes the decision to take responsibility for what they did to him. They aknowledge his pain and his trauma, and they take whatever he throws at them, no matter how hot the flames, because they want to have him back. Even Enji doesn't run away anymore, and takes resposibility for everything he did to Touya, cries and apologizes for not coming to Sekoto peak and preventing everything that followed. Finally, he realizes that being a hero prevents him from having the relationship he desires to have with his family, and for the first time in his life, he chooses family over heroism.

Using these two points for reference, it makes no sense for Shigaraki's arc to end the way Horikoshi is trying to convince us it ended. He can't die because neither his goal to destroy the hero society completely or to protect and take care of his friends in the League was completed sucessfully. If you twist the angle a bit, though, it all starts making perfect sense. The butterfly imagery has been associated with Shigaraki for quite a while, and with Horikoshi being a superb user of visual storytelling, it is there for a reason. Butterflies are reborn from caterpillars and so far, Shigaraki's evolution has not been completed. The body modifications and quirk mutations might have tried to convince us otherwise, but if you look at Shigaraki as a human and not the final boss, all of that was pain, hurt and suffering he stood through and survived. The entire hero society uniting to defeat him alone, the brainwashing and manipulations he had been living in since he was a child, the loss of identity, he had stood through it all and survived. Now that Shigaraki-AFO-the villain had been killed, the rebirth follows. And his remaining objective - to be with the people he treasures, will be fulfilled, granting him peace and contentment.

That's the narrative reward for the villains - getting acceptance, comfort and content, while the heroes struggle to rebuild the remains of the society those same villains destroyed.

[waxdream]

Trigger warning - adoption, suicide, trauma, objectification.

I need to talk about adoption in Flatland. I'm adopted, so the details of this part of the story are a bit hazy due to dissociation. But like, Abbott has so many little points in his book that it impresses me. I can't tell if he did it on purpose, but if he did, damn am I impressed.

I went to the foundling museum in London a few years ago. I cried a lot, seeing the stolen items, and the exhibition of 'adoptees/orphans/fosterlings in comic books' that was downstairs. That was my favourite museum exhibition ever. My item I had from my birth mother is a candle that sits on my shelf. It's blue, and I didn't know what it was for a long long time, until one day I was about to throw it away. Luckily, I asked my adoptive mother if she wanted it, and she told me what it was. I almost threw part of my history away.

Which leads me into flatland, and the equilateral triangles. A class of adoptees. The only adoptions mentioned in the book are forced apon triangle families by the state for 'angular purity', and in order to give higher class people with an inability to have children the chance to adopt. In a modern context, I would take this as a scathing read of the adoption system. Only lower class, male children with desireable qualities are eligible for this kind of class crossing adoption, and the birth family celebrate it. The lower class is indoctrinated into thinking that 'this is for the best'.

In the UK at the time of my adoption, I've been told the desirable child was a white baby girl with no obvious disabilities, blonde hair and blue eyes. My foster carers were ineligible to adopt me, and the cynic in me believes this was because I was considered an object with 'desireable' qualities. The shadow court in my mind says 'it could have made some rich middle class family very happy' when I'm feeling grumpy and objectified. Luckily, a charity helped fund my foster (now adoptive) family's court battle, and a law change in the second year of it allowed them to win. I got lucky.

I see a lot of parallels between my own adoption and the adoptions in Flatland. People saying 'it's for the best', who don't realise that many adoptions take place because poor, mentally ill and young people can't take care of children because of lack of support and money. The scalene triangles in Flatland could have raised the equilateral merchant class, given enough resources and better schooling. Just like how A square is able to Tutor his grandson Hex - a lawyer teaching someone of a higher class skills he himself does not necessarily need to know.

I can't help but think about how those trinkets didn't stay with the foundlings who lived in that house. How I almost threw my candle away. The triangles have the physical reminder of their shape, and yet still, they are told they are different. They are regular, not like those other triangles, "you're one of us, you always have been", a square father might say to his new son. "We deserve to have you". And then, when the triangle grows up, and his wife (who's own father was a square) gives birth to an irregular triangle, the filth of that triangle's DNA is shown once again, despite the outward appearence of regularity. That's what my own adoption feels like. I always waited to be revealed for the imposter that I was. But I wonder if in a way that feels cathartic for them - like the immense relief I felt when my adoptive mother saved my candle from the trash. It's proof that your adoption exists, that you exist as a complex, multifaceted shape.

I wonder if the pressure of being regular was removed from that man's shoulders when his son was not born a square, but a triangle. Maybe his wife divorced him and he remarries within his original class - a safer, more understand place. Is that a happy ending? Is there a happy ending for adoptees? I never used to think there was. I used to think my life would end soon. Not today but tomorrow, or other similar things I'd tell myself. "I'd be content if I died today" would be said often by the regular triangle.

I wanted to be a hexagon when I thought about what shape I'd be. But no, the humble equilateral triangle is for me. He was not born a girl like I was. But perhaps they're also non binary like me.

Noone is born thinking they are tainted. You're taught that by other people. The regular triangle is told to their face they are normal, and nothing is wrong, that their adoption never affected them. When the regular triangle realised they're trans and autistic, and had that validated, that's when they felt like a real shape. Not a doll. Not an object. I still feel tainted sometimes. It's hard not to when society teaches you your DNA is wrong. And sadly, I think that's a feeling so so many of us feel - adoptees and non adoptees alike.

Your DNA is not wrong. That's a lie. It's a dangerous lie that permeates modern society, not out in the open but under covers. Every time someone says 'it's not the same' in regards to adoption, it's a perpetuation of that lie.

If your feelings are that adoption as lesser, you need to seriously examine your mindset. Because it's a mindset that holds DNA as sacred, as important. And having that mindset is something that easily divides us as a people - it's giving an inch. What's important is who we are, our life experiences, the things that make us different from each other and the points in our lives that shape us. Society shapes us. Racism and patriarchy and homophobia and ableism - these negatives do shape us. DNA has a place in who we are too, but my point is that there's so much more to it than that. The friends we discover, the things we learn, growing as people, the beauty in the world.

And I had to learn that the hard way, because the only thing that society teaches adoptees is that they're replacements. Second best. Whatever other words you have for 'btech birth kid'. Just know, any fellow adoptees, that none of that is true.

I'm happy to answer questions, because I doubt my point is coming across as well as I wanted. The triangles have got me feeling sad, and I haven't even researched phrenology yet. To clarify all my points, adoption feels sucky, racism is awful, you are more than just what society tells you you are, I am the triangle (apart from all the marriage stuff - replace that part with learning I'm trans and autistic, it serves the same purpose in my narrative).

[washingtonmarvel]

Since my first post about Charmion only scratched the surface, I thought I'd give some more info about a few different aspects of her story here. I hope everyone finds it worth reading.

First, Charmion was a marketing genius. She was one of the most photographed people in show business, her flexed arms ubiquitous in the newspapers of the era, and she gave out free pinback buttons with her image on them at each show. Charmion herself reported in 1905 that she’d given out a quarter of a million buttons over the previous year. I don't know how accurate that number is, but there was definitely a huge number produced and you can often find them for pretty affordable prices on eBay to this day. Charmion would also sometimes give away chocolates, clothes, and other souvenirs to the women in the audience.

Second, during her travels, Charmion made time to personally advise women who needed help with their fitness goals. During her time in New Orleans in 1902, for example, she let it be known that the hours of 5 to 7 would be set aside for any woman wanting a “conference” with her to discuss matters relating to “physical culture.”

Third, Charmion could be considered one of the first female bodybuilders. Through rigorous workouts (including curling fifty-to-seventy-pound dumbbells and one-hour bag-punching sessions), Charmion intentionally tried to build her muscles as large as possible, which was incredibly rare for a woman in that era. Even circus strongwomen, who showed off their strength publicly, often downplayed their muscularity, but Charmion was eager to show off her muscles and actively tried to grow them. Apparently, it worked. By her own account, when she began her career the (already very fit) Charmion weighed 98 pounds at a height of 5’1”. She afterward gained enough muscle that by 1902, she was a solid 130 pounds. Charmion would’ve also felt at home with modern bodybuilders in the sense that on-stage posing was a major part of her performances. After she had finished disrobing on the trapeze, she would conclude her show by standing onstage and flexing her biceps before turning around and displaying her back muscles. The audiences were as flabbergasted as you’d expect. “When she hunches her back,” said one newspaper, “it looks like a cage of boa-constrictors interlaced in a snake-fight”; “her shoulders and arms appear a knotted mass of muscles,” said another.

The less pleasant aspects of Charmion's story are the misogyny and prudishness that Charmion dealt with with throughout her career. There were attempts (some successful, some not) to ban her act in New York, New Orleans, London, and Berlin, and she had to contend with right-wing attacks throughout her career. Here are a few newspaper quotations to show the kind of opposition she encountered:

Times Herald (Washington, D. C.), May 10, 1898: “Her performance is a simple attempt to provoke all the lower passions of which mankind is capable, without passing the limit the law has placed on such an exhibition. It is for this reason that Charmion is revoltingly disgusting, coarse and disagreeable. It is because of this that no man, who realizes what he is doing, or respects himself, will care to take his mother or sister to the National Theater this week.”

Sioux City Journal, May 15, 1898: “Charmion’s object in her trapeze act is indecency.”

The Times (Washington, D. C.), May 15, 1898: “It seems revolting to think that men would go to a place of amusement with the sole idea of witnessing such a performance, but that women should willingly accompany them is nothing less than disgusting.”

The Courier and Argus (Dundee, Scotland), Aug. 5, 1898: “…it is scarcely possible to conceal the fact that Charmion’s performance takes us very much nearer to the frank indecencies of the Parisian variety theatres than we have hitherto strayed.”

Daily Gleaner (Fredericton, New Brunswick), Oct. 26, 1898: “we hail with gratification the drastic criticism by a section of the New York press of such debasing performances as those first given by a woman called Charmion…Charmion’s act had grace and beauty to recommend it, and except that it was performed by a woman it was no worse than the undressing act of the equestriam [sic] acrobat in the circus; but it was the natural forerunner of the others, and so should never have been permitted in a theatre making pretence to decency.”

The Times, January 1, 1899: “Charmion’s ‘turn’ was revolting.”

Toronto Saturday Night, January 18, 1902 [speaking about Charmion disrobing on the trapeze] “There is an unpleasant suggestiveness inseparable from such an act.”

The Kansas City Star, September 19, 1904: “Her turn is offensive to modesty.”

As infuriating as these comments are, the happy irony of the conservative attacks on Charmion is that they only made her more powerful. As even her critics sometimes admitted, the controversy stirred up by those critics served to make her act more intriguing and helped increase her popularity. For a woman devoted to liberating women from the constraints placed on them by the society, her message must have been even more meaningful because so many men tried to constrain her and she overcame that adversity. You can see how little success her critics had by the fact she was one of the most popular vaudeville stars in the world, sometimes earning the equivalent of almost $20,000 per week in today’s money.

Of course, not all men disapproved of Charmion’s act, and she had her fair share of male fans. But almost all her critics were men. And though there must have been lesser-known female critics, there’s only one example I can find of a woman (at least initially) disapproving of her. That woman was Elizabeth Grannis, president of the Purity League, an organization that supported the kind of repression and prudishness that Charmion fought against her whole career. Grannis, with a committee of Purity League members, attended a performance one day in 1901 to “judge for themselves” whether the act was as “impure" as alleged. After the performance (during which Charmion daringly threw a garter into Grannis’s box), a local newspaper said, surprisingly, that Grannis “was pleased by the things done and undone by the actress” and “was delighted with the actress’ control of her muscular system.” Charmion, likely not a fan of the Purity League, was not mollified by the praise. Asked about Grannis later, she bluntly said, “I scarcely approve of her.”

If you all are still interested, I’ll share more posts about Charmion. I’m mildly obsessed with her and there’s loads more fun facts and stories about her. Thanks for reading.

[dalchiid]

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 36

A story of obsession, fear, and lust. You're a maid whose Masters forbid you in meeting their guests for the night but your luck runs dry when you run into them and catch the attention of Lord Hoseok himself. He's smitten from the beginning and thus, your fate has been decided.

Pairing: Yandere Vampire Hoseok x Fem/AFAB Reader

Word Count: 6,660

Warnings: 18+, Yandere, Obsession, Possessive, Angst, Fear, Blood, Biting, Dub-Con, Eventual smut

Will add or remove warnings based on what's in each chapter.

I do not condone the behavior being exhibited in my work. This is solely for entertainment purposes and I hope if any of you are ever in a situation like this that you have the chance and ability to run away from it. Take care out there.

DO NOT copy, edit, or repost my work anywhere.

Chapter 36 Warnings: Yandere, Possessive, Obsession

Prev | Next

The rest of the time spent with Namjoon feels like a dream. Hearing his voice is soothing. His presence alone keeps you calm and collected. For a brief moment you were worried. Did what you two did earlier turn out to be wrong? As in what you two did - was it too fast in a relationship? Could you even call this a relationship? The idea of it all and the labels had you thinking hard but you think it's best to go with the flow. If you did anything more than that it would just ruin your mood and you didn't want to do that. Especially when the object of your desires was here in front of you.

You're so into Namjoon's voice as he reads that you don't realize Hoseok's appearance. He makes you jump when his hands land on your shoulders. When you look up and see that it's him you freeze before directing your eyes over to Namjoon who pauses his reading. He smiles at his brother before he dog ears the page he left off on and closes the book.

"Hey Hoseok."

"Hey." Your captor's response is stilted.

"I'm assuming it's dinner time." Namjoon sets aside the book before standing. "Should we go and head off now?"

The grip on your shoulders grows tighter for a moment before loosening a bit.

"Uh, you go on ahead. I have to talk to Y/N real quick."

You don't like the sound of that.

Your pleading eyes look up at Namjoon begging him to stay but you know there's nothing you can do to actually make him stay. Nothing as the opposite would just make Hoseok suspicious.

Namjoon gives you a long look before nodding with a smile. "I'll see you then."

He makes his way out leaving you with Hoseok and it makes you grimace.

Hoseok pulls out the seat next to you and sits on it but facing you. His hands move to grab your one where he holds it gently within his own.

"Hey," he says. "How are you feeling now?"

You sigh and so suddenly a weight pressures down onto your shoulders.

You don't answer Hoseok. Instead you look down at the table unseeing.

Hoseok lets out a sharp tsk but not out of annoyance. Instead he uses it as a way to begin talking.

"Earlier you really shut down on me. Don't think it didn't worry me because it did." He brings a hand up to pull your hair behind your ear. "It really worried me. I had a hard time working because I kept thinking about you. About what it is I might have done wrong and how I can fix it."

Your eyes still remain unseeing even as he brings your hand up to his lips.

"Baby," he says. "Please talk to me. Help me fix this."

Your nostrils flare as there's a subtle roll to your eyes. "The only way to fix this is to stop everything that you're doing."

Completely ignoring your words Hoseok blinks a few times before speaking. "Is this about last night?"

"Last night," you say. "Everything."

He huffs a little but he doesn't seem to be annoyed. Not entirely at least.

"Hey."

You take the chance to look up at him and see the worried frown that overtakes his face.

"Be honest with me please. Tell me what's on your mind right now."

Licking your lips you look down to his own and see how there's a slight pout to it. It would be endearing to you but after everything it's hard to feel that way.

Your eyes draw up to his own and your lips purse. He clearly looks worried and a part of you feels glad that he does.

Should you be honest with him? You should. You could but the question is will he listen to you? You could try, right?

You give a deep sigh before you turn slightly his way. "You controlled my mind last night."

He doesn't say anything. He just stares so you continue.

"I hate it when you do that."

Hoseok sits up straighter in his seat before slouching a little. His eyes shift all along your face before he looks down at your conjoined hands. He clearly wants to say something but you guess he's taking the time to formulate his answer.

When his lips part he takes in a quick breath before speaking.

"Do you know why I did it though?"

Your brows furrow. "Does it matter?"

He looks up at you. "Of course it does."

It's your turn to frown. "What matters is that you did it and it's not the first time. I hate it when you do it because you take everything from me when you do."

Hoseok clenches his teeth and flexes his jaw. You can see a building argument brewing in his eyes but he seems to be fighting to keep it at bay.

"Every time I did I had good reason to."

"Hoseok," you start. "There is no reason for you to do that to me." Your eyes water but it's out of frustration. "How can you say that and take my free will away? How can you say that with a straight face?"

He looks over towards the side with a sigh. He seems done with the conversation but you don't let up.

"Things would be a lot more different if you had never done it in the first place."

"So what do you want me to say?" He looks back at you clearly irritated. "That I'm sorry? Because I'm not."

You flinch at his words as if he'd punch you in the face.

"If I would have never done it you wouldn't be here with me now."

"Wow," you say. "I would say you're right but knowing you you would have found a way for me to be here either way."

He looks taken aback by your words. Was he not expecting you to bite back? You cried your heart out to him - to Namjoon. Was he expecting you to continue on helplessly? Of course you can cry but right now you needed him to hear you out. Before you find yourself crying again.

"Hoseok. I know you're different. You don't see things the way I do but-"

"Stop. Just stop."

You look at him incredulously. "Why? Why should I? Why can't you just hear me out?"

"Because!" His hold on your hand tightens momentarily and he has to calm himself down before he makes an even bigger show. "Like you said. I don't see things the way you do and with that in mind you'll never understand that everything I do it's to keep you protected and here in my arms. Do you know what would have happened last night if you would have said something about us? How many people that would have been in our business though they shouldn't be? Fucking hell Y/N. I know it's taking you some time to love me but don't be stupid. Don't make rash decisions unless you want to seek punishment over it."

Your mouth open and closes in silent shock. Do you hear yourself right now is what you want to ask but you know he does. He hears himself alright but he doesn't care. Or at least he does and because of that warped and twisted mind of his he thinks he's the one who's right in all of this.

"Seek punishment," you ask. "So what? Do you admit that controlling my mind is punishment? What about the other times you did it?"

"Oh come on, Y/N. Don't put words into my mouth."

"Then what do you mean, Hoseok? What do you mean?"

Hoseok closes his eyes and breathes heavily as he tries to calm himself down. It takes some time and with each aching minute that passes by your heart beat accelerates. You're anxiously waiting and when he's finally calm his eyes open again to look at you.

"Please stop making things difficult. Besides my family you're all I have and you mean the world to me. I wouldn't be here with you if it weren't because I love you. Why is it so hard for you to accept that?"

You face twists into a slight grimace at his words.

Why was it so hard for you to accept that? Other than the fact that it's because you don't love him. Obviously. It makes your blood boil but you feel like you're arguing with the wall because he's insistent on you just giving up and accepting him. You feel like you're in a losing game because no matter what you say, no matter what you do, no matter how you act Hoseok will always be right and you will be wrong. It makes your stomach turn uncomfortably because you're left speechless.

There's not much you can come up with to say now. Why when he's going to make you sound like the biggest asshole. When he will just twist things around so you can see his way even when you don't want to. How has his family lived with him for so long knowing he's like this? How can they just allow it to happen? Up until now it seems like he's never had someone tell him no. If you're not including the one that got away. You wonder how she did it. You're almost tempted to ask but you know that will make you look suspicious. Maybe you'll ask Namjoon. If he knows.

Hoseok's hand comes up to caress your hair before he rests it behind your head. You feel his thumb swipe back and forth until it doesn't anymore and his eyes are deep with emotion. Emotion you wish he wouldn't direct at you.

"Can we stop arguing?" He asks you this and you feel yourself go limp.

Why argue with someone who never loses? Are you going to give up now?

You blink slowly. Your head grows empty. From ways to argue back with him to useless thoughts. You realize that to get back at him and win you'll have to wait and leave. That's the only way you'll win. Is if you manage to escape and keep him off your tail. For now you will be as placid as possible while he gives you all of himself. You will give bits of yourself up but not for him to control.

"Only if you promise not to control my mind again."

Hoseok inhales deeply as he sits back. He works his jaw and he visibly looks irritated. You're expecting him to say no because he looks like he will say it so you cut in before he can.

"If you can promise me that then I promise I'll tone it down with the aggression."

His brow raises in what you assume to be curiosity.

"You will?"

You nod your head.

His hand slowly comes down to rest on your lap where his fingers begin to play with your own.

He seems to be contemplating on his answer as he eyes you. You wonder if he's thinking if he can trust you. Can you trust yourself? No not really but you hope he doesn't feel the same way. For your sake.

His lips pout as he thinks some more before a small smile graces his face.

"I can do that. So long as you keep your promise."

You release a breath you didn't realize you had been holding.

On one hand you're disappointed because that means you will have to actively play nice with Hoseok but at the same time this means he won't take from you your free will. That meant a lot to you and so you nod your head in agreement with him.

"Words Y/N."

"I promise."

You bring up your pinky finger and it makes him smile. Your pinkies loop before your thumbs press into each other. It was childish but you take this as a solid promise between you two.

He brings your hand up to his lips where he kisses it before releasing you.

"Then let's head for dinner, yeah?"

You hum with a nod before you both stand up to leave. His arm wraps around your shoulders where he pulls you close to kiss the side of your head.

"So what were you and Namjoon up to?"

The image from earlier of you two tangled up in each other's arms comes to mind and it makes you smile.

"He was just reading to me. We're almost done the book."

"Yeah? That sounds nice."

Yeah, you think. You'll keep these memories with Namjoon close to you and hope you can make some more along the way.

When you enter the dining room you see almost everyone is there. Everyone excluding Taehyung and Jimin. You're not thrilled to see the latter and you hope he doesn't come by but you know he more than likely will be here to join you all. This is his house as much as it is his brothers'.

Your eyes lock with Namjoon's for a moment and he gives a barely there smile. You catch it and send one back but he looks away before he can see it. The action makes you frown a little but you have to remind yourself that you both are seeing each other in private. People know you meet one another but what ensues during these times everyone is unaware of. You have to keep it together and act nonchalant about it.

When you sit down you look at Yoongi whose lips stretch into a thin line. It's reminiscent of a smile and you don't know why but it makes you laugh.

"What," he asks.

"Nothing."

He frowns.

"Seriously it's nothing. It's just," you pause. "The smile you gave me. It was cute."

His brow raises and at first it seems like you must have said something wrong because he just stares at you but then you notice how his cheeks turn red. Was he embarrassed?

He wipes his nose before looking away. "Don't let Hoseok hear you say that."

You huff a laugh to which he smiles.

"You seem to be in better spirits."

You look across the table to see Seokjin is directing his comment towards you.

"You weren't really all there earlier. I'm assuming things are better now?"

Your eyes shift to Namjoon though it's brief before you look back at Seokjin.

Humming you rest your hands on the table. "Yeah things are a little better now."

His fingers dance across his bottom lip before he smiles. "I see." He brings his hand down to rest on his lap before smiling. "I assume Namjoon had something to do with that?"

Your face falls a little at the implications. He doesn't know about you and Namjoon right?

"I'm just saying." Seokjin interrupts your thoughts. "I assume it was because of Namjoon since I know you two went off to the library after breakfast."

"Oh," you say. Of course he doesn't know about you and Namjoon. Why were you so worried? "No yeah. I had some time to cool off with him so I'm better now."

Hoseok's hand comes up to massage the back of your neck. When you look at him he smiles like a man in love. It makes you feel a little sick but you have to remember you have a part to play. You made a promise and as much as you would love to go back on it - for your own sake - you can't.

Suddenly the door flies open and reveals Taehyung and Jimin who go to take their seats. You try to avoid making eye contact with the latter but it seems like there's no choice in the matter because just the slightest look his way and your eyes meet with his. His eyes grow into slits as he glares at you. His nostrils flare in clear annoyance and your eyes shift in discomfort. You nibble on your bottom lip as the air around you seems to stiffen just the slightest bit at Jimin's entrance and no one is doing anything about it.

"By all means." Jimin says as he takes his seat. "Continue talking. Pretend I'm not here."

Seokjin rolls his eyes.

"How are you today, Jimin?" Yoongi asks.

There isn't an immediate response. It's silent for a moment until Jimin hums questioningly.

"I'm sorry. Are you concerned about my wellbeing? That's a first."

Seokjin rolls his eyes again as he sighs. "Don't start again, Jimin."

The vampire in question scoffs. "Start what?"

"Are you seriously still upset?"

"What do you think, Seokjin?"

The oldest tongues his cheek as he tries to regulate his breathing. Jimin is working him up but he's trying his best not to let him get to him.

You're feeling uncomfortable because you know he can easily direct this at you again and you're hoping he doesn't.

When the air feels like it's about to simmer into something hotter the doors to the kitchen are opened and out comes the food. It silences everyone for a minute as the plates are placed before you. You thank the servant that presented you your food as he works to slip Yoongi his plate as well. You grab your utensils to begin eating but you feel like there are eyes on you. When you look up and around you see Jimin's eyes glaring daggers your way. You look away with a bite to your lip as you sigh.

You're trying not to let him get to you. You want to eat in peace. Reaching out you grab a bit of kimchi from the smaller bowl between you and Hoseok and add it to your rice. When you're about to eat it all together you're interrupted by Jimin.

"So. Y/N."

You slowly bring the food to your mouth and chew.

"What were you up to today?"

He doesn't sound the least bit interested and it makes the food you try to swallow down feel like sludge.

You look at Hoseok and you see he's glaring at his brother but he waits before pouncing.

Looking back at Jimin you shrug your shoulders. "I was at the library."

He gives a wry smile. "With Namjoon I'm sure."

"Jimin." Hoseok warns.

"What?" Jimin asks.

Your heart is in your throat and it makes the next bit of food even harder to swallow.

Don't let him get to you, you think. It's what he wants. So you grab your drink to take a sip and ignore where he's going with the topic of conversation.

"You're heart is beating a mile a minute and all I said was that I'm sure you were with Namjoon. Care to share with the people what's on your mind?"

"Jimin." Hoseok is starting to grow irritated and it shows in the way he says his brother's name.

"You protect her too much. Let her speak for herself."

"I'd say he doesn't protect her enough if you got to do what you did." Jungkook mumbles. His words aren't spoken low enough so you hear his comment and it makes you swallow deeply as you place your utensils down.

"Can we have just one dinner where everyone isn't snapping at each other?" Seokjin sounds exasperated.

"I wasn't snapping. Just stating the obvious." The youngest continues to mumble.

You take the chance to look at Jimin again before taking slow even breaths and with a calmness you didn't even know you had you answer him.

"Yeah I was with Namjoon. Nothing wrong about that is there?"

Jimin runs his tongue slowly over his lips and glares at you. He clearly wants to say something but he settles for a scoff instead.

"Yeah. I guess not."

Hoseok's hand finds your thigh and he squeezes it. When you look at him he gives you a smile before proudly looking his brother's way with a smirk. He seems pleased with you responding back the way you did but if he only knew Jimin was on to something... You try not to think about it.

"Now that that's over with." Namjoon was quiet all this time. Playing aloof before raising his brow. "Is there something else anyone wants to talk about?"

You look around the table and when no one says a word Seokjin lights up like something just hit him.

"You'll never believe what I heard about earlier today."

"Go on." Namjoon encourages.

"Apparently Hyun-Woo is in the hospital."

Your face slowly drops. Hyun-Woo? Not your Hyun-Woo, right?

"Is he now?" Jimin asks in a bored manner.

"Yep." Seokjin directs his sights onto you. "Word is going around that he stopped eating. He doesn't even want to feed off the maids. His brothers tried forcing him but that didn't work. It's apparent that some time after we left the Baek's he refused to eat. Their parents got involved and had him admitted to the hospital for it."

Your eyes don't know what to focus on as your breathing accelerates. "What," you ask. What was going on?

"I know you two were close. I wonder if it has anything to do with you, hm?" Seokjin smiles

You don't hear the way Hoseok clears his throat in irritation. Your mind is just focused on Hyun-Woo. Eyes beginning to water and hands starting to shake. Your appetite is no longer with you after hearing the news.

"Who," you try to speak. "Who told you this?"

"Word gets around. There isn't anyone who doesn't enjoy a good gossip." Seokjin says as he takes another bite of his food.

A good gossip? You would be affronted on Hyun-Woo's behalf but then you remember that this is Seokjin. Why would he actually care? Not even his brothers are safe from him.

Your attention slowly draws over to Hoseok. He looks annoyed by the news and when he feels your eyes he looks at you. His gaze softens at your distressed state before cursing under his breath.

"I'm sure he's fine, Y/N. Don't get worked up over it."

"If he was fine I'm sure he wouldn't be in the hospital."

"God damn it Jungkook. Read the room." Hoseok curses.

The youngest eyes open wide as he pouts. When he notices why Hoseok berated him his pout grows more.

"Just saying," he mumbles.

"Baby. Hey."

You didn't realize your attention drew away from Hoseok until he calls you back.

"Hyun-Woo is fine. Right, Seokjin?"

Seokjin hums questioningly. "Sure yeah. Whatever you say."

You blink a few times to try and stave off the tears that want to be shed.

Hyun-Woo stopped eating? He stopped feeding? Was it really because of you? Because you left? Your heart breaks for him and the need to see him overshadows any other need you have right now. You miss him so much and it breaks your heart that he's suffering.

"Can," you start speaking before you can fully form your thoughts. "Can we see him?"

"No." Hoseok's answer is immediate.

"But-"

"But nothing, Y/N. You should know better."

Your bottom lip trembles. "But I want to see him."

"Just send him flowers and call it a day." You can hear rather than see how Jimin rolls his eyes as he speaks.

"I don't know about that."

You all look at Seokjin.

"If he receives anything with Y/N's name on it he just might lose his mind. Well... more than he already has."

You think Seokjin might be right. Even visiting him might not be a good idea but you need to see him. You want him to know you're okay and that despite it all you do miss him.

Your eyes draw over to Hoseok and it seems like he knows what you're about to say because he gives you a look of disapproval.

"Hoseok please."

"No, Y/N. My word is final."

You grit your teeth as your nostrils flare. Your brows are furrowed in anger and a strong bite is about to come from you but Hoseok interrupts you.

"Remember what you promised."

That you would tone it down with the aggression. Yes, you know but this - Hyun-Woo meant something to you. Why couldn't he see that? Or he does see that and because of who he is he can't allow it. It makes you want to stomp your foot, cry, scream. Do something but you do nothing. You stare into your plate of food unseeing. You feel helpless and wish you could do something for Hyun-Woo. Anything to help get him back on his feet again.

"You could write him a letter."

Your eyes slowly draw up to Namjoon. He sends a concerned look your way and smiles something soft when you lock eyes with him.

"Let him know you're okay. Maybe it'll help."

The response makes Hoseok suck his teeth.

"Come on, Hoseok. It wouldn't kill for her to let the man know she's alright. She's here with you. You won already."

You hate the way he says it but he's right. Hoseok has won. For now. You'll find a way to win yourself. For both you and Namjoon.

Hoseok tongues his cheek before jutting his lips out into a pout as he thinks. He's clearly on the fence about this and one last long look your way makes him begin to fold.

"Fine, but don't give the man any false hopes. Just let him know that you're fine and for him to get it together. No more no less."

A sigh of relief leaves you as does a tear that slips between your lashes. "Okay."

Hoseok raises a hand to wipe your tear away. "Finish eating."

You nod your head and bring the food to your mouth almost instantly.

With Namjoon's help you managed to convince Hoseok to let you write to Hyun-Woo. You can't even begin to think of what you'll say. There's so much you'd like to but know you cannot. He said to let him know that you are okay. You can do that. You'll tell him as well that he has nothing to worry about. Though that's not entirely true you're willing to say anything just so Hyun-Woo can get better again.

It's weird how despite everything you and Hyun-Woo went through you still care deeply about him. Was it weird? You've known him for so long so even through the hardships caused because of Hoseok you still have a soft spot for him. He does mean a lot to you and if things were different you'd still have him in your life, but to settle for the reality of things. He's not in your life anymore and all you can settle for is a letter he may or may not reply back to.

What if he does reply back? What do you do then? You're not sure. You doubt Hoseok will allow for you two to continue writing to each other and now suddenly this makes you think. What happened with Sunmi? She said she would try to write to you but she hasn't? You wonder if it's because she's forgotten about you or if it's because Hyung-Won isn't allowing her. He seems like the type to do that. You wouldn't have guessed that before but then again did you really know your former Masters? No. No you didn't.

Everyone finishes dinner quickly and you're not surprised to see Jungkook still eating away at all that he's given. Yoongi is the first to be done and the first to go followed by Seokjin. Jimin doesn't linger around either and it leaves Jungkook alone with Taehyung as Namjoon accompanies you and Hoseok.

"Are you still busy with work?" Namjoon asks.

Hoseok stops in his tracks and brings you all to a halt in the hallway.

"Kind of? I just need to finish tying a few ends."

"Well if that's the case I can take Y/N again. Maybe help her with that letter."

You look up at him in surprise. "You will?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "Why not?"

Your captor grunts in mild irritation. "I'd rather read it before sending it out."

You frown because of course he'll look over it. He needs control over you no matter what.

"That's fine." Namjoon says before looking at you. "We'll head to my study so we can start on something."

You give him a grateful look before Hoseok tears your attention away from his brother to kiss your forehead.

"I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Yeah." You nod your head.

He has no problem departing from you now. After the two of you "made up" he's a lot calmer. He's not as anxious. He may be annoyed with the Hyun-Woo business but at least he's not taking it out on you.

Namjoon places a hand on your lower back. "Come on. Let's get this done."

You follow along close to his side as he leads you to his study. It's not a far walk and you have to admit that you're a bit excited. Not just because you get to spend more time with him but because you get to visit a place close to him. You haven't been to his bedroom or study and wonder what they must be like. You have an answer as soon as you get there and are hit with a sweet aroma when he opens the door. You note immediately he has a diffuser on his desk. The sticks stick out of the bottle and release a pleasant smell as you look around.

Almost all his furniture is made out of wood. His desk, stands, and coffee table. It gives a home-like feel to everything but also an expensive one. Like you're walking around a museum. He even has paintings hanging on his walls and miniscule sculptures that you know must cost a fortune. And just like Hoseok he has a welcoming couch fitted across the room.

"Welcome to my study."

Your search around you comes to a pause as you look at Namjoon.

"It's not much but it's one of my safe havens."

You smile. "I like it. It's so much like you."

Something akin to a blush dusts his cheeks as he looks around.

You weren't saying it just to say it. It very much feels like him. You can feel everything that makes Namjoon him in this room. It's welcoming to you.

Before either of you can say something he extends his hand to the desk chair.

"Go ahead and sit. Let's get this letter going."

Smiling you take your seat and rest your elbows onto the desk.

You see that he has two monitors along with his computer set up onto the desk next to them. He pushes his keyboard and mouse slightly off to the side before procuring a paper and pen that he pulls out from one of his drawers.

"Do you have an idea on what to write?"

You bite your bottom lip as you try to think.

Yes and no. You try and rattle your brain for a few thoughts but you're left empty. Unsure of what to say. Unsure about what Hoseok would allow you to say.

You shrug your shoulders. "Kind of?"

"Run it by me."

Inhaling deeply you look up at him. "I just know I want to let him know things are okay and that I miss him."

Namjoon cringes. "I don't think Hoseok will like that last part."

You pout but you know he's right. You have to be very careful otherwise Hoseok will toss this letter into the trash.

"Well tell me about your relationship with him."

Your brows raise in question.

"I don't think you've ever told me," he says as he leans against the desk.

You look back down at the blank paper and sigh. "We were close once. He used to let me get away with a lot of things."

"Like?"

You shrug. "I could talk back to him if I wanted." You huff a laugh. "He preferred it. Said he wanted to be able to have a real conversation for once with someone he cared about."

"Did you care for him?"

You nod. "Even though I started as just a maid he'd feed from he wanted to have an actual relationship with me. More than just a friendship really but he respected my boundaries. Well, for the most part really."

Namjoom comes over to lean back onto his desk right next to you. "What do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is that things were okay for the most part until Hoseok came and ruined everything. Hyun-Woo started to grow terribly jealous. I mean he's always been a pretty jealous guy. He hated it if I smelled like anyone else. Especially if it were another male's scent. He said it's because when it's time to feed it turned him off but I know it was for something more. But when Hoseok came he changed completely. His frenzy was being triggered almost every night and his jealousy made him do stupid things."

Small pause.

"Did you ever help Hyun-Woo with his frenzy?"

You shake your head no vehemently. "No never. Even though he really wanted me to."

You think back to that night where he nearly lost control and bit you hard. You swear you can feel the phantom pain of the bite mark on your arm. It stayed scarred and you look down at it to see the way it seems to mock you.

"He did this?" Namjoon gently grabs your arm and runs his thumb over the scar.

You hum. "Yeah."

Namjoon sighs deeply before letting you go. "To be honest," he says. "It doesn't really sound like he was all that good to you."

You wince but he's right. You had your soft moments with Hyun-Woo but he treated you more like his property than anything else. The only difference to Hoseok is that he drew away from you when you wanted him to. Well, for the most part. At least before Hoseok made himself apparent.

"Sorry, Y/N. I-"

"No you're right. He wasn't all that good to me but I still cared for him. I saw a friend in him and it's why knowing what I know now about him breaks my heart."

Namjoon hums before drawing quiet.

The silence feels loud in your ears after talking so much. You don't know how it makes you feel other than being forlorn and a bit confused. You briefly wonder if the feelings you have for your former Master can be justified. After saying everything out loud to Namjoon it feels a little weird to say you actually care for Hyun-Woo. After everything you've been through with him? Yeah. After everything.

You breathe in deeply before releasing it into a long sigh. "Even though he probably doesn't deserve to hear from me I still want to write to him. Help give him some peace of mind so he can go back to living his life as he should."

You can feel Namjoon's eyes on you and when you look up to him his expression is unreadable. You wish you could know what he's thinking but it's not like you have the ability to do so so you just stare.

His eyes jump across your face until he nods and gives a barely there smile. "Then let's get to writing this letter."

You pass him a grateful smile before you look down at the paper and begin to write.

There's not a lot you can say. You know this so you're careful as you write.

Dear Hyun-Woo,

I hope this letter finds you. If you don't know it's me. Y/N. It's been a while since we've talked. It's been a while for a lot of things. I heard that you've been unwell and I'm so sorry about that. I think I know why you're sick but I won't mention it. I'm sure it's something you don't want to talk about.

I'm writing to you to let you know I'm okay. I'm not in danger or anything so there's no need to worry. I know writing to you isn't the same as actually hearing my voice but you have to trust me. You can trust me, right? I hope you can.

There's so much I wish I could tell you but now is not the time. Maybe another time? If you want to write back to me that is. After everything that has happened if you don't want to talk I understand. Just promise me one thing. Please get better. If not for yourself then for me. You have so many wonderful years ahead of you. You have a wonderful life to live. Don't let anyone, not even yourself, get in the way of that.

I hope this letter can bring you a bit of peace so you can heal. I'll be rooting for you Hyun-Woo.

Sincerely,

Y/N

It's not a long letter but you feel like you put a lot of your heart into it without revealing too much. Without telling him you miss him or anything that will get Hoseok on his bad side.

"You done?" Namjoon asks.

"Yeah."

"Let me see."

You pass him the letter and watch as he reads it. You bite your bottom lip nervously as you worry the pen in your hand. There are no expressions on Namjoon's face as he reads the letter and so your heart beat begins to beat erratically. Your eyes shift from left to right in nerves but before you can panic anymore Namjoon brings a hand down to rest over your own where he squeezes lightly to comfort you. Your breathing pattern and heart beat begins to regulate at the gesture as you welcome Namjoon's touch.

He nods softly before extending the letter back to you.

"This is good. Hoseok should have no problem with it."

You heave a sigh of relief. "I was worried it would be too much."

"No." He shakes his head. "You didn't reveal much so there's no problem. If he were to have a problem with anything it'll probably be the part where you wrote for him to get better for your sake but it's not bad. He'll get over it I'm sure."

You hope so. You don't know what else to write to help fill that area if Hoseok does have a problem with it but you'll trust in Namjoon's word. You'll trust him as you always do.

"Come here."

Your brows raise as you hum questioningly.

He extends his hand out for you to take and when you do he pulls you up and into his arms where you rest the side of your head on the middle of his chest. You can hear the dull sound of his heart beat and it forces you to close your eyes.

"Things will get better I'm sure," he says. "It's going to take time but it'll get better."

You don't know if he means that because of Hyun-Woo or for things in general. Either way you hum in agreement and wrap your arms around his waist.

He keeps you cocooned in his arms and places a gentle kiss onto the top of your head. You feel safe like this. Like you're out of harm's way. You take the chance to close your eyes and bask in everything that is Namjoon.

He made you realize that Hyun-Woo wasn't all that good of a person to you. You still care for him but you wonder what type of person that makes you. A good one? A delusional one? Namjoon doesn't seem to judge you for it so you guess it's not all that bad.

You hope the letter makes it through Hoseok when he goes to scrutinize it so you can send it as soon as possible. The sooner it gets to Hyun-Woo the sooner you hope he'd get better.

[duckieberry]

Genshin 'Littles are known' Classification AU (Part 1 - basic info)

*warning long post*

---

So here is a quick rundown on what this is for those who are unfamiliar with what this kind of Au is. A’ littles are known’ classification AU, is a type of alternate universe in which individuals take a test or examination of some sort which figures out the type of headspace/behaviours the person being tested will develop and display throughout their life, in other words their classification. 

There are many different versions of classification AU’s that focus on different dynamics. This version is specifically based around and is for age regressors.

—-

Disclaimer before we start- 

This Au explanation will be split into parts. Part one will be this overview of the base concept, part two will be information about the nation's treatment of littles as well as information about the Fatui’s treatment of littles. Both parts will have links to one another but it will take a moment for me to get them stuck together like that upon initially posting them.

I made my best effort to keep the classifications of all the characters open to interpretation but some were specified for various reasons that I will try to explain in a concise manner.

You may see some things that are inaccurate to the games canon either because I changed it to work with the AU better or it’s because I didn’t remember things correctly. I’m only human after all and there will be mistakes.

Please remember that this is my take on this kind of AU and it may not line up with other iterations of the same concept that you may have read.

Without further delay, here is my genshin ‘littles are known’ classification AU!

—-

Overview-

This section goes over the basic information about the Au and how things work on a general scale

Testing:

Depending on the nation the tests go a little differently and their accuracy fluctuates. Most of the nations use naturally occurring objects that have special reactions to the hormones in the systems of Regressors and Caregivers. Best way for these tests to work is through blood samples.

Every person from every nation gets tested at 16 years old, the actual behaviours/habits won’t start to show up until at least 18 which is when it starts to manifest. It takes about a year for the behaviours/habits of a classification to form completely.

Classification information:

Littles/Regressors - those who regress into a childlike mindset with mental ages ranging from a few months old to 14 depending on the individual.

 A healthy Regressor will typically regress 1-3 times per week. They can be in headspace for as little as a few hours to as long as a few days depending on their age range. The younger a Regressor is the longer they tend to stay regressed for at a given time. 

Caregivers - those who care for Littles and help keep them safe like a parent or guardian. They exhibit above average strength which allows them to carry Regressors with ease.

Flips - those who don’t fall perfectly into Little or Caregiver but instead swap between the two. People with these split classifications are rather uncommon. Flips need to work to find a balance between regressing and caretaking to stay healthy. Most Flips lean more towards one side of their dual class than the other which can make balancing their classification more difficult.

Neutral - those who are neutral don’t fall into any of the above classifications and experience no changes in behaviour.

Risks:

Like all things related to our bodies and minds, there are health risks. If someone does not maintain their classification properly then there are significant drawbacks

Littles/Regressors who refrain from regressing for too long begin to develop a condition known as regression sickness. It starts out like the common cold but progressively gets more severe the longer the Regressor refuses their headspace. Symptoms like dizziness, nausea, mood swings, intensified emotions, lethargy and weakness may occur as the sickness progresses.

The only way to recover from regression sickness is to regress. Littles/Regressors who are affected by the condition will inevitably drop into their headspace. Upon doing so they will be unable to surface from their headspace until they have fully recovered which can take upwards of a week depending on the extent of the headspace repression.

Caregivers who do not have a Little are far more likely to develop mental health issues. Most Caregivers are recommended to buy a plant or a pet to look after to help mitigate the chances of such a thing happening.

Flips have the task of learning to balance their dual classification. Failure to find a semblance of balance can result in more minor forms of the above conditions 

Headspace management:

It’s not uncommon for Regressors to regress spontaneously. These sudden regressions can be at very inconvenient times or put the Little in danger. Most of the nations either make their own or import medications to sell to the citizens to help them manage their headspace and allow them to be functioning members of society without putting themselves in danger.

 Headspace suppressant medication can also reduce the symptoms of regression sickness but it won’t cure the condition and in fact makes it worse. Doctors will tell Littles to stop taking headspace management pills if they’re showing symptoms of regression sickness.

Archons and non-human individuals:

The archons and other non-humans do not fall into the classifications (the outliers to this rule being individuals with animal features like Tighnari, Gorou, Lynette, etc).

-Archons are not any one class but in fact are all of them at once. They get to pick and choose when they exhibit/experience the effects of a classification.

-The Adepti are affected by classifications but they experience it differently (half Adepti like Ganyu and Yanfei are exceptions to this). They have more control over when it affects them and have no need for headspace suppressant medications. (Adepti do share similar biology to humans as proven by half Adepti being possible)

-Yokai (like Yae Miko, Itto, Kujou Sara, and Kirara) don’t have classifications at all and are considered neutrals (Yokai are technically spirits and do not share the same biology as humans despite looking like them). Certain Yokai that live amongst humans may act as Caregivers despite not having an actual classification.

-The Melusine do not have classifications but they are all considered Caregivers under Fontaine law.

Other non-human individuals like Neuvillette, The Wanderer and The Raiden Shogun, are a more case by case basis when it comes to classifications.

-Neuvillette experiences classifications just like the archons do.

-The Raiden Shogun cannot have a classification since she is a puppet.

-The Wanderer is a Little in spite of his nature as a puppet. (it lends itself well to the reasons why he was discarded by Ei)

—-

Link to part 2 -> Here!

[jackoshadows]

Sorry to send you a sansa ask lol I was just wondering if you could help me out. I'm trying to understand why people say sansa is a literal child right now but they also want her to be queen in the end. Are they assuming we will have a big time skip? I mean, if she should be excused for being dumb because she is a child then why do they want her to be queen, wouldn't that make her situation worse?

Welcome to Schrodinger's Sansa!! It's an asoiaf fandom phenomenon where the character of Sansa Stark is simultaneously many things at the same time.

No, they are not expecting time skips. They are arguing that Sansa is simultaneously both very smart and also she's a little child unable to understand when adults tell her things.

Exhibit A:

Linking to this essay because it's often send to me in discussions about Sansa being very smart.

But there’s no reason the readership should share those views. Sansa is a very clever individual who makes increasingly good use of several skills she started the series with, and develops greatly as an observer and an actor over the course of the story.

Same person then writing about Sansa pushing the Maester to drug SweetRobin with the dangerous SweetSleep despite the Maester warning her that it has long term consequences for SweetRobin's health:

I’ve said before that I don’t think Maester Colemon is doing nearly enough to actually explain the problem with sweetsleep to Sansa, so I’ll have none of that either, thank you. She’s thirteen with no grounding in any sort of natural science whatsoever;

More broadly, do we expect thirteen-year-olds to be able to take full responsibility for another’s medical care? Do we expect them to have a sophisticated understanding of, say, heavy metal poisoning, or prescription drug abuse? Even with modern resources? Sansa, who cannot head off to wikipedia and start researching for herself, is in a situation where she doesn’t know what she doesn’t know.

Sansa does not have wikipedia and therefore cannot double check on what a doctor is telling her about a drug is still one of the funniest things I have read on here about the character 🤣, right up there with Sansa being the 'embodiment of hope for the future' and 'flames coming off the side of the face' for a bnf when a blogger called out Sansa for bullying and mocking Arya's appearance.

Again, keep in mind that Maester Coleman is Westeros' version of a physician, a doctor who treats the sick. This doctor is telling Sansa all this in the text:

Give his lordship a cup of sweetmilk,” she told the maester. “That will stop him from shaking on the journey down.”

“He had a cup not three days past,” Colemon objected.

“And wanted another last night, which you refused him.”

“It was too soon. My lady, you do not understand. As I’ve told the Lord Protector, a pinch of sweetsleep will prevent the shaking, but it does not leave the flesh, and in time …”

I try, my lady, yet his fits grow ever more violent, and his blood is so thin I dare not leech him any more. Sweetsleep… you are certain he was not bleeding from the nose? I must speak to the Lord Protector. This feast… is that wise, I wonder, after the strain of the descent? Lord Robert mislikes strangers, you know that, and there will be drinking, noise… music. Music frightens him”

“This descent… my lady, it might be safest if I mixed his lordship some milk of the poppy.

And then when he gives her a final warning, she threatens him with Littlefinger because 'father and I have larger concerns' than SR's health and well being.

Very well.” They paused at the foot of the stairs. “But this must be the last. For half a year, or longer.”

“You had best take that up with the Lord Protector.” Maester Colemon cares only for the boy, though. Father and I have larger concerns” - Alayne, AFfC

This is what happens when fans self-insert and project onto a character and rely on fan made headcanons instead of actually interacting with the canonical text. They want her to be flawless, therefore she's a naive, innocent little baby. The same consideration is never afforded to the other children, even Arya who is two years younger to Sansa. And yet if one looks at their character endgames, Arya is always an assistant to Sansa, there to give her the information while clever Sansa puts together and uses the information to rule.

They want Ned Stark and Maester Coleman to explain stuff to Sansa like this for her to understand what they are telling her:

And yet she is also the smartest, most cleverest character in the series - smarter than Jon, Dany, Arya, Bran, Tyrion, LF etc.

One of the reasons for why we get so many of these bnfs thinking that 'Sansa Smart' will be queen/lady of WF and at the same time arguing that Sansa is naive/innocent/a little child is because they see her as this flawless symbol of kindness and compassion.

I already wrote about this here that in fandoms like asoiaf, virtues like compassion and kindness is seen through the lens of white, western liberalism and traditional femininity. I wrote that long ago and now with the rise of tradwives, it's even more relevant to this discussion.

It has always baffled me that the character trait most often highlighted in fandom for classist and sexist Sansa is kindness and compassion simply because fandom thinks that being polite and having good manners = being kind and compassionate.

This results in posts like this where they argue that Sansa is actually being kind to Jon Snow by treating him like a bastard when the author through Jon Snow is actually being critical of the character!!

Remember this is the quote from the books!

He missed his true brothers: little Rickon, bright eyes shining as he begged for a sweet; Robb, his rival and best friend and constant companion; Bran, stubborn and curious, always wanting to follow and join in whatever Jon and Robb were doing. He missed the girls too, even Sansa, who never called him anything but “my half brother” since she was old enough to understand what bastard meant. And Arya … he missed her even more than Robb, skinny little thing that she was, all scraped knees and tangled hair and torn clothes, so fierce and willful. - Jon, AGoT

We also have a bnf chiming in and agreeing that yes, Sansa was indeed being considerate of Jon's feelings here!

Even Jaime Lannister has had moments of kindness, where he tries to help Pia. And yet the only character in the series on whom these character traits are constantly pushed onto is Sansa Stark.

Sansa can actually be an interesting character if her fans let her be one. She's not a little child who does not understand what Ned and Maester Coleman tell her. She does understand and chooses to ignore it for her own selfish reasons - marrying Joffrey, whom she loved, and becoming queen or wanting LF's plans in the Vale to succeed. That's why she feels 'as wicked as Arya' when she goes and tattles all of Ned's plans to Cersei. That's why she thinks that while the Maester cared for the boy, she and LF had larger (more important) concerns.

Sansa is interesting in the way she deflects and refuses to acknowledge the unpleasant truths before her and lives in this alternate reality where everything is fine. She ignores Joff's sadism because it clashes with her idea of noble, beautiful princes. She ignores what is being done to poor SweetRobin because she thinks it is essential to her own survival that LF's plans succeed.

The reason her stans refuse to dig deeper into the character other than extremes of naive, innocent child and smartest character ever is because Sansa would then be as flawed as Jon, Arya, Dany, Bran etc. and they don't want that for her. They want her to be special in some way and this is it.

Arya killed the guard to survive - and she's portrayed as too damaged to ever live happily with her family. Jon and Dany face hard choices of doing the pragmatic or the morally right thing and are often called out on those choices, especially Dany. Pretty much most of our protagonists engage in morally grey actions.

And yet Sansa fans insist on her being this flawless character- it's everyone else' fault except hers. It's Ned's fault, it's Coleman's fault - they didn't explain properly. It's Arya's fault for trying to help Mycah, Arya should have tried to build a relationship with Sansa. Suddenly it's Sansa who is the outcast in Winterfell and Arya the favorite. Suddenly Sansa is Ned like and Arya 'bites people like Catelyn'.

This leads to her being interpreted as this idiot who cannot understand when a doctor is telling her a drug is dangerous. Which then clashes with their essays about 'Sansa Smart' and how she is going to be the best queen ever and change the system and bring about women's rights and all that.

It's the same with this 'pawn to player' stuff they write for the character. They expect her to be this smart player of the game and at the same time remain this good, idealistic, 'kind and compassionate' leader... How?! LF and Varys did not get to where they are by being good people. Sansa has to get her hands dirty, be ruthless and often times not be concerned about the well being of others - just as she does with poor SweetRobin. And yet her fans think she will become LF level of game player and do it while being kind.

Especially baffling because GRRM is deconstructing all these tropes of good knights and kind ladies. Brienne of Tarth is the embodiment of the perfect knight and yet she is not what one would expect a knight to be. This was part of Sansa's arc of growth - where she sees and experiences up close the brutality and lack of morals of these knights in KL.

The Northerners are loyal to Ned Stark, not because he was some beacon of kindness and compassion or because he had good manners and said please and thank you but because he ruled according to the laws of the land and enforced those laws in a just manner and was therefore an honorable Lord. He beheaded those who committed crimes, he put down rebellions, he took child hostages and he also kept the peace of the land.

And Ned Stark was as flawed as all the other characters. So this insistence that Sansa has to remain this caricature of 'kindness and compassion' - even if it's canonically untrue considering bigotry is not kind - is bizarre and one of the main reasons for why we have Schrodinger's Sansa. I can't wait to see all the excuses and justifications bnfs will come up with if we get TWoW and Sansa is doing all sorts of morally grey shite and going along with LF's plans.