#so v2 can be like 'you have an actual PERSONALITY now????'

[muzzleroars]

THANK YOU FOR YOUR V1 THOUGHTS I AM EATING THEM! how do you feel v2's creators improved on v1?

aaaaa thank you!!! i always love getting a chance to go on and on about these little bugs :]

v2's mind is really interesting due to its development history - i have to imagine that v1 had been in the works for an exceptionally long time as there was no way it would be created toward the end of the war, and so it must also have been extraordinarily expensive. however, it was no longer needed when the new peace was established so, as hakita mentioned, v2 was quickly conceived in order to recoup the losses of such a massive project. and if i were to take a guess, these major expenses fell into three broad categories: the brand new blood-absorbing plates, the custom pieces used throughout v1's construction, and the computer built to house its mind. unfortunately, the plates couldn't be salvaged for a new, peace-time machine where blood would be far more scarce and durability was far more important, but those were easily replaced with standard armor. additionally, v2 could make full use of the other parts of the project that had taken up an immense amount of time and resources, including that proprietary computer.

the hardware itself isn't an issue - a computer this powerful could be set to virtually any purpose and its inherent intelligence would be massively beneficial to working with humans closely. the software, however, presents obvious problems right away, but it's likely they believed the naive programming could be trained as a peacekeeper rather than a warmachine due to its incredible learning capacity. yes, it's based in violence, combat is its foundation, but v2 would be needed for security and it was certainly meant to make peace if it couldn't be kept....so the base code wasn't changed in their haste. it was modified with add-ons, most importantly the limitations that v1 didn't have, as these became much more expedient if it was going to work in the public sphere. essentially, these additional pieces of code would keep v2 from attempting to learn about EVERY little thing around it since much of its environment would be far less relevant to it than v1's would have - v2 could work anywhere from office spaces to parks to train stations, where a vast majority of the stimuli present would be useless and clog up its queue, whereas v1 would largely be reserved for the battlefield and warzones, places it would need to be aware of almost everything in its vicinity. plus, v2 was given many more modifiers on situational assessment and hostile engagement where it considers a vast array of factors before it attacks compared to v1's much more basic measures - v2 assumes peaceful unless proven otherwise, v1 assumes hostile unless proven otherwise. finally, conflict resolution and non-violent tactics where packaged together to slap on to the end of v2's code...but they were sloppy and poorly optimized, so v2's method of choice remained violence.

after this came learning, which its engineers and programmers HEAVILY relied on as opposed to its coding - it was socialized much more intensely than v1, meeting a variety of people and learning to interact with them through basic greetings, administering verbal assistance, and responding to people in distress. v2 was taught extensively to understand facial expressions, was given a vocalizer so it could easily speak to humans (as well as a TON more language packs than v1 so it could communicate easily), and it learned basic first aid (and to AVOID blood harvesting!!!) v2 was additionally trained intensely on human thought models, allowing it a much higher capacity to empathize and intuitively understand emotion as well as make it much better at predicting human behavior. and in some ways, this worked. v2 wanted to be helpful, it developed a much more sophisticated personality and sense of self than v1, and it obviously wanted to be the best it could be. but. it was all too expensive. the amount of training it needed alone was a nightmare in terms of scaling up production, especially on a mass scale - it was never going to be implemented the way drones had been.

and even worse, all that training, all the hours put into it, didn't even fully take. v2 was unpredictable, it often resorted to violence when it should have implemented its conflict resolution and it regularly harvested blood from its victims. it was given scenarios in which it was meant to apprehend a criminal to save civilians, and it would simply end up killing everyone involved instead. over and over its mind defaulted to cruelty, the legacy of its predecessor haunting it, overtaking it, reminding everyone that its core was still war even when they tried to bury it under peace. and this was extremely confusing for v2. it knew what its job was and it followed its protocols, but constantly it was told it had been wrong. it did everything it could to learn what they wanted it to, it absorbed every detail into its mind, but it continued to assess situations poorly according to its teachers. it worked hard until the project was finally shutdown, v2 considered a failure and logistically unlikely to take in the market anyway. so it was shelved beside v1, the old prototype that was only woken up every now and then to run diagnostics and keep in some kind of shape, just in case. now they were both just in case.

but truly, v2 was alone in it. v1, at this point, didn't have nearly the emotional capacity that v2 did, so it didn't really care about being indefinitely put to sleep. i am warming up more to the idea of playing with v1 and v2 having some pre-canon contact, and this is when it would largely take place. i like to think v2 may find workarounds to waking itself up sometimes and then waking up v1 too...but v1 just isn't quite there yet. v2 tries to talk to it, to make it understand and to connect with it in some way, but v1 doesn't get it. it just tries to ask about the war, if it's finally going to be deployed, and v2 has to tell it no, has to watch as it can see v1 ignore it trying to engage with it, until it puts it back to sleep and goes along with it. but, every now and then, something new is added to the storage room they're kept in and v1 becomes interested in it, programming forever attuned to any change in its environment. so v2 can tell it all about whatever it is (sometimes it makes things up if it doesn't know, v1 100% carries some bullshit information that v2 fed it to this day lol) and they can have a moment where it feels like they're not totally alone

[pastadoughie]

MY NAME IS SPELLED WITF AN E AND NOT AN A get it RIGHT!!

hai! im rowen (he/him) and i draw thingse soemtimze!! im a queer (trans, intersex, gay) 17 (5-1-07) yr old furry artist :3 u probably know my blog for drawing many many silly kitties and miscilanious creechers, but i do other things!

i do requests (no ocs or fandom shit, ONLY silly) and i take commisions (i am working on a website to organize all the prices and stuff, but for now, just dm me if youre intrested)

i do all my art on mspaint (win10 ver.) unless explicitly stated otherwise, i just use the default pencil tool on 4px (the largest default size setting) witch is a round brush with no antialiasing

i use a drawing tablet, the XP-Pen Deco 1 V2 (Celeste, He/Him), and an ASUS Harman/Kardon i7 14.5 In. laptop (Chelsea, She/Her)

my blog mostly runs on a queue, witch is very long and only goes onse a day, so sometimes extremeley old artwork gets posted. for this reason posts that are recently posted are not nessasarily recently drawn. furthermore, asks sometimes take an extremely long time to post after ive actually answered them, so please dont resubmit things. (+ i have far too many askse to actually be able to answer them all. so asks that are very similar to things ive already answered, are extremely time consuming, or are just not that funny, are unlikely to ever be answered)

rebeast : is for reblogs of other peoples content

rowencatfanart : is for fanart people have made for me (if you make any please tag it as such, as well as mention me in the post)

the beast speaks : is for all my original text posts

retchid opinions : are for my own text posts where i actually say things of value and have an opinion on topics

screaming and scampering : is for when i say bullshit that doesnt matter

consulting thea council : is for polls of mine

rowens serious art : is for serious rendered art of mine

rowens liddol guys : is for sillies of all kinds that ive made

biblically accurate rowen : is for art of non-kitty me, for blacklisting purposes (i like to not be reminded i am a person when im scrolling thru my own blog) mspaint animations : for when i animate things on mspaint (onion skin is for cowards i let my heart guide me) rowens animatics : are for when i make, animatics, its really self explainatory. rowens advertising : is for when i advertise my products or twitch or commisions or whatever. for blacklisting purposes the mewsifixtion : is for when i give out easter eggs 2 ppl who send me asks. asks for this are currently CLOSED rowensumptions : are for when ppl send me headcannons they have abt me thru asks S teir wimpering : for the text postre ive made that r actualey funny rows gross old ort : for when i reblog old art of mine i tag all asks with the username of the person who asked them, so if u want to find a previous ask of yours i answered you can just search your own username i also try to tag asks i answer with the date of when they were sent to me, and the date i actually drew them, because the queue can make this confusing,,, i cant really retroactively see the send date of posts i made before this tagging change, so some we will simpley nevr know,,, dates are written in american date format. so month-day-year i always tag the software i use for each artwork, but its pretty much always MSPaint (Win10), though i occasionally do image editing in Asesprite

the gray and white kitty i draw most frequently is my catsona! he is not an oc and is specifically meant to represent me

i ask that you please do not use drawings of him as personal branding (such as pfps, banners, avatars, ect.)

the samething applies to my fursona, valentine, though his design changes too much to give an accurate ref for, i generally will specify in the tags

i am generally fine with people saying that my catsona is cute but please dont make any overly explicit comments about my fursona, or on my posts in general. i am a minor (i dont care if you say like, ouyhh bark bark i love men i get it hes meant to be attractive but use some common sense)

furthermore. for people who have blogs with alot of untagged sexually explicit content its best you dont interact with me, i have my age set properly, so i do not see sexual posts that are properly flagged, but if your posts ARENT flagged, and you interact WITH ME, then thats on YOU for exposing a minor for sexually explicit content

if you have minors DNI in your bio and make a whole song and dance abt how ggrrr!!! i block ageless blogs and minors!!! and then go and reblog my posts with sexual comments then thats on you. and not me.

i dont care that much frankly, about seeing joke posts abt penis or whatever, but there is a line. and if you are trying to curate a specifically adult space on your blog then you also have to put in the work to not intentionally loop minors into that

also. please do not act overly familiar with me, im a 17 yr old on the internet and not your friend. and while i am not opposed to meeting people on tumblr, there is a line and you need to actually build some kind of relationship with me before youre allowed to act like that.

u can find me on tumblr (duh) : @pastadoughie : my main @leftoverdough : is my reblog sideblog @scungledfiles : is the web graphics blog i run w/ my friend (@soggiedsocks) (though we havent been as active as of late cuz mentol ealness + i have been fopcusing moar on this blog) youtube : pastadoughie (i havent posted in 6 months ouhm, oops,) twitch : pastadoughie etsy : scungledthings (i also share this with @soggiedsocks, when contacting my shop you will most likely be talking to him and not me.) if you would like to contact me FOR COMMISIONS directly you can also do so discord : pastadough email : pastadough01@gmail.com PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ONLY BUISNESS INQUIRIES!! stupid shit should be sent via ask or tumblr dm. DO NOT FLOOD MY EMAIL!! i WILL block you!! --- Last Updated : 5-1-2024

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

I think.. Ruin is innocent only as long as Eclipse is suspicious of him. Cos of narrative tropes, you know?

While Moon was the most suspicious, there was definitely an angle of 'aha! my paranoia was justified!' that could be taken.

With Eclipse being the most suspicious of Ruin, Ruin has to be innocent. Because Eclipse is a 'not-exactly-retired-but-currently-on-hold' antagonist. As an antagonist, Eclipse cannot be allowed to be right. Because if he's right, it means that the good guys are wrong, and good guys can't be wrong even when they are the narrative just ignores it i will never get over the fucking time out box i will never get over the fight.

So pretty much the moment Eclipse figures out someone else to hound, its gonna be like 'ah, yeah, it's Ruin'.

(Anyway the idea of it actually being Ruin makes me a little sad, even though your points are exhaustive AND excellent, I'd recently found out about the spell copying myself-- but like. This fandom decided KC was a dad and that Lunar and Eclipse secretly miss having a sibling relationship, I am more than capable of tossing a blanket over Ruin being the culprit and going 'nope! 8D' for fanwork purposes XDDD)

I mean you're totally valid.

And I think it'll be actually interesting for the heroes to be wrong.

Right now the track record is really bad with Lunar killing Eclipse.

(Although I will cry about KC's missed potential forever. KC had no reason to NOT fight and had no reason to disown BM so hardily. )

Although. Eclipse never said he hated Lunar.

Eclipsev3 wanting to use Lunar as a battery came at him because a Directive put it in his head to do it. That's why he was talking to himself and seeing hallucinations of himself. He was losing it (and he'll lose it more) But Eclipse never said he hated Lunar. Eclipsev2 also never killed him. He left him alive intentionally. He was all powerful. He knew he left a nanobot alive. He wanted to kill part of himself.

Lunar said a deep desperate part of him wants to go crawling back to Eclipse. (said in LAES when Moon and Lunar had their therapy talk with Earth.)

However. Ruin has just lied about everything. I do not trust him as far as I can throw him.

And we sadly already know what Cured Ruin Sounds like....... And The Ruin that we have now... DOES NOT sound like that.

Davis was clearly channeling Fnaf Canon Eclipse for Ruin during the small times he broke through with his "help me"s.

And the Ruin we have today certainly just sounds the exact same as Virus Ruin, just more timid and less crazy.

Also... Eclipse V2 before he died said some interesting things THAT HAVE ALL COME TRUE SO FAR.

Star beings that are coming, Lunar being the key to set things in motion.... All of Eclipsev2's predations before his death came true.

Evil!Sun says that he knows who Made Eclipsev3-4. He also told Moon to listen to Eclipse.

So far. Eclipsev3's number one suspect is Ruin.

Evil!Sun basically told Moon like "I know who it is. Listen to the crazy person who is hacking out a lung to talk to you."

So for me personally, I think it's explicitly confirmed who made him at this point.

[thswrtchdthng]

your first mistake was giving me the green light on rambling about ultrakill

THE LORE OF ULTRAKILL HEAVILY SUMMARIZED:

mankind is dead. blood is fuel. hell is full.

THE LORE OF ULTRAKILL ONLY SLIGHTLY LESS SUMMARIZED (still very summarized and i might get some things wrong):

during ww1, various countries involved began developing machines that ran on blood. each new machine created was meant to be stronger than the last one. in the end, this led to the creation of the earthmover by japan, which was an absolutely giant machine. so large that people started living on top of them. before the war ended, only one machine was created, though it never got a chance to fulfill its purpose of defeating the earthmover: this machine was called v1, and its unique ability was to heal upon contact with blood from any source. when the war was over, a different version of v1, named v2, was created for the purpose of keeping peace. these are v1 and v2.

now, eventually, humanity discovered an entrence to hell. don't question it. also hell is a living organism.

then, somehow, humanity died. all of it. everyone was dead. and all that remained were the machines they'd created.

in ultrakill, a first-person shooter video game, you play as v1, and your goal is simple: blood. you just want more blood. and you are in hell. so you start ultrakilling everybody. it's also based on dante's inferno, so that's fun.

in the post i made, i said alice is like v2 to me. this is mostly because v2 is an important character, but not a very powerful boss fight, and alice is a very lore-relevant character, but not very high up on the corporate ladder. but also because v2's purpose was to maintain peace and order, but she didn't get to fulfill that purpose. everyone died. v2 is, even though she never admits or acknowledges it, very possibly the only machine with the capacity to truly miss humanity. idk why, but that reminds me a lot of alice dyer. make of that what you will.

now. the other character i mentioned is THE FERRYMAN. THIS GIRL->

basically ferrymen are sinners from the layer of wrath deemed worthy of redemption by heaven. they're tasked with carrying passengers through the afterlife. another fun bit of ferryman lore is that they all tear their skin off from shame, but heaven grants them a holy cloth to cover their faces. pretty simple, yeah? but this one looks a bit bored. probably because she was promised she could go to heaven if she carried enough passengers, but...no more passengers are coming through. because humanity is dead.

the ferryman is considered a slightly more difficult boss fight, or maybe just one slightly later in the game than both v2 fights (you fight v2 twice), but you can actually literally just. pay her to leave. toss some coins at her and you can literally just skip the fight.

i can't articulate why she reminds me of lena but. she does.

so anyways all of this and i haven't even gotten to gabriel. there is so much lore. there's an excellent video explaining all of it that i can send a link to if i've caught ur interest with this.

oh also a lot of people ship v2 and the ferryman.

oh also neither of them canonically go by she/her pronouns but it's a very very common headcanon, and i'm pretty sure hakita (the developer) gave a shout out to the she/her v2 headcanon specifically at some point.

I LOVE ULTRAKILL I THINK ULTRAKILL IS REALLY COOL!!!!!

okokok. several thoughts.

this seems so fucking cool????????? to the point that I might play it when I can get it

thoughts on shipping v1 and v2? cause from what you've said they sound quite shippable to me

if hell is a living organism, is it like,,,,consenting?? to be entered????? does it have a personality?????? that might just be my conceptum tendencies but,,,,,is hell like a character in itself (sort of)?? (the question here is can I romance hell or not, and does hell enjoy being entered)

if it's based on Dante's Inferno I already know I'm going to like it

v2 sounds extremely huggable. can I hug her?

and you're right that 'being the only one with the ability to miss humanity' gives Alice vibes for some reason

ferrymen sound so sad to me. can I hug them? and give them a little skincare?

the ferryman concretely is hot. is that alright to say? she sounds very interesting to talk to (do ferrymen talk? does anyone here talk?)

well everyone you've mentioned so far is hot to me tbh

who's gabriel? please please please send me that link I wanna know about them now. I've always had a complicated relationship with every archangel gabriel based thing/character (I have very passionate feelings towards biblical gabriel for some reason) so I'll probably love them

but yeah ultrakill sounds pretty cool! I'll probably look more into it in the future

[roseworth]

Rose Wilson (pre-flashpoint) Reading Guide :^)

hiiiiii i need everyone to love her and talk about her all the time

this isnt everything, this i just what i think you need to get a pretty good idea of who she is <3 if you want more this list has most of her pre52 appearances (EDIT: and i have a post-flashpoint reading list now too!!!!)

all the important issues for her story are in bold and my personal favorites are italicized. in all honestly you can skip a lot of the bolded ones but i WILL take it personally if you skip my favorites

Deathstroke v1 #15 (her introduction!!)

Deathstroke v1 #45-46, #48, annual #4, #51

New Titans #126

Titans v1 #27, #33, #37

Teen Titans v3 #0.5

Teen Titans v3 #8, #12

Batgirl v1 #64

Nightwing v2 #112-115

Nightwing v2 #117

Teen Titans v3 #34, #40-41, #43-46, #57, #60, #71, #88, #90-91, #98-100

Batgirl v2 #2-4

Titans v2 #13, Teen Titans v3 #70, Vigilante v3 #6

Teen Titans v3 #77-78

Faces of Evil: Deathstroke

Teen Titans v3 #72-76 & #79-82 (second feature)

now unfortunately i love to explain myself so i gave my reasonings for everything i put under the cut:

welcome to the annotated version <3

Deathstroke #15 - this tells the story of slade meeting lillian worth, rose's mom, and then shows rose for the first time <3 honestly this one doesnt do much for rose other than saying that she exists but it still matters

Deathstroke #45-46 - before this, rose is kidnapped and escapes but i didnt include that in the list because shes not doing much until these issues. but she has things to do in these and has great moments of lili trying to protect her. dont bother reading any of the actual deathstroke stuff because i do not care what hes up to

Deathstroke #48 - rose meets slade for the first time!!! it does not go well

Deathstroke annual #4 - shes not in this til the last few pages but i get the content of rose mourning her mother where i can bc it does not get brought up for like 20 years after this. also rose being a badass is always welcome to me

Deathstroke #51 - this one is almost entirely rose's pov!!! granted shes not exactly the center of the story but still! it also starts showing her meta abilities and precognition which is so slay of her

New Titans #126 - this is the first time she gets like. an actual personality. and its great. i lov her dynamics with the other titans and i love kyle and donna kind of trying to parent her. and also shows a little bit more of how she feels about her mom hehe. in the issue before this she puts a gun to someones head which i think is also worth reading that moment of her however. its a one page scene and it never gets brought up again so i didnt bother including it

Titans #27, #33, #37 - honestly i think that roses entire time nannying lian is worth reading but she doesnt do a Lot in each issue so i felt bad including the whole thing sdjafhadsf but she has scattered appearances from #25-39 and theyre all FANTASTIC. one of my favorite eras of rose for sure

Teen Titans #0.5  - this is her joining her father :( terrible hate kill but its a very important part of her story. also she has a random family here which ??? i mean sure i guess. love that everyone was playing hot potato with rose for like 10 years though

Teen Titans #8 - calls herself ravager for the first time so its kind of important. honestly though i wasnt even gonna include this at first but decided that it was important enough to throw in. shes only on the last page of this though

Teen Titans #12 - this is where she loses her eye (see: takes her own knife and stabs it out) so its pretty significant. also bart reaching out to her and trying to help her is sweet :) i dont really care about brother blood at all though so i didnt include the rest of this arc but it starts at #9 if youre really interested

Batgirl v1 #64 - this one is extremely biased im gonna be real. i just love batgirl 2000 and this issue was really good for both of them honestly, its the two of them fighting and does a good job showing rose's relationship with her dad during this time and showing her skills 

Nightwing #112-115 - this one was just so much fun. i wouldnt call it 100% in character but theres a lot of good stuff about rose wanting a family and its rly sweet :( its also hilarious to me and its so fun to read it

Nightwing #117  - leaving her father!!! she really only shows up on a couple pages here but you know. its pretty significant. 

GENERAL WARNING FOR TEEN TITANS: a lot of teen titans was written by geoff johns and. i dont know how to put it other than that hes VERY geoff johns about it. there are bits of misogyny and racism in pretty much every issue. even after johns stops writing it still has some extremely iffy parts. so just be warned :(

EDIT: since making this list i have made yet another list of her tt03 appearances and whether or not they should be read so u can check that out if you’re interested <3

Teen Titans #34 - her intro to the team!! talks a little about how she got there and what shes doing etc. also wlw hostility with cassie

Teen Titans #35 - this one wasnt even on the list above because it comes with HEAVY disclaimers. this issue includes rose trying to rape tim, which i consider to be the worst moment in that entire book, and probably the most out of character thing rose has ever done. thank you geoff johns. HOWEVER this issue also has a lot of really nice moments with rose and eddie that i really enjoyed :( so just. disregard the first few pages if you read this

Teen Titans #40-41 - you will quickly find out that i am a sucker for rose and joey being siblings. in all honesty i know very little about joey but i DO know that he and rose have rly sweet moments in a lot of these

Teen Titans #43-46 - a lot of deathstroke stuff. mostly boring but rose does get to fight her dad here :) and also some more rose & joey moments. though do be warned as a cassandra cain fan these issues did send me flying into a blind rage because she is so out of character

Teen Titans #57 & #60 - precognition!!! rose being a badass!!! my love!!!!!! this is a good issue. it does go back on a lot of what its already gone over by saying "ooo rose is so murderous and dangerous!!" but. whatever. i like it when shes murderous. these are all part of an arc that goes from #56-60 if you want the full story but these two are the ones that rose has the most to do in. then #60 leads into Terror Titans which. um. was not good. very out of character for rose and just not an interesting story at all. but i mean if you want to read it she is in it

Teen Titans #71  - rose-centric issues my beloved hehe :) this issue is pretty good and sets off her story in the second feature starting in #72

Teen Titans #88 - rose rejoining the team!!!!! which i have mixed feelings on because it was clearly a "the writer wanted her there but didnt want to do the work to put her back so they just threw her in" situation which is fine i guess. it ignores a lot of whats already happened though :/ but!!!! lillian worth mention!!! woo!!!!

Teen Titans #90-91 - damian and rose's dynamic is so fucking funny and i love it. they are iconic together its amazing

Teen Titans #98-100 - final teen titans arc!! rose isnt specifically doing a lot but she does have some really good moments here. also she has an interaction with mia for like 2 panels so i need to cut those 2 panels out and frame them <3 but be warned. the writer was clearly going in the rose/conner direction for some reason which. um. hm.

Batgirl v2 #2-4 - ICONIC. i have issues with cass's characterization in this but rose is wonderful. she can be patricidal as a treat <3 shes planning ahead and shes a good fighter and shes murderous. what more do you need.

Teen Titans #70, Titans #13, Vigilante #6 - these are all part of a bigger crossover, Titans #12 and Vigilante #5 come before these but rose doesnt have anything to do there and i did not read them because i dont really care about the story of this one. but oh my god. this has some FANTASTIC rose & joey content. all of their interactions in this killed me esp the last part :(

Teen Titans #77-78 - oughghggogugughggh this one was so sad fr. i love it when rose tries to kill her dad but there were so many parts in this where i was full of pain. but also joey and rose moment hiiii !! but most importantly lili is revealed to be alive here!!! yippee!!!!

Faces of Evil: Deathstroke #1 - hiiiii im actually adding this one to the list nearly a year after i originally made it lol <3 but i love this issue so much and i cant believe i never added it. most of the reason i like it is because i like it when she commits patricide and like half of this comic is dedicated to her kicking his ass then getting her ass kicked. god i love her

Teen Titans #72-76 & #79-82 - FRESH HELL MY BELOVED <3 greatest rose story of all time <333 the writer is clearly weird about rose but who am i to judge. lots of good moments of her struggling with morality and finding out who she is and its a pretty good story and im pretty sure there was one part that made me cry

and there we go !! i know most ppl dont add their opinion to their reading lists however i mostly made this for my followers and i am the god of this list and i do what i want

[invested-in-your-future]

I have curious to know more about that:

In your version what would Jaune fallout would be?

Would he be an outcast or a you suck speech to be better?

How would the team dynamic be especially after the situation?

If I were to alter stuff in V1-V3, the bully arc would need some significant changes - far too many things in a show are built around excusing him rather than making him confront his flaws.

I think I said most of these before, but if I were to put it into a list.

Starting with the Bully Arc:

DON'T have Pyrrha help Jaune save Cardin and actually show that while his mindset is toxic, Jaune has the conviction to risk it all when pushed - of course, since Pyrrha wouldn't help him there, Jaune would actually get hurt, making the confrontation a bit messier even if the outcome is the same. And Cardin seeing someone like him put his life on the line to save him would likely sting a lot more.

DON'T do the weird "Ursa Grimm like honey" at all - the show has literal bullies prey on people in the forest, and Grimm are attracted to negative emotions - this means we don't get the "harrowing" scene of Jaune throwing honey at people and the whole plot is a bit less silly - and that means Jaune is NOT here because of blackmail or anything - having Jaune risk his life to save Cardin despite him being a bully is good enough as it highlights the qualities needed for being a Huntsmen and there must be no possible upsides to Jaune doing this - Pyrrha won't change her opinion and she is not involved in the fight - there's no benefit for him doing it other than it being his calling.

DO make Pyrrha genuinely angry with Jaune and have Jaune actually openly apologize to her after the Cardin incident and come clean to her.

DO have Cardin threaten to blackmail Jaune, but resolve it with Jaune coming clean to his team first (ALL of them) and then resolving to come clean to Ozpin and co.

DO have Ozpin shrug it off, either when Jaune comes clean or when Cardin decides to rat him out because, to him, the forest events would be all the proof he needed that Jaune has "needed qualifications" - can even throw in some shady Ozpin stuff and imply the teams are the way they are for a reason too.

DON'T have just Jaune and Pyrrha train. DO have the entire team JNPR decide to work spar together and train together to help him and make him regain their trust by putting in actual work to earn his spot.

There's no instant forgiveness or reassuring Jaune that he's great actually - everyone involved agrees that it's a work in progress, but his willingness to come clean and work to be a better person is a good first step. Team building.

Oh look we just got done with Jaune Arc arc of V1 in, like, two episodes instead of four or five.

V2 stuff

Just erase the "trying to woo Weiss" arc for Jaune Arc. Completely. Have the feud be about Cardin shifting targets and fighting Pyrrha in that sparring match and Jaune being unable to stay in his lane when she handled them just fine herself.

Drop the "I can't dance part" from Neptune. How about Neptune, despite his womanizer façade, actually likes guys but thinks it would make him seem uncool if he asked a guy out to a dance. Here, you have an actual LGBT rep two volumes in without "having to build up a relationship", and it ties nicely into the theme of dealing with toxic masculinity and how it affects different people. And we avoid a scene where two guys treat Weiss like an object they own.

It overall also ties better into the cross-dressing segment because it now becomes Jaune basically going - "Look, I learned my lesson, and I am comfortable without stereotypical macho nonsense" to Pyrrha. And it's a message to Neptune that there's nothing "silly" about not adhering to heteronormative "coolness" - oh look, suddenly there's no need for a laugh track of everyone pointing out that a guy in a dress is oh-so-funny in this diverse and accepting world of Remnant. EDIT: also yes monty intended ot to be about him keeping promises but that still works - Jaune regressing at the start by whiteknighting is him faltering on the promise he made to the team on v1 arc of this version - so the message of him reaffirming his promises still remains.

That's just off the top of my head in what could make him more bearable without sweeping his flaws or his forgery under the rug.

There are PLENTY minuscule things to change that would expand upon his characterization in a way that doesn't detract from the actual protagonists.

BUT

Since I am keeping the first three volumes as-is instead, I am treating the Fall of Beacon as Jaune's wake-up call for self-reflection.

Jaune had quite a bit of time to rethink everything that happened in Beacon - what he did or didn't do, what he said, and his overall priorities in life.

Coming face to face with how insignificant he ended up being ironically had provided him with a sense of clarity - everything falling apart allowed him to look at it all from a different angle.

He did not like the person he used to be, and that's where V4r starts - Jaune views his staying at Beacon due to forgery as a debt Jaune can never repay, and he strives to be a better person - actually worthy of that chance. He also understands just how privileged and stupid his behavior during Beacon was.

He has newfound respect for Pyrrha for having put up with him all this time. He also is regretful over how his antics had prevented them from actually exploring what could have been between them till it was way too late.

There's no melting her weapons for himself, no hero's journey for him. After the tragedies that hit Beacon Jaune ended up with a more clearcut understanding of who he wants to be and how he wants to honor Pyrrha's memory, in turn having processed grief in a bit more healthier way than the others.

[sonkitty]

Crowley S2 Hair Post #1 Redone v2

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

This post was last updated 04/02/2024.

Take it all in.

Treasure it for all that it is.

Because you will never see this hairstyle this clearly on Crowley ever again, not even from different angles...unless there's a treat waiting for us in season 3. But otherwise, no, that's all we get of this gorgeous, gorgeous shot.

...

Sideburn Check

Before we see Crowley pull that newspaper down, we are given a profile view of his right side of his face and can see his right sideburn. This sideburn looks short but is a little longer than the shortness we'll eventually see is the intended shortness after driving the car for a long enough time.

Let's take a look:

Wow, that is really hard to tell, but I'm still going to go with thinking it is little longer.

So, why is it a little longer in this human space that is the park?

Theoretically, it's a combination of factors that add up to Crowley making that newspaper his own personal door to manage his own personal space. I'll cover that more in the Earthly Objects section. It might also help that this human space is a more familiar one to him.

Two characters are going to show up, at different times, and there will be no interaction from him to them until he has deliberately pulled the newspaper down from his face. That is to say, he passes through his designated threshold to talk to them.

Once the newspaper goes down, we'll see the sideburns some more. They will look similar in length. It's hard to be sure due to the angles and expressions on his face.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

In our initial view of Crowley, we can't see the streak. Once the newspaper goes down, it will become evident. That means we have to be suspicious of the fact that we didn't get to see it at the start of the scene because this story lies. Repeatedly. Something is amiss with its chronology. There is possibly a book somewhere in here and a lot of games messing with our heads.

There is a weird blocking and blurring thing happening all the time in GO2, and it's really overt in this scene. Basically, Crowley's right profile view from the side of the bench is going to just keep being blurry, so that we still can't really see the streak in those particular shots.

Otherwise, on the more clear front or other angled shots, it's more clear the brighter red streak is there.

Hairstyle Changes

Crowley's hairstyle changes frequently during GO2. It will even change in really subtle ways during scenes, such that I simply cannot catch every style. The style when Crowley pulls down the newspaper for the first time is actually something like in between the first shot we see with the profile view and then another shot after it when Shax arrives. You probably won't catch that if you aren't trying. I missed it when I was first studying this stuff some months ago.

Far more subtle, and admittedly iffy—I could just be seeing what I want to see—but to me, it looks like the initial right profile shot has a more obvious gradient. The hair towards the bottom matches his season 1 color better and gets brighter up until the top. The after-pushing-newspaper-down style has a gradient, but there is even less of the season 1 color on the bottom area, as if the hair itself is transforming into its new season 2 state. Here's a comparison view if you wish to decide for yourself:

Here's the original collection I made from this scene before realizing the first style at least is different:

Now with streaks indicators too:

So with all of the above in mind, I reached the following conclusions back when first trying to figure out the hair generally...

(1) Crowley's hair is now a brighter red than season 1, including season 1 present day and season 1 flashbacks.

(2) There is yet an even brighter, more saturated, streak of red hair above his left eye.

(3) His sideburns are longer than they were in season 1. At this point, we have no comparison to season 2 present day, but they are going to get both longer and shorter than what is seen here in this same episode.

(4) In this scene, the hair is lighter and more saturated on his left side; it is darker on his right side. For episode 1 at least, in my past notes, that was standard for most of it.

(5) I can't tell you what the top style is telling us about Crowley's mood, but it does seem to do that, at least sometimes. I'll point out if I think I notice it at times later.

(6) The left sideburn does not have as much hair as the right sideburn. Just as the color of the hair is lighter on the left, it seems the left sideburn is supposed to be "lighter" than the right through that way. That seems to be the more frequent way these things work, but it does sometimes switch.

...

Earthly Objects

For Earthly Objects, one of the reasons "earthly" is specified in the name of the game is touches can depend on how an object is used on Earth, instead of just limiting things to tangible objects and physical touches. For example, looking through a window is an earthly object touch because people look through windows to see things on Earth.

Next, I am going to talk about pockets, so this part is going to get ridiculous. You might want to skip down to the next "..." if my saying the newspaper is like a personal little door for Crowley was enough. My understanding of pockets is limited, but I'll share that limited understanding nonetheless.

Before we get to a lovely right profile view of Crowley, there's lens flare rainbow stuff!

Pockets love rainbows combined with Crowley. We can blame Elvis Presley and his song, "A Pocketful of Rainbows". The most noticeable and seemingly official rainbow, in my opinion, is the one right before Crowley himself appears in the cut. I have indeed, checked frame by frame, to see that technically it has not fully disappeared once Crowley himself is visible. It's really close though!

Okay, back to when we get a closer view of Crowley on his initial profile view.

Crowley has his back to the bench. He has his elbow on the arm rest. He has his line of sight directed at the newspaper as if reading it. Those are 3 possible earthly object touches right there. Crowley is holding the back of the newspaper with only two visible fingers. They are the index finger and the middle finger. Only the index finger is showing its tip. That's not enough to receive credit for touching the newspaper physically as an earthly object yet. He'll get that later, when he wants it done. The other two partly visible fingers on the front are probably significant as well.

For the record, I do not like talking about the pockets as frequently or to the extent that I do. I talk about them because I've noticed they are important. They irk me because they are the hardest part of these games for me, at the present moment. I am downright incapable of solving The Pocket Trick to my own satisfaction. A key mechanic in that Trick is the use of word play. Another is to use one's imagination.

One of the first things to know here about Crowley's super advanced play in Earthly Objects and pockets is that his tie strands are connected to his hands because they are his Tied Hands. It's actually really funny when it sinks in, but it does make the game so, so hard. These silly cute Tied Hands have thumbs. The thumbs are the tassels, so the tips of those tassels are the thumb tips.

Thumb tips matter for Door Mode.

Due to Crowley's posture, there is a pocket between his right arm and the bench itself. His right jacket sleeve is open enough that there is yet another evident pocket existing between his shirt sleeve and his jacket sleeve. This pocket is the key one of interest to me because the newspaper touches it. Even so, there is still another pocket formed between the newspaper, Crowley's right hand, and his clothing that the newspaper touches so long as a breeze isn't messing with it.

Those tassel tips I mentioned earlier...are on his pants. That's why I'm spending so much time on this part by the way. There's some metal thing sticking out that only ever sticks out here touching the vest. The belt is his Belt Head, which the vest does like to touch at other times. So, if this metal is somehow the buckle from the belt—since I can't see it being the tie or anything else, that's probably supposed to be its "tongue" while the other visible part of the snake on the belt is pocketed between the vest tips. Based on how the game plays itself, the Belt Head is helping the Tied Hands in ways beyond my comprehension, so Crowley can take advantage of pockets. What? Do they need belt assistance to be tied because he's sitting down and the watch is not on screen? Somewhere in here is Door Mode on the clothing, channeling its way through pocket imagination powers, so that all of the apparel can work together and give Crowley his newspaper door.

Apparently, this method requires the watch to not be visibly on screen for now. I really want to know what the watch's job is for silly pocket mechanics.

Oh, and I almost forgot. Check out the self-made pocket of hair since we have an active Belt Head messing with things:

Yeah, sure, could be nothing, but The Pocket Trick is really, really intentional about these types of things, and even though this scene is not one of the touches in The Pocket Trick, pockets are still relevant. I mainly suspect such things because of those tassel tips.

Even some of his hair is pocketing the collar of his jacket. The profile shot is so precise, none of the left part of his sunglasses can be seen.

While we're at it, Crowley's sitting really still. He'll be standing really still later in episode 6 with a more obvious pocket touch for The Door Trick. Said Trick is another big part of why I'm noting so much about the pockets by the way. It also has a self-made pocket of hair visible in the first cut.

Okay, that's enough about pockets. Finally! They'll be mentioned later but not to this extent.

...

During the scene after Shax shows up, Crowley's going to touch some mail. We'll see his shoes on the ground at one point. A notable earthly object touch is the first one he gets when Shax shows up after he pulls the newspaper down. He's going to see himself in the mirror. Crowley does not see the way humans see most of the time. He senses with his eyes. But a mirror's actual literal function on Earth is generally to look at yourself, or something of interest.

One of the ways Crowley can and does see is if someone—or something, is deliberately showing him an earthly object. So, by Shax holding the mirror and Crowley intentionally looking at it, with its general actual function, he theoretically sees himself.

That's helpful to him because based on his actions during the story, he doesn't sense that the sideburns themselves have changed length when they do, even if he's using them to manage his space. He checks by looking in the mirror if possible and necessary, notably in his car. Catching when he might be looking at all is harder than this one part of this one scene. He is quite subtle about it. This game wants people to look closely to catch these types of things as they play and interpret the story.

The cut between Crowley holding the newspaper in profile view and pushing it down has him holding the newspaper differently with his fingers. That could be a suspicious chronology edit or it could be Crowley testing/managing the bounds of his created space or both.

...

You can see some of the sky and dark parts of trees reflected in Crowley's sunglasses. I consider that significant because it's a clue among several others that great care is taken to what is and is not reflected in his sunglasses during this story. You can find out more about why I think that's important here: The Window Trick Visual Representation.

...

Story Commentary

I don't know what the stillness does, but I suspect it is relevant because of how still Crowley is near the end of episode 6 when standing by the door to the car. My overall guess has been that it helps Crowley be sensed or seen since humans often don't actually approach him with the exception of Nina later. However, one human approaches him here before Shax will later arrive.

Due to how I play these games, Crowley's seeming listlessness here actually strikes me as more of a strategic move than what it looks like on the surface. He has his saturated streak. He has his sideburns. He had his newspaper door. He's messing with pockets without even putting actual hands in pants pockets yet. There was a rainbow. This sneaky snake is up to a lot, and he's hiding the extent of what that is from Shax and whoever else is reading him in the story.

When Crowley leaves, he will pass by Shax with him in the background. He is blurred, and there's something gold around where he's holding the newspaper, that is presumably his bills. After he passes Shax, you can't see the presumed bills anymore. Due to the angle? In this story, I'm skeptical, but yeah, could be. Crowley's going to be conveniently obscured many times throughout the season.

Based on this timeline rundown post, this scene could easily be out of order from the presented story. The sunlight and rainbow stuff is too confusing for me to understand in trying to figure out the time, but I think the idea this scene takes place out of order is a good, valid one. The basis from that post is the chimes I didn't notice on my own and wouldn't even know what they mean if I had noticed.

Not only that, in my watching the scene repeatedly to try and figure out what pocket mischief Crowley's up to next, I noticed the tie strands keep just swapping what side of the vest they are on in different cuts with no indication he moved to make them do that. It's not every cut, but it happens. He's a demon, so he could just do that because he wants to, of course.

The scene has ducks and some other birds. While some birds do appear when Crowley makes it rain in episode 3, animals are otherwise rather lacking in appearance once closer to Whickber Street and wherever Crowley parks his car when it's isolated.

The scene is nicely lit, thanks to the sunlight. We actually aren't going to see Crowley's hair this well lit for quite a bit of the story due to the other settings, especially the dimly lit bookshop.

That's it for this post. Way back when I started to track these things, I did have a tendency to update even these posts, so that could happen again, just FYI.

...

Past versions of this post:

Post #1 (meeting with Shax in St. James' Park)

Post #1 with mistake

...

Project inspired by these posts:

Crowley’s Sideburns & what do they mean?

Ok, I love this theory that it could be some sort ...

[sineala]

Steve did what with Emma..?? 👀👀👀

Okay, so. No one actually says any of this in so many words but it seems to be what they're heavily implying: Steve and Sharon have an open relationship; Steve slept with Emma at the Hellfire Gala; it was either mommy kink or Emma just thinks it's funny to make him think about it. The first two things seem like they basically have to be true; the third is a little more tenuous.

This is Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty v2 #8; this is the current run.

Steve wakes up in Kansas with no memory of how he got there and also no memory of the past five days. He calls all his pals and they show up in Kansas to figure this out. It turns out they are also all missing the past five days and also all have scar tissue behind their right ear. So it's pretty easy to conclude that someone's been messing with their minds. All their minds.

So it'd probably be nice to get a telepath to come examine them, as Roger says. (Roger Aubrey, and unrelatedly I would just to say that I have spent most of this run experiencing truly incandescent rage at what they've decided to do to him in this run; I know he probably has like three fans total but I am one of them and I was so thrilled he was here in this run and then they ruined everything and it ruined a whole lot of my feelings about this run. Anyway.)

Roger suggests this in the second panel in the page I have added below. He says he doesn't currently know any telepaths personally but he figures that one of the rest of them probably does, and he asks if anyone knows one. Then the rest of the page happens.

Steve, looking extremely uncomfortably at Sharon and hesitating a lot, says he knows one and he met her at a party (in context, this would have to be the second Hellfire Gala, based on the information he later gives).

So Steve doesn't actually say outright that he and Emma got up to anything but based on the hesitation about telling Sharon what went on at the party with Emma, it seems like he's heavily implying he slept with her, because that's generally a good guess for "a thing you definitely don't want to tell your girlfriend you did at a party that you went to without her," absent other evidence. I mean, we didn't actually see any of this going on in Steve's appearances at the Gala, but that really seems like what he's implying -- that Steve slept with Emma and he doesn't want to actually admit that to Sharon.

That's clearly what Sharon understands him to be saying. She says, "Steve, it's fine. You don't gotta be a monk when I'm not around." So she assumes that what Steve is saying is that he slept with this telepath he knows, and she says that that's okay with her -- if she's not around, he can absolutely sleep with other people. No need for celibacy. Since it would be deeply weird if the first time they ever talked about polyamory had been right now while they're standing in a trainyard in Kansas surrounded by several of their spy friends, it seems likely that this is an existing agreement in their relationship and that Steve just feels weird going into any more detail about hooking up with Emma when Sharon is right there. So, yeah, open relationship, I guess?

The important thing is that Steve doesn't contradict Sharon's understanding of events. Steve's description of what happened is extremely light on actual specifics, and if all we had to go on was what Steve said, I don't think that would necessarily mean that he'd actually slept with Emma -- but that's clearly what Sharon thinks he did, and the thing is, Steve doesn't tell her she's wrong. If he hadn't actually slept with Emma, now would be a great time to correct Sharon's assumption about it. And he doesn't.

What he actually does is change the subject and start telling Sharon about the outfit he wore to the Hellfire Gala, because he's clearly uncomfortable talking about Emma with Sharon. So, you know, it really sounds like he must have slept with Emma and really doesn't want to talk about that right now.

Sharon tells him to stop changing the subject and he should just call her already. He explains that in order to call her, he's supposed to think a word and she'll hear him.

That word is "mommy."

So, I mean, either mommy kink was involved here or Emma just thinks it's funny to make Steve think about it. Could be either.

So Emma shows up:

Weirdly, Sharon didn't seem to realize they were talking about Emma? I mean, I guess there are multiple telepaths in the world. But she's not especially thrilled with Steve's choice.

And that's your canon evidence for "Steve and Sharon have an open relationship and Steve slept with Emma." The mommy kink thing could just be a joke, but, I mean, we have all seen Emma Frost, it's not like anyone should rule out femdom as a possibility.

You're welcome.

[digi-egg-in-your-pocket]

That Tamagotchi fan community has proven to be able to get results when they let it be known that they actually want something really bad but it only works when a lot of people actually speak up, responding to social media posts ( we really need to let go of the notion that replying to social media posts and saying we want more is somehow "entitled" or "toxic" it's literally what their accounts exist for besides just advertising and keeping their brand in mind ). If only a few people say they want it, then you're probably not going to see any results.

There's still so much more I'd like to experience without paying outrageous ebay prices for a device that might not even function anymore.

Tamagotchi Angel and Tamagotchi Ocean were both released in English, but the latter is almost impossible to find at a reasonable price, and could use some balance tweaks in a possible remake. Tamagotchi Morino and Tamagotchi Devil never got an english release, both were planned as Tamagotchi Garden and Tamagotchi Monster, but neither ended up coming to fruition, and the Devil is impossible to find for a reasonable price. You might get lucky with the Ocean if you stick to Japanese releaess, but not the Devil. I wanted these more than the Connection remakes and was always asking Bandai for them. Now that we have connection remakes, I hope fans will start joining me in asking for other vintage era remakes like these.

There's also v4, v5, and v6 of Tamagotchi connection. We're getting a remake of V3 after years of begging for it. V1 and V2 i'm told are just basic ass Tamagotchi and we're missing almost nothing by them going straight to V3. But V4 5 and 6 are incredibly different. I'd love to experience those some day, I feel like these have the best chance of happening next if the connection remakes do well, but only if the fans ask for it.

Lastly, there's the Tamagotchi anime... only the first twelve episodes and the movie have a dub available, there is almost nothing available subbed, a few scattered episodes and the second movie. The best shot we had at a fan sub, the animetchi project, had to stop all efforts due to personal life reasons, and Bandai is unlikely to do anything with the anime, as it's officially ended. Our best shot is to ask Discotek to subtitle it, they're known for getting the lisence for more obscure niche anime and doing really good work with it. They actually have an official wish list thread on Reddit, and I suggest everyone who actually wants to watch this anime let it be known in this thread ( you can also drop a few other suggestions in there too. )

Discotek's official anime lisence request thread on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/discotekmedia/comments/15ep5ns/official_discotek_license_wishrequest_thread/

Fans need to stop being afraid to ask for what they want. Bandai isn't making Tamagotchi material as a hobby, it's not harassment to let them know what you'd exchange your money for. So please, speak up. They have market analysts for a reason.

[kitkatopinions]

Do you ever look at a rwby character that's training to be or already is a badge carrying law enforcement officer in canon and think to yourself "damn, I wouldn't trust this person to be a waterpark attendant, I wouldn't trust this person to hold my place in a line so I could use the bathroom, if this person offered me a car ride home so I didn't have to walk I would turn them down because I don't trust them to do that."

Because I do. And somehow the fact that they might not make the best hunters is something that's not ever even really talked about in the show, at all.

Yang? Joined the Hunter academies for the thrills, had a wildly out of control temper and tbh still does, showed some anti-faunus discrimination leading Blake around with a laser pointer, and these days responds to conflicts by launching into fight mode and wanting to solve things through violence, plus doesn't seem interested in working if it's boring if her reaction to Jaune's to-do list and her exasperation through V9 is anything to go by. And she's completely rejecting any and all opportunity to recognize flaws and grow as a person atm, and seems to think admitting flaws or rethinking your past choices is villainous behavior based on her 'that's what Ironwood thought' shut down when Ruby started questioning herself and her treatment of Ren.

Weiss? Starts out as a raging anti-faunus bigot suggesting they call the police on Blake and comparing Faunus to trash cans, idolizes her 'hero' grandfather despite the fact that he was a capitalistic billionare who (iirc) tried to strip Vacuo of its resources and built the SDC into the fabric of society. Recently, she pointed what was essentially a loaded gun in the face of an underage auraless civilian because he didn't immediately spring out of the way and let her enter his house - and no, him being her brother doesn't mean that was okay. She also doesn't actually seem concerned with doing actual work if it isn't super big and important and flashy.

Jaune? He wasn't even sort of ready to enter Beacon when he did. He cheated his way in when he didn't even know what aura was, and the only reason he didn't die was because of Pyrrha saving his ass and trying to train him, and even then, he was leagues behind the others and the only reason Cinder didn't murder him at Haven was author-plot armor. But now that he's got twenty some years of work under his belt (which I still really resent) he's also doing things like calling clearly sentient people stupid and treating them like five year olds, and yelling in the face of a seventeen year old that she's responsible for plans he had just as much of a hand in as she did and victim blaming her for being attacked by an evil villain who was trying to murder her.

(To be clear, for the above three characters, I'm not saying 'they point blank should not ever have been hunters because of their traits and/or flaws and/or flawed motivations, I'm just saying that I would've wanted there to be more of themselves and others questioning it and them working on their flaws specifically and squaring away some of their more selfish motivations before becoming law enforcement officers with badges.)

COCO? She likes being feared, her friends lovingly describe her as sadistic, she thinks letting teammates have a say is a sign of a weak leader, she's judgmental towards people from Vacuo, she gives strong anti-Faunus vibes and it's treated like it's okay because she's friends with Velvet, she tells Velvet NOT to fight when Grimm are bursting into Vale in V2 and then leisurely takes her time fighting one Grimm because she apparently can't be bothered to care when civilian's lives are on the line, she makes snap judgements about people for no reason, and also she's a big old hypocrite, and defies authority carelessly.

CARDIN?!?! You would think they would've at least addressed CARDIN properly, as a real actual significant problem, since he was a future badge carrying law enforcement officer who also targeted minorities, and tried to blackmail people, and gave off strong misogynist vibes, and liked knocking around his own teammates when they got in his way. Like???? The only thing we know changed in Cardin's behavior was that he was leaving Jaune and Jaune's friends alone because Jaune had 'stood up to him.' The writers didn't think that it was important that we as an audience got to see him either get hardcore checked and start being not that way, or get expelled and restricted from continuing on as a Hunter due to his behavior? We're just supposed to be like 'oh well, there's Cardin the anti-faunus power play loving blackmailer training to be a hunter, but that doesn't matter because the writers only cared about him to bully Jaune so who cares about him now?'

I'd like to actually engage with this story! I'd like to actually have the story of rwby discuss what being a hunter means and how some of these characters aren't well suited currently to be hunters. The writers have no interest in actually making their characters good Hunters or figuring out what being a 'good hunter' even means (case in point, V9,) and instead just expect everyone to be on board with absolutely no reflection. Why should I think Weiss deserves her hunter badge again? Why should I think Jaune deserves his hunter badge? I don't currently think they should be hunters because I feel like they haven't even thought about if they really want it or would be good at it. Because ever since V2, it's just been a foregone conclusion to the writers that the mains (all dropouts in their first year) are Hunters and deserve it and will be great at it, but they've never actually bothered to convince me of it with some of these characters. They expected their audience to just think it too, and shrug and accept it, and they now refuse to engage with the flaws their characters have either or whether or not their traits are well suited to the task of being a badge carrying law enforcement officer, so... Yeah. I wish that the show challenged the 'of course they're all destined to be hunters' thing.

[danggirlronpa]

If it's not too much trouble, do you have headcanons for Kotoko/Monaka? I like to imagine post-canon they work out their issues with each other and get to a much healthier place, like, when they're teenagers. I related a lot to Kokoto's toxic relationship with Monaka, I definitely had relationships like that when I was in elementary school too. It's kind of nice to imagine a world where - whether romantically or platonically - they work out their issues and work out, even if that might not be exactly realistic, aha...

Oh MAN do I have post-canon Warriors of Hope headcanons. I really do love imagining these kids and the lives they lead when they come of age.

I try not to use read mores, but this one got way longer than the usual headcanon posts, and it very much is less "Kotoko/Monaca headcanons" and more "elaborate set-up for how Kotoko and Monaca feel about their crimes as teenagers." So more under the cut I guess!

Firstly, some setup. I love adoptive family relationships, and especially mother/child adoptive relationships. So of course I love daydreaming about Aoi "Bleeding Heart" Asahina adopting Kotoko, and it becoming a Kyoko (or Miaya!)/Hina-parenting-Kotoko, friends-to-moms slowburn. SOMEONE'S adopting these children, and it's not Komaru "I Just Spent A Full Year In Solitary Isolation (:" or the "We Taser Ourselves To Decide Whether The Serial Killer Fronts (:" Fukawas. Hina's upbeat, she keeps it light, and unlike Makoto "Spotless" Naegi, she understands the guilt of attempting/committing mass murder. Kyoko isn't quite any of that but deep in my heart. Through The Power Of Love And Elaborate Metaphors About Her Relationship To Her Father

And I mean. I'm going to be honest. Monaca's, like, 10. She spends three days in space before she goes 1. Wow this sucks 2. I did not in fact prepare enough materials to live like this indefinitely. I'm like 10. I packed enough for about 13 hours and thought I was good Forever. I need more marshmallows.

So it takes Monaca all of half a week to admit her failures and crash land somewhere on earth. The island with the Remnants? Misaki and Takumi? In-universe versions of the V3 students as adults? Personally I'm a fan of Yasuhiro and Kanon adopting her in the world's absolute weirdest fantasy. What matters is SOMEONE finds her. And we get Mod Loves Sappy Adoptive Relationships V2: Now With The Green One.

Because listen. Listen. These are kids. They have committed heinous, unforgivable crimes of extreme ethical concern, and they are also ten years old. Their only frame of ethical reference is a manipulator and abuser so good at what she does that she ended the world. People generally remember this with the other Warriors, but they almost always set it aside for Monaca, so I want to be clear: Monaca Towa is redeemable. Because she was 10 years old, and the moment she was out from under the thumb of the people who taught her how to do these cruel and unusual things, her first plan was Run Away To Space To Escape The Things That Have Happened Here. They're children.

THAT MEANS A LOT OF GUILT. NO ONE HAS EVER NOT BECOME A PUDDLE OF REGRET ABOUT SOMETHING THEY DID IN MIDDLE SCHOOL.

In general, I actually think Kotoko struggles with guilt the least amongst the Warriors. Firstly, I think having a parent who understands and can help her come to grips with what she's done from a very personal place really helps her work through it. But I also think Kotoko is low-empathy in general. I think eventually, she comes to understand intellectually what she's done wrong, but I don't think she ever struggles with the idea that she shouldn't have done it. I think she would be very practical about the circumstances that she was in, and in her mind, well. What else was she supposed to do? She'd been abused all her life. She was up against Junko Enoshima. Obviously what she did was wrong, but any other kid in that situation would've, in Kotoko's mind, done the same.

On the other hand, I believe Monaca would get hit with guilt very intensely once she finally processed everything she'd been through at high-school age, but that she would absolutely keep that under wraps and act as though it was meaningless to her.

Monaca is, in my opinion, a compulsive liar. You can see that in a lot of canonical ways, but I choose to extend it a bit to headcanons - it's not that she Doesn't need a wheelchair, it's that she has days when she needs it and days when she doesn't, and pretending she never needed it at all gives people a huge shock. She didn't plan to not kill herself with the rest of the Warriors as a prank; she really planned to do it, but people look at her when she says that. It's a defensive mechanism, and a method of feeling in control. At least I can choose for them to hate me by lying and being terrible, instead of being hated when I haven't done anything.

So I think, when she is finally faced with the enormity of what she has done, Monaca does what her first instinct is always to do: runs away from it and lies herself into culpability. Of course I killed all those terrible adults, and now that I'm almost their age, I'll just die instead of becoming one of them! That sort of thing. I think she traps herself into her own persona, no matter how hard she tries to improve, because Monaca is a child who internalizes until she breaks.

So when Kotoko and Monaca meet coincidentally at high-school age. Ho boy. Kotoko who still sort-of blames Monaca who blames herself, and neither of them completely aware of how to comfort a person or how to hate a person in a way that isn't lethal...oh the GROWTH. The Strawberry Wine by Deana Carter of it all

[brw]

Alright, because Tumblr hates me answering asks now, I'm writing a Simon rec list for someone who requested one here! I've written this as a basic "getting to know Simon" list, with a mix of the most important parts in his history, and issues I consider core characterisation that paint a picture of who Wonder Man is. This means I have left out things that are dynamic specific but don't say too much on Simon specifically, for example his Ms Marvel appearances or later WCA issues with Eric. If you are interested in something like this, please let me know and I'll happily make a further reading kind of list! Additionally, as we get into 2000s I have just given basically every major thing he was ever in, as opposed to 70s through 90s, where I was more discerning. This is because in recent comics, Simon hasn't really been a major player and his opportunities for important roles have become few and far between. This means the characterisation and quality isn't quite there, but it is important bringing you up to speed for modern Simon so they have been included.

Avengers V1 #9, Avengers #151-#153, Avengers V1 Annual 6 — Simon's origin, death, and subsequent revival.

Avengers V1 #160 — Eric Williams, Simon's brother who previously antagonised the Avengers in #52, #78-#79, #102, #106-#108, comes to ask questions about Vision and Simon.

Avengers V1 #164-#166, #181, #197-#198, #203, #211 are all different arcs and issues Simon plays a prominent role in.

Marvel Premiere #55 is Simon's first solo issue.

The Vision and the Scarlet Witch V1 #3 — Simon comes to help an injured Vision. More clearly outlines the dynamic between these two and remains the gold standard for their relationship.

Wonder Man V1 #1 — Simon's first solo series. This one is weird, but is only the second time we see Simon properly alone without the Avengers to help.

West Coast Avengers V1 #1-#4 is Simon joining the WCA, where he would remain for the remainder of the 80s.

The Vision and the Scarlet Witch V2 #1, West Coast Avengers V2 #1, WCA V1 #2 V&SW V2 #2 is an arc dedicated to wrapping up Vision and Simon's relationship. Looks into Simon and Eric's history, establishes their past and Simon's fear of failure. Simon stays a part of West Coast Avengers, so you can read this for as long as you want, although I find the quality slowly goes down the longer it runs but that's just me. Simon does slowly morph into more of an asshole as this series continues, which comes to a head during the White Vision arc by Byrne.

Marvel Graphic Novel - Emperor Doom — Simon finds himself alone after Doom takes over the entire world using mind control and leads the team against him.

Marvel Comics Presents #38-#45. Simon is sexually assaulted by Enchantress in this one, so it's somewhat uncomfortable to read but shows Simon's new 80s asshole personality and contextualises it.

Wonder Man V2 — Simon's only ongoing series to date. Written by Gerard Jones, so it is understandable if you don't want to read this. Builds up a large, dynamic supporting cast for Simon and more thoroughly establishes his relationship to Hollywood and life as an actor. Lasts for 28 issues and two annuals from 1991 to 1993.

Force Works V1 #1 — Honestly you don't actually have to read this, all you have to know is Simon dies and remains dead until...

Avengers V3 #3, #11, #14, #20-#23, #51— Simon's return from the dead. You can pretty much read this series consistently from #11 because he's in it more often than not but those are the issues I'd recommend reading of that series for Simon specifically. He and Wanda break up in #51.

Simon doesn't really do an awful lot aside from Wonder Man V3 by Peter David, which is bad and I genuinely don't recommend reading it because it's events mean very little and Simon's characteristion is... not it. The next thing he's in that's major is the Revengers arc, but before we get there I'm going to give a short overview. Despite being close with Wanda, Simon wasn't really involved with the Decimation. He was there, but not a major player. Simon also wasn't majorly involved with Civil War, aside from a short mini in the C story section of Civil War: Front Line #4-#7. He also ended up joining sides with his brother as a villain in Dark Reign: Lethal Legion, which is a very edgy book but is interesting to read if you're looking for his dynamic with Eric. Despite this overall inactivity, Simon was heavily affected by these situations and the build-up radicalised him, helped along by his ionic form starting to break up and become unstable.

The Revenger arc carries from Avengers V4 #1-#2, #7, New Avengers V2 Annual 1, Avengers V4 Annual 1, and Avengers V4 #31-#34 where he sort of backtracks on everything he did up to that point. There's some cute moments with Janet though.

A+X #12 is a cute team-up between Simon and Hank.

Simon's next big role is in Uncanny Avengers V1. These issues are #7, #9-#12, #21 & #23. Read these if you want, but Remender's characterisation for both Simon and Wanda is... not my preferred, and he gets them back together, so you have to see a lot of them. The main thing you have to know is that Rogue absorbs Simon in #21, and he remains bouncing around in her brain until Uncanny Avengers V3 #22-#23. This is also where Simon's pacifism is established, but to Remender that means just quoting Ghandi with very little introspection of who Simon is as a person.

That's the last of Simon's major appearances! The only other things left is Uncanny Avengers V3 #28, and the War of the Realms: Journey into Mystery tie-in which is super cute and fun to read.

So there you are anon! This is essentially all of Simon's major appearances with some fun comics that tell you more about him thrown in. As I said, some stuff has been omitted because unless you're interested in specific dynamics, it doesn't really say an awful lot, but I hope this helps and I really hope you enjoy reading!

[shreya11111]

post volume 2 byler hope

i know volume 2 has left us feeling very pessimistic and hopeless for the possibility of byler. yet, i do still think there is reason to hope and so i have compiled a list of amazing posts that have definitely increased my faith in s5 byler.

(here is a small disclaimer that even though byler just makes sense to us narratively and overall, there is still a chance that the duffers won’t go through with it. if you choose to have hope regardless, that’s great! but pessimism is absolutely valid too. cautious optimism is definitely recommended)

on tumblr:

1) Ok This may be something that can give us bylers a little more hope. by @beepboop358

3) Five act structure: reason to hope by @reservoir-god

4) Will’s First Lie & First I Love You by @aurorabyler

5) Listen, I know that feelings are mixed in this tag right now but hear me out. by @admirablespoling

6) wanted to put this on here bc it perfectly summarizes my thoughts 🙃 by @lesbos4robin (and cr to @/causeineedu on tiktok)

7) i guess the thing giving me the most hope right now by @queerstshit

8) Mike’s monologue sorta feels like a (weird) Wikipedia article (also check comments) by @wakeupthemembersofbylernation

9) insanely steaming hot take but the Will / El / Mike arc was kinda insanely well done by @mssingrls

10) it’s so insane to me how mike just hasn’t been able to tear his eyes away from will the entire season by @heliumcake

11) I just actually watched season four all the way through and byler is 100% gonna happen it’s so obvious. by @tinyteenieworld

12) This scene reminded me a lot of the beginning of s3, when Mike is goofing around by singing in the middle of kissing by @howtobecomeadragon

13) Piggybacking off of and inspired by this rad post by @admirablespoling. by @tsugarubecker

14) there really is no point to byler if it's unrequited. by @11byers

15) The m!leven flowers are rottin— by @dancing-in-our-snow-globe and @beepboop358

16) It would appear I am indeed one of the very few optimistic (delusional?) Bylers left. by @chirpsythismorning

17) a part of me feels like it's possible that the end of episode 9 was preparing the general audience for Eleven going off on her own, and a Byler ship by @merthurfan-blog

18) my analysis of mike’s “feelings” for el and what leads to the monologue/his feelings behind it by @strangerfigs

19) Here’s a handful of cautious optimism as a treat, my brothers in byler by @hopfields

20) Mike's S4 jacket (and who his heart is really pointing to) by @mlchaelwheeler

21) St@ncy’s revival is like one of the biggest byler proofs in V2. by @neverforever09

22) michael’s airport outfit by @prfctmxxnlight

23) analyzing ST S4/Byler from someone with a film degree. by @swift-fated and credit to @/joannimal on twitter

24) Somebody on twitter noticed how the scene at the roller rink… (parallel to Little Women) by @justmeandmyships

25) Do you find it possible that Byler will definitely happen in season 5 and if so why by @upside-down-byers

26) volume 2 & instant vs delayed gratification by @chartreuse-goose

27) Whenever you doubt Byler, remember that… (a little reminder of all the things pointing towards byler as endgame) by @byernation

28) i just rewatched “the piggyback” and oh. OH. !!!!!!! by @hawkinsp0st

29) i can’t get over “we’re friends. we’re friends.” and “are ‘friends’ electric?” on mikes official Spotify playlist by @strangerfigs

30) “False Confessions” & “Piggybacking” in ST4: Ask Yourself if We Are Being Encouraged to Pick Apart the Inconsistencies... by @bluemeetyellow

31) Byler is going to be Canon and Here’s Why: by @allnaturalapplejuice

on other social media:

1) this beautiful twitter thread on ‘stranger things and the art of slow burn’ by @/hawkinshermit on twitter

2) any and all videos by @/causeineedu on tiktok. this one is one of my personal favs.

3) all the videos by @/naturallybrielle on tiktok

4) the analysis videos of @/girlskth on tiktok. she made a really cool discovery here and here.

5) this post on the use of little women parallels in the show by @/sbyleril on twitter (check comments! there’s a really good video with the parallels too)

6) this perfect harry potter chamber of secrets/byler parallel by @/folklorent on twitter

7) this twitter thread on the parallels between the romances in little women in stranger things by @/rosiec4ke on twitter

i will definitely be adding more posts to this list if i come across any. thank you to all the bloggers for giving me permission to include their posts! i really appreciate it. i also really hope this helped restore your hope in s5 byler, even if just a little bit :)

[rockstrais]

What are your favorite aspects of Emerald & Mercury’s relationship?

this is a very broad question…. my gosh where do I begin?

I’ll start with how they didn’t choose each other each other by their own accord. emerald initially vetoed against mercury joining their party. it took them a while to actually accept the other’s very existence. em asks merc why he joins them. he says it was fate. cinder and her show up looking for his father the night he killed him? what else could that be except destiny. as we know, destiny & fate are heavy theme in rwby. the characters have to spend time challenging their ideas of that. we see that with pyrrha, ruby, weiss etc… but the thing is whether they were fated to meet… mercury and emerald subconsciously choose one other—despite their own protests. they’re the only people their age (literal seventeen year olds at the beginning of the show) they are each other’s first friends—and perhaps first loves(?) (wishful thinking on my part)

i also enjoy the symbolism around them. they foil and compliment each other nicely.

emerald is the gemstone of the planet mercury! in her concept art for v2, she’s seen wearing gold (linking her to cinder) jewelry. it’s later changed to silver (linking her to mercury).

emerald also has light/day symbolism! and mercury also has night/dark symbolism. every blocking of each scene they are in together has emerald in the light, representing how she’s always been morally good; and mercury teetering into the dark, representing how he keeps getting swept toward morally bad people. figures since he’s named mercury. he’s gonna be the one who is more morally grey than his peer. (haha, get it?) but as we see, emerald will get him to face the light.

their struggles also foil each other too. she projects a pseudo sister-mother relationship onto cinder, since she lacks that familial connection. she yearns for love above all else. it’s why she joined and stayed with cinder for so long. his father raised him to be killing-machine. to be the best of the best in his craft. of course he was never enough. (insert silver medal joke here) mercury craves respect above all else. it’s why he joined cinder. it’s why he accepted salem’s hasty promotion. he wants to be taken seriously very, very badly.

though unknowingly to both of them—they have what they want already!

mercury loves emerald unconditionally as she so desperately desires, you can see he cares for her. He might not show it in the best ways possible all the time, but he does. what is love if not wanting to crack a joke in front of the cute girl you barely know who’s now your partner in crime any chance you get? what is love if not trying to convince your best friend (though you’d never admit it aloud because your dad called it a weakness) to let go of the woman who is not a mother or sister to her whatsoever? what is love if not protecting the only person you give a damn about from some weird freak of a grown man who keeps threatening her?

emerald respects—dare i say admires—mercury as he badly craves. what is respect if not immediately going to apologize for upsetting him when he brought up his terrible childhood and abusive father because you assumed he didn’t know what it’s like to have such love for a parental figure (one who constantly failed you, not that you can admit it)? what is respect if not immediately trusting him with new information you overhead from a prisoner? over your mentor who just returned from the dead mind you. like, of all people, why is he, the boy you didn’t want, your first choice? if you don’t respect him why do you use his fighting style to escape a sticky situation and his favorite snarky insults? if that’s not respect, then do tell me what is?

and notice how i never said mercury wants love—like yes, he does. but not over respect. he wasn’t raised to need love. to be honest, he never makes a huge point about wanting because he already knows what it is. he learned it from emerald; her respect is her love. which is why he is trying to reciprocate that in the only ways he knows how. emerald doesn’t think her respect is love. her respect for cinder is more unwavering, unhealthy devotion. that’s not love. it’s one-sided. her begrudging obligation to give a damn about mercury has sprung into something much more.

both of them are too stubborn to realize it, but they’re getting and giving what they ask for. once they eventually—oh i can’t wait to see the epiphanies and developments that come from that!

anyways this was very long, sorry. you can see that i’m clearly passionate between these two!

[pooklet]

Get to know you: Sims Style

I was tagged by @pockethamster and @furbyq-sims so here we goooo.

What’s your favorite Sims death?

In general: the satellite, cuz of the piano replacement that I have. It is also one of the most efficient ways to cull townies.

Specific deaths that have happened to my sims: Tiara dying in a toddler potty. No death in my game has ever/will ever be funnier.

Alpha CC Semi-realism or Maxis Match?

Semi-realism. Maybe it's cuz I started playing when that was the common style, but maxis match just looks very ... flat to me? Very papery. I've seen it done in a really fun, cartoon-y style by some creators, but that seems to be the minority and most of it seems to hew very neutral/natural toned and I am not about that lol. Even IRL, I like to surround myself with bright, colorful stuff.

Do you cheat your sims weight?

Like, keep them thin? lmao no. I let their personality determine whether they exercise, but that has nothing to do with them being fat, as far as I'm concerned. I use a lot of fat bodyshapes because I'm fat myself and I like to have a lot of variety in my game. I don't have any system for deciding whether I use the maxis default body or a custom shape, I just go with what looks right to me.

Do you move objects?

Are there people who don't?

Favorite Mod?

Hm, either ACR v2 or Walk Through Blocks. I like my sims to be able to make as many autonomous decisions as possible, and navigate the spaces that I cram full of clutter.

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

In the Sims 1 the first expansion I got was Hot Date. I played TS2 from release, so my first expansion was University.

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing?

Alive.

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

I mean, it has to be Mawreen, right? If only for the chaos that she's sown.

Have you made a simself?

Yeah a few throughout the years, and I haven't played them in ages. Mostly I just use them for silly little pics with @skulldilocks's selfsim.

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

One of the custom ones, I guess! I don't remember, I have all the EA hairs hidden lol.

Favorite EA hair?

I don't have one, really. Maybe some of the natural black hairstyles converted from TS4 but I couldn't name specific meshes.

Favorite life stage?

Adult! I made a custom aging mod so I can go through the other stages relatively quickly. The way my game is set up, they unlock all their traits and wants once they're an adult, and I like to see who they are as a fully realized person, so that's the most fun for me.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

Gameplay. I have a lot of fun making houses based on real floorplans that I find, but it's mostly just stage dressing for the little freaks that inhabit them.

Are you a CC creator?

Yeh.

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

I mean, @skulldilocks obvs. People don't approach me much so there's only a few ppl that I talk to regularly like @furbyq-sims and @lilithpleasant. I am not really the "squad" type.

Do you have any sims merch?

This is a real thing?

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

Nope! I would never stream gameplay, the way I play isn't interesting. Lots of pausing and carefully adjusting angles to take pictures, getting distracted by other stuff, random crashes, etc. And editing that footage into something watachable would take ages. My play style lends itself better to picture entries, so I use Dreamwidth.

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

More colors, more aliens, more [[JAM FACTORY]] lore.

Who’s your favorite CC creator?

@skulldilocks no question! I love watching her create anything for any game or craft. She's so talented. It doesn't matter if she's making sims cc or custom houses for Skyrim or doll clothes or anything else, she's my biggest inspiration.

How long have you had Simblr?

2010, babeyyyy.

How do you edit your pictures?

I have a tutorial here. I need to update it because I use different actions now, but most of the actual information there is still accurate.

What expansion/gamepack is your favorite?

I want to say pets because I love cats so very much, but in terms of actual content, probablyyyy FreeTime? I like anything that makes sims more unique and the hobby system is a lot of fun!

I tag: @skulldilocks, @lilithpleasant, @krabbysims, @monilisasims, @goatskickin and @simmer-until-tender

[nexysworld]

Music to my Ears V2

Read on AO3 🖤 Requests are Open 🖤 Fic/Request Master List

Original Summary:  Heimdall finds you in Vanaheim, as the Scion of the Aseir it’s his job to punish traitors, but he has some other ideas besides fighting you  🖤 Pairing: Heimdall/Fem!Reader 🖤 Warnings:  Smut, Female Reader, NSFW

The original was inspired by this audio I made with Heimdall's voice and AI. This is a secondary version of the original story as I was asked to do an alternate version where Heimdall change’s sides since he’s in love with the reader.

“Ah I should have expected to run into you here too.  Sizzles wasn’t looking too hot the last time I saw him, don’t worry though Sunshine, because I’ll set you ablaze myself.”

Heimdall laughed as you backed away from him. You felt like an animal that had been caged in, the only way out of your current predicament was to either disappear into the ground, or somehow get past Heimdall yourself. Neither option was a good one. You continued to back up until you were stopped by the vine covered rock wall. You gulped as you watched him hop off of Gulltoppr and begin towards you on foot. ‘Fuck where’s Kratos, Atreus…Freya?’ You desperately thought to yourself. “Oh Sunshine, they aren’t coming to your rescue, you know that right? Even if they tried, you can’t really think anyone would be able to stop me from getting to you, do you?”

You hated that he could see your thoughts right now. The fear. The panic. The despair. You almost couldn’t believe this is the same man who you gifted your trust, who you allowed to bed you in Asgard. All of that was thrown away now, whatever you were before…it meant nothing now that you were standing on opposite ends of the battlefield. This isn’t what you wanted though, and you knew that. He knew that. It changed nothing. The moment he sensed even the slightest betrayal on you, the two of you were done. “Why so quiet? Your last few moments of life and really you have nothing to say? I am profoundly unimpressed. I truly expected more out of you.” He shrugged as he continued his stroll towards you. You looked up and down, side to side, trying to find anything that would save you. You were so focused on your escape attempt you hadn’t realized how close he had gotten until you felt his hand on your chin, turning you to look up at him. You were met with purple glowing eyes and a sneer. “Are you being shy now? You weren’t shy the other day when you were. . . mewling for me. This is really no fun Sunshine. If you’re going to be a traitor, at least have the guts to back it up.” ‘Heimdall please.’ You said in your head as you trembled under his touch. He searched your face for a moment, scanning you up and down. “Now that I think about it, perhaps I should bend you over right here and see what other noises I can get you to make for me.” Your face went absolutely red at the comment, you weren’t completely sure if it was from fear, shame, or arousal…you settled on all three. “Actually, I am sure that’s what I am going to do.” Heimdall leaned forward and licked your earlobe before whispering to you. “Be a good girl for me.”

“H-Heimdall..” You trembled when you said his name. “C’mon it doesn’t need to be like this…you know I never wanted to betray you, I still don’t.” You desperately brought a memory to the forefront of your mind.

The All Father had for the first time in a long time been upset with Heimdall. Odin had compared him to Thor and Baldur, calling him useless in a fit of anger. You had never seen the golden God so defeated looking before.

“Heimdall…I just don’t think you give yourself enough credit.” The man scoffed at you. “I think I give myself plenty of credit. I am the Scion of the Aseir, the Watchmen of the Gods, I hold Gjallhorn and will Herald in -” You had cut him off with a small fit of laughter. “That’s exactly what I mean, Heimdall. You’re more than just those titles. You’re an actual living breathing person ya know? Think about it, what happens after Ragnarok, when there’s nothing left to Herald in and there are no more enemies?” You’d never forget the look on his face when you said that. You had spent the rest of the night talking to him, doing your best to comfort him in a way that wouldn’t offend him or make him think you pity him. Somehow your talk had led to kissing, and from kissing to more. You could see Heimdall’s face change slightly for a moment as he saw the memory in your mind. You couldn’t discern the emotion he had on display. “It matters not.” He said. “I saw the betrayal in your mind when you spoke to the Jotunn brat. Bringing up memories to try and manipulate me won’t work.” “Heimdall… for once look past your initial perception, please. You’re right I DON’T bow to Odin, I never will. But you…I would never betray you.” “A betrayal of Odin is a betrayal to me.” “Does it have to be? You protect Asgard, the realm you love so much right? If we can defeat Odin, maybe Asgard doesn’t need to be destroyed during Ragnarok.” You thought of something else, the future you envisioned with him. A shared bed in Himinbjorg, lazily riding Gulltoppr together in the sunset over the fields of Asgard, making love in an open field under the stars.

You watched his brows knit in a look of muddled emotions. “Manipulative little….” he stopped. He had you caged against the wall, putting both of his hands on either side of your face, his eyes closing. Every time he looked into yours, he saw more things that brought about pain for him. It would’ve been easier if you just assumed the role of the traitor. When he opened his eyes again, he met yours directly, he was frozen in place. He saw himself in your mind. The way you saw him, the way you felt about him. The hues of your love were warm reds and oranges, like waves in a sunset that crashed over him. For his whole life he had only felt he was any value to Odin. He would compete against his brothers knowing it was never love he would receive in return. Praise? Sure. Adoration? Maybe a little. Love? Never. “Heimdall..” You said his name almost in a whisper, putting your hand on his cheeks and rubbing them soothingly. He seemed to snap back to reality as he looked down at you. “Sunshine…” He leaned forward and captured your lips with his own, softly. “You really think you can defeat the All Father? Don’t answer that, you really do.” “Well… to be fair Heimdall, if you’re with us who does Odin really have left? We both know Thor’s heart was stained against him the moment his sons died.” Heimdall considered your words for a moment. He thought back to the beautiful visions you crafted in your sweet head for him to see. Maybe those were a future worth fighting for. “Fine.” He said crashing his lips into yours again, pulling you into a tight hug. “Fine, Sunshine. But only for the chance to see those cute tits in an Asgardian field.” His words made you blush, and you didn’t expect anything less from Heimdall, romantic flattery was never truly his style. “First though….. I still wanna see what pretty little sounds I can get out of you.” You gawked at him. ‘He can’t be serious, right here? What if someone walks by.’ You thought to yourself. “Let them watch then.” He said with a shrug. “Then they will know that you’re mine.” He pressed you back against the wall kissing your mouth before he placed a trail of kisses down to your jaw and neck, nipping every few spots. The kisses were sweet and had your heart fluttering, until he sucked hard on your collar bone, getting you to yelp. You knew a purple mark was forming there already. Heimdall seemed pleased with that noise as he slid his fingers up over your dress, undoing the string keeping it to you and allowing it to slide off. The cool air of Vanaheim caused you to shudder a little. “Don’t worry, if you’re a good girl for me I’ll make sure you’re nice and warm by the time we’re done.” He continued with his mouth, crouching a little so he could suck one of your hardening nipples. Another delicious mixture of a yelp and a moan. He worked your other nipple with his hand as his mouth continue down your stomach, placing hickies, kisses, and love bites as he went. “You’re gorgeous, you know that Sunshine?” He didn’t give you much chance to respond as he began kissing the inside of your thighs. He loved the way your legs trembled under him. “Sensitive, sensitive.” He teased, kissing everywhere but the one spot that you wanted. He could already see how wet you were and he chuckled. “All for me? I’m honored.” You were almost panting by the time he lifted you up by your waist, he held you high enough against the wall that he could stand and be face to face with your little wet pussy. You loved how strong he was, the way he seemed to be able to hold you like a feather. He leaned forward and lapped at your pussy slowly, dragging his tongue from your sopping hole to your clit with a couple of lazy licks. The feeling had you reeling already. “Heimdall…” You moaned out his name. He smiled against your wetness, he knew what he did to you, and he loved it. He then dove in, devouring your pussy like it was his last meal, lapping from hole to clit before sucking on the little pleasure bead. If he didn’t have a good grip on your legs you would have clamped them around his head, a mortal man’s may have popped like a watermelon. “That’s my girl, making all those pretty noises for me. That’s what I wanna hear.” He kisses your clit before teasing and sucking on it more and more. You feel wound up, the nice tense ball of heat in your lower region felt like it was about to burst. You covered your mouth with your hands, worried that if you screamed too loud it would draw the attention of others. When he saw that you did this he stopped completely, you let out a disappointed whine as he set you down. “What did I say? I wanted to hear all the pretty noises my Sunshine has to make, so there will be none of that.” He says motioning to your hands. He slipped off his belt and tightened around your wrists, not enough to hurt, just tight enough that he was able to hook your hands on a branch that was sticking through the stone wall, immobilizing you. “Much better!” He said lifting your heat up to his face again. Your cheeks were burning red, you wanted to protest but hadn’t the time when he resumed his attack on you, lapping at your clit. He used his left hand to hold your hip, legs tossed over his shoulders for support. He used his right hand to slide two of his fingers into your core, matching the speed with what his tongue was doing to you. You screamed. The ball of heat in your stomach finally burst and you came screaming, your juices dripping down his mouth and chin. He set you down gently and you were grateful for the branch now, as you wouldn’t be able to stand on your own with how your legs shook with aftershocks of your orgasm. You watched as he removed his bracers, tunic, and the undershoot. You admired his lean muscle in the moonlight, lit only by the few fire torches set around the area. You could see his erection was straining against his dark pants, and you unconsciously licked your lips thinking about it, which did not go unnoticed by him. He undid his pants just enough to let his throbbing cock spring free, precum already leaking out of the tip. “That look on your face sweetheart, is this what you’re wanting?” He asked gesturing down to his cock.

You nodded dumbly, your eyes already hazed over with the lust from your first orgasm. By this point you didn’t care who heard, all you could think about was Heimdall. His taste, his smell, the idea of having him stuff you completely. He could read what you wanted easily. “Say it. Say it outloud Sunshine, what do you want.” “Please Heimdall…I want to feel you inside of me.”

Heimdall smiled, lifting your legs up again to align himself at your hole. He pushed in slowly as and groaned at the nice friction against himself until he bottomed out inside of you. He stood there unmoving, besides the thumb he decided to rub against your cheek. “You’re so gorgeous like this you know.” His hand on your hip prevented you from moving and squirming for any kind of friction. He was just enjoying being so close to you…and of course the feelings of frustration floating through your pretty head. “What’s wrong? Is this not enough for you?” He chuckled. “All you said was that you wanted to feel me inside of you, and inside of you I am.” He teased but leaned forward to suck on your bottom lip when he saw the pout that formed. “If you want something, you have to ask for it.” “Please Heimdall….just…please fuck me…wanna feel you move…” You whined trying to squirm in his grasp. He leaned forward giving you one last kiss. “As you wish Sunshine.” He said pulling out to the tip before slamming back in. The noise you made was euphoric for him, only second to the way your walls clamped around him. He pulled out again and began to thrust into your heat at a steady pace, pleasurable for you both. He drank in the little mewls and whimpers he was able to pull from your mouth. “Such a good girl, taking all of me, making beautiful music for me too.” When he felt he was close, he used his thumb to rub circles on your clit in time with his thrusting. “That’s in, cum for me one more time.” He cooed picking up the pace, again you felt yourself spasm and cry out for your second more intense orgasm. Heimdall’s thrusts were more erratic as he was close, finishing inside you with hot ropes of his cum. He took a moment to catch his breath before pulling out of you and undoing the belt keeping your hands up. He made sure your were steady on your feet and helped you back into your clothing as he redressed himself as well. There was a brief silence between you, but not uncomfortable. He heard the thought in your head and turned to face you. “Y/N….I love you too,” he replied before leaning down to kiss you again. This kiss was different, not lustfull, but deep and passionate, your heart nearly cried when you heard him say the words back to you. He helped lift you onto Gulltoppr’s saddle so you could sit behind him. “If you really think you can convince that group of idiots to let me help…then I suppose we should be off.” “They’re not idiots, Heimdall.” “I’ll be the judge of that.” He said pulling the reins so the large beast began to move. You wrapped your arms around him, burying your face into his back. This was never the outcome you had expected, but you were fluttering inside with joy at just knowing there was a chance for you two. “I love you.” You whispered out loud into his back. He gave a dramatic sigh. “I love you too.” He said again.