#it’s also tragic to think about. they’re just kids. and so many of them are so fucked up already

[enteragoodnamehere]

I have those “they should be at the club” thoughts but with the paranatural kids. They’re middle schoolers they should be watching warrior cats amvs and playing fortnite or smth

[sepublic]

Given Luz’s arc in the Boiling Isles was about expecting fantasy only to encounter reality underneath, I find it fitting her villain follows a similar trajectory. We are introduced to the enigmatic Emperor Belos, a strange and mysterious villain wielding arcane magic. Many of us understandably speculated that he was some sort of lich or other type of demon, and in the end…

He’s just some guy; Just another bigoted human. Even with his human persona Philip Wittebane, he attempts to frame himself as some tragic character unfairly hurt by society…

But again, there’s the simpler truth; He’s just an immature jerk. That’s why he’s disliked. And it’s interesting, how instead of the romanticized, sympathetic, larger than life villain, we have one closer to reality, and accurate to the actual people in power that Belos is based off of; Entitled (wo)manchildren with delusions of grandeur. It’s fittingly mundane and literally what Luz struggled with back home.

Belos is every conservative politician who thinks he’s been deeply wronged by minorities, and blames them for “taking away” a loved one who clearly made their own choice and was happier for it, because self-perceived victimization provides a handy excuse for their banal actions. They say they’re maintaining the sanctity of society but really they just want to control their perfect little worlds, and have more than enough devil’s advocates. Think of guys like Elon Musk; Some mediocre white dude who thinks of himself as particularly exceptional and self-made, when really he just stood on the shoulders of others and stole, and throws a tantrum whenever he doesn’t get his way.

He’s the suburban middle-class white dude who’s bored and thinks shooting lions in Africa makes him a big man. He’s the sweet little brother who started watching a misogynistic streamer and is now a raging bigot who refuses to grow out of it, worshipping other mediocre white men. He’s a mundane bully with no greater reason than that it’s easier to hurt others and put them down to make himself feel taller by comparison; Not so much because he’s been hurt (if at all), but because he doesn’t care.

He’s the bully who cheers for Dumbo because he lacks the self-awareness to realize he’s the villain onscreen. And people like that often don’t accept help, and sometimes they never needed it to begin with because their issues don’t come from a lack of compassion from others. You should try to understand others, but sometimes all you’ll find in some is banality. Belos isn’t some type of made up creature, at his core he’s the exact kind of person you’ll encounter in real life, hence his mundane parallel in Jacob Hopkins.

And this is all very fitting for Luz’s arc; Luz went to the Boiling Isles expecting some form of escapism, but in the end, the exact same problems she encountered at home followed her there. The same type of person that contributed to Luz being deemed deviant in the U.S. also plays a role in Luz feeling unwelcome in the Demon Realm; A Puritan white man, one of the progenitors for the founding fathers of America, and its evangelical culture.

The friends Luz meets, and the people she resolves conflicts with (some of whom do fulfill the sympathetic antagonist niche), are just like you and I. There’s no real difference between witches/demons and humans. What Luz learns in the Boiling Isles still applies to her human life; She didn’t succeed in running away, but actually unwittingly grew to handle it and meeting new people. She developed the self-awareness needed to avoid becoming like those who originally hurt her, and after helping so many others was allowed to realize she was also entitled to setting boundaries and prioritizing her own health.

Luz finding the isles is fundamentally no different than a person in real life moving somewhere else, and/or finding a community of other humans like them, with the presence of kids like Masha and their friends displaying how that applies in real life. Luz still learned how to deal with reality, she had it in herself all along. She didn’t ignore her problems in the Boiling Isles, she faced them there with support. The Demon Realm and Luz’s problems there aren’t all that different from her ‘real’ life, they’re just as real and that’s why they still matter and are good for Luz. It’s all one big metaphor in the sense that it’s equivalent and applicable, and Luz figured that out like the audience did.

[xpoisoned-stardustx]

This is a question for people who excuse Eclipse’s actions.

So I’m not gonna insult you or anything, because it’s sort of your opinion, but I will ask you some things.

1. What exactly is ‘tragic’ about Eclipse’s backstory? I mean, Moon wanted to get rid of a non-sentient code in him that made him kill kids and hurt his brother. After separating it, the code somehow gained sentience and decided not to talk to Moon or Sun and try work things out, but to try and kill them and make their lives a living hell. I don’t get it. Moon nor Sun had any idea that he was sentient. Now I understand that it sucks to be abandoned (I would know) but it doesn’t excuse; attempted murder, murder, abuse, manipulations, guilt tripping, gas lighting, death threats and MANY MORE.

2. How can you like him after he made someone (idk how to put it) and only used them, abused them and manipulated them. He is the definition of abuser. What on Earth is excusable about that? Tell me. Oh- and how could I forget? KILLED them. Granted, this time, the person did do something to Eclipse (betraying him), but it was so they could escape the constant torture and lies. And it’s not like Eclipse was planning to keep them after he was done anyway.

3. I saw people commenting on the most recent video (Ruin’s plan to kill Eclipse in VRCHAT) about how “he hasn’t even been here for a month and they’re already trying to get rid of him” and “give him a break!” But in less than a month he’s trapped Sun, Moon and Ruin, threatened to use Lunar as a battery and kidnapped Ruin so I think they’re perfectly in the right to want to get rid of him. Dude couldn’t give himself a break, it’s not their job to do it for him. Also is anyone else getting deja vu from that? Oh, that’s right, the fact that Lunar couldn’t last a month either without someone trying to kill him too. Actually, mere SECONDS after Lunar was back, Eclipse was saying to kill him.

Idk I just wanted to know your reasoning. That’s all. And I like making words into pretty colours

Reminder that this is my opinion, and boy do i hold grudges, so take everything I say with a grain of salt

EDIT. my opinion has changed. I still hate Eclipse but not as much. Also I’m not saying ur bad if u like Eclipse. I, saying if you excuse his actions and say that because he has trauma, he’s a saint.

[mewsmagic]

Alright I did say I’d bring my infodumps and fantheying here to tumblr instead so lemme actually do this for once!!

Spoiler warning for Alrecchino’s animated short!

If you haven’t watched it yet, here’s the link!

Alright first things first! It looks like Clervie and Bulle Fruit girl were Alrecchino’s closest friends/sisters, which’s just so cute 🥺

From the visual storytelling and just how we saw Arle and Clervie together much more often than with Bulle Fruit girl, it also appears like Clervie was much much closer to Arlecchino, which’s so interesting!!

I love how Arlecchino is all about blacks, whites and occasional reds, she was always quiet and doing her own thing, and SHE HAD ACTUAL SHORT HAIR UNTIL RECENTLY ACTUALLY!!!! Gnc nation won!!!!

Anyway ahemmm LOL and Clervie was the opposite. A pink, outgoing girl, full of life and wonder for the world she lives in. Also, she was “girly” and wears dresses, while Arlecchino doesn’t seem fond of them (like me omggg)

Like, they’re literally opposites in everything, yet they were so close and so important to each other. Thinking about what comes next hurts my heart like nothing else just because of this.

Another thing I wanna bring up before we move on is: in this part, we learn that Arle’s deal with the black hand is indeed some kind of curse. And that’s probably why she was able to tell Furina’s also cursed, she had experience with one since birth after all

I LOVE THAT THEY HAD THEIR OWN PLUSHIES MADE IN THEIR IMAGE!!!! Arlecchino’s plushie is so cute!!! I wonder if she kept Clervie’s after all these years 🥺

In this part we also learn that their “mother” usually “argues” with her daughters, and for some reason Clervie has quite some injuries. From this, it’s not hard to assume she’s literally beating them up, which’s nasty.

A full grown woman beating up literal kids who cannot defend themselves? As a survivor of parental abuse, I felt this so hard, and I hate that hag so fucking much already.

This part I didn’t get at first, probably bc I didn’t pay attention to the beginning; when I watched it again, I caught it however. Their “mother” not only physically abused them but also made them battle each other to death.

Resulting in Arlecchino being the very one that killed Clervie, and potentially Bulle Fruit girl too.

Naturally, she was full of rage. I would be too, if I were in her shoes.

And that’s why I love her battle against “mother”. I didn’t take many screenshots because it’s a fast moving scene, but “mother”’s dialogue seems to hint that she’s the kind of mother that pretends to be caring and gentle but is actually cruel and ruthless in her actions. Which’s tbh the worst kind of mother probably.

Another detail that caught my eye was that Arlecchino was no match for her without her curse. But as soon as she released and embraced her curse, she not only defeated her “mother”, she blew up the entire building. Which’s epic as hell and I love that for her LOL

I find it interesting that Arlecchino was actually pretty close to becoming a criminal because of killing “mother”. Which’s so tragic when you think that she had already killed Fatui members before (Clervie and Bulle Fruit girl), but they weren’t ranked enough for it to be a big deal, like their deaths didn’t mean anything. But to Arlecchino they did… Aaaaanywayyyy.

For some reason I thought the Arlecchino title succession was much more automatic, like 1. Kill your parent 2. You’re now king. I think it’s because I’ve seen this in other shows before, but here she was taken to Snezhnaya to be judged by the Tsaritsa herself.

Luckily, the Tsaritsa not only pardoned her crimes but also promoted her to Arlecchino. Also I gotta say, her words… “My poor, mad, cursed Knave” hit me so hard. The Tsaritsa does seem to not be that cold and to empathize with her. Based of her tbh.

And at the end, we see a seemingly orphan child. At first I thought this was Freminet, but he has a more yellowish tone of eye color, so maybe this is a random kid?

Anyway, the thing that matters here is that Arlecchino says that she’ll be his strict and unfeeling “father”, which immediately stood out to me against her “mother”’s “kind and caring” approach.

Looks like she decided to be a “strict and unfeeling father” to not become like her own “mother”. This is so real of her tbh. I already knew the previous Knave was nasty, but with this animation it really hit home to me, as a survivor too.

I wanna pull her even more now LOL may all Arlecchino wanters become Arlecchino havers!!!!! I’m so excited!!!!

[centipedelightning]

Hobbies!

headcanons about what kind of hobbies i think some of the skeles have. this post includes undertale and underfell sans and papyrus. i want to smooch these guys so bad y’all.

| Undertale & Underfell || fluff |

Hobbies: you are here | pt. 2 | pt. 3 | pt. 4

words: 1045

Sans

Canonically it’s trombone, and he knows how to sew

He started learning how to sew pretty young (out of necessity) so he’s really good now. He made papyrus’s costume after all! He’s actually a pretty skilled seamstress and super super good at making barely visible, perfectly blended alterations to clothing. He’d be better at mending if he cared to, but he isn’t bad.

The trombone was probably in whatever the underground equivalent of his second year of high school.

Yes he was and still is a band kid sorry 🤷🏻‍♀️

Other than in game canon, I see him doing origami. He found a box set of books (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) at the dump in great condition and decided to take it up.

He used to make a bunch of little characters and animals for babybones Papyrus to play with.

He makes so many paper stars. Like two of those really big mason jar fulls with a third actively being filled.

It became a bit of a coping mechanism to be able to pick up scraps of paper and make little things quickly and mindlessly. Not to mention the chance to make a wish

More than once he may or may not have used torn slips of blueprints and schematics for projects…. Oops

Papyrus

He’s so babygirl girliepop

He loves puzzles but that’s already covered by playing the game and this is not written to rehash the canon

So instead I will tell you about the million and one crafts he does (no I won't)

He so so crafty and creative so technically he does a lot of different things, but I see him loving making decor items. Stuff like rock painting and recycled garden decor. Yk those bottle cap flowers for your garden? Stuff like that.

His front garden is so cute because of all the stuff he put in it.

The rocks he paints are just random local forest and river stones. The paints are all natural and watershed safe. Ecological awareness queen.

He mostly does those dot patterns when and places them all around the garden and pathways. Sometimes he’ll do little faces or bugs to mix it up

ZUMBA omg

He’s such a Zumba girl you have no clue. He loves the fun danciness of it while still being a good workout. He’s very 90s fashion-wise so you know he’s in those brightly colored body suits.

He lovesss putting together and painting model figures. Kinda like dnd minis but I see him being more into put it together yourself robot sets (like Gundams or whatever they’re called)

Y’all he’s so down bad for sexy robots you can’t tell me he wouldn’t love Gundams. Just look at how he acts towards his action figures AND METTATON HIMSELF. He’s so tragic and so real tbh.

Red

He’s my artsy babygirl.

If you’ve read my headcanon post about him you’ll know.

He’s not very good, but he does do landscape paintings every now and then. Those times are more when he randomly decides to take a walk around a local park or something. He’s more interested in studying other artists’ work than doing it himself.

Onto an actual hobby: Whittling!

He discovered the hobby kinda on his own in the underground. Whenever he was forced to show up to his sentry station and couldn’t find a way to run off, he’d pick up sticks and cut them down to nothing with a pocket knife. Over time he started carving little shapes and figures into the sticks. He’d usually just make simple bone attacks or snow poffs. Sometimes if he found a bigger branch, he’d make replicas of some of the other royal guards or random machines.

Topside he makes so many animals. Like so many. His favorite things to make are birds. He has so many different types of whittled birds all over his room. There’s boxes in his closet overflowing with finished and half finished bird carvings. They’re also in the windows and you can see them walking past their house.

If he’s feeling fancy he’ll pull out the woodstain and give them a little depth to make the species more obvious.

He makes other animals too of course, but they’re usually gifts. He makes a bunch of forest animals for Frisk (their favorites are rabbits and deer).

He made an MTT carving Once when Edge was going through it and was increasingly stressed for like a month straight. Red is a bit of a hater so jacking anything MTT was like pulling teeth. You gotta do what you gotta do for the happiness of your siblings I'm afraid.

A lot of people see him working as a mechanic and I agree, but that’s his career and jobs can’t be hobbies so I’m not gonna go into depth.

Edge

Ok consider for a second: (silk) flower arranging

For one, I headcanon him working as a professional makeup artist on the surface so its not completely left field,

For two, I’m right and you know it.

He does it as casually as you can imagine Edge being casual. Mostly dining table centerpieces and hallways vases. He does silk flowers for places he doesn’t check as often (like hallways) but since he’s classy he dumps the extra G for the fancy fake flowers.

The real flowers are in foyers and on tables. He even takes the occasional flower arranging class in different disciplines to be able to have the skill to arrange any flower in any style.

Edge is such a granny so I think weaving would be reasonable too.

Originally he started out darning his clothes so they would last a few more months, but since he got topside he does a lot of more artsy woven pieces on those small lap sized looms.

He’s not too picky about the actual design; they’re usually classy and fancy and a bit pretentious like him but he’s not actually all that picky about it. He mostly makes scarves and wall hangs that he sells at the local farmers market and craft fairs.

All his friends do have specially designed and stunningly made scarves that he spent hours laboring away on. He gets to critical levels of happiness when he sees them wearing his hard work.

[inbarfink]

The deaths of all the Finch kids are really so unbearably tragic. It really speaks to the quality of the writing and storytelling in ‘What Remains’. They’re written as so vivid and human and real, but also so many of them died so young. They were children, it’s so much harder for me to do the whole ‘well, let’s appreciate the life they did have’ thing when the majority of them didn’t even have a chance to become the people they could have become. And yet the image of who they could’ve been if they survived is so vivid in my mind. 

Edith had that line about how she always imagined Molly as a girl she could be good friends with. Obviously if she didn’t die back in 1947 they wouldn’t really be at the same age group, but she’d be one hell of a Cool Aunt. I can only imagine her Weird Girl tendencies would’ve only grown stronger and stronger with age. Considering her fascination with animals, maybe she would’ve gone to study Zoology or Biology when she grew older? And since she was dissecting a sea star just before her canon death…

Sadly, I’m not sure if Barbara would’ve been able to resurrect her acting career. But there’s some subtle hints in her room that in reality she was more willing to move past it compared to her fictionalized version in that horror comic (which can’t be easy when you live in a room your dad themed entirely around your child-star years THANKS SVEN). That ‘horror convention’ seems to be an invention of the comic, Barbara’s actual room has a flier for a ‘Witch’s Ball’ at Orcas Island High School and a dress ready for it. 

Barbara Finch didn’t actually spend her last day on earth hopelessly trying to revive her dead career, she was hoping to have a fun Halloween party like a regular teenager. Maybe the fact that it was hosted by the Orcas Island High School Drama Club implies she still had an interest in acting and theatre. Maybe she could’ve ended up as a classically trained actress with the child-stardom as just a fun quirk of her past? Or maybe she just wanted to take part in the Witches Ball because she likes Spooky Things? And she could have found her way back into the Horror Scene in a different way, like being a writer or costume designer or something?

Maybe Calvin could’ve become an Astronaut like he always wanted? But I think Calvin might’ve been more enthralled with the fantasy of science fiction than the reality of space travel. I’m thinking a lot about how Sam described Clavin in Gregory’s memoriam as ‘lost in his imagination’. Maybe he could’ve become a science fiction writer or something?

Walter didn’t technically die young, but he still certainly lost most of his years to the Curse. Like, a big thing about the tragedy of Walter to me is realizing his original childhood bedroom was themed after “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” and trains. 

Lil’ Walter did have an interest in adventure and travel, before his fears took it all away from him. If it wasn’t for the Curse, Walter could’ve actually something with it. Maybe he could’ve traveled around a bit and written about his experiences.

Lewis would’ve probably gone into game design. It’s not just how his fantasies manifest to us the players, but you can actually find books about game design and coding in his room. It seems that the problem was that his crappy job and his depression took away any opportunity he might have had to actually pursue this idea. Maybe if Milton never left, these three Finch siblings could’ve combined their creative skills together to make like, a very cool artsy game.

Speaking of which… man, Edith’s death stings the most because we got to know her far better than anyone else. And it’s not even the fact that she never got to share her all of her thoughts and creativity with the wider world that makes me the saddest. Getting to the end of the game and hearing just how much she was looking forwards to be with her son - even with all the hardships of being a teen mom, she was really looking forwards to it. To meet him, to share her stories with him. But instead, that worn old diary is the only connection between them...

And that’s like… part of what’s so great about WRoEF’s use of its own format. Like, the faux-interactive linearity of the Narrative Exploration/‘Walking Simulator’ is so perfect for selling this tragedy. The way each Death Flashback only moves forwards based on the actions of the Player, but it always moves on the same unchanging doomed path - really highlights both how stupidly preventable so many of these deaths feel and really make the Player wish there was a way to change them. After all, all they need is for Calvin to not swing so hard, for Gregory’s faucet to not turn back on, for Walter to not stand directly on those train tracks and everything would’ve been fine. But at the same time it’s so, so clear to the Player that this is an impossible wish. There is no other way these sequences can go - these deaths have already been written. The most you can you is linger, all you can do is delay the inevitable. 

But it hurts.

[34saveme34]

Snowtrapped 2 but it's emotional instead

I barely edited this thing but I must post it <3 I like it too much tbh

anyways light touches of suggestive, and references at snowtrapped obviously, although they don't outright talk about it, no cover this time we die like men

anyways word count: 4602

It started like any other day. With the usual arguments following them, as they perpetrated the intense part of their dynamic. 3 agitated 4, 4 agitated 3, hijinks ensued. It was how it always went these days. The 2 were fine with this… for the most part. The worst part of this was that both of them were sensitive but still liked to mess with each other. They had to walk a thin line for nothing bad to happen. And boy, was that hard. 

It was a snowy day, and 3, 4 and friends went to an especially snowy place as a vacation. They all deserved it. Although, the snow could bring out memories for the 2, it was a bit easier now to push it to the back of their heads. It was the past. It was a different time. They were different. They felt different. They’re friends at this point! Although 3 seemed to deny it a lot, 4 could see through that. Which is also why it was so tragic when he accidentally pushed 3 too hard and had to again see the man upset by his own actions. It always reminded him of the past. Something he had a complex relationship with, as it was something that affected him to this day, with all its differences, similarities and furthermore things that would just confuse him. Confuse him in so many ways. He wished he had answers. Maybe he wished a bit too hard. 

As their snowy hijinks, which they were doing with their friends brought them to an all too familiar situation: being snowed in. No escape. Only each other’s company. It was almost like faith that it was only those 2. Or maybe it was planned, who knows.

“Ugh…” 4 got up as he fell in pretty hard, he was on top of 3, more or less.

“Get off me, you bitch!” 3 quickly pushed him off, annoyed at 4. 

As they got up, looking at the door, both realized what happened. And that they were stuck together.

“You’ve got to be kidding me” both said at the same time which made the 2 glare at each other.

“This is all your fault!” 3 yelled at 4.

“Mine??! How would it be mine?? I wasn’t the one launching a whole damn avalanche!”

“Shut the fuck up” 3 sat down, grabbing at his face. It seemed he was trying to keep at least some sanity.

“No, you shut the fuck up!” 4 said, also sitting down, facing away from 3. 

Truly maturely they stayed like this for a while not uttering a word. But soon, the cold set in.

“Hey… 3…. m… my man” 4 sat beside 3, who looked at him cautiously.

“Yeeees?” he squinted at 4, not trusting him for a second.

“I’m cold”

“Well, shit, 4, I don’t control the weather!”

“No, I mean-”

“I’m definitely not desperate enough for that yet…”

“Yet?” 4 teased him, for which 3 hit him hard in the head.

“Stupid”

“In the meantime while you get over that, we could try and get out somehow. At least try.”

3 sighed as he got up.

“You’re unfortunately right…”

“Maybe we could even find a meme and use it to get out!”

“Yea, good thinking” 3 mumbled it a bit, although 4 could still understand.

“Don’t know why you need to be so defensive about me being right”

“YOU do the same thing as well”

4 was about to protest but realised that 3 was kind of right.

“Oookay…” 

They started really examining the place. Not much food, no meme in sight, a single blanket folded neatly in a closet.

4 took it for himself fast.

“Hey, you hogger!” 3 glared at 4.

“As I said before-”

“I’m not cuddling your stupid ass!”

4 looked down to his feet. He knew that it was just their thing but.

“I really thought we got further…”

“What did you say?” 3 looked at him with an expression that was hard to read.

This scared 4. He wasn’t sure what to do, repeating it felt like a hard task, so he just stared.

“You can’t just talk in half sentences, 4”

“I just… thought you’d be more comfortable with me at this point”

3 was about to protest but thinking about it, he really should’ve been less stupid about it.

“I can’t just- I’m tense, okay, I’m tense! Are you happy now that I told you??”

4 chuckled.

“You never really tell me. I just have to guess myself how you feel”

“Well, you aren’t the easiest case yourself- it- ugh, I don’t want to go into it, definitely not right now-”

“Into what?”

“It doesn’t matter, forget about it”

“3…”

“Don’t 3 me”

4 sat down with the blanket under him so it wouldn’t be as uncomfortable to sit. 3 paced around for a bit. Tried to use his hands as shovels to maybe get out then quickly gave up. This kept repeating. It was kind of tiring to watch. 4 was on the verge of commenting on it. But he could see that he shouldn’t: 3 looked close to snapping. He knew that look. It was upsetting.

Especially as 3 seemed to tire, having to keep up with the cold, now he was starting to feel it too. He leaned against the cold wall, trying not to let the cold get to him. 

4 was watching him. It was awful to watch. He could see 3 slowly slipping down against the wall. 

“Alright, that’s enough” 4 had enough of this as he wrapped his arms and blanket around 3, who didn’t have nearly as much fight in himself as before.

“Dude…”

“What?”

“...Thanks.” 3 lightly leaned closer into 4 arms. That was shocking to 4. He wasn’t sure how to feel.

Sure, he insisted on 3 joining him, but he… never really considered what he would do once he did. He never considered what would happen if 3 didn’t fight him. The comfort made him weird. He wanted to stay somewhere deep in his heart but decided to just slip right out of the blanket and just put it on 3.

“Oh..?” 3 looked at him, the weakness in his eyes showing. He looked painfully genuine.

“I’ll try myself this time”

3 glared then looked away from 4. It was hard to tell what he might be thinking.

4 tried to separate the snow. It was easy, the snow was soft yet cold, and the more he would shovel with his hands to the side, the more would fall in. He panicked, which made him feel agitated as he started to get faster with it. He got so fast the snow of the ceiling fell on him, leaving him colder than ever.

3 rolled his eyes.

“I always think you can’t be more stupid but you always manage to prove that wrong”

“Sh-Shut U-Up” 4 was practically shaking from the cold. Who knew he was so sensitive.

3 sighed and got up. He brushed the snow off of 4. Usually such casual touch wouldn’t be this bad for him but the isolation was getting to him. He cared so much. But, right now, especially right now, he didn’t want that to come out. He didn’t want his caring side out in the open, for 4 to witness and tease. 

to his surprise 4 only gave him a soft smile before adding a few words to his reaction.

“You didn’t need to do that, I can take care of myself”

3 was disappointed.

“I don’t want to be in the same space with a dead body”

“Hey now, you’re already thinking of me dying??”

“Well… It would be funny now that you say it” 3 grinned.

“I don’t find it funny”

“When did I say I care?”

“I see through you, my friend, I do”

“You’re as blind as a bat actually”

“I’m not, I got the 20/20 vision going for me!”

“Crazy if true, considering how much you’re on your pc”

“SAYS WHO”

“ME”

The 2 glared at each other. For quite a few painful seconds. The tenseness in them took over as they started to fight physically.

Although it was one of those little slap fights. It felt less like a fight and more like a comedy bit.

The 2 separated, although 4 found himself cold again. He stared at 3 without realising.

“What?” 3 asked, in a defensive manner as if 4 was about to strip him with his eyes. The thought sent a shiver down his spine. It just further reminded him of past events… But they were different now, it wouldn’t happen.

4 took a bit but he did manage to snap out of it.

“Huh? Nothing! Nothing at all”

“You’re cold, aren’t you?”

“Noooo, what gave you the impression?”

“You shivering”

4 facepalmed. 3 was right, he couldn’t believe how obvious he was.

“Come here, I did say I don’t want to be stuck with a dead body”

4 resisted first but the cold got to him, he had to. He didn’t like it but he had to.

“Jeez, I didn’t think you would be this cold”

“Why did you think I was shivering”

“... Fair point”

4 leaned into 3’s chest, trying to get closer in a less uncomfortable way. It was really hard though, considering how they were just a few moments ago. He was too tired and cold to care though. He even wrapped his arms around 3, having a secure hold on him. 4 didn’t like how comforting this felt. Something about cuddling 3 felt different. Suddenly  the memories hit him again, of the past. It made him feel a bit gross for his thoughts. He wouldn’t ever wanna think of 3 that way. Not again at least.

The 2 stayed silent for a while, it felt illegal to speak. Even though both of them still felt tense. 3 felt too weird in all this, he had to comment on it.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you enjoyed this”

“What?? You think I do?” 4 looked offended.

“You were cuddling me with the same glee Eggdog would and oooh he loves me a lot” he talked with with his baby voice at the end when mentioning his child. Just simply the thought of him made him feel happy.

4 rolled his eyes.

“I’m just trying to stay warm, really. If I liked cuddling you, I’d do it  outside of dire situations like this”

“Like I’d care if you would… stupid”

“Would you?”

“No!”

“Oooh, but it looks like you would” he found 3’s reaction just a little bit entertaining. Indulging a little shouldn’t hurt much!

“Shut up! I wouldn’t! Even the hand holding feel unnecessary”

“Well, we had to do that, to save the world and all that stuff”

“Okay? Doesn’t change a thing. I don’t like to do it”

4 stared at 3, unimpressed. 3 felt a bit nervous.

“You’re as annoying as ever” 4 said as he got up “You know what, I rather freeze”

3 felt that struck at his heart. That HURT to hear, christ. 

“The fuck you mean you’d rather freeze??”

“If you don’t want to be near me so badly, then I won’t bother you. I can try and bury myself in the snow so you don’t have to face me dead cold”

“Jeez, how kind of you to- HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND??? You THINK I WANT THAT??!”

“FELT LIKE IT”

“YOU DUMB IDIOT”

“DUMB AND IDIOT MEANS THE SAME THING”

“YES, I’M POINTING OUT YOUR SPECIALLY LACK OF SMARTS”

“FUCK YOU”

Aaaand they fought again. This time a bit more violent as 3 pinned 4 down.

“Any last words?” 3 was tired so he didn’t sound as threatening as he would’ve wanted to.

“You’re gay” 4 teased as he pulled 3 down on him with the little strength he had left. Unfortunately, this way they were left to stare at each other, it was kind of hard to pay attention to anything else when they were this close. 3 didn’t look amused. 4 chuckled.

“Gotcha”

“And you said you don’t want me near”

“I would push you off if I had the energy to”

“Nice excuse”

“It’s a reason, not an excuse”

3 sighed as he fully laid his head down on 4’s chest. He was now truly too tired to care.

“Why can’t we just get along”

“Cuz you’re a piece of shit”

3 looked at 4 again, clearly unamused.

“Like yourself, of course”

4 found it interesting how 3 deflected by calling him an ass too.

“Maybe, yeah… I don’t know why really”

“We’re just like this? I guess, I don’t know. We should be, right?”

“It’s… what’s the best, right?”

3 thought for a bit, some hard words on his mind.

“We’re… friends”

“I… I know”

Air felt heavy, as the 2 were trying to comprehend each other, what were they going for.

“You know…” 3 started, already feeling his face heat up “Ever since we became friends, it’s been… a bit less fun to be a villain. Juuust a smidge”

4 found himself smiling, hearing that his heart just warmed up whole.

“Glad to hear that…”

“It’s something I struggle with it a lot though”

“Why so?”

“Who… am I if not your local villain… who would I be?”

The question caught 4 so off guard, staring shocked at 3. He never thought 3 could feel that way. He kind of felt bad for a lot of the things he’s said and done now. He gently grabbed 3’s face by his cheek, by which he noticed 3 being a bit more hot. He was sure it’s just them slowly feeling weird from the cold.

“Hey now, don’t say that… you’re so much more… a cool streamer, a great meme guardian partner… a great friend, maybe… my greatest”

3 was practically turning into a heater from the compliments. But it definitely didn’t mean anything. 3 collected all his courage, to ask one thing he wanted to know.

“Your greatest?”

“Yea… pretty much”

“Isn’t it Mario for you?”

“You’re… different”

“Different?”

“Well, you know- yeah, you’re a friend in a different way than he is to me. You’re just… different… I guess, we just work differently”

“You mean the meme guardian stuff?”

4 glanced to the side, it was hard to guess what he could mean by that.

“That too”

“You know… I do kind of find it weird… that we have to hold hands to use our powers.. or at least touch”

“Yeah… but I don’t think you would be this close to me without it”

“Let’s not even think about that”

3 looked kind of bummed about the idea.

“Awww, you’d miss being friends with me that much?”

3 growled, though too tired to act.

“You say that like you wouldn’t”

“Of course, I would miss it so much” 4 said, hugging 3. The air being not so tense felt nice. It was easier to express himself.

3 was in deep, Jesus. He could barely think, besides lightly hugging back. 

“You could’ve warned me at least”

“Nope, it’s more fun this way”

“But you said you care about me”

“There’s some privileges you’ll never get”

“Tch… stupid”

“Ahem… Tsundere”

3 stared at 4, a single word making him feel energy come back to him. Out of anger of course. God, that made him so so angry.

“Not that word again, no, shut the fuck up. No one wants to hear that, idiot”

“I wanted to hear it personally” 4 chuckled.

“For what? You’re implying you’re my crush or something? You’re wrong then, bitch” 3 got up, angrily pointing and gesticulating. Oh, that touched a nerve, didn’t it.

4 raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t say that… Only you did, just now” 

3’s face was painted with realisation, as then colour drained from his face. Oh no, he did not fucking do that!!

“The word is literally used that way. How am I supposed to take it then? Why did you call me that anyways, asshole” 3 turned away from 4.

“I just found it fits… even in a platonic way. It’s so obvious you want affection but you still push people away”

3 looked back at 4 then away.

“Just like that” 4 sighed.

“You… YOU” 3 turned back “ You ALWAYS think you’re the bigger and better person”

“Well, I am right now? I’m not the one misinterpreting shit”

“You just have this air around you, you know? Like you always think you’re the god of this show! That nobody is better than you, especially me, I’m really tired of that. Really fucking tired”

“Are you really getting mad about me calling you a tsundere??”

“IT’S MORE THAN THAT”

“HOW CAN IT BE MORE???”

“IT’S A PATTERN… a long going one” 3 stared daggers into 4. It was like a whiplash compared to what they had previously.

“What pattern???”

“Stuff’s always about you. You’re always trying to one up me as well. It feels like whenever you butt into something, it becomes about you.”

4 stared. He didn’t know what to do with that information.

“You’re so weird. First you say you wished we were friends earlier, now you berate me”

“Because you can’t shut the fuck up when you need to. Maybe if you did, we would get along better”

“Well, MAYBE, if you stopped being an ASSHOLE, that would help a lot more”

“MAYBE. IF YOU STOPPED BEING SUCH A WHINY BITCH IT’D HELP EVEN MORE”

The 2 stared at each other, unsure whether to feel angry or sad. 

“You know where it hurts, huh? You know me so well you know EXACTLY what to say to make me angry” 4 spoke, anger seething through him.

“Not hard when you get upset about everything!!”

“You make me more than upset”

“Oh yeah? What do I make you, huh? Tell me”

4 looked down.

“Confused. And sad. You make me sad”

3 stared at him.

“That’s it? Really?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Well, now I god damn do, not like I care about your thoughts”

4 had enough, as he got up and pushed 3 against the wall. It was cold, just as cold as 4’s stare.

“Do you REALLY want to know, 3?”

3 tried to look anywhere but 4. 4 grabbed 3’s chin.

“I… I guess… I can’t really back down now, can I?” 3 was visibly nervous. 

“You make me so… bad. I feel bad, each time. I don’t know why”

3 still tried looking away from 4. This was starting to feel uncomfortable.

“So… you don’t even know how I make you feel, huh?”

“Well, how do I make YOU feel then? Huh?”

“Tense, very tense. Especially right now, with backing me into a wall and everything”

“Ah-” 4 stepped back, giving 3 his space back. He felt a bit embarrassed about what he did. He realised what that looked like now- he was glad it was only 3 to see him do something like this. Since considering how they were, this was definitely not getting out from between the 2 of them.

As they stood there, they felt cold again. 3 thought for a bit then grabbed the blanket and threw it over 4’s shoulder as he then leaned into him, shoulder to shoulder. It wasn’t too much to handle at least. 4 stayed silent but he didn’t move either. His head seemed to be full of thoughts. 

“Hey… I’m sorry, 3… I gotta learn how to control myself around you”

3 looked at him, with a questioning look.

“I mean yeah but… what the hell do you mean? Around me”

“You just bring the worst out of me”

“Well… I can’t argue with that”

“I think… I do the same to you…”

“Hmm…”

Both stayed silent for a while, then 4 spoke words that had no right to hurt so much.

“It feels like we’d be better apart…”

3 didn’t even know how to react. He just… stood there. 4 couldn’t look at him for a bit, feeling his own words even claw at his own heart. But when he did… oh, he wished he didn’t.

He didn’t want to see 3 so sad, tears running down his cheek. His lips trembled looking back at 4 before punching him in the face.

“WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT??” 

4 stumbled but didn’t fall. He was never able to say the right words.

“I… well” he felt himself getting drawn to tears as well “We… fight so much…”

“I care too much about you”

“I know but… look, it feels like we never get along… I care too and the idea hurts me too…” his tears came too, matching 3.

I just- I can’t do this-” 3 started pacing and suddenly decided to get back to the snow again, desperately wanting to get out.

4 felt guilty. He felt awful. He thought this would give him some peace of mind but it didn’t. He thought, he thought very hard- how could he solve this? How could he make this right for 3?

“How could I… make this right for you?” 4 asked, his voice weak.

“By shutting the fuck up” 3 continued shovelling the snow with desperation. 3’s hands felt cold. Way too cold. But at least it was almost distracting him from 4’s stinging words. 

4 hated looking at what 3 was doing. He turned away, trying to close him out but the quiet sobs and the soft noises of the snow being shovelled by hand was too prominent in his mind. He wasn’t able to close it out, not even a little bit. He clenched his fists. He must do something. Anything. Just stop this.

3’s hands were starting to hurt so much he could barely take it. But it didn’t make him want to stop. What stopped him was 4 grabbing both of his hands and pulling him away from the snow. And 4 wasn’t easy on him, having strong grips on both his hands. As 4 felt just how cold 3’s hands were, he held on even more, pulling 3 close.

“I can’t… I can’t just watch you hurt yourself.. you mean too much to me”

“I thought you wanted us apart”

“Want and need are different”

3 looked ahead of himself, embracing he was now trapped in 4’s hold, as much as he didn’t want to be.

“Are you saying you need me?”

“Yes”

4 replied so fast, it made 3 feel a bit hot again. 

“So… you need me, even if I… cause you to be worse?”

“I need you because I…” 4 stopped. 3 paid attention for a bit, waiting for an answer. The more seconds passed the more tense he felt.

“Don’t leave me hanging, dude!” 3 spoke nervously, he hated feeling this uncomfortable.

4 just didn’t move, not until he whipped 3 into a deep embrace, pulling as close as he could. It was the kind of hug you couldn’t escape from, no matter how much you wanted to. It was tight, scary, full of emotion yet somehow fulfilling. 3 slowly hugged him back. It still wasn’t quite as comfortable as he wished it should be, but the tightness definitely helped. He wished it would be just that easy to press the bad things out of him.

This lasted a while, neither wanted to speak. Neither knew what to say. But they both had a lot on their minds. But they chose to remain this way. At least for a while, some peace.

4 slowly pulled out a bit, looking at 3. 3 only noticed a bit after, his face still red from crying and the cold. The 2 just stared at each other. Felt like no one else existed to them but each other. It felt so obvious. It felt so obvious what they wanted, it was written all over them. Just a single thing on their mind, a simple yet disastrous wish. Something so easy yet so hard.

3’s grip tightened on 4 as he pulled him in, it happened so fast, yet 4 followed along immediately. The desperation finally kicked in. They needed each other so so badly and it showed. And when they’d pull away, they’d just pull right back in. Their lips touching were too addictive. It was a rush of excitement neither have felt in a while. 3 was the one to end up against the wall, then quickly switching to 4. 3 had a strong hold on 4 that made him feel weak. He didn’t know that feeling weak by someone could feel so good. It felt like it should be a crime.

They slowly let go, although they didn’t want to. Especially since they then had to face each other. It felt… weird. Where did this come from? Why were they both so into it?

“So… that happened” 4 awkwardly scratched his neck.

3 facepalmed.

“Is that all you’re gonna say?”

“Umm well… I guess I always liked you, heh,... uh… yeah”

3 couldn’t keep a straight face, he laughed. He found 4 ridiculous, yet somehow cute.

“I love you too, idiot” 3 replied finally, after leaving 4 hanging with just laughing.

4 looked down then back at 3. He was visibly getting so giddy it was a joy to watch. 3 pressed a kiss on 4’s cheek. 4 could explode the world with the happiness he was feeling. This whole thing really made him realise what he was feeling, as it was previously an unknown thing to him. He didn’t realise, even though he felt it badly. He’s a fucking idiot.

3 knew very well but it wasn’t exactly something he liked to think about. It was already hard to make friends, let alone admit his feelings for his ex rival. 

“I’m… glad you do, 3”

“Do you know how hard it was to keep this away from you??”

“Uh.. no? I think you hid it well”

“That was the intention”

“Yeah… you know, I only realised just now”

3 blinked at 4.

“You.. You can’t be serious”

“Why can I not be?”

“Whatever… I’m just glad you feel the same”

“Yeah… we’re still trapped though”

“No shit” 3 sighed.

The 2 rested against each other. At least now they had less reason to be tense about that. 

“I mean… the others know we got stuck, right? They should be able to help then…”

“I sure do hope so”

The 2 thought though, anything they can come up with. 3 had an idea float in his mind, now feeling like it’s less embarrassing to suggest.

“Hey so, 4… you know how we channel meme energy with touch?”

“Yeah?”

“What if… it’s possible to channel it with kissing as well?”

4 rubbed his chin then with seemingly zero hesitation, he pulled 3 in for a kiss, and concentrated. Maybe a bit too hard at that, or maybe it was just such a powerful move that the energy practically blew up around them. Their prison was gone. Literally, they blew the whole thing up with their meme energy kiss.

“Woah” 3 chimed up quietly, trying not to look too impressed but… meme explosion?? 2 of the greatest things together??

“Yippee we’re free we’re free!!” 4 hugged 3 and jumped up and down.

That’s when the crew noticed the 2, with 4 jumping around crazy. That’s just how it is with them sometimes. At least they chilled out now! It’s been needed for a long while now.

[sapphicseasapphire]

It is I! The person who called Malon a woman of steel! Honestly something about your answer is so sweet but also horribly dark. Everyone Time knows will eventually die.

(Well, I don’t know about Saria, or the other Kokiri… no idea what happened to them in the child timeline. Or how their lifespans work… my only hope is that his little forest friends stay alive super long so that he isn’t as lonely…)

the dude’s gonna outlive his own KIDS. And that begins my next big question. Time likely had kids after becoming a God. And if that truly is the case, his kids are Demi-Gods. Would his kids be like Twilight? How long is the lifespan of someone who is only part God?

(Anon •••)

Okay. I read this and then literally paced around my dorm room thinking about how to properly answer this question without going on a million tangents about forest spirits and how Faron Woods from Skyward Sword is just the Lost Woods but before the Lost Woods were a thing and Wars and Wild and Flora and a million other things.

So here is my (hopefully concise) very much rehearsed response:

Time’s children are mortals. The way I treat Gods for this au is either you are one or you aren’t, and there’s no in between. Mortals can possess the powers of a God, either through genetics or having earned from a True God, but their lifespans are that of the average Hylian. And, like I said in my miscellaneous lore post, anyone with God Powers needs to Awaken them.

Time’s children are no exception. They have the potential to be very powerful, being the first generation direct descendants from the literal God of Time. They have their Marks, which are completely unique to them- no real resemblance to Time’s- but they cannot use their powers until they’re properly Awakened. And because God Powers are rooted in desperation, there’s a very good chance that Time’s children will never Awaken their powers.

There’s really only one example that I can give you that’s a) a fully fleshed out idea and b) not a spoiler, and that’s Twilight. God Powers, in their purpose, are not genetic. The potential, the strength, are all dependent on the amount of God Blood (icky wording) that one possesses, but what those powers do is completely unique to each person. Twilight Awakened his powers when he was very young, in a life or death situation. He had no other choice than to shift, and so shifting was the power he was given. I cannot stress this enough: God Powers awaken when there is no other choice.

I can’t imagine that Time and Malon’s children would ever find themselves in such a situation. When your dad is a God, not much can hurt you.

But yeah! Time’s story is extremely tragic! But we can take solace in the knowledge that he will not face eternity alone. As I mentioned before, Warriors will stay with him. Wild, also a spirit, is pretty much immortal as well. And so is Flora. I’m… not saying that it will be pretty. Thinking about Time’s fate has brought me to tears many times.

…. Hehehehe

[bruciemilf]

I really love your Bruce writing! I love when you talk about him being a father and how tragic it is ("tears of the father are wept by the son"?? Are you kidding me?? This line made me lay awake at night). And the most recent Bryce snippet? Wow! I love how you use the environment (like the knockoff cigars, oregano...), and how you write their dialogue, and when you write Bruce's uncle's??? Wow, I'm just in love 💕

Saw you recently posting about atsv! Didn't know you watched it! Was wondering if you have an Miguel-centric Headcanons? That's another man I'm unhealthy about

Thank you so much 💞

– @unfortunately-obsessed

THANK YOU!! to this day it’s pretty incomprehensible for me, when I realize, huh… People like my writing? My words? Oh wow oh wow ohwowowowow—

I appreciate you saying so!! Sadly, I severely neglected my blog/fanfics because of my job, but, I started working on a crossover fic between atsv and dc :) I just adore spider bat, so why not?

Also, some Miguel headcanons:

Layla sends Gabriel videos of Miguel falling, tripping, web breaking, etc, just flopping in general. If he annoyed her particularly hard, she’ll send some to Miles

SPEAKING OF MILES??

He picks him up from school when Rio and Jeff can’t make it, mostly for spider business, and the staff assumed they were related bc Miles called him Tio (WHICH IS SO CUTE BTW)

Whenever Miles needs a permission slip for places he knows for a FACT his parents won’t sign —

(because it’s outside New York, — and I actually think it’s super adorable they wanna be around him so much. Ik some see it as overbearing, but when you see so many parents actively hate their kids being around..)

He’ll get Miguel to sign it. But he’s equally as protective as Rio. “Who are you going with, Who’s that? I never met them. Address, phone number, and mother’s maiden name. When are you gonna be back? 2 days? No. “

He eventually signs it because Miles’ puppy eyes, man.

Still celebrated Gabriella’s birthday; He makes her her favorite dessert, buys something she would’ve liked, and lights up a candle for dinner. If he feels particularly alone, he’ll swallow up his hesitation and invite the spider kids over

This man breaths and bleeds work; You can’t think abt your mental illness if you can’t think about anything at all!!!

Obsessed with control; He needs to know every detail, every amount of information available, he has routines and scripts and gets irritated if they’re not followed

I think he actually did pay attention to Miles since he became Spiderman; I think, deep down, he knows HES the original anomaly. But it’s easier to break than fix. Especially when canon is involved.

Can dance like a mf

I know he technically has no favorites since everyone annoys him equally- it’s Mayday.

And Miles, strangely enough. But it’s hard to tell. Miles genuinely thinks this grown ass adult hates his absolute guts and made peace

But Gwen is like omg you asked for a shift change and he didn’t throw a drone at you?

[zaenaris]

Thinking about how Inupi and Koko were introduced in an ambiguous way to make us think they were the bad guys and how their queerness was introduced ~after~ revealing they were positive characters and not to emphasize there was something wrong with them

I binge read the story from vol.9/ bloody Halloween to Senju’s introduction but ig that it must have been quite a journey to read chapters weekly and to see, step by step, how 🐶🈁,that were introduced as secondary characters, ended up with a quite surprisingly evolution, considering they’re not even main characters and that (beside’s Inupi’s connection with BD) their own tragic past isn’t related to the main plot.

Before their backstory, we see in both the presents TL (besides the final one) that when they’re together, they’re criminals...

and even Takemichi’s enemies in Manila TL.

Before the kidnapping, if we pay attention, the info we have about 🈁🐶 are that

they’re introduced as executives in the 1st Bad Toman TL-Inupi being protective ok Koko

they’re executives in Taiju’s BD

there’s a promise involved, but it’s unclear what it’s about

🐶 asks twice to 🈁 what he wants to do and Koko confirms he will stick with Inupi (fruity)

turns out it was 🐶 that wanted to recreate the BD (but we still don’t know why) and that 🈁 helped him introducing him Taiju

🐶🈁 join Takemichi’s division after the Christmas battle

once again are Toman’s dirigents in Manila TL, Taijusays somethin about Inupi's past with BD and Izana and Koko's being the gang wallet

bonus point, the homoerotic af inner cover of volume 14, where it seems like they're gonna kiss (and for a reason!)

At that point, readers/watchers have no reason to trust them and, beside the “promise/sticking with you” scene that implies something more, we knew nothing really “personal” about them.

So when they’re ambushed and for a moment the narration makes you think they’re the traitors, trying to blame Michi;the reader, just like Takemichi, has doubts, (love how Wakui drawn Inupi in such an ambiguous way lol) only to be immediately contradicted.

🈁🐶 genuinely have no bad intentions, they’re just trying to live without being used by others.

🐶 wanted to recreate the BD because (we learn later) Shin was his hero and the founder of BD (we already knew that from 2017!Taiju), but Taiju wanted 🈁 money making ability--->🈁 only listens to🐶(ch.141) and things finally makes sense,

🈁 sacrifices himself to save 🐶 and 🍀. In their hideout,🐶confirms he didn’t want BD to degenerate like that but it happened anyway, he himself got used to Izana's violent methods. He confirms he would die for 🈁 that has always been by his side even if he considers himself useless and 🍀 (and he readers) understand that 🈁🐶 are good kids at heart. Now it’s established they’re with “the good guys”, Takemichi even compare his and Hina relationship to 🐶🈁, we get they care very much for the other. The queer aspect starts being prominent from here.

And then ofc, the kiss.

But before that, just a reminder that, for a long time, queer coded villains had been a thing, especially when it wasn’t suitable to have explicit queer characters but you had to show they were evil, so you make them queer coded because it was not the norm (see many Disn&y villains); ofc in the story of literature/media there aren’t only examples of evil queer coded characters, there are positive characters too, it’s just an example and it happens also in Asian medias obviously.

It could have been “easy” for another writer or in different historical period to show the queerness of their relationship immediately, in one way or another to show, according old narrative styles, that we couldn’t trust them, only to subvert it later. But I really appreciate it was decided to give just a very small hint (promise/stick with you) and then later, once we are sure that’s they are good guys, another layer was added to their story, making us understand how traumatic, visceral and complicated their relationship is. Regardless of anyone’s personal interpretation, the queer factor in their subplot cannot be denied. There are 2 couple that kiss on screen, one is the male protagonist and his female love interest (granted, no one is surprised) and the other is kokonui.

🈁 was well aware of what he was doing and WHO was kissing. We see all of his torments, we understand why 🐶🈁 relationship is so complicated, why 🐶fears Koko doesn’t see him as Seishu but as Akane and why 🈁fears that Inupi is using him for money and his personal interest like everyone else.

Their kiss is treated by the narration with utmost respect and it essential to understand these characters (their official characters songs emphasize the importance of this moment as well). And it’s important to humanize them, to add a layer, to give them complexity, not to vilify them. They realize that, even if they’re ready to do anything for the other, it’s getting impossible to be together, too many traumas and misunderstandings piled up Turing the years. They part still wishing the best to the other, which, considering they’re 16 and their traumatic past, is still more emotionally mature then many breakups between adults.

Do we want to talk about how the “characters having a moment in the rain” is literally a romantic trope? Besides Bonten, where it’s implied they never saw each other again, in the last/Kanto Manji arc, it’s enough to see each other once (because in the end, 🈁 needed help and the person he trusts the most is still 🐶even after 2+ years they had no contacts) for 🐶 to understand that 🈁 is not okay.

For how rushed the final arc is (on a human level, I get that Wakui was burn out and had to finish asap), I really appreciate that he still found time to give a conclusion to 🐶🈁 sub plot that, more than any other secondary characters, was given the chance to evolve during the years and to reach a conclusion that was also a new beginning, because these traumas aren’t solved in a day, but now we know the elephant in the room has been faced, 🈁admitted his problems and decides to stay with 🐶 because that’s what he really wants. They have all the time to mend their relationship, this time with no fears nor misunderstandings

[magnorious]

Pixar’s Cars is still way better than people give it credit for

Am I writing an essay on a kids movie that fell out of relevance after the last sequel seven years ago? Yes. Is it my favorite background animated movie to put on whenever I’m working? Yes.

It goes without saying that Pixar’s catalog is still topped by movies like Incredibles, Toy Story 2, Up, Inside Out, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille, etc. Cars sat at the bottom of Pixar’s “best of” list until its sequel came out and people realized how bad Pixar movies could actually be.

But you know what? I love Cars. Is the story as deep and moving and profound as some of the others? No. But it was made with love and after what feels like the past 8 years of resounding “meh” coming from Hollywood and some of the most shameless cash grabs pretending they’re not, Cars remains my feel-good movie. It doesn’t have that classic Pixar “cry your eyes out” moment, no dead parents, no chosen ones, decently low stakes. It’s a good time, anytime.

Why I’m writing this now, though, is because of this: I knew already that the King and Chick were based off real racers, and Lightning’s “McQueen” is another homage, but I looked up if Doc was also based on a famous racer during my last rewatch and found this on Wikipedia:

Doc’s car model, the Hudson Hornet, was manufactured from 1951-1953 for its original run. In 1954, its manufacturer merged with another company and the Hornet was heavily remodeled to boost sales, only the popularity of the car never recovered. It stayed in production until ‘57. It was used in racing and that’s where Doc’s paint job in the finale draws inspiration.

But do you remember what his backstory is? 3 back-to-back Piston Cups from ‘51-’53, a crash in ‘54 that saw him rebuilt, and obsolescence upon his return.

People complain that they “didn’t need to be cars” in this movie. They’re not like the toys in Toy Story where the plot and message depends on them not being human. They’re not like the fish in Finding Nemo. They could have just been humans who drive race cars and it raises more questions than it answers.

You are wrong, Sir.

Doc’s backstory is why they had to be cars. They aren’t human because the story depends on them being machines – as Cars 3 explores more deeply. A human endurance runner can train to be the fastest, running against other humans with the same chances at success (ignoring steroids and socioeconomic opportunity). Humans aren’t running foot races against mutants or aliens where, no matter what we do, we will lose by nature of what we are.

Cars do. A car model is beholden to its manufacturing and all the complications that come with it. Cars are objects that, like toys, have obsolescence built into them. There is no “outdated” way to run a foot race.

So yes, Doc has a Tragic Backstory(tm) but it’s not just that he was some great master at the top of his game once that faded from glory like any human who got too old. He’s a car, and no matter how good he was, how many Piston Cups he won, the powers that be that made newer models with better mileage and efficiency and mechanics were always going to dethrone him.

The movie isn’t about him, though, it’s about another rookie. A rookie who lives life in the fast lane and thinks his time in the spotlight is never going to end when Doc can look at him and know exactly how wrong he is. Lightning is a race car too and, regardless of the existence of Cars 3, Lightning will also inevitably become obsolete no matter what he does to fight it.

I doubt the writers were going for this when they wrote it but that they’re machines is also a criticism of how we treat celebrities. Lightning is an entertaining story until the next shiny starlet emerges and, through no fault of his own, he’s kicked to the curb for the “new”. And that new will be cast aside for the next new and so on and so forth and the only winner is the greedy producer making money off their cash cow until they drain it dry.

Yes, the movie is about appreciating life and the things that you do have and “the friends we made along the way” but that they’re machines matters. Had they all been human, the movie would have lost half its message, and half the tragedy. If they were human driving cars, Doc wasn’t written with a disability so he could have, in theory, hopped back behind the wheel of a new car and still won against younger drivers. He’s not human, he’s a car, and he isn’t built to go as fast as newer models.

Age affects everyone, but a world made by machines that pits machines against other machines in an endurance test is inherently rigged when the machinery being tested can always improve.

It is unfortunate that both Doc and the King go out in wrecks (even though the poetry is nice) and the story doesn’t explore the existential obsolescence of being a machine designed to only do so well and be improved upon – even Lightning still has to wreck out of his big race in Cars 3 before he starts losing to the newer models.

But maybe having a Cars movie that does explore the existential obsolescence of a machine might have gone over kids’ heads. Or, maybe not? They pulled off some very mature themes in Incredibles with marriage problems and presumed infidelity that kids probably didn’t understand but still knew was not good for the characters.

Not to mention all the other wonderful details in this movie: The car-pun cities on all the license plates, the tire tracks in the sky and car-shaped natural phenomena, all the creative sponsoring brands on the racers.

How the “Life is a Highway” montage hits you over and over again with a straight road that cuts through the winding nature (the snaking river, the mountains sliced open to make room), industry that stops for nothing and scars everything in its path.

If you haven’t watched this movie in a while, do yourself a favor and find time to do so.

[alsopartgekkos]

A Sallow Grave - what did go wrong and why

So, a try to delve a bit into the whole quest situation, because for one I love trying to analyse stuff, and Seb has some unearthing of his sallow ass to do. Buckle up.

Spoilers for Sebastian Sallow’s questline, mentions of death, psychological abuse and just general rumblings in no particular order.

Part one of idk how many.

And for a start probably I need to say, that nothing in that questline was okay. And though I do not agree with Sebastian's actions, it’s interesting to see how everything led to this exact outcome, and how he is, undoubtedly, more a result of his upbringing and problematic teenagehood, rather than was inclined or destined to something inherently.

So let's start up with early childhood, shall we? 

Little is known about the twins in earlier years, but they were raised in a full family, and their parents were described as passionate academics, passing thirst for knowledge and optimistic, open minded mindset to their children. It’s noted that they would spend days in the cellar, probably often leaving both Sebastian and Anne to themselves, which undoubtedly resulted in a strong bond between the two. Even years later for Sebastian it's never only just “my sister”, he underlines multiple times that Ann is his twin, the other missing half. 

However tragic events come to pass, and due incident Mr. and Ms. Sallow are gone, and since it’s noted that usually children with magical ability exhibit it by the age of seven, the twins could’ve been between age 5 to 7, where children undergo most important psychological development. They were left on their own, just the two of them, Sebastian subconsciously later opting the role of a fatherly figure, a protector, probably the elder twin. They also left their home - the place holding happiest memories, for Feldcroft and living with their uncle. 

Let us not actually forget that technically, and by Victorian standards no less, both Anne and Sebastian are orphans. Yes, they live with Solomon and he does provide for them, but they are perceived as two different entities altogether. There’s Solomon Sallow, separately, and there are the twins, and although it is never truly stated or hinted whenever wizards had different, more prodigious social structure, Sebastian and Solomon do verbally differentiate between the family. And they’re lucky in a way, because staying with close family is still better than any other sort of a magical orphanage.

The trick is, though, that Solomon as a person, probably was not ready for what he was dealing with, nor has the qualities of a child caretaker. He’s a former Auror: sure, providing safety for two kids, but he’s a battle worn veteran, who gave up the work of his life, plagued by his own wrongdoings [and not having luxury of therapy, let’s be honest], possibly troubled feelings against his brother and most likely PTSD in the form of rage fits. Which is no good thing for a child to be around. 

[Enter the fanon territory, following by the post here, I do think there was some sort of sibling rivalry between Solomon and his brother, and I think that he was to a degree enamoured with the twins' mother. It’s really easy to spot in their conversations, that being “his father’s son” is his own trauma projected into a child, whilst Sebastian can’t comprehend why it’s a bad thing. For him father is a happy memory and a role model, this bright inquisitive mind. For Solomon his brother is, probably, an example of passion going too far, of obsession, his own lost opportunities. And he sees Sebastian growing to be just the same, even before Anne is cursed he’d been this way, so I assume there’s something going on there. Besides well asserting dominance in the household, bc somebody didn’t live well though Aedipus complex I guess.]

Being tasked with bringing up two kids isn’t easy even for a full family, let alone a man with issues, so we start at that. And before Hogwarts became an outlet for both Sebastian and Anne, about 5 years passed, where both of them were mostly formed as people. 

We can assume from what both Anne and Sebastian tell, the relationship with their uncle has always been tense. And it’s easy to see why except for the above.

In the scene where he destroys a Shivelfig he is the one to get verbally aggressive first, and when blames his own outburst and Anne’s following seizure to be Sebastian’s fault. And something tells me that’s not the first time such an argument arises. [As Anne mentions below]

It’s certainly a gaslighting tactic to justify himself [Seb and his uncle have lots in common haven't they sometimes]. And that “what have you done” rhetoric stays with his uncle for the rest of the narrative, and is ultimately a poor communication method. He also intrudes in their safe moment of connection, overseeing the conversation, not to mention that he intrudes in their personal space with little regard to understand what happens [not even minding MC as a matter of fact]. 

After a shot argument he practically sends Sebastian, who only arrived, off, perfectly knowing what kind of bond the siblings have. It is a cruel thing to do, no matter how well justified. And acts with utter nerve as if nothing happened, casually dismissing MC in the conversation, getting quickly frustrated if their point of view does not align with his. It’s something many have experienced with a strict [and often unloving] parent. Not to mention he apologises on behalf of his nephew for some reason, not on his own, like sir you were rude.

[an interesting tidbit: he’s not looking at Sebastian. He’s looking straight at Anne, as if to make sure she understands that she shall not hope for the best and accept his better judgement as the only outcome. As Sebastian says “she’s not herself” ever since she stayed with Solomon, and if that isn’t a red flag well idk.]

And if you look at Sebastian [actually two times, second being with the relic], he’s absolutely helpless. His tantrums and his anger is not the first reaction to aggression. It’s fear. He watches hopelessly, brows raised and ashamed, how his uncle turns his achievements, his work into nothingness and he does not respond back immediately. [Which can be another form of response to domestic abuse] Because there’s still a child there, who is listening to what is said to him. And it’s absolutely heartbreaking to see.

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 37 part two

(Masterpost) (Pinboard)  (whole thing on AO3)

Warning! Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Inquiring Minds

Wei Wuxian asks the kids if any of them can perform inquiry so he can ask Song Lan who fucked him up like this. Sizhui does a good job, but he has to whisper to himself while he plays, because he is not a mensch like Lan Wangji (yet).

Song Lan says that Xiao Xingchen is the culprit, and the kids immediately ignore apparently-murderer Xiao Xingchen who's sitting next to them, and instead have a seminar on how inquiry works and the niceties of guqin-language translation. 

During the whole conversation, they talk about Song Lan being killed, not just mostly-killed, incidentally. And that's not a translation error; I'm actually able to recognize the phrase "shale ta." (My small collection of Chinese-words-I-can-recognize-when-I-hear-them is entirely Wuxia-based, including useful words and phrases like wo shale ni (I'm going to kill you), dianxia (prince/lord), and dalisi (the court of judicial review).

They all continue to ignore Xiao Xingchen while Sizhui asks Wei Wuxian's third question, which is "who controls you." Song Lan's answer this time is "that dude behind you." That dude, who we are perhaps beginning to suspect is not really Xiao Xingchen, smirks and snaps his fingers.

Song Lan responds by breaking out of the rope and summoning his sword and fuchen (horsetail whisk) to his hands.  

He brings his sword to Wei Wuxian's neck and Wei Wuxian tells the kids to back off, saying that all of them put together are not a match for Song Lan. Which is true, judging by the juniors' sword moves, which consist entirely of standing still and pointing.

Not-Xiao-Xingchen says that the adults are going to talk so the kids should go outside. Wei Wuxian tells the juniors to scram, and reminds them not to breathe in a lot of poison while they're out there. Gee, thanks, Laoshi. 

(More behind the cut!)

Sizhui lingers, and Wei Wuxian tells him he's the most sensible and that he should take charge of the others. He tells Sizhui not to be afraid, and Sizhui says he isn't. 

He also says that Mo-qianbei and Hanguang-Jun are alike. Wei Wuxian denies this, saying they're opposites. Almost like yin and yang, in fact, needing each other to create a balance. 

Sizhui thinks in a voiceover that he doesn't know why, but he thinks they're alike; that if either one of them is there, he doesn't need to be afraid. They are mostly not alike, I think, but they are both devoted parents to Sizhui, so he's right about that. 

His recognition of Wei Wuxian is growing, and I like that he's able to ponder this stuff in the midst of all these life threatening situations. It's actually fairly accurate to life as a teenager, in which the big work of figuring yourself out is always going on in your head, no matter the circumstances.

Dear Slim, I wrote you

Once the kids are gone, both of the adults can drop their aliases, and speak demonic-cultivator to demonic-cultivator. 

They stand around while not-Xiao-Xingchen, who is obviously Xue Yang, delivers a heap of exposition about making zombies and his new Yin Tiger Seal and...*yawn.* 

Anyway, he lured Wei Wuxian here so he could resurrect someone for him. Wei Wuxian says nope, listening briefly to the spirit-trapping bag that Xue Yang hands him and saying that this person is super duper dead, and wants to stay that way. 

Xue Yang insists, reminding Wei Wuxian that the kids are hostages.

During this whole conversation, Song Jiyang, who plays Xiao Xingchen, does a great job playing Xue Yang - possibly helped along by using the same voice actor for overdubbing? - including by embodying many of Xue Yang's annoying mannerisms. 

On my first watching, I found Xue Yang very very annoying, right up until the point that the show flips the script and manages to make him sympathetic and tragic, which is quite a trick, considering that he's a psycho and also a dick. On subsequent viewings I still find him annoying but I like his fighting style a lot, and what he brings to the story generally.

When Xue Yang starts cackling, Wei Wuxian greets him by name and tells him he should stop pretending to be someone he isn't. Xue Yang responds by taking off his eye cover and then by taking off his face, which is a mask that's way more convincing than poor Mo Xuanyu's craft-store paper-mache thingy. 

Xue Yang picked up some good disguise tricks during that summer he spent in Changsha interning for Zhang Rishan.

The mountain of exposition continues, covering a wide range of topics

Skull nails

how Wen Ning is hard to control

Yin Tiger Seal 1.0

Yin Tiger Seal 2.0

other pieces of Yin metal

Xue Yang's mysterious friend who is good at acting, i.e. Jin Guangyao.

Wei Wuxian being the founder of demonic cultivation

Xue Yang murdering the Chang clan

Xue Yang murdering Song Lan's sect

Murder Turtle

The Yin metal sword

The conversation does clear up some confusion about the Yin metal pieces from back in the day. Everyone thought there were only four, but Xue Yang is a Wuxia fan and knows that whenever something from a previous generation is hidden away for the good of the world and then is found by a later generation, there are always five of it. (See: Legend of Fei, Word of Honor)

During this conversation, Xue Yang shows a sincere admiration of Wei Wuxian, saying that he himself only figured out some things about Yin metal, but Wei Wuxian was able to learn without a teacher and create the Yin Tiger seal. It's...kinda sweet. He follows it up by explaining his "murder everybody" philosophy, which makes it a little less sweet.

Fight Club

Mercifully, this near-endless conversation is interrupted by Song Lan crashing through the wall like the Kool-Aid guy, followed by Wen Ning in full multi-punch-man mode. 

Wei Wuxian tells the boys to take it outside, and then he and Xue Yang go out to watch the fight. Xue Yang was never able to control Wen Ning, he says, because "some things recognize their masters too well." Wei Wuxian says that Wen Ning is not a thing. He doesn't deny that he is Wen Ning's master, however. As if he could.

Xue Yang responds with some linguistic subtlety that is lost in translation and then draws his  Xiao Xingchen's sword and takes a swipe at Wei Wuxian, who easily ducks the blow. 

Xue Yang explains that he doesn't want to kill him, just capture and enslave him. Then the fight is on, with Wei Wuxian dodging, blocking, and spinning, while whining about having low spiritual energy in his new body. 

Wei Wuxian calls for a substitute to do his fighting for him. Xue Yang says that Hanguang-Jun is busy fighting his little friend. (I find it hilarious that Xue Yang consistently refers to Su She as his little friend.) He's barely finished saying this when Lan Wangji comes sailing in, deflecting his blow and striking a pose for Wei Wuxian.

Sometimes you succeed in recoloring a super foggy, blue-tinted gif, and sometimes you just give up.

Lan Wangji immediately yoinks Xiao Xingchen's sword off of Xue Yang, and tells him he doesn't deserve this sword. Boy howdy, Hanguang-Jun, you don't know the half of it. 

Xue Yang summons his own sword out of thin air and Sword Superfan Lan Wangji says "Calamity Befalls" because he knows the names of ALL the swords. The guys in his Discord are going to be so excited that he got to cross blades with two famous swords in one day.

Before the fighting starts, Lan Wangji tells Wei Wuxian to hit the bricks, saying "you are not needed here." I love that grown-up, mellower, affectionate Lan Wangji is still a salty bitch. 

Wei Wuxian bails while Lan Wangji and Xue Yang bust out a bunch of their best moves, with the actors doing a lot of the stunt work themselves.

This sword move by Wang Haoxuan is pretty great. Useless, like Wei Wuxian's spinning, but hawt.

And Wang Yibo is grace personified when he’s on wires.

While the sword fight is going on, Wen Ning and Song Lan are having a frowning contest.

They are also beating the crap out of each other.  

The juniors watch the punch-up with keen interest; Jingyi is particularly happy about it. Jin Ling isn't smiling but he seems pretty entertained for a guy who's dad was killed by one of those same punches.

Wei Wuxian sees the fight and reflects that he's not needed there either. But that the juniors do need him, and he gets a happy little smile, finding a context in which he can be useful. 

The juniors all flock to him like ducklings and he teases them about his terrible congee.

When they see Lan Wangji fighting, the little Lans all preen. Jingyi announces that Hanguang-Jun is the best, and asks Wei Wuxian to confirm it. Wei Wuxian is surprised to be asked, given that he's just a random guy who is obviously fucking their favorite teacher. 

Jingy is offended when Wei Wuxian doesn't immediately agree, but Wei Wuxian contemplates for a bit, thinking about all the ways that Lan Wangji is the best, particularly his dick, and chuckles to himself while agreeing with Jingyi.

Lan Wangji backs up these assertions by pausing for a moment in his fight to knock out a whole group of zombies with one strum of his invisible guqin...zombies who dared to menace Wei Wuxian. 

Grave Disturbance

Wei Wuxian collects the kids and goes to find A-Qing, saying she has something important to communicate, and that she's not on Xue Yang's side. He also tells the kids that the dude fighting Lan Wangji is Xue Yang. He doesn’t explain why or how, though. 

They all go into the coffin house/morgue, where Wei Wuxian says they're safe because they haven’t seen any zombies since, like, four minutes ago. Seems logical.

A-Qing pops up from behind a coffin and starts tapping it. She makes it super incredibly obvious, through hand signals, that she wants someone to open the coffin, and most of them, including Wei Wuxian, are too dumb to understand this.

Fortunately Jin Ling is paying attention, and explains what she wants. Wei Wuxian tells everyone to back up, in case the coffin is trapped, and then opens it by leaning directly over it.

Xiao Xingchen is in the coffin, and this time we know it's the real Xiao Xingchen because Wei Wuxian has a flashback about him. 

A-Qing somehow knows it's him in the coffin, despite being blind and not reaching in to touch him. She cries tears of blood because that is exactly how human tear ducts and eyeballs work.

Since she's mute, Sizhui suggests using inquiry to talk to her. She's...alive? Does inquiry work on alive people? Whatever. Wei Wuxian says that Inquiry won’t help, and that he's going to use Empathy instead, because what this show needs right now is a two-episode-long flashback. Jin Ling objects, saying it's too dangerous, but Wei Wuxian says to STFU and let's get cracking.

Then he tells us about his favorite mango drink. At least, if you are watching on Viki, where some of the original ads are included with the episodes. The combination of an abrupt, somber episode ending, followed immediately by a cheerful in-character advertisement, is never not hilarious.

Soundtrack: Stan by Eminem

[spencer-is-dead]

Rereading chapter 62 and this is my mood

Manga spoilers under cut

God, it’s just so fucking tragic. He loses everyone he loves, he loses his name, his identity. It’s all torn away by war.

And you can see how happy he is with his friends in the beginning. He’s just a little kid wrapped up in all of the propaganda. He thinks war is just a game, because he’s just a kid. I cannot emphasize enough how I love Endo using the theme of “they’re just kids”, it just hits you right in the gut.

When the first bombing happens, the only word I can really find to describe it is horrific. Just a few pages ago, the town was full of happy people who were enjoying their lives. And just a few panels ago he was talking with a woman. One moment, she’s there, the next, she’s been crushed. And you see the town, his hometown, destroyed. You see people trying to save their loved ones. And you see [REDACTED], horrified. And it probably hits him in that moment; this is war.

And he doesn’t want to leave, he’s worried about school, and the town fair. He doesn’t realize that they can’t stay. And when he sees the destroyed building he and his friends used to play in, that he had found for them, you think they’re dead.

the scene where his mother dies is probably one of my favorites in the chapter, simply because it’s so well done. We don’t see her body, we don’t see his face. All we see are screams. All we know is that this boy found his mother’s body, and I think that’s all we need to know.

This is when [REDACTED] dies. He is buried with his mother. But his body still lives. He’s lost everything he’s ever loved, and the only reason he keeps moving is because he wants to destroy what had destroyed his life. He is not living, he is merely surviving. I hope that, when it gets adapted, the anime expands upon this part. It probably won’t, but one can dream.

When he becomes Roland, I doubt he ever accepted the name. It was just a nickname to him, not an identity. It’s just a vehicle for vengeance. He lies about his age, though my bet is that he’s at least 16, maybe even 15. And then we see him, in a tight spot. As a child, he pulled some strings to beat his friends, as a teen, we see him blow up his enemy. And don’t you think it’s haunting, to see someone alive one moment and gone the next? Even if they were a common enemy, you can remember that they were human once. Even he (Roland) was human once. But they’ve all been torn apart into beasts, beasts who want nothing but blood on their claws. And he wonders how many have to die? How much blood will be spilled before he can be happy again? How many more have to lose their lives just so he can live his?

He meets Franky, or, the man who would become Franky. When Roland hears his pleas, hears that “He’s never been with a woman”, it humanizes him. For a moment, he sees him as an equal. So he gives him a cigarette, a sort of truce. He still hates the enemy, but he learns that the enemy is the same as him. Everyone has lost someone, everyone was in it for revenge and glory. They were all told that they had a reason to fight, that they had a right to be angry at the other side.

This upsets Roland, because he wants to hold on to his worldview. It only shatters when he sees his friends, half the reason he’s been fighting. A side note, I appreciate how Endo still makes him look like an older teen here, it adds to the effect that they are still just kids.

It’s a short-lived reunion, as he finds that they die due to people’s stupidity. And he realizes: Ignorance is a weakness, Ignorance is a sin. This is probably one of the most gripping pages in the manga. It’s just so… depressing.

when he’s approached by the WISE guy, he really views it as the only chance he has, the only reason he can keep going.

The train station scene is also very important. We see the man ask why he’s doing this, and He sees a group of kids pass him. We focus on his eyes. This is why he’s doing this. He wants to make sure no child ever lives the life he had to live. He wants to make sure no child has to cry.

But he doesn’t realize it.

Twilight’s backstory doesn’t have a happy ending. Sure, the chapter ends happy, but you can’t help but feel… dark after the chapter concludes. You realize just what brought Twilight to how he is today. You realize that, deep down, he’s just [REDACTED], a small child who wants nothing more than to be comforted.

[super-hero-confessions]

Interesting that the people who hate or criticize Captain America do so because they think he's the classic American white boi like Homelander without realizing he is a more direct and nonsatirical criticism against what makes a Homelander or the Homelander mentality.

Cap's meant to represent what Americans should strive for while harshly critisizing the worst of what America is and has done. True patriotism is recognizing the problems at hand and doing your best to work on and improve them, especially when you have the power to do so. And 616 Cap has. When he's wrong he admits it and tries to do better. Having consideration and compassion for others. This would be why he has lost faith in the flag many times, wore that gaudy awful Nomad suit and literally fights against the U.S. government when he knows what they're doing is wrong.

Also why he has multiple enemies that are actual white supremacists or pro-America propaganda white bois. And why those in universe assuming he is an authoritarian propagandist who works solely for government interests are portrayed as obviously wrong or being proven wrong. Almost all of his enemies are Nazis which is more than can be said about 99.9% of Golden or other Age comics trash.

Being the "1940s white man" and a "disabled Irish kid no one looked twice at" as Steve Rogers who disagrees with everything his time period supports helps drive the point home that it shouldn't matter what you are or where you come from, you should always try to do what's right. Hammered in further by the Cap mantle being taken on by others of different backgrounds and experiences following the same philosophy and trying to spread that same beautiful and essential message.

"Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world -- "No, you move.""

"We must all live in the real world… and sometimes that world can be pretty grim. But it is the Dream… the hope… that makes the reality worth living. In the early 1940s, I made a personal pledge to uphold the Dream… And as long as the Dream remains even partially unfulfilled, I cannot abandon it!"

But basically and ironically, who he is and that the Cap mantle's been passed around is ignored. He's hated for all the wrong reasons of what he literally isn't and it makes them massive hypocrites who refuse to see past their own prejudice and bias, just like the racists who 'love' him for the same wrong reasons.

Fascinating and a bit hilarious. But also deeply tragic.

Think it may be time for them follow Cap's example and start learning to do better instead of just being bitter.

Oh, and Cap and Co. would definitely vote for Bernie. He even dated a Bernie!

[puppy-coded]

Kid Prep{S.H.}

✰ 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: a single sex joke, a single mention of sex

✰ 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: Steve Harrington x fem!reader

✰ 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 482 words

“Six kids?!” You screeched into the BMW. 

Steve held a hand up to his ear. “Yeah, so?”

You turned and put your leg in front of you in the seat. “That’s so many! Are you aiming to raise your own circus?” You asked, honestly concerned for Steve. 

Steve looked flabbergasted by your suggestion. “No! I’ve just always dreamed of a big family is all. Don’t want my little nuggets-”

“Ew.” You interrupted, grimacing at his choice of words.

Steve opened and closed his mouth a few times before responding. “Ew? What do you mean ‘ew’?” He asked, gripping the wheel a little harder.

“Your ‘little nuggets’.” You said with air quotes. “That doesn’t do anything in your mind? Because that’s honestly gross sounding.”

“Just let me have a tragic backstory.” Steve complained.

“Okay, okay.” You replied, putting your hands up in mock defense.

“Anyway! Before I was rudely interrupted-”

Lucas, Dustin, and Max all groaned. They were squished into the backseat and looking bored. 

Steve turned around for a moment to scold the kids. “Do you mind?” He turned back around to face the road. “I will pull over and drop all of you off on the side of the road.” He threatened, looking at them in his rear-view mirror.

“You’d make a great dad.” Dustin said sarcastically, rolling his eyes and resting his head on his hand.

He shook his arms and “cracked” his neck dramatically to get ready again. “Now, let me do my thing.” Steve said, almost whining. 

“Says Steve every night alone in his bedroom.” Lucas joked.

Everyone in the car burst out into laughter. Except for Steve.

Steve let out a mocking laugh. “Yeah, haha, funny. Laugh it up.” 

“Still want those six kids?” You asked. You kissed his cheek to soften him up a little.

Like that would work.

“Yes!” Steve exclaimed. “I don’t want them growing up alone, I did that and it sucked.” He admitted.

“Aww! You act like we care.” Max responded, patting his shoulder.

Steve scowled at Max through the rear-view. “Can I drop them of now?”

“Will you drop your own kids off on the side of the road?” You asked.

“... No...” Steve responded after a couple seconds of thinking.

“Then no.”

Steve groaned. “What if the kids being a dick? Or a Max?”

“Hey!”

“No!” You yelled. “That’s a terrible idea.”

Steve groaned again and leaned his head back onto the headrest. 

“Also, we might want to consider adoption.” You said, getting your book from the floorboard.

“What? Why?”

You looked at him as if he was crazy for the nth time that trip. “Because I’m not pushing six kids out of myself for you.”

“Fine.”

“Ew! Gross!” Dustin exclaimed. “I don’t want to hear about my parents having sex!”

“You’re the assholes who can’t drive.” Steve pushed back.

“Steve.” You said gently.

“Yep, they’re fifteen. I know.” He nodded.