#or else people wouldn't feel conflicted about her killing people

[birdmenmanga]

"suletta's too cute to be a gundam pilot" well clearly you're not ready for the new era of women's wrongs that g-witch is ushering in

[kenjakusbraincum]

Not a request but i just wanted to share the daydreams Your sukuna fics have inspired like a clueless sourcer tries to take his pet away and sukuna let's it happen as a test of loyalty. Like he knows that this servant is suspicious. And of course being very loyal as soon as she realizes and tells sukuna that they tried to get her to leave, clinging to him, begging him to let her stay beside him 😭

He wouldn't intentionally want to test you, but now that he saw the opportunity... Where's the harm? You'll never know. Besides, he knows you wouldn't leave. He does, but hearing it from your mouth is not the same as actually seeing you make a decision to stay when faced with a choice to leave.

That servant is bold to think he doesn't know. Even bolder to believe running away is possible at all, much less with you. Okay, if it was one servant, maybe he wouldn't notice. But you? He sleeps with you almost every night. He wakes, almost in panic, when you do as little as shuffle or make a noise in your sleep. He would know you're gone.

But you are not as aware of this as he is. It starts with the little things. The servant talks to you as she washes your hair. Usually, she complains about her work, and you let her. You miss talking to people other than Sukuna, even if they're bothersome. Until one day, when she asks you what he's like when he's with you. You smirk, not immediately thinking why. Sukuna hasn't exactly trained you to be a critical thinker, on the contrary, he's dumbed you down quite a bit, to his liking. But you do still think, at least a little bit. Would he like you sharing details of your intimacy with him to others? No, hell no! You think he might just kill you. You think this is the worst way you could possibly betray him. After all, he trusts you with that vulnerability. So you tell her he treats you like he treats all of his servants. Obviously, with a little bonus of allowing you in his bed.

On another occasion, she mentions running away. Now you're conflicted. You're confident enough in your relationship with Sukuna that you know he wouldn't kill you for failing to refer that information to him. He knows of your good nature, so fundamentally different from his. He usually doesn't hold it against you. So you don't tell him, but it weighs heavy on your conscience every time you're with him. It's not the obligation, it's just that hiding things from him feels wrong. You're so used to telling him everything, all the time. Now you feel complicit. And he notices.

The situation reaches it's peak when you have a particularly bad day with Sukuna. It truly takes so little for him to hurt you, a single word is enough, much less a string of words as demeaning as the ones he spat at you that day. You cry in your room, and the servant, that vile servant! She really tried to convince you to leave now, when you're as emotionally vulnerable as you can be! She says so many things that don't ring true. That you don't deserve this, that you can be free and worry about your own needs and not someone elses...

She doesn't understand that Sukuna doesn't treat you badly. On the contrary, most of the time he treats you like royalty. And on the other hand, she doesn't understand that you wouldn't know what to do if you leave Sukuna. You're useless. Any life and survival skills you've had are long gone now that you've spent years being pampered by him every day. You're good for basically nothing, other than indulging in your little hobbies and serving, pleasuring, loving him. You would have to work, but most importantly you would be alone. Who could ever provide you with such a carefree life in the outside world? No, you don't want anyone to provide you with that life! You have it here. You don't want to leave. And every second you spend there listening to her says otherwise.

You tell her no, and when she starts insisting, you start to get up. And then she keeps going, she's following you, and you're begging her to stop because if she doesn't you'll have to tell him. And she doesn't, and now you're in tears and running from her, and barging into Sukuna's throne room unexcused. He is busy with his usual daily dose of slaughter, and he's doused in blood. But it doesn't matter because its him, and you feel safer in his arms than you would feel tucked away at the end of the world. Even if his embrace smears you in blood, and engulfs you in the scent of death.

Sukuna is usually weary of being interrupted, but he notices you're panicked, crying, and babbling nonsense. On and on about how you don't want to leave him, how you beg him to forgive you, for not having told him earlier, for not having seen it earlier. You never want to leave him, because you're the happiest when you're by his side. And then he gets it. He gets what he wanted. He picks you up so you can bury your face in his shoulder and calm down. He's not mad. ''Who upset you, my little pet?'', he asks in his softest voice, reserved only for you. ''And how shall we punish them?''

[ladyloveandjustice]

To give my Real Opinion on the whole Clark vs Lois issue (since people are giving me theirs), I'm surprised it is an issue, since it's very clearly supposed to be an conflict where both people made decisions that made sense from their point of view but still hurt each other. It makes sense that Clark would be insecure about telling Lois this when she's acting distrustful of Superman, and it makes sense he'd freak out and not handle a situation where she was putting a lot of pressure on him well. It also makes sense that Lois would be angry (and probably humiliated) and upset that Clark not only lied to her face when she was begging him to tell her the truth, but left her where she couldn't help him when she was worried sick about him.

Honestly, I think a lot of you aren't being honest about how you'd feel if you had a friend who disappeared every time something dangerous happened, you spent a lot of time frantically searching and worrying about that friend each time, only to find out oh hey, your friend was well aware of how worried you were and was actually right there but they were pretending to be someone else instead of letting you in on what was happening. You'd feel played with.

And Clark also KEPT lying when she was basically saying "hey stop lying to me. I know." He did it instinctively. She was begging him to tell her, and he didn't. That's going to hurt, and that's going to be galling. She definitely felt she had no other choice than to do something drastic, because she can't enter a relationship with someone she knows is lying to her and here he is, refusing to come clean. She's a reporter, the need to know drives her.

"Lois isn't entitled to Clark's private information, they haven't known each other that long", sure, but Clark vanishes in dangerous situations and causes real distress, Clark has been discussing Superman with Lois and unconsciously trying to manipulate her feelings on him while not telling her the whole truth, and you'd feel weird if someone did that, you'd feel kinda violated! And even if someone told you they weren't doing that to laugh at you, wouldn't you be hurt and humiliated?!

When exactly IS Lois entitled to Clark's info? When they start dating? How many months is it okay for him to date her without him telling her he's actually the guy she spends every waking minute trying to interview? Would he have told her as their relationship got serious? Not knowing that is probably scary and if I was Lois I'd think twice about if I wanted this either!

And what's especially scary is that yeah, he did leave her behind to so he could possibly go get killed when she was begging him not to. That's terrifying. She was probably terrified the entire time she waited. He was able to take her choice away from her, and Lois does not like feeling helpless. Clark was scared of her getting hurt, so he enforced his will and so shewas scared for HIM. and then he refused to talk about those worries!

It's also pretty galling when she's already helped him out in several fights- she's proven she can be useful and helpful! I'd be mad too! I'm sure there was a little vindictiveness in her actions- you see how you like it when someone takes your choice away too.

At the same time, Clark is clearly not comfortable showing people his whole self. He still doesn't know who he is, and he goes into panic mode about it. He's very scared of people being hurt because of him. What he did made sense from his point of view. And I'm sure he's not happy to be forced to reveal his secret.

It doesn't matter 'who's more right'. It's not a game they get to win! They both violated each other's boundaries. Their feelings both make sense from their perspective, and interesting conflicts are complicated. And I like it when characters don't just react to everything flawlessly. There's a lot of drama in secret identities, and sometimes stories have conflict.

I do agree this should have happened later in the season or as a season 2 thing, but that's sadly just life in this streaming hell era. They didn't know if they'd get a season 2 to tell the story they wanted. We have to take the conflict as it is. And let's face it, if Lois had taken longer to figure out, y'all would be making fun of her for being dumb. Lois is for some reason always the butt of that joke even though nobody else can see Clark is Superman either- and when she does figure it out (as she usually does!) and has anything other than positive feelings about it she still gets blamed. Just enjoy having a character who can have complex feelings.

If you hate relationship conflict, there's stuff for you out there! Read Superman Family Adventures by Art Baltazar, it's very cute low stakes low conflict stuff and has an actual Himbo Clark.

[am-i-interrupting]

Hello! I really love your work, I just HAD to pop in your inbox after seeing your fics about Alastor's daughter.

What if Alastor's daughter is an angel that is scared of demons.

Like, when they were alive, Alastor's daughter used to be such a sweet child and I mean SWEET. Would never hurt a soul. Though she got killed at a young age because of envious children her age, left her in the forest to scare her but she got mauled by wolves and died.

Before she died, she was aware of Alastor's killings but she wouldn't speak up because she was too scared. IMAGINE ALASTOR BEING SUCH A LOVING DAD BUT ALL SHE CAN THINK ABOUT IS WHAT IF SHES NEXT IF SHE FUCKS UP AROUND HIM.

And he's not aware that she thinks that way. So when Sera sent her to investigate the Hazbin Hotel (to see if Charlie's theory is really true) she sees Alastor and gets tense even though he's so sincere around her.

How would everything gooo omg I'd like to see how creative you'll get!!

.

You never hurt a soul and that’s what helped you get into heaven.

You loved your father. You did but you were also terrified of him.

He was a serial killer, a murderer, and even if he tucked you into bed at night and made the best food, you could still be next.

You felt guilty the day he died because while you were heartbroken you were also so relieved.

You confessed to the police his sins as soon as they came to the house to break the news of his death.

You were crying, choking on tears as you told them everything.

It was the best and worst day of your life.

Despite that, life remained difficult for you.

People were cruel and mean and heartless and you died before the age of twenty.

You made it to Heaven.

You were a top winner, one revered for their kindness.

That’s how you got asked by Sera to go to Hell to observe Charlie’s idea first hand. Her being too untrusting of the angels to not start killing and “sanitizing” Hell as soon as they got there.

You were excited. You met Charlie while she was in Heaven.

She was somewhat of a kindred spirit. You got on with her well.

(Alastor actually does reminisce over you and his mother both in Hell. The lyric “You’re like a child that I wish that I had” in Hells Greatest Dad would have been changed to “You’re like the child which I used to have.”)

You went through the portal with her and Vaggie.

Both girls seemed conflicted, something must have happened during the meeting they had with the angels but Charlie quickly put on a smile and started explaining what everything was.

When you get to the Hotel, you seem him. You never thought you’d see your father again. You weren’t sure you wanted to even if you missed him. You immediately froze.

His brows furrowed as he looked at you before his smile widened, sharp teeth replacing the human ones you once knew but they were still coffee-stained.

“Is that my darling angel?” he asked as he walked towards you. “My dear, look how you’ve grown.”

He used the tips of his fingers to angle your face towards him and you couldn’t pull away. You were frozen in place, looking at him with wide eyes.

“You two know each other?” Charlie asked.

“Why yes, we do indeed,” Alastor said. “You recall I mentioned having a child.”

“Oh my god! Oops, sorry. Don’t use the lord’s name in vain and all. But this is so great!”

“Yeah,” you said meekly. “So great.”

Alastor would notice something wrong. He remembers your behaviors well. He’d try to make you comfortable while unknowingly pressing your buttons more.

Everyone else also notices something wrong, except Niffty.

Sir Pentious and Charlie likely think you’re just anxious and try to make you feel as comfortable and welcomed as possible.

Vaggie assumes it’s because you’re in Hell.

Husk and Angel realize it’s because Alastor’s there.

The two team up to make sure you’re never ever left completely alone.

They even manage to pull you away for a bit.

Husk offers some good advice and true silence not filled with the background of a radio crackling.

Angel let’s you bury your head in his fluff.

[llamagoddessofficial]

Would the sirens try and reunite cataway Mc with people and society, or are the weeks dragging on as the trio keeps her going in circles?

Sans: Would he try to reunite her with people? Short answer- no. Longer answer... he wouldn't go out of his way to reunite her with humans, or try to put her in the way of passing ships. She's floating in the middle of the ocean, the likelihood of encountering a boat is slim to none. But he's definitely thought about the unlikely scenario of her being rescued.

... He's got a lot of conflicting feelings. He's so lonely, he's so lonely, he can't lose her. When he thinks of a ship trying to save her he thinks about killing everyone on board. The thought of her hand slipping out of his forever makes his chest ache so much he can't breathe. But at the same time... she's going through what he went through, isn't she? She's separated from her old life through no fault of her own. Does he really have the right to make that separation permanent? Is it really fair of him to inflict the same terrible fate on someone else, just so he doesn't have to be alone? He doesn't know.

I think if it really came down to it, and a boat picked her up, he'd let her go. But he wouldn't say goodbye. She'd hear the people yelling, she'd wave and scream as the boat came nearer, she'd turn to him in tears to thank him for keeping her alive so long...

... Only for there to be nobody there. Completely empty water, as far as the eye can see.

Red: Ultimately, Red's intentions aren't wonderful. Sure, he's kind to her. He keeps her sane. He makes her laugh, he entertains her with stories of the ocean, and listens to her stories of the land. He sings her songs and comforts her when she cries.

... But he wants her to slowly lose all hope, on that raft.

In his mind, it's the best possible outcome for her. He himself was once a pirate, transformed into a siren hundreds of years ago, and it was the best thing that ever happened to him... he now lives a life of excitement and freedom in the beautiful wild ocean. Of course there's going to be some "growing pains", she may miss the land. And of course, he's not going to force it, he won't drown her unless she asks. But he absolutely believes that once she finally mentally cracks and lets go of the land, allowing one of them drown her, she'll be truly happy. There's a reason he laces his stories of the ocean with so much delight, food, company and abandon... he's dangling the choice in front of her while she suffers. He wants her to lose all hope of rescue, and choose the way out that's right before her.

Both Red and Sans don't want to let her go. The only difference is Red genuinely thinks that, by snatching her away from her human life, he's doing the right thing.

Skull: Nobody steals his mate. The legends of krakens sinking ships exist for a reason.

The night is his domain. Once the sun hits the horizon, he protects his darling. And until dawn breaks... no boat will get within twenty miles of her, and live to tell the tale.

[aingeal98]

I think there's a misconception among some fans who mostly get their characterisation from ao3, that the reason Cass and Jason wouldn't get along is that Jason kills people and Cass hates murderers. And like. You're 50% right but the key context being ignored is that Cass would literally fight to defend the right of a serial killer to live and change like she believes desperately in second chances no matter how far gone the killer is. She'll knock a man out and break his hand so that he can never shoot and kill someone again but if she sees someone feel bad about their kill or even like. Hesitate to hurt a child. She is all over that like she will fight the world just to save this one kind of shitty assassin and give them a second chance at life where they can do better.

Whereas Jason believes that sometimes there are bad people that are simply too far gone, too much of a force of evil hurting and draining actual innocents. And the best way to deal with scumbags like that is a bullet. He feels that some people don't deserve to live, and he's comfortable ending their lives. Judge, jury and executioner. Because no one else is going to kill these people and they deserve to die so that they can never hurt any victims again.

Of course all of this is kind of irrelevant in current canon since dc basically skipped over the reconciliation and development and went yeah Jason is a batfam member and he doesn't kill anymore. So currently in canon none of this conflict of ideals is likely to be addressed. But a lot of people are interested in writing fics that actually detail the steps of reconciliation which is great and I love those fics. I've just also noticed a trend of fumbling a little when it comes to Cass.

Because the root cause as to why they wouldn't get along is not just because Jason kills people. If Jason was a random crime lord Cass would probably try to help him get free of Gotham and start over somewhere else. Killing people and having conflicting emotions about it is the easiest way to get Cass willing to be your number one sponsor at murderer rehabilitation anonymous. It's Jason being someone personal to the family, and someone who believes that some deaths need to happen, as long as the person is sufficiently repulsive enough to Jason. Or even just as a means to an end to prove a larger point, if they're pathetic and evil enough. That's what would make Cass see red, because she projects herself on every single killer and Jason dismissing the possibility of redemption for them, writing them off as deserving of death, clashes fundamentally with not just everything Cass believes in, but also her whole sense of self. Of course it's not that deep for Jason like he's not going to believe Cass should die because she killed someone as a child. But for Cass is simply IS that deep and you throw in the fact that they're both Bruce's kids and yeah. They can maybe be civil in a room together with the family right up until one of them actually talks. Because like 99% of what they could say is guaranteed to touch a nerve for the other.

It's like: Damian says something hilarious and rude towards Jason and Jason jokes about that time he shot him and Cass immediately connects that with him not feeling bad about shooting Damian and starts grilling him as to why. Because Damian's Bruce's son? Or because he's a killer? Or just to get to the rest of the family? And Dick, Duke and Tim are so tired like Alfred cooked a nice meal can we all just eat pie for one night without having to listen to you two go at it.

Tim: I've literally shot you before do you think maybe we can cool it on fighting about Jason's personal ethics tonight. Because generally that ends with me in pain even if I do nothing but sit here.

Cass: You shot me with consent. Different.

Jason: How are you even more obnoxious than Bruce? Do you ever get tired of being so exhausting to be around with your bullshit righteousness?

Cass: If you're tired I can knock you out. Nice nap for you and fun for me.

Dick: And that's ten minutes in a room together before any threats of physical harm start flying around! Great job you two, a new personal record.

[aloeverified]

boruto rewrite where the show actually still focuses on the original characters from naruto, but we're seeing them face their struggles that come with being adults in the society they live in and after going through what they did. their children are also in the show and we're given their perspective on the events compared to their parents'.

the overall plot revolves around naruto trying to change the shinobi system. he knows first hand how terrible the repercussions are when children are forced to be soldiers, and now that he's the hokage, he finally has the power to change it.

the only problem is, not everyone agrees with him. many believe by changing the age that shinobi begin their training, they won't be as strong later on and the village will become weaker over the years. not only that, but some people just don't understand why naruto feels this way. they were shinobi all their life and they turned out just fine — why fix what isn't broken?

it causes conflict within the cast and allows us to delve into each character more, showing why they feel the way they do and how their experiences have built up to the person they are.

besides that, other characters get their own storylines as well that connect with the theme of recovering from trauma.

gaara realizes that he's only ever lived for his village — as a soldier, a weapon, the kazekage. he works himself to the bone for his village while ignoring his basic needs, still having not realized he's a human just like everyone else. when he gets shinki, he realizes what it's like to prioritize something; what it's like to nurture and love.

sakura works at a hospital for young shinobi, doubling as both a healer and a therapist of sorts. she listens to the children tell their stories and gives them a shoulder to try on. she saw what being alone did to her teammates and she doesn't want any other child to go through what they did.

during her time at the hospital, she slowly begins to see pieces of herself within her patients. her trauma, which she's always pushed away and ignored, starts to come out. she's forced to face these memories she's always tried to bury deep. she struggles with understanding it as well as feeling validated compared to what naruto and sasuke had to go through.

she also struggles with her marriage to sasuke as she starts to unpack all the terrible things he's done to her. she's knows why he did them and she can justify his actions as much as she wants, but it doesn't change the fact he traumatized and tried to kill her at one point.

hinata's would focus on the hyuga. she's an outsider to them without any power. when she was stripped of her title and allowed to marry naruto, she thought it was a dream come true. she was so confident that hanabi would change the clan, that the branch system would be destroyed and neji wouldn't have died in vain.

only, without hinata, hanabi began to crack under the pressure of the elders and her father until she became just like them. the seal system is still in place, the branch families are still treated as servants.

it's a lot about generational trauma. how no matter how much hinata tried to change things for hanabi, she was always destined to fall into the same path as her father. only by recognizing this and making the changes her family refused to do in the past, are they able to change things.

i think there could also be something about how once, a long time ago, hiashi had wanted to change the hyūga. he wanted to dispel the main/side branch family system so his brother could be free. but overtime, he became complacent — very similar to hanabi.

as for the kids, i would show the differences between them based on how their parents feel about them being raised as soldiers.

for example, shikatema would have no problem with the shinobi system (at first) and their child would be entered into the academy and ready to become a ninja.

boruto, however, was raised by parents who want to change the system and hate the senseless violence, therefore he was not enrolled. this causes him to have some resentments for his parents as he's in the minority of children who aren't attending the ninja academy. he's viewed as a weak and soft-hearted by his companions and he hates it. maybe he goes against his parents and attends the academy in secret somehow.

there's a lot you can do with each character, honestly. i won't go further into it unless asked, but here's my main thoughts. i have a lot of idea with how to conclude the arcs as well, but i'm not sure how people would feel about it.

gaara stepping down as kazekage and leaving suna, sakura divorcing sasuke as she realized she never truly loved him romantically, hinata becoming the hyūga head/disbanding the hyūga, etc. many ideas.

[solcorvidae]

I've been thinking about how Lambert, Eskel, and Geralt all deal with the trials and how it shapes them into the people they would grow to become.

Lambert remembers his past. He is angry, upset, bitter, and vindictive. He's got this fire in him that is only stoked by the pain and suffering forced upon him. He remembers the boys who did not make it: the hell they all had to go through, and he has a complicated relationship with Vesemir that surrounds it. Lambert does questionable things that Geralt is bothered by in his grief and anger. Geralt calls him out for killing in cold blood, needlessly and mercilessly.

Lambert avoids Vesemir at Kaer Morhen and mocks him when he is not around. He may come off as childish and like an asshole, but Lambert knows what he feels. Lambert doesn't lash out because he can't control his emotions or because he doesn't understand the path of least resistance. He knows. He chooses to avoid conflict with Vesemir at Kaer Morhen by keeping out of his way. He knows he can't control his emotions effectively if he is face-to-face with him for too long. He knows, and he isn't stupid.

Lambert talks to Geralt about the trials and the injustice of it all. He probably looks up to Geralt, hoping his brother feels just as angry about it as he does. He went through the Trial of the Grasses twice for Christ's sake! Why is he not more angry? Why is he so apathetic?

And Geralt brushes him off time and time again. Such is life, is his attitude. We all went through it, he says. Geralt can't be upset because there is nothing he can feasibly do about it. He didn't choose to be a Witcher. He wouldn't have chosen this life. He would have some other job somewhere else, just like he told Regis. He can't change the past. He can't go back and fix something he never had control over in the first place. Besides, they can’t inflict the trials upon a new generation of kids, not anymore. It’s in the past now, so why dwell on it? What’s done is done and thank god no other kids have to suffer the way they did. It’s over. It’s time to move on.

Geralt doesn't enjoy fame. He tells Eskel this in To Bait a Forktail. Geralt is the famous twice-grassed White Wolf. He is The Witcher. The famed Geralt of Rivia. He has expectations piled upon him the size of mountains. He's got to be the perfect Witcher, he's got to be a loyal brother, a lover, and a best friend… Geralt had expectations put upon him that set him aside from the rest since he was a kid. He hates it. Underneath the banter and the wit, Geralt accepts that this is his life, but that doesn't mean he likes it. He tolerates it because it is his reality and nothing more. If he thinks about it for too long… maybe it will consume him.

"You remember her?" he asks Eskel about his mother.

Unlike Lambert, Geralt hardly knows what it means to live another life. He doesn't have that following him like it does with his brother. What little he remembers is not enough to erase the apathy drilled into him at such a young age. Maybe he has a more strict moral code than say, Lambert, (or if you want to bring in the other Witcher schools, most of the Cats and the caravan) but that doesn't make him the most ethical person on the Continent. How could you be? After all that he has endured, the things he was taught? Where do you draw the line? He kills monsters, but like in Velen, it's hard to see where the line's drawn in the sand.

Humans are monstrous too.

Eskel, however? Maybe he's jealous. He did everything right, why shouldn’t he be? He is superiorly skilled in magic, one hell of a good Witcher. He has a reputation for it. Maybe he's not as kind as your average person, but he gets the job done. He's got a more relaxed demeanour than his brothers which reveals itself in his reputation. He's reliable. He is damn good at what he does. So why does Geralt get all the attention? The fame? He clearly doesn't want it.

While Lambert got turned into a vindictive prick and Geralt became a quick-witted nihilist, Eskel? He's exactly who he should be. Why shouldn't he be praised for it like his brother? Why should he be forced to bend over backwards to accommodate people and keep up with his reputation? For what? His skills? Ha! He lives in the shadows of Geralt who's notably a good Witcher, but he's not quite as good as Eskel.

Eskel was beaten shaped into the man he is today because of the trials, his training, and everything else. Should he not get credited for that too? Why does someone who doesn't even want his fame get all the recognition? Genetic predisposition? Shouldn't his hard work be given more consideration and praise? Thank god Geralt survived the hell of being subjected to two rounds of mutagens rather than one, but why should that overshadow the efforts, the time, and the sacrifices that everyone else around him has made? Eskel is exactly the man that they intended him to be by the end of it all. He is an efficient hunter, he is outstanding with signs, and he works diligently for his reputation. He did everything right. He does everything right. Why is that not enough?

TL;DR: Lambert, Geralt and Eskel handle their traumas in different ways. Lambert gets vengeful, Geralt gets apathetic, and Eskel gets borderline jealous. (And it breaks my heart)

[super-paper]

Do you think Hawks will die to save Toga?

Personally, I wouldn't like it if either of them died. Like, the potential narrative payoff here would be strongest if both of them lived, imo. I would rather see a situation where Keigo donates just enough blood to stabilize them both, rather than a situation where one person completely exsanguinates themselves and leaves behind a rash of trauma and unresolved feelings in the person they "saved."

I'm definitely not the best when it comes to Hawks meta, but I'll try my best to break down my personal feelings on why I feel both Keigo and Himiko need to live in order to "break the cycle":

1. You Can Start Over. I'll Help You.

This one's the biggest, most obvious point in favor of them both living imo. Hawks made an offer to help Jin start over, but rescinded that offer and immediately went for the kill the moment Jin showed signs of resistance. This was Keigo's biggest failure as both a hero and as an individual, and something he has yet to atone for.

In turn, Himiko believes there are no second chances-- that her only options are death or being locked away forever. So, she chooses death. She needs someone to offer her a third option.

The set up is there.

There's also the matter of Keigo and Himiko both stating that they want an "easier world" as their core motivation, and both of them state that they want to be the ones who help make that world.

Their goals only sound simplistic on the surface and serve as a mask for their respective traumas, but... ultimately, a world that's easier for Himiko to live in (where she is consensually given blood by someone who loves her and she is allowed to give her blood back to the world in return) is a world where heroes can finally take it easy-- because it's a world that nips the endless creation of its own "villains" in the bud, through unified acts of compassion and understanding.

Both characters have caused others intense pain and hurt others in their attempts to take shortcuts to the creation of an "easier world"-- Hawks is the hero that's "too fast," and Himiko is also associated with her near-supernatural speed. They're both too impatient and want the quickest possible results. Having both Himiko and Keigo living and learning the "right way" to create their ideal world-- and then, getting to be a part of that world as they both continue to atone-- feels much more meaningful than having one or both of them die before they can see that future reach fruition.

2. The Big, Suicidal Elephant in the Room

The majority of the LOV members all struggle with suicidal ideation-- Touya wants to set everything Endeavor ever chose over him ablaze, and he wants that inferno to also serve as his funeral pyre. Tomura has got a dissertation's worth of issues regarding his own mortality and self-perception/identity, and his whole "let's-just-destroy-it-all/we-don't-need-a-future-actually-lol" schtick has always been a symptom rather than a legit proposal for a cure. Himiko wants to disappear into the identities of the people she loves, because the world treats her a little more kindly when she isn't "Toga Himiko." The LOV trio's arcs all revolve around "death of the self" to some degree. (That said... resurrection and rebirth are also heavy themes within Tenko, Touya, and Himiko's arcs, soooo....)

Keigo also struggles with suicidal ideation and places the worth of his own life far, far, faaaaar below that of everyone else.

This has already been said, and shouldn't really need to be said in the first place, but-- people have every right to feel uncomfortable and criticize a story that attempts to validate suicidal characters by portraying their suicide in a noble/redemptive light.

Next!

3. It's All About All Mi-- Err..... Tomie?

"I was fine with that-- not saving her, turning my back on her. Me, who claims he wants to help people." - Hawks, about Tomie.

"I tried to go about things the right way" is a good line that touches on one of the core conflicts of Keigo's character: He suppresses so much of his natural instinct to do good so he can do "right."

Keigo knows in his heart of hearts that "the right way" doesn't save people like his mother, it didn't save Jin, and it's not going to save Himiko. He's been groomed into upholding the society and status quo that caused him and Tomie to nearly fall through the cracks in the first place-- and I've always found it both fascinating and sad that Keigo seems to equate choosing "the right way" (i.e. becoming a hero) to abandoning his mother. Keigo effectively being *sold* to the HPSC is what took Tomie off of the streets and gave her a roof over her head-- it gave her "a chance to start over." But Keigo doesn't seem to view this as true saving. With that in mind, his attempt to "save" Jin by essentially giving him the same offer the HPSC gave Tomie was always doomed end in failure.

Keigo: "My mother feared punishment for harboring a criminal, so she took me and ran."

Tomie first ran out of fear of being arrested after Takami Thief was captured-- which led to both her and Keigo being homeless for an extended period of time. She ran again after Dabi/Touya threatened her for information on Keigo, this time out of fear of her son-- a son who had became synonymous with "the law" she feared so much in her eyes. She can't bear facing him after her betrayal and implicitly fears punishment/condemnation from him (even though Keigo had *no* intention of punishing her)-- Tomie readily leaves behind the "normal" home and "normal" life that Hawks obtained for her through "doing things the right way," bc the imaginary threat of punishment and condemnation is something that comes across as worse for her. This only further convinces Keigo that he failed to save his mother, even though he's the one who's being betrayed and hurt by her.

I can't help seeing similarities between Tomie & Himiko's decisions to run out of an intense fear of punishment/imprisonment, and how this inevitably ties to Keigo. Keigo subconsciously realizes that he can't truly save people like Tomie, Jin, or Himiko as "Hawks" because "Hawks" is part of the problem. He longs to save others as himself-- as "Takami Keigo" (which is why the loss of his quirk kind of has me like "👀 👀 👀 whatcha gonna do next, turkey boy...,,..👀 👀 👀" )

As an aside, I seem to recall that transhawks made a few meta post where they talk about how there are traces of Jin's design in Tomie (esp her eyes, which have the same dead-eyed thousand yard stare) and that their resemblance is likely intentional (edit: link to one post pointing the resemblance out)-- It's not as overt, but imo, Himiko also resembles Tomie (just a little!) when she has her hair down.

Anyway! Both Jin and Himiko dying after Keigo A) has spent his whole life agonizing about how his own mother wasn't able to survive in their current society, B) has expressed guilt about how he didn't even try to save her and didn't make attempts to involve himself in her life, C) has talked at length about he wanted to be "more like Bubaigawara" and then proceeded to roleplay him, badly, for a good third of Act 3 (ohhhh boy ☠️☠️☠️), and D) had demanded that Toga be killed immediately after she arrives in Gunga, only for Ochako and Tsuyu to explicitly challenge and reject the idea that killing was the only option available.... idk, Himiko dying while Keigo does nothing would just feel massively incoherent at this point??

TL;DR The resolution to Keigo's arc currently hinges on addressing his origin, his identity, his guilt, and his ties to these three characters. Keigo feels that he failed with Tomie, and he explicitly failed with Jin-- and I personally don't think his arc can have a satisfactory ending without addressing those failures through Himiko, or without him trying to right where he went wrong by helping her in some capacity. This is a chance for him to finally follow his innate drive to do good over doing what their society dictates as "right."

----

All that being said, if Hori did decide to have Hawks sacrifice himself: Hawks choosing to sacrifice himself because he wants to believe in the future that the hero kids are creating and wants to believe that children like Himiko have a place in that future feels WAAAY more tonally consistent with mha's themes than Himiko choosing to sacrifice herself because she doesn't think she has a future

One message is about healing and hope and belief, the other is about failing to truly save someone who was already suicidal from their inevitable self destruction.

MHA has been defining true saving as "going above and beyond" for hundreds of chapters now-- true saving means saving a person's heart, body, and soul. It means giving them a future. By mha's own definitions, Himiko choosing to kill herself means she wasn't saved. Pure and simple-- You can't save the heart but not the body/soul (Himiko), you can't save the soul but not the body/heart (Touya), and you can't save the body but not the heart/soul (Tomura). There's a lot more work to be done here-- but that's fine, bc MHA has never depicted true saving or true healing as some magical, instantaneous thing. (#recoverygirldni)

[dirtytransmasc]

I've been thinking about what it might have been like if blond Peter Parker didn't die, like, if he got to mentor Miles, cause screw canon, I do what I want. (context; everything else happens, Peter B, Gwen, Noir, Penni, Spider Ham still show up. Goober still breaks. Rush to shut down the collider, etc. all that still happens, Blond Peters still there though)

the thought first and foremost in my mind, is that while in a playful manner, he is very protective and almost possessive of miles, in the "this is my kid from my dimension, I'm his mentor, he's my responsibility, I've had him for five minutes, but so help me god, anything happens to him I'm killing everyone here and than myself, look at him wrong, I will fight you" type of way, all the while keeping a friendly smile on his face, even if its slightly unnerving.

teases Miles about Gwen and his little crush on her, while also not exactly playing match maker cause he knows they're gonna be separated shortly. its a bittersweet thing for him.

he praises Miles so so so often, like, whenever he does anything, cause he knows Miles is scared and a kid and he needs to know he's doing a good job.

tries to protect his childhood and innocence, not wanting him to feel like he has to take up the mantle of spiderman just yet. always telling Miles that he "always gets up" cause he doesn't want Miles to feel like he has the responsibility of replacing him on his shoulders. this comes up more and more as they set out to destroy the collider.

always has a hand on Miles, mostly on his shoulder, so he knows his kid's fine and his kid knows he's not alone. he also does the forehead stroke, where he rests his hand on Miles's head and strokes his thumb over the center of his forehead. also also, he rests his elbow on the kids head, I don't know why, I just know he's that type of guy.

they hug a lot, mostly in the moment, when neither of them are really thinking. he just pulls miles into his side and squeezes him, which Miles ends up turning into real hugs after a while.

does the worried dad "check over" every time they escape a conflict. always asking if he's ok or just staring at him, trying to make sure he's ok. basically, he's a big worry wart.

"kid/kiddo" and "punk" are go-to's

when Miles is anxious, he stands closer to him, only touching when Miles leans into him.

held Miles when his uncle died, not letting him go through it alone.

gives him the "leap of faith" talk, alongside many other pep talks, cause the guy is good at those, before the collider, and gets to watch from a distance as Miles comes into himself as a spider man.

tries to keep Miles from the collider anyway, cause the stakes are too high, and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if anything happened to Miles.

isn't surprised when Miles shows up anyway.

still has a near-death experience, leaving Miles to be the one to take down Kingpin, send everyone home, and shut down the collider. He wants to give up, badly, he's tired, but Miles needs him, is begging him to get up, just this one last time, and then Miles would be spiderman. Miles has to half drag him out to the streets.

he'd bring him to his dad, cause he's a kid, and the one person he's been able to lean on in this shitshow is half dead, and he's scared, so he finds his dad and comes clean out of desperation, begging him for help.

is one of the only people Peter actually wants to see while recovering, he stays at the hospital night after night just so he can be there for Peter, like Peter had been there for him, not letting anyone drag him out until after he's woken up, and even then, it's like pulling teeth to get him to so much as go to the caf to eat.

he spends whole days with Miles teaching him to cope with his spidey sense, use his webs, etc.

keeps him away from the big things, but lets him help out on patrol to give him a taste of the action.

takes hits for him, even if Miles tells him not to, cause that's his kid, and that's just what "dads" do.

when Miguel tries to recruit Peter, Peter is extremely protective of Miles, especially when he finds out he's technically an anomaly, making sure no one hurts him or undo any of the work he's done in terms of making Miles confident in himself and his abilities.

is in support of trying to save everyone, no matter what canon says, as he's literally the parental/mentor of a whole-ass anomaly and knows Miguel's theory is crap or at least mostly crap.

once everything sorted out, Spot and Miguel and Earth 42 wise, he ends up taking Miles 42 in as his own as well, and sticks around with Miles as (at least in my head, cause I say so) he stays with Miguel and HQ to be recruited.

Miles tells Miguel that Peter will ignore his own well being and pushed himself past his limits to protect Miles, because he thinks if he shows Miles weakness, the kid will feel like he has to replace him and will get stressed out/abandon what remains of his youth. he makes Miguel bench the two of them when Peter's not doing so hot so he can recover physically and emotionally.

Peter eats over at the Morales household once a week, assuring Miles's parents that he's safe with him every time.

insists on making Miles a suit for the colder months that's a little more cold resistant and when they're not in the suit, he's literally throwing coats at him.

kinda takes up the place in Miles's life that his uncle once held, being his safes pace, the person he turns to when it all goes to shit.

goes to Miles's school events.

if Miles falls asleep somewhere, like at HQ, Peter goes on guard like any dad, putting himself between Miles and the people around them so his sleep goes undisturbed.

do y'all want more of this, I might go somewhere with it if it does well.

[alovelyburn]

If Griffith gave Guts an answer he wanted to hear on the hill of swords how do you think he would have reacted? Do you think Guts would ever have ever forgiven him?

(Not quite as old as the other one but still way too old to be acceptable, sorry).

I think he would've been conflicted, and he would've been pissed off at himself for being conflicted, and he would've been pissed off at Griffith for making him conflicted. But he still would have forgiven him, because he couldn't not do it.

Or maybe "forgive" is the wrong word, because I'm sure he'd still be pissed off. Maybe "made up with" is better? I've pretty sure I've talked about it at greater length in the past but I'm genuinely feeling too lazy to go look it up, so I guess the somewhat concise logic is:

Even now, his current mission - his drive to destroy the apostles and drag himself up to Femto's level and theoretically kill him is all informed by Griffith's stupid speech - to this day he is trying to be the kind of person that Griffith (the original Griffith, but by extension the current one as well) could value and respect as an equal.

IMO, this is a huge part of the reason for his breakdown about being unable to hit Griffith. It's easy to assume that this is because he realized he can't kill the man he's been trying to kill, and I'm sure that is part of it. But another big issue for Guts is that he's been living to catch up with Griffith ever since Promrose, and he just realized that not only has he utterly failed to accomplish that, he's actually so far behind that catching him may be physically impossible.

The drive to earn a place next to him became a drive to fight him because of the changing circumstances around the relationship, but it's evident from say the Black Swordman arc or the Hill of Swords that Guts is still looking for that validation, and still looking for Griffith inside Femto/Neo.

Furthermore, for at least a fair stretch of time (leaving open room for the idea that this changed at some point, although I don't think it has), even his determination to take care of Casca was primarily attributed to his wanting to have her around to remind him of Griffith. Obviously this doesn't mean he doesn't care about her, it's just that what he actually wants, more than anything else, according to his own mind... is to hold onto, and become further/more deeply entangled with, Griffith.

Given all that, why wouldn't he make nice with Griffith if Griffith gave him any reason to think there was a point to doing so?

Obviously the argument is that he couldn't forgive the atrocities of the Eclipse, but the thing is, Guts is largely amoral - people love to attribute noble/selfless/moral qualities to him, but he routinely proves that he doesn't give a damn about anyone he doesn't have a personal connection to - he will literally just let them die if it's more convenient that way.

He's also proven that he has an internal hierarchy of significance - he does prioritize his current companions, for example, over strangers, but he prioritizes Casca over them, in turn. I think the Hawks as a whole were one massive "ingroup" - he cared about them, even the ones he didn't know very well, because they were Hawks, and that's all fine...

...but who does he consistently prioritize over everyone else, including all the Hawks and Casca?

Obviously, Griffith. He's the one Guts literally just ignored the Eclipse to try and save, the one he once abandoned Casca in a cave to chase, and the one he legitimately left her to burn to death to search out during Conviction.

My point is, whatever it is he's trying to achieve with Griffith is always going to be the most important thing in his life, and thus will take priority over other things in his life, even things he also feels strongly (but not as strongly) about. And what he tries to achieve with Griffith is heavily dependent on what he thinks he can achieve with Griffith.

One of my favorite Miura quotes is something to the effect that Guts and Griffith's relationship isn't stagnant and won't necessarily remain the same over the course of the story - that Guts remains the way he is as long as Griffith remains the way he is (and vice versa, presumably). He said at the time that he was looking forward to depicting the changes between them as the relationship evolved. Unfortunately he didn't get to it, of course, but it's still a relevant point... that the way Guts is toward Griffith can still change, if Griffith changes, too.

[multifandumbmeg]

Can I say something potentially controversial? I haven't been in this fandom long enough to feel out the prevailing opinions so here's a take:

Idk why people hate on [redacted, not trying to start shit] when John B is right there.

I'm so (not) sorry but like- as someone that was and is so fucking lucky to have grown up with an absolutely ride or die tightknit friend group like the OBX kids, FUCK JOHN B.

Why? Because he's the only one that never checks in on JJ. He makes faces when JJ eats ROTTEN FOOD in his house like "wow ur so gross lol" like he doesn't know that boy LITERALLY DOES NOT HAVE FOOD AT HOME. He straight up ignores JJ in one episode when he actually tells him, "can we eat first? I haven't eaten in two days" like?!?? He disappears and leaves all his friends hanging when he finds [spoiler, iykyk]. He causes discord by bringing Sarah in where she was EXPRESSLY UNINVITED instead of talking it through with Kie first. He ignores Sarah's warning about the Nassau house and nearly gets them both killed. Meanwhile:

Pope expresses concern over JJ's situation multiple times, by hugging him, apologizing, and checking in. He's a kid and he doesn't know what to do, but he clearly does what he can and worries about JJ. He goes along with the group's schemes even when it jeapordizes his whole future and the life his parents are trying so hard to set up for him. He talks through emotions with Kie when theyre friends and does his best not to hold all the mixed signals against her after dating. And while I don't think he's right for it, he also criticizes Kiara for not being there wholeass when John B's dad disappeared, which shows he was. He's always getting into conflicts with and hurting his parents for John B's schemes.

Kiara not only comforts JJ, she's also the ONLY one to confront his dad (despite the danger). She offers to go in with him when he has to talk to his dad. She makes the connection between his reckless behavior and his fucked up childhood. She also checks in on John B numerous times in the first season because she knows he's avoiding and suppressing the trauma of his dad being most likely dead. She also calls ALL the boys out consistently, but usually with a lot of tact and kindness for acting out on the feelings they're avoiding.

Obviously JJ self-sacrifices for his friends all the time. Taking the fall for Pope, risking his future committing crimes to help his friends, and often risking his life for them, or making deals others wouldn't to get them out of a pinch quick. He also tries to call John B out for risking his and everyone else's lives on the incredibly slim chance his father is still alive and trying to leave a trail of bread crumbs early on. In fact, he seems to be the most realistic and honest about Big John when he's talking to John B, and the others criticize him for his lack of tact, but he's the only one who seems to realize feeding into delusions isn't a kind thing to do in the long run. He goes in INSTANTLY when he finds out Pope got jumped, he goes feral when Kiara gets kidnapped (long before he realizes there's any chance of dating her), runs headlong back into a fight with 4 or 5 guys when Raefe insults her, loses his job publicly defending John B from murder accusations etc etc etc...and let's not forget after getting beat half to death by his dad, emotionally trainwrecked because no matter what he does he seems to lose, he blows the money on what? A car? A boat? His shitty house with no food? NO. He orders a bunch of shit he can enjoy with his friends and spends the whole evening setting up fucking christmas lights in the trees despite the amount of evident pain he's in just so they can all be happy and have something TOGETHER. And I'm just gonna stop there because the list literally drags on like crazy, he does everything for his friends, especially John B.

And what has John B done for his friends?

Hmmmmm well there's that one time he stops JJ from starting a shootout with the entire sheriff's department and going down swinging by turning himself in.

Now on the other hand, he repeatedly manipulates his friends into doing things they don't want to or shouldn't do, often at the risk of their lives. He basically spends all of season 2 on a revenge quest, culminating in him not even considering that he should comfort his girlfriend when her father dies in front of them. Repeats what other people say about JJ being "just like his dad" despite knowing both his circumstances and that it's a trigger for him. There's that one time he goes home for the gun to kill Ward and basically ATTACKS all his friends to get through without talking about it?? And never apologizes?? Isn't ever concerned about Pope's scholarship, or in any way sensitive to the fact that he's BLACK and so much of what they get into involves his own generational trauma?! Is told several times Kiara's on the verge of being sent away to a Troubled Teen camp and straight up never once acknowledges or comments about that at all? Shows up to confront Topper and Sarah at Kiara's parents' party, knowing full well she's on thin ice and her parents DO NOT like any of them right now, including having just had a blowout with JJ, who insists on staying out of it.

Honestly, he got real tired of [same spoiler] by the end of season 3, so I'm hoping now they're dead in season 4 he's finally gonna wake up and start looking after his friends more because up to this point? Dude lacks empathy to a criminal degree and has a mad case of toxic main character syndrome.

Just like...as someone who was considered "the glue" to my own group of extremely troubled youths, all of us traumatized to fuck, this dude is failing with flying colors. Please look outside yourself and your romantic relationship some fraction of the time.

[theraspberryone]

Hiiii! Welcome to "Me discovering that I can talk about my random thoughts on Psychology and MHA cause those two have been hyperfixations for years and Tumblr is the best place to talk like that"

"Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn" Part 2 : The League of Villains!

(You can't understand how happy I am to see that the first one really interested people!!)

So Touya/Dabi was already made in Part 1

1st, let's start with Toga. We know her past, she was seen as weird, a freak, disgusting by her own family (I heard she had siblings, so even as far as them). But during years, she faked being a "perfect little child" that listened and was calm and "normal". Her family confronted her behaviours and she was in a full Fawn mode. One day, her mask that she forced onto herself fell and all her repressed needs, who are in her D.N.A., came as they could. The need of blood made her attack someone. This feeling of finally being free (herself) brought her to the LOV and to find a family that accept her and her "abnormal" behaviour. She seems to actually only need that, a family, and when she can (like in the Yakuza mess), she'd rather Flight the conflict. However if her family is targeted (like with Magne and Twice), or when her family gives her orders to, she will Fight. Because she just wants to keep her found family.

2nd is Twice. Pretty much like Toga, he only needed a family. Due to his mental instability, his fears and his self-doubts, he could have been a Freeze and not react, be stucked while facing confrontation (kinda like what we can see even before with his old boss). Though he trusted his new family so much that he was, like Toga, either going for the Flight or the Fight depending of how much his family needed him. (Though a bit more of a Flight then Toga before season 6, still because of his insecurities and fears of fighting eating his confidence away).

3rd Mister Compress. We don't see much of him, we just know that thieves are normal and biological in his family. So I would say that confronted, Compress may prefer to go for the Flight. Fighting would be if an irrespectful act is commited but he wouldn't stay doing nothing, or wouldn't dirty himself for a random person.

4th, Spinner. We know he's a follower. He follow Stain blindly because he doesn't know what else to do, then Shigaraki because he becomes a good leader, and listens to Dabi because he sees him as superior. He doesn't really have his own way of thinking and weighting the good and the bad side of his decisions. His "primary leaders" being Fighters, he would immediatly Fight back too. Same as Toga and Twice for the found family part, if his family is threatened, he will Fight for them. But before the LOV he was definitely a Freeze. Lizard side or not, he seemed to be very "NPC"-like towards his life, so no much reaction to confrontation before he had a goal.

5th is Shigaraki himself. He's a Fight. Confrontation = Fight for him, he was raised that way. OFA raised him that way. He won't be a perfect silent person, he won't say nothing and stay still, he won't escape from the situation. He yearns for a new society, a new reign, he wants to see a country and the world crumbles. A full Fight made to be like that by OFA.

Bonus because he was asked!

Stain : Stain to me would respond by Fight or Flight. But while his Fight would be very direct (you confront him, he confronts back), his Flight would be controlled. He doesn't want to avoid a situation of confrontation because he is scared, how because that's how his mind instinctly answers, he just doesn't want to confronts and will leave instead. But this situation is pretty rare, it's the type of situation we can only see with All Might (because he is worthy enough to be a hero by Stain's psychology). Stain would, and that's what we can see with anyone else until now, only attack and kill because he sees the "unseriousness" of being a hero, the need for fame and not actual saving as a unique goal, as a threat to the job of being a hero.

I hope I didn't forget anyone.

Thanks to have been there for my little talk, if you have anything, professional or not to say or ask you can gladly interact I'l be very happy! ♡♡♡

Part 1 : The Todoroki Siblings

Part 3 : The UA teachers

[queeoretician]

I'm dying to know more about Gideon/Kiriona's feelings about her names as of the end of Nona...

The last time we had access to her internal monologue, she had just found out that she was named (inadvertently) for the man who killed her mother, and (probably more importantly) had been determinedly attempting to kill Harrow for the past several months. She also found out that her mother didn't really give a fuck about her, and was a bit of an asshole in general, and her father didn't exactly make a great impression in their brief interaction.

Then we see her again in Nona, and find that she's been given a new name, and has been made into "the Emperor's construct," and generally seems to be having a shit time of things even before the emotional whiplash of being kissed by Harrow's body only to find out that it's not actually Harrow.

So clearly out girl has been through A Lot and it wouldn't be surprising if she felt super conflicted about all the associations of both her old name and her new one.

How does she feel about the name Gideon now? We know that she isn't opposed to people continuing to use it, but does she resent it now that she knows where it comes from? I can imagine her going either way on G1deon having killed Wake, but there's no way she looks kindly on his repeated attempts to impale her adept. And when it comes to Wake there must be a ton of emotional turmoil of having imagined a mother who would have cared for her all through the hardships of growing up in Drearburh, only to find that her actual mother saw her as a thing, a bomb, a human sacrifice - there's so much shit for Alecto to explore here.

And then there's Kiriona - how much agency did she have in being renamed? Did Jod basically say "OK, you've got a new name now, kiddo," or was it more of a mutual thing (or even her own idea)? I could see it go either way - she doesn't seem to actively reject the name, but she could equally well be conflicted, apathetic, or actively like it (but have that be muted because she's clearly in a bad place).

I'm particularly curious about how the connection to her Māori ancestry plays out - I assume that historical Earth cultures are pretty alien to anyone born in the last few millennia, but she might find personal significance in it depending on how she relates to Jod. I hope Alecto explores this! It's hard to imagine her taking an interest in ancient history in general terms, but then again I firmly believe that she's smarter (and nerdier) than first impressions would indicate.

Speaking of which, one of my biggest questions going into Alecto is about what kind of relationship she and her dad have - how much of her sorrow and jadedness in the final act of Nona are about her feeling disempowered by John's treatment of her, versus everything else going on? Her comments in the barracks scene hint at her not having a lot of say in her current condition (particularly "I am the Emperor's construct" and "Nobody locks me up anywhere"), and I think the most likely interpretation of this is that the whole super-soldier shtick and new name and everything were imposed on her.

But I also find it plausible that she was fully on board with being the heir to the Emperor, and an indestructible badass, and all that, but now that she has these cool things she finds her life dull and unfulfilling (particularly in the absence of a certain small dark necrosaint). In this case, it would give an added poignancy to her reaction after killing Crux - that scene would then be symbolic of her overall lack of catharsis and pleasure in getting the things that she wants in the absence of Harrow.

I really hope that Alecto brings her some measure of catharsis, and a reunion with Harrow that eventually gets them to a happy ending, but damn is there a lot for her to work through before we get there.

[purgemarchlockdown]

Hm...thinking about the Narrative Order in which everyone is introduced in Milgram. This is very speculative, I'm just considering how everything unfolded and how everyone builds off each other.

01- Starting with Haruka Just Makes Sense, his story is quite similar to a lot of common sympathetic murderers in fiction. A troubled kid in an abusive household who murdered animals. It's a good baseline for introducing the audience into Milgram and helps the conflict feel a lot simpler than it actually is. Haruka is Easy to Forgive, he's pitiful and shy. He won't hurt anyone else.

02- Continuing to Yuno also makes sense. Yuno's story is vague enough that it's easy to interpret as sadder than it actually is. Making it easier to sympathize (project) onto her. Plus Yuno as a character is charming and likable.

But Yuno also challenges the audience in her VD a bit:

"That’s right. You know those people who just wanna convince themselves, so they intrude in other people’s affairs even though it’s not their place—I despise them."

It's an easy forgiven but we're already alluding to some greater themes here.

03- Fuuta is a Great Choice to insert after these two. After two more-or-less easy forgiven prisoners, we have a guy whose rude, ill-tempered, and unwilling to admit fault for his behavior. It really makes sense that Fuuta would get a not forgiven verdict since he comes after two of the most sympathetic characters in T1. But he also challenges the audience even more since Fuuta is parallel to them and introduces some more fun themes about justice and righteousness.

04- And it makes even more sense that Muu got forgiven because she just came after ill-Tempered Mcgee here! Fuuta is set up to fail and Muu is set up to win in a way. Muu is pitiful, shy and similar to Haruka. And since she's coming right after Fuuta, those traits contrast with him. Even though there's a lot of hints in both her VD and her MV to Muu's more manipulative and callous behavior.

05- While everyone else's stories seemed (Highlight: Seemed) straightforward. Shidou's is vague, confusing and is alluding to him killing A Lot of people. Yet Shidou is affable and "kind" in the VD and seems grief-stricken and remorseful in Throw Down. I would joke about how Shidou is divided like this and how he's 05 but I don't know how to set that up. My point is he basically introduces more ambiguity and confusion to what Seemed to be a simple job before him.

06- Mahiru is interesting since people more or less ran based off a interpretation that had very little proof outside of Psychogram. I'd imagine that her placement in the lineup is to continue the increasing ambiguity in the character's stories and the dissonance between the personality and the actions they committed. Mahiru is so sweet and lovesick and her MV reflects that, yet we know Something Happened under all of this sweet fluff. We just don't know exactly What and Ai nan desu yo doesn't really make it Clear. And Mahiru seems so nice...she wouldn't of hurt him for no reason, would she?

07- Then Kazui comes in and makes things Even Worse. This job being simple? Completely throw that idea out of the window. What the hell happened in Half? What's going on with the lady? Did he cheat on his wife? Did he not? It doesn't seem like her directly murdered his wife what's up with that? You know he's lying, he told you in the VD so what is he lying About? Is he actually as tired and resigned as her presents himself in his VD? Is he scheming? You Don't Know and Es Does Not Know.

08- Amane's MV isn't really ambiguous, its highly symbolic yes, but it's easy to put together (Mostly) what's going on. Compared to Throw Down or Half. But her verdict is probably one of the farthest from simple in the series. Amane seemingly has the same stock sympathetic murderers backstory that Haruka does. An troubled kid in an abusive household. But since Amane personality is not traditionally sympathetic and her motives seem more threatening and dangerous, she's more easy to punish than Haruka is. But also...you'll be punishing an abused child. It's not easy.

09-010: these two are being put together for one reason: They Seem Simple. MeMe leans so Hard into the serial killer and evil alter idea and Harrow leans so Hard into the vigilante for justice idea that they Feel Simple. Mikoto jumps Es, Kotoko helps out Es. After Shidou, Mahiru, Kazui and Especially Amane. Having two characters whose stories seem Simple is reliving. Mikoto is Obviously like that and Kotoko is Obviously Like this. It's easy, it's real easy. Comforting even.

And then T2 starts and Everything goes to Shit as you realize that NO everyone is way more complicated than you initially thought and your all Fucked.

[nqmonarch]

Oblivious VS and X Yandere

Was writing the Blade fic part 2 and was like hmmm maybe I should have a conflict of reader being like nooo he can't like me he just wants me to kill him, and because I love him I'll do so (weird view bro but okay)

Obviously decided against that but then I was like, completely oblivious readers... that sounds like it could be funny.

Cause like people are always 'argh! I hate how this character is oblivious just get together with this other character!' but there's a charm in making a character so inhumanely oblivious that I feel like it'd be genuinely funny??? Especially with a yandere so just quick thoughts on that.

TW: Yandere content, attempted murder (implied), stalking, swearing

Reader's EQ is that of a rocks, can be read as Reader also just being really fucking delusional, or can be read as Reader having gone through shit and just choosing to ignore everything that happens in the world in order to cope. Up2u

For the sake of clarity:

Yan will be called Obbie (they/them pronouns)

And your friend is f/n just going to do she/her pronouns for this one because writing like three characters with they/them pronouns can get a bit confusing to read. When I master the skill I'll try it again.

EXTREME Oblivious Reader VS Yandere

A Yandere falling in love with your friend, f/n, isn't too surprising. the more surprising thing being how you still haven't fucking realized it. And you invited said Yandere to lunch with the two of you.

They originally planned to kill you for being so close to f/n but you kept making opportunities for them to get closer to f/n. Hey, they'll take what they can get because f/n avoids them like the plague.

Your friend continued to shoot you glares, as you chilled out, eating a sandwich, and reading webcomics. You let out a small curse at the protagonist's obliviousness, it was obvious that gifts were a declaration of love, at least in the quantity they were being delivered to the protagonist.

You'd never do misunderstand something so obvious. Sure, you've always had trouble understanding some people but people were confusing, hiding their emotions behind masks. You'd at least understand a straight forward gesture like a gift!

Obbie picked up some food on their fork and held it up to f/n's face, a sickeningly sweet smile on their face. She leaned away from the fork slowly, inch by inch. Then--

"They finally kissed!!!" You exclaimed, shoving your phone in your friend's face, "See? I told you." You puffed out your chest, too busy watching her reaction to see the fork slowly move away from her, having been intercepted.

"...Yeah, you told me..." F/n replied back unenthusiastically. You brushed it off as her being upset at being wrong. But you couldn't help shake off the suspicion that something else was wrong. Maybe she was sick?

Mentally, f/n noted never to tell you when the two of you will hang out again so that way you don't bring along any unwanted pests. You were just too welcoming sometimes.

Obbie's eye twitched as they moved the fork down to their plate. They couldn't tell if you were taunting them or just too absorbed in your silly little comic.

At f/n's less than stellar response you declared that you will take her home early. You are worried about her after all, she may be a sore loser but normally she'd lose with grace! You walked your friend home to take care of her, whether she was sick physically or mentally but when you arrive at their door all they say is:

"Don't bring that person to hang out again. Please?"

How could you be so foolish? To make f/n hang out with someone she didn't want to. That was a bit rude, plus you didn't even check with her when you invited Obbie.

Yet Obbie seemed to want to become friends with f/n! You wouldn't force your friend to do anything they didn't want to do. So instead you decided to give Obbie some extra friendship because you feel bad for them and hey, if your friend can't be their friend maybe you could be :)!

So you ended up greeting Obbie whenever you passed by them, texting them good morning and good night, and offering to hang out with them whenever you were free.

Obbie: ??? (Actually kind of scared)

In this way you manage to befriend the Yandere! Nice job you!

Although they keep asking for your friend's whereabouts among other information, you kept true to the age old saying!

"Snitches get stitches!" You smiled, opening and closing the scissors conveniently in your hand.

Obbie: ?! Clearly you were more of a threat than they thought.

This leads to them entering your room at night with the intent of murder!!! Unfortunately for them they bumped into a table, accidentally knocking a book off of it with a crash. You were a light sleeper and woke up with a jolt.

At the sight of Obbie, you relaxed. They would never do anything to hurt you so this meant one of two things. You looked them in their eyes.

"Are you injured, kicked out of your house, or sick and you need someone to shelter or take care of you for whatever reason? Don't worry, my friend... I am here," You spoke valiantly, with your hand on your heart.

"...No?" They were starting to wonder if you were okay mentally, maybe you were insane, or maybe... this was an evil beyond what they imagined!

To not only taunt them by remaining so close to their one true love but to go so far as push it in their face by calling them weak and hanging out with them! Diabolical!

Meanwhile you knew that only left one option, you looked at Obbie pityingly, "Then you must love me..." You would never miss a sign as obvious as this, you were nothing like those oblivious protagonists.

Obbie: What the actual fuck.

"...Are you okay?" They suddenly asked you, wondering if they had more problems on their hand then they originally thought. Maybe... you were a yandere too?

"Yes," You nodded solemnly, as understanding washed over you. Maybe... you could fall in love with Obbie, hadn't the signs always been there? They always tried to spend time with you (and your friend), "I'll be together with you."

They paused before promptly turning around, "Forget about this. I'm leaving."

Meanwhile you remained on your bed, clutching your chest, as 'my heart will go on' from Titanic played in your head.

EXTREME Oblivious Reader X AND VS Yandere

Somehow you finagled your way into a relationship with Obbie. F/n (the person Obbie loves) is beyond concerned for you, especially since you don't seem to have realized... well anything.

Meanwhile Obbie is trying to figure out the reasoning behind this diabolical scheme, you don't seem to like them so that must mean this is only a plot to keep them separated from their one true love forever! Obbie knew it would be too cruel to make f/n date them after they'd broken up with you. So they decided it would just be easier to kill you instead. But for some reason that idea didn't seem too agreeable anymore with them.

Then there was your ass trying to stay on top of everything while simultaneously keeping up with all the web novels and comics you read, a difficult task. On the bright side you had your new partner to rant about them to,

"Ugh, I can't believe Kim Dan is still with that bastard! If I had a man like Kim Dan I'd treat him right, spoil him, buy him gifts, pay off all his debt--" You began to rant, annoyed at the newest chapter of Jinx. You were truly in love with the brown haired mousy man, if he were real you'd keep him safe in the comfort of your arms.

"With what money?" Obbie looked at you mildly annoyed.

"...This is my fantasy okay." You let out a sigh in response.

Obbie didn't even know why they were listening to you, this was really annoying and boring.

Truly the most diabolical torture of all!

You were conniving but you wouldn't be able to beat them... If this was how you wanted to play the game, then fine. They would start small getting on your nerves... then once you were completely defeated they'd end you, taking f/n for themselves in the process.

Unfortunately, this process started after a terrible day. For whatever reason something went wrong at work and it was your job to clean it up. You hadn't even had time for lunch. When you finally returned home from work and logged on to catch up with all your stories, not only had your tabs been closed, but all of your bookmarks removed...

There was no way you could remember all those titles by name, there were over 100. What kind of a glitch was this?! Did you accidentally fuck up your computer somehow? You must've...

You stared at the screen crestfallen for a few moments until you heard footsteps behind you.

You turned behind you, a smile lifting up to your face as Obbie stared back at you a slight smirk on their face, "Something wrong?" They asked.

"Nope! Just a bit tired!" You replied cheerful you at least had someone by your side during such rough moments, "C'mon let's go make dinner!"

Obbie: ?! ...You were clearly going to be a more challenging opponent than they thought. Each moment that passed you only grew more menacing.

A series of unfortunate events continued to follow you from randomly getting food poisoning, to everyone suddenly avoiding you aside from f/n.

"Aren't you worried?" F/n asked, keeping a watchful eye out for anyone suspicious looking.

You glanced up at her from your webcomic, "About what? It's their fault if they're missing out on this!" You said confidently, pointing your thumb toward your chest.

Your friend smiled weakly in response, "But..."

"Really, it's all good," You replied, "So tell me how's that new relationship of yours going?"

You managed to remain in high spirits despite your life falling down around you. Somehow you got fired (they couldn't afford to keep you apparently) and were struggling to pick yourself up but you were sure you'd do so eventually.

However, Obbie was in shambles at one word of news:

Your friend was in a relationship. A romantic one.

You stumbled upon your partner on their knees and had immediately been worried, "What's wrong? Are you okay-- well of course you aren't, what hurts?" You placed your hands on their shoulders, steadying them as they looked up to you tearfully.

Sure, they could kill you, and your friend's partner, but they didn't want to murder anyone originally! Killing you had been their last resort and of course you foiled it! You demon! You weren't even suffering after all they'd done to ruin your life! They... wouldn't be able to beat you...

F/n had only ever given them disgusted glances in the past anyway, (not to say they didn't deserve them). Plus what Obbie had wanted was f/n in full, the only way they'd be able to get her to love them at this point would be to break her beyond belief. It would leave only a pretty doll in its place, with none of the lovable qualities left.

"I... give up. You win..." Obbie spoke defeatedly, tears rushing out of their eyes at the sudden words. They let out a loud and ugly sob before hugging you, pressing their face against your chest and getting snot and tears all over your clothes.

You pat their back gently, "There, there... It'll all be okay, I promise. And what do you mean I won?" Your voice was comforting aside from the mild confusion in the last sentence.

"I won't go after your friend anymore..." Maybe this wouldn't be so bad the Yandere would have a chance to reinvent themselves, and maybe... they could find new things they loved.

Wait... so the reason why she told you she didn't want to hang out with them...

You froze mid pat as everything came falling into place, "You were never in love with me. You were in love with my friend!" You exclaimed, excitedly at your new discovery, as if you were Sherlock Holmes.

Obbie: ??? There was no fucking way this was real.

EXTREME Oblivious Reader X Yandere

You'd managed to piece everything together Obbie was really in love with f/n. Then they'd gotten together with you out of pity, when you misunderstood their intentions of why they were in your room late at night. Why were they in your room late at night? The world may never know...

Meanwhile Obbie felt themself in more despair than before, having lost the love of their life and realizing they had been defeated by someone who didn't even know what was going on. To say they were upset was an understatement.

You let out a dramatic sigh, "You may not be able to be with my friend anymore but... I won't leave you trapped in this relationship with me. I'm sorry."

And now you were breaking up with them. Just great, wait why the hell did they feel upset at this?! "...It's really okay," They said suddenly, looking up at you with a shaky smile. They'd already lost enough in one day maybe that was why losing something so minor made it worse...

"No, I can't with good conscience let you suffer anymore. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding," You were a bit sad, to say you hadn't grown feelings for Obbie after three months of dating (the two of you had lasted a while somehow) would be a lie.

You got up, slight tears in your eyes, vowing not to comfort them in order to restrain any lingering feelings you had and left to your computer. There you continued slowly rebuilding your army of tabs and bookmarks.

Obbie: ..? why are you like this

Still Obbie couldn't help but feel guilty, sure you may've ruined their relationship but the fact that you were even able to ruin it?! You of all people? You genuinely had no idea of what was going on.

It was embarrassing. Both that you didn't know what was going on and that they somehow couldn't deal with someone who was genuinely clueless.

Not only that but in retaliation they'd ruined your entire life, and you remained none the wiser and ever positive. It... was kind of fucked up. How the hell could they not feel guilty?!

After breaking up with Obbie your days for some reason got better, the two of you were still housemates as you'd decided a month ago to share an apartment for six months. But once these upcoming five months were up they'd be completely free!

Plus, you'd managed to get a better job than the one you had before, it paid better AND was easier! What a win! You'd also finished recollecting all of your bookmarks of web novels and web comics, AND a lot of your friends had come back into contact with you! It was wonderful!

Not to mention your relationship with Obbie hadn't gotten awkward at all instead it was thriving! They'd make breakfast and lunch for you, then sit around in the kitchen when you made dinner and cleaned dishes. They listened to all of your rants, and watched over you while you slept.

The last part was actually a bit creepy but apparently you'd been having nightmares recently so they were just making sure you'd sleep well. Not only that but you found out the two of you took the same bus, wasn't that sick?!

Plus they were leaving you gifts all the time now, you would've thought they liked you if well it wasn't so clear they didn't. One misunderstanding was enough for you.

Obbie: ...WHY DID IT WORK WHEN I BROKE INTO YOUR ROOM TO KILL YOU BUT NOW YOU CAN'T TAKE A HINT HUH?

Obbie had to admit in the past they'd been... a bit short sighted maybe liking your friend originally wasn't the right move. F/n didn't pay them much attention nor really care about them so why couldn't they have just liked you sooner?

At least now they had a chance to make up for their mistakes. They could keep you safe by keeping an eye at you to and from work, at work, and at home. They could slowly garner your affection again from the talks and meals you two shared, and the gifts they gave you. They just had to make sure you didn't find out about the source of those unfortunate events. But even if you did... you would forgive them right?

And if you still don't like them by the end of your remaining five month lease. That's okay... they just won't let you leave. F/n had just been a practice run so they wouldn't make mistakes where it really counted.

"What are you doing?" Obbie came home to you stuffing some clothes in a suitcase, you jumped up at the sound of their voice.

You looked at them slightly confused, "You know our lease ends tomorrow right..?"

They approached you and you remained still, feeling your heart thrum rapidly. They didn't like you in that way, you knew that so why was your heart beating so fast.

Then they smiled down at you, "You can't leave me, okay?" They wrapped an arm around you, holding you snug before leaning down and kissing you, their mouth slightly ajar and warm always pushing for more. Teeth brushed against your bottom lip as you remained still.

Friends don't do this.

"Our... our lease still ends tomorrow," You sputtered out looking up at them.

They let out a small tsk, leaning close enough so that the tips of your noses touched, "I took care of it. Just stay. Don't leave me." They wouldn't even give you the chance to leave. Then they moved their lips toward yours again taking them again.

"...So does this mean you want to be with me?" You asked for confirmation.

They let out a heavy sigh, "Seriously, how oblivious are you?" Then they smiled, looking down at you adoration completely in their eyes, "Yes, it does."

In other news:

Work on my 4 minific drafts vs work on my 3 original stories vs create something completely new and random based off a random urge.

Guess who won?!

The last one. It's always the last one.

I hope you guys had fun reading this, honestly I felt like this was a really funny pair to write. Like the Yandere thinking the Reader was a genius who foiled their plans. Meanwhile Reader: wow this chick in this web comic is really hot.

I think the concept of an extremely oblivious Reader and Yandere can also be written in a nice and funny manner :) just Yandere moving into their class midway through the semester and reader being like 'you've always been here?' Yandere:...Yep. Or the classic murder = paint. I think there's a lot of untapped comedic potential in the pairing, of course with a nice little side of psychological.

I know people aren't the biggest fans of oblivious protagonists (because we love ourselves a smart MC who can support themselves and give everyone a good challenge and solve the world!!! rn I'm reading like the Greatest Estate Developer and the MC is so fucking smart it's nice!!! (no romance in it tho)).

But I thought that we need a good variety of protagonists always, and oblivious protagonists can be wonderful when done right so I've gotta keep working to master all of the characters so that way when I write my novel (eventually) the oblivious character is cool af!