#just based on their appearance alone. because physically they ARE a child

[abyssembraced]

((Quick heads up that my portrayal of Ghost might seem a little inconsistent for a little bit. There are a couple things I'm not super satisfied with right now))

[felicjana050896]

A few words about Charlastor

Today I saw this post:

(Sorry, I can't post the link, Twitter doesn't want to work on my computer today :\ )

I will quote it here because it made me think again:

Currently, the closest person to Charlie is Vaggie, while Alastor invades her space, Vaggie and Alastor are opposed to each other, Vaggie wants to run a hotel for Charlie (her whole life is based on Charlie...), while Alastor has his own reasons (more on which later we don't fully know) and the two are portrayed as opposing forces pulling Charlie, Vaggie in one direction and Alastor in the other. Charlie's relationship with Alastor will deepen in future seasons (which the author wrote about, that Alastor and Charlie are the main characters of HH and what we see after the pilot), thus distancing it from Vaggie, which we see already in the first season (and what I wrote posts about ), that Charlie's relationship with Vaggie will surely deteriorate as it goes on, their quarrel over Vaggie's lie was, in my opinion, just the first glitch in their relationship (although not very well written in my opinion anyway), at some point in the story Charlie will had to choose between Vaggie and Alastor (and Niffty):

And considering the other screenshots, they are either forshadowings only to the fact that in future seasons Charlie will be getting closer to Alastor and away from Vaggie, or they may generally herald Alastor's victory over Vaggie, it depends, they are definitely confirmation that the further the seasons, the more Charlostor's content we will have than Chaggie's, the only question is which one will be the endgame?

Alastor stealing Charlie:

Significant bed scene, Vaggie wakes up without Charlie, alone, and Charlie is later in bed with Alastor on a heart-shaped pillow:

Besides, I read about Zoophobia and old sketches of Alastor and Autumn, and in my opinion Autumn reminds me a bit of Charlie... but in order.... First, let's go to Roo or Eve (if you prefer), well, I saw one Tik Tok and I definitely agree with it:

Charlie actually resembles Eve much more than Lilith, it always surprised me that Charlie has more father-like features both in appearance and character, and has none of Lilith's (especially when it comes to her ahem... physical qualities...), but I thought they just made her a typical "daddy's girl" and that's it... but if Eve is Charlie's mother and not Lilith..., we still had Lucifer's comment that he stole from Adam both wives, both Lilith and Eve, and although he married Lilith, he probably slept with Eve..., then the only question arises: why did Lilith decide to raise a child that was not her own?

Roo (Eve):

Charlie:

Lilith:

Lucifer:

Charlie and Eve (Roo) have exactly the same nose, the same lines under their eyes (Charlie in his demonic form has them) and the body sharp is the same, Lucifer by the way does not have a nose (:D), Lilith has a completely different nose, only Eve's nose matches Charlie's....

Moving on, we know that Alastor made a deal with someone, many people speculate that he made it with Lilith, but there are also people who believe that with Roo and I, although I also considered Lilith at the beginning, it was thrown in our faces this 7-year break (that Lilith has not been in Hell for 7 years and Alastor disappeared for 7 years), seems too obvious..., moreover, we know that Lilith had a contract with Adam (end of episode 8), and Adam did not know Alastor, so how could Alastor have an agreement with Lilith and be with her for these 7 years in heaven, if Adam didn't know him at all..., while Roo..., and this is where the issue of Zoophobia begins, i.e. Viv's first idea, where most of the HH characters came from:

In Zoophobia we had the so-called KayCee, i.e. chaos itself and the main antagonist, interestingly KayCee liked apples (a reference to Eve and her picking an apple from the Garden of Eden, the first sin?):

KayCee had white hair, horns, and the original Alastor was in love with her:

So KayCee is nothing other than the prototype of Eve.

Moving on, the original Alastor was also obsessed with Autumn, the character of Zoophobia, a blonde deer:

Autumn is a very helpful and good-hearted character and: ,,Although outwardly he appears mature and rational, in reality he is extremely insecure, suffering from low self-esteem. Autumn continues to seek recognition and thanks from others for a little help from him, showing that he needs the appreciation of others. Autumn is also very sensitive and short-tempered: in the webcomic, when Rusty teases him about the little antlers, Autumn explodes in anger and violently scolds him."

Doesn't this in some way resemble the description of Charlie..., a girl with a good heart, wanting to help everyone, and also sometimes quick-tempered (when, for example, heaven rejects her or when Susan pisses her off :D )

So we have Eve, who used to be KayCee, and Charlie, who has a lot of Autumn in her, and if it turns out that Charlie is actually Eve's daughter, Charlie will be a combination of KayCee and Autumn, considering her appearance and character traits are taken from both, two characters that the original Alastor was crazy about ;)

And finally, some shots of Charlie and Alastor:

And remember about Niffty and KeeKee, they are very important, after all they are in the HH logo :)

KeeKee, a pet belonging to Charlie and Niffty, Alastor's ,,pet" ;)

Sorry for the long post again, but I just can't keep it short :D

Thank you for reading and have a nice day, evening or night :)

[koralinewrites]

60* Laito Headcanons

*about 60-

Just to say: these are headcanons. Nothing here is canon, though some are based off of canon things.

So, without further ado:

Can speak Italian (Think Maneskin)

Has beauty marks on other places of his face

Covers them up with makeup except for the one near his mouth because of the meaning (sensuality)

Pretty and he knows it

Cares about his appearance, like a lot

Has a 20 step skin and hair care routine

Despite being able to look good hair and skin-wise, he has NO fashion sense

Takes good care of his nails

Paints them as well

Knows how to do makeup

Doesn’t like how his eye shape mirrors Cordelia’s (not that big a deal, but enough to make him slightly uneasy)

Enjoys giving acts of service and physical touch

Enjoys getting words of affirmation, as he takes things people say about him to heart (though he’s good at hiding it)

Thighs man. Self explanatory

Favorite color is actually blue

This one is canon, but eh- VERY good singer

Has perfect pitch

Will sing to himself when he’s alone

Notable difference between his ‘fake’ happy voice and his REAL happy voice

Eyes sparkle and notably perks up when he talks about something he enjoys

Speaking of which, LOVES to talk about historical paintings

Interested in the way painters can capture emotion in the eyes of a painting

Music taste ranges from Brittney Spears to Mitski

When he was a child, would jump in place when he was excited

This changed to tiny little hops by just lifting his heels off the ground quickly

Has been with men before; 10/10, would do it again

Pan Laito supremacy

Favorite animals are foxes and cats

Slightly jealous of how Subaru is quite literally Snow White when it comes to animals

Has tried baking before. NEVER AGAIN.

Enjoys gossiping a lot

(Now let’s get to the sadder ones-)

Has issues biting his lips and the inside of his cheek, as well as slightly fidgeting with his fingers/nails

Does the ‘shaking your hands’ thing when he’s nervous

Still every now and then has nightmares about.. her… and wakes up in a cold sweat

Can easily space out during a conversation

Even if he’s actively IN the conversation; his brain just goes on autopilot

This happens quite a lot when he’s flirting with a girl

Very easily switches between having a mental breakdown to being ‘perfectly fine’

If you’re close enough to him, you can hear the VERY slight shake in his voice that signals he’s not okay-

Doesn’t like the color purple, specifically THAT shade

Originally didn’t like green either, and hated himself for his eye color

That changed over time after watching Ayato

Speaking of which, cares very much for his brothers

All of them, not just Ayato and Kanato

Is a very empathetic person, actually

Biologically the oldest of the triplets, so feels very protective of them in his own way

Can easily pick up on Subaru’s suicidal tendencies

Game recognizes game

Silently watches Reiji, making sure he doesn’t overwork himself

Same with Shu, but just making sure he actually eats when needed

Sometimes talks Ayato out of stupid shit, but only if it puts their lives in danger

Doesn’t know what he can do for Kanato anymore, so just watches over him silently

Has stolen (or tried to steal) Subaru’s knife before

Secretly looked through Reiji’s things to see if there’s something to kill vampires that he’s just hiding

‘Walk in the road without looking both ways’ reckless

Says it’s because he lives how he wants, but we all know the real reason

Mostly breaks down in the shower when he can be alone and no one hears him

A very small part of him does regret what he’s done to women in the past

Has nightmares also about them coming back to hurt him for what he did

Honestly would accept it

Despite trying not to get attached to people he’s hurt, there’s still a small part of him that belongs to them

[samble-moved]

reminder that homura is a middle schooler. she is 13 or 14 years old, depending on source. she is not old enough to drive or have a permit. she is not old enough to live on her own (it's implied her parents are out of the picture in some way — in the US she'd need to be in adoptive or foster care, or at least have a guardian or social worker, but this appears to be handwaved in the series and none are ever shown). she cannot vote. she is not old enough to get a job (earliest i've seen is 14 in the US, and that's usually in not great environments, in summer, and for low pay and short hours). she is only "independent" in the sense that it's forced upon her by lack of any adult support — nobody helps her fill out school transfer forms, she lives alone, she has no shown family or even mentions of relatives, nobody visits her in the hospital, etc.

i say this because a lot of "anti homura" arguments act as if this information doesn't exist, and that homura is "actually an adult" or at the same level as one due to looping. she canonically is not. her brain and physical body are not developing, she is only learning walpurgis tactics and memorizing test answers. her brain is not developing so she's not "mentally 26", like is often claimed by "homura is a predator" truthers. i'm not even going to touch on how weird and borderline creepy it is to say "she's a child but so mature for her age (from extreme, repeated, potentially pre-series trauma), so she must be an adult and can be treated like one".

there is a reason that children are typically tried differently in the US. unless "tried as an adult" for very serious crimes, it is widely accepted that children (and even young adults) are more impulsive, think less rationally, and are generally "less responsible" for their actions due to not having the experiences of a full grown adult. children are less mature, more prone to "overreaction" and panic, and are immature — because they are kids.

homura is a child. she also has extreme trauma, potentially from before the series even began (where are her parents? are they just neglectful? dead? why isn't there even a single adult helping her?) that is never helped or addressed. homura doesn't get help for any issues she has (obvious ptsd and depression, borderline delusions over the past being "just a dream" in wraith arc). she is not some spoiled, rich, mentally stable almost-adult who's never faced a consequence. she is a young and traumatized teenager, young enough to be a middle schooler, and has experienced:

neglectful, absent, missing, or dead family/parents

watching her friends die horrifically almost a hundred times

having zero adult support at all, no caseworker or help

bullying, half being because she's disabled

having her soul ripped from her body without consent and learning if she ever loses her soul gem (or god forbid accidentally drops it somewhere), her body will basically be "dead"

learning she and all her friends turn into eldritch horrors when they die, a process shown in rebellion to be something they are aware for (aka the horror that witches aren't "just" bodies being moved, they are actively and constantly suffering and aware to some degree the whole time)

learning that the witches they fight are girls around their age who fell into despair, and not purposeless monsters

learned of the prospect that witches can potentially "regrow" via familiars, thus if their consciousness transfers, this shows the possibility of literally eternal suffering as the witch is "reborn"

realization that, the more she tries to save madoka, the worse the situation gets

having a full on breakdown with delusions in wraith arc, thinking maybe madoka was all just a hallucination or a dream she had

finding out in rebellion it wasn't a dream, but then thinking she betrayed madoka by not stopping her from contracting

becoming a witch whose whole theme is based around suicide and wanting and waiting to die, but not being able to

being a witch whose familiars are malicious towards her and belittle her

trying to "fix" her believed betrayal of madoka by making a new world, ending up hated by sayaka and isolated from her friends

is still stuck as a witch while the last event happens!!! (her soul gem is never shown purified)

all of this while she is 13-14.

homura is not some cruel adult playing god because she is bored and likes the power trip and wants the world to burn. she is a deeply traumatized and mentally ill child who never got help. she is not a predator — and i honestly don't know if that is more of a "she's a predator because she's the most openly sapphic" or "she's a predator because she's traumatized and thus 'acts weird' due to trauma" belief nowadays in most anti-homura spaces, i've seen both. she is not a murderer or rapist or whatever else i've seen (yes, "homura is a sexual predator" claims exist, despite this never once even being implied). she is not an abuser — you can argue she's cold or rude, but she is not "an abuser".

if a child like homura existed irl (and they do exist), a professional's first thought would not be "this is an evil, irredeemable, abusive predator who can be treated like an adult", it'd likely be a reaction of horror and deep concern of "what happened to this child to make her act this way?". someone being "the perfect victim" — that is, being soft, demure, sweet, docile, flawless — in response to trauma is a harmful myth for a reason. some trauma victims will react with anger. some may be overly happy in an attempt to prevent further abuse. some, like homura, end up acting "cold" to try and avoid being further hurt. it doesn't mean homura doesn't experience emotion, hates her friends and wants them to suffer, is a predator, is "a bad person", etc.

think! when you write posts about how homura is actually an evil, awful, no good, very bad person with no positive traits, remember she is a middle schooler. of course, she's not a "real" child, and thus doesn't exist to have her feelings hurt over it, but consider this: would you say these things to/about a real child? are you aware that "real children" (often victims of trauma themselves) relate to homura due to this? i was one of them at 14ish, and while "homura is evil [for acting like a traumatized child often does]" discourse never left me particularly hurt, i know it does genuinely upset several people i know. and if you had, say, a real life child relative who acted "cold" after seeing their friends die horribly, would you call them an evil and irredeemable abuser as well?

[punkeropercyjackson]

Why Percy Jackson is a transfem character and always has been

So!!Obligatory 'i'm a trans man,not a trans woman' disclaimer but this analysis is based purely off 1.Percy's canon personality,relathionships and story and 2.Irl transfeminine experiences that i know a lot about thanks to having a lot of transfem friends.Said friends have also listened to my reasoning behind tgirl Percy and agreed with me if not having the hc for her already and every other transfem Pjo fan i've seen i don't personally know also say her narrative is trans woman's one too and they always understand Percy's characterization better than anyone else in the fandom(certainly better than 'himbo/malewife/babygirl-coded/slutty bisexual Percy' believers)and as a Percy kinnie it's been the take that's felt most correct to me ever since i first read Pjo,10 years ago much,MUCH before i even realized i'm queer.So with that,let's dive into why Percy is a girl quasi-canonically,including that Rick Riordan has refered to her as straight but never cis!

Trigger warnings:Misogyny,child abuse,ableism,Luke's canon pedophillia and grooming with an alluding to how it applies to Percy being female(that is not dived into!),a slang word for pedophile that's used as an insult to P*rcicos potrayal of her and internalized transmisogyny

Percy's personality

Now,as i've said before,Percy's not all that actually gendered as male-Meaning,none of her attitude or behavior or interests are masculine and are misenterpreted as such due to misogyny and gender essentialism.Percy has poor social skills,anger issues,merciless tendencies,a strong sense of justice,self-worth problems,a very odd sense of humor that always lands and respects women to the point of thinking they're better than men and none of these are gendered traits but a mix of audhd-dyslexia and trauma.The last one is arguably actually a girl thing even if there's an in-universe reason for it(good mom,deadbeat birth dad,abusive stepdad,most antagonists being older men in power and the first older person she thought she could trust was just manipulating her)

Percy also frequently complains about having to act like a stereotypical guy to have to fit into society's standards because naturally,she's just not-She's completely unconvential even amongst 'other male' demigods and this is reguarly commented on.In fact,there's a whole plot in Titan's Curse of her proving to the Hunters that she's NOT a normal 'man' and it's a huge thing that's reinforced as true the whole franchise!Zoe was right about cis men being ass and that's not 'r*dical feminism' and ngl a lot of y'all are telling on yourselves because she never talked about biology in her misandry,especially because Zoe appears to be around the same age as Thalia physically and mentally so it's super icky to throw t*rf accusations at her because she's traumatized by ancient greek men,one of the worst kinds of men ever!And Percy's totally unlike them despite being amab and identifying male not because 'not all men' but because she's actually a woman

This is a direct contrast to how she talks about and interacts with other girls-Almost every female character earns her worship on first meeting,even if she dosen't like them as people.She puts a heavy emphasis on them being girls in her narration and some dialogue too and her descriptions of them are so admirative they come as envious with her own insecurities in her looks.Percy is severely lacking in any kind of masculinity and Piper even pointed this out based on her vibes alone after hearing all about her at camp and thinking she'd be a macho man based off how people talk about her and i'm unsure if this is a common phenomenom but i frequently see and hear people say daughters tend to look like girl versions of their dad's and Percy is said to be identical to Poseidon but with softer features and the idea Percy should tie herself to masculinity due to it being expected of amabs is contradictory to canon's messages in addition to it's irl sexist implications and the sea is frequently associated with femininity(mermaids and sirens,calling ships 'she',pearl jewelry,the term 'Beach Bunny',the moon controlling the tides,etc)

And small final note:The rock music scene is filled with transfemmes and has been for a long time and while blue things are usually associated with boys,it was Percy's mom who got her to love them

Percy's relathionships

Almost all of Percy's friends growing up were girls-Annabeth,Silena,Thalia,Bianca,Zoe,Clarisse and Rachel vs just Grover,Beckendorf and Nico.She thinks The Stolls are annoying as shit with their 'boys will be boys' beat and she hates male gods on sight and implies she finds them being super conventionally attractive to be offputting instead of appealing.Nico had a crush on her until they got closer and realized she's not an ideal man like he thought she was and therefore 'cute but not his type'(I have no opinion on Solangelo but i got beef with the shippers for making this about blonde hair and blue eyes instead of transfem Percy,especially the trope of Percy acting like a kiddy fiddler over what Nico said as a joke)and she takes responsibility of him post Bianca's death and Nico exclusively wishes for older sister figures,never old brother ones

Percy and Rachel is a classic irl dynamic between transfems and their afab friends:Dating to exes to even closer friends.Rachel is a pretty typical lesbian if we're applying irl wlw things too and Annabeth is clearly a huge lesbian-Like seriously,she only ever showed attraction to Luke and Percy and Luke was comphet in her words('You were like a brother to me but i never loved you')and lesbians experiencing attraction to uncracked eggs is semi-common and she's got tons of subtext with Piper and Reyna and shows a strong distaste for the expectations of cisheterosexual womanhood,mainly femininity.Reyna is yet another comphet lesbian-coded who was into Percy.Clarisse,textually butch,calls her 'Prissy' and Piper,canon unlabeled sapphic and gnc,described her as not masc enough for her taste

Percy's relathionships to older male characters combined with her transfemininity,youth and constantly being described as 'other' from ordinary half-bloods by them function with no need for change as a potrayal to how corrupted men in power treat girls-Not women,underaged girls as Percy is 12 at the start and 18 now and we've yet to get interactions with her and male gods in the current canon timeline so all their abuse of her and innapropriate undertones in their behavior towards her were when she was underaged.This includes but is not limited to:Ares' condesension and (non-sexual) assaults,Apollo's very possible constant flirting that would definitely be textual if Percy was intended as a girl by Rick seeing as Apollo had no problem hitting on the Hunters and Reyna and her entire relathionship with Luke.Luke is canonically a serial pedophile,implied to sleep with Kelli and a raging misogynist and Percy was one of the first victim's of his gaslighting and he tried to kill her after framing her his crime against the gods in an isolated area they'd been alone in together a lot and widely noted to have accidentally been writen flirting with her throught the series by the fandom so i can't help but take Luke.rcy as a male explotation and grooming narrative

Artemis,an archaic symbol of lesbians,loves Percy and considers her above any man.Aphrodite gave Percy advice on her looks by saying everyone deserves to feel perfect in their skin to achive true perfect beauty.Persephone,one of the og csa narratives,said she likes Percy because she's 'brave' with the implication being that again,she can tell Percy is different from usual 'male' half-bloods.Hera is the goddess of traditional marriage and holds a violent resentment towards Percy for disrupting the system.Percy at her core is meant to come across as like a male god but not actually being one and actively not wanting to become one out of hate for authority and traditionality

And another small final note to a section:Frank is trans man-coded(his arc is about being emasculated and saying 'fuck you!' by making his own manhood and Mars' blessing is explicitly compared to testosterone and gives him a huge confidence boost)and they're paralleled as fundamentally similar yet also fundamentally different,Nico and her act like an eldest daughter and a middle brother where she's a pseudo-mom to him and queer siblings and Jason falls under transmasc norms(the ex-wolfkid thing,positive and healthy masculinity,creating a new self after loosing his old idealized one and Team Dad)and instantly became Percy's best friend and is her complimentary foil and 'counterpart' so transmasc4transfem realness

Percy's story(and how it all comes together and would've been improved by canonizing her as a trans woman)

Percy Jackson means 'Outcast who looks out for other outcasts'.She's so unique as a character because she was and is still genuinely a huge weirdo,not just nonhuman,she is human even if it's only half-That's only half of who she is(She's totally a Gwen Stacy variant btw).Being a trans girl would do nothing but enchance her core aspects but also work as a fixit to various canon writing problems!

Percy is femme so that'd give us positive girly girl rep to make up for all the pick me feminism.Annabeth'd have no reason to lash out and give her mixed signals since she's not a boy so their dynamic is improved.Nico's crush fades upon finding out she's a girl so they become best friends and found siblings like they were always meant and wanted to.It causes shifts in the plot that bring a bigger focus on the girlhood aspects of Greek Mythology seperate from romance retellings and a much needed change too:Percy as the hero of the Great Prophecy.Luke was a raging misogynist,a racist,a child groomer,a fucking pedophile and an entire fascist who lied about revolution to ruin society instead of fixing the system.Percy is a lifelong punk,an anarchist and a proffessional instigator and was trying to stop Luke's fuckery from 12 to 16-She's the greatest greco-roman hero ever.TGP was operating on Ancient Greek logic but Pjo isn't Ancient Greece,it's Percy's story-How she forced the gods to change with no choice by SHOWING how much stronger and more etheral she is than them

BUT WAIT,THERE'S ONE MORE FINAL NOTE!!!!!Percy would be a million times happier as a trans femme than as a cis man.She gets to transition and not have to be an ordinary male she's NOT so she starts loving and accepting herself way more as she changes into who she wants and deserves to be and we should all want that for her too.The truth is she's nothing like Hercules,she's unimpressive as a man,Nico believed she was a real male hero but she failed at being a performance of it based off what he knew of men and now they're cool and he thinks Percy's cute but not like that,she thinks aggressively male men are wicked and not all that handsome,Rachel made her feel normal because she's not a normal girl (either),Annabeth has princess hair and had a makeover at a magic spa and she strikes fear into hearts in a way only girls can and she wants all that too,she also wanted to be treated like Thalia so bad,Jason is the Superman she's been waiting for her whole life

She's the mom to Nico and Hazel Sally was to her,she's a rocker chick,she was on the swim team in high school and went to protests and did charity events with that frizzy neurotic girl she's attached to the hip with,she loves burgers and desserts,she's got streaked hair,she uses 2000s and 90s slang completely unironically and she just wants people to think she's normal but still get to be herself.The sea does not like to be restrained

[morelikeravenbore]

✨ Ominis Gaunt headcanons

This lovely anon (as well as a few others) asked if I'd consider writing my Sebastian Alphabets for our favourite Slytherin Heir, but as a girlie whose brain space is 99% dedicated to Sebastian Sallow and like, 1% dedicated to, I dunno, survival and stuff, I struggled lol. Instead, I'm here to offer you some of my personal Omnom headcanons based on how I write him as a seventh year in How to Make a Villain, post fifth-year events.

(trigger warning: he's sassy and traumatised because that's just how I imagine him.)

Enjoy under the cut! (SFW!)

✨ He's a Cancer sun, Libra rising, Capricorn moon.

Cancer sun: Hard outer shell, soft squishy middle; deeply emotional but retreats into his hidey hole when triggered, emotions shift as often as the moon phases; cares deeply.

Libra rising: refined, pretty, physically attractive, charismatic; focused on justice and fairness, right and wrong; drawn to refined pleasures: art, music, fine food and clothing.

Capricorn moon: practical, rigid, dutiful, committed; craves stability; can appear cold and unfeeling on the surface, prone to pessimism; does not take shortcuts, does not look for the easy way out.

✨ He plays piano. (Duh, that's practically considered canon by now). Without sight, music is how this li'l Libra rising bebe appreciates and creates beauty.

✨ Being a member of high pureblood society, he is fluent in French. As a child, he spent his summers in southern France with his family, who own a manor in by the ocean. (Later, after he befriended the Sallow twins, he spent his summers in Feldcroft instead.)

✨ It was fearless little Anne Sallow who reached out to Ominis in their first year, and thus Anne, not Sebastian, was the first friend Ominis ever made. This friendship signified a profound change in his life: he never expected to make a real friend, let alone have anyone show him the kindness, tolerance and companionship that Anne did. His friendship with Sebastian, though a by-product of his closeness with Anne, grew more slowly, but by the time their first year was over, the three were inseparable. His friendship with the Sallow's gave Ominis the first sense of belonging in his life.

✨ Due to his deep-seated abandonment and trust issues, the damage to his friendship with Sebastian after the events of fifth year are near irreversible; worse than Solomon's murder was the loss of Anne, which Ominis blamed solely on her brother. But beneath this resentment toward Sebastian, buried so deeply he never fully acknowledged it to himself, was a festering anger towards Anne for leaving him. She was the first person he ever loved (platonically or otherwise, it's up to you), and though he understood her reasons for leaving, her absence felt like another abandonment. It was easier to project this anger Sebastian than ever admit that he was angry at Anne, too.

✨ To keep Sebastian out of Azkaban after Solomon's murder, Ominis had to call upon his family for help. In exchange for their covering up the incident, he was forced to pledge his allegiance to furthering the Gaunt legacy. Thus, he gave up his dreams of freedom and living as his own person. He'd always harboured a secret desire to pursue music, perhaps study abroad in France, but instead had to promise to fulfil his "familial obligations" to the Gaunt's by marrying a woman of their choosing and working in whatever influencial Ministry role they assigned him.

✨ Romance. Given how cruel his family is, Ominis vows to never fall in love. The idea of condemning someone he actually cares about to the Gaunt name and legacy is unbearable — he'd sooner enter into a loveless, arranged marriage than inflict that sort of pain onto another innocent person. That's not to say he won't ever fall in love, but it would take a very, very special person to capture his attention and break through the many (many) defensive walls he's put in place around his heart.

And here's a little snippet of Sebastian and Ominis' dynamic in How to Make a Villain, which you can read on wattpad or ao3 if you like :)

[wixhing0nastar]

Abuse Narratives in RWBY: Yang Xiao Long Edition (Feat. Ruby Rose)

We've all witnessed and talked about Blake and Weiss being abuse survivors for years. Blake escaping from Adam and Weiss escaping from her father were both huge, impactful events that have shaped the narrative of the story in many ways.

Yang on the other hand has managed to fly mostly under the radar with the abuse she's suffered up to this point. Her jokey, happy-go-lucky facade tricking the audience just as well as it has her friends and family for years.

(Note: this is going to be a long post, so strap in. Also this is your warning I am not going to be holding back in my criticism of Tai, so if you don't want to see me go into detail about how exactly he abused Yang, I highly suggest turning back now).

TL:DR: Yang was neglected and parentified (aka: abused) as a child and that’s the root of a lot of the issues that she’s currently struggling with in Volume 9 and a large part of her healing is going to be centered around her relationship with Blake going forward.

Let's start by establishing what exactly I'm referring to when I say that Yang has been abused. Because while I'm certainly referring to her being neglected after Summer's death, I'm more so referring to the years of Parentification that was caused by said neglect (in addition to the verbal and emotional abuse hurled her way).

Let's start by defining what exactly Parentification is since it's where most of Yang's current problems stem from.

[Parentification is] a disturbance in the generational boundaries, such that evidence indicates a functional and/or emotional role reversal in which the child sacrifices his or her own needs for attention, comfort, and guidance in order to accommodate and care for the logistical and emotional needs of a parent and/or sibling. (Hooper, 2007b, p. 323)

Ruby establishes in Volume 9, Chapter 1 that Yang was the one who raised her. It's important to note that in the context of her saying that, she's telling Yang that Yang was the one responsible for her moral development as a kid.

Research has shown that the building blocks for morality are generally in place by the age of 4. However, "children need adults to help them at every stage of childhood to nurture these seeds into full development." (Harvard, Raising Caring, Respectful, Ethical Children, p. 1) With "childhood" commonly considered infancy to age 12.

Using this we can reasonably assume that Yang was Ruby's primary caretaker or at the very least co-parenting with Tai from the time of Summer's death to at least age 14 (when Ruby was 12)... which mind you, is already over a decade total and only three years before the show starts.

Now that we've got some of the science out of the way, let's start looking at the show itself to see just how bad the situation was.

Burning the Candle

This iconic scene actually paints a fairly horrifying picture of Yang and Ruby's early childhood when you start to break it down.

I waited for dad to leave the house.

Meaning that by that point, probably only a few months after Summer's death based on the timeline Yang establishes, Yang already knows Tai will reliably leave her and Ruby alone without supervision for extended periods of time in order to pull this off.

I must have walked for hours.

Meaning that it likely took several hours for someone to even notice they were missing in the first place. The fact Qrow knew exactly where they were indicates that Yang either left a note or clue about where they were headed and I'm willing to bet the only reason it took Yang that long to walk was because she was like two feet tall at the time (since Patch is like... a tiny island... which brings me to the next line...

A toddler asleep in the back of a wagon

Again, to clarify, Ruby was a toddler. Toddlers are between 1-3 years old... meaning this all happened when Yang was a maximum of (and likely, based on their physical appearances) 5 years old.

So to summarize, Tai was regularly leaving Yang, his five-year-old, home alone and in charge of her three-year-old sister... which would be horrifying to think about on its own but this is Remnant.

Which means that Tai was regularly leaving his grieving five-year-old at home alone when they didn't live inside a kingdom's border and there were known wild Grimm in the area... who are attracted to negative emotions.

Wow... I wonder why Yang felt the need to try to diffuse the tension with humor and keep everyone in high spirits all the time. It’s almost like it was a life or death situation growing up. (/s)

Anger, Fear, and Burn

Before jumping into the next big narrative piece, let’s talk a little bit about Yang’s semblance, Burn, and how it works. Because it’s important to establish before starting to dig into Volume 4.

Let’s start with how Ruby describes it:

Don't worry! With each hit she gets stronger, and she uses that energy to fight back! That's what makes her special.

Notice how Ruby doesn't mention anything about Yang needing to be angry to use her Semblance? In fact, while it’s unclear if this is entirely true, it has been stated previously that Yang’s powers come in part from her hair and no one has refuted that claim in like 8 years so it holds some weight.

Moreover, recent volumes have actually been hinting that Yang likely doesn't even need to use her anger to activate/maintain burn. And that she just does so out of habit more than anything.

Now, why exactly would someone intentionally limit themselves by tying their semblance into in emotion like that? Well, first let’s answer the question, why anger?

And well... anger is a secondary emotion.

A secondary emotion is an emotion fueled by other emotions... masking your feelings of sadness, hurt or grief with anger can be easier than experiencing the primary emotion.

And moreover,

The feelings that anger commonly masks include fear, anxiety, guilt, shame, embarrassment, betrayal, jealousy, sadness, hurt, and worry. (Alta Loma, Understanding Anger as a Secondary Emotion, Web, emphasis added).

Fear is, of course, a bit of a running theme in RWBY, there was a whole speech and song about it at the end of Volume 7, after all.

But more than that, there've been two people on two separate occasions who've called Yang out for being scared when she's posturing: Ren and Raven.

And while Ren was pointing out that she uses humor to try to deflect when she’s scared, when Raven said this to Yang she was absolutely outwardly angry... and Yang admits to being scared in the moment yet still standing there.

Also note that humor = friends/winning, anger = enemies/losing.

Which makes you wonder, what was happening growing up that made Yang instinctively react to fear of danger with anger and planting her feet instead of running away? For that let's go back to what we learned from Burning the Candle and the V5 short real quick.

We know there are living Grimm on Patch. Maybe not as many as elsewhere, but both times we are given glimpses into Yang and Ruby's childhood on Patch they are attacked by Grimm, which isn't a great sign.

How old do you think Yang was the first time she or Ruby had a bad day and attracted one of them on accident and she had to fight it off on her own (because she couldn't run, she had to protect Ruby)?

How many nights do you think Yang would spend reading Ruby stories and telling her dumb jokes to get her to laugh to try to make sure they weren't attacked? How often did Ruby have to force herself to be okay? For both their sake?

Volume 4

Now let's talk about Volume 4, aka: when Tai had the chance to step up and didn't.

Now right off the bat he's okay. There's nothing inherently wrong with him bringing her the arm and being excited at the thought because he doesn't know how she's going to react to it though it is a little weird he opened her mail without permission.

The rest of Yang's first V4 episode, however, makes it very clear both to us as the audience and Tai that Yang isn't doing okay... but Tai doesn't do anything to attempt to help her.

Which is why what happens in the next episode is kinda messed up.

Yang wakes up from a nightmare about losing her arm in a seriously traumatizing event and goes downstairs when she realizes there's a distraction people are over.

Then we get the fight and despite Yang laughing it off in the end... honestly Tai is being very condescending towards her, which Yang even points out. Like, someone made a slightly adult joke in front of her and he flies off the handle and starts a fight with her and starts making digs about her not being a real adult ready for the real world and let's just break that down before dealing with the actual problems in this episode.

Yang, as established, has been fulfilling the role of parent (while barely getting any parenting herself) for years. She's been fulfilling the role of an adult since she was 5! And at this point in the show she's also legally an adult. So not only is it condescending, it's also untrue.

Then we get this line.

I guess you lost some brain cells along with that arm.

Not only is this beyond callus, Yang is clearly actually upset by this.

And notably, she only treats it as a joke after Oobleck dropped his cup. AKA: after being reminded that they aren’t alone in the room.

(And remember, Yang uses humor as a coping mechanism).

And both Oobleck and Port can clearly tell that this wasn’t appropriate at all and immediately following that, they pointedly step in to ask Yang how she is doing with everything.

Which Tai has not done.

And Yang opens up to them! And she tells them that she’s still struggling and coming to terms with what happened to her. Which in turn causes Tai to finally talk to her about it, but he’s being pushy about her getting back out and “being her new normal” and even refers to her PTSD as moping when she just got done saying she’s still trying to process and recover.

And it’s again Port specifically who steps in and gives her some genuine advice without trying to push her her into anything she’s not ready for and then Oobleck joins in and they go out if their way to ham it up to make her laugh.

So overall, Tai’s being extremely dismissive of the trauma that she’s gone through and minimizing her feelings at every turn.

Which then leads to this scene...

Which is when Tai’s dismissiveness starts to make sense (and I’ll come back to this when I’m analyzing the last episode).

Let’s break it down. To start, Tai knows that Yang is going up to her room, they pointedly have her call out goodnight from upstairs so Tai knows where she is physically and what her intentions are.

Secondly, there’s no way that Tai doesn't know you can hear people talking from the front door from Yang’s room. He’s owned this house for like two decades minimum at this point.

So when Oobleck and Port ask after Ruby, there’s no way he should assume Yang won’t be able to hear everything he says. And he very much lays the burden of Ruby’s safety at Yang’s feet. He’s not going after her because he has to “look after some things.”

AKA: Yang.

And then she comes to him literally the next day wearing the new arm and wanting to train and he doesn't question her at all, even though 12 hours earlier Yang was very much not ready?

We then don’t see her at all for five episodes until we get the scene where she’s training with Tai and honestly, his advice is kinda horrible.

To start, even he says his advice is based on watching her Vytal Festival fights, meaning that everything is based on watching three matches.

He points out she uses her semblance to win every fight after the qualifiers (which is true), and Yang rightly points out that everyone uses their semblances to help them win. Then Tai says this:

Because not everyone else’s is basically a temper tantrum.

Not only is this very unlikely to be true, but even if Yang does need to rely on her anger to activate her semblance, calling it a temper tantrum isn’t accurate at all.

In fact, the way Yang uses her semblance takes a great deal of emotional regulation to pull off. She not only is able to make herself angry enough to use it at will, she’s also able to stop using it at will. Meaning Yang is capable of instantaneously switching from one emotion to another.

That’s not a temper tantrum, that’s someone with superb emotional control choosing what emotion to feel when it’s most appropriate.

Furthermore, the “what happens if you miss” comment is so ridiculous I don’t even know how to start other than saying we literally saw exactly what happens when Yang misses her first attempt in Volume 2! When her semblance is being revealed! And the answer is... she gets another shot.

And if they’re stronger... like not using the thing that makes her ridiculously powerful is certainly not going to help.

And honestly... Yang doesn’t do what Tai says. He says it’s useful in a bind but Yang doesn’t use her semblance only in emergencies from here on end. In fact, what she actually does is pick up some tricks from Pyrrha and she starts hiding her semblance from people!

And noticeably, Tai isn’t the one who tells Yang to fight smarter. That’s a line of thinking she develops on her own between the first and second times she faced Adam.

And then Tai takes credit for her “suddenly” getting better like she hadn’t successfully hit him so hard he needed to take a pause and the fight he did win was only because he attacked her when she was being vulnerable with him... her father who she’s of course not going to assume is going to attack her while she’s opening up to him... because she wouldn’t do that to Ruby.

And then we get to Yang’s last (real) episode of the volume when she’s setting out to get Ruby. Remember when I said Tai’s dismissiveness started to make sense and we’d come back to it? Well we’re back to it.

Note how Yang pointedly doesn’t tell Tai that she’s leaving, despite him having indicated to Port and Oobleck that the only reason he wasn’t also going after Ruby was because he was staying with Yang?

And how in the end he doesn’t leave with Yang to go find Ruby even though supposedly the only reason he hadn’t was because he wanted to make sure Yang was okay? And now Yang’s going after Ruby? Alone?

Paired with how pushy and condescending he was acting towards her in the other two Volume 4 episodes he was in, on top of having neglected and parentified her for at least a decade, this really reads as him wanting Yang to get better so he can shove her out the door to go after Ruby, and not him caring at all about her as a person.

(Which is why I really struggle to feel bad for him in his V8 scene... if he was so worried he could have been there).

Yang’s Actual Temper Tantrums

Let’s address these really quick before moving on to the final section. We’ve actually seen/heard of four different instances where Yang actually was having something resembling a temper tantrum while using her semblance.

I’m going to start with the Neon fight because it’s the easiest. But Neon as a character relies on knocking her opponents off balance by getting under their skin in a fight. She tries to make them angry and yes, it does work on Yang in this instance. But that’s Neon’s whole thing, in any other match up Yang would have been fine.

The other three times all had to do with her hair (namely, when Junior gets her hair in her trailer, when the ursa gets her hair in the Emerald Forest and... in V4 when Tai refers to her having a rough first haircut).

Going back to the bit about how Yang’s powers, in part, come from her hair and this actually makes a lot of sense in the context of Yang’s childhood. If she was regularly in charge of protecting Ruby and some of the finite power she did have as a kid was because of her hair, of course she gets freaked out by losing some... and we’ve already talked about Yang using anger as a mask for fear.

Bumbleby and Volume 9

So let’s talk about where we’re going now, because of all three of the abuse survivors in this show, Yang is the only one who hasn’t really been confronted with and forced to deal with it yet.

Because at the end of the day, being parentified and neglected for years has left Yang scared to open up emotionally and more than that, uncertain of her identity outside of being Ruby’s parent.

Because up to going to Beacon, that was basically Yang’s entire life. It’s entirely possible the only reason she went to Signal was to learn how to protect Ruby better all things considered.

Which is why the development between her and Blake is so important this volume. Yang desperately needs to be valued as something other a caretaker and protector and so far they’ve been emphasizing the fact that Blake loves Yang because she’s a goofy dork who makes her smile, not because she’s strong enough to level a mountain.

And while Blake’s relationship with Adam was abusive, unlike Yang, Blake does have a framework for health relationships thanks to Ghira and Kali and she’s worked through her own trauma from being abused romantically enough that she’s in a place emotionally to help Yang start working though hers. Starting by giving Yang a person she can trust not to leave who also isn’t and has never been dependent on her to muck up Yang’s healing process.

Because there’s a difference between someone choosing to stay and someone not having any other choice because they were/are dependent on you. And (absolutely no shade to Ruby here) she’s already had someone in the latter position choose to leave her anyways.

In Conclusion

Yang was abused as a child and into her late teens and is in desperate need of some type of unconditional love and affection that she doesn’t feel there are strings attached to in order to finally begin healing...

And therapy, but they’re a little low on that for the foreseeable future.

[sprout-senior]

my personal headcanon for how monsters procreate in utmv/utdr: the babies just appear.

enough magic and intent from minimum two monsters will make a baby, it doesn’t matter what kind of intent etc(thinking of how PJ happened as a result of a battle between an alternate ink and error)

so there’s no incubation period. due to this, babies are that much more reliant on their parents for the first couple years of their life. basically proximity to their parents is vital to their physical and magical development; they CAN survive with only one parent’s presence, but it causes problems(i am yet again bringing up PJ and how they were raised primarily by ink for the first few years, don’t have a super solid physical form, and aren’t very powerful despite having two gods for parents. obviously my personal reasoning for this is not canon btw)

this period of necessary proximity to their parents does not HAVE to be the original monsters responsible for their creation. they can develop just fine with “surrogate” parents, given the magic bonds successfully. they CANNOT survive without consistent parents, for lack of better phrasing. if left alone or passed between caretakers too much over a long enough period of time, the baby will Fall Down and subsequently dust. fucked up i know but it’s my worldbuilding headcanon and i get to pick the rules

babies can bond with more than two parents! there isn’t a known maximum amount of parents, since no one has really tried to push the limits, but with several parents the baby will paradoxically take longer to develop their specific type of magic(their physical development is not stunted, but their personal magic takes longer because their soul has to “pick” between several different types of magic to base itself on)

once they’re around two, the baby’s magic type is “locked in”, so to speak. if there are several parents, it can take as long as three or four years in comparison. their power level is influenced by their parents, but not entirely dependent on them. some kids just have more of an affinity for magic, for no discernible reason.

part of what i really like about this headcanon is that gender and species are not factors in making a stable child! incest is still weird tho, i am not a fan of incest in any capacity. also, this means no monster has to deal with the absolute nightmare that is pregnancy. no morning sickness, extreme pain, risk of life, etc is involved. lucky bastards (obligatory “disclaimer this is not to discount the experience of anyone who has had good experiences with pregnancy and have things they really like about it. just bc i can’t personally empathize doesn’t mean i can’t understand that y’all’s experiences are vastly different than mine and you have a perspective informed by things i’ll never have the same level of knowledge and understanding of”)

uhhh that’s the main stuff, i think. literally the entire reason i came up with this idea is because i am just. deeply uncomfortable with mpreg and skelepreg. i don’t have any problem with people who DO like it, i just personally can’t deal. this will not affect my opinion of anybody, i need to make that abundantly clear.

in any case, any utmv/utdr monsters i make will have been born and developed this way. yes this applies to female mammal monsters, it applies to ALL monsters in my personal headcanon. maybe i don’t need to clarify that but whatever

if you like this idea, you’re more than welcome to adopt it! i think it’s an interesting piece of lore to incorporate in stories. i might even apply this to magic centered original works, unrelated to utmv/utdr, because i have become attached. i might not end up pursuing original stories, that’s not really what i’m interested in at this point in time, but i’ll always keep the option open.

if someone else has come up with an idea similar to this, that’s awesome! i promise i did not intentionally steal anyone’s idea, i am not currently aware of anything like it, so please extend some courtesy and understanding for me in the event that there’s a coincidence. i would request the same for if someone comes up with something similar AFTER this is posted, especially since i’m such a small creator without a whole lot of reach.

finally, if i’ve accidentally done something problematic here PLEASE tell me so i can fix it! i never want to cause harm with my work :)

if you’ve read this far, thanks! id love to hear your opinions and/or additions if you’ve got any!

[thelesbododo]

So I made a post asking about other people's headcanons for Nikolai's past and I'm gonna share mine now :)

Warning: It is going to mention death and abuse so if those are sensitive topics for you go ahead and ignore this post if you don't think you can handle it

(FYI some of this is gonna be based of the irl Nikolai, such as his and his parents' nationality)

Now here's so of the less sad bits,

Nikolai was born in a small village in Ukraine

His parents were Ukrainian, Russian, and Polish and spoke both Ukrainian and Russian, eventually teaching it to Nikolai

Now for the sad stuff,

Nikolai obviously has a more unnatural color scheme when it comes to his eyes and hair (whether or not his parents shared those traits idk)

Because of his unusual physical appearance and overly-happy personality, the people that lived within the village didn't take well to him, leaving him alone relationship wise for most his childhood

Nikolai didn't care much though, he could do almost whatever he wanted if no one else was around and that's what he did. He played in the woods, swam in rivers, etc

Because of the things the villagers said about him and his family, his parents began feeling ashamed of having him as a son and started treating him as if he was someone else's child (they didn't treat him badly but still not the way you should treat your child)

He didn't recognize this though as he wouldn't have any proper knowledge of what a family should be like and as a result he continued to love them

As Nikolai got older the abuse from the village became worse as they began spreading rumors about him and his family (and they might have bullied him)

After a while his parents shame became too much and they either abandoned him or killed themselves

Either way they left him alone

He tried to go for help but no one was willing to help him except for one man

Nikolai had never seen this man before but when he offered to take him in, Nikolai agreed

The man took him to his group of traveling performers/circus (ik it sounds like a weird root to take but just let me finish)

When Nikolai sees the group they seem upset that there was someone new joining. Nikolai doesn't think much of this because he's used to not being wanted

Now the man he met was the ring leader of group and as time goes on Nikolai realizes that this man is manipulative and abusive, keeping him and the other as prisoners

(Now because he is abusive idk whether to make Nikolai's scar be a type of branding or have be the result of abuse)

At a trauma response to the abuse Nikolai's ability activated making it worse for him as he had to incorporate it into his act (he didn't know he could transfer people through it yet)

As time went on his preforms personality mixed with his original, more or less creating what we have now

One day be snapped and killed the ring leader and stole either his hat or coat

He then decided to test using his ability on a person and when it worked he used it to escape

His time in the group is what began his obsession with freedom

Sometime after he met Fyodor and join the DOA

I don't think any of this is backed up by canon but it's what I ended up deciding on

(the preformer/circus part was completely based on how he acts and how he dresses)

[mdhwrites]

you've said the collector isn't a kid bc he's been alive for thousands of years, but isn't he still mentally (and physically for that matter) a kid though? or at least that's how i think the show wanted us to perceive him as

(though the show never makes it clear if the collector's species just age much more slowly than others, or if being trapped for so long caused this specific collector to never age during that time)

for the record i do 100% agree abt the collector being a monster, so i'm not trying to argue with you on that/excuse the collector's actions just bc """""he's a kid"""""

So... This is one of those things that can't really be proven or disproven. On the one hand, you have the fact that you do not need to be mentally a child to be childish. Also, you can also be a child physically but have had to grow up quickly so you have the worldview of an adult. Not only that but we don't know how his people age. He was apparently old enough to work with his brothers (he knew their guidebook on genocide) but... Apparently a couple thousand years hasn't changed him whatsoever.

The thing that stops me most from claiming he is a child... Is the Draining Spell. In fact, even more than his lines about playing in bones, how Belos likes to torture the Grimmwalkers, destroy them, etc. like that that proves he knows what death is and is kind of extremely evil with how much glee he takes of all of this, just the fact that he KNOWS the draining spell at all is not a good sign.

That is not a spell a kid learns. That is not a spell a kid is taught. MAYBE some very evil or naive kids might accidentally read it but to be able to regurgitate after having been away from such books for literally thousands of years? Let alone to be able to even theorize with someone else on how to do it on a race of people that didn't exist before you were imprisoned. That means you mastered that fucker. You are the draining king! You sapped the magic out of people for FUN. That is how much you like this spell.

Also, if we want to claim he's just a dumb kid who doesn't like death or hurting people, doesn't like mass genocide like his brothers did... What the fuck was the conversation with Belos? What was ANY of them?

"I wish for a spell that can kill all witches upon this land. To make them extinct."

"Oh, you just mean make them sleepy, right?"

"...What?"

Belos is not exactly a subtle person at the height of his ability, let alone as Philip who BARELY is even okay at his job. He used mercenaries and two people who obviously were ready to believe anything he said. MASTER MANIPULATOR! So how is it that the Collector's childish views made him okay with this? It's not like the witches imprisoned him? Hell, he was willing to work with the Titan Trappers who VERY explicitly wanted to murder Titans for him but he just calls them weird. Like... Collector, you had literally NOTHING else to do than talk to these two people. Did you literally never listen to ANYTHING they said?

It doesn't make the Collector come off as a child. It just makes it so S2 Collector is literally a different character. The two are entirely incompatible. Even if they acted the same, the knowledge base and morality of the two Collectors is too severe for them to co-exist.

BUT. Like I said: I can't firmly prove that the Collector does not have a child's mind because while S2 Collector absolutely is just childish and gullible, he is not naive nor is he a child, except in physical appearance. S3 Collector though? That's a lot harder of a sell. He literally just wants to have fun and friends and is too self centered to care about if other people are having fun too. His fun prioritizes everything. That... Honestly still isn't actually a kid's point of view. Kids aren't inherently monsters. They do feel bad for their actions, even if they want to be justified in having fun. Admittedly, the Collector does EVENTUALLY do this as well so it's still kind of there but really awkwardly when put beside even everything else in S3.

After all, he presents King with the same book that has his brother's instructions to kill everything. A kid would not pull that out. They wouldn't risk for a SECOND that being seen. At least... Not a ten year old like this. Not unless we want to say that the Collector is a literal toddler, which is not the vibe TOH is going for. No, he's old enough to know what he's doing is wrong, just not old enough to actually do something about it I GUESS.

You're not supposed to think about it, like most elements in the show. Just like how you aren't supposed to think about how Amity bullied Willow for YEARS. Or how Hunter has probably killed wild witches in the past. There are inherent, core parts of these characters that you're just supposed to ignore so that they can be redeemed and given hugs because they never actually did anything wrong. So the show can tell you they're good people, rather than addressing and showing how they've stopped being bad people.

So yeah, we can argue about if The Collector is or isn't meant to be a child. It doesn't really matter at the end of the day, especially when good luck being actually able to say one way or another. I still won't claim it. I will just claim that he is a monster before he is ANYTHING else.

And I think that's way more important.

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

It is fun how TOH takes a shot at redeeming the gems in SU and how the fandom rallies around killing the villain being TOH's final subversion when the Collector is RIGHT THERE. You know what also redeemed one character who then went into personally decided exile while also killing the big bad but did it way better? Amphibia with Andrias and the Core. *sigh* Just a side tangent from my Discord recently I wanted to share.

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

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

A Twitter you can follow too

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

[redtoondevils]

I've been noticing people giving their suspicious thoughts about Alone, from Little nightmares 3. The game that hasn't came out yet. And thought, that I want to share what I think about this.

We hardly ever know the girl. I am very late on this, and that is what I have been noticing a bit. It's because, since her skin color is very color based like Six's.

And perhaps her body language is noticeable, because Six also wipes her sleeve, on her face. I'm guessing that's why this suspicious thought started?

However, if I can point some differences should spare this trouble. I don't want anything bad, to do with this girl. I want to cover, the first detail, that Alone has red hair. It is obvious. Some people already, came up with other idea's, that the hat she wears, is not her real hair.

Okay, so...How can that idea be thrown onto just like that? How could she have the material to make something that she isn't seen to do?

Or even have the knowledge? How would this make sense, on where did she get it from? It's a random thing to say...

So, how about if I can recap some things? Six wants to escape from the world. She is a rather complicated, questionable child. It isn't simple to answer who she is. She also been through a lot of things, including the loss of her friend.

She escaped out of the Maw, and it's unknown where she has gone up to. There are other un explored locations, on the Map, that's not seen yet.

She was just standing out in the middle of the ocean. Waiting for a ship to pick her up. It so unclear how long she's been in the ship for. Maybe her next journey is inside the ship, and on an island elsewhere?

Next is her choice of wear. Honestly, if this were to remotely make sense, Six wears the raincoat, in contribution of her dead friend. Supposedly 'dead.' She wouldn't want to take it off, for no reason.

I don't think that Six would be able to overlap that suit on top of her raincoat, and wear that without overheating. I don't see why Six would take off her raincoat, and go into the desert.

With Alone's skin color. Naturally, red heads have fair white skin. Whereas Six's skin color is a pale white- grey undertone skin. Because of how malnutrition she is.

And back in the Maw, many kids with their model. looks like another Six design. The Runaway kid, looked alike Six. His physical appearance looks more boy like.

And lastly, Alones body language. This is the part where many people assume, that with her body language. Looking like how Six would behave, because of her unaffectionate personality.

She doesn't feel so closely to other kids. She prefers to be herself, usually. Though, that does not mean that, just because two characters have similar idol animations.

It doesn't instantly make them the same one. Just by Watching Alone, she appears to be more curious, and closer to Low. She looks more friendly, than Six. Six is more neutral. She doesn't communicate very much.

What's more is Alones description, it say's that she is a curious girl, and is a little tinkerer. So, already there's the impression, that she is in fact very playful, and cheeky. But, overall, a friendly kid. Fairly friendly kid. She doesn't seem to have any ill behaviors. If by violent.

But you know, many kids are not really healthy. You get my drift. Like I said, we don't know...At all anything about this girl. Those are these reasons I thought of, to keep her as her own character.

[the-tragic-heroine]

死鬼祭 | Shiki Matsuri

fandom: tokyo revengers

characters: kurokawa izana, kakucho, haitani ran, haitani rindou, madarame shion

pairings: tenjiku x female reader

cw: blood, violence, minor character death, supernatural elements, she/her pronouns used for reader

—✧ SUMMARY ✧—

The villagers say that you cursed them all. You believe that they were the ones who cursed you. (Or, in which the circumstances of your unfortunate birth woke a forgotten, slumbering god.)

Very vague depictions of the supernatural here, and a few cameos of specific yokai if you can spot them! Title is based off of a song by KODOKULOVE! More characters may be added as the story progresses.

Read on AO3 Read Chapter One

—✧ CHAPTER 弐 TWO ✧—

As years and decades and centuries passed, Izana watched the village lose its faith—and with it, his blessings. If he had been just a few hundred years younger, perhaps Izana could have had the strength to punish them for this crime, but even a god could not fight against the passage of time nor its fickle memories. Thus, he resigned himself to a deep slumber, along with his small following of lesser spirits.

Until the day a woman died in his abode. 

When he suddenly awoke to the piercing cries of a newborn baby, he thought it to be a cruel dream, but the renewed strength in the depths of his spirit said otherwise. Together, he and his servants emerged from the darkness that shrouded the shrine, approaching the shuddering and twitching body laying crumpled on the floor.

“Gods, please hear me,” she whispered, voice so soft it was as if each breath expelled yet another part of her departing soul. “Take my life, if only to spare my child.”

Izana allowed himself to appear before her. He crouched down into the inky blackness of blood blooming beneath her body, a hand sweeping sweaty locks from her forehead. Her eyes lit up in one last, brief moment of joyful clarity, a smile spreading across her face. 

“Thank you,” she said, and died.

When you too ended up in his arms, he found that you looked just like her.

—✧—

“I must thank you,” Izana murmured from where he sat by your futon. “I watched as you rebuilt my shrine, piece-by-piece, until you also rebuilt my form.”

Though he had healed your physical injuries, the mental scarring had left you confined in bed for some days. You could only nod mutely and stare at your hands, still trembling on your lap.

“I have nothing else,” you admitted. “I think it was just my way of paying respects to the mother that I never knew… and also giving myself a reason to live, in spite of everything.” 

“You are strong,” he said. “Because of your strength, we have regained ours.”

“I’m glad,” you sighed, closing your eyes.

“You can ask anything of me and I will grant it.” Though his voice was as soft and lilting as the day he saved you, the small smile on Izana’s face was tight-lipped and empty. “Do you perhaps wish revenge on the village who had forsaken you ever since the day of your birth?”

You froze, a myriad of thoughts swirling about in your head. Suddenly, everything hurt all over again. “I…”

Sending your distress, Izana rose to his feet and padded to the door. From over his shoulder, he said, “You do not have to decide immediately. Karma will find its way to those who have wronged you, in one way or another. In the meantime, I will continue my work to restore this place to its former glory.”

He pushed the fusama open and stepped through. “Until then, do as you like, little one.”

The door slid shut, leaving you in silence.

—✧—

Ever since that day, the strange entities that had always danced along your peripherals crawled to the surface of your vision. The spirits were everywhere, you realised, and in all shapes and sizes. Some were like a steadily creeping fog in the woods, others like tiny insects that jumped and played in your garden as you picked vegetables for dinner. None were malevolent, and it soothed your soul ever so slightly to know that though you had always thought yourself alone, it seemed that you never truly were.

“Shall I accompany you to the market?”

Kakucho, Izana’s right-hand man as you came to know him, materialized by your side at the front door where you had been putting on your sandals. It had been about a week since you finally gathered up the courage to set foot back in civilization, although it was also a byproduct of necessity, having run out of a few ingredients at home. 

“Can they see you?” you asked, after a brief pause.

“Not if I want them to,” he replied, offering a reassuring smile.

“Okay. Well, I guess it couldn’t hurt, then. Where is Izana?”

“He told me he has some business to take care of. I’m to look after you in his stead today.”

You nodded. Taking a deep breath, you straightened your shoulders, adjusting your grip on your basket. “Alright, let’s go.”

Though you had initially considered telling Kakucho to stay home—you were a big girl who could take care of herself, after all—you couldn’t have been more glad he came along. The moment you emerged from the brush and stepped within the boundaries of the village, you stopped right in your tracks. Though the morning was fairly warm, the sweat beading along your brow quickly ran cold.

“Kakucho,” you breathed out. “What is this?”

Tall and looming dark shapes draped themselves over rooftops, peered out from between houses, and crawled across the ground, trailing after giggling oblivious children. They dripped and oozed like tar as they melted in and out of walls, the sticky black gloop clinging onto any human who walked past. Unlike the spirits back at the shrine whose mere presence brought comfort—none of whom were to be seen nearby, you realised—the shadows haunting the village reeked of something truly evil.

“No one has cleansed this place in a long time,” Kakucho said, striding forward to stand in front of you. An inky blob the size of a dog was wriggling across the dirt in your direction. With one stomp, the thing screeched and dissipated. “This infestation has been growing for hundreds of years, all while Izana and the rest of us slept. If you hadn’t revived the shrine, I don’t think this village would have survived for much longer.” 

“Oh,” was the only thing you could think to say. Kakucho glanced over at you, expression softening. 

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll be right by your side. None of them will touch you.”

“…Okay,” you said, but before you could even walk a few more steps into the village, a shout turned both of your heads.

“It’s the demon child,” a middle-aged woman screeched, her face white as she pointed one shaky finger at you. “She has risen from the dead!”

All of a sudden, all eyes were on you—including those of all the surrounding malevolent entities. Frozen in both shock and confusion, you barely heard Kakucho curse under his breath.

Huh?

Voices raised into a crescendo from every single direction.

“I thought she was burned!” 

“How come she’s alive?”

“It’s an omen! Drive her out!”

“N-No,” you whimpered, eyes wide. “There’s been a mistake, I was never—“

The shadows were creeping closer, the villagers’ shouts growing louder. You didn’t even realize you were backing away until you hit a tree trunk. Amidst the chaos, your eyes zeroed in on the woman from before, pushing her way to the front of the crowd, angry tears streaming down her face.

“Because of you, my son won’t wake up,” she cried, shaking off those who tried to hold her back. “My son just went to visit your godforsaken shrine with his friends—and they all returned injured and near death!” 

What?

“I-I,” you stammered. “That can’t be right—“

“How dare you!” she shrieked, her accusations punctuated with sobs. “My boy, my only son… Wicked girl, what did you do to them?”

What did they do?

“I didn’t,” you whispered, head spinning. “They broke in— tried to kill—“

“Enough!” The woman crouched, bending to pick up something off the ground—and when she straightened back up, a rock was clutched in her shaking hand. Everything in your mind stuttered to a halt.

A rock, tossed up and down. A flame, pressed against your eyes.

“Get out,” the woman hissed with so much venom you felt it pierce through your skin. “Get out, and don’t come back!”

The rock sailed through the air in slow motion. The spirits laughed and jeered, rushing forward. A whoosh, the rumbling of robes flying through the air, and then… silence. You dared to crack open your eyes that you hadn’t even realised you shut.

“My apologies.” Kakucho’s quiet, deep voice cut through the air. It was only then you registered the familiar loud trill of cicadas that usually buzzed right outside your window. “I should not have allowed her to go to the village today.”

You blinked a few times. When your vision stabilized, you realised that you were indeed safely inside of your own room at the shrine, laid carefully upon your futon.

“No,” Izana said smoothly, and from the tone of his voice you could tell he was smiling. “It would have happened eventually.” As he spoke, his hand glided over your hair, like one would stroke a pet. In spite of yourself, your shoulders began to relax, your heart rate slowing.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, leaning over your form. “That must have been frightening. Don’t worry, you’ll be safe here from now on. If there is anything you need, I will send my men in your stead.”

“Don’t,” you blurted out before you could stop yourself. “Don’t kill them.”

Izana’s smile dropped as a darkness appeared to pass over his purple eyes. Your breath caught in your throat, but by the time you blinked, that placid, gentle smile was back on his face.

“If you insist,” he said. “Kakucho.”

“Yes.”

 “Tend to her. I have left Shion and the Haitani brothers to guard the shrine. For now, I have to return to my duties.”

“Yes.”

With that, he was gone.

“Are you alright?” Kakucho asked after a brief pause to watch Izana leave, touching your hand. His calloused fingers carefully unfolded your clenched fists, and it was only then you felt a stinging in your palms, your fingernails wet with blood from how hard they had dug into the flesh.

Instead of answering, you asked your own question. “What did you do?”

“Hm?”

“The kids,” you elaborated, swallowing down the lump in your throat. “What did you do to them?”

Kakucho’s jaw tightened a fraction and the jagged scar slashing over his face seemed to pulse. Still, he continued bandaging both of your palms. “Don’t concern yourself with them. It’s not your problem anymore.”

“It is,” you protested, sitting upright. Tears began to prickle at the corners of your eyes. “Because of me—“

“No.” He cut you off, eyes flashing. “Don’t say that. None of it was because of you.”

“I…”

He stood abruptly. “I’ll be making your dinner until your hands heal. Rest for a bit. I’ll let you know once it’s done.”

—✧—

“He really didn’t tell you, huh?” Madarame Shion cackled, throwing his head back as he laughed. “For the big boss’s right hand man and loyal killing machine, he sure is a fuckin’ softie.”

You flinched, grip tightening on your broom only to be rewarded with a dull, throbbing reminder of what had happened a few days prior. Though the cuts on your hands had mostly healed, the phantom pain lingered.

With all men away from the shrine today, you were left in Shion’s care. Perhaps you would have appreciated it more, had you still lived alone—but having already been spoiled by a diligent, responsible man like Kakucho? You sighed heavily, glaring from the corner of your eyes at where Shion lay sprawled on the floor you had just swept. As if on cue, he let out an exaggerated yawn, one hand sweeping messy blond hair out of his eyes. Above him, shrine lanterns blinked and laughed.

“Shut up,” he snapped at them. They giggled, eyes winking shut and vanishing from sight.

“Be nice,” you chided, nudging at his torso with one foot. “And please get up.”

“Don’t wanna,” he drawled.

“If Izana makes us do more housework cuz of your lazy ass, I’ll kill ya.” A voice drifted indoors and you turned your head just in time to see Haitani Ran’s tall figure ducking inside, his brother Rindou following close behind. The two crossed the engawa in a single long stride, entering the hall and stopping in front of Shion. Ran clicked his tongue and without missing a beat, Rindou delivered a swift kick to Shion’s side.

“Ow!”

“Get up, ya fatass.”

“Who’re ya callin’ fat?!”

“I’m leaving,” you grumbled, turning around.

“No, no, come back,” Shion called, finally scrambling to his feet and stretching obscenely. “I still didn’t get to tell ya about what we did. You wanted to hear, right?”

Ran hummed in interest. “Kakucho didn’t tell her?”

“Of course he didn’t,” Rindou scoffed. “The guy’s weak to girls, whaddya expect.”

Suddenly, you weren’t quite sure you wanted to know anymore.

“Izana told us about what happened at the village,” Ran said, faux sympathy dripping from each word. He sidled up to where you stood, still pathetically gripping your broom. One large hand closed over your own, the other tearing away the broom and tossing it aside with a clatter. “How easily children can lie to adults—and how easily adults can lie to themselves.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” you gritted out, but you couldn’t hide the way your voice wobbled. Ran smiled.

“We’ll tell you what happened,” he said like he were doing you a favour, index finger tracing the outline of your jaw. Behind him, Shion and Rindou laughed. “From the very beginning.”

[bonesandthebees]

Oh shit it’s been so long. What was my set up again? Right, split-screens so I can see the text while writing. (I am vibrating with excitement, I’d bounce up and down if I could.)

Anyway, I love how Tomys, while being the capable one, is still very much a child who doesn’t know everything. He goes and gets bowls because they need to drink. He knows to boil the water first. He can catch a fish with his bare hands, somehow. But he can’t actually cook. And he can only stay optimistic for so long.

Meanwhile, Wilbur is completely immobilised. He can’t go anywhere and he has no survival training, but he does learn to cook the fish. And he learns to improve with it. Like Techno says, they taught him to think and thinking is thinking. It’s the same with fixing his leg. He has not been taught, but he’s smart enough to figure out something that works based on what he does know.

Also, these boys have so much trauma. Not just the nightmares. Wilbur is developing separation anxiety towards Tomys. I wonder if that will go away once they are back in the palace. Right now it makes sense. It’s a survival mechanism. If something happens to Tomys, he’s due a very slow and painful death. Meanwhile, both of them also have nightmares. Tomys worse, because he’s just a little kid.

And just [Then, his eyes locked onto Wilbur’s, and Wilbur watched as Tomys’ fear disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.] What if I screamed?! The trust. So much trust. That boy feels so safe even if Wilbur physically can’t defend him. It’s about not being alone. It’s about being saved before. It’s about wanting him to be okay.

These boys will be the death of me. I swear.

(1/?)

-🌲

ahhh the nostalgia seeing an ask like this again. it's been too long spruce my friend.

I loved deciding what tommy could and couldn't do. he knows basic survival skills that'll keep him alive, but there's a difference between catching your own food and actually preparing it. cooking is something he and wilbur both have never touched before because they're rich kids. but at least they have water.

wilbur is very good at figuring things out on the fly and using his knowledge where he can. he's adaptive, so he does what he can to make up for the gaps in tommy's knowledge.

separation anxiety ah my beloved

tommy already trusts wilbur so much. before the L'mannes visit he looked up to wilbur as this cool older kid who knew a lot of stuff and acted like a stuck up prick but was pretty fun to mess with. there was already a sense of admiration and respect there, even if wilbur didn't realize tommy felt that way towards him. but now wilbur has saved his life. he's the older one who has all this random knowledge and in tommy's eyes, even if he's physically incapable of protecting him, if he has wilbur then he's safe. if he's alone he'll shutdown. he's only able to be so capable because he has wilbur to bounce off of.

[calabria-mediterranea]

The Story Of Natuzza Evolo: Calabrian Mystic

Natuzza was a Calabrian mystic who acted as a medium and healer, showed evidence of stigmata, and could “bi-locate” — be in two different places at once. She is also connected with “hemography,” which is when blood stains miraculously transform into symbols, shapes, and even words, particularly Christian ones like crosses.

Natuzza was born in 1924 in Paravati, a tiny hamlet near Mileto in Calabria. Her given name is Fortunata, from which the diminutive “Natuzza” comes. Natuzza’s father had left for Argentina a few months before she was born, and he never returned, leaving Natuzza’s mother alone to care for her newborn as well as her other children.

Natuzza never learned to read or write and helped support her mother and siblings by working for local families. She allegedly began having her first visions as a small child — Jesus, it is said, appeared to her as a boy who played with her and one of her brothers — but her brushes with the dead didn’t become popular knowledge around town until she began experiencing them as a young teen at work.

And it wasn’t just apparitions with Natuzza, even as a child. At her First Holy Communion, her mouth reportedly filled with blood when the wafer symbolizing the body of Christ was placed inside. At her Confirmation, a large stain of blood in the form of a cross formed on the back of her shirt.

Because of Natuzza’s experiences with the paranormal, as a young woman she was closed in an asylum with a diagnosis of "hysterical syndrome" for a few months by the local priest and was not permitted to enter a convent to become a nun.

Natuzza became known for the appearance on her body of blood-coloured images and words around the time of Easter and these caused her great psychological and physical pain. Some of the words were found to be Hebrew and Aramaic which was strange because she could not read or write, even in her native Italian. For decades devout Catholics from Calabria, then the rest of Italy and other parts of the world, began coming to her to ask for advice and prayers and to ask her for information about the souls of their relatives.

In addition to seeing Jesus, Natuzza also claimed to have also seen and communicated with the Virgin Mary, angels, and the dead, particularly souls in purgatory, throughout her life.

Natuzza was also considered a healer, credited with being able to look at a person and tell them what was ailing them, physically — using formal, medical terminology — as well as suggest treatments. She could also see the future and sometimes spoke in languages she didn’t know (remember, again, she was illiterate). In fact, some of her blood stains even transformed into phrases in foreign languages.

However, Natuzza never accepted money for what she did or was accused of participating in anything fraudulent based on her abilities, which, in the eyes and hearts of many, lend credence to her and her followers’ claims.

"It's a question of removing the suggestive religious context from the event. It doesn't allow rational reading since it cloaks it in mythology and unprovable hypotheses," says the Italian Committee for the Checking of Pseudoscientific Claims, or CICAP.

The group believes the so-called stigmata cases are really examples of Gardner-Diamond syndrome, "a skin condition that, although rare, is well documented in medical literature." The syndrome gives rise to a series of periodic, painful and bleeding bruises of unclear origin, combined with psychiatric disorders such as self-harm.

Although she’s relatively unknown internationally, Italians have been fascinated by Natuzza for generations as she has been a popular subject of books and various Italian television programs.

After Natuzza passed away on All Saints’ Day in 2009, about 30,000 people traveled from all over Italy and beyond for her funeral in rural Calabria. One-hundred priests and six Italian bishops were also in attendance.

Follow us on Instagram, @calabria_mediterranea

[halliescomut]

And we're back for more of me begging you to watch Our Dining Table

So...I'm just gonna brain dump into this post some of the things I liked about this episode/the show. It's definitely going to have spoilers, BUT YOU SHOULD ALREADY BE WATCHING!!!

Before we get to spoilers though, I just HAVE to share these Behind the Scenes gifs, of the the Minoru and Yutaka actors being so precious with the actor who plays Tane.

First, Papa is just wonderful this episode (Tane & Minoru's dad, I don't know that he's been named in the show, and I'm too lazy to look at mydramalist to find out. I'm just gonna call him Papa). He's been great the whole show, of course, but this episode where we get a little more history of Minoru, I really have enjoyed his interactions with him. In previous episodes where he very clearly can see that Minoru has special feelings for Yutaka, he's been a great and silent wingman, giving them space and alone time. In this ep, with the 'fallout' from the confession, we see him still giving space to Minoru, but not just letting him off the hook, which I think is important. He's recognizing that Minoru is a grown man, he's able to do as he pleases, but also making a point to be available for Minoru. I also think, based on the expansion of Minoru's history, that he's recognized that Minoru needs space to work through things, and he's trying to enable that. And that could be because he found himself grieving in a similar way, or because he recognized it when watching Minoru deal with his grief while also having to be there physically, mentally, and emotionally for Tane. Overall their relationship, while not frequently conversational, is clearly strong and likely only strengthened by the grief they've had to work through from different perspectives.

On a related note, Minoru's boss at the ramen shop is excellent. He's given solid advice this whole time, and appears to very much be an all around decent guy.

One aspect of the show I really like, is how they've been working the pasts of Minoru and Yutaka into the present. How they use flashbacks, and how those expand on what we're seeing present day. The flashbacks to Minoru and Tane's mom are instrumental in how we perceive Minoru and how we read his behavior, especially with Tane. And clearly, the flashbacks to Yutaka past and how his interactions with his adoptive family, as well as the loss of his biological parents so young, have had a very strong effect on who he is now. But seeing the sort of missed connection moment of Minoru, Yutaka, and Tane soon after Minoru and Tane's mother died was honestly an inspired piece of storytelling to me. A lot of us are watching this show as older people (I'm in my 30's). Maybe we have children, maybe we don't but we're for the most part adults, and the interactions from all of the adults with Tane, do a lot to tell us about the type of people they are. That's something that's honestly kind of true in general. It's as the saying goes- "You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat someone who can offer them nothing."

And watching this scene with the tantrum and Minoru's reaction, Tane of course is my first concern, because he's a child. I recognize that in that moment Minoru is acting the way he is because he's still pretty deep in his grief, but he's also the adult in that situation, and his handling of it isn't perfect. But, no parent is perfect, which makes the situation even more relatable. But also, the point or lesson that I get from the scene, is that Minoru sees Yutaka approach Tane and treat him with such kindness and care, and it is the boost/reminder that he needs to be doing the same. This stranger who knows nothing about Tane or their situation, took the time to be kind, and as Tane's brother, someone who knows him and loves him dearly, he should be striving to do the same. And part of me wonders if that moment, beyond being the first encounter with Yutaka, may have also been the turning point for Minoru becoming the type of parental figure he is for Tane in the present. We see clearly in the show that Minoru very purposefully treats Tane much the same way we see Minoru's mother treating him in the flashbacks. There's some difference, but the baseline of how they interact is remarkably similar. And it just seems to me that this barely two minute interaction is part of the catalyst.

Now, one thing I'm interested in, and this may be clearer in the manga, is if Minoru is out in any form prior to the start of the show essentially. Because we see the girl who's interested in him, but he has no interest in her, and I'd imagine if he was publicly out, she wouldn't have that delusion. But Papa doesn't seem to question Minoru's interest in Yutaka, but is it because he's just suspected, or because Minoru has come out to him? I don't know. And knowledge of the answer wouldn't likely change much in my perception of Minoru, I'm just curious.

My last point...does anyone else get the vibe that Yutaka is Aro? His reaction this week to the confession was very much "people don't feel this way about me??" And this of course can be directly attributed to his trauma from his adoptive parents, and the loss of his biological parents, he doesn't see himself as loveable, so the whole idea put his brain in error mode. But beyond that, I just get the idea that the confession itself makes Yutaka look at his own feelings, and he's almost surprised at the effect that Minoru has on him. As someone with direct experience...lack of data when trying to work out your sexuality (meaning never really having feelings like you see in movies or described in books for ANYONE) makes it remarkably difficult to determine overall. So it just seems very realistic to me that Yutaka being aromantic, wouldn't have ever really encountered a situation like this, and so he really has no idea how to handle it. It's this new knowledge that he may have romantic feelings for Minoru AND the fact that these feelings are for a man. It just feels intentionally like much more than the trope of 'I'm not gay, but I'm gay for you' that we see in a lot of East Asian BL. (I am aware that trope exists for a reason, mainly to help get around censorship issues.) In terms of the story overall, I don't know that it particularly matters whether Yutaka is Ace, but more representation is always good, because people deserve characters to relate to, but also I feel like it gives a little bit of additional depth to Yutaka's character. Like, he does recognize that Minoru is very handsome upon their first meeting, but I truly don't feel that he started to fall for him until like episode 3, when he got to know him more.

Also, vaguely off topic, but I love that the kiss is revealed to be a kiss on the cheek. Like, I know we can sometimes complain about using clever camara angles so actors don't actually have to kiss, but the reveal that it was a kiss on the cheek makes it so much sweeter to me.

[thecherokeediaries]

Thank You, Karrine Steffans

Before we had Instagram, influencers, and Instagram baddies, we had video vixens that ruled the late ‘90s and early 2000s with their beautiful faces, alluring charm and natural sex appeal. These women generally had a bad reputation for being ‘undeserving’ of these social circles and for supposedly ‘sleeping their way to the top.’ They even struggled to have their peers take them seriously, so they struggled even more to earn their bosses’ respect in the workplace. Slut-shaming was inevitable as a video vixen at the time, but no one expected them to speak out against those claims the way Karrine Steffans did. Karrine Steffans is not only the most iconic video vixen, but she’s someone who’s influence runs deep over the current influencers we see to this day.

Karrine Steffans, also known as Superhead, is an American author, actress, and former hip-hop music video vixen. She gained significant attention and notoriety in the early 2000s for her memoir, "Confessions of a Video Vixen," which detailed her experiences as a video girl in the music industry.

Born on August 24, 1978, in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Steffans moved to the United States as a child and grew up in Florida. She entered the entertainment industry in the late 1990s and quickly became one of the most recognizable video vixens, appearing in numerous music videos for popular artists such as Jay-Z, R. Kelly, and Mystikal.

In 2005, Steffans released her memoir, "Confessions of a Video Vixen," which became a New York Times bestseller. The book provided an insider's perspective on the entertainment industry, shedding light on the exploitation and mistreatment of women in the field. It also revealed her past relationships with several high-profile celebrities.

Confessions of a Video Vixen is Karrine Steffans’ memoir detailing the first 25 years of her life. She had a troubled upbringing in poverty and suffering physical abuse, drug abuse, sexual assault. She lived as a teenage runaway and turned to sex work and hip hop modeling to support herself and her son. The book wasn’t a simple autobiography, but she also divulged the juicy details of her sexual relationships. Some of the men she talked about had kids, girlfriends and wives; they were beloved in their respective industries. Karrine was just a video vixen.

Based on my adult analysis of the situation, I conclude Karrine Steffans was not wrong. I accept the hurt of the women whose partners were mentioned in Karrine's book; however, I disagree with the fact that the men were allowed to get away with their acts. It is not surprising that Karrine takes most of the blame. The men with whom she was involved knew they had girlfriends, wives and families at home, but they still found a way to be with Karrine, who was single. As a result, one of the men she mentioned later gave her a demeaning nickname that is still often used today. The nickname “Superhead” was what she was referred to for the rest of her career, not only was it demeaning but it was dehumanizing if she wasn’t already laughed at from the public this name alone was enough for people to laugh and her as less than.

Following the success of her memoir, Steffans continued to write and release more books, including "The Vixen Diaries" and "SatisFaction: Erotic Fantasies for the Advanced & Adventurous Couple." These books explored her personal experiences, relationships, and sexual encounters.

Aside from her writing career, Steffans has also made appearances on television shows, including "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "The Tyra Banks Show," and "The Wendy Williams Show." She has been involved in controversies and public feuds with other celebrities over the years, further fueling her media presence.

Karrine will always have a place among the most influential women for many reason, but mainly because she is the first woman I saw who refused to let powerful men dictate how her story unfolded. She wrote her book, recounted her own story, told it from her perspective, and didn't allow anyone else to rewrite its story. Previously, the men around Karrine Steffans controlled her narrative and passed it off as truth because people weren't prepared to understand her. Karrine was not seen as a person by those men, so she was expected to keep quiet as they humiliated and belittled her. The culture of slut-shaming has changed greatly over the past few decades, especially for video vixens, and Karrine is a key contributor to the shift.

And to that I say…

Thank You, Karrine Steffans