#hero goes bad but he's given a second chance because there are still people who love him enough to try to put him back on the right path!

[isfjmel-phleg]

I was taking notes and instead got socked with the impact of a storyline that at a glance looks like a random digression before the actual climax but actually is crucial to the themes and arc and now I'm expected to just dry my hair? and go to bed? like nothing happened?

[picturejasper20]

Steven Universe as a character is someone who has been mischaracterized and flanderized over the years, to the point people who aren't into the fandom or haven't watched the show believe that mischaracterization to be a fact rather that a product that comes from memes and jokes

The truth is that Steven often fights in the series when it is needed, usually by fusing with someone else like Connie or Amethyst since he is still developing his powers in the original series. He doesn't cry when he has to fight back or defend himself, with exception if the person attacking is someone he considers a friend. Because, yes, for a 14-15 old teenager it isn't fun having to do something like that and it can be traumatic.

He also doesn't start to cry the moment someone refuses to change their mind or is being mean. He often isn't afraid to be sarcastic or call that person out. He didn't cry when Aquamarine mocked him in ¨Stuck Together¨ nor when Jasper didn't apologize for poofing Amethyst in ¨Crack the Whip¨

However, what we see is sometimes him blaming himself for not being able to help people that, more often than not, have been hurt by Rose Quartz, his mother, in some way. After Season 3, Steven fears a lot that he is going to become like Rose and he is going to hurt people the way like she did.

In general Steven deals with an Atlas complex in the show. He feels like he has to fix his mother mistakes and deal with ¨what she left behind¨ even when Rose wanted for him to be his own person as seen in the tape she left for him as it was revealed in the episode ¨Lion 4: The Alternate Ending¨.

Steven also defines his identity a lot for being to help other people and fix their problems. He believes that he has to be ¨useful¨ for others. So when he believes that he failed to help someone, that may lead him to think that he isn't living up to his ¨purpose¨ or that he is a failure as a person.

In reality, he isn't that much different from other hero protagonists from other animated shows. Those who are kind and emphatic and willing to listen to other people and give them a second chance if the person changes their ways. You probably like an animated show that has a protagonist like this. (Who was probably taken inspiration from Steven if the series came out after SU).

The main difference, i think, is that Steven goes a bit more than those protagonists do when it comes to listening to other people, understand their motivations and give them another chance if they regret their actions. A lot has to do with how he is aware that his enemies (usually gems) act the way the do because of the system they were born into rather ¨they are evil just because¨. He gets that their motivations come from the system that hurt them or lead them to believe that their actions are justified.

Another common mischaracterization is that Steven becomes super buddies with every person he helps...when this isn't always the case. There are some occasions that Steven shows discomfort around people who he has given a second chance. Just because he gives them a second chance doesn't mean that he immediately considers them close friends, maybe allies at best.

A good example of this is the gif above of Steven's interactions with White Diamond in ¨Homeworld Bound¨. White Diamond touches Steven very close to where his gem is- which makes Steven distressed since in his battle again White, she ripped his gem out to prove that Pink was still ¨alive¨. In most of the episode Steven shows to be very uncomfortable around the Diamonds and Spinel, to some extent. They bring him bad memories, which is the main reason he has been doing everything to avoid going to them to ask for their help until this point in Steven Universe Future. He even almost accidentally hurts White's gem by smashing her head against a pillar when she lets him control her to talk to himself. This being result of a intrusive ¨vengeful¨ thought.

I wouldn't say that Steven hates the Diamonds,but- he doesn't want to be their friend neither and wants to avoid in general because he feels nervous and bad around them. It's something like ¨I'm glad that you are changing but i don't want to be associated with you. Please, i would appreciate if you kept your distance from me.¨ dynamic.

On last point, Steven is someone who usually pushes his feelings down in certain situations and buries them down, which has led him to have strong emotional outbursts in bad moments. He usually prefers to ignore his own problems and take priority on others. Again, this comes a lot from his desire to be useful and be needed, making him trying to ignore how he feels about certain people and pretend that he is doing fine.

This explains why we don't see him lash out that much to others in the original series, and, why he feels so frustrated and angry in Future, since all that anger and negative feelings can't no longer be ignored as they used to and they are having a negative impact in Steven's mental health. This, of course, isn't meant to be seen is a healthy coping mechanism. It is in fact potrayed as something pretty self-destructive for Steven, as a huge flaw of his, that over time he comes to learn that it isn't the best way for him to deal with his problems.

These are some of the most common misconceptions i have seen about Steven's character online. I could go in more depth with some of them but i think the points should be clear enough. This could be considered a general analysis of how Steven is as a character and how he operates, leaving aside more specific things that can be covered in other posts.

[practically-an-x-man]

What about 5 and/or 18 for Peter Parker (any version)?

Thank you!! I think I'll go with 5 for this one, with Andrew Garfield's Peter!

5. making a choice that goes against their morals for the greater good

More Angsty Prompts

____ No Going Back

Word Count: 580 Tags: Angst, character death, gen fic, character study ____

He was out of webs. His suit was torn in a dozen places, and barely-clotted cuts dotted his skin underneath. If the fabric hadn't already been red, he bet it would have stained.

It had to be one of the worst fights of his life, and that was a tough list to top. It had taken weeks to track down this adversary - weeks spent navigating the destruction of the city around him, weeks spent running on too much coffee and not enough sleep because he had to catch this guy, and he had to do it fast - and the battle alone had lasted hours.

But he'd caught him. After so much searching, so much fighting, Peter had finally won. He held the villain in an armlock, smashing his cheek against the asphalt beneath him. He didn't dare loosen his grip.

No webs. Normally he'd have strung up this baddie like all the rest, wrapped him in a cocoon and tipped off the police from afar so they could come pick him up. But that wasn't an option. No webs.

So what, then? Let him go? Call the police from here, and risk betraying his identity? Loosen his grip and scour the surroundings for some kind of rope, zip-ties, anything that would secure him?

Letting him go wasn't an option. He'd trashed the city, killed thousands of civilians, in the five weeks it had taken to track him down the first time. If Peter let him go now, he'd redouble his efforts. He'd be impossible to track down a second time. And he'd kill thousands, if not millions more innocents in the process.

Calling the police... just as bad. Perhaps the supervillain's capture would be worth the risk to his own identity, but it wouldn't accomplish anything. He'd escaped from prison before - Supermax, even, the Vernon C. Bain center would be child's play to him.

And there wasn't a damn thing that would keep him secured. Not without webs.

He couldn't let this one get away again. There was no other choice.

Peter Parker did not kill. Every death gnawed at him. Even when a supervillain made their own undoing, it tore him apart from within.

He'd lost so many of his morals over the years, after Gwen's death, after he'd been beaten into the ground so many times and was still expected to pick himself back up.

But he hadn't lost that. It was his final rule, the only standing barrier that divided him from what he never wanted to be. Peter Parker did not kill.

Thousands of civilians dead. Millions more to come if he let him go. The destruction of the city, the country, the world. The slaughter of all his allies, all the people who might've stood a chance of stopping this and any other threats.

He couldn't go back from this if he did it.

The world couldn't go back from this if he let him go.

Millions of lives... or one.

To keep the city safe. To keep the country safe. To keep the world safe.

To nip this in the bud before it got any worse. And he knew it would get worse.

Peter shifted his grip, keeping his knee pressed to the spine of the villain below him. One hand to the side of his head. The other hooked around his jaw. His grip was loose... for the moment. Disgust welled up in his throat, bitter bile that made him want to gag.

He wouldn't be able to live with himself.

But the rest of the city would be able to live.

He shut his eyes. He couldn't bear to watch this. The only thing that kept him from losing his nerve was the promise that it would be over quickly. A merciful death. Much more merciful than all the deaths this man would leave in his wake if given the chance.

This was for the greater good.

Being a hero meant you had to make the hard choices. Being a hero meant you rarely felt like a hero. Being a hero meant you shattered your own morality in the hopes that thousands of others could afford to keep theirs.

"Forgive me, Gwen." he whispered. He hoped that somewhere, among the entropy of the universe, she could hear him.

He wrenched his hands. He heard a brief and terrible crack!

And then it was done.

[raywritesthings]

Laurel Lance (E1)

Sure thing, anon!

First impression: honestly I would be lying if I say I remember my first impression of Laurel, which sounds bad, but it's because I came to Arrow via way of Flash so my first exposure to her was that barely-thirty-seconds scene in the first Flash and Arrow crossover. I truthfully probably didn't even realize she was supposed to be Dinah Laurel Lance aka Black Canary until her appearance opposite Cisco in a later episode of Flash that season, at which point I was like "oh cool, they're bringing in Black Canary". Then I was really confused to discover when starting Arrow that she'd been there since episode 1 but seemed to have so miniscule a role in the grand scheme of things. Yeah, that really should've been a sign to run far away from this show while I still had the chance...

Impression now: I love her. Truthfully, I both do see her as Black Canary, but I also see her as a sort of separate entity from the comics itself, with her own unique merits struggles than what Dinah typically has. So while I love her because she's Black Canary and I love Black Canary, I also love her because she's Laurel, specifically.

Favorite moment: Ah man, this is hard to choose. Her fight scenes from the early seasons and some in s4, basically any scene with her and Thea or Nyssa, a lot of her deleted scenes with Oliver (gee, I wonder why those were all cut), so on and so forth.

Idea for a story: You don't wanna know how many WIPs I've got waiting in the wings, anon. But as far as a story strictly about just Laurel goes, I'm kind of tempted to do an AU post s1 where Oliver's spiel about how he's just holding Laurel back is actually super true and she just gets things together for the city and makes it much better without him. Like if he's gonna go sulk and not be the support she needs during a seriously hard time then I'd rather watch her be the hero of this story, thanks.

Unpopular opinion: I have no idea what's popular or unpopular regarding opinions on Laurel these days, but to cover the basics -- She was completely right to call SWAT on the Hood/Arrow that one time given he was an armed and dangerous stranger who violated the boundary she had already verbally set, she should not have had to apologize to her sister for being rightfully upset that she slept with her boyfriend (does this require further explanation??), and people hating on her for bringing Sara back to life is hypocritical bs since those same people were upset about Sara being killed off in s3 to begin with so she literally gave them what they wanted by bringing Sara back.

Favorite relationship: Overall favorite has gotta be the Laurel-Thea BroTP. Nothing tops it, not any of her romantic relationships (canon or fanon) or any of her blood family.

Favorite headcanon: idk that she's still alive? Haha, all my thoughts about Laurel have to exist in headcanons where she's not been fridged and where the people in her life treat her better than they did in canon, anon. In my headcanon instead of her constantly deserving better and being let down, she just gets the love and respect she deserved.

Thanks for sending in!

[harapeveco]

I read your anime recommendations and thought,,, wow, she really didn't lie when she said she had shitty taste, but then I saw you mention NATSUME!! You redeemed yourself with this one, it's absolutely fenomenal, my favourite anime of all time and I just can't stress enough how much I love it. It's over 70 episodes + a movie but I rewatched it 3 times, don't regret anything. Did you know that season 7 was announced?? After 6 years??? I'm so happy I thought they forgot about it!!!

Also I thought I was the only person who's seen the Chuunibyou one. I only watched it because it was loosely based on a vocaloid song of the same title and curiosity took the best of me but it was surprisingly good!

In the second half you also listed some really good shows like Sasamiya, Dr. Stone, Kiss him not me or Horimiya so I think I can say your taste isn't as bad as you consider it to be!!

Have you seen Given? I think you'd like it based of what you've recommended. It's cute, gay, gets pretty emotional and has really good music. One of the main characters might seem annoying, but personally I could connect with him in a way? It's just that he has this main personality trait that isn't really anything new in anime and people might not like it but it was the first time I've seen it being done right. He feels how I feel a lot of the time and idk, I might just be weird but he became my comfort character because of it.

Sorry for the long rant! I'd love to hear about more if your favourite shows!!

“Wow she really didn’t lie when she said she had shitty taste” 😭😭😭😭 BESTIE COME ON

Anyway yes!!! I knew about the natsume new season!!!! I have a bestie who is obsessed with natsume as much as I am. I remember the 6th season came out while I was still in high school and I would watch it during class with the school’s internet and like GOD every episode is a master piece I love that show so much I rewatch episodes randomly every once in a while, mostly the Shigeru and Touko one that one makes me SOB 😭😭😭

Chunnibyou I also watched it bc of the song I listened to the atr version of it and I thought it was dumb but I wasn’t expecting it to be as funny as it was. Like the main character being all into super heroes and wanting to be a super hero just to show how stupid that is and the fact that characters is voiced BY DEKU HIMSELF makes it all so poetic. The guy who believes he’s a demon or whatever getting a gf who plays along his delusions? Absolutely great. The guy obsessed with 2D girls? Somehow he’s the most normal. Catboy who edgy as fuck with a shit ton of sisters who are mean to him? Hilarious. Cringe ass Utaite guy? I feel like they could have done more with him but he was funny when he was his Utaite persona. I’m also impressed the girl who was really the straight man in all this wasn’t boring at all I was worried bc in shows like these girls tend to be just boring and tell them to stop and even if she sometimes did she would indulge in the madness so I think that was refreshing to see. Pls everyone give Chuuibyou Gekihatsu Boy a chance!

Sasaki to Miyano is so good 😭😭😭 goes a little slow to me but I got used to it after a while and the payoff is really good. Dr.Stone goat all I can say is that if you need a reason to watch it that reason should be Asagiri Gen his bitchass assholness really makes the show for me (also the science is actually pretty fun). Kiss him not me I don’t remember anything about it honestly except an episode where they fight over a ship name which I’ve seen enough in fandom spaces so like relatable and horimiya…..horimiya is so good pls everyone go watch it 😭😭😭 I would die for them holy shit like the most realistic interpretation of love and relationships I’ve seen. The drama is very ground in reality too like the one you see is not unnecessary or used to fuck them over it’s just so good!

Oh yeh I watched Given! I have pretty shit memory so I forgot to include it but I left it only at season one and didn’t bother to watch the movie (was there a movie right?) bc it focuses on Haru and the other guy and like they seemed boring to me I only cared about Mafuyu and Uenoyama and I got what I wanted out of them so I’m pleased with what I got uwu also did you know the mangaka used to write Haikyuu Doujinshi? That’s why Mafuyu and Uenoyama have that very familiar color scheme LMAO good stuff good stuff

I have more shows I like but right I can’t think of any of them (I am very much sleepy rn brain is not functioning) but yeh

[breakandbuildfiction]

Ladybug is actually awful

Throughout the show of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir or whatever the full title is we see both main characters act kinda... not so great, but I maintain that the worst of the two, by far, is Marinette/Ladybug herself. Specifically in regards to being a partner to Char Noir.

Yes Chat has his own issues, mostly in terms of constant flirting and asking for a date despite being told no, but he is not nearly as bad as some people say he is.

Now ignoring things like not going to the date which was justified, the NY special thing and the trashcan incident which while not excusable were done in the heat of intense and stressful moments, there are still a LOT of things that Ladybug has done that could qualify as gaslighting, abuse of trust, and just straight up disrespect.

First up is the Grimoire, she never even tells Chat Noir it exists, and even if we say that only Guardians are allowed to read it she still doesn’t bother to tell Chat anything she learns from it that could affect him. I’ll put that as a minor infraction but it plays into some other things.

Second is how even when she learns-- via Alya’s outside perspective-- that the power of a Miraculous can be evolved, altered, and enhanced via imagination and doesn’t have to strictly follow it’s default she again never tells Chat Noir anything about it. Don’t say its a right of passage, she didn’t learn it herself either.

Third, Alya herself. Marinette tells her her secret ID and makes her a permanent holder in Gang of Secrets, but Chat isn’t told for twelve episodes-- a timeframe that is at least two weeks and is likely closer to two (one episode every three in universe days as a lowball still means five weeks) months-- and then only in the form of Ladybug being a no show for a fight and Scarabella taking her place. Now, even if you say there was ‘no way to tell Chat about Scarabella before Marinette had to leave to go to her aunt’s and she tried to get out of it!’ that one doesn’t track because she had time to call Alya, for Alya to go to the bakery, and for the hand off to happen but apparently not enough time to transform and leave a fifteen second voicemail, and two Chat should have been told about Rena being a permanent holder LONG before that because news flash, she is a BIG security risk seeing as Shadowmoth-- or Monarch-- knows her secret ID. Not telling Chat Noir was nothing but disrespect and showcasing distrust in her partner. Then she just gives a placating ‘I won’t abandon you’ to him and everything is all okay because Chat loves her and wants to believe her.

The last thing I’m going to bring up-- though its not the last instance to be found-- is her plan in Ephemeral. There is absolutely NO way to excuse that plan. She emotionally manipulates him and abuses his trust with the express intention of betraying any and all feelings he has for her. She literally uses the line that Chat would only ever give up his ID to her because he loves her. And the only reason she ‘doesn’t go through with it’ is either A) she finds out its Adrien and her simp mode activates so hard she can’t bring herself to react or give up his ID, or B) Time goes crazy and she loses her chance. So really she does go through with it, she did go through with it, and it should not be given a pass.

Ladybug is in fact a toxic partner to Chat Noir who does not respect him, only trusts him as far as using him as a meat shield or a distraction, and actively pushes him aside for practically an entire season before she is forced to start using him again because all the other heroes are no longer available.

[gentrychild]

the au ask: uh, not sure how this works, but, let's say an au where the slime incident never happens?

Anon, no! I have about five AUs for that! You could at least tell me if you want it to be angst or crack!

More seriously, it's such a fun prompt because it avoids All Might telling Izuku he can't be a hero without a quirk, which is the start of so many vigilante/villain/quirkless Izukus.

But since I am a benevolent writer, I will not talk about the AU where Tsuyu and Mineta dies, then Iida, then Kota, then Mirio, Eri isn't saved, and so on.

Okay, it got really long so it's under a Read More.

All Might arrests the Slime villain before he gets in the sewers so neither Izuku nor Bakugou are attacked by him. The problem is that it also means that All Might never meets Izuku, never break his little heart, and Izuku never has the chance to prove his worth to All Might so no OFA.

Life goes on. Izuku still wants to become a hero. However, since his homeroom teacher told his entire class that he wanted to go to UA, his entire class, led by Bakugou, has decided to make his life a living hell over it. Constant taunting and people laughing at him.

It takes its toll on him.

He still doesn't doubt that a quirkless hero can exist but the more days, weeks, months pass, the more he keeps thinking of how easier it would be if he had a quirk.

A dangerous thought. One he usually doesn't allow himself to think because why whine about what is impossible to have? But one boy can only take "What a useless quirkless Deku like you do?" before he starts to get haunted by strange thoughts. Cough... urges... Cough.

It also makes him eager to prove himself. Maybe that's why he intervenes that evening when he sees a villain trying to hurt someone. Except that once the civilian he helped is running to call a hero, he is reminded that he is a smol child made of only skin and bones and that the guy in front of him is about to bash his head in.

He tries to protect himself, his hand grabbing the villain by the head and in this moment, as he is sure that he is about to be killed, he thinks the one selfish thought that he ever thought:

"It's unfair... that this quirk belongs to someone like you... instead of me."

And just like that, Izuku takes a quirk for the first time.

The villain runs in terror and Izuku runs (in the other direction) in confusion. Soon, it's pretty clear that he apparently had the ability to take and give quirks (thank you, Mom, who has volunteered to try the villain's quirk. Though it's strange how she keeps trying to call someone on her phone these days. But it's probably not important.) Which is a very cool quirk.

Izuku now has to pass from "No quirk at all" to "Can have whatever quirk he wants", which is quite dizzying.

He is so fired up for the UA exam, five months from then. Ridiculously happy bean.

Meanwhile, Mirio gets OFA because no successor showed the self sacrificial spirit that could have inspired All Might and both GT and Nighteye kinda pressures him into choosing a successor ASAP.

This has disastrous consequences as OFA is way too powerful for Mirio and starts to put an insane strain on his body. One month later, while fighting a villain (he has his hero license), he collapses on the side of the road, black lines all over his body as the quirk is killing him.

Izuku finds him and calls an ambulance ASAP but Mirio is is really bad shape. He asks him what happened and Mirio, half delirious, tells him that his quirk is killing him.

Izuku is very "????" but he can help! He can take the quirk away! But Lemillion would be quirkless! He can't take this decision! But Mirio can so he asks.

Mirio is half conscious. Completely in pain. He didn't even want that quirk. He likes Permeation. So, half delirious as he was, he might have mumbled something like "Take that thing out of me."

Izuku does, realizes that Mirio has two quirks so he leaves him the one that doesn't feel as heavy as a freaking dwarf star. Lemillion immediately starts to stop looking like he will drop dead any moment from now and the ambulance arrives, taking the hero student away.

Since Izuku doesn't have the All Might telling him that OFA is a good quirk, he acts like a sensible person: this quirk doesn't feel normal and it apparently kills its user. So he waits about 20 seconds before getting rid of it. He finds a nice and sturdy lizard, who, unbeknownst to everyone, becomes the 10th user of OFA.

The quirk comes back to Izuku.

Quirks aren't supposed to do that.

The freaking quirk is cursed. Izuku accepted a cursed quirk.

I cannot begin to describe how Izuku doesn't trust OFA in this AU. He doesn't use it. He intensively dislikes it. He tries everything and more to get rid of it but no matter what living organism he selects, the damn thing keeps coming back.

Meanwhile, Mirio wakes up from the hospital alive :) then remembers he gave a host-killing-quirk to a smol child. O.O

Panic ensues.

All Might realizes that whoever took OFA put his hand on Mirio's head, the same way AFO does. So it was probably AFO with a fun new shapeshifting quirk.

More panic ensues.

Meanwhile, AFO, alive indeed and who has been watching Mirio wastes away and enjoying the hell out of it (though he would have preferred it had happened one generation sooner) is furious that Yagi 2.0 isn't dying anymore because it means OFA passed to someone else! And since everyone in the OFAteam is quite panicked, they apparently lost the quirk he gave his little brother!

He gets so upset about it that he somehow misses the hundred of phonecalls from his wife.

So AFO and All Might alike are looking for someone with OFA but since Izuku just isn't using it, they aren't finding it.

Meanwhile, the Vestiges went from "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH, SOMEONE WITH AFO!!!! AHHHHHH!" to "What do you mean: You don't want to use us? We're not good enough for you???"

So OFA is doing the quirk equivalent of a cat purring and showing its belly so it can get some pet.

Izuku: "You know what? I know it's a trap but since I don't want to outright call a quirk evil, I will give you one chance to prove to me you're not a cursed power that wants my death."

Cue two broken legs.

Well, that's it. Izuku gave that nasty quirk the benefit of the doubt. He is never using it again. And since the damn thing is trying to contaminate his other quirks, he is vaulting it forever!

The irony is not lost on First.

The day of the entrance exam arrives and Izuku does quite well with his good, non cursed quirks, thank you very much.

And as he is leaving, he sees Lemillion! He is happy to see him in good health! He waves at him!

Meanwhile, Mirio spent the last five months trying to find that awful quirk he lost. He was half convinced he had given him to the Symbol of Evil and had trouble seeing the problem because if OFA would eat AFO, where was the problem? He is wondering if he condemned a kid to death. He Is Going Through A Lot.

He wants to say so many things, ask so many questions. And the one thing he manages to blurt out is "GET HIM!"

Tamaki and Nejire immediately shoulder slam a small child. They didn't even hesitate.

That's the story of how the Mighty team found OFA again.

Izuku loves hanging out with All Might but not even him can convince him that the quirk isn't cursed.

[deicidedruid]

Okay so thoughts on episode 75

(Tw for mentions of abuse, religious trauma, isolation, neglect, and a lot of other intense stuff. This is a discussion of Gillion, his past, and how he’s changed. Sorry it’s kind of a ramble I just needed to get my feelings out).

One thing I have considered with Gillion Tidestrider is what drives Gillion to be so crazed in his search and defeat of evil. This episode has given a lot of context on that front. He was trained from a young age to see black and white to a disturbing degree. Since he was a child he was put in simulations not only with the enemy, but with their relations as well, such as their children. In these simulations he was probably forced to kill children, cementing in him the idea that evil is evil no matter the face. He was forced to take these actions not only for the elder’s approval but also because the situation was either kill or be killed.

With Charlie’s description of young Gillion I doubt that the elders spared any brutality when training the young Tidestrider. All the people in the simulation were programmed to kill him, and to have an immense hatred for him and his people. This creates a straw man for Gillion, an idea of the kinds of people who live on the oversea and how despicable they are. Gillion goes through this simulation again and again until the people’s faces are blurred and they just take the face of evil. When he was younger, he probably failed the simulation many times. Gillion mentions throughout the series how he’s not exactly “good” at being the Chosen One. In the sun temple he is excited at the prospect of there being another chosen one, saying “maybe he’s actually good at this.” In the flashback with Edyn in one of the earlier episodes, Gillion talks of his repeated failures.

Failure was a common theme of Gillion’s childhood. So his ideals, his antipathy towards evil, wasn’t only taught to him, it was beaten into him. As a child, in armor too big for him, he had to confront death time and time again. And the elders probably let him come close, to let him feel the consequences of evil intimately. So it makes so much sense how crazed Gillion is to fight evil. It’s pavloved into him, but also he doesn’t want anyone to feel like he did. He doesn’t want anyone else to be beaten or hurt, to feel fear and desperation. Although he gets rather brutal in his fighting of evil you can see his genuine care and empathy for the people he saves.

And in the oversea, it’s his first chance to be a real hero. For the first time Gillion is in an environment where he can actually win. In the undersea no matter how much good he did, the elders were still relentlessly disappointed in him. But in the oversea he can actually be a hero for once, a real one. He can finally save real people. That’s why I think he was so quick to make the deal with Nicklaus. He is so adamant to beat down evil, real evil, because it beat him down so many times. He won’t let others suffer like he did. This is what gives Gillion this kind of feral rage against it.

Shades of grey weren’t programmed into him, it’s evil that hurts people, evil that made him bruise and blister, and evil that made the elders disappointed in him. Tested again and again in simulation after simulation he is conditioned to butcher evil. And although his morals have changed, the deep urge inside him to hunt down evil will never dissipate. Killing is second nature to him. But there is no doubt that he has changed. After Gillion kills Grimm he doesn’t go after Anastasia because she had yet to do anything wrong. He doesn’t go after Aslana and her sisters even though they helped the empress. He doesn’t kill the king of Edison kingdom no matter the pain he caused, he doesn’t hurt Jay after she almost killed him, and there’s countless other examples.

Gillion could have easily been a villain if he hadn’t met Chip and Jay, two people that did some bad things but were not evil. They showed him that people don’t have to be perfect, that they have layers. As a kid sheltered from any kind of interaction besides the elders who he deemed as perfect people, that’s something incredibly important for him to learn. He regarded his own flaws as aberrations his doubts as failures but his friends make him realize that those things are incredibly normal. Through this Gillion realizes that the elder’s teachings are flawed. Though he still has the strong urge to hurt evildoers, his evolution of what is evil has changed. And he has evolved as a person as well, from Champion of the undersea hero of the deep, to something a bit more like Gillion Tidestrider, friend of Chip and Jay.

[jdrizzle15]

Her Second Return

Just like all of you, and especially my fellow Penny fans, I am absolutely devastated by the Volume 8 finale. I had been in quite a state these last few days, utterly heartbroken, and actually nauseous at times. It feels strange to me to be legitimately grieving a fictional character, but it’s not a bad thing to feel this way. To me, this just shows that CRWBY loves her just as much as us to have written her so well that we connect so completely with her, that it feels like we lost an actual piece of ourselves when she’s gone.

But as you can probably tell by the title, this mega post isn’t gonna be about accepting this end, not in the slightest! Today I want to share canon evidence that can point towards another return of our beloved quirky red headed cinnamon bun! I’m here to spread this hope that I and others in the Nuts & Dolts dolts Discord server have!

I have this separated into many different sections to keep these thoughts organized. With that said, here goes…

A Father’s Words:

In Episode 7 of Volume 7, ‘Worst Case Scenario’ we learn the origins of Penny’s aura, and thus her soul. We also learn that it takes more aura each time she’s brought back. This leaves open an option that could be used at a later point.

Many people theorized that Pietro could indeed revive Penny one more time, which he would absolutely do. But there also lies the possibility that someone else could donate some of theirs, I’m not sure about this as I feel like it’s akin to blood donation where compatibility matters or there's a high risk of altering her, but the possibility is definitely there.

Now, the conversation in Chapter 5 of Volume 8, ‘Amity’ that Pietro and Penny have is an important moment for both Father and Daughter. It was there to show how her death in PvP all that time ago really did have a heavy impact on him and is still affecting him to this day.

Instead of continuing to pretend that everything is A-okay, like he had done for most of Volume 7, he finally lets his true feelings about how it come out to Penny for what is quite likely the first time. Even going so far as to say "Are you asking me to go through that again?" when she offers to take the risk of trying to lift Amity with her power. He wants Penny to be able to live her life.

This entire scene with Pietro established “this is what will likely happen” even if circumstances are much different now, it doesn’t negate the fact that this is a key part of Penny’s story. Scenes like these have a purpose beyond simply making an eventual death all the more heart wrenching. Her never actually getting to live her life makes those scenes basically moot. It makes them effectively pointless from narrative point of view. Unless there's more to it.

Building Relationship:

The build up between Ruby and Penny the last two volumes has been absolutely phenomenal with a definite destination in mind, and this doesn’t feel like that destination. So much of the arc of this season was to help Penny. This girl that our main protagonist absolutely adores and treasures, it would just be awful to throw all of that out for what amounts to an avoidable end. Why use so much of their precious and very limited runtime on deliberately building up this relationship only to end it abruptly, and permanently, when they’re separated?

In my opinion, RT is definitely smarter now than to intentionally set up what was really looking like a budding gay relationship only to kill one of them for good. If N&D wasn't actually going in a romantic direction, why would they leave in all of the romance-adjacent stuff that they got, that's not how ‘just friends’ act. And that is not something you use such valuable time building up for absolutely no pay off whatsoever...

Representation of Hope:

At its core, RWBY has always been about hope. It’s not at the forefront the whole time, but there's been an underlying theme of hopefulness that has persisted since it began. Some describe the show as a Hopepunk, I personally find this to describe RWBY really well. This genre of storytelling is about caring for things deeply and the courage and strength it takes to do so. It’s about never submitting or accepting the way things are. Fighting for what you believe in and standing up for others. RWBY fits all of this extremely well. How does this relate to Penny? She has been shown to be a sign of hope for everyone, but especially for Ruby, the main main protagonist. A prerequisite for a Hopepunk story is the hope.

Her first death in V3 was something that fundamentally changed Ruby. For the first time in the series, we see our main character all but broken by this event. With the loss of Penny, immediately afterwards, Ruby’s hope followed. She made up for it through determination and force of will. We see it affect her multiple times throughout the journey to Volume 7. But upon her return in V7, Hope reached a high point for everyone, the sheer relief on Ruby’s face is plain to see!

In V8 chapter 5 ‘Amity’, Penny literally raises hope by lifting the arena into the sky so Ruby could spread her message. And when she falls, and Amity with her, the connection is lost and hope plummets again. From there things take a very negative turn with the hack begins to take Penny’s agency.

In chapter 11 ’Risk’ is the point in the arc where everyone is reunited for the moment, so two separate hero stories are no longer a thing at that point in time. For the time being focus seemed to be shifted to care about the characters and how they’re going to solve the current problems. This is also where Ruby reaches her lowest emotional point in the season.

It’s not huge, but it’s interesting how connected this is. Before Ruby and Yang share a good cry over learning the possible fate of Summer, Yang brings up restoring optimism and hope to Ruby after the younger sister storms out of the room in frustration. This is where Penny’s scenes take up the rest of the episode. Getting Penny back in control of her own body and safe again is what makes the ending of the episode much brighter, when just 5 minutes before Ruby had been distraught and scared. This then spills over into the group coming up with the plan to use the staff, putting the main group in a much better mood. Of all the things to go right, it’s interesting that it’s Penny.

Things go wrong with the plan in the end and Penny dies. I find it interesting that once again, Penny got them hopeful in their chances of doing something right. Given said plan succeeded but at the cost of Penny of all people, Penny is shown to be the beginning and end of hope for them

The highest and lowest points for hope seem to directly correlate to when Penny’s around. When she comes back again, hope will return too, just like it had before. And because she’ll likely be back for good this time, the second return will probably be close to when Ruby is nearing the complete abandonment of hope. This would be pretty par for the course of the show honestly.

A little aside, but in a sense, Penny also represents Unity. The CCT in Vale fell after her first death, knocking out global communications and the unifying connection it gave. When it was restored for the briefest moment, she was there. Her body connected so she could allow for its launch, her soul lighting the night to hold up Amity with every ounce of her strength. So of course when the Hack succeeds and she falls, she takes global comms down again with her. At a smaller scale - even at the Hack's second last attempt to control her, she draws everyone in the Schnee Manor together. At the start of the volume, Yang states the one thing that they all agree on is not surrendering Penny.

Unity seems appropriate for one whose first song and wish was for but one friend, who would go on to find so many more in the process, and permit for a moment the possibility of all Remnant becoming friends once more. Where she first died, the name of the episode devoted to her story - Amity, "friendship", from the Latin root amicus, "friend" - she almost lives and dies with the very possibility of a united Remnant. It's no wonder she's a priority target for Salem, the great divider, and it seems natural that her next restoration may very well allow the next bid to bring the world together.

The Void Screams:

Moments after Penny's death, we hear a weird scream in the void space. It was a guttural, pained, angry scream, almost like the void space itself was crying out. All the portals shuddered and flickered when it happened.

Some think that this scream was Salem returning, but that happens earlier than Penny’s death, her return is signaled with cinder's arm acting up. We know this because after the arm finished flailing uncontrollably, Cinder said triumphantly "she's back." If it were Salem screaming, it would have happened after she fixed herself, but it didn't.

And I doubt Cinder would have been surprised or unsettled by it considering she was happy Salem returned not long before it. And why would a Salem scream affect the portals anyway, she has no connection to the staff or it's magic.

Another thing to consider is the fact sound is not transmitted through the portals. Otherwise, they would've heard Oscar and the rest calling for them, or the screams of the citizens of Mantle and Atlas. This lowers the possibility of that scream being from Salem even further.

The sound really seems to be coming from something else entirely within the void, and that something is not at all happy. There’s also the fact that Penny was the only person who died in the void space, everyone else was just thrown out of it like Ruby and Co. The only logical cause to me is Penny. Her body was a product (or byproduct) of the same creation magic that made the void space, her blood seems to have been a trigger.

Now I can't be sure about it, but this makes me feel like Penny is almost a part of creation itself? For whatever this thing is to be so angry, that is the only explanation I can think of currently. But all of this could possibly relate to the Narnia allusion of 'the willing victim killed in a traitor's stead' that others have brought up, which will be covered next.

Narnia Parallels:

Atlas has several parallels and references to fictional places (putting aside real world ones like the United States). One of those is that of Narnia, both on the surface and on a deeper level. It is a land of winter year round, where people struggle to survive and there is a present divide between those loyal to the current Monarch and those who are not. James is a parallel to Jadis, the White Witch, a ruler whose thoughts and cares aren’t exactly centered around the actual well being of the people. The hologram table in Ironwood’s office is designed to look like stone, like the Stone Table which features prominently in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He has a handpicked cadre of special agents/secret police, like how Maugrim and his wolves served Jadis. Another key parallel is how Jadis’s winter sets in to oppress and kill everyone in Narnia, but the Witch provides aid and protection to her loyal followers. She has all the power to spare harm to others, and uses it only for the loyal. As soon as Mantle splits from James and Atlas, no care is taken to protect them from the cold of Solitas even though he has every ability to turn the heating grid back on. His protection is only for the loyal.

Now that the parallel is established, let's look into the details. Starting with how James plays the role of Jadis.

"I had forgotten that you are only a common boy. How should you understand reasons of State? You must learn, child, that what would be wrong for you or for any of the common people is not wrong in a great Queen such as I. The weight of the world is on our shoulders. We must be freed from all rules. Ours is a high and lonely destiny." These are the words Jadis says in the Magician’s Nephew to justify the blood civil war she and her sister had waged for rulership of Charn, before she came to Narnia. She won that war, technically, but only after the last battle had been lost and her sister had marched right up to her so that they were face to face. Jadis’s troops were dead, her followers had surrendered, and the capital was under full control of her sister. But, she still had one card, one ultimate play to win and prove the throne of Charn was rightfully her. The Deplorable Word, a piece of old magic that killed everyone and everything except for her on Charn. It was monstrous, senseless, cruel beyond measure. But it got her that hollow victory. This mindset, the disregard for the people except as tools for her own will, the ultimate ‘aoe’ destructive move that no one had even considered her using, the unwillingness to stop even when by all practical measures the war is over, is a shocking parallel to James. In many ways, he is Jadis in mindset and deed.

Then there is the shared desire for A Thing that both James and Jadis have. For James it’s the Winter Maiden and control over her. For Jadis it’s the Silver Apples from the Tree of Youth. And funnily enough, the Maiden Powers parallel the Apples quiet well. These apples grant power and a life of eternal beauty, but should not be taken or eaten on one’s own initiative. They must be given, a gift granted by another, or only suffering will come from obtaining them. "For the fruit always works — it must work — but it does not work happily for any who pluck it at their own will. If any Narnian, unbidden, had stolen an apple and planted it here to protect Narnia, it would have protected Narnia. But it would have done so by making Narnia into another strong and cruel empire like Charn, not the kindly land I mean it to be.” Jadis’s immortality, and some of her power, come from the fact that she ate an Apple of her own will after stealing her way into the garden where the Tree of Youth had been planted. She gained the eternal life she had wanted and the power along with it, but she did so by taking it and was cursed because of it. Her skin turned pale and her lips blackened as if she were a frozen corpse given life. She will be trapped in a life of misery and hate according to Aslan- oh hey Cinder, how’s having stolen the Power you always wanted working out for you? Cinder had the power she wanted, but she only got hungrier, eager to claim more and increase her might. But in her pursuit she was defeated and humiliated by Raven, had to steal her way out of Mistral, and then suffered defeat after defeat while in Atlas. Only in the end, when she didn’t keep pursuing the Maiden Power, did she get any kind of victory.

The reason these parallels to Narnia are so important is one of the most famous events of the series. The cracking of the Stone Table and the rebirth of Aslan after his death. ‘When a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.’ Well, the ‘Stone Table’ in James’s office has cracked, and Penny strikes me as a pretty willing victim. She has never actually committed any actual treachery or harm, as she was the Protector of Mantle, and fought for its and Atlas’s people until the very end. And because of her death, the actual traitor, Winter, who loyally served James until he had gone too far, was saved. Through Penny’s self sacrifice, Winter was saved. So now Death itself will start working backward.

(Major props to my friend @catontheweb for writing this section, I was getting nowhere with it, if they weren't there this part wouldn't exist!)

Norse Mythology:

The tree we see in the post credit scene gives off some serious Yggdrasil vibes. Also called the World Tree, it is essentially all of creation in Norse Mythology. It connects all nine realms, including the God realms of Asgard, the human realm of Midgard, and the underworld of Hel.

Humans are born from the branches of Yggdrasil. The web of Wyrd is woven for every person once they're born, and their path is set from there regardless of how many times the souls cycle over. But at the end, they're destined to end up in one of the worlds, for a myriad of reasons.

I believe Penny landed closest to this giant tree. She was on the center platform in the void space, so if that space is directly above the island(?) the tree is on, it makes sense for her to fall by the center nearest to the tree. This would not only open up all kinds of possibilities for the volume in general, but it would also create options for Penny.

The whole of Yggdrasil’s representations fit well into Penny’s story. Birth, growth, death and rebirth. We can count Penny’s appearance in V7 as birth for now, her growth is all her development in leaving =the military and becoming a Maiden, her death just happened, and her rebirth would be her revival. And this is a cycle she’s gone through before.

The Norse god Odin and Yggdrasil have quite a connection. In one story, Odin cut out one of his own eyes to gain knowledge from a pool underneath Yggdrasil. The only one that fell whose eyes alone are incredibly significant to the story was Ruby. So, they could choose to have her allude to Odin by having Ruby make some kind of deal with whatever entity likely rules over this magical place. An eye for Penny’s life.

There’s another story about Odin, Yggdrasil and the pursuit of knowledge. Odin so loved knowledge, that he sacrificed himself in a quest to learn the deeper magic of runes. It was believed one could only learn the magic spells from runes in death. So, Odin hung himself on Yggdrasil for nine days as an offering, and teetered between life and death. After he mastered the last spell on the ninth night, he ritually died and all light was extinguished from the world. Odin’s death lasted until midnight, when he was reborn and light returned to the world.

This story doesn’t fit Penny perfectly, but allusions often don’t. So If she really did land near the tree, she could be another loose representation of Odin’s story here. What she did wasn’t for knowledge, but to save her friends and keep Cinder from getting the Winter Maiden power. She believed it necessary that she sacrifice herself to achieve this end. As we established, Penny represents Hope, so her death means the loss of hope. This parallels Odin’s story of his death meaning the loss of light itself. So if this theory holds up, it would make this death temporary, until her rebirth and the return of Hope with her once again.

Alternatively, Ruby has the potential of loosely representing Odin in this story as well. Odin later uses the knowledge of the runes to do many things, but the most relevant one right now is awakening the dead. Both of these stories are about making a personal sacrifice to gain something that is desired. Ruby would absolutely make such sacrifices if it meant saving Penny.

It is said that Odin lived “according to his highest will unconditionally, accepting whatever hardships arise from that pursuit, and allowing nothing, not even death, to stand between him and the attainment of his goals." This sounds like Penny's arc of accepting the WM powers. This is more just a general connection between Penny and Odin, but I found it interesting.

Side Note: I encourage anyone who’s interested to look into RWBY connections to Norse Myth, there’s a surprising amount of things that feel eerily similar to the show. Likely just coincidental, but it’s fun to think about!

(If I got any of this wrong, I sincerely apologize by the way. I researched as best I could, but I admit it could have been lacking.)

Ambrosius and the Staff:

Ruby told Ambrosius "we kinda wanna keep her around longer than that" as part of her very specific instructions. Then Penny died about ten to fifteen minutes, at the absolute most thirty minutes later in-universe. I don’t know about you, but to me that seems very short to be considered ‘longer than that’. Technically it is, but when writing a story and a character says something like that, you typically don’t just kill the character they were referring to basically right away. It makes sense for a week-by-week watch, but in a volume binge, which many viewers do, it becomes ironic how fast Penny dies after being removed from her robotic body.

The first time we see the staff of creation being used, it's to save Penny. Using the staff of creation to help Penny is a sign of how incredibly important she is.

They’ve even got this entire transformation sequence for her, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to throw all that away two episodes later. In a meta context, it’s a massive waste of time and budget considering the asset creation for Penny.

Penny is a character who has already hopped bodies two times. And now we're supposed to just believe that this time it really is a final death? Just two episodes after we were explicitly told her body isn't what matters, that "Her soul is who she is" and that "the mechanical parts are just extra"? From a writing perspective, it feels strange, like your breaking a promise right after making it. And frankly, CRWBY is better than that, which makes me think this is not the actual end for her.

A possible connection between Penny, Ruby, and the Staff (thus Creation) can be seen in the intro. As Ruby is falling and being dragged down into the darkness, she is shown reaching for the staff. In the void space, Penny is the one with the relic. So with Penny having this strong connection to Creation, and the lyrics “fight for every life” playing as Ruby reaches for the staff, it’s a safe assumption to make, with the knowledge we now have, that the Staff of Creation represents Penny in this particular moment. Which could mean that V9 will be about, at least partially, fighting for Penny’s life.

Musical Hints:

In terms of music, Friend, as a song for Penny, is very dissonant from the episode itself. The song is oddly cheerful for Penny’s recent untimely death, and it overall highlights the wrong parts of death. It’s simply too happy to be a song about losing one of the most, if not the most joyous characters in the entire show. The song also abruptly ends. There’s no outro, and while this could symbolize the fact that Penny died young, it could be that the song itself is unfinished in a story sense.

What do we hear just before the song finishes, though? A progression of notes that sounds eerily similar to the last line of the opening of Volume 8. The notes for “Fight for ev’ry life” and “Who fin’lly felt alive'' share a similar melodic structure, they aren’t perfect clones of each other, but they are incredibly similar, to the point where it seems intentional. Penny may very well be the life that the opening song is fighting for. It is also worth noting that the line “Fight for every life” comes just after “Sometimes it’s worth it all to risk the fall,” which is the exact wording used for the description in the Volume 8 finale. Team RWBY risked the fall, yet, strangely the opposite of fighting for every life happened with Penny’s sacrifice. Perhaps the time to fight for every life has yet to happen, and we will see it come Volume 9.

For another thing, the lyrics for Friend are entirely centered on Penny’s feelings for Ruby, to the point where they read very much like a bittersweet love song. The music itself is incredibly cheerful, as mentioned previously, creating a mood whiplash with the end of the volume. Why would we hear a song about Penny’s feelings for Ruby, sounding like a love song, if her death is supposed to be a tragic sacrifice akin to Pyrrha’s? The song may very well be giving a clue into its future use in the show proper.

If this was meant to be a good bye song, why make it so cheerful and romantic sounding? There's only one part about her dying and even then, it's just too accepting and goes right back into cheerfulness. The song is also pretty hopeful, telling Penny's story in a fairly chronological order. And the part where she talks about sacrifice is quite pointedly followed up by one about feeling alive. It also ends with the super cheerful chorus, the word "alive" being the last... (Remember the episode title: The Final Word)

(I want to thank my friend @shadow-0f-x for writing the majority of this section! I was struggling to choose how to tackle it as I am not well versed in music theory.)

What We Didn’t See:

It is likely that Penny understood Jaune's semblance better than him and figured something out about it’s abilities in the same way that she understood Ruby's semblance better than her. She had plenty of time to observe his semblance up close as he boosted her aura to stave off the virus. Because of that intentionally timed cutaway in the finale, we don’t get to hear her explain herself after her strained “Trust me.” All of that seems really suspicious to me.

Pyrrha Parallel:

Pyrrha and Penny both sacrificed themselves to stop or stall Cinder. Jaune tried to convince the both of them to stop. With Pyrrha, he failed, while with Penny he actively helped her sacrifice herself. Doesn’t make sense for the guy who was determined not to let anyone else do what Pyrrha did, unless of course Penny assured him she’d be alright.

The Moment:

RT including the suicide hotline in the description shows that they're aware that Penny basically committed assisted suicide, seeing it as a noble sacrifice worth doing to save her friends. They're aware, and I believe they're smart enough to condemn that decision to hell and back.

The best way to do that in my opinion is to pull her back into the land of the living and let her witness first hand the consequences of throwing her life away so freely. This would show Penny how her actions affected others so maybe she could learn to truly value herself. To not think herself expendable. It would be bold and unwise to portray this choice as something good, unless it was going to be called upon later and be pointed out for how horrible it really is.

On top of this, Penny was way too content with her death, happy even. There's no way team RWBY is letting her stay content with it. It’s almost as though we're supposed to join Ruby and Co. in calling bullshit on what Penny is saying and doing because no, Penny, this is not how things are meant to work. It's as if Penny was basically saying "I want to die for my friends" because most of the volume had been about everyone else making sure she didn't die. She knows it will hurt them. She knows.

At the peak of it all, a choice like this will totally destroy Ruby. It may very well be her breaking point for Volume 9. Curiously, the moment itself is written like it’s the first choice Penny’s ever made, yet the entire Volume shows this isn’t the case. However, this is the first choice that Penny’s made solely independently and it’s rather pertinent that the choice she makes is a mistake. Outside of giving Winter the Maiden gift and saving the day temporarily, this sacrifice will not have any lasting positive effects. Jaune will be saddled with the grief of killing Penny. Ruby will have to live with losing her best friend and not being able to protect her a second time, and Winter now has the burden of the Winter Maiden abilities, making her a target of Cinder. This is a bad thing, and Penny needs to see the long term consequences.

Transfer of Power:

As we all know, colors in RWBY are really important and get a lot of focus in the show. That means the yellow we see as Penny gives Winter the Maiden Powers was intentional and likely important, no matter how insignificant it may seem. It’s possible that the transfer effect being yellow could have something to do with Jaune’s semblance. When Fria gave the power to Penny, the effect was very much blue, so this transfer should have been green since she was the one giving it this time. The weirdness of this transfer and the focus on color in RWBY really makes it look like something’s up with how that went down.

A little off topic, but Penny saying "I won't be gone, I'll be part of you." makes me think... Winter is smart, so when she gets time to think about what Penny said, maybe she'll arrive at the same question many in the audience came to; if she's literally part of Winter, can they be separated again? If Winter starts questioning that, the possibility of Penny coming back just skyrockets.

Fria actually tells Penny "I'll be gone" before giving her powers up, which is an interesting contrast to Penny telling Winter "I won't be gone". She may have gotten that line from Winter be all philosophical in V7, saying Fria was now a part of Penny, but it hits differently coming from an actual Maiden. S5o it’s possible that Maidens usually actually will be gone, but Jaune's semblance did something to change that.

This could go well with the theory that they won't need to find an aura transfer machine, or build another one, because Jaune will have a semblance evolution allowing him to do the transfer instead. It might actually be that this evolution already happened and the golden light we saw was Jaune transferring penny's aura to Winter in some way?

An observation that I find interesting is when Penny gives winter the powers, not only is the aura yellow but penny completely glows yellow too, and she obviously starts to disappear, but she doesn’t seem to fully disappear, she just glows.

It's possibly a fading out effect and she does fully fade but animation makes bright light easier, and so we don't actually see her disappear because she's dead and not gone. But it does once again emphasize the color yellow here!

And the color is coming from Penny, it does go up Winter's arm a bit, but Penny is clearly the source. This transfer is so weird and I’m not really sure how to interpret it. There's just actually no reason that we are aware of to make the effect yellow here is the thing. Unless it has something to do with either Jaune or Ambrosius, or potentially a combination of both...

Jaune’s Aura:

The way we see Jaune's aura break in the finale is strange. His aura shouldn't be breaking here. It had been long enough since he was boosting Penny, he's had time to recharge, and it didn't look like it was a strain on him at all. Plus, we know he has a lot of aura, so there probably wasn't too much to recharge in the first place.

He has a massive amount of aura, it has never broken before as far as I remember. Even if it has though, that doesn’t make this occurrence any less odd. It should absolutely never be a one-hit KO. We didn't see anything that would've drained it, that should not have been enough to break his aura. Unless he did something - something that would require a huge amount of aura - that we just didn't see. That amount of aura drain is far more than just an attempt at healing would do, Jaune absolutely did something with his semblance that took up almost all of his aura.

Pinocchio Allusion:

As any Penny fan knows, her character allusion is Pinocchio, the puppet who became a real boy. Penny deviates from the allusion by having always been a real girl, as Ruby is quick to point out, but she shares many story beats with her original story including multiple deaths. In the original story, Pinocchio dies from being hung by his own strings due to his poor decision making and he dies. Sounds a little familiar, does it not? This is where his tale originally ended. Readers were unsatisfied with this ending however, so the author decided to change the story by reviving Pinocchio and teaching him to be more careful.

Unlike Pinocchio making all the wrong decisions, Penny often makes the right ones, or ones she thinks is right, when concerning others. While usually a good thing, this has meant Penny almost giving herself up multiple times during V8, her last attempt being successful. This is where Penny and Pinocchio begin to share similarities again. They are both very reckless when it concerns themselves. This carelessness comes from different places, but it ends with the same result of them endangering their lives and even sometimes losing them.

In the Disney movie, Pinocchio dies by drowning after going to rescue Geppetto and washes up on the shore (like the beach in V8’s post credit scene). His father is devastated and takes him home to grieve, but as a reward for his selflessness in rescuing his father, the Blue Fairy returns and brings him back to life, as well as granting him humanity. Penny sacrificed her life as well, and it stands to reason that she should be rewarded for it, much like her allusion was.

Penny got her maiden powers from someone with blue aura and then gave her powers to someone with blue aura. So it could be that not only Ambrosius, but Fria and Winter as well represent the Blue Fairy. It could be set up for Winter helping to bring Penny back to life once more. It’s an out there theory I admit, but it’s not outright impossible either. The Blue Fairy in Pinocchio saved him three times that I know of, so RWBY having three representations does make sense.

Geppetto wished for him to live as a real boy, but it depended on what path Pinocchio took. This is very reminiscent of Penny and Pietro. Pietro wants to see her live her life, and surely with him absent in V8C14 that didn't work, despite Penny choosing. Her father did not see her happy enough to live her life, and will only be able to learn her death through others. But Pinocchio's themes were life and being alive. So the likelihood that this is not her end yet is quite high!

A Girl That Fell Through the World:

Penny could be the girl who fell through the world. The girl in the story fled the consequences of a choice. The only person who chose her ultimate fate was Penny. The others were pushed into the void, but she chose to die. The consequence of her choice is Ruby’s grief first and foremost, which Penny won’t see. The girl who fell through the world does come back though, and the world will be changed severely with Penny’s absence. Alternatively, it could also be Penny coming back to Wonderland or wherever they currently are, as long as it’s unrecognizable to her.

What Returning Brings:

Others might say another return would have no story relevant purpose, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Penny gives a profoundly youthful, joyous, and wondrous outlook on the world and story that we hadn't seen since Ruby in Volumes 1-3(not the end), Penny returning would bring a much needed levity back in after the despair they will undoubtedly be going through. While not necessarily a huge thing in most other shows, for RWBY, a show largely about keeping up hope, an ounce of such relief is a necessity.

As much as I hate saying it, Penny’s death does actually make some narrative sense because she had to pass on the Maiden powers. (They could have done this in a number of ways, and I personally think they chose rather poorly, but I digress.) Throughout this whole volume, we can see Penny seemingly being set up to join the main cast, but would have been too strong with the powers. This also accomplishes ridding her of the burden of responsibility that comes with being a Maiden and lets her obtain the freedom that’s so important to her character.

Once she returns, seeing this grief that her actions caused, particularly to Ruby, will get her to realize more that her actions can have serious repercussions. She made a choice, but that choice hurt the people she loves. She must have known that it would but I’m not sure she ever realized just how much.

I didn’t want this post to be heavy in the shipping department, so I largely left it out, but I am going to say this one thing that could have an impact. If Nuts & Dolts is on its way to being canon, which this volume makes it feel highly likely, this could be a catalyst.

It could prompt an arc for the both of them in which Penny learns to live her life fighting for her loved ones, rather than sacrificing it for them. A relationship could potentially start from there. And Ruby seeing Penny learn these things may also help her to stop doing the occasional but very dangerous and reckless things she does. Ruby witnessing Penny coming to terms with what she did to the people that care about her would actually make her stop to think “wait, is this how everyone else would feel if I got myself killed?” That would be a very important moment of character growth for her.

I’m certain there are other significant things that Penny returning can bring to the show. And there are definitely more sections I could add to this. At this point though, assuming anyone even made it this far, I think I’ve been going long enough already. So let’s just roll into the outro!

As painful and hopeless as it seems, I'm choosing to trust them with this because there is absolutely no way they didn't see backlash coming. The way this finale went makes me think that they calculated for backlash and aren’t jumping into something they don’t have a plan to recover from. Whether this trust is unfounded or not remains to be seen, but I don’t think it is currently. I do think, however, that the cause of this backlash was a major misstep. Now that it has happened though, they have a chance to do something good with it.

I know for a lot of you, trust in CRWBY has been damaged, some even irreparably so. And for those that feel this way, I don’t blame you. My trust in them took a hit too, but isn’t broken completely yet. There are many ways that they can bring her back that would make sense with the narrative, they have the ability to make it right, and after going over all of the hints and general weirdness of things many times, I think they will.

I'm feeling pretty confident now and I really didn't expect that to happen at all to be honest. But discussing and theorizing with the discord server seriously helped get my hopes back up surprisingly fast! It’s actually thanks to all of them that this gigantic post even happened! So thanks a ton my fellow Dolts! And a special thanks to!!

@arcana-amicus

@catontheweb

@cosmokyrin

@gaydontmesswithme224

@jammatown919

@shadow-0f-x

They really helped get this thing across the finish line!

And thank YOU for reading all~ of this! I sincerely wish it gave you some of the hope and confidence that I now have!

[discoveringsandra]

Characters I project my transness on: Shrek's Fiona

GENERAL SPOILER ALERT FOR THE SHREK MOVIE FRANCHISE

A subversion af the damsel in distress trope, Fiona isn't an ordinary princess. She burps, kicks ass and is generally disappointed by actual princes.

In the first movie, she transformed into an ogre by night. She saw this as a curse until she learned to love both another ogre and this side of herself. Even if she hasn't always looked like an ogre, she ends up renouncing to normative beauty and living as one.

Then, she spends the second film trying to convince her parents to love both her husband and her identity, while his father tries to get her to fit into the fairy tale princess role she was meant to have. It turns out her father was just preventing her from risking his own position as human-looking king, since marrying her with a prince was part of the deal he made with a fairy when he was a toad (I can't blame him for wanting to make Julie Andrews his queen, though).

This film has many queer experience parallels, with both Fiona's parents and Far Far Away's elitist society being outraged by her life choices, as well as the father projecting his own anxieties about fitting in this society on to his daughter. I would say that there are a couple of kind of queerphobic jokes, one about the Big Bad Wolf being gender-confused (which is more or less okay since it comes from the main villain) and a really weird one on pinocchio wearing women's underwear (which is not okay since he is a child and they are mockingly confronting him on this to use his elongated nose).

Going back to our favourite ogre princess, the plot of the third movie has her staying back home while Shrek goes to find a heir for the kingdom's throne and overcome his parenthood anxiety. However, the Charming Prince she was supposed to marry on the second movie comes back and takes the kingdom during her baby shower. We get to see her starting a princesses' escape and fight evil goons while being pregnant, but I think se was kind of separated from the main plot so Shrek could come to her rescue again at the end, which is why this is the least interesting movie in the franchise.

The fourth movie does the "Its a Wonderful Life" thing where an unsatisfied Shrek goes to an alternate reality in which he has never been born. The version of Fiona we see there is a warrior, the leader of the ogre resistance to Rumpelstilskin tyrannical rule. She rescued herself from the tower she was locked in in the first film and it's implied she still becomes human by day and does some reconnaisance, but she is fully accepted among the ogres. Although she's got her own revolution going on, her whole arc is learning to trust Shrek so he can learn to not give her for granted once he comes back to his reality, which kind of undermines the whole revolutionary leader thing.

Still, drawing my own transgender parallel, the difference between this two realities in how ogres are treated can be seen as the difference in how real world countries treat the LGBTQ+ community. Main timeline Shrek and Fiona are more or less respected because they had a chance to fight for their rights as well as the privilege given to Fiona for being a princess. Resistance leader Fiona never had a chance to convince her powerful parents to respect her identity as an ogre because they lost their kingdom to Rumpelstilskin, who then started hunting down ogres, forcing them into hiding away from the rest of society. That's the present many queer people around the world have to live, the past those who live free can't forget and the possible future we'll never stop fearing.

This took a pretty dark turn so let's ask ourselves "what if Fiona was actually trans?" Well, if Fiona was a transgender male ogre, the plot would be essentially the same except the pregnancy in the third movie would be replaced by an adoption waiting list and the transformation in the second movie would be a metaphor for detransitioning out of family pressure. Also, male ogre Fiona (Finn?) would wear lumberjack shirts and his alternate reality version would cosplay Braveheart.

If Fiona was a transgender female ogre, though, the plot would be radically different. I think she would still dress as a princess when she was in human male form and there would be jokes similars to those on the Ugly Stepsister (oh, I forgot about her and her deep voice, she's "ugly" because she's got masculine traits, so funny 😒) but with some sort of catharsis once she becomes permanently an ogress. I guess Farquad would be extra rude to her but she would still think she had to marry him to break the curse, then Shrek confesses her love, enter the dragon and I'm a believer. I guess Prince Charming would still try to marry a remasculinized Fiona in the second film (come on, he's a queer coded villain) and, for sure, the king would still try to fool her to do it. The third and fourth movie wouldn't change much, as Fiona's past human form is irrelevant in the third and she never appears in human form in the fourth. Maybe her daylight human male form would be a more obvious parallel of how trans women have to go on boymode to survive.

To finish this already too long tirade, I just want to add that the idea of Fiona's true form seems to be fluid. Had the hero of the story been a human peasant, she would probably still stay a pretty normative princess, even if he accepted her as an ogre, like a gender reversed Beauty and the Beast. I love that they didn't go for that ending.

[appropriatelystupid]

So obviously there’s Supercorp in medieval times AUs

(trust and believe I’ve read and loved every single one they never get old)

But what about a Supercorp at Medieval Times AU…

Lena, is the reigning Queen:

She started working there in high school because she needed an excuse to get out of the house and because she knew Lillian would frown upon such an establishment

(She stayed because the joy of the kids that come through is just too sweet a high)

Lena started as a serving girl, entry level and easy enough, but quickly set her eyes on the prize: The Throne

The Queen at the time, an undeniably irritating woman, Siobhan, makes it almost too easy for Lena to usurp her

Siobhan has multiple reviews from guests for her lackluster performance, as well as numerous complaints from coworkers for being a menace to work with

In the end, Siobhan all but hands Lena everything she needs

Siobhan is late for the start of the dinner show, on a busy Friday

Lena isn’t the one to find her, but, if pressed, she’ll admit to making sure the manager was

The show needs to get started but they absolutely will be having a conversation later about the fact that she was just caught fucking one of the squires in her changing room

(It does not go her way)

Suddenly the Throne is open and there’s another show tomorrow and the manager is scrambling because how will we find a queen in less than a day

And so Lena makes her move; stops by the manager’s office and offers to cover the role until they can find someone permanent; she knows the show from watching it everyday and, best of all, she already fits the current wardrobe

And so her reign begins

Kara, is determined to be a Knight:

She starts about a month after Lena becomes Queen

Her best friend, Winn, a jester who does a pre-show act as people are being seated, gets her an interview to be a stable hand

A lifetime of riding horses makes her more than qualified

Kara is feeding one of the horses the first time she sees Lena, already dressed for the dinner show

(She almost loses a finger in her distraction)

They don’t get a chance to talk for a few days, as far as Kara can tell Lena is pretty aloof and unsociable

It’s two days later when Kara finds Lena grooming one of the horses after a show and she finds out that it’s just been a bad week for Lena

In addition to some personal family stuff, the knights in the show have all, at one time or another, tried to ask her out and a couple really don’t know how to take “no” for an answer

After seeing her work with the horse, Kara tells her she’s always welcome in the stables with her

She wields her broom like a sword, promises to protect her from any and all unsavory knights, and finishes with a deep bow in hopes of making her crack a smile

She gets a deep belly laugh, head thrown back and cheeks dusted pink, and a smile that almost blinds her instead

She feels her heart trip over itself in her chest and knows she must become a knight so she can at least pretend to fight for the love of this incredible woman

A few months into working there, Lena catches her practicing with a sword between shows

A few too many call outs meant someone was needed to polish the gear and Kara got distracted™️

Lena just picks up a sword of her own, with an elaborate flourish, and they spend half of their lunch break having a duel

Both are very impressed by the others swordsmanship and also very turned on by the whole thing

They both keep that bit to themselves

Lena starts plotting her next show shake up

A few months later, there’s drama™️ in the arena during the knights practice jousts, which is to say, Morgan is in a huff because Lena turned him down, again, and Maxwell can’t help but taunt him by bragging that she’ll “totally say yes" to him when he asks again

Mike and James try to calm them both down but Morgan’s horse gets spooked and throws him off

He doesn’t break anything but the way he’s whimpering you’d think he did; either way he can’t perform that night

Before the manager can start to panic, Lena suggests Kara take Morgan’s spot for the night

He’s hesitant about putting a female in the role but his options are limited with their back up on vacation

Kara is shocked that Lena suggests her but quickly jumps to her own defense

It’s already known she’s great on a horse, and her time working with them (and in the gym) mean that Morgan’s gear will work well enough for her to be comfortable and still in control

It’s too close to the doors opening for anything else so Kara dons the armor (and if she can’t stop smiling well then that’s just too bad for everyone else because she’s ecstatic)

As they gather to determine the winner for that night’s show, Lena looks almost as excited for her as Kara is

The Queen and her four Knights gather around and Lena blindly draws a beanbag from the dark box in front of them: Red will be winning tonight

She replaces the bag and mixes them up a bit before the knights all draw their own

Kara draws blue; Lena thinks it’s fitting for her first show, considering how bright her blue eyes are shining in excitement, even if it means she’ll be coming in second that night

Mike gets red and all Lena can think is at least it’s not Maxwell again

The show goes better than most have in weeks

Kara’s joy is palpable and the Blue section is, at times, deafening

Even though she comes in second, when Kara removes her helmet and reveals herself to the crowd, the entire arena erupts

Lena, from her place on the throne, can see little kids all over the crowd in awe of her

(Shortly after Lena had become Queen, she had suggested adding a sort of meet and greet after the shows, a chance for the younger kids to meet their heroes of the night

As is her own custom, Lena is with the winning Knight, seeing as they had just fought for her hand, after all)

Most nights the knights are greeted by kids from their own section, but tonight, from where Lena is standing with Mike, she can see kids in crowns from all the sections eager to meet Kara

Kara, absolutely cannot stop beaming and is told more than a few times that she needs to make her interactions quicker

(She does not go quicker)

When she finally does get through all the guests waiting for her, the manager offers Kara the role permanently

Morgan had quit when he heard Kara was replacing him and there’s no denying the popularity of her as a knight

It feels like an eternity (it’s been two weeks) before Kara finally draws the winning color for the night: Green

She thinks it’s fitting, just like Lena’s eyes as it were

Lena, for her part tries desperately to not show how excited she is that Kara will finally be her winning Knight

The show goes exactly as it always does, everything running without a hitch, but Kara can’t help but be a nervous wreck as they get to the end

She has the flower crown in hand, she knows what comes next but she can’t help but feel jittery in her saddle

She knows she needs to trot past her section in victory

She knows she needs to ride to Lena in the Royal Box

She knows she needs to place the flowers on her head and crown her the “Queen of Love and Beauty”

She knows Lena thanks her winning Knight with a kiss on the cheek

She knows all of this but she didn’t know ya know

She finds she’s distinctly unprepared for Lena’s face to be anywhere near her face

All Kara can do as she approaches Lena is hope desperately that she doesn’t look as nervous about a kiss on the cheek as she feels

(Alex never let’s her live it down after she hears the story)

Kara stops her horse next to the Royal Box as Lena rises to greet her

She’s sure it’s a trick of the lights that showed a flash of nerves across Lena’s face as well

Kara can feel her hands shaking as she places the crown on Lena’s head; she’s shocked her horse hasn’t picked up on her nerves as well

It’s only when Lena’s lips finally make contact with her cheek, close enough to the corner of her mouth to be felt, that Kara realizes she hasn’t been breathing

Kara sees the nerves clearly now, as Lena straightens back up to finish the show, so she does the only thing she can think to do in front of a packed arena

She catches Lena’s hand off the railing that separates them and plants her lips firmly to the back of it, blue eyes locked on Lena’s own green

The smiles they send each other would outshine the sun if given the chance before Lena shakes herself out of her daze to finally actually finish the show

After the show, after greeting the guests with their hands as good as glued together, they finally get back to their shared changing room

(An unexpected blessing and curse once there were two females needing a place to change for the shows)

Lena is barely in the door before she’s very much pinned against it by her very happy and very beautiful knight

They don’t outright tell anyone about the shift between them

James is the first to realize that when Kara wins, the kisses get closer and closer to real; he catches them both after a show and gives them a quick “congrats” and a wink before heading to change

Mike doesn’t clock onto the difference for when Kara wins but when he eventually finds out they’re dating he gives them a “right on” and high fives them both

Maxwell doesn’t notice anything because he doesn’t pay attention to parts of the show that don’t involve him; they very pointedly tell him absolutely nothing about themselves

If this was a real story and not me stream-of-consciousness-ing then Nia and Brainy would work at the gift shop

Also this is how I pictured Lena for the entirety of this:

[k3lynn]

mine — katsuki bakugou

yandere! katsuki bakugou x reader

cw: yandere au, 3rd year bakugou, violence, reader got female genitalia, anger, off-“screen” murder, mention of (minor) character death, blood, lucidness, possessiveness, degradation, manipulation, stalking, threats, masturbation, implication of sex, swearing, assault, narcissism, horror, slightly delusional katsuki, panic attack, non con, mention of suicide

- I do not condone any of the behavior here, nor do I try to romanticize it. (definition: make it seem like a good thing) any future/current dark fics are purely for entertainment purposes. Also, I don’t think bakugou would EVER do this- I’m just using some dark traits he used to have and twisting them to fit this situation. Not completely proof read and edited, I am exhausted right now I’m sorry. I say some mean things about some characters but I don’t mean it 💗

words: 1.8k

𝙱𝙰𝙲𝙺 𝚃𝙾 𝙱𝙽𝙷𝙰 𝙼𝙰𝚂𝚃𝙴𝚁𝙻𝙸𝚂𝚃 // 𝙱𝙰𝙲𝙺 𝚃𝙾 𝚈𝙰𝙽𝙳𝙴𝚁𝙴 𝙼𝙰𝚂𝚃𝙴𝚁𝙻𝙸𝚂𝚃

Look at me.

Look at me.

Look at me.

Look at me.

Look at me.

WHY WON’T YOU LOOK AT ME.

Poor little Y/N. You’ve caught the Big Bad Wolf’s attention. Ready to snatch you up and drag you into the deepest parts of the forest where no one will ever find you.

You’ll be all mine, and I’ll be the only thing you’ll ever have to see again.

You’ve been in the same class for 3 years now- and all he had to show for it is an occasional wave, and a shy little “Hi Bakugou” every morning that made his heart leap out of his chest.

Enough for most, but not for him.

In turn, he would tsk. Facing away and setting his head down on the desk- attempting to hide the roaring blush adorning his cheeks and the subtle shuffling in his pants- the way your voice alone could make his balls tighten in need.

Still- you give him merely a glance. He is always around you, but your attention is given to someone else.

Any extra would overlook his grumbling for typical-Katsuki doing his own thing. In reality, he’s holding himself back from snapping and taking you by force.

He wants you to come to him.

You have no reason not to. He’s perfect. Probably the best student to ever enter U.A. High, and on path to become the best pro hero to ever graduate from it.

Coming first in both the Entrance Exams AND the sports festival- a victory he still denies, holding some of the highest grades in class- 3rd only to some geek girl he could easily out-rank in combat and that shitty half n’ half. Even perceptiveness, intellect, and determination that can rival dumb Deku.

He even possesses great skills in cooking and music- Katsuki is a natural-born genius. Anybody who isn’t conscious towards his incredible talents might as well be living under a rock-

Unbeknownst to you, he’s giving you the generous chance to decide when you’ll be his. But his patience wears thinner every day.

It would have only taken a second to turn around in your seat and notice his piercing red eyes glaring at the back of your head.

So why don’t you notice me.

-

He doesn’t understand why it’s you he obsesses about. He can’t even remember when this whole mess started.

He tried denying his feelings. But quickly- they built up and festered inside him, begging to come out. Love, possessiveness, same thing.

Whether it be watching your twist and turn in the obstacle course- then running to the nearest bathroom to furiously grip his cock.

Snatching your chapstick when you’re not looking and rubbing it all around his own lips- imagining that’s what your lips would taste like if you just kissed him-

Restraining you during combat training by wrapping his arms around you- squeezing your breast a little more than necessary. Pinning you to the floor until you admit defeat.

Or even sneaking into your dorm while you’re in the shower to grab a new pair of panties from your dirty laundry, adding it to the stash he keeps hidden under his bed.

Stalking you. Keeping you close at all times without you even knowing it.

Indeed, he knows he’s a sick and twisted human being.

But by now he hardly cares- he’s worked too hard to ever even imagine of changing his perfect target. Nobody is more deserving of you than him.

So if he has to confront, threaten, and beat every single person in this stupid school to monopolize you for himself- he gladly will. Anyone who goes againts that is challenging him.

He scoffs anytime a boy approaches you- it’s well known around school that anyone who attempts to buddy up with you mysteriously ends up in a hospital room with no recollection of what happened. People even started seeing you as a sign of bad luck.

He’s nice enough to allow you some friends though. But only ones who will guarantee you’ll be around him as much as possible.

So you sit with him, Kirishima, racoon eyes, dunce face, and tape boy in lunch. No one else. Right in front of him.

You’re chatting away with Mina, but unusually, something special came up in conversation.

He always stays focused on his lunch- switching between listening in and day dreaming about bending you over the lunch table and grinding on your ass-

Katsuki’s stomach dropped. His eyes widened- what did Mina just say?

There’s a boy in the management department, a quirkless 2nd year nobody smart enough to somehow get into U.A.

And he asked you out on a date after school.

Shit.

No.

No no no no-

No- this isn’t how it’s supposed to-

My throat burns.

When did he- when did you-

You’re going to say no, right?

I cant breathe.

You don’t like anyone- I know this

I know everything about you- I-

My chest hurts-

You’re mine.

And if he thinks I’ll share then I’ll-

“Mina stop being so loud please...” your delicate little voice whispered.

The rest of the table already took notice of what was going on- bombarding you with questions that made you flustered.

“Woah woah- Y/n, what’s your answer?” dunce face peeps out, Bakugou swore he could smack that grin off his face right then and there.

Katsuki turns to look at you again- a chill traveling down his spine once he made eye contact, but your stare quickly fell to the floor.

“I’m not sure yet- probably not.. ha.” You shrugged- a light pink dusting over your cheeks. The others, satisfied, dismiss the topic.

Had it have been anybody else observing, they wouldn’t have thought much of it. But Katsuki knows you like the back of his hand. Successfully deceiving him would be harder than taking down All For One.

You’re lying... aren’t you? In front of him too- All because of this quirkless fucking loser-

Katsuki hates lies.

.

.

.

I’m going to kill him.

-

The walk back to your dorm was disappointing to say the least. But you can’t expect someone to be in the best of moods when they’ve been stood up.

You almost couldn’t believe it either- he had seemed so kind and genuine that you stood there for an extra 2 hours. But that’s your luck with boys-

‘I hope you got a good laugh out of it, jerk.’ You huffed before inserting the key into your rooms lock.

Turning on the lights, you allow your eyes to adjust for a moment before stepping inside and walking to your desk.

“You were waiting for that jackass for so long I almost started thinking you would never come back...”

You let out a startled cry before dropping your keys and whirling around in a flash- recognizing Katsuki’s back as he slowly closes the door.

“Bakugou? Why are you-“

“was he really that special.”

“What do you mean was....“ It’s then you noticed the blood dripping down his arms and hands- your door decorated with the same shade of crimson.

“oh my god.. Bakugou,”

That’s why the poor boy never showed up.

You knew about Katsuki’s “little” crush on you for a while now. His stares weren’t exactly the most subtle after all-

You found his uncertainty adorable, heck, a part of you was waiting for him to confess. But you would have never imagined his infatuation went this far.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. He’ll never love you as much as I do.”

He lifts his head, and your eyes meet his. Bloodshot- as if he’d been crying, but the evident smirk on his face showed nothing but pure malice.

“Not that he’ll ever get the chance to anyways”

He’s too fast, too close to the door, he has all the advantage in this situation. But you have to try. You have to leave this room at this very moment or you may never make it out alive. There’s no reasoning with him.

You clutch your heart. He steps forward, and you instinctively bolt to the door.

A few easy moves and he has you pinned by the neck on the ground, legs bent and used to hold your arms from jerking too much. His free hand is outstretched, creating small explosions that made you automatically stiffen your movement.

“Bakugou please- I won’t ever tell anyone, we can forget about this and I’ll pretend it neve-“

“I don’t need you to be quiet. I’m the boy who rejected a direct offer from the League of Villains, one of the best students in U.A. high- even if you do rat me out, they’ll never believe you...”

His grip on your neck tightened- nails cutting through skin and little droplets of blood start showing up. His hand starts heating up and a panic courses through your veins.

“I’ll kill you before they even begin to suspect me.”

Choked sobs escape your lips from the pain and fear surging through your body- “I- I thought you said you lo-loved me.”

“I do... that’s why you’ll be mine forever.”

He leaned down, low enough for you to feel his warm breath- then used his tongue to sadistically lick off the tears running down your cheek, a salty but satisfying flavor entering his mouth.

“In this life, and the next. It’s up to you when we see the later.”

You nod, hoping he relaxes the pressure on your neck. His face softens, something you swore you would never see in Bakugou. He releases his hold.

“You made me mess up your neck, next time don’t be so mean.”

He tilted your chin up, observing the scratches and bruises littered all around it. As soon as he determines there’s no serious injury, he picks you up to lay you on your bed. Climbing in next to you and wrapping an arm around your hips.

“Couples cuddle like this all the time don’t they.”

You gave him silence, although he didn’t mind. With one glare he had you shuffling to move closer to his chest.

“they also kiss.”

You know that right now, there’s no point in fighting. So you give in to what he wants in hopes that one day, you’ll break free from the hold he secretly had on you for so long. You’ll play along. You’ll survive.

You shudder as his hands reach to cradle your cheek, wiping the blood of the boy all over it. He loved it. It proved he won. He gave a light kiss to your lips before attacking your neck, set on putting a new type of bruise on you.

“You should start calling me Katsuki.”

“Ka- Katsuki.” You barely managed to whimper out.

He caresses your hair, cooing soft whispers into your ear in an attempt to calm your sniffling. An action you would have seen as sweet if it weren’t for the constant threat of death over your shoulder.

Your breath hitches in horror as you feel his warm hands trail down your body, gripping your smooth inner thigh before delicately starting to drag his fingers up.

“You know...

You silently beg for him to stop.

“There’s one more thing couples do.”

-if anyone is interested- should I make a part 2? (Future edit, I’m not satisfied with this, I might end up rewriting in the future)

© 2021 k3lynn, do not modify or repost without permission

[jawabear]

Marcus Moreno NSFW Alphabet

Not my GIF

A/N: You know I had to write one for this boy. It would be wrong not too. As with the others, these are just my interpretations of his character and may differ to yours, but please be respectful of others’ views. Hope you enjoy. Sorry for any mistakes. Stay safe.

Genre: smut

Warnings: fem!hero!reader, mentions of sex, but nothing explicitly described, Pedro Pascal comes with his own warning

Summary: An A-Z of Marcus Moreno’s bedroom antics...

A = Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

Marcus is such a kind man. He’ll make sure you’re okay. And he’ll make sure you don’t need anything before pulling you into his arms if you’re in bed. If you’re else were, he’ll still make sure you’re alright, making you look perfect before you get to where ever you’re meant to be.

B = Body part (Their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

On you, he finds your neck irresistible. Other than your lips, it’s his favourite thing to kiss. He loves to mark it with bites that show everyone you belong to him. He loves to bury his face into your neck while he fucks you, he loves the way your fingers feel in his hair when he does.

On him, he’s rather fond of his arms and his tights (so am I). Mainly because he likes it when you grip his arms when he fucks you, and he loves when you ride his thighs. It’s one of his favourite things, and you always seem to enjoy yourself when you make yourself come on his thighs.

C = Cum (Anything to do with cum basically… I’m a disgusting person)

He loves to come on you. Over your breasts, your stomach...

And he loves to come in your mouth, he loves to see you swallow his come.

D = Dirty Secret (Pretty self-explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Before you two got together, and after his wife died, he would find him self in need of release. And being one of Heroics as well, there were many clips of you online doing awesome super hero things. He loved watching those. He loved watching the way you moved. The way your muscles flexed. The way you beat up the bad guys so effortlessly. And it was so sexy. He’d watch them in the dead of night while getting himself off. But he doesn’t know if he should ever tell you, because it is a little weird.

E = Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

I mean, he’s got a kid. Clearly he knows what he’s doing.

He certainly does know what he’s doing. He knows where exactly to touch you to make you feel good before you even know.

F = Favourite Position (This goes without saying. Will probably include a visual)

He’s a big fan of the classic missionary because he can see your face and kiss you as well as being able to hold your hands which is a big thing that he likes to do.

He also loves when you are on top. Riding him, facing him or not or riding his thighs. He also loves 69......

G = Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

He can be more funny then serious depending on his mood and the circumstances for the sex. He likes to enjoy it and wants to make sure you are enjoying it as well so if he needs to make you laugh he will. But he is mostly serious when it comes to sex.

H = Hair (How well groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

He’s pretty neat down there. It seems he takes more care of his hair down there than he does on his face or his head.

I = Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

Marcus is a very romantic person. He wants to make sure you are happy. He wants to make sure you know how much he loves and worships you. So he will do whatever he can to put those points across to you as he makes love to you. This would usually be by kissing you for an extended amount of time or just simply telling you how much he loves and adores you.

J = Jack Off (Masturbation headcanon)

As stated before, in the time he was on his own, he would jack off quite a lot at night or in the shower (mostly to the thought of you). But now, less so. He’ll still do it on the odd occasion, say if your out on hero business, but you’re usually there to help him out if he needs it.

K = Kink (One or more of their kinks)

He wants to be your hero. So he’s a big fan of role play. He loves when you decided to put yourself “in danger” for him to have to come and rescue you. Or you acting as someone who is evil and he has to stop you...and punish you.

And he has a slight weapons kink. He would never hurt you with the blade but something about seeing you with his katanas and nothing else drives him mad.

And I’m not saying he has a daddy kink, but I wouldn’t put it past him....

L = Location (Favourite places to do the do)

Bedroom. Or the shower. He doesn’t really have a preference between the two. But he’ll go anywhere as long as you are comfortable and happy.

M = Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

A lot of things came get him going. The main ones being when you are in your hero uniform or when your fingers with lightly brush over any part of him.

But mostly the uniform. Definitely the uniform. Yours or his....

N = NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn-offs)

As much as he loves the role play and the weapons, he’d never actually use it to draw blood or cause you any sort of discomfort.

And he wouldn’t want to have sex in a public setting where people could see. He’s not so much against say touching you under the table or what ever, but if it came down to him having to fuck you in front of someone he wouldn’t do it.

O = Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

Marcus loves to be between your legs. He’ll eat you out at any given moment. He’s all about pleasing you. And he loves the way you squeak, moan and whimper as he eats you. As well as the way you grab at him to hold his head closer to you.

But he’s an absolute sucker for you sucking him off. As mentioned, he loves to watch you swallow his come. And he loves the feeling of your mouth and tongue on him. You can easily turn him into mush the second your tongue touches his dick.

P = Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

He’s kind of in the middle. He can be both extremes (favouring slow and sensual) but he falls some where in between. He’s not exactly slow, but he’s not exactly fast. But somehow it’s the perfect balance that gives you the best orgasms of your life.

Q = Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

He’s not too against them. Sometimes that’s what it will have to be, what with his job and Missy being around.

Sometimes it will have to be a quick fuck in the supply cupboard at HQ. Or a quick one in the kitchen before Missy comes down for breakfast.

But he much prefers to take his time with you.

R = Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

He used to risk his life every day fighting the dangers of the world, and that mentality does transfer to the bedroom.

If you want to try something, he’ll do it. Unless it’s super dangerous or really really risky.

S = Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

He’s not a young as he used to be so he can’t go for that many rounds. In a row that is. If you spaced them out over the days he could got for quite a few. But in a row he’s good for about two.

T = Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

He’s never really needed them so he’s never really owned any. But when you brought your trusty little purple vibrator to the party, he grew embarrassingly fond of it. He loves to watch you use it on yourself and he loves using it on you while he eats you out, making you scream. And he likes it when you use it on him, teasing him with it or taking him all the way.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He not necessarily a tease with actions, more with faces or words. He’ll constantly be whispering dirty things into your ear whenever he gets the chance and he’ll send you sexy looks or winks from across the room. He’s very good at getting you worked up with our having to touch you.

V = Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

With Missy in the house, it’s very much hush hush. For multiple reasons that are pretty obvious. But when she’s gone, he doesn’t hold back. He lets out every sound he had to hold in. He’s not exactly loud, he just makes a lot of noises. But they’re amazing to listen too.

W = Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

Marcus does find it difficult to make the first move. Even when he does, when just charges at you or something, he will always backtrack or stop to ask you if you want it. You will always want him and you’ve told him that on many occasions but it doesn’t seem to stick in his head. He’s just too sweet to let the beast inside him run free for once.

X = X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants, picture or words)

He’s pretty decent. He’s longer than he is thick but he’s perfect for you.

Y = Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

To be fair, it’s not all that high. He has a lot on his plate and sex is usually quite far down the list. He’s so busy all the time that he barely even has time for sex. Which is kind of sad and annoying for both you and him, but most of the time you’re pretty busy as well.

Z = ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterward)

His mind never stops so he finds it difficult to sleep full stop. But sex always seems to relax him enough to make him feel comfortable in getting some sleep. But he is a very light sleeper. And he won’t fall asleep until he has checked you are okay and he’s given the house a once over to make sure everything was locked and everything was where it should be. He’ll take a quick peek into Missy’s room to make sure she is okay before he comes back to bed and eventually falls asleep with you wrapped in his arms.

28/12/20

Taglist: @linkpk88​

[godofsexdrugsandrocknroll]

Green Lantern Jaune!AU

*In the middle of the Fall of Beacon*

Jaune: *To Cinder* In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night--

Cinder: *Hopped up on her ego* Really? This is the best you have, Nikos? A cheat who’s read too much manga?

Pyrrha: *Staring in horror*

Jaune: --No Evil Shall Escape My Sight!

Cinder: *Rolls her eyes, aims arrow at Jaune instead*

Jaune: Let Those Who Worship Evil’s Might, Beware My Power--

Cinder: *Shoots arrow*

Jaune: Green Lantern’s Light!

*A flash of green and Jaune’s wearing Alan Scott’s Kingdom Come Green Lantern suit*

Cinder: What!?

Pyrrha: *Gapes*

Cinder’s Arrow: *Disintegrates*

Jaune: Don’t worry Pyrrha, I got this!

-----------------

Jacques Schnee: *Blinded by Jaune’s transformation* What the devil!?

Weiss: *Sees her chance, kicks her father in the groin* That dolt, what does he think he’s doing? *Worriedly, poorly mimicking Jaune’s voice* ‘Oh no, I can’t do that Snow Angel, it’s bad enough I let you know but Remnant’s nowhere near ready for the attention of the rest of the galaxy!’ How is transforming in front of all of Vale supposed to be keeping that a secret!? *Stalks off worriedly in Jaune’s direction*

Jacques Schnee: *Rolls on the ground in agony*

-----------------

Blake: *Stemming Yang’s bleeding* I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so--

*Jaune transforms, Blake yelps*

Blake: *Gapes at the barely visible figure of Jaune* W-what!? Jaune’s the Emerald Knight!?

Yang: *Waking, weakly* B-Blake?

Blake: *Still stunned but realizes she can’t run now, not with Yang looking like at her like that*

----------------- 

Adam Taurus: *Seething in apocalyptic fury* You again. You bastard, you just won’t stop interfering where you don’t belong!

White Fang Grunt: *Terrified of the emerald glow* Sir? What do we do? The last time we fought the Emerald Knight he nearly killed you.

Adam Taurus: *Audibly grinds teeth* We retreat.

White Fang Grunt: Sir!?

Adam Taurus: Don't make me repeat myself. We retreat. The only way we live to fight another day is if we live and that accursed blight on faunuskind won’t hesitate to kill our brothers and sisters in droves if we fight him now!

----------------- 

Nora: --EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ren: *Sighs in defeat*

Nora: *Stops, cackling maniacally* If fearless leader’s a superhero then that means we are too, Renny! *Pink electricity crackles, Nora’s eyes begin glowing pink* Call me Thundermaiden! *Lifts Magnhild*

Worried Beowolf: Aroo?

----------------- 

Velvet: *Breathes* Bloody rippa.

----------------- 

Coco: *Lips pressed together, exhales explosively* Nine out of ten. That armor is sleek, aesthetically pleasing from any angle, those pauldrons are just muah and if Arc had been born with just one more X chromosome I’d have my head buried in his thighs and he’d be screaming my name for that fucking cape. *Sighs wistfully*

Neptune: *To himself* Oh yeah, because now’s the time for a boner.

Reese Chloris: *Zipping about* Maybe focus on the badass armor later, cause if you haven’t noticed-- *Is cut off by the roar of Coco’s minigun*

Coco: Yeah, yeah.

----------------- 

Emerald: Get back here you traitorous coward!

Mercury: *Running away* Nope, fuck that! My old man fought the Emerald Knight last year, got his ass whooped up and down the Purple River and the Emerald Knight just straight up disappeared the fucker! Not only is fighting that dude suicide but I owe him one!

Emerald: You traitor! How dare you turn your back on Cinder, after all she’s done for you!

Mercury: *Rolls his eyes, kicks a Beringel at a now shrieking Emerald* Cinder offers me the chance to kill my old man. Emerald Knight wipes him off the face of Remnant. And these are the people I worked with.

----------------- 

Ruby: Pyrrha, don’t worry, I’m holy guacamole with a side of chips. *Stares at Jaune in awe* OMIGOSH YOUR ARMOR IS SO COOL!

Cinder: *Incoherent screaming*

Ruby: *Gasps at Jaune’s massive emerald longsword* Th-th-th-th-- *Goes into a pitch only dogs can hear*

Jaune: *Cuts through two more of Cinder’s swords, creates a massive riot shield to block fire* Like Crocea Mors, Rubes? *Ruby shatters glass with her voice* Just a bit of my power. Alright, enough of you.

Cinder: You dare!? I am the Fall Maiden and I will have your girlfriend’s soul!

Jaune: Uh, Weiss is nowhere near--

Pyrrha: *Slumps, mutters* Thank you for reminding me Jaune, I had almost forgotten.

Jaune: You say something Pyr?

Cinder: *Flabbergasted* Then why!? Why stand in my path!? This will only end one way, you cheat! You’re a nobody! Nothing you have can stand before the powers of the Maidens! Not your strange aura or your paltry armor!

Jaune: Because. Pyrrha’s my friend. *Pyrrha gets teary eyed*  It's not about where you were born or the powers you have or what you wear on your chest; it's about what you do. It’s about your actions. And I refuse to let innocent people be hurt in your lust for power! *Disappears Crocea Mors, creates heavy shackle constructs on Cinder and a muzzle construct over her mouth* And you’re right. The Guardians of Oa will be your judgment.

Cinder: *Wide eyed, stunned at her immediate defeat*

Ruby: *Gapes, is inspired by his words*

Pyrrha: *Stunned, happy to be alive, touched*

Weiss: *Arrives* Our hero. *Smiles* So much for secrecy, huh?

Jaune: *Sheepishly* Heh, yeah. Not sure Remnant’s really ready for the Corps. and all that comes with it but no way could I call myself a Lantern if I let Pyro Lady here get her way.

Weiss: *Haughtily* Yes, quite. *Smiles cheerfully* Well the good news is you seem to have given the others a second wind. *Gestures, strokes Jaune’s cheek*

Jaune: *Stares blankly as Huntsmen and Huntress tear through Grimm like they’re barely there, sees retreating White Fang and Atlas making arrests, mowing down Grimm; Grins* All in a--

Grimm Dragon: *Roars*

Cinder: *Eyes widen in glee*

Weiss: *Clutches Jaune’s side, aims Myrtenaster*

Jaune: AAAHHH! DRAGON! Trust in instincts!

*Giant green penis construct forms above the Dragon and slams down onto it, crushing the body*

Cinder: *Goes into catatonic shock*

Jaune: *Ignores Weiss pounding on his chest as she blushes furiously* Instincts bad!

Grimm Dragon: *Dies feeling oddly humiliated*

Weiss: Why!? Of all the things, why t-t-t-t-t-t-t-that!

Jaune: *Embarrassed, not making eye contact with a stunned Ruby or Pyrrha, defends himself* I didn’t hear you complaining last night when I made to-scale copies of Jaune Jr. so you could get spitroasted by your boyfriend! I *realizes what he just said* Oops.

Weiss: *Mortified beyond belief* I-I, you, n-no... *Sees gaping Ruby and Pyrrha, buries her face in his cape* H-he’s lying! I-I, noooo, I hate yoooooouuu!!!!!!

Jaune: I love you too, Snow Angel. *Blushes* Well, as far as official debuts go that could have been worse.

Winter: *Sounding angry and embarrassed as she stomps up the CCT stairs* W-Weiss, I’m well aware of how happy you are in your relationship but that is no reason to allow your boyfriend to advertise to the world in s-s-such lewd detail his p-p-p-his dingaling!

Yang: *Further down the stairs, sounding pained* BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Weiss: *Face is a tomato and she starts kicking an embarrassed Jaune’s armored shin*

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One: Look my Homelander avatar in the eyes and tell me Alan Scott’s armor in Kingdom Come wasn’t just made for a GL!Jaune story.

Two: Yes, that is a (very lightly) paraphrased Superman quote Jaune used.

Three: Instincts bad is a reference to a Spider-Man panel.

Four: Velvet is terribly accurate. My girlfriend is Australian and she uses ‘ripper’ regularly. It’s basically Australian for awesome.

[hopeless-ro-simptic]

Familiar Cerulean Eyes Pt. 3

Hear me out... Dabi is a fuck boi, Touya is a simp. I’m just saying. This part is Dabi’s point of view and the war that goes on in his brain when dealing with the feelings he has for Y/N. This one is a little shorter but I basically have the next part ready, I just need to tweak it a bit before posting so expect it soon.

Click here for a full list of other parts. Part 4 

Still no smut. It’s a slow burn <3 

Taglist:  @skzero-99 @superblyspeedydragon @jparra4587 @flyingowls @emrysaaryn @imuziawi @sheedaabee @peculiarinsomniac @littlelovebug98 @plutoneu @giftofwonder @kitty-kat-ash @fukyouthink @anarchys-bnha-mess

Word Count: 2 k 

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It had taken almost an hour for you to fall back asleep. Dabi played on his phone quietly, glancing over at you every so often, making snarky comments about how you were more than welcome to join him in the bed, which you had completely ignored.

Even though his alpha was begging him to pick your cute little ass up and force you into giving him attention, he resisted, knowing that would only freak you out more and would prolong the inevitable. At some point your resolve would cave. At some point you would reach out to him wanting the attention that only he could give you.

He also knew at some point you would come to the realization of who he was...

He had vowed to stay away from you, to let you move on with life, to let you have a chance at free will. But the moment he saw you in that market, with the Todoroki boy of all people, he couldn’t stop himself. He had naively thought that when he disappeared that Endevor would give up and let you go.  He didn’t think that he would just pass you along to his favorite son. His pride and joy. You were older than the half and half brat by several years. Sure you looked young, but that didn’t change the fact that you were already in your twenties and was following around a teenage alpha like a lost puppy dog.

Dabi was livid. He didn’t mean to start the fire, but the alpha inside took over and the next thing he knew, the little runt was running off to go be hero, leaving you behind unprotected and scared. Dumb kid, why would he leave something as precious as you, just to go deal with a stupid fire. You were even crying out for him, begging him to come back, and the damn runt didn’t even care. This isn’t at all the life that Dabi wanted for you, the whole reason he left was to protect you, and look what was happening instead.

So Dabi took you. He took you away from the Todoroki family like he should have done years ago.

Looking over at your sleeping form now, he hopped he made the right decision. He never wanted to get you tangled up in this kind of life. It was why he didn’t take you with him when he ran. Why he left you behind hoping that you would get to make something of your life that you actually wanted.

It was too late though, he couldn’t just back out of the league, and he didn’t want to. He strongly believed in what they stood for and he wanted to be apart of tearing down hero society as the world knew it. He wanted to be the one to bring Endevor down for all the pain and hurt he had caused the people that should have been the most important to him.

He paused, looking back over to you as a soft sigh escaped your lips. His Alpha was begging for release. He needed to get out of here, away from your tantalizing scent. Looking around the room he took stock of what all he had. He probably should get some more water, and he was almost out of cigarettes himself. He briefly wondered how you felt about smoking.. maybe he would quit if you asked. He made a mental list of things to pick up, maybe a couple things for you that would help you relax. He briefly wondered if (F/C) was still your favorite.  

He stood up, frowning as he realized how stupid it was of him to make you sleep in that crappy chair. He should move you over to the bed where you could be more comfortable. He shuffled over to you quietly not wanting to rouse you, attempting to slip his arms under you to pick you up. The soft groan of annoyance that slipped out between your lips had him pausing. You pushed at his chest insistently in your sleep, at one point kicking your leg out narrowly missing his crotch, grumbling to get the fuck off you and let you sleep. You sounded like you were scolding an annoying sibling that wouldn’t leave you alone. He rolled his eyes, grabbing the pillow off his bed and tucking it behind your head instead. He would just let you sleep there if you were going to start cussing at him.

Taking one last glance around the room to make sure everything was secure, he put on his mask that covered his lower half of his face, concealing his identity and closed the door behind him. Locking it.

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The little bell above the door chimed as Dabi stepped into the small store. He nodded his head at the beta that was working the register, she was a pretty blonde that had taken quite a liking to Dabi. He was pretty sure she had no clue who he actually was, but he didn’t think she would be surprised. The part of town they were in wasn’t known for being a particularly safe neighborhood.

Dabi meandered through the store isles, picking up what he needed and placing it into the tiny basket that the store provided. He glanced through the shampoo and soap collection… he was pretty sure most girls used conditioner for their hair. Should he get you one that was made for omegas? Or should he get the one that matches the shampoo he uses at home… it wouldn’t be as obvious if he got the one that matches his stuff… and he did love them smell of it on you.

He groaned softly, leaning his head on the top shelf in front of him. Why was he even thinking like this? He was acting like he was pussy whipped. He hadn’t been this considerate of another person in years. In fact, he regularly used girls just to get through his ruts and then would kick them out right after, not even bothering to hear their name. Never has he ever given a shit if they were comfortable or what they would enjoy. He hasn’t cared about any of that shit since he left you behind at that damned house. Yet the second you are back in his life he has his tail tucked between his legs ready to bend to your every whim. You didn’t even want anything to do with him. Fuck, you were literally following his little bro-, that stupid brat around like he was your world just this morning. Like you… actually wanted him. Maybe you did... or maybe the looks you used to give him were all just an act for self perseverance and you were just using the same tactic on the kid.

“What’s wrong handsome? Bad hair day?”

Dabi lazily glanced over to the beta greeting him, having left her stool at the checkout counter to come check on one of her favorite customers. Dabi knew the beta wanted his attention. She had mentioned it one too many times that she could handle a rut just as well as any omega. Hell, Dabi had been seriously considering taking her for a test drive before all of this happened. She was pretty, in a slutty kind of way, perky. He raked his eyes down her body, a frown tugging at his lips as he compared her to you. He preferred you.

“What? You don’t like what you see?” A pout was growing on her lips and Dabi internally rolled his eyes at her pitchy whine. She would never be able to get his mind off of you. It wasn’t worth it.

“Sorry babe. I’m just not feeling great.” This placated her slightly, enough so that she rolled her eyes before turning back to the counter to busy herself with work once more.

Dabi looked back at the selection in front of him, grabbing the matching conditioner to what he already had in shampoo.  He continued on with his shopping at a faster pace now, just wanting to get back to you, to your scent. He paused just before the counter, a collection of nesting blankets up on the wall in front of him of varying styles.

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Touya was on fire, but this time the fire wasn’t visible, and it wasn’t because of his quirk. His face was bright red as he stood in front of you, a crudely wrapped present in his hands, your F/C ribbon tied around it with a bow that was a little lopsided.

He had rushed into the kitchen where you and his mother Rei were working on putting together dinner after coming home late from training with his father. His mom had sent him a knowing smile, ruffling his hair to his annoyance, before excusing herself to another room leaving the two of you alone in the kitchen.

He was bursting with anxiety as he handed you the present, watching as you gingerly pulled one side of the ribbon letting it unravel, and pulling the wrapping apart to uncover the soft fur blanket that was bundled inside. The way that your face lit up, your cheeks turning as red as his own as you pulled the blanket out of the wrapping and up to your face to breathe in the smell that he had spent time making sure was covering the entire blanket made all his worries disappear. You liked it.

“I know, that this isn’t really the traditional way since… well you know.., but I wanted to get you something… I wanted to ask you to… if you wanted..” Touya was tripping over his words. Nothing seemed right. Nothing could explain the feelings he had for you, that he knew would only grow as you both reached presenting age, and not to mention maturity after that, he knew that this was only the beginning to what he had hoped would be a long life with you by his side. Even at such a young age, he knew you were it. 

You could feel it too, he thought. You were always so kind to him, even though his father had bought you with the sole purpose of being Touya’s omega just to breed your quirks once you were older. You had always cared for him in a way that was different than how his parents had cared for each other and the moments that you two stole away to be alone convinced Touya that maybe you would be okay with the life that you were forced to live, as long as he was there with you.

The smile that you gave him melted his heart and he smiled back as you nodded. You knew what he was trying to say, you always did.

About three day’s later, Endevor set that blanket up in flames. Belittling the small omega for messy nesting habits, the young alpha for wasting time on courting an omega he already owned.  

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Dabi shook his head, grabbing the blanket closest to him causing the beta at the counter to raise her eyebrows, throwing it up on the counter along with his basket of items. He quickly picked out his cigarettes, paying for the items and slipping out of the shop without another word. He wanted to get back to his Omega.

 Once he was back in his apartment, after confirming you were still indeed asleep, he went to work grumbling the whole time to himself about his omega like behavior, putting the items he bought away, the conditioner being slipped inconspicuously in the shower for later use if you wanted. He made quick work of cleaning up the small room of his apartment, even stopping to pick up his clothes and put them in the dirty hamper, along with yours that were discarded on the floor. He felt so restless, anxiously glancing over at the bag with the blanket in it every few minutes before he finally gave up and just spread the blanket across your lap not bothering to scent it. You would ask him if you wanted him to.

Finally, he collapsed onto his bed, peeling his hoodie off and balling it up to use it as a makeshift pillow. He probably should have grabbed a second one while he was out, but he didn’t think about it. He let his mind roam, tucking his arms behind his head as he stared at the ceiling breathing in your scent, a smirk coming to his lips as he relaxed from the smell. He didn’t need the help of some perky beta, not when he knew he could have you.

[justalotrgeek]

Let’s talk about Boromir...

So... Boromir... everyone kind of hates him at one point or another. But as you grow older, you start to realize... Boromir deserved better. And he’s pretty awesome. And pretty relatable.

Like, yeah, he comes across as this high-and-mighty-”Gondor-needs-no-King” buddy, but he’s, like, so pure?

His whole motivation for trying to take the Ring from Frodo (big mistake, one that could have cost the entire world) was not greed, but something more along the lines of why Sam DID take the Ring, or wanted to in the first place. Both of them wanted to be heros, yes, but the root of that was love for their people, for their plants, for what they know and love.

And let’s be honest, the Ring wasn’t helping one bit. Boromir felt alone the whole time he was with the Fellowship, let’s be real. He’s the one on the front lines of a war. He’s the one that’s a Captain-General (correct me if I’m wrong there). He has a little brother to worry about, a father who is giving into despair, and his mother died when he was little. He is looked up to by commoners and soldiers alike, a beacon of hope in a rapidly darkening world. He is in line for a Stewardship that he probably doesn’t want. He’s seen so much in his short 41 years.

Boromir journeys alone for 110 days, most on foot because he loses his horse, from Gondor to Rivendell. Upon arriving, he finds himself alone in the knowledge of the horrors of war. Rivendell is the last safe haven, and is filled with immortal elves who are wearying from the woes of the world. Mirkwood could not care less (except for Legolas, I guess) about the fate of the world as they are more worried about themselves. The hobbits, bless their hearts, do not know fear or pain or sorrow quite like Men do. The dwarves are stubborn and slow to trust those they do not know, let alone elves. Gandalf is mysterious and makes little sense most of the time, as he is also immortal and wise beyond the understanding of many. And Aragorn...

Well, having Aragorn introduced second-hand as the King of Gondor -- Gondor, who has not seen a King since TA 2050 (968 years is a long time, guys); Gondor, who had struggled alone; Gondor, who was losing hope, Gondor, who had only Steward-kings to look to since the line of Anárion and Isildur -- did not help in the slightest. Here is this rugged, silent man, and he is the supposed heir of Isildur, the one who will lead them to victory? All Boromir knows is that he was not there when they needed him. Boromir believes he has no knowledge of politics (which is more of his brother’s strong suit than his own, but he knows enough).

The Ring of Power is filled with malice, hate, and distrust. Every. Single. One. Of the Fellowship was struggling with the Ring weighing down on their minds. Every. One. Even the hobbits, whose connection with the power of Yavanna and nature protects them and warns them against evil, even the elves, the Eldar, the First Children of Eru, who flinch at evil, even the dwarves, who are firm and steadfast in truth as is their right because of Aüle, even Gandalf, who is Old, who is a servant of the Valar -- all of them feel it. And Men are the most susceptible.

The Ring sees their hearts, knows their situations, their love, their fear, and it does what it does best. It twists and turns and warps the truth until the Ring is the only solution. In our own lives, we grapple with good and evil, and sometimes the evil makes the good look bad. Boromir is no different than the rest of us. In his love for Gondor, his fear for Gondor, the Ring finds hold. And it grows and grows because Boromir is human. He does not see until it is too late what power the Ring has over him.

But Boromir does something few of us ever would. Even in his despair, his grief, his feelings of worthlessness and helplessness because he let the Ringbearer go, he attacked Frodo, he does not know, does not know, and it hurts; his guilt weighs him down, but he gets up and goes after the hobbits. He gets up and fights and fights and fights. And when Aragorn finds him, surrounded by dead orcs, barely breathing, Boromir apologizes once more, he tells Aragorn what happened to Merry and Pippin (saving their lives, I might add, and giving the broken Fellowship a reminder and a purpose), and apologizes again, saying he has failed.

Most of us would have given up hope because we made such an astronomical mistake. We would have believed, like Boromir, that there would be no redemption for us. Yet Boromir still keeps trying.

He knows in his heart that what he has done is unforgivable, that he if the quest fails it is his fault. But he gets up and tries to do what little he can to make it right. And in his eyes, it is not enough.

But Boromir’s actions redeem him, though he does not live to see it. Merry and Pippin live. Sam, Frodo, and Gollum destroy the Ring (and they all fail). Aragorn is crowned King, and the three remaining hunters are bonded for life. Middle Earth, Gondor, his home, his people, are all saved because of Boromir. And Pippin’s life, saved by Boromir’s actions, goes on to save Faramir, his little brother, who he loved more than the world.

Boromir should have lived. He should have been able to see the fulfillment of his redemption, a chance to see that it is okay, that he didn’t need feel guilty for so long, that he is loved worth every tear we shed for him. He, like us, fails. Really, each one of the characters in The Lord of the Rings fails. Some are redeemed at long last, some are redeemed through death, and some never find redemption or closure in their life time, or even at all.

But the lesson Boromir teaches us is to keep trying. Even when hope seems to be gone, even when you cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel, even when life does not make sense and what you have been asked to do seems impossible, you keep trying.

And in the end, though you may not live to see it, hope blossoms and blooms and light returns.

Your efforts are worth it. They are always worth it.