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nonsensical-ramblings · 2 years

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The Stranger Things OST is something we haven't been paying nearly enough attention to, because I think I've just found something monumental.

We all know these two scenes feature the same music:

But what we haven't been talking about is how the tracks in these four scenes all share the exact same melody-

Or that the tracks from these two scenes sync up perfectly to create an entirely new piece of music

But what if I told you this is only the very tip of the iceberg, because I've been sifting through evidence for quite a while now, and we are far past the point of this all just being a coincidence?

ahem.

Welcome to Soundtrackgate.

(AKA: The wild, wacky world where connections go way, way deeper than you could've possibly imagined, and it all still manages to lead back to byler in the end)

So, just by themselves, those three instances of matching soundtracks creating parallels between different scenes are pretty cool, and worthy of analysis. That's all well and good. But it gets a whole lot more complicated when I tell you that across those three examples, all the songs from those eight scenes I've pointed out match with each other too. The music playing during the J/ancy kiss syncs with the music from the R/ockie scene at the gun shop. The M/ileven kiss has music that syncs with the "It was a seven" scene. R/ockie making sandwiches has music in the background that syncs with the Byler van scene. They're all in the same key, B flat major.

I can prove that I'm not making this up in the form of some amazing mashups between four important OST songs. But before I show you those, let me take a step back and introduce you to the songs individually: Being Different, The First Lie, The First I love You, and Kids.

(I slowed them down so they're all the same speed). And I thought to myself, golly, these all sound pretty similar, they all have a pretty consistent pattern of eight quarter notes that get repeated over and over. (Listen closely, can you hear it?) I sure bet it would sound nice if someone combined them. So. I figured out how to edit audio and I did it myself XD

When I said they synced, I wasn't kidding. When I did my initial little experiment, I was not expecting the songs to, in no uncertain terms, match up perfectly, as if they were all variations of the same track, because the only thing I'd done was change the tempo a little bit between each of them. No splicing, no extra editing, no looping, no nothing. And they sound beautiful together!!! Here are my three favorites:

Putting all four together pushes my limits a bit and it comes out a tad messy, but I love it anyways. It's overwhelmingly clear that these four songs are meant to fit together.

So... what does this mean? The tracks are undeniably connected, and some of the scenes in which they occur are clearly parallels too. I mean, we've been ENDLESSLY analyzing parallels between R/ockie, Byler, and J/ancy, and this discovery lends more credit to the theory that those aren't just coincidences. But especially for major motifs like Kids, there are a lot more scenes where these songs play!! It's not just the few I mentioned at the beginning of the post that are pretty obvious in how they're similar to one another. Haha, but wouldn't it be crazy if ALL the scenes that these songs (and their variations) appear in followed the exact same narrative pattern; a pattern which would just so happen to offer extremely compelling evidence to the fact that Byler has been endgame since season 1?

Ha ha... ha... um.

They do.

All of them.

I'm not fucking joking. Out of the 22 scenes I've been able to track down which feature any of these four songs or variations of them, I've identified a pattern which every single one follows. Some definitely better than others... but it is un-fucking-deniable that this pattern exists and it has to be deliberate, because all of this being a coincidence must be some sort of statistical impossibility with the sheer amount of evidence I've amassed.

The pattern I'm referring to is a collection of four themes:

A misassumption / some form of dishonesty

Love. Often romantic, but sometimes platonic or familial

A subversion of expectations

An atypical relationship between two people

Often in that order.

So basically, we have a collection of scenes throughout all four seasons that are very strongly linked to each other, through both the music that plays during them, and the narrative pattern they follow. And theoretically, if we now know for a fact that each of these scenes follows the same pattern, we can use it to support our interpretations of moments like the van scene or "It was a seven"! (A pattern which, I'll remind you, will fall perfectly in line with Byler endgame)

Okay. So here, we get to the main chunk of the analysis. The hard data. I've gone through every relevant scene and listed how each of them fit the pattern, to prove that it's legit, and to use it to demonstrate how this discovery supports our theories! I've also added whether I think the scene matches well (✅), moderately well (🤔) , or poorly (❌) with the interpretation. (Keep in mind that even the ones that match poorly still relate to the themes in some way!) I sorted everything by motif, then into individual music pieces, then into scenes that feature that music. So scenes that have the same track playing in the background are grouped together.

Obviously, it's pretty long. I did my best to organize it well and make it as concise as possible. But that's why I'm adding a star (⭐️) next to all the scenes that explicitly support the Byler agenda, in case you want to scroll past the rest and only focus on what you came here for!

Without further ado, let's start out with...

The First Lie motif

The dominating melody in these tracks is: D D# D A# C F A# C

Track 1: The First Lie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S5-J7BLoIY)

Scene A: Jonathan And Nancy get together (S2E6) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/Dishonesty: Both of them are denying their feelings for each other • Love: And those feelings are romantic in nature • Subversion of expectations: They discover that their feelings are requited! • Atypical Relationship: Nancy, a popular and conventionally attractive character, ends up with Jonathan, the outcast

Track 2: The First I love You (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y68LnSZ_j3M)

Scene A: Robin and Steve talk in the Bathroom (S4E7) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/Dishonesty: Steve believes he has a chance with Robin, Robin hasn’t told him the whole truth about her sexuality • Love: Steve has feelings for her, she has feelings for Tammy, the two of them love each other as best friends • Subversion of expectations: Robin wants to kiss girls!!! And Steve is surprised, but wholly accepts her, even as a straight guy in the 80s • Atypical Relationship: Platonic soulmates <3

⭐️ Scene B: El Tells Mike she loves him and says goodbye (S4E8) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/Dishonesty: Their relationship had been damaged by the fact that Mike lied in order to avoid seeing her / getting into trouble with Hopper • Love: El forgives Mike, says that she loves him, and tries to repair their relationship • Subversion of expectations: El admits to having heard Mike when he said that he loved her, back in episode 6 • Atypical Relationship: It wouldn’t be very atypical for a straight guy to get back with his straight girlfriend after a brief break-up, would it? So maybe this relationship isn't as hetero as it- [gunshots]

Scene C: Joyce and Hopper Kiss (S4E9) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/Dishonesty: Up until this moment they’ve been dancing around each other since season 1, not quite being honest or upfront about how they feel • Love: But now they finally have their moment and make it official! • Subversion of expectations: We’ve seen it coming for years, sure, but considering where they started, their relationship was an unlikely one • Atypical Relationship: Joyce, the high-strung, divorced, single mom, and Hopper, the troubled, divorced, adoptive dad, certainly make a unique pair together

Kids motif

The dominating melody in these tracks is: G A# F A# G A# F A#, and/or F G F D C A# C A#

Track 1: Kids (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha2OcL_0gtM)

⭐️ Scene A: The party finishes up their D&D game, “It was a seven” (S1E1) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: Lucas urges Will to lie to Mike about his roll • Love: Little Will cares about his friendship with Mike too much to lie to him • Subversion of expectations: He’s honest, and admits that he only rolled a seven, even if it means he lost the campaign • Atypical relationship: Oh, you know. :)

Scene B: The kids disguise El so she can go out in public (S1E5) This scene doesn’t match very well ❌ • Misassumption/dishonesty: The kids are disguising El’s true identity so they can bring her to their school • Love: The four of them are beginning to trust one another; the boys trust El to help them find Will, they're bonding as friends • Subversion of expectations: The boys (but Mike specifically) are surprised with the degree of El's glowup • Atypical relationship: Mike thinks El is pretty, even though the rest of the party is still a little apprehensive towards her

Scene C: Mike, Lucas, and El make up after their fight in the previous episode (S1E7) This scene matches moderately well 🤔 • Misassumption/dishonesty: El had been misleading the boys to keep them away from the lab • Love: The friends are all sorry for what they did, and care too much about each other to stay mad • Subversion of expectations: They’re able to reconcile • Atypical relationship: Even after a pretty serious fight, the friends are back together again, stronger than ever

Scene D: The party finally gets to play D&D again at the end of season 1 (S1E8) This scene doesn’t match very well ❌ (But, it’s excusable because the main purpose it serves here is to parallel the first scene from episode 1- matching this narrative pattern is probably a secondary concern) • Misassumption/dishonesty: The campaign is over too soon, the kids feel like it’s not a truthful finale; there are loose ends left to be resolved in the story • Love: The friends are finally back together again, having fun, enjoying each others’ company, healing • Subversion of expectations: Will is able to defeat the monster this time • Atypical relationship: Even after everything they went through, they made it out OK and are still the best of friends

Scene E: Dustin reminds Mike to look for some change before going to the arcade (S2E1) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: Mike avoids Dustin’s questions of why he’s on an unusual channel on the walkie talkie, and why he hasn’t been looking for quarters to bring to the arcade • Love: Mike is still grieving El • Subversion of expectations: He hadn’t been looking for quarters because he was busy trying to contact her • Atypical relationship: He still feels guilty for having lost her, more so than the rest of his friends. He believes she’s out there, even after a year has passed

Scene F: The kids work together to assemble Cerebro (S3E1) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: The kids don’t quite believe Dustin is being honest about actually having a girlfriend • Love: But he does! He actually is in a relationship • Subversion of expectations: Suzie doesn’t answer • Atypical relationship: A nerdy mormon and an agnostic with no collarbone; an unlikely pair!

Track 2: Kids Two (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PydvdEdGwE)

Scene A: El and Max spy on the boys (S3E3) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: The girls are secretly spying on the guys • Love: They’re talking about their relationship troubles • Subversion of expectations: They’re doing a terrible job of trying to win El and Max back; putting all the blame on the girls, talking about how they're a "different species", all while eating chips and generally being gross • Atypical relationship: Elmax bonds over having dumb ex-boyfriends, even after their friendship's rocky start in the previous season :3

Scene B: Robin sees Vickie at Warzone (S1E8) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: Robin thinks she has a chance with Vickie • Love: She’s about to make a move and talk to her crush… • Subversion of expectations: …but Vickie has a boyfriend. • Atypical relationship: Queerness!! And the fact that Vickie gets distracted by Robin, probably has a bit of a crush on her too, even though she's currently in a relationship

Scene C: Robin & Vickie make sandwiches (S4E9) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: Robin is initially fairly certain now that she DOESN’T have a chance with Vickie • Love: But unbeknownst to her, they're almost definitely endgame • Subversion of expectations: Vickie admits that she ended things with her boyfriend • Atypical relationship: Imminent 80s Lesbians!!!!!!!!

Track 3: Teens (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3JICAZAEBs)

Scene A: Suzie changes Dustin’s Latin grade (S4E1) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: Suzie and Dustin are cheating his Latin grade by hacking into the school’s computer system • Love: The two of them are still together :3 • Subversion of expectations: Suzie decides that her relationship with Dustin is worth more than being entirely morally virtuous, so she changes the grade for him • Atypical relationship: The unlikely pair of the mormon and the agnostic strike again!

Track 4: In The Closet (At Rink O Mania) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwl-HPNQFLc)

⭐️ Scene A: Mike and Will argue at the roller rink (S4E1) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: Mike’s upset that Will and El haven’t been honest about the bullying • Love: Will just misses his best friend and is upset that their relationship / communication over the past year has been strained. And he’s in love. • Subversion of expectations: “We’re friends! We’re friends.”(AKA, Mike has been struggling with his feelings just as much as Will has) • Atypical relationship: Queerness!! We can be fairly certain now that they totally feel the same way about each other, even if neither will admit it.

Scene B: …but also El hides in the closet at the roller rink (S4E1) This scene matches moderately well 🤔 • Misassumption/dishonesty: El had been hiding the fact that she was being bullied • Love: This lie has has driven a wedge even deeper between her and her boyfriend • Subversion of expectations: She decides to go confront Angela • Atypical relationship: El, the humiliated victim, decides to stand up to her bully, Angela, instead of letting her get the final word

Track 5: Home (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdcV1u6RUh4)

Scene A: Hopper takes El in (S2E3) This scene matches moderately well 🤔 • Misassumption/dishonesty: Hopper wants to give El a place to stay where she can hide from the people looking for her / Hopper discreetly puts away a box labeled “Sarah”, hinting at a more personal reason for taking her in than he lets on • Love: He cares about El like he’d care for his own daughter • Subversion of expectations: Even though he's a supposedly hardened and lazy police chief, he cares about El enough to go through the effort of fixing up the cabin to give her a place to stay • Atypical relationship: Found family :’)

Scene B: This song also plays during the scene where Robin sees Vickie at Warzone (S4E8) This scene matches well! ✅ • [See Kids Two, scene B]

Track 6: What’s The Internet? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqx4idF4ObE)

Scene A: The Hellfire Club and Lucas’ team celebrate their victories (S4E1) This scene matches moderately well 🤔 • Misassumption/dishonesty: The basketball team and the Hellfire club both thought they were screwed • Love: Despite the looming potential for failure, everyone’s having fun and feeling included within their groups, they love their hobbies and their friends • Subversion of expectations: Both teams won their respective games despite the odds! • Atypical relationship: Lucas still hangs in the balance between the two teams, feeling unsure about which of his friend groups he should prioritize

Track 7: [Unreleased song, but the Kids motif is faintly audible towards the end]

⭐️ Scene A: El and Mike argue over Mike not being able to say “I love you” (S4E2) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/dishonesty: Mike’s refusing to acknowledge that he can’t say the words, he’s lying about how he really feels • Love: Their relationship as boyfriend/girlfriend is finally starting to show cracks, as its fundamental flaws are presented front and center • Subversion of expectations: Their relationship isn’t as perfect as we’d been led to believe • Atypical relationship: They’re on the verge of a breakup, but that's really what's best for the two of them

and finally...

Being Different Motif

The dominating melody in these tracks is: A# D F D A# D D# D, and/or A# D F A# D F A F

Track 1: Being Different (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o29YLtS_NA)

⭐️ Scene A: Mike and Will talk in the van (S4E8) This scene matches well! ✅ • Misassumption/Dishonesty: Will lies, using El’s name to hide his own feelings • Love: And those feelings are his love for Mike :’( • Subversion of expectations: It’s now overwhelmingly clear that Will is canonically gay and in love with Mike • Atypical Relationship: Well, it doesn’t sound all that atypical for the sad gay boy to have fallen for his straight best friend (who is obviously straight because he’s in a relationship with a girl), so what if Mike- [gunshots]

Track 2: I Like Presents Too (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trSjkqM0VT4) (I’m not positive about this one, but I swear I hear similarities between Being Different and this song? Especially between 1:52 - 2:05 in Being Different, and 0:38 - 1:00 in this song)

⭐️Scene A: This song also plays during the scene where El Tells Mike she loves him and says goodbye (S4E8) This scene matches well! ✅ • [See The First I love You, scene B]

Okay. And that's all of them! I hope I've made my point. The fact that every single one of these 11 songs and the 22 scenes they appear in are connected both musically and thematically cannot be a coincidence. And by simply tracing the pattern, it's pretty easy to see that these connections hint at the fact that there's something more that we're not explicitly seeing between Mike, El, and Will's relationships, which has no other explanation besides Byler endgame. Let's review- by applying what we know about the pattern to Byler and M/ileven scenes, we can infer that:

When El kisses Mike at the end of season 3, it isn't meant to be taken at face-value. There's something atypical about their relationship, and it's the fact that despite saying the words, it doesn't change the fact that neither of them are in love with each other, not romantically, even if they think they should be.

When Will tells Mike he rolled a seven and lost the battle in the first episode of season 1, it's more than just Will being a good friend. There's a deeper connection- something atypical compared to Will's relationships with his other friends, because this is Will being in love with Mike before he even understood what those feelings meant.

During their fight at Rink O Mania in season 4, they're not just arguing about Will being dishonest or Mike not staying in touch. There's something deeper under the surface that they're dancing around, unaddressed feelings on both ends, something more atypical than just two friends who drifted apart. At the root of their frustration is the fact that they both believe the other doesn't feel the same.

Mike said it himself- when he and El argue over the fact that he can't say "I love you" to her, this was a fight they can't come back from. Because it's been made clear to them that their relationship isn't romantic anymore, it's atypical in the sense that they realize this whole thing between them has just been a heteronormative charade they were pressured into, rather than something they really wanted or needed.

When Will delivers his veiled love confession in the back of the van in season 4, we're led to believe that this is him ripping off the bandaid, because Mike is supposedly happiest with El and he'll never see Will the way Will sees him. But this interpretation is incorrect, because there's something very very atypical about the way Mike stares longingly into Will's eyes, completely mesmerized, in a way that he's never looked at his own girlfriend despite allegedly being so in love with her. Mike is in love, but there's no denying anymore that the love he feels is for Will, not El.

Of course, none of these interpretations of these scenes are new or anything. But the fact that we now have solid proof that all of them are actually intentionally connected? They all share linked music and follow the same pattern?? That, I think, is revolutionary.

But of course we're not done yet.

Because as lengthy as it is, this isn't a finished analysis. Now, if you've made it this far into my mad and delusional (yet strongly supported by evidence) rantings and ravings, you're probably just as excited about this breakthrough as I am. So if you're thinking about exploring the theory yourself, I have a few suggestions on where to start, because there's a good number of things that I haven't fully looked into yet! Most notably, there are several tracks that sound like they almost fit with the ones I already identified as being part of soundtrackgate, or they have similar vibes, but just aren't similar enough to make it into the list. Some of them I've tried to mix with The First Lie, Kids, etc, but came up empty-handed. There songs are:

Journalistic Instinct

Boys and Girls

Feel Safe

First Kiss

Presumptuous

My BOOBS Hurt

A Kiss

I wouldn't remember me either

Eight Fifteen

Walkin in Hawkins (i really really really hate this song for no justifiable reason please don't make me listen to it any more than I had to this is my one exception)

This Isn't You

Blank Makes You Crazy

Weirdly enough, out of these twelve, there are exactly three tracks from each season. Does that mean anything? No clue. Odd, though.

For all you eightfifteengate truthers, I tried really, really hard to mix the track Eight Fifteen with any of the established songs... but all I got was a pretty resounding muddy mess of a failure. Which sucks, because it sounds like it should work! Unfortunately, I don't think Eight Fifteen is part of soundtrackgate. However! I did notice that it sounds very very similar to the track Presumptuous, which is interesting. Here's the best I got, for what it's worth:

If you want to take another look at these songs and try to prove me wrong, please do!! Maybe there's a pattern within them that I didn't catch. And if you ask, I'll be happy to try my hand at combining any tracks you think would work together!

Other than that, there are a few interesting little details I noticed while perusing the OST. Maybe they mean something, maybe they don't, but I thought they were worth mentioning! Feel free to investigate if any of these pique your interest:

Like I mentioned earlier, Eight Fifteen and Presumptuous both contain the same melody

Blank Makes You Crazy and I Need You to Trust Me are both songs tied to scenes where we see evidence of the stained relationship between Mike and El, and they’re both in the same key; F Major

Not Kids Anymore plays during the Byler rain fight in s3, AND when Dustin and Mike refuse to go to Lucas’ game in s4

As far as I can tell, the song Destroying The Castle only plays one time other than when Will takes a bat to Castle Byers- it also plays in S4E9 when Hopper is about to use himself as bait for the demodogs, but assures Joyce that he’ll be alright

On The Bus almost definitely does not match with any of the other songs, but I feel like this particular track is important and worth looking into regardless, so I’m mentioning it here.

You’re The Heart does not sound similar, mix well with, or parallel Being Different, let alone ANY of the established soundtrackgate songs. I just don’t hear it, sorry.

Eulogy and Letter to Willy sound very very similar

Journalistic Instinct and Boys and Girls sound very very similar

Still Pretty, the song that plays in season 1 when Mike reassures El that she looks pretty without the wig, also plays in season 4 while they talk in the pizza shop, right before they get interrupted by Argyle.

Okay. I think that covers it, for now. Thank you so much for reading, seriously, I poured my soul into this so it means a lot!!! I hope it all made enough sense. MASSIVE shoutout to what-song.com for its list of all the songs that appear in each ST episode, in order, complete with listing what minute each song appears in, providing a 30-second sample of each song, and a description of the scene that occurs during it. It SAVED MY LIFE no joke. Also big shoutout to bilibili.tv, my platform of choice for sailing the seven seas of content of questionable legality; I used it liberally to pull up all the scenes I had to analyze lol

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yggdraseed · 9 months

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Women in Jujutsu Kaisen, Part 2: Sacrificial Lioness

This is the second part in a series of three posts. If you haven’t read the original, I don’t think it’s entirely necessary to do so, but it might provide some helpful context.

I’ll be the first to admit I may have buried the lead, in a way, with my first post on this subject. When people criticize GeGe Akutami’s portrayal of women, they don’t really target the Shibuya Incident and what came before. They level their criticisms at the events post-Shibuya, and so the events post-Shibuya are what I’ll be mainly talking about here.

I had intended to cover all of that in one post, but the first part of this analysis was already so long that about twenty very funny free-thinkers on Reddit all rolled their sleeves up and commented some variation of “Too long, won’t read.” It still cuts me like a knife, to this very day.

Now to everyone else, let’s review. Jujutsu Kaisen received a lot of praise early on for its portrayal of women, but over the duration of the manga’s run, there have been a very vocal segment of the fanbase who have problems with how that portrayal has developed into the current state of the story. Not only that, some even go so far as to say that GeGe didn’t just get worse at writing women, that GeGe secretly hates women, either because of conscious misogyny or passive, culturally-ingrained sexism that they just aren’t aware of.

So, I have quite a few problems with this take. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, of course, but when it goes from having differing interpretations of the text in front of us to people speculating about the moral character of the author… well, you need to really work for that one. It’s one thing to say “Oh, the author meant well, but this just wasn’t quite good enough” — but to say the author had malicious intent is a different can of worms entirely.

How does an author go from writing women with such care as I have illustrated in my first post analyzing the subject to suddenly just bumbling around, screwing everything up? Why would an author who’s a misogynist write such vibrant, strong-willed, even inspirational characters like Nobara and Maki? Did GeGe randomly decide they want to sabotage their own success for mysterious reasons? Did someone secretly replace GeGe with an evil robot clone of GeGe to fulfill some secret plan to ruin the whole manga? Well, maybe. Or maybe this manga isn’t what a lot of its readers initially thought it was.

Everything But the Text To try and explain what I think about all of this, it’s going to be necessary to discuss things outside of Jujutsu Kaisen’s story. We’ve already started asking questions about GeGe Akutami’s values as a person, so the conversation can’t just stay limited to the characters, worldbuilding, themes, and other elements specific just to what’s within the manga’s pages. I tried to avoid doing this as much as possible in my first post, because once you start examining influences on the writing or reading of a story from outside of the story itself, things get messy. People are complicated, and often a locked box; that goes for readers and writers alike. Nobody can peer inside of another person’s heart or mind, so it’s hard to say anything concrete. Suffice to say that I am not going to make a habit out of trying to read tea leaves and divine an author’s thoughts and values, and I encourage you to not make a habit out of it either. That being said, let’s dip our toes into it just this once, and proceed with caution.

Even when you look to author interviews, it’s difficult to say for sure if an author can recall every single thing that was consciously or unconsciously influencing them when designing a character or planning a story’s structure. On top of that, good author won’t give away twists or reveals planned for the story’s future. They want you to read the damn thing, after all, not use substitutes for reading it. For example: would GeGe really tell us if Nobara was dead or not if the intention was to have her be revealed to have survive?. Would GeGe tell us if she’s alive or dead if the intention was for it to be ambiguous? And beyond that, while this is just my own interpretation, GeGe seems to be very closed-lipped about what the story’s themes are so they don’t color the reader’s experience. It’s a story that doesn’t give you neatly arranged answers to every question, so of course GeGe doesn’t want to make the audience thing there’s a “correct” or “incorrect” way to interpret what characters say and do.

Of course, there’s a corollary to all this subjective interpretation talk. It’s one thing to look at a character’s actions and try to interpret what motivates those actions, what they’ll do in the future, and what ideas are being worked out through that character. It’s something very different to try and use the story like reading tea leaves, to act like you can divine the author’s personality and moral values outside of what they choose to give away.

…On the other hand, every author puts a little bit of themselves in what they write. Their beliefs, their tastes, their assumptions about other people and life in general. For instance, GeGe clearly has a taste for horror, Japanese mythology, Buddhism, martial arts movies, and pro wrestling. We can see this in the way that Jujutsu Kaisen doesn’t just borrow Buddhist imagery like the names of bodhisattvas or how they’re depicted in art, but in how the themes of the story are heavily informed by the way Buddhism emphasizes death and the relationship of the self to the whole. You can see GeGe’s love for martial arts movies in references to said movies, e.g., the references to The Raid in Yuji’s fight with Choso. And you can see GeGe likes pro wrestling or at least has respect for it by the way that Yuki’s technique is named Bom Ba Ye.

A slight tangent: I hate Viz. Viz has bungled the official English release for Jujutsu Kaisen in ways I didn’t think were possible. Clunky, out-of-character dialogue and outright mistranslations aside, they completely failed to get the name of Yuki’s technique across. See, in Shonen Jump’s publications and in other manga, there’s this thing called furigana. Most Japanese is written in kanji, but for readers who struggle with kanji, furigana are included as a postscript spelling out the same word in hiragana so it’s easier to read. However, lots of authors — including GeGe — will use furigana to add extra meanings in how you pronounce something. For another example within Jujutsu Kaisen, the name of Todo’s technique is spelled in kanji as 不義遊戯, which translates to “Immorality” or “Unjust Game.” But the furigana are ブギウギ, or Bugi Ugi — Boogie Woogie. When adapted to the anime, they default to the furigana, so we get the wonder and the majesty that is Boogie Woogie.

Yuki’s technique is the same. The kanji read 星の怒り, which can be translated in a few different ways. TCB went with “Fury of the Stars,” which if you ask me is a hell of a lot cooler than going wiith “Star Rage.” But once again, the furigana are read differently. ボンバイエ — Bom Ba Ye.

The term Bom Ba Ye originates from the championship match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, held in Zaire and popularly dubbed The Rumble in the Jungle. At one point the crowd began chanting “Ali, bombaye! Ali, bombaye!” Which more-or-less translates to “Ali, finish him! Ali, finish him!” It became heavily associated with Ali after that. And after a match they had with each other in Japan, Ali gave Antonio Inoki his blessing to use a variation on the bombaye chant for his ring entrance music. Given how Inoki passed away last year, it seems that GeGe intended this to be, in part, an homage to the architect of Japan’s pro wrestling scene. So yeah, fuck Viz.

Tangent over. So yes, there are ways to get a feel for an author’s sensibilities from what they write, but it’s not some telescope into their psyche. And unless someone can give me evidence that GeGe Akutami looks down on or hates women outside of hot takes about the outcome of certain fights in this manga, you are never going to convince me.

People try to assign metrics to this series to gauge GeGe’s seriousness about female characters, and those have never impressed me either. I already touched on this in my last post, but the outcome of a fight does not determine a character’s value. To step outside the pages of Jujutsu Kaisen once again, let’s look to other Shonen Jump luminaries for some helpful examples that might be easier to digest.

In Naruto, we have the iconic fight at the Valley of the End when Naruto tries to stop Sasuke from leaving the village to join Orochimaru. Naruto loses, but in the long run, Sasuke is proven wrong and a mountain of misfortune befalls him and the village as a result of his selfish, obsessive actions. He ultimately comes back to join the village in the final act, after having his assumptions about the world and the people around him disproven.

My point is that despite Shonen manga being so heavily focused on battle and getting stronger, there has always been a throughline where being strong by itself doesn’t make a character right. And Jujutsu Kaisen riffs on that by having lots of cases where strong characters are dethroned by intelligent tactics, teamwork, or simply a blind spot created by their own limited, strength-oriented view of the world. Strength and winning fights are not the sole criteria for a character’s value, and that’s not just true for Jujutsu Kaisen, but for more conventional Shonen as a whole.

The other metric I see people attempt to use is screentime. If one character gets 50 pages and another character gets 70 pages, that means GeGe values the character who got 70 pages more and the character who got 50 pages is a bum, is worthless to the story, and GeGe hates that character, is how the argument goes.

I hate math in general, but especially when people try to use it as a shortcut or a way around actually engaging with a story. This is like a more insidious version of the power levels problem some Shonen and their fan communities have, where people use something so arbitrary as the number of pages or panels a character appears in to evaluate their importance — both to their subjective experience, and from the perspective of the writer.

Let’s do what we did with strength and fight outcomes again.

In One Piece, Shanks is a character who almost never appears. Hundreds of chapters will go by with no insights into what Shanks is doing. But if you would say that Shanks doesn’t matter to the story of One Piece, you would be laughed out of the entire One Piece fan community for just how stupid that take is. Shanks is the reason the story of One Piece happened, because he saved Luffy’s life and entrusted him with a goal: “Take this straw hat, keep it safe for me, and return it to me when you’ve become a great pirate someday.” He doesn’t need to appear very often, he is never far from the reader’s mind and casts an immense shadow over the story.

Now, characters the author doesn’t consider important do often appear. One Piece has a number of examples, like Tilestone. Tilestone is as minor as minor characters get, in terms of hissignificance to the story and in terms of how many pages of that story they appear in. So, what’s the difference? Well, Tilestone is a gag character. He exists to bolster the number of colorful characters who appear in the story; worldbuilding and set dressing as a person. Other than that, he adds a bit of comedy and texture — Tilestone is incapable of speaking without yelling, and this creates friction with other characters and complicates things involving him. An equivalent in Jujutsu Kaisen could be the trio of curse users that Megumi, Itadori, and Ino fight in Shibuya. Minor, extremely minor characters that serve a bit role.

All Things Tsukumo Yuki I think it’s time to bring this fully back around to Jujutsu Kaisen. We’ve gotten some context, now, by looking at other Shonen Jump series and some clear cut examples of how a character’s value is not determined by win-loss ratios or page counts. We’ve seen how even in these goofy Japanese comics for teenage boys, there are things going on under the surface that aren’t immediately apparent if you only look at what characters say and do and what happens to them. There are ideas being worked on under the surface. Let’s take this understanding, and apply it to the most contentious fight in all of Jujutsu Kaisen and ground zero for arguments that GeGe can’t write or doesn’t respect women.

That’s right, no more hemming and hawing at ringside. We’re crossing the top rope and mixing it up with Yuki Tsukumo vs. Kenjaku. It’s Yukimania! Snap into a Slim Jim!

So, let’s start by pulling together a profile of Yuki purely off of what the story gives us. She’s one of the older active characters when you don’t include life spans extended by unnatural methods, as she was already an established sorcerer and making a name for herself when Geto and Gojo were on the verge of graduating from high school. Already considered a Special Grade, she was notorious for not accepting missions and for generally thumbing her nose at the jujutsu sorcery establishment.

Her only real involvement with the wider sorcery world was mentoring Aoi Todo, her only known student. Yuki’s habit of asking people their type — a personality test that lets her gather info on other sorcerers without them realizing it — unabashed confidence and sincerity, and general flair for theatrics all have rubbed off on him, and we can assume it’s her tutelage that moulded Todo into such a stand-out, being able to reach First Grade as a sorcerer despite still being a student at the Kyoto Jujutsu Technical School, not coming from a sorcery family, and not having an inherently powerful technique. Fun fact: Todo’s scar comes from one of his training sessions with her. She got around by motorcycle and spent a lot of time overseas, researching sorcery and the soul with the aim to completely overturn the established order: she wanted to break the deadlock between sorcerers, humans, and cursed spirits.

The conclusion Geto had reached about the futility of trying to exorcise curses when human emotion was constantly creating more was old news to her by the time of Hidden Inventory and Premature Death, and she was searching for a way to prevent cursed spirits from being born. After Toji’s death posed a dead end for erasing cursed energy from the human race completely, she gravitated to the idea of making all human beings sorcerers, thus giving them the control over their cursed energy that prevents sorcerers from creating cursed spirits. Now, while Geto had the idea of killing all non-sorcerers, Yuki never actually condoned this. But she didn’t shut Geto down for this thought of his, either. She told him that he was going to have to make a choice whether to keep going down that line of thought and where it would lead him, or to reject that line of thought entirely. This is something that I think people get confused on, so let's put a pin in it for now.

We learn during the events leading up to her fight with Kenjaku that Yuki is a former Star Plasma Vessel, and we see that she is openly hostile to Tengen. Once the fight itself unfolds, we learn that Yuki’s cursed technique is Bom Ba Ye — the ability to increase her virtual mass.

Virtual mass is a phenomenon where an object behaves as if it has more or less mass than it actually does. So, Yuki’s technique doesn’t cause a perceptible change in mass for her — but her surroundings will be affected like her mass is increased. This means she can still move and fight unburdened while adding the devastating force of a huge mass increase to her attacks. As part of a Binding Vow to improve the effect of Bom Ba Ye further, the only viable targets for this virtual mass increase are Yuki and her shikigami-cursed tool hybrid, Garuda. It also seems that, due to the fluctuations in virtual mass occurring around her, Yuki can’t be targeted by conceptual techniques like what Kenjaku’s most powerful cursed spirits use. Her virtual mass changes so much that it’s as if the definition of who and what “Tsukumo Yuki” is becomes subject to change, meaning that techniques that interact with concepts on a metaphysical level can’t affect her.

As for her personality, Yuki is very direct and straightforward. She doesn’t mince words or hide her intentions — if she likes you, she’ll tell you. If she wants you dead, she’ll tell you that, too. She’s a rebel, and you can see that in everything from her choice of transportation to how she talks to what she occupies herself with. Gojo wanted to reform jujutsu society, but Tsukumo wanted to tear it down entirely. She’s an ethical anarchist who wants to create true equality — either making it so everyone’s a sorcerer, or so nobody is a sorcerer — and cut right to the chase with fixing the problems in the world. There’s a sense of urgency that propels her to fight hard, live hard, and make sure the world changes in a profound way before another generation has to climb up through the muck that the old guard has burdened them with.

During the run-up to the fateful fight with Kenjaku, we see Yuki’s interactions with Tengen and Choso unfold. She takes a liking to Choso — he’s her type, after all. A hard-working guy who may not have a lot of charisma, but makes up for with dedication and a willingness to fight for what he believes in. Choso confides in her about the guilt he feels for inadvertently making his brothers fight each other to the death, breaking down crying at the fact that he not only sent Eso and Kechizu to die, but that he made Yuji, the baby brother they didn’t know they had, land the killing blow. We also see the animosity Yuki has for Tengen, and how she sympathizes with the other Star Plasma Vessels who merged with Tengen. It’s implied that she’s able to sense their presence and get some idea of their thoughts and emotions within Tengen, but she refuses to share that knowledge.

Once we get to the fight, Yuki puts Kenjaku through the wringer. Kenjaku has mostly skated by through every fight with a combination of Geto’s cursed technique and crafty tactics that always give them the advantage. Choso goes out first to gather information for Yuki before she tags in, and although he’s on the verge of death, he forces Kenjaku to use a technique besides Cursed Spirit Manipulation. Knowing now that one of Kenjaku’s saved up techniques is related to gravity, Yuki enters the fray. She ends up immediately putting pressure on Kenjaku that we haven’t seen anyone else come close to managing, one-shotting a Special Grade cursed spirit and breaking Kenjaku’s arm with one punch — a punch so strong that it breaks through a barrier put up by Tengen, the foremost expert on barriers. From there, Yuki and Kenjaku engage in mind games, close-quarters combat, and Choso even joins in another fine round of Jujumptsu Kaisen before Kenjaku calls one of Yuki’s bluffs, expands their domain, and chips away at her until Yuki is dealt a blow to the stomach, destroying her body’s ability to produce cursed energy. She has Tengen move Choso to safety, then sends her cursed technique out of control, increasing her density until she turns into a black hole. Between her willpower and Tengen’s use of barrier techniques, they restrict the black hole’s growth so that it loses momentum and fades. Kenjaku survives by revealing that the technique they retained from using Kaori Itadori as a host is actually Anti-Gravity System, that they’ve been using technique inversion, and that they managed to endure with Anti-Gravity System until the black hole dissipated. But before she died, Yuki left Kenjaku with these last words: “You control gravity, but aren’t you thinking too small!? Gravity, mass, time, it all boils down to…”

Aside from a brief appearance in Todo’s flashback and in the Hidden Inventory/Premature Death arcs covering Gojo’s past, showing up to save the students trapped by Uraume’s ice in Shibuya, and helping to set up the plan to combat the Culling Games, that’s all she wrote for Yuki’s appearances in the story. However, that’s not the end of her influence. We’ve got Choso carrying on her will by surviving because she protected him, we’ve got her research into the soul that Choso passed along to Itadori, and we’ve got those last words to Kenjaku. It all boils down to… what, exactly? Kenjaku is someone who prides themselves on these plans spanning centuries and these ambitious designs for a new form of cursed energy-based life, and yet, Yuki mocked them for still “thinking too small.” This might be one of those things that’s left up to interpretation, or it might be we’ll learn the rest of what Yuki said to Kenjaku at a pivotal moment — but setting her last words aside, she’s still got a lasting influence. Time will tell what will come of the things she’s left behind.

Subtext, More Than Words So, that’s the text. We’ve covered everything we can get out of just looking at the events of the story and the words and actions of the characters. But, that’s not the whole story. There’s still a lot of subtext left, and a huge part of Yuki’s story plays out entirely in subtext.

Let me pose a question. Why have Yuki fight Kenjaku? Matching up Choso to fight Kenjaku is pretty obvious: Kenjaku tortured and experimented on Choso’s mother, manipulated him and the other Death Paintings, and ultimately abandoned them. Classic revenge fight.

But while there isn’t a clear reason for Yuki to fight Kenjaku other than to guard Tengen on the surface, there’s a very interesting reason in the story’s subtext. Yuki is a former Star Plasma Vessel — as in, one of the candidates who didn’t merge with Tengen. This doesn’t seem to convey any special abilities onto her, but it does give her a very unique relationship with sorcerer society as a whole and Tengen specifically — which, when you really get down to it, are the same thing.

Tengen isn’t some secret traitor, and isn’t some malicious conservative presence. Tengen is the system, and is the passive stand-in for all the people who benefit from or participate in the system whether they realize it or not. It’s why Tengen doesn’t have a distinct human appearance. With her mastery of barriers, Tengen keeps the whole of jujutsu society functioning — and in order to prevent her from evolving to something beyond and potentially hostile to humanity, the Star Plasma Vessel merger is held every few hundred years. Young people, human beings, have their future and their unique, independent identity stolen in order to hold up the status quo. Used up like raw materials just so that the system doesn’t change or face any challenges to it.

Yuki narrowly avoided that fate, and you don’t need to squint very hard to see that having this potential outcome foisted onto her has heavily influenced her view on life. The point of her being a Star Plasma Vessel wasn’t to set up some sort of future plot point where the Star Plasma Vessel would be used to stop Kenjaku or something, it was to contextualize why she is an ethical anarchist. She came face to face with the possibility of being reduced to material so the system can keep going, and she wants to tear the system down to protect future Star Plasma Vessels from being used up like she almost was. It’s her self-imposed responsibility to the future. Not something forced onto her, but a fate and a mission she chose.

It’s why she doesn’t dissuade Geto directly when he proposes killing all non-sorcerers. She can’t in good conscience pursue a future of freedom and indivduality if she makes a young person’s choices for him. Remember, she’s well into adulthood while Geto is just late into his adolescence during their conversation together; to her, he’s still a kid. And so, she gives him her advice, and tells him he has to make his own decision at some point, then commit to it. It ended up being one of the contributing factors to Geto’s downfall, but the alternative was for Yuki to take his freedom of choice away by pressuring him to do what she thinks is right. The outcome wasn’t clear at the time, but what was clear was what Yuki’s personal ethics told her to tell him. It’s why she sympathizes with Choso. She probably went through a similar crisis as Choso, a feeling of being dehumanized: her by being told she might have to surrender her individual existence as a human being to merge with Tengen, Choso by being half-human, half-curse. Even though Choso wants to die for her, she tells him that he’s only died as a curse, and has Tengen protect him so he can live as a human. Yuki won’t allow someone to die to protect her. She won’t use other people to further her goals or escape the consequences of her choices.

It’s why, finally, she has her first and final fight with Kenjaku. Because when you get right down to it, the ultimate goal of the Culling Games — to merge the non-sorcerers of Japan with Tengen after she’s been allowed to evolve beyond humanity, all in order to create a new form of cursed energy-based life — is very similar to the way the Star Plasma Vessel merger was used to sustain the status quo through Tengen. They both rob human beings of life and agency in order to further the goals of an individual or small cadre who seek to benefit from it. Yuki isn’t fighting to protect Tengen, Yuki is fighting to protect the people of Japan from being consolidated into a single non-identity by Kenjaku’s experiment. Yuki is fighting to protect every non-sorcerer from having their individuality and, indeed, their lives stolen like hers almost was.

And in the end, she loses the fight to kill Kenjaku, but preserves her ideals even in death. If Black Hole hadn’t had its growth contained by her willpower and Tengen’s barriers, it would have killed Kenjaku, without a doubt. Anti-Gravity System would have eventually used up all of Kenjaku’s cursed energy, leaving them unprotected from the ravages of the singularity. But at the same time, it would have meant destroying the planet and all life on Earth — and killing Kenjaku at that great a cost would have been such a Pyrrhic victory that it might as well have not been a victory at all. So Yuki gave it her best shot, and bet on the people she had protected to finish the fight if her final gambit didn’t succeed.

If I may indulge in a pet theory, I suspect that Yuki is going to get the last laugh. I suspect that the ultimate downfall of Kenjaku’s plan will, either before or after the merger, be the conversion of every non-sorcerer in Japan into a sorcerer. Sorcerers can protect themselves from the merger while non-sorcerers can’t, and it would be the ultimate refutation of the way Kenjaku sneers at modern humans and sorcerers as weak and helpless. Give them all cursed techniques and see what fresh hell they create. Imagine Sasaki, Yuki, Saori, and all the non-sorcerer humans we’ve seen awakening innate techniques all at once, and what kind of chaos and new possibilities that would create. We’d get Yuki’s goal of a world without cursed spirits and Gojo’s vision of an age where the term “Special Grade” can’t do justice to the level of sorcerer running around. It would make the Golden Age of Sorcery in the Heian era look like a god damn clown college by comparison, if you gave nuclear physicists, philosophers, CEOs, stay-at-home moms, historians, mathematicians, bakery owners, NEET otaku, and every other shade of human being in Japan their own unique cursed technique to use, it would prove just how small Kenjaku was thinking by limiting their view point to just themselves and their ideals — even a thousand years of experiences wouldn’t prepare them for that.

But I digress. My point is that there is a lot more to Yuki than just what’s shown on the pages of the manga, and it’s a disservice to her to act like she had no point as a character. Did she only get one fight? Yes, and it’s one of the most bombastic, high octane fights in the series, packed with strategy, style, and the top shelf violent action GeGe is known for. Were her appearances limited? Yes, and each appearance makes the most efficient use of time possible to make her stand out, as well as giving the reader food for thought — if they’ll just try a taste. Did she die violently? Yes, and that’s not a problem.

Pain, Suffering, and What Lies Beyond Pain and Suffering Let’s step out of the series one more time. When left with no further recourse, people will often argue that the way women are written in Jujutsu Kaisen is bad and wrong because of the violent injuries or deaths they suffer. I’m here to tell you that this is the worst argument of all because of the alternative it implies. Saying this implies “Women can only fight if they win. Women shouldn’t die in manga, and if they do, they have to die pretty without any ugly injuries.”

Now there is absolutely a precedent for the suffering of women being used for cheap, borderline pornographic exploitation. One of the great problems of the Shonen genre is how the deaths of female characters are used purely to motivate the male main character by holding a woman hostage, injuring, killing, or doing even worse to her to force him to fight. One of the great problems of the horror genre is maiming women for cheap shock value. Given that Jujutsu Kaisen sits at the intersection of Shonen and horror, there’s good reason to be concerned about how often women die in Jujutsu Kaisen.

I’m sorry to once again harangue you about other manga in a post about Jujutsu Kaisen, but the Big Three of Shonen manga are all notorious for having subpar depictions of female characters. One Piece’s writing for female characters isn’t terrible, but their visual designs almost invariably fall into the sex bomb supermodel type or the fat and dumpy, borderline meanspirited parody of an old woman type with very, very little in-between. Bleach has the audacity to set up two arcs back-to-back where the goal of the entire arc is to rescue a damsel in distress. Naruto is notorious for sidelining female characters, marrying off 90% of them at the end, and making jokes out of the female characters who don’t get married. Sakura spends the whole series chasing after Sasuke, who has shown indifference at best and open animosity to her at worst, and her ultimate reward is getting married off to an absentee husband and father.

Once again, however, context is everything. The above examples are problematic for robbing women of agency and using them as tools to further a male character’s growth. People accuse Nobara’s death of being this, but when you look at the context, this isn’t the case at all. She isn’t taken hostage, she chooses to chase Mahito and secure the kill, because it’s what she does. She goes for the kill when she’s got her target on the ropes. Her dying doesn’t lead Yuji to get some power up like some people claim it does. It breaks him. Yuji ultimately ends up defeating Mahito, but people always leave out everything between Nobara’s death and his win. He breaks down, his soul crushed, the Black Flash that he’s used to such great effect being used on him by Mahito — a turnaround that not only crushes any feeling Yuji may have had of being special, but that also helps make Mahito’s case that he and Yuji are just the same. It’s only Todo’s intervention and Arata putting Nobara’s condition into stasis, thereby giving Yuji faint hope she might make it, that saves him from giving up and letting himself die. He ultimately defeats Mahito not because of Nobara’s death giving him some power-up, but because Mahito got too comfortable with winning and gave Yuji a reason to never stop seeking his destruction. Yuji wins the fight not because Nobara dying sent him into a quasi-Super Saiyan rage of power, but because he refused to let her death or Nanami’s death be meaningless, and that meaning gave him the enduring core of inner strength that a flimsy nihilist like Mahito lacks.

The Shonen genre is defined by battle — often violent battle — or other challenges that the characters have to overcome. Growth through adversity is the name of the game, and a bad Shonen will only have growth, never adversity. It’s why overpowered isekai protagonists often evoke so much disgust from the broader community of Shonen enthusiasts: they’re a vehicle for cheap, easy wish-fulfillment that asks for nothing in return.

In a series where fighting is the norm, if women aren’t put on the front lines of those defining battles, that immediately creates a sense of inequality. It carries the implication that the author believes women can’t fight, or shouldn’t fight. If women do fight, but always lose, then it implies the author believes women are weak and need men to protect them. If women fight, but always win, on the other hand, then they don’t have a chance to face the same growth through adversity that makes their male counterparts interesting and fulfilling to watch. The best Shonen battle manga are so enjoyable because you get to see characters face challenges they’re not guaranteed to come out of victorious (or even alive), dig deep, and grow as people in order to overcome the adversity that they face. So, what do we get in Jujutsu Kaisen? Well, for one thing, we see Nobara facing a weak, but crafty cursed spirit early on. It takes a child as a hostage to manipulate her into not fighting it directly. This near failure on her part is not due to her being a woman, it’s explicitly due to her being from the countryside, where curses tend to be more animalistic and less inclined to strategy due to the lower population density and, thus, lower concentration of cursed energy. Nobara quickly learns from her mistake, and uses the cursed spirit’s severed arm (courtesy of Yuji) to kill it before it escapes. We see her get split off from the main trio twice: once in the juvenile detention center, once during the fight with the Fingerbearer and the Death Painting brothers. Both times, she doesn’t just let herself be taken captive, she immediately starts fighting. She’s got a mountain of dead cursed spirits underfoot before she runs out of nails in the first case, and in the second, she’s putting up so much of a fight that Eso tries to run away from her before Yuji and Kechizu show up. She then proceeds to turn the whole two-on-two fight around by using Resonance to turn Eso’s technique against him and Kechizu, eventually forcing him to deactivate it.

And we see Yuki, allowed to fight and die for what she believes in. The sacrificial lioness who bared her fangs at injustice and chose to die for her ideals, never letting others go to the slaughter in her stead, never using them as stepping stones. Sexism doesn’t just come in the form of putting women down — it also comes in the form of sanitizing and idealizing the idea of a woman, putting her on a pedestal where she has no agency. A golden cage is still a cage, and nobody can truly be happy unless they have the freedom of choice to take risks, fail sometimes, and keep learning and growing through it all. To hand female characters easy victories without a challenge is as much of a disservice as to give them no victories at all. And a woman’s wish fulfillment power fantasy amounts to about as much as a man’s wish fulfillment power fantasy: everyone is entitled to wish things were easier, to have whatever they want, and to seek out stories where just that happens, but at the end of the day, it’s going to crumble when you’re met with the bittersweet milieu of reality. Personally, I am always going to be more interested in watching people fight, take risks, learn, self-actualize, and overcome challenges.

Jujutsu Kaisen’s appeal is that no victories come easily, the losses mount, the scars deepen, and the wounds never heal. But there’s meaning in fighting even if you lose, and the more bitter the failures you face along the way, the sweeter victory will taste if you get there. It would be disingenous if GeGe Akutami put so much effort into making the female characters self-driven, independent, and formidable, only to then leave them untested and hand them victories without subjecting them to the same adversity as the male characters. Willpower means nothing unless it’s tested, and success is meaningless unless the risk of failure is also a possibility.

Here we arrive at the end, on the far side of a post more than twice the length of my last one. I’m not going to apologize, but I am grateful to those of you who kept reading through all of that. I don’t have any grand concluding statements, because I think that this whole beast speaks for itself. Hopefully this will all be worth the investment of time and energy on my part and yours. My next and final post in this series is going to be much shorter, much more focused, and much more personal. Look forward to it!

#jujutsu kaisen #nobara kugisaki #yuki tsukumo #akutami gege #feminist literary analysis #shonen #thematic analysis #manga analysis #spoilers #jjk manga spoilers

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ophanstears · 2 days

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hi hi! ive been working on my first chapter of my underfell au!

chapter 1 will briefly explore frisk's character and their environment before we throw them into the underground where they belong. >:) (this is important for ye good ol character building) i wanted to include a snippet of it so here you go! i'll probably delete this post when i eventually upload the first whole chapter..

Most days were of clear skies when the sun reached its highest point, bathing the ruthless tundra in a deceptively peaceful light. It was that same barrenness that kept the ever-expanding cities of humanity from coming anywhere close to it. Even the locals of the tundra dared not to stride far into that lush landscape, warning that it was easy to get lost, and once lost, difficult to be found in time for a proper burial. But, despite its incredible hostility, the tundra's people had a hospitality that only few could rival. Through most of summer's days, experienced guides would lead groups of humans big and small through fields that clung close to their village. Through the strenuous marches up the hillsides, weapons and armors could be found strewn about the landscape, lying half-submerged in the earth. They had been exposed to the elements for what must have been a millennium, and yet, through the layers of rust and corroding metal, one could make out so many intricacies that it felt almost… inspiring. Nearly every piece was ornamented with frilly patterns of vines and leaves, which consistently curled around the centerpiece - a faded image of a gilded crest.

The history and culture of those fallen soldiers may have been lost to time, but there was respect to be had for its remnants to have persisted as long as they did.

With one erratic move of their hand, the blue ink of the young human's gel pen splurted as they continued to scribble in their notebook. It left an unsightly splotch sticking to its owner's hand, which was then quickly smeared all over the page as they carried on despite it. Their sketches were hurried and uneven, spread throughout the pages of their notebook like they were the obsession of a madman, showing nearly identical variations of the same fabled emblem. Frisk had been reminiscing about going back here for a while. It was tradition for their community to seek out the fields of this very tundra every few years. For one, it was a breathtaking, wondrous sight to behold. For the other, it was a perfect topic for teachers to hang over their student's heads. A frivolous time waster, as both fantasized about summer holidays lasting a few weeks longer. The students moved through the area in tightly-knit groups, led to the most notable curiosities while being watched by both the guides and teachers as if they were a hawk's prey. A needless safety precaution, as none of the children felt the need to run off and deeper into the tundra, anyhow. While there was some surface-level interest, there was only so much that a group of young teens could get out of what they saw as the same barren fields of dry grass and rusty pieces of scrap metal. Frisk's friends looked at their many notes and sketches in a similar vein. Every line they put on the paper was uneven and messy, scrambling any chances of deciphering them. Some minor appreciation was there, one simply couldn't squander the passion their teachers had expected of them. But there was a difference between passion and the obsession that Frisk had for this place and many other things like it. One of their friends stuck around for but a fleeting moment to peek over Frisk's shoulder. They knelt in front of a chest piece, sketching down the outlines of the coat of arms carved into its surface. Rust had eaten away at it, leaving more than half of the emblem obscured by a splotch of brown not too different from the inky ones that littered their page. Right next to their current sketch were many more, each one being another worn variant they had found along the trip. "… You know that you don't need to draw all of these, right? They already know what that symbol looks like." Their friend gave a cautious but scolding remark behind their back, eyebrow furrowed as they looked down at them and their ink-stained hands. Despite the audible annoyance in their friend's voice, Frisk turned around and looked up at them with a sheepish smile. Just as they were about to explain themselves, their friend picked up on pace again, leaving them in the dust with no more words to spare. They exhaled through gritted teeth as they looked on, their painted nails anxiously tapping against the rim of their notebook before forcing it closed. It had been a while since they had embarrassed their friend enough to force such an angry outburst, and they couldn't help but feel like a bad friend for it. It wasn't the first time they had done so, and they knew it was far from being the last.

#undertale #underfell #heartfell au #frisk #english isnt my first language so keep that in mind jhsdjasdaasdj

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awanderingrat · 1 month

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INTRO POST :D

Hiii! This is a messy intro post that I’m typing on mobile that I’m gonna edit later but yeah 👍

My names Sam, feel free to call me any variation of that (eg, Sammy or any stupid nickname you can come up with<3)

I Use any pronouns and am genderfluid/agender(?) so switch it up! The more confusing the better!

I have adhd and often forget things (like DM’s, conversations, questions etc) so I apologize beforehand lol

13, No Set Dni just don’t be weird etc etc

things I think are pretty neat (purple are current hyper-fixations)

classic Lit

Gravity Falls ‼️

All The studio Investigraves Games (elehitch specifically)

The Skyborn Trilogy

Bungou Stray Dogs

Cult Of the Lamb

Electric Dreams (1984)

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

general media with sentient Ai/computers

Jibaku Shonen Hanako-kun

Art (every medium!)

Vocaloid

My Ocs ‼️‼️

Omori

Undertale / Deltarune

horror stuff

Religion???? I just think it’s neat it’s complicated (I’m like semi-religious? Idk)

WINGSS Like literally just the limb. On birds n stuff

This list is already too long I’m not adding anymore (Will be Modified as Interests change!)

what else 🤔

OH LINKs

Cara (WHERE I POST ALL MY ART!) AWanderingRat

Artfight: Awanderingrat

Toy house: (N/A yet)

StrawPage (N/A yet)

Angelkin SideBlog: @fleshbound-feathers

there’s a few others but they don’t really seem relevant tbh (inactive, literally just used for personal stuff, etc)

Tags!

there’s not much, but I’m trying to get better at tagging lol

#My Art , self explanatory, though I rarely post art on tumblr

#The Rat Rambles , random original posts or reblogs that I added onto

#Save For Later , also self explanatory lol, just stuff I’ve saved for later use like tutorials or things to check out later

#Longpost #the rat rambles #intro post

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sporesgalaxy · 3 years

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ok I DO have ONE hot tip.

So. You're like me. You have ideas and you want to see characters move around in sync with some audio. But also you need to cut as many corners as possible. BUT ALSO you really want it to feel good to watch to justify the effort.

My tip is this: use tweens but as few as humanly possible.

To explain: so we got these key poses we wanna use while somebody says something

That's 3 drawings!

If you draw out a whole scene at this rate, you'll get the point across! This totally works! You can have all kinds of cool poses and expressions and it will still be an unreasonably large number of drawings, and an impressive feat to finish!

BUT since we're already here....why not trick everyone into thinking it's "smooth" by making THEIR brain do HALF the work, at LEAST.

^ That right there is only 3 additional drawings!

Tween Type 1: bridging the gap

so the difference between these 2 frames is huge, and as a consequence playing one right after the other feels choppy.

Now I haven't explained the second kind of tween yet, but the way we decide between them is by asking ourselves, "how controlled is this movement, and where is it fastest?"

This guy is unfolding their arms and then placing a hand on their hip. This is a more controlled motion, because the limb stays close to the body at all times, where there's not much room to swing around.

Also, if you do this in real life to test it, the two slowest parts are separating your arms at the beginning, and then resting your arm on your hip. Between those two parts, it's mostly just your arm swinging into place relatively fast.

The fastest part will be easier for your brain to fill in for us, so the tweens are only added to the slow parts.

The arm starting to unfold, and the arm slowing down to rest on the hip.

The second screenshot, depicting the "end" of the movement, is overlaid onto the NEXT frame rather than the previous, because it will need to look very close to that for your brain to process the new pose properly.

These 2 new drawings have created just enough of a bridge for your brain to register it as a movement rather than two separate images.

Tween Type 2: overshooting

This kind of tween is used for faster, less controlled movements, or anything that "squishes." Here I use it for the guy bringing his arm up, and his eyebrow moving.

Once again overlaid onto the frame AFTER this tween, so you can see the "overshoot" effect.

Since the arm is out in the open air, it will swing with the momentum it took to raise it, and the guy's musclea will need to squeeze it back into the place they intended to hold it at. So it moves past the final resting pose (overshoots it), because it is too fast to slow down before it.

Overshoot is kind of the opposite of bridging the gap. Where bridging the gap shows you something starting to move, and then slowing down; overshoot shows you something winding up (omitted for this chill guy, but it's a frame "pulling back" on the pre-movement pose where the frame I did add is "pushing" on the post-movement pose), and then struggling to come to a complete stop.

But just like bridging the gap, you don't have to draw he middle because the movement is fast, so your brain wouldn't have paid attention to it anyways.

So yeah thats how I play tricks on people's minds without REALLY animating! Go nuts!

Since the tweens are onscreen for much shorter times, don't be afraid to let them be messy, so that you can try out a few different variations to see which looks right. I redrew that arm coming to rest on the guys hip 2 or 3 times, and it was originally supposed to be an overshoot, but the bridge ended up looking better!

#long post #art tutorial #i had a tag for that stuff but i cant remember so thats my best guess lol #animations

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meetmyothersouls · 2 years

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Decided to take a short break on the Halloween posts and post this idea that popped into my head. It’s slightly based off of my life (and many other single mothers’ lives) and a variation of love stories that I hope to one day happen to me. If you enjoy it, I’ll create more chapters. So, let me know 🥰

The Sound of Rain

A love story written from Timothee’s POV. In this story he is a struggling actor. Just go with it.

Chapter 1

I didn’t believe in love at first sight, or love at all really, until I met Scout.

I remember the first time I saw her; she was getting out of an old Kia. It was silver, with at least a dozen bumper stickers around an expired license plate. I watched her climb out, coffee in hand, spilling drops of it onto her leg as she tried to balance a stack of books underneath her other arm. When she stood, I got to see her, like, really see her. She wasn’t classically beautiful, and maybe that’s why she took my breath away. I don’t know, I can’t really explain these things. She wore an old pair of Converse. The word ‘FUCK’ was written in big bold sharpied letters around the soles. It made me smile. She had on a pair of short lounge shorts, decorated in crescent moons and stars, and a Def Leopard t-shirt with sporadic holes all through it. I wasn’t sure if it was made to look vintage or if it actually was vintage, neither would surprise me. Her hair was tied up into a messy knot on the top of her head. Some pieces were straight, and some pieces were wavy, like even her hair didn’t know what the fuck it wanted to do. The color was something interesting as well, brown, but as the light hit it flecks of red popped out. She had tattoos, six from what I could see at the moment.

She was cool as fuck.

There was no other word for it.

She walked around the back of her car, setting what was left of her coffee on the roof. She opened the door and out climbed a little girl. She couldn’t have been more than four. My heart sank instantly. Not because she was a mother, but because she wasn’t single.

She looked over at me as her daughter hopped on one foot toward the apartment building. Suddenly, I didn’t know how to wave or make it look like I wasn’t just staring at her for the last five to ten minutes. I lifted a hand, curling my fingers in a half wave, dropping my keys in the process. The girl furrowed her brow, as if she was trying to comprehend why some weird dude was standing in the middle of the sidewalk, staring like a complete buffoon. I didn’t blame her, I would have too, but she shrugged her shoulders moving her arms full of books and coffee and I understood what she meant. She’d wave, but her arms were full.

“Come on, mama!” the little girl called, standing at the stairs that led to their apartment.

“Coming,” She called out.

Fuck even her voice had me in awe. I wondered where she was from, or what it sounded like when she sang or laughed.

As she turned, a notebook slid from her arms. I immediately moved to grab it but stopped. I don’t know why I didn’t call out to her. There were a few things I could have said.

“Ma’am, you dropped your book.”

“Excuse me, you dropped something.”

I could have run and grabbed it, tapped her shoulder and handed it to her, but nothing seemed like the right move, not when she just graced me with her perfection.

She probably didn’t even realize how perfect she was.

Anyways, I didn’t do any of that.

But I’ll tell you what I did do.

I waited until she was gone, until I was sure that she was back in her apartment, probably kissing her boyfriend or husband. I cringed at the thought for a moment. This was the perfect amount of time for her to realize she dropped something, then come back out and get it, but she didn’t

So, I took it.

Don’t judge me, love makes you do stupid things.

Tags: @imnotoverlyobsessive @dayafied @soulofendlessbook @fashphotolife @chicchanelcigs @scentedkittenperfection @weasleytwinscumslut @timotheel0ver @mxciscastleintheair @marvelmaniac2000 @lovelyrocker @divine-1 @louievr @love-poems-only @starberry-cake @inlovewithphantasy @alexagirlie @misswestfall @softhecreator @livresjaunes @timmymyluv @inannamoon @harrys-thick-thighs @s-we-e-t-t-ea @timolaurence @its-schmackin-dude @justagirlwhoneedshelp @gatoenlaciudad @patronsaintofthetwinks

#timothee chalamet #timothée chalamet #writing #timothee chalamet x reader #timothee chalamet x you #timothee blurb #timothee chalamet imagine #timmy chalamet #Timothee POV

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oreramar · 2 years

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Sometimes I think about that post about the “hate bouquet” that’s gone around a few times. It’s the one that starts off with someone asking how to say “I hate you” with a bouquet of flowers, as if barging into a flower shop with that particular request.

I’ve seen a couple different answers for it, too: stuff that goes into flower language symbolism and meaning, versus just a selection of flowers and fillers and so on that would be uncomfortable to hold (thorny rose stems) and messy to have (thick leaves packed in tight, sprayed with water, for ultimate mold production). I’ve thought of my own variations on the latter myself (springerei or some form of tree fern for shedding mess, etc), but the more I think on it the more I think that...you can’t do it.

Sure, there’s all the old flower language stuff. This flower is disdain, this flower is loathing, this flower is “take a long walk off a short dock, pal.” Thing is, next to none of that has survived into common knowledge - at best people associate red roses with romantic love, yellow with friendship, maybe white or pink with innocence or youth, perhaps a few other flowers specifically with funerals...but after that the meanings kind of fade into meaninglessness, and even those bounds aren’t absolute (ex: people here associate gladiolus with funerals, but to me and my mum they’re just really awesome traditional garden bed flowers). So if the recipient is fluent or has a special interest in it, then yeah, you can code that message in, but to most people orange lilies are just striking and beautiful and maybe someone’s favorite color or shape, not a declaration of seething hatred.

Sure, some flowers and greens and so on are thorny or very prone to molding up in bad conditions or producing messes, but here’s the thing: all cut flowers die eventually. All of them. And many of them die messily, with ugly brown spots and mush and mold and shedding of leaves and so on, again, especially in certain conditions. But we give them to people with all good intentions anyway, because the point isn’t that they’ll be perfect forever. The point is that they look really good at the moment, and that they’ll be something nice to have for a few days to a week or so.

Basically, I don’t think you can say “I hate you” with flowers, not when they culturally translate, almost unilaterally, to some form or flavor of “I love you,” “I care about you,” “I’m thinking of you,” “Thank you,” “I want you to have some brightness and color and beauty in your day.”

If you (or a character in a fic) really need to disguise your “I hate you” message in something that seems nice on the surface, make a card with as much glitter glued on as possible and tip some extra into the envelope. I suspect it’d be far more effective.

#rambling #I work in a flower shop #trust me when I say that there are no hate flowers #just flowers that someone personally dislikes at worst #otherwise all flowers are good #all flowers are love

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gulava · 2 years

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Wanna redo my old Bleach autism post as it’s pretty much gone anyways due to my remaking and I’m older but I’d like to do it with multiple characters this time. HOWEVER, I’m already so far into my reread I’ll go fucking insane if I do it right away as I’d have to GO BACK and reread again. Anyways, the focus was gonna be Ichigo, Orihime, Chad, Kisuke, Byakuya, Mashiro, Kensei, and Riruka. I tried to branch it out a bit so there’s main characters and then random ones but a few more is fine. I have more headcanons than this I just don’t wanna overdo it by including TOO many characters. This could be a fun project if I do it with someone else that feels the same way! Maybe get a person per character? Ichigo will be...a LOT, I’m sure. I don’t wanna forget that I wanna do this so I’m typing this out. I am VERY focused on Digimon right now and my one track mind shows but I do actually intend to do this. It won’t be an edit or anything like that. A long post more like? I can talk a lot but I’m not writer, y’know? But feedback and advice will be something I’ll take from my fellow autistic Bleach fans, naturally! Please look forward to it! And if anyone wants to join in on this, hmu!

Under the read more are some messy notes I made to get an idea...

hyper empathy (blood left over from hollow attack in the special ch n orihime healing menoly, crying for ichigo and riruka and the shinigami hurt by mayuri)

ichigo calls teachers instructors/doesnt use special titles/ says ojisan and toshiro and byakuya

ichigo that time he wondered if the water would heal a cut in his mouth (hypersensitive) also him crunching on ice was stimmy imo

ichigo prefers wearing tight clothes / orihime likes comfy clothes / kazui loves his hoodie!!!

fusiform face area: - ichigo w/ urahara / tatsuki talks abt this too / yumichika / a lot of other ppl including arrancars / idt he ever even met szayel but new oneshot he says wtf is this lmao

cognitive rigidity - ichigo doesnt like fighting unfair n believes firmly in an eye for an eye, byakuya also has this big time

taking things literally oof

kenpachi w a special interest in fighting...perhaps we add him

impulsivity - orihime jumping out windows, ichigo jumping over a fence or wtr bc he thought grandfisher was a person in trouble, kazui hopping out windows (im sorry for the window fixation its just so funny 2 me)

one track mind - ichigo planning to wait all night for ganju to return so they can fight forgetting that hes there to help rukia not double die

overstimulation

not getting social cues right / bad in social situations...self explanatory

routines, lack of eye contact, self isolates

ichigo avoids eye contact w orihime sometimes n its kinda cute hes shy...i noticed he does it a bit more during tybw w hime n i guess its cause hes aware of his feelings or smth at this pt??? not to make things abt romance but i did lfsdjakdjlkdsds he avoids eye contact w other ppl too i promise i just wanted to talk abt this bc its adorable

uneven cognitive profiles - oh big time but with what mister “black swallowtail butterfly” that thinks cutting a hollow into slices like pancakes...adopting u

uh. food stuff. TEXTURE

orihime not realizing her leg hurts much worse than her arm, chad in gen, ichigo going ‘im fine’ with blood pouring down his head

selective mutism and the variations. we know chad doesnt talk much. at all

orihime stress infodumps to ichigo (v cute) n so does mashiro n proceeds to overstimulate kensei in return lol

lots of stimming o: lots of...attention to ppl doing these things kubo...hm!

a lot of interactions simply feel like theyre between two autistic ppl who just. get each other n i like that (ichigo reassuring orihime its not a bad thing to be teh way she is - i think chad reassured ichigo that arc too! as an autie i tear up a lil)

wandering makes me think of hime wandering away from tatsuki after seeing the fireflies or dragonflies(?) / ichigo wandering away from home upon reaching there in tybw myb and him wandering alone by himself without direction at other times also...autism grief is real

scripting (KISUKE the night before becoming captain, v hime of him...what was up w/ that i’m rlly starting to believe he’s the yuzu to kukaku’s karin)

comfort items - hairpins and sub shinigami badge

not knowing their own strength pm? like ichigo using too much power during the invasion of ss n orihime having to tell him that w him responding w sorry D-:

hot heads r us

ichigo has shut downs where only ppl who know him well enough notice imo ive always looked at shutting down as not just smth that happens in one place but smth that u can carry w you all day bc thats just how it was for me going to school as a kid myb its called smth else but id block it all out so i could get thru the day after shutting down n ichigo on the day before his moms death anni felt familiar to me n i rlly like that hime notices hes tense ofc u can write this off as “just depression” but...autistic ppl can be depressed sigh -_-

baby shutdown

orihime def has meltdowns n shut down moments like so reasonably i get if ppl think “anyone would react that way” but its her whos reacting and she is autistic so...yeah haha

miss zone out ok thats all my notes for now later

#didi speaks #text #bleach #autistic headcanons #autistic bleach

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universallychaoticpan · 3 years

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hey i really loved ur dazai & older sister reader post, ur writing is really beautiful !! may i request a dazai & reader whos not blood related to him, but basically his younger sibling in the port mafia? like they were "recruited" into the port mafia very young & before dazai, so when mori introduced them to eachother they bonded pretty fast and took care of eachother as much as they could, and understand eachother very well? perhaps they have similar personalities too so theyre both like "dont kill urself or i'll kill myself wtf". would love if u added a little angst with dazai leaving the port mafia without them at the end too but its not rlly important !!

SORRY IF THIS IS TOO MUCH I REALLY LOVE YOUR WRITING AND CANNOT GET THIS DYNAMIC OUT OF MY HEAD

You're so kind, thank you so much!I really love writing fics that include sibling type dynamics; it's comforting in a different way than romantic fics are, though I am in love with both. Also no need apologize, I feel like I say this a lot but I love how creative these get and I love to write them out for you. (Honestly I feel like the people who come up with these would write better fics than I do just based on their ideas-) My long winded point aside, I hope you enjoy this as even more than I enjoyed seeing the request. <3

Dazai found you where he usually did: eyes far away on the edge of the roof, sun pouring over your features while the wind howled in your ears. Like him, you were easily bored: you moved like water, restless and wild, often hiding from everyone except for Dazai and Mori themselves. No one denied them, and no one denied you either. Even though you had only ever told a handful of people, most of them now dead, your secrets got out anyway. It was a sort of rite of passage, to find out just who you were.

Untamed and unrepentant, that was you. Mori had found you, little more than a scrawny alley cat, claws and all. For as long as you remembered, before Mori, you were alone. Yokohama was your playground, your toys and treasures discarded bits of broken glass you could find in the gutters. Then, Mori had taken you in. He'd been an odd sort of father to you, taught you to fight, raised you withing the Mafia until you never again felt weak. In many ways, you were the Mafia's princess: nothing was ever really too much for you, even though you seldom asked. Still, you weren't ever hungry or cold; all that stuck around was your unwillingness to sit still. That, and your refusal to do anything exactly how someone wanted it done. Mori had learned quickly that you were messy and loud when you worked, causing chaos and reveling in it all the while. Even if you could be reserved and quiet at any other time, in the field, you were as spectacular and unpredictable as firecrackers in the hands of a child. And you had been lonely.

As you'd grown up, you'd become more and more aware of the way people's eyes followed you curiously, eyeing you up and down whenever Mori would approach you, then widening in surprise when he offered affection instead of his usual leering threats. You were isolated, skilled, feared, and hated for the way he favored you even when he didn't. So you pulled away, slipped off and trained at night when there was seldom unwelcome eyes to witness the way you slipped up like anyone else. You gained a reputation as being aloof and conceited, and in a way, you supposed you could be called such. The fact was that nothing had been enough to make you sit up and take notice of the world. You weren't unhappy, just unsatisfied with yourself and the world. And through it all, still alone.

And suddenly, there was Osamu Dazai.

When you were fourteen yourself, and just a few months younger than he was, Mori pulled him into the fold of the Mafia with a variation on the smile he gave to you. Then, he had looked like he was being held by the scruff of his neck; like he could leave if he wanted to but there was nothing tempting enough to leave for. From the beginning, he had made you laugh more than anyone ever had. Even now, years later, you recalled the look on his face when he'd pulled laughter from you, the sound startling in it's light clarity. You liked his wit, he savored your reckless daring. And from then on, you weren't alone anymore.

He knew where you would run when the day made you ache, which was where he found you now.

"Mori wants you," he began, smirking playfully as you groaned. "Says he needs to talk to you. How bad did ya fuck up this time?"

"Shut up," you muttered. Still, your smile told him you were no more mad at him than one was with an annoying sibling. "It wasn't even bad, I just...may have started a small fire last time he had me on assignment."

Beside you, Dazai burst out laughing against his will, the hand he had over his mouth failing to conceal his smile as his head fell back.

"What?," you cried, faking indignation, "it wasn't that bad! I just may or may not have burned down that convenience store you like so much-"

You shrieked as he shoved you gently, enough force to send you toppling to the side.

"Dumbass, I could've died," you laughed, brushing your hair behind your ears.

"I liked that store!" he replied in mock anger. "They had good liquor, cheap as hell, too. And anyway, you were waaaaay too calm saying you could've died."

"You're one to talk," you shot back. "You're the only person I know who's worse than me!"

He snorted at that, opening his arm until you sat huddled against his side. It was quiet for a moment, the both of you simply staring off into the city lights.

"And anyway," you said quietly, "we're all we've got. No dying for anyone, at least not for awhile yet, alright?"

He sighed in response, looking straight into your eyes, the both of you holding the stare in a challenge conveying so much and nothing at all.

Finally, he smiled, the tense air between you relaxing as if the world had let out it's breath.

"It's a promise, then."

And so it went;

Promises indeed.

You couldn't fathom why such a memory had surfaced then; perhaps it was the budding summer all around you, the air beginning to thicken with it's infancy. Perhaps it was the heady scent of tobacco on your lips, the smoky flavor of whiskey still on your tongue; the pleasant hum moving through you and clouding your mind until you were once again spending yet another night in your sea of memories.

The years had been kind to you, in their own way. You were more skilled, more shrewd, at twenty one widely recognized as the heir to the Port Mafia even though such a thing was nonexistent. Still, you were Mori's right hand, for better or worse, with all that came with such territory.

Taking another drag of the cigarette still smoldering between your fingers, you felt your mind drift even further into the past with the clouds that filled your throat.

"So much for that," you muttered, tears stinging your eyes against your best attempts to fight them. Even after so long, you ached at the thought of him. Even now, your mind stored away the things you knew would make him laugh, the stories you'd have shared in the place you now stood if your lives hadn't left you confused and alone once again.

You had been alone before him, and would be alone after.

That was a truth you'd forced yourself to come to terms with, again and again, every year replying to the silence of the world with your own small rituals, as though he were dead and gone. Perhaps it would make you feel better, in a terrible way, if you knew he was.

You knew he was still out there somewhere, though, building himself a new life from the ashes and rubble of the one that had fallen apart when Oda had died. He had run from the Mafia; that wasn't why you wrapped your sorrow in anger. No, you knew he wanted more than the life you had; He had simply found a way, like he always did, to turn death into an opportunity. You weren't angry he had left. You weren't angry at all.

No.

You lied and called your sadness anger, all the while letting the years pass and wondering why he didn't have the decency to at least say goodbye to the person he'd grown up beside like a sibling; given you a chance to say goodbye to the man who'd laughed with you like a brother, loved you in a way that was as unique as he himself was.

You hated Osamu Dazai for leaving you back where you had been so long ago, just as you were; for leaving you the same scared kid who brandished a knife and called it safety. This time you had simply disguised yourself with age, the years hiding that child away until you were left where you were now:

On the edge of everything, your city spread out before you like a glittering maze, it's veins alive and well as the night came alive. You studied your watch as it ticked down to midnight, lifting your flask to the moon as the date changed, letting the contents burn their way down your throat and leave you buzzing once again. The whisper came next.

June 19.

"Happy birthday, you mad man.

Don't you dare die on me now, wherever you are.

#dazai x reader #osamu dazai x reader #dazai osamu x reader #bsd x reader #bsd #bungo stray dogs x reader #bungo stray dogs #bsd dazai x reader

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gracie-rosee · 3 years

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How about “you make me proud. you know that, right?”

Also, happy birthday!!!! 🎈🎈🎈🎈

Well... This is way more than a short 300 word fic. I got a little carried away. Whoops? I've working on a short little Rowaelin au and I've been meaning to post it but I just haven't found the right way to start it. Until now! So, thank you Morgan for giving me the perfect prompt to kick start this fic!

Word count: 2.3k Warnings: None

H&SC Master list

"I can't accept this assignment."

Aelin already knew how this conversation would go. She's had variations of the same one with the countless other professors she's had here at Orynth University. The look of pity on her professor's face is the same one she sees almost every day.

"I already submitted the final grades for this class, Aelin. I'm afraid there's nothing I can do at this point," Professor Wells says.

Aelin sighs. She knows this already. The class ended a week ago, but her grade was just under the required percent to pass. She tried so hard, cramming last desperate study sessions in between shifts at her two jobs, while taking care of Eleanora.

"Aelin," Her name snaps her back to reality. She must have zoned out for a second because when she looks up, her professor is giving her a worried look. Glancing around the empty lecture hall, Aelin sighs in defeat.

"You can withdraw from this class so this grade won't affect your transcript, but since it's so late, I'm afraid you won't be able to get a refund for this course," Wells says.

Aelin sighs as she collects her things and heads for the door. "That's alright, I'll figure something out. Thank you." She wastes no time in hurrying from the room. All she wants to do is go home and take a long nap.

As she's walking back to her car, her phone buzzes with an incoming call from inside her bag. She doesn't have many contacts other than Aedion and Lysandra and a few others.

Aelin curses her messy habits as she rummages through the depths of her purse to find her vibrating phone. She finds it on it's last ring and presses the accept button, putting it to her ear before it can go to voicemail.

"Did it really take you that long to find your phone, Aelin?" The voice on the other end says instead of a hello.

She huffs a laugh, opening her car door and sliding behind the wheel. "You know how messy I am Rowan."

Aelin met Rowan Whitethorn over a year and a half ago when they attended a few of the same classes. Their relationship in the beginning was not at all as easy as it is now. They would bicker and fight about anything and everything. Over time, their mutual annoyance with each other slowly turned into respect, and then eventually into friendship. And for Aelin… well, she'd be lying if she said she hasn't developed a little crush on him.

"Hey, so I'm going to cook something up for dinner tonight. If you're not busy, you should come over. You can bring Eleanora too," Rowan says. "Aedion and Lysandra are already planning on coming."

"Yeah sure we'll be there. What time should we plan on coming?" Aelin asks.

"Anytime after five should be fine."

Aelin smiles brightly, even though she knows he can't see it. "Alright, we'll see you then, Rowan."

They say their goodbyes and Aelin starts her car and heads home. The drive from the university isn't long, and in a matter of minutes she pulls up to the small, white house for what feels like the millionth time in her life.

The flowers along the walkway are as vibrant as always, the door the same shade of rusty red. The little stone statue of a frog reading a book still sits on the top step of the porch, the same place it's been since she was a child. When she was young, she remembers sitting on the porch next to the statue, reading her own book and talking to Mr. Frog as she liked to call him.

The house belonged to her parents, them having bought it together shortly after they got married. Aelin remembers growing up here, going to school in this neighborhood, and riding her bike down the sidewalk with Aedion. Being an only child, the home became hers after her parents died. Moving back into her childhood home brought back an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. Only this time, the high pitched, shrill laughter only a five-year-old is capable of comes from Eleanora. Her daughter. Aelin smiles at the thought.

As if she was summoned, the door swings open and the toddler barrels towards her mother.

Aelin gasps as the full force of her five-and-a-half year old daughter slams into her. "Hi, baby! Did you miss me?" She chuckles, placing a kiss on Eleanora's head.

"Miss you mommy!" her daughter exclaims as she practically squeezes the breath out of her. For a toddler, she has an impressive amount of strength.

There's a deep chuckle from the doorway, and Aelin looks up to find her cousin's eyes bright with laughter. "Sorry, she's very excited today, huh?" Aedion says as he reaches them.

"I had PANCAKES!" Eleanora says, her grin stretching from ear to ear. Aelin lifts an eyebrow at her cousin's guilty expression. He knows he's not supposed to give the girl too much sugar during the day, but looking at Eleanora's adorable face, she can see how he must've had a hard time resisting. She doesn't blame him; she would do anything for her little girl as well.

"Thank you for watching her for me, Aedion," she says. "I really appreciate it."

Her cousin smiles. "It's our pleasure," he says happily as his wife walks out the front door.

"We love hanging out with Ella, don't we?" Lysandra smiles down at the girl.

"You leaving?" Eleanora asks, her bottom lip jutting out in an adorable display of sadness.

"We'll see you later, don't worry Ella," Aedion says, ruffling her hair before placing a kiss on it. "You are coming to dinner, right?" He aims the question at Aelin.

"We'll be there," she reassures them.

The couple walk to their car hand in hand after bidding the mother and daughter goodbye. Aedion presses a kiss to Lysandra's cheek before he slides into the driver's side. The sight is so full of love that Aelin has to look away from it. Aelin doesn't mind being single, really. She has Aedion and Lysandra and friends to keep her company… Well, a few friends. Everytime she looks at the married couple however, she gets this little sinking feeling in her chest. Jealousy, she realized it was. Jealousy and longing.

Maybe one day she will find someone for her. Someone who accepts her and Eleanora the way they are. Someone she can hold hands with, and kiss on the cheek. Someone she can love.

…

Rowan's house is only a couple minutes drive from her own. The rustic look of the green paint and old brick is so very Rowan. She's only ever been here once before. Aelin was called in to work to fill in for one of her coworkers and neither Aedion nor Lysandra were able to watch Eleanora. Rowan had the whole day free, and offered to take care of her daughter for a couple of hours. She had only stepped inside for a few minutes to drop Eleanora off before she had to leave again. When she returned to pick her little girl up, she was practically clinging to Rowan. Apparently, they had so much fun, that Eleanora wanted to stay with him forever and ever and ever, in her own words.

Realizing how great Rowan was with her child only added to her fondness of him, or in other words, her massive crush on the guy. There was no point in denying it. Her "tiny" crush has evolved into a massive crush in just a matter of days.

"Wowannn!" Eleanora exclaims, jumping out of Aelin's arms and running up the walkway to where Rowan has just stepped out of the front door.

"Hello Ella," Rowan chuckles, squatting down and wrapping the girl in a hug.

"She's very energetic today," Aelin smiles fondly at the pair. "Aedion filled her up with sugar earlier."

Rowan glances up at her, shooting her one of his rare, beautiful smiles. Gods, the guy's face is perfect. And the fact that that flawless face is attached to that gorgeous body. Is he aware of how beautiful he is? Aelin has certainly noticed. Is it weird to call a man beautiful? Handsome doesn't even come close to—

"Everyone's already out back," Rowan says, rising to his feet and picking Eleanora up with him. "You hungry Ella?"

"Hungry!!!" Eleanora yells in his ear, causing him to wince slightly. "Alright then, let's get you something to eat, your majesty."

They walk together into the house and out to the spacious backyard, Rowan and Eleanora talking animatedly.

As soon as they step outside, Ella wriggles free and runs to go play in the grass. Aelin and Rowan both chuckle at the little girl.

Aedion and Lysandra are sitting together in one of the lawn chairs, talking silently with each other. Lorcan, who Aelin recognizes as one of Rowan's friends, stands off to the side, chatting with Elide Lochan. Well, if chatting meant Elide was talking while Lorcan was just staring at her, then yeah, that's what they're doing. Honestly, all of their mutual friends have been waiting for the day Lorcan finally gets the courage to ask her out. He may act all tough and broody, but he's really soft and quite shy.

There are a few other people that Aelin recognizes, and some she doesn't. On the patio, a table is set up with plates of food spread out.

"Are you hungry?" Rowan asks her.

"I'm always hungry," Aelin tells him simply, walking towards the table. Rowan's deep chuckle follows her and sends shivers down her spine. Seriously, it's like she's 16 again, not knowing how to talk to her crush. I'm always hungry. Aelin mentally slaps herself.

With a plate full of food, Aelin plops down into one of the various outdoor benches. Eleanora is still running around happily in the grass. She found a soccer ball somewhere and is having the time of her life kicking it around. The girl never seemed to run out of energy.

After a while, someone slides into the spot next to her on the bench and she doesn't need to turn around to know who it is.

Aedion is quiet for a moment, and they both sit in silence, just watching Eleanora play.

"So," Aedion begins, and Aelin just knows he's about to butt into her business. "What's up with you and Rowan?"

Aelin knew this question was coming. Her crush was painfully obvious to anyone with eyes. Except for Rowan, apparently. Either he really doesn't know, and is completely blind, or he just doesn't feel the same. She lets out a long sigh, and Aedion accepts that as her reply.

"That bad?" he says. "You really like him, huh?"

Aelin looks around the backyard. Eleanora is attempting to do cartwheels on the grass, and Aelin sees Rowan smiling fondly at the girl. He looks up and his deep green eyes meet Aelin's turquoise ones. The corners of his mouth lift up in a wide grin–a rare sight from the man. It makes her heart flutter a little faster in her chest.

"Yeah," Aelin whispers to her cousin, still holding Rowan's gaze. "I do."

Aedion just hums thoughtfully. She can already tell he's thinking about Ella.

It's a long while before he speaks again, but when he does, it's not what she's expecting him to say.

"I'm proud of you. You know that, right?"

Aelin whips her head around to face her cousin. He smiles softly at her. "It's true," he says. "You are the strongest person I know."

Aelin has to bite her lip to stop herself from tearing up a little.

Aedion looks at Lysandra, who is now dancing barefoot on the grass with Eleanora. A grin stretches across his face at the sight of them. "I mean, our child isn't even born yet, and I'm scared shitless. I can't even imagine how it must have been for you."

Aelin swallows the lump in her throat. "I have you guys. I couldn't have possibly asked for more," she whispers, following Aedion's gaze to her best friend and her daughter dancing on the grass. It's then that his words finally click. She whips her head back to her cousin's grinning face. "Holy gods!"

Aedion's laugh is cut short when Aelin practically tackles him to the floor. "I'm so happy for you both!"

"We were planning on telling everyone later, but we thought you were kind of onto us, so we figured we should just tell you," Aedion tells her.

"Onto you guys?" Aelin gives him a curious look. She figured something was up with them after they had to repeatedly bail out on watching Eleanora recently. She thought that maybe they were just busy, but now that she looks back… Lysandra has been complaining about feeling sick recently… Ohhh.

"You're going to be a dad," Aelin whispers to him. Her cousin laughs and it sounds more nervous than happy. "You're going to be an amazing dad, Aedion," she corrects.

They're quiet for a while after that, both completely lost in their own thoughts. Aelin brings her knees up, hugging them to her chest as she leans back. She rests her head on Aedion's shoulder, watching Eleanora dance around with Lysandra. She loves her daughter more than anything in the world.

She loses track of how long they sit there, gazing at the people they love most. Eventually the sun starts to set and people begin heading inside. She looks around for Eleanora. Her energy must be completely burned out by now.

Sure enough, she finds her daughter asleep on one of the cushioned outdoor chairs, clinging to Rowan's shirt where he sits next to her. His hand rests on her back as she snoozes beside him.

Aelin's heart does somersaults in her chest at the sight of them. As if he could feel her gaze on them, Rowan lifts his head and his eyes meet hers. Though the look is completely normal, Aelin could've sworn something charged passes between them. She smiles brightly at the pair, feeling overcome by a wave of happiness stronger than anything she's ever felt before. And looking into Rowan's eyes, she wonders if maybe, just maybe, he might feel it too.

~~~~~

Requested Tags: (bold = cant be tagged)

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed :)

@swankii-art-teacher

@perseusannabeth

@laraexia

@sleeping-and-books

@mu-si-ca-l

@superspiritfestival

@althelkingshorses

@booksofthemoon

@danibutterr

@tswaney17

@live-the-fangirl-life

@rowaelinismyotp

@carlizeed

@courtofjurdan

@rowansfirebringer

@infernoqueen19

@slytheringalathynius

#rowaelin fanfic #rowan x aelin #Aelin Galathynius #rowan whitethorn #throne of glass #throne of glass fanfiction #my writing #Hopscotch & Sidewalk Chalk #h&sc

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quartzwriting · 4 years

Text

Attack in The Library

Pairing: Doctor Strange X Fem!Reader

Description: Stephen sends you to Kamar Taj to get some books, but some invaders attack you. Stephen comes to the rescue, and he’s not happy.

Warnings: Fighting and violence

Word Count: 3.5k

A/N: Originally posted on Quotev // School has be busy so one shots that are already on my quotev will be reposted here, all requests on hold for now sorry // Originally requested by Coppercat615 on quotev <3

Masterlist | Fic Reading Recs | Ao3 | Quotev | Coffee

You had just finished a meditation and astral projection practice session on the Sanctum rooftop. The background noise of the frantic and angry city below sometimes helped you focus. It was just what you needed today. Feeling relaxed, accomplished, and satisfied, you went back inside to see what Stephen was up to. It was getting close to noon, and maybe you could pull him away from his studies for a little to grab lunch together.

Stephen was standing over his desk in his office, a few books open before him and his eyes darting from one to the next. He looked deep in thought and you almost did not want to bother him. The Sorcerer Supreme in his natural habitat, it was like there was naturally a 'do not disturb' sign plastered onto him. You did anyways.

"Hey Stephen, I finished my practice."

"How did it go?" He did not even look up from his books.

"Pretty good!" You walked up to the desk and rested your hands on it, trying to see what he was looking at even though it was upside down for you. "Looking for something?"

He shrugged and flipped one of the books around so you could see it the right way up. The book was old and small, the wear and tear from over the years showing through its pages. There was writings in characters you did not understand scribbled across the page, directions for a spell you assumed. He then showed you another book that had the same letters translated to English, but there were so many variations of each and it looked hard to decipher.

"I've been trying to decode this spell. This is the only instance of it in writing. The Ancient One left it behind but I cannot seem to understand it." There was a frustration in his voice and you could tell from his messy hair that he had been running his hands through it in said frustration.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out." You handed him back the books.

"Hey (Y/N), can you do me a big favor?"

Curiosity struck you, "What is it?"

"Can you head over to the Kamar Taj library and find these books for me."

Stephen handed you a list on a piece of paper. Titles and authors were listed in his slightly messy handwriting. You counted six books.

"Why can't you go get them yourself?"

"I'm busy."

He did have those books in front of him, certainly looking busy. But he could go over there himself and it would only take about ten minutes. It felt like an excuse to you.

You gave him a look, before growling under your breath, "Fine. I'll get you your books..."

Raising up your hand that had your sling ring, you started to conjure up a portal before Stephen interrupted you.

"No, take the door."

"Seriously?"

"You can't rely on magic for everything, (Y/N)."

"Well that door is magic too, you idiot. What do you want me to do? Jump on the next flight to Nepul?"

"Just stop complaining and go take the door."

You rolled your eyes and stomped off down the hallway and towards the door that connected the Sanctum to the two others and Kamar Taj. He did that all the time, scolding you for using magic for minor conveniences. Whether it be you quickly grabbing something from across the Sanctum with a portal or teleporting to the other side of the room for split second. The thing is was that he did it sometimes. When you pointed it out he just told you to shut up. Typical.

Walking through the door that lead directly to Kamar Taj, you entered the library and found just how like a library should be: calm and silent. It was nighttime in Kathmandu so the lack of people in the place did not surprise you. But when you walked past a few shelves, you saw Wong with a stack of books in his arms.

"Hey Wong." You said cheerily, coming up beside him to look on the same shelf he was organizing the books onto.

He bowed his head, "Master (L/N)."

Your mouth formed a tight line for a split second, "How many times have I told you to just call me (Y/N)?"

"Well it is out of respect," He replied, and you shrugged a little in understanding, "But on your word, (Y/N)."

You smiled and went back to looking for one of the books on the shelf. It had some weird and long title, you scanned the book spines for it.

It still felt a little weird when others would call you that, Master (L/N). It came with the feeling that you were in a high position. You kind of were, being taught personally by the Sorcerer Supreme himself. Not to mention being his girlfriend. The people around Kamar Taj and the other sanctums treated you with a lot of respect. Sometimes you did not feel like you deserved it, you still felt like you and being a master of the mystic arts did not change that.

You shook the thought away from your head as you found yourself not even reading the titles. You went back over while Wong moved to the other side of the library to keep working. Then you found it, it was a bigger book. When you took it off the shelf the weight of it dug into your hands. This made you hope the others were smaller, otherwise you would be taking a big stack of heavy books back home. That could be dangerous due to your sometimes clumsy nature.

Opening it to a random page, it was full of runes with descriptions of their spells. You feathered through more pages and they were like that, covered in artworks of detailed images of runes. Then you remembered that Stephen was working on a lot of rune magic recently so it made sense. You closed the book and tucked it against your chest as you moved to another shelf to keep on looking.

While you were reading the little list of books, there was a sudden sound. It was soft. It was very familiar. It was the sound of a slingring portal opening. You turned around, looking towards where the sound came from. From in between the shelves and the tops of books, you saw a figure and the sparks from a portal. You did not recognize the figure, but on a closer look it was a man with black and red robes. For some reason the sight of him was slightly unsettling.

What happened next confirmed your suspicions.

He walked right up behind Wong. Just as Wong turned around at the sound of heavy footsteps, the sorcerer made a fast motion with his hands that made sparks explode from his fists. The energy shot into Wong and he was soon on the floor.

You quickly ducked behind a bookshelf, tucking the book you held tightly against your chest. That came out of nowhere and you assumed it was an attack. Wong was now unconscious and no one else was around. At this hour not many sorcerers were up and about around Kamar Taj. So you guessed it was up to you to stop it.

There were two more portals opened, and the first man instructed someone to look for 'it'. The 'it' they were referring to was probably a book, what else would they raid a library for? It could be any one in this whole library, so you needed to do something before they found what they were looking for.

Sneaking in between the shelves, you tried to think of a plan of action. The adrenaline was already pumping and your heart racing. This kind of distracted you from the planning, but you managed to think of something.

You heard someone nearby tossing books off the shelves, ones that were not what they needed. You slowly made your way closer, your boots against the floorboards not making a sound. Carefully, you summoned energy to create a whip, hoping that the sound of the sparks would not give you away. You threw your magic, the rope wrapping around the sorcerer's ankle and you pulled it back. The man fell to the floor and you cracked the whip on top of him to keep him down.

Before you could land another strike, something from behind grabbed your hand as it was raised up. While turning your head to see what happened, you were struck with a very powerful punch. It send you right down to the ground, the book skidding across the floor as it was knocked from your hands. You scrambled to get rid of your dazed vision and to grab the book again. When you felt the hard cover and clutched it to you chest, three figures were standing over you.

"We're going to need that."

You looked down at the book that you were clenching to your chest, the thick volume was one of the books that Stephen wanted you to bring back. Of course it had to be the exact book you were holding. From the looks of the group, and what they had did to Wong, you knew you could not let them get their hands on this book.

Looking him right in the eyes you said a calm but stern "No." Your eyes were full of seriousness and daring, but inside you knew you were insecure. You were scared.

"We thought we did not need to hurt anyone today." The woman with a thick accent peered at you, a glint in her eyes that you did not like.

You would not stand down though.

Thinking quickly, you cast a teleportation spell and hid yourself among the maze of shelves. From across the library you heard the three separate to search for you. You were still dizzy from that punch, knowing there was going to be a mark on your face later. You teleported again, hoping to get away from them.

Big mistake.

You accidentally appeared right in the sight of one of them. He warned the others and started running towards you. You were in the middle of summoning a spell to protect yourself when from in between the bookshelves the woman slid right past you and struck you in the leg. Soon there was a sting running down your leg and something hot started to coat the leggings you wore underneath your robes. You let out a cry and collapsed onto the ground. Feeling a boot kick itself into the back of your head, you seethed with pain and blurry vision.

"Well that was easy." One of them said going to pick up the book you had dropping in the impact.

"This one is weak, convenient for our mission."

There was another kick that went through you, this time to your stomach. Then again. And again. It felt like the air from your lungs was being forced out, being unable to breathe. Your head was ringing, your leg burning, and your very existence aching.

And they were laughing while it was all happening.

"Make one more move and I'll kill you where you stand."

The deep voice came suddenly, purring the threat out to the attackers.

The hits instantly stopped. You leaned on your elbow to prop yourself up, struggling against the weakness that had over come you. Looking up at Stephen as your vision was starting to become clear again, you saw a darkness in his eyes. This said that all hell was about to break loose.

He used the word 'kill'. Stephen would not kill anyone. Whenever he fought, he did it without the intention of harming his opponent. That was probably one of the doctor qualities he kept, swearing not to hurt anyone.

But this darkness you could see in him. It was unsettling. You felt a chill go about the room. You knew it had nothing to do with temperature.

The gang looked taken aback from his sudden appearance and froze in place, he must have teleported in. The expressions that washed over their faces told you that they recognized him. They were being threatened by the Sorcerer Supreme, his cloak flaring out to make him look bigger and a death glare staring them down.

"How dare you touch her."

The attackers broke out into a run, but Stephen was right on their heels.

You tried to crawl over to a bookshelf to lean against for support, but it took a while since the pain was so strong. You started to grow dizzy again from moving, your breath heaving in your chest. With your vision all fuzzy and body refusing to cooperate, all you could do was listen.

What you heard was brutal.

There were sounds of magic, struggle, heavy breathing, grunts, cries of pain. Also you might have heard the snap of a broken bone, which made your skin crawl a little. Stephen sounded mad. Very mad. What you realized that there was less sounds of magic, but more sounds of physical fighting. You could only imagine what was happening. It scared you a little. When Stephen got angry it was usually bad, but you have never seen (heard) anything like this. The fight continued out if your sight until the sounds stopped. You did not know if your attackers had escaped, been subdued, been knocked out...or worse...but you had no way to tell. You did not know if you wanted to ask him later either.

Stephen snapped back out of his fury-filled state, it being quickly replaced by concern and anxiety. There you were on the other side of the library, leaning on a bookcase and clutching at your leg. He noticed the trail of blood smeared on the ground from where you were pulling yourself across the ground, a deep red soaking your robes. Retaliation hit him that you were stabbed.

He rushed over to you. Kneeling down over your figure, his eyes darting everywhere in concern, he took you in his arms. "It's alright, you're okay."

"Stephen, it hurts..." You tried to say, but it came out as a quiet breath.

"I know." You were surprised he heard you. "Don't worry I'm right here."

He had to act quickly. What he needed to do was get you somewhere safe, clean your wound and stitch it up, and lay you down just encase you had a concussion. The weakness in your body and the pained look on your face made him want to let out more rage, but also hold you close until you were better.

"Okay," He took a breath and recollected himself. "I'm going to take you home. I'm going to lift you up. This is going to hurt. Deep breath for me." He reached around your body, one hand under your knees and the other supporting your back. He counted down so you could brace yourself for the jolt of pain he knew would hit you as soon as you moved. On one, Stephen lifted you up in a controlled motion, his muscles aching a little from fighting the attackers. You let out a cry as soon as the pain came and clung onto his neck and shoulders, you needed him there through it.

You desperately held on, wishing it was over the entire way. Stephen would have used a portal to get you home faster but his hands needed to carry you. He carried you through the door and you were back in New York in no time. But for you the pain made it feel like a lifetime. He brought you to the bedroom which was close by. As carefully as he could, he put you down on top of the covers. The pain slowed to a quiet beat as you began to relax.

Stephen rushed out of the room to go find a first aid kit. Once he found one, hidden in the back of a closet in the hallway outside, he came back right by your side and started to rummage through the box. As he was doing so, he came to the realization that this was gonna be difficult. His hands. His hands shake more when he was panicking. And in that moment they were trembling like crazy. Seeing you like this, the hurt and the worry he felt. It went right to his hands, bringing back the state they were in when he was stripped away of everything he had. When he felt hopeless.

But he told himself to push past it. Because he needed to help you.

Before he did anything else, he put down the first aid kit. Raising his hands up and making a few sharp movements with his hands, energy summoned and made a little rune in front of him. His hands absorbed the bright colours. The shaking slowed, almost to a compete stop. Now he could work. Trying to remember his basic studies from medical school, he began to tend to the gash in your leg.

~~~

You had passed out from being so tired and being in so much pain. When you woke up, it was dark outside and it was a little colder in the bedroom. Stephen was still beside you, sitting at your bedside currently looking through a book that had a title that implied the pages contained mystical information on healing. There was this look in his eyes, like he was trying to stay calm. You could only imagine the rushing thoughts running through his head. Once he realized you had woken up, he put his book down like he was called to attention.

"How you feeling?"

"Dizzy..."

He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on your forehead.

"You're going to be just fine." He said, moving a little closer to you. "The stab wound is not too deep, needed to be stitched up. Bruising on your torso and arms." He gestured to the areas as he spoke. "You also got hit in the head pretty bad, maybe a concussion so you need to rest." He pulled the warm blanket further up to cover your cold body.

You have not seen Stephen in doctor mode in a while. It was comforting, knowing he knew exactly how to treat something and how to take care of you. You smiled at him, remembering back when he was a surgeon. He might have changed as a person from doctor to sorcerer, but he kept a few qualities.

"Is Wong alright?" You asked, suddenly remembering that little detail from the attack.

"He's fine. I made sure someone is watching over him."

You nodded, instantly regretting making the movement as it came with a headache.

"Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine."

Then you remembered something else. Earlier you did not think you were going to ask about it. But you needed to. It was nagging you in the back of your thoughts.

"What did you do to them?"

He paused. "I stopped them from hurting you." You thought he was going to stop there. He was, it if were not for the look you gave him to keep going. "I beat them up. I know it was wrong. I was just so angry. I did not like what I saw. Them hurting you like that."

You noticed he kind of dodged your question directly. He gave no details of what he physically did to them. Even with your worry and slight curiosity, you did not press him for the answer you wanted.

You understood why he did it though. He was full of rage and it overtook his mind. But that did not excuse his actions, and you knew he knew it too. He looked a little ashamed of it. He was never good at controlling his anger. You reached out your hand and rested your palm on his cheek. You did not need to say anything because from the look in his eyes you could tell he understood your gesture. Bending down, he kissed your forehead again. Angry Stephen was gone, now it was just protective Stephen.

"One more thing." You said.

He hummed in response.

"You stitched me up?"

He nodded.

"But...your hands..."

"I learned a new rune that suppresses nervousness and its physical reactions."

You had to let out a little laugh, "Of course." Must have been from his recent rune studies because that was new.

"I had to do what I needed to." Shrugging, he gave a smile.

"What about your gloves?"

"I did not have time to go get them," He replied, this made you smile.

The rest of the night consisted of Stephen staying up with you and making sure you were comfortable. He brought you pain killers for your sore muscles and headache, something for you to eat, and anything else you needed. He let you cuddle up to him to rest and stay warm. You had made him renew his promise, and to make a new promise to you, that he would never hurt anyone like that ever again. He agreed and you could see the shame and guilt in his eyes. But you knew he did it to protect you even if his anger had taken over. You both fell asleep into the night, Stephen there to protect you.

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qqueenofhades · 3 years

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did you watch lucifer season six and what are your thoughts pls and ty

Ahaha. Yes. Yes I did watch it. Then I cried for a literal hour and attempted to compose myself, only to start crying again when I lay down and kept on thinking about it. Then I had more feelings. Then I slept like the dead due to emotional trauma. Then I reblogged gifsets and had More feelings. Then @buffaluff and @flynnanimal watched it and also required emotional support due to drowning in their own tears. So, uh... we're all fine here now. How are you?

My main takeaway from the final season was the sheer amount of love for the characters, story, and fans that you could feel shining through all the episodes, and which made SUCH a refreshing change. I had feelings in my tags the other day about how a show about the devil was constantly goofy, hopeful, loving, and uplifting, rather than all the grimdark nonsense they could have easily done with it. (As I said, just imagine it as written by the GOT idiots?? NO THANK YOU.) The writing really loved everyone and wanted to give them a proper ending and emotional journey, and it wanted to show the fans that they weren't stupid for having invested six seasons of effort and emotion into this, and just... that is so much rarer than it should be? Compare all the movies and TV shows that treat their fans like the enemy, that want to outsmart them at all costs even if it means changing major plot elements, that ferociously guard spoilers and think that "shock value" means good writing, by throwing hackneyed cliche upon cliche and making everything Depressing, and just... Lucifer had its hiccups and slow points and missteps, of course, but I am SO glad they didn't do that. The entire show consisted of Lucifer slowly but steadily progressing toward being a better man, despite mistakes and setbacks and sometimes a little too much will-they-won't-they. (Season 3 was the only one where I got bored and skipped over the filler episodes with Pierce/Lucifer/Chloe in order to get to the end).

That is an essentially simple premise, but they stuck to it, and they didn't try to create more drama by randomly wrecking what they had already established. I wrote a fic all the way back in mid-season 2 (In Nomine Patris) that ended up predicting quite a few of the future characters who had not yet appeared on the show at that time, including Eve, Michael, and Azrael, and several plot points, including the very major one of Lucifer returning to hell for the sake of his daughter with Chloe. And while this might mean that I am just that good at guessing TV shows (I would like to think this....) it also means that the writers set expectations, followed through on those expectations, and didn't suddenly derail everything or turn it totally on its head just for the sake of cheap shocks. As we can all attest, they certainly caused PLENTY of drama, anguish, pain, and suffering, but they did it in a way that remained faithful to the overall premises of the story and the characters, and wanted to see them become the best versions of themselves. I cried my eyes out at the end and then thought, "hey, I might want to watch the whole series again," which, if you ask me, is the mark of doing your job right. There have been so few TV endings recently where I didn't immediately swear off the whole thing or have to pretend that canon didn't exist, so yeah.

As I said, it was just refreshing to watch something that had that essential deep generosity at its core, where the message is that everyone is worthy of love if they make the hard and painful effort to change and become better, and that even if earthly things feel small next to all this messy celestial drama, they still matter, and that you are loved no matter what. I loved that Amenadiel became God and Lucifer returned to hell as a choice in order to help all the trapped souls be able to work through their guilt and go to heaven. There were obviously certain echoes of The Good Place in that ending; I don't know if it was something they had planned all along or if the success of TGP, another series asking deep questions about life, death, morality, and human nature within the framework of a goofy heaven-and-hell sitcom, influenced it, but either way, it worked so well. Even if it tore my heart out and stomped on it on the ground, it was fitting and oh so lovely to see Lucifer, once the most selfish being in the entire universe, following in Linda's footsteps and becoming selflessly dedicated to helping other people. Just. Chef's kiss.

And of course, Deckerstar. The Hades and Persephone vibes were IMMACULATE this season, and while it did take Lucifer and Chloe the best part of four seasons to get together, they never significantly backslid, never had third-party issues or cheap cheating storylines once they were officially a couple, and Tom Ellis and Lauren German REALLY killed it this season in particular. It was never easy for them and sometimes the drama went on a little too long over the course of said six seasons, but the love story was beautiful and incredibly meaningful and always true to the fact that the actors and characters and writers (not to mention the fans) all loved it so much. They were so much the emotional heart of this, and when they went to hell together in episode 6x03 (where they turned into cartoons because wHAT even IS this show), Joe Henderson said in an interview that this was to give the fans a view into Lucifer and Chloe's future (after) lives post-6x10, and to offer them a basis to write fanfiction. I mean... the showrunner saying to the fans "here, we love you, have something to write fic about!" is likewise pretty shockingly rare. It's again an example of how this show always audaciously poked fun at itself, never took itself TOO seriously, and was always welcoming its fans and the people who loved it to do so, rather than making them feel stupid or taking joy in wrecking beloved characters or plots.

Obviously, I loved Rory, the badass lesbian half-angel goth Deckerstar child straight out of My Immortal (seriously, she was SO edgy, it was amazing), because of the fact that Lucifer's entire arc was always about feeling abandoned by his father and that he was going to have to face it for himself. Dorky Devil Dad Lucifer trying his absolute HARDEST to bond with his daughter was simultaneously hilarious, adorable, and heart-wrenching, and yet again, the Growth. We all remember when he could barely tolerate Trixie touching him, and now we're here. Also, any variation whatsoever of "this is just a brief moment of time that we must be apart, love is eternal and stronger than death and we will never really leave each other" as a line is guaranteed to make me bawl my eyes out. So that was fun.

I got a big kick out of Ghost Dan running around and trying to get everyone to see him, and had feelings about seeing him in heaven with Charlotte and his beloved Pudding Pops at the end. I had feelings about how they handled Ella finding out the truth (or rather demanding to know why nobody had told her) and of course, I obviously loved Maze and Eve and their goth/femme wedding and the fact that they got a good three-season romantic arc (indeed, I wanted more of them). My god, Trixie is SO BIG, she used to be a tiny little nugget. I love that Linda was the moral and emotional rock all along, from the first episode to the very last, and that Amenadiel was Deeply Vindicated when Charlie's wings appeared at his first birthday party. I love how Lucifer in s6 is absolute thousands of light years from Lucifer in s1. And as ever, Chloe was Perfect. I am happy that I spent six seasons with these characters and saw them become better, and that I was never made to feel like an idiot for trusting the writers to end everything in a beautiful and emotional way. Because, well. They did. Sure, maybe I could go back and pick at a plotline here or a detail there, but I don't terribly feel the need to do so? It might not have been perfect, but it was perfect, and I am so grateful that it existed.

#lucifer #lucifer spoilers #deckerstar #anonymous #ask

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hhunjins · 3 years

Text

skz and casual affection

Word Count: ~1300

Warning: none

Note: look at me posting after ranting about how i dont want to write on tumblr anymore lmao. this started because i saw a compilation of minho holding jisung’s waist and ran with it. hope y’all enjoy!!

Minho

Likes wrapping his arms around your middle or leaving his hands on your hip

You don’t even realize it because it’s so casual

You could be standing in line to get food and he’ll be behind you and he just hooks his fingers into the loops of your jeans

Or slips his hands into your front pockets

Or rests them on your waist without even saying anything

There’s no weird tickling or poking or anything, just…there

It’s very warm and cute because sometimes if your top rides up enough, he’ll stroke his thumb against your skin

He sometimes pulls you towards him but most of the time he’s the one who shuffles closer, which is why you don’t realize what he’s doing until you feel him against your back

Occasionally, you’ll look back and he’ll catch your eye and just give you a questioning look like “why are you looking at me???”

You just smile and turn back to face forward (and Minho smiles at you too, but you miss it every time)

Seungmin

Plays with your hair when you’re lying with your head on his lap

Always pats his thigh when he’s sitting on the couch and you enter the room so you know that you have a pillow ready for you

Even if you’re both on your phones in silence, he has one hand fiddling with your hair

Twirls it around his fingers or strokes your head like you’re a cat or something lol

If he’s focused enough, he’ll braids with your hair but most of the time it’s the same soft, consistent movement of his fingers on your scalp

Head scratches

You always end up drifting off because it feels nice

“Your head is heavy” “Push me off then”

He doesn’t because he likes the weight of your head on his lap but it’s not like he’s going to admit that out loud

Doesn’t like it when you sit up because his thigh is now cold but he does like how your hair is messy and he’ll fix it for you before letting you pull him off the couch

Changbin

Puts his hand on your knee/thigh very often

When he’s driving, he’ll have his hand wrapped around your thigh as you read whatever funny thing you found on social media out loud

No funny business though, he is Family Friendly

He wants to be touching you in some way but he knows you like scrolling through your phone so he leaves your hands free

If you’re out with friends, he’ll put his hand on your knee and rub circles with his thumb

Squeezes as reassurance or when you laugh really hard and he thinks it’s cute

Silently checks up on you by tapping his fingers on your kneecap

Will pull your leg onto his lap if you’re sitting on the couch together and leave his hand on your thigh

It’s nice because his hand is always warm

Pinches (gently) when you tease him about something and he wants to you stop but also finds it absolutely adorable

Felix

Pokes you with his chin!!

If you’re standing, then he’ll prop his chin over your shoulder and go “what are you doing?” in that high pitched voice of his

Most of the time, will watch what you’re doing in silence if you let him

Sometimes will nuzzle against your neck (and press kisses to your jaw!!)

If you’re sitting where he can drape himself over your back then he does just that, and uses your head as a chin-rest

Will make biting dinosaur noises just so his chin pokes your head

Very big on affection in general so if you don’t complain, he’ll definitely wrap his arms around you and latch on

When you’re standing/sitting side-by-side, he’ll use his chin and nudge your shoulder to grab your attention

Puts his chin on your shoulder and stares at you intensely until you tell him to stop

He says that it gives him The Best View

Hyunjin

His fingers somehow find their way to your ears (as weird as that sounds)

So he’ll throw his arm over your shoulder and instead of letting his hand dangle there, he’ll fiddle with your ear instead

Plays with your piercings by wiggling or flicking them if you have them

Rubs your earlobe between his fingers

It’s kind of soothing but you can’t describe it

You thought it was weird at first but he does it so often that you got used to it and just let him do what he wants

The first time it happened you were like “….what are you doing?” and Hyunjin was like “what are you talking about?” until he realized and stopped

Like the dude doesn’t even realize he’s doing it

His hands are pretty big but he’s very gentle even when he’s folding your ear in a million different ways

If he does something and thinks it feels funny, he’ll giggle, go “hey, hey, try this,” then grab your hand and guide it to do the same thing on his ear

Jeongin

A perceptive boy so he’ll notice when you’re getting sleepy and guide your head to rest on his shoulder

Your head naturally gravitates towards his shoulder anyway but if you’ve been sitting next to each other for a while and you haven’t, he’ll do it himself

Does it by cupping your chin and tapping your cheek until you get the message

Gives him an opportunity to put his arm around you

But he’ll only do that if you’re awake

Literally as still as a rock if you’re sleeping so he doesn’t wake you up

Likes the feeling of you so close to his side (especially when you wrap your arm around his and nuzzle your cheek against his shoulder)

Not so big on PDA so this is his way of having you close when you’re out with friends

You think it’s the best way to sneak cheek kisses though so the joke’s on him, lmao

He’ll never tell you, but he’ll kiss your hairline sometimes if you’re sleeping

Jisung

Likes hooking your ankles together

His ankles are bony but you like the feeling of being close in such a subtle way that you’ve gotten used to it

Will find some variation to do it no matter what you’re doing and where you are

In bed? Easy, just tangle your legs together

Sitting side-by-side? Even easier, his foot will wiggle its way between yours and he’ll slightly tug your leg towards him

This has led to a few accidents where you’ll stand up to go somewhere and nearly fall over because he’s holding your ankle hostage

Sitting across from each other? Will capture your ankle between his so it’s like you’re a sandwich of Jisung, you, Jisung, you

When he’s feeling goofy, will try to peel your socks off with his toes

It’s turned into a game over time (he’s winning but only because you forget it’s a thing)

Throws his leg over yours

Chan

Puts his arm around your shoulders

It’s reassurance to himself that you’re near and safe

And you like it very much because Chan has nice arms and the weight of it reminds you that he’s there

Very nonchalant about it most of the time

Pulls the cliché stretching move when you’re watching movies together and it always makes you laugh (and he really likes hearing you laugh so he does it a lot)

Hold his hand when his arm is around your shoulder and you’ve got a happy boy!!

Does a thing where he sniffs your head/rubs his nose against your head

Likes it when you lean against him in this position

Because he can put you in a very gentle headlock and do the sniffing thing

When you’re out shopping, you bet his arm is around your should 99% of the time (the last 1% is if you’re trying on clothes or at the register to pay but the moment you’re free again his arm is back where it belongs)

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sunnyoldbear · 3 years

Text

I’m no artist but all I think about is Luca so here are my headcanons for them when they’re older!

Luca:

As I said in a previous post, he gets a bit thicker as he grows since his whole family is on the thicker side and he’s very skinny.

His tail gets longer as he gets older and he’s like a little kitty with it. When he’s in the water, he sleeps on his stomach with it curled completely around him. He also wraps his tail around Alberto and Giulia at times if there’s ever a time where it’s raining or something when they’re in the surface.

He’s the shortest of the trio and he hates that with every fiber of his being. Neither of them let him forget it.

He loves space more than the movie lets on, and that’s saying something. He has read almost every book he can find on it and he rambles about it every day.

He is still pretty clumsy and his arms always have a few bruises or scrapes on them. He likes putting colorful bandaids on his cuts because he likes the colors.

He loves helping Giulia’s mom with painting! Not just modeling for her, but just painting with her or learning. It reminds him of Alberto. He’s not… good at it, but he loves it.

Oh he loves dogs. He’s still a little scared of cats after Machiavelli, but Nerone is his baby and he would do anything for that little pup.

Has a massive sweet tooth!

As expected, he loves learning about Vespas and how they work and everything. He does his research and writes letters to Alberto about the best books to read about Vespas to ensure they buy or make the very best one.

He’s always moving, just can’t sit still. He’s always bouncing his knee or kicking his legs or drumming his fingers. He just can’t help it. (He’s neurodivergent yes, but this is the 50s so…)

Still has very fishy sayings that no one but him, his family, and Alberto understand.

Can ramble for hours about the sea and how he can relate it to space. He still loves water and tends to list the names of his goatfish under his breath when he’s stressed to calm himself down. He still misses wrangling them, but he is so happy that he’s free.

Spends hours working on his handwriting because he doesn’t like how messy it is. He wants it to be perfect.

He’s very self conscious about most human things he does. The only thing he isn’t self conscious about is his swimming abilities, but he hides it pretty well. He’s most self conscious about his intelligence, or lack thereof. He’s meant to be at Giulia’s level of intelligence but since he was raised in the ocean, he knows next to nothing and so he has to work extra hard to get good grades. He stresses a lot about it and sobs if he gets a bad grade.

He’s a surprisingly good cook. It just relaxes him.

He loves flowers and learned how to make flower crowns.

He also loves collecting seashells he finds because it reminds him of home.

Like many agree, he is terrified of bugs, but he could never hurt one.

He’s very emotional, but that’s canon so.

His letters to Alberto are typically very long and full of emotions and things about his day, as well as random things. He doesn’t mind Alberto’s shorter letters, and he saves them in a box under his bed.

Every time he sees Alberto again he practically tackles him in a hug. The first time, both of them fell straight to the floor and were bruised for days.

He loves stuffed animals. Since it’s not “manly” to keep them, he gets them “for Giulia” and then puts them on his bed. (Modern day, he wouldn’t give a damn and just get them for himself)

Gets flustered super easily, as we see in canon. Be it an innocent romantic comment or a nice compliment, he goes super red and embarrassed, stumbling over his words.

Still says “silenzio Bruno” before he does anything he’s nervous to. Some kids at school are confused about it but he’s more confused at their confusion. How do they not know what a Bruno is? Isn’t it a human thing?

Loves to annotate his books. Associates certain books/book quotes with the people he loves and will give them those books or repeat the quote to them.

Though Genova is much more accepting than Portorosso, he is still bullied pretty badly when Giulia isn’t around, and sometimes even when she is. He pretends nothing happens or that it doesn’t bother him, but it does. It bothers him so, so much. Alberto can see right through him with ease and is there to remind him that everything is okay and he’s still loved. It helps, but not as much as Alberto thinks it does.

Even with the bullying, Luca loves school so, so much. That being said, he loves summer and being in Portorosso more.

Does that “look me in the eyes. You know I love you right?” thing he and his mother do to everyone he loves.

Alberto:

There is nothing he loves more than harassing Giulia. Being her brother, he loves to tease her, but will fight anyone who does the same.

Once decked Ercole. Got in trouble but Massimo secretly gave him a high five.

Cleaned up the island and erased the tallies he made for his father. He put some of Giulia’s fairy lights in there and has a few extra pillows, books in every corner and drawings all across the tower. He still has a lot of his human artifacts, but most of them are gone since he needs money for a Vespa.

His new tally board has “Reunion” scrawled at the top and its for waiting for his sister and best friend to return home.

Loves being a lifeguard.

Is super close to Machiavelli now and even adopted a stray to be his friend. Or uh… more than a friend, considering the big litter the cat soon fathered.

Alberto named all the kittens after fish.

He always draws things for Luca and eagerly waits his arrival.

Also has a massive sweet tooth, bigger than Luca’s.

Stores Luca’s letters away under his bed.

He and Massimo made Giulia’s hideout a proper treehouse and it’s now a study spot.

Has tons of books about Vespas. Massimo taught him to read and write.

He’s more self confident about his “human expertise” since he does it his own way.

One of the messiest eaters I swear to god-

Doesn’t care much about space, but he’ll listen to Luca ramble about it for hours without complaint.

Doesn’t really have anything he’s super interested in other than Vespas like how Luca likes space, but I might change my mind about that.

Loves watermelon!

His recklessness causes him to have as many bruises and scrapes as Luca’s clumsiness does, but he doesn’t care about putting bandaids on.

Alberto’s letters are pretty short but great!

Definitely bottles things up until he can’t anymore but he’s trying to get better.

Part of him feels guilty about catching and eating fish, but it’s hinted seamonsters eat fish so I’m accepting that as canon and saying he feels slightly less guilty about it. Definitely enjoys pasta more.

Loves the snow, especially when it means snowball fights. (Definitely throws them as hard as he can at Ercole. Son of a bitch deserves it.)

Oh yeah, he swears now. He’s heard a few swears around while making deliveries around the year and catches on. He makes a few of his own, too.

He just makes up words of his own as well as phrases. He doesn’t just convince Luca to say them. He convinces Massimo & Giulia as well as Luca’s fam. It’s a big, fun inside joke.

Loves turning into a sea monster and acting silly to make the kids around town smile.

Honestly he just loves being a sea monster. It’s great to be him. He feels free. It’s not as good a feeling as being on a Vespa, but it’s something.

He stares longingly at every Vespa he sees.

He probably named that girl cat Vespa or some variation of now that I think of it.

Giulia:

I see a lot of headcanons of her with glasses and I gotta say I love it! So, glasses Giulia!!!

Tallest of the three! Alberto hates her for it but she loves it.

She actually takes after her father more than she does her mother, contrary to popular belief.

Though she loves space, after her meeting with the boys, she’s thinking of marine biology. She stays up late every night researching everything aquatic. She constantly asks the boys about sea things and visits in that diver suit whenever she can.

She bullies Alberto as often as he bullies her. Their play fights look so aggressive that people think they’re actually trying to kill each other.

She’s constantly torn between chopping off all her hair or letting it grow out. She settles on leaving it medium length and tie it up.

A very yellow person! It’s everywhere. She loves it so much! The color of happiness, baby.

She’s the first to call Alberto part of the family, saying in a letter that her school wants to meet her brother. She got a letter from Massimo saying Alberto sobbed upon reading it.

Loves to paint with her mom but thinks bike riding is better. She loves that bike.

Harasses Alberto to put a sidecar on his Vespa for her. (Inspired by a drawing by aishimation on Instagram!)

Though she adore her mother, she’s a daddy’s girl and loves him so much.

Can and will punch anyone who calls her brother and her best friend a monster straight in the jaw

Hates her school uniform

Will also pour water all over Alberto just to piss him off

Summertime? I think you mean “training for the Portorosso Cup and also attack Alberto and Luca with a hose for a few months”

She loves to dance

Wants to get tattoos when she’s older

Very much a feminist and doesn’t care how much trouble she gets in for voicing what she knows is right

---

More on the way probably. These dumb gay Italian fish and their ginger friend is all I think about dhdhjdhdvdh

#pixar luca #luca movie #luca paguro #alberto scorfano #giulia marcovaldo #massimo marcovaldo #luca #Pixar

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