#it would have to be good animation though like put some fucking money behind it

[bloodyrook]

I've come to the conclusion that i wont like any casting for the mcu fantastic four cause i don't want it, i want the ff to get a good animated series. why aren't they doing any animated series its the best medium for superhero stuff. they could have it seperated from the overly connected movie verse and give their streaming platform some appeal that won't effect their movies boxoffice success. i mean come on disney was built on animation and now they own all these properties and nothing

[nightlyrequiem]

Latrodectus

II. Fragmented

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4

AO3

Latrodectus Mactans, otherwise known as the Black Widow, are known for their uncouth treatment of their partners. The 'widow' part of their name stemming from the common occurrence of the female devouring her partner after mating.

Tags/Warnings: Abduction, Violence, Emotional Manipulation, harassment, A Dabble of Psychological Torture, Drugging, Breaking And Entering, Fem!reader

================================================

Valeria learned to adapt, like any good animal. She mastered the art of mimicry, and her peers were none the wiser. She studied their faces and mannerisms and copied them to perfection. In hindsight it was pointless. Once puberty hit and she grew into her face and body nobody cared that there was something just a little off about her. Being pretty and physically developed meant she could get away with a lot more. No longer would she be shunned for her off putting ways. In fact, it just made her all the more desirable to her hormonal male peers. Their attention was wasted on Valeria, who spent most of her time chasing girls she found 'special.' Marie Sanchez turned out to be very unremarkable. Not as deity-like as Valeria thought she was. Then came Elle Minote, with her honey blonde hair and mousy round face. Her good looks rivaled Valeria's and she quickly swooped in to claim her. Crowning herself as Elle's best friend. 

Even before their friendship fell apart, Valeria's treatment of Elle was far from appropriate. She smothered her. Elle wasn't allowed to hang out with other people when Valeria was not pleasant. Elle wasn't allowed to have other friends. If she refused to stop hanging around them Valeria would throw guilt-tripping fits. Valeria would harshly criticize any boy Elle showed interest in. Making her feel foolish for even considering going out with him, why would Elle want a boy like that? She's far too pretty and likeable for someone about as interesting as a cheap handbag. Elle couldn't handle the overbearing weight of being Valeria's object of affection, though. She drifted away and found herself a boyfriend. Heartbroken and furious, Valeria vowed to ruin every relationship Elle ever got. It's not like she had any issues doing so. Boys are simple creatures after all.

You didn't eat the sandwich. Valeria stares at you with disappointment and you glower right back at her from the corner. Your skin is looking dull. Probably from the lack of nutrients and sunlight.

"Why are you being so difficult?" Valeria asks sharply. Why does she even bother with carefully handmaking your food if you're going to be so unappreciative?

"Why am I being so difficult?" You repeat. Voice hard with anger. "Gee, I don't know, maybe it's because you kidnapped me and locked me in a fucking cell!" Your hands grip your iron chain tightly.

"A cell?" Valeria scoffs incredulously. How dare you call this a cell. It's clean. You have a nice, soft bed with blankets. It's far more luxurious than any prisoner would get. She storms up to you and grabs your face. "You are so incredibly ungrateful." She whispers dangerously. Dilated eyes locked onto yours. 

You were an artist. In the background of one of your pictures, barely in frame, was a half-painted canvas. It took her a while of staring at the photo to realise you were painting a lamb. After some digging, she found out you did commissions. You didn't make a whole lot off of those though so to make ends meet you worked at a bar. Wasting your talents and life away serving up elaborate cocktails for ungracious patrons. Valeria became a regular. The bar was subpar and hardly worth the money she spent there but with you behind the chipping counter, illuminated by the sickly glow of the old hanging lights, she could spare a few pesos.

Her blood pressure would spike every time a male patron would flirt. She seethed even more whenever you'd giggle or smile at whatever stupid remark they'd make. You were only doing it to get tipped, Valeria knew that, but it still angered her to no level. No man was deserving of you. They would never be able to appreciate all your little intricacies. Not in the way a woman could. Not in the way she could. She had to walk out one night when you were laughing a little too hard at something one of your coworkers had said. She crouched in the alley behind the bar, stiff with hatred, fingers clutched in her hair. She hated him and she hated you.

Your nails bite into the skin of her wrist. Valeria shakes her arm harshly before grabbing your wrist and wrenching your hand away. Your nails scrape against her flesh as they're moved away. Leaving thin raised lines in their wake.

"I could show you what a cell really looks like." She growls. "I could leave you in a cold, dark, damp room. No bed, no toilet, maybe I should let you starve too." Valeria feels hurt that you are comparing your room to a cell. You're throwing her hospitality back into her face. She's doing her best with a shitty situation. She sees the fear coursing through you. The way your brows twitch down and the way your breathing hitches.

"Why are you doing this to me?" You ask. Your voice breaks, a warning that you're going to start crying. "... Is it sex you want?" Valeria releases your face. She has to take a step back to stop herself from slapping you. She already explained everything to you. Are you stupid?

"No." She snaps. Glaring at you. "I already told you why I'm doing this."

"You don't love me, don't stand there and try to convince me you do." You hiss. You press close to the wall.

Valeria is appalled by your words. She hates it when people try to claim to know what she feels. They could never begin to understand her feelings. Not even her parents could begin to understand it. The violent screaming and crying fits followed up by weeks of numbness. Valeria loves you so much that she didn't give up after you turned her down. She has so many plans for your life together. She takes a deep breath to calm herself down. Those plans won't ever come true if she kills you.

"I know this is scary and that you don't understand," She explains slowly. "but I am doing what's best for you." And, what's best for her. She can't function like she needs to when she's constantly on the verge of snapping. All because the woman she wants isn't hers.

You aren't receptive to her words at all. You put your face in your hands. Your body is so tense that she can see a slight quiver in your shoulder.

"Let me OUT!" You screech. You throw your back against the wall and scream. Hands sliding up your face and into your hair. "Let me go you fucking PSYCHO!" You claw at your own arms and hyperventilate. Valeria watches silently. She knows you'll scream your vocal cords raw for the next few hours then curl up in your bed, unmoving for the next few weeks. Your behavior is repetitive and resonates with Valeria in a way that nothing else ever could. She sees herself in your rage. In the intense anger you direct onto yourself. She turns and walks out of the room.

Your screeching stops being audible at the top of the stairs. She locks the basement door and walks into the living room and sits down on her expensive dark grey couch. Her back aches in protest. She didn't realise how sore it was until now. She leans back with a sigh. Silence rings loudly in her ears as she thinks. You've been here for a month now, yet you aren't warming up to her at all. Perhaps it's the lack of stimuli. Animals kept in captivity develop zoochosis when under stimulated. Her gaze shifts to the painting she hung above the mantel. The beady eyes of a lamb stare unfeelingly back at her. She taps her fingers on her knee. She commissioned that one from you. 

You're frustrated and need an outlet. Valeria understands that now. With you being so deprived of anything you enjoyed pre-capture you'll probably jump at the opportunity to do anything other than stare at the depressing stone walls of your room. Painting is a good way to relieve stress and it's also a good way to bond. The sun shines through the window. Warming the little lamb. Highlighting the delicate paint strokes. She imagines how you must've looked while painting it. An engrossed look on your face as you twist your wrist in a delicate arch to capture the soft woolly curls.

When she was in primary school, Valeria would eat alone at lunch. Kneeling in the itchy grass beneath a large tree. The grass would leave indents on her calves and thighs. She had to come up with ways to entertain herself. She would read, play with bugs, tear strips of bark from the tree that shaded her. For her twelfth birthday her mother bought her a small, coiled notebook. It was pink and had bees on it. The best part was that she didn't have to use it for school. She filled the lined pages with drawings. Some of her favourite memories are of her sketching away at lunch, tuning out the joyful noises of her classmates. She knows how good art can be for the soul.

She browses through the paint section at a small craft store and wonders if she should get you your own sketchbook. The thought is tempting, but she'd have to give you something to draw with and she's unsure if she wants to provide any potential weapons. The paintbrushes she's getting you is risky enough. Her eyes scan over the coloured tubes of acrylic. Each one fighting for her attention. The whole store smells faintly woody. It's a little disorienting. She grabs twelve colours. The basic ones as well as a few different shades. She grabs some canvases too and walks to the front to pay. The little old lady at the front gives her a judgmental look. Valeria doesn't break eye contact as she hands over the cash.

Back home, she sets down the art supplies on the dining room table. She spreads them out and inspects them. The paints, the canvases, the brushes. She can feel her own creative spark flaring up at the sight. She puts all of it back into their respective bags and carries them over to the basement. She sets them down by the door and continues further down the hall. She walks into her bedroom. The room is tidy and free of dust. The queen bed with its light pink sheets is made, the pillows arranged against the headboard with care and precision. The day is on the hotter end, and she's sweated through her shirt. Jeans and a black long sleave clearly weren't the way to go. She digs through her wardrobe and settles on a comfortable pair of black cotton shorts and a t-shirt made of a thinner material. She gives her reflection a quick check, admiring the tattoos visible on her arms. She quickly combs her fingers through her hair then walks back out.

She picks up the bags and walks down the stairs. She reaches your door and presses an ear against the wood. There's no screaming or crying. She unlocks your door and peers inside. The light is off, but your shape beneath the covers is slightly visible from the light behind her.  You don't so much as shift when Valeria steps inside and turns on the light. She spots a few red droplets over in the corner. She's worried for a second that you did something to yourself, so she sets down the bags and speeds over to you. She grabs the edge of your blanket and yanks it down. There are a few red scratches on your forearm already beginning to scab. She relaxes when she realises it's nothing serious. She will need to cut your nails though. 

Valeria looms over you as she softly calls your name. Trying to coax you into sitting up. Despite your eyes being closed she knows you aren't sleeping.

"Hey." She murmurs. Grabbing your shoulder and giving it a small shake. "I know you're awake. Come see what I got for you." For a few seconds you remain still. The prospect of receiving something intrigues you enough to open your eyes though. Valeria respectfully steps back and watches you sluggishly rise up. You focus your blank gaze on her and then to the bags behind her. Valeria turns and drags them towards you. Setting them beside the bed. She walks back and sits down on the ground. The cement in cool and pleasant against her bare skin. You lean over the edge of your mattress and look through the first bag. Fingers grasp the rough material of a canvas, and you pull it out.

Valeria stares at you intently. Trying to discern what you're feeling. She feels frustrated at the lack of reaction. You hold the blank canvas in your lap and simply stare at it. Valeria decides it's because you're picturing what you could paint. You set it down to the side and to Valeria's pleasure, continue to look through her gifts. You take your time looking at the other canvases and all of the paints. At the sight of the brushes, you seem to perk up. She bought you ten, wanting to give you a little variety. You hold the largest brush and turn it over. Inspecting it at every angle. You softly trail a finger down the wooden handle. Raising your head, you lock eyes with Valeria.

"I know you liked to paint." Valeria says calmly. You look cute like this. You're not baring your teeth in a gleeful grin but Valeria can still tell you're happy and for that she feels smug. A month without anything for entertainment means anything new will seem far more interesting than it normally would.

You look back down at the paintbrush and Valeria takes the opportunity to approach. She shuffles over and rests an elbow on your bed. You look back at her and she gazes at you. Feeling awed by the sight of you. She has you within her grasp.

"I did." You murmur. Eyes glazing over as you retreat into your head. "I was - am - good at painting." You tell her. 

"I'll go get a cup of water; we can paint something now if you want." She says. Hoping you can't hear the satisfaction in her voice. You nod. Features soft for the first time since she took you. Valeria smiles and gets up, leaving your room. She doesn't bother locking the door. She won't be long.

Valeria hurries back down to you. Spilling some of the water on the stairs in her haste. You're sat on the floor with your paints spread out around you. Valeria realises that she forgot a palette. You don't seem to care though. You're hunched over a canvas. Dipping one of the brushes into a small splotch of green you just squirted onto the cement floor. Valeria feels the need to grab a rag and wipe it off, but she can't do it when you're finally starting to warm up to her. Valeria sits down across from you and places down the water cup between you two. Eight brushes sit off to the side and Valeria grabs one and a canvas. Starting her own painting.

Her eyes periodically shift back up to you. You're so focused that you don't take notice. Valeria is glad. She doesn't normally feel embarrassed but there's something vulnerable about painting the woman she loves. She does her best to mix colours to perfection. She remembers the detail and texture you created for the lamb painting. She tries to imitate it. To give your skin and hair life.

"Hey... Valeria?" You speak. She looks up again and stares. "... I need your opinion on something, could you come here and look at this?" Valeria sets down her canvas and moves towards you. Twisting awkwardly to look at your painting. It's a beautiful, lush landscape. She can see the brushes in her peripheral. She can hear your slightly fast breathing.

"I was wondering if I should add a cabin." She glances at the brushes again. Seven lined up side by side. She furrows her brows.  

"Um... Yeah a cabin would look nice." There should be eight.

The first time Valeria was ever stabbed was during an offence mission. She was cornered by an enemy. The feeling of his steel blade passing through the flesh and tendons of her hand didn't hurt as much as she imagined it would. It didn't hurt much at all. It just felt cold. Maybe because of the adrenaline rushing through her at the time. The rattling of your chain is the only warning she gets before the jagged edges of broken paintbrush pierce through her arm. You were quick but Valeria was quicker. Had she not blocked your attack you would've stabbed her in the side of the neck. 

The wood drags against her skin, leaving slivers as you pull it out to stab at her again. Valeria roughly grabs your arm and wrestles you into submission. You struggle and cry. Writhing beneath her. She squeezes your wrist until you're forced to let go of the paintbrush. Red runs down her arm. Dotting your painting with little red puddles. Valeria's movements are fluid and smooth as she wraps her hands around your throat. You wheeze and feebly try to fight back but Valeria only tightens her grip. Valeria feels betrayed and hurt. You attacked her, after she tried to do something nice for you, you attacked her. You start going still when she suddenly releases your throat. She glares down at you as you pant and cough. Her heart is hammering. Valeria needs to leave before she kills you. She aggressively grabs the paintbrushes and storms out of the basement. Locking the door behind her. She's given you too many chances. You're starting to run out.

[beanghostprincess]

You know, One Piece is all fun and happyness untill you learn that the world and themes are actually some of the darkest and most depressing things that were ever put on paper. The biggest potrayal of this tho is the fact that many characters have different running gags and quirks that are actually products of their horrible past trauma and messed up life.

Luffy- Wants to befriends literally everybody because of his fear of being alone and picks fights with all the people he doesn't like because he wants to protect his friends.

Nami- Her greed and kleptomania were developed because her mom literally died because sge was poor and was never able to give her and Nojiko all they wanted/needed.

Usopp- Makes absurd lies about everything because as a kid he had to keep lying to keep his mother happy and when she died he kept on doing so to keep himself safe.

Sanji- Puts all women on a super high pedestal because growing up women like his mom and sister wrre the only good people in his life and men like his Judge and his brothers were fucking awful.

Brook and Robin- Super S tier dark humor to cope with S tier dark trauma.

In other words, One Piece is just a comedy passing drmatic anime, but I think we all already knew that.

Ah, yes, I love this topic so much.

But I wouldn't say One Piece is a "comedy passing dramatic anime". One Piece is both comedy and drama. The drama doesn't hide behind comedy at any moment. You don't have to actively look for it or read between the lines to understand the characters. I think Oda is an amazing writer because he manages to just tell us/show us about his characters in the clearest and most obvious of ways. He throws hints at us over the episodes to then explaining it to us very carefully how his characters are built. This is why I find so difficult to understand why people (mainly from the general audience or, y'know, dudebros) don't get the characters in the first watch/read. An example of a comedy passing dramatic show would probably be just any sort of satiric comedic show in which they don't actually address the drama but instead make jokes about it. Like It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (God I love that sitcom).

I know what you mean, though. You're talking about the whole "making jokes/running gags about something when the reason behind them is actually way deeper". And I agree wholeheartedly.

Luffy has abandonment issues and that's why he keeps wanting to protect his friends and hates being alone, Nami sees money as safety and comfort because her mom died because they lacked money, Usopp's lies come from trying to make her mom happy because his dad left them, Sanji has an obsession with women because they're the only ones who never hurt him, Brook and Robin have no filter when it comes to dark humor because they've been alone for so long that the only way they have to cope is jokes and nobody gets them except them... And also:

We treat Zoro's relationship with Tashigi as comedic at some points but he has so much trauma regarding his best friend dying that he can't be close to someone who looks like her.

We make fun of and exaggerate Sabo's love for Luffy to the point of brocon/possessiveness because he literally spent most of his life having forgotten him and when he remembers his brothers, one of them dies, so of course he wants to look after the little one.

Boa's love for Luffy exists exclusively because she feels safe around him and it's the first man who has never seen her as a sexual object.

And a lot more of these but, basically, Oda is great at character building and writing because these are not things that you have to read between the lines. These are not exaggerations for the reader to understand what's going on with the characters. These are just trauma responses that constantly happen in real life. It's just a well-written story with awesome, realistic characters, and I absolutely love it.

[camels-pen]

The Law of Fenton

Summary:

The more a Fenton tries to be scary, the funnier and lamer it is.

The vice versa, however, is also true.

based on @notoverjoyed's prompt "Danny goes to college and dodges the attention of the campus paranormal club as they try to figure out just what the hell he is."

Ao3 Link

“There! He’s over there!” 

Danny sprinted down the path, just barely managing to scramble around the corner and pulling tight to the wall as a thundering cloud of footsteps ran past him. He waited a moment, straining his hearing for any sign they were turning back. After a long enough silence, he slumped against the wall with a breath of relief.

“Danny! I just have a few quick questions.”

He jumped, flailing his arms. “What the fuck?! Where did you even come from?!”

The man chuckled. “Don’t worry about it, just answer my questions, please.”

“Are you sure you’re not the paranormal one?” he muttered. “And I already told you no, I don’t wanna be interviewed.”

“We never mentioned a full interview, but if you’re willing—”

“What part of ��no’ don’t you understand?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine, you want an interview? Talk to my secretary, she’s behind you.”

The man whipped his head around… only to furrow his brow at empty air. He turned back only to curse as his eyes darted around the side of the building.

Danny shook his head with a smirk, invisibly watching as the man got increasingly frantic as he searched the area. Well, at least the President was as gullible as the regular members. 

---

Off and on, Danny struggled to get through his classes because, despite being more than a state away from his hometown, there were still people trying to ruin his life.

He thought it would be better here—no ghost attacks, no ghost hunters, no Dash—and yet, somehow, it was worse.

If he could go back and smack his younger self from 6 months ago, he would— deciding to use his ghost powers late at night to sneak into one of the lab rooms to staple an assignment together was so not worth it.

Someone else—sneaking in without ghost powers—seemed to catch him in the act and a picture started spreading around campus of a floating stapler, his name on the cover page of the assignment in. 

Full. 

View. 

Ever since, he’d been hounded by these chuckleheads calling themselves the “Paranormal Exploration Experimentalists” between classes, outside his dorm, in other clubs.

They used to try getting to him during classes too, but his professors quickly put a stop to it. Whether out of the goodness of their hearts or out of hating students talking over them, he didn’t know and didn’t care. 

He grumbled to himself as he angrily munched on a bowl of cereal on the couch, having pulled an all nighter and having a physics class in an hour. A rerun of some older cartoons were playing on the television.

Danny sighed. Oh to be a prey animal in a cartoon. It seemed like such a good life: going wherever you want and not having to worry about having the money for it; sneaking food from restaurants or unsuspecting humans; (third thing).

He continued to yearn for the simple life of a road runner when Looney Tunes ended. Class time was coming up soon and he was just about done with his sort-of-breakfast sort-of-dinner. Just as he grabbed the remote though, the title card for the next cartoon came up. In an instant, it was like a lightbulb went off in his head.

He couldn’t live the simple life of a cartoon prey animal—maybe temporarily if he jumped into the tv with his powers—but he could treat that pesky club president and the other jerks in the P.E.E. club to the same karma as an unlucky cartoon predator animal.

---

The following few days lent itself to preparation. After all, he had lots of reality breaking powers at his disposal, but without a plan, he’d just end up peaking their interest as some strange entity haunting the campus or, worse, they’d take it as some kind of proof that he wasn’t human. Which is true, but he didn’t want them to know that.

So, he set up a call between himself, Sam, and Tucker—he was going to include Jazz, but she’d probably yell at him or something for being so petty about this—and they plotted how exactly to scare the P.E.E. club shitless in a way that didn’t lead to Danny’s human identity, with many of the best ideas surrounding an item featured frequently in the cartoon that inspired him.

It was fairly simple: ‘Tom’, as Danny had started calling him, would be the first victim.

---

“Hey, president guy!” he waved a hand at the man, walking up to him in the hallway where he was sitting outside a closed door, papers and binders spread at his feet. “I’m ready for an interview.”

‘Tom’ raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yup!” Danny squatted down in front of him. “If you get it done, you’ll probably leave me alone. So the sooner I get this over with, the better.”

“Well, yeah, I guess.” The guy pulled out a faded agenda and a pencil from under one of his binders. “When are you free?”

---

“I’ll agree to an interview with Tom.”

“To lure him out?” Sam asked.

“Well yes, but also to have all his club members’ attention on me.” 

“They already have all their attention on you. I thought that was the problem?”

Danny grinned. “Yeah, but this way they’ll be more focused on hearing about the interview than poking around for other supposed paranormal stuff around campus. Including anything my duplicates get up to.”

---

Danny Duplicate #13 roamed the skies above the building the original Danny was currently sitting in. The duplicate combed the roof and jammed the lock by phasing some wood in it just for good measure.

“So, you’re some kind of invisible man?”

“Starting off strong, huh?” ‘Tom’ was no journalism major, but he was expecting some lead up questions. “Well, not really. Everyone back home can do this kind of stuff.”

“What kind of stuff, exactly?”

The duplicate began poking Danny on equipment placement. A little further from the door, he mentally responded, don’t want to actually get anyone hurt. Absentmindedly, he said, “Oh, lots of stuff. It’s like magic with how versatile it is.”

“Okay, but what is ‘it’?”

“Ectoplasm,” he said, before his thoughts caught up to him. Fuck fuck. He wasn’t supposed to say that.

---

“And you’re gonna direct a bunch of duplicates while also trying to avoid spilling everything in this interview?” Sam said, squinting.

“What?” he said, crossing his arms, defensive. “I can do it.”

“Danny, I love you dude, but you remember what happened during that scramble at graduation, right?”

“No.” He blushed. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

Tucker smirked. “I have the video saved on my phone if—”

“ANYWAY,”—he interrupted loudly—“I’m older now—”

“You’re, like, six months older—”

“I’m OLDER now. It won’t happen again.”

---

God. He can’t believe it happened again.

Danny’s duplicates froze where they were setting things up. Danny himself laughed awkwardly. “Y-Yeah, y’know. There’s always been a bunch of ghost sightings around Amity Park, y’know? So, uh, the most popular theory is that sometimes the ghost’s leave weird energy stuff behind and we call that ‘ectoplasm’.”

Tom was furiously scribbling on his notepad, nodding along. “And how does that relate to your powers of invisibility? Does this mean everyone in your town can turn invisible?”

“Uhh—”

---

“So,”—Tucker spread his hands, voice low and promising with ideas—“you could set up a giant mouse trap right on top of the roof. Then drag him up there with an invisible duplicate so Danny Fenton has an alibi from the victim himself.”

“Don’t call him a victim,” Danny said. “You’re making it sound like I’m gonna maim him.”

“Oh, and he could conveniently look away as Fenton while his victim is being taken—” Sam continued, speaking right over him.

“Guys—”

“Yeah, and then Danny can, like, turn up the ghostliness to the max on his duplicate and threaten them not to meddle in some completely unrelated supernatural rumour on campus.”

“Then Danny Fenton can pretend to be a scaredy cat and panic. Maybe call for help from the people eavesdropping on the interview to help look for the kidnapping victim too. So he can build up eye witness reports that make it seem like he couldn’t be the perpetrator.” 

Tucker slapped a fist on his palm. “Oh! During the interview, he could bring back the fear of ghosts excuse from high school, which would help when he inevitably slips up too.” Sam nodded. “He could say he doesn’t know any specifics, but that he knows that weird stuff happens in Amity all the time.”

“I hate that excuse,” Danny grumbled.

Sam snorted. “Well, unless you want to gaslight the entire club or admit to being an amateur magician, suck it up.”

---

“I’m not too sure,” Danny said, grinding his teeth a little. “I’ve been afraid of ghosts my whole life so I tried to avoid learning any specifics.”

“Then, the picture?”

Fuck. The picture. “Uhh, the—the picture.” Oh, he really had to use that gag back up excuse, didn’t he? Ugh. “I really didn’t want to give it away, but you guys have gotten really annoying with the constant pestering.” He sighed. “I’m an amateur magician. I was using a really thin wire and hooks.”

“Is that so?”

“Well, yeah,” Danny said, putting on his most condescending voice. “It’s pretty obvious when you look for it. I’m surprised that wasn’t the first thing you ruled out.”

---

“You gotta scream.”

“I’m not gonna scream!”

“Danny, you have to scream,” Sam repeated. “No one’s gonna buy it if you don’t. You suck at acting.”

God, he hated it when she was right.

“Fine, but I draw the line at calling for help. I’m not gonna be some dude in distress.”

---

Danny Duplicate #1 hovered behind Tom, ready and in position. It seemed the other duplicates were prepared too. Good. He just needed to plant the idea in the guy’s head that he was a regular human and then he could strike.

“We did rule it out. We ruled out many forms of illusions from stage magicians. Professional ones,” Tom said calmly, tapping the end of his pencil on his paper. “We also ruled out photo editing as the person who took the footage is not only part of this club, but also a good friend of mine.”

Fuck, are you serious? Stupid Fenton luck at it again. “Maybe they should get glasses then?” He slumped back in his seat, putting on his most pathetically tired look. It wasn’t hard. “Look, I’m not trying to call your friend a liar or anything, but I really was just practicing some tricks.” 

“Of course,” Tom said, disbelief clear in his voice.

He threw his hands up in the air. “I don’t even mind you throwing around rumours or anything, just quit hounding me everywhere I go!”

At that, Tom did start to look a little guilty. “I guess, regardless of if you’re telling the truth, we should probably back off a little.” Oh thank god. Maybe Tom was reasonable after all. Maybe he wouldn’t need to even go through with—“After all, we aren’t sure what you’re capable of, and if you get upset, you might hurt someone.”

Wow. Wow. This guy really just said that to Danny’s face. Suddenly, he was glad he decided to amp up his threat from the original idea.

---

“The mousetrap isn’t enough though. If I was Tom, I wouldn’t give a shit about a single ghost threatening me.”

“Your viewpoint is skewed,” Tucker said. “You’re, like, Ghost Threat Georg; you get threatened by ghosts so often that you think people get ghost threats all the time, which is very much wrong.”

“Your viewpoint is skewed,” he said petulantly.

“Look, I wouldn’t have believed it either, but going to school in a place with basically no ghosts means most days I don’t get a single threat.” Tucker shrugged. “And the ones I do are usually some of your old rogues trying to ask to hang out somehow. I haven’t gotten a legit ghost threat in ages.”

“Yeah, same here,” Sam said. “It’s kind of weird, but Tucker’s right. I’m pretty sure the trap is enough.”

“No,” Danny shook his head. “It needs something more. It needs something to really send the message home.” He grinned. “And I’ve got just the thing.”

---

“A very bold claim you’re saying to the face of said person you think might hurt someone.” Danny strained to stay loose and relaxed. “If you’re so worried, why not go to campus security or something?”

Tom waved a hand. “Security guards are functionally useless in this situation. I’ve prepared myself and my club members on how to defend themselves and others against paranormal threats”—oh good, Danny thought gripping his leg, another GIW scenario, just what I needed—“using purified salts, stakes, holy water, etcetera. The basics.”

Okay, the lack of any real anti-ghost stuff made him feel a little better. “Right. The basics.” Wait a second. “Just out of curiosity, what exactly do you think I am? Just some guy with invisible powers?”

“We haven’t pinned anything down, but none of our theories are that simple,” Tom flipped through his notebook. He stopped on a page and read aloud, “Shapeshifter, shapeshifter, dragon with camouflage abilities, shapeshifter, a human shaped chameleon, shapeshifter, creature made entirely of string that can unravel at will, and shapeshifter.”

Huh. 

He really shouldn’t ask, but—“Why didn’t anyone think I was a ghost?”

Tom laughed. Fully belly laughed. “Danny,”—he wiped a tear from his eye—“you might be elusive, but you’re nowhere near scary enough to be a ghost.”

“I could be scary!” he protested. 

“You were the only entry in the haunted dorm room competition back in October to make everyone laugh their asses off.” Tom grinned. “I still watch the video sometimes to lift my mood.”

“Hey, I worked really hard on that—”

“Anyway, it’s just not possible.” Tom said, talking over him. “You don’t have it in you to be some spooky spectre come back from the grave to haunt the campus. You don’t have a single scary bone in your body.”

Okay, well, Danny’s had enough of this slander. Clearly, Tom didn’t believe in Danny being a ghost so, whatever, fine. That was what he wanted in the first place. He was fine with it. Didn’t make him want to spill his guts just to prove the guy wrong at all. Nope, no sir.

He did wish he’d put more effort into making his plan more fear-inducing, but whatever. It might not be that scary, but it was gonna get Tom off his back forever and Danny was done talking with this jerk.

---

“And you don’t think this isn’t… a little much?” Tucker hedged.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s probably gonna scar him for life,” Sam said. “It’d still fix your problem, but I didn’t think you liked going that far.”

“What? No.” Danny shook his head. “You guys probably have a messed up sense of fear from fighting ghosts and stuff for four straight years.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “You were fighting those ghosts too.”

“Yeah, but I’m just built different.” He looked through the list of equipment he’d written down next to him. “This is gonna be hilarious. He’s either gonna laugh his ass off or, if his sense of humour sucks, call it lame and move on. Either way, I’m freed from those stupid P.E.E. stalkers.”

“I don’t like this slander against our sense of fear,” Tucker said. “I have very normal fears. This is definitely one of them.” Sam agreed.

Danny rolled his eyes. “Fine, maybe, by some miniscule chance, you guys are right and his sense of fear’s messed up like yours.” He raised a finger. “But! At most he’ll probably get a little spooked and end up staying away because of it! So, I win regardless.”

Sam hummed disbelievingly. 

---

He sent the signal. Off to the mousetrap with him.

He couldn’t see it, but he felt Danny Duplicate #1 salute him. On it boss.

“What—?!” Danny Duplicate #1 grabbed Tom around the middle. Tom wiggled in the chair, unable to move his arms or get up. His notepad and pencil fell to the ground. “Hey, what the fuck?! Did you—?!”

Despite how he hated it, Danny’s best blood curdling scream was so impressive it shocked Tom into flinching, even stopping his struggling to press his ear to his shoulder with a wince. At least the guy would totally believe Danny’s excuse after this.

The faint chatter outside the room silenced. Then all at once, people were yelling, jiggling the locked doorknob—one of Danny’s conditions for the interview, being alone with Tom so as to ensure his plan went off without a hitch—and Danny jerked his head up towards the ceiling. The duplicate nodded and quickly phased through the ceiling, Tom in his arms.

Now, what to do about the bystanders….

Oh, duh. 

“A FUCKING SPIDER, OH MY GOD!”

The yelling and lock jiggling quickly started to peter out after that, followed by the faint sounds of laughter and one, “Jesus Christ, the lungs on that guy,” which Danny would take as a compliment.

He chuckled to himself as he shared his senses fully with his first duplicate.

The plan was going perfectly. Sam and Tucker didn’t know shit.

---

“It’s really not that bad!”

“It really is,” Sam and Tucker chimed in together.

“It’s not,” Danny sent a picture through their chat. “Look, see! It’s cute!”

“Danny, this is fucking horrifying,” Tucker said.

“Fuck, that’s so cursed, what the hell?” Sam said. “Why did you choose this one? Where did you even find it?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Also, they’d probably tell him not to buy stuff from people hanging out in the rundown bathrooms in the engineering building every time he happened to pass by. “What does matter is that it’s fine.”

“Danny, your plan is to restrain and drag someone to the roof, put them in front of a giant mouse trap prepared to go off, and have him surrounded in a circle of your duplicates, who are going to be backlit by green flames and wearing the most cursed version of a Jerry costume I have ever seen in my life,” Sam said. “This is not fine.” Tucker nodded his agreement.

“It is!”

“You’re not gonna be right about this.”

“I’m gonna be so right about this. I’m gonna be the most right anyone’s ever been about anything.”

---

Tom pissed his pants and fainted.

Damn, Danny thought as he phased the guy back into his club room, I can’t believe Sam and Tucker were three for three on this.

[esmiara]

"Happy birthday, slug~"

April 29th.

To Chuuya, it wasn't that much of a special day really, merely another day on which he would work the same way he usually did. To everyone else however, it seemed to be some special event in itself. They would offer him meaningless trinkets or little consummables such as cakes, cookies and chocolates. One day, some of his men gave him a bottle of some expensive and beautiful wine, saying they paid for it by saving money together. Such a useless thing to do. They were Mafia after all. If he truly wanted to, he could buy tons of this brand on his own. The wine was quite good though, so he thought he could thank them and maybe even keep this bottle somewhere in his appartment, as a vase or something.

But ironically, on april 29th, it wasn't the Mafia he was worrying about each year. He worried about one single man, whom wasn't even a mafioso anymore.

This one man had made his life goal very clear from the first moment they had met: mess with Chuuya as much as he could. And so on his birthday, this tall and annoying man would celebrate it in his own way, thus making Chuuya's life a disaster.

Chuuya never felt so tense except for this single day. He didn't knew where, when or how the threat would come at him. He was more than wary, eyeing everything meticulously to catch even a single glimpse of a trap he was meant to fall into.

This time, he was in his appartment, some gift laid out randomly, but carefully, on the living room's table. It was already evening, yet still no sign of this one man. Chuuya stared at the wide window in front of him, sat on his leather black couch.

From the window? An aerial attack this time? He thought. But he quickly dismissed the idea. No. This was already the "surprise" from two years ago. This bastard wouldn't do something twice.

He then looked at the ceiling. But he already saw him disguised as a realistic spider man. It wouldn't happen again either. To be fair, Chuuya hoped for it to never come back, as this disguise was truly terrifying. The thought only was enough to make him shiver.

Suddenly, his door rang once. It was so subtle Chuuya wondered if he dreamed about it. Until it rang another time, in a more insistent way, scaring the ginger at the same time.

He looked at the door, sweat running his neck.

Is he really coming from the fucking front door?!

He hesitantly got up from the couch.

The door rang yet another time.

He approached it like it was some unknown wild animal then stood on his toes to look at the peephole.

There he truly was. This man he was so cautious about. He was simply dressed with a sweater, casually waiting on the porch, whistling and keeping his hands behind his back.

Dazai Osamu.

Chuuya didn't see any direct threat, so he carefully undid each lock he had prepared. Then he put his hand on the doorknob. He took one deep breath in order to prepare himself for whatever was coming in his face, and turned it with a pokerface. He was ready for anything.

"Ooh! You did open the door!" said Dazai, beaming.

"You're the one who continuously rang at my fucking door" he hissed. "So what are you doing here?"

Dazai grinned then leaned toward him, making the redhead uncomfortable with their faces so close to one another.

"Do you know what day we are today?~" He hummed.

Chuuya took a step back.

"Y-yeah?" he tried to chuckle, but with his trembling and nervous voice made it very unimpressive.

Dazai kept staring at his blue eyes for what he felt was an eternity of unease and despair. Until the tall man took back his face from his own.

He looked briefly at what was behind his back.

Oh yeah, come to think about it, what is he hid-

But Chuuya didn't have enough time to formulate his thought. The next thing he knew, his nose was suddenly stuffed in a big flower bouquet. Surprised, he involuntarily sniffed the flowers and sneezed loudly.

"Oops! Too close."

Dazai quickly took a step back as well, but somehow Chuuya knew this was deliberate.

When he glanced back at the bouquet, he froze.

It was a big -and actually very pretty- bouquet with a sappy "Happy Birthday" written on top of some sticks between the flowers.

The more he looked at it, the more Chuuya was puzzled about it. He glanced at Dazai, smiling slyly at him, like he would most of the time.

There is another trap. He immediately thought.

"So you see~" Dazai began humming again. "I first thought about crashing twenty remote-controlled tiny helicopters into your car to make a beautiful firework out of everything. But then I had a way better idea!"

He stared at Chuuya.

"Today, I decided to surprise you by doing the opposite of what I would do." He said, on a lower tone.

He closed his eyes and looked down again.

"So? You totally didn't expect that, right?" He giggled, mocking him. "You should have seen your face, it was absolutely priceless!

"Wh...what the hell Dazai?!" Chuuya shouted.

His fist firmly closed, he opened his mouth. But words were stuck in the back of his throat, his cheeks burning.

"You can't just stress me out for a whole day and come with a bouquet! "

Dazai simply stood there, with the said flowers between them.

"This is way too-"

"Too normal?" Dazai suggested, softly.

"Yeah! This is too... normal." Chuuya stammered, lowering his head.

He took another look at the flowers, his frowning brows further carving his face.

"You're just messing with me again, you asshole." He growled lowly, pushing the bouquet aside with the back of his hand.

Chuuya heard Dazai take a deep breath.

"Yeah, sorry." The bandaged man mumbled, to the point Chuuya had a doubt if he did hear anything.

Dazai's mouth curved into a forced grin.

"So I guess I brought a copy of the boy and the pup all for nothing?~"

"Hold on- you what?" Chuuya quickly lifted his head.

Dazai smiled at him, showing a DVD from behind his back.

"You still had more?!"

"Of course, I always hide a lot of things." He winked.

The small man finally sighed.

"Fine... Come in. As long as you don't have any of those helicopters in your pocket or something."

Dazai stepped happily and gave him the bouquet.

I guess the vase bottle will finally find a use, uh? He sighed, overwhelmed with the big bunch of flowers.

[mdhwrites]

thoughts on camila?

So I've talked about how she is just as a character before. I think as a character, she's as sweet as a saint and I like her in isolation. However, and this is what I want to focus on more because of an element I'll get to, she's a bad character in the context of The Owl House for the same reason King and Eda are: What is she doing in this story? How does she add to it?

Camila makes Luz look a fucking terrible as a human being. Almost EVERYTHING we see in the human frankly makes Luz like a terrible human being because that's the genre that The Owl House is a part of: Modern Isekai. Like most Modern Isekai, it's a story about a nerdy person who has no real prospects in real life and would rather live in their fantasies getting to go do that. Luz has a power that no one else has, gets to be with the prettiest, most popular, richest girl in the new world. She gets to stand up to a corrupt system but it never actually bothers her so she can just have fun shenanigans for the vast majority of the run time. She even fights an Evil Emperor which is almost as generic as a Demonic Lord as far as fantasy villains go. Honestly, TOH being isekai is probably a large part of why it was green lit (and frankly, same goes for Amphibia) since while it's not critically acclaimed, isekai is still one of the most popular genres of anime out there and the popular ones have made money hand over fist.

For most stories in this genre, they A: stay in the fantasy realm, TOH isn't fucking special people but also B: have a terrible home life in part to justify that desire and decision. There's also elements of wish fulfillment to its target demographic which is actually kind of important here. That your life sucks so you deserve to escape from it, just like this person. That terrible homelife in turn turns into a payoff for the audience because it can be used to highlight just how much better this world is and how much better off for everyone the MC is in this new world.

Camila doesn't really work for that though, does she? Something the show itself acknowledges with Yesterday's Lie. "You had it good." Hell, in that episode we have Camila wanting Vee to keep Luz's stuff because she knows those things are important to her daughter. Even in the first episode, Camila just wants Luz to make friends. She could fail to learn ANY life skills and stay just as weird at the camp (which she presumably needed to go to to not be EXPELLED for what she did) and Camila would happy if she was in a new Discord group with some friends. That is how low the fucking bar is for Camila's expectations of Luz and somehow THAT was too much. That was, as Camila will apologize for, multiple times, pushing her daughter away or repressing her.

That doesn't function for a Modern Isekai story... It functions for an old school isekai like Amphibia is. Old school isekai after all featured a lot more character growth, a lot more of the other world being an abstraction of problems the person was facing in the real world and had to learn how to deal with. As such, they usually ended with the main character going home a better person and putting their fantasies behind them. Not admonishing them but recognizing that staying there isn't what's best for them.

Camila's character for one of those is AMAZING. Like it could genuinely have led to one of the best deconstructions of the modern isekai protagonist. It's like the ass hat protag from Far Cry 3 (not saying this is handled well btw in that) who still wants to be bigger and more cool and seen as strong by those around him while he already has a smoking hot fiance, lives his life doing dangerous stunts, is really attractive himself and could just coast for the rest of his life. It doesn't fulfill his image and fantasy of what a 'man' is so fuck all of that, I need to go kill people and take over this native tribe! Which hurk, again, it's not done well, but it was trying to deconstruct this sort of fantasy. This sort of escapism that says the image in your mind is ALWAYS more important than those actually around you.

It could have highlighted how things are never as bad as they seem and wanting to escape always hurts someone and always is selfish... But for that, the show would have had to be willing to say one needs to learn to respect reality over fantasy. This could either be done by Luz learning that treating everything like one of japanese animu is a bad thing or they could do it through doubling down and showcasing after Yesterday's Lie that Luz is a genuinely terrible, selfish person who only views the promise she made to her mom as requiring her to give up the world she likes, not the damage she did to her mom.

Which I phrase because they literally did that. They changed the ending promise scene of Yesterday's Lie from being about their complex relationship to just being a summary of the stakes. "Come home, never come back." It's a narrative cheat to welcome anyone back from the mid season hiatus and that is frankly the BEST way to read it for Luz's character because otherwise she changed a conflict mostly about the pain she inflicted on her mom purely to the consequences and that's not really a thing a good person does.

But then the series ends with her having both worlds, getting to literally be Azura finally, quoting the damn book and just ENTIRELY admitting that it's not an OC, it's her replacing Azura, and it's all just fucking awful. In part because, like with the Liar Reveal stuff I talked about with TOH, it's a subversion without a new payoff. They try VERY HARD to give a new payoff but it's not earned. People adore the "I just want to be understood" moment but it ONLY functions in that moment from a meta perspective of it being a neurodivergent girl seeking understanding because who, especially of the people Luz cares about, hasn't shown her understanding in the past SEASON? SHE HAS A GIRLFRIEND WHO IS WAY BETTER AT IT THEN HER!

And so Camila is just this contradictory sore spot that goes right back around to "Man, our target audience would really love it if their parents would tell them explicitly that they don't need to grow as people or even try to understand others or how they may hurt them, literally but instead that their comfort is all that matters." It goes right back to being all about modern isekai's worst element: Wish fulfillment. Bland, obvious, pandering wish fulfillment.

And I COULD end the blog right there... But I said I had a reason to wanted to answer it like this. Admittedly, it expanded from what I expected so sorry for the long blog but here's the real tragedy: The moment of Luz recontextualizing Yesterday's Lie's promise should have been AMAZING to me. After all... It's the part of Luz I loved writing the most.

Yep, more of that celebrating ten years of writing stuff to talk about one of the elements of my TOH writing that I genuinely am very proud of: Luz being a scared, anxious teenager who doesn't read the world correctly. One who is held back because she thinks if she isn't scared, she'll be hurt or, more importantly, hurt others.

I know a lot of people will tell me that TOH didn't do that and like... gestures at everything above and SO many other elements like how Luz has two token moments implying she's been traumatized from bullying that doesn't read with how she was for the entirety of the first season, or up to those points in the second for that matter, AT ALL. She doesn't actually have that sort of fear or anxiety. She's too selfish and self serving for it. Her needs always come above others and that's not the compelling part of this to me, nor is the self protection element.

No, it comes from the fact that you have to actually care what others think for it to torture you, like most teenagers do. That disappointing someone would be essentially the same as stabbing them. In The Power of Love, I got a lot of people to go from "This is cute" to "Okay, you have my attention" with chapter 3: Ru-Luz (which reading back... Some of my transition lines are not working there. Why did I think they did? Brain moving too fast I suspect like usual or trying too hard). Despite the pun, it's not a fun chapter. It ends with her listed rules that are actually nice, like telling her to be herself, but a final rule that, so as to keep the voices in her head, the things others have told her, quiet she must follow. "Treat Amity like anyone else, even if that means breaking other rules." And one of those voices is said to be Camila's.

I don't leave it there though. Through complications, it's very explicitly revealed that, well... Luz is a teen. Everything is world ending for her. That she's taken small comments or momentary frustrations, or just straight up misread things, so as to have them attack her and form her view of how others perceive her (along with having been genuinely bullied). That her mom does adore her and would accept any part of her but she can't believe that, not with how she is now. And that leads to really highlighting an element of Lumischa that I've always loved: Boscha as Amity and Luz's rock. Someone who is honest enough that neither worry about if she's holding back on her opinion. And you know what happens?

Luz and Boscha get multiple chapters of Boscha providing the wake up call she needs. Of her chipping away at those fears that others may be secretly hating her because here is bad bitch Boscha telling her to shut up because she's better than she thinks she is. It's blunt enough to actually make an impact, harsh enough that it still addresses the fuck up, and is something no else would do. Not even Amity because Amity is her own ball of anxieties who's worried about the wrong move upsetting people. I would have ADORED this element actually being a thing for Luz and you know, maybe leading to a Power of Friendship moment with all of them backing her up and giving her the confidence she needs for something. Instead we get her ignoring what she's claiming to be worried about (making mistakes) and then getting a power up when her mom tells her that she should have quite literally never criticized anything about her daughter which is not what a good parent does. Even my Boscha will still call out that Luz did make a mistake if she did, just then also point that she's being over dramatic about it because no one hates her because of it.

I also want to give a shout out to this essentially being an element of my Luz for Ruff Secret as well (original version too) as an essentially tragic element to the majority of the story. Camila clearly accepts parts of her daughter in that story that their wider community doesn't but Camila is also critically still a part of that community which is Christian. She's very devout even, going every week to church. There is nothing except coming out to Camila that will ever make Luz not just assume that being gay will not get her disowned because of the fears in her head and because of those same fears, she'll never come out of the closet. She has clearly never even been willing to approach the topic with her mom about it. It does payoff in the end though with Camila freaking out WAY harder about Amity being a werewolf and the danger that puts her daughter in than of Luz being gay because why would you judge something as incredible as love?

It's not new, I've seen some other things take similar approaches, but it uses the age of the character and society to actually amplify the emotions and make the angst more justified. Make what normally just be "I can't confess, what if she says no?" more dramatic while also managing to tie the two romantic leads together in their conflicts since Amity is dealing with something she sees as a curse, as a primal sin that could only ever hurt others, just like Luz is. And just like Luz, it's actually in repressing and rejecting that side of her that Amity does end up hurting someone but that someone is herself.

All while still managing to be one of the funniest stories I've ever written. I ADORE Ruff Secrets. Crises Girlfriends may be my most personal story but I still think Ruff Secrets is my best story. Period. Which is frankly a miracle since it was a snap start based on a joke a someone made.

So yeah, I like Camila conceptually. I think there was a lot you could do with her. Any direction though would have required TOH to be at least as grounded as Amphibia, let alone ANYWHERE near as grounded as the fandom thinks it is. As is, she's a subversion that doesn't add anything and actively hurts what is a very normal fantasy story.

As such, she's a bad character because what you add to a narrative does matter to that metric unless you are actively ignoring that part of a character's purpose for existing. That's just less useful to a writer though because it means you add a tool to your toolbox without understanding how to use that tool which is always dangerous as any professional mechanic or engineer may tell you.

======+++++======

I will admit that I fidget at praising myself so much like this. I know I've used my own works as examples in the past but it always makes me feel awkward. It especially never helps that it likely comes across as, justifiably, saying I could have done X better. There's a big difference though between "In this context I DID X better" and "If I had made X, I WOULD have done it better." Situation, context, and just the creative process can always muddie things and doesn't even mean the same writer will always tackle the same subjects as well every time. It's just a part of the process.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[cunt-dracula0]

i decided to reread the jurassic park novel AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH OF A FUCKIN LITTLE RAT JOHN HAMMOND IS

spare no expense my ass mf

(reminder that we’re not talking about the film, we’re talking about where this all began. and i have different views on both versions of hammond. i don’t particularly mind hammond in the movie though he was still at fault for quite a lot that happened. although he had a difference about him compared to the darkness of john hammond in the original novel.)

1. this man does not give a shit about the animals. no. EVERYWHERE YOU LOOK ONLINE SOME WEBSITE OUT THERE ALWAYS DESCRIBES HIM AS “the greedy businessman” like yeah bro knew he was bound to earn that cash after you made the first official park for fucking dinosaurs (bad idea duh) but man.. what a cheapskate.. if you had the money to make the park look “presentable” you’d think he would pay his workers their fair amount. well.

2. WAS BLACKMAILING NEDRY REALLY THAT NECESSARY?? the man had set up national telephone lines, was quick with what he did, made a name for himself with how good he was, and hammond practically took the piss out of him.

dodgson was his last option in that situation, and yes even though it wasn’t the best of schemes, nedry went ahead with it.

hammond literally sees nedry as this fat slob but in reality, nedry had extreme potential with his job. the majority of hammond’s workers were payed utter peanuts. but seeing as nedry was the one in charge of creating the park’s systems, hell.. he really should have had his fair share.

and again, he was in CONTROL of designing security systems for the first park that contained living, breathing dinosaurs..

THAT’S A BIG DEAL.

but because he knew the lack of effort that was put into giving him his reward for literally doing what he was agreed to be paid for, there was no point in giving a shit anymore. he became sloppy for a reason.

hammond threatened to take this man to court if he didn’t get what he wanted 💀

and at the end of the day, nedry got his karma. but damn even that was brutal for someone such as nedry. to say he deserved that would be incredibly cruel.

but again, michael crichton’s novel showed no mercy for certain characters, which was actually a good touch to the storyline.

i don’t even think the intention for anyone to die when nedry continued out his plan was there? then again you let the dinos run loose.. what did you expect.. and of course he ended up getting himself killed..

novel nedry wasn’t the typical, greedy fat bastard everyone made him out to be. there WAS in fact a reason behind his actions. but if he were a handsome skinny man, the audience would be rooting for him, wouldn’t they? then they’d actually feel sorry. which is a bit shitty.

those like muldoon, arnold and the rest of them probably thought the same about nedry. but that’s because perhaps they unfortunately did not know the actual behaviour that went on between john hammond, ingen, and dennis nedry.

3. hammond in the novel had no filter like this man was cocky asf in front of anyone and everyone. whereas in the movie, you only saw hammond act unfairly to some behind closed doors.

BUT, the man went weeee rolling down the hill like a fucking easter egg, so as muldoon said and although this wasn’t about hammond..

“maybe there’s justice in the world after all.”

[g0ttal0ve101]

🎶💯💤🎄😖🎮 for any of ur little shits :3

they are little shits………my little shits 🫶

TW: obsessive behavior, a lil suggestive, and implications of trauma.

🎶 - what type of music does your oc like? do they listen to music very often?

Sam: weezer/the front bottoms….like. mentally ill homosexuality shit. yes he listens to this shit 24/7….(he j like me fr.)

Evelyn: Beethoven? i mean what else do British people listen to? IM PLAYING-uhh probably shit like the cardigans/cults. and yes, she listens to music when cleaning :)

Thomas: Nirvana/Radiohead. yeah. it’s sickening. no, he doesn’t listen to music often unless it’s on in a party……

Lucian: he listens to literally anything. he doesn’t care. i mean like he doesnt really wanna listen to WAP or something but-yeah no he listens to whatever’s on the radio (he’s fucking weird.) and he doesn’t go out of his way to listen to music.

💯 - share three random facts about your oc that others may not know.

Sam:

1. ALWAYS wants to be riley’s type. so whenever she was dating jordan, HE WOULD DRESS LIKE JORDAN. if he saw riley spare a glance over at some girl, HE WOULD DRESS LIKE THAT GIRL THE VERY NEXT DAY. in other words he has no sense of style himself.

2. he didn’t ALWAYS have his stutter. it developed by the time he was six. also it’s genetic, not any sort of brain trauma or anything - his dad had a stutter when he was young too, but went to speech therapy and eventually fixed it.

3. speaking of which HE DOES HAVE A DAD YALL!!! HE’S ALWAYS OVERSEAS FOR WORK!! VEGA DADDY FOR THE WIN!! and no he’s not abusive or anything either lmao he’s just a busy man.

Evelyn:

1. yes she lived in the UK up until she was fourteen. she’s sixteen now. so she’s only been in the USA for about two years and she regrets coming.

2. she lives with her uncle alfie after the passing of her parents. he’s very distant and barely associates himself with her, but makes sure she’s well taken care of before she turns eighteen and gains all the money her parents left behind. so yeah he’s aight ig

3. she’s very good at horseback riding. (she took lessons from the time she was a kid.) however, she never puts any of that talent to use considering she HATES TOUCHING ANIMALS so yeah that ended quick.

Thomas:

1. had a prosthetic arm (left side) since the time he was nine. how did he lose the first arm? that’s a good question you should ask him!! sometimes it’s because of self harm and losing all circulation after trying to commit, other times it’s because he was kidnapped and the joker himself sawed it off. (he will never tell anyone)

2. he has his own band and plays at parties sometimes. the cooler thing is that david nixon is the drum player even though he despises thomas <3 but a deal’s a deal right? also it works out in the end for both of them bc thomas gets all the chics after singing and david gets all the dudes after playing.

3. a bit of common knowledge but - he has three siblings. an older brother, a younger sister, and a little brother. he hates them all equally. however, they aren’t actually full siblings. they’re all half. Adrian (their father) had babies with FOUR DIFFERENT WOMEN!! role model, am i right? also thomas hates every member of his family lmao.

Lucian:

1. LUCIAN WILLIAMS HAS A TYPE!!! fluffy hair, freckles, a grunge/gothic style, and FUCKED UP TEETH!!!!! GAAAAH!!! both his exes had fucked up teeth (aka sophia had braces and david was missing a lot of his), and now his current boyfriend does. (bitch is a shark.) like shit. he loves those fucked up teeth. <3

2. he has tons of scars. like. tons. and you might be thinking TRAUMA!!!!! bc yes. trauma. however, a lot of them are from him being a dumbass as a kid. he would climb the top of a tree and fall off it. he would swing on his neighbor’s tire swing and fall into a pile of hoarded trash with glass in it. he would try to pull a root out of the concrete stairs and slice his shins after he fell. he is clumsy.

3. it’s time fess up….he’s not a total skinny legend no mo. he works out and is actually PRETTY BUILT. he ain’t got no six pack or nothing but he has nice ass triceps tbh……..and that’s on having an axe as a go-to weapon <3

💤 - is your oc a light sleeper or a heavy sleeper? how are their sleeping habits?

Sam: pretty light sleeper. he’ll wake up whenever he hears footsteps, or when his curtains blow in the wind, or when the fridge turns on. he usually peeks under his eyelashes and then just goes back to sleep.

Evelyn: light sleeper. any little noise makes her sit up and check her surroundings, even if it’s just her furnace turning on. she’s still half asleep when this happens though, so she goes back to sleep pretty easily too.

Thomas: DEEP FUCKING SLEEPER LMAO. you think he cares if there’s a nuclear war outside his window? bro as long as it don’t make one side of his pillow hot…

Lucian: deep sleeper when it comes to noise, light sleeper when it comes to any movement in the room. if anyone touches him, he’s up. if anyone applies pressure to the mattress, he’s up. if any footsteps are in the room, he’s up. you get the point. he will jerk awake if he feels someone else is there with him. (trauma) it’s not so easy for him to lay back down either. depending on what happened, he usually stays up for the rest of night. (this improves if kai’s sleeping with him bc he feels safe.)

🎄 - what’s your oc’s favorite holiday?

Sam: HALLOWEEN! 🎃

Evelyn: EASTER! 🐣

Thomas: HALLOWEEN! 👻

Lucian: CHRISTMAS! 🎄

😖 - is your oc an introvert, an extrovert, or an ambivert? do they let people in easily, or are they more reserved?

Sam: not even a question lmao. INTROVERT. and he does NOT let people in easily. only if it’s a pretty young woman named riley morg-

Evelyn: honestly i’d say she’s an ambivert solely because she doesn’t care about being out in public. (she cares about the GERMS.) she doesn’t avoid talking to anyone but she doesn’t go out of her WAY to do it either.

Thomas: EXTROVERT? HELLO? HE’S THE LIFE OF THE PARTY. Thomas knows everyone and their mamas atp. he’s so extroverted that he would commit a crime in the middle of the street and no one would give a fuck because he’s Thomas Hall. and if someone has a problem with him, they’ll just be gone in like 2.0 seconds lmao.

Lucian: this might be a shocker but…introvert. yes lucian is definitely an introvert. he avoids crowds, he doesn’t like talking in front of people, and he definitely doesn’t like people acknowledging him. when he doesn’t know someone, he’s not all bubbles and flowers like he is usually - he’s on high alert. Lucian only shows his true colors around his friends!!

🎮 - what are your oc’s favorite hobbies?

Sam: Reading, mostly. His favorite genre is romance and horror so he can take notes lmao……….

Evelyn: idk what British people do to pass the time…..JK!!! Evelyn loves crocheting and sewing, and designs clothes for her gf a lot <3

Thomas: this man is so talented and yet his favorite hobby is having sex 💀-no but seriously. he can play piano, guitar, and drums. he can sing. he can draw photo realism. he can skateboard. etc. etc. etc. and yet he spends all his free time partying………

Lucian: everyone knows he loves gardening, but he also likes skating and coloring too. :33

[adamsuniverse1144]

Active musings/headcanons about the polyband SUAU:

Of course, everyone has their Mains.

Steven has Connie, his wife whom he loves more than anything.

Jacob has Jasmin (and Alex but it’s mostly a weird mix of platonic romantic attraction) whom he would take a bullet point blank in the head for.

Adam, Hazel and Anna are all tightly knit together, the classic “love triangle turned into an impromptu polycule by a happy puppy boy alien” story. You know the one.

But outside of those main relationships, we see that certain people just mesh differently, creating new kinds of love and feelings that make things just better in general.

Here’s my favorites from my top three:

3.) Jasmin and Alex- My god, those two have loathed each other from the very beginning like siblings. They argue and make fun of each other like it might win them the lottery. But when push comes to shove, they work well together behind the scenes. They are practically the same person with some minor personality traits that vary, which is why they struggle to get along on the surface. If I met someone like me I’d hate them too 😂. It’s cute, even if it can be tiring to have to hold them apart so they don’t throw hands. If they were to be let go though, they still wouldn’t hit each other. They’d just walk away all huffy 🥹

⭐️ "Hey Alex, this could be us," Jacob called to the man who was now texting like it was his job. He walked over typing with one hand and his finger up to ask for a second before he responded.

"Jacob, it won't look good if I kick you in the balls for being a flirt," Alex calmly explained, tucking it away.

"Healing powers!" Steven reminded him.

Alex cursed under his breath. "What's my pass toll? I’m already sick of you guys in particular."

"A kiss and a compliment for my fiancee."

Sighing, the promo manager let Jacob present his cheek for a kiss and the photographer giggled to themselves. "These are really good pictures. Your band should do modeling when you're done."

Jasmin pinched Alex and blocked a smack. "At this point, we’re stuck together for life."

"Jasmin, you… look a lot less like someone I want to punch in the mouth today," Alex told her amiably. The angel wings and halo were as fake as his “compliment”.

Jasmin put a hand over her heart anyways and presented her other. "Why, thank you, Alex. Since we're on good terms now, why don't you kiss my hand to make sure your compliment is authentic? Be a gentleman for once.”

Jacob cackled as Alex gagged multiple times before he completed the menial task and scrubbed at his lips. "You taste like perfume."

"Better than tasting like asshole."

Jacob collapsed to the ground in laughter as his legs gave out and the two started arguing. "I'm so in love with you idiots."

"You're the idiot!"

“Jacob, get the bail money. I’m going to jail.”

"These are such good pictures," The photographer repeated.

2.) Steven and Hazel. It’s the bromance story of the EON, my guy. These are the same guys that talk about brands of beer inbetween football commercials (Hazel spends time explaining the rules of the game to Steven) while at the same time being the kind of friends where Hazel bangs Stevens senseless and calls him a princess. Both are kinda a little bit of himbos, and they started off as roommates (*gasp* And they were ROOMMATES!). I’m in love with their best friendship.

⭐️ "Now where oh where have I heard that before?" Steven smacked Connie’s ass and watched it bounce before grabbing a handful and humming to himself. "You're so sexy. Let's wrap this up."

"You're animals," Hazel teased with an eyebrow wiggle.

"So are you," He retorted. "How many times have you casually brought up the fact we fuck every once in awhile?"

“Apparently not enough, Princess. Apparently not enough.”

✨ But my NUMBER ONE FAVORITE DYNAMIC IS JACOB AND ADAM! ✨

It’s not the goofball and goth thing everyone’s always gushing about, that’s not the character troupe I think of when I think of them (shit… now I’m kind of thinking of it). Adam and Jacob have both have the very deepest kind of depression and they just understand each other. If I had been thinking right, maybe I’d have had them together but I think this feels better to me. They ARE together, they just aren’t each other’s mains. HOWEVER, that doesn’t stop them from acting like a married couple. I think they’re really twin flames, which is rare to find. It’s strange though because I wouldn’t call them best friends either, they just feel so much for each other it’s kind of a driving force keeping them close together. Adam makes tea when Jacob comes home. Jacob notices Adam’s depressive spirals before anyone, and he loves him aggressively through it.

⭐️ Jacob finally spoke to him again directly a week later, perched on top of the fridge drinking a beer.

Adam raised his eyes slowly. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Everyone's out. It's my turn to babysit." He took a long drink and crushed it with his hand so hard it cut into his skin.

Adam flushed at the sight of the blood and turned his head away in irritation. It was like he just kept getting more and more fucked up as time went on. "Don't call it that."

The man ignored him and downed another beer to repeat the process. This time as he spoke he crushed it faster, seemingly unfazed by the pain. "Never do it again."

He felt like a liar, but he hoped it was true when he said, "I won't."

Jacob pressed harder, unconvinced and desperate. "I'm serious. I'm so serious right now."

Adam's lips curled. "Why so serious?"

"No way did you just make a clown joke at a time like this." He hopped down and grabbed a fistful of Adam's shirt. "Look me in my eyes and tell me if you think I'm just clowning around, Adam."

He couldn't do it, too much heat was rushing to his face and suddenly he was trying to have a single thought he was proud of. "I-I know. I'm sorry."

Jacob didn't let go, he pulled him closer for a kiss as angry as his words and slammed him against the fridge. Jacob was stronger than he was, though he rarely chose to show it in favor of being submissive to him.

Adam fought the urge to submit instead and scowled into the kiss. "You can't force me to not be suicidal."

"Watch me." His green eyes turned glassy. "I have rarely been more afraid in my entire life." Adam hated hearing his voice break so violently. He hated how his depression made people tremble with too many emotions to hold.

"I won't do it again," He murmured. "I promise."

Jacob pushed off of him, his fists clenched. "Fuck."

He was quiet with his back turned to him, shoulders rising with every erratic breath as he tried to find the right words to say. Adam was ever patient, his patience ran eons long and galaxies wide. With this polycule, he kinda had to be when it was overrun with Brats and cocky tops.

"I don't ever want to lose you, Adam. Okay?" He was clearly crying, but his body language said to be still. Explosions from Jacob were few and far between nowadays. To make him this upset, he must really care.

Adam blinked the tears out of his own eyes, not bothering to wipe them away. "You're not going to."

Jacob chuffed and reached a hand behind him. "Then come and let me hold you."

DO YOU SEE WHY THEYRE MY FAVORITE ASDFGHJKL GOD THE GAY AND THE ANGST AND MANLINESS UGHHHHHHHHHHHHH IM SO IN LOVE WITH THEIR RELATIONSHIP

[an-aura-about-you]

so MY day blew absolute chunks!

under the cut for sickness both human and animal, vomit mention, family trouble, a near accident, and general unpleasantness.

-started the day kinda lazy and late since I was sick Sunday and part of Monday. ended up starting it so late that by the time I fed the cat he wolfed it down too fast and vomited it back up. :( so that was a thing I had to clean up before leaving.

-got a message from my sibling that our mother is Losing Her Goddamn Mind. what's going on is she's started drinking again, and this is apparently the final straw for Dad, who has decided a separation is in order for him to establish proper boundaries. so he and my sibbie are moving out into an apartment. so our mother swung right into angry and controlling and straight up said my sibling was "trying to steal her husband." a quick bullet list on that:

What??

Ewwwww!

NO!

WHAT??????????????

anyway, I told my sibbie they could use my spare keys to stay at my place if they like while I'm out at the office.

-leave for work with the bare minimum of what I need for the day to be okay: my laptop, lanyard, phone, headphones, cane, and half a bottle of Gatorade. I don't bring a lunch, a reusable cup, any of my herbal teas I use to make flavored water, and my money situation is so tight that buying lunch means it's going on the credit card. but at this point I'm like, "fuck it, I'll buy lunch."

-one bit of luck: at the lunch kiosk they're selling chicken gumbo, so I get a cup of that and it's not too pricey AND it tasted good. also earlier I overheard the lady who works there talkin' nice about me behind my back after I came in and wished the crew there good morning. (I pass the lunch kiosk on the way to the elevators.)

-the site to clock in and out was malfunctioning for me most of today. I had to send an email for FOUR missing punches, the most I've ever had to deal with. at least I can back up my presence with the group chat, my badging in and out of the office, and witnesses.

-I got some texts from the social committee, which was fine that they got to do the Valentine's Day treat bags for all our neighbors, but I was sad that I was too sick on Sunday and working yesterday and today, so I couldn't help put them together or pass them out. :( (I did get mine when I got home and it was very cute!)

-lunch time rolls around, so I go out to a nice coffee shop and get some tea. there was construction on my way, so I try looking into an alternate path back to the office. once I realized that path would take longer than going through the construction again, I turn around and on my way back I NEARLY GOT HIT BY A CAR TURNING LEFT INTO THE ROAD???? AND THEY HAD THE NERVE TO HONK AT ME LIKE I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE THERE WHEN THEY WERE THE ONE TURNING?????????

-I get some extra work tonight because even though I'm not doing my day team's banks this week, I'm learning how to hand them out AND a night team coworker had some connection issues so I had to do two of her banks.

-I also found out that the coworker who does the day team banks this week will be out tomorrow, so I WILL have to do the day team banks then.

-all after my last break, I heard my bothersome coworker talk on and on about her conservative politics, cooking info that I know from my Le Cordon Bleu background doesn't work with the science, and medical misinformation that will likely get her killed. this is the same person who has a "strongly held religious belief against wearing masks" and "believes parasites cause cancer." her latest take is that sugar causes all ills. arthritis? sugar. dementia? sugar. glaucoma? sugar. like, what????? is any of this actually proven? by a reputable source?

-when I got home I found that the cat coughed up a hairball on my comforter. :(

[laville]

❱ obey me boys as killers | 1

tw: mentions of kidnapping, human trafficking.

a/n: these are just inspired by their halloween outfits which are all amazing mwah mwah. though the side characters outfit made me just.. just disappointed but oh well.

LUCIFER ❦

inspo: —

— a terrifying killer with a terrifying aura. he’s big, tall, scary and quiet, a perfect combo for a killer, no ?

— once you’re in his playground, there’s a slim chance of you escaping unless he allows you to escape.

— he will not, i repeat, will not let more than one person survive. there has to be people telling the tale of ‘the masked undertaker’, the killer that lures his victims by his illuminating lantern in a graveyard.

— and of course, a traumatized victim !

— his favorite spots to kill is in the graveyard or an abandoned house. why ?

— it’s simple really.

— he can bury the dead body in the graveyard and he can dump the body underneath the abandoned house floorboard and even if someone found the body, why would it matter ? they can’t do anything, the body’s been withering away since ages.

— sometimes, if he’s feeling a bit spicy, he can dump it in the victim’s relatives house or in a random place like a 711.

— it all depends on his mood.

— while he doesn’t have a signature kill style, he does leaves behind an invitation with his smiling masked stamped on it.

— what does the invitation say ? smile with his smiling masked icon below the word.

— they say ‘curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back’ oh he’ll make sure that curiosity killed the cat but the only thing that’ll brought it back is the headlines for the missing.

— he’s careful when he’s not killing, he’ll shown interests in ‘the masked undertaker’, pretends to show worry when someone went missing.

— why is he a killer ? good question, he’s bored. being a barista is boring, so why not spice it up with a fun side job.

— if he’s somehow a suspect, he has all the alibis needed. he’s a kind, respectful man living peacefully in his house, playing his records at night to relax. his neighbors can help him with his alibis, there’s really no way for him to be convicted.

— why would someone suspect a hardworking barista ? a barista that’s gentle, caring and overall not suspicious in a slight bit.

— exactly, no one.

MAMMON ★

inspo: john kramer ( saw )

— the distinct smell of alcohol reeks in a certain club, everywhere was the great mammon’s territory, the gambling king here.

— he’s a party animal, throwing parties almost every single day, there’s just no stopping this man. no way to stop him from doing what he wants, more precisely.

— that’s why, he stops gambling with money. instead, why not do something more.. intense ? provoking ? thrilling. instead of betting on these papers, why not these lives ? there’s ton of them.

— let’s gamble for money.

— and so, that’s how the underground gambling was made, called it ‘scream’. not only did it attracts more attention from the rich, it too attracts an opportunity to make money.

— kidnapping. human trafficking.

— he makes more money by giving lives away, you want this girl ? paid him a good sum of money and you’ll get a gift in that deal.

— let’s trade some kids for a woman and then we’ll stick them in this death trap, whoever survives can see the sky once more and whoever doesn’t ? tell the devil, he said hi.

— maybe watching kids learning how to swim by putting them in a shark tank, betting on which one gets to live. or two best friends seeing how much they would sacrifice themselves to breath.

— he’s a killer, but not in the traditional way that you would think. his hands are soaked in blood and there’s no cleaning that off. he knows that too well.

— for him, this experience makes him realized, some people are twisted, twisted in the head. they’re fucked up in the head and yet, he’s the same as them.

— the more he’s in this industry, the more he’s itching to see people suffering, in pain, and to hear those miserable frantic screams, wailing to be set free, to escape this torment through death.

— he kidnaps some people for his own enjoyment, makes his own games with no way to win. unfortunately, the victims has to a play that they know they can’t win.

— russian roulette, 1 in 6 to 5 in 6. live or die, choose a person that’ll live and let the other die. giving his victims a chance to call anyone they want, be it their parents, their lover or the cops, in the end, he’s still isn’t affected.

— selling kids and making profiting off of them isn’t nothing new, he has gotten used to seeing their teary faces, their desperate weeps of wanting to see their parents, their loved ones again.

— he could only lie to them that they’ll live a better life, knowing that’s not true. these kids are being sell off to creeps anyways, as long as he’s getting money.

— he doesn’t feel guilt. that word doesn’t exist in his vocabulary anymore.

— with all these deaths and crimes surrounding him, he likes to call himself the joker since he founds it humorous whenever they started to beg and wail again.

— what ? didn’t people say laughter is the best medicine ? or the best therapy ?

— well, guess he got the best of the best.

LEVIATHAN𓆝

inspo: —

— he’s good at a lot of games. adventure, horror, romance, simulation, shooting, etc etc. so what happens when a skilled, knowledgeable gamer gets bored of games ?

— he turns to real life.

— he owns a limited gun from one of his shooting games event, a real and working gun. no bullets though.

— not wanting to order bullets or buy them, he instead makes them. he has a knack for creating things, he’s good at them and usually when you’re good at something, you use it for good.

— he likes that mentality but for him, if you’re good at something, use it and do it for yourself.

— so, he wants to test something out. is it more fun when you’re shooting someone in a game or irl ? answer: he definitely likes irl more.

— the feeling of doing so was different, so different than doing it in a game. the adrenaline of putting a bullet in one’s head, oh, oh he’s gonna get addicted to this.

— and so he did get addicted, he finds it thrilling, to find a spot, an empty building preferably, and pick a rando to kill. sitting in a corner in a coffee shop ? easy.

— in a mall ? easy.

— in a moving car ? is this still on easy mode ?

— he’s giggling like a maniac whenever he hears those surprised scream of terror, even more when he see how the blood splattered on the wall. he’s getting excited from it.

— he likes to be near the crime scene, to see how badly their face got blown.

— the way the blood drips from their horrific wound, how people stare at the dead with widen eyes, all because of him. it.. it turns him on a little bit.

— may sounds a bit fucked in the head but everyone’s fucked, how is he any different ?

— now, crimes committed and he needs a name, a cool name.

— what should he call himself ? the weeb sniper ? no, cringy. the ghost ? nah, not suitable. maybe, for him, simple is good. let’s just go with the sniper.

— a part of him wonder when he will he get caught. he’s not scared no, more like excited. i mean, think about it, who in the hell would consider a weeb like him to be a sniper that has excellence aim and who kills people in the most random spot ?

— no one obviously, hah ! it’s funny really, sometimes the culprit is right under their noses but noooo ones knows ! no one would target the poor shy awkwardly anxious weeb, no ! in fact, they probably think the poor weeb couldn’t handle a gun.

— well jokes on them !

SATAN 𓃠

inspo: the mensa murders, kim sunja

— satan loves cats and books, it’s surface knowledge. he enjoys reading all types of books, all genres, he doesn’t mind any.

— though his favorite genres is usually dark genres ie: horror, dark fiction, you name it.

— he found those books to be an interesting read, fascinating and fun to scan through those books. something about the detailed and satisfying writings makes him smile with glee.

— he always tried any new methods on his victims, plucking out their nails slowly ? let’s try, shall we ? books are his inspiration for trying new things as he too loves exploring.

— he’s a special type of killer, he’s active on halloween only. he likes dressing up his cats and himself and wanders around crowded area.

— the cat lady is what he call himself, cause, not only would it help him in case the police starts to do something by making them think that it was a woman who did all of these and not a man but also cause he looks good.

— “wouldn’t someone recognize that it’s a male by his voice ?” he let his cats do the talking. meow meow for friendliness, they all fall for it.

— the more books he reads, the more he knows about different ways to lie, manipulate, kill, act. knowledge is powerful and dangerous.

— his way of killing ? poison. thallium poisoning to be exact.

— it’s interesting how easily people die cause of things such as these. and how they don’t usually think about death when encountering something as dangerous as thallium.

— thallium is dangerous if you absorb it via skin but that’s what he’ll do if via ingestion didn’t work. he usually pour them in innocent bottles of milk, cause he’s dressed as a cat lady, and properly make it so the milk bottles doesn’t seem like it was tampered in any sort of thing.

— it’s always a popular brand of course, but if milk doesn’t work, he got soda, water and any drink you can think up. even sauces could work.

— if liquids doesn’t work, literally anything else could work. candy, makeup things such as foundation, earphones, toothbrush/paste, etc etc.

— no one would suspect anything when all his stuff are sealed tight and they’re from popular trustable brand. and with his fellow feline companions, no one would bat an eye.

— besides, it’s a good entertaining watch on these fun festive nights with his cat friends. a cup of tea with a book, his cats purring around him while the tv showcased mysterious poisons that’s been happening.

ASMODEUS ♡

inspo: vermouth ( detective conan ), the evil queen ( snow white ), sprinkles of pearl ( x )

— beauty is important, so important to everyone, including him.

— asmo values his looks, a lot. he takes care of himself 10 times more than the average person. he loves him, his face, his body, his voice, his everything. for him, self love is important.

— he’s a popular model/influemcer so imagine if people found out he kills people, oh his reputation would be doomed.

— the way he killed his victims is a longe process, he has to seduced them, lured them to him and make them suffer.

— he mocks, insults, berates them for how stupid they are to fell for his tricks. he is a very ruthless, cruel yet beautiful man.

— he keeps them as slaves, his own personal toys to play, experiment, poke fun at and use for his own needs and leave them to die when he’s bored.

— though this beautiful killer has a fear, a fear of growing old and unable to do things that he wants to do.

— no one wants an old person, they don’t care about an old person, even if he would to die, no one would care, no one would cry for him. he would be left alone in his retirement home, lonely and sad. he can’t do the things he enjoys, no more can he drink or eat the stuff he wants.

— it sucks.

— he fears growing old, a lot. so to ignore that and to make things more exciting while he’s still young, he lies, tricked and kidnapped innocent people to keep as sex slaves or slaves that he keeps for fun.

— as long as no one finds out what he’a doing, he has no worries and if someone found out ? he has connections, he has the abilities to keep your mouth shut.

BEELZEBUB ◥█̆̈◤ ࿉∥

& BELPHEGOR 𓁹‿𓁹

inspo: —

— the only time where a visit to the dentist to get a tooth removed means you’re getting your life subscription removed.

— you thought this was a normal empty dental office ? boy you must be crying when you realized what was going on inside this hellhole.

— the thing about this duo here is that they’re the same as satan, halloween only. so their decorations of dead people, blood can be seen as ‘oh nice decorations bro’.

— they have fun watching as people’s eyes widen in realization while the twins have fun tampering around with their subject’s mouth.

“hey beel, how long does it for a knife to reach the gums by slicing through their teeth ?” “probably an hour or so, but quicker if you use strength i think..”.

“really ? shall we test ?” “let’s do it”.

— drowned in anesthesia, you could beg that all of this was all just a nightmare, a horrifying realistic nightmare.

— it was really a kid’s worst fear but if you were in that situation, you can’t really escape from your destiny, it’s impossible.

— if you’re lucky, you may awake with a fucked up mouth or some missing teeth and you can wait to see if your teeth will show up as a surprise gift. ya know, they’re just so sincere like that ♡

— though if you’re kid, be careful when people gave you candy, it might give you cavities and then you’ll have to go to the dentist.

a/n: it went downhill a bit but oh well

[adultswim2021]

RANKING THE SHOWS (2008, PART 1 OF 2)

I'm done with a calendar year of Adult Swim originals, so I'll rank all the shows (and specials) based solely on their output up through 2008. Also, I literally forgot three shows to include in this list until I sat down to actually write each blurb, so it's somewhat likely I somehow forgot more. Please let me know if I fucked up big time. Here we go:

45. The Groovenians (2002)

Not only is it unfunny, it's also simplistic, has shitty CGI animation, and is preoccupied with the abrasive trope that all creativity, no matter how tepid or unimpressive, is noble and worth celebrating. The fact that there's legendary talent involved doesn't even come close to saving it.

44. The Finkel Files (2002)

Pathetically childish, terrible-looking, and in 2023 it puts me in the precarious position of making a very topical joke about Israel that will get my entire blog deleted and my residence drone-striked... by you-know-who :)

43. That Crook'd 'Sipp (2007)

So bad that it's borderline incomprehensible.

42. The Lewis Lectures (2002)

Merrill Markoe, Jack Black, and Laura Kightlinger come together to bring us what might be all of their worst work. And I'm including the time Laura Kightlinger kicked me and my friends out of a diner booth at a comedy show. This was worse than that! it might not be as bad as Jack Black's work with the Clinton Foundation, though.

41. Minoriteam (2005)

Amateurishly written, ugly-looking, and for a show that's so outwardly "politically incorrect" (even for it's time), there are a surprisingly few transgressive laughs to be had. At 20 episodes, it spreads itself THIN. If racist/racial humor is your thing, you have better options.

40. Penguins Behind Bars (2003)

Inoffensive, cute, and pleasingly cartoony. But it's more than a little boring, and doesn't feel like it belongs on Adult Swim.

39. Saul of the Mole Men (2007)

The most charitable thing one could say is that it looked fun to make. But it only gets less fun after the first episode and struggles to come up with anything truly funny or worth paying attention to, even. Uh, that one girl is pretty hot.

38. Robot Chicken (2005)

Patently not my sense of humor. But sometimes there's an interesting idea and once in a blue moon I laugh out loud. But these guys just get on my nerves.

37. Captain Sturdy: The Originals (2003)

Pretty lame, but sometimes the animation is fun. Also, this ranking is based on me half-remembering both Captain Sturdy shorts (the first of these aired on Cartoon Network), so this ranking could be faulty.

36. Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil (2005)

Trying to be edgy and Hot Topic cute at the same time. The animation was horrible, and it rarely made me smile even thought they stacked the cast with some of the funniest improvisors ever.

35. Stroker & Hoop (2004)

Manages to coast on a modicum of charm because it resembled crappy animated shows from the 90s that young me would have enjoyed. But 4 out of 5 episodes were complete wastes of time.

34. The Young Person's Guide to History (2008)

Sporadically charming in it's loosey-goosey crappiness; I'd argue the Saul of the Mole Men formula is a little more successful here. But it's still a pain to sit through most of it.

33. Fat Guy Stuck in Internet (2007)

Has one GREAT episode. Most of it extremely mid. These kids were almost onto something. ALMOST.

32. Stiff (2007)

Matt Maiellaro's comedic Evil Dead homage seemed like a good idea on paper. But it could've used more money and another pass on the script. An honorable flop, but a flop nonetheless.

31. Saddle Rash (2002)

This one got lowered a rung or two for having an ugly youtuber icon in the corner of the one graphic that seemed suitable for use on this post. Unfair, but I've never been fair!

30. Special Presentation/Anime Talk Show/Adult Swim Brain Trust (2004)

Maybe the worst thing involving Space Ghost to ever be on Adult Swim, which is a real feat.

29. Sealab 2021 (2000)

The first season is good, with a few GREAT episodes. But after that, it takes a serious nosedive in quality and becomes one of the worst shows to ever air on Adult Swim. A remarkable fall from grace.

28. Lowe Country (2007)

I could watch Lowe fart around for roughly 11 minutes. Maybe not every week, but this should at least have been an annual special. Harmless fun, unless you're a female receptionist at an Atlanta radio station.

27. The Brak Show (2000)

Hyped at the outset of Adult Swim, this turned out to be a bit of a dud. But was always sorta harmless and occasionally managed to not feel like a waste of time. A few memorable episodes and jokes.

26. Squidbillies (2005)

Has it's charms. Most episodes are duds, but it's very specific and I always root for it to be decent. Sometimes it is! Most of the time it's repugnant, which at least is interesting.

25. Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law (2000)

I went from loving this show to hating this show, but by the time it was over I found myself somewhere in between. The old me would be shocked to see me rank this above Brak or even Sealab.

24. Assy McGee (2006)

Uneven, but I consider this show a diamond in the rough, with a some really inspired jokes and a few great episodes. Bad, low-effort episodes drag it down, though.

23. Frisky Dingo (2006)

Started a little lame, but it had little stretches where it picked up steam. The serialized nature of it will make the lesser episodes a sticking point.

22. Let's Fish (2007)

Creative and fun. Am I sad it didn't get picked up as a series? Not really! Even though it's more deserving than some other shows, it still feels a little superfluous.

21. Perfect Hair Forever (2004)

Not a lot of substance, but this one always felt like a fun treat despite being total nonsense. Also I am truly hoping that my ranking it this high will catapult the show's standing in the public consciousness that women will start cosplaying as Brenda.

20. 12 oz. Mouse (2005)

More interesting than funny, but it is funny sometimes. It's also incredibly unique and has good vibes. Not worth overthinking it, though.

19. The Drinky Crow Show (2007)

I began an early draft of this list before I rewatched the series; I'd only recently watched the pilot, and Drinky Crow was close to the bottom. But the series improves on the pilot considerably, and it's really grown on me. Deserved at least a second season.

18. The Xtacles (2008)

There's only two episodes of this, but they are both laugh-out-loud funny, unfairly giving this show the highest batting average of any show involving members of 70/30 productions. Shoulda been more of them, man.

17. The Boondocks (2005)

Brilliant at times, but sometimes it feels like it's going through the motions of being just another animated sitcom. But when it's good, it feels special. We need more shows like this.

16. The New Big Ball With Neil Hamburger (2008)

Neil Hamburger should be allowed to do whatever he wants for at least ten episodes per year. Solidly very funny, better than some Awesome Show episodes.

Dang, only 30 images per post are allowed on tumblr. I wasn't planning to make this be a two-parter, but my hand has been forced. Join me tomorrow for the top 15. Or, go do anything else.

[anothergayrobot]

this is more of a vent than anything so i’m putting under a read more.  fair warning if anyone decides to read, it’s kinda long (and a bit rwde)

It's very frustrating, as someone who's been obsessed with RWBY since they were 12, to make the concious choice not to support the show and be told in response that they're a bad person.  Cause i loved RWBY, and even though it was very very flawed i put my faith and money in the crew and company behind it to make it something good.  I have almost every rwby-related book/manga (pr sure theres only two i dont have) and had at least 10 RT-related articles of clothing over the years.  Pretty much my entire family knows about it cause of me and my parents were shocked when they saw me watching a video critical of it, cause it was the thing i'd been obsessed with for years.  

And now here i am, someone who's supported RT for probably a decade.  I'd seen all the bullshit they did and put my faith in them to do better time and time again.  At this point i can't comfortably do that anymore.  I can't trust them with my time and money to treat the people working there well.  How much of that money they're making off of my viewtime is actually going to the workers that need it vs the shitty higher ups who only want to make the most profit with the least losses?  (Lets be honest, considering all the animators were either under contracts that've ended or fired, probably none.)  

But despite this i still want to watch RWBY.  There'd been themes that were annoying, and uncomfortable, and outright disgusting but i saw good in the show and saw the creators acknowledging their wrongdoings and put my faith in them that they'd learn.  And then Vol 8 came out, i fucking hated it, not only did it have more disgusting themes but ones that hurt me personally, and EVEN THEN I DECIDED TO CONTINUE WATCHING THE SHOW.  Because i thought even if the writers are shitty, bigoted people who don't want to do their proper research or take criticism or maybe they just don't care as long as they're making money- at least i can still support the smaller workers on the crew.  Like i said, i've been in love with the characters and world since i was 12, it's not something that's going to go away that easily.  And then Kdin and all the workers came out about how shitty and bigoted RT was and that was it.  

So with all this, not only is it extremely frustrating to see people who are willing to overlook or maybe they've justified supporting RT so they feel comfortable watching RWBY, but to hear that i'm a bad person for choosing to stop supporting a company after a decade of being burnt by it??  It's not like i said "fuck every individual person who chooses to work there, they're awful people who deserve to be abused." (trust me, i understand how capitalism works and hate it just as much as the next guy)  And then i remember the post *someone* made about how choosing to not support RWBY means i'm actively being bigoted AGAINST MY OWN INTERESTS, because i guess all companies are now entitled to my time and money based on how progressive they PRESENT themselves.  Despite the fact that i want to watch RWBY, i want to see how it ends, and i've been supporting it for so long regardless of how it's fucked up that now everytime i go to the manga section in fucking barnes and noble i instinctively go to the R section to see if there's been a new vol of the manga released, i'm a bigot.  And it would be SO FUCKING EASY to just not give a shit.  i already have access to a paid crunchyroll account so it would be so fucking easy to do so.  But i can't.  And honestly- if you actually think that i or anyone else is a bigot for not supporting some dumb fucking cartoon made by a garbage company?  Fuck. You.

[funtomb]

vanny notes.

first gen american ( greek ), first gen weeb ( early 2000s ).

early / mid-20s during hw / sb.

american mc/gee's alice coded.

religious, greek orthodox, has been talking about the rabbit with her priest.

personality: low self-esteem hidden behind braggadocio and needless aggression. compulsive liar. will turn anything into a fight and will start from the outside in. like you could be like 'vanny your hair looks meh' and she's immediately hit back with 'YOU'VE NEVER HAD A GOOD HAIR DAY IN YOUR LIFE AND YOUR PARENTS HATE YOU' and then scuttle into the girl's bathroom to scream. did warrior cats roleplay on early message boards and got into insane drama. so afraid of being bullied for her weeb tendencies that she just became a bully herself. improvise adapt post about a classmate on yikyak.

not a true crime girlie, not into murder. lisa frank enjoyer. watches pastel doll customisation videos. she is a gamer, though! she likes jrpgs and took the job as a video game tester to make some extra money, and because she thought it might get her foot in the door in the industry, hopefully as a graphic designer ( her qualifications are really, really bad anime art from 'how to draw anime', but she's thriving ). her 100% completionist tendencies got her into this mess. she thought the rabbit was an. easter egg.

was a wolf girl in middle school. roxy would have been her favorite and it's a crime that she was forced to get into that rabbit suit. woke up one day and the program was like hiiiii <3 i went into your paypal and then opened your joann fabrics app and ordered you eeeeverything you need for your new suit! i hope you like youtube tutorials because if it comes out bad i will feed one of your loved ones to a shark. sent it to your workplace btw so now the entire office will know you're a furry.

he thinks this is a bonnie and clyde situation while vanny is slamming her head into the wall. she doesn't want to get a job she's not qualified for as a security guard she wants to go to comiccon. william is so up his own ass he can't 'give her the spotlight', but a sidekick would make him look so cool and official wouldn't it? lazytown logic.

meanwhile she is fucking terrified of gt and leaning into the sidekick schtick in order to hopefully get a good grade in murder and survive without getting killed herself. she stares at herself in the mirror and tells her reflection that it's okay. she's doing what she needs to do to get out of this. she's putting herself first because she's a survivor and a winner. she is justified. those kids needed to die so that she could win. this was one of god's tests to see how bad she wanted to grow old. she is justified.

lying out the ass to her family. she's telling them she got into college. harvard, in fact. for marine biology! she's going to be a fish vet! at an aquarium! it will be so cool! see how she's thriving? and she's always been a compulsive liar, it's just part of who she is, but it kicks into high gear when she actually has something to hide.

does literally swap places with william from time to time, hence princess quest; when he's in her, she's in the arcade machine. however, william is not solely responsible for all the crimes she commits.

he is however responsible for coercing her into them with threat of torture / death. i.e. responding to her googling 'how to include self-compliance' and 'help' to trigger a red flag by forcing her to look up gory information -- 'how far can a human being be cut in half before losing consciousness'. he also orders things for her as threats -- 'ordering thumbscrews and having them delivered to the office' 'flowers for your grave' etc.

post-sb like i refuse to go back to therapy i'm too smart for it. i therapise myself constantly. i know the answers but i refuse to apply them. i know exactly what i have to do but i won't do it.

[sleepyone2three]

That whole last ending sequence in the final episode episode of Arlong Park really hits hard though 😭 This whole arc has absolutely wrecked me though. My standards are too high and I fear nothing will live up to it. Final Thoughts 👇and they're in no particular order/all over the place since I wrote them as I thought of them.

Fuck Arlong

The hat scene wrecked me

Again, the whole ending sequence from the note placement to that last pinwheel spin is so good I can't even put it into words

All of the meaning behind Nami's new tattoo down to the aesthetic. Such a simple yet elegant design too.

"I'LL always be YOUR friend, Nami!"

Luffy just took down the man the literally owned and made Nami miserable for the past eight years and is using the most non possessive verbage possible he's letting her know it's always her choice at the end of the day I can't with this boy 😭

We'Re NoT goNna hUrt HeR

With grease and meat all over his face and his mouth still stuffed

It was at that moment Genzo realized he had nothing to worry about

Nojiko getting the tattoo for Nami though! She's such an amazing big sister

Oh my goodness yes doctor man please tell Zoro off for not taking better care of himself because I will if you don't

Usopp's fight was honestly pretty funny and I enjoyed it

Oh my God I just remembered the sea monster cow and I felt for so bad for it, Sanji and Luffy were so mean

On that note, wtf is up with Luffy and hurting cute animals? First Shushu and now this? Someone call peta on this boy

I wasn't a huge fan of how obnoxious johnny and yosaku were but I loved that they were basically a stand in for the audience/riff on oc fan characters and self insert fics (which I totally don't write all the time whaaaaat why would you ask) and so self aware that I can't even be mad most of the time.

Nami stealing everyone's wallets is such a rad way to prove she's self sufficient and going to be okay out on her own

Also not letting anyone say thank you is such a mood

She does what she wants

Luffy you're the captain, you sweet stupid enabler

The pacing of the hat scene in so good of my gooooosh

Weirdly this arc has had some of the best edited recap intros so far

I honestly kinda wish we got to see Nami throw down in the final battle. She goes up ready to fight and then just doesn't, I'd have liked to see her at least beat up one fishman. But I also love how much the others go all out for her

I really liked the moment in Usopp's fight when he was going through all his lies and his tone gets more and more unsure and how it builds up to him declaring he'll never pretend to be a pirate again because he's going to be a pirate

Sanji trying summon good vibes? That's so dumb and cringe but I love it

Speaking of Sanji, I love that he thought to blow into the gills I was not expecting that kind of solution

Also, I love Sanji's character... as long as he isn't around women. Let him be a bitch to everyone, not just the guys.

And the the wounds opening up as the as Hachi is swimming? That was a great payoff

God the Mirabelle scenes hurt

Genzo's an amazing character and I really like him

Hajiko too, she's awesome

The little kid feels super tacked on tbh. He disappears for half the story and then comes back for a hamfisted monologue. Is this different in the manga? I sure hope so

I kinda love the Hawaiian shirt and bandages look on zoro, heavy trans masc vibes which I love

Yikes on the scene where Arlong rips off Zoro's bandages though dysphoria kinda triggered uhhg

I bought Sanji's cook book and there was no special orange sauce sauce recipe why did he not ask for crew contributions?

I'm honestly shocked the town had enough food for Luffy to gorge himself like that for three days, they're gonna need the money Nami left to recoup their losses

The ship flying and Luffy just having a blast the entire time had me wheezing

Stretching Luffy's head above water was such a brilliant and creative solution. Makes me wonder if the same could work for Buggy if he chop chopped his head off before sinking.

All in all, these dorks are so good for each other

[writing-badger]

Twitter Polls Make For The Bloodiest Battlefields - Chapter 6

Does Anyone Play Pokemon's Video Game?

1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 (Previous Chapter) • 6 • 6.5

Pairing: Sakata Gintoki x Reigen Arataka

Summary: Anime Twitter was thrown into chaos. Thirty-two "DILFs" were thrown into a merciless battle to find out who truly encapsulated the title of Dad I'd Like to Fuck. Two competitors begin to wonder whether the battle is worth it and maybe, just maybe, they can overcome their differences to find a way out.

Genre: Enemies to Lovers

Word Count: 2,752

Warnings: None

Reigen might not look like it, but he is rather experienced with Pokémon. Of course, he would never admit this, but he used to have a collection of cards that would make even the most ardent Pokémon fan jealous. If anyone ever found out about his old hobby, he would simply brush it off as being a flight of fancy; something to fill his free time. 

 In reality, he used it to fill his time at school when barely anyone would talk to him. After all, puberty is always a rough time and Reigen, with his excessively sweaty nature, definitely struggled at times. So one of his parents suggested trying to get in with the latest trend. 

 As with most well-intentioned advice, this only pushed him further away from the other kids in his year; mostly because he earns a reputation of being just a little bit too good at the game. Some went as far as to claim that he was somehow cheating, but that was just a baseless accusation made by classmates who didn’t know any better. 

 It’s not his fault that they never took the time to understand the game, usually being distracted by rarity and not considering the skills behind that card. He didn’t really dabble in video games too much, finding that then NPCs could only do so much before becoming wholly predictable. It also lacked the spontaneity of a human opponent; something which he enjoys. 

 This puts him in a fairly good position, no matter who his opponent is.

 However, he has to admit that using children to fight, even if they are holograms, sets him a little bit on edge. While they don’t seem to feel pain, it is a little strange when they are based on real people. He also wonders if their real counterparts have any idea of what is happening to their other selves. Would Mob know if Reigen used him to beat up another kid after telling him that it should be only a last-ditch attempt?

 He is so wrapped up in the moral quandary of it all that he doesn’t even notice being teleported into the arena. It is only when the man standing opposite him clears his throat that he snaps out of it. The man has bloodshot eyes which stare coldly at Reigen, although it lacks the hostility of the shoeless, silver-haired samurai. The samurai probably thought he was being subtle with his pointed glares behind Reigen’s back, but the psychic noticed almost immediately. He knows who he needs to keep an eye out for, and that samurai carried an aura that was dangerous in this type of competition. 

 It’s the aura of a man willing to do anything to win easy money. 

 Reigen would happily bet his expansive card collection that not only does the samurai have a crippling pachinko addiction, but that he has a small handful of labour violations waiting to be revealed. 

 He just knows it. 

 “We should probably introduce ourselves,” the man opposite says, “formalities and all that.”

 Despite being the one to suggest this, he looks like he absolutely does not want to say more than is absolutely necessary. 

 “Sure, I’m Reigen Arataka; Greatest Psychic of the 21st Century,” he says, noticing that the man now looks extremely unimpressed, “and small business owner.” He tags this on to try and make himself sound a little bit more impressive, but it doesn’t work.

 “One of those types, huh?”

 The tone used makes this comment feel a lot more cutting than the usual jabs he gets from Ritsu; although the glare is a little less intense than that. 

“My name is Aizawa Shota, a… teacher.”

 For a moment, it looks as though Aizawa is debating something in his mind. It’s suspicious, but Reigen doesn’t push it since whatever he does will probably have very little influence on the fight. 

 Aizawa looks like a rather lethargic opponent, especially when compared to a couple of the more competitive contestants.   This should make it an easy win for Reigen and he feels more optimistic when Mob materialises. 

 The holo-Mob is wearing the usual school uniform and is looking characteristically unfazed by his new location. While Reigen would usually be a bit more concerned about his disciple, he knows that Mob is a capable ester and should easily be able to fight any opponent without too much difficulty. 

 At least, that’s what Reigen thought. As soon as Aizawa’s fighter appears, all confidence floods out of his body. 

 “Eri?”

 The girl looks younger than Mob did when they first met; her eyes are filled with confusion as she looks around. Reigen had been expecting another teenager, not a small child who looks completely defenceless. Aizawa, who had previously looked rather apathetic, now looks worried as Eri turns to look at him. 

 “Shishou, what’s happening?”

 For once, Reigen is stumped. How can he order Mob to beat up a small child? It would not only be morally reprehensible, but he has spent so long preaching that Mob shouldn’t use his abilities against others… this would completely betray the boy’s trust in him. 

“This pair of spirits are particularly powerful, so I thought this would be some good training for you,” he lies after a moment’s hesitation, tugging at his tie slightly to alleviate the tightness against his neck. 

 Mob 10%

 It appears that Mob isn’t the only one who heard what he said as Eri, on the other side, suddenly begins to tear up. 

 “Aizawa, did we die?”

 This is not good; if looks could kill, Reigen would be six-feet under right now. 

 “We are both fine, Eri,” Aizawa says, kneeling down so that his eyes are level with hers.  Unfortunately, Eri doesn’t seem to hear this as her cries quickly get louder and louder. 

 While it isn’t the most morally sound situation, this could give him an advantage over his opponent. If anything, taking them out quickly would mean that the poor girl wouldn’t have to fight. That makes him the good guy, right?

 Mob, meanwhile, looks a little uncomfortable as he watches the teacher trying to console the girl. 

 Mob 17%

 Reigen decides that it will be more fruitful to use his time to form a strategy and so he looks down at the options he has.  There are a couple of buttons, four allotted to moves, one offering the option to switch fighters, and items. 

 While he can’t think of any reason as to why he would use items, or who he could swap Mob with, he keeps note of them. You never know when things could go wrong. 

 What he wants to focus on is Mob’s move set. Three of the moves, at first seem fairly normal; Dynamic Punch, Cross Punch, Seismic Toss…

 But as Reigen thinks about it, he realises something is wrong. Something is very wrong.

 “Oi, Mob,” he says as the hologram’s attention shifts to him, “why are these so many fighting moves?”

 “The Body Improvement Club said that it would help with training.”

 He says this so bluntly that Reigen doesn’t question how the club would even know about this competition. His focus is on something else entirely. Not only have they taken up more of Mob’s after-school time, forcing Reigen to do a number of more dangerous jobs alone, but they have turned his Psychic-type into a Fighting-type. Fighting and Psychic go together about as well as fire and water. 

 “Mob, you should rely on your strengths a little more.”

 Mob 26%

 “You said that I shouldn’t use my powers to hurt others,” Mob says. 

 “I know, but being punched is going to hurt a lot more than using some low-level psychic attacks,” Reigen tries to reason. While this would be true for most people, in Mob’s case the opposite is probably true. No matter how hard he tries to build muscle, it isn’t going his way. 

 Mob 37%

 At least there seems to be one psychic move that has survived the great purge. Shattered Psyche. 

 Unlike the other buttons, this one is greyed out; almost like it needs to be activated somehow. Reigen wonders if it is like one of those new game mechanics that get swapped out every generation. 

 On the other side of the arena, Aizawa has managed to calm Eri down; although she still seems to struggle with understanding what’s happening. He needs to remind himself that she is just a hologram… a very real-looking hologram. 

 “I don’t want to fight them,” she says as a conflicted look crosses Aizawa’s face. If there had been the option to flee, he would have chosen it without a moment’s hesitation. Instead, his only option is to make her fight with the hope that she doesn’t get too hurt. 

 “I know, Eri, but you will get hurt if you don’t,” he responds, trying to reassure her a little more. 

 “Shishou, I really don’t think that they’re spirits,” Mob says while they wait for them to make a move. 

 “It’s all an act, Mob. They want you to lower your guard before trying to possess you.” 

 Mob 48%

 While Mob and Reigen reach an uneasy understanding, Aizawa has managed to calm Eri down enough for him to finally make a move. 

 “I’m going to press this button and it will help you,” he explains calmly, “will you be alright with that?”

 Eri nods, her long hair bouncing slightly as she does. 

 Without wasting another second, Aizawa presses a random button; probably hoping that it will do the trick. 

 Eri uses Sparkly Swirl. 

 An impressive pastel tornado begins to swirl around her, whipping up the air before it goes hurtling towards Mob. At the last second, he manages to dodge out of the way. His left arm, however, is less lucky as it is caught in the attack. 

 It is super effective.

 The uniform covering his arm is shredded and drops of blood spill to the floor. Outside of that, it doesn’t seem to have caused too much damage. 

 Still, there is a much bigger problem for Reigen to deal with. Eri just had to be a fairy type, leaving Mob at an even bigger disadvantage. The only thing that he can be thankful for is that Mob has a very large hp bar; almost double that of his opponent. 

 “See, Mob, they really are dangerous,” Reigen says, hoping that the teenager will believe him at least a little bit.

 “I guess, but it didn’t hurt at all,” Mob says as he looks down at his arm. 

 Mob 54%

 “That’s because you are such a strong esper, but it will start causing damage,” Reigen says, trying to convince Mob that fighting back is necessary. 

 Technically, he could just let Mob lose, meaning that he could get back to the store and try to make sure his rental car can be returned before he gets fined. However, he doesn’t like the idea of letting Aizawa win after calling him ‘one of thosetypes'. 

 He can always lose the second round, leaving his pride intact. 

 “However, strength is meaningless without the willingness to use it… sometimes,” he adds on, hoping that this will spur Mob into action. 

 Wanting to get a gauge on how weak Mob is in this state, he pushes a button for one of the moves. 

 Mob uses Cross Punch. 

 Mob walks up to Eri, towering over her like a fearsome opponent. Despite his intimidating posture, it is clear that he doesn’t want to hurt the hologram in front of him. 

 Mob 60%

 He raises one of his fists, drawing it back before it goes flying towards the girl. 

 As it connects with her upper arm, nothing happens. Eri barely even acknowledges that anything has happened as Mob makes his way back over to Reigen. 

 It’s not very effective. 

 Mob 64%

 The opponent’s hp drops a grand total of three points. Three measly points out of a hundred. No matter how much hp Mob has, it is meaningless if he can barely make a dent in the opponent. 

 “You know, Mob,” Reigen says, hoping to offer some advice to the hologram, “you can hit her a little bit harder.”

 Mob 73%

 Aizawa, meanwhile, has spent his time formulating a plan; something he couldn’t do when he was busy consoling Eri. 

 Eri, switch out!

 Almost immediately, the girl disappears which fills Reigen with relief. But this only lasts a moment as a teenager takes her place. 

 If Reigen had to guess, he would say the teen is roughly the same age as Mob. 

 Go Shinsō!

 While the switch means that Mob won’t be attacked this round, there is a higher risk of Shinsō being a lot stronger. 

 “Shishou, can I swap out?” Mob asks, but as Reigen checks over his options, he finds that there is no one else that views Reigen as a parental figure. 

 He isn’t surprised by this, but he does find it a little bit disappointing. 

 “I’m sorry Mob, you’re going to have to fight.”

 Mob 81%

 Reigen tries a different move, hoping that their opponent is a dark or steel type. After all he looks like a dark type, which would put Mob in an advantageous position. 

 Mob uses Seismic Toss. 

 Walking up to Shinsō, Mob wraps his arms around the other teen’s waist and attempts to perform something akin to a suplex. 

 Unfortunately, his opponent is way too heavy for Mob to lift. Instead, he struggles for half a minute before giving up. 

 It’s not very effective. 

 “Good try Mob!”

 Reigen, realising how much danger Mob is in, does his best to cheer the hologram. They are both stuck with the hand dealt to them. 

 Mob 89%

 Since it is clear that their opponent is not an ideal match-up, all he needs is for Shinsō to not be a Fairy, Flying, or Psychic type. 

 Without even saying a word, Aizawa presses a button, with the teenager acting without question. It seems that they have a very trusting relationship, something that Reigen kind of feels jealous about. Although he has to admit, that Mob is a good kid; even with his potentially destructive power. 

 Shinsō uses Instruct.

 A psychic move, of course, it would be. 

 “Hey, what’s your name?”

 The question is innocuous enough, but Reigen can’t help but have a bad feeling about it. 

 “Mob, don’t answer that.”

 “Mob, huh? You don’t want to fight, do you?”

 “I… uh…”

 “Mob,” Reigen warns, but it’s too late. 

 “Repeat the last move you made,” Shinsō commands. 

 Mob 91%

It’s super effective.

 With great effort, Mob slowly walks over to where Shinsō is. Much like last time, the move is pitifully weak and takes off a single hit point.

 Shinsō laughs at this, clearly revelling a little bit in the apparent power difference between the two. 

 Mob 93%

 Unsure of what else he can do, Reigen selects Dynamic Punch, hoping that it will do at least a small bit of damage, but knows full well that he is fighting a losing battle. 

 Mob uses Dynamic Punch.

 The punch, like all other attacks, is brushed off easily. At this point, Mob would be better off not moving at all. 

 It’s not very effective. 

 Mob 95%

 Again, Reigen can only watch helplessly as Shinsō uses yet another move. This time a Dark-type move, probably the only one in his move set. 

 Shinsō uses Taunt. 

 It is clear that the hologram of Mob is struggling, clasping his hands over his ears as Shinsō’s words seep underneath his skin; worming their way into his mind. 

 Mob 97%

 It’s super effective. Mob is unable to move. 

 If Reigen had been paying more attention, he would have found it strange that Taunt paralysed Mob. It was usually used to stop status moves, so it shouldn’t have blocked anything. 

 Yet he didn’t notice at all. His attention is instead focused on Mob. Since he can’t even make a move, Shinsō prepares another attack; his taunts still filling the hologram’s mind. 

 Shinsō uses Psychic Fangs. 

 As the attack hits its target, Reigen shuts his eyes; not wanting to see Mob getting hurt anymore. He knows that it’s cowardly, but it’s all he can think to do. 

 It’s super effective.

 “You should just give up,” Shinsō says, his eyes looking a lot like those of Aizawa. A slight grin sits on his face, but only for a moment. As the visuals of the attack begin to fade, an immense and unknowable pressure begins to fill the arena.

 Mob 99%

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