#so it kinda screwed with his memory and sense of identity

[mc-lukanette]

GOD Furious Fu genuinely pissed me off SO MUCH so hopefully you don’t mind me coming over here to ask for some kinda Lukanette fix it for that train wreck??? Like, not even anything super detailed, if you don’t feel like it, maybe just “Marinette caves, gives the Miracle Box to Su-Han, gets spotty memories and Luka (+ Kitty Section and Kagami, maybe) help her out and worry over her.” Maybe Tikki even realizes she screwed up. If not it’s fine but Lukanette makes everything better so I had to ask.

Warning: it’s gonna be a ride.

—————

Luka looked over as his phone started ringing, brows raising at the sight of Marinette's icon popping up on the screen. It'd been rare for her to call him after all the complications that came with them dating, so he was surprised to say the least.

Nevertheless, he rested an arm on his guitar and reached across his bed with his other to pick up the phone, answering the call and moving the device to his ear. "Hey, Marinette."

"Hey, Luka..."

His heart sank at the sound of her voice. It was a whole mix of emotions, but above all else, she sounded tired. He wondered what she'd gone through for her voice to play those sorts of notes.

"Did anything happen?"

"No," she answered almost instantaneously. She paused, then let out a small whine. "I-I'm sorry. I'm so used to lying, but—I guess I don't have to do that anymore."

He stayed silent, allowing her to continue.

"I—" Marinette took an audible breath, then let it out, her voice lowering to a whisper as if she were scared of someone else hearing.

"I'm...I'm Ladybug, Luka."

Luka's first reaction was shock, though he couldn't be sure if it was the identity bomb she dropped or just the fact that she told him at all. Then, once the surprise died down, the idea that Marinette was Ladybug wasn't that surprising in itself. and he couldn't imagine who else it could've been otherwise.

Smart, talented, caring, selfless... it all added up.

But that also made it all the more painful when he realized what it meant. Immediately, all the dates that she'd missed and all the things he'd been concerned about made sense, and it hurt.

That was the secret she couldn't share with him, no matter how badly she might've wanted to.

The last thought in particular was odd to him, and he couldn't help voicing it, "I... thank you for telling me, Marinette, but... why now?"

She took another breath, more unsteady this time, like she were a guitar with something jammed inside the base. "Because—I'm about to forget it, and now I can't stop thinking about everything I might forget; how I want someone to know. You were the first - the only - person I thought of." Then, hesitantly, she asked, "Is that okay?"

Luka swallowed, feeling the whiplash of another dropped bomb right before the kind of casual compliment that made his heart race. "Of...of course it is."

She sighed in relief. "Thank you."

He tried to keep quiet, but couldn't hold back from questioning, "You said 'forget'..."

"Yeah, because I'm guardian now. There was someone else before and they gave me the ladybug miraculous, but—" She paused, as if considering something, then seemed to shift the conversation. "See, I didn't know anything about being a hero at the start, and... I screwed up." Before Luka could ask or recall the event, she continued, "I let the first ever akuma go, and it let Hawk Moth spread his butterflies everywhere when Ivan got akumatized again. I fixed it, but it was still my mistake that started it."

"Marinette—"

"—and I always tried. I tried my best no matter what I did. I tried to be a good Ladybug, a good student, a good daughter, a good friend... and I tried to get Adrien's attention." She groaned, though the sound seemed muffled, perhaps by her hand. Her voice cracked as she went on, "That's where everything went so wrong, Luka. I knew I had bad luck, but no matter how hard I tried, things would go bad. It was humiliating, and I kept thinking that maybe I just wasn't trying hard enough. My parents had such a happy relationship and I wanted that, but I was just wasting my time. He was barely in my life but he got put into everything I did, and I made so many mistakes from him. There's a liar in school who wants to turn everyone against me, and Alya thinks I'm just jealous because of Adrien. Chloe convinced me to do things I'm not proud of, and it took a while for me to be Kagami's friend. I didn't listen to my kwami and used my miraculous for my own gain, and..."

"What's wrong with that?" he questioned, voice pained. "What's wrong with using your miraculous for you? You save Paris every other day—"

"—because bad things happen, Luka," she stressed as if it were something urgent. "Bad things happen when I... feel."

There was a pit in his stomach. He knew he shouldn't ask - knew he wouldn't like the answer - but he hoped for better regardless. "Feel... what?"

"Anything."

He hunched forward, not strumming his guitar but running his fingers along the strings, desperate for something to busy himself with. His shoulders were stiff and his chest felt tight, unable to fathom what she'd been going through compared to what he'd merely seen on the surface.

"No matter what I did, no matter what I felt... it was wrong, Luka. I embarrassed Chloe in front of the whole class and she wanted to move to New York. She'd bullied me for years and I was so happy." She sounded conflicted, like instruments that didn't go together. "Adrien told me it was terrible. He didn't know why I could celebrate it. I felt awful, so I gave her a chance; I gave her a miraculous."

Luka anxiously rubbed one of the strings between his thumb and index finger, torn between seething and trying to reassure her despite knowing that she'd cut him off.

"She got it in her head that she deserved it, but with Mayura around, it wasn't safe to let her keep having it. I had to tell her 'no,' and..." She let out a defeated noise. "Do you remember that day? At the park?"

She didn't need to specify, and his voice lost all life at the memory. "Yeah..."

"Adrien and Kagami were together. I let them go. They seemed so happy together and it was the right thing to do, but..."

She paused, and he braced himself.

"When I was going to see the guardian to get a miraculous, I saw them. I got distracted and I forgot to de-transform. Because of me, Hawk Moth found the guardian, and he got the miraculouses from him. By the time I realized what happened, it was too late, and Chloe got akumatized again to ruin me. Those bees you saw—they were hers. They mind-controlled everyone, and that's why your identities were compromised. The guardian had to give up the box with all the miraculouses in it to me - ladybug me - because Hawk Moth was probably about to kill him and become the next guardian." She let out a sob. "Giving up the box... it takes your memory with it."

Luka gripped the string he'd been rubbing.

"I don't know how much he lost, but... anything about the miraculouses was gone. He didn't recognize me. He didn't even recognize the love of his life. He had... feelings, but that was it. All because of me."

"Marinette—" he desperately tried to interject.

She cut him off, as he'd feared, "I'm just fixing my own mistakes. People think I'm a good Ladybug because they don't get that. They don't get that I'm just going in circles. My friends don't believe in me, my parents think I'm too clumsy to carry a tray, and... it always feels like someone - somewhere - is laughing at me, with every screw-up." She whimpered. "What good is a ladybug who gets people akumatized? Who gets her own boyfriend akumatized?"

"I don't blame you for that!" he shouted, intentionally raising his voice to talk over her.

He heard a small noise in response, though he couldn't tell if it was another whimper or a giggle.

"I'm sorry," she said, though what she was apologizing for seemed vague, "and thank you, for always being there for me. I'm glad I have time to talk to you before he gets back."

Luka had to calm himself down to ask worriedly, "He...?"

"The guardian; the one that came before the one I knew. He showed up in my room today and saw how I had all the kwami outside of the box; I guess you're not supposed to do that, and he wasn't happy. He told me about all these rules I broke and how I had to give everything back. I took him to meet Chat Noir, but Chat ran for it when he realized that I'd forget about him. The guardian is chasing him down now and I'm just here, with the box, waiting for him to get back."

Luka leaned back and stared at the ceiling, overwhelmed by the rush of information she'd thrown at him all at once. He hadn't even been the one to experience any of it and he still felt worn down as if he had.

"I—" He paused, not liking how his voice shook. "I wish I could've helped you, Marinette. I wish you hadn't had to do all of that alone. I know you feel like it's your fault, but even the best musicians miss notes and mess up. Please don't blame yourself."

She let out a non-committal noise and he knew then that nothing he said would help her. He was sure that she believed him, but words could only do so much, and unlearning what apparent months of suffering had taught her would be difficult.

Though, he supposed it wouldn't matter. "Will you forget... everything?"

"I don't know, but at least everything about Ladybug or the miraculouses will go." She let out a half-hearted chuckle. "I guess it was all for nothing in the end."

"It wasn't," Luka replied. "Marinette, no matter how many times you feel like you screwed up, you were still an amazing ladybug. Everything you said didn't change my mind about that." After a moment of thought, he added, "And that other guardian... how is he?"

He heard her take a breath, as if to give an automatic answer, but she stopped herself. "...He's away from Paris, living with the love of his life."

"See? That sounds better than being the guardian, in Paris, where Hawk Moth is," he pointed out. "Maybe he forgot more than he would've wanted, but—"

"Luka," she interrupted, as if something had just occurred to her.

He considered finishing what he was saying, but stopped himself in favor of wanting to hear her out. "Yeah?"

"A-ah... mm." She struggled briefly while trying to get the words out. "If—if I forget too much... if I forget you... would you still visit me?"

It wasn't that he hadn't thought about the possibility, but it hadn't been on the forefront of his mind either, mostly for the sake of keeping himself grounded.

After having an internal debate with himself, he settled for asking, "Would you want me to?"

"Don't say it like that," she pleaded. "Don't leave it all up to me. I...I'd understand if you decide you don't want to see me again. I wouldn't blame you, I just—" Her voice lowered to something both shy and fond. "—I'm my best self when I'm with you, Luka. We didn't date for that long, and maybe it would've been better for you if we never met, but I..."

The pause she made had him holding his breath, his grip on the phone tightening. He couldn't believe she would dare to imply that he wouldn't do it all over again; meeting her, writing songs about her, dating her...

Marinette let out a breath, and Luka noted that it sounded so... final, like this was really the end.

"I love you, Luka."

His heart hammered in his chest. "Marinette."

"Thank you, and I'm sorry," she whispered. After going quiet for a few seconds, her tone suddenly shifted as she said, "I have to go now. He's on his way."

Luka took a sharp intake of breath, but the click of the call came before he could speak. He could only stare down at the phone, Marinette's contact image staring back as an emptiness washed over him.

Then, he was on his feet, guitar tossed aside, and he'd never moved so fast before in his life.

—————

Marinette gazed at Luka's picture for a few more seconds, as if doing so would permanently imprint it into her memory, then sighed and tossed it onto her chaise lounge. She rubbed at her eyes, wiping away tiredness and unshed tears, unable to help wondering if Fu falling unconscious after his memory loss was something peaceful for him.

When she uncovered her eyes, she noticed the kwami, all distancing themselves from her but staring at her like she was a corpse in a coffin.

"What...?" she asked, though part of her already knew the answer.

They all exchanged glances, like they were debating telepathically, then Wayzz flew forward.

"I - we - we're so sorry, Marinette," he said. Bowing in respect, he added, "We got so excited, and we only caused you more problems."

Marinette shrugged, only able to offer a defeated smile. "There's nothing we can do now. It's too late to change anything."

Tikki approached, her body hunched over and making her look even smaller than she already was. "I-I should've said something. I let him talk to you like that and I didn't do anything to stop him."

Marinette reached over, tempted to pet or touch her kwami in some way to help reassure her, but pulled back at the last moment, too conflicted about it.

The sound of something landing on the balcony followed, and Marinette stared up at it like she could see through her ceiling.

"...He's here," she stated. After giving one last look at all of her kwami, she focused specifically on Tikki and said, "Spots on."

Su-Han descended into her room, Ladybug standing in the center and wanting nothing more but to get things over with. He approached her, raising his fist and then opening it to show her the ring inside; Chat Noir's ring. Plagg, meanwhile, hovered aimlessly around the room, not meeting anyone's eyes and probably sensing the tension.

"That crybaby was even more of a fool than I'd thought," Su-Han commented, "giving a miraculous to a boy whose face is all over this village."

"What?" Ladybug blurted out. A boy whose face was all over—but that meant—"Adrien?"

Su-Han raised a brow. "A friend of yours?" He promptly scoffed. "That makes him even more foolish."

She couldn't even find it in herself to respond, too busy grappling with so casually being told something she'd intended to never learn about if she could help it.

Adrien was Chat Noir? It explained a little bit of everything and made her feel a lot of everything at the same time, like the two personalities meshed together to create something both shocking yet profoundly upsetting. She saw her memories with Adrien in place of Chat Noir and vice versa, unable to separate the two and pursing her lips as she recognized that, perhaps if things had been a little different...

"Young lady," Su-Han called strictly, pulling her out of her trance. "I don't have time to waste here. Relinquish the Miracle Box to me, at once."

"A-ah..." Ladybug could only nod, still dazed but at least focused enough to respond. She stared down at her hands, staring at the red and single black spot on the back of each, then sighed and closed her eyes, accepting that it was the last time she'd see them.

"I, Ladybug, hereby relinquish the Miracle Box..."

The last feeling she'd remember as Ladybug was a deep, unrelenting regret; regret for all the things she did do, didn't do, and the things that weren't even in her control.

Then, as her mind was fogging and she was slipping into darkness, she felt something else.

She felt free.

—————

Luka didn't bother saying a word to Tom or Sabine when he charged inside the bakery, both of them letting out various shouts of concern as he bolted past them and ran up the stairs. He nearly tripped multiple times, but he never stopped moving. He dashed up each flight until his eyes locked on the door to Marinette's living room.

He opened the door in a hurry, ignoring the sound of it slamming against the wall, and headed right for the stairs to Marinette's room. He threw caution to the wind and pushed open the trap door in the same fashion, his eyes scanning the place in a panic.

Then, his gaze fell upon Marinette, lying there on the floor, earrings gone, and he realized that he was too late. If he were honest, he hadn't known exactly what he'd rushed there to do - try and prevent the memory loss? tell her how wrong she'd been during their call? call out the guardian for treating his beloved so cruelly? - but now that he was there, all he could think about was being there for her.

He took a moment to catch his breath, then approached and knelt down next to her. Slipping his arms underneath her, he lifted her up and brought her over to her chaise lounge, wanting to at least get her off the floor. Her phone had been resting on the chaise’s cushion, but he simply moved it to the table after setting her down.

He paced around the room, raking his fingers through his hair and ruffling it. His mind was still racing, as was his heart, and his running had nothing to do with either. He knew that, whether Marinette had her memory or not, she was the song in his head, and any pain that would come with her not knowing him couldn't compare to the pain of not seeing her again. She wasn't a burden, and no matter how many excuses he might have to come up with, he wasn't going to let her be alone, especially not when she trusted him with a secret that she'd only let him hear.

He was so distracted by his thoughts that he almost didn't hear the slight shuffling noise, though the sound of Marinette stirring was what made him fully turn around to look at her. While she laid there, her eyes were half-lidded and unfocused, darting aimlessly around the room as if in search of something.

"Marinette," he whispered, rushing over to her. Bending over the chaise lounge, barely thinking, he asked gently, "Are you okay?"

"Mm..." Her eyes found his, and she blinked a few times before she actually seemed awake enough to answer him. "Luka?"

His breath, his words, his very sound, all caught in his throat. If he were a guitar, his strings would've snapped from the sudden release of tension.

"Y-you... know who I am?" he asked in a small voice.

She tilted her head at him, confused by the question. "Of course I do? You're my boyfriend."

Boyfriend. She said boyfriend. She didn't just remember him, she remembered her feelings for him.

He got misty-eyed from the realization, and Marinette's eyes widened in alarm.

"L-luka?" she called, brows furrowed with concern. She reached up with a hand, sliding it along his cheek. "What's wrong—what happened? I swear I'm okay, I—"

He shook his head, gently holding onto her wrist and feeling the steady rhythm of her pulse to ground himself. "Nothing, Marinette. Nothing happened. You—you just had a bad fall."

"O-oh. I...I'm sorry." She pushed herself up with her free hand. "I'm so clumsy. I didn't mean to worry—"

He couldn't wait any longer. He hugged her, squeezing her with every ounce of love that'd been accumulating since they'd originally broken up. Marinette didn't seem to understand the intensity of his actions, but didn't hesitate to hug him back either, even humming with content and burying her face into his shoulder.

Her song sang freely to him. It wasn't torn or twisted up, playing openly instead of staying locked in a music box. He couldn't have been happier after she'd given him such a scare before, and any remaining questions could come later.

For that moment, he just let their duet play free-er than it'd ever been able to before.

—————

"Luka~" Marinette called from the kitchen. When he looked over to her, she raised two different bottles of iced tea, waving them a bit for emphasis. "Which one do you want?"

He hummed, then pointed to the one in her left hand. She nodded at the decision, then put the other bottle back in the fridge, retrieving a bottled drink of her own before leaving the kitchen to join him on the couch.

The last few weeks had been a bit of a rollercoaster, but not necessarily in a bad way. He'd had to deal with Marinette's memory loss and simultaneously piece together how exactly it'd all worked out, but all in all, it was good for her.

Most of Marinette's memories outside of being Ladybug were in tact, and Luka had realized soon after she'd woken up from her memory loss that the reason she’d forgotten about their break up was exactly because it'd been related to her being Ladybug. He'd tried vaguely to explain it to her as if he hadn't known that she was Ladybug, wondering if those negative feelings still lingered, but they both still wanted to date each other and thus concluded that not dating after all that would've been silly. He knew full well that she wasn't going to be stressed or strapped for time anymore, so it wasn't a subject worth debating over, especially if it meant that they could move back into dating without issue.

She'd initially cried when he assured her that he was happy to continue dating her. She couldn’t comprehend why and he'd merely hugged her in reassurance, imagining that he was also hugging the Marinette of the past who didn't believe he'd want to date her again.

Outside of that, there were additional gaps in Marinette's memory that she couldn't explain, and Luka was certain that they were either Ladybug or guardian-related. Her parents had been particularly concerned by the losses, but Luka noted to himself that the lost memories were for the best. It was as if all of the memories that had caused her stress had evaporated, leaving only good ones behind.

Adrien was the big one, as she hadn't been able to remember him at all. At best, she was uncomfortable around him, and Luka did her the favor of removing any pictures of the guy from her cork board and phone. It took him a while to figure it out, but once he put together that Adrien was Chat Noir, things fell into place. Marinette had explained during their phone call that the previous guardian had lost his memory of the love of his life, but Luka imagined that she might've been his confidant for so long that thinking of her as anything else was impossible. Factor in that Marinette had also explained that her crush on Adrien had seeped into her being Ladybug, and it all added up; so long as the connection between the person and the miraculouses was unavoidable, they were forgotten.

And Marinette seemed all the happier for it. To some degree, it was tragic that Paris didn't have Ladybug anymore, but as far as Luka was concerned, Marinette needed to be rid of Ladybug more than Paris needed her, and Marinette's health took priority over all else.

The new ladybug holder was no replacement from the original, but Luka had expected that. Despite them being an adult and having access to as many lucky charms as they desired, no one could substitute Ladybug's instinct and ability to think on her feet.

But that wasn't Luka's problem, and he wholly intended to make sure that it wasn't Marinette's either. She'd heard that there was a previous ladybug, but had no interest in anything relating to the heroes nor their miraculouses. The most she'd said about them was one time where she'd idly commented that her homeroom and PE teachers had been "busier than she remembered," though she'd brushed it off as being related to her mild memory loss.

He'd giggled at that. He had been prepared to have to fall in love with a slightly different Marinette, but she honestly hadn't changed much; still caring, still generous, and still the adorable mess that he loved so much. She could afford to work on her confidence, sure, but he didn't fall for her due to what Ladybug had given her.

"Luka?"

He blinked, then looked down to her; her and her bright, happy eyes, the darkness underneath having faded long ago. She smiled at him, oblivious to his thoughts and a brow raised in amusement.

"Were you daydreaming?" she asked curiously, her hand covering his and giving it a casual squeeze.

Luka still couldn't quite believe that he was hers and she was his. He recalled Desperada, that fateful day where she - Ladybug at the time - had given him the snake miraculous, presumably after she'd tried to give it to Adrien. He wouldn't have admitted it at the time, but there was a pride in being able to do something that Adrien couldn't. He'd never forgotten her words either, knowing now that they were Marinette's.

"You were the right choice, Luka."

He sighed blissfully, bending down to press his forehead against hers and replying, "I'm just happy."

She let out a small whine at the sudden and sweet gesture, but still pressed back in return. "Me too."

They stayed in that moment until a sudden thumping noise brought them out of it, Luka jerking his head up to stare at where it'd come from: Marinette's room. Immediately recognizing what was happening, he groaned and rubbed his face in irritation.

As expected, the man Luka had come to know as Su-Han emerged, descending the stairs and locking eyes with Marinette. She recoiled, her hands clutching Luka's sleeve as she murmured, "Not you again..."

Luka gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder, then got up from the couch and walked around to face Su-Han himself.

The man huffed. "I'm not here for—"

"Marinette wants nothing to do with you," Luka said lowly. He went for the living room door, opening it and gesturing outside. Su-Han followed with an air of self-importance and Luka closed the door behind them, leaving Marinette safely out of the conversation.

"The former ladybug had not even informed me of what she'd done," Su-Han explained. "Therefore, it's time she take responsibility and—"

Luka snapped, "You don't get to blame anything on Marinette. She did everything you asked her to and you made her give up her memories." He purposefully left out the fact that she was better off without said memories. "You're the one who insulted her song before you even got to hear it."

Su-Han squinted, the phrase clearly going over his head. "...What?"

At that point, the sound of footsteps came from downstairs, Luka glancing past the railing to see Tom coming up, perhaps having heard the voices even if he didn't hear any specific words.

The moment he saw Su-Han, Tom glared.

"Honey! That man bothering our daughter is back!" he shouted.

More footsteps followed, this time from Sabine and simultaneously much faster than Tom’s. Su-Han clearly caught on that this would be a repeat of "last time" (one of Luka's fonder memories of seeing the man be dealt with) and quickly fled back into the other room to return to Marinette's balcony and escape.

Once Luka had confirmed that everything was okay, he returned to the couch to sit at Marinette's side again. She tilted her head at him, but didn't ask any questions, Su-Han having become something on a "frequent but harmless weirdo" who she didn't understand.

Luka held an arm out invitingly, then wrapped it around Marinette when she snuggled against him. He used his free hand to open the bottle of iced tea - finding it difficult but also not worth leaving their cuddle to allow for both hands - then tipped the drink to his mouth to take a sip.

"Hey, Luka?" Marinette called, slightly shy in her delivery.

Luka met her gaze, setting the drink back on the table so he could give her his full attention. "Hm?"

"Could we... go on a date tomorrow?" she asked, one of her hands idly fiddling with the fabric of his pant leg. "I was thinking we could go buy a movie to watch? The one with Jagged Stone?"

He didn't know if the request had anything to do with the failed date that she may or may not recall anymore, but regardless, he was grinning like a fool. He pulled her closer, his free hand falling upon one of hers as he nuzzled her. "I'd love that."

He silently looked forward to the day where all the new memories he made with her outmatched the time lost from her old ones.

[super-hero-confessions]

When will y'all drop the bullshit excuse that the TVA agents were stolen as a a get-out-of-jail card to absolve them for the atrocities they've commited? Yes, they had their memories erased and were lied to about being created with the sole purpose of working for the TVA, but it's evident by the way they behave and interact with each other that they carried over their natural personalities into their new identities and had autonomy within the role they've been made to play, being able to make decisions by themselves, as well as having personal tastes and opinions (see: Mobius's jet ski thing). This is not comparable with the Winter Soldier brainwashing, where Bucky was stripped from his very sense of personhood to be transformed into a mindless machine whose every single action was programmed by someone else for him to take. Even if they were being lied to and had the full context of their existence kept from them, the TVA agents clearly still had individuality and capacity for discernment. And in all those years of sending innocent people -- including children! -- to be devoured by a smoke monster for "crimes" such as being late for work, not a single one of the TVA agent characters we see on the show seemed to stop and think "idk, that feels kinda cruel and disproportionate, maybe I should question why we must do this instead of just blindly follow orders". Heck, Mobius himself only rebels after he learns how the TVA has personally screwed him over, not because some newfound sense of morals, and that's because he's framed as one of the most empathetic and kind member of the TVA. So, no, lmao, I call bullshit on this. Fuck the TVA and fuck its minions. "he was just following orders" is *not* an excuse for fascist cops' actions just because said fascist cops have forgotten that they have a family somewhere.

[bookwyrminspiration]

Hi! I’m the anon who sent the ask about Sophie’s family. That’s my fault. The wording’s kinda confusing lol. I meant to say that it’s screwed up for Sophie and the elves to uproot her family’s entire lives and identity, even if the alternative was to fake her death. Both options are painful, but the one they ended up going with was really extreme and I’m really surprised Amy or no one else was really angry when they found out.

Hello! Welcome back! Once again my apologies for misinterpreting your wording on the previous ask. This makes a lot more sense than you somehow missing the whole ordeal about Sophie being erased and instead believing she'd been killed the whole series!

And you're right! it is extreme. There really weren't any good options and what you decide instead comes down to your beliefs. For Sophie, she valued her family's peace of mind and comfort and believed that any price--including uprooting their whole lives--would be acceptable. I mean, they weren't even supposed to know it happened, so there's an argument there that there's no harm since they can't remember their old life to miss or mourn. But others might believe that it's not justifiable to tamper with their lives in that way, regardless of the pain losing a child would cause them. Both perspectives are trying to act on what they think is best for Sophie's family, but their beliefs on what that is is different.

I will say I'm also surprised Amy didn't seem upset with it at all, but it was a very turbulent and stressful time in her life (two kidnapped parents) and any feelings she had about the situation aside from relief that there's someone else (Sophie) in her life she can look to and rely on dominated. But Amy and Sophie weren't super close before and they're in two different worlds now, so it's possible that Amy is wrestling with an internal conundrum about the whole situation. Knowing she used to be someone else and having that all taken from her could be infuriating and feel like a betrayal, but also knowing that it was done to try and save her immense grief and keep her safe and knowing it's an impossible situation could make her guilty for being upset about it. And letting Sophie know all that knowing she'd feel guilty and stress over it? That's the opposite of what Amy wants, so I think it could be a silent struggle.

But given that it's a fantasy story and people are generally more open so we can learn things, it is strange we hear nothing about it.

I wouldn't be surprised if the elves didn't really think about Sophie's human family outside of making sure they knew nothing. They're just humans after all, a mess to take care of. So what their whole lives are changed? Why should they care? They're just covering for themselves because these specific humans got involved with elven things. Sophie was the most concerned about her human family, and having herself erased was the choice she made.

I think both being erased and being killed off are screwed up, and which one is more acceptable to you depends on your personal beliefs and opinions. I can't say for certain what i'd choose in Sophie's situation, but I can 100% understand and support why she made her decision. I'd probably also be upset if I found out my life was fabricated and my memories were tampered with, but I could understand and forgive the reasoning.

but that's just me! other opinions on it are also valid, as there isn't one right answer to the question, just different justifications and explanations

[marvelsmagictrio]

happier

Timeline: Several months post No Way Home, Pre Moon Knight, Pre Identity Reveals Characters: Peter Parker, Alice, mentions of Venom Warnings: None Rating: T Author: Mod Belle

"How are you so happy?" Peter looked at her in surprise, but Alice hardly noticed. The more she learned about this boy, this boy who'd lost his entire family and still greeted her at the Daily Bugle's office every day with a smile, the less she understood him.

A flurry of mixed emotions ran rampant in her. Confusion. Anger. Jealousy. Grief. Frustration. Venom was conspicuously silent. "You're like this - happy sunshine boy! How?! The world screwed you over! It's screwed you over SO MANY TIMES! How - HOW are you HAPPY?"

Peter was quiet. He looked back out at the sky. Alice distantly registered what she'd said, and realized she may not get a reply. Not like she'd deserve it after that outburst. Here she was, sitting next to someone who'd only shown her kindness and yelling at him for not being an emo prick.

"I'm pissed."

The sun was setting, casting pinks and oranges over the clouds above and city below. Peter stared out at it, a thousand memories playing behind his eyes that Alice couldn't see. His brows were lowered, but it was a thoughtful look. Contemplative. Not angry. Not hurt.

"Sometimes I remember everything that's happened," Peter said . His hands were folded loosely in his lap, thumb running across the soft skin of his palm. "And I wonder what the point of trying is anymore if the universe is just going to keep handing me losses." His thumb pressed into his hand until the skin turned white.

Then he sighed and it was like his whole body let go of something. He stopped putting pressure on his hand.

"If there's one thing I've learned," he told her, and there was a quietness to his voice now, "it's that the world isn't going to stop. It's not going to hold back its punches, even when you're down."

Alice swallowed. There was a lump in her throat now. "Then how…" She croaked. Her eyes watered but she held back the tears. Out of stubbornness or anger or out of a need to not be more vulnerable than she already was, she didn't know. "How do you keep going? Without…it consuming you?"

"Honestly?" Peter turned his gaze back towards her. "You struggle with it. There are bad days. Maybe bad weeks. But…" He inhaled, and it was shaky. "But you try your best to anchor yourself. Remember…remember what they would've wanted. Remember what you still have. What you could get."

He looked down and fiddled with his hoodie ties for a moment. Alice waited, unable to speak herself, and sensing him gathering his thoughts again. After a minute, he spoke again.

"The world isn't all bad. And we make choices. It's like…" His licked his upper lip, gathering the last of his thoughts, "like a giant game of Uno."

And despite the emotion and mourning in the air between them, Alice snorted. "Uno?" She asked.

"Yeah. Yeah!" He said, getting into the idea. His hands started to move as he spoke, gesturing at invisible cards and players. "No, because, when we play Uno, we all get a hand of cards, right? And sometimes we get totally fucked over, but there are good, fun moments too, and it's up to us to decide how to use our cards."

Alice felt her mouth quirk up into a smile as he explained. "Good metaphor."

"Technically I think it's an analogy."

Alice shoved him, but the action had no real heat behind it. Peter laughed.

Silence creeped over them again, but it wasn't as suffocating this time. It was almost content. Still, Alice had one more question.

"And…if you get a bad hand of cards?" She asked.

Peter leaned back on his hands. "Well…then I guess we do the best we can with them. And if someone hits us with a plus two, maybe we'll get a good card out of it, even though it kinda sucks that it happened."

Alice hummed quietly, turning that over in her mind. She was coming down from her emotional high. Venom was still absent, giving her space.

For the next few minutes, her and Peter just stared out at New York. They watched the sun dip below the horizon from their apartment complex's rooftop, Peter leaning back and Alice with her legs hanging off the edge.

She eventually broke the silence. "You're pretty wise for your age, you know that?"

He glanced over at her, looking surprised, but it was quickly replaced with a smile. "Thanks."

Then, in unplanned but perfect unison:

"It's the trauma."

Peter cheered that someone remembered the joke from the late 2010s and Alice snickered, finally feeling relaxed.

[crashcitycentral]

Bart has DID theory

Aha this is a long one... Adding onto my post a little bit ago cause I was on the train and didn't have enough rant energy-

Bart has eidetic memory, or Hyperthymesia, or photographic memory, whatever works for you. He remembers everything he's ever read, seen, or heard, but in some of the comic strips, it's him being confused about a certain series or event that happened, like he didn't recall it almost, which is almost impossible due to his advanced memory. One of the most common symptoms of Dissociative Identity Disorder is memory gaps when in a different personality. You have no idea how excited I am about this cause I have DID and positive representation, yes please. When I find the comic strips I'm talking about I'll repost and add them in but I'm on a rampage rn. Not even sorry.

Bart is known to have mood swings throughout the entire Impulse series, where he gets grumpy or pouty, things like that, but that childish nature could actually be a personality. He could feel robbed of his childhood since he couldn't "live it" due to his situation growing up, so he creates an entire persona to live like a child in his teenage body. Everyone always brushes it off to him being "a speedster", and the fact that he is ALSO supposed to represent a character with Autism and his ADHD plus ADD, it all kinda adds up, because he switches into this person sometimes that's sarcastic and has a more bleak outlook. He still is always there for his friends, even if they underappreciate the HECK out of him, but it wouldn't make sense in the sense that he's silly only because of his Hyper-changing Autism. AUTISM ISN'T A PERSONALITY PEOPLE. Honestly? The excuse that it's because he's a speedster doesn't add up either. Being a speedster can make him bored easily and he has a hyperglycemia diet where he has to eat full meals every two hours, but it doesn't explain why he so suddenly shifts into entirely new moods. being moody is one thing, but being Bart is a whole new can of worm on strings.

I think one of the biggest things to show this is when Jerico shot his knee using the body of Deathstroke. Before the incident, he never wanted to take up Wally's mantle because he thought it was disrespectful and he didn't deserve it, but after he was shot he took no hesitation in taking up the suit. That entire comic screwed me over because: 1, no one touches my baby Bart. 2, everyone was so rude to him like 24/7?? To BART of all people. 3, that gunshot would've done a LOT more damage then what they diagnosed him. A SHOTGUN was TWO INCHES from his knee and blast him from that space and they gave him a prosthetic kneecap? Excuse me, there'd be nothing LEFT to ATTATCH IT TO, but that's a rant for another time. What I'm getting at here is he wanted to exact his revenge on Jerico, which is typical, I would too if someone capped my knee. But he read the ENTIRE SAN FRANSICO LIBRARY IN ONE SITTING!! Bart, who HATES sitting in one place reading anything that isn't a comic read an entire LIBARAY and not some normal one, this one was MASSIVE. He learned everything about the human nervous system and used it against Slade to his advantage, before it was revealed it was actually Jerico.

SO, he took on the Kid FLash mantle, something he said he wouldn't do. He read an entire library in one sitting, something he wouldn't noramlly do. He became incredibly serious about his mission, something he normally isn't. His kid Flash persona is not him. His trauma from the experience added with his stress must've forced a new one to form, since he already Had his "Impulse" persona it was easy.

Bart Allen has DID and no one can change my mind.

[forasecondtherewedwon]

first of all I LOVE your writing!

What about a prompt with Beth borrowing Benny’s clothes? (could be a little spicy but doesn’t need to be)

Thanks!

Strategies for the Advanced Player

Pairing: Beth Harmon/Benny Watts Rating: M Word Count: 1336

Summary: "No woman can compete with Benny's love for himself." - Cleo, The Queen's Gambit Benny leaves his things lying around. There has to be something there that'll make him look at Beth the way she wants him to.

She can’t take it any longer.

She thought, when she agreed to this arrangement, that they both understood it for what it was: a ruse. Was Benny’s impressive mental archive of match history something she could benefit from? Yes. Was Beth able to recognize him as a valuable resource? Yes. Was the training he offered, despite those acknowledgements, also just an easy façade for an inevitably carnal relationship? She fucking figured!

Two weeks he’s had her suffering. Two of the five before Paris. Staying in his apartment, drinking his coffee, and sleeping where? On an air mattress that smells like mildew and makes trying to get comfortable enough to sleep an experience equivalent to a child learning to ride a bike (not that anyone ever taught her)—just way too much wobbling side to side.

Maybe Benny does want to keep this professional. Maybe he thinks that much of himself, his stature in the chess world, his imperviousness to her beauty and charisma, his purity as a man truly devoted to chess and coaching a chosen protégé to victory. Bastard. He just might. Except that he can’t be that obtuse, Beth’s certain. She made him aware of her attraction to him and how does he respond? By wearing that fucking robe. Or sometimes no robe! No shirt! Yeah, it kinda brings back memories of her mom dressing way, way down around the house when her fickle husband was still jerking her (them, really, though Beth never felt like more than an observer of the situation or him) around, but that was different. Alma was at sea, depressed, unable to locate even the thinnest straw to grasp. Benny’s flaunting his partial nudity, Beth swears he is. It’s not about relaxing in his own home; it’s about torturing her.

She glares at his back every night he gives her that look and shuts himself in his bedroom. Privacy is a luxury in this dismal apartment and he heightens its appeal by colouring it coquettish. Every morning he emerges, sits across from her at the chessboard, adjusts his pieces—black or white, they alternate, the way the game should be played—with hovering hands and delicate shifts. Making Beth tense. Making Beth want to scream.

Benny’s home is like a vault within a vault. The awkward entry, the narrow trash-lined corridor. The heavy door, the bleak interior. Finally, the bedroom. She’s not sure if it’s her arrival that causes him to draw items of importance close to himself or if that’s how he’s always behaved, but week two cascades into week three and a pounding headache yields to the realization that he’s quit squirreling things away. Away in his room, away from her. Specific things. Copies of books he lectures her about and has always carried back to some secret shelf at the end of the day are suddenly left on the table. One night, Beth expresses an interest in taking a long, solitary walk soon and the next day, she wakes to hear Benny in the shower and find that he’s left her his key on the kitchen counter where she prepares her breakfast. The books and the key have made a transition and become pieces of their communal space. Is this trust? If not for him screwing with her vis-à-vis the robe, Beth would soften at the gesture. Too late.

He leaves his jacket and hat in the living room. The next morning, early, she slips the jacket on over her pink pajamas and slaps the hat onto her head. Clothes are identity—hers are, and so are his. Her mother embroidered a dress with her name and though she saw Mrs. Deardorff take it away to be burned, Beth never saw the fire. It might’ve been beautiful. For years, she wore lusterless browns and bruised blues, nothing ever new, everything the former garment of another orphan. Those were the colours and fabrics of loneliness. Since then, Beth’s only worn another person’s clothes for a particular reason: to feel close to Alma after her death. She dons Benny’s apparel with an eerie mix of that same solemnity and the helium-high humour of a clown. What can she say? The sexual tension’s got her slightly unhinged.

She remembers the interview. The implication of madness. She sits in Benny’s seat, facing his bedroom and wearing his clothes, and props her face delicately against the back of the fingers of both hands, like she does during some matches. Her fingernails touch, making a V below her chin. Unfortunately, her head’s drooping with sleepiness when Benny emerges, but she thinks he still gets the effect.

Halting the morning momentum that always propels him straight across the room to begin making coffee, he stares. He’s still doing it when Beth ceases yawning and blinking. Shirtless. Asshole.

“You want to explain what you’re doing?” he asks.

She glances down at herself. It’s really uncomfortable, sitting with so much jacket bunched up against her lower back. Why would he do this?

“Besides the obvious?” she checks. Benny’s expression says he’s ready to be amused, but he’s not there yet. She’ll need to lead him. “I’m trying a new strategy.”

“Osmosis?”

“Please don’t. I hope I’m not absorbing anything through this jacket. I’m just taking things a step further than reading your book.”

“The fact that you say that like it’s a logical progression worries me.”

Beth laughs, then remembers something.

“Oh!” she says, and holds up a finger before ducking her head and affixing the fake mustache. She raises her head. “Can’t believe I almost forgot.”

Now, Benny laughs.

“What… what is…?” he wheezes.

“I cut a couple strands off your broom. I’ll buy you a new one.”

She adjusts her straw mustache immediately because uttering the promise tilts it. The only glue she could find is very weak, still slick on her upper lip as she presses the straw against her skin.

“Don’t bother. I barely use it.”

Beth sneezes massively; her mustache is dusty.

“I can tell,” she says.

“Take that off,” he instructs, smiling and shaking his head fondly.

She peels the mustache away with a diluted sense of defeat and wipes the dab of glue off with a used napkin as Benny walks over to her. It’s the closest they’ve been—him standing next to the chair as she twists to look up at him. What she anticipates, when his arm twitches forward, is the eternal, fraternal shoulder squeeze. No. He cups her chin.

“What are you doing?”

“What are you doing?” she counters.

Gripping the chairback, he bends and kisses her. When he doesn’t hurry to withdraw, Beth slides her hands around his ribs, pressing her fingers to his back. He plucks the hat from her head while their eyes are closed.

“Take that off,” he mumbles against her mouth, then sneaks his tongue inside. The kissing grows heated and she stands, body curving readily with his, hands grasping the back of his neck.

“Is it because I’m dressed like you?” she asks the second his lips break away from hers. She opens her eyes to scrutinize his. “You are pretty obsessed with yourself.”

Benny smiles and watches her. He smooths her hair, then drops his hand to her shoulder. Pointedly, he looks down.

“Take that off.”

Beth huffs and lets go of his neck, pushing at the lapels of his leather jacket to slip back out of it, but Benny reaches for her hand. More than that; stills it, covers it, captures it.

“Ah,” he says, a guttural noise of correction. She hates that noise. He makes it when she gets sick of re-enacting historic matches and plays an original move instead. The sound is both stubborn and apologetic—Benny knows when he’s holding her back.

He lowers Beth’s hand to her side and leaves it hanging there. His come up to her chest, not to remove the jacket, but to undo the top button on her pajamas.

“The jacket—” she starts.

“—can wait,” he finishes.

[altarflame]

On Aging While Female

I’ve always felt pretty strongly that it’s ok to get old, that old women are beautiful in a really valid and striking way, blah blah blah. I still feel this way, but I am also 39 now, and I have some, uh, insights that I did not have yet when I was spouting this shit in my 20s.

For the record I don’t feel old. At all. I don’t feel like I look old, either. I have a lot of enthusiasm and energy and my sex drive takes up a massive lot of my consciousness for having so much else going on. I still get mistaken for my daughters’ sister pretty regularly, still have my patients assume I’m 10 years younger than I am fairly often. I’ve got a wide sense of possibility and of having a lot of life ahead of me, and I’ve got some perspective on 39 not even BEING old anyway, even if I 100% looked and felt it. I know too many hot, dynamic, interesting women in their 40s. They make it look good. They’re inspiring. I hope to do the same. 

But ALSO. I didn’t use to get it, that like, YEAH OK being 80 and looking 80? Fine. Wondrous even. I am all the way here for the Iris Apfel, the Baddie Winkle, the Burning Lotus. Screw plastic surgery etc etc.  ....but what about the transition? What about the starting to shift? This is the weird part, the struggle I didn’t really contemplate, the in between phase of like, appearing middle aged??? It involves things like, just looking tired to people. Someone assuming you’ve been sick when you haven’t. People thinking you look grumpy in a picture because of new lines that don’t go away. Realizing particular things that used to go away after being awake for awhile (like eye puffiness), are all-the-time things now.  For instance, I’ve always thought long white/gray hair was gorgeous. Fuck, it’s a trend now for younger people to dye their hair that way. What I didn’t grasp was that one of my favorite things about how I look, historically, is the contrast between my very dark hair and my much lighter skin, and that with all the white clustering right at the very front, I lose a lot of that contrast. It kinda washes me out, at least comparatively. And the white hair is like, wiry wild, and goes all over the place of it’s own accord, which sounds great except that I’m trying to be a professional at least some of the time, now - one who doesn’t wear makeup or go to a salon and who still bites my nails and will only wear flats. So the fuzzy white hairs framing my forehead are not helping anything.

And so I started thinking, man, it would give me some polished cred, and it would bring that deep contrast back, to do something about this. Which is how I ended up slathering dark purple overtone on the front of my hair every few weeks - which works great by the way, all my white hairs turn dark purple and my still-dark hairs (which is the vast majority of my hairs) aren’t effected. It blends together invisibly indoors, but then the dyed hairs shine purple in sunlight. This has been going on for about a year now. It’s a good bridge between my personal aesthetics and my “part of a company” role, as a solution. The indian grandmother down the street from my last house? STUNNING with her brown skin and white hair. Truly. She had a Noxzema commercial kinda glamour that always struck me as she worked in her yard. It’s a different kind of contrast and one I can imagine rocking decades from now. Again, though, that is like.... finished? It’s not the in between place, of having 1/6 (or whatever) of dark hair be white, having them loose and randomized throughout and each bending away from the rest at odd angles. My (younger, did I mention) boyfriend is super into salt and pepper hair, he acted a little disappointed (in an encouraging, “it’s your hair” way) when I started the purple thing, and that’s something I appreciate but also I ACTUALLY RECOILED against the term “salt and pepper” and had never applied it to myself before it came out of his supportive mouth? God love him? That’s a Nana and Pa term, way back in my memory. Did I mention that my 33 year old boyfriend (not THAT much younger) works with a bunch of 19-22 year old women (....)? I’m secure enough that I’m objective, I talk about who’s hot with him, I feel like they seem young - to both of us - much more often than I feel like I seem old. 

But it still makes me think about all of this more often than I would otherwise, which even in a neutral way, can turn sigh-worthy. Like his coworkers don’t have anything to do with me, but if he worked with people our ages (or older coworkers, like I mostly do) I wouldn’t be pondering all this so often because it just wouldn’t come up. Most of my friends are either exactly my age or 5-10 years older than me. And then there’s the one who’s in her 70s   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Like the other day one of his coworkers told him about a local 35 and under kink group, and luckily he automatically feels like he’d feel predatory being part of some fetish scene where he’s 33 and a bunch of the women are 18-25. But I was still double-taking inside myself for a moment, like excuse me, there are local kink groups I am too old to be a part of? Excuse the fuck out of me? 

Note: I do not want to participate in local kink groups anyway. 

It’s weirdly difficult to be comfortable with The Middle Part. Personally. That I can still look just like I did 7-10 years ago, IF I’ve been eating all the right things, getting plenty of sleep, it’s late in the day, and I’ve had sex recently; BUT that nobody at my job has ever seen that version of my face, because what I look like when I have to get up early and show up to print something is real goddamned different. And not what I want to be like, stuck with all the time, soon? But it is what it is. And it isn’t TERRIBLE, it’s just, thought provoking enough that I’m making this post. While glops of purple overtone sit on my head. FYI this stuff is great, it smells like mint and is deep conditioning, I really recommend it. It’s expensive if you have to wash your hair often, but I only wash my curls every few days anyway - and I’m really only using the overtone on the front - so it works out fine for me. 

It’s strange to try to OWN a transitional time, to try to identify as a stage that signifies certain losses, and tends to make most people feel like they’re trying to “hold on” to various things. I’m pretty good about taking one day at a time. Being where and how I am. But I’m also gonna be, like, real sad when my titties drop. It’s almost a source of stress that they’re still amazing, because, you know, one of these times that my weight fluctuates they’re not gonna bounce back the same way. I assume. I have known a lot of moms who accepted and even promoted the normality of saggy post-nursing boobs, and that’s cool, but mine never sagged, and I’m real spoiled about it.  It’s been a tepid surprise, that I think I look waaaaaay older in my business casual clothing, than I do in my personal clothing. It makes me not ever want to be seen out in work clothes unless I’m working. And that’s partially about struggling with “professional identity,” in general, but still.

Anyway - thus concludes my pondering, for today. Feel free to weigh in with messages or submissions if you feel so moved. 

[howtodisassembleyourdeviant]

Be My Garden of Eden Ch.3

I kinda screwed up. I didn't realize it, but I ended the last chapter too early, so this is more like ch. 2.5, but I'll just post it as it's own and call it good. I'm still new to Tumblr, and I have to use my phone, so if the format keeps changing or I do weird things, it's because I don't know what the f*ck I'm doing. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!!!

.....

He didn't want to disturb you, so he left, moving to the couch. Turning on the tv, he flipped through the channels, ensuring the volume was low. A cooking show popped up and he paused. An older woman promoting independence from androids giving step by step instructions on how to make crepes. He watched with rapt attention, the end result looks quite beautiful. It seemed simple enough.

An idea occurred to him. He moved to the kitchen, forming a list of ingredients he would need. He was... Giddy. He had never cooked before. It wasn't a program required for a sex android, particularly one from such a low-grade shack as Mimosa. He was happy to discover you were fully stocked, quickly finding all the items and tools he would require.

You awoke the next morning, a jarring sound waking you. Jumping up, you almost ran out without a top on, rushing to throw on your robe.

"Connor? Are you alright?" You looked around the living room, seeing no sign of the android. Hearing another banging sound, you rounded to the kitchen, peeking inside.

"Wow." You gaped. Your kitchen was an absolute mess. What looked like pancake batter was splattered everywhere, a large puddle on the floor, and from the skidmark in it, you'd guess the sound that woke you up was Connor falling. You could see the scorchmark around one of the burners, baking soda adding to the mess on the floor and counters. Good to know you could have burned to death in your sleep. The pan in question lay abandoned in the sink, doused in the white powder and still smoking a bit.

Connor stood by the stove, just as messy as your kitchen, batter all down the right side of his jeans. Guilt made him look far too much like a kicked puppy, head down with his doe-eyes staring up at you through his long lashes. Next to him was a plate of crepes, in various states, some looked undercooked, while others were completely burnt. The best looking ones were on a separate plate, topped with strawberries and whipped cream.

"I'm sorry, I promise I'll-"

"Looks tasty," you giggled. His eyes shifted up, "did you make it for me?" You gestured to the plate.

"Uh, y-yes, I did," stammering, he handed you the plate.

"Thank you," you grabbed a fork and moved to the small breakfast nook. He watched with bated breath as you took your first bite. He relaxed when you hummed happily.

"This is really good, thank you, Con!" You really were surprised, considering the mess. His cheeks tinted a light shade of blue. Was he... Is that how androids blush? It looks absolutely adorable on him.

"I'm happy you enjoy it," he beamed, solidifying his puppy appearance in your mind. If he had a tail, it'd be wagging. You're not sure what you're enjoying more, the food or the sight of the delighted android. It's definitely a great way to wake up in the morning.

You couldn't help but wonder if this is how couples felt in the company of their lover, but you quickly stopped that train of thought. He's not staying. You can't afford for him to stay, and even if you could, he would go to Canada to start a new life. Without you. Still, it's nice to dream.

You ate while he cleaned the mess. you offered to take over from there, since he did cook for you, but he adamantly denied. Letting you clean would completely undo what he was trying to do. Not to mention, he was certain that, at your height, you would not be able to reach the splatters on the roof. You laughed when you noticed. How did he even manage that?

"You might want to clean yourself up as well," you jested, trying not to laugh at how the crepe mix kept dripping from his hair onto anything he was cleaning. he glanced down at himself, seeming to have just noticed how filthy he was, grimacing. The showers at the club were more identical to high-pressure decontamination chambers and lately it's been bothering his synthetic skin. He tries not to be in there any longer than necessary, but this might take longer to remove. When he just stood there, you sighed.

"Come on, there's still a couple hours left," you dragged him to the shower, "just leave your clothes outside the door. Hope you don't mind my girly soaps," you chuckled as you shut the door.

He stood, baffled for a moment, before he scanned the bathroom. He often wondered if the other androids felt the need to scan a room every time they entered one, or if it was none of their concern. Still, he took in the multicolored bottles of various bathroom supplies, noting nothing of significance.

He began to strip, realizing he could see himself in the mirror. He looked over his body, seeing the many imperfections along his skin. They were healed as well as they could be, but there were still marks, synthetic skin raised in a similar way to scar tissue, but tinted in a way that hid them well, at least, until they were touched. The most recent one, a strike to his hip, was still healing, the white chassis visible. Tentatively, he touched it, flinching away from his own fingers as a jolt of unpleasant tingles shot out from the wound. Pain. Why could he feel pain? He tore his attention away from it, pushing his fear away. He can't think about it now. It was too… real. He can't make it real.

Connor turned his attention to his face, bringing up the memory of your painting. He looked similar to the man, but where the man's eyes held a sense of serenity, his own looked empty, devoid of something. How could you see anything in such a vacant stare?

Looking at himself, he finds, is ruining the illusion. He was making things real when all he wants to do is pretend that this was his life. That there was no outside world. No Club Mimosa. No humans using him as a sex toy. No owner beating him. Just him and you, watching cartoons. He turned away from the mirror.

Just him and you.

When he exited the shower, smelling wholly of you, something he quite enjoyed, he realized he had no clothes. You had taken them to be washed after he left them outside of the bathroom. He tried knocking on the door, but you didn't answer. You were a modest person, so he figured you would not appreciate him walking out naked. He took a towel, noting its small size, and wrapped it around his waist before walking out. After a quick search, he found you rummaging around your closet.

"Y/n?" You jumped.

"Shit! I didn't hear you…" your voice trailed off as you twirled to look at him, coming face to face with six-foot of dripping android, muscular chest bare for the world to see. Your cheeks flared and your mouth suddenly felt parched. You turned away, returning to your search. Connor would be lying if he said he didn't like how flustered you looked.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's fine," your voice was a tad jittery.

After a moment, you called "Ah-Haa!" Holding up a large pair of sweatpants, far too large for yourself.

"Some of my last roommate's clothes were thrown in one of my moving boxes. They should fit you, at least until your clothes are done in the wash." You tossed him the sweats and a sweater you had already placed on the side, finally emerging from the closet. "You go ahead and get dressed, I gotta make a phone call." He nodded, watching as your cheeks flushed again while you made your exit.

The material was soft on his skin, and he didn't feel constricted as he had in his android labeled clothes. The sweater was quite large on him, but he liked it, how it hung off him, burying him in its softness. The odd stripes on it were rather jarring, but the individual pigments are pleasant.

"…later on tonight. Thanks." You hung up the phone. "Well, I can't afford another night, but you don't have to go running off once your clothes are done." He smiled. Just a little longer. He doesn't have to break the illusion just yet.

"Thank you," it was all he could think to say, but it didn't come anywhere close to how much he truly appreciated what you were doing for him.

"It's no problem. I wish I could offer you better," the last sentence was said under your breath as you looked away, towards the window. "Wanna see the fish? I forgot to feed them yesterday, so they must be quite hungry."

He wanted to tell you how much this time with you meant to him. Every moment cherished. If he had to suffer a thousand beatings just to get one more minute with you, it would be worth it. You made him feel different. You made him feel…

Alive.

But, even as the words burned his tongue in their desperation to leave his lips, he only smiled, following you to the backyard.

The afternoon was spent enjoying the early autumn sun, watching the brightly colored fish, dashing to their meal, or simply floating along, letting the food come to them. There were even a couple of turtles, sunning themselves on the rocks. It was tranquil, like a dream.

And like all dreams, he had to wake up sometime.

The setting sun marked his time to leave, exchanging the comfort of your sweater for his stiff android uniform. You gave him a pouch of thirium, figuring he could find a way to hide it, before hugging him. You held on so tightly, hands clinging to him harder than the last time. He held on for as long as he could before breaking away, feeling an ache in his chest.

[popatochisssp]

... Do any of the skelemens have weird little ticks and fidgets?

Ohhh, I like this one, so even though headcanons are still closed...

Yes, they do! The Papyri engage in them a little more often than the Sanses, but everybody’s got a few weird things they do when they’re spacing out or feel compelled to!

Sans (Undertale): Y’know how his hands are always in his pockets? Well, sometimes when they’re in there, he just sorta starts...pulling at the fuzzies and lint-balls. From time to time, he’ll make a little game out of it, trying to see how big of a lint-conglomerate he can make before it falls out or he wants to start over. He’s always a little disappointed somewhere in the back of his mind when he scours the seams of his pockets and can’t actually find anything to pull.

Papyrus (Undertale): Any kind of handheld puzzle or fidget toy is golden in his eye-sockets! He likes to keep his hands busy, and with objects like that, there’s already a task built in-- solve a Rubik’s, unlink a chain, put these pieces together, just a little something extra to help hone his already laser-like focus. He tries to keep at least one on him all the time and will play around with it in quiet moments or during conversation. He’s great at multitasking!

Sky (Underswap Sans): If he happens to have a pen or pencil in his hand, be prepared to see some flips and twirls ‘cause he’s probably gonna start in on it without even thinking. Any moment he’s holding a writing utensil and not actively writing with it, you’re gonna see a trick. If you asked him, he’d tell you it’s good for dexterity training...and also pretty fun! He could teach you, if you wanted!

Paps (Underswap Papyrus): Bounce leg. 90% of the time he does it, he’s not even consciously aware that he’s doing it, and the other 10%, he’s aware but just can’t quite make himself stop. Maybe it’s pent up energy coming out however it can? ...Or maybe it’s just bounce leg.  Who knows? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Jasper (Underfell Sans): His is more of a nervous tic, one he only really does when he’s stressed out or upset or not sure what’s going on. He’s a hem-picker, sleeves, shirts, jackets, anything with a seam on his person is subject to being caught in his claws and fiddled with until he relaxes or until he notices himself doing it and forcibly stops. He doesn’t really like it because it’s both a sign of weakness that could be picked up on by somebody else and it has a chance of ripping his own clothes-- annoying.

Pyre (Underfell Papyrus): He’s a finger-tapper. He’s both noticed and actually made great use of this habit. Depending on a situation, he’ll speed it up or slow it down to get the best reaction out of subordinates-- if they hear his claws clacking fast, they know they better hurry the hell up with whatever they’re doing, and if they’re clicking slow and pointed, they know somebody’s in real big fuckin’ trouble. When he’s alone or at home, though, it tends to be a tempo somewhere in the middle, done just because.

Mal (Swapfell Sans): He rolls coins across his knuckles sometimes, back and forth. It looks purely idle, just showing off a bit, but actually he likes to keep his sleight of hand sharp and practiced. He won’t admit to anything, but he’s picked his fair share of pockets back in the day, before he was old enough to get a real job and he could make that coin disappear in the blink of an eye if he wanted, no shortcuts or real magic involved. Never know when a skill like that could come back in handy...

Rus (Swapfell Papyrus): He chews things. He’s not a rough biter, sharp as his teeth are, and most of his victims are just his own art supplies that he happened to be holding long enough and spaced out for a bit only to find himself gnawing thoughtlessly on the thing in his hand. Almost all of his pencils have visible bite-marks on them, but he tries to contain himself to those. Markers are expensive, and it is no fun when a pen explodes in your mouth and the ink stains everything-- your face included. Talk about embarrassing...

Slate (Horrortale Sans): If you ever catch him spacing out and he’s not full-on dissociated, you may notice his mouth moving like he’s talking, but he’s dead silent. It looks kinda scary from the outside (because he looks kinda scary on the outside), but what he’s actually doing is just reciting jokes in his head, trying to see how well he can remember the punchlines. Comedy is a big part of his identity and his memory and sense of timing getting screwed up with that blow to the head was pretty hard on him, so he likes to try and commit the easy jokes and puns with repetition. That way if the opportunity for one comes up, a chance to get a quick laugh, he can actually seize it instead of...y’know, thinking of the perfect joke, but five minutes too late when the conversation has already changed.

Papy (Horrortale Papyrus): He touches his mouth a lot-- sometimes to tap his fingers against his teeth, sometimes just to rest them there, or by his jaw, but never entirely consciously. He often does it when he’s thinking or can’t quite figure something out. If you asked, he might hazard a guess that it’s because his teeth have been through a lot: they were one way, and then another broken way, and now they’re pretty much back to normal after a whole lot of dental work, but a lot went on there! It’s...a focal point, of sorts, a place to touch that just feels normal and instinctive at this point, so it’s probably not going to change anytime soon.

[wheremytwinwatches]

[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 9

Hey, no narrator explaining the Alchemy basics this time, just straight into the intro song? Last time, the Elrics broke into the Fifth Lab, encountered two Soul Armors, and Pudgy the Jerk made Al wonder about his free will. Here’s hoping that we fix these worries this episode.

Episode 09 - “Created Feelings” Annoyed Ed is Annoyed, scowling in his hospital bed. Ross and Brosh try to stay positive, but have to admit to Ed that the Lab’s kinda gone the same way as the library. And Ed can’t even get properly mad about that, he’s so beat up. So close to finding out the truth… Wait, what are you two apologizing for? If anything Ed’s the one who should be apologizing for running- OH! Ed done just got slapped by Ross, who’s calling him a selfish child, who doesn’t have to do everything by himself. Thanks for knocking some sense into the boy, Ross! Ross and Brosh maintain their professional demeanor (did they rehearse this earlier, their performance is spot on), right up until Ed admits he had it coming and they collapse in relief. Oh hey, explanation that SA’s are equivalent to major, like you guys said. Ed lets them know they don’t have to act so professional around him. Um, but maybe a bit more professional than that? Where’s Al in all this? He got his lecture earlier (and Brosh was the attempted slapper). And speaking of lectures… Uh oh. Ed’s gotta call Winry, tell her that his arm’s busted already. Immediately she remembers that loose screw. Whoops! Still ticked off that Ed got in another fight, but she recovers quickly and makes plans to head for Central. [Brosh]: “Aw, was that your girlfriend?” [Ed]: “My girlfriend? No way!” Yeah, just keep telling yourself that, buddy. Brosh wheels Ed back to the room since Ed’s busted up his stomach injury again, idly trying to talk girls with Annoyed Ed. Oh hey, there’s Al! Whatcha doing in the dark, buddy? Ugh, Al’s still brooding over what Pudgy said. And in a moment of cosmic irony, some kid’s robot toy walks right into him. Seeing an example of what we know he used to be, and what Pudgy said that he is… Damn it. I don’t wanna consider it. But do we know for sure that Pudgy’s wrong? I mean, we saw kid-Alphonse up until he was consumed in the Human Transmutation. And we’ve seen other examples of Soul Armor with Pompous and Pudgy. But do we know for sure that there was continuation of consciousness? You have to admit, it’s possible that Soul Armors create an impression of a person, formulate an identity based on the thoughts of the binder. Al’s thinking of his little brother when he does the binding, and the resulting suit of armor acts like his brother used to. The executioners think about the murderers that they are hanging, and that carries over to the new guards. We haven’t even had a non-Armor perspective of Al, even. I just can’t discount the possibility. At the train station, Winry’s complaining about the seats, wondering how Ed and Al can take so many trips. Looking around the West Exit, she should see someone she recogni- oh hey Armstrong! That was easy enough. But she’s still looking around? Uh oh. She doesn’t understand why the Elric Brothers aren’t there as well. Now Winry’s freaking out at the hospital, staring at the heavily-bandaged Ed even as he snarks that she’ll probably charge him an express service fee. To which she says she won’t charge anything, she didn’t do a good enough job last time? Woof. While she mopes, the others look pointedly at Ed, who starts frantically insisting it’s not her fault. Winry realizes that Ed never noticed the missing screw, really thinks that it’s all his fault. So she’s off the hook! What a relief, now she can treat him like normal! Cue her setting out express fee, chiding him for not drinking his milk, Ed whining that he doesn’t wanna, The Mighty Armstrong being VERY DISPLEASED with Ed’s attitude - yay, we’re back to happy times! But Al was looking through the door, just closed it and walked away. Boo, give me back my happy times! As Winry works on the arm, Ed talks about how Al’s been acting odd lately (Winry takes the opportunity to sneak the missing screw into the repairs). Al’s back in the Shadowed Hallway, looking into a mirror, shattering a mirror with barely any effort.

Repairs are done, Ed’s thanking Winry for the work- Sudden Civilian-dress!Hughes! [Hughes]: “Yo, Ed, my boy! Is it true that you brought a pretty blonde girl into your room to service you?” [Ed]: “*faceplant* She’s my automail mechanic that’s all! Nothing more!” [Hughes]: “Oh… I see. You’ve seduced your mechanic, have you?” Oh jeez. Hope you’re good at dodging, Hughes. I’m pretty sure Winry has a wrench with your name on it. Or rather he’ll just enthusiastically shake her hand. And Ed can’t just tell him to go do his work, he pushed it all off to poor Sheska. But good news, Ed and Al shouldn’t have to be under guard too much longer!... Winry is not to pleased to hear about this “bodyguard” business. Did you seriously not explain how your arm got obliterated before? Nope, he didn’t tell her then, and his stubborn attitude means all he’ll say now is that it “doesn’t concern her”. Jeez, Ed. You don’t make it easy to be your friend. Winry packs up and says that she’ll see him tomorrow, she’s got to find someplace to stay for the night. Oh hey, a new houseguest for Hughes! Brace yourself for photo-albums, Winry. Actually, forget photo albums! How about a whole birthday party for Elicia! (Dang, should have seen this episode yesterday). Congrats on three years! Oh my Leto, the whole “I’m two….. No, I’m three!” is stupidly adorable. NO WAIT even the Narrator just chuckled when doing the halfway “Fullmetal Alchemist” cards! Hurk!

Later that night, Winry’s talking about how she’s known the Elric Brothers for a long time, they’re like her brothers (well, maybe Al. NO I WILL NOT LET THIS SHIP GO). But they don’t talk to her, even when it’s clear things are bothering them. Hughes talks about how guys try to talk through actions rather than words, try not to burden others with their pain. But when a time comes that they do ask for help, Hughes knows that Winry will be there for them. As they finish talking, we get a sweet scene of some little boys asking to play with Elicia… and then arguing about who she wants to play with. Aw, quite the heartbreaker alre- Hughes put the gun down! Quieter actions Hughes, quieter actions! Next morning, Winry’s saying her goodbyes even as the family extend their hospitality. Elicia even huuuuuuurk nope nope too cute, clutching Winry’s sleeve. Hughes remarks that they could be sisters- [Elicia]: “Sissy! Be safe, ok? And come back and visit me real soon!”

At the hospital, Ed is shocked... to encounter milk with his food again. Al tries getting him to drink it, saying that he has “a living body that needs nourishment” (still thinking about Pudgy). Ed just offhandedly remarks that he won’t do it if he doesn’t want to, that he has grown some even if others, like Hughes and Winry who are arriving, keep calling him pipsqueak. [Ed]: “I wish I was like you, Al. You’ve got such a big body now.” [Al]: ”It’s not like I asked for this body, brother!” Oh jeez. It’s coming to a head. Ed starts apologizing, saying that he’ll get Al back in his real body soon. But Al’s not having any of it, yelling that Ed always says that, that he can’t believe anything when he’s stuck in this body, that memories are just scraps of information that can be made up as easily as anything else. Al thinks he knows now what Ed was afraid to tell him. That Al’s soul and memories are artificial constructions that Ed created. Ed slams his hands on the table. Then asks if Al’s finished talking. Then quietly gets up and walks out of the room. Al… Ed… WINRY! Hoo boy, Winry is pissed, smacking Al around with her wrench. I mean, Al did just accuse her, Granny, and Ed of lying to him. Oh. But she’s not upset about that. She’s upset because she knows what Ed was going to say: That he wanted to ask Al if he blames him for what happened to his body. Flashback to injured Ed at the Rockbell’s crying that Al lost his body, it’s all his fault. Al can’t eat, sleep, feel… how could he forgive the one who was supposed to protect him? Granny insists that Al doesn’t feel that way, that if Ed just asks he’ll know the truth. But Ed’s too afraid. Winry keeps striking Al, crying that even as Ed harbored those doubts, Al came and accused him of creating a fake brother just to control. And Winry ask who could do something like that, risk their life to create a fake brother. … That depends, Winry. To create a puppet? No one. To try and bring back what was lost, even if was ‘fake’? … moving on. For now, Winry orders Al to go after his brother. Up on the roof, Ed’s leaning on the railing, Al standing in the doorway. He goes to speak, but Ed cuts him off. [Ed]: “You know somethin', Al… We haven’t had a good fight in a while. I’m starting to get flabby.” The slippers come off. Ed charges, kicking and punching even as Al tells him to stop, that his wounds aren’t healed enough for a spar. Then, sheet to the face! While Al’s blinded, Ed knocks him down, declaring that he’s won. Hey, this would be the first match he’s ever beaten Al in, right? Even though Al argues that it wasn’t a fair fight. Heh. Ed reminisces on how they’ve fought since they were little, over some very stupid things. Like who got the top and bottom bunks? Um excuse you, who gets the top bunk is not stupid thank you very much. And don’t get me started on candy or toys. I’ve had to defend my stuff against a twin and a little brother, that is srus bizness!

[Al]: “We even fought over which one of us would marry Winry someday.” [Ed, panicked]: “What?! I don’t remember that one!” [Al]: “I won the fight… but she shot me down.” [Ed, nonchalant]: “Oh… did she?” Ed challenges Al to discount all those memories as lies, or his determination to regain his body. They’re in this together, remember? They’ll make themselves stronger, faster and better until they get their bodies back. Even if it means they have to drink the dreaded milk. *shudder* As the brothers fist-bump, Hughes and Winry look on from the doorway. (Please, please tell me she heard about their previous fights). Winry remarks that one doesn’t have to always hear something out loud, but it is helpful sometimes. Now, to put Ed back to bed and get some proper rest! [Strong Winds]? Heat-wave desert with a white flag? Oh hey, it’s Scar! [Scar]: “My brother…” Wait. What? Scar has a brother? Oh good grief. First we get the Slicer brothers, now we learn that Scar has/had a brother too?! I swear, and I thought RWBY was bad with sisters. Well anyways, not just his brother, Scar mentions his Master too, saying they’re all gone. Aftermath of the genocide? Sudden intruder! Hey, it’s Smiley/Kimblee, that guy who’s in jail now. He identifies himself as a State Alchemist send to exterminate the sector. He Transmutes from circles drawn on his hands- Scar wakes up, bandaged and under a blanket. A small red-eyed boy cheerfully notes he’s awake, and an older white-haired man tells Scar that he’s in a slum outside East City. Guessing they’re all Ishvalan? Little Kid says that Scar shouldn’t move, they found him floating in the sewers badly injured. Remembering his fight with the Goths, Scar asks if he still has his right arm and oh my gosh are you serious? We’ve already got the brother parallels, you really gonna make him lose an arm to be a more blatant counterpart to Ed? Oh, nevermind, he’s still got it. Lots of tattoos… gift from his family? Post-credits! [Narrator]: “A good friend became a comrade in arms, and over time his presence was taken for granted.” ...wait, what? “Although the future they once dreamed of became bleaker than they had ever imagined, this good friend was always there by his side, where he belonged.” Show. Show, no. NO. Stop implying what I think you’re implying! “Next time, on Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood-” OH SWEET LETO NO NO NO THAT WAS LUST’S SILHOUETTE NO NO NO Episode 10 - “Separate Destinations” “A friend whose presence comes as naturally as breathing can never be replaced.” NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 223: Let Me Give You a Hand

Previously on BnHA: Tomura had a flashback to when he first met All for One. AFO told him he’d spontaneously developed a rare quirk which led to him accidentally killing his entire family and his adorable dog. Baby Tenko was able to recall “fragmented images” of the incident but curiously has no clear memories of his life beforehand. But I’m sure AFO isn’t lying, him being such a stand up guy with no obvious ulterior motives here. Anyway so we also found out that the hands are supposedly all that’s left of Tomura’s family, if anyone actually buys that. And Ujiko is the one that made them. Ujiko, as it turns out, doesn’t really plan to withhold the Noumus and everything from Tomura, but he does want Tomura to prove he’s ready to handle them, and to do that he wants him to go back and win over Gigantomachia. Tomura was all “okay fine” and so Ujiko teleported him back along with the rest of the Shigaraki Squad, except for Dabi who didn’t wanna (he’d rather antagonize Hawks instead). So that’s where we’re at now. Oh and I almost forgot, but Tomura wants to destroy everything, like the whole fucking world, because he feels like that might help to ease his constant inner pain and torment. So that’s nice. What a nice chapter.

Today on BnHA: We fast-forward to mid-December. Tomura and the gang have been dueling Gigantomachia near-ceaselessly for the past month and a half. Giganto can fight for a full 48 hours (and 44 minutes) at a time without rest, so the Squad has been taking it in shifts, but since Tomura is Giganto’s main target he’s been fighting almost constantly. He seems to be in good spirits, though, and is confident they’re making progress. Anyway, so shortly after Giganto’s scheduled nap begins, Twice gets a call from Giran! Or rather, Re-Destro, calling from Giran’s phone, to brag about having kidnapped Giran. Apparently he’s been keeping busy by chopping off Giran’s fingers. Ramsay Bolton-ing it, if you will. He’s been leaving them at strategic locations across the country trying to get the League’s attention, but his buddies finally managed to hack Giran’s phone and get his contact info, so it turns out the finger-chopping wasn’t strictly necessary. So he explains who he is and what he’s about, says there are 116,516 members of the Liberation Army spread throughout the nation (did you do a fucking census?!), and explains that they have a satellite tracking Tomura’s location. He then delivers an ultimatum: come and fight, or be captured by the authorities.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my mostly-unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’m caught up with the manga now at chapter 226, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

so the title of this chapter is “cockroach”, which could mean anything, but is most likely being used in the “pesky little bugger who’s obnoxiously hard to kill” sense. Tomura are you the cockroach. who is the cockroach. hmm

(ETA: yeah I still don’t know. whatever)

anyway so now it’s mid-December...! holy shit what, we’re caught up?

actually, scratch that, we’re ahead of where we were before because our last update was “early December, Sunday morning” on the day of Shouto and Katsuki’s provisional license retest. shit. Tomura I’m gonna need you to stop whatever it is you’re doing and go on your phone and look up articles about the purse snatchers who were stopped by the two young heroes who placed first and second in the U.A. sports festival earlier this year. specifically I need you to find out for me what Kacchan’s fucking hero name is omfg. can you do that

Tomura. Tomura, focus

...

okay I can see that you’re busy right now. wow. okay, uh

so lol this guy’s been at it for a month?? more or less? do I have that right? Tomura how the fuck are you still alive. you really are a cockroach

also did Giganto just fucking snap you in two here or

oh I should have known

hahaha they’re so cute!

I’m honestly amazed they haven’t fucking quit. they’re still at it. this is one loyal bunch of bastards. and Tomura is showing more dogged perseverance than I ever expected him to be capable of. makes me sad for what could have been, honestly

why doesn’t Compress just compress him. you’re telling me he hasn’t managed to touch him once in the however many weeks that they’ve been at this? or maybe he has and that’s how they’ve managed to survive this long lol

anyways, so Giganto is all “WEAK!” again and now he’s doing this

so maybe that’s why Compress hasn’t been able to touch him. he got that DBZ battle aura shit going on

(ETA: he’s kinda giving me All Might vibes, actually. Deku you wanna take a crack at this?)

meanwhile Spinner and Toga are watching from a safe distance like smart people

Toga says it looks like Tomura’s in trouble, and Spinner’s all “same as always then”

also Spinner has changed out of his Stain cosplay at long last and I don’t know what to make of this you guys

this is a shockingly normal look. a hoodie and a fucking jacket. I’m just... I’m still processing this. okay you win this round Spinner

so he’s explaining for those who aren’t paying attention to the timeline that it’s been more than a month and a half since Tomura was tasked with getting Gigantomachia to chill out, and he has still not chilled out

holyyyyyyy shit

I have to assume Spinner is exaggerating things here for the sake of drama because Tomura would fucking be dead. or else he’d have quit by the second day. screw destroying the world, I’m gonna take up knitting or something

I seriously can’t believe this shit though? was this part of AFO’s plan also? talk about a way to level up your protege in record time. either he dies or he becomes the strongest bitch who ever lived. has AFO been sneaking peeks at U.A.’s lesson plans

holy shit

wow they really are true ride or dies. also Dabi 100% had the right idea. best decision you ever made Touya

but seriously though Tomura should be dead. forget just sleeping, when is he eating and drinking? are the others going on coffee and bagel runs on their breaks? are you telling me Tomura’s been fighting this guy for the past 40 days all doped up on caffeine with only cup ramen to sustain him and running on 9 days’ worth of sleep spread out over six weeks wtf. he should be dead from exhaustion or else a fucking heart attack

holy shit Horikoshi actually explained how their broke asses didn’t just up and starve to death though omg

they got an allowance awww

also Toga is still the cutest and my favorite and fuck yeah girl you tell him though. nobody wants to be running around in the woods in fucking December without a fucking coat, Spinner

interesting that she’ll steal a bikini but not a jacket lol. nah we’re paying for that like good honest citizens

holy shit Spinner you’re still having your identity crisis?

I can’t decide if Horikoshi is setting things up to have him jump ship and join Detnerat (what with him feeling increasingly disillusioned with the League, and Destro’s philosophy being something that would almost certainly appeal to someone with his quirk and history), or purposely trying to make it seem like he is so that he can subvert everyone’s expectations and have him unexpectedly remain loyal to Tomura at the critical moment. kinda like what happened when Katsuki got captured. right now I’m leaning more to him defecting though; I think that plot would open up a lot more possibilities story-wise

(ETA: after reading Toga’s latest chapter I’ve swung back around on this. the Liberation Army is full of fucking phonies who don’t practice what they preach. look at how Kizuki was trying to make Toga into a martyr for their cause. I feel like Spinner would be able to see through their bullshit. hopefully.)

by the way you guys has Ochako always been on this list or is this a recent development??

and I love you, Toga! even though this in no way even comes close to answering Spinner’s question though! it’s okay it was foolish of him to ask

(ETA: so apparently she loves Ochako because she ships her and Deku! this is one of the most relatable things in this manga to date.)

lol

hush you that’s what makes her so perfect

and now I guess some time is passing and now they’re finally getting to take a break!

you know, that’s a good point about him eating. he’s gotta power himself up somehow. all quirks have a limit, we’ve known that since very early on. at some point Giganto has to reach his, right?

holy shit you guys

I just got some strong Katsuki vibes coming off of our resident crazyboy here and I need a moment to process this. damn. that’s some powerful character development from a guy whose signature move up till this point was sitting on a couch

Spinner’s watching him and thinking that Tomura’s gaze looks like that of “a young boy chasing his dreams”

yeah, his dream of destroying the whole world and everything in it. so pure

oh FUCK

YOUR BOY GIRAN WHO’S CURRENTLY BEING HELD BY DETNERAT?? THAT GIRAN? UH

lol Compress is telling Twice to ask if his robot arm is insured. Giran has bigger things to worry about than your arm dude. if this even is Giran calling and Giran isn’t fucking dead, since we do know this series isn’t above killing people off every now and then, and we had quite the disturbing image of what looked like a finger lying on what was apparently Giran’s signature scarf in the last chapter

Twice is saying that Giran is a real good guy and that he looked out for Twice even after he joined the League

ffffff he really is fucking dead huh

lmao but because it’s Twice he then immediately shouts at Giran for being an asshole and not answering Compress’s calls

OH FUCK

FUCK ME YOU GUYS GIRAN WAS FUCKING TORTURED TO DEATH. HOW THE FUCK DOES THIS SERIES KEEP ESCALATING ITS LEVELS OF HARDCORE WHEN IT COMES TO VILLAINS

so Compress is stupidly asking if Giran’s using a voice changer, but Twice has already conned on to what’s going on

oh fuck oh shit oh fucking shit

Compress is immediately whipping out his phone

OH FUSCK

JUST VILLAIN THINGS

fuck me this fucking series not pulling any punches. “what timeslot does the anime currently run in, again?” Horikoshi asks absentmindedly while he proceeds to not give a flying fuck one way or the other

ksdjlfkjw jesus fucking christ

IS THIS FUCKING GAME OF THRONES??! are you fucking for real with this shit??! AND SURE, WHY NOT, LET’S JUST DRAW THE FUCKING FINGER JUST LYING THERE ON THE SIDEWALK

BREAKING NEWS, JUST ANNOUNCED, SEASON 5 OF THE RUNAWAY ANIME HIT “MY HERO ACADEMIA” TO AIR EXCLUSIVELY ON HBO

oh hold up lol there’s more

well fuck me y’all if that ain’t a whole fucking hand

and fuck me also because the site of All Might’s last stand against AFO in Kamino is officially known as Ground Zero and it’s commemorated with a fucking statue and everything. my Kacchan hero name theory is decimated, Ground Zero as Kacchan’s hero name is fucking confirmed and if it is the case I’m going to get extremely emotional now at what his obvious reasons would be for choosing that name holy shit though

(ETA: although to be fair! what’s written in the chapter here is グラウンドゼロ (Guraundozero), whereas Bakugou’s name from those old character book sketches was  爆心地 (Bakushinchi). so it’s not quite the same! I feel like it’s still up in the air. I really just need this to be settled already lol. can you tell by the way I keep bringing it up multiple times each chapter even though this is an arc about the fucking villains for pete’s sake.)

-- oh shit he’s right. so we’ve got the Eight Precepts’ house, Hosu City, the Highway to Hell, Kamino, and now Fukuoka. you guys if memory serves, that is indeed every known League of Villains incident location... except for one. the very first one. as if U.A. needed any more reason to be on edge lately holy christ. let’s hope to god they don’t start chopping off the other hand

oh snap Joker’s got himself a name now!

Redestro? or ReDestro? lol that’s one of those names that looks fine in all-caps comic book letters but when typed out like this it looks stupid as hell

(ETA: I’m going with Re-Destro since it looks the least weird to me. idk.)

wow Tomura you’ve had time to keep up with the NY Times bestselling list while fighting for your life for the last six weeks? I’m impressed

this kid is not in a mood to play nice with others today and I’m loving it

Twice. where the fuck do you think Giran is. smdh

wow, Re-Destro says he’s actually still alive. hey you don’t have to show us what kind of condition he’s in, Horikoshi. just putting that out there. we have functioning imaginations, we get it. we’re good

(ETA: he’s actually doing a lot better than I thought he’d be. though I still want to take him home and wrap him up in a blanket and make him watch Jaime’s redemption arc in GoT and see if he gets inspired.)

anyway so Re-Des says they’re gonna destroy the status quo and rebuild the world into a place where everyone is free to use their powers to their full extent whenever

wow, Compress

um idk maybe because they chopped your broker’s fucking fingers off??? were you guys not tight with Giran or what? poor dude suffered some horrific shit all because he didn’t want to sell you fuckers out. least you could do is be offended

meanwhile Tomura wants to get a raincheck on this whole affair because he has other pressing matters to deal with right now

at least he told them to release Giran

oh fuuuuuuuuuuuck

where are they?? an observation tower somewhere??

jesus christ is that blood on his lap there??

how are his arms even tied behind him if he’s missing a fucking hand????

(ETA: genuinely curious about that last one though lol.)

wow Re-Destro is really testing the League’s empathy levels here

well, Tomura, that’s some pretty fucked up shit he did to your guy. what do you think. are you even slightly horrified. pissed off?

oh shit you guys!!

HE DIDN’T EVEN TALK. THIS MOTHERFUCKER DIDN’T BREAK, THEY HAD TO HACK HIS PHONE WITH THEIR MAD IT SKILLS IN ORDER TO GET THE LEAGUE’S CONTACT INFO. AND GIRAN LOOKS FUCKING HORRIFIED OH MY GOD

guys I can’t believe Giran is my new favorite character I s2g Horikoshi if you touch him again I’ll

...anyway. let’s do this whole two-page spread now because I’m super hyped in spite of my also being horrified by everything

FEEL GOOD INC. is that a fucking Gorillaz reference in my fucking shounen manga about superheroes. do I need to analyze me some lyrics. I can’t actually see any connection lol aside from it being a badass name for a villain corporation

guys I can’t believe Kizuki is my new favorite character I s2g Horikoshi if you touch her I’ll

oh hey, cool, shouldn’t be too hard to take these guys out. they’ve just got billions of dollars (presumably) and one hundred thousand soldiers lying in wait ready to rise to action at a moment’s notice, their words not mine. cool. cool cool cool cool cool cool cool we’re fucked

OH SHIT

is that why he’s in that observation place? fucking hell, how?

OH SHIT, AGAIN

HOW FUCKING NOBLE OF Y’ALL. though honestly I guess if we have to pick between the villains with the 12 Noumus of the Apocalypse who want to destroy everything, or the villains capable of running a successful business who just want people with quirks to be free, objectively the latter group is a better bet to side with

except for the fact that the latter group is totally cool with snapping their poor mouse secretary’s neck just because he didn’t like their book. and they’re also down to chop off a guy’s fingers one by one just to make a damn point. so yeah, pardon me but I’m gonna side with the League here in spite of everything

wow what the hell kind of negotiations are these??

so you just called to tell them that? “hi hello just wanted to introduce myself and let you all know I hate you and here’s how fucking screwed you are lol have fun with that”

haha hey Horikoshi what the fuck

(ETA: so yeah this is that same hand gesture that he’s doing in the panel immediately after this one. I guess it’s just their thing. these guys think they’re so fucking cool. it’s not cool to chop off people’s hands, Re-Destro!!)

I can’t believe I have to deal with this shit on the same day I’m posting the damn mushroom chapter recap

oh wow okay so he is actually giving them a chance here

lol wow this fucking arc. holy shit

but who was cockroach. well whatever. fucking villain arcs though, you guys. omg

[pyropsychiccollector]

Yep. I threw up another tier, this time for Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair. Once again, I'll go through each character and explain my rationale. This one was a little tougher for some characters; like, overall, Dangan 2 did a better job of fleshing out characters. As a result, it was harder for me to rank some characters higher than others, but I somehow managed to do so after some thought.

.... But for some characters, it was seriously a no-brainer where they went. XD

F rank - Komaeda..... Now, I know what some of you are thinking, last time I put Hagakure in this dead-last rank because he was useless, so that's probably true for Komaeda, right? ..... No. Fuck no. XD This little shit is F rank for much bigger problems than uselessness. Let's start with the obvious: He's the "Togami" of the group. He fucks up the trials, but not just for amusement like Togami did - this guy did it for the sake of pitting "Hope against Hope", and you just knew he was always up to something.... If it wasn't for him, Hanamura wouldn't have been pressured into murdering, at least not so soon. They tied him up in the second chapter, which was good, but then he still managed to throw a wrench into things by encouraging Koizumi to go and play the video game that was the motive for the chapter... This didn't directly lead into the incident necessarily, but Koizumi had already received that ominous letter from Peko and Kuzuryu, telling her to play the game and how to get the true ending; Komaeda spurring her further on DIDN'T help. He redeemed himself a little by figuring out Mikan was lying in trial 3, but then he took 5000 steps backward in chapter 4 by first throwing suspicion onto Hajime in regards to the identity of the traitor, and THEN he cleared the Final Dead Room and treated everyone - EVERYONE - like shit..... But especially Hajime, who had only thought he'd lost his memory of his talent. Hajime, who had been helping solve all the trials and prove that he could stand alongside Ultimates.... It's fine and all that Komaeda was the first one to discover they were all Ultimate Despair, and therefore hated they'd turned out like that, but he had absolutely no high ground to stand on when talking shit to everyone; he himself was Ultimate Despair as well. And the cherry on top.... was how he got Chiaki to murder him in chapter 5. Through sheer luck, and the intention of killing off Ultimate Despair when they had no clue as to the extent of their loss of memories. Some sympathize with the fact he may have some life-threatening illness, and he really had the best of intentions, and was just "misunderstood".... But no, not me. Fuck that.

F is for "Fuck You, Komaeda". lol

Anyway, moving onto E rank....  Akane is kind of like the "Hagakure" of the group, only her physical talent as a gymnast puts her leagues ahead of Hagakure in usefulness. Akane's simply E rank because she's one of the reasons the trials drag on so much, makes few worthwhile contributions, and just isn't all that deep of a character.... I'll never get over how "random" her free time events seemed.... Like, she's a fun girl, I suppose; perverted in her own naïve way. There's just not much substance for me to dig into, for her character.

Saionji's kinda similar in that regard.... Though I'll admit she does have a backstory. She's mostly in E rank because she's, as Nicob would put it, "such a bitch to everybody". Her bond with Mahiru is probably her one saving grace, and the only reason she's not F rank like Komaeda, in my books. Well, that, and she kind of warms up to Hajime in her free time events.... kinda.

... If you squint.

.... But she's still a bitch to everybody that isn't Mahiru. XD

D rank.... Teruteru was honestly placed here because I like him better than Komaeda, Akane, and Saionji, but I don't like him as much as Ibuki. I mean, he's perverted as hell, and he kinda spreads himself thin when it comes to "covering his bases" with his libido, but he's still useful as a cook. Plus, his backstory with his mother who's ill is pretty sad, not to mention how it's implied he killed her when he became Ultimate Despair. Teruteru's just one of those unfortunate characters who's somewhat fleshed out, but I'm not crazy about him; he's just somewhere in the middle. ..... which may be how he likes it....

C rank.... I like Ibuki - she's fun, kooky, crazy.... Her skill in music and her sharp ears are neat, plus she just wants to get along with everyone. .... Except call Teruteru out on his antics, and maybe back away from Komaeda and his craziness. lol Still, despite all the good qualities, Ibuki's just not fleshed out enough as a character for my tastes.... She's fun, and it's sad she got murdered. But there wasn't much of a backstory to tell, and she didn't go through a huge development arc.

.... She did not want to leave her honeymoon with Hajime in island mode, though. And that was just cute. XD

B rank.... Nidai's pretty similar to Ibuki in being a fun character, but I kinda like his attitude of trying to be the class's manager - 'cause it shows he cares for everyone. He doesn't go through a huge development arc either, but it was pretty interesting seeing him adjust to being a robot and then his presumed confrontation with Tanaka in chapter 4.... I would've liked to have known more about that possible confrontation; one of my theories is that a bit of his "Ultimate Despair" self was leaking out in that clash, but probably not enough to turn out like how Mikan was, when she got the Remembering Disease. The desperation/hunger just got to him. That's my theory, anyway.

You might find it surprising Souda is this high up, considering how, like Akane, he holds up the class trials with ridiculous theories and suspicions on certain culprits. But, Souda is the Ultimate Mechanic, and it's just fun seeing his love for his craft. His obsession with Sonia is a bit grating like how Fukawa's obsession with Togami was, but, in some cases I couldn't help feeling bad with how cold/dismissive Sonia was towards him. Like, she didn't have to return his affections by any means.... And he is kind of a suck-up to her. But still, he is nothing but nice to her, and continues to believe in her (if not somewhat blindly) throughout the trials. It'd just be nice to see her reciprocate his friendship, at least. I kinda liked how it gave them a small cameo scene or two of that in Dangan 3 Hope Arc.... Again, that's me.

A rank... Hajime's a pretty good protagonist, and I think he had some nice development arcs throughout the series. He's a bit of a pessimist, in contrast to Naegi's optimism, but he's still one of the nicest guys you could meet. Probably the major thing that drags him down to A rank is simply how overly "average" he is.... like, it's to be expected - he was a Reserve Course student, and therefore had no Ultimate Talent or quirk to fall back on. But still, I'll admit the repetitive ordinariness was a bit grating.... The only real "backstory" he has is his downfall into the Kamakura Project, and even then, he kinda became a different person because of everything but talent being excised from him.

I'll admit - I like Kamakura more than Hajime himself, but I'm not really sure where I'd put Kamakura, either in S or SS rank..... A lot don't seem to care for how OP he is, but I kinda liked how Dangan 3 anime showed off his reflexes. Not to mention it showed he was a neutral party in the war of Despair vs Hope. Again, that's me.

Peko's a neat character with a badass talent. Her backstory is a little tragic and it doesn't grate too much.... She could be cute with furry animals, too (or at least hinted as such). I liked her bond with Kuzuryu, even if she mostly saw herself as just a tool. On the flip side, that mindset of being a tool is why she was dropped to A rank.... I know the Kuzuryu clan drilled that into her head, but she did try and screw everyone over in the second trial because of it. It also made her character suffer a little because she didn't have anything really outside of her loyalty to Kuzuryu and the clan (which makes sense; just makes her character suffer a little bit in having little to no quirks, hobbies, or whatever).

S rank.... I liked the Imposter. I really did. He can impersonate anyone, and make you think the person just put on a few pounds. I liked how fast they made him in the anime, and I just liked his friendship/loyalty to Mitarai and everybody. I felt like the Imposter was a pretty great character, and they introduced him in a way that made you wonder what was going on with "Togami". I liked how you knew next to nothing about the man under the masks (only saw his face/hair in the anime) - though similar to Peko, it was a bit of a double-edged sword in having no huge backstory to fall back on. But unlike Peko, he kinda made the lack of backstory work, because it was part of his charm and talent. And that's why he's above Peko, in my books; he takes a weakness and works with it. I think that's great writing.

Tanaka is so over-the-top.... XD He's a fun character, like Ibuki and Nidai, but unlike those two he has this depth to him that makes me wanna observe him more. He's a smart and shrewd man, and though he tried to screw everyone over in chapter 4, you can argue that part of his reasons for doing it was because he was trying to save them from starvation by sacrificing himself - and doing it in a way that didn't betray his own values, never giving up on life. Again, I think that's just great character writing; Tanaka's just awesome. His hamsters are cute, too. XD

And then you have Sonia.... I guess you could argue Sonia's like a Barbie doll princess, but it's kinda nice to see her gung-ho about a lot of things - even using slang in a cute way. She's curious about a lot of things, too, and she cries and gets mad over things when they happen. I dunno, Sonia's kinda hard to put into words in terms of why I like her so much as a character, though I suppose her kinda-innocent-perverted nature also plays a role in why I like her character... XD "What do you call that activity when two people snuggle naked under bedcovers in a lodge that's snowed in?" Similar to Celes, you don't see too many girls asking questions like that..... And Sonia literally has no real perverted intentions, she just "knows" things. XD

.... And she might also not be a virgin. *wink wink nudge nudge* (I read a fan's explanation on that line, so don't correct me, I know) XD

SS rank.... Kuzuryu reached this rank the moment Derek Stephen Prince voiced him, really. I mean, there's lots of other reasons I like Kuzuryu, but his voice actor is definitely one of the reasons I like him so much. I mean, he's a yakuza, so you know he's gonna be a tough guy of the group, but Kuzuryu really does have this part of a character that wants to rebel against his yakuza upbringing. Like, for example, his insistence on following the law with driver's licenses, or how he drops the "I'm gonna kill everyone so I can escape" routine as of chapter 3. Kuzuryu just really comes of age, he really honors Peko's sacrifice, and he's just so friggin' loyal to everybody, I love it.... Fantastic character~

Mahiru is a bit of a dark horse because from the moment you meet her in-game, and throughout much of your interactions with her, you think that you won't really feel sympathetic towards her. But under that bossy, somewhat sexist exterior, you find what's basically the "mom" of Class 77. Mahiru wants to watch out for everybody, wants to help them be the best they can be. And her free time events with Hajime are adorabu. Really. XD She kinda clicks with Hajime because of how ordinary they both are, but she'd also just help keep him in line. And in return, he'd encourage her when she gets disheartened; just seems like a healthy relationship right there, to me.

And Mikan.... ughhhhh..... A cinnabun of the group, she really is. She does turn out to be crazy as an Ultimate Despair, but that's not really her fault, that's the brainwashing's fault. Mikan's just a sweet, loveable girl. A sweet, loveable girl that's been bullied much of her life, and thus knows how to take care of others.... Her lack of self-care when it comes to pleasing others is a bit off-putting, but Hajime helps her get over those unhealthy tendencies. I know Dangan main protagonists kind of have this tendency for potential harems, but Hajime, Mikan, Mahiru, and Chiaki..... C'mooon~ You wanna see it happen. (well, maybe not, depending on what characters you like). XD

Finally, SSS rank..... Chiaki's just best person ever, 'nough said. lol I know a lot of people may think of her as a Mary Sue, and not like her for being so nice and loved by everyone, but Chiaki's what we should all strive to be, alright? Not the "loved by everybody" part, but the "being nice to everyone" part. lol Some people you just can't be nice to, and that's fine; we all have our limits. Well. Except Chiaki. Chiaki will be your friend even if you treat everyone like shit. She'll try and stop you from doing so, and help you be a better person, but that's just all the more reason to like her - she doesn't hold ill will for anyone..... Well, almost anyone. I suppose that's why I liked Dangan 3 anime, too - because the human Chiaki does hold resentment towards Junko, who trapped her in a dungeon and threatened to brainwash her friends.... It just shows that she DOES have a limit to kindness, despite seeming to have no end of it as a computer program. I mean, you wouldn't be kind toward someone that threatens your own friends, right?

..... Chiaki's just best waifu in Dangan 2. It's why she's the only one at the top. XD

[spongeekat]

The 6 Times Peter Wanted To Reveal his Identity (And the 1 Time He Did) Chapter 6

read on ao3

Masterlist Here

Day 6- Friday

Mary Jane was the angel in Peter’s life that he didn't deserve, but thoroughly appreciated.

Though the two had attempted to have a relationship after meeting their freshman year of college, by the end of the 3 months they’d become closer friends than they were romantic partners. The break-up had been a seamless transition, and with the expectations of intimacy being lifted from their shoulders, he found Mary Jane to be a reliable confidant and supporter. They told each other everything; she had been first to know about his feelings for Wade, and the second to find out about his superhero identity. Despite a bad reputation in the newspapers, she never criticized his actions or mistakes, and had always been an open ear when things went wrong and the world felt too heavy on his exhausted shoulders.

Still, he had never made a mistake this public. While Ellie had found out who he was due to his bad judgement, he had been able to keep it under wraps and it was an easily mended situation. This time, however, he had the sinking feeling he had ruined his life in wake of saving two others. There were dozens of people watching, twice that driving by or skidding to a stop when he halted traffic, and worst of all, Wade found out Peter had been lying to him in a horribly impersonal way.

Peter was still camping out on Mary Jane’s floor after his freak-out the night before. He wanted to go home to get out of her hair, but the thought of Wade showing up, or worse, the FBI showing up, and grilling him about his superhero abilities made him sick all over again. Mary Jane claimed she didn’t mind him hanging around, but he knew his stress was quickly becoming hers. Harry had been unable to find his backpack, and when he arrived to look for it the park had become a spot for a local news station to report on the ‘mystery man that stopped a car with his bare hands.’ So Peter sat cross-legged against the edge of her bed, flipping through news channels endlessly. The coverage on the event had been minimal, the best footage being of a mother video taping her children playing when it suddenly panned to the car slamming into the ground and him fleeing the scene. Still, he wasn’t sure if anyone had a dashcam that could have caught a glimpse of his face, or if a traffic camera may have been aimed at them. It was a waiting game now, either for new videos to be released, or for someone to divulge his facial features to the police.

Peter’s phone buzzed again at his side, and he glanced at the screen halfheartedly. Wade had been texting him non-stop. Most of them he hadn’t read, but every so often he caught glimpses of messages. Apparently Wade had gone to his apartment the night before to locate him, but his neighbors had threatened to call the police when he wouldn’t stop banging on Peter’s window. A couple of the other messages he had read were begging him to call, or asking where he had gone, but for the most part Peter had blocked them out. He couldn’t bare to face him now. He’d accepted his help and affection despite not needing it, and lied to Wade for days in the process. All because he was selfish, and scared, and in love. Horribly, horribly in love. He regretted every day he had put off confessing. Now he didn’t have the chance. Just a lot to apologize for.

“Pete?” MJ turned in her computer chair to quirk an eyebrow at him, as he stared at the television screen. He knew he looked as trashed as he felt. His brown eyes were hidden behind puffy lids weighed down by dark circles, his wavy hair was a mussed and tangled pile, and his clothes were disheveled and sitting awkwardly on his body. By contrast she was showered and well-put together, her lips pursed in concern and thought as she watched him. “Maybe you should take a break from your hunt. You’ll only stress yourself out more. Let’s go get lunch somewhere. I’ll set notifications on my news app for anything with your name or Spider-Man’s.”

Peter slowly shook his head and let the remote fall to the carpet, leaving the channel flipped on a segment about health care. He ran the palms of his hands over his eyes, a shudder rushing through his body. “I can’t eat anything. I feel too sick.” He mumbled, and finally dropped his head back against her mattress. He wished he could will away the day before, go back and redo it all to stop the dog before it even got close to the street, but he knew he would have to accept and deal with the consequences. Any dwindling hope that maybe he hadn’t been identified was crushed as soon as it materialized. He’d rather be prepared to be unmasked than taken by surprise when his face was thrust up onto the Times Square billboards requesting his arrest.

“You won’t know until you try, dummy.” Mary Jane walked over to where he was and dropped her hands to her hips, waiting impatiently for an answer. “I don’t like to see you moping so much. Watching the video, it all happened so fast, that the people watching probably couldn’t even remember your hair color, much less what you looked like. Stop being so pessimistic and go get pizza with me.”

Peter didn’t want to leave the room. His obsession with searching at least somewhat distracted him from letting the memory play on a loop. But the next moment his phone went off again, and another text from Wade popped up on the screen.

please tell me you’re still alive

Peter grabbed his phone and blocked Wade’s number the next second. It made a wave of nausea rush over him to think Wade still cared about his safety even after he had been deceived.

“Okay, let’s go.” Peter groaned, and pushed himself to his feet. His toes tingled as the blood flow returned to them, and he grabbed his sweater that had been thrown on the floor to pull on. “But if you see anything, please let me know.”

“As long as you promise not to ask me to check every minute.”

Peter breathed out calculatedly. “I’ll try.”

“And not every 5 minutes, either. I want a normal lunch with my best friend to help him calm down from a stressful week.”

The corners of his lips perked, and he finished adjusting his sweater and tossing his hair into a somewhat presentable style. “Every half-hour?”

Mary Jane thought for a moment, but shrugged good naturedly. “That’s a fair trade. Now let’s turn off this old-lady daytime television and get out into the world, Parker!”

They escaped out the door before Peter could change his mind, and took off on foot towards the pizza cafe they’d made a second home over the past 4 years. From study sessions to scarfing down comfort food, it had served its purpose as a cheap hangout joint for them to talk out their feelings. Even now, as Peter was riddled with so much anxiety his hands hadn’t stopped trembling for the past 24 hours, he felt himself start to relax when they entered the familiar hole-in-the-wall establishment. The smell of burnt crust wafted past his nose and a football game buzzed noisily on a small TV, but it was distracting enough to his senses that he was able to ignore the thoughts of dread for a bit.

“So...about Wade.” Mary Jane finally spoke once they’d put in their order with the teenager working the counter and claimed a spot in the corner. Peter had his back to the door, just to feel a bit more hidden from sight. “Did you ever actually tell him how you feel?”

Peter paused mid-sip of his water, the liquid suddenly feeling ice cold on his tongue. He set it down, and swallowed through the tightness of his throat. “...No.” He finally sighed, chewing on the inside of his bottom lip. “I mean, I didn’t think he would ever really see me that way. Even as Peter and not...” He gestured to the air. “...he complimented me and stuff, but I never got the feeling he, like, liked me.”

“But you didn’t ask?”

“I thought it made more sense to tell him who I was first.” Peter said in distress, dropping his chin onto his hand. “I guess it just never felt right. He talked to me the same in and out of the mask. Wade’s just overly friendly. He thinks it’s funny.”

“Uh-huh.” Mary Jane looked unimpressed, but her thoughts were interrupted when their slices were dropped off. They both thanked the waitress, and the red head immediately leaned in again. “From what you told me, it sounds like he was interested in a little more than coddling you. He asked you to go out with him and his daughter to the aquarium. That sounds more like a date.”

Peter knew his cheeks were flushing red, and his phone sat a bit heavier in his pocket. Maybe Wade’s texts were more worried than they were malicious. Even after royally screwing up, Wade just wanted to make sure he was okay. He looked down at the grease dripping onto his plate, reflecting on the week.

But then he remembered the astonished expression on his face when Peter had jumped out into the street and the thought vanished.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. I already blocked his number. He’ll give up in an hour, and then I’ll just have to avoid him on patrol for the rest of my life. If I’m not arrested for being a vigilante and resisting arrest a thousand times first.” Peter sat back with a look of defeat and determined he wasn’t hungry anymore, pushing his plate a few inches away from him.

Mary Jane just shook her head and went back to eating. “It’ll be okay, Pete.” She said between bites. “You just gotta try to think positively.”

“That’s kinda hard to do when my suit got jacked along with homework that clearly has my name written on it, and all I can do is wait for someone to turn it into the police. And I’m a coward, MJ. Aunt May is at our apartment alone, and people could show up at any moment looking for me. She could get hurt. You could get hurt. And that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to avoid all these years.” Peter huffed and dragged his arms in to cross over his chest, twisting to look back at the TV. “I messed up, and I hurt everyone in the process. Positive thinking is stupid. It won’t stop anyone from coming after the people I care about.”

Mary Jane pushed her plate forward as well, and it clinked as the two collided in the center. “I get that you’re stressed, Pete, but when you’re done being a jerk, we can talk.” She said as she stood up and started to lift her purse on over her shoulders. Peter turned back around, shame tugging at his features. “Positive thinking isn’t stupid, it just keeps you from freaking out on the people trying to help you. I’m not saying everything is going to be perfect, but it’s better to have hope than to wallow in your self-pity.”

“Hey, MJ, I’m sorry.” Peter stood as well, the chair scraping the floor. “I shouldn’t have been mean.”

“You’re right, you shouldn’t have. Go home. Get sleep. Be there for Aunt May in case she needs you. You aren’t helpless just because you don’t have a mask to hide behind. And for god’s sake, just call Wade. He obviously cares about you.” She sighed, and tucked a strand of cherry red hair behind her ear. “You know I wanna help you. I’m sorry you’re going through this. But life has a funny way of working out sometimes. Just try to make it through the day? Please?”

Mary Jane said goodbye to the waitresses before waving at Peter, as he slowly sunk back down in his seat. She was right. He shouldn’t be ignoring Wade. Not when he had been the one to lie. He owed him an explanation as to why he hadn’t been honest in the first place.

Peter pulled out his wallet and set down all the change he had as an apology tip, tossing his slice of pizza on the way out. Aunt May had been on vacation for too long, and he should at least be there to greet her. Especially if something went wrong and he was taken away without notice.

He hopped on a bus a few blocks down and planted himself near the front, before drawing his phone out. The texts from Wade had stopped coming through, but he was still easy to locate. He hesitated, but eventually pressed the UNBLOCK button and closed out of the app.

He would call him later, but he needed to collect himself. The first way to do that was to see Aunt May.

--

“May?” Peter pushed open the door and peeked past the frame, studying the inside of the apartment. It certainly looked more clean than how he had left it the morning before, so there was no doubt she had been home. Whether she was still home after not having her texts returned the entire day was the question. “May?” He repeated, stepping inside and shutting the door almost silently behind him.

His senses alerted him to the scuffle of a slipper on tile, and a grey-haired face popped around the corner.

“Hey, you’re home.” Peter greeted, toeing his shoes off into the rack by the door, before walking closer. “Glad you made it home sa-”

“Peter. Benjamin. Parker.” Aunt May stepped fully into view, tugging tautly on a towel she had been drying her hands on. Peter immediately winced and backed away, but that didn’t stop the older woman from coming at him with an irritated stride. “Do you know how worried I was when I got home and you were nowhere to be found? I got you that phone for a reason! Use it!” Her towel snapped and lightly hit his forearm. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt, but Peter jumped and massaged the spot anyways. “I thought you had suffocated under the mounds of trash and laundry you let collect in your room!”

“Sorry.” Peter said honestly, relieved to see her again. After the crazy week he had been put through, he desperately wanted his Aunt back. “A lot happened, and I spent the night at Mary Jane’s. I didn’t mean to ignore you.”

“You look heartbroken.” Aunt May commented, simmering down as she studied his limp body language. Concern replaced the anger on her face. “Is everything alright?”

“No.” Peter said honestly, turning his face down towards the floor. He felt pathetic, especially when she placed her soft hands against both shoulders and gave them a comforting squeeze. “I made a lot of mistakes these past couple of days. I may have hurt someone I really...like? And I feel like my life is ruined on top of it all.”

“Did you apologize?” May tugged on his arm, prompting him towards the couch. He followed her obediently, and she guided him to sit on the cushions beside her.

“Not yet. We haven’t spoken since yesterday.” Peter leaned his head against her shoulder, and her fingers found his hair to run through it comfortingly. “I want to. I just don’t know what to say.”

“You’re a good and humble boy. I’m sure you know what to say to him in your heart.” May dragged her fingers through his bed head, and he made a choking sound at her pronoun choice. “Is it not a man?”

Her motherly instinct would always outsmart his secrecy. “It is.”

“Is he a good person?”

“...He is.”

“Does he care about you as well?”

Peter swallowed the knot that formed in his throat. “I-I think so. I don’t know if it’s that way, but we’re close friends.”

“Friends will forgive each other. It may take time, and it may be uncomfortable, but you can’t hide your feelings forever, Peter. You should be honest if you want to keep him close..”  May kissed the top of his head, and he sunk further into the couch. She was always the voice of reason, even if it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “I know you’ll make the right choice. You care too much about others. That’s one of the things I love so much about you. Do you want to tell me exactly what happened?”

“It’s a lot.” Peter mumbled. “Basically, I just… lied. I took advantage of his kindness. I don’t know why I didn’t tell him the truth, but I just got so comfortable in the lie that I didn’t bother to correct it. And then he found out what I was lying about, but so did others, and I feel like my world is crashing down, even if it isn’t yet. But I know there’s the chance it might and I can’t stop freaking out over it… does this make any sense?”

May chuckled and shook her head at his rambling. “Can you be more specific? Or is this one of those times it’s better to just now know?”

“Better to not know. If that’s okay.”

“Well, you’re alive, you’re healthy, and you have a good heart. There’s nothing you can’t fix as long as you have your smile.” May rubbed his shoulder again, and pulled herself to her feet to walk back to the kitchen. “You go call your friend and apologize, honey, and I’ll finish getting dinner in the crock pot.”

Peter released a shaky breath, but he eventually stood as well. “Thanks, May. I’m glad to have you home.” He found his phone and located Wade’s number, his finger hesitating over the call button.

As he moved to close his door, her voice shouted out once more. “And clean that room!”

“Got it!” Peter laughed back, before he took the plunge and pressed the green phone on screen. The sound of ringing made him tense, but he eventually managed the courage to hold the phone to his ear.

When Wade picked up, there was a set of gunshots from the other end.

“Wade? Are you okay?” Peter asked immediately.. A man shouted, and the phone shuffled.

“Petey! Bad timing, but I’m so so glad to hear from you.” Wade gasped, out of breath. It sounded like he was running, but Peter couldn’t be sure over the cracking of bullets and distant threats being screamed on the other end. “I got the notification you blocked my texts and I figured you had thrown yourself off the Empire State Building or something and your phone company just didn’t want the extra charges. Hold on one second. Guess you shoulda brought that Gram-Gram of yours with you, huh? At least she could hit me- fuck! Watch it! Not the face!” Wade slammed an object and a person yelled out in pain. “In a job, sorry, sweetums. Some old lady mob boss has her grandson running a human trafficking ring, so I gotta play cops and robbers and clean it all up. Anyways, it was kinda shitty to run off like that yesterday without saying anything. Ellie was really disappointed...and so was I. I don’t know your story, but shit, you couldn’t even tell me you were superpowered?”

Peter cleared his throat, guilt weighing heavily on his heart.  Wade hadn’t realized yet exactly who Peter was. Which meant he still had to figure out how to tell him. “I’m sorry. I know I can’t explain what I did, or why I did it, but I want you to know that I didn’t mean to put off telling you for so long.” He could barely get the words out, unsure how to explain his true feelings without giving away everything. Another round of bullets went off, and Wade cursed again. “Dude, do you need help? You sound like you’re having a hard time.”

“Well, originally this was a game of cat and mice, me being the cat obviously, but they just brought out a bunch of guns, so now it’s more like cat trying not to get sprayed because I just repaired and washed this suit yesterday, and all of the mice are on steroids. If you wanna haul that tight-but-scarily-strong-ass down here, I’m sure we could scare them off.  But judging by how long you ignored me, I’m guessing you don’t wanna do that, baby boy.”

“Okay, um, can I just talk to you tomorrow? In person? I would rather discuss this when you’re not, like, trying to stay alive. I also lost my backpack, which had things I really can’t lose in it, and I’m freaking out a little.”

“Oh, I grabbed that.”

“What?” Peter gasped, instant relief flooding him.

“Yeah, I texted you this morning. Guess you didn’t read my texts, though. Didn’t want you losing your homework or anything.” Wade grunted as he slammed another object, and his katanas slid across one another with a sharp zing . “I was gonna dump it at your apartment, but I got a little distracted by work and hanging out with my gal pals.” He joked as another man screamed.

“...Did you look inside?”

Wade didn’t answer, sounding like he was ripping open a pocket on his belt. After a few seconds, he finally responded. “No. Should I have?”

Peter didn’t want to lie anymore. He couldn’t lie anymore. Wade deserved so much more than that. So he took a brave breath, and shoved down his fear. “Yeah. Go ahead. And then we can meet up tomorrow and I can explain everything. I won’t leave out any details this time.”

“You aren’t secretly part of the X-Factor, are you? Those guys keep ignoring my birthday party invites.”

Peter cracked an uncomfortably smile, and he looked down at his feet. “No, I’m not a mutant. But I’ll see you tomorrow and things will make more sense.”

“See you tomorrow.” Wade agreed. “No more secrets or lies or anything, though, okay? I actually care about you and wanna be there for you and all that shit.” Then the line cut off.

He drew his phone down from his face and clicked on Mary Jane’s contact. He wouldn’t feel okay until he apologized to her, too.

Peter would still have to keep an eye on the news, but for the most part, the major cause of his anxiety had diminished. At least he knew where his suit was, even if he didn’t have it in his possession.

Tomorrow, Wade would know he was Spider-Man.

For the first time that day, he started to feel a twinge of hope in his chest. Maybe things would end up being okay after all.

[yeahgen]

♢❸♫✱

headcanon symbol meme

♢: In what situation would your muse feel most out of their comfort zone?

fancy, formal settings. like an audience with a member of royalty, a stiff and proper tea party, ceremonial rituals and religious rites…

he’s smart and neat, but he’s said himself that he’s no good with uh, elegant things. unlike most of his brothers, who lived their lives either displayed or somewhere “safe,” he’s had a lifetime thriving on the battlefield. he’ll be obsessed with the idea of making a mistake at a court setting or royally screwing things up.

don’t do that to the poor tantou, just let him do stabby things like he does best.

❸: Name three things your muse considers themselves to be very good at, and three things they consider themselves to be very bad at.

the good:

1) wound treatment2) leadership skills3) emotional detachment (it’s an on/off switch kinda thing for him)

the bad:

1) cooking2) court etiquette3) resisting fudou’s charms 

♫: What is one thing that your muse thinks they are talented at, but actually aren’t?

he thinks he’s a pro at time management and efficiency but that only lasts as long as he doesn’t get obsessed with his latest project/work duties/insert-task-here, at which rate his sense of time and basic personal needs devolves to the perception level of a two-year old harboring a constant stubborn streak against going to bed and eating regular meals.

so yeah, keep an eye on him then.

✱: What is your favourite ‘happily ever after’ for your muse? And what’s your most unconventional ‘ever after’ headcanon for them (happily or otherwise)?

if fudou and yagen can’t stay swords together forever (the war has to end sometime right, and then yagen will probably poof), then let their souls reincarnate into another life, meet up, and fall in love al over again. peace.

unconventional? it’s just AUs i guess. alright fudou reincarnates but yagen doesn’t until he gets summoned as some sort of protective spirit deity/boyfriend or whatever. fudou as the uninspired pianist student who ends up being the accompanist for the stubborn and distant violinist yagen as they conquer the classical music world together; nobunaga never dies and rules over japan with fudou and yagen proudly by his side; yagen the merman prince of the sea who comes on land to find his missing half-human brother fudou while hiding his royal identity, only to discover halfway thru the plot hat he’s the sham and fudou the actual royal instead; fudou and yagen start working at mcdonald’s and revolutionizing the fast food world; yagen, the lone awataguchi brother not in show business who spends his days in the library studying for a medical degree while a bored fudou watches during his part time job stint between playing rock guitar on the side in memory of his deceased mentor oda rock & roll nobunaga; actual time travel shenanigans where fudou tries to fix the past and accidentally erases yagen instead; listen don’t get me started i can write anything with these two and i will if you push me hard enough–

[darkzorua100]

So I honestly didn’t know what to expect from episode 41 of Vrains going into it. We knew it was going to be the first half of the Playmaker vs Revolver rematch but I honestly wasn’t expecting to be getting the plot dump this episode. I just figured the first half was mainly going to be focusing on the duel while the next two episodes were going to be major plot related. I’m very glad I was wrong because oh boy, this episode and the next two that follow are going to be so good I believe if we continue to get some answers and Revolver backstory.

And boy Revolver. We have a lot to talk about him because he is giving us some answers and the major thing we have been wanting to see from him since forever.

So first off, he confirmed the theory about the children being used to create the Ignises. We also got the silhouettes for all six of them shown and yeah. We know who three of those six are and this really is leaning towards the theory that Go and Aoi are two others since we saw what they looked like when they were younger. The final one is more than likely Revolver but that one wouldn’t be much of a shock honestly. I’m just wondering how they are going to BS Go and Aoi into being the last two kids if they are them since we know their backstories. Someone pointed out that this happened to Aoi before her and Akira’s parents got married, so that’s why Akira doesn’t know about this, and Aoi doesn’t remember herself since she repressed the memory of her trauma (as if she didn’t have enough problems already seriously). Go, on the other hand, I feel like is just going to be BS. However, Go doesn’t know about the Hanoi Project so maybe when someone finally brings it up to him, that might trigger something. I don’t know how they are going to handle that with those two honestly if they are confirmed in the future. I mean, I’m not surprised or will be surprised if/when they are confirmed, I’m just kinda disappointment since I was looking forward to two new characters coming out of this. I mean, I don’t want to have a big cast of characters since that always tends to screw Yu-Gi-Oh over at the end, but I hope we do get some more in the future because I love seeing new characters for this show and what they will add to the show as a whole.

We also found out that Ai was the sixth Ignis to come from this, making Yusaku the final child to be kidnapped more than likely since he was the one used to create that one. Ai’s real name, or code name I guess, is IGN006 and is making me wonder if this is why he was hated by his own kind, because he was the last one to be created and had flaws in him that the others didn’t or maybe he was more advanced then they were. Also, I wonder what the order was that these children were taken. If it was in the order that they were placed in their cells, then it looked like it would be Jin, Spectre, Go, Aoi, Revolver, and finally Yusaku. What I find strange about this order is that Revolver is number 5. You would think he would be number 1 but he isn’t, as far as we know anyway. It makes me wonder if Revolver willing chose to be apart of this against his father’s wishes, who didn’t want his son to get harmed from this or maybe he felt bad for the victims and felt like he had to take some form of responsibility for his father’s actions. Either way, if he is number 5, this would have been before Yusaku was here and if he was in the middle of during these tests, how could he have also been talking to Yusaku if he is indeed his “special person”? Again, this is hypothetically speaking because again, we really don’t know the actual order of the other Ignises just yet, or which Ignies were created from which children (even though some are more obvious then others) and Revolver could have finished his testing early to speak to Yusaku or maybe Revolver used his Link Sense, since he more than likely has it as well, to communicate with Yusaku even in his own testing room. Also, if Revolver was one of the kids, why was he rescued along with the rest of them if Yusaku stated it himself that his “special person” wasn’t one of the other kids and why would Revolver be apart of the kids in the first place if his father was running the project and should have just taken his son with him when it was over? More questions and not enough answers.

Also, no shock to anyone, Ai has been lying his butt off to Yusaku from the start. For what reason? Well who really knows at this point because Ai is continuing to lie and Playmaker and Revolver are both just done of his crap at this point. Hopefully we will get the full story for him in the next two episodes and after that, we will see who they real villain of this show truly is.

For someone who hates the internet so much, Revolver has just become the biggest meme for Vrains with his Mirror Force now. His deck is based around the card now and I wouldn’t be shocked if in the future, hopefully in this duel too, that he has/uses the other forms of Mirror Force because I would love to see what they look like in the anime since Mirror Force is just a pure light that destroys all the monsters, I want to see if Storming Mirror Force is just a giant wind storm that blows the monsters back to the hand or Drowning Mirror Force makes a giant wave and washes the monsters back into the deck. 

So this episode ends with Playmaker’s life points being below a 1000. He still has a face down so I’m sure he could have saved himself from the first attack without taking so much damage but did it to use his Skill. I’m thinking he’s going to use it and pull out out the upgraded form of Firewall Dragon during this duel, giving us our first Link 5 of the show. Revolver has the same skill but still has all his life points. Watch as he uses a Blazing Mirror Force to cut down some of his life points to use his skill if the trap doesn’t end up taking out Playmaker, which it won’t, and if he does use his skill, watch as the Link Monster he pulls out has something to do with Stardust in its name. Or maybe that’s what Firewall Dragon’s upgrade is going to be called...oh wait, we already have a Stardust Dragon...Starlight Dragon maybe? The title is called "The Stardust Road's Guidance" for a reason. I don’t know at this point. I’m still trying to figure out how this duel is going to end since after 43 summary, I’m starting to think this duel is going to end in a draw, like the first time they dueled, and they are going to have a rematch in the real world (which I would VERY much want to see).

Oh and speaking of the RW...

WE GOT REVOLVER’S FACE REVEAL! HOLY CRAP! HE’S ADORABLE! LOOK AT HIM! GREY EYES! I WASN’T EXPECTING GREY EYES, really fitting if anything since he is such a grey area character, BUT THEY LOOK SO GOOD! 

I wasn’t expecting this at all. I mean, I was thinking to myself that they could just randomly throw in Revolver’s face at any moment now but I didn’t think they would just do it in the preview. I mean, they did it for Ray but at least we had an idea what she looked like because of the Bracelet Girls but nothing for Revolver in terms of face wise. 

The best part about this is that they technically still hasn’t revealed his face yet. This is Revolver in the past, not present day Revolver and boy, if people aren’t freaking out already, Revolver after puberty is going to be Zarc all over again. 

I really hope this isn’t just a flashback of Revolver just narrating but actual events we are seeing from Revolver’s past. I want to hear his younger voice and if it is identical to the one that was talking to Yusaku so we can finally get our answer to that question. I also want a name reveal finally. We at least know his last name has to be Kogami, you know, if Revolver is actually his son, but as for his first name, I very much want to know what they are going to pick for him and the meaning behind it. We could also be seeing present day Revolver this episode so get ready for that if they aren’t saving that for the big face to face meeting of Yusaku and RL Revolver.

Also, another flashback I would like to see is if Revolver was present when his father was killed. Like did he actually see SOL killing his father right before his eyes? Revenge isn’t much of a character trait for Revolver, that is Yusaku’s thing after all, but I just want to see if that affected him or not in his way of thinking. Plus I would like to see just why he is doing this and just why he hates the online world so much. Was it due to his father being killed or is more to do with the Ignises? 

I like to also bring up Revolver’s age in this. Five years before the start of Vrains, he was the Revolver we see today, since it looks like avatars don’t age since they are just avatars after all, that attacked the Cyberse. Five years before that was the Hanoi Project. Yusaku was six when that happened. If the Revolver we see in the preview was him during when the Hanoi Project happened, he clearly is much older than him, as most of us had expected. He looks around the same age as the Yuus and Bracelet Girls were when they were shown in flashbacks and they had to be about 11 I believe since the events that happened in ARC-V before hand were three years ago before the main story started and they were 14 in Yuya and Yuzu case in present day if I remember correctly. So Revolver has to be around 18-21 in age I would guess. I’m for sure my math is off and let’s watch as he turns out to be Yusaku’s age.

Speaking of which, when this whole thing over and Revolver is redeemed, because I would be more shocked if he isn’t, watch as he purposely transfers himself into Yusaku and Aoi’s school just to keep an eye on them (since Revolver knows who Blue Angel actually is as well). Yusaku would lose it and the shenangians that could come from that would be amazing. You just see Revolver sitting in his chair, minding is own business, and then out of nowhere, you see Yusaku coming up to him, asking to talk in private (since they would both know who the other is by this point), and everyone else is just so shocked because here was Yusaku Fujiki, the person who is known to not have any friends, let alone talk to anyway, starting a CONVERSATION with someone, with the new kid of all people, and then them leaving to go talk in private like on the roof of the building or something. That is just funny to think about seeing everyone’s surprised, especially Naoki if he is trying to start a conversation with Yusaku and he just flat out brushes him off to go talk with Revolver. I can’t be the only one that wants to see this happen and not just because of ship bait either. I feel like that could lead to some character development for both of them and we would be able to see more of the real world after being in Link Vrains for so long. 

So there’s my inside of episode 41 for Vrains. I’m really happy we are getting some answers again and hopefully the next two episodes will be just as good with said answer giving. 

[whoknowsbud]

Diavolo no Daibouken AU

This is essentially justification for a character that uses stand discs. It ended up (as usual with us) becoming a pretty big thing. Whether or not we ever pick it back up is... to be seen. Warning for part 6 spoilers (universe reset, that is) referencing of other AUs I have (shouldn't be a problem though), yugioh references...

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/09/2020:

All right about the daibouken thing

Maybe the discs are randomly generated by the stand itself?

hollow knight... 12/09/2020:

hhhh? how tho..

pucci screwed up when resetting the universe is like. the only possible thing i can think of without doing weird workarounds. or like... original souls dead or alive were made discs?bgjkr

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/09/2020:

Pucci fucked up #2: now look what you’ve done

hollow knight... 12/09/2020:

hehehehehhdjbas yea

i love pucci just totally screwing up

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/09/2020:

Pucci made a world (almost) without stands

Fuckin.... pokemon but it’s stands

hollow knight... 12/09/2020

bhegrhjgbjbgdxs

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/09/2020:

That would actually be a fun idea for a fanpart

hollow knight... 12/09/2020:

whitesnake says fuck pucci for evolving him and sabotages

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/09/2020:

Whitesnake: let’s see how you like THIS fate big man

hollow knight... 12/09/2020:

ok uhhhhh so the memory & stand discs are still separate, so the only way for this person to figure out what happened would be... someone's memory who was there to find out his whole plan. so the memory disc of... jotaro, jolyne, weather, emporio, or pucci? but emporio & pucci of course have all their discs...

unless.....

whitesnake could also clone discs..?

hollow knight... 12/09/2020:

they do ballet, just cause i admire the fuck outta those ppl like holy shit strippers and ballet dancers god damn

this person can and will kill you only using legs.

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/09/2020:

Plot idea: stand disc game that kids play with gauntlets that load disks some of which are real

hollow knight... 12/09/2020:

omg

jojo but its yugioh but its jojo

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/09/2020:

And our hero accidentally finds a r e a l one

hollow knight... 12/09/2020:

"i will just insert this Directly Into My Face"

jk, the disc calls to em

fuckn full yugioh

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/09/2020:

full yugioh...

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/10/2020:

WAIT wouldn’t giorno/some equivalent of him exist in this world thanks to Requiem

hollow knight... 12/10/2020:

yes, yes he would 👀

hes a pretty big help

(eventually)

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/10/2020:

wait maybe he’s a disc that someone finds

hollow knight... 12/10/2020:

i did consider, but

giorno is confused and depressed cause wtf happened, he lost like. Everything adn then this person whos happened to start figurin shit out starts looking for his discs, cause they find... i dunno, one of the p5 gangs disc, so they know about him. anyway, they find giorno himself and its weird cause like. why isnt he discs. and giorno becomes kinda the jotaro equivalent

im thinking, since almost everyones reborn, protag is trying to find them & return their discs

so giornos trying to help find the people & other discs, which is really hard cause for some reason someone made a goddamn game

god imagine a scene where giorno has all of his friends discs back

hollow knight... 12/10/2020:

u_u

and then finally pucci checks in on the new verse and ruins everything

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/10/2020:

hes the final boss

maybe this is the verse before fusion?

Like, Giorno has Jotaro’s disc in his hand and boom. Jort

hollow knight... 12/10/2020:

shrugs probably

just every au is real now

cause puccis a dick

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/10/2020:

Just an idea we don’t have to go through with it

A shitpost really

hollow knight... 12/10/2020:

ah

unless

this is the verse just before the final one

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/10/2020:

You genius

also consider: this giorno isn’t quite the giorno we know, he’s lived pretty much the same life as the giorno we know but he’s from another reset that was basically identical to the first universe

there’s a pattern to these things

mainverse, pucci fucked up verse

But each mainverse slowly but surely gains more information about how to alter reality properly

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/10/2020:

If that makes sense?

hollow knight... 12/10/2020:

ye yea

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/10/2020:

That likewise means we’re looking at slightly off center versions of the stands

hollow knight... 12/10/2020:

a little miscoloring, aesthetic changes, maybe a couple genders...

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/10/2020:

indeed

hollow knight... 12/10/2020:

aa wait if this was whitesnake getting revenge itd probably have to be one of the first

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/10/2020:

ohh good point

hollow knight... 12/10/2020:

im thinking about having it be the first disc.. and largely sentient (obv, or it wouldnt be able to want revenge in the first place)

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/10/2020:

makes sense

what if giorno goes by his birth name now

hollow knight... 12/10/2020:

actually now that i think about it, was it ever confirmed that giorno was immune to the reset?

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/10/2020:

i don't... think so? not by araki anyway

hollow knight... 12/10/2020:

where is he....

araki wheres new/old giorno.........

xXX.-r12p84-.XXx 12/10/2020:

basically how i see it giorno's a phoenix

he can survive one reset but not two

but then another one rises from the ashes so to speak

the dream is eternal baby