#michael: character study.

[ashiiuou]

here's some art for a FNAF AU i've been working on that combines paternal bonding, self-consciousness, and haunted arcade cabinets.

bonus:

[strangerhawke]

i love love love love seeing tma/malevolent crossovers but i personally think arthur lester and jonathan sims would Dislike each other. there are so many things they COULD bond over but i genuinely think they'd just find the other petulant. they'd be pleasant enough at first but if they had to solve a problem together it would be mayhem. theyre both stubborn and strong willed and make mistakes like breathing.

arthur: we can't just sit on our fucking thumbs and wait for the opportunity to pop up jon: so we should just stride in with no information whatsoever, should we? i thought you were a private investigator arthur: if our only chance for getting more information is going there, what choice do we have? jon: there has to be something else we can find on it first - arthur: right. well you do that, and I'll go find out for myself. jon: oh for - fine. lets just walk straight into a trap, shall we? should i inform you of any holes in the floor as we go? arthur: how did you fucking know about that jon: .....what? arthur: about. about falling into - never mind jon: ....... jon: you've had 8 falls. are you clumsy or do you have no spatial awareness arthur: i'm pretty sure those are the same thing. jon: stop avoiding the question

[thestarstoasun]

Possibly a hot take, but I think the Tartarus trip actually helped Will a lot. Obviously I have my disappointments with the book, but we do not only see Nico healing from the copious amount of trauma Rick fit into him; we get to see Will come to terms with darker parts of himself.

It's canon/very heavily implied (I can't remember and don't feel like looking it up) he came to camp at a very young age, younger than campers that aren't deemed "powerful" or have a strong scent. Despite Will thinking he isn't strong, he is the best healer Camp Half Blood has seen in, what we can assume, at least a century. He's a year-rounder, so he hasn't experienced life on the outside in years. Hell, until Trials of Apollo, his godly parent hardly took notice of him.

His older brothers and other siblings were his biggest supporters and motivators. They looked out for him and took care of him in place of a parent, specifically the older kids (Lee and Michael.) And he lost them during the Dark Prophecy - less than 2 years apart from each other. He didn't even get to search for Michael because Percy took him for a joyride across Manhattan on a motorcycle to help Annabeth.

Even after all of that, its implied/seen that he's someone who is always looking on the bright side of things, never making anything about himself, always helping others, etc. He's a ray of sunshine in everyone's life, never allowing himself to show anyone that he's hurting or suffering because he feels like he just can't. After all, he's Will Solace. He is the head medic, the infirmary can't just stop running. He's the counselor for cabin, his siblings need him to be strong.

He represses his negative emotions, even admits to it in Trials of Apollo. I think he represses them to a point he can avoid/ignore them or pretend they aren't his. It's easier to be a ray of sunshine in people's lives if the negativity and darkness you feel are projected onto someone else.

These tendencies are also something that causes strain in Nico and Will's relationship, because Nico doesn't understand how Will can't see how hypocritical he is. When in reality, Will does know, but it's easier if he avoids it. Ignorance is bliss after all. This doesn't mean Will doesn't work on trying to let Nico in, because he does, sort of.

On bad days, the days when he wakes up and wants nothing more than to curl up in the arms of his older brothers, he would go to Nico's cabin. However, his only explanation would ever be, "im tired." It frustrated him just as much as it upset Nico. He wasn't even sure if his boyfriend could tell. (Nico could, but that didn't mean it hurt any less.)

In Persephone's garden, he was forced to face the fact that there is darkness/negativity/hurt inside of him. He can't deny it when it's right in front of him, so he finally has to stop repressing everything, stop running away, and face his pains.

[heavenbarnes]

Lucky you!

"The Bear" characters x reader

Contains: The Lucky star of Chicagoland. Tales of loving working in a one-time sandwich shop, come gourmet restaurant.

(Some parts may contain explicit references, this blog is 18+)

(Each part will be standalone and focus on a different character. Does not need to be read all together to make sense, you can pick and choose- however, it will be noted which parts pair well together.)

The series [COMING SOON]: You should be so Lucky - Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto x reader Just Lucky, I guess? - Sydney "Syd" Adamu x reader Feeling Lucky? - Marcus Brooks x reader Third time Lucky - Richie Jerimovich x reader I'd rather be Lucky than good - Michael "Mikey" Berzatto x reader

(As each part is standalone, the individual parts will not receive sequels.)

[czlowiekz1nogawgrobie]

I don't know much about Michael and even less about Helen, but the vibes I'm getting from various fan art + fics is

Michael is more: How much truth can you fit into a lie.

While Helen is more: How much lie can you fit into the truth.

No, I will not be explaining it further.

[inspector-constable]

Aziraphale and the Gray Area: Why is he like that though

Good omens season 2 spoilers ahead

One of the things religious trauma gave me is a strong sense of right vs. wrong. The idea that there is always a right way to do things or a right course of action, and to not do things that way is simply wrong. This is more than just feeling afraid of being punished for doing the wrong thing; it feels like part of my identity. I think of myself as a good person, so I want to do good things and I want to do the right thing. If I choose to do the wrong thing, I lose myself and I lose what I value in myself. Sometimes it’s a good thing to feel like this, it’s what led me away from a religion that preached hate. Sometimes it’s not such a good thing, because I can hurt people by trying to do the right thing, or by trying to put my personal sense of morals onto other peoples’ situations. I have been picking through my beliefs for over a decade trying to confront and dismantle the harmful ones. It’s a painful process and it takes a long, long time.

How much longer must it take for a literal angel, a servant of God? We have the pleasure of seeing this process in Aziraphale through the ages, and it’s a lot slower than fans want it to be. I think people see Aziraphale in his moments in the gray area - lying, disobeying orders, being a bastard, enjoying human food, and loving and trusting a demon - and they think that he must be just fine with being in the middle: mostly right, a bit wrong, very human. But that characterization oversimplifies and misses Aziraphale’s true nature.

The sense of justice and good vs. evil is central to who Aziraphale is. He is not just another angel following commands; he is doing what he truly thinks is right no matter what the consequences may be. He ends up being quite a bit more good and loving than any of the other angels we meet, because he isn’t okay with doing what he knows is wrong. He knows it innately, but also he knows it because of what he was taught. When you’re taught that hate and violence and greed is wrong, but then you see hate and violence and greed being perpetuated by your teachers, you start to wonder where that dividing line really is.

That’s where the gray area comes in. When Aziraphale gives away his sword, he’s aware it’s not technically the right thing to do, but decides it is the actual right thing to do to protect Eve and Adam and their child. Same as when he lies to the angels about Job’s children, only this time instead of fudging the truth and avoiding the confrontation, he has to make a direct choice to do something that is technically wrong - lying - in order to avoid doing something he really, really knows is Wrong - murder. In this case, he’s not okay with lying despite it being wrong, he’s okay with lying because it is the right thing to do. It still causes a large amount of internal conflict when he thinks he will be sent to Hell for disobeying, but that fear of punishment didn’t stop him from doing what he thought was good.

For Aziraphale, the gray area is not about being a little bit evil, it’s about fudging the Rules and disobeying authority in order to remain completely good. Since Crowley is in the gray area with him, surely Crowley must be in the same boat of wanting to do the Right thing. Throughout thousands of years of history Aziraphale never stops arguing the side of Good, trying to convince Crowley to do the right thing. Sometimes he finds that Crowley was actually right all along, and then Aziraphale can feel safe to align himself with whatever the demon is doing. Sometimes Aziraphale even tries to convince Heaven to do the right thing with him. During Armageddon, Aziraphale avoids telling Crowley the truth because he thinks it would be better to get Heaven to stop doing the wrong thing. And he’s right, a lot of problems would be solved and life would be easier if Heaven would listen to Aziraphale and stop inflicting their harmful views on the world. 

It would be nice if Aziraphale would realize, at the end of the first season, that Heaven is not interested in being good or even being right; they just want to win. Aziraphale is too naive and pure to believe that of Heaven. After everything, he still wants to be an angel, and he still wants to be part of a Heaven that is doing good. What he did at the end of season 2 is not at all out of character for him. It makes perfect sense that he would want to take the opportunity to change Heaven for the better. Anyone can see what a delightful place it would be with Aziraphale making the decisions. Angels could drink hot chocolate and stack books in their offices or pop down to Earth to go to the theater. Humans could live without worrying about Armageddon or the Great Plan or having their lives destroyed over a bet. And demons (or at least one specific one) who were good and loving could be forgiven and become angels again so they don’t have to be forced to carry out evil acts and always be looking over their shoulders. 

Aziraphale didn’t do what he did because he doesn’t accept or love who Crowley is. He just genuinely believes that Crowley is still an angel deep down and that Heaven is where he belongs, where he could be the most happy. A better Heaven, where Crowley could create stars to last millions of years and put anything he wanted in the suggestion box. Aziraphale wanted to create a life for them to be together without any more worry of secret meetings, gray areas, and war. When Crowley rejected that life, it broke Aziraphale’s view of Crowley and his goodness. As ridiculous as it sounds, Aziraphale never expected that Crowley wouldn’t jump at the chance to be an angel with him again, and now his perception of their relationship is shaken. 

Ultimately, Aziraphale can’t be so selfish as to choose to run away with the being he loves, when he knows he can do so much more good if he returns to Heaven. And so in trying to do the right thing for everyone, Aziraphale does the wrong thing for Crowley and himself. This is what is so hard about Aziraphale’s gray area; it cuts both ways. He has so much learning and unpacking to do, and I’m afraid he’s going to find that he will have much less power to change Heaven than he thought. All we can do is beg for a third season and then Wait and See.

[miyamiwu]

Not gonna lie, I love Kaiser as a character more after chapter 261. His relationship with Ness also becomes more compelling and nuanced that KaiNess has now cemented itself in my psyche.

God, I just love dissecting characters that are so mentally wrong (I think I can understand my psychiatrist now)

[thecryptidart1st]

Kinda obsessed with your interpretation of Lizzie afton tbh. Was she always this level of unhinged or was she slightly covering it up with Little Girl Charm before waking up and fully taking on Williams...William...ness.

Excellent question

I've always interpreted Elizabeth inheriting a lot of William's sociopathic tendencies (as seen with Baby in the games being a manipulative bitch of an animatronic)

In Soldered Wires, Elizabeth is her father's daughter; she learned how to manipulate her friends into following her and giving her their best toys or presents, even at their own birthdays. And those that get on Elizabeth's bad side suddenly find their favorite things being stolen and found broken. And those who got on her worst side quickly found themselves at the hospital. (Think Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender)

This behavior manifested well with William's spoiling of her since her birth: if she wanted something, he would get it for her; if her brothers harmed a hair on her head, he would see to it they were punished for doing so; if she got in trouble with someone outside the family, he would throw as much money to the problem until it went away. And Elizabeth would fake injuries and lie about her brothers doing stuff they weren't allowed to do in order to get what she wanted around the house (William would be in denial his daughter would be capable of such criminal activity due to his misogyny against her until her teen years)

Michael and Evan were probably the two closest people to ever know the true nature of Elizabeth throughout their childhood. Evan, being Evan, would give into Elizabeth again and again due to how much she could outfight him. Michael could at least hold his own against his baby sister and tell her no when she deserved it, but he knew she already had William in her tiny hand the moment she yelled.

[procrastiel]

So good!

[curiositysavesthecat]

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[minteaartss]

grief

[crumbleclub]

Michael Afton's desperate desire to be saved never really went away.

It started when he was small. He didn't even know what he was missing– he didn't have the context for that– but the aching hole in his chest that grew with every moment of normal, necessary nurturing he was denied hurt, and he wanted it to go away.

As he got older, he understood bits of it. He wanted to be hugged and asked about his day like Charlie was; he wanted someone to ask what was wrong when he cried like he saw on TV. He wanted his dad to look happy to see him.

When Evan was born, even as Michael was steadily growing to dislike being touched, he was jealous of how often the baby was held. He knew it was stupid; he knew babies needed to be held, but something about it still hurt. He imagined what it might feel like to be picked up, since it never happened anymore.

He was only six years old.

As Michael got older, and things at home got scarier, his mindset shifted. He stopped wanting things to change, and instead wanted someone to take him away.

He daydreamed about being rescued. He daydreamed about being stranded on a faraway island, and whoever lived there taking him in as one of their own. He daydreamed about some tragedy befalling his father, and of being taken in by someone else.

That last one made him feel guilty.

His dreams settled in that state. The theme persisted throughout his life.

They sometimes twisted after the Bite. Sometimes, he'd imagine that his rescuers would hurt him; punish him for what he'd done. He'd turn on the news to see another disappearance, and some part of him hoped that he would be next.

At its core, though, all he wanted was to be taken away; taken out of that house that was empty and cold and filled with broken glass.

He grew up, he moved out.

His daydreams remained the same.

In his apartment, he'd sit and imagine someone coming in the night to take him away from his dad's house.

In the security office– as he watched the clock and locked Bonnie out for a third time– he imagined someone waiting for him outside, asking why he'd been out so late and offering to drive him home.

(He'd save them. Nobody could save him, but he could save them.)

(They could have saved him. Countless people could have saved him.)

(Nobody wanted to.)

With the scooper staring him in the face, he humored the idea of someone barging in and demanding to know why he would do something so reckless, so stupid.

They'd pull him out of the way.

They'd take him home.

They'd wipe the blood off his chin and tell him that everything was going to be okay.

When he opened the pizzeria, Mike pretended that Henry's recordings were just that: somebody saving him. Henry had sometimes been the face in his dreams, but it had hurt too much to imagine other times. After all, Henry had never believed him.

Did he believe him now?

And, as the office burned, he turned his head to the doorway. Smoke filled his lungs, and, if he squinted just right, maybe, maybe he'd see someone show up to save him.

Nobody ever did.

[pomeness]

Kaisae "ficlet"/scenario, getting together; featuring: Kaiser's typical insanity, established background ryusae and implied ryusaekai ending.

Kaiser goes to Re Al and tries to get closer to Sae to learn his patterns so he can manipulate/tame him on the field. He fails.

It's not the first time Kaiser finds himself staying till late at Sae's apartment, but every single time he gets surprised at how fast the day goes when they are in each other's company. They drink tea or coffee together almost daily, sometimes chatting about the day's training, most of the time just basking into each other's presence without actually making the effort to socialise.

Kaiser has read somewhere in his psychology books that this behavior is called "parallel play", but he hasnt given much thought about it. Just that, sure, human interactions feel way less tiring when you don't have to mask all the time.

It wasn't supposed to be like this, though.

At first, this was supposed to be a way for Kaiser to learn about Sae's patterns, a way to enter in the midfielder's mind to get a better grasp of what was going in there, especially since Sae always seemed to know somehow which buttons to push to rile him up.

Unfortunately for Sae, Kaiser doubts the midfielder is aware of what his actions actually bring to the table.

An example? That one time Sae called him good boy after Kaiser received one of his passes, to which of course Kaiser had reacted in a totally normal, balanced, not insane way... by spending a whole week doing nothing but fantasising about committing the perfect Sae-cide.

(One morning he finally decided to look at himself in the mirror and tell his reflection that it did not mean anything and it was not that deep. He was very normal about being called good boy by Sae Itoshi, in fact he disliked it a normal amount.)

((He also did not need to address the weird emotion that had been sitting uncomfortably warm in his chest since it happened.))

He hates it.

Anyway.

The initial plan, which consisted to convince Sae to train together, was quickly discarded after realising that Sae was a natural at both football and magically disappearing after training, which made Kaiser's attempts to reach out completely futile. When he finally managed to tell Sae about his idea, all the midfielder had to say was that "If you need more time after training then you have been doing it wrong".

That, of course, led to more homicidal thoughts.

So Kaiser needed to change his plan. Since Sae wanted to play hard to catch so bad, Kaiser decided that it was more than fair to play dirty.

Literally.

In the meaning that Kaiser casually slips his dirty jersey shirt in Sae's training bag while Sae is still in the shower, carefully hiding it so that it won't show up until Sae gets back at his apartment and put his stuff in the washing machine.

What happens next plays out exactly how Kaiser had imagined it: Sae texting him about his jersey, Kaiser insisting that there's no need for Dabadie to be the one to bring it back and that Kaiser himself would gladly retrieve it at Sae's apartment.

Except when Kaiser gets there, already tasting victory in his mouth, he finds out Sae is definitely not alone in his house.

Shidou Ryusei is sitting at the kitchen table, tea mug in one hand and phone in the other, mindlessly scrolling his feed as he relentlessly bounces a leg under the table.

Kaiser is already hating this, but he does not even have the time to reply or find a quick excuse that he somehow finds himself sitting at that same table with a fuming mug in his hands. He secretly curses Sae for letting the Mediterranean typical hospitality to rub on him and curses himself for not having a plan B.

The next interactions are some of the weirdest Kaiser has ever witnessed.

First of all, Kaiser has always been sure he was good at following certain scripts and at reading certain patterns. But this. Whatever was going on between Sae and his ugly... boyfriend...? was beyond his comprehension of human behaviour.

Why the fuck are these humans not humaning. What is this. What the fuck.

He hates it. But hates not being able to read them even more, so he stubbornly sits there, studying them from afar. One thing he understands: neither Shidou or Sae are kind people. He sees it in their voice tones and demeanor, and, now that he thinks about it, even when Sae invited him in he was using a colder tone, one that you don't use if you want to appear welcoming.

When Kaiser retrieves his jersey back and finally gets home, he stares into the wall for forty-five minutes. What the fuck.

He definitely hates it.

Next week, he is back at Sae's apartment to get his socks back. They are alone this time, but the encounter plays out in a similar way. Sae barely welcomes him home, makes him tea, then proceeds to ignore him.

Rinse and repeat for the following week as well. And the next one too. Kaiser has stopped hiding his stuff in Sae's bag, Sae has started to be more chatty, although only when it came to soccer.

Sometimes they go out together. Sae likes to go for long walks at the beach in the late afternoon and Kaiser finds himself sticking around at Sae's place long enough to eventually join him.

"I need to study him so I can tame him on the field", Kaiser keep telling himself. Yet there he is, lounging on Sae's L-shaped couch, with Shidou's weightened blanket enveloping him and Sae watching tv sitting right next to him.

Kaiser has no idea when his brain has started to consider Sae as part of his comfort zone, at the point of letting the midfielder's stay this close to him.

Kaiser is still lost in his thoughts when he feels a gentle weight on his shoulder. He looks down and sees Sae fully relaxed against him. His eyes are closed, and his long lashes lie prettily on his cheeks.

In normal circumstances, Kaiser would physically recoil at someone touching him. Only Ness had ever gotten this close beforehand, but that was different and whatever was going on between him and Sae did not taste the same. There was no power dynamic to keep Kaiser safe from this.

To help him distance from... whatever.

This was not the time for self-reflection.

Kaiser wrapped an arm around Sae's shoulder and decided that, maybe, he did not hate it that much anymore.

[tapeworrmart]

Destressing with some totally normal hand studies using refs

[corruptpixel]

some art + minor infodump

i've seen people mistaking michael's teeth for endo teeth, i wanted to clarify that those are supposed to be "dead teeth". (when a tooth dies but stays rooted) i figured since he technically died but remnant kept him alive, the dead teeth would be more fitting than pearly whites + the color palette looks nicer. kind of like his body is still confused after dying. (albeit, momentarily) this is ofc just post-scoop appearance so further down the line his colors come back.

[ageofthegeekbrother]

Legitimately the most mediocre generic mid-2000s white american action show ever made and yet. they really did something with those character dynamics. if I wrote burn notice fanfiction it would be fucking amazing. you wouldn’t know what hit you.