#like when i read that panel i immediately thought of this little headcanon

[merchantarthurn]

Hello friend it has come to my attention the latest manga chap of WHA has Lil' Oru backstory and Lil' Oru adorable child self and I havent seen you commenting on it at all! Have I missed it. I read it and immediately thought 'My Tumblr friend whom I follow will be so excited'

yes!! ive been in bg3 hyperfixation hell so i've not been talking much about WHA in public lately but i was so excited when little utowin appeared, because i remembered he'd lived in the same town growing up and then [gestures]!!

some things which knit nicely into some interim headcanons for What Happened are that he was so young he'd not even passed the first test yet (it's neat to get a little look into more witches studying before they can pick a master - it seems like he was getting praised by a parent in one of the panels if their belt was anything to go by. not being comforted by them though.... :| i don't like either of the potential options for that). it really is Odd that he was out helping with witch duties before that, i presume they weren't the type that'd have you casting in front of non-witches. from what utowin said, witches seem in both high quantity and demand in the North for survival purposes... a part of me is curious on the side about how that's impacted the survival skills of the general populace, or if there's some changed by ancient magic level of Winterness happening up there. i saw that oddly shaped rock formation, shirahama!!

him being so young, seeing many die (the witches only mentioned adult witches dying, but i have a feeling there were also non-witch casualties given the previous flashback dream. i wonder who the two people he managed to save were?) it kills me ;;

it also has me turning his Being Mean To Agott moments over again - i'd already presumed his harshness was because he was connecting his own 'top student -> tragedy' pipeline but there's something about the happiness and praise he was receiving that makes that all the more sour (a lot of agott's more pushy moments seem born of insecurity rather than expectation). plus the river... it's interesting to me that he's the one who insisted in taking her along... and qifrey's reaction.... oh this contextttt to that moment makes qifrey's personal dread of it all the more layered.

it makes me wonder if olruggio was... kind of expecting there to be tragedy that'd snap agott out of her behaviour which... olruggio that's not okay, buddy--

[t00thpasteface]

favourite tf2 headcanons? yours or other peoples?

ohoho man. grab a seat anon, and let me tell you a really long and stupid story about a headcanon i had many moons ago...

i got into tf2 over the summer of 2011, when i was 14. somewhere at the end of the 2010-2011 school year, i went to a function that the local high school held to acclimate next year's incoming freshmen. while i was there i bumped into a friend from elementary school who i'd lost contact with, we traded Skypes (where my skypers at???), and he got me into this awesome game called Team Fortress 2, because, hey, it just went free to play!

(here's my proof i joined literally one week after it went f2p)

here's what you need to know about 14 year old Shebbz: i was extremely autistic. i had just found out about tumblr after spending my formative years on deviantart. i still did not process that i was a comphet lesbian. and i LOOOOOOVED scout! i loved him so much. scout was everything to me. he was ME and also he was my BOYFRIEND and i was drawing him on EVERY surface i could use a pencil on. all i played was scout. i was not good at it but that didn't stop me. i was textbook 14-year-old crazy and scout was the chosen vessel for it. also i drew like this:

ok. so. i'm insane. i love scout. thunder mountain is my favorite map because it's the prettiest and that's the only metric i judge anything by. and every day i talk tf2 with my friends at lunch, which is about three to five obnoxious 14 y/o boys. and i fucking wish i still had the paper or at least a scan of it, but one day i had the BRILLIANT idea for a headcanon for scout.

okay so get this, i tell my friends at lunch as i'm unzipping my backpack to grab my notebook. scout is so funny and cool right? nods of agreement. he's obviously way too cool for the other mercs to handle. he's hip and with-it. well, check out this idea i just had, i think it's got a lot of potential. i slide a piece of paper over the table to my very dear friend who got me into tf2.

it's two panels. the first has scout holding up his own drawing of the thunder mountain skybox scenery, storm clouds and all, and he's saying, "look guys, i drew thunder mountain!" in the second panel, all you see is bullet holes through the paper and, presumably, into his torso meat behind it. "ow," he says. he's crying a little.

now i thought i was really onto something here. i was excited to get talking and explore more headcanons branching off of this one.

but my friend shut that shit down IMMEDIATELY. lo, my obsession with scout has turned into bastardization! i have lost touch with the canon! at this point i have woobified scout into something completely divorced from the soul of the character! and my greatest crime-- baseless projection! put that bit from jurassic park about the scientists here. clearly, he surmised, i had been poisoned by all those saucy yaoi askblogs i'd been following at the time. (hey, leave askheavy out of this!)

i was ashamed. embarrassed. he read me like an open book. i felt like the scout in the drawing. i put the drawing up, did away with my frivolous little headcanon, and resolved to be more of a stickler for canon-accuracy in my fanworks. hell, i nearly ended up becoming something of a fandom police myself. but i always felt a little slighted. yes i was projecting, but because of that, it was so personal! so what if it was totally baseless? it meant something to me!!

anyway, that was late 2011. seasons came and changed the time... i later had a falling-out with that friend (for totally unrelated reasons) and switched high schools to a newer fancier one. i got diagnosed with bipolar and i was trying so, so, SO hard just to get out of bed and scrape through my classes with C's and D's.

2014. june. i'm 17 and i'm borderline comatose now that it's summer break and i have no reason to get out of bed in the morning. what little creative energy i have is directed towards my askblogs with incredibly inconsistent and sporadic results. and i really don't play tf2 much at this point. no energy for it.

but then... a light in the shadows. a triumphant fanfare. at long last, there's another tf2 animatic, and it has hand-delivered unto me the sweetest validation, the coldest dish of revenge, the delicious ice cream sundae of justice:

scout has drawn a picture of spy getting hit by a car.

[goldendoodlerlockerlove]

Tell us more about Gene and Alexis! Gush to your heart's content!

Pom!! You're too sweet, really, letting me gush like this 🥺. Now that you asked me this, that reminded me that I have the next few panels of my comic done, and should be posting them either tonight or tomorrow! :D

I've already posted a bunch about it, but yes, I took on the feat of making a (sort of) long-form Bob's Burgers comic immediately after I finished my first shorter one. That was definitely inspired by @bluebirbbs and their lovely comic, which everyone should go read if they haven't already because it's fantastic.

I mentioned the comic because it's all about Gene and Alexis. Alexis is my OC who's around Gene's age. They moved to Seymour's Bay and started going to Wagstaff around the time the My Butt Has A Fever short happened and were incredibly nervous about meeting new people and having to adjust to living in a new, seaside town. They're kind of insecure and immediately thought people would find them awkward and not like them. Then, they saw Tina, Gene, and Louise performing that song, and all of their worries melted away. They somehow immediately realized that Gene was the one who wrote the song and was blown away. I headcanon that they couldn't stop gushing about it on the drive home with their parents and even beyond that.

Their parents are quite nice and have done a decent job raising Alexis, but they aren't exactly supportive of people in the LGBTQ+ community, which Alexis is definitely a part of. Alexis figured out around a year or so before the events of the comic that they're Nonbinary (and go by They/He pronouns), and also Androsexual. However, they generally just call themselves Gay because that's easier for people to understand. But, around their parents, they (sort of) pretend to be completely Cishet for fear of judgment or worse. Oh, and they were also born without a right foot (which they have a super realistic prosthetic for) and they have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. They generally only use a crutch for it, and sometimes, not even that. There are a few occasions when they have to use a wheelchair, but they hate using it because they like being more independent. They later confide this all to Gene, who actually thinks it's super cool, which is something they've never had anyone say about their disabilities before. I suppose this sort of parallels my Linda is deaf AU by having a person with a disability's partner be super sweet and supportive.

Anyway, Alexis is so captivated and moved by Gene's performance that they very quickly fall in love with Gene. They freak out for a bit but don't say anything, because they don't know who to ask for advice. Then they decide that the best course of action is to get their feelings for Gene outward anonymously. This poor soul mistakenly thought that by sending sweet anonymous notes to Gene their feelings would somehow disappear. Of course, that doesn't happen.

But, fortunately for them, Gene eventually begins gaining feelings for Alexis too. This is because once they start hanging out and becoming friends, Gene discovers that they have a lot in common, such as loving the same movies, foods, and fashion. Thrifting and making clothes is actually one of Alexis' hobbies, and Gene adores it. He can't get enough of seeing Alexis' clothes that they made themselves. Then they begin talking about how stupid they think masculine gender roles are, and Gene begins confiding in Alexis on how sometimes he wonders if he's being a boy wrong because he usually doesn't enjoy traditionally masculine things.

The two continue bonding and eventually go on a small ice cream date, a la Tina and Jimmy Jr.'s date to Fro-Yo Mama in What A (April) Fool Believes. I didn't realize the parallel at first when I decided this would happen, but now I'm completely obsessed with it.

I'm not sure yet, but it might be on this little ice cream date that these two finally confess their feelings for each other and start dating officially. However, Alexis is kind of terrified of dating Gene, just because of how their parents would react. So, they keep it a secret from their parents. Gene doesn't have to worry, though, because Bob and Linda are nothing except enthusiastic about it.

Surprisingly, Bob is actually super invested in their relationship, and gets kind of emotional, knowing that his little boy is growing up and falling in love 🥲 And is like "Soooooo, who is Alexis? 👀😏" just like when Gene started dating Courtney, and he was like "Soooooo, who is Courtney? 👀😏"

Oh yes, and this entire comic is supposed to take place during Valentine's Day, too, and Tina has a little thing throughout where she's really hoping for a Valentine from Jimmy Jr. I kind of want to resolve that later by having him give her something other than a Valentine, like a goofy little dance, as per Zeke's suggestion, which I thought would be pretty cute and would feed @drawthethingdoppelganger's Tinimmy loving soul accordingly 😌

Louise's thing throughout the comic isn't too deep, but I kind of like it too. She's just angry that Mr. Frond gave the three of them detention for their song at the talent show and wants to lace his coffee to get out of it, pffffft. She isn't thinking that much about Valentine's Day and is convinced that Rudy is just going to ignore her again in favor of Chloe Barbash, so she's kind of given up on the holiday. But then he maybe gives her a sweet note or something 🥺 She pretends not to care, but she really, really does. That gesture means a lot to her.

I actually haven't thought about a Boblin subplot that could happen, because I'm not sure if they'll be too prominent in the comic? But I'm sure they'll be adorable as always for Valentine's Day. I already had them mention that Bob's taking Linda out for a fancy dinner, so I might have them talk about how much fun they had, like the cute lil' ancient married muppets they are.

But I'm getting sidetracked from Gene and Alexis. Anyway, they fall in love with each other and slowly become the most wholesome couple in the universe, second to Bob and Linda. They do all the cliché couple things like hold hands, give each other lil' cheek/forehead kisses, and share milkshakes. Gene definitely becomes one of those stereotypical straight guys who are always like: My wife 🥰 except he's always like: My partner 🥰 and takes every moment possible to gush about Alexis. And vice versa.

@dianadeadwing also made a glorious essay about why she thinks Gene and Peter Pescadero would work so well, and I think all the points she brought up apply to Gene and Alexis--two people who seem really different but have the same values at their core. Gene is loud and energetic just like Linda on the outside, but is really sweet and insecure on the inside, caring so much about the things he's passionate about, like music and his family. He actually gets offended when people try to fight battles for him because he really wants to be seen as more capable, as seen in Drumforgiven.

Alexis seems pretty quiet and unassuming on the outside, because of how awkward and shy they can be at first, especially when moving to a new town, but when one gets to know them, they get really passionate about the things they love too, like fashion and glass blowing (yes, they like glass blowing, which is such a random hobby, but it somehow seems really fitting). They and Gene really bond over their love of obscure movies, fashion, and not being traditionally masculine. And just like Gene, they're insecure on the inside and want to be seen as more capable, not wanting other people to fight battles for them. They also have a secret sarcastic streak a mile wide, and their silver tongue reminds Gene of Louise a ton. They don't exactly have a penchant for getting into trouble, but definitely for getting into mischief on occasion. They also definitely have a secret hopeless romantic side, like Tina, but really try to hide it because they're afraid of being judged for it. Gene doesn't judge them, though, of course.

But really, this moment is what truly started it all for Alexis falling for Gene:

Also, I'm resharing this adorable Commission I got of them from @carnivaldemon because it's actually my everything now:

I could probably go on for even longer, but I'll stop here~

Also, I swear this wasn't intentional, but I realized that Alexis' design looks just like my boyfriend Michael--

[truebluewhocanoe]

The Ten Doctors miscellaneous thoughts and reactions

I just finished reading The Ten Doctors by Rich Morris. Unfortunately, his site is down, but you can download it off the Wayback Machine here. Spoilers beware: it's not a quick read but I definitely recommend setting aside some time and reading it because it's super good. Recommended to me by @lurking-latinist (although I had previously also heard the youtuber Samuel Davis talk very highly of it as well.)

This is your last spoiler warning!

Just gonna put any thoughts I have in an awkward gush-mush here:

-This is a little embarrassing but I don't entirely know what the heck was up with Doctor 2.5. He's supposed to be a Watcher, I guess? But 2 taking him with him at the end made me think it was referencing something that I don't know. Dunno where he was supposed to end up.

-Not gonna lie I was a little disappointed that it didn't explain why Maxil looks like the Sixth Doctor (on an in-universe level, we all know why he looks like that on a Doylist level of course). Especially since the Valeyard was mind-controlling him... ah, wait, headcanon: the Valeyard was mind-controlling him since his previous regeneration, and either influenced Maxil into looking like the Doctor subconsciously, or purposefully, for use in Schemes(TM). If only I could figure out a way to transplant that from this comic to show canon...

-I'm kind of face blind so when the Doctors did this elaborate team-up sequence only for this guy to pop up all I saw was the hair, and my reaction was "What, that's just 8???"

Also, next time someone asks me who my favorite Doctor is, I'm just going to send this image and offer no further explanation.

(As an unnecessary side note, I this comic leaned way further into the "different Doctors are different people" side of the Doctor-incarnation-identity spectrum than where I sit, but fuck it, it did a great story with it so I'm 100% satisfied)

-We've had humans converted into Daleks, we've had Time Lords converted into Cybermen, but I think this is the first time I've seen Time Lords converted into Daleks. An absolute stroke of genius! And it immediately takes that idea all the way and does a Dalek Doctor! When I saw 10 in the chair I was immediately struck; that actually managed to unnerve me a bit in a story that is otherwise purely meant to be fun.

-Seriously the panel where Dalek!10 sheds a tear is actually super creepy

-On the contrary, I loved Sixie in this and thought he looked particularly great in Four's scarf (although the monochrome helps a bit there)

-...but the Four circlejerking at the end was a little gratuitous

-Any time a story has more than, say, 4 storylines going on a time, I lose track. I have infinite respect for anyone who is able to keep more than that many story threads straight. And this comic had like, 10???? At one point??? Or more?? And it came together very well???

Tomorrow I'm going to go snapshot every face Sixie made that made me smile and compile them

[raetreaderarts]

Okay I’m here to make another headcanon post, but this time it’s about Looker because I have MANY thoughts about my headcanon for him that may or may not just be me projecting.

My headcanon is that Looker has ADHD, leaning more to the attention deficit side of the spectrum (which is shared by yours truly teehee) but DON’T WORRY I didn’t come empty handed, I have evidence to back up my claims. So if you’re interested then you can go ahead and read up on what I’ve been cooking!

There are lots of instances throughout the games and anime that show him being absentminded and impulsive, such as in the Pokémon X and Y postgame where a woman comes into his office and asks him for help with something. The only problem is that she speaks a different language. He says that he can roughly translate what she’s saying and that he thinks she’s upset because nobody has offered her tea since she arrived in Kalos. So without asking questions, he immediately leaves to get her tea, leaving the player and Emily to find out that actually her Pokémon got stolen. When he comes back and realizes what the actual situation is, he gets bummed out cause he bought some really high quality tea and it was pretty pricey. BUT THEN without even a Pokémon or anything, he rushes out to confront the people who stole her Pokémon, again showing off that impulsive nature and eagerness to help others.

There’s also the instance in the USUM postgame where he gives the player a thunder stone because he accidentally bought three of them without thinking. From my experience with ADHD specifically, I have trouble with impulse buying, a lot of times grabbing a bunch of shit while wandering through the store then getting to the checkout like “oh yeah I forgot I grabbed that.”

Another instance of his impulse buying actually comes from the anime, where he gets onto the train and says he DEFINITELY didn’t buy too many bento boxes because he was panicking because he thought he lost his wallet and he almost missed the train. Then he gives the extras out to everyone else on the train because he is just such a sweetheart. By the way if you haven’t seen him in the anime he is SO silly, I absolutely love him he’s such a goober, but I’m getting off topic.

In Pokémon Platinum, at some point the player can run into him in a casino where he’s playing slots. He tells them he’s doing undercover work by listening to the local gossip, but then he gets upset when he loses his streak. From what I’ve seen of him it seems that he takes his job seriously, but he can get distracted at points.

Again, most of this is probably projection on my part, but he’s such a fascinating character and I love when I can see myself in the characters I love the most. There are SO many little quirks and personality traits that just stick out to me about him, he’s always on the move, always looking to help someone out, always working in the name of justice. He is UNDERRATED and GameFreak should start putting him in postgames again, it’s a shame they stopped after Sun and Moon.

If y’all got any more examples or other headcanons or things you’d like to add onto the post, lmk! I love hearing about my faves from other people and getting different perspectives.

I just really love this panel and didn’t have anywhere else to add it in this post, but they did NOT have to do his ass like that LMAO

[youkaigakkou-tl]

The Renren arc post

Just a little compilation of the details in chapter 67 to 77, this almost certainly isn’t even all of them

warning: very long. a lot of images

(link) first of all, not renren arc proper, but the hoodie haruaki was wearing in volume 10 was hatanaka’s from when he was a student

like i mentioned in the timeline post, this whole arc happens over 1 day. wack

(Chapter 68) ebisu-sensei, if i recall, sir, werent you spying on your mii-kun? we still havent gotten to that plot point yet like at all

Seating Arrangement

(chapter 69, nice) a month before this chapter was released, the author tweeted the seating arrangement for the class

(made in google sheets by me, link to the tweet)

Anemone

(chapter 69) the flowers in the background here are anemones, anemone coronaria.

they mean a couple things, but the gist of it is like “love”, “truth”, “suffering”, the works

Birthday

(chapter 69) utagawa’s birthday is april 14th. this is more of a headcanon than anything, but there’s a chance its the date she died.

she specifically points out it’s april here, and although the next scene where rensuke’s mask comes off probably doesn’t happen on the same day, i’m pretty sure it doesn’t happen too long after this

it’s definitely not the day takahashi found her as a gashadokuro, since that happens 2 months after she died

(chapter 74) of course, there’s a chance its just her birthday as a human. rensuke doesn’t mention if theres any reason he’s giving her the ring, but it might be for a birthday present

by the way, and this is relevant, “utagawa kuniko” is based off utagawa kuniyoshi, a woodblock print maker and painter, who made the depiction of the gashadokuro. he died on april 14.

305

this is super nothing, but 305 is a number that comes up a lot for just being a number. its:

hatanaka and mikis dorm room when they were students

rensuke and hijitas room now (confirmed to be the same room as hata and miki)

haruakis hospital room in vol 7

renkas hospital room (not the same hospital)

im told it has something to do with onmyoudou, but i cant find anything online. its probably nothing. but im pointing it out so itll haunt you on future rereads too lol

also, hatanakas birthday is 5/5 and mikis birthday is 3/3. cute

Book

(chapter 70) this book that got knocked off the table is what prompts haruaki to call takahashi, and i spent a while trying to figure out what it is

its... probably the laid back youkai dictionary? would make sense

also, i didnt notice this before writing this, but its the gida taxi business card! cute!

Woah Holy Shit

(chapter 70) wait. he straight up took off his mask to threaten haruaki. geez seimei-kun you got to see his sexy face before all of us!! kyaa!!

Finally The Goddamn Nyuudou House Heist, This Post Is Getting Long

(chapter 71) this seems like a throwaway “wow cool operation about to start” line, but this is probably talking to yamazaki or ame

(chapter 71) on first reading, you probably either glossed over this or thought “ok anti youkai power time” directly going against his conditions with renpapa that he wasnt going to use it (which you may or may not also have glossed over on first reading)

but rereading this knowing its yamazaki changes that (not by much, since its just 2 sentences and he doesnt act on it, but yknow, fascinating)

(chapter 72) here too, when he prioritizes getting mujina out with the intel

also how kurai doesnt even gloat too much even though he caught “haruaki”

even if it wasnt immediately revealed 1 panel later, you probably would have caught on to something being up with just this

or it would be the fact that it was revealed already theres a separate team in chapter 71

(chapter 73) again, here, when sano prioritizes tamao even though “haruaki” is with them too

ah, yknow, one o’ them “call forward”s, one o’ them “back-foreshadowing”

Amaaki Content

(chapter 76) finally getting to the chapters i did. i kinda hate reading my own chapters since i stared at them so much theyre burned into my brain, i hope theyre like, done well. if i had infinite time and energy i would totally redo these first chapters i did. in fact i kinda did, i had to come back and fix some text bubble shaping and phrasing before i posted these anywhere. anyway this has been totally irrelevant.

super un-haruaki-like expression, but im a amaaki liker hehe

a comment on bilibili really opened my eyes, its that this came from ame’s own feelings about haru teaching at hyakki (crying and punching walls rn)

The sky’s clear...

(chapter 76) CRYING SOBBING PUNCHING WALLS RN ITS BECAUSE HARU MEANS CLEAR SKIES UEUEUEUE

We’re All Fools Compilation

(chapter 76) it was at this moment, that i realised: “OH RIGHT HIS FUCKING BRACELET”

anyway, heres the His Fucking Bracelet Or Lack Thereof compilation

I mentioned this in my google drive translation notes, but you can really see how the author purposely showed ame’s right hand at every opportunity

Anyway

(chapter 77) he’s riding gida here, not just for fun, but because he got jabbed with his own immobilization drug by kurai in chapter 75.

um. i hope i translated this in a way that made sense.

anyway this has been the renren arc post wahoooo!! super incomprehensible i hope i get better at this probably wont tho!! i wanna make a post like this for the seimei student arc and also kyoto arc too

[bigteefsmallbrain]

SOULMATE AU HEADCANONS

So, Soulmate AU where when you talk out loud to yourself, your soulmate can hear you and vice versa, but actively trying to have a conversation with them doesn't work. I'm here, it's 8:43 in the afternoon as opposed to 3:29 AM when I first came up with this.

SOULMATE AU HEADCANONS FOR: Shoto Todoroki, Rin Okumura, and Sakura Haruno

Shoto Todoroki

Aha, good luck finding out you have a soulmate in the first place with this one

He literally does not speak out loud to himself

Not at first that is

He also is clueless about soulmates, like, as soon as he hears your voice he’s google searching “Why is there a voice in my head talking about how their family is disrespecting Ramen?”

When he does realize that it’s his soulmate, he won’t actively pursue speaking to himself or finding you

Actively being the key word here

He wants to believe he doesn’t care and that his soulmate, whoever they are, will just get in his way

But that doesn’t stop him from focusing solely on you when you talk

Or trying to reply to you sometimes

And it certainly doesn’t stop him from subconsciously starting to speak to himself

Which, by the way, scared the piss out of you the first time

You didn’t even know you had a soulmate till that point

so hearing a male voice in your head go “I can’t believe they only serve hot soba here”

Would understandably frighten you

He doesn’t even realize it at first until his father gets pissed at him for mumbling

And he’s just like “oh” and immediately stops, as soon as he realizes from then on

Like you’ll be going about your day, hear him start to speak, then cut himself off

Which is disappointing

His sudden radio silence changes drastically after his fight with Midoriya

Like after getting knocked out by Bakugo and being put into the infirmary, he decides to check over himself while mumbling or if Recovery Girl lists his injuries for him, he’ll repeat them under his breath

Which, scares you obviously, but you’re also glad he’s not dead or something

He starts rating cold soba that he has or has had in the past

Reviewing his day

Talking about Midoriya

Which worries you, does he have a crush? Are they just good friends? Is this ‘Midoriya’ going to steal your soulmate

I stg, Midoriya has become a love rival and the poor boy has no idea

You’re stalking him on the internet trying to find anything you can on him to make sure you can outdo anything he does

He can knit? Oh look, professional lessons and equipment

He does Yoga? Aha, you have never been more flexible in your life

Anything he’s done? You are now doing it better than he ever could

Todoroki doesn’t have this same fear, his parents weren’t soulmates, and he fully trusts you, you’re made for each other, literally

When you finally meet, it’s so unexpected, and he blue screens

Here? Now? Who? What’s yesterday?

He’s not functioning

Todoroki.exe has crashed

Person too pretty

You’re not any better though

Honestly, have you seen this man? He’s model material

Worth millions

You both stare at each other for a good while before Midoriya comes and breaks the silence

And Todoroki makes the mistake of going “Oh, hey Midoriya” and paying attention to him

The fire has been lit, RIP Midoriya Izuku, an innocent man

Rin Okumura

You have a collection of recipes

He talks A LOT when cooking, like, he’s a walking cookbook, going through each step and ingredient

Even for recipes of his own creation

Which he never writes down and frequently forgets

So when you meet, he’s convinced he died and went to heaven

All his beautifully crafted recipes and instructions, he may cry when you show them to him

He also reads out loud to himself, so prepare for that

All the Manga, any book he may read, some new recipe he found on the internet

He reads it out, and sometimes does different voices for other characters

Which is great and all, but since he’s a dropout, it’s literally at all the worst times

Doing a math quiz? He’s crying while reading a romance manga

Trying to study? Good luck with that, he’s dramatically reenacting a action manga panel

He watches Hell's Kitchen and other cooking shows

And RAMBLES

He’s talking about how this technique would be better

Or how he should try recreating that dish later

Critiquing how something turned out

Making a dish along with the show

Now, for him, every time he hears your voice, he freezes

Like, physically freezes

No thoughts, head empty, only soulmate

He will not respond until you’re done talking to yourself

And he commits whatever you say to memory

If you talk about a certain food, he is IMMEDIATELY in the kitchen either A) Learning the recipe for it, or B) Making sure he can still cook it

I can, nearly guarantee, that this man will invite you to his home for breakfast/lunch/dinner when you meet, and cook literally everything you’ve ever mentioned

And continue to cook for you after that

Like, he goes from “I wish to eliminate my birth father” to “The way of the house husband, Okumura style”

When you both meet, he pounces on you

No, I mean literally

He leaps on top of you

No hesitation

As soon as he hears your voice

It’s a immediate cuddle session on the floor

Or if you manage to stay upright, he’s clinging to you like a koala

No, you can’t escape or avoid

And if you DO stay upright, he will continue to lunge at you every time he is within jumping distance

Sakura Haruno

Yes, she may be seen as annoying or useless, but I like her, so I’m going to self indulge, and you can’t stop me

That doesn’t mean I'm gonna sugar coat this though

THIS GIRL GOES THROUGH ALL FIVE STAGES OF GRIEF IN THREE HOURS, AND MOST OF IT IS CRYING

She has spent who knows how long pursuing a toxic, probably Naruto-sexual, duck lookin emo DISASTER only to find out he’s NOT her soulmate?

“I went on this diet, and for what? Nothing”

“I bet it’s wrong, it has to be, right? Sasuke can’t NOT be my soulmate, RIGHT!?”

Yeah, she’s in a sad/denial state for about a week after that

And even after, she’s still salty

It’s not until Sasuke leaves, telling Sakura to go pursue HER soulmate instead of some stupid skin deep crush that she really begins to get OVER him and get INTO you

Except you’ve had enough of her Sasuke BS, so she not only needs to let go of her long time crush, but also make it up to her soulmate

The first time she says something about getting over Sasuke and wanting to be with her soulmate, you laugh, and she hears because you DON’T want to talk to her

“Does she really think one sentence is going to fix years of heartbreak?”

Now, when you put it like that, she cringes, and realizes that there's a lot of damage she caused

Honestly, when you two meet, you don’t recognize each other immediately, due to the fact that you don’t speak to her often or care to remember her voice

You probably found her with her head in her hands, probably eating away her woes at Ichirakus

You slide in, very smoothly, might I add, and ask what’s wrong while ordering yourself a bowl

She tells you the surface, that a friend ran from the village, which is true, but not what she’s sad about

You give her advice, chit chat a bit longer, getting to know each other, before paying for both her and your bowl and heading off

Never gave any names, just friendly conversation

You run into each other more frequently, growing closer with each talk, finally knowing each others names

Never mentioning meeting each other when talking to yourselves though

Eventually, using your advice when Sakura mentioned her soulmate was mad at her, you grew to forgive your soulmate

The two of you got such Deja Vu because of it too, since you were talking to each other and listening to the other ramble to themselves

Till one day, one of you mention the others name

And the other is like, “Oh my gosh [Y/N or Sakura] is my soulmate”

And then you both know

And the next time you see each other it’s a bit awkward, until Sakura says “So uh, I used your advice”

And you burst out laughing, conversation flowing as it would from there

You do hold a vendetta against Sasuke though, and after getting to know Sakura, it just gets 10 times worse

Like you’re ready to knock his teeth in if you ever see him

The pure, unadulterated rage you hold for him grows with every hate crime against Sakura he makes

Like, she tries to help him, now platonically, and he tries to kill her

There is no end to your rage

Everyone knows not to mention his name around you now

White boy better run and run fast if y’all ever meet

Yes, I do simp for pink haired characters, what are you gonna do about it?

If you’d like to see more headcanons, be that for this AU, or something else, feel free to submit an ask or comment! I hope you enjoyed these little headcanons!

[fandom-hoarder]

Carry On Anniversary

Monday: What "Carry On" Means to Me

I wasn't going to write anything up for today, because there are so many more eloquent people giving beautiful commentary about when they first watched the episode. But then I got feelings so here I am!

I was looking through my posts from last November to see if I posted anything, but most of my commentary was in tags on reblogs. I didn't post a lot of original content a year ago!

For me, I needed a little time to really process the finale. I was watching with my son, and we had to watch it on the app the day after, so I had tried to avoid spoilers until he could sit down with me. By the time that happened, I was so eager that the whole episode felt like a whirlwind. I devoured it and my emotions were secondary.

I remember knowing immediately someone was going to die when they showed the rebar, but even though it was the finale, I didn't actually expect a real death! When it happened, so casually, and then Dean called Sam over, my heart and breath caught, but I didn't cry.

My reaction was literally: "What? WHAT?? No, but. FOR REAL??" I watched Dean's confession raptly; my ears got hot when he said things pulled right outta fanfic, and think I clasped my hands tightly against my chest at the forehead touch. I don't think I blinked. But it didn't really sink in until it showed the montage of Sam's life, and ngl I didn't cry then either because I just felt Sam's emptiness, and then that damn wig broke the tension and made me laugh.

The episode ended, and I was in my writer frame of mind, analyzing what I liked and what I wished had been different. (If you've been here awhile you know I'm really not a fan of putting kids' names on their clothes lol, but my initial opinion on who that last monster was has done a complete 180. It was good, actually!) Talked to my son about what he liked and didn't--he didn't dislike anything!

It was later that night and the next day that it really started to sink in, and my compartmentalization broke open. Brain breakage happened. Brain worms. ILYSMMBB! QPR SAMDEAN BASICALLY CANON. DOMESTIC MONTAGE! 'ALMOST PERFECT'!!

And I couldn't rewatch the full episode, but I reblogged the fuck out of barn scene edits. I've probably rewatched the barn scene more than the bridge scene, and I've watched that A LOT. And the coda fic. Oml. I've read the fuck out of some coda fic. I read road_rhythm's Where the Bodies Are Buried in December and was still crying my way through it in March when I recorded it. (My 3rd - 8th read-throughs at that point!)

I really didn't think it could get better, especially with the fandom drama, but I didn't really know then what a fucking gift J2 are. Bibro kings, truly. Being able to 'go to' a J2 panel thanks to the virtual con felt like such a personal experience. Finding out all the bits they'd changed and added. Hearing their headcanons for Sam and Dean and heaven. Not having their soulmatism undercut by 'and then they split off to separate forever-afters'.

Utterly amazing.

And what really made me type this all out just now is a random thought I had while watching the fanvid I just reblogged:

Supernatural gave us the complete ending I'd hoped for Merlin. They got the dying confession, but they also got the reunion after being split apart by death! SUPERNATURAL ACTUALLY RESOLVED A PERMANENT DEATH IN A WAY THAT FELT LIKE A BALM TO MY HEART. THEY MADE A PLATONIC RELATIONSHIP THE DEEPEST AND MOST MEANINGFUL KIND OF LOVE IN THIS SHOW.

THEY GAVE A SHOW THAT HAD BEEN FULL OF DESPERATE DECISIONS, WITH TERRIBLE CONSEQUENCES, A HAPPILY EVER AFTER!🤯🤯🤯🥰🥰🥰

It honestly made me, an aspec person, so happy to see other fans leaning into the qpr of it all. How is this even real? A year later, I'm still reeling. And I honestly hope I never stop.

❤

[gottawriteanegoortwo]

The most baffling part of WKM is that everyone trusts and adores Damien, despite him being the only one in politics and actively in office. Mark made the mayor character the most trusted and loved. How????

(uh oh, you unlocked my 'Love Damien' mode)

You came to the right person! This is a great question and I will gladly go on a rant to try and help shed a little light on this!

In short, it's exactly because of how you phrased your question. There's a politician. He's seen as nice and trusted and loved. It seems like something that shouldn't be, and you assume the worst of him because it has to be an act for whatever reason; and that is because of the general view of politicians at the moment. I'm not touching IRL topics with a ten foot pole, but I will say that at present, there is a sorta wariness/a 'they don't care about us' vibe toward politicians in certain countries (including my own). That's something that then seeps into media.

Think about it. If there's a politician in a show of any sort (especially one holding office), they're usually up to no good behind the scenes or are unreliable - just like how a librarian might be cranky, for instance - in a sort of caricature. Off the top of my head I can remember seeing... A mayor that wanted to evict an entire community to build a business something-or-other to make lots of money, a mayor who branded a local team of agents as non-trustworthy when they went against his pretty crummy views (which could be the same show tbh), an absolutely useless buffoon of a mayor who needed the help of children to constantly save his city from supervillains, and a politician (maybe a mayor?) who constantly clashed with the chief of police in a city. This isn't even considering the times a politician character (whether or not they hold office) is involved with criminals, bribery, is being blackmailed, or even has a criminal record of some sort.

Damien is an exception to this trope. It may or may not be completely intentional, but it's genius on Mark's part. You walk in, see this well-dressed man with a rather cheesy Mayor badge pinned on... And people would immediately get suspicious... Something which Mark called people out on at a panel! Don't forget, every character was framed in a way to give reason for them maybe being the killer. I watched WKM (and got vaguely into the fandom) a week after it finished, so I missed the speculation in between each episode. From what I've seen, it appeared that a lot of people were wary of Damien, though I'm not too sure if it's because they were like "IT'S JUST DARK IN DISGUISE DON'T BE FOOLED" or if it was because of his job and mannerisms. Either way, it turns out his worries were genuine, and he was innocent of any crime that night, which completely subverts the expectation of a politician in a show. He's a rare breed - someone that has good intentions and a good heart, who wasn't 'tainted' by politics in some way.... But ends up getting corrupted anyway through matters far beyond his control.

Not only that, there's two important points that I think people forget and I'll go into better detail of under the read-more because this is getting pretty long.

-

1. The character that is the viewer has known Damien since university. That means they've been friends minimum... Let's say five years, but probably closer to ten. You're going to be more at ease and more 'yourself' around people you are very fond of, and Damien's face lit up the moment he noticed the viewer arrived. Since the viewer would be going into this cold the first time it's viewed, they wouldn't feel that bond and might think Damien's friendliness is an act. 2. While he is the Mayor, he's not The Mayor at that moment. He's merely a Mayor by title alone. For the events of Who Killed Markiplier?, he's just Damien. It would be different if we had walked into his office, but we arrived at a party with people Damien was comfortable with. He had no need to impress anyone because they were friends. Remember, the reason the badge exists is to tell the viewer what Damien does. Otherwise he could be any sort of businessman or guy in a fancy suit, and the explain everything video states that everyone thought Mark got the suit for a wedding when he shared a photo.

(Both points are showcased nicely in the very first scene we meet Damien if you compare the way he talks to the Detective - someone he barely knew - to the viewer - who has been a friend since university. When talking to Abe, Damien stands poker straight (almost rigid) and rests his hands on his cane. One hand moves to emphasise something, but the rest of his body remains still. There's a polite, yet formal, air to him. Here, he is The Mayor. I'd bet they were having casual conversation on how they met Mark or some other generic topic to break the ice. Then the pair notice you and that conversation is instantly DROPPED. Damien immediately lifts his cane as his entire body turns to the viewer. That smile isn't one that's given out of politeness. He's now Damien. There's no need to put on an act when it's a familiar friend. He still stands straight, but his body language and facial expressions are far looser and more casual. Gestures are with both hands now. His expressions are more playful, including widening his eyes to emphasise his tease about the viewer's skill of poker. This continues until he walks off-screen where, I presume, he was going to say hello to William.)

We don't know the extent of how much anyone trusts anyone else, but one of the big exceptions is the Colonel. I know I've written a headcanon on a roleplay blog about this, but he didn't know you, so he was polite, but distant and aloof. He had no reason to even care about you. We saw a good example of William acting like this the morning after. HOWEVER, after spotting the viewer talking to Damien outside at the end of the first episode, he notices a connection. The moment he knows you are Damien's friend he opens up with no hesitation in the second episode and is rather friendly toward you from then on. He trusts you because he trusts Damien, which to me suggests that our Mayor keeps good company and has a good judge of character. Plus, no one really has a reason to think ill of Damien. He and William have an argument focused on William's reaction to Mark's death (and don't forget that Damien wanted to apologise but William kept running away), while Celine shuts him down for Damien trying to get her to reconsider her idea; but neither are motives for them to be suspicious of Damien. Chef and George are indifferent, while the Butler is probably indifferent but feels comfortable enough to make a drug joke with Damien in earshot (and Tyler's IC stream as Butler had it that he thought well of Damien, but this might not be considered canon). On the other hand, you could say that the Detective is wary of Damien, but he was suspicious of everyone between all the work he did and the warning he got from Mark, so it's not completely reliable.

Speaking of, I haven't forgotten about the Detective's study and how there's a record sheet for Damien with something scribbled out. Unfortunately, I don't think it's something we'll ever get clarification on. I double-checked the explanation stream and there wasn't any mention of what was on it... But I feel like I heard Mark say something like 'forget about what is there, focus on why it's there', or how it got there in the first place? Maybe it was for another project, but the idea is more that the Detective's work was built up over time, and not in the span of that weekend; rather than focusing on every little piece of writing that can be seen. Perhaps there is something shady in Damien's life... But since it wasn't relevant to the 'story' we were being shown, it was omitted. This could very well be where people take the idea of a corrupt politician and run with it (and I have seen some excellent roleplayers over the years work with that!), or they could be like me and say that the crimes were things he was framed for. Or maybe, as I'm writing this, it could be like how Abe had documents for things that didn't happen in WMLW, and that the crimes he scribbled out were ones that Dark would do later... But that's going into theorist territory and that's not at all relevant to what I'm talking about.

Anyway, I've rambled on waaay too much as it is. He's trusted and loved as a character because he's so human. Mark pointed out in the explanation stream that Damien was the only one to question what was going on. He was upset, mourning, and had no idea what to do. It's a vulnerability that you don't see from people often, especially if they are supposed to be leaders.

If there's anything people wanna add or point out, jump in and do so! :D

[depressed-celestial-body]

MHA MANGA/ANIME SPOILERS

TLDR: me rambling about a possible future scerios for Kurogiri and some hc to go along with them kinda

Also pls note that everything I know about the manga is from synopsis of it bc I personally struggle to read manga (all the panels blur together for me and I can never tell what order the text bubbles go in and it's just a struggle bro) so I apologise if all this isn't entirely accurate bc it's prolly not lol

Man ok so I mentioned before that I've been thinking about Kurogiri a lot right

So I personally don't think Shirakumo is coming back. Like he will always be a part of Kurogiri and I think he will start regaining some of Skirakumo's memories and emotions, but I don't think his overall personality or appearance will change all that much. What I'm hoping for is that the doctors working on him are able to loosen some of his programming a bit, but honestly, the whole point of it would be to just make him safe to release as a civilian. I mean obvi he's been a villain throughout the whole series, but it's not his fault. He was literally forced to do all of it. He was programmed to take care of Tomura by any means necessary, and that he did. So I don't think he really deserves to be punished.

Okay so here is a possible scenario that I want to happen:

Basically Aisawa and Hizashi keep visiting him and talking to him and shit and the doctors and psychiatrists do what they can, and eventually he just gets taken into UA (under very close supervision ofc). He's really not violent at all unless he's directly ordered to do something by OFA or ig Tomura (as far as I know). I feel like Nezu would end up not only allowing it, but I feel like he'd be one of the first people to suggest it. As UA's principal, he'd feel a sense of obligation toward Shirakumo since the academy failed to protect him all those years ago. Hizashi would be on board immediately, but Aisawa would be more hesitant because he'd be fearful for the students. Nemuri would be somewhere in between, but I think she'd eventually side with Hizashi.

So yeah he'd be at UA and it would be very strange and he'd have a lot of conflicting emotions. He'd probably be high key having an identity crisis at this point, wondering which thoughts and emotions were Oboro's, his own, or just programmed into him. This would be particularly troubling to him when it comes to Tomura. A part of him would probably dislike Tomura as a person. He's rude, reckless, bratty, and immature. On the other hand, as I mentioned earlier, he was literally programmed to take care of Tomura. But still, after being with the kid for so long, being there through the good, bad, and ugly, and watching him grow up, of course he's going to care deeply for him. He'll never stop loving that boy like a son. The UA staff probably knows that, and all they'll probably be able to do is distract him. I think that Eri would take a liking to him since he naturally just kinda has that concerned dad thing going on, and he'd end up babysitting her or something. He'd probably also like Bakugo because he's like an angrier but less homicidal version of Tomura. I think that interacting with the kids would probably be good for him. Taking care of spitfire children would probably make him feel a little less anxious since that was basically what he did with the LOV. And then, yet again, you have another series of conflicting emotions. He'd miss the LOV terribly and he'd be worried about them. At the same time, he would grow to care about the people within UA.

He'd feel drawn to Hizashi, Aisawa, and Nemuri for obvious reasons, and them to him. But I think he'd avoid them at first. What's left of Oboro would always try to take over when they were around, and Kurogiri would find that both physically and mentally agonizing. And every time one of them looked at him, he'd sense that they were speaking to Oboro, not him. That itself would probably hurt, especially since he knows that he can never be Oboro again. There isn't enough left of him. There's a part of his own psyche that blends into Oboro's, who of course has his own emotions about the situation. There's not much of him there, but it's enough for him to feel. Eventually, though, I like to think there would be a point where Oboro's besties would start seeing Kurogiri as just himself, and he'd tentatively respond in kind.

Okay imma mention a major character death now

After Nemuri's death, he'd probably feel so, so horrible and upset and he'd take it so poorly. He's usually a pretty calm person, so people would be kinda confused since he wasn't nearly as close to her as Aisawa and Mic were, but eventually everyone would kinda generally realize that this dude was experiencing the grief of two people at once: that of a close childhood friend, and that of someone who Nemuri had helped feel like a person.

Okay now time for a nicer headcanon

So when that asshat programmed him, he prolly did something interesting to his sleep schedule. To do his job effectively, Kurogiri might have to stay awake for days at a time during bad situations. For him to be able to do that, he is going to have to be able to compensate for that later. So my hc is that during periods of "inactivity", like when he feels generally safe and doesn't see anything to attend to, he just passes tf out sometimes. So during periods where he's feeling anxious, he probably just. Doesn't sleep, bc in his mind he's like "omg threat detected". But if you hug him for too long, he'll fall asleep on your shoulder. But like most of the time it's a p light sleep so he can be ready to take on anything that may try to sneak up on him or whatever, so sometimes it's hard to notice when this happens bc you can't really read his face and also he wakes up so easily. But occasionally, his body will simply say no 💜 and my mans will be OUT for like half the day or longer depending on how long he's gone without a proper rest. He can usually tell the difference between his lil micronaps and a Konk-Out as Present Mic starts calling it, and he will try SO HARD to fight it but he does not win ever.

This literally took me like an hour to type holy shit lol but anyways yeah

[nalgenewhore]

Too Late To Turn Back Now - Two

masterlist - ao3 - last chapter - next chapter 

Elide Lochan has been living and working in Doranelle for years. Unknowingly, she let her visa expire and now must leave the country for a year - including losing her position as Crown Counsel. Without thinking, she ropes her associate, Lorcan Salvaterre, into her scheme to let her stay in Doranelle and announces that they are to be wed. As they fumble their way through their new relationship dynamics while visiting Lorcan’s family deep in Doranelle’s northern isles, they must keep up pretenses while their intentions change, all under the watchful eye of the immigration bureau.

+*+*+*+*+*+*

an: just a quick lil thing! so, i headcanon lorcan to be native and the nation i use for inspiration is the Lakota tribe, this will be more apparent in the following chapters, but just wanted to let yall know! happy reading 💛

+*+*+*+*+*+*

“Lorcan? Did you hear me?”

He hadn’t said a word in the past five minutes and Elide was getting worried. Finally, he opened his mouth, “I quit.”

Elide scoffed and rolled her eyes, “You can’t quit.”

Without another word, Lorcan stood and walked out, passing the rows of cubicles as Elide walked quickly after him, trying not to cause a scene. “Lorcan. Lorcan,” she hissed, her heels click-clicking on the marble floor of the building.

She followed him into the elevator and he pushed a random floor button, glaring at the paneling as if it had somehow grossly insulted him as he leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. Elide tracked the way his jaw ticked and his nostrils flared, his eyes ablaze. Sooner than she could react, he slammed the emergency stop button and whirled on her. “You told them we’re getting married? Elide, you’re a fucking prosecutor, do you even understand that’s a crime? Like, punishable by the law.”

“They’ll never figure out it was a scam and besides, you can’t quit.”

“Why not?”

“Because I have the power to ruin your career and make sure you never get a job practicing on the continent and you know it.”

He did know it, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. Lorcan fumed silently and said, expertly calculated, “Fine. Say I say yes to this. I have some conditions.”

“Naturally.”

Lorcan shoved the urge to snap her neck down down down and breathed deeply, “First of all, a fifty percent pay raise, effective immediately. Secondly, after I finish articling, I get Cairn’s job with an added thirty percent pay raise after the first raise. And I want your office.” The last one he threw in for fun, knowing she would fight tooth and nail to keep her coveted corner office.

Elide seethed silently, tapping her foot on the floor, glaring up at him. Gods, she was an itty-bitty woman and he’d never been more terrified by anyone. “Thirty-ten percent raise. Promotion, Cairn’s office.”

“Eighty-sixty. Promotion, your office.”

Elide spoke through gritted teeth, “Forty-five-thirty, promotion and your choice of office besides mine.”

“Deal,” he said, holding his hand and they shook on it. “I’ll get the necessary documents.”

“Really?”

“Nope.”

Elide muttered something in her first language that he chose to ignore as he restarted the elevator and they traveled back to their floor. News sure traveled fast because the moment they stepped out, everyone was staring at them with semi-horrified expressions.

She pretended not to notice while Lorcan stared ahead, stony-faced. As he stopped at his desk, Elide informed him they’d be leaving in fifteen for the immigrations office. Lorcan groaned and hit his head on his desk, wondering just what he’d done to deserve this.

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Elide’s pert nose wrinkled as they stepped into the crowded office and she took in the long line up. With a sigh, she snapped her fingers at Lorcan and bypassed the line. “Elide, you can’t do that,” he said, trying to get her to stop and wait her turn, like everyone else.

Of course, she dutifully paid him no heed and slid in front of the person who was stepping up to the counter, “Hi, I’m sorry, do you mind if I just? No? Good.” She plastered on her case-winning smile as she put her papers down. The tired man keeping the desk looked at her unimpressed as she said, “I have a marriage visa I need processed.”

She tapped her sharp nail on the folder and the man gave her a dirty look before he picked up her papers and moved to the back to process them. Elide blinked and turned to Lorcan, “Rude.”

Lorcan bit his tongue and ushered her into an empty seat as they waited for their fraud to be processed. A few minutes later, their names were called and Elide stood up excitedly, clapping her hands before she tucked her hand in his elbow and tugged him back to the front desk. “Hi, thank you so much-“

“Ms. Lochan, Mr. Salvaterre, if you two would just follow me please,” a serious looking man said, clearly no time for any games as they walked at a brusque pace to a dreary little office in the back. They both sat in the uncomfortable chairs, hands clasped on their laps.

“Is something the matter?” Elide inquired, a picture-perfect air of innocence on her stunning face. Though Lorcan loathed her most of the time, he wasn’t blind. Her high cheekbones and angular, uptilted eyes paired with a button nose and round, bee-stung lips made for a breathtaking image, especially with her molten brown eyes and hair that was black as a starless night.

Her figure wasn’t bad either, sinful curves in all the right places, lean legs that looked like they went on for miles and miles – Elide would be exactly Lorcan’s type, if only she wasn’t like this.

The man looked up from their file, his dark eyes lingering on Elide too long before flicking to Lorcan and sliding right back to the petite woman. He addressed her breasts as he spoke, “I am Agent Benson and it’s come to our attention through anonymous tip that this wedding might be a scam so that Ms. Lochan can keep her position as Crown Counsel.”

Elide tensed as his gaze never dropped and Lorcan reached over, gently taking her hand in his before she could commit yet another crime, one that she would never see the sun again for. She gave him an almost grateful smile and turned to Benson, “Mr. Benson, did this anonymous tip come from a man named Cairn Beinn, by any chance?” The agent hesitated to answer and inadvertently showed his hand. Elide chuckled and shook her head, “Mr. Beinn is nothing more than a disgruntled former employee. It’s merely a coincidence, nothing to worry about.”

Lorcan nodded, squeezing her hand once. Benson looked unconvinced and rose a brow, flipping through their papers once more. “Five years in federal prison and a fine of two-hundred-fifty-thousand dollars.”

“What?”

“When I find out you’re lying, Mr. Salvaterre here will go to prison for five years and you’ll both pay the fine. Ms. Lochan, you will be deported and never allowed in the country again.”

“I guess it’s a good thing we aren’t lying then,” Lorcan said, pulling Elide’s chair closer. She squeaked in surprise at the sudden movement. “Ain’t that right, sweetie?”

She smiled uncomfortably and he subtly shook his head, nodding as her smile grew more natural. “You know it.”

Benson sighed and leaned his elbows on his desk, “Let me explain what's going to unfold. Step one will be a scheduled interview. You’ll be put in separate rooms and I’ll ask you each and every question a real couple would know about each other. Next, I dig a little deeper, start going through phone records, emails, interview your friends and families. If your answers don’t match up at any point, it’s over.”

Neither of them said a word and he pressed again, “So, which one of you is going to tell me the truth?” Elide refused to break and leveled him with a cool look. Benson turned to Lorcan. “Well?” 

“Mr. Benson, the truth is that we started dating six months ago and kept it from our coworkers and friends. We fell in love and we’re getting married. That’s it.” Lorcan gripped Elide’s knee and she gave him a loved-up smile she’d seen her parents give each other all those years ago. “We weren’t supposed to fall, but we did. Nothing we could do about it.”

“Hm. Have you kids told your parents about your… love?”

Elide said bluntly, staring with deadened eyes, “My parents were murdered when I was seven, so no.”

“How convenient.” She sucked in a breath and Lorcan squeezed her knee harder as Benson turned to him, “How about yours? Your parents dead too?”

“My mom, very much alive. Don’t know about my dad, haven’t seen him since I was eleven so.”

Elide cut in, “We’re telling her this weekend.” Lorcan choked on his breath and coughed, growing red. Elide patted his back and went on, “Yeah, it’s his sisters’ birthday, so we’re making the trip and letting everyone know. We thought it’d be a nice surprise, the whole family’s coming together.”

“And, uh, where’s this taking place?”

“Lorcan’s mom’s place.”

“And where might that be?”

Elide laughed coyly, “It’s Lorcan’s mom, why are you asking me? Come on, darling, jump in.”

Finally, he had his breath back and said, “Otȟúŋwahe*.”

“Otȟúŋwahe,” Elide repeated, nodding. She hadn’t stopped rubbing his back and Lorcan realized it was rather soothing in the situation, her long nails scratching over the material of his suit jacket.

“Northern Isles.”

“Yup, Norther-ern Isles?”

“You’re going to the Northern Isles this weekend?”

Elide and Lorcan nodded along, the former trying to control her look of utter fear. “Mm-hmm. Cause that’s, that’s where Lorcan’s from. The Northern Isles.”

The agent just laughed humourlessly, “Fine. If that’s how you want to play it, fine.”

“Perfect,” Elide said, “my fiancé and I will see you then.”

She turned primly and walked out of the office, holding herself as though she had done nothing wrong and doing the interview would be an inordinate waste of her time.

 +*+*+*+*+*+*

Elide was tapping away on her phone when Lorcan came out of the building and walked right past her. “Lorcan, excuse me, Lorcan!”

He slowly turned around and looked down at her with an extremely displeased look in his eyes. “Yes, dear?”

“Funny, anyway, we need to talk about what’s going to happen when we get up to Oto- Ota-“

“Otȟúŋwahe.” The fact that she couldn’t remember, despite having a near photographic memory made what he was going to demand of her so much sweeter.

“That. So, I’m thinking, we play girlfriend-boyfriend, tell your family we’re engaged-“

“Ask me nicely.”

She arched a brow, looking up from her phone, “’Ask you nicely’ what?”

Lorcan smiled and batted his eyelashes. “Ask me nicely to marry you, Elide.”

Elide made a face and gestured vaguely, “What does that even mean?”

He tilted his head to the side, a strand of his hair falling over his harsh cheekbone. “You heard me. On one knee and everything.”

Elide glared at him and he glared right back, not budging an inch, so Elide tucked her phone in her purse and held out her hand. Lorcan took it and helped her down to her knees, her dress not allowing for anything but a two-kneed approach. “Is this good?”

Lorcan swallowed his laugh and nodded, “Mm-hmm, I like you like this.”

Scowling up at him for the implication, Elide rudely asked, “Will you marry me.”

“Mmm, nope. Try again, baby.”

“Don’t call me that,” she spat before closing her eyes and breathing in deeply. Her gaze was true and deep when she swept her eyes open, smiling serenely up at him, “My darling Lorcan?”

“Yes?”

“If you would, please, do me the greatest honour of any woman’s life, and marry me? Please, with a cherry on top?”

“I don’t appreciate the sarcasm, but fine. See you at the airport tomorrow.” With that, he left, leaving Elide to fend for herself on the pavement.

+*+*+*+*+*+*+

*Otȟúŋwahe is Lakota for town! 

@mythicaitt @tinywolfofeyllwe @schmlip-scribble @the-regal-warrior @westofmoon @empire-of-wildfire @rhysands-highlady @city-of-fae @shyvioletcat @alifletcher2012 @tangledraysofsunshine @ttakeitbacknoww @tswaney17 @ourbooksuniverse @flora-and-fae @thesirenwashere e @queenofxhearts @maastrash @superspiritfestival @yikesitsmaddie @flowerspringsea @queen-of-glass @sleeping-and-books s @b00kworm @bat-wing-rhys​ @poisonous00​ let me know if you want to be added/taken off the tag list! 

[ksyescribe]

𝐵𝑜𝑦𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑥 𝑆/𝑂 (𝑖.𝑒. 𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠) ♡

Featuring: Nishinoya, Tanaka, Bokuto A/N: I started these headcanons a few days back when I was in the middle of a rest/writer slump and just finished them today. They’re hella messy but I really enjoyed writing them and I hope that you guys enjoy reading them :))

Nishinoya

Y’all we’ve known that Noya is a Latin King himself like cmon now? Do y’all see his energy??

Anyways he would 1000% have a latina girlfriend like I just KNOW IT IN MY SOUL

You never have to feel embarrassed about your family with him because he’s just as loud as they are!!!

He literally vibes with EVERYONE in your family

The loud ass fuck drunk uncles? He’s vibing

Ladies in the kitchen making the traditional food? Vibing. He even offers to help!!!

Little kids playing the weirdest games with a bunch of chairs at the back of the party? Vibing. 

Noya would just fit so perfectly in those loud as hell hispanic parties like I can just imagine him being a visual learner and seeing everyone dance like bachata, salsa, and all the other dances 

AND THEN he grabs you and just starts pulling you to the dance floor to dance with him

He’s actually so good??? Like he literally watched for a few minutes and just started moving?? This mans hips? Wow they’re out here swaying from side to side be prepared

Wow I went off on the party but like, Noya would just be so happy to be dating you

He really doesn’t care that you’re a foreigner and what not, he just knows your personality, heart, and whole being are beautiful and that he’s so lucky to have you

I think the whole relationship would be filled with so much happiness and excitement because you’re both learning about each other’s cultures and stuff without even trying

Like you invite him over to meet your family one day and it just happens to be the day your mom is making Pan Dulce and like the most traditional plate of food from your country

And when he sits down to eat he just loves it so much!! Literally will not stop eating, your mom’s about to cry because no one’s ever eaten her food with that much gusto before

Idk bout y’all but my parents love to take pictures from ALL our family trips and we have hats and stuff from all that so pops would probably sit down with noya and show them all of that and noya just loves it!! Like so much his eyes are starry eyes (perhaps what inspires him to travel the world hmmm)

If you have siblings he definitely will play with them when he comes over.

Will probably do that plane thing that adults do where they’re just making the kids fly all around (your siblings love him so much it’s crazy)

Never one for giving too many lessons but if you ask him about something in Japanese culture he’ll probably look a place he can take you to show you more

His favorite times are when you ask about anything food related because it means he can take you on dates to restaurants where he gets to see your reactions

He loves taking you to like the Shonen Jump shops or anything similar because just watching you go through all the parts of the store and seeing all these things catch your attention would make him so soft

Probably grabs your hand and gives you a quick cheek kiss when he’s watching you

Would be 1000% down to go back to your home country

Loves you, your culture, and even tries to learn some Spanish for you

(but his accents so thick you laugh every time he tries to speak, it’s okay you give him a kiss and some sweets from your country as a thank you for trying)

Tanaka

*inhale* THIS MAN BELONGS TO THE HISPANICS I DONT MAKE THE RULES *exhale*

Right so

I don’t even know where to begin with Tanaka because I literally have like 75000 thoughts of him at a bull riding event going through my mind

BUT he’s a soft boy I know for a fact, loud on the outside but very soft.

With Tanaka I do see him wilding out at parties

Like imagine him seeing a pinata for the first time? 

Better have a separate pinata for him because he’ll go crazy swinging on that thing

Is even more surprised that there’s candy inside!!!! Like what?? He thought hitting it was super fun but now this?

Loves it, immediately wants to break open another one

But I also see Tanaka being super soft with your family

Like have you seen the manga panel of him floating around in an apron? 

Your grandma would probably give him one of her aprons and she’ll be teaching him how to make tortillas in such a soft spanish

And he looks so panicked?? Just glancing at you every single second, trying to figure out if he’s doing it right or not. 

Constantly asking you “What is she saying? Am I doin it right? Can you please tell her I’m trying my best?” 

God I’m so soft like I just love him so much

Your grandma loves him always rubbing his head and pinching his cheeks

He always blushes super hard when she does that and turns even more red when you tell him that she likes him and calls him “Mijo” now

She actually tells him stories about the olden days back home and Tanaka listens so intently even though he doesn’t understand but then turns to you as you translate the story

Warms up to the affectionate side of hispanic families really quick, like he kisses you on the cheek when he meets your family like second nature. He even did it to you one morning and then got all red when he remembered that they don’t really be doing that shiz in Japan

I feel like Tanaka would really really like the traditions hispanic families do or how much emphasis they put on holidays and family together

Like he’ll probably come over on the 24th for Noche Buena and just loves the atmosphere of the holiday and the connection with family (and of course the food) 

It’s a really big contrast to the quieter Christmas his family will be celebrating the next day

Will definitely bring a Japanese Christmas Cake from the fanciest store he can afford as his own gift to the potluck

I know we see Tanaka as wild as hell sometimes but I feel like in a hispanic setting he’ll just go soft, or maybe I’m just soft for him who knows

Bokuto

So for all my POC do y’all know when you’re at the store with your immigrant parents and they see a cute boy and they’re like “You see him, I want you to find someone as handsome as him.” (my mom says this to me literally all the time god damn bro pls im trynna live)

This is what every hispanic mother says when they see Bokuto

All the ladies in your family will literally get FLUSTERED when you bring him home

“Ay Mija he’s so handsome why didn’t you tell us”

(This happened to me once never brought a boy home ever again smh)

Anyways he gets the approval from your male relatives when he helps them lug all the heavy shit they work with with no problem

Like he just grabs something that’s 50 pounds and he’s like , “Yeah where do you guys need this?”

He’s so versatile, like I feel like he can vibe with any setting your family’s at

Loud party type? Vibing. Gossiping in the kitchen with your aunts and cousins? Man’s is INVESTED in the chisme! The guys in your family working on home renovations or on any other project? He’s helping them hands down.

Is the type to eat ALL the food that your family offers him. He will literally have a bite of everything even before you tell him what it is. Your mom is beaming when he eats her Arroz Con Leche

Cannot bake for ANYTHING!!! But he somehow cooks meat perfectly?? I’m so?? He literally cannot make any sweets but if you gave him some slabs of meat or a pork shoulder to roast he has that down perfectly.

Your mom actually asks him to come over and help her make the Pernil for special occasions because he’s the only one who can manage to make the skin as crisp as he does. The only one who knows how to do it better is your grandma

Will beg for you to bring him stuff back to your home country. He wants it all: souvenirs, shirts, candy, chips. He even tries to give you money but you brush him off.

Of all three of these boys I feel like he’s the most likely to actually go visit your home country with you!! Like he’s so excited to go out there and see the place where your family comes from

When he gets there EVERYONE will love him.

Somehow makes friends with strangers on the street (something that I’ve done irl when I go back home lmaooo)

He wants to try every single food cart around the area.

Falls in love with the people and food of your country. You’ll probably be on your first trip and he’s already asking you when you can go back. 

If you ever take him to all the nature filled areas or just like a random river that runs through a certain area he’ll be enamored!

Loves the country, loves the culture, loves you :)

[pruinesce-a2]

about all your recent posts for fuyumi i can understand how she feels & the constant fear & anxiety she has. to have incompatible parents & your the eldest so it's always a small trigger could make everything fall apart & your trying your best to keep everything together. you over analyze everything action and word to know if things are still okay or is something going to happen? to want everyone and everything to be fine. the amount of responsibility (1/2)

and sometimes you do want to just crash but you physically can't because it's how you've trained your mind to be always 'breath ur fine breath it's okay breath & get up & fix things it'll get better one day. maybe' you wish you had someone who could take off the weight for just a little bit but what if they don't do it right, what if that means i'm getting weak what if what if what if and it is just a nightmare (2/2)

Also because fuyumi's situation reminds me of mine, you feel terrified of romance and don't believe it actually exists, you have the fear of this repeating but with your own family and you dont want your kids to go through the same thing. Also you've never been responsible for only yourself so you're wondering if you ever will figure out who "you" are really. There's so much of yourself defined by the situation you are in that if it's gone, you don't know who you are (3/2 😭😭)

i’m incoherent bc i just got outta class but yes to pretty much all of this. and also, my friend, me too ! fuyumi is a HUGE comfort character of mine because i relate to her so much for the same reasons - and now i wanna go bit by bit n talk about all the stuff you mentioned because i’ve mentioned it in pieces on this blog but never in full and i just go crazy thinking about her. 

trigger warnings for child abuse, death, and just. general unpleasantness.

first of all in all honesty, there’s really no situation in which endeavor could ever be compatible ( which isn’t a jab at you - just want it to be clear that this is beyond parents that don’t get along ! ). he’s straight up abusive and drove his wife to a complete mental break, as well as, as i’ve said before, y’know. beating the shit out of his kids. i wanna also clarify some things on the timeline before i get started ( i’m not sure if you’ve watched/read bnha, but also this is for my mutuals that haven’t ) - fuyumi is now the eldest living. the todorokis had four kids: touya, the firstborn, then fuyumi, then natsuo, and then shouto. and i want to follow that by linking you to this page, where we find out that..... touya died AFTER rei’s breakdown and subsequent hospitalization.

AFTER.

i honestly don’t know the timeline of touya and shouto’s training.... bc in this panel we see that baby touya didn’t have any burn marks, no bandages, he was fully capable of playing and running around. i also think if he would have been trained the same way shouto was, rei’s break would’ve come a lot sooner, and we wouldn’t have panels like this - i think before shouto, while the todoroki family was incredibly dysfunctional, they still had some semblance of a normal family, and that’s why fuyumi is so desperate to try to have a family again; because she knows and has seen that they were a family, or at least were in her understanding as a child. this seems particularly reinforced for me because natsuo, in the light novel, talks about how he always wanted endeavor’s attention as a kid! he thought it was unfair that shouto was the one who was getting it all, so it implies to me that.... one, they had no idea at first, and two, they had to have had at least a decent relationship with him before.

so i think what happened was.... after shouto’s quirk manifested, endeavor began to change. he started training shouto because he developed the quirk he wanted, all that stuff we already know, and the stress of it all drove rei into pouring the boiling water on shouto, and then we know she was put into psychiatric care. fuyumi was 12.

rei leaving was, obviously, hard on all of them. i think fuyumi was the most disconnected from her mother, because rei saw so much of herself in fuyumi and couldn’t stand it at times. natsuo in the light novel also mentioned he didn’t mind the lack of attention because he had his mom! so it hurt fuyumi, a lot, but she was able to be strong for them because a) she was older and b) she and her mother had a strained relationship anyway.

i headcanon fuyumi was the one who found rei and shouto. she heard the kettle whistle, the screaming and crying from the kitchen, and when she rounded the corner she saw her mother and shouto on the floor as we’ve seen in canon. it was incredibly scarring. fuyumi gets frequent flashbacks and invasive imagery from this event, especially when she hears that kettle whistle / sees her brothers in the kitchen. i’ve said it over and over but she hates them being there, shouto in particular - and i think this is backed up in the light novel when she immediately makes the boys leave the kitchen after shouto tries to come in and help.

i also think endeavor thought shouto was ruined after that. his “masterpiece” was ruined because there was a very strong possibility he’d never recover from that injury, and so endeavor, in desperation, turned to his first-born son as a replacement. his wife definitely wasn’t going to be giving him any more kids, and shouto as far as he knew was out of commission. fuyumi had an ice quirk and natsuo was practically quirkless, if not ENTIRELY quirkless. but touya.... had his flames. i don’t think endeavor initially wanted to train him because he wasn’t the perfect combination that he kept trying for with rei - but here, he’d reached his own breaking point, and touya was the only option left to continue his legacy.

but it’s implied endeavor pushed too hard, or was somehow directly involved in touya’s “death.” i put this in quotes because y’know, dabi is a todoroki theory. and this obviously just made things worse. i’m linking to this page again because it says that rei got worse, too, so much so that she couldn’t see shouto anymore - but it also implies to me that natsuo and fuyumi would still visit. but anyway ! touya dies, rei gets worse, and surely soon after endeavor finds out that shouto, while he’d have that scar on his face, would recover... and still be able to be trained.

so ummm.... now i can talk about fuyumi. all that and we’re JUST getting to her.

i’m kind of starting from the last ask here, but you’re entirely right - since the age of 13, fuyumi has never been able to define herself. from here on, she was entirely shaped by her trauma, and by roles she was never supposed to have fulfilled - i.e., motherhood. as a reminder, shouto was 5-6, natsuo was 9-10, and fuyumi, at age 13-14, truly began to step in rei’s place. so fuyumi starts taking care of the two of them while touya was the one who became isolated while he was trained. and like i said in a couple other posts, her brothers rejected her mothering them at first - i.e. natsuo lashing out and saying she’s NOT their mother and shouldn’t act like it, and shouto begging for their mom all the time and not understanding where she went. fuyumi barely had her own time to process what was happening and process the loss of her mother.

and then touya died. fuyumi probably feels partially responsible for his death, too, in the same way she and natsuo have said felt responsible for not helping shouto - she often thinks she could’ve done or said something to prevent that, too. and as you said, she overanalyzes everything and she’s incredibly hypervigilant to her father’s moods, because his satisfaction is, essentially, paramount to survival. touya died because he couldn’t meet her father’s standards, or maybe because he made endeavor angry, or whatever the case.

and you’re also right about the fact that she has no one to share the burden with - or, at the very least, feels like it. the one time natsuo tried to make it easier on her by cooking dinner, their father forbade him from never doing it again. i can only imagine what this fight looked like, and how scared fuyumi was of something so small turning into something irreparable. fuyumi says on this page they “take turns”, but i only think it ever happens when endeavor’s not home.

not to mention, as a defense and coping mechanism, became the image of a perfect mother to her brothers, and a perfect daughter to her father. always putting the boys first - i headcanon when either of them were sick, fuyumi would stay home from school to take care of them. always making sure her father was pleased and mediating between him and the boys. she developed this personality that consists of nothing but love and gentleness and understanding. i talked about this in my post about her and complex ptsd, but i’ll add the relevant excerpt here, too:

it’s also very common for these survivors to re-experience emotions from trauma intrusively - particularly when triggered. these feelings are often disproportionate to the present situation, but are equal to the intensity of what was required of them at the time of a trauma – also known as an emotional flashback.

fuyumi’s trauma has always put her in situations where she plays the peacemaker, the level head, the kind and gentle and understanding one. and because fuyumi is CONSTANTLY re-traumatized and exposed to her triggers because that entire house is one, it’s become her entire personality.

so fuyumi doesn’t really get to discover herself, at all, outside her trauma. her live revolves entirely around her brothers and her father. i think this also contributes to her desperation to repair her family now, because.... she doesn’t know what else is beyond that.

she’s stuck here. she can’t heal or move on right now.

fuyumi is a busybody because she KNOWS if she ever stops moving, she’ll crash, as you said. and it happens on occasion - but always behind closed doors. she has these.... quiet breaks, before she’s “fine” and moving on the next day. shouto and natsuo have never seen this side of her. she keeps this perfect facade of being put together tight under wraps.

i think the last thing to address with this ask is the aspect of romance and family - and once again, my dear friend, you’ve hit the nail on the head ! to start, fuyumi is deeply afraid of romance. she’s in love with the idea of it, as we can tell from her obsession with soap operas and trashy novels, but in reality it takes a long, long time for fuyumi to ever feel comfortable enough to define or initiate things between herself and someone else. it’s why she’s also always involved in people who are very straightforward, who won’t keep secrets from her, because she needs clarity in a relationship always. not to even mention a family of her own - fuyumi is so terrified of becoming her mother. even now, it’s why she refuses to let her brothers in the kitchen with her - because she knows how alike they are.

what’s really incredible to me is that despite all of that, fuyumi’s love and optimism and empathy and all that kindness and gentleness for the world is still very real and true. you can see it in the way she smiles, it’s in the way she sees the little things in people and remembers them, it’s in the unconditional love and understanding she gives to her friends and partners, the care she takes in tending to the family garden, the attention to her students - she truly embodies the good of humanity, the good of people - an aspect of her character that i love is how entirely mundane she is, and yet... she’s so, so special. her path to healing will always begin with forgiveness (though once she’s able to get away from endeavor, she’ll never be around him again), because she’s not a person that can live with anger in her heart, and i will always love how that’s presented as an entirely valid thing to do.

as a final addendum to this post, nearly no one knows about any of that. fuyumi won’t talk about it unless it’s entirely unavoidable, and even then she tries to make excuses and dance around it. like.... she stops up, she can’t speak. she freezes and completely stops functioning. ironic considering how openly her brothers will talk about it.

so anyways. i don’t think you expected this long winded answer, but i couldn’t help myself. thanks for sending this in !

[snowwhite-andtheknight]

I’m going to preface this off with the fact that I’m a multishipper, and ship quite a variety of pairings, so this list might go all over the place. (Also, I’ve never written a fic rec before, though I have recommended fics and gushed about several often enough.) First of all, Above and Below Surface by Whitehorse102 immediately comes to mind. It’s probably my favorite AU fic that I’ve ever read for ZenYuki and possibly, my favorite I’ve ever read in general. It’s a Mer!AU; a type of AU that I’m always reading, but Whitehorse102 writes it so differently than any other Mer!AU, I’ve seen. The world building is insanely good, and the story reads a lot more like a published novel than a multichapter fanfic; there’s world building that even takes in parts of canon and plays around with them a bit. The ZenYuki is built up slowly. It’s a work in progress of the writer’s, and such a lovely read, that you absolutely would not regret reading it or rereading it. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12201172/1/Above-and-Below-Surface Apparently, the first fic I read was Of Assassins and Apples by Realm-Leaper, though since I sometimes accidentally refavorite stuff, changing the date that I favorited it or may have read stuff I didn’t favorite, I might not be accurate with this. It’s an Obi-centric oneshot collection with two oneshots, that I vaguely remember reading. (Eventually, I’ll share stuff that aren’t on Fanfiction.net, because I read all over the place.) I started rereading it, and it has almostly amazing Obi headcanons. The first oneshot is an Obi and Zen friendship piece, and honestly, maybe this is where most of my Obi headcanons came from as far as backstory. This oneshot collection of two oneshots is well worth your time! I’d wondered if the Mukaze and Obi scene was canon, had convinced myself that the talk they had was canon and took place during the Tanbarun Arc, but it was this fanfic, the second oneshot has an absolutely incredible and in character scene where Obi and Mukaze talk a few things out. (Honestly, it’s on my mind whenever I read a story where the two of them talk or interact in any way, and it a hundred percent affects the way I remember canon.) So do check it out! It’s a lovely two oneshot collection centering on Obi. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12933248/1/Of-Assassins-and-Apples

My favorite ANS OC right now is Setsuko/Vixen/fox, from Nostalgic Family by your1ocalpotato. I decided to read some of Potato’s work on a whim a few months back, once I realized that Potato wrote stories, and I absolutely adore Setsuko, especially within Nostalgic Family; I just love that universe, the added backstory for Obi, the found family dynamics, the way that Setsuko may be rough around the edges from the life she lived, but she cares deeply for her family, especially Obi. Just the sibling bond that Setsuko and Obi have in it is absolutely incredible, and in that particular universe, Setsuko has barely met Izana, so there’s a chance that that slow burn will eventually pick up, and Izana/Setsuko is such a lovely pair; they contrast very beautifully together, and it’s got to be my favorite Izana/OC pairing. Honestly, Potato’s stories are really good and more people need to read them. https://archiveofourown.org/works/22926751/chapters/54800950 (The Den Series is the name of the particular series I’m talking about, though there is a different story with Setsuko, where she has a different backstory, and it’s pretty much all slowburn Izana/Setsuko. Both are worth a read, though I haven’t finished the longer, slow burn fic yet.) As for An AU I Took A Chance On (And Now Love), it would be the Quarantine AU, that Muselover1901 wrote: Here With(out) You. I figured I’d read a Quarantine AU, and that one was really beautifully written. It’s one of my favorites by Muse. (I may throw in a few other stories that I recommend by Muse, because she’s a super talented ZenYuki writer.) I usually avoid writing any Quarantine AUs or Pandemic AUs unless I really feel like I need to. The same usually goes with reading them; I’ve found at least one good Quarantine AU in about four or so fandoms now. (I usually only read one per fandom, if it seems interesting.) Honestly, this is probably my favorite Quarantine AU ever. It’s longer, and the world is pretty well established. (And it’s a really lovely domestic ZenYuki oneshot.) https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13668279/1/Here-With-out-You I’m going to cheat a little on the next two, because I actually reviewed them (and reviewed them around the same time). First, I want to mention a fic that Made Me Laugh Out Loud; the first one that comes to mind is A Snowy Surprise by MuseLover1901. It’s the first one that pops into my head, though I know that I’ve laughed out loud at probably plenty of other stories. I actually was unsure before I read it whether it was a romantic story or not, and had been a bit nervous about jumping in and reading it, but once I started to read it, it was love at first sight. There’s a snowball fight in it, and I’ll have to say one particular hit made me laugh out loud. The story is mostly a friendship story. (The kind of story that I always long for more of in any fandom, because I love friendship stories as much as I love romance stories, and I also love family stories just as much.) But it’s lighthearted and doesn’t contain too many manga spoilers for me, since I’m terribly behind in the manga right now. (I haven’t read all of Muse’s work yet, because some of them have more manga spoilers than I’m ready to read. I’m biding my time for the day that I can just binge read them obsessively. It will happen.) https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13668260/1/A-Snowy-Surprise So, here’s the story, I’m cheating by mentioning instead of the above one. (I reviewed them around the same time, so it works, I think.) For A Fic That Made Me Friends With The Author, I’d have to say A Quick Library Visit; it’s a short, sweet read, and if you want quick ZenYuki fluff, it’s a go to. I read it around the same time as the above two Muse fics, and for some reason, some of Muse’s newest stories didn’t have reviews, so I figured I’d review. Shortly after, I reviewed A Quick Library Visit and A Snowy Surprise, Muse messaged me to thank me. (She’s really cool by the way.) And then, a little while later, I joined the old ZenYuki Week Server, and Muse invited me over to a ZenYuki Writing Collab Server, and we became fast friends after that. (She remembered me based off of the two reviews I’d left on her stories, which was pretty cool and definitely humbling.) (Also, heads up, I’ll post the fanfiction links to Muse’s stories, but she also posts them on AO3, so they’re there as well.) (I wish there was a reverse for this panel, because through the ZenYuki Writing Server; I met phenomenal writers and began reading their work as well!) https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13668268/1/A-Quick-Library-Visit As for A Fic That Got Me Involved In The Fandom, I may be cheating by mentioning this too, since I starting writing fanfics for ANS practically right after I finished watching Season Two. The Mistress, the Plan, and the Secret by MisusedEllipses really made me long to write for Prince Raji/Shirayuki, and really kicked me off in that little rarepair haven, that Season Two won me over towards. This is an incredible fanfic, has absolutely amazing characterization throughout, and is incomplete on Fanfiction. (I’m hoping that somewhere online, it sits pretty and finished, waiting for me to rediscover it. I may be overly hopeful.) Okay, it ties in onesided!ObiYuki feelings, onesided!PrinceRajiYuki feelings, and wonderful characterization and sibling banter between Eugena and Rona! Honestly, Raji is written so well that it practically reads like canon: a very hard feat indeed for any writer to accomplish. Just, wow! I don’t know who to root for: Raji, Zen, or Obi! It diverges from canon right before the kidnapping, so Shirayuki never gets kidnapped, and eventually a rather interesting Raji and Obi friendship forms, though that’s right where the last current chapter is. It hasn’t been updated in four or five, I guess now or soon, years, but it’s well worth a read. I will recommend this to anyone if given a chance, regardless of whether the person is a multishipper or not. I love the friendship, the romance, the family, and humor that comes along with Raji’s siblings’ banter. It’s just a phenomenal canon divergent fic, and it’s what really made me realize there was a need for more Raji X Shirayuki fanfics, and it left me crazy about filling that gap. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12156186/1/The-Mistress-the-Plan-and-the-Secret I’m going to make a rather honest claim here, even though I’m not sure how often this writer will come up in what I gush about here, but this writer should: genee is one of my favorite writers in the fandom. (I’m not sure if genee is still active.) When I eventually thought of a fic with A Favorite Minor Character of mine, this particular story came up. history doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes is an absolutely amazing precanon story where it focuses entirely on Ryuu, gives him some backstory! (It’s an amazing read, and it follows his journey to becoming a Court Herbalist.) Honestly, the fandom needs a lot more Ryuu fics. (On a side note, a fic by a different writer also came to mind with this, but since that’s more romantic than this gen fic, I figured I’d stick with this one. The other one that comes to mind is the only fic where I could find Kai as a main character. It’s by a different writer, but if I can stick it into this recommendation, I will tell you more about it.) Genee writes really good fics. I know genee has a fanfiction account, but I think genee might have an AO3 as well. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12687531/1/history-doesn-t-repeat-itself-but-it-often-rhymes For Pre-Canon, I want to mention a lovely story by an incredible (mostly?) MitsuKiki writer that may not actually be active anymore. (Unless the writer uses a different site now.) (This story is actually not a MitsuKiki fanfic, though it is still one of my all time favorite stories by fiesa.) Roses, Violets by fiesa. It’s a beautiful story that focuses on Zen, Mitsuhide, and Kiki during the years since Kiki came there. Zen develops a crush on an OC, who doesn’t like him like that, who actually likes Mitsuhide, interestingly enough. It’s not really a romance story, as it focuses on the way time passes and uses summer and flowers to express that. The perspectives shift, so some parts may need to be reread to understand who is feeling that way, but it’s all written so beautifully. You get to see Zen develop a crush and get heartbroken, Mitsuhide trying to be really nice, knowing Zen likes the woman and sort of trying to let something happen between Zen and the OC. Though, Zen feels that that’s hopeless, since she likes Mitsuhide. It’s more a story of the friendship between Zen, Mitsuhide, and Kiki, and what growing up entails. It’s Zen before Shirayuki, and it makes for a rather lovely, read. (It’s a multichapter, though it’s not a super lengthy one as far as chapter count goes. It’s well worth a read though.) (fiesa and geneee I discovered around the same time, and I love what both of them write so much.) (So, if you like it, it’s always worth checking out the rest of fiesa’s work.) https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12864975/1/Roses-Violets I was just thinking over how to mention an incredible writer, that wrote two ZenYuki oneshot that I’ve read and fell in love with. (Spotted the oneshot section. If I have to refill part of the Bingo Board later, so be it.) The Art Of Watching Stars Fall by Zen Wisteria on Tumblr. The metaphors and images are just so pretty and beautiful and with gorgeous meanings. (The writer feels a bit like a poet, and since I love poetry, that’s a definite plus in my book.) It’s really fluffy and sweet and contains pretty much all of the wonderful reasons to ship ZenYuki. It’s a delight to read and to reread. It’s highly recommended by me. https://zen-wistaria.tumblr.com/post/117283326416/it-feels-like-years-since-shes-seen-his-face AU That Made Me Find The Source Material: Lyrias Station by Eclectic80. I’m cheating here too. Shh… I’ve been slowly getting into Star Trek over the years very deliberately, and I just loved this fic so much! I found it first on the ObiYuki Community, going through a lot older fics, and then fell in love with just the way that Eclectic80 wrote it! It’s an absolutely incredible Star Trek AU, and a lovely ObiYuki story. (I think I did start with reading Historical Fiction, and it surprised me by being a Star Trek AU.) (On the note of really great AUs, there’s a Star Wars AU for ObiYuki that’s incredible, that I’ll have to refind at some point, and an incredible Harry Potter AU. I actually asked a lot of questions to people who know Star Wars lore far better than I do, in order to work through how much of the Star Wars AU for ObiYuki could plausibly happen in canon. (I think it was all of it. It was a great and engaging read too!) The Harry Potter AU left me obsessed with it, and the accidental soul bonding spell, whoops. But, since I don’t remember their titles or who wrote them, I’ll have to recommend them some other day. (I think they are also far back on the community page. I haven’t finished exploring it, since I took a break a while ago.) Back to Lyrias Station, it’s an absolutely incredible read whether you know very little about Star Trek, nothing at all, or a lot. I fall somewhere in the middle, and honestly, it’s a fantastic read, whenever you want to dig in and explore. (I may have reread certain oneshots in it way too much for my own good, practically back to back. It’s a really wonderful reread as well.) https://archiveofourown.org/works/14414148/chapters/34487988 For A Fic That Gave Me A New OTP, though my OTP is hard to define, so I’m technically cheating here, but Let Me Be Bold by Kaedix. It’s an IzanaYuki story, and that is a pairing that I was curious about, but hadn’t really shipped until I read this oneshot collection. I absolutely need to read the third oneshot; it’s new, and bound to be incredible. But, the first oneshot had me sort of falling in love with Izana right alongside Shirayuki, and the second oneshot had me cheering for Shirayuki, and all in all, it’s an incredible read that is well worth your time, whether just to read something new or different or whether you are on the fence about this fabulous rarepair. (Since it did win me over to the ship, I’m including it here.) It’s incredible! Go read it! https://archiveofourown.org/works/20982494/chapters/49894448 I was trying to figure out a fic that I loved that was under a thousand words, and since I haven’t paid a huge amount of attention to the word count, I couldn’t think of one at first. So, I was going through one of the writers that I really like the writing of, and stumbled upon one that I immediately remembered. Importance by bountifulnuggets. I remembered it strictly as the wedding story where Zen and Shirayuki hugged Obi, who desperately needed a hug. I’ve never read anything like it before, and it’s saturated with friendship. (Nugget is a phenomenal writer, so basically anything by her is really good, so if you haven’t heard of her, go check out her writing. You won’t be disappointed.) (I got temporarily sidetracked before going through Nugget’s stories, by a story I hadn’t read by Eclectic80, a ZenYuki(!) story, that if for some reason, I extend and do more than a Bingo Board (or find another way to include), I’ll tell you the title of. Either way, the story by Nugget is a lovely hurt/comfort fic that is more comfort than hurt, and it’s definitely a beautiful read. https://archiveofourown.org/works/26433481 I’m going to pause here for now, even though I haven’t gotten a Bingo yet, because I’ve spent way too long today, compiling this list, and kind of want to share how far along it’s come so far. I recommend every single last one of these fics and several more, honestly they’re all so amazing!

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #16- All the Greatest Love Songs are Secretly About Heroin

Dang, been a minute since we got into the series proper. What all happened again?

Oh. Right. That.

…So anyway, let’s brush up on our Ultra Magnus history!

There was a massive fight on top of a spaceship. Swoop was there, Impactor was there, Overlord was there, Heretech was there, Killmaster was there- shit was lit. Ultra Magnus was doing his thing, though it looks like this was before he got LASIK done, because he’s got a visor on.

Then Ultra Magnus got shot in the gut and fell off the spaceship. It was so scary his hand started spasming.

Later on, we return to a place we’ve seen before, albeit from the Decepticon side.

Magnus, your badge isn’t up to code, my guy! Better get that sorted, before your current self comes out of his medically induced coma, invents time travel, and comes to beat you up.

Also, Pious Maximus? What is your friggin’ DEAL, bro? What the actual hell is your deal?

All the K-Cons start falling out of the sky, and Magnus orders everyone to take cover, as a familiar-looking bomb that literally has his name written on it lands bang on target. It’s such an intense experience, his hands start spasming.

Later still, Magnus is in the middle of dealing with the Simanzi Massacre, and it looks like his visor’s seen better days. Hopefully it was a reading pair, and not something he actually needed to see. Rotorstorm is also there, because his character apparently only exists to suffer. Magnus and his team rise from the muck and the mire, coming ashore right on top of a Cybernought, which promptly fries Magnus with its hand lasers. He gets so crispy, his hands start spasming.

For anyone having trouble parsing the scraps of rended metal that used to be Rewind of Lower Petrohex here, allow me a moment to break him down. That cylinder in the lower left corner is his camera, the wire coming off of it is where it plugged into his head, and that squarish chunk with the clean, round hole in it is probably part of his helmet. The other chunky bits I couldn’t tell you what they are, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that Chromedome absolutely put the dog to sleep with that blast last issue.

Inside the Lost Light, Swerve’s trying to be a nice guy by putting on some tunes for Ultra Magnus, who got his spark shot by Overlord last issue, but all it’s really done is make Ratchet get distracted.

Magnus is in a bad way, as was established by First Aid last issue, and it doesn’t seem like Ratchet’s having any more luck than had been predicted. Swerve’s here for emotional support, and also because he’s got medical training. Tailgate’s here for cleanup duty. Drift’s off in the corner making snide remarks about the medical equipment, probably because he’s mad his legs are still off.

Drift looks like he’s been chiseled out of stone here, and I kind of love it. Forget softboi uwu Dwift, I want more of this guy who’ll bite into a teddybear cactus and not even flinch.

Agustin Padilla’s back on the scene for this issue, and he’s decided that everyone’s going to be elongated in as many ways as he can manage in 20 pages. Tailgate and Swerve? Tallest they’ll ever be in the series. They’re as tall as Cyclonus, and he’s a fucking space jet. Someone’s got a chevron? You better believe that thing’s scraping the gotdang ceiling. Drift’s kitty-cat ears almost never fit into the panel, because those suckers are LONG today. It’s like they’ve all been put through a taffy-puller. There are a lot of little quirks with this art, but this is one I can kind of get behind, if only because it’s so distinctive.

Getting back to the story, Drift’s talking about the Death Clock here- no, not the animated band from Adult Swim, but an actual medical device that can calculate the moment a shrinking spark will give out, down to the second. It only measures the lifespans of the terminally ill, so Swerve hasn’t accidentally given himself even more depression by sticking his little hands in the shiny light without a thought as to what the device he’s messing with might do.

Ultra Magnus has about ten days to live. This makes Tailgate incredibly upset, because he, unlike everyone else on the ship, hasn’t experienced the horrors of war and death.

Ratchet’s right, though. There’s certainly a chance that Tailgate, who’s been shown to react to stressful situations by having panic attacks to the point of blacking out, could have a very severe response to what is his first major catastrophe. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder usually isn’t an immediate development, but being proactive about your mental health is never a bad thing if you can swing it. Hell, with how bad the Overlord situation was, I wouldn’t be surprised if Rung was booked solid long enough for Tailgate to actually have time to develop PTSD.

Rodimus is on the intercom to address the situation that just took place, because man oh man, was it a doozy. He intends to hold an inquiry to figure out just what the hell happened and how Overlord got on the Lost Light to begin with. As he tells everyone what’s going to happen, our focus shifts to Chromedome, who’s standing on the outside of the ship, staring off into space.

Man, I hope Chromedome’s on the front half, because this is a fucking grim scene to witness.

Skids comes out, having been looking for Chromedome. Trailcutter of all people pointed him in the right direction- which I suppose makes sense, given that he was on the Ethics Committee on Kimia. He probably would know Chromedome and Rewind decently well by this point.

Chromedome turns around to show off his mourning black Autobot badge, freshly photoshopped onto his chest for our viewing pleasure. It’s especially blatant when contrasting with Padilla’s rougher linework style.

Skids asks our brand-new widower how he’s holding up, and Chromedome says he’s fine, which is funny, because the other day he was all:

Chromedome has a moment of reminiscing, playing connect-the-dots with the stars like he and Rewind used to do all the time.

Skids, they were married for 250,000 years.

Skids might actually have been one of the worse people to have found Chromedome, if this is what he’s going to say, and then immediately leave. He’s so awkward and clearly uncomfortable and doesn’t want to be there. Does he feel weird about Chromedome knowing more about him than he himself does? Does Skids not have access to any of his memories related to mourning? Geez, I hope nobody needs him to help them through a difficult emotional time for a good while, because this was painful to watch.

Back inside the ship, Rung’s come over to Rodimus’ room to see what all the crashing and banging is about. It would seem our dear captain’s upset, and has decided to work through his frustrations by destroying his private quarters, perhaps in an attempt to summon the wrath of Ultra Magnus, thus saving him through the power of his own mess-induced rage. Rung comes to sit with Rodimus, I guess giving up his search for Chromedome, and the two of them discuss Magnus. Specifically, they discuss Magnus’ memos, and how much Rodimus despises receiving them, because they make him feel like he’s not doing his job right. He stopped even opening them, they made him feel so bad.

If you subscribe to the headcanon of Rodimus having ADHD, you could potentially read this as being a manifestation of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. As it is within the story proper, Rung’s decided to ignore this tidbit of information to get at the more pressing issues, like why exactly Rodimus felt the need to wreck his room.

This is about the point where the art for Rodimus becomes roughly 90% spot blacks, and it’s highly suggested that Rung get out while the getting’s good.

Oh, well this is going to be awkward.

Later on, we’re at the funeral. There’s five coffins, though not all of them actually contain a body. Everyone’s here to see their friends off, even Cyclonus, who was invited to the wake by Chromedome himself. Awful nice of him to do that, given their history.

The lineup in the front row is a bunch of chatterboxes, and they prove that very quickly as Swerve, Skids, and Whirl theorize on the contents of Brainstorm’s mysterious briefcase, which is also here at the funeral. Swerve swears himself to the duty of finding out what’s inside, on threat of death should he fail.

A short time skip is had, and Rodimus is revealed to be wearing his ceremonial funeral cape and terrifying vampire arm spikes to this shindig, as he sends Tripodeca, who is surely the most beloved of all Autobots, off with as many kind words as he can muster in the time they have. Everyone says goodbye, and we get to Rewind’s turn. Rodimus has a moment of pause, as Rung gives him the most withering look I believe he will ever produce in the entirety of the run of MTMTE/Lost Light.

Rodimus concedes to giving Rewind the credit for saving everyone from Overlord posthumously, as well as Fortress Maximus and Chromedome, labelling himself as a failure on that front. Chromedome comes up to the podium for a few words on the love of his life.

…well, it’s been a long day for everyone, I suppose.

Chromedome sits back down, right next to Brainstorm because they’re besties, as Brainstorm stares him down like he knows something Chromedome doesn’t.

Probably because he does.

After the funeral, Brainstorm pays Chromedome a visit, finding him in the middle of spring cleaning. He’s taking all of Rewind’s stuff and shoving it in a box to be destroyed.

Does it count as foreshadowing if it’s like a page before the reveal? I guess so.

Chromedome is trying to ease Brainstorm’s mind about the inquiry Rodimus is conducting, saying that the guy ought to talk to Drift before he gets TOO antsy about spilling the beans- perhaps a touch too late there, Domey- but Brainstorm isn’t here for any of that.

So you’re saying Chromedome/Dominus isn’t going to be endgame.

Turns out Chromedome’s been collecting dead spouses, and he wasn’t even aware of it. When faced with this inherent truth about his personal relationship with grief, Chromedome only has this to say:

Time for a pop quiz!

When the burden of life is too much to bear, what is an addict most likely to do? Is it:

A) Quit cold turkey

B) Seek help for their addiction

C) Relapse

If you answered C, you get a gold star, and a harsh reminder that addiction is a fucking monster that will devour your life and meaningful relationships, leaving you with nothing but itself for company.

Chromedome has had a problem with injecting since he got good enough at it to get his own set of finger needles, and he’s been completely dependent on other people to get himself to even close to stopping the habit. His character bio on the crew roster page has, up until this point, outright claimed this.

Now Rewind’s gone, and there’s really nothing stopping him from just taking that pain away. Brainstorm certainly can’t do it, though not for lack of trying.

Chromedome says that he won’t go through with his plan, but Brainstorm knows he’s lying, because they’ve done this song and dance before. At this point, asking Chromedome to not inject is just a courtesy to the deceased.

No wonder Chromedome invited Cyclonus to the funeral- probably figured why the hell not, since he wouldn’t remember it anyway.

Brainstorm gives Chromedome a data slug- the last one Rewind ever made, shot through the door just before it sliced Chromedome’s arm off, and found by Fort Max. Brainstorm leaves, probably to go prepare himself for that awful, hollow feeling he’ll be getting the next time he sees Chromedome.

Over in the shuttle bay, Rodimus is addressing the crew, Chromedome is retconned into being Toxin because he’s not supposed to be in this scene, and Drift is named as the sole conspirator in the Overlord debacle. Rodimus just starts tearing into Drift, and while he does, we cut over to the medibay, where some zombie nonsense is going on.

Golly, seems like there’s some flavor of undead on the Lost Light every other week, doesn’t it?

Rodimus strips Drift of his Autobot badge and tells him to get the fuck out.

Back at Chromedome’s room, he’s decided to take a gander at what Rewind left behind, plugging the data slug into the computer.

Man, this part always makes me a little weepy.

I can’t do Rewind’s final message justice, not in the choppy format I present here- which is perhaps a bit ironic, given the nature of how it’s presented. In the final moments he had, Rewind pieced together a plea for Chromedome to love himself, and to remember that he was- and still is- loved. He shared his own fears of them being apart, and how he knows how hard the coming days will be. He begged Chromedome to be kind to himself, because he- whether he believes it or not- has grown from the person he was in the New Institute.

As this message plays out, we see Drift swarmed by furious Autobots, who get violent as he makes his way off the Lost Light, only to be helped back to his feet by none other than Ratchet, before climbing into a shuttle, surely never to be seen again.

Shane McCarthy slipped Roberts a twenty to set up a slowburn between his OC and Ratchet all the way back in MTMTE #4. This is the start of the pining portion of their relationship.

God, just- there’s a reason Roberts has claimed this issue as one of his best, and it’s this fucking message. Please, if you somehow have gotten to this post without reading the comics- well, first, how, and second- go and READ THEM. I promise it’s worth it, they’re beautiful and funny and full of heart, even when everyone’s being a dick to each other.

Rewind leaves Chromedome with one final piece, which probably didn’t feel like enough, but was all he could manage in the time he had left.

I’m basically legally obligated to post this panel.

Let’s take a moment to consider Rewind as a character. He’s an archivist, and one who’s gotten very good at his job over the millennia. The guy’s OBSESSED with history, and recording as much of it as possible.

Which stands to reason that he knew about Chromedome’s past conjunx endurae. I mean, why wouldn’t he? It would be public record- even if you don’t necessarily get a marriage license on Cybertron, Chromedome would have been on the paperwork with these other guys somewhere, and the fact that he wouldn’t be able to answer the question of “Who’s this guy you lived with for several thousand years?” Would imply some… rather unfortunate things.

Rewind also has a hard time letting go of things- he gets jealous of Chromedome’s past relationship with Prowl any time it’s brought up, and he’s still looking for his ex-husband after what’s probably been at least a million years. That, combined with the way Rewind lives his life- you know, recording every single moment of it- gives me the impression that he really, really wouldn’t enjoy the idea of being forgotten. He wants Chromedome to stop injecting because it’ll kill him, of course he does, but he also wouldn’t want to be erased.

The video cuts off, leaving Chromedome alone. It’s all up to him now, whether Rewind gets to stay in his heart now.

Chromedome/Dominus is still on the table.

With THAT crisis of love dealt with, we move back on to that weird zombie nonsense we saw a little bit ago. Ultra Magnus is missing. Odd, that.

Ratchet, how many times are your patients going to have to disappear from your medibay before it’s less of a “them” problem, and more of a “you” problem?

As Ratchet goes off to search the rest of the ward, Tailgate accidentally bumps into the death clock, which gives him a nasty little surprise: apparently he’s only got three days to live.

Yeah, this is the point where the comic kicks into overdrive, plotwise- there are no brakes on this train anymore.