#relates to him? but who knows. there's probably some symbolism with hawks to him too. with dani i literally just randomly started calling

[insurrection-if]

Hey~~ Happy New Year! How's your holiday going? Care to share the gifts all the ROs would absolutely appreciate? ❤️

Oh, MC can also be a gift, if you're curious. Wrapped with a large red ribbon that barely holds their bathrobe together and can easily unravel with a tug. A wee bit nsfw right there 😂

Happy New Year to you as well, and everyone too! ٩(^ ᴗ ^)۶ My holidays have gone very well thus far! Quality time with my family is always a gift in itself, despite the bumps here and there, and this season was plenty of fun even with the shake-up of tradition!

Ah, and as someone who struggles so greatly with gift ideas, these are all rather top-of-my-head suggestions. Lots more could possibly be added for each RO, but I simply lack the gift-giving creativity to think of them here, haha! ┐(´∀｀)┌

Akil

A new book, especially if it related to the MC's interests or background.

Mm, maybe plants that can be raised indoors / within the base? It would be nice to tend to them while on-duty as Commander, and it would be a pleasant addition to the atmosphere for the entire team as well.

Perhaps something written from the heart: a love letter, a poem, a short story, or a card with a personal note attached that he may then store within his desk.

He wouldn't mind a knick-knack to place in his office to have as a keepsake from Mockingbird.

Kamiko

Tickets to / something attached to a special event together, a promise for a date in the near future for the two of them alone.

A memento for a shared milestone, event, or quality in their relationship.

Tactical knives. Antique weaponry. Something along those lines, even if it is more so ceremonial or decorative.

Flowers, preferably pressed and symbolic / sentimental in some manner.

Though it might not be for her, Kamiko would be extremely touched if Mockingbird offered a gift to her nephew. Not only would the smile on his face be a treasure to her but so too would the gesture of your care towards him be something that warms her heart.

Sigmund

Well, you've already provided what is perhaps the greatest gift he could receive in your ask, haha! Otherwise . . .

Mm, really, the gesture alone of 'going out of your way' to get him a gift is bound to be appreciated. Only a little less so if it's a gag gift though, haha!

Anything that's sentimental to Mockingbird, a gesture that feels like a strengthening of their bond together.

Outside the HAWKS, another dog would have also been a perfect gift for him. (And, from then on for holidays, any gifts for the dog would be an entirely suitable and appreciated gift for him.)

Imka

Something made from the heart. (A drawing, a meal, or even "free coupons" for hugs / kisses / quality time / etc . . . though she'd be too embarrassed to ever cash them in, haha!)

Maybe something matching between them: similar scarves, gloves, sweaters, beanies, or whatever else!

Sewing supplies, or materials for her sketches.

A cute plushie, though you'd have to coax her into confessing she'd desire such a gift.

A scrapbook would probably send her into happy tears!

Elouan

Jewelry that, when worn, feels as though he is wearing a claim from Mockingbird.

A cello.

Art to brighten his surroundings. (Romanticism. Baroque, Art Nouveau, or anything made by Mockingbird in their own preferred style).

A bouquet of flowers with intentional meaning.

An outing together: a spa day, the opera, a new restaurant, etc.

As a gift to him, lingerie for Mockingbird to wear, haha! Or some for himself.

Jae

Perhaps music records to dance and listen to together. She wouldn't mind broadening her tastes to experience Mockingbird's personal favorites.

Fashon accessories: earrings, bracelets, necklaces, rings, shoes, handbags - she wouldn't mind if their designs were simple or their quality cheap. She knows she would make it look good on her regardless, haha! Lingerie (if in a romantic relationship) would also be a pleasant gift for her.

A date night later in the evening, which is essentially the gift of a new experience together. Likely to a local bar, community event, some niche establishment, etc. Somewhere that promises novelty, adventure, or laughter.

Alcohol and sweets to share, or maybe just a bit of at-home pampering like breakfast-in-bed or a massage.

Niccolò

Anything built from Mockingbird's own two hands, regardless of its end-product quality.

Painting supplies. He would probably use them to create a portrait or piece inspired by Mockingbird to express his appreciation for it.

Anything that could be used for his trinkets. Even if it's just metal scraps Mockingbird found to be interesting / appealing.

Glass-made objects, particularly if it reflected some aspect of Mockingbird, him, or their relationship together.

Philosophy or poetry books maybe, particularly if they came with a note written inside for how / why it reminded Mockingbird of him.

Mutya

Maybe some woodcarvings, or materials to help with her hobby.

Anything practical would be appreciated. New boots, new exercise equipment, a new coat for the ongoing winter season. To her, it's something that shows that Mockingbird recognizes her needs and cares for her.

Perhaps something nature-related to place in her room to give her a better sense of her home. Fake / low-maintenance plants, small animal sculptures, some little knick-knack with running water. Something to make her room feel more alive rather than like a stale prison.

She'd be content with the gift of uninterrupted quality time together, like a simple at-home date or cooked dinner together.

Fyodor

A kiss under the mistletoe. (One that is just like the movies! Though this gift is rather Christmas-season specific.)

Something (small) to wear that has some attachment to Mockingbird: cufflinks, a tie pin, a handmade bracelet, a locket, a watch, a ring (the engagement variety included, haha!), etc. with a symbolic element of them.

A homemade treat, particularly something warm or sweet.

Maybe a photograph, small and transportable, of Mockingbird to always carry with him.

The gift of a new tradition together. Some ritual, routine, or activity together with the promise of being done again year after year, in turn, promises many years to come together.

Mm, and as a super speedy holiday bonus for the minor ROs . . .

Dearil

Pinned butterflies. Personally pressed flowers.

Historical artifacts, or something of historical value / significance / attachment.

New gloves.

Perhaps a new eye-patch, though he likely wouldn't wear it in public anytime soon.

You.

Curadora

A tea set. Self-indulgently ornate as she would never buy something so frivolous for herself.

Classic literature, especially if the Mockingbird has a fondness or personal attachment to it themself.

A spoken poem (no matter it's quality, as long as it's from the heart), an expression of appreciation, or a simple, "I love you."

Aha, as over the top as it might seem, I can't help but imagine a horse-driven carriage ride absolutely melting her heart (along with her calm composure), haha!

Your company, and the memories she makes within it, is precious enough to be a gift to her.

Retriever

Hats, belts / belt buckles, boots, a handmade bracelet or necklace (preferably with some leather element).

A mug with some phrase or image that's either funny or cute.

Maybe a knitted or quilted blanket, whether or not it's purchased or handmade.

A "family day" that Mockingbird could join in on to better integrate themself into the close-knit unit that is the Charbonneau household - a greater ask than it might initially! Essentially, the gift of visiting the relatives with him during the holidays.

Or, more simply, a "lazy day" together at home.

Lempo

Furs or other prizes from a hunt. Perhaps even the experience of a hunt together.

Honey, sweets, or fruits that she'd gladly share with Mockingbird.

Perfumes, incense, and aged wines.

Maybe a music box, or some other small trinket that either glitters, shines, or sings.

Anything to spice up the bedroom, from atmospheric candles to toys Mockingbird might want to try together.

Bones

Old keepsakes dug up from the past, even if just given to him in the form of a loose set in a box rather than anything overdone.

Maybe something a bit odd or novel, but it doesn't have to be too over-the-top. A shark tooth, a session with a falcon trainer, a thrifted trinket that has a sense of history etched into it - something kind of near those vibes, maybe? Something indie / niche / unique that clearly reflects what made you think of him / your relationship with him when you chose it.

Liquor (preferably whiskey), maybe to be shared at some run-down drive-in or look-out point with a nice view in a pocket of solitude.

Somewhat expensive, but a trip to Sweden. (Something that would feel like a connection to his mother.) Or, more realistically, a weekend-long camping trip together.

Mishka

Preferably nothing, or so they would insist.

But, if you insist on a gift . . . Really, anything they receive would be seen as considerably precious to them (if in a romance or deep friendship). Even a gag gift would be safely stored away for them to reminisce upon this attachment they loathe to have have come to accept in time.

If not a close friend or romantically attached, any gift would immediately end up dumped in the nearest trash bin without a thought, haha!

[arklay]

tagged by @aartyom & @nuclearstorms to do this – thank you both so much ily, i could talk about name meanings forever! ♡

tagging: @avallachs @brujah @calenhads @camelliagwerm @cultistbase @denerims @faarkas @florbelles @indorilnerevarine @jillvalcntines @leviiackrman @liurnia @montliyets @morvaris @reaperkiller @risingsh0t @shadowglens @solasan @steelport @swordcoasts @voerman @wrymbloods & anyone else who would like to do this, feel free to say i tagged you! ♡

NAME MEANINGS.

rules: search and post the meaning of your ocs' names (if you made their name up or they go by a nickname, post an explanation of how it came to you)! bonus for if you can find something for their last name too

DIANA (Диана) — of Latin origin, and the name of the Roman goddess of the hunt, wild animals, fertility and the moon. It derives from Latin dīus ("godly"), ultimately from Proto-Italic *divios, meaning "divine, heavenly". This stems from the Proto-Indo-European *diwyós ("divine, heavenly"), formed with the root *dyew- ("daylight sky") attached with the thematic suffix -yós

There's a lot to unpack here. First of all, the notion of the "right to be a god" which for her was never about being a god of a new world as such, but rather being godlike, having abilities that while granted by science, went beyond the limitations of the human body. Then there's the associations with the goddess, but specifically wild animals. Diana was a herpetologist before all else, and her fascination and love of reptiles started at a young age before she began working predominantly as a field herper, observing these animals in the wild, until her expertise extended to those kept in captivity. She also just loves little creatures. The way I chose this name literally had nothing to do with the meaning until I remembered what that was and it just fit. But she was nameless for over a month and I just kept going back to the sound of this name, like there was something about the Russian pronunciation specifically that kept scratching my brain, and I was like yeah, she chose her name for real

VIKTOROVNA (Викторовна) — the feminine Russian patronymic of the name Viktor, making it "the daughter of Viktor". The name is the Russian (amongst others) variant of Victor, from Latin origin, meaning "winner" or "conqueror"

So when I was looking for her patronymic, the way I chose this one was by saying each of the ones that I liked – because of the way they looked honestly, just ones that jumped out to me – in the proper order with her first and last name and seeing which ones sounded the nicest altogether to me. That was literally it, and then I remembered what the meaning of this name was as well and had a full on moment, but yeah, that's how I got her dad's name too obviously. Diana is a person who always works towards what she sets her mind to, all the way until she gets it, and that's a trait she actually picked up from her father, so it works. I think it's very ironic that she fails though. At least in the terms of the plan she worked on for years which led to her husband's death, but there is the upside of her bringing him back to life and the two of them create their own little empire to pull the strings from behind the scenes

AFANASYEVA (Афанасьева) — the feminine form of the Russian surname derived from the name Afanasy, which is the Russian form of Athanasios, a Greek name meaning "immortal"

Funnily enough, I chose her surname first before anything else. I can't remember how I even found it, I think I was looking specifically for meanings either surrounding immortality or rebirth, or even related to snakes at one point, and that's where I came across it. It's what actually made me decide that her background was going to be Russian as well, because I honestly just really liked it. Now, immortality… I have a lot to say about this, so hold on. First of all, directing your attention specifically to snakes, once again. As snakes shed their skin through sloughing, they are symbols of rebirth, transformation, immortality, and healing, amongst other values. The ouroboros is a symbol of eternity and continual renewal of life

For Diana, her ambitions in life changed when she was roped into working with bioweapons by The Organisation, and she found the concept of immortality fascinating and something she wanted to achieve for herself, because she truly believed that she wouldn't have enough time across her lifespan to learn everything she wanted to. Being aware of organisms that already possessed biological immortality, she believed it was possible to recreate that for humans through a modern day elixir of life of sorts. That all led her towards assisting in the engineering of the Uroboros virus, which would finally grant her those abilities and she would be able to join her husband in his supposed halted ageing. Diana also believes in the concept of an immortal soul that is reincarnated after death, which ties back to ouroboros with life, death, and rebirth and the transmigration of souls. She has said, and I quote, "I think we were supposed to find each other again" to Wesker before and I'd like a moment to scream over that, thank you. I mean you all know how I've talked about Diana just having this feeling of being known with him, and all that. It's the soulmates of it all, you know how it is

SHARP — an English surname that originated as a nickname deriving from Old English scearp, meaning "sharp" and used to describe a smart or keen person

This was the alias she used while undercover and the way I chose this was literally another case of me just liking how it sounded then going oh hey that fits actually… I was looking for a common kind of unsuspecting type of surname, think like Smith or Brown, along those lines, but I think it's funny that she probably grew up hearing "sharp as a tack" a lot because she is extremely intelligent, as well as a bit of a smartass, so she probably dealt with things like that at the company as well

REINA — means "queen" in Spanish, although there are a few other names with the same or similar spelling that have different origins with unrelated meanings

It's funny because I have had Reina for so many years and she never had a name, but I mean she's gone through so many iterations at this point that it's fine, but out of nowhere I was just like sure, that fits. Have we noticed a theme? I get the vibes for a character first and then a name will speak to me for them. But with Reina, she started going by this when she joined the Saints as a way to keep her private life separate from the gang, and it came from an old joke nickname that her late partner used to call her which just stuck with her. It's the Leo energy, that's why. But when he first saw her training in the ring at her gym and all the guys got around her after she knocked one of them flat on his ass, he struck up a conversation with her afterwards and said something along the lines of "who are you, la reina?" and it became a little nickname for her that she was rather fond of

CARMINA — an Italian and Spanish variant of Carmen, coming from the Latin word carmen which means "song", "ode" or "poem". Another origin of it is being the Spanish and Italian form of Carmel, from Hebrew karmel (הַכַּרְמֶל), meaning "garden"

Going to be honest here guys, I just chose this name because I liked the way it sounded and there's two people in my family who have forms of it. The name itself doesn't really have much correlation to Reina's personality or situation as such, but what I think is really interesting is that the Roman goddess Carmenata's name is based on the root carmen as well, and she was the goddess of childbirth and a protector of mothers and children, so I mean… gestures vaguely. Reina is a mother before all else and she would do literally anything for her daughter. And I mean I'm sure if you analysed the Odes you could also find many parallels to her life, like even just from a few of the poems I read I had a bit of a moment

MICHELI — an Italian surname that comes from the given name Michele, the Italian form of Michael, which is derived from Hebrew Mikha'el (מִיכָאֵל), meaning "who is like God?". This is a rhetorical question that implies there is none like God, or there is no one as famous and powerful as God. The question is also known in Latin as "Quis ut Deus?", particularly associated with the Archangel Michael

I originally chose this surname just based on one of playa's apparent nicknames – Mickey – that I saw on the wiki which I wanted to incorporate into her lore somehow, which I never actually do because no one really knows her surname, but it's interesting to think about what Michael is the patron saint of in relation to Reina, namely police and military. I mean I don't want to delve too deep into this cause of the topic of religion and I have other thoughts with her there, but I think it's interesting that this is where her surname comes from and she broke away from her family and rejected a lot of what they were, and then she becomes this gang leader which is obviously involved with direct conflicts with police and military groups, so you get what I mean, she's kind of the antithesis of it I suppose

REN — Japanese meaning "lotus"

This was never intended, because it was literally just Ithrenil's nickname, but I find it so symbolic that I'm kind of losing my mind. Ithrenil's actual name came from me just combining letters while trying to make something that sounded vaguely bosmer, but their nickname that only Farkas uses (until the rest of the Companions pick up on it and starts calling them that, and they hate it cause they're not a fan of nicknames and it was a special them thing) works. In terms of the symbolism, lotuses are symbols of so many things across different cultures, but a few examples are purity, transcendence, enlightenment, and rebirth. I think the purity one is interesting in terms of being a werewolf because many would think the exact opposite for Ithrenil, that their soul is cursed and tainted by their beast blood, even if they themself see it as a gift. Also the fact that purity is the name of the quest for curing either one of the twins... The other examples I feel like can all kind of relate to their relationship with being both dragonborn and a werewolf as well

MEHLIA — I just added an H to Melia, a name of Greek origin, coming from the ancient word (μελία) for ash-tree which derives from the Greek element meli (μέλι) meaning "honey". The plural, Meliae, were usually considered to be a class of nymphs associated with trees, particularly ash-trees. According to Hesiod, they were born when the drops of Uranus' blood fell on Gaia, and were said to be the progenitors of the men of the Bronze Age, who they nursed on the honey-sap of ash-trees

This was literally another case of me finding a name I thought was pretty then I looked at the meaning and it somehow worked. Her aesthetic was already based around honey, considering she has honey blonde hair, and connections to nature, so that's really fun. But I think also the association with a particular tree is interesting, considering a major symbol of city elf culture is the vhenadahl

[high-dragon-bait]

Some theories/guesses for what our Dreadwolf protagonist title might be!

We’re all curious what our Dreadwolf (finally don’t have to say DA:4!!) protag’s title will be like Warden, Champion, Inquisitor, and I wanna throw some guesses out there based on what we know. I doubt any of these will be the title, but it’s fun to imagine

We know our protagonist is meant to be someone that Solas “doesn’t know” and “will never see coming.” They’re someone without power or any innate abilities. Average Joe. Which is also what Hawke was so idk why they’re acting like this is new for the series but that’s no here nor there TITLES

With that knowledge, here are some ideas:

- The Infiltrator - This one is my personal favorite so we’ll start with this! I have actually been quietly referring to the DA:D (heh) protagonist as “The Infiltrator” in my head for months just because I got tired for calling them “My future protag.” Given that some of the descriptions imply we may be some sort of spy, “Infiltrator” would be fitting. Infiltrate Solas’ ranks. Infiltrate Tevinter’s hierarchy. Maybe even infiltrate the Inquisition itself if it still exists and we’re allowed to side with Solas. It’s descriptive and it sounds cool and I think it’s the most likely to be the one that would be picked if I were to present this list to Bioware.

- The Shadow - This one is pretty generic but does sound cool. Again, it goes off of the implication that we’ll be a spy, but what I’m really going for here is a sort of “Shadow of the Inquisitor” idea. Your Inquisitor can’t directly go for Solas, he knows them too well, but he doesn’t know their “shadow.” The part of them that walks in the dark, that’s unseen, unknown. And it carries meta as well, your “Shadow” would definitely have the larger role in this game, but they’ll be trapped in the shadow of the Inquisitor. Juicy! But I don’t love this one, it’s generic, but would be nifty.

- The Hunter - The edgiest option! Haha! This one relates to both the fact that we are hunting for information, probably hunting for slavers, but mostly is just a play on “wolf hunter.” This one isn’t that deep. You’re the Hunter! You’re hunting down Solas! Beat his ass when you get there! 

- The Heretic - My second favorite after “infiltrator” but also the one I think is least likely to happen, but GOD it would be so cool. Imagine an opening cutscene with your Inquisitor and their advisors (not for too long tho you may cry) and Cullen says one of the above “We need an Infiltrator/Shadow/Hunter” like that’s cool those are all real jobs and sound neat but can you imagine him saying “We need a Heretic” that is just so BADASS. I love it because it’s just so JUICY in terms of lore and symbolism. You’re committing heresy against the Maker, against Tevinter, against Solas, it’s just PACKED FULL of meaning. AND it offers an absolutely DELICIOUS parallel between the Inquisitor and the new protag who we’re all pretty sure will have to be working closely together. “The Herald and the Heretic.” How catchy is that. That’s Varric’s next book.

That’s it! Not too deep, just me having fun. I’m sure whatever the actual title will be I’ll love it, but it’s fun to wonder till then

[thebreakfastgenie]

@yeehawkpierce ask and ye shall receive!

Sidney absolutely sees himself in Hawkeye. They're actually very similar in a lot of ways, specifically their approach to medicine. They both take cases very personally, they both get deeply involved with their patients, and they both take it very badly when it doesn't end well. I do think Sidney is more controlled than Hawkeye is by the end, but he's not as well-controlled as you might think. In Dear Sigmund he lost a patient and spent two weeks at the 4077th trying to get over it.

I think Sidney is aware of the dangerous line he walks with his approach to his patients, but chooses to do it anyway because he thinks it makes him a better doctor. He tells Hawkeye in GFA that having pain and being afraid might make him a better doctor because he can relate to his patients better and I think he's speaking from experience. It didn't make it into the episode, but in the script for Dear Sigmund Sidney says he last wrote a letter to Sigmund Freud when he had some unspecified trouble in medical school. That made me think about some of the behavior we see from him and led me to believe Sidney is himself prone to depression.

Hawkeye and Sidney are both poker players and they play cards a lot in different contexts throughout their relationship. I don't know enough about cards to go anywhere with this symbolism but it feels significant.

As for how Sidney deals with Hawkeye... I'll admit to being a little biased, but I think Sidney is generally doing the best he can, or doing what he thinks is best. These are not always the same thing. For the most part, he's following the best psychiatric knowledge he has available, like sending him back to the 4077th in GFA. He's also practicing meatball psychiatry, which he admits in Goodbye Cruel World when discussing another patient. But there is something else going on.

I am convinced that Sidney is looking out for Hawkeye's future medical career. This relates back to seeing himself in Hawkeye and everything they have in common. I think he's worried that if things go too far in a certain direction, Hawkeye's future in civilian life is going to be affected. It's not an unreasonable concern, and I think at most points pre-GFA it's what Hawkeye would say he wants. Being a doctor is extremely important to him and Sidney knows that. But it may be that safeguarding his future career is not the best thing for his health, and Sidney has a blindspot in his medical opinion. And of course Hawkeye ends up pretty much losing his career anyway (although it's still open to him if he feels like going back) but neither of them knew that was going to happen.

It's also worth noting that Sidney is limited by how much Hawkeye is willing to open up. Hawkeye is comfortable leaning on Sidney, but only to a point. Sidney comes in to deal with a crisis, but once they get passed that, Hawkeye moves on. Even in GFA, Hawkeye is worried he isn't fully recovered from his breakdown, but he's not bringing any previous mental health concerns into it. There's a lot Sidney just doesn't know about, because as far as we know Hawkeye never told him.

Sidney and Hawkeye also don't really have a formal doctor-patient relationship until Bless You, Hawkeye at the earliest. In Hawk's Nightmare, Sidney doesn't really approach Hawkeye as his doctor. He's a friend who's providing reassurance and that reassurance is backed up by professional expertise. There are probably times that, like Hawkeye's other friends, Sidney could take more action than he does. But I think he's also hesitant to lose Hawkeye's trust because that trust allows him to help to some extent. It's messy and a lot of judgment calls and not always the right ones. Don't treat your friends! But you know, they didn't have any good options.

[aqua2fana]

Gotham Rogues Daemon Headcanons no one asked for

Because I haven’t seen anyone do this yet

Sorry this is sooooo long

Oswald Cobblepot (Penguin): An Adelie Penguin named Ottoline. The name Ottoline sounds very upperclass and means prosperity, riches, and wealth. Okay, so obviously giving Oswald a penguin sounds like a lazy pick but I actually can’t think of anything that suits him more. Penguin was born with defects that made him look different from everyone else, he would have been ridiculed throughout his childhood and people probably wouldn’t expect him to be capable of much. Yet, he built a criminal empire in Gotham city. Penguins are loud, awkward, ungraceful and flightless but they are also highly specialized to not just survive but thrive in an extremely inhospitable environment. Also despite being built like a bowling pin, penguins are still some of the best dressed birds out there which is something I feel like Oswald does to compensate for the defects others would shame him for. Penguins are durable bastards who wear tuxedos and since daemons settle in the teen years I think Penguins persona would have been built around his daemons settling as he fully embraced the symbolism behind it.

Edward Nygma (Riddler): A Fennec Fox named Ataro. The name Ataro means puzzle or upside down and also sounds like the word Atari which is the name of a game console and also comes from the Japanese word for checkmate. Foxes are sly, cunning, charming, and intelligent tricksters. Which is exactly what Riddler is. I thought a Fennec Fox would be more suitable because they are small and social with these enormous ears and I just thought that was right. I know Riddler works alone most of the time but I also think he’s capable of being gossipy and Fennecs strike me as foxes incapable of keeping a secret which is a very riddler trait because he leaves riddles that often lead to his capture.

Jonathan Crane (Scarecrow): A Raven named Malvolia. Malvolia is the feminine version of Malvolio and it literally means “ill will”. A Raven not a Crow. Corvids are very intelligent birds that are also regarded death omens and are present in horror stories and myths around the world. They are very resourceful and also often portrayed as trickster spirits in fables. What else could crane be? I specify that Mal is a Raven because I honestly like the idea of Jon having this large corvid that can make sounds like a garbage disposal that people mistake for a crow.

Selina Kyle (Catwoman): A Black Devon Rex Cat named Rakesh. Selina is a name relating to the moon so I decided to give her daemon a name relating to the moon as well. Rakesh means “lord of the full moon”. Selina is playful, sneaky and narcissistic but too aloof to have a wild cat as a daemon which is why I decided Rakesh would be domestic. I wanted something that looked a lot like a Sphinx cat because they are very playful and like a lot of attention but I also wanted the breed I picked to have fur because I think Selina is somewhat vain and her daemon would reflect that. The Devon Rex has a personality and temperament similar to Sphinx cats but they also have a very short and wavy coat and I always think of Selina as the type to have a pixie cut so it just seemed fitting. Of course he would be a black cat.

Pamela Isley (Poison Ivy): A Tarantula Hawk Wasp named Viridius. Viridius is a name that derives from the Roman word veridis meaning Green. Viridius is also thought to be the name of a pagan god of ancient Roman Britain that in modern day times is called the Green Man. I imagine people with wasp daemons to be protective, defensive, hardworking and with high standards for themselves and others. Wasps are very protective and defensive of their hive in the same way Ivy is of her plants, wasps are devoted to their cause and have a vicious sting. I also assume they would have something slightly seductive about them because of the beauty stereotype of having a “wasp waist”. Tarantula Hawks have beautiful iridescent blue bodies and orange wings, they are non aggressive unless you mess with them first and have one of the worst stings of the animal kingdom with excruciating pain lasting up to 5 minutes. Daemons are just physical representations of the human soul so I don’t think typical sexual dimorphism is always the rule which is why I think that despite being male Veridius would have a stinger.

Harleen Quinzel (Harley Quinn): A Sparrow named Lysander. Lysander means “liberator” which in light of the progression of Harley’s character I found fitting. I also chose it because it sounds like it could be the name of a male love interest in a romance novel. Sparrows are songbirds that don’t look like much and are probably pretty common but they are also very empathetic and known for taking care of babies that aren’t their own as well as being very devoted to their loved ones. Harley is someone who studied to be a therapist out of a genuine desire to help others and was even capable of empathizing with the joker. She is also someone who is clearly driven by an obsessive love and devotion to the people she cares for. I also think that Harley is often underestimated and her having a sparrow would reflect that perfectly.

Joker: An Albino White Rat named Hilaria. Hilaria is a name of Greek origin that means cheerful. The name is derived from the same Latin root word as the English word hilarious. It was too good to pass up. Originally, I was going to give Joker a viper of some kind or maybe a spitting cobra as a reference to his acid spitting flower pin in the cartoons but daemons settle in adolescence and I think the joker was a very different person before his chemical bath. I think the original joker would have been intelligent and resourceful but also more meek and easily peer pressured. A prey animal as opposed to a snake. I think Hilaria would be an albino rat as a reference to lab rats and as a reference to the red eyes one of his cartoon designs had. Joker is unpredictable so I think it’s fitting that his daemon would be a prey animal when everyone is expecting a predator. Also, when rats are happy they do this thing where their eyes pop out a little like they’re a squeaky toy which is just perfect. Hilaria would be a particularly vicious rat though.

Jervis Tetch (Mad Hatter): A Jerboa named Darlene. Darlene means “darling” but in some sources the meaning is also “innocent child,” I also like the way it reminds me of the word Darjeeling which is a kind of tea. Intelligent but delusional and a bit of a coward a small rodent would fit him perfectly and the mad hatter was known for associating with the dormouse. However, I wanted something like a mouse but more whimsical, more fantasy like, so a Jerboa it was.

Harvey Dent (Two Face): A Black Backed Jackal named Eurydice. Eurydice was the tree nymph that married the famous musician Orpheus in Greek mythology. She died and her husband tried to rescue her from the underworld but looked back at the last second condemning her to remain a ghost. Her name means “wide justice”. Wild dogs are rebellious, loyal, protective and capable hunters all of which are traits I think Harvey exhibited while he was a DA. I picked a Jackal because of their association with Anubis which is the Egyptian god of the dead who presided over the embalming process and placed the heart of the deceased on one side of the scale and a feather on the other so that they could be judged by Osiris. This is similar to what a DA does before a judge. I picked the black backed jackal to follow the duality theme he has going on which I thought should definitely be reflected in his soul since he has DID.

Victor Fries (Mr.Freeze): A Polar Bear named Idonea. Idonea is a Norse name that means “again,” “to love,” and “to renew nature”. It is also the name a Norse goddess associated with eternal youth. Freeze is driven first and foremost by a need to cure and save his wife but he is also vengeful. Bears are known for being large, protective, vengeful and effective hunters. Polar bears are even known for hunting humans on occasion and are one the most massive land predators on earth. I think Polar bears would be slightly more domineering than other bears which I think is also fitting for Freeze. There’s also the fact that a polar bear matches his aesthetic to a t.

Eduardo Dorrance (Bane): A Jaguar named Tvora. Tvora literally means “to break,” or “to fracture”. I think people who settled with wild cats would be strong willed, driven, passionate, and powerful individuals. Jaguars are one of the strongest hunters in the world and they kill their prey by sinking their teeth directly into their targets skull. This method of killing is quick, brutal, and efficient in a way that I think translates well into Banes execution of his plans. Growing up in prison made it more likely for him to settle as something large.

Waylon Jones (Killer Croc): A Nile Crocodile named Jessamine. Jessamine means jasmine flower. Jasmine is known for its soothing properties and considering Crocs past I felt like his daemon should have a very non threatening southern belle kind of name. I also just like the idea of calling an enormous crocodile Jess. Another very obvious lazy looking pick but I think the crocodile symbolizes Waylon very well. In most of his stories he is portrayed as a sympathetic character mocked for a rare defect that makes him look like a crocodile, he is someone who can actually be very kind but is treated as a monster and behaves like one because of his cruel treatment. However, in some stories Croc is actually a very patient, cold and calculating gang leader. I think a crocodile is a median between both of these because while crocodiles can be aggressive and of course very patient and while people with reptile daemons are stereotypically cold, crocodiles are also just large lizards who want to be left alone and prefer not to have to fight anyone because they would rather be asleep, crocodiles just crave warmth. I think the symbolism of Waylon having a fuck off huge Nile crocodile with a name as sweet sounding as Jessamine is just perfect.

Victor Zsasz (Zsasz): A Warthog named Boudica. Boudica means victory and is the name of a 1st century Celtic warrior queen of the Icendi tribe who rebelled against the Romans. Okay, so I know Zsasz is a serial killer and everyone would probably expect a very aggressive animal but Zsasz doesn’t kill for malicious and wrathful reasons. Zsasz was a rich and sociable dude who gambled all his money away and adopted a depressive idea of nihilism where he thinks he needs to save everyone from the meaninglessness of life by killing them. This is someone who has the delusion he is helping people. Which is why I think he would settle as something naturally non aggressive but scary looking. Pigs are smart, stubborn, and don’t care what you think of them. Warthogs in particular are rather amiable and hardy herbivores that just look scary due to their long tusks. I think this is fitting because it’s symbolic of the way people would mistake Zsasz’s violence as intentionally malicious and sadistic but Zsasz truly believes he is being benevolent and merciful to the people he kills.

FYI: if anyone wants to use these for anything feel free

[tainted-wine]

I hope you don’t mind this being exclusive for the Pro-Heroes!

(NSFW)

Papers? Check. Writing utensils? Check. Lube? Check.

You were primed and ready to begin this cocktastic journey. Completing this project will be a great benefit to Thirstology. You can’t believe that they put their trust in you to collect such valuable information from several willing participants. There’s no way you’re going to let the people at National Thirst Studies down.

With your lower body completely bare, you and your ambitious pussy set out to begin the cockwarming interviews.

Yagi Toshinori/All Might

Pre-Notes: The Symbol of Peace. It’s still surreal to see him in such a fragile state. Strangely enough, I never once asked myself: Does All Might fuck? “Obviously he was too pure for fucking,” is what I would have said before I devoted my life to Thirst Studies. But I have learned over the years that there is no such thing as purity.

------

After he got over the initial shock of you wearing no pants or underwear, you were finally able to begin your study and ask him the main question.

You barely dodged the spray of blood spewing out of his mouth. “Am I into what?” He sputtered.

“Cockwarming, sir. The act of settling a penis in a nice cozy orifice. There’s no movement, only penetration. Surely you already at least knew the definition when you agreed to this?” You offered him a paper towel, which he accepted with a choked “thank you.”

“Midnight told me this would be about intimate relationships,” he anxiously explained while wiping the red off of his lips. “But I wasn’t expecting to hear something that graphic.”

Ah, so he was talked into this. “Well, with your permission, I can give you a personal demonstration.”

His answer was inaudible the first time; you had to ask him to speak up in order to hear his adorably high “yes.” He was a lot shyer than you imagined. Poor guy was shaking like he was on a verge of a heart attack when you took his cock out and boy, did he put the ‘long’ in ‘schlong.’ But your mission wasn’t to admire the dick’s appearance, it was to learn how their owners used them inside a hot snatch. You climbed onto him and lowered yourself and ooooh shit, both of you were moaning as his inches sank into you. You couldn’t take it all, but it was more than enough to get the job done.

“Mmnngh, yes, very long. Pushing almost painfully,” You said through clenched teeth, scribbling in your notepad as you sat semi-comfortably in his lap. “Can you give me your input, Toshinori? How is this feeling for you?”

“Blrraaaffggg.”

“Toshi?”

“…”

He laid limp in the interview chair as crimson liquid continued to flow from his mouth. Well, this is troublesome. You’ll have to wait for him to regain consciousness to hear his feedback.

------

Conclusion: This was his first time experiencing cockwarming. He described it as ‘intense, but not unpleasant’. Unfortunately, whenever I ask for more details, he would get too embarrassed to share anything. Frankly, this isn’t the most fruitful start to my series of interviews, but it was a great privilege to meet the amazing All Might.

Shouta Aizawa/Eraserhead

Pre-Notes: I honestly don’t even know who the hell this is. An underground hero, apparently. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you that he brought a cat with him. I told him that it needs to stay outside during the interview, but the difficult bastard was ready to turn around and leave unless I allowed the furball in. What a hassle. Do I even want to sit on this man?

------

You’re thankful that you did, in fact, sit on this man. His sleek ebony cat was relaxing in your lap while your pink kitty was stuffed with his cock. Despite his indifference to the situation, it was strangely intimate. Taking notes over a cute feline while his length twitched inside you was rather challenging.

“You seem like a rather exhausted fellow. Is it maybe the laid-back nature of the act that you find so alluring?” You asked.

“Mmhmm.” His arms circled around you to stroke his adorable pet.

“Being able to just wind down by giving your hard snake a wet hot crib to rest in?”

“Mmmmm.”

“I would appreciate a more elaborate answer.”

“Mmmmm...”

You shifted just enough to turn your head and see Aizawa’s head lolled back, his breaths getting heavier after each exhale. You can feel him quickly going soft inside you.

Ugh...

------

Conclusion: Given that he fell asleep in the middle of the demonstration, it’s safe to say that he finds the act very relaxing. I can only make guesses because the moment he woke up, he hurried me off his lap, picked up his cat and headed out. I did my best to chase him and ask if I could at least hear his final thoughts, but that bastard leaps on cars and buildings as skillfully as Edgeshot.

Hizashi Yamada/Present Mic

Pre-Notes: I’m not sure what to expect from the Voice Hero. His radio show has hosted some surprisingly insightful interviews. Unlike the last two, he will hopefully have some truly constructive answers to give.

------

“Not gonna lie, I always wanted to try this!”

Both of you were red in the face as you sat on his throbbing cock. Despite the blush and slight shake in his voice, he was as cheerful as ever. “Sometimes I just wonder, it would be pretty cool to just have a hottie warmin’ me up during my show, ya dig? No sex, though. I know I’m not quiet enough to get away with that on the air!” He laughed loudly right into your ear.

Well that kinda hurt, but it’s nice to finally have a fully cooperative interviewee. You were actually able to ask all of your planned questions for once, and Hizashi gave a satisfying answer to each one.

Unfortunately, it just couldn’t go perfectly, and his phone ended up ringing near the end of the interview.

“Hold on, listener. I gotta take this.”

Did he really? You wished he would wait until you were done.

You felt him lean back as you remained on his lap. “Shouta, buddy! What’s goin’ on?”

Shouta? Does he mean...?

“Sorry about that! I’m not home yet, I’m doin’ a...special interview, with a hard-working thirstologist.” You heard the voice on the other end respond, and Hizashi made a noise of confusion. “Eh? What do you mean ‘you too?’”

Oh dear, he does. They actually know each other.

The conversation quickly transformed into an argument, a loud one. The two heroes apparently have some...tension between them.

“Oh, so I throw hints at you for years and you act as innocent as your cats, but you’ll sit down and let a girl hop on your dick during an interview?!”

You had to lift yourself off of his softening member and take shelter from his booming voice. He was tucking himself back into his pants with one hand as he marched out of the room, but his hurt and anger was still loud and clear. “Don’t give me that bull. I bet if I hit you with twenty one questions about cockwarming, you’d just pretend you’re asleep! Oh, you actually did fall asleep? Huh.”

You awkwardly collected your notes as the two gentlemen were seemingly making up.

“Damn right I’ve always felt this way. Oh man, you better get ready tonight because I’ve got over ten years of pent up feelings, and you’re gonna take it all.”

------

Conclusion: It feels good to have a full interview. In summary, Hizashi is intrigued by the combination of closeness and casualness of it all. His interest in cockwarming during his jobs also indicate a possible thrill out of doing it in public. In addition, I’d like to announce with some pride that I may have assisted in taking two friends to the next level of their relationship.

Hawks

Pre-Notes: I’m eager to hear what the handsome winged hero has to say. I wouldn’t mind if we just stare at each other throughout the entire interview. My lust for him is unbearably strong and I’m not sure why. It’s probably just the horny writer’s obvious bias towards this bird. She could use another hobby.

------

Hawks laughed once you gave him the question that officially begins the interview. “Gotta admit, I’ve actually never tried it.”

That’s a surprise that you quickly jot down in your notes. “I see. Is it something you’re interested in trying? I can give you a demonstration right here.”

“Oh? I’d love one.”

You try not to look too excited as you leave your seat and move to undo his pants, but Hawks raises a hand.

“But I want you to do it on your knees.”

Your eyebrows furrowed. “My knees? How do I-”

“With your mouth.”

Oh my.

You granted his request and kneeled down to take his half-hard cock into your mouth.

“Ahhh, that’s nice.” He sighed loudly, spreading his legs more as he stared down at you.

You detached your mouth from him to speak. “Can you tell me what it is that you-mmffrrf.”

A hand pushed you back down onto his man meat. “No no no, just...stay right there. I’ll do the talking in a minute.”

You sat there with his cock growing in the heat of your mouth. Hawks’s eyes were closed, a small content smile on his face. Every time you lifted your head just an inch, the hand on your head pressed you back down. Just when this interview was starting to feel more like a hookup, he finally began to talk.

“Oh yeah, I’ve fantasized stuff like this. You got a shitty boss? I do, don’t tell them I said that, though. They’re always finding something to get on my ass about. Working me like a dog everyday, expecting me to pull off these insane missions flawlessly.”

All you could do was look up and listen to his rant. He must have loved the sight of you, going by the strong twitch of his length in your mouth.

“They just keep asking more and more from me. ‘Do this faster next time, Hawks!’ or ‘I know you’ve never done something like this before, but don’t fail us, Hawks!’ Sometimes I just wanna shove something in their mouths...like my dick. Can you relate?”

You shook your head as well as you could in your current position.

He shrugged. “Oh well. As far as I know, I’ll always be the one getting fucked by them. But something like this...” He pat your head. “Ah yeah, it would be so nice to see them like this...”

------

Conclusion: Hawks was sadly short on time and had to leave before I could even get into the questions. Going by the very personal feelings and frustrations he shared, Hawks enjoys the dominance displayed from cockwarming, and prefers it be done orally. I will respect his wishes and not reveal any of the opinions that he shared about the establishment he works for and its executives.

Taishiro Toyomitsu/Fat Gum

Pre-Notes: It’s best that I continue to be honest: I’m anxious. Fat Gum is one of the biggest heroes around, and I just know that there is a deadly pillar of pussy destruction in those pants. I know that I should be more concerned with the questions, but it just won’t leave my mind.

------

“So, what experience do you have with this, Toyomitsu?”

The large man chuckled. He was currently in his skinny form, which you’re pretty thankful for since his fat form would have been beyond awkward to straddle. That would be like trying to hump one of those giant inflatable characters at parades. “A pretty lady I knew was really into it! I tried it for her sake, but I’ll say this with no ego, my sausage ain’t something to be taken lightly! Still, she was determined, and I was really digging just how strong her will was to take me.”

‘She sounds like a very brave soul,‘ you thought as your pen glided across your paper.

“I couldn’t believe it when she managed to get all of me inside. She couldn’t either, because she passed out! At first I just wanted to laugh it off,” he cackled as if to give an example, but his face quickly drooped into a somber expression. “But then I realized she wasn’t breathing...” His eyes shut in pain and sorrow. “And I couldn’t find a pulse...”

You nearly dropped your pen in horror. “My goodness, Toyomitsu. I’m so sor-”

“I’m just messin’ with ya! She’s fine!” His face immediately brightened up again, leaving you shocked and somewhat upset over the scare. “But seriously, if you want a seat on this big boy, I hope you’ve got plenty of lube on hand.”

“Don’t worry, I do. More than enough for the biggest flesh towers.”

But your doubts instantly returned when the bulging monster was freed from his pants. It’s huge. Toshinori may have been long, but this monster was unbelievable in both length and girth.

Your fear must have been evident on your face, because Toyomitsu asked, “You sure you wanna do this? Don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

You whipped out your bottle of lube and drenched your hands. “Thirstology is my passion. My life’s work. I am more than willing to put my life on the line for science.”

The hero raised an eyebrow. “It’s...not that serious, but I really like your guts, missy.” He gave himself a few strokes. “So let me tear them up.”

Even with the coatings of lube inside your pussy and on his massive cock, this was still the most arduous task you have ever performed in your life. You didn’t know it was possible to be stretched this far. The light blonde was mesmerized by your trembles and scrunched expressions and as you tried to take more of him, his mouth slightly open when he noticed the swell in your lower abdomen.

“Oh, that is hot.”

------

Conclusion: I did it. I took the Fat Gun. Fat Gum himself takes a lot of pleasure in watching the strain of someone trying to take him in, and due to his partner often being much smaller than him, the tightness is very pleasurable to him. He was the only interviewee that actually came during the demonstration, so I suppose it’s safe to say that he is the biggest fan of cockwarming out of the five. He was very panicked when he came inside me, but I reassured him that I am on the pill. This is still a hell of a mess to clean up, however.

(I hope the information I have obtained will be useful for the institute. Thank you for giving me this opportunity)

[ihatebnha]

hello <333 first of all, I want you to know that I always wanna know your thoughts, but rn I desperately wanna know your thoughts about Hawks that you’re willing to fight over—if you feel comfortable sharing them, of course. I just really love your brain lol but feel free to ignore or delete if you don’t wanna share, honestly <3

ASH!!!!!! have i ever told u HOW MUCH I LOVE U??? i'm honestly so touched you wanna hear my opinion hehehe i feel so special bc tbh? i love y o u r brain...

it's honestly kinda funny because i don't care for hawks as much as i used to but he's definitely my comfort character in terms of who i try to understand the deepest. that being said... all of these thoughts are kinda old as i have yet to re-up them given that i havent seen season 5 yet and read the manga AGES ago.

but! thank u sm for asking!!! <333333

(warning: EDs + trauma/abuse + SPOILERS all mentioned. honestly now that im writing these out they don't feel that special, but... u know LOL. i don't see them talked about enough)

-

Idk how really to start LOL and some of this it's possible I've said before

First and foremost, I think he's a super neat person. Aggressively neat... as he definitely rings as a character who's weird upbringing with his weird parents in a weird shack has made him super concerned with not living in squalor

He's not gonna be mean to people about messes, though. He understands why they occur and what they symbolize... he's just not gonna tolerate any kind of dirtiness in his own house

Similarly, he eats/enjoys food for some of the same reasons.

His parents weren't able to provide him with anything substantial + I doubt the commission really provided him with anything other than meal plans... so eating is an escape from that

He has a line that clues us into this too (and I can find it if anyone wants) but I'm forgetting it right now

I don't want to say it's binge related but it's definitely disordered eating of some sorts, where like... if you offer him food, no matter the time or place, he's eating

And though he's lean for work, he'd probably have more of a stocky build if you left him to his own devices (because he’s also somewhat. Short)

Also... Hawks IS a deeply kind + thoughtful person... but he's not kind because he's naturally kind, he's kind because he chooses to be kind

It's a specific thing, I think... where he makes choices that he doesn't really like for the sake of it being right / what he believes in

But just because he puts a happy face on it all or it seems like he likes you... doesn't mean that his internal feelings match

So he's a lot more mean when you get to know him... which is shocking because he never actually does anything mean. Just says mean shit and speaks his mind in private and it's all weirdly depressing

And all acts of frivolously are extremely calculated, too. Even if there is truth in his declaration of "I want to live in a world where Hero's have free time"

He does, just. Can't

Similarly, he's also like... lazy... in a way that makes him hard to interact with

Again, not mean exactly but you can almost never get favors out of him or rush him because he's just gonna do stuff his way whether you like it or not

(This is dumb, but for example, you ask him to start planning for your vacation and... No. He's gonna plan when he wants to plan.)

And he also never explains anything to you and deals with all his problems by himself, so... you just have to trust that things will work out with him

Doesn't matter if it's when he plans to do something or what he's struggling with... it's personal. You get left out of it

And not intentionally, either... he's just incapable of letting someone help carry his burdens. EVEN if/when he loves them

So, TL;DR: what I'd fight over is Hawks being seen as a superficial person who doesn't value the significance of kindness or privilege. I definitely think we never really get to talk about his internal dialogue or struggles which are SO painful given that he is literally willing to sacrifice and kill for the benefit of society despite it being wrong. Also, he's a dick.

Hope this makes sense tho and thank u for asking!!! Again, I love u, tee hee.

[itsnothingofinterest]

BNHA is a series that really loves foils and parallels. This is an understandable love, because it’s a cool concept, and it’s generally agreed BNHA does it in cool ways. The way the villain trio each foil one of the main UA students, or Endeavor & his family and Ujiko & his Nomu, Izuku again and Shinsou…Hawks & Twice I guess.

But one that I think is really cool, yet doesn’t really get brought into discussion a whole lot, is All Might & Shigaraki; because those two actually have a lot of interesting similarities. So having notices their similarities, it seems only fair to compare and contrast them. It is my duty as a BNHA meta writer after all. So join me, and let’s go over what cool things these guys have in common.

The way of the Shimura

One thing they have in common is the teachings on Nana…at least in that, every quality All Might learned from Nana is also present in Shigaraki. The near constant smile that exudes an aura of confidence, and the habit of remembering your origin and motivation to power through the toughest of hurdles. And in addition, there’s the fact they even have a plan for the toughest of hurdled like that despite their god-like power; because being OP is no reason not to give it your all like you’re a cornered rat.

But what’s interesting about this is; they got these traits from different sources, and that has an effect on how they use them. All Might learned this stuff from Nana, and its stuff he consciously does as a result. He told Deku once that he smiles to stave off his fear, and his origin power up was preceded by him remembering Nana telling him to remember his origin for a power up. The smile is actually something he’s ended up inadvertently teaching to the next generation, with guys like Deku & Bakugou sporting big grins to mimic their hero.

Shigaraki however, did not learn these traits (I mean he’s obviously not mimicking All Might, and no one ever told him the limit breaking trick). No, instead he almost seems to have inherited these tricks, and as a result he does them far more naturally. He doesn’t stave of his fear with a confident smile, he just is confident. He doesn’t have to remember to get a boost by remembering why he’s fighting, he just kind of does it as soon as things get rough (assuming he doesn’t do it from the word go). And it’s impressive enough that he seemed to figure out the limit breaking trick on his own in the first place. What I’m trying to say is that Shigaraki is better than All Might.

No but I do think it’s a cool detail how they have these traits in common due to their connections to Nana, and how they individualize these traits due to the difference in those relations to Nana.

Literal Symbolism

Moving on to their most ‘neat little’ similarity, and one that’s pretty easy to pick up on, is their status as symbols to their allies and enemies (including civilian level guys on both sides of the conflict). They both have this way of inspiring faith in everyone on one side of the conflict and great fear on everyone on the other. Heck, Shigaraki has on occasion been called a symbol of fear in reference to All Might’s common title as the symbol of peace.

Even if it might be a minor thing overall, I actually think this is the coolest parallel between the two because it’s something nearly equal yet opposite about them; because generally speaking, the people one of them inspires are the people the other terrifies. Those on the heroes side, weather on the front lines or watching on TV, hold All Might in the highest regard and are terrified of Shigaraki & his League of Villains. Conversely; anyone who doesn’t support the heroes, whether they be some level of criminal/villain or just a civ unsatisfied with the current system, tend to be afraid of All Might but find Shigaraki appealing, perhaps even inspiring of hope.

That last bit I think is actually the biggest difference in the types of symbols they are though. Although both inspire fear in their enemies; what All Might inspires in his allies is peace, ease, he is here to save the day. What Shigaraki inspires in the unsatisfied or oppressed is, in some way the opposite; hope. The way things are now is going to change, former certainties are inverted, and things are getting flipped on their head; and for those at the bottom, that sounds like it could turn out pretty good for them. That’s the biggest difference in how those two exist right now.

How to Change the World in 10 Very Violent Steps

But I think the biggest thing they have in common is; Tomura’s goals and the way he goes about getting them are not to dissimilar to how All Might did things when he was starting out.

They both had the same starting point; thinking that society is really messed up and someone should to do something about it. And so under a powerful mentor, they set off to fight against vague bad things like “crime,” “oppression,” “apathy,” “conformity,” & “injustice”; which they quickly figured could be done by fighting specific groups of people responsible for the badness, either ‘villains’ or ’heroes,’ and on occasion some specific person or people on the top for at least a while.

From there, using all their power and great determination, and with a variety of motives from altruistic to rooted in personal revenge, they do all they can to oppose their enemies and bring them down. And anyone who gets in their way, well they get what’s coming to them; and no fuss is made because they probably deserved it if they were working for the bad guys. Besides we know their type; they’re the people who “spread chaos” or “sweep their mistakes under the rug” or whatever. So it’s okay, even if they die. And you may be wonder what I’m talking about because All Might’s never killed anyone; but remember that Hero Aca’s Japan is pretty big on the death sentence if Tartarus’ existence means anything, so he is at least “responsible for deaths.” But again, they deserved it so it’s okay; or at least that’s the mentality.

And honestly, even though we can tell the big difference in morality between their actions; it’s easy to see why Shigaraki couldn’t, and instead see their actions as the same. After all, Shigaraki thinks of the government & specifically those running the hero system as just as despicable as All Might perceived All For One to be…and he is not far off on that so far. But the difference is in those below them. AFO’s empire was protected by criminals; while hero society is protected by heroes. And we can tell the difference there, but why would Shigaraki? He’s an outsider to society, so he just sees another rival empire; what’s the difference to him between the villains that maintained AFO’s or Overhaul’s order and the heroes maintaining their own order?

(Of course, there is the vast difference in civilian casualties to consider, but we can’t expect too much from a guy taught morality by AFO.)

But y’know, I’m actually interested in the implications there. Because if Shigaraki is, in a sense, where All Might once was; what might that mean for his future if he were to succeed in his ambitions? And what might that mean for Izuku, who’d likely be coming after him.

Conclusion:

So what’s the point in all this? Well for one, it’s cool. Foils are cool, simple as that; but especially when we’re talking about two of the coolest characters in the series. All Might & Shiggy are both symbols, they’re both connected to Nana and both got the same things from her, and they both wanted to improve what they saw as wrong in society, and did/do so through violence. But there’s more to fils than aesthetic.

What really interests me by looking at their similarities, and what I want to close on, is the cyclical implications that arise from them. For you see, while All Might intended for Deku to be “next” it doesn’t look like that’s how it’s gonna turn out; not immediately anyway. Or, to go further back; first there was All For One as the driver of society, and then he got beaten & in a way usurped by All Might. Now it seems Shigaraki will be the one to fill the vacuum All Might left as the one to shape society, and then if things stay on course, Deku will beat him and fulfil that position himself. If that is how things turn out; it will imply a cycle of great heroes and villains taking the reins of society from each other in great battles, possibly for as long as heroes, villains, and quirks shall exist. And that sucks; which means somewhere along the lines, something is gonna have to change.

[greenhappyseed]

BnHA Chapter 317: Thoughts & comparisons part 2 - THE OLD MAN AND THE KID

As mentioned in Part 1, I'm splitting my thoughts on Chapter 317 into 3 posts: this one about Deku and All Might (part 2), plus separate posts on the hero brain trust and the media (part 1) and the hero killer Stain (part 3).

* * * * * * * * * *

This part of the chapter was an emotional sucker punch and gave me strong "Gift of the Magi" vibes. All Might is trying to protect his boy by following him, and Deku is trying to protect his idol by saying goodbye. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee of safety for anyone right now, so their "gifts" of protection are unusable. All Might isn't safe whether All Might follows Deku or stays behind. Same for Deku -- his loved ones aren't safe whether he accepts their help or not. It's the harsh reality of what AFO does. The real thing that All Might and Deku need to focus on isn't giving each other the "gift" of safety, but on how strong their bond is.

The main stumbling block is that Deku STILL idolizes All Might (as All Might recognized a few chapters ago). As the adult, it was on All Might to speak up, but he didn't because he's scared to disappoint his boy. He already knows the pain of disappointing a fanboy, so this would take it to a whole new level. But if he really wants to keep Izuku in his life, he MUST risk it and tell the kid all the things he wishes someone had told him. As I wrote previously (between Ch 315-16) it's maddening because we know All Might is capable of having this kind of frank talk with Izuku -- he did it all the way back in Ch 2. All Might saw Izuku overworking himself and modified the workout plan to moderate Izuku's extreme behavior, which would have prevented Izuku from reaching his ultimate goal if left unchecked. So yeah, All Might knows better, and knows he can’t stand idly by while his kid makes a massive deadly mistake. When a child doesn’t have the capacity to help themselves and the consequences are serious, an adult HAS to step in and help ASAP. Talk to the kid, talk to the kid’s friends/teachers, talk to professionals. Keep going until your kid gets the help they need, because even if a parent/guardian can’t help directly, it’s their responsibility to find that help for their kid. Haven’t we learned anything from the lost children in the League of Villains?

Meanwhile, Deku doesn't see All Might as a human who loves Izuku Midoriya. I think, in part due to his being bullied and his innate tendency to not take himself into account, he sees All Might's devotion to him as part of a predecessor-successor relationship. Deku will struggle as long as he sees "All Might" as an ideal and not the human in front of him. (Admittedly, I thought the HPSC storyline might go here and disclose All Might’s awareness of some “grey” missions, causing Deku to look at his mentor through a different lens.) But even now, Deku is trying to have an "I AM HERE" moment so All Might is proud of his successor, but fails to realize All Might is ALREADY PROUD (in part because All Might hasn't vocalized it in a way that Deku can truly hear it). The "You don't look back at me anymore..." in context is immediately followed up by this glowing Dadmight moment:

It only becomes a sad moment in retrospect as All Might realizes (1) he didn't really tell Deku explicitly how proud he was often enough; and (2) the full weight of what it means to nurture a child towards independence (and that his boy is just like him, and is heading towards the same fate as him....)

While I definitely think Bakugo will knock some sense into Deku, I still think All Might is the only one that can truly “release” Deku from these burdens, especially the ones related to the “Symbol of Peace” and the Shimura family that are tied directly to All Might. We see this in Deku’s callbacks:

Nana in the vestige world sobbing over her mistake in giving up Kotaro, saying she and Gran Torino were wrong, and testing Deku’s resolve to save Shigaraki. Juxtaposed with Gran Torino saying, "I should have made the kill...sorry...don't be so rigid. Killing can be another way to save someone," and Shigaraki screaming in emotional pain, “I don’t care if you understand. That’s what makes us heroes and villains!” It’s not just AFO — it’s the weight of generations and broken families on Deku’s shoulders. It’s All Might’s failure to save Shigaraki earlier that has become Deku’s problem now.

Post-USJ Deku meeting with All Might, talking about the first time he used OFA without breaking himself, and All Might pressuring Deku to become the Symbol of Peace. Even though All Might no longer feels that way, and SO MUCH has happened since then, he never clearly said so to Deku, and Deku keeps that weight on himself. The past never dies.

Deku is overwhelmed and destined for a poor decision that will hurt someone or himself, which would definitely play into the media's (and AFO's) hands. First, note the flashback inception with Deku recalling the post-USJ All Might meeting, which itself contains a flashback to Thirteen lecturing about how uncontrolled quirks can kill.

Second, the image of the defeated assassin is downright ominous, with the way All Might is shown above Deku's shoulder like a conscience [Edit: see @codenamesazanka's post here for a Spinner parallel!!] and the way the villain is tied up with his head hanging back, mouth open, eyes rolled back…. Deku and All Might are in shadow, and the villain is in the light…. no real attempt to talk to or understand the villain, just what he knows of AFO……SO MUCH POWER in a volatile teenager with too much responsibility and too few physical and emotional reserves. This won't end well.

Ok, time to bring the real Dadmight pain. All Might dives to save Midoriya and falls. The only other time he’s fallen flat on the ground like that is when he dove to save the random lady during the Cider House incident (which we got in the anime last week). In that fight, All Might needed a guardian gremlin to save him from falling debris. Hopefully that means he’ll go to UA and find young Bakugo soon, and he won't do something dumb and sacrificial in the meantime. WHO SAVES THE (EX-) HEROES?

All Might is a genuinely good person with good intentions, and he drove himself into the ground to help others, but he’s NOT a god. He’s not infallible or omniscient. He has tunnel vision from pursing the same mission from age 14 to, uh, 50-something, and is learning how to function as a "normal" adult. He never asked for help before, and in fact, considered it shameful (even in Kamino). He needs to follow the advice he was going to give to Deku, and reach out to others to save his little boy and himself. He’s still very much capable of inspiring others, even if he needs to rest sometimes. And with that, we cut to Stain, an extremist who believes in self-sacrifice and idolizes prime All Might. Cue Part 3...

A few other points:

Nobody in this arc (including Deku) seems to be using All Might as a resource based on his decades of experience with the media OR with AFO, and it really bothers me. Why is All Might excluded from the brain trust? They’re acting like All Might is useless because he’s quirkless and no longer a ranked hero, but he's still got his brain and his memories. Are Endeavor, Hawks, and Mt Lady really going to chat with Edgeshot and sort it all out??? Will Jeanist's fiber puns stop AFO??? Ugh. This is why hero society as we know it needs to be radically reworked; these top heroes are misusing resources and NOT TALKING to people who might actually have useful info. Does a "hero" need to wear a costume or hold a license to use their brain?

Will anyone tell Inko???? I posted before about this chapter's reference to All Might promising her that he’ll keep Deku safe. But she generally only appears after Deku gets a big advancement of some sort, so I don't know if she'll pop up soon...although I feel like she might need to? (E.g., my pet theory is that we only get her note in the hospital after the forest raid because Deku saved Kota but failed to save Bakugo.) Who else has "lifted up" All Might except Izuku, Inko, and Aizawa -- and Aizawa is probably not in a place to do heavy emotional labor right now???

Others have noted the outreached hand parallels (PAIN!) so I won’t belabor that. BUT look at All Might’s hand, how it is first outstretched and then starting to curl as he realizes he can’t reach Deku in time. Also, how small and frail All Might's hand looks as it curls up. He's normally drawn with huge hands (as big as Deku’s head) so to see his hands look equal in size to Deku’s shows Deku’s growth. Also, contrast this set of hands moving apart with how we saw hands moving together at Kamino, where All Might’s fighting inspired fearlessness. Hopefully All Might can “fight” here too, and inspire the next generation to to amazing things.

[five-rivers]

Long Night in the Valley chapter 14

“It’s Bakugo.”

“Old Bakugo,” said Todoroki.

“I don’t know,” said Uraraka. “He hasn’t sworn at us yet.”

“Wish fulfillment old Bakugo,” corrected Todoroki.

First contact, said two voices. Aizawa could recognize one as belonging to Two.

“Stop comparing me to the exploding brat,” snapped Two. He returned his attention to Midoriya. “I don’t agree with your philosophy,” he said. “But this isn’t the time or the place.”

Midoriya nodded even as he swayed in place, the edges of his body fuzzy.

“Your idea will work. Eight can take him.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Aizawa.

“Nine here just ran into that fire user.”

“Dabi,” supplied Midoriya, voice thin. “Thank you for letting me use your quirk, sensei.”

“Anytime,” said Aizawa.

“Is there anything we can do?” asked Uraraka.

“Stay back and don’t distract him,” said Two. “I’d send you on ahead to One, but I need to give him my power if he wants his ridiculous escape plan to work.” He crossed his arms. “Focus, Nine.”

.

The thing was, Dabi relied on his quirk to the exclusion of everything else. Which was fine. It was a powerful quirk, and his body really wasn’t up to quirkless fighting, seeing as it was literally stapled together.

But there was a reason he had not faced Aizawa himself in the training camp, but instead had delegated that task to one of Twice’s duplicates. No matter how much his quirk hurt him, no matter how much it reminded him of that man and that time, he did not fare well in fights without it.

Toshinori and Izuku had picked up on this, and, thanks to the joys of partial telepathy and haunted quirks, had managed to come up with a plan.

It was, if Izuku was being honest, a sort of terrible plan, but Izuku and Toshinori were both injured and exhausted, and it was the best they could come up with.

Izuku would hang back and cancel Dabi’s quirk, while Toshinori beat him to a pulp.

This division of labor was decided upon through the observation that Toshinori had much greater experience in beating people to pulp and that Izuku probably wouldn’t be able to focus on using Aizawa’s quirk and fighting at the same time. But Izuku worried. Toshinori had been under so much strain today. His body was in just as bad a shape as Dabi’s. If Izuku blinked.

So don’t blink.

What a comforting consensus from the peanut gallery in the back of his head.

Nana chuckled, but she sounded strained. Not much else we can do for you right now, kid.

.

Toshinori was prepared to fight dirty.

As a hero and Symbol of Peace, he was often faced with the expectation that his fights be clean, straightforward affairs. Usually, he complied with the expectation. Few people could match his strength. Few enemies stood up again or kept fighting after he knocked them back, once. For those enemies who could match him, relatively clean fights were often still the best option to defeat them.

But there had always been exceptions, All for One being chief among them.

Toshinori could fight dirty. It was a skill he knew better than to let lapse.

He knew how much old injuries could hurt, and he had no scruple against going after them. Any weak point was fair game.

(This wasn’t even beginning to mention the others, still whispering in the back of his mind, who had maintained the thin line between the light of hope and the darkness of despair for so many years.)

His fist impacted the line of Dabi’s medical staples. Toshinori felt them bite into his knuckles, felt Dabi’s skin tear around them.

The man – the boy, really, he couldn’t be more than a handful of years older than Izuku – reeled back, shaking his hands as if he couldn’t quite believe his quirk was gone. Then he looked up, at Izuku, and Toshinori could give him this, at least: He caught on fast.

He snapped an arm out, clotheslining Dabi before he could pass him and attack Izuku. Dabi hit the ground, and Toshinori tried to follow up his advantage with a sharp kick to the head.

But, even with as much experience as Toshinori had, Dabi was younger and sprier. He recovered quickly, retaliating with comparatively clumsy but strong fists.

Toshinori was very aware of the time limit he was on. How long had Izuku kept his eyes open already? Aizawa could only keep his version of the quirk going for a few minutes.

He knew when Izuku started to waver, the concern of the past users going clear and sharp in the back of his head.

Dabi’s hands burst into flame.

“Touya!”shouted Izuku.

The man whipped his head around, apparently forgetting that Toshinori was even there.

“We saw your hair dye, you drama queen!”

Toshinori grabbed the sides of Dabi’s head, and tried to slam it into his knee, but Dabi pulled free. They were both breathing heavily, now, but Izuku had his eyes back open and fixed on Dabi.

Toshinori doubted they’d be so lucky to distract Dabi again. The others slid into place in his mind, their experience neatly complimenting his own. They needed to finish it before Izuku had to blink again.

They raised their fists.

“Visit your mom, you loser!”

They closed in.

“At least tell the police what happened to you, so they can get your siblings out!”

.

So, it turned out Izuku did have something else to contribute to the fight.

.

“Please repeat what you told me earlier,” ordered the HPSC president.

The hapless liaison with the DNA testing center flinched, then hid the flinch behind a cough. “Well,” he said, “our technicians ran Midoriya’s DNA through a number of databases, and Midoriya is related to the Scourge of Kamino, but, uh, I think it best if I let her explain the rest.” He stepped out of view of the camera, the coward.

The technician waved at the camera. “Hi, uh. So, I guess the first weird thing about the sample you gave me was how contaminated it was. There were, like, almost a dozen different people’s worth of DNA in the sample you gave me, which… usually Hawks is better than that? But then I remembered the nomu DNA, and the Scourge’s DNA, so in retrospect… Anyway, I sort of ran them all through our databases—”

“Which databases?” interrupted Mr. Brave. “The commission ones, the police ones, the public ancestry ones?”

“All of them,” said the technician. “I ran them through the old ones, too, because the Scourge of Kamino is supposed to be over a hundred years old, isn’t he? I’m kind of surprised he wasn’t run through the old databases himself earlier. You could have closed dozens of cases.”

“Get on with it,” hissed the offscreen commission liaison.

“But I ran them through, and, uh, one was All Might.”

A whisper ran through the room. “He stole All Might’s quirk?” asked one hero, traumatized.

“I don’t know,” said the technician, nervously. “I mean, All Might was there, so it could have just been contaminated in the normal way, but… No, I’ll come back to All Might’s DNA in a bit. Then there were three other heroes’ DNA, Skyrunner, Fidelity, and Lariat.”

“We’ll have to assume he has their quirks, too,” said the commission president grimly, for the benefit of the assembled heroes. “Continue.”

“Another matched to the vigilante Forewarning. Then one matched to what was labeled as a 99% surety DNA sequence from Tempest.”

“My god,” said Mr. Brave.

“Then there were some sequences that matched to samples taken from the scenes of various crimes and terrorist actions but are otherwise unknown. That left two DNA samples that could be Midoriya’s assuming he isn’t over a hundred years old. They both matched as relatives to the Scourge of Kamino.”

“What kind of relatives?”

“Uh, one was rather distant, and was actually had the least DNA present out of all the other strands… The closest possible relation would be half-brother, although cousins might be possible… The other was a parent-child relationship, and the most present DNA sequence, so I would assume that one belonged to Midoriya. The thing is…” She trailed off.

“We don’t have all day.”

“The thing is, all of the different people I’ve mentioned also are related to the Scourge of Kamino.”

Silence.

“Excuse me,” said Mt. Lady, raising a hand. “Did you say all of them? Like, including—”

“Including All Might, yes, though he’s probably more like a great-grandson or something along those lines,” said the technician. “Once you get more than a generation or two, it’s hard to tell, because the ratios of what you get from grandparents aren’t even…”

“Do you have anything more to add?”

“Yeah. After running them through the databases… Well, there are dozens of active heroes that are at least loosely related to either them or the Scourge of Kamino, not to mention villains, common criminals, and civilians who had to register their DNA for one reason or another. And the ShiHi cell line? The one that replaced the HeLa line in almost every drug trial after the quirked population got majority status? That’s a perfect match.” She laughed, clearly on the edge of hysteria. “I mean, I don’t know what we expected. He’s over a century old, of course he’s going to have kids and family members. And he’s – And he’s clearly into shady medical research. Wouldn’t put it past him to have donated to sperm banks, the sick—”

The commission president muted the technician. “You see,” he told the heroes, “why we must act to contain and neutralize Midoriya Izuku as a threat as soon as possible. So many heroes being related to an archvillain like the Scourge of Kamino would damage confidence in the hero system, perhaps irreparably.”

“Are any of us-?”

“I don’t think that’s relevant right now, do you?” asked the commission president, smoothly. “What is relevant is ensuring that Midoriya’s DNA family tree never gets into public hands.” He fell quiet, scanning the heroes with dark eyes. “Regardless of whether or not any of you could find yourselves in it, the fact of the matter is that the ensuing investigations would lay bare other things you may not wish to come to light.” He cleared his throat. “Now, Hawks is putting together a team to track down the League of Villains. In light of recent revelations, we believe they have been working closely with Midoriya…”

.

“Maybe you can use my quirk,” said Shouto. “If you’re fighting Dabi, ice would be the perfect counter.”

Midoriya shook his head. “You’re not related. Can’t.”

“What?”

Two sighed. “The trick he did with your teacher’s quirk only works on people related to him.”

Shouto blinked, then turned to look at Aizawa. “Sensei—”

“Absolutely not,” said Iida, loudly.

“You don’t know what I was going to say,” protested Shouto.

“You can’t ask people if they have secret love children! It’s improper! Let us simply wait quietly like, ah, I’m not sure we caught your name earlier, sir.”

“No, you didn’t,” said Two.

“In any case, let us wait quietly,” said Iida, not one to be easily put out.

“I’m related to Midoriya?” asked Aizawa in tones approaching despair.

“You are,” said Two. “I think you’re related to one of my younger siblings, like Six is. Possibly to the Shimuras, as well, given the secondary portion of your quirk.”

“So,” said Shouto, the gears in his brain turning, “Midoriya is related to all of you?”

“Some more distantly than others, but, yes.”

“So, he based you off relatives and people he knew in real life.”

Two sighed heavily. “Look. That was obviously a lie. Six only bothered with it because of that government bastard that’s crawling around.”

Midoriya had been right. Shouto’s conspiracy theories could be used as an interrogation technique.

“Then what’s the truth?” asked Shouto. “Or are you just embarrassed, like Midoriya is about how All Might is clearly his father?”

Midoriya made a very distressed sound, and Shouto realized that maybe this wasn’t the time.

“You have no room to talk when the pyromaniac currently trying to roast Eight is your older brother, you peppermint styled weirdo.”

“You really are like Bakugo.”

“Do you have some sort of death wish?”

“C-can you guys not? This is hard…” said Midoriya. Then, he gasped and fell to his knees. “He got him. Oh, gosh.” He took a deep breath. “My eyes.”

“Luckily, you won’t need them for this,” said Two, kneeling in front of Midoriya. “In the movement, I was called Shadow Dragon. One came up with the name. He named my quirk, too. Perception Filter. Wanted to name it Chameleon Circuit for a while, but that made no sense. He was such a nerd. He’s still a nerd.”

“Yeah?” panted Midoriya. “Guess that… isn’t a surprise. He used old manga to support his arguments with—No, it doesn’t make it better that you only used that argument once. I mean, sure, I’d probably have made the same—”

“Focus, Nine,” said Two, snapping his fingers in front of Midoriya’s face.

Shouto stepped forward.

“It’s okay, Todoroki,” said Midoriya. “I’m just… How did it work? The Perception Filter?”

“No idea. We didn’t have fancy tests and doctors on hand to figure out the mechanics. But I can tell you what it did. When it first came in—” Midoriya nodded at this, as if he heard something in the sentence that Shouto was missing, “—I could disappear from the senses of one targeted person, along with anything I was carrying. Sight, hearing, smell – that last will be the important one for you.”

“Gigantomachia,” said Midoriya, nodding again.

“Exactly. Later, I was able to affect more people at a time, and my range grew. The fewer people I was hiding from, the farther I could reach, up to about a mile. Sometimes, I could draw attention towards myself, too, although I could never keep it up for long.”

“Activation?” asked Midoriya.

“Don’t think too hard about being hidden. You’re blending in. Part of the scenery. No ripples on the surface of the pond. A shadow inside a shadow.”

“Okay,” said Midoriya. “I think I’ve got it. Were you… were you ever able to hide other people with you? Otherwise…”

“Sometimes I thought I did. When Three and I worked together, we were always way luckier than we should have been, and there were some incidents with cars… But it never happened in a way I could test. Your best bet is just carrying Eight.”

“R-right. Okay. I’ll try that.”

.

“Izuku, you can barely open your eyes. Or stand up. You aren’t going to carry me.”

“But Two said—”

Toshinori frowned deeply and hoped Two got the message. “Just focus on yourself, right now, alright? Gigantomachia will be looking for you, first, not me.”

We’ve always been thankful Gigantomachia isn’t the brightest of All for One’s minions.

Even if he is one of the most annoying.

I don’t know if annoying is the word I’d use…

Toshinori blinked and shook his head. “You’re shaking,” he said.

“I’m okay,” said Izuku, trying to get up. “T’many quirks at once.”

Toshinori put his hands on Izuku’s shoulders, silently telling him to stay down. What a time to forget where he had packed the blankets… Although…

He looked back at where he’d propped Dabi, unconscious, up against a tree.

Dabi seemed to have a cold resistance vestigial mutation… although how Toshinori knew that was a mystery for another day (one probably connected with how One for All manifested in Izuku) and he was a fire quirk user. He didn’t really need that jacket. Besides, Toshinori was a villain now. Sort of. As he and Izuku had discussed earlier, villains were veritable bastions of pettiness.

He stole Dabi’s coat and wrapped it around Izuku’s shoulders.

.

Miles away, trying to coordinate heroes over a video call, Hawks lost contact with one of his feathers. Specifically, the one he’d hidden in Dabi’s coat. He did not frown, twitch, stutter, or otherwise falter. He did, however, curse internally, using words he suspected the hero commission would have like him to never have learned.

Dabi must have found the feather and destroyed it. Hawks had thought he’d hidden it better than that.

This was going to be a pain to explain.

.

Giagantomachia paused for a second, then, with a howl, redoubled his attacks.

“Can anyone tell what he’s screaming about?” demanded Tomura.

“No idea!” said Toga, her cheerfulness more than a little ragged.

“Hey, boss!” said Twice. “If I made a double of this guy, do you think they’d fight each other, or – Dear god, who in their right mind would want two of these things running around?”

“LITTLE LORD,” wailed Machia, “WHERE DID YOU GO?”

“Say, Shigaraki,” said Mr. Compress, narrowly dodging a boulder, “you don’t – ha – think he’s referring to the little green haired – er, white haired – oh, you know what I mean.”

Yeah, Tomura did, actually, which meant the brat (who might be Sensei’s brat – don’t think about it) was around here somewhere, and they’d missed him.

(Like everything else about this situation, Tomura had mixed feelings about this.)

“So, maybe, if the boy and the giant are acquainted, the mother—”

“Do all of you idiots have a death wish? You don’t fight two bosses at once unless you want to be pancaked.”

“I was thinking she could perhaps calm the giant—”

“Yeah, right before they team up to kill us. What part of this are you not getti-?”

Mr. Compress didn’t quite make the dodge and was catapulted into one of the few nearby trees that were still standing. As he lost consciousness, all of the various marbles in his pockets ballooned and broke, disgorging their contents. This meant that Tomura had to rescue Midoriya Inko from being crushed between an entire bus stop shelter (why, Compress, why?) and several logs, because if there was even a chance that she was Sensei’s wife, Tomura didn’t fancy his chances at staying alive if she was unalived in his general vicinity.

As Tomura was in no way a goody-two-shoes hero student, had never trained himself to safely save people, and had a quirk that literally destroyed everything his touched, this went far from perfectly.

At least Midoriya seemed unharmed.

“Ah,” she said. “My shirt.” She shifted slightly. “And my bra…”

There was a shout of utter rage from Gigantomachia, and Tomura contemplated just letting Machia kill him. Surely, being stomped flat by a man taller than most five story buildings would be less painful than whatever Sensei would come up with.

“Oh, my, Machia, is that you?” asked Midoriya Inko, quite calmly, as if she weren’t standing half naked in the middle of a battlefield in winter. “It’s been forever.”

“MRS. LORD!” shouted Machia, his eyes tearing up. “I AM SO SORRY! I LOST LITTLE LORD!”

“Oh, really? He was here, then?” Her eyes were glittering. “I’m sure he couldn’t have gone too far. If we walk around a bit, I’m sure he’ll hear us calling. In the meantime… perhaps you can explain to me what, exactly, you do for my husband? Your role in his business seems to have been downplayed.”

.

“Is that better?” asked Toshinori.

Izuku nodded tiredly. Despite Two’s instructions, he couldn’t keep up Perception Filter and, well, do anything else, really. Toshinori wasn’t much better. Izuku could tell, through One for All, that he was also on his last legs.

“Alright. Let’s keep going the way we were before,” said Toshinori, pulling Izuku up. “Got to get out of Gigantomachia’s range, so you can sleep.”

He did not say that reaching the Wild Wild Pussycats’ camp was now out of the question, with how beaten up they were. They’d be sleeping outside tonight. Hopefully they had enough clothes and blankets…

Izuku shuddered as the pounding sensation in his head increased.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” said Toshinori, guiding Izuku with a hand on his back. “Good, you have the briefcase, good.” Toshinori kept muttering encouragement. Izuku really wasn’t paying attention, which made him feel terrible, but he had to keep Perception Filter going. He had to keep going. Just a little bit more… Aizawa-sensei and his friends were almost to One. One would get them out before he broke through.

He just had to hold on until then.

.

Midoriya’s form flickered and then faded. Two sighed.

“Is he alright?” asked Aizawa. “Is he safe?”

“As safe as he and Eight can be, wandering through a forest filled with All for One’s minions while the government tries to track him down in the middle of winter,” replied Two. “Which isn’t very safe, speaking from experience. Come on, let’s go.” Two walked out the hole in the wall, not waiting to see if Aizawa or any of the kids followed.

“You’re calling Yagi Eight, now?” asked Aizawa.

“That’s his number, yeah. Hurry up.”

“Yagi, not Yagi’s… impression, his copy in Midoriya’s mind.” Two didn’t answer. “You aren’t impressions or copies at all, are you? You’re real people, somewhere, that Midoriya is connected to. Why pretend otherwise?”

“Some of the others thought Nine could fix things with the government, if they didn’t know what was really going on. Thought it would be ‘worth it.’ So stupid, after everything…” They walked through the compound gate and into a living room.

“It seems awfully contrived, though. Why try to be dead heroes? Why pick people like Skyrunner and Fidelity to impersonate?”

Two snorted. “They weren’t impersonating anyone. They really are Skyrunner and Fidelity. Except for Eight and Nine, we’re all dead, otherwise we would have finished this by now. Eight almost did, all on his own.”

They turned a corner. Two young children played in a bedroom while a teen watched on. One child was obviously a younger version of Two. That hair was distinctive. The other child had a short curtain of white hair. They had action figures they were playing with, although Aizawa didn’t recognize who they were of.

First contact, said a single, young voice.

The face of the teen leaning against the wall was scribbled out, as if with a marker.

“Don’t look too closely at that one,” said Two.

“Who is that?” asked Uraraka.

“All for One. I suppose you’d call him the Scourge of Kamino.”

“He’s your older brother?” asked Todoroki, his eyebrows raised into his hairline.

“Don’t be disgusting. Biologically speaking, he was my cousin.”

Oh, no, thought Aizawa, don’t tell me... “Is he the one you have locked away? The one you don’t count as being ‘among your number?’”

Two sighed again.

“Are you doing that instead of swearing?” asked Todoroki. “The sighing, I mean.”

“I told you to stop comparing me to the explosion brat! I—” Two tsked, then frowned. “Something’s not right.”

“What is it?”

“This isn’t a safe memory, just a quick one. One should have been here to pick you up by now.”

“What do you mean, it isn’t safe?” asked Iida, before Aizawa could. “No matter how immersed we are here, it is only a memory, isn’t it?”

“You did hear the part where he’s breaking in, didn’t you? And the part where we’re all real people? Are those glasses just for show?”

“The real All for One is trying to break into Midoriya’s mind,” said Aizawa.

“W-wait,” said Uraraka, “but… Izuku… That wouldn’t mean that the commission was right…”

“Of course not. Nine would probably cut off all his limbs before betraying his friends. Even if I don’t agree with him, and think he shouldn’t… I can still see that. But where is One?”

“Why are you telling us this?” asked Aizawa. “You’ve told us why the others didn’t. But you have no reason to say anything, yourself, do you?”

Two turned slightly, to gaze at Aizawa out of the corner of his eye.

“As long as we’re waiting, I might as well collect as much information as possible, right?”

“It’s insurance,” said Two, finally. “It’s hard to see how this will turn out. Eight wants to take Nine out of the country, but even if that works, All for One will still be here. Someone else needs at least part of the story.” He turned more fully to face Aizawa, lips pressed tight against his teeth. “You have to understand. I want Nine to… do well. I don’t want this on him. He’s a kid. So are you.” He looked at the students, then back at Aizawa. “You’re all kids. If I can get someone else to take care of this for him, while he and Eight are somewhere safe…”

“All for One is in Tartarus,” said Aizawa.

“You think something like that’s going to stop him? I’m not entirely sure death would stop him. It didn’t stop us, and he’s at least as stubborn.”

Well, wasn’t this an impossibly heavy weight to set on Aizawa’s shoulders.

“I have no sympathy, you lazy caterpillar lookalike. You’re an adult, aren’t you? Get help if you can’t do it yourself. If I find out you pushed it onto children, I’ll kill you.”

“Wow, he’s secretly soft, too, just like Bakugo,” said Todoroki. “Are you sure you’re not related.”

“There is legitimately something wrong with you. Do you—”

.

The hinges of the vault snapped, and the door crumpled outward. Another well-placed kick sent the door tumbling outward with a crash.

Shaking his hand, All for One stepped into the mindscape and smiled.

“Well,” he said, dragging his gaze over the assembled One for All users, his sworn enemies and the closest thing he had to family, “isn’t this a lovely little reunion?”

[lightadept]

Character Analysis: Mythological Relationship of Griffith and Guts

Whether intentionally or not, Guts and Griffith’s relationship seems to be heavily rooted in one particular mythological theme, which further colors their attraction and antagonism to one another. I’ll quickly go through the mythos in the first half of the post, and then discuss in the second half how it relates to their relationship and also to Casca. I apologize in advance for all the nonsense that’s going to come out of this. @bthump​​, here’s the analysis I promised to make a few weeks ago!

Proto-Indo-European mythology, whose traces are visible across cultures in entire Eurasia, shows a recurring conflict between two opposing principles. There’s a devouring chthonic creature on one side, a beast (most commonly, a snake or a wolf), and it’s associated with the lower world of matter. Then on the other side, there’s a hawk, a falcon, or an eagle: aerial, graceful, spiritual, and predatory, suggestive of celestial realms. Slavic mythology, which is an offshoot of Proto-Indo-European mythology, in particular, uses very often beast vs. hawk symbolism. In later dualistic interpretations, the spirit is good, the matter is vile, and the spirit triumphs over the matter. However, in older, naturalistic interpretations where this symbolism originated to begin with, spiritual and chthonic currents are eternally bound together, both necessary, both neutral, both caught in perpetual conflict. It could be that Berserk simply borrowed hawk/wolf dynamic from Ladyhawke (1985), however, Ladyhawke merely uses forms present in this myth, but not their underlying meaning. Berserk, on the other side, delved deep into it, and the driving force behind attraction and conflict of Griffith and Guts seems to have roots in it.

These two opposing mythical sides - hawk which stands for spirit, and beast which stands for matter - have different faces, different hypostases. Sometimes they are represented as archenemies always killing one another, sometimes as lovers always searching for each other, reflecting the idea that they cannot exist separated, yet almost whenever they combine, they inevitably hurt one another. Spirit suffers when it’s brought down to earth from its heights and entrapped in matter, and matter suffers when it is taken into the heights because it loses its roots, its relation to the chthonic earth. There’s always an imminent danger in combining them.  

Mythologically, the joining of these two opposing principles is usually depicted as a marriage of sun and moon - which, especially in some later philosophies that were a continuation of the original mythical thought - is often depicted as an eclipse (Ladyhawke uses this theme too). It is a moment when the spiritual is touching upon the physical, and if the union is successful, a third element is produced out of the two, containing both and reconciling them. However, if something goes wrong during the union, the result is a disaster. Old Slavic lore is chock-full of folk tales and legends that describe this event. There’s an attempted marriage of two persons - who are always the respective echoes of the mythical beast and hawk gods, or to be more precise, of their children, who are not enemies like their parents, but instead in love with each other. In the myth, the god, who comes from the realm of the beasts, is traveling from depths to heights (matter is rising to meet the spirit) to meet his to-be-bride. And the goddess, who lives in the heights and comes from the realm of the hawks, is also starting to lower (spirit lowering to meet matter), and they are supposed to meet midway. Yeah, it’s the “I want to be his equal” thing. On her way down, things usually get super dirty. Their attempted wedding is immediately preceded or followed by a disaster, usually a massacre that leaves everyone present dead. This massacre is caused because, suddenly, instead of two lovers, we have three people involved. It’s usually one man torn between two women, one of whom is the bearer of the spiritual and the other of the material principle. Sometimes the person who massacres everyone is the jealous bride herself because she learns that there is “another woman”, and sometimes it’s the third person who doesn’t want to let the other two wed, usually a possessive mother. Metaphysically, what is happening here is that at the moment of conjunction, of spiritual and material realities trying to unite, that third element - which is supposed to be produced through their union - is already present. It’s a triangle now. Spirit, body, and soul are all present at once. Soul, which is always in the middle of the conflict, is being torn between spirit and matter, cleaving to them both, and as a result, someone always ends up being the third wheel. In other words: spirit and soul wed and unite, but they forget the body. Or body and soul unite, leaving the spirit out. This third left out element punishes the other two, having been left out, and everyone inevitably suffers. This legend is a fantastic psychological metaphor for the terrors that psyche undergoes when one of its aspects is suppressed and denied. This love triangle represents the body-soul-spirit dynamic, where the soul is torn between the other two. It’s an allegory on what happens when the soul chooses (or seems to choose) one side over the other, and then as a consequence and a punishment, matter castrates spirit, or spirit castrates matter. There are many variants of this legend across Slavic folklore. All of them always echo the original Proto-Indo-European mythological conflict, involving the spiritual hawk vs. chthonic beast god. Did Miura know about all this? I don’t think so. It seems very unlikely. But he didn’t need to. He maybe knew about beast vs. hawk mythological conflict, or he simply borrowed the symbolism from the Ladyhawke movie. However, this myth merely personifies the human conflict present in almost all religions or philosophies. This theme is everywhere but in some less recognizable forms. Everyone eventually feels that it’s difficult for a soul (or psyche in our modern language) to be grounded in both spiritual and physical matters. It’s either inclined more to the spirit, or more to the physical reality, and if one goes all introspective and muses on this, one will inevitably be caught in this unfortunate love triangle of spirit-soul-body, where something is always being excluded at the expense of something else. I see Guts in this as a soul, torn between Casca and Griffith, between earthly and ethereal. So, Miura probably simply repeated the same tragedy that has been told throughout centuries in all cultures. Not because he knew these myths, but because these myths are imminent conclusions personified. They are just echoes of the age-old humanity’s struggle to understand itself that’s already embedded in the human psyche. Now let’s look at Guts, Griffith, and Casca through the lens of this symbology. Those three are that tragic, messed up triangle of spirit, soul and body. Guts is the soul, which is in a way always the center of the triangle because everything is perceived through it. He has substance, depth, but not a place in the world. At the beginning of manga, Guts is broken to the very core: he is essentially a man without a purpose, roaming and wandering, scattered. He doesn’t feel any higher call, he has no personal agenda, no personal wishes - he just exists and does things without knowing why he does them. Moreover, he is not just spiritually starving but physically as well, scarred by the trauma of what Donovan did to him. So, both his body and spirit have been butchered early on, leaving him with connection to none. But then he meets Griffith. And for the first time, Guts is fixated on something, there’s finally meaning, a purpose. He has something to fight for, something beyond himself. Griffith. Finally, a higher call. Griffith very clearly personifies the spirit principle. He’s all mental, aerial, detached, calculating, not earthed. White-bluish appearance, pretty evocative of aerial heights. He follows a higher call, he is messianic, but like with all spirits, his “dream” is not earthed. It’s detached from matter, from physicality, from ordinary life. He sees none of this, none of it is genuinely important to him, nothing touches him - that is, until he meets Guts. Guts brings him down, he earths him for a moment, and for the first time, through his interaction with another being, he’s an actual human, he is involved. For the first time, he is personally caring about someone. He’s cared about things before, yes: about his fellow men, about the Hawks, but in a detached matter, from far away, from the top, in a way that doesn’t involve him. With Guts, he cares personally. Guts invades him psychically, he reaches him from the inside. This is a violation of spirit by the soul, something completely new and unfamiliar to Griffith, so impactful that he is utterly baffled and ultimately shattered by it. There’s always a danger when it comes to involving a spirit into human affairs. In the aforementioned myth, eagles were used as symbols of spirit not just because they are graceful, but because they are predatory and ferocious - meaning that there is an innate tendency to destroy matter, to kill what crawls on earth, to want to detach from it. Matter is not their territory, it baffles them. When they engage with matter, the impersonal heights are suddenly made intimate and personal. Detachment suddenly becomes attachment. This soul-spirit union, personified by Guts and Griffith’s relationship, where they both invade one another’s psyche, can either result in something beautifully sublime or something utterly disastrous. If Guts only realized that he already was Griffith’s equal, and if only Griffith realized that Guts never truly abandoned him, these two characters would have redeemed one another’s weaknesses. It was Guts who misunderstood it first, or at least first acted it out. Remember how in the legend the mythical characters were supposed to meet midway: one was supposed to climb up and the other to come down. There’s a saying in alchemical philosophy - which, by the way, is philosophically identical to these myths: earthly must be made spiritual, and spiritual must be made earthly, and only then the union can be successful. Curiously, Ladyhawke somehow also ended up using this theme, probably accidentally. So, there’s definitely something going on here. After Guts overhears Griffith’s conversation with Charlotte about what being an equal means to him, Guts starts to think too low of himself, not being worthy of Griffith, not worthy of these sudden spiritual heights. After defeating Griffith in a duel and walking away from him, Guts says how he thinks Griffith is above all this, how this abandonment shouldn’t bother him because it’s just one of the many pebbles on the road.

You’re a soaring spirit, so what the fuck are you doing with a petty soul like me? This scene is not just Guts abandoning Griffith. It’s the soul - stripped of confidence before a soaring spirit - abandoning it because it thinks it cannot catch up to it - although, in a way, it already did. That’s the tragedy. The soul wants so desperately to bond with the spirit, but it thinks it can’t. Guts thinks he will never be Griffith’s equal, at least not in his current condition. And then he abandons him. As a reaction, Griffith, the spirit, loses all ties to the one thing that earthed him, that plunged him into the realm of the personal, and made his spirit more humane: Guts, the soul. It’s really the ultimate irony that Guts never abandoned Griffith, or the heights and the meaning that Griffith came to embody for him. He was bloody loyal to it all along. But Griffith doesn’t know this. All he knows is the sudden sensation that he is being left behind. From his perspective, the spirit just got ditched by the soul, and right before Eclipse, the soul (Guts) chose body (Casca) over spirit (Griffith). That’s what Griffith sees.  

Which brings us to Casca: the perfect tragic image of the body, of physicality. When she joins the Band of the Hawks, she abandons her womanhood in a way, she cuts off her hair, goes seemingly insensitive and brute. All these actions and traumas are representative of the terrors of having a body, and one’s responses to it, attempts to deny it because she was born a fragile woman in a cruel man’s world. On a positive side, it is Casca who saves Guts from his own physical trauma, who teaches him the ways of the body he long denied. It is Casca who provides a sense of belonging for a while, who gives him a taste of normal life. However, she only reaches a part of him. The other part responds to spirit only, to Griffith. For Guts, Casca was that fleeting semblance of a normal, earthly life that needs to be protected (I won’t go into whether this was out of genuine romantic love) and Griffith was that higher call, what set him aflame both intellectually and emotionally.

To me, the fact that Casca had to spend chapters and chapters in a mentally vegetative state, being reduced to a body without any substance, is absolutely genial. It’s kind of a sleeping beauty scenario in one of its atypical interpretations, where the protagonist - the principle of the body - sleeps throughout the whole story, while the soul (the prince) is out there fighting the dragons. The body is first to be destroyed, left behind when there’s a conflict of soul-spirit-body. It’s the first to take damage because it is the frailest of all three, because there’s an inherent tendency of spirit to hate the body as the body steals the soul from it. The soul can always dissociate from the body and exist in a somewhat detached state, where it can even bond with the spirit, but the body will always be dead and dormant without the soul. So, metaphysically, the concept of the body is perhaps the most tragic one. It always takes the blame for everything. Spirit is eternal, but the body is what limits the existence in space in time, and thus castrates the spirit.

Griffith’s rape of Casca could in a way be a reflection of this. In Griffith lingers a terrifying, dangerous interplay and clashing of body and spirit. He sold his body for his dream. He prioritizes ethereal over physical, the fate of the collective over fate of the individual. In his scenario, body entraps the infinite spirit in a finite, confined space, suffocating it. After sleeping with Charlotte, he personally experiences this in the dungeon where he was tortured and disfigured, by which his spirit was reduced to a rotting body. His disfiguration is the triumph of the material over spirit in him. Suddenly, he’s no longer a soaring hawk and his wings are cut off. It’s an outright spiritual fall for him, and he takes it terribly. In Greek mythology, mortal encounter with the divine is often represented as rape, madness or dismemberment (gosh, I fucking love Greeks for this) because it shatters the psyche. It terrorizes it. For Griffith, this mythical transition, the descent from ethereal to earthly was disastrous to his state of mind. When Griffith rapes Casca, it’s not just a revenge against Guts - it’s spirit raping the body, getting back at it, while the soul watches and suffers. Just previously in the dungeon, it was body that violated spirit in his case. It’s as if the rape of Casca parallels Griffith’s very own disfiguration, which is also a violation of sorts. By raping Casca, Griffith is essentially saying something like: I no longer need you, now I’m above you.   Because he is so traumatized of terrors of losing Guts - meaning, losing soul - and as a consequence, being “reduced” to something earthly and trivial and ordinary (without Guts, nothing makes sense to him anymore), he needs to be free of it. Of both body and soul. He needs to be freed from his attachment to Guts and freed from this earthliness. When he becomes Femto, he’s finally pure of spirit, a god. Man, I hope it bites him in the ass. He needs to be brought down from his godly heights, and forced to experience the terrors of emotions he cut off. The revenge has to be full psychological. 

[dreamersleeps]

Helloo! I really liked your last post on Endeavor being Ra and all of your posts about myths. It reminded me of something someone told me once. They said that myths are intriguing since they teach us lessons. The gods act no different than us. They make mistakes and these things are told through stories. One of the things they told me was how underworld myths usually mean to accept the past. Your post makes think that it represents Endeavor accepting the past and then being born again.

Hello hello, I am really happy to know that you really liked the Endeavor and Ra post, including my other ones! Thank you for sending in your comments, they’re very interesting. Before anything else, I’d like to apologize for responding so late. I took some extra time to think about how I wanted to reply to your comments. This post ended up becoming super long as well (mostly because of the images). 

As you state, I love reading through myths and stories because the majority of them contain lessons for us. You are right when you state that the gods act no different than us, and because of that they make mistakes. Although the numbers who worship and take part in some of these polytheistic religions have greatly diminished over the course of history, in the present time we like to explore these stories and continue to be influenced by them. It is because of their human mistakes that sometimes we even relate to these gods and goddesses. These stories capture our imagination and I’m sure plenty of us have once had daydreams of being a demigod or another mythical figure/creature. 

I do think that the High End vs Endeavor fight was a pivotal moment where Endeavor confronts himself, begins to face the past, and is thus “born again.” The depiction of Hawks and Endeavor’s quirks combined together, of flaming wings had a phoenix like imagery to it. 

Although Endeavor is “born again” it of course does not mean that he is free from all the horrible things he did to his family. It does not mean a new, fresh start. I think that him being “born again” here represents symbolically that he has made an internal change of mind, accepting a different perspective (although to what extent is up for debate). Phoenixes do not d/ie and resurrect once. Similar to how the sun rises and sets everyday, the phoenix lives a cyclical life of d/eath and rebirth. 

I did not know that underworld myths can be tied with accepting the past. If that is true than it definitely does relate back to some of the things I was talking about in my Ra post. So yes, the High End vs Endeavor fight was a very important moment for Endeavor. In a sense, he is “born again” but not with the fresh start it suggests. If he has begun to accept the past what does this mean and how might the next step look like? 

As readers, we all bring very different past experiences and beliefs to the table, and that’s the thing about life. We all think differently. The majority of people have valid reasons as to why they think they do, however I am very much against all the attacking, insulting and discourse that have emerged over Endeavor’s character. 

Personally, on the topic of redemption: I believe that Endeavor will most likely not be redeemed. This is something that he too also believes. However at the same time while we may have opinions, the question of redemption is not for us to really answer. We are mere observers. 

I’ve wanted to do a close read of a certain group of chapters during the Internship Arc for a while. Of course if you don’t agree with what I have to say here or are not interested, than that’s fine. This “analysis” is not written in defense of Endeavor but to take a closer look at how Horikoshi’s been developing and writing him. If anything, please take any excitement you may detect in my writing as my love for “analyzing” and sharing my thoughts.

Chapters 249 through 252 are important chapters after the High End vs Endeavor fight that delve further in to his thoughts and his family’s thoughts as well. You can do a close reading of many of the pages in these chapters but I will only focus on some of Endeavor’s own inner thoughts. 

Unfortunately, since I can not read the raw Japanese text, I’m building everything on top of the “official” English translations so please keep that in mind. If the nuances in the translations are off or lost in translation, then my interpretations may be “wrong.” (Btw, I’m only like 95% sure that the panels I’m using below are all from the official English translation). 

Let’s begin. The two panels below are from Chapter 249 titled “The Hellish Todoroki Family.”

“I’m trying to make amends... going forward.” The “going forward’ definitely suggests that there was some sort of turning point either during the High End fight or shortly after. The definition of amends in the dictionary is:

reparation for compensation for a loss, damage, or injury of any kind

“It might be too late... but I fall asleep every night thinking about... what I can do for my family.” Endeavor expresses that he falls asleep every night thinking about what he can do for his family. We can only take him for his word but keep in mind that these are his inner thoughts. He isn’t talking to anyone but to himself. I acknowledges that it may be too late for him to do anything, all the damage he’s caused. Despite realizing that there’s a good chance that there’s nothing he can do to amend anything, he still thinks about it.

“Lately, it’s been the same dream. The wife and kids, looking happy... at the dinner table. But I’m... never there with them.” Here he states that he’s been dreaming the same dream. This means that it’s been heavy on his mind. In his dream, his family is happy and he is not there with them. Perhaps he believes that their happiness can only become a reality if he is taken out of the picture. 

Now let’s jump to Chapter 252, titled “The Unforgiven.” These panels occur after Natsuo is kidnapped by Ending, and he is rescued by the teamwork of Bakugo, Midoriya and Shouto after Endeavor hesitates and fails to do so. 

Endeavor had his flames on while they’re after Ending but he gets rid of them right before or when he catches Natsuo and Bakugo. So Endeavor usually has his flames on and that’s how we saw him depicted until around the High End fight and onwards, where we see him more without his flames. 

(This has nothing to do with the analysis but this has to be one of my favorite interactions between Endeavor and Bakugo. He does not hesitate to make comments and remarks... hahaha, gets me every time.) 

“Natsuo. Believe it or not... I was never trying to neglect any of you.” Well first of all, Endeavor saying that he was never trying to neglect any of his children is a big slap in the face and to be honest I’m appalled that he states that. Ultimately, it may be absolutely one hundred percent true that he means what he states, however whatever his thoughts may have been, Endeavor neglected them. Period.

Let’s look at Endeavor’s body language. His eyes are cast towards the ground as he can not meet Natsuo’s eyes when he gives his “confession” and it looks like his upper body is bowing towards Natsuo. 

Just in general based on what I’ve read and from my own experiences, bowing is practiced for the purposes of respect, courtesy or apology. Typically it is the younger person who bows to the older person or someone from a “lower” position bowing to someone from a “higher” position. Part of Natsuo’s expression of surprise in the left most panel probably has to do with both the words that are coming out of his father’s mouth and the fact that Endeavor is bowing his head down towards him. 

“But... all I could do was blame others and dodge responsibility. WIth Toya too... I might as well have killed him myself!” Here he admits that for a while he’d place the blame on others and dodge responsibility, including with what happaned to Touya. He admits that he may as well have killed Touya himself. Personally when I first was reading this, it was actually very interesting to see Endeavor confess these things. Isn’t it kind of surprising to see that he’s admitting to all this instead of continuing to be a character who ignores and refuses to recognize faults and consequences of his actions? Or is it just me. 

Natsuo responds with “Didn’t neglect us...? So what...? Toya has always told me everything. It’ll be a cold day in hell... before I forgive you. Cuz I’m not as caring as Shouto.” Natsuo states that “it’ll be a cold day in hell” before he forgives Endeavor. A “cold day in hell” is an idiom meaning: the time of occurrence of an event that will never happen. It looks like he’s kind of smiling probably at how absurd his father’s confession sounds and his eyes are tearing up, a reaction to his sudden confession. He brings up Touya and the estranged state that their family had been living since for possibly as long as he could remember. 

“Even so... Even so... you keep showing up for Fuyumi right? And for your mom’s sake?” Here Endeavor’s addressing Natsuo’s statement claiming that he’s “not as caring as Shouto.” Forgiveness is one of those things we are told that we need to do at some point and if we don’t, that it says something about our character. The one who forgives is the one who has had wrong done to and it takes a lot for someone to give forgiveness after all that has been done. So here, Natsuo says that he can not forgive Endeavor because he is not as caring as Shouto but I feel like there’s also a part of Natsuo that feels like he could be a bad person if he can not forgive. 

Endeavor’s response is to tell him that despite what Natsuo thinks of himself, the fact that Natsuo continues to show up and try to do things that he doesn’t want to do because he cares about Fuyumi and his mother speaks otherwise. Notice the faded background in this panel as well. Btw, here we can see that Endeavor is indeed kneeling in front of Natsuo. They both are sitting on the ground, together, close to eye level but not quite. 

“Your sister loves the idea of being a big happy family... because... that’s exactly what I ruined. She wants that back... she’s so eager to fix everything. And that’s why YOU’RE trying at all. Because you care about how she feels right...?” Each of the Todorokis have different feelings and perspectives about Endeavor. For example, Fuyumi wants to be a “big happy family” which Endeavor acknowledges and claims responsibility for ruining. Even though Natsuo may not want what Fuyumi hopes for, he still comes to visit home despite if Endeavor is there because he cares about his sister. 

“Because you ARE caring. So...” Endeavor states that Natsuo is a caring person. He’s been watching what Natsuo will do for Fuyumi and his mother because of how much he cares about them. Another thing that stands out to me in the English translation is that Endeavor says, “Because you are caring” not just “You are caring.”

Shout out to the guy in the car (o_o)

“You’re getting yourself to be able to forgive him. Because you’re so caring.” In response to Endeavor’s counter that, no Natsuo IS caring, Natsuo responds to this by thinking back to Midoriya’s earlier conversation with Shouto when they were cleaning up the dishes after dinner. Midoriya is someone who does not know about the Todoroki family situation as much as we may but he knows Shouto: his classmate and friend. However, we see that Natsuo overheard those words and I think it made him feel like he wasn’t a good person because he feels like he does not want to or can forgive.

We get a closer angle and view of Natsuo and Endeavor sitting on the ground. Again, the fact that Endeavor is kneeling may be why the guy in the car has the expression they have. So I kind of went looking around to see what the way Endeavor is sitting is called and I think the closest would be the seiza pose. 

Seiza, is the formal way of sitting down based on ancient Japanese standards. In Japanese, Seiza is very aptly translates to “sitting with a correct posture.” In a historical context, the correct posture is defined to have neatly-folded legs and an erect spine. One’s feet must be neatly tucked in place, underneath the body. 

The Japanese consider Seiza with only the highest of regards, as it represents two important values in Japanese culture: courtesy and apology. They believe that Seiza is an essential tool to channel those specific values. 

Another important representation that Seiza upholds in Japanese culture is that it serves as a symbol of apology. Someone who wishes to ask for an apology may place his or her hands in front, with the head lowered down. This form of apology is referred to as “dogeza.” This serves as a position of submission, having one accept his or her mistakes (yabai). 

The picture below is depicting someone in the seiza pose, apologizing. 

This ties in to how Endeavor and the Todorokis live more “traditionally” compared to other characters. We’ve seen the traditional Todoroki house and Shouto’s dorm room at UA as well. Earlier, we saw Endeavor with his head bowed towards Natsuo and here he is no longer bowing but he is still in the seiza pose: a symbol of courtesy and apology. It’s a physical sign of sincerity and humility. 

This is how Endeavor is apologizing, even if it is not as direct as some of us would like it to be. And Endeavor tells Natsuo: 

“You don’t have to forgive me.” Endeavor tells Natsuo that he has no obligation to forgive him, even when he is his father. What a way to say it though. “Because you ARE caring. So, you don’t have to forgive me.” It was kind of confusing for me when I first read this chapter. Currently, the only way I can read this is that (1) Endeavor realizes to a certain extent of the hurt and pain that he caused his family and (2) it is because of what Natsuo experienced as a Todoroki and what happened to his brothers, sister and mother that he can not bring himself to forgive his father. He hurts for his family because he cares about them. “You don’t have to forgive me.” 

We get three panels with Shouto, Bakugo and Midoriya listening in on to this conversation. Notice the white, empty backgrounds in all four panels. Usually this is done to highlight a moment that has gravity and weight. This is them processing what has just been said. The bustling city highway and life fades away and we are left with this moment where time feels like its paused. 

Then Endeavor speaks again: “I’m not looking for forgiveness. Just atonement.” We see Endeavor’s left eye, the side of the face that has been scarred after the High End fight. His right eye, the part of his face that has remained unchanged is hidden behind the speech bubble with the words, “Just atonement.” 

Seeing as how Horikoshi likes to intentionally place speech bubbles to hint at something from time to time, I’m wondering what this particular placement might mean. I will touch on this later again, but Endeavor has a habit of hiding and standing off to the side when it comes to his family and past. Additionally, this is the first time we’re looking at Endeavor’s face from the front and not from the side during this conversation with Natsuo (excluding the panel from the first page from this chapter when he’s holding Natuso and Bakugo before the conversation begins). 

What is atonement? According to the first definition that comes up on Google: 

reparation for a wrong or injury

In general religious contexts, it is: 

reparation or expiation for sin 

In Christian theology, it is: 

the reconciliation of God and humankind through Jesus Christ

So in religious contexts: to receive forgiveness there must be a sacrifice which “atones” for the sin (tastethehoney).

Basically, what I’m trying to point out with the latter two definitions is that this word is often used in religious contexts. I’m assuming that Endeavor is the one referred to as the “The Unforgiven” in the title of this chapter and I think that it’s very interesting that Endeavor’s fire quirk is called “hellflame,” which I’m pretty sure that I can safely say is in reference to the Judeo-Christian/Western concept of hell. 

(Forgive my choice of using a simplified statement here but for the purposes of getting a point across...) They say that those who are not forgiven burn in hell.

“Wow. You got a real way with words... all of a sudden! I know how happy it makes sis, having us all together! But... when I see your face... Those memories come rushing back.” Natsuo’s reply comes from Endeavor’s sudden display of apologizing. And as Natsuo correctly points out, they’re still just words. Words do not mean anything unless actions come with them. He mentions how hard it is for him because the “memories come rushing back.” Even though the life they live now is different from the past, the past keeps coming back. 

“Why do I gotta be the one to come around? Atonement? How’re YOU gonna make that happen?” Again, when someone apologizes or is looking for forgiveness, the person who was wronged or hurt has to come to a certain place to forgive. As we’ve already established, Endeavor is not looking to be forgiven. So this could be Natsuo’s reply to Endeavor’s claims that he wants to change and be better, because it still kind of requires the other party to “come around” as well. Here Natsuo also asks about atonement. Endeavor can not turn back time and do things differently, what’s done has been done. So, how can Endeavor atone, and what will it look like? 

Let’s skip a couple pages to when Endeavor and Natsuo arrive home. 

“I’ve let you shoulder all of that. . . and I stood by while you worked hard. But it’s okay now.” This is referring to how Fuyumi has been planning on welcoming her mother back home. Endeavor states that he’s been standing off to the side, perhaps there is a note of apology as he talks about how Fuyumi’s been working hard by herself. Then he states, that “it’s all okay now.” 

“It’s always the same dream. My whole family’s there, but not me.” So, Endeavor’s thinking back to his dreams of his family’s happiness. He believes that they can only be happy if he’s not there. 

“Because I’m building a new house for you all. One that makes sense for your commutes. And one where you can give your mother a warm welcome back.” He states that he’s building them a new house. One where they can welcome their mother back. This is Endeavor’s idea of what “atonement” might begin to look like 

“If I really care how they feel...” He wants to respect their feelings, and not do something because HE wants to. 

“I’ll remain here.” It seems that Endeavor believes that one way he can “atone” for his family is to remove himself physically from their lives. 

Through this post, am I claiming that Endeavor will be redeemed? No. However, let’s look at what redemption means. According to the first two definitions that comes up on Google, it is: 

the action of saving or being saved from sin, error or evil

or

the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment or clearing a debt. 

There really is not a way Endeavor can “pay the debt” for all the hurt and pain he’s caused. 

So that was a lot but I’m going to point out some things here. Yes, Endeavor is in a position where he is acknowledging the past, and he seems to have begun taking more responsibility for it. He states that he is not looking for forgiveness and is only looking for atonement. However, similar to how he neglected his family because he was running away from the blame and did not want to accept the responsibility due to his actions, he is still in a way running away from it. His idea of “atoning” includes removing himself physically from his family’s lives, partially because he wants to be considerate of his family’s feelings and partially because he believes that they can only be happy if he’s not there. He could be right, but I disagree. 

As many others have stated before, it seems that part of the answer to atonement lies with Todoroki Touya. As I suggest in the Ra post, there were two outcomes of the High End vs Endeavor fight: 1) Endeavor, the public hero establishing himself as the Number One Hero and 2) Todoroki Enji as a father beginning to accept the past and its responsibilities (again, although to what extent is debatable). 

The fight concludes with Endeavor’s first official meeting with his son, Touya as Dabi. To accept and address the past and its responsibilities, Endeavor’s been taking a passive approach to “atone” partly because he’s kind of treating the past as only the past. 

In Chapter 290, titled “Dabi’s Dance,” where we get the Touya reveal, Dabi finally is able to call Endeavor out: "You were finally number one! It’s all you ever wanted! But it must’ve weighted on you, right?! Or was all the praise and admiration like chicken soup for your soul?! When at long last, you could stare your kids in the eye... didja finally start to feel the warm and fuzzy bonds of family?! You must’ve thought, ‘As long as I face the future, I can be better!’ I can tell you’re at a loss for words, so here’s the answer!” 

Being Touya, Dabi’s existence brings the past right back to the present. Endeavor can not keep responding in a passive way, dodging the past even if it weighs heavy on his mind and heart. 

I suppose this is where the real test of atonement begins. 

[autumn-foxfire]

I've noticed that a serious problem in the fandom is that people refuse to look at an abuser and say that they're suffering while still thinking of them as an abuser. It's easier to either make them worst than they actually are and make them enjoy the suffering of others, or pretend that they aren't doing anything.

But people rarely hurt others just for the sake of it. More often than not, the way we treat others comes from our own pain:

We have Overhaul as an example, who wanted a world free of quirks, felt repulsed because of his own and wanted a world without quirks, and this manifested on him hurting Eri. Endeavor, who was suffering because of jealousy and wanted to be no. 1, and this manifested on him hurting his family. Bakugo, who wanted to be the best, and proceeded to hurt Deku when threathened. And then we have characters like Uraraka, who loves seeing people happy and who doesn't like to impose people, because of her parents. Aizawa, who is very strict as a teacher and it seems to me that it was because of his experience with Oboro. All Might, who decided to become the Symbol of Peace because of the chaos in the past...

The idea is that once you say that x character is an abuser or perpetrator, then you are crazy or people get offended, because it takes the whole suffering away for them. People mostly relate to the victims, and seeing abusers as the ones who get hurt is kind of controversial. If I say that Endeavor was suffering, the amount of people that will probably come after me is going to be terrifying. I don't even have to give my reasons because most aren't going to listen, and therefore my opinion will be useless. So, when you give the public this man, Dabi, who is attractive, charismatic (the video, I guess), related to this person who was an abuser (Endeavor), and then telling his lifestory, it feels anticlimactic to call him an a perpetrator. And then people start saying that you can be both a victim and an abuser, which I understand where do they come from, I mean, you can be a victim and then become a perpetrator, but oh my God, how much I disagree when others say that you can do it at the same time when it comes to these situations from the manga...

Looking at the LOV vs heroes battle and saying that the LOV are the victims, or saying that Dabi is both a victim and a perpetrator at the same time, takes the whole meaning, official meaning of being a victim and a perpetrator in a situation, that are terms that heavily depend of the context in my opinion. There's also people who say it in an abstract tone, and those are the only ones that I can actually understand. But maybe because I've became too logical, guided by the rules when it comes to these types of words that have such a big influence in the real world because the meaning changes depending of the person, that I disagree so much. I know nothing, but I prefer looking at it objectively because that's how I think we should act when it comes to something that could be, potentially, a crime. When thinking like that, I inmediately enter a zone where my first thoughts are "right now, your feelings do not matter", something that could make me look pretty cold, and... I guess that it's naturally hard for people to do that when you are so emotionally invested on someone. Some people are going to assume that I didn't experienced something related, even. And then they start projecting and... ah, it's a disaster. I really think that humans should stop thinking that just because you didn't experienced something, you can't talk about it. Knowledge isn't completely empirical. Like, have you ever heard of being rational--?

If you are the one hurting others or the one who's going to hurt others, then I think that by logic, you are the perpetrator. You include what happens on the outside, and it may change things.

But once you include what's happening inside of you, your reactions and emotions, it changes the whole meaning for others.

I guess that's why things get so simplified on Law--. When you add what makes us humans, it becomes a huge problem.

I think Twice battle is also a huge example of this... You could say that Hawks was the perpetrator, but once you add the reasons of doing it and the context (protecting the civilians), he becomes a victim and Twice is the perpetrator. But people saw the perpetrator suffering and that changes everything, because the general idea is that they don't suffer at all. Twice became more emotional than Hawks, and it translates into him being the victim and Hawks being the perpetrator, regardless of the context. Throw the fact that people sympathized with Twice and it becomes a disaster.

I don't believe that people are bad from birth and it heavily depends of your experiences as a kid. I think that we are all victims of something, and then, some people become abusers. That's just life...

... Maybe I should just write an analysis about it instead xD

Many people do tend to have a black and white view of victim and perpetrator from what I’ve seen in fandom.

As you said, many can’t seem to grasp that abusers much like Overhaul and Endeavor had genuine reasons why they did what they did and it wasn’t based on the need to cause their victims suffering, rather their suffering was an after-effect that they ignored in order to focus on their goals. What many people I think also fail to understand that having a reason for your actions doesn’t excuse what you’ve done and while many seem to grasp this with Endeavor and Overhaul, they don’t seem too when it comes to the League of Villains.

I’m not really sure why this is the case though my guess is because they are victims in the past unlike Endeavor, who’s past is unknown and irrelevant,  or Overhaul, who still had the family support behind him though he may not have had the most conventional of upbringings.

I would say I’m like you, to be honest. While I acknowledge the league and their past, I view it as mostly irrelevent when it comes down to stopping them unless it can be used as a way to speak them down. Knowing their situation certainly makes me understand why they’ve done what they’ve done but it’ll never excuse them in my eyes. I guess I would be considered cold too.

It’s certainly an interesting topic of debate to think about. Many people do act more with their hearts then their heads and that’s neither a good nor a bad thing (it depends on case by case situations), at least what I’ve seen in the fandom, and while I love the empathy most in fandom have, I feel like they sometimes take it way too far for the League. Especially when they don’t show the same empathy for the League’s victims.

...I think I’m just rambling at this point T-T

[clementineesotsm]

THE KING: ETERNAL MONARCH EP 6, My Appreciation and How It Made Me Feel

First appreciation of the beginning of episodes was the cinematography, the camera movements following PM getting out of car, and how they shoot 3 of them standing in front of KU building, they put a lot of effort and i appreciate that, aesthetic and necessary. I agree with what JTE said, Corea is a country you only see in fairy tale. I think they succeeded in making both country (Corea and Korea) have a different vibes. At least i can see the difference clearly. Traditional and Modern.

The scene inside the helicopter also my favorite, Gon and JTE PDA moment alongside with secretary Mo and JY facial expressions, i can feel them tough. Its probably the first time they saw their king do it. The backsound violin for this scene also not included in the official ost, i wonder why they robbed me like this 😅

Personally, i love kitchen a lot since i love to cook. Then here we got a chance to see the royal kitchen, and its pretty. All the plates, the knife, everything has Corea logo and how they show all of it in zoom in was incredible. Im amazed how comfortable and fancy it is. Gon is here to make meals for JTE but involved in a deep conversation because they speak not only what happen this day but about Lee Rim. The piano backsound that i loved fill the air in this scene, it definitely took me deeper into their conversation. Amazing.

JTE asked Gon to show her id because she needs to go home. I love JTE! No matter how glorious this world or this man in front of him, she need to go home. Fav JTE line “i cant beat that person anyway, whoever it is, that person must be from this world” im a bit mellow hearing it from her and seeing Gon facial expression. Fav Gon line “i have been carrying it around ever since you came here. I didnt show it to you because im afraid you will leave. But, you’ve already gone somewhere much further away than your world” i can hear Gon’s helpless voice here, and it breaks my heart.

JTE thinks its not make any sense that her ID exist in his world for 25 years. He told JTE how he get it and told her that his memory fading away but he feels that, that person will appear to him someday. “Because that person is either the beginning or the end of all this. It seems like a difficult question to solve, but there must be a simple and beautiful formula for it. And you are the answer i have been looking for” 👏🏼 im actually amaze on how KES make the line for Gon always related to his science guy background. Because that words of him about formula also said by Stephen Hawking which is also a science guy. And i think i also hear it in good will hunting. All science guy who knows physics or math must have this thinking. Loved the detail 💕

Just in time JTE about to go back to her world, a potential war with Japan. As Gon explain back in earlier episode, Corea has always in a brink of war with Japan. And its happening now. This war scene is actually shows how cool and good PM is at work. She is smart and brave to fight for the country, even with a room full of man that underestimated her. And actually she and Gon could make a power couple 😬 Gon is also a cool king though, i love his strategy here but im also as worried as Lady Noh on what danger could he got from involving directly in the war.

JTE ID is missing. Theres a thief in the palace. But Gon thinks about it differently, he thinks the thing that happens was meant to be and all set in motion 25 years ago. Im curious about it too. More homework for the audience 😎

I appreciate this camera movement of moment when JTE stand in front of Gon. The camera focus shot the King robe first then move the focus to Gon, as if they want to show us how JTE saw that this is one of his real responsibility as a King. That he is real.

Gon gave JTE the ID card of her that he has from 25 years ago. Gon promise to come back to her with honor. And this conversation was a bit farewell like and it still hurt

JTE “온다고?” (You said you will be back?)

Gon “기다려 줄 건가?” (Will you wait for me?)

JTE nods

JTE “또보자, 이곤” (lets meet again, Lee Gon)

Then Gon said “i thought my name was not supposed to be spoken, but i guess it was only supposed to be spoken by you”

This song “my love and i” is seriously sad. Give some sad premonition. Also imagine going back home while knowing that the person you care about was about to face danger in a war. I think this war was 1 of JTE turning point. She only can do 1 thing, wait. With no certainty whether Gon is really going to come back? Is he okay? Hows the war? . Not a single information she can get. She also describe herself as someone that never holding her phone as if she is waiting for someone. Until now 🥺 i kind of relate a lot with this feelings, it is the worst long distance someone could ever did. Thank god parallel world not real

I found the almost war with Japan scene is great though. Maybe because im not Korean, so i dont found any mistake here and also scene like this is not something related to real relation in real world. It was oftenly made in a fiction movie though. Just my opinion. This scene, the cinematography, the words, the dialogue and the messages conveyed well. I loved it. It is in line with the situation in Corea. Also i think 1 of the reason they choose this way to show Kings duty is also because their Kindom located in Busan and known as city near the sea, means they are the first protector of the sea. I also love the detail of statue yi sun sin as a symbol of power and they put it facing the sea. WOW.

As predicted, with good strategy. Corea won.

While the war and stuff happens in Corea, JTE is back with her daily activity as a detective and to an unsolved yet Lee Sang Do’s case, but with a new habit, waiting. I love how she was looking at the fence and hoping. Speaking of hope, JTE is a person full of hope and optimistic. Symbolize with her believes that a seed will grow in the space between 1 and 0 which is obviously impossible since there were no air, light and wind there. Gon try to tell her fact but she just go with her faith that this thing will work. If we never try, we never know. Which what makes me loving her character even more.

And she also plant the seed in a pot. Also having faith that is will grow beautifully. She said “i know you’re from a different world, but you should sprout. Your friends are in a much harsher place now” this line itself speaks on how much JTE worried for Gon and drives her crazy because she only could wait

I appreciate JTE that still working just fine eventhough she still pretty much thinking about Gon. As we saw her having a flashback of Gon in the middle of solving LSD case. So actually that night they have further conversation after the kiss. Gon asking her about what he is trying to prove with the kiss, the fact that he dated before or the fact that he is dating now. Gon helps JTE answer that he is in dating right now 🤓 because Instead of answering Gon question JTE prefer to ask Gon to open his shirt 🙃 flustered Gon being shocked is the cutest. JTE ask about the scar he has on his shoulder but cant really saw it now, because its awkward to open Gon shirt just like that and also no lighting strikes.

One of my fav line from this conversation is when Gon said “its more difficult to cross this line, than it is to cross the universe”

To be continue

[raevenlywrites]

The Ties That Bind 10 of ???

The ruins were exactly as advertised. Ancient remains of stone and tile work sat in overgrown disarray, the only thing holding parts of it together were the living roots clinging to the ancient bones. It felt haunted, in a way that battlefield did not. The fields were about death, and nothing more. This was once a place of life, and it’s current lack was only underscored by the verdant growth that had moved in to take the old inhabitants’ place.

“I thought you said nothing grew here,” I muttered to Karashan to cover my unease.

The general shrugged. “Nothing arable.”

Raymond snorted and began scouting around sorting through foliage in one way or another, following some reason I couldn’t decern. I decided to follow him, at a loss for what else to do. And it kept Rei from hovering, as I had a guard. I had a feeling I was going to spending a lot of time with Raymond and Karashan. I was absolutely avoiding my would-be pairbond. I did not want to have this conversation.

”What are you looking for?”

“Forest fruits,” Raymond answered absently, elbow deep in a tangle of briars. “Just because a land can’t be farmed doesn’t mean it can’t provide.”

I watched with genuine interest, helping carry his harvest and trying to remember his points as he spoke. He pulled berries out of thickets, apples off of branches I’d have passed over, and marked the passage of game animals. Raymond made a good teacher; I remembered it was trait he shared with his cousin. It was bittersweet, working with him, but I did my best to focus on the sweet. It wasn’t too hard; the work was interesting and fulfilling. I’d only seen our farmland from above, never walked down among the rows, let alone helped in the harvesting. These weren’t the tidy rows of our grain fields, but it was still closer than I’d ever been to my own food.

 “And the water?” I asked, as we returned to the central clearing and its ominous covered well.

 “Unpredictable,” he said shortly. “I think something happens further upstream and contaminates it.”

 I blinked. “So its not a proper well, then, dug straight down?”

 He shook his head, gesturing back behind us towards the mountains and Hawk’s Keep.

 “Everything runs down from the mountain. Sooner or later, what happens up there trickles down to everyone else.”

 I frowned at his word choice, knowing he was talking about more than just the water.

 Raymond was unlike any of the other soldiers I’d ever met. All the Flight was friendly with me--we all spent too much of our time together for us not to be--but only Rei crossed that line into true familiarity. Raymond, I guessed, had probably known me as a child, or at least of me. I wished I could remember more of Vasili’s family. They’d almost all been soldiers, I thought, or maybe just the one’s I’d know had been soldiers. Maybe he had family out in the fields like Elanor did.

 I was about to ask him when Andreios alighted before us, jarred the switch from raven to man. It could be an elegant and leisurely process. But Rei had switched back almost before he’d properly landed.

 “They’re coming.”

 His tone was so sour there was no doubt who he meant. And sure enough, Zane and Adelina crested a small ridge, Zane waving merrilly as he caught sight of us.

 He’s so odd, I thought, watching him flow down from the rise. Everyone around him is singing with tension, and he’s waving like we’re old friends. I wondered if that was just his nature, happy and enthusiastic, or if he was doing it to piss off Rei. Or maybe Adelina. Or maybe it was all three, or something I hadn’t considered at all. He was a mystery to me, but a puzzle I was keen to suss out. I liked this kind of wondering and second guessing. It was like a game of chess. I had a feeling Zane would be good at chess, and the gambling games of  cards and coins that passed the soldiers’ time in the barracks. Anything that called for a strategy, and the ability to think on the fly, and play to your opponent’s expectations.

 Like war.

 I tried not to frown at him as he approached, but that last thought had soured my mood. I wondered who’d be to each other if we’d grown up only neighboring monarchs. Perhaps we’d have been promised to each other as children, a way to solidify good relations between our peoples. It was such an absurd thought it almost made me laugh. At least it helped me smile when Zane and Adelina were near enough to see it. I was glad to see my flights of fancy could be good for something.

 “Well, it seems we’ve both had good hunting,” Zane said cheerily as he took in our “harvest”. He behaved for all the world like he was out on a picnic, completely ignoring Erica, Emune, and Karashan fanning out behind him and Adelina.

 “And what were you hunting?” I asked, adopting his same casual tone. If it worked for him, it worked for me. I was accustomed to ignoring my Flight when they were working, and being falsely light and at ease was closer than second nature.

 “Shelter. There’s something like an old rsh, ah, meeting place,” he ammended almost flawlessly, “just over that rise.”

 “I didn’t see any buildings,” Rei said grumpily. I’d have wondered at his open unhappiness if it weren’t for Zane. It was clear the cobra made him forget every ounce of his reserve or restraint. I was glad of it, in a way. It meant I didn’t have to wonder where my guard captain stood.

 “Nor have I,” Karashan added, “On any of our scouting trips. This place is No Man’s Land.”

 Raymond made a sound behind me, but Zane openly scoffed.

 “I didn’t say we’d found a building, I said we found a rsh, a nest. They’re always built into the trees--” His words cut off, and it didn’t take much insight to guess that he’d been about to comment on how they’re not meant to be noticable from above. Diplomatically, he continued, “It would take a serpiente to find one. Even from the ground, they’re well hidden if you don’t know what you’re looking for.”

 “It’s true, my lady.” Erica had stayed glued to Zane’s side, either eager to prove herself, or eager to stick a knife in his back and beg forgieness later. I’d have worried more, but Karashan had stayed glued to Erica. “I saw the pair of them slip between the trees and it was like they weren’t even there. But the shelter checks out, and it has a place for a fire and provisions.” It was clear from her tone that she’d checked it over with a soldier’s eye, with a minnd for defensibility and praticality. I more selfishly wondered about comfort.

 When I’d suggested I spend the week with Zane, I’d been envisioning staying at the Lyssia’s farmhouse, or at the least not out of doors. I don’t know what I’d expected from a place called “the ruins”, but I was not prepared to take an extended camping trip with Zane Cobriana.

 Was that petty of me? I’d thought it was rather big of me to suggest spending the week with him at all. Wasn’t it reasonable to expect to spend that week in physical comfort, since it was guarenteed to be about as emotionally uncomfortable as possible?

 But I followed them up the rise, into the trees, and was glad we’d set out at first light. It gave us plenty of time to check over the whole place, and hopefully to discover there was no other option but to return to the farm house for a hot meal and a regroup.

 Erica was the first to disappear, walking right between two trees and simply vanishing. Emune cried out, but Karashan touched his shoulder and held him back.

 Adelina went next, and the pair of them pulled back whatever covering obscured the opening. The space was close and dark, a yawning void between them. I did not care for that symbolism one bit.

 But Zane strode forward without any visible concern, and Karashan went in after him, leaving me with the men of my guard.

 I looked to Rei, not sure what I was asking him but feeling the pleading in my eyes. I think if Emune and Raymond hadn’t been there, he might have pulled me to him, might have whispered a chastizement, or an endearment, or something. But we had an audience, and Zane had poked his head back out of the dark.

 “It’s brighter than it looks from the outside. Come inside, and I’ll show you all the secrets of a rsh.”

 His crooked grin was too tempting, infectious in its enthusiasm. He was clearly delighted to have stumbled upon this part of serpiente history, and his eagerness to share it with me was catching. So I simply nodded, taking the hand he offered to help me in over the tangle of roots. I thrilled at the touch of his hand--then stiffened at the touch of his other hand on my waist.

 I nearly tripped in my haste to pull away, which, of course, only made him hold on tighter.

 “Easy there.”

 Before I could form any protest, Erica’s dagger was out--and Adelina’s blade tipped stave. Their reactions immediately shifted mine, from outrage at Zane’s impropriaty to the ever present frustration at everyone’s haste to jump to violence.

 “Hold!”

 The command in my tone surprised even me, but I didn’t let it show.

 “Zane startled me. It cannot come to blows every time one of us flinches or moves too swiftly. This is why we can’t stop the fighting, don’t you see that? Stop being soldiers for two blessed minutes and just be guards. You’re here to protect us from outside threats, not each other.”

 “But my lady,” Erica insisted, “If I do not stay at the ready, I will not be fast enough to react to them. Serpiente are just too fast.”

 I let her see all the tiredness in my eyes, and the frustration and disappointment and exasperation.

“If he strikes me out here, Erica, then let him strike me. Let him end the Shardae line here and now, and let every sparrow, crow, and raven bow down to their new Diente, or fly away to the island of Ahnmik. Either way, I am done fighting him. Do you understand that, Erica?”

Erica gave me a long, potent look, and I could see all the thoughts swirling behind her eyes. But what she said was,

“I have sworn to give my life’s blood in defense of my queen and her heirs. I cannot stand by and allow harm to come to you. My oaths do not allow it.”

“Then go home!”

I didn’t mean to shout at her, but I just couldn’t stand it anymore.

“If you cannot serve me in peace, then go home. Return to my mother, return to the generals, return to the war that no one can seem to let go of! I am done fighting. I’m done. If I live to take my oaths as Tuuli Thea, I will have no use for soldiers. If Zane kills me now, then I was never meant to wear the crown anyway. Because I cannot look at that man and summon up any bloodlust. I cannot stare into garnet eyes and see anything but a dying little boy, hurt and alone. I can’t seem to find the hatred that keeps you all going. Maybe if I’d been aloud to mourn anyone--“

My voice broken on a sob, every tear I’d never shed rising up all at once to choke me. I turned away, but there was no away in this tight press of people. Half a dozen soldiers, and one of them with my dead alastair’s face--

I spun in the other direction and simply ran.

The Ties That Bind Tag list: @thehellinsideyourhead @therecouldbecolorsandlove @adventuresofacreesty​

Raev’s Gen Tag List (should I tag you guys in this? It IS a thing I wrote. I’m gonna say yes unless you guys are like “no of course not we’re sick of hearing about your stupid fic for a twenty year old book XD)

No one has complained yet so yall gonna keep getting tagged :P

List is currently: @lordkingsmith @writinglyra @drbibliophile @mperialscribe @adie-dee @adie-dee @lexiklecksi @writinginslowmotion @raenawrites @apollon-arium @anika-writes

[shiemishuzenji]

100 OC Question Meme!

created by marchenvillain <3

Your Wings edition: Shiemi Shuzenji!

1. What’s a unique skill they have? Is their any reason why they can do it? Shiemi can harness the power of the sun in order to heal wounds. Her Quirk is a mixture of her mother’s (who can bend light) and grandmother’s (who can heal wounds). 

2. What are their favourite possessions? Why? (sentimentality, history, price, etc) The necklace that Hawks gave her is very important to her. She sees it like a symbol of their love. 

3. Do they get jealous easily? If so, what usually causes it? She gets insecure, but she never acts on her jealousy. Often times, if women fawn over Hawks, she gets all up in her feels.

4. Are they a good gift-giver? What do they tend to give as gifts? She’s more of a practical gift giver. She pays attention to what someone really needs and she’ll get it for them.

5. What’s their reputation like? Does this reputation contrast what they’re really like? People (especially when she worked in the hospital) hail her as a good doctor but one with little to no social skills. She’s quiet, so a lot of people think she’s mean. Others, like her old boss, like her polite and respectable nature. 

6. Do they prefer to have a big social circle, or a few close friends? Definitely a few close friends. She’s content with Aizawa, Kayama, and Mic. 

7. What’s their “type”? What romantically attracts them to another person? Men who are confident! If one looks at her track record, her old boyfriends in high school were all jocks who loved the limelight. Hawks is cocky, but a lot of that haughtiness is a facade. She loves that he knows how to tone it down and come back to Earth. 

8. What does their dream house look like? She’s a simple woman: a modern white home with a huge lawn for a garden. She’s always wanted to plant sunflowers. I’m a huge horror fan, so for some reason, I’m envisioning the villa from The Human Centipede… Just the outside! eheh... is that weird?

9. If they could change one part of their appearance, what would it be? Shiemi is actually very lithe; her mother says she’s got no meat on her bones. She would love to bulk up! Also, her cup size is a B. She would change that, too, if she could.

10. What’s a simple thing that brings them joy? Well, Shiemi’s love language is acts of service. It really warms her heart when people help do things with or for her!

11. What is their dream pet? A cat! A fluffy white one. Maybe Aizawa had some influence on her? ❤️

12. What’s their position in their friend group? (leader, mom friend, chaos goblin, etc) The voice of reason. She likes to have practical fun! She’s not as rigid as Aizawa, but nowhere near as wild as Mic.

13. How forgiving are they? What do they consider unforgivable? Shiemi is definitely forgiving, so much so that it is sometimes her downfall. However, she believes there is no excuse for villainy.

14. Who do they go to in a crisis/emergency? Any particular reason why they choose that person? Hmmm, it’s funny because most people go to her in an emergency since she’s got that nifty healing Quirk haha! Shiemi has plenty of people to depend on like Midnight or Recovery Girl, but Hawks is the one she always turns to when she needs saving.

15. How good are they at conversation? Are they a small talk master, bad at initiating, etc? The only person she likes to make small talk with is Hawks, really. She’s not much a talker, and prefers to let others do the talking. This is why she and Aizawa click so well because they both can appreciate silence.

16. What food do they absolutely hate? She actually doesn’t care for greasy foods. Pizza, for example, upsets her tummy. 

17. Do they show a lot of affection, or are they pretty reserved? She’s not into PDA, but she loves to be held and kissed. When she’s sad, she almost always needs a hug. ❤️

18. If you had to represent them with a flower, colour, and animal, what would you choose? I feel like she’s more of a white lily, which I hear symbolizes humility and devotion. Her color would be blush pink, for her more timid nature and her affinity for that color. As for an animal, I think she’d be a snowshoe hare!

19. What’s their unusual quirk? (Quirk with a lowercase q, haha) Shiemi has always had very strong intrusive thoughts, and I’ve made this obvious from the first chapter. I based this on my own struggle with intrusive thoughts, so Shiemi and I can relate on the issue of fighting our inner voices to be better people.

20. Are they easy to wake up in the morning, or grouchy and sleepy? She’s an early bird! Very easy to wake up in the morning.

21. What’s their ideal date like? She loves night walks on the beach followed a busy night of makin’ love ;)

22. What’s their silliest or most unusual fear/phobia? Probably spiders. She’s not the type to scream when she sees one, but if it’s big and hairy, she’ll leave the room.

23. Is their pain tolerance high or low? Pretty low, all things considering. She knows how to fight, she just doesn’t like to because she can’t really handle her own.

24. Are they a fussy eater? Nope! She’ll try just about anything. She understands the importance of eating healthy, so she makes sure to eat her veggies every day. (Unlike me…)

25. What are their dreams like? As the writer, I’ve always made her dreams symbolic. They often reflect her true feelings or the things on her mind.

26. Are they technologically savvy? Yes! Working in the hospital, she’s a quick learner, and working in the hospital, she’s had to learn how to use all the equipment.

27. Are they forgetful? What do they tend to forget? (plans, phone, keys, etc) No, she tries to be very organized. The most that she forgets would be if she’s got a lot of work to do, she might forget one assignment.

28. Describe their morning routine. Open the curtains first (she needs sunlight), drink black coffee, watch the news, take a shower. Suuuper adult of her, I know. She’s a creature of habit!

29. Are they a good cook? If they are, what do they like to make? She’s an okay cook. Certainly not as good as Hawks! She can make basic food, but a lot of it lacks flavor -- something Hawks has had to teach her.

30. Do they consider themselves a “hero” or “villain”? Hero! Definitely. She’ll heal anyone in need, but she works for the heroes, on the side of good.

31. What holiday do they like the most? (Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, etc) Christmas. It’s the one time of year she gets to spend with her whole family. Even though tensions are high, she still loves her family more than anything.

32. What are they like at parties? Party animal, or awkwardly sitting in the corner drinking punch and reading? She’s the wallflower. She’d rather grab a bite to eat and sit back, people-watching.

33. Are they adventurous, or do they prefer to stay in their safe zone? She prefers to live life on the safe side. Though life with Hawks definitely makes things exciting!

34. What’s their favourite drink? (Coffee, tea, juice, hot chocolate, soda, etc) She loves coffee; preferably black coffee. Her go-to drink at Starbucks is a venti black cold brew or a cappuccino.

35. Are they good with children? Yes! Her serene nature tends to calm kids down. She especially used to love healing kids at the hospital.

36. Do they trust easily? What would you have to do to earn their trust? She’s normally very wary of people. She automatically has her guard up when approached by someone new, but honestly it doesn’t take much for her to let down her guard. For example, she was cautious of Twice when she met him, but once she saw that he and Mr. Compress needed help, she immediately dropped everything to help. Blame her big heart, I guess!

37. Are they a hopeless romantic, or is that stuff just not for them? God, YES!! When she first met Hawks, she tried to act all tough, but she’s such a SAP! In her relationships, she devotes everything to her significant other.

38. Do they get lost easily, or are they good with directions? Nah, she’s great with directions. She tries to have a good understanding of her surroundings.

39. Are they superstitious? She doesn’t believe in superstitions; she’s more of a woman of science.

40. Do they like physical activity, or staying inside? She enjoys a bit of both. She especially likes to go for walks, but doesn’t mind spending the whole day inside reading a book.

41. What would they dress up as for Halloween? A zombie nurse -- and I mean that in the laziest way possible. She would put on her uniform and paint her face and call it a day haha

42. Do they like fast food, or fancy restaurants? Fancy restaurants, for sure. She’s a bit of a snob. She’ll eat fast food if she’s on the go, but she grew up in the lap of luxury, and really enjoys the finer things in life.

43. Are they a chaotic bastard, pure angel baby, or tired mom friend? Pure angel baby. SHIEMI MUST BE PROTECTED AT ALL COSTS.

44. Do they have a good attention span? Yes, especially when it comes to her friends. She’ll sit there and listen to someone talk for hours.

45. Are they always late, on time, or early? Shiemi thinks that if you’re not 15 minutes early, then you’re late.

46. Do they cry, gasp, laugh, etc, while reading a book, or do they remain relatively stone-faced? Stone-faced. She might furrow her brow if she’s into it, but she’s more internal with her reactions.

47. Do they keep a diary? She stopped carrying a diary when she was a teenager and her parents read through it without her permission.

48. How dramatic are they? She’s not haha She cries easily, but that’s just because she feels very deeply.

49. Do they put a lot of effort into their appearance, or do they just make themselves presentable and go? She’s comfortable with her looks, so she mostly curls her bangs and thinks it good to go.

50. Why would they be a good partner for a road trip? She would be president of the backseat! Delivering snacks, giving directions, listening to you talk and talk for hours!

51. Why would they be a BAD partner for a road trip? She’s not much for small talk. If it gets quiet, she’ll let it happen and whip out a book.

52. What topic should nobody bring up around them, lest the other person be subject to a massive ramble/rant? Anything bashing on heroes, or criticizing hero society. She’s so deep in it that she’s blinded to its flaws. She’ll defend Heroes till the day she dies.

53. Are they clumsy? No, she’s too cautious!

54. Are they a law breaker, or stickler for rules? Stickler for the rules. Not as bad as Iida hahaha but she doesn’t do anything she’s not supposed to. Blame her strict upbringing!

55. Choose a vine you think perfectly encapsulates their character. I LOVE THIS QUESTION! I feel like she’s: “Road work ahead? Uh, yeah, I sure hope it does >:( ” or “Is there anything better than pussy? Yes, a really good book.” OOH, OR “How do you know what’s good for me? THAT’S MY OPINION!!”

56. Do they like to share? Yes, my girl is very giving  ❤️

57. What’s the most chaotic thing they’ve done? Have sex with a bird man she just healed the night before :U Shiemi has a high sex drive

58. Which friend do they immediately become a zero-braincelled idiot around? She gets all smitten around Hawks tbh She can compose herself around everyone except for him. Then she’s just a puddle of GOO

59. Do they love or hate surprises? She does not like surprises! They make her uncomfortable and awkward.

60. What sappy thing will they cry at? (romance movies, cute cat videos, etc) Would they deny crying about it later on? She’ll cry during sad movies, but she’s stopped being ashamed of being a crybaby

61. What’s their favourite and least favourite subject in school? Health and science are her best subjects, but her favorite was literature! Her least favorite was probably physical education just because it took her away from the books!

62. Do they take a lot of photos? If so, what of? She prefers professional photos; her camera roll is practically empty!

63. Do they wear makeup? Blush, mascara, foundation, but she only ever wears makeup for special occasions.

64. Describe what their social media would be like. Instagram: “NO PHOTOS” but plenty of tagged photos from Mic and Midnight. Facebook: articles on social issues or new medical breakthroughs.

65. Do they give people a lot of nicknames? No, she doesn’t, actually! 

66. What nicknames do others call them by? She thinks it’s sweet when people give nicknames to her -- e.g. “Doc,” “songbird,” or “sunshine.” Side note: I was really into Yagami Yato when I first started writing, so of course Hawks calls her “Baby bird.” And now I really regret not being more original because goddamn... I’m not gonna go back and change it because Yagami doesn’t own the nickname, but just know that I am upset

67. What’s an outrageous story about them nobody believes? Uhh, that’s a great question. I can’t think of anything, to be honest.

68. Are they easy to fluster? What would you have to do to truly fluster them? Yes! Despite being so cool, calm, and collected, it’s easy to make her blush. Hawks is a pro at getting her all worked up!

69. What’s their dream vacation like? She dreams of traveling, preferably somewhere along the Caribbean islands where she can bask in the sun and discover new plants and creatures.

70. Are they a good liar? She is a notoriously bad liar, mostly because it eats her away inside. She can make a lie work if she commits to it enough, but she’ll always come out with it eventually.

71. What do they want to do in the future? She wants a family. She’s always wanted to be a working woman and come home after a long day to her family. She wishes that a certain someone would be a stay-at-home dad...

72. How do they feel about love? Again, she’s a hopeless romantic. She believes in having strong bonds with both family and friends, but she does dedicate most of her energy into her romantic relationship. 

73. Are they more book smarts, or street smarts? oh my god, BOOK SMARTS. She wouldn’t last a day on her own out there, but man she could recite a whole scene from Shakespeare if you asked her to.

74. What’s their guilty pleasure? Sex. She doesn’t come off as promiscuous, but she would get some every day if she could.

75. Is there anyone they consider their rival? No, in fact Shiemi tends to keep to herself. She’s respectful and supportive of everyone. She does  have enemies, of course, like Dabi or Mr. Compress.

76. Do they have any notable physical features? Her eyes are described as gray, but they’re more purplish-gray. 

77. What’s their music taste like? Classical music takes up most of the space on her phone; Joe Hisaishi is a composer that she admires a lot.

78. What’s something they’re really bad at? Keeping her opinions to herself. She’s brutally honest, to a fault. 

79. Do they have a good sleep schedule? Yesss, her whole life runs on a schedule!

80. What’s their aesthetic sense like? Oh, I’m not sure how to answer this? 

81. What’s something they’re really proud of? Her degrees and awards make her feel accomplished. She has a hard time seeing her worth, but the diplomas on her wall are proof, to her, of what she can do. 

82. How would they spend a free day? In bed, reading a book, snuggled up beside Hawks  ❤️

83. What are they like as an s/o? Lowkey, kind of clingy. She loves attention and wants to spend all her time with her significant other, doting on them, making them feel good.

84. What’s one thing they like that they don’t want anyone to know about? Her sex drive (> w >);;

85. Do they have a sweet tooth? She doesn’t; she’s more of a savory or salty person. I actually really like this dichotomy between Hawks and Shiemi, for some reason? The fact that she takes her coffee black and he takes his sweet is kind of nice.

86. How would you describe their fashion sense? I once had a beautiful professor at university who only wore maxi skirts and nice blouses. Her fashion sense inspired my vision of Shiemi a lot. If she’s not wearing her hero uniform, you can find her in a pink maxi skirt and a white blouse.

87. Do they like spicy food? She can definitely handle her spice, but she wouldn’t choose it!

88. Are they lucky? Do they believe in luck? By all means, she has the worst luck! Can’t say that she believes in it, though.

89. What would they get into a petty argument over? Shiemi stands her ground on her opinions, but she’s more or less an agreeable person. She doesn’t like to argue or cause tension, but she will if it means standing up for herself.

90. Are they a good artist? She can’t draw and she’s got that doctor handwriting lmao

91. Do they prefer hot or cold weather? Hot! Shiemi’s Quirk is most powerful if she’s in direct sunlight. When the sun is behind the clouds, it takes more energy and time for her to heal someone. Despite all that time in the sun, the poor woman can’t tan!

92. Can they play an instrument? Her parents made her play piano when she was a child, but she doesn’t dabble in it anymore.

93. What type of movies do they like to watch? Romance and mysteries! Her favorite movie is Titanic. She cries every time!

94. What does their room look like? Neat and organized. She’s got a lot of bookshelves in her room and a nice set up for her computer space.

95. How do they feel about bugs? Scared? Fascinated? She’s fascinated by bugs, but from a distance. She won’t touch ‘em!

96. What’s their sense of humour like? (Dad jokes, morbid humour, basic knock-knock jokes, stand up comedy, etc) She laughs really hard at stand up comedy. Since she’s a little more serious, she can appreciate how goofy Hawks is!

97. What do they keep in their bag? Cell phone, earbuds, portable charger, folding scissors for emergencies, Band-Aids, and if she’s not wearing it, she’ll fold up her lab coat and put it in there, too.

98. How competitive are they? She’s only competitive with herself. She doesn’t have to be the best, but she can’t stand being the worst. (I’m the same way.)

99. What would they wear to a formal event? Describe their outfit! She actually wore that beautiful red dress in chapter 10! If you Google “Elizabeth Banks Vanity Fair 2020” it’ll pop up. 

100. If you, the creator, met them, would you two get along? Yes! I think that it’s impossible for any author/creator to make a character without at least adding some personal elements in them. Shiemi isn’t a self-insert, but she and I share a love of reading and we’re both overachievers. So I think she and I would make great friends!