#i cannot believe these themes and this story is in an anime with a random creepy giraffe and a netherworld magic stage

[always-a-joyful-note]

Revue Starlight is just ORV but what if it was theatre instead and what if we told you that a tragedy can always be rewritten? What if the end of the story, the end of the play, your defeat onstage - what if all that doesn't mean everything is over because you can always make a new play, always become better, always rebuild the stage and stand on it again? What if there WAS death but what if rebirth was also possible?

What if this tragic tale that always ends the same had new actors, you know? How would they play it? How would they spin the story a different way? Will they try to outshine the past, outshine others? Or will they find their own unique brilliance instead and join the stars that shine in the night sky?

[maelihi]

Morbid Headcanons.

please please PLEASE do not read if you are sensitive to the following topics: sexual assault, drinking, pill abuse, hypersexuality, violence or graphic depictions of wounds and others- thank you. and stay safe <3

number one: (drug addiction and violence) balto has a pain pill addiction due to breaking his back in military school, and he gets addicted to them around his senior year of highschool. he doesn’t think much of it, until he injures his friend, and sends them to the hospital. this was a wake up call, and he went to a rehabilitation program.

number two: (sexual topics and child exposure) daniel is very cautious when it comes to sexual activity and encounters, since he was exposed to p*rn*graphy at a young age. this is related to a close story of mine, just to clarify. he often uses this soft mental state to cope with the fact that a lot of his earlier childhood memories are sometimes riddled with memories of the XXX tapes. like a more secretive way to age regress, and kind of feel calmer to a point.

number three: (child abuse and favoritism) further in life, garte ends up being an alcoholic and verbally and physically abused both vylad and zane. he would be pressuring garroth, but because of how garroth stood out, he was nervous that he would be caught as an abuser if garroth came out, since he would most likely be believed.

number four: (anger issues, abuse and discrimination) katelyn has severe, untreated anger issues, that harm both her and the people around her. she punches things, which injure her hands, and she kicks things, which caused her to permanently damage her foot. she also sometimes hurts people, such as travis, dante, and kawaii~chan. she’s also kind of ‘speciest’ towards werewolves, and would do many things offensive- (barking, saying ‘furry’ out loud, which i believe is the equivalent to a slur in aphs universe.)

number five: (stalking and implied assault) ein is incredibly stalker-ish. and he develops his whole personality around other people. he’s incredibly touchy, and back in his earlier days he wouldn’t take no for an answer. ever. this caused him to be outcasted. this kind of goes hand in hand with the idea that dottie, rylan, and daniel are also a bit clingy, and almost unaware of personal space and they are friends. (though in my au werewolves are very touchy, just in general.)

number six: (grooming and satanic themes) zenix. zenix was most likely in a way groomed by gene. in my au, gene was 18, and zenix was 14 when they met, and zenix was extremely religious, and was afraid of drugs and alcohol. gene came along and wanted a posse, a defense- and so zenix was one of who he chose, and he coerced him into a more satanic way of life and encouraged him to do substances, to be ‘cool’. (let it be known i have no problem with any religion, and everyone should be accepted <3)

number seven: (toxic relationships) in my au, ivan is transgender. his family was very against this, and were very horrible people. ivan then adopted a more stoic, masculine edge and personality, wanting to be threatening, and wanting people to fear him, respect him. he tried to be too controlling over lucinda, wanting to make her a kind of stay at home ‘lady’. and was very screamy when she was against it. ivan is a virgin, and very pissy about it.

number eight: (this one involves wounds and some limited gore) when aaron was very young, and because he was the ultima- he would have random bursts of anger, and aggression. and he would sometimes kill animals and tear them open, for the smell of blood, because he was unable to control himself. this caused him a great deal of pain, and caused him to be more desensitized to death later in life.

number nine: (desperation, homelessness and possessiveness) ein, jax and ryder are very possessive of one another, since ein took them in when ryder got kicked out for his behavior, and jax ran away from home. they are very toxic towards one another, and cannot be away from each other long, as it causes them distress.

number ten: (drug usage, juvie, and violence + gore) blaze was framed when someone put marijuana in his bag, causing him to go to juvie. while in there, not only did he end up actually smoking weed, he also got addicted to cigarettes. also while in prison is where he got the scar across his nose, where a kid ended up slicing his face over a pack of cigars. blaze is very shaky when in dangerous situations, since he has witnessed many injuries happen in juvie.

reminder: all of these are in some connection to me or my experiences. thank you and stay safe <3

[atotalpitch]

in line w your post about Insta caption; your headcanon about how each Bella uses emoji, what they post on social media and how they'd caption everything?

word count is 1,5k for this one who's surprised??? you genuinely cannot send me an ask and not get answer longer than the fics that i write sigh i kind of went off the rails a bit and forgot about the “how they’d caption everything” part of the question, but here’s a detailed rant of how each of them texts and uses social media:

Chloe: where do i even begin? i feel like she has auto-caps on and uses a shit ton of emojis, but for their actual purpose instead of ironically. she does not send a single text without At Least two hearts, and is definitely not a dry texter by any means. also, according to everyone she has ever been in contact with, she has a habit of sending ten texts in a row instead of just writing everything into one message, which is denied within four seconds of it being brought up. (“but it’s easier to read separate, short messages!” “it’s just how i would talk in real life, you know!”) she has two accounts on instagram, one which is public and one which is private. on the public one she posts aesthetically and has a theme which she strictly follows. the posts are mostly about cute animals she takes care of, or major events. private on the other hand? it basically contains her Entire life – all ups and downs included – and a shit ton of random pictures of Beca. it’s only followed by the Bellas and some of her closest family. twitter, facebook and tiktok (which she would never admit to having) are on a different level. what that implies is very much up for interpretation. she’s one of those pinterest users, and has a board for Everything. has regular meetups with Aubrey when they just gush over their pinterest feeds, dream weddings, etc. (whatever it is that those people do idk)

Aubrey: perfect grammar and punctuation, one emoji per message. a facebook mom, if you will. she gets teased for it endlessly but her response is always something like “why would i use texting for anything other than it’s purpose of informing others?”

if you bring up social media in her presence, she will scowl at you and let you believe that she absolutely despises every form of online contacting. however, she will go back home and sit on Her Armchair with a glass of fucking expensive red wine and go through every single one of your social media accounts from tumblr to linkedin (stalker much?). not that she posts anywhere, except for twitter where she just lets hell loose every once in a blue moon. she does have an instagram account as well though, but just for liking other peoples posts as she claims if someone happens to ask (despite her story always having at least twenty random pictures at any given time of the day)

Amy: … she’s, well, Amy. she texts with full caps or no caps, always with at least five typos even if it’s just two words. it’s Something, how she manages to do that every single time. she’s a tiktok emoji trend user (eg. skull for laughing) which confuses others (read: Aubrey, who isn’t on tiktok) a lot.

her social media is full of memes, random selfies, “inspirational” quotes that are more or less insane, and pictures of food. she, for some reason, went viral on tiktok and has like two million followers. (nobody knows why, which is probably for the better.) on twitter, she mostly just retweets crazy shit and thirsts over celebrities Very openly. then there’s reddit… yeah,, there’s reddit. she doesn’t really use other socials, but does have accounts literally everywhere.

Stacie: as i said in the post that inspired this ask, she texts like Alexis (her actress) writes her instagram captions. so basically just a lot of dragged out words, a bunch of emojis and abbreviations and that stuff. i don’t know to describe it, so. take that as you will. im not sure how many of you follow her anyway .

our girl is for sure, without a doubt, a tiktok thirst trapper. she does it unintentionally at first, but when she goes viral she starts doing it for fun (almost like a hobby). her comments used to be flooded by creepy men, but once she put the bi flag in her bio they seemingly disappeared and were replaced by the army of “#wlw? we won” people. Aubrey’s not too happy about her posting herself like that, but she thinks it’s whatever as long as Stacie runs every video through her (not in a controlling way. she’s just also one of those lesbians who drool over her.) Stacie’s instagram is also kinda similar, but with pictures instead of videos. they’re subtle and barely revealing for the most part, but she looks good in literally anything so she has a lot of followers anyway. that’s where her social media use ends, save for the private twitter account that she uses to bully the rest of the Bellas.

Beca: she texts in all lowercase, but decent grammar anyways. she’s not exactly big on emojis, but slips them in every few messages (she’s a chronic frowning emoji user, that’s for sure). i don’t know how else to describe her texting?? she usually doesn’t even reply with other than half a sentence or a barely coherent abbreviation

she’s famous, so her socials are mostly “official” and really, Really lack personality. naturally, she has private accounts which her closest circle of people follow. she doesn’t post though, mainly just replies to other people. (well, maybe she accidentally clicks post on random memes sometimes, but you really don’t need to know that.) Batshit Crazy Reddit User™ and will use it as a reliable source for anything. you can also find her at 3am doomscrolling on twitter.

Emily: oh god. she texts like she just got a phone and is generally as awkward as when talking. kinda like Chloe, she’ll send a thousand texts in a row in the same way she stumbles over her words irl. she spams people with only emojis, and doesn’t Make Sense most of the time. but she’s Emily, so they let it slide.

she’s not that big on social media (follower wise) but active? hell yes. she posts something every. single. day. whether its a mirror selfie or a cute flower she saw on her way to yoga (she does yoga. yeah. i know. crazy.) you can pretty much imagine Hailee’s insta up until like 2020 but double the amount of posts. there’s never too much filters or hashtags for her, and she unfortunately did not grow out of the 2013(-ish) filter phase. she unironically uses facebook and watches instagram reels, and nobody bats an eye anymore when she giggles and sends a link to a puppy video from the deep dark archives of facebook. any other form of social media she stays away from, especially twitter (she has an account but zero posts or replies). she does learn pinterest from Chloe at some point, so that becomes a big thing for her eventually though.

Cynthia Rose: she texts in the closest way to normal possible. she uses auto-caps, a decent amount of emojis that actually make sense, and abbreviations that everyone can understand. but she does have a middle-aged man edge to it sometimes. she’s an influencer. not that kind of “grwm to go shopping” one, but she fights for rights, talks about representation, and brings out the voices of minorities. she runs campaigns, interviews people, and activist type of stuff. it’s a good thing and she’s happy about what she does (even if she does spend all day everyday working for it despite doing it for free). but, sticking to the running theme, she has a private twitter account. her header is a lesbian quote with two pairs of scissors, and her posts are just plain Insane. she mostly uses it to bully Beca for literally no reason at all. 

Flo: texts like a wine aunt. that’s it. there’s no other way i can describe it.

she has an instagram for her juice truck, and it has a bunch of followers all around the world who are interested in watching her move from one place to another. she also posts tutorials how to make her juices at home (especially during the pandemic), and she’s basically sponsored by a million companies just because she gave them recipes lol. on her personal account, she’s also kind of an influencer too. she mostly posts about fashion and food, maybe sometimes stray cats that walk up to her on the streets when she’s going around with her truck. she’s not really famous famous, but has like 30k followers. i feel like i’m just gonna say the same for them all, but she also has a priv twitter account for the sole purpose of including herself in the crazy ass threads where all of the other Bellas are just, going mental. she’s also a pinterest / aesthetic moodboard tumblr girly methinks. 

Lilly: you can only imagine how she texts, if she even does. ominous as fuck. i’m leaving it at that because shes just so,,,,,, well you know.

she doesn’t use social media as far as anyone knows, and she barely has a working phone number. but if we are being real, does anyone really know anything about her anyway???

Ashley + Jessica: i have zero idea??? it’s hard to give personalities to characters whose names are barely confirmed. but i’m guessing they’re the most “normal” out of them all. you know, casual texting and barely posting anywhere. it’s odd. but they are still bellas and we love them. 

[penwrythe]

I have thoughts around the discussion of mature writing for adult media.

My project World of Relics is for adults, so it's good to see how this discussion goes since I really don't want to struggle writing WOR as an adult webcomic (Rise of Relics) and anthology (The Mundane Realm) series. I think the reason why Hazbin and TADC feels immature that they have the nostalgia of edgy kids and teens media with occasional mature themes being the inspiration, but not really fully embracing those themes from an adult's point of view. It would explain in part why they feel immature for something that suppose to be for adults.

Note: this is an underdeveloped thought, still processing it so critique is welcomed and good thank you.

This is not to say you cannot take inspiration from kids/teens media, this is more to say how does it effect how you perceive/write/create adult media. Is adult media "shocking fact that the characters are stuck somewhere unusual", "randoms s*e*x joke the 5th time in an episode", and "it's mature because shocking thing you don't see in kids media"?

Or is adult media about recognizing both the mundane and extremes of adulthood, with no escapism from certain extremes, understanding the moments of joy, pain, sorrow, etc has more to them than brief moments but instead history and context behind all of that in an adult's life.

Taking a moment to review what I been viewing and reading so that I can understand how to write World of Relics:

--Animated Series--

JJBA - Stone Ocean*

Arcane*

Primal*

Carol and the End of the World*

Blue Eye Samurai*

Blood of Zeus*

Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon*

ONE

--Books (both YA and Adult/New Adult)--

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter*

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin*

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

Legendborn Series by Tracy Deonn (YA, but still handles mature themes well)

Oathblood by Mercedes Lackey*

The asterisk is for media I'm not just reading for enjoyment but learning how to handle the form of storytelling it presents. Without making this post too long, I feel gravitated to these media not for ~what shocking situation the character is in~ but the familiarity of their experiences to mine or to other people's life experiences they faced. Some more extreme than others (especially Blue Eye Samurai, Blood of Zeus, The Rage of Dragons, and The Fifth Season), the extremes of trauma, strife, hardship, discrimination, and destruction in these stories have an weight to them beyond the shock of violence or death, or the existential crisis. Like, there's no cry laughing, but there is quiet moments of grief and pain, the yearning of better days, desires of vengeance and justice. There's a substance to them that feels more thought out than what I feel from TADC Hazbin.

Note 2: I'm sorry if I'm being harsh, I love TADC. Yes, there's only two episodes out right now, but like I want more than what it presents.

Note 3: Yeah, I'm comparing apples to grand pianos, but I believe there's no harm in asking for more. I believe adult indie animation can do better, for now we have stepping stones that will help build the foundation for the next generation of adult animation. ~looking at Lackadaisy here since I'm a reader of their comic, that will most certainly be the next step if you know how it goes.

In addition to this, I will admit with my project WOR, I have concerns it might not be taken seriously as adult media, not because shocking edginess (there's a sprinkling of that here and there), but ...my characters are mostly talking object people set in a fantasy world. I have decided on certain things about them: despite them having human souls, sexuality is nearly vestigial in their species so all attraction is romantically driven -they are an asexually reproducing species, and almost all cursing/swearing will sound mostly mundane to us humans -no one says M*therf*cker but will using Blazing Hell, Broken Blades, Rusted Hell, Dirty Rags, etc (similar swears to how The Fifth Season does swearing in relation to earth and fire, WOR handles swearing to the material makeup of Objectkind - as well how biases of Hardy objects have of Fragile objects), and other things.

But, I knew, after awhile of reading and watching, what kind of story I wanted and how it appears to other people. If you like, person reading this very long post, I welcome you to read the following:

// Mild Spoilers for Rise of Relics and a little for the Mundane Realm

Note 4: The characters in Rise of Relics were gods turned to their relics after their realm was destroyed by the Inversion Event. So, if you are familiar with my story, its all baleful polymorph, almost everyone gets turned. If you are uncomfortable with that trope (due to certain past depictions in media), I suggest not reading anything World of Relics please. ~also, I'm Black soooooo, its alright! Everyone's dead lol. I equalized it!

Note 5: Also in the old draft of Chp 3 sample (its updated rn, just look at the Worldofrelics tag), Nicodemus is a crystal ball, Nikey is a trident. The flashback was before the Inversion Event. Just want to put this there in case confusion.

Do these examples of my WOR project:

Feel mature?

Feel as though, despite maybe a shocking thing or too, there's more to what's presented?

What of the characters? How do you feel about them in the situation? What about the implications of the situation they are in?

Does the voice (narration of Altostratus or how the characters in RFR Chp 3 speak and behave) feel like they are adult characters, or characters in general regardless of age, exist in a mature adult setting?

How do you empathize with them in their situation? Do you expect them to just react constantly to the events in the story in one type of way? Or do you expect as they develop over time, they adapt, struggle, and grow beyond just where they started?

If you imagine these characters in real life, would they be like what the story presents them as (in both examples, characters are above the age of 18 - from 32 to thousands of years old (read late 60s -early 100s in human years in relation to this question)?

Does it feel like at any point this could appeal to children (not because talking objects, but other reasons)? How do I improve upon that to appeal to Adults (by not adding swearing or se*xual stuff, but mature themes without making light of whatever topic I'm trying to handle)?

Giant Robot Monster Hot or Dear god, this old girl Flammin went through so much I hope they are happy with their trident wife? (they won't be, lol, oh they won't be)

Do you interpret Nikey as an angsty teen/20s or someone in their early 30s just trying to make sense of the world that died around her? (Okay, not obvious in chp 3, but give me your thoughts anyway)

Sexy Tumblr Old Man or This old man was a criminal and may have hurt people deeply and wrestling with that fact, knowing that one day he will face someone who was hurt by his actions? (still writing out Gwenny's lore, just hinting at this point tho)

Okay, I ran my fingers on this too long lmao. But yeag, tell me what you think. May the discourse begin.

[kimium]

Put your Fave playlist on shuffle and post the first five songs that come up!

I was tagged by @m34gs in this post HERE. Thanks for the tag, friend! Like you, I'm making this a separate post just so things don't get too long.

In truth, I don't really have "playlists". It's usually all just thrown into a single playlist that's either My Library or Favourites. So, we're just going to go with my random songs. Also, I'm using my iTunes for this and not Spotify. Besides a few songs missing between them, the playlists are identical.

Also, all my songs ended up being connected to anime somehow. I'm sorry, but that's just how things work with me.

Butterfly 09 - United Forces Airplay Edit by Smile.Dk

Wow, we're starting with a nostalgic song for this list. If you grew up loving anime in the late 90s or early 2000s you could not escape this song. I believe most people were introduce to this song through DDR, but for me it was through AMV edits. I think the first time I heard this song was to a Rurouni Kenshin AMV. That or Sukisho, which according to the rating, at the time I watched it I was too young. In my defense, it's suggestive at best.

Anyways, the reason I have this song on my playlist still is because I like the beat and energy to the song. The lyrics make little sense, but I still adore this song. I don't listen to it often. In fact, I can't remember the last time I listened to it, but every time I do I'm transported back to my childhood days.

Shogeki by Yuko Ando

Going from a nostalgic song to a recent song, Shogeki is the first ending to the Final Season of Attack on Titan. This song is hauntingly beautiful with lyrics that tug at my heart. Even if you're not an Attack on Titan fan, this song is beautiful and tragic at the same time. I highly recommend giving it a listen.

Muspell Theme from Fire Emblem Heroes

This song is mostly instrumental except for the deep masculine voices chanting + the soprano choir nearer to the end. Definitely gives an ominous tone, indicating threat is approaching. Which makes sense as this song is for the Book 2 villains in FEH. Fire Emblem OST songs are always a great time, so even if you think instrumental isn't your thing, check it out.

SKETCH - Kiro Akiyama

Another anime ending song appears on this list! For the one it's the first ending to Season 6 of BNHA (My Hero Academia). I cannot tell you how much I love this song. The lyrics perfectly fits Izuku's character and many themes in the anime. This is also the ending where they changed parts of the anime to reflect the story moments of the episode.

Again, even if you're not an anime fan, this song is fantastic. The regret of the narrator as the lyrics talk about longing to reconnect, regret missing one another, and the desire to correct miscommunications are bittersweet but hopeful to me.

Dearly Beloved - a cover by Amalee but original by Yoko Shimomura

We end our list with another song from a game OST. This version I'm calling out is a cover by Amalee, where there are lyrics. However, the original is the instrumental song that plays in the menu for all Kingdom Hearts games. Amalee's version with the lyrics weaves a tale of love and hope despite distance from each other, fitting perfectly with the themes presents in Kingdom Hearts. So, even if this isn't the original version, give it a listen. Give the original a listen too! It's an amazing song that makes me want to cry every time I listen.

I tag: @a-little-harmed-shinra @someobscurereference @shreedle and anyone else who wants to do this!

[theresattrpgforthat]

Is there a ttrpg about collecting curses?

I's a somewhat common trope that charcters are given a curse, that also gives them cool/horifying powers, so I wander if anyone has made a ttrpg about that.

THEME: Curses

This is a series of recommendations that explore the idea of characters getting worse or weirder as they play. Most, if not all of these games fall in the horror genre, which should never be played without some form of safety tool in place.

Something is Wrong with the Chickens, by Elliot Davis.

Bryson Foods, Inc has taken everything from us.

We are Chickens.

We are Eldritch Horrors.

Make. Bryson. Pay.

Something Is Wrong With The Chickens is a one-page, rules-lite TTRPG of Chickens, Eldritch Horror, and Revenge for 2+ players, including 1 Chicken Master (CM).

This game is a light-hearted eldritch horror game about Chickens that might either slowly accumulate Eldritch Traits and eventually transcend this mortal coil, or lose all of their Traits and become captured for human consumption. Random roll tables determine where you start, what you’re trying to accomplish, and who you’ll meet along the way.This game is hilarious and easy to run, so I suggest you check it out!

Fears and Fathoms, by curatrix-ribston.

It's not safe out there.

But for some reason, you and your friends have chosen to go. You have made the conscious decision to go and see the things that go bump in the dark. You know it will change you. Perhaps it already has. After all, would you have gone there before? Were you the kind of person who let their friends drag them into such madness? Or perhaps you were. Perhaps you have led them here. Perhaps, in time, you will forgive yourself for what you have all become.

This simple, story-driven system puts players in control of their narrative and how the Strange changes them. Perhaps you will push out the Strange. Perhaps, instead, you will let it brand you, forever barring you from a normal life. This is a game about taking risks and hard bargains in order to get to the truth of a mystery.

Fears and Fathoms is a game about people exploring something that is likely too strange and dangerous to leave them entirely untouched. Throughout the game, you are at risk of gaining Curses and Traumas, which will fundamentally change how your character treats the world around them, and how they react to stress. Keepers are encouraged to think about the Strange and how it affects the world around it - but also what kinds of curses make play interesting for the players, rather than impossible. 

Red Giant, by Rookie Jet Studio.

No one knows how the came to be: some people believe it was an act of god, some believe it was due to ancient technology, but no matter how this planet became cursed, it is clear that YOU CANNOT SAVE THIS WORLD.

Red Giant is a Tabletop Role Playing Game influenced by, but not limited to, anime and manga such as Vampire Hunter D, Berserk, and Claymore. Red Giant aims to recreate the various themes, dynamics, and scenarios seen in these types of media.

This game has a character element called Exchanges, which give characters special abilities, but at a great cost. A character must have at least one Exchange at character creation, but no more than 3. Over the course of the game, your character may have opportunities to make more exchanges - more power, for a greater price. If you want to check out the game before you buy, the studio has a Quickstart version that’s available to download. For fans who like gothic, cursed settings, this is worth checking out.

Locus, by CobblePath Games.

What if the world was really against you? What if you couldn't escape? Struggle against the stress and pressure of the world - of your own guilt - bearing down upon you. There are no heroes here.

Locus is a bespoke, mystery/horror roleplay game with unique mechanics crafted entirely around horror.  It is a game about flawed character, about exploring consequence and morality against a backdrop of very real, supernatural and monstrous danger.  

This game uses playing cards to represent the way the world around them is affecting each character’s mind. It is easy to add cards to your hand, and difficult to discard them. Throughout the game, players will have to monitor their Stress levels in order to ensure they’re not burning through their resources too quickly. If you want a game where you have to struggle against your own Vices in order to survive, I recommend you check out this game.

44: A Game of Automatic Fear, by Stories You Play.

"Someone you know was just replaced by a machine. No one else knows. You are next."

44: A Game of Automatic Fear is a suspense RPG. You portray people who know a robot conspiracy called Section 44 is replacing humanity. Can you survive before the conspiracy replaces you with a machine? Set in the backdrop of the early 1950s, a time of high paranoia, 44 works like an Alfred Hitchcock movie with sci-fi elements. You can easily insert other settings.

While this game isn’t explicitly about a curse, it does have the consistent threat that your character will eventually be replaced. If you were to re-work the setting, you might be able to turn the disappearances into a magical curse, rather than a robot revolution. The game has a supply of currency called Resistance and Menace that deplete and restock throughout the game, in the hopes of beating out the opposition. Meanwhile, characters have to hope their Anxieties don’t take away their best chances at outsmarting Section 44. 

Since the game is free to download, it’s at least worth checking out!

The Curse of the House of Rookwood, by Nerdy Pup Games.

The Curse of the House of Rookwood is a gothic horror tabletop roleplaying game where you create a cursed family with supernatural powers and troubled relationships, and take them on strange adventures in an alternate history haunted by mythical monsters and dark magic. Will you work together to bury your skeletons, or will family drama bring your house to ruin?

Rookwood is a supernatural adventure where your family must survive together against a world of secret societies, terrifying spirits and monsters, and ancient evils lurking in the hidden corners of the earth.

As players, you get to decide what time period you start playing the game, and for how long the Curse lasts. Each family member who is related by blood has the same Curse, and the table decides at the beginning of the game how that curse manifests. You can use the Curse to your advantage, but doing so will make you more and more monstrous - become Marked too much, and you are Lost. There are also options for late bloomers, who will manifest the curse partway through the game, as well as members imported into the family: you might not have a Curse, but you don’t have a Gift either. 

If you want a game where a family tears itself apart while trying to keep it’s growing pile of skeletons firmly inside the closet, I recommend you check out this game.

Finally, I’ve talked in the past about External Containment Bureau, and Congregation, which both contain the conceit of weird powers that accumulate as you play, although this is not a core mechanic of the game.

[fellhellion]

i don’t want to be raining on other peoples parade so fair warning its me critiquing some writing choices in nim/ona under the cut

i have such mixed feelings about this movie god. it’s got such beautiful animation and i really enjoy the stylistic approach they’ve taken to it AND there are some really well done scenes with a beautiful message at it’s heart but holy fuck. theres some messy writing. 

why would the director not pry first into how fake!ambrosius knew information that lead to him questioning her? why wouldn’t she first try aligning his loyalty back to her?? why would she confess we have literally never seen this character’s weakness be gloating?? she’s always been someone that carefully evaluates how best to weaponise fear?????  ambrosius isnt some random she looks down on, or a superior she cannot directly contradict like the queen, this is supposed to be the scion of her revered religious bloodline WHY WOULD SHE GO STRAIGHT TO MURDER AND CONFESSION. like if youre going to go that route why not the slow build up to her puzzling through this issue and then you can see the pieces click where murder becomes the option she rationalises as her best course to shut him up. 

why is the tone for the fakeout of ambrosius losing his shit at the director the same semi comical delivery as nimona herself takes????? it already preps you to view the scene as funny even though as bal’s lover he should be approaching the subject of disabling and hunting his lover with a completely different weight to her??? 

what the fuck am i supposed to read what bal’s thinking even IS regarding betraying nimona when the director setting him up had absolutely nothing even REASONABLY to do with this idea that she’s setting him because shes just fucked up and evil??? like look i KNOW characters in high emotional states wont act logically but this is literally the conflict sitting on the most surface level of the film like???? why doesn’t nimona bring it up if it’s something he’s trying to intentionally ignore??? and it doesnt seem that way because i THINK the tonal intent in the scene is to say Bal swallows the religious koolaid and falls back into sincerely thinking hes been manipulated. but its just. really poorly written as to how this character rationalises away active and OBVIOUS contradictions to this koolaid when we’ve spent a whole hour developing him coming to be more comfortable with questioning the system. and IF that conditioning is so complete, why nimona herself would literally not just ask the obvious question.

like, this is a kid’s movie. im not expecting an exploration of these themes in a manner/to an extent which better suits a story that targets to adults, but man. if im jerked out of my suspension of disbelief as to what the CHARACTERS believe, i think thats an issue. 

[sixthwater]

Hiii! I followed your personal account, had no idea that you had a tarot & astro blog ahahah

Anyways, I saw you're using the tarot of the divine deck and I had a weird question about it… I got that deck about two or three months ago because I saw it on a youtube pac and I fell in love with it but I have a bit of an issue with it because I feel like it gives me answers that are complete gibberish lol.

I may not be the best reader but when I use different decks, I often see that there is something to the cards I draw (like the theme or similarities between the cards etc), even if I'm having hard time interpreting it. But with this deck it's different, it feels super random. And it doesn't help that some of the imaginery is very extreme (like 10 of swords in this deck, I just cannot read it in a positive or neutral way… and I had it come up as a positive thing)

So my question kind of is, how do you find this deck? And did ever had issues like that with other decks?

Ok I'm now gonna binge-read your pacs haha, loved the last one btw

Hi!!! Really quickly I really enjoy your astrology posts but I'm pretty sure you've figured that out by now but also my bad,,,,,sometimes I treat notifs here like my phone notifs and I forget to check back in fjkdl;sajifeja

So the Tarot of the Divine is actually one of my strongest decks, but I don't use it a lot because it likes romance, and I don't do a lot of romance readings unless it's for my friends or it happens to want to be picked up. I actually didn't believe in the whole deck personality thing until I got three decks and they answered my daily pulls very differently and I started to pick up on it so glad I figured it out before I got this one. (I'm gonna give like two examples)

The thing with this deck is that, for it, it kind of relies on the stories associated with it, to the point that it can slightly change the strength or interpretation of the cards (realizing my horror deck does this too, sorting these under dramatic decks). The 10 of Swords is one of my favorite actually. There's a lot to her but this went with the one involving her father. There's a range of different reasons leading up to why her father took her out to sea to push her off the boat, cutting off her fingers to ensure she drowns, but it always ends the same: in one way or another she is able to grow into something that gives back in a way (she becomes the goddess of the sea, her limbs become animals that the Inuit can then hunt, etc). So it's a betrayal that can give way to a mindset of revenge, but subconsciously along the way the person will have paths open up along the way that can help others along the way or they'll grow significantly from it, yet their mindset is currently clouded until they can heal, but it's not as blunt as most 10 of Swords are.

3 of Swords is another one of my favorite cards because it doesn't directly mean heartbreak but more trust broken between lovers or people. It's a really sad beautiful Japanese tale (The Crane Wife) that relies on someone trusting their spouse who disappears for long bouts of time in order to make something that they can sell for stability, but his curiosity / paranoia gets the best of him, he breaks his promise, and then she has to leave.

9 of Swords is the funniest to me bc it's associated with when Oedipus finds out about his son (so overthinking leading directly to your downfall), 8 of Cups is associated with Moses so it has a more spiritual undertone, 10 of Wands is bittersweet because its about a father who searched for his missing daughter alone until he died and a tree grew from his bones (so I associate that more with family or people who rely on you), 7 of Wands associated with John Henry so pretty almost on point, 9 of Cups I no longer can find romantic when using this deck because it's about a guy basically becoming what the woman wants (because she does not like men) in order to connect with her (so....wish fulfillment? but I used it for a first date reading and it was very insightful), and 3 of Wands is actually one of the cutest cards in this deck because it's about a girl who gets her husband taken so she sets out on a journey to get him back no matter the obstacles in front of her because of the deadline (I think three days or smth)

I actually have way more problems with the original Rider-Waite deck. I haven't wanted to get it until recently so I can go general spreads for wider audiences so they can pick up messages they might need themselves, but it feels like A House in astrology, whereas other tarot decks feel like The Signs. I can get my messages from Rider-Waite but it like...ends there LMAO meanwhile I can get a whole painted story in different ways from my other decks, so I usually try and use my rider deck alongside something else

Also thnk u thnk u thnk u thnk u

[weirdlizard26]

GREETINGS and welcome to the very normal post where i describe in Great Detail rise bros’ styles of playing MINECRAFT im sorry this sounds like a clickbait youtube title i promise its literally about teetlez and minecraft

DONNIE

donnie’s go-to style of playing is efficiency. he builds a dirt hut, he chops up those trees, gets that cobblestone, and immediately goes mining to get all the resources he needs to get started, builds all the essential farms so that he never needs to worry about iron or food and only after achieving all this does he relax and starts working on projects

he has built various automatic item sorting systems but ends up rarely ever using them because he actually genuinely enjoys looking for the right chest and putting the item in manually

that being said, his storage is Extremely organized with labels and themes and everything and yes it takes a ridiculous amount of time to get it started but he considers it his top 3 favorite minecraft activities

he LOVES geodes. he's obsessed with them. to the point where sometimes he doesnt want to break one because its just such a special and fascinating occurrence and he doesnt want to disturb it but he also really wants those sweet sweet amethyst blocks and crystals for his base,,, i think sometimes he digs up the Entire thing and then recreates an exact replica of it somewhere on the surface near his base

he builds redstone contraptions! what a shocker! but i also think that for every contraption he makes, he tries to make up a plausible context in which it can be considered useful, he creates a story behind it and makes it blend in seamlessly with the world he is creating, and yes, there are themes and narratives

when hes out of ideas, he just attempts to unlock every single achievement. sometimes he builds a contraption thats ultimately useless solely because he thought it was a funny method of unlocking an achievement that he couldve unlocked in a much less convoluted manner

his builds are characterized by compactness and great attention to detail, both in functionality and design. everything has a purpose! whether its purely aesthetic or technically helpful!

he has the Most exhaustive villager trading hall you have ever seen in your life. he has every possible trade option in there. is it possible? i actually have no idea but he has done it.

when playing multiplayer with his brothers, he always sneaks into mikey's base and organizes his storage system because the state of it Hurts him and he considers it his duty to fix it

his favorite animal is fox :-) he is heartbroken over the fact that you cannot tame it

MIKEY

doesnt really have a set routine for starting a new world. he just kinda jumps in and improvises. sometimes he goes in with a rough idea of what he wants to achieve and works out the details on the go, and other times he pops up in a new world and the environment inspires him to start a completely unexpected project

that being said. he has a Ton of abandoned unfinished projects. just scattered around the world like ancient ruins

but he also has a Ton of finished projects! polished to perfection even! he likes to recreate real life buildings (including enormously huge ones) and give them a little twist! a little mystery! a little cherry on top! he has original builds as well :-)

and you KNOW hes a landscaping god

his storage system. ah. "system" is a gross overstatement. it is everything. it nothing. it is everywhere. it is nowhere. sometimes he makes the floor of a build out of barrels or other containers and when he comes around that build and needs to free up some inventory space, he just chucks random items into a random container and forgets about it like a squirrel hiding provisions for the winter. its driving donnie mad

speaking of donnie! what drives MIKEY mad is the villager trading hall ive mentioned above, because he sternly believes there is nothing more cruel than keeping a villager in a confined space. so sometimes he steals all of donnie's villagers and builds a custom village for them where they can roam freely and enjoy life :-)

he LOVES axolotls and turtles and dolphins and likes to build huge aquariums or pools for them and just watch them hang out in there,,,

at first he really wanted to tame a lot of cats and just have them around but they just. keep meowing non-stop. and it makes him feel like hes not taking good care of them and not paying enough attention to them but he cant actually do anything about the meowing bc thats just how minecraft cats are. he loves those fluffy little cubes but having them around makes him feel guilty 😔

he loves endermen so much. he likes to get one in a boat, name him something silly and build a custom room for his new bestie and yes this is half-based on personal experience

collabs a lot with donnie to make huge builds with very meticulous detailing and/or cool big automatic doors or other redstone elements :-)

he likes to go out exploring with raph to find a beautiful landscape and then he paints it irl :-)

LEO

claims he doesnt care. but BOY does he. sometimes he dies and loses a few items and its just CRUSHING. the first time he realized he can tame wolves, he tamed a huge pack and just ran around gleefully with his dogs and then they all fell into lava or something and it was so soul-shattering he couldnt get over it for a week. but he thinks he cant let anyone know because hes already built a reputation out of not caring (but honestly everyone knows, hes really bad at hiding it)

he literally never sleeps and is always whining about getting attacked by phantoms

ALWAYS coming up with new ridiculous ways of beating withers, enderdragons and wardens, and they range from highly effective to completely useless and twice as slow as just hitting them with a sword repeatedly, but are, in his opinion, very spectacular

the dog incident didnt teach him anything btw. he always has a million dogs with him everywhere he goes

not huge on building in general, but he loves making parkour racing grounds or elytra speed flying courses or various other challenges. slightly related to this, he likes building rollercoasters!

regularly steals donnie’s resources <3 and youd think he wouldnt notice or wouldnt care bc he has so much and has all those farms anyways but he goes after leo every time and comes up with a new way of exploding him depending on what was stolen <333

i dont think he actually has a base, other than his racing courses and stuff. mikey always builds an extra room just for him in his base, but leo doesnt actually live there, tho he does come to visit sometimes. he just kinda hangs around with his million wolves, a donkey with a chest and 10 shulker boxes filled with useless junk

has a pet ghast in the overworld

in general kinda obsessed with nether

you KNOW he pranks everyone every chance he gets

RAPH

actually genuinely does not care about the game all that much. he thinks its fun and loves playing with his brothers but he just doesnt get why theyre so obsessed with it and i dont think he plays singleplayer at all

his base is literally just. a very generic wood cabin with a cute chimney and cute little windows and a cute little garden (sometimes mikey helps him make custom trees!) and he always tames exactly one dog and one calico cat specifically. and he decorates his house as if it was a real living space. like he has a kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom, an improvised fridge, its all very cute and unnecessary but he likes it!

he likes mining a lot :-) so hes usually helping everyone else get resources for their builds. and whenever he finds geodes during his mining sessions, he mines them all out and puts all the blocks in a red shulker box and puts it somewhere in donnie’s base

he loooooves going through racing courses that leo builds and also riding his rollercoasters!!!

OBSESSED with piglins. he just likes hanging out with them and hes definitely brought a piglin into the overworld (with leo’s help) and treats him like a wacky roommate

regularly goes on “tours” around mikey and donnie’s collab mega builds

[roscgcld]

GOJOTWINS!AU || greatest gift

request: I have a request for the twin-sided-with-Geto AU if you're up for it (as angsty or as fluffy as you like)? As a last request, Y/N twin asks Satoru to look after his niece/nephew. A child that looks just like Geto but with his sister's eyes.

note: hmmm....I was more concerned between if I want to make it angsty or make it fluffy, since this idea was definitely interesting for me to explore. However! This definitely gave me some creative juices! The entire ‘jjk men as parents’ trope is honestly so cute >< I wish Gege showed more scenes of Geto with his two ‘daughters’ - domestic!Geto sounds so fucking hot 😣😣 but writing this also makes me want to write something like ‘the adventures of uncle gojo and his niece’

warning: spoilers for anime-only fans! proceed with caution

pronouns: she/her

gojotwins!au masterlist

“You need to finish your veggies, Rei-chan. You know the rules.”

The young girl that sat before Gojo pouts softly, crossing her tiny arms over her chest as she turns her puppy eyes up at the older man. Gojo looks down at the pouting girl, his own oceanic blue eyes were shining behind the darkly tinted sunglasses as the young girl - Rei, as she was named - tried to use her puppy eyes to get out form eating all the ‘tiny trees’ that sat on her bear themed child plate. 

From the outside you would assume that Gojo was probably just babysitting the toddler; the man is wearing an odd uniform in Japanese norms, but it is still certain that he is in school. And from the looks of things, he is definitely a young adult - no older than a college student, despite how good looking he was. And they were right to some extend; the young girl, besides the eyes, does not look like Gojo Satoru at all. 

But Gojo and Rei definitely shared a unique relationship than your average ‘babysitter and child’ one. “Come on, bunny - you gotta eat all the greens if you wanna grow big and strong like your daddy.”

At the mention of her father, Rei perked up immediately; yet immediately deflated at the sight of the broccoli that was held out to her by Gojo once more. Rei lets out a soft whine and a huff, yet she reluctantly leaned forward before she ate the broccoli; making a face at the taste of it on her tongue. “Not a fan, huh?”

“The tiny tree taste bad..,” Rei mumbles quietly as she finishes chewing her mouthful of broccoli, pulling another face that has Gojo chuckling quietly as he grabbed a napkin from the napkin dispenser to clean Rei’s chubby cheeks. “I know they do, bunny. But you gotta eat them to make sure you grow strong, right? You wanna be a sorcerer like me one day, don’t you?”

Geto Rei was not your average child; born with Gojo blood flowing through her veins, she is the ‘love child’ of Gojo Y/N and Geto Suguru; Gojo Satoru’s twin sister and her boyfriend. When Geto first went ‘rogue’ and kill the village he was sent to, Y/N had found out that she was pregnant with his child. She was sure it was his, since Y/N and him have been dating for about a year up to this point. There was no denying who the father was. And that terrified her; she was worried that the elders will do something bad to the child that was growing inside of her. 

Even if she is one of the strongest sorcerers of the century, she is still a woman first - and women who are to have kids outside of marriage, and with someone who isn’t approved by the elders of the clan, are just asking for trouble. And whilst she was sure she can take on whatever the elders will put her through, the thought of her unborn child having to deal with the leftover anger from her parents’ actions, to be brought up in a world where others would shun the little bean, was too much to bear. 

So, even with Gojo’s pleas for her to stay, Y/N had packed up and left without a trace for others to find her. Yet Gojo was certain she had upped and left so she can spend her ‘future’ with her boyfriend, even if she knows that their love story will only end in tragedy. So you couldn’t believe Gojo’s shock when he opened the door of his apartment one random night, having been roused from his slumber in the early mornings; only to find a baby sleeping peacefully in blankets placed at his doorstep. 

Pinned to the front of the baby’s blanket was a simple letter addressed to him, and immediately Gojo knew what the content of it was. There was no denying who the young baby, who Gojo found out was a baby girl, was either. Because in the morning, when the little youngster finally opened her eyes, were a pair of his very own Six Eyes staring up at him curiously as a thick and fluffy head of black hair surrounding her.

“Dear God...wait until ma and pa find out about this...”

That is how Gojo found himself today; third year college student quietly coaxing the young toddler to eat her veggies as they waited at a café for another two kids he had ‘adopted’ to get off from preschool. He was honestly questioning everything he is doing with his life right now. “Since you’ve been a good girl...maybe later, when ‘Gumi-nee and ‘Miki-nii come over, we order some ice cream~”

Just the mention of the frozen treat had the little girl perking up in excitement, causing Gojo to laugh as he gently rests a hand on her head; already being able to sense the waves of excitement that is coming from Rei. “But in exchange, you have to finish your veggies,” Gojo continues as he gestures towards the child plate before Rei; which held a few pieces of veggies from the small salad that came with her meal.

So that was how the Fushiguros found the two in the café, having grabbed some lunch whilst they waited for the two to get off from school. Rei, who looked over when the café doors were pushed open, perked up at the sight of the familiar duo walking towards them. Gojo just grinned and picked her out of her babychair before he sets her down on the ground, watching in amusement as Rei ran towards Megumi and Tsumiki on her chubby little feet.

Megumi, who was her target today, paused before he bends down to catch her as she stumbled into him; scowling over at the smirking Gojo who was still seated at the table. “Don’t worry Megumi-kun. I was 100% sure that you were going to catch her~,” Gojo called back teasingly, his grin only widening at Megumi’s annoyance as the young shikigami user made his way towards the table where Gojo was seated at once more. “Turn that frown upside down, Megumi-kun - try to be like Tsumiki-chan more, she’s super cute.”

Megumi just rolled his eyes as he settles down in a free seat, letting Rei cuddle up into the younger male whilst Tsumiki giggles at Gojo; who had reached over to playfully tug at her cheek. Soon though Gojo gestures for the two kids to order what they want for lunch before they go home; a habit of theirs now since Gojo cannot for the life of him cook. 

The one time he tried cooking...well...lets just say the kids have since begged for him to never attempt cooking ever again. 

Hence why, after a brief lunch and a brief visit to the grocery store, the four of them made their way back towards Gojo’s home. He had long since moved out from the apartment that he rented in the beginning, understanding how important it is for Megumi and Tsumiki to have their own private spaces to retire to after a long they. Because after all that they’ve been through and are going to be going through in the future as people touched by the jujutsu world, they are still growing kids first. So Gojo had invested in a nice home close that is close to the college, yet not too far away from the city where the kids might feel cut off from their friends on the outside. 

“Alright, time to get you into the shower,” Gojo grins at a giggling Rei, who he had set in her baby seat as he puts away the groceries; Tsumiki had offered to make some katsudon for everyone for dinner tonight. Hence the brief stop at the grocery store. Since it was still little early into the afternoon, the two Fushiguro children retired in their rooms to unwind and catch up with homework before preparing for diner. So for now, Gojo and Rei were alone once more. “Gotta make sure you’re cleaned up before your nap~”

Rei just giggles and smiles over at the older man, reaching her arms up so the man can carefully picked her up as he made his way towards his bedroom. It was a normal routine for him to give Rei a shower after coming home from the outside, worried that she was going to be carrying dirt and germs into her bed before she is laid down for her nap. So Gojo carefully filled the baby tub he set out inside his shower stall before he carefully filled it with warm water and bubbles; making sure the water was warm enough before he carefully strips Rei and sets her in the warm bath. 

Many people have questioned him before as to why he was taking care of her like she was his own child. Even though she is her niece, her parents are Curse Users; they defected from the jujutsu world in order to live in a life of crime. Or more so Y/N leaving behind her family and friends for something as feeble as her ‘love’ for Geto Suguru. Many people call her delusional, stupid, naïve - no one can picture just what was it that made her choose between the life on the run with Geto, for the luxurious life that the Gojo estate has, and still would, provide to her. Even after Rei was born.

However, to Gojo, he just knew she saw it differently. 

If there was one person who he can rely on completely, without having to fear of judgement, it was definitely Y/N. She was his twin sister, someone who ‘cursed’ with the same power as he was, and knows all the struggles and stress that comes with being ‘the strongest’. When she had found out she was pregnant, she was terrified - running into his room in the middle of the night with the positive pregnancy test in hand. She was scared shitless with the entire idea that she was going to be a teen mum alone.

And no matter how much Gojo had tried to reassure her that if Geto was here, he would be ecstatic with the idea that he was going to be a father, Y/N was inconsolable. She was terrified at the idea that not only would the baby will not have a father, they might even have to suffer through the stigma of having a parent that was a murderer in their world. Y/N was also going through it as well; it was clear as day that Geto was the last thing that was truly keeping Y/N sane. Although Gojo and her had a special bond, it was like Geto was that extra support that made sure both of the Gojo siblings were still staying strong. 

Maybe it was the stress of the idea that she was going to be called out by the elders of the clan, or her parents might be disappointed in her, or maybe the idea that she was going to be a teen parent itself officially cracked her. Gojo, to this day, isn’t 100% sure as to why Y/N chose to do what she did; chose to stay with Geto even though she knows that it will bring more stigma onto her daughter after she was born. 

At one point even Gojo had admitted to himself that she was naïve and selfish for choosing what she did instead of facing the brief music that will come from the adults in her life.

But as he playfully makes animal noises at a giggling Rei, Gojo hopes that Y/N rest easy knowing how many people loves Rei. How Shoko, Mei Mei, and even Utahime had essentially dubbed themselves as Rei’s godmothers and spoil her even more than he does; and that is saying a lot. Sure, the elders were not as welcoming to Rei, even more so because she was not carry the Gojo name on top of the fact that her parents were not married when they had her, were definitely not helping her case.

However, Rei was special. She was born her with her mother and uncle’s Six Eyes; and it was because of this that the elders have yet to officially cut Rei off from her surviving biological family. 

Whilst he was thinking back about everything, Gojo’s body went on autopilot as he bathe, dried, and dressed Rei like usual. He kept her occupied to the best of his abilities, but from the trip they had earlier today plus the grocery store trip, Rei was already nodding off when Gojo was blow drying her soft black hair. This caused him to smile as he carefully gathered the little girl in his arms, letting her curl up against his chest as he made his way towards his messy study desk. 

Even if he is a sorcerer and taking care of 3 young kids, he still needs to do mundane things like homework before he can fully graduate from Jujutsu Tech. And as much as he wants to just cuddle Rei and sleep as well - he’s been putting off this essay for about 3 days now. And its due date is tomorrow; so he has to get cracking on this essay if he wants to be eligible for the final exam this year.

“I wish I can live as carefree as you do, Rei-chan,” Gojo mumbles quietly to the young girl in his arms, glancing down at her sleeping features as she rests her ear above his heart. It was quite jarring honestly, since the little girl looked like one of his best friends, Geto Suguru. A man who he sometimes wish late into the night that he had made a better effort into reaching out to when they are at their lowest.

Gojo knew that the death of Riko had effected all of them in their own ways; and although Gojo had asked Geto a few times if he was alright, he just wished he tried harder. Maybe if he wasn’t so full of himself, that he tried to spot more of the chances in Geto’s behaviour - just maybe, he might still be here right now. He would be the one who witnessed Rei saying her first words (it was ‘dog’ because of Megumi’s Divine Dogs that he lets out at home), to her standing up on her own for the first time, to her first steps. 

Gojo felt guilty for being the one to witness all of her firsts when her parents should be the one to do that.

“I hope you know just how much your parents love you, bunny,” Gojo mumbles quietly to the sleeping toddler in his arms as he cuddles her closer, his somber eyes watching her tiny back as it rose and fell with each one of her deep breaths. “I know you don’t really understand things now, but I hope you do not grow up resenting your parents for giving you away before you even have a chance to know them. Your mother is a brave woman; she knew what she had to do in order to ensure that you’d get to live a fair and comfortable life.”

Only silence greeted Gojo after his soft admission, yet all that did was make Gojo let out a brief chuckle through his nose. “She may call me a dumbass, but she trusted me enough to know that there was no way I am going to let you fend for yourself in this cruel world,” He hums as he reaches up to stroke her chubby cheek ever so slightly, a soft and fond smile tugging against the corner of his lips at how Rei just cuddled closer to him in her sleep. 

“Because at the end of the day, you’re the greatest gift that has ever been gifted to all of us.”

© roscgcld — all rights reserved to me, rose, the author and creator of these works. do not repost/translate/claim my work as yours on any platform.

[guesst]

some of the best fantasy au fics for bnha that i've read

i decided to make a fic rec list of one of my favourite aus/fusions. mostly midoriya-centric, there are some crossovers (with hp), and a lot of different ways in which the authors have taken them - so it could be Quirks, ghosts, outright fantasy aus, spirits, witches etc etc. there isn't a specific order and there aren't a tonne (these are the ones i could find buried in my bookmarks lol), but the ones on the list are all really well written i love them.

i've tried adding relevant information, the summary (shortened if it's pretty long) and just. adding some random tags that may be important. not all of them though. obviously this is not a complete list and there will most definitely be more fics out there, if there are some really good fics that you know that aren't on this list, feel free to tell me, i'd love to read them!!!

i hope someone enjoys these!

Faith Becomes You by SugaSuga

oneshot | gen dfo, quirkless midoriya summary 'There's a tiny shrine in Musutafu that's overgrown with kudzu vines between Izuku's apartment and his middle-school. There may very well still be a god inside it. There may be nothing but the myth of a man from when Quirks were first emerging. Izuku hides in its walls for a while and ends up tending to the forgotten shrine. All good deeds have their impact, don't they?'

Of Mythos and Men by Oceanbreeze7

oneshot | gen spirit animal au, kinda summary (shortened) 'When he was young, Midoriya always wondered what his mythos would be. The matching half to his quirk, the ancestry of its power. Mythos were strange things, not linked genetically like quirks seemed to be. [...] Midoriya hadn't met his mythos. Even in UA. (In his dreams, something called to him, 'Chase me!')'

what a lion cannot manage by LadyLiterature

multichapter | ongoing | f/m, m/m kitsune au, female izuku, future bakudeku summary (shortened) 'She wants to be a hero. Wants to save everyone she meets and even the people she hasn’t. [...] A smart fox avoids fights. A smart fox does not seek them out. A smart fox does not fight for everyone. A smart fox, when they absolutely must, only fights for themselves and what is theirs and nothing else. Izumi, for all that she tries to be, is not a good fox.'

My Magic Academia by Kiterou

series | oneshots and multichapter | ongoing | gen HP crossover, wizard midoriya, platonic bkdk, some ocs summary (shortened) ' [...] In which Midoriya Inko is a witch and Izuku a wizard and even after 150 years of quirks taking over the world, Izuku still couldn't tell Kacchan that he isn't worthless and that he still could become a hero all on his own.'

A Lonely Windchime Makes No Sound by Musecookie

multichapter | ongoing | multi reader/shinso, total fantasy au, very wholesome summary (shortened) ' [...] You enjoy visiting your slightly creepy local library. When you accidentally befriend the elusive owner's familiar, he begins to appear more and more when you visit. You don't really mind, and he doesn't seem to hate you, even when the two of you become tied up in each other's fate as you pursue the secret to reviving a magical species of flower. Soft Strangers to Friends to Lovers type beat with lots of fluff and naps! Sleepy cuddles included.'

The grapes of friendship by Gentrychild

oneshot | gen crack, dfo, vampire izuku summary 'Izuku, a dhampir hiding his real identity as he goes to UA, the best wizard school in the country, spends the day with his friends. None of them are aware of it.'

Yesterday Upon the Stair by PitViperofDoom

multichapter | complete | gen less supernatural, izu's quirk lets him see ghosts, he still has ofa summary (shortened) 'Midoriya Izuku has always been written off as weird. As if it's not bad enough to be the quirkless weakling, he has to be the weird quirkless weakling on top of it. But truthfully, the "weird" part is the only part that's accurate. He's determined not to be a weakling, and in spite of what it says on paper, he's not actually quirkless [...] Not that anyone would believe it if he told them.'

sum of all (and by them driven) by Elemental

series | multichapter | ongoing | gen dadzawa, spirits give quirks, izu sees these spirits series summary 'Quirks aren't what you think they are.' first part summary (shortened) 'Midoriya Izuku is medically quirkless, not technically homeless, perpetually exhausted and doing his damned best despite it all. He also sees spirits, which might be cool if not for the fact that a) no one else does, b) they really don't like him very much, and c) he's pretty sure the heroes now think he's a villain working for the League [...]'

The Struggles of a Modern-Day Vampire by miraculousemily47

oneshot | gen crack, 1-a shenanigans, vampire midoriya summary 'After Midoriya Izuku is turned into a vampire towards the end of his first year at U.A., he decides he wants to tell his classmates about his condition. The only problem is that he can't physically say the words, and his classmates are fucking idiots.'

Lights in the Dark by FrostKitten

series | oneshots | ongoing | gen supernatural au, izuku can see demons etc, quirkless/magic au summary (of first part) 'Midoriya Izuku, like most young kids, knows there are monsters. They live in closets, under beds, and occasionally in the park. As he grows older, his friends stop seeing them...but he still does.'

Hand in Unlovable Hand by jumbletea

series | oneshots | ongoing | gen vampire midoriya (and aizawa), dadzawa, toga n dabi n mido being siblings summary 'A collection of stories surrounding a not-quite-human Izuku and everyone he meets along the way.'

Simply Superstitious by CryCaladrius

multichapter | ongoing | gen lots of folklore and yokai and stuff, 'quirkless' magic user izuku, decent dad hisashi too summary (shortened) 'Izuku Midoriya’s father is a Hou-ou — a Japanese phoenix. For some reason, this means yokai have a standing invitation to pester Izuku with their existence. Birds assemble choirs for his birthday. If there’s no cedar leaf under the welcome mat, the amazake babaa that lives two apartments over will be knocking on their door by evening. His yokai-purifying excursions get mistaken for vigilantism far too often. [...]'

Cuckoo Bird (anonymous author)

multichapter | ongoing/maybe discontinued | gen it may be discontinued but theres lots of fae folklore, deku is a changeling, deals etc, plus some platonic shindeku building up?? summary 'There's something off about Midoriya Izuku. (change·ling /ˈCHānjliNG/ noun a child believed to have been secretly substituted by fairies for the parents' real child in infancy.)'

tread softly as you go by IceEckos12

oneshot | gen if you read any fae au please let it be this! has faeries but mido is not one summary 'Humans used to be good at the old ways. They used to know how to bait the trap, to spin a web of words and lies that would ensnare even the most wily. Humans used to be able to twist deceptions around knots of iron and turn them into weapons of power. They forgot a long, long time ago. A boy unwittingly makes a deal with one of the fae, severing his ties to humanity. However, he finds that the fae world is far more strange and complex than he ever could have imagined.'

Hell is just a shoujo manga by supercrunch

multichapter | complete | f/m fantasy au, bakudeku, fem!izuku, isekai, dekusquad stuff, also some iidachako summary (shortened) 'Izuku wakes up crushed under a statue, trapped in the body of a princess who doesn't exist. Turns out she's a demon, which is weird. What's even weirder is the déjà vu that surrounds Kamino palace, reminding her of the events of this one manga she used to love. [...] But that's probably just a coincidence. [...] The problem here, obviously, is that Izuku's the demon princess. Ergo, she's a villain. And that means she's going to die at the end of this manga. Again.'

hold your breath as you cross by cassiopeia721

oneshot | gen dadzawa, another 'quirks are from spirits au' (expect more of those actually), mido is sad :( summary 'As the bridge between the world of guardian spirits and the quirk users who are blessed by them, Izuku's duty is to clean up the mess his predecessor left. It's taken what feels like an eternity worth of work, but Izuku's finally finished, and he's ready to rest at last. Unfortunately, the pro heroes who just watched him take down the Scourge of Kamino have no intention of letting him just wander off, and he finds himself stuck in an interrogation room with a bunch of humans who he's sure will never believe a word he says.'

To See with Eyes Unclouded by CrazySatan

series | oneshots | ongoing | gen witch au, witch midoriya, quirkless mido, bkg is not a good friend series summary 'Midoriya Izuku is a witch. A powerful witch. And even though he doesn't have a quirk, and magic doesn't Work Like That, Izuku ends up a hero. Somehow.'

Demons and Darkness by wolfsrainrules

series | oneshots | ongoing | gen dadzawa, shinso and mido and bkg are becoming friends, they can see monsters/spirits/bad things summary of first part 'Izuku has believed in the things that go bump in the night since he was small. That means he can see them, and almost everyone he knows....can't. So he decides he's going to be the shield humanity needs, no matter what. Eventually, he finds others that See too.'

know what i've made by the marks on my hands by simkjrs

multichapter | ongoing/maybe discontinued | gen dadzawa, quirk spirit au (this inspired most of the others on this list), also eri summary (shortened) 'Midoriya Izuku just wants to lead a quiet, peaceful life. This is foiled by the fact that a) he can see spirits, b) his good nature demands that he help anyone he sees in trouble, and c) he, by all rights, should not exist. [...]'

Izuku haunts class 1-A by Artistic-Gamer

series or multichapter whichever floats your boat | incomplete (hiatus) | other there are some triggering themes! such as suicide, blood, body disfigurement! please take care of yourself and avoid reading if this will hurt you! in other news: so much dadzawa, so much friendship, hurt mido summary (of first part) 'Class 1-A is rumored to be haunted, only the residents are aware it’s more than just a rumor..'

U.A's Resident Ghost by BeyondTheClouds777

multichapter | ongoing/maybe discontinued | gen ghost midoriya, dadzawa, friendships!!!! summary 'There is a ghost at U.A. Not haunting U.A. Not even hanging out at U.A. There is a ghost. Enrolled. As a student of U.A. And it's just Shouta's luck that he has everything to do with it.'

and now, the weather by xylophones

oneshot | gen CRACK, paranormal/ghost hunters au, dekusquad stuff summary 'Izuku runs a fictional horror radio show. Because ghosts aren’t real. Right? (“Holy shit, ghosts are real,” Izuku whispers. Then, with the smugness of a sixteen-year-old who just won a decade long bet, “I knew it! Kacchan owes me five hundred yen!” “Midoriya,” Todoroki sighs, “this ghost is trying to kill us.”)'

U.A Unsolved by handcrusher(ameliafromafairytale)

oneshot | gen (it's a fic of a fic, so if you've read yesterday upon the stair then you'll understand better) izuku can see ghosts thats his quirk summary ' "Hey there, ghosts," Midoriya says, "it's me, ya boy." The dorms are haunted. Shenanigans ensue.'

The Haunting of Class 1-A by BritishRobutt

multichapter | ongoing/maybe discontinued | n/a ghost midoriya, vigilante au, crack, the ghost bit is izu's quirk summary 'Everyone always told Izuku he couldn't be a hero, so when he dies and discovers his quirk, he becomes a vigilante out of spite. Whoops. After becoming Spectre, Japan's most wanted vigilante, Izuku realizes he can just fulfill his dreams of going to the top heroic school- after all, who can physically stop him from attending UA when he's a literal ghost?'

Caged by SternStunde

oneshot | gen tododeku, fantasy au (todo is a dragon, mido is a princess), genderbent deku (fem deku) summary 'Then she held up one of the books and smiled. "Want to learn an ancient language with me?" She was kind of a nerd, and she really hoped the dragon was too.'

Magic Runs Deep by draconicschinx

multichapter | ongoing/probably discontinued | gen mido has a quirk and he can see mythical creatures. summary '"Midoriya Izuku has always been good at making friends. Not human ones, really, but they are good friends nonetheless. " Izuku can see and talk to and interact with mythical creatures. It's not exactly the quirk he was hoping for, but he's going to use it to help humans and his non-human friends all the same.'

[nobodiesheartlessshitblog45]

My headcanons For Gojo Satoru

This Dingus right here is a huge movie fan. Loves pretty much anything, the old classics black and white movies, foreign films, main stream movies and so bad that it’s good movies. He loves TV shows, he’s big Supernatural fanboy. Loves Dean  Winchester and strong shipper of Deancel, Walking Dead fan all the way. Both the comics, Tv show and games. (He only played the first season and balled his eyes out for a weeks, and refuses to play rest of the games) Dose have a soft spot of horror movies, Like The Screams, Halloween, The Saw  franchise, classic monster movies of course. Gotta respect the classics.

His favorite movies of all time are  Beetlejuice (Satoru’s roll model) Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie, Edward scissors hand The Princess Bride , all the old George Romero zombie movies, again classic monster movies, The Lord Of The Rings and Hobbit  franchise. He’s a big Bruce Campbell fan, and loves, loves all the Evil Dead movies and show. Loves Deadpool and has a huge man crush Ran Reynolds. Loves all Marvel Movies. Big Spider Man fanboy.

His favorite Disney movies are Princess and the frog, disney’s Atlantis, Tangrled, 101 Dalmatians, Emperors new groove, Hercules, Toy Story, but he can’t watch the 3rd because he will cry for ours.

He wasn’t a sorcerer, he would have loved to be an actor or  film Director.

Dose play videos games, Pretty much played all the telltale games, Loves Red Dead redemption games The second one is his favorite, and loves Arthur Morgan. He’s only played Season 1 of the Walking Dead and still not over Lee’s death. Loves Stardew Valley, Pokemon and Animal Crossing.

Our boy loves his sweets, but hates eating his veggies. Trying to get this grown ass man to eat veggies is like a small fish trying fight a great white shark. It’s fight everyone is going to lose.

His favorite Tv shows’s are the Walking Dead, Game of Throwns, The Office both American and British, Big Big Doctor Who fan, loves the 10th Doctor (David Tennen is his boy) Watched Pokémon Anime that has come out the years, knows the lore like that back of his hand.

This man loves to crossdress, love to wear fancy ballgown dress, sundress and  skirts. He can walk around in high heels with easy. He owns a lot high heels shoes.

Drinks a lot of coffee, 5-8 cups a day. Cannot stand the bitterness plane coffee. He adds 12 spoonful of sugar and milk to each cup. Hell is coffee isn’t really coffee pure sugar and milk or as Nanami dubs a cup of diabetes and tooth decay.

This man has the maturity of a 6 year old. He still think fart jokes are hilarious, it you say the word ‘booger’ this man child will start laughing uncontrollably, and he makes a lot dick jokes whenever he can and innuendos. He will even go into random empty classrooms and draw a lot of stupid doodles of random shit, like you would see in kids notebook if they were bored in class, and he draws lot of that penises. For some reason he draw dicks all over the chock bored. He’s been doing this since meddle and high school, he still thinks it funny. No body else dose. ... possibly Yuji.

He will out no where will start singing show toons. He just dose. Weather he’s in a meeting, doing a mission, teaching a class or singing in the shower, he will hum or sing out right of no where. Disney songs he knows by heart, themes of anime he’s into or watching. It helps him to relax... Or annoyed the shit of the others. 

He dose not care spots but he dose enjoy baseball.

Gojo Satour’s ideal s/o

This man is a huge tease and jokester. He need someone who can match or almost his Energy.  Humor is a very important thing to him, help deal with some shit that he had to go through. Someone with a good sence of humor is one attraction to him.

He’s a patien guy, and understands that it some people take getting out their shells, and he’s very excepting, but as long as you don’t try to kill or hurt is students things should be fine.

He is very overprotective lover. His s/o could very powerful sorcerer, capable of handling themselves in battle with curses or evil sorcerers, still doesn’t change that this man will worry and will step in if things will get hairy for liking. But al the same time of s/o a very strong sorcerer and knows how to care of themselves in n a battle it dose put Satoru’a mind at ease in away, still hate the idea of being away from his lover is something to them or they get hurt. If his s/o got badly injured or his s/o was about the brink of dying. HELL. HAVE. NO. FURY. TO. THIS. MAN’S. ANGER. He kill without think twice. No mercy, no secret changes, just death. He’ll rushed over to help his S/o and take them to Dr. Shoko, and will not leave until they are taken care and healed.

He’s his overprotective of his s/o and students so don’t fuck with any of them and no has to die. This man kill with thinking twice about it.

This man is loaded. As cash, and would give Yuji, Megumi and Nobara some money to enjoy themselves with. But this man dose love to spoil his s/o when he could. Somethings he will go overboard and his s/o tells him but it’s not necessarily to spend all this money on them. Which makes him love them even more because they not love him for his money. However Gojo being, well, Gojo will randomly get bouquets of flowers for his lovely s/o I will bring it to them randomly. It doesn’t matter if they’re teaching a class or and a very important meeting with Yaga-San, he’ll ust pop out of nowhere with a big goofy grin on his face and give his s/o the flowers kiss them and disappears, there is an awkward and annoying silence from from the students or the principal. And his s/o mildly embarrassed, but flattered shall go on as if nothing happened. And it becomes has become a running joke around in the school.

Hugs, Kissses and Cuddles are a must.  Again Satour doesn’t give a shit there is a meeting or A class being taught when this man wants affection, he’s going to get affection. He’ll come from behind and rest his head on his s/o’s chin on his s/o’s head. (Because the guy’s freakishly tall) And will just annoyin the shit out of then until he gets what he wants. Then he will leave them alone, maybe not. He’s Hot mess of chaotic energy after all. Plus he thinks it’s adorable When they get a little annoyed with him.

Being Married To Gojo Satoru or just have a  domestic life with him

This man never really saw himself getting married. It’s something that he was rather against for a while, until he meets his s/o. Nothings really changed in their relationship after they got married, did a few years and they just try to not have nowhere Most of everyone at the school cannot believe that someone would actually marry this maniac. Either his s/o is as as patient as a saint, just as bad shit crazy as Gojo Satour himself.

He dose everything in his power too make this work, and so dose his s/o. The two of them being power for sorcerers is basically a couple goal, The ultimate couple. At least Satour says. That being said working as a Jujutsu Sorcerer is both a mental, emotional and sometimes a physical strain on people. When things get too much for S/O, this man will stop what he’s doing, and will will be there his s/o, and his will be there for him when he the most. Having someone being there each is the most important thing in a relationships.

His clan was very against their relationship from the beginning. But Satour did not care, he loves who he loves so his clan/family can suck it.

His favorite nicknames for s/o are Sweetness, cutiepie, pumpkin, sugar, sweetheart, honeybuns and to get cringy Pookie. So weird one’s like Mochi cheeks, and beautiful or handsome. 

His favorite nickname that his s/o calls sweetie, honey, goofball, goober and  whackadoodle, knucklehead and dingus

When s/o are going away for a mission for a few a few days or few month, or Vice versa they would text, FaceTime pretty everyday. They talk about they day, and talk about the missions that had. Satour would have his students in the background who would say hello, and he and Yuji would make stupid jokes, and Nobara would laugh a bit and Megumi would roll his eyes in the background. And when his s/o get back from a mission this man is a very clingy little shit, he will hug the hell out his s/o when they get back. And would pout and whin if you have to a meeting or don’t have to see him. He’s a big a baby like that.

Over all this man is just big goofball, sure he’s annoying as fuck sometimes, but he dose cares about other’s. He’s a hot chaotic mess of a man, by God we love him for it.

[queersturbate]

HI i love your blog and reading all ur tags n thoughts and had a random thought of my own,,, only do this if u want to ofc BUT.

do you have any/what are ur favourite death note panels/frames from the manga or anime?

p.s. i simply think the manga style is so sexy and cool and some of the frames??? *chefs kiss*

hey!!

ahhh PLEASE this is the perfect question to ask of me because i am absolutely OBSESSED with death note's artstyle like foaming at the mouth omg gimme gimme obsessed it's so clean and precise and UGH it's so idk?? it's a handsome style that i cannot get over! here are some of my favorite HOWEVER they are not limited to these!

BUT most of these have been in my camera roll for a long time or i took pics of my copies rn! i tried to add as many and i could lmao!! ALSO THEYRE MOSTLY FROM VOLUME 1 LMAOSJSIS

they're all manga because i couldn't fit the screencaps of the anime!!! but believe me, the anime is absolutely gorgeous especially episode 25 </3

if you have any more questions feel free to hit me with them! i love answering stuff and i spent so long doing this because i was so excited to show off my favorite manga panels!!

this one is my all time favorite one! it's actually my wallpaper on my phone! (which yes i do have a themed homescreen that i spent like hours on what about it.)

here's the rest:

some of these I took from my instagram story hence the strange caption on this one LMAO

(this is the nicest i could have it look, my apologies for the roughness ALSO i wish i had more L panels but since i took most of these while rereading the manga and i stopped right before he was revealed i didnt get many of him!)

[cherripeach]

Chapter 8

Little Match Maker

Summary: Your life motto is “I have the power of god and anime on my side, don’t mess with me,” and you stand by that with your life. No human, magician, or random creature could ever stop your firm belief in it.

However, getting transported to this world that seemed to turn your already bad luck worse was not what you wanted to be in your life story, but you made the most of it. Making friends, enemies, and disasters, you were in your prime in this world, and so you decided to help as many people as you could flourish, at least what you believed to be.

Prologue 19-20: *Mario Theme Song* *kid bangs head on desk*

Chapter Summary: Finally, a solid moment of calm.

Warnings: Curse words, jokes about death, jokes about coma

Words: 3.3k

Relationships: developing but future twstxreader

The three of you began your journey back to the mirror. All of you are more damaged and much more of a mess than the cottage.

Grim was satisfied with whatever he ate, so much, in fact that he was situated on your shoulder, rubbing his belly and even burping in your ear.

As tired as you are, you still could not knock Grim off of your shoulder. Petting his head, however, did put more energy back into your energy bar. You could even hear the slightest pur coming from him.

Ace and Deuce both trudged behind you back to the mirror. Ace appeared remarkably more beat up than Deuce, but neither appeared put together.

Once all three of you finally stood before the mirror door, you could breathe a sigh of relief because there was no more spooky forest anymore.

After you got into the school, you allowed Ace and Deuce to lead the group because you had no clue where the Headmaster would be located. You three went up over four flights of stairs and through like ten hallways, and you finally arrived at a set of ginormous, old, brown double doors.

The three of you stopped in front of the door, and Ace held up his hand and knocked.

When nothing was heard or no one came, all three of you walked inside.

Headmaster Crowley was sitting at his desk, slouched over a stack of paper, writing and reading from the paper in front of him. Even when you, Deuce, Ace, and Grim walked in (even though Grim was on your hip), the headmaster did not even look up at you.

It was not until Ace coughed into his hand that the headmaster’s head popped up to stare in awe at your group. He could not even put words together as he was just lost staring at the three of you. His mouth even moved some as if it was trying to find some words to say. If you could see his eyes, you were sure that they would be bulging out of his head by now.

Grim flung his arms up in the air yelling, “Hey, we went into that scary mine and got you the crystal thing. At least, say something!”

The Headmaster flew up out of his seat, “Eh!? You really went to Dwarfs' Mine to find a magic crystal?”

“Eeeh?” The three idiots and you all jumped back.

The headmaster shot a look at all four of you idiots to let him speak and then shook his head, “I really didn't think… You'd not only go but then come back with a crystal in hand. I quietly completed the paperwork for your expulsion.”

“Are you fucking kidding me!?” As nothing was going your way, you may as well mess more up, so you began your lecture, “I have spent all of my afternoon and most of my night babying and taking care of these three imbeciles, so they stop whining about everything. I also had to actually get them to work together to defeat a monster that is against safety standards for a principal to let the students go up against. All without a decent meal, sleep, or a shower. I look like and feel like shit and now have more bruises and scratches on my body than your number of mistakes in the last twenty-four hours.” You quited down some If I could, “And if someone doesn’t try to cooperate and help me, I’ll start sobbing right here.”

The principal was left stunned, but quickly shook it off, “I apologize for your grievances, but what do you mean by ‘monster’. And more importantly what do you mean by ‘work together’?”

‘Did he not hear a word I just said??’ Your mind would not allow you to forget this moment.

Ace popped into the conversation now, “There was a monster there!

It was super gross and crazy strong, it was awful!” He stuck his tongue out in disgust.

The headmaster placed his hands on his desk and leaned forward, “Could you explain it in more detail? And also tell me how you worked together to defeat it?”

Ace, Deuce, and you started on your long, treacherous (As Grim described it) journey and battle to get the magic crystal which was still gripped in your hand.

The handmaster let out a chuckle, “hoh hooh. A mysterious monster living in the coal mine. The four of you worked together to defeat it and bring back a magic crystal?”

Deuce and Ace could beg to differ:

Ace crossed his arms and turned away, “We didn't really work together…”

Deuce could only look at his feet, “It was more like our goals were aligned…”

The Headmaster grabbed the clothes near his heart and slowly out of his mouth came booming sobs and howls.

Grim faced you and inquired, “What's with this guy? Why is an adult bursting into tears!?”

You shook your head, “To be honest, I don’t know nor do I care. I just want to go back home.”

The Headmaster shot back up from his slouched cry to gaze at all four of you, “In all these years that I've been Headmaster… For the day to come that students from Night Raven College go hand-in-hand to face and defeat their enemy!”

Deuce gave a shout of, “What?! I did not hold this guy’s hand!”

And that just would be the only thing that Deuce cared about.

Ace was the same as he scowled at Deuce, “I would never do that, gross! But Headmaster, how old are you!?”

The Headmaster dabbed his eyes on a random tissue he pulled out of thin air, “ I am overwhelmed with emotion. This incident confirms it.” He turned to you and spoke your name, “Without a doubt, you have talent as a beast tamer.”

And with you delusions of no sleep, no water, and almost no food, you heard that completely wrong.

“Headmaster, look I’m not one to judge, but that sounds too kinky to be school appropriate.” You signed and shook your hand that was not holding Grim.

Ace and Deuce made wide eyes at you, but the Headmaster just continued on.

He threw his hands out as if he was worshiping himself, “Students of Night Raven College are budding wizards called here by the Dark Mirror. However, they are of a superior class that makes them prideful and egotistical people that have not even the slightest inkling to work with others. Making many of them selfish and centered.”

Grim’s nose wrinkled, “You're really not saying anything good.”

Crowley (Since I finally realize that he does have a name) pointed a finger at you, “You cannot use magic. But, maybe, precisely because you cannot use magic means that you could give instructions to wizards and get them to cooperate. Perhaps that mediocrity is exactly what this school needs right now.”

Ace repeated Grim’s line with furrowed eyebrows, “He’s not saying anything nice, is he?”

Your smile lifted as you locked eyes with Ace, “It’s not like there is anything nice to say about you.”

Headmaster Crowley ignored your discussion but still had a finger pointed at you, “I have no doubt that your existence is essential to the future of this academy. So says my educator-senses. Trappola, Spade. Along with rescinding your expulsion I shall give you the qualifications to attend Night Raven College as a student!“

You paused from your glare of with Ace, “Wait.. what?” Your eyes widened, but Grim’s grip on your cloak tightened.

The other two boys threw in their own remarks and confusion about the situation.

You had gained eye contact with the man for a solid five seconds just to say, “You have gotta be kiddin’ me?” before he spun around with his hands in the same position to worship himself.

He chuckled and nodded, “Yes. For I am exceedingly gracious. But, there is one condition. You cannot use magic. Becoming a wizard is out of the question. You probably will not be able to complete all your lessons. That is why, Grim. You have proven to me that you possess enough talent to become a wizard. Therefore, I shall allow the two of you to enrol together, as one student.”

Grim skirted out of your arms onto the Headmaster’s desk, “I... I can go to this academy too...? Not as a handyman, but as a student?”

Headmaster Crowley turned back around to emphasize to Grim his next lecture topic, “Yes. Provided that! You don't ever let an incident like yesterday occur again! Do we have an agreement?“

Grim snatched the Headmaster’s hand and lobbed it up and down, “Yes, yes, yes.” All before leaping into your arms with a little speckle of a tear in his eyes, “We-we can.”

You ran your hand through the fur on his head, “Yes, we can.”

He sprung up while still in your hold with his hands held high, “I did it!”

The Headmaster opened a drawer and pulled out a piece of cloth, “Well then, I shall give the symbol of your status as a student of Night Raven College, a magic crystal, to Grim.”

Crowley walked over to the two of you and wrapped the collar around Grim’s neck.

Grim began pulling on it and observing all that he could, “Whoa! A magic crystal!?”

The Headmaster bobs his head, “It is the norm for students to have their magic crystals in the form of a 'magic pen' but, you wouldn't be able to grip it in your paws, right? It's a special custom. Aaah... I pay attention to even the smallest details! Aren't I too gracious?”

Grim rocked back and forth in your arms while waving his hands and hitting your face several times, “I did it!! I'm so cool! I got my own special magic crystal collar~”

The Headmaster shook his head and turned to you, “He isn't listening at all...Do you understand? As you can see, Grim is not accustomed to human society. It's up to you to take the rein and supervise him to prevent from causing any more trouble!”

You breathed in and out, “So now you are going to force onto me more responsibilities? Let’s just make me in charge of the country while we are at it”

Ace grabbed your shoulders and cackled, “Aha! Look at you. School's just started, but you're already a supervisor?”

Deuce verbalized his findings, “I see. There's only the two of you in your dorm… so if you've been entrusted with supervising Grim, that makes you a supervisor.”

Ace’s cackle burst through his lips again, “Pufft... Isn't that unheard of? For there to be a supervisor student who is unable to use magic. Nice. It's cool. A supervisor student who is unable to use magic!”

You squinted your eyes, scrunched up your nose, and frowned your lips, “Because this is exactly what I want to do with my life. Of course, not sleep 24/7 or” You tossed the hand not holding Grim up, “Or how about something even better: a coma.”

Ace let go of you and walked around you to get behind you, only to smack your back, “Good luck, supervisor!”

You glared at Ace and murmured, “I’ll steal all of your favorite snacks. I’d say hurt you, but eating your snacks will hurt you mentally.”

Headmaster Crowley snapped his fingers, “I see, a supervisor. I do have a work request, and having a title makes it very convenient... This is wonderful! Supervisor. I entrust you with this. ...This is nicknamed the ‘ghost camera’.”

This camera or whatever was an old camera thing, but you weren’t listening. Your lack of sleep was catching up to you once your brain realized that the stress of being kicked out was gone. Your eyes began to flutter close every couple of seconds and then snap open once you brain processed what was happening. Problem was that you did not understand anything that came out of anyone’s mouth until Ace elbowed you in the ribs.

You caught the headmaster's end of a speech, “Does my graciousness know no bounds?”

You stumbled over your words, “Uh...yeah. Thanks a lot.”

Crowley sat back down, “It is already late. Let's save the detailed conversation for tomorrow.

Return to your dormitories, everyone.”

Deuce bowed to the man, “Pardon our intrusion.”

All three of you just about sprinted out of that room.

Once in the hallway, a yawn came out of your mouth.

Deuce sighed, “Haaaaaah... Expulsion rescinded... I'm beat.”

Grim was the only one of you four who did not look like they were about to pass out right now with his singing and skipping, “I start as a student of Night Raven College tomorrow! I'm gonna leave you all in the dust and take the top spot!”

Ace snorted, “You talk big for someone who is only half a full student... Anyway, it's fine.”

“We're classmates tomorrow, Supervisor, Grim.” Deuce bowed to you two.

You just bob your head at the two who started a conversation about how they have to see each other every day even if they don’t want to.

Ace rolled his eyes, turned to you, and smiled somewhat, “Alright, see you tomorrow, Supervisor.”

Grim turned to face you, “We better get back to the dorm! Tomorrow, we aren't the handyman! Finally... Finally! Our bright and shiny academy life at Night Raven College begins!”

You could only throw a thumbs up to show you were listening to Grim as you followed him to your dorm.

Once at your dorm, Grim sprinted to bed and passed out before you even made it in the room.

You went into your bathroom to check if you had any running water, and what a sight it was when you realized that you still did not have any running water.

You just had to curse that man out, “Fuck that ignorant man! When I get my hands on him, I’ll strangle the bullshit out of him!”

You huffed out and decided that getting out of this cloak was the best option to at least be more comfortable. Taking off the cloak and placing it on the bathroom counter, all you saw was what a mess you had become: you were breaking out again as acne appeared from stress and lack of care, your eye bags could probably hold weights above what your arms could, your lips were in dire need of chapstick, and your hair was probably able to be a grill with all the grease on it.

You slapped your cheeks and struggled to walk downstairs because there was no way you were going to sleep in these conditions without a shower and without proper air conditioning or food for dinner.

You dumped your poor self on the almost destroyed couch and just tried to close your eyes. You only had your eyes close for a minute when you heard a rustling outside of your dorms.

You sat up and surveyed the area making sure no one was inside as if anything important or worth stealing was inside the house, and after you saw no one inside, you checked the window closest to you. All you could see was a cult like gathering of fire flies and a tall ass figure in view.

And in your haze of delusions you went outside to greet the being.

You stepped out the door and down a couple of stairs to get a clear view of the male, and from what you could assume he was not bad on the eyes. He looked familiar, but your mind was blacking for a minute there; The horns were an odd part, but I mean there were furries here.

The male finally noticed you when you tripped down the last step and almost fell on your face, but you didn’t, so you didn’t embarrass yourself in front of the male who looked like he could kill you which in your eyes is the one thing that makes a man.

The male and you finally locked eyes causing you to awkwardly smile at him while he just put on a confused face that you would see on a dog, and then, your brain connected the dots.

The horned puppy decided to start the conversation, “Child of man, why do you look sick?”

Kinda hurt, not gonna lie, but you have to hide it, “Wow, puppy, and to think I thought you liked me.”

The male’s face fell, “I never meant to offend you. Your appearance is concerning, however, and I do not want you to be facing any trouble here.”

“Nothing you can do, dude.” You shook your head, but you had an idea, “I mean, unless you can either let me borrow your shower or fix my water…” You threw in your sad eyes to make it more appealing.

The male was taken aback, “Your water is not working?”

“Nope.” You popped the ‘p.’

The male gazed at your house, “I hope to be of some use to you with your troubles.”

You snorted at his response and began to walk to the house, “Well, dude, I’ve always wanted a boyfriend…” You raised your eyebrows at him.

The male’s face contorted in confusion, “I do not believe that I could offer any help at finding another for you.”

You shook your head, “You know what, let’s just go fix my water.”

You two finally entered the dorm and headed to the basement where the water tank was.

You pointed at the water tank, “I don’t know what to do. Please work your magic, magic man.”

The horned male pulled out his pen from his pocket and murmured some words only for a bright green light to appear and fly onto the water tank.

After a couple of seconds, you could hear water flowing into and out of the water tank.

You jumped onto the tall male and squeezed his neck to both hold on and show your gratitude, “You are the absolute best person I have ever met. I could just kiss you right now!”

The male stood there in your arms waiting to be let go you guess, but since you have not had a hug in more than a day you were going to take full advantage of this. You squash his neck between your arms and finally, when you heard a cough, you slowly began to let go.

“Really, thanks dude. I don't know what I would do without you.” You smiled up at the male in your appreciation.

The male bowed to you, “It was not a problem, child of man. I do not need your gratitude.”

You slapped his arm, “Oh, shut up! You are amazing and definitely need my thanks.”

The male shook his head, “It is time for me to go back home, child of man. I hope you are blessed with a great night.”

You walked with the male back upstairs and out the door. He waved goodbye and headed to two figures in the distance. One reminded you of sleep beauty as you named him.

You also found this as a great time to embarrass the horned male, “Since you fixed my water, I’ll give you a free pass for whatever you want in the future. And I mean whenever. But thanks so muchhhhhhh!” You yelled at the males with your hands cupped to your mouth.

The taller of the two other boys, the one who you did not know and was not sleeping beauty, was being held back by sleeping beauty for some reason.

You just threw your shoulders up and walked back inside ready to take a shower.

And the shower was the best one you ever had. If only you could get a change of clothes.

[shreddedleopard]

Twelve-million more reasons Historia and Levi are part of the Endgame. With Pictures.

You can read the first post I made on this here:

10 reasons it would make narrative sense for Levi and Historia’s character arcs to end together.

(This is the mega-evolved version.)

Okay, I’m going to put this out there now, and before you judge me, please just read the posts. You don’t have to agree. This is just an idea. But it makes a stupid amount of sense, at least to me. So here's your fair warning (and now I'm being bold): If you don’t want to potentially be spoiled, Do Not Read On.

Here’s the Theory:

Historia Reiss will give birth to a half-Ackerman child, and together with Levi, from the ashes and ruins of the world Eren destroyed, they will welcome the dawn of a new age for humanity, where Ymir’s curse and the power of the Titans is extinct.

I know. I sound like some crazy, Rivahisu nut. Granted, I am, but I’m not mad enough to make a claim like this without a shit-ton of evidence, because it’s such a damn twist it feels like it can’t be true. But just humour me.

Here’s the theory, then we’ll look at why it makes sense and how it might have been foreshadowed. Please note: I have less clue how this will tie in to Eremika endgame, so I haven’t mentioned this as much, but obviously that will be the other very important side of this coin.

10 months ago (In Japan, full term pregnancy is counted as 10 months), at the banquet celebrating completion of the new railroad, Levi and Historia, having had 3 and a bit years to bond over their shared experiences and become close, may have gotten carried away together and shared one night of being a bit more than friends. She’s well into her 18th year at this point, just to clear that up. This resulted in Historia getting pregnant. Okay just stay with me; I know. I know. I sound crazy. But hear me out. So this pregnancy, contrary to the belief of the MPs and rest of the damn world, was the complete opposite of planned. Historia tells Levi, and Levi immediately panics. Because, to steal Kenny’s famous line, Levi thinks to himself ‘I can’t be some kid’s dad.’

 Levi does what he always does best, and shuts down into business mode, telling Historia she will need to cover it up somehow. Historia does as he asks, probably reluctantly, because she really has developed very deep feelings for him during the timeskip, and finds some farm hand to take the blame, likely saying she made a silly mistake with some random and the father doesn’t want anything to do with the child, and so she needs a father for the child not to be illegitimate. Which is her worst nightmare, because of course, that’s what she was. Levi watches the exchange hidden in that famous hood, feeling very conflicted, because although he cares about her, he thinks it best if no one knows that it was him that got the Queen pregnant, and of course, he’s duty bound, with a vow to fulfil, so he has no time to be worrying about a family. (Silly Levi!) 

How ironic this conversation would be if this theory were true. Remember, Historia was completely willing to eat Zeke if needed. Instead, she got pregnant, unplanned, nothing to do with any plot or selfish wishes, just the result of a spontaneous act of love by two people who’ve grown to care for one another a lot. ANYWAY.

Because we know Levi actually has a good heart, he feels immensely guilty for all of this; he's just a product of his upbringing and thinks he doesn’t know the first thing about families, so it's better for all involved if he not be. See where this is going? The old cursed history repeating? Making the same mistakes as our parents? Plus, Levi is bound by his duty. He is incredibly important to the military still, and he cannot just abandon this for any of his own selfish wishes. He’s supposed to be the one to vanquish the beast titan. 

Cue ten months of Historia looking hella depressed and hopeless, and Levi being even more of an asshole than usual to everyone, and not really wanting to say too much at all, as well as making some terrible workplace decisions (lol) poor boy be distracted.

Look at his face 😭

Yes Levi. A month. Which means Historia is now due and you’re still stuck with beardy, without a solution and pretty soon no reason for the MPs not to turn the mother of your child into a Titan.

That’s what that face is. I thought he looked a bit weird first time I read these panels 🤔 He didn’t know about the wine. We see that later. Anyway, I keep getting distracted, stop. I’ll come back to this.

But fear not; Levi will have a choice to make. 

So this is where it gets a bit more iffy for me, because I'm not sure how it would work, so this could be a way off, BUT. I believe it will come to light that the combination of Royal and Ackerman genes will somehow cancel out a person’s ability to turn into a titan and connection through paths, thus making them truly ‘free.’

The founding titan has the ability to change Eldian physiology, according to what Zeke learned from professor Xavier. 

EDIT: Okay so here’s where I’ve had to tweak this a bit in light of there latest chapter. So we just had Zeke in PATHS. With none other than our second resident genius, and as proclaimed by Eren, the saviour of humanity: Armin. What do our boys have a conversation about? Reproduction and the importance of the small moments in life - it’s these little moments which matter, regardless of the desire or need to recreate. Interesting how both the leaf and baseball link back to what their ideas of ‘family’ became. If Historia and Levi were to be in the same scenario in PATHS, what would their items be? What truly means family to them both? 

Perhaps Armin and Zeke realise what is needed to lift the curse of the titans - maybe a blueprint for genes which can cancel out the connection to PATHS and the founder? If only they had a child with a new type of Royal-Ackerman DNA which might fit the bill ... 

Here’s Levi’s moment. He, with Historia, has created such a child - completely by accident, because of one of those ‘moments’ that both Armin and Zeke mention - moments that are simply just about enjoying what you have with no sense of how it might relate to anything bigger - a real rarity for both of them, considering their roles and constantly being asked to think about the good of humanity as a whole. What a beautiful irony, that in the moment they chose to be selfish and, to use freckled Ymir’s own words, really live for themselves, they set a chain reaction in motion that would ultimately save humanity. 

Where does this leave Eren and Mikasa? Good question. I believe Eren will die once the curse is removed, because tragically he is the character that has been forced to choose humanity over his own personal relationships. As Isayama has said before, Eren is a victim of the story. Mikasa will be the last thing he sees, hence the original dream at the start of the manga, where he wakes up crying. Something like this. But probably a lot better. Yeah.

Out of the ashes of the old world, a new one will be built, but through Historia’s kindness and love, and Levi’s guilt and understanding of what was sacrificed in the past, society will not repeat the same mistakes. The final panel could be Jean holding his child, perhaps with Mikasa, if she ever manages to get over losing Eren. That would be vague enough so that Isayama was able to show it to us already without spoiling much. Or maybe Jean’s dead and it’s not him at all. I don’t know. 😭

Right. Okay. So now you’re going, sweet story, but uh, there’s no way Levi could be the father. He’s so much older. Isayama wouldn't write a moment of romance like that. Not with him and Historia. YOU’RE JUST CRAZY.

Well this is where it get’s interesting. LET ME SHOW YOU. It’s foreshadowed literally everywhere. Right under our noses.

There is so much symbolism.

Dedicate your heart to what? has been Levi’s question recently. What are they all fighting for? What is he fighting for? How will he give meaning to his dead comrades sacrifices? Is killing Zeke really the extent of it? Is vengeance the true meaning of their sacrifices? Or is it something a lot more hopeful?

The answer is shown to us in the opening credits. And the ending credits. Several times. 

Levi says so himself - he keeps messing fulfilling the vow up - why? Why is he so worried about killing Zeke? 

Eren has the same questions to consider. Which PATH is the right one to take - revenge and violence with the rumbling, or love ... with Mikasa. We are literally shown what their choices will be in two virtually identically designed panels, which I’ll show you. Tragically, Eren’s choice is taken from him. He is a victim to the story - he must chose the path that saves humanity. Levi and Eren have been bound together through the theme of choices, and taking the ones which leave you with the least regrets, throughout this entire manga.

The upcoming anime episodes literally plot out the timeline of Levi and Historia’s changing attitude to one another, and then Historia’s pregnancy, it’s just so cleverly subtle. Isayama even tells us when/ during what event her child was probably conceived by just dropping dates in from other, seemingly unrelated plot lines.

Zeke gives pointed comments to Levi constantly - every other line of his is either a different jab at Levi about Historia’s pregnancy, a veiled question, or a reminder that he’s under the pressure of a 10 month time limit to do something about him, or Historia will have to eat him once she’s given birth. We start to see Levi unravel because of this, and make mistakes over and over.

It’s in official art. It’s in the soundtrack. Its in music videos. There’s interviews from Isayama that, when read in light of these ideas, suddenly take on a whole new meaning.

Isayama even trolls us. He’s laughing in our faces, the madman. Like, gotchu 🤣 suckers. While we’re all on Reddit and Twitter like, ‘Levi’s character has become so stagnated! He’s making such poor choices or not giving anything to the plot at all. All that’s left for him now is to give up and die! Be at peace, your story is over.’ OOF. Or, ‘Historia has just been forgotten! She’s become such a pointless character. Isayama just got bored with her and sidelined her.’

I’m going to try and write stuff up in the rough categories below, but these might change. I’ll link them when I’m done, and then pin this post. I’m a bit of a rambler so heads up - this may take a while 😅

There’s also a ton of people I have to mention who have contributed to this - I didn’t spot it by myself. I’ll tag them in the finished post too.

Historia and Levi’s Miscalculation: A manga tale featuring the Jaeger Bros., Pt. 1

Historia and Levi’s Miscalculation: A manga tale featuring the Jaeger Bros., Pt. 2

Historia and Levi’s Miscalculation: A manga tale featuring the Jaeger Bros., Pt. 3

Ackerman-Royal Bloodline and Levi’s Choice Pt. 1

Levi’s Choice Pt. 2

Suns, Moons and Songs

Akatsuki No Requiem - Right theory, Wrong guy

The Farmer and The Cattle Farming Goddess, or WHAT’S IN A NAME.

Mistakes of our parents and breaking the cycle

Memories from the future & Levi’s Guilt

Watch this space. And hold on to your pants. If I’m right, I’m getting very drunk.

[chalkrevelations]

OK. Ep 26 of Word of Honor.

(As always, spoilers, so scroll past and come back, if that’s not your bag right now.)

You know what? Let’s defy expectations and start with Xie’er and his Awful Yifu for this one, since apparently we’re going to spend the obligatory mid-episode extended emo-porn scene on Awful Yifu spinning, spinning, spinning his web of lies and deceit as he works his hardest to keep gaslighting the hell out of Xie Wang. Oh my god, Xie’er, you know the truth already, you don’t have to get Tragicomic Ghost to confirm it, you just don’t want to believe it. No, things will never be settled, and you know it. YES. Yes, he IS humiliating you. He also murdered your yimu, who you appear to have had some affection for, if your tone of voice when you said “Yimu …” means anything, and it probably does, with someone as affection-starved as you are.

So, all of this booted me straight back into the parallels between the Zhao Jing-Xie Wang relationship and the Prince Jin-Zhou Zishu relationship. Zhao Jing has effectively eliminated literally murdered any competing relationship in Xie’er’s life, just as Prince Jin was willing to let Zhou Zishu’s sect get entirely killed off, leaving ZZS alone and isolated. Awful Yifu explicitly compares the Scorpions to Tian Chuang, which touches on a comparison of Xie Wang and Zhou Zishu that’s always just lying around to pick up, as two young prodigies heading mega-successful assassin organizations (plus the fact that they seem to have crossed paths enough in the past for ZZS to know something about the Scorpions and to be very interested in going to their lair and messing up shit, even when he’s worked so hard at leaving everything else from his palace life behind). Zhao Jing also talks about how he relied on Xie Wang above everyone else and presses hard on themes of secrecy, anonymity, and darkness – “I had you support me in the dark” – that echo the motto of Tian Chuang: “Shadows without traces. Entry without exit. Know everything. Be everywhere. Prince Jin requested me to accomplish these four things when I created Window of Heaven,” Zhou Zishu said back in Ep 1. And now it’s also the poor yifu stories, about how Zhao Jing was in a terrible situation and just trying to help, but this unreasonable woman wouldn't let him, just like Prince Jin was in a terrible situation but couldn’t do anything because the previous Prince Jin wouldn’t listen to reason. Oh, and the hugs. We’re doing the hugs, just like Prince Jin when he really truly no really needed his cousin Zhou Zishu’s help so badly because who else could he depend on. (Stop touching them, you scumbags.) We’re family, you know, and that makes you special to me. Zhao Jing: Don’t abandon this relationship. Prince Jin: How can you leave me when everyone else has left me?

So, all that happened.

Meanwhile, we’re getting the repetition of the theme “Don’t fail me and I won’t fail you,” in the Xie Wang - Zhao Jing – Luo Fu Meng storyline, and I don’t know if this is worded as a mutual pact or as an “if, then” scenario (i.e., mutual agreement to just not fail each other, vs. if you don’t fail me, then I won’t fail you), and I think it’s been translated both ways in the subtitles. At any rate, I submit that it’s the ZZS/WKX relationship (and possibly the Cao Weining/Gu Xiang relationship, as its parallel) where we’re actually seeing this exact theme of faith and loyalty play out, although I don’t know if that will ever be made explicit in the text of the show. I’d actually go even further and say that, at least for Zhou Zishu, at this point, it could be said that “Even if you fail me, I won’t fail you.” I mean, let’s look at this: Just as Gu Xiang does in a previous ep, Wen Kexing’s response to the new big gossip in the jianghu re: Ghost Valley is NOT to tell his fiancé anything about his past, but to beat it out of town for home before Zhou Zishu (Cao Weining) can hear anything about it. Just as Gu Xiang does, Wen Kexing continues in stealth mode, and wow, ZZS’s face when he walks away after WKX claims he couldn’t find the painter in town, but don’t worry, he totally heard about this other guy he’s gonna go see eventually. Wen Kexing. He knows you are lying and yet he continues to respect the boundaries you are setting anyway. (He’s not happy about it, though. He’s kind of pissy at dinner. Poor Chengling.) He’s opened up to you about his deepest darkest secrets and failures and awful deeds, without blinking, trusting that it wouldn’t scare you away, with absolute faith that you’ll continue to be there. Maybe instead of waxing poetically mournful about the sunset (of your relationship), you could return that faith and let him know who you are. I realize you continue to be terrified of getting what you want, so terrified that all you can do is mentally and emotionally curl up into the smallest target possible, protecting all the tenderest and most vulnerable places, but we are in the place for healing wounded animals, and I really need you to get off the mental hamster wheel and THINK.

Anyway, while I don’t think ZZS could have gotten away with this lack of poker face as head of Tian Chuang – although who knows, maybe that’s actually the reason they cover their faces – I appreciate the acting/directing choice to have these expressions happen anyway, to clue us in that ZZS is a really smart guy, and he (unlike Cao Weining) knows what WKX (A-Xiang) isn’t telling him. (Also, it means Zhang Zhehan’s face, doing things. Anything. Whatever he wants to make it do … Anyway.)

Something’s got to break loose soon. Meanwhile, a few random thoughts:

Does … does that opening scene of Wen Kexing dreaming of protecting his puppy from those little brats have shades of his adopting A-Xiang, with related shades of his own shixiong-shidi relationship with Zhou Zishou that maybe possibly influenced his adoption of A-Xiang? I now have this mental image of him telling this story over family dinner, and A-Xiang as Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally: “I’m the dog?” Meanwhile, a mysterious stranger enters, and baby WKX is already smart enough to recognize Stranger Danger and not give out his name. If Drunk-Like-A-Dream shows you your greatest desires, what tf does all this mean? (Also, I think at the point where everyone in your household needs downers to sleep, it might be time to consider some therapy.)

If Tragicomic Ghost actually did go to the Healer Valley for treatment, it would explain that odd comment about not being able to saving WKX’s dad in a previous ep.

Finally, I know, Fan Shishu, A-Xiang is delightful, isn’t she! Nevertheless, you’re giving her some strange looks over dinner that I find possibly a bit concerning. However, in the dictionary under “cinnamon roll” there’s a picture of Cao Weining. I CANNOT with the way he and Gu Xiang look at each other. I love them so much, it makes me actually, literally clutch my chest with joy.