#just not in this particular instance

[akai-anna]

it's been a while on my rewatch, but i'm watching the fake wedding case and... can we just talk about how shinichi's reaction is so different in the anime compared to the manga?

bland. boring. WHERE IS THE FEELING IN THIS. just. No.

THIS THO

SMITTEN. BESOTTED. A TRUE SIMP. JUST LOOK AT HIM. HE'S A BABY YOUR HONOUR. BABY IN LOVE!!!!

bonus: shinichi peeking at ran with a blush on his face at this bit (and ran blushing too, pretty please)

We Were Robbed.

[tequiilasunriise]

I am by no means Ada’s best supporter but I WILL say that her accusing Annabel, resident girlboss lesbian, fer being into Prospero isn’t as bad when you remember like 99% of White Raven moments were done in secrecy between just the two of them- almost like that was the poinntt whooaaa- and also she’s having a super bad mental breakdown with clouded judgement right now.

Prospero has never treated Annabel badly and actually had some good moments of teamwork with her, Annabel is rushing to his defense right now, putting this limited info of two and two together and to be honest Ada jumping to the conclusion that Annabel was into him isn’t like, a GREAT guess, but given her super mega heartbreak mode that went so crazy it triggered her spectre yeaaaahhhh I can see why she’d jump the gun into delusioning Annabel’s heterosexuality like that.

That being said I will still absolutely clown on this repressed, closeted as all hell bisexual’s complete and utter lack of gaydar because yeah that shit’s funny as hell keep the memes coming <333

[yandere--stuck]

Okay I know this kind of AU is super common for video game characters, but you're the only person I know who produces that Good Kush content for Yandere!Zagreus: falling in love with the player.

A Zagreus who becomes self-aware as to his role as a protagonist and can feel your decisions being the shadow over his own. Instead of feeling frustrated or existential, he's filled with an overflowing amount of joy. You care! You're trying so hard to help him fulfill his goal! Every time you pick the game back up he becomes more and more infatuated, trying to figure out more about you from the way you play. You've been picking the bow a lot lately and using Eurydice's keepsake, which means you're trying to avoid damage, which means you don't want to see him hurt! You've been taking boons from Aphrodite, surely that must be you trying to signal your blooming interest? And when you spend hours bingeing the game it HAS to mean he's more important to you than whatever it is your world holds.

Once you've fully beaten the game is where he starts to get desperate. There's still a side quest or two, but he needs you to know he "returns your affection" before you put down the game indefinitely. So he starts to manipulate his code in little ways. Prompts to gift nectar disappear, except weirdly enough next to Zagreus' bed? When you press the prompt out of curiosity, he's elated. He can't invent script, but he cobbles together words out of his bank of voiced lines. Words of thanks, words of praise. Words that are meant to go to Meg and Thanatos are mixed together to say you're dear to him, that he'll wait for you as long as it takes.

The next time you reach the surface, you lose control of his character model completely. He starts running around the edges of the screen, trying to smash the scenery. You can't hear what he's saying, he's too lost in his desperation to try and sew together the words he's looking for. Surely if he can get beyond this screen, you'll be on the other side? If he can just push a little farther, if he can just use a little more of the beautiful strength you've cultivated just for him, you two can finally be together, right? It HAS to work. He HAS to be able to meet you properly. His SOULMATE wouldn't exist unless there was a happily ever after!

...and if he can't get out, well, perhaps there's a way to bring you in?

(Oh geez this is way longer than I meant it to be, sorry. I'm a big fan of your writing! Keep up the good work!)

I feel so bad for never getting the motivation to write smth for this idea - it's so good and I love self aware aus! But this is written so marvelously, I didn't want to just delete it, so I hope that's okay!

Once again, sorry this is late, but I really appreciate you sending it in and your kind words! You're a very talented writer yourself considering what you posted here! ^^ 💚

[mysecretwindowuniverse]

🗡🗡HAPPY IDES OF MARCH GOTHAM FANDOM🔪🔪

[brainworms-all-night-long]

Ok now that I'm normal for a while, I actually have thoughts about Mangey's little arc of learning to fly compared to Nine, and I think they should've had it switched tbh.

Like logically, it would've made more sense if Mangey already knew how to fly? First things first, bro lives in the trees, in the jungle. Being able to fly would be a major survival advantage, not to mention he would most likely discover it while happy stimming you know? Wagging his tails after successfully finding food for himself that no one stole from him? Or even before that when their group wasn't split to Thorn and the scavengers?

Meanwhile Nine would only not exactly make sense to be able to fly, there's nothing to be happy about in his life. Maybe he could learn to fly while trying to run away from.his bullies at one point, but I doubt he would've gone far either way with the complete siege the Council had over the streets and skies. Which only left the underground as the safest place where flying wouldn't exactly be needed, thanks to the trains and closed off spaces.

Or maybe he could know, with the aforementioned desire to be able to get away as fast as possible from any unfavorable situation, but be far too weak to be substantial in any way for longer than a feew seconds. He want to hide and blend in as much as possible, not call attention to having a mutation that not only makes him look weird, but also allows him to fly. Granted there's something about him being able to mask it after creating his metal tails, and saying it's those that he's using but again, why would he now choose to fly away when looking threatening and standing his ground has a more long term effects

[daily-hanamura]

[maakeba]

DEAN: I just don't understand why he didn't try harder. // DEAN: It was like you just gave up (S08E07)

(8/?)

["Whatever happens, I just need you to know that I didn't give up, okay? That I fought. I fought to the end. I fought. I fought to come home to you" (911 - S02E03)]

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

Anyone else have near-perfect executive function at work; but at home, have literally no energy or motivation to do anything except lie in a dark room, with something in or on your ears for several hours?

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

You know, for as much as I didn't like all the romance soap opera drama and what happened with a lot of the ATLA cast in Legend of Korra, I can admit that just because it wasn't my thing and bothered me in a lot of instances doesn't make it necessarily bad per se. I just think there were some weird decisions character-wise

However. I did not like what they did with Wan and the Harmonic Convergence, and I am quite confident in saying that it thematically weakened the show and was a wasted opportunity to do something truly special with the concept of the Avatar itself

[oldsargasso]

sticks & stones (pit babe ficlet)

so there's nothing I love more right now than the pit babe polycule of kenta/kim/winner/dean, and @le-trash-prince said "I bet Kenta is the one to lick Dean’s wounds when Winner pushes too hard with his verbal roughhousing." this isn't really anything but it's something, you know?

dean-centric, rated g

It's Kenta that comes after him. Of course it's Kenta.

They'd been having fun, all of them; half-watching a bad movie and mostly just talking, Winner and him trading little love-bites of insults back and forth under Kim's indulgent gaze. And then with a slow gradual ooze like warm honey, it had slipped into something not fun, and Dean just--- He just had to get out of there quick.

It's dark out on the balcony off his and Kim's bedroom. Dean leans against the railing and tries to time his breathing to the red-light cycle at the nearest intersection, two floors and a hundred metres away. The flame of Kenta's lighter is a tiny blinding thing.

"I thought you told P'Kim you were quitting," Dean says. It comes out far more level than he'd feared. He hadn't been crying, not really, but Winner's words are still stinging in his chest.

Dean doesn't mind the smoking, not really. His dad, from what little he remembers of the man, was a smoker. There's a long-ago deep hidden feeling of comfort that comes creeping out when he smells nicotine. And he likes watching Kenta go through the little rituals that come with the act: the way he flicks the lighter on-off twice before touching the flame to his cigarette, how he always selects his next smoke from the middle of the pack instead of the edge.

Kenta takes another drag with a shrug of one shoulder. He blows the smoke away from Dean. "I will when Winner does."

Dean snorts inelegantly. "P'Winner says quitting goes against his name."

"Winner says a lot of shit," Kenta says. It's as pointed as he ever gets.

Someone impatient blows through the next red light to a chorus of horns. Their neighbour has turned on her <i>going out dancing</i> playlist. Kenta's free hand comes to rest, heavy and warm, on the back of Dean's neck.

"I know." Dean slumps sideways, just enough that Kenta understand he's supposed to hold tighter. "I know, I'm just being dumb."

He feels dumb. He feels the gap in years between them all most keenly at times like this. Getting all worked up about Winner saying something slightly mean, hurting Dean's <i>feelings</i>, when Kenta carries scars on his skin from what he's had to deal with. When Kim was beaten up and locked away just for caring about someone other than himself.

Winner didn't even look like he cared when Dean insulted him back.

"You're not dumb," Kenta refutes, the same steel in his voice as what he carries in his ramrod straight spine. He tugs Dean in a bit closer. A slight weight on the top of Dean's head, his hair ruffling slightly when Kenta breathes out slowly. He smells like nicotine and the beer Kim had been drinking. He tastes like all three when Dean twists around to pull him in.

"Thank you," Deans tells the shadows and reflected lights over Kenta's face. The hand on the back of his neck tightens once more.

[quietwingsinthesky]

Irks me a little bit whenever Dean torturing in Hell is positioned as his own fault, or even really his choice to do. We get given the solid number, 30 years of torture for him and 10 inflicting it on other people (which was also more torture for him because it’s Hell, the torture evolves, it doesn’t stop), and we get told that wasn’t long enough. That John held out longer. That angels were going to pull Dean out of Hell and if he’d just held on a few years more, the seal wouldn’t have been broken.

But that isn’t true, right? We know Heaven wanted the seal broken, ergo Dean wasn’t getting saved until it was. Until it, and he, we’re thoroughly broken and usable by Heaven to achieve their own ends (ie to make him into a good (obedient) Michael sword.) So, it wouldn’t have mattered how long he held out in Apocalyptic terms because the game (that he didn’t know he was playing) was rigged against him.

But more importantly for Dean, the amount of time he managed not to break literally does not matter. Because it was never going to be long enough. Thirty years, forty, a hundred, a thousand, it does not matter how long he held out because the breaking itself is the unforgivable part to him and the breaking was always inevitable.

Anyway. There’s my Dean meta for the year. Eat up, I guess.

[crescentfool]

there continue to be persona characters in my splatoon... shoutout to whoever shadowy hunter akechigoro is you made me laugh while i was playing with my friends...

[jusiri]

Bringing this to a different post to avoid Spam and Spoilers for OP

@thoughtsofananon

See the thing is, tragically, i could write all the thuggory content on the palm of my hand

he was only in Books 1, 9, 10, 11, and briefly mentioned in book 5 and a sidebook

and i double-checked his parts and i didnt see anything

But ALSO i googled that quote, and it doesn't bring anything up

Which most of the Movies and TV episodes have the transcripts written out online somewhere, so theoretically, it should have brought it up if it was in there

but there was nothing

So the only things i can think are, either whatever its from doesn't have the transcript online, or it is in the books somewhere, and im just completely blanking on it

[clowningaroundmars]

morales twins vigilantes: getting found out pt 1

hey yall im in my fic writing era. but i am BAD at writing LMFAO i'm really not sure i'll ever write a proper fic with a plot or anything

either way, i hope yall like this lil drabble my brain came up with on a whim of the morales twins!

it's how i imagine the way their secret would be revealed after doing the whole vigilante thing together for a lil bit. it's kind of based on the hcs i had of the twins which is here, kind of a continuation of the last bullet point there actually

miles1610 is miles and miles42 is milo bc i read a couple fics with that name given to him and now it is stuck in my heart u_u

>2nd part here<

well. uh. hope u enjoy! :)

It was a fight that went slightly awry that really did them in.

No blood, no fireworks, no loud banging or explosions or anything. No one was even so badly hurt that they almost died, either.

It was simply just… a broken mask and their father unexpectedly being on patrol that fateful night that finally brought their secret out to light.

The Morales twins had been doing their vigilante thing together for only a few months now. Miles had been Spider-man for well over a year, of course, but it was after a particularly bad fight with a rhinoceros guy (what a freak…) that went semi-viral on social media that his brother Milo finally put his foot down and pulled those Prowler gloves from under his bed. He worked hard to modify the technology to better suit him, and had all of the armor and rope he needed in order to keep up with his brother all set in as little as 2 weeks.

Miles hemmed and hawed about bringing his not-super-powered brother around for the nasty fights he usually tackled alone. But he would be lying if he said that Milo’s concern didn’t put a small smile on his face in the end. Plus, it really helped out a lot when Miles needed to be somewhere quickly but still had a criminal left to take on and web up. Milo being just one text away from springing into action took a real big load off of his shoulders in ways he couldn’t even imagine.

That was about 3 months ago.

It was relatively smooth sailing until one Jefferson Davis took a night patrol under his belt without even warning the boys.

Well, Miles thought to himself in retrospect, we weren’t really around the house to catch if he did tell anyone, so.

Miles ran along a side of a building to catch up with the villain of the week. He was desperately trying to keep this super-powered baddie off of his not-so-super-powered brother, and not quite succeeding. Miles told Milo time and again not to tease any bad guys during a fight. Keep the attention off of you, bro. You do not have superpowers. I do! Is that not what Miles said? God, it’s like in one ear and out the other with this guy. Ugh.

Currently, Milo is parrying and deflecting attacks from this shocker-looking guy, a real piece of work. He still had his hi-vis vest on-- and Miles swore he even saw a name tag on it somewhere which was just hilarious, really-- but aside from his normal-looking work outfit, everything else about this dude was definitely not normal. Like the bright electricity fizzing all over his skull that just barely concealed this man’s real face, and the giant lightning bolts shooting out from his hands as he tried to fry Milo. It was a good thing Milo had enough sense to install energy-absorbing tech into those giant claws of his, or else Miles would be in real big trouble at the ER.

Miles ripped a chunk of some abandoned demolition project that never got done and swung it with all of his might in the direction of their fight, using his webs for maximum distance. It didn’t hit electro-dude but it almost hit his brother. Oops.

“Ayo, watch it!” Prowler growled, his mask distorting his voice the same way it distorted Uncle Aaron’s back when he held the mantle. He gracefully flipped out of the way and shot a grappling hook somewhere off into some scaffolding, pulling himself away from the action to let his bro fly in and give the temporarily-distracted electric-man some work.

Miles would snap back with a retort if he weren’t so busy pummeling this villain with all that he’s got. Both boys’ curfews were about an hour ago and they just knew their mom would be fuming once she got back and found out. But this needed taking care of, and neither Morales boys were willing to leave some freak of nature to take over Brooklyn and shut down all the power lines over a bedtime. Hell no.

But this needed to end now, or else good ol’ Spidey won’t be seeing the light of day for another 2 months. And by the looks of it, neither will the Prowler. Before Miles could even think to land the finishing blow on old lightning-head here though, tragedy struck.

An all-too familiar voice hollers out those dreaded words both boys hate hearing, especially in the middle of a fight.

“PDNY! Freeze! Put your hands up where we can see ‘em!”

Everyone did freeze, Milo looking particularly shocked as his head swivels around to the sight of waving flashlights and 3 burly but familiar silhouettes making their way past the far gates and advancing quickly into the fray.

Jefferson Davis’ gun appears to almost materialize out of the shadows, his face lit up in the harsh lights of his flashlight beam, sporting an intimidating, professional look. Cop mode, is what Miles and Milo called it jokingly one day as they lounged in their room, passing a bag of chips between them and having a laugh at their dad’s expense. That was before Milo took on the mantle of the Prowler. That was before this.

Miles panics slightly as he feels the man jump up underneath him, thrusting an arm into the police’s direction, ready to fire off a bolt--

Right after Milo lunges in front of the officers, ready to take the blast.

It happens in a fraction of a second. Miles didn’t even think he had enough time to open his mouth, let alone warn Jeff of the incoming danger. He figures that’s what Milo must’ve thought, too, otherwise there really was no other explanation for this stupid decision he just made.

Sparks flew, and then the thud of a body hitting the floor seemed to echo throughout the demolition site.

Shit shit shit shit shitshitshitshitshit, was Miles’ inner monologue as he finally landed the blow to the side of the baddie’s head, knocking him out successfully. He quickly webbed the man up to the floor, restraining him fully. The way I shoulda done in the first place, damnit, Miles lamented, freezing in place after the deed was done. His brain was working into overdrive to try and think of ways he could extract his now-nearly unconscious brother from this place without raising their dad’s suspicions.

Ever since Prowler joined in on Spider-man’s “adventures”, the media became even more fascinated with capturing every single moment it could of Spidey now that he had a sidekick in tow.

Headlines splashed on magazines, articles and news feeds read: “Batman and Robin! Spider-man and… the Prowler?” and “Webbed Menace Recruits Purple Sidekick, Even More of a Menace”. They haunted Miles’ every step. Milo, for his part, was mostly amused. But every now and then he would complain about being known as his brother’s sidekick, as if that was the most egregious part of having his every move recorded and uploaded for millions to see online.

Their mother became even more suspicious of her twin sons after she watched a video of the two vigilantes stopping a runaway bus in downtown Brooklyn. They looked eerily similar in size to her own teenage boys, and even seemed to banter the same way after all of the civilians were saved and back on solid ground. The way Spider-man clapped Prowler on the shoulder… hmmm.

To say that she shared her suspicions with her husband would be an understatement. Milo and Miles somehow always managed to catch a familiar cop car slowly rolling around corners and down streets, keeping pace just behind them, watching them. Miles would always roll his eyes, knowing it was their father. Milo would be annoyed but managed to shrug and keep minding his own business, since it was very obviously their father. When confronted, Jeff would try-- and fail-- to casually brush it off as simply doing Concerned Dad things.

“Listen, you two.” Jeff started one evening after dinner. He managed to get both boys down in their room one weekend, just for “a quick talk”. His excuse was that Brooklyn was getting too dangerous lately, especially at night, and that he was “gonna keep an eye on them” as a precaution.

But neither boy missed that slight nervous shift in his stance as he delivered the news, and once their dad bade them a good night and left, they gave each other a silent look that conveyed the exact same thought they were both thinking.

They’re onto us.

Well, their parents’ fears and suspicions were definitely going to be confirmed whether the twins liked it or not.

Milo groaned on the ground, the Prowler gauntlets having taken the majority of the blast sent his way, but the mask was halfway blown off, revealing a good portion of the boy’s face underneath. He rocked in place for a moment, blinking stars and dancing lights out of his eyes for just that one moment.

“Prowler!!” Miles shouted. In his panic, he forgot to lower his voice and conceal his identity, but his feet just wouldn’t move! What the hell, Morales… get it together! His brother was just badly injured and here he was, frozen in place like a deer.

Jeff, for his part, was barking orders to his coworkers and directing them to make a sweep of the place in case any other suspects tried to make a run for it.

They both left. He finally jolted his bright beam of light onto Spider-man, simply standing there a little ways away and staring back with those unnervingly gigantic bug-eyes of his. If Jeff wasn’t in work-mode right now, he’d explode on this guy and ask about what the hell was going on here, but Officer Davis was nothing if not a consummate professional.

Plus, there were more pressing matters to attend to.

There was what seemed like a teenage boy on the ground, wearing those goddamned gauntlets that Jeff could’ve sworn he shipped off to the junkyard after Aaron’s funeral. Damnit, if this punk was running around wearing his brother’s mantle and tagging along with Spider-man just to double-cross him in the end, there was gonna be hell to pay.

Jeff didn’t know why, but he felt slightly protective of the bug-themed hero, damnit. Sue him. And those claws brought nothing but terrible memories of screaming women, dead brothers and heightened stress. He did not need this right now, fuck.

Once the boy on the ground stirred, Jeff quickly pointed his gun and flashlight beam directly onto him. “Those orders were for you, too, punk. Do not try me tonight. Freeze. Put your hands out where I can see ‘em!”

Milo froze on the ground, and then tried to twist his face away from his looming father who was only a foot or two away with the world’s brightest flashlight in his face, fuuuuck. He just knew he was gonna be feeling this headache for the next 3 days…

Tentatively, he also raised his claws in front of his face as slowly as he could, trying to cover his face even more. He propped himself up on his elbows and tried to regulate his breathing.

Having a cop for a dad was not always peachy, but it helped a lot to know exactly how an officer would react if any sudden movements were made while having a gun out, and Milo was not trying to get a bullet to the chest on top of the mother of all electric shocks as well. No thank you.

It was in this moment that Miles’ brain started working again, and he unstuck himself from the pavement to reach out to his dad.

“Offi-- ahem, ahem. Officer Davis,” he remembered to lower his tone and conceal his voice a bit as well, and continued, “what a surprise to see you here. On this, uh. This very beautiful night!”

Groan. Oh my god. Even Milo rolled his eyes a bit, trying to shuffle back.

“I said FREEZE!” Jeff roared, attention still trained on Milo.

Without glancing up, he added, “And you Spider-man. Oh, buddy you are gonna get it after I’m done with this little asshole, runnin’ around with my brother’s-- man, y’know what-- nevermind! Just stay back, okay? I got this handled.”

“But wait! Th-that’s uh. He’s not an asshole, officer, he’s my-- my sidekick! He’s the good guy!! He helped me take this guy down! And he even saved you just now!” Miles waved his hands around frantically, agitating Jeff.

Stop doing that, stupid! Milo thought to himself in a daze, still recovering from the electric blast.

“Stay back, Spider-man. I’m warning you.” Jeff growled.

Miles picked up the hint and halted his movements, giant white eyes flicking back up and down from his dad to his brother and back. He had to think of something, or else Milo would be dragged back to a holding cell and both of their identities would be out. He just couldn’t let that happen.

Biting his lip, Miles gathered some resolve and stepped forward again. “Officer Davis—”

“Not another word outta you!” Jeff swung the flashlight right back onto Miles threateningly, and then trained it back onto Milo again. “I am serious right now, Spidey. One more word outta you and I’m slappin’ the cuffs on you too, I swear to god! I got more than enough room in the back of the squad car for two freaks!”

Miles recoiled. “Freaks. Geez, is that what you think of us?”

But Jeff didn’t answer, because he was all of a sudden deathly silent.

Both of the other officers just finished their sweep of the area, and were making their way back to Jeff when he all of a sudden kneeled down, still training that gun on Prowler’s face. But his movements were slow and hesitant, as if he were performing them in a daze.

Miles’ spider senses should’ve been tingling by now, at the very least a little. Still, he stayed glued to his spot as he watched Officer Davis-- as if in slow motion-- shifting his flashlight and gun into one hand, lowering both slightly and away from Prowler’s shattered mask.

As his other hand reached out, Milo flinched, but he didn’t need to. Jeff simply carded his calloused fingers over his hair, his braid on the one side of his head, in reverence. Milo couldn’t breathe. He was too scared to speak.

And then everyone’s blood ran cold at the same time.

Jeff saw the beads of Milo’s favorite basketball team colors, ones that he was excited to get again at the barber shop last weekend, simply hanging there tied to the ends of the Prowler’s braid, sitting limply in his hand. Milo’s blood ran cold once he realized exactly what it was that his own father was looking at. He didn’t need to reveal his face whatsoever when his now-exposed hair told the whole story anyways.

Miles’ spider senses finally kicked up once Jeff looked up slowly, an absolutely ruined expression rippling across his worn-out features as he really gave Spider-man a good, hard look, eyes playing over what little he could see of the vigilante in the darkness of night.

For a split second, no one said anything.

Even electro-head seemed to be silent as he came to and tried to sneakily rip the webs off of him. No dice. He finally turned his attention to the trio not too far away and opened his mouth.

“Hey, what the hell is this, some family reunion or something? Let me outta here, man! Goddamn, what a fuckin’ punch, man… shit…”

Everyone startled at the same time, turning their attention to the villain. Damn, almost forgot about him.

The other officers finally arrived to surround the other angles behind Spider-man, one of them even kneeling down beside electric-- whatever, the villain of the week-- and started cutting him out of the sticky ropes to put him in cuffs.

“Don’t even think about it,” one of them grunted once they got to his hands and saw a tingle of electricity surging through fingertips. “We got dampeners in my squad car if you try anything cute, got it?”

Jeff slowly holstered his gun, keeping the flashlight trained on the Prowler, unable to tear his eyes from this boy lying on the ground at his feet.

“Davis…? You good?” This was the officer who wasn’t busy wrangling sticky webs off of the baddie. He had his flashlight and gun trained on said baddie of course, but his head was swiveled to look at his captain.

Jeff swallowed hard and nodded slowly, a weirdly mechanical kind of movement.

“…Okay. Hey, Spidey. Thanks for this, I guess,” said the officer, keeping his concerned gaze trained on Jeff, shrugging a shoulder. “Too bad about your friend though. Hope he’ll be fine.”

It took Miles a second to recognize that iconic mustache, and then it dawned on him that it was his dad’s faithful friend and his own sidekick, Officer Gutierrez. How ironic, Miles thought ruefully.

He turned back to his dad, who was now helping Prowler up from the ground and steadying him against his side.

“What’re we doing with these two?” Gutierrez asks, because someone has to.

Jeff startles, as if he was just asleep and happened to wake up. “Uhh, about...?”

Gutierrez gave him a look. “The mask guy under your arm. And, uh. This guy,” he points his chin towards VOTW (villain of the week) as he’s being hauled up forcibly by the other officer, now in giant sturdy cuffs binding his arms together.

“The… that guy. Electric man. Just… just put those dampeners on his hands and take him down to HQ. They’ll probably just ship him off to the Raft. Let me know when you guys get there, of course. I’ll uhm. I think I’m gonna be taking my break right now.”

“You taking the mask-man all by yourself, then, captain?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I will. It’s… something personal to me, to be seeing these claws on this boy. I’m sorry. I think I might explain later but right now, we gotta get that guy behind some kinda bars. Please, Gutierrez.”

Gutierrez gives him an unreadable expression, and Jeff shoots an apologetic look back.

Finally, his partner gives a small nod and turns back to the task at hand. Miles breathes out a sigh of relief.

But it was a breath too soon.

“Spider-man. Prowler. The both of you. My car. Now.”

[itwoodbeprefect]

sometimes a piece of queer media is very obviously cheap and also bad and outdated in ways that aren't even particularly interesting, but it's just so obviously from The Before Times that it's painfully difficult not to be charmed by it anyway

[t4llhum4n]

👀 pleaaaaase talk about vega i wanna hear everything you have to say about him 🙏🏻❤️

OMG, YES THANK YOU. YOU'RE A GODSEND <3

Vega is my favorite character from a writing perspective. Full stop. Both Prime and Imp!Vega are such interesting character studies for me it's unreal. Imp!Vega is a whole 'nother can of worms though, so I'll save that for another day.

Gonna cut because I can already tell that this is gonna be long.

So, what's so interesting about Vega for me? Firstly, I ADORE the way that Erik approaches "morally grey" with him. Like, I love grey morals, but I really don't like it when a character is just mysterious for mystery's sake, y'know? But with Vega? There are REASONS.

Reason one: He's old as fuck. No but fr, I LOVE this example of immortality and living for millennia. We always talk about how being immortal would kinda suck because all of our friends and loved ones would die and all that. This guy? He's been there, done that. Vega has existed for so long; it makes so much sense that he's disillusioned to stuff like death or suffering. Which brings me to my next point..

Reason two: Not only is he old -- he's an old sadism demon. So, not only has this dude witnessed people dying and suffering, he's BEEN THERE. Hell, he's probably been causing it for thousands of years. I mean, everybody's gotta eat, right? Which, when you think about it, would make the outcome of the Cacophony so much worse for him. For all we know, the Vega that coalesced ages ago was a kind and gentle daemon, but when they imprisoned the Sovereigns, and he found out that he had to feed on the worst kinds of feelings? He would've had to bury that part of himself to SURVIVE. It's crazy man.

Another thing, the way this man plays manipulator is so insane. Like, he doesn't outright lie, he just tells the truth when and where it suits him. And he never makes himself out to be a victim or a good person. He gives explanations for his actions (sometimes), but never full-on excuses. That line about "Warden" being complicit in his actions after he told them that he was going to hurt people? If they didn't go to the Department, then yeah, they would be complicit. Speaking of the Department..

HE'S GIVES PEOPLE AN OUT. And it's in a VERY manipulative way (because I'm only talking about Prime rn). He keeps an air of mystery around "Warden" to draw them in. He knew that they were curious about him, like genuinely curious, and he played on that BIG TIME. He made a whole big deal out of his plans and kept them vague so Warden would naturally be curious about them. Then, and ONLY then, is when he reminded them that they "could leave at any time." Motherfucker KNEW that Warden would not leave his side.

And the indications of his character? He's said that everything he does is in service of his plans. So like, did that include getting caught? Was he aware of "Warden's" existence beforehand? Is he just using them? And that's the best part: WE DON'T FUCKING KNOW! Vega's manipulation is written so well that even we, as listeners, have no idea if he's truly opening up to "Warden" or not. Unreal.

Anyway, that's getting into theory territory, and I'm not about to open that box (yet). Focusing on canon stuff again, he's powerful as hell but is so subdued about it. He doesn't flaunt it beyond saying things like, "If I wanted, I could have you curled up at my feet like a dutiful puppy." And that's just.. true. No hubris on this man whatsoever. He knows his strength, and he isn't going to play it up. That'd be stupid. He might play it down though but once again that's theory territory.

And, to address the elephant in the room, the VOICE?! So so pretty. I literally get lost in how smooth it is. I made a post when Vega's new audio came out about how I had to relisten to it because his voice was so pretty it was distracting, and I just want you all to know that that is a very common occurrence for me. It's so pleasant to listen to, and part of me wonders if that's part of his manipulation as well. Like, he purposefully trained his voice like that so that it was pleasing to hear, and it made people more willing to listen? Either way though, easily one of my favorite voices on the channel (Anton's climbing quickly tho).

The fact that he's SUCH a manipulator makes him such a good character to reveal lore and foreshadowing through. Because guess what? You bet your ASS that there's gonna be some doubt there. This man has ONE audio that doesn't have either a [gaslighting], [manipulation], or [threatening harm] tag. ONE! So of course we're gonna doubt it. That means more mystery for us and more theory fodder for people like me who read way too deep into things.

..also thank you @fluffsoo for the ask!

Edit starts here!

Okay, we're back. And funny enough, I just had an in-depth conversation with a friend about a character in a book we're reading for class that we see as irredeemable. So, now I feel like talking about redemption, and along that line, how interesting it is that Vega doesn't care about being redeemed.

I love characters that are set in their goals. Vega is one driven son of a bitch -- he has his plans and fuck is he gonna see them through. And the sentiment of "no matter what it takes" is so much more interesting here. As I mentioned above, he's been exposed to the worst aspects of human emotion since the Cacophony, which explains why he's so numb to the pain of others. It's been part of his daily existence for thousands of years. So, what does he care if he has to break a few eggs to make an omelet? It's nothing new to him, and as far as he's concerned, humans do it to each other all the time. He's seen it happen millions of times over the years. Why should he care about hurting them if they don't seem to care about doing it to each other?

And his disinterest in redemption is only further shown by him not really caring that humanity will benefit if his plans come to fruition. His only focus is how it will benefit his people, who he knows have suffered for millenia longer than any human ever could. It's as he says, "The long run is the only thing that matters to [him]." Vega has no care for humans at all. He has no qualms about using them, in whatever way he must, to reach his goal.

HOWEVER, that's all his cruelty toward any human ever is. It isn't born out of hatred or disgust; what's the point in hating a being that's so much weaker than you are? He doesn't hold grudges because grudges slow progress. He doesn't seek vengeance because that would get him sidetracked. Nothing he does to humans is ever truly personal, and that's such a fascinating thing to dive into. Every cruel and vile thing he does is in service of his plans -- making him single-minded, but in an infinitely interesting way. The reason why he's so quick to jump to violent measures is because, like it or not, that's the quickest way to ensure that you get what you want. He doesn't care that it's wrong. It's efficient. That's all that matters.

Anyway, I could go on forever about this. Vega is genuinely such a well-written villain (with a voice that's pleasing as fuck to match), and I really love looking into all of the complex characters in the Redacted lore. I could write essays upon essays about characters like Regulus, Blake, Morgan, "Cutie" etc., and y'know, I just might :D