#i want them to have just a damn moment

[marimeeko]

So the premise I imagine around the doodles I posted last night(or particularly the one of Kacchan grabbing Izuku)

Katsuki gets revived, but is forced to stay down. And as he breathes and restores energy and oxygen to his system after Edgseshots surgery and Internal CPR, he feels the rumbles of UA shaking. He knows it's not over yet. He knows Izuku is there now, knows he is fighting, even if he still is being blocked from seeing.

Clarity comes to him as those around him keep looking over their shoulders and curse in hushed voices. Katsuki can tell though, something is wrong.

Not only has Togas clones overwhelmed Monoma and Aizawa, but the whispers insinuate that Izuku himself is losing ground, and is reaching exhaustion.

With more resolve than ever, Katsuki pushes himself into a position to see.

Izuku is breaking down, his 5 minutes up. His body seems to be locked up. Katsuki doesn't quite understand why, but he can see Izukus pained gasps for breath, hear murmuring from Best Jeanist and Mirio of

"He can't breathe..." "Does he... should we intervene?" "Is it part of OFA?"

Katsukis stomach sinks because he sees Shigaraki next, still not defeated, about to take advantage of the sudden break.

Before Jeanist can finish shouting for them to get to Izuku, Katsuki erupts. Through the pain of shattered limbs and broken pride, he tears forward to get to them. The exhausted, emotionally broken Izuku unmoving except for some weak tendrils of BW doesn't, can't move to get out of the way of Shigaraki in time, and even though he internally shouts at himself to move, do something...

A hand grips into the back of his suit and a body careens into him, they go flying, with the added propulsion of Katsuki aiming all he's got towards Shigaraki.

Being half broken as he is, the rescue is clumsy, and they land and tumble across the grass and rubble. Katsuki cringes from the pain and doubles over around Izuku, who realizes his rescuer with wide, tear brimmed eyes.

"K-kacch...an??"

He is still fighting the consequences of the seconds Quirk, having trouble drawing breath. Katsuki sits them both up. He notices that Jeanist, Miruko and Mirio have rushed Shigaraki to run distraction, Nagant is still shooting from far away. So he grips Izuku tightly and tells him

"Just focus on breathing, you damn nerd!"

Izuku can't take his eyes off of Katsukis,

"Kacchan....you....you were..."

Katsuki nods "Yeah. I was."

"I'm sorry--I--" Izuku hiccups, shoulders shaking now from overflowing emotions.

"Hey! Shut it and breathe!" Katsuki scolds. Though his voice is breaking as well. He brings their foreheads together, keeping Izukus gaze. "I want you to breathe with me, dammit."

Izuku still feels reluctant in his grasp, he can tell that Izuku is trying to scope out the others and their fight with Shigaraki "Let them handle it, you just need a fucking second. Izuku. Breathe. With me."

Izuku finally melts and tries, drawing in a quivering breath with Katsuki. And then out. In, and out. As Izuku's breath turns from frantic and desperate to level and deep, with the exception of a few hiccups or quivers, Katsuki hooks his arm around Izuku, drawing him to his chest.

Izuku buries his face into Katsukis shoulder and clutches the back of his uniform.

Within moments, Izuku flares with energy and stronger arms of Black Whip surrounding him. The wind whirls around them, and Izuku pulls away. His eyes meet with Katsukis again, glowing a fierce, blinding green. For a moment, he swears that Katsukis eyes are full of awe, and something he can't quite put a name to.

"It's time to end this."

Katsuki nods, and the two get to their feet, hand in hand.

[turtleblogatlast]

Small but significant character moments that I actually really adore are from both the times we see the boys as tots. There is a reoccurrence that happens in both of them that I find so incredibly interesting.

For the turtle tot short, Splinter leaves the boys with weapons. In the short, Raph is the one who suggests they do “what Lou Jitsu would do” and Leo is the one who takes point when Splinter comes back to reprimand them. Leo, in taking point, is the one to defend them and get Splinter off their tails.

And then, in the flashback regarding the Kuroi Yōroi helmet, Raph is the one who grabs and throws “Skully” as a way to replace their missing ball which breaks it into pieces, but Leo is the one who speaks for the group and rushes into action to fix the teapot.

I love this for multiple reasons, but the biggest are how it shows that Raph has always been inclined toward the bold and fun and making the plans to include his brothers in what he loves and believes they’d love, whereas Leo has always been inclined to be the “Face” of the group and shoulder the attention even if it’s potentially negative all while coming up with on the spot attempts to fix the situation.

[possamble]

What are your headcanons about Marcille's mom if you have any? It's interesting that what drew Donato to her was cause she lived the history he studied, or that was said somewhere at least. She must've had an interesting life.

so this was going to be just a normal answer but then I realized I have a Lot of Things To Say. so here goes, a compilation of what we know for a fact from the canon, what I've extrapolated from the visual cues and details, and my theories based on all of that.

Things we know for a fact about Marcille's mother because they were explicitly stated in the manga and supplemental materials:

She was a court mage for a Tall-man kingdom at the southern part of the Northern Continent

Donato, a court historian, fell in love with her because she had lived through the history he was studying, and he courted her for 17 years (age 15 to 32) before getting married

She was a cheerful person who rarely showed extreme emotion and took things as they came

She always cooked a huge meal for Marcille on her birthdays

She remarried a gnome after Donato's death and a short distance away from Marcille's childhood home

Pipi, Marcille's pet bird, was actually older than Marcille and originally belonged to her mother (bird died at 62)

She was extremely heartbroken when Donato died and ultimately ended up instilling a deep fear of mortality in Marcille with her words

the only time she showed extreme emotion in front of her family was when Donato could no longer eat his favourite dish near the end of his life.

She scolded Marcille for being cruel to ants (implying she can have a stern side when needed)

Things that are explicitly shown but mostly through visual cues

She has a very distinctive style of dress always involving a ribbon choker (mirroring Marcille's habit of always wearing a matching choker with any of her outfits that don't cover her neck)

She was almost stereotypically good at housekeeping and traditionally "wifely" things (very frequently depicted wearing an apron or doing some domestic chore when not at work, seems to have been an avid cook).

She knits? (also, note the affectionate smile as she's looking at Donato and Marcille reading a book together in the full panel)

She was as excited for Marcille's milestones as Donato was.

She didn't tell Marcille much about elven food

(there are a couple things that this panel in particular implies:

She lived a good deal of her life (if not being born and raised) in a mainly elven country in the West, implied by her knowing enough of an elven region's cuisine to prefer Tall-man food over it

seems to have a pretty carefree and casual demeanour overall, if this is how she replied to Marcille asking her about it (sounds like she never gave her culinary preferences that much thought to begin with)

slightly related to number 2, it seems like she and Marcille had a fairly casual parent-child dynamic (especially in comparison to the Toudens' memory of their father)

(local elf tastes Italian food once and never goes back))

However, she seems a lot more... serious in most of the other times we see her? Almost like the very stereotypical archetype of a graceful elf.

Subsequent conclusions about her personality:

Usually pretty carefree and cheerful at home, has been a loving and attentive parent throughout Marcille's childhood (while not being so doting that she didn't discipline Marcille).

Slightly more conjectural theories on her personality:

Had a much more graceful and professional personality at work, which would explain the more serious portraits we see of her.

Given that both she and Donato had positions at the royal court, it seems a little odd that she'd go out of her way to do all the housework herself, so maybe she just enjoyed doing it?

Now taping all the evidence together and toeing the line between analysis and fanfiction:

It's clear that she loved Donato very much and was utterly devastated by losing him. But there's one thing that really stuck out to me in what little we see of her:

Doesn't she seem... angry? The way she's gritting her teeth, clutching the tablecloth, and how this is the first and only time we see her eyes opened that wide. In the following panel, you see her being quiet and dejected after her initial outburst. She's still crying very intensely, but her brows are furrowed, and she's not really responding to Donato's affection in her body language.

We're not told the details of how she felt about losing Donato other than that it upset her. But this, to me, implies that she was angry and resented that he was aging, that the end of his life was approaching. An "it's not fair" type of preemptive grief. And if this was the first and last time she cried like this in front of her family, she was either very good at coping in private... or very bad at letting herself feel unpleasant emotions until they become unavoidable and end up overwhelming her.

It's not too remarkable a detail on the surface. It's even reminiscent of what the audience has seen of Marcille. But... when it comes to the big picture, you'd think an elf who voluntarily chose to marry a tall-man and have a half-elf child would have been better prepared for this.

It kind of recontextualizes her cheerfulness to me.

"I'm sure everything's gonna be okay!" (or some variation thereof, depending on what translation you have).

And this is stated to contrast her extreme grief when finally confronting Donato's failing body and eventual death. But I'm wondering if... maybe this optimism was why she was so upset. What if she went into all of it thinking "everything's gonna be okay"? What if she was a little young by elven standards, and just followed her heart thinking that her own resilience would get her through anything?

Of course, only to get completely overwhelmed when she actually loses Donato. She turns into a completely different person. And that's heartbreaking on its own-- but what the audience sees is the effect it had on Marcille. Can you imagine being her, watching your invincible and upbeat mother suddenly lose all the light in her eyes in one go?

I've already made a huge post about how I think Marcille models her "work persona" off her mother, but another thing that stuck with me as I was looking for more details in the manga was this:

copy pasting from the other post i made about it lmao it's like... the second she resigns herself to lifelong pain and terror, there's another portrait of her mother facing her like this. with their heads bowed, in mirrored body language of resignation and despair and sorrow. Except it's posed like Marcille is still looking at her mother but her mother is looking away.

It took me a second to realize, but I think that it's a visual metaphor for the fact that Marcille's mother was the only long-lived role model she had-- and she failed to model healthy grief for her daughter. I don't say this as an accusation or to disparage her as a character, but just as a matter of fact. In her, Marcille was seeing herself older and losing a short-lived spouse or loved one of her own, and all she saw was hopelessness.

But her mother didn't mean to instill hopelessness and terror in her. She wasn't really thinking of how it would truly affect Marcille at all (at least, that's how I'm interpreting her looking down and away from Marcille in the metaphor), she was just sad. And she, in her own way, was trying to protect her daughter and help her prepare for future losses.

What she meant was "loss is inevitable, and you have to learn how to be in pain but live on anyway." What Marcille heard was "loss is inevitable, and you will be scared and hurt for the rest of your life."

Again. Marcille's mother doesn't feature explicitly in the story the way her father does -- but in so many ways, her shadow, her silhouette, her reflection is always hanging over Marcille.

All that to say... headcanon-wise (everything from here on is 100% without evidence lmao), I'd like to think that she matured and realized that she failed Marcille. I imagine her being regretful about it, wanting a chance to fix it but never finding a way to insert herself back into Marcille's life when Marcille is so so so busy becoming the most accomplished mage possible. I imagine her being herself again, now, so many years after her loss and after remarrying -- but with her cheerfulness tempered with a lot more wisdom and the pain of having gone through loss like that. I think the second Marcille actually tells her what happened in the dungeon, she'd want to go running to her daughter again -- if Marcille tells her the full truth instead of just being embarrassed she let things get that far. (oh, the tragedy of her wanting to be more like her mother and an accomplished adult who doesn't need to be babied... being embarrassed to actually tell her mother how much she fucked up...)

There's also the tension of her having remarried -- I know that there's at least a little bit of resentment that Marcille harbours about that, because she's childish like that at heart even if she makes an effort not to externalize it. I think that her mother would be aware of that, potentially adding to her sense of guilt and apprehension at trying to reappear/intrude on Marcille's life. I honestly don't think Marcille has met her stepfather -- or even considers him a stepfather rather than "mama's new husband" and kind of a total stranger. I think she and her mother actively don't talk about it in their correspondence, like an elephant in the room.

but, ultimately, I think her mother is on her side no matter what. Ancient magic? Dark necromancy? Sure, she'll feel guilty and like she was partially responsible for setting Marcille down such a painful path, but she wouldn't care. that's her daughter!! she would've moved back west and been petitioning for her at the court, buying a house right next to the Canaries barracks and visiting her every day that she wasn't on a mission. And if her husband had opinions on Marcille becoming a "dark arts user," he either gets over it or it's divorce with him. Yes, she might have had her optimism completely humbled by losing Donato like that -- but she's still headstrong and self-assured and she doesn't care what people think of her. It's her way or the highway and she's always going to be in Marcille's corner.

(She also needs a name lol. I went with Juno, just to be cute about "Marcille"s closest real life equivalent being Marcella, which is the female version of Marcellus, which in turn is a diminutive of Marcus, which was derived from Mars. Absolutely in love with Marcille potentially being named after Ares/Mars the fucking god of war btw)

[floorpancakes]

ok but im rly into the idea of till having a new era that brings the light back to his eyes and drives him forward if he gets to escape the arena. idk where he'd go from there but i want to see ivans sacrifice both haunt him and drive him to actually live his damn life after being the captured bird refusing freedom cause of mizi. once he knows she's alive with the resistance he might be able to actually experience other things and widen his world and if that happens and he puts his personal sense of rebellion towards the human cause OR settles into finding some other way to feel fulfilment that isn't a single person that could be deeply fascinating to me i think

[puhpandas]

hi mutuals im just curious.

[ride-a-dromedary]

Wyll taking Halsin to the Wilden Oak after observing how much he was struggling to adapt to the City, thinking it would cheer him up *and* be special enough that maybe he can work up the nerve to ask him something important. Telling him about how he used to daydream about the stories it could tell him, and how it brought him comfort - how it may bring him comfort as well. And maybe he thinks he's talking too much, too fast, but it all pours out of him with heart-aching sincerity.

Halsin listening thoughtfully to Wyll's fanciful dreams of dragons and the Weave, and chuckling fondly at how eager he is; how whimsical he makes everything sound. Bubbling over with how happy it makes him to hear Wyll so beautifully matching the splendor of this tree with such fanciful tales, admiring it for what it is.

Wyll's face heating up, thinking he must be laughing at his stories, and ah, hells, he's gone and fumbled this, of course an Archdruid would think fairytales of trees to be foolish and childish. Mumbling it must sound silly to him.

Halsin frowning then, brought out of his affectionate thoughts. "Oh, no, not at all. I think it's wonderful. Here, let me show you something."

Halsin bringing Wyll's hand up to the bark of the tree and pressing it beneath his own to the ridges and grooves, encouraging him to listen closely again as he had as a boy. Telling him that trees speak to those who care to hear them, even if they cannot understand them. Wyll closing his eyes, flustered at how close they are, but - after a moment of quiet - hearing the barest tendrils of something touching the edges of his mind. Nothing he is able to understand, but he swears he feels it; more than he ever has before.

Halsin himself listening and catching the discernable memories the oak is able to give him amidst the transfer - the tiniest glimpses of generations and magic long past. Perhaps even a dragon cutting its lightning path through the sky, eons ago. He passes anything translatable gently off to Wyll, who listens, enraptured.

The Wilden reveals other things - other terrible things. Other sad things and tragic things, no where near the fairytales that Wyll spins. Halsin does not pass these memories on, but judging by the frown on Wyll's face, he senses it.

But there is something else - something closer to the heart - it calls Wyll "tree friend" - flashes of Wyll as a young boy, collecting its leaves from the ground. Of an older Wyll curled in on himself in the tangle of its roots, heartbroken; an even older Wyll turning his face to the dappled sun and smiling, little golden bands sparkling in his hair.

Halsin taking Wyll by the hand and bringing him deeper into the forest, scouting a good spot to plant the tiny wishing acorn Wyll had pressed bashfully into his palm with stories of his mother. Burying the seed deep into the ground so its roots may grow anew, just as glorious as its parent - waiting to bring joy to another a century down the line. Just as their lives have taken root within one another, tangled and new, but full of life.

[ozcarma]

I’m actually so upset over the grimmons resolution I’m tempted to start a YouTube channel and make a whole video breakdown of their fucking queerbait

[chronurgy]

might be alone in this, but I actually prefer essek being totally correct about the luxon not being a god more than any other theory. there's something so delicious in knowing you've proved evethying you'd always striven to prove, and then realizing that what you did to get there wasn't worth it. that you shouldn't have done it. to be totally vindicated, and have it not matter. to claim the title of the world's bestest, most smartest, rightest boy and realize it doesn't mean a damn thing

[incensuous]

LYNEY & LYNETTE (GENSHIN)

[CRASHES INTO YOUR LIVING ROOM] GREETINGS, I'M HERE TO TALK ABOUT OUR LORD AND SAVIORS, LYNEY AND LYNETTE

As you can imagine, they are not canon, but I'd argue they are the closest we have to siscon/brocon in all of Genshin. And the only playable twins (aside from Aether and Lumine)!!

Also, the post is gonna detail all about the new Fontaine quest, so SPOILERS ahead!

In the newest story quest, we first meet Lynette and shortly after her brother, Lyney. Right out the gate, it's clear they're very close. This is honestly the ONLY time a sibling relationship is this front and center, despite Genshin having other playable siblings. Lynette gives me tsundere vibes, and Lyney is your typical cheeky, charismatic magician. Lyney mentions he's surprised Lynette is talking to the player, as his sister typically only talks to him. We tease Paimon, our companion, for being talkative enough for the both of us.

We take a ride together and, Lyney mentions it gets boring seeing the same scenery, and out of the blue, Lynette responds, "So you mean it's still boring even when I'm riding with you?" It's a strangely jealous sounding question, and considering Lynette is a bit deadpan and tsundere, I take it as Lynette wanting to get a response out of her brother. (Spoiler, this isn't the only time she says something like this!) Lyney is embarrassed and responds, it's because Lynette doesn't talk much, and how it feels like being at home, with just the two of them.

When we learn of a decades old case in Fontaine, revolving around young missing women, Lyney turns very serious and says, "I just imagined for a second what I would do if Lynette were to suddenly disappear... I'd pay any price to get her back and then find a way to track down the culprit." This is actually a bit of foreshadowing for what we learn about their backstory later on.

During the events of the game where Lyney is accused of murder and kidnapping a young woman (connected with the case of young missing women), we find out the twins are not just your friendly neighborhood magicians, but they are also working for the Fatui--an enemy faction, who have their roles behind many international plots. This upsets us but we still decide to defend Lyney and Lynette.

To prove their innocence, Lyney and Lynette reveal how their magic trick of swapping places with an audience member is done. Part of the trick involves Lynette briefly exiting the original box, disguised as Lyney, to pretend the swap hadn't worked, before Lyney steps out of the correct box and wows the audience. Lyney says, "I mean, we are twins. All it takes is a change of clothes and no one can tell who's who, hehe." The twins are twinning!!!

Lyney reveals their tragic backstory, of how they became street orphans after their parents died. To provide for the two of them, he observed a street magician and learned a few tricks. He mentions, "But, I didn't want my sister to remain a street rat together with me forever." The way he words it feels so selfless--he's thinking of Lynette before himself. While they're twins, he's definitely her older brother, and in the Japanese dub, Lynette calls him "onii-chan" WHICH IS INSANELY CUTE.

The two of them became popular enough as street performers, they caught the attention of a rich noble, who adopted them.

Their sad story doesn't end there. Lyney explains the noble basically paraded them around in his social circles as entertainment. One night, Lyney realizes Lynette is not in the car with him to go home and waits for her all night. When she doesn't return, Lyney asks the noble about her and is told someone had taken a liking to Lynette. And so, the bastard actually gave his sister away. As a gift.

I'll note here this is pretty intense for a Genshin scenario. The game is relatively PG, and while murder, etc, is talked about, and there are innuendos galore, we've never had straight up sexual abuse hinted at (as far as I know).

Lyney manages to find the location of his sister and sets out to save her. We see how young they are in this screenshot and by this time, they've already gone through this scenario--it's wild!!

By the time Lyney gets there, Arlecchino has already killed the piece of shit noble and saved Lynette, along with several other young orphan girls found in the basement. They mention no harm had come to Lynette yet. Arlecchino is a Fatui Harbinger, and has an incredibly ruthless demeanor, but she does run the House of the Hearth, seemingly full of orphans she's recruited. She offers the two of them to join the House of the Hearth and is referred to as "Father" by the orphans.

I think Lyney and Lynette do get close to the other children, but in particular, they seem close with Freminet, and even introduce him as their younger brother. I love them!!!

This has been a monster post, and I haven't even gotten to the text lore or their personal quest. I'll save that for a part 2, but even though this post is excessive, I just NEEDED to absolutely gush how cute they are.

[radmista]

Sowing seeds of discontent and disharmony by hanging up on my parents birthday phone call the second my mom asked if I gained weight. Hope that sits badly on their minds while they think about how that's the first call I've engaged with them in 2 months and it was for the dogs birthday. Dad scrambling to text me for my mom that she didn't mean it. Like fuck I told her I've been having a rough month and day. She couldn't keep it to herself that badly. Fucks sake

[odysseys-blood]

so either pb removes the seals system now and restructures its passes or theyre canned like. for real. cut the cameras turn off the lights pack it up

[19871997]

.

[hollenka99]

Some 4 hours in and a summary of my thoughts while playing is a mix of Grump It and frequently chanting 'leave me alone'.

Anyway, I would thoroughly recommend ISAT.

[rexscanonwife]

Grrggh...good morning everypony = w = I rewatched the episode of the ppg reboot where Utonium gets a girlfriend...

[guckies]

I see everyone having lore and I’m just over here looking at my 3 american men waiting…

[quietwingsinthesky]

what if. Amy “fix-it” because hallucifer makes sam so paranoid about dean leaving for no reason that sam gives in and follows him and is witness to the whole thing