#something much more succinct

[that-butch-archivist]

"Tess was a performance artist and part-time jewelry maker who now worked as a set designer. [...] The first night we spent together, I taught her to knit — my classic seduction technique (High Femme Camp Antics, or HFCA) — and about frisson, that carbonated feeling that accompanies a crush. We stared at each other for a long time, unblinking. Because I knew that this otherwise might take forever (lesbians!), I finally asked Tess point-blank if she felt a frisson for me (HFCA). In response, Tess kissed me hard, with teeth. I knew she wanted to fuck, but I pushed her hands away dramatically when they crept under my skirt (HFCA). I told her that I didn’t typically sleep with people so soon (HFCA), which was true not for any real reason but because I was privately humiliated by my body (HFCA). Instead of letting her fuck me, I scratched Tess’s entire torso with my long, pink fingernails (HFCA). “Her fingernails drifted down my neck, across my shoulders,” Jess Goldberg, the butch narrator of Stone Butch Blues, says of a high femme whose camp antics thrill her. “I’d forgotten the sheer pleasure of a high femme tease.” “Your fingernails are full of frisson,” Tess said as morning light began to stream in through the window above her bed. “I know,” I said. I recently read a collection of funny stories by Lesléa Newman, high-femme chronicler of dyke life in the 1990s (the materialistic, shopping-addicted Golden Age of HFCA). In one story, a butch named Flash arrives to pick Lesléa up and take her out to dinner. Flash politely tells Lesléa that she looks nice. “The average femme would have taken that to be a compliment,” Lesléa dishes. “But this high-maintenance femme hadn’t spent the last two weeks shopping for the perfect outfit and the last seven hours bathing, shaving, bleaching, filing, polishing, combing, brushing, drying, moussing, spritzing, spraying, and applying five pounds of makeup to have all her efforts summed up in one little four-letter word.” Flash’s flimsy compliment doesn’t satisfy Lesléa’s desires to be seen, appreciated, and worshiped, and so Lesléa starts from the bottom and works her way up, prompting Flash to compliment her shoes, her miniskirt, and finally her hair in a grand, shimmering pyramid of HFCA. But even as she performs satiation, Lesléa is insatiable. Her antics fail at getting her precisely what she wants from Flash, because there’s always something unsatisfying about getting what you want by asking for it. Lesléa’s desire glows from within the frame of her HFCA, distilled and exposed and unmet. Can I Come Inside, my high-femme sex game, deals primarily with unmet, outsourced, and circumnavigated desire. In Females (2019), trans lesbian critic Andrea Long Chu argues that femaleness is a universal, existential condition rather than a gender or a sex — a condition of being and of consciousness that involves letting others do our desiring for us. At stake in Can I Come Inside, as well as in HFCA at large, is a femaleness that both craves and rebels against its tendency to outsource desire. In playing Can I Come Inside, I, like Lesléa, ask Tess to do my desiring for me, and Tess in turn defers her desire to me: the game is strictly my desire, one that she insists she does not share. Even though it mandates a performance of aggressive desire from Tess, there’s no doubt that Can I Come Inside is about my desire; it’s my game; I make the rules."

-- An excerpt from "High Femme Camp Antics," an essay written by Jenny Fran Davis. (Emphasis in bold my own.)

[vampirefunkmetal]

clocking in for another nightshift at the "making fun of remmick nolastname sinners (2025)" factory

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s7 episode 9 "signs and wonders" thoughts

reading this episode’s description… a guy who plays with snakes gets bitten by snakes? this i do find to be quite believable.

after some silly episodes with the EXCEPTION of orison (my beloathed), i am expecting some serious mode kind of stuff to take place here today. 

i have also been wondering where my friend skinner is. and what he has been up to. as well as my acquaintances CSM and mrs. mulder and krycek. but this seems like it will be a monster of the week type of gig, and will likely not provide any answers as to their whereabouts. 

(post-episode thoughts: woah... i liked this one. it had so much to say on religion that i will analyze at length. it had silly agent time. it had SERIOUS agent time. it had super protective scully. it had a rather absurd snakey plot that somehow still managed to make interesting cultural commentary. a solid episode! i enjoyed watching it and following along with the twists and turns! and then i giggled at the end with the cheesy CGI! i really can't ask for much more than that!)

well! let us begin without delay!

we open in a thunderstorm in tennessee. i see a bug in someone's room. and test results in a guy’s hand. he rips them up. and begins praying to the holy ghost. repenting. as he holds a photo of a girl.

AH! someone is outside his window. OH, i did NOT like that!!! no ma’am!

where is bro going and why does he have his gun?

oh shit!! it wasn’t a bug of some sort i saw. it was a rattle!! of the rattlesnake variety! i guess he keeps a loose one on his dresser? uh. weird.

he cocks his gun. runs with his suitcase out to the car. frantically buckles himself in. but he drops his keys!!! and he hears more rattling!!

snake!!! in the car!!! this is not where snakes are supposed to go!! bro is scared af. many snakes!!! they approach from all angles!!! he cannot escape!!

he asks jesus for help, but idk man. things aren’t looking great.

he shoots at the snakes! but they just keep rattling!!

it’s unclear if he lacks enough bullets to kill all the snakes, or if they keep multiplying somehow in some sort of divine way.

well, this isn’t too outlandish. i happen to find snakes getting into a car on the more believable side of things we have seen on this show. even if it did seem like that creepy window guy put them in there. which is also pretty believable, all things considered.

intro time!!! you better dance!! and cheer!!

ooo, very short intro!! 

is it agent time? yes, it is!!! they’re looking at snakes on the internet!! which is what the internet was practically invented for!!!! look at this old school snake website!!! 

well, actually, it’s just mulder looking at the snake website and talking to someone on the phone. but scully arrives. so don’t worry. 

LMAOOOO HE SPINS THE MONITOR AROUND TO SHOW HER AND SHE DECLARES “snakes” <- WHY IS THAT KILLLLLLLLLING MEEEEEE

“lots and lots of snakes” is his genius reply…. okay, i see the callback to that one beloved s3 exchange: “files” “lots and lots of files” 

i love when they say stupid stuff <3

AUGH, mulder shows her a photo of a dude has been snake… uh… idk? bitten? but he’s all puffed up. and honestly, he looks more like he was put in the oven and lightly toasted than attacked by an animal. his name is jared chirp. must be the fellow who we saw earlier with the test results and infested car.

he was bitten 116 times!! by 50 different snakes!! mostly copperheads and rattlers.

he died in his car. scully asks a great question: what happened to all the snakes? the answer: NOBODY KNOWS!!! a snake mystery!!

and mulder will have you know that he just got off the phone with a herpetologist who is very confused because those snakes are supposed to hibernate in the winter. nerd. he looks handsome today, though.

so… a murder? seems it. but there’s no evidence of anyone placing the snakes in there for it to be considered foul play!

scully says that it could be symbolic- snakes are a symbol of religion and evil- and mulder seems to be making eyes at her as she says this. which, well, same. maybe these snakes really WERE serving evil, he proposes.

sorry man. i’ve gotta giggle a little. snake murder. the things we have seen with these agents….

down in tennessee, a funeral takes place. “jared is in a better place now, gracie” says the reverend. well buddy, gracie looks pretty pregnant, and jared being in a better place ain’t gonna put food on the table, so let’s address that concern. 

wait, that’s the girl from the photo that jared was holding! she looks so young… 

the agents are here to see reverend mackey, who is the fellow who rather unhelpfully pointed out that jared is in a better place. scully watches gracie walk away….

mackey regrets talking to the sheriff about the way jared died. BUT. before jared came to their church, he belonged to a snake handling church. so. you can see how things look. 

at this snake church of signs and wonders, they think the holy spirit protects them. this just reminds me of the verse about not tempting god. when the devil says to jesus to throw himself off a tall building, and jesus says no. maybe they skipped that one in snake church sunday school.

jared grew up in that snake church!! he left it with gracie. and they were persecuted by the members after their departure. it is led by enoch o’connor.

why does mulder look so good today... do i need to be put down?

they take the rental car off to snake church- just another day for mulder and scully! the building looks old and scary af.

“snake handling. i didn’t learn that in catechism class” “that’s funny, i knew a couple of catholic school girls who were expert at it” <- JAIL TIME. NOWWWW.

he looks at her to see if she laughs and she doesn’t, LMAOOO

why is bro in a big coat in tennessee! truly living up to my url, which i appreciate, but he has to be hot!!

the door opens and they let themselves inside. HAHA! YES!! i love when they do that!! just enter places without any sort of permission. one of their most endearing qualities. it’s super dark. and the door shuts behind them.

YEAHHHH, THEY BUST OUT THE FLASHLIGHTS, LET’S FUCKING GOOOOO!!!!

“rattlesnakes and medieval visions of damnation. well, i, for one, feel a whole lot closer to god” “i don’t know, scully. when you… when you get right down to it, is snake handling any harder to buy into than communion wafers or transubstantiation….?”

why is he like this... why can’t he just LISTEN FOR ONCE? must he always poke poke poke at scully for having faith and be like "well, you're not THAT different from these snakey freaks" GRRR.

“or believing in flying saucers, for that matter” <- he had that one coming. get his ass, scully.

“i’m just saying that-that your faith and o’connor’s seem to be based off on the same book” now what do you mean by that. 

AHHH! A SNAKE BY HER FOOT. she doesn’t see it!

“uh-oh, scully, what do you think o’connor keeps in here?” “something slithery?” <- THESE IDIOTS….. they’re killllllling me. her voice was so silly when she said that. excuse me, you two, stop joking around while investigating a murder.

(please never stop joking around while investigating a murder)

mulder shakes the box and says it’s okay, it’s empty. which scully realizes is not a good thing because... where tf are the snakes, then? an average moment of scully common sense.

ahhh! ratting everywhere!!! they pull their guns!!! and in comes a guy. this must be o'connor.

he says they have nothing to fear if they’re righteous people... and mulder asks for help just in case they’re not, LMAO

he picks the snakes up with his hands, which is pretty crazy. do you think they hired an actor who worked with snakes? or did they get specially trained snakes who are good at listening to directions and being picked up?

o'connor claims chirp died in a test of righteousness. he says the agents don’t know which side they’re on and that they can leave. creepy!!!

scully does NOT seem to like snakes!!! she does not like being here either, lmaoooooo

back to gracie…. who is being handed some tea by a woman later revealed to be named iris. in walks the reverend mackey. iris tells him that jared called the boardinghouse before he died!!! she didn’t wake gracie up, because she was asleep. and he sounded like he’d been drinking. ranting about the devil and his sins.

the reverend mackey asks (very sensibly) why she didn’t tell the police this crucial information. because how tf is she supposed to tell gracie that she kept her from speaking to her husband the night he died??

well. i think the police still would have liked to know that, regardless of how uncomfortable of a conversation with gracie it would be! 

he says he will help her talk to gracie. but now it’s study group time.

back at the snake church (it's really called something like the church of signs and wonders, but snake church rolls off the tongue and gets to the point), they’re strumming the banjo, hollering, reading from revelations. that was some nasty imagery of god vomiting people up. god hates the lukewarm, says o'connor. 

the other church is going over the same verse!! mackey puts the verse in a historical context, saying it’s not as harsh as it seems. iris is stapling some programs.

oh lord. at the church of signs and wonders, they’re doing the thing where o'connor touches people and they start convulsing. very pentecoastal.

and then they get the snakes out. he says he handles the snakes because scripture says to. i don't remember reading that in the bible.

taking the snakes out…. yelling…

the overlapping of the snakes and their fangs and iris and her stapler remover… now what is their connection?

WHAT THE FUCK her staple remover turns INTO A SNAKE and bites her?? she’s bleeding onto the paper, but it’s back to just being a staple remover! eeeewwwww!!!! DID NOT LIKE THAT.

the church of signs and wonders is handing out snakes, the people are holding them, jumping up and down, singing, wiping off sweat. this reverend o'connor is scary asf. this actor is eating his role. i wonder if he is a good actor and a guy that works with snakes for a living. i imagine there aren't many who overlap between those two groups. 

iris rinses out her wound…. grabs a bandaid.  but hears more snakes!!! they’re showing up from all over!!! one slithers up the drain!! and they bite her!!!

hmm… lets check in about halfway through the episode. this episode is intriguing me. anything to do with culty fundamentalism, hollering and convulsing as the spirit runs through you, wiping the sweat off your brow as you yell "yes, sir, hallelujah, god hates the lukewarm" is gonna get me interested because... it’s just. so uniquely american. or at least it feels that way to me. aside from the snakes, i can name people i know who really live like this. it is the exact kind of horror that i get sucked into as a result of the fact that PEOPLE REALLY DO THIS and see it as the only right way to lead a life. everyone else is wrong and will face the wrath of hell. talk about terrifying!

BUT. the appearance of sudden snakes getting iris in the bathroom is kinda making me laugh a little. i can be multifaceted!

mulder is here at the non-snake church! the reverend mackey is saying he doesn’t understand how this happened- he heard iris scream and that was it. he explains how he and iris had just talked about gracie. mulder says that maybe it was on purpose that they couldn’t finish their conversation.

scully is with gracie. trying to explain that they’re investigating o’connor. she is certain he didn’t do it because it is satan’s work, not man’s. scully says that sounds like what he would say, and gracie left his church because she thinks for herself- scully is very gentle with her. it makes me feel things. but gracie still denies that he would have any involvement. 

oh shit! o’connor is her father! well. that’ll do it.

he kicked her out of the church when she got pregnant :( AND her house :( oh, poor girl :(

the agents are always involved with some scalding hot local drama.

they go to sneak back into the church of signs and wonders, but scully goes to check around back instead of coming in with mulder. it seems she’s scared as fuck! them separating never ends well.

mulder finds a wall of photos under the caption “we pray for the souls lost to us” and there’s a photo of jared!! and gracie!! and... someone else.

scully is alone and i am scared…  she’s looking into the windows of a trailer. ah, the dark lighting and flashlight and bold silhouette… i am nostalgic for early seasons.

she pulls a pistol. and opens the door.

inside are lots and lots of rats! oh. poor things. and also sooooo many boxes of snakes. who rattle at her. 

AUGH, and the reverend is there too!!! he grabs her!!!!!!! UNHAND HER NOWWWW, I’M SERIOUS. he’s saying she must be judged and he puts her head in with the snakes!!!!! telling her to pray!!!

mulder comes in with a gun and cocks it. bro is gonna fuck him up. 

“your FBI partner could have learned something about herself if you hadn’t stopped me. some powerful good news, maybe” <- we need to put this guy in JAIL. and people need to stop making backhanded comments about scully's beliefs, implying she isn't believing enough. first the dude from orison, now this guy. and also DO NOT PUT HER HEAD IN A BOX OF SNAKES, YOU FUCKING CREEP???

OH! mulder asks if that’s what o'connor did to his wife!! who died of snakebites a few years ago during a church service. allegedly. 

mulder is keeping a very level head as he asks o'connor why he did it. what was wrong with his wife, and his daughter’s boyfriend, and iris? “no one quite passed muster with you, huh?” <- oh, he is doing a very good job. he is a pro. had i just caught a guy trying to do that to scully, my reaction would be more… volcanic. but i guess they’re kinda used to catching someone nearly killing their partners by now. and i guess they have to keep an even tone if they want to get information for the case.

he asks what his plans for gracie were. o'connor accuses mulder of thinking he’s too smart. 

gracie says to scully that she doesn’t want to see her father. “it don’t matter what i believe. he’ll be judged as he deserves. can’t nobody avoid it” <- that’s a crazy thing to say to someone your father just tried to kill in this earthly life 😭😭 like girl... what if he had succeeded?

reverend o’connor is sleeping in jail… wakes up…. looks around. hears snakes. prays and prays. but they’re coming. get him. eat him. are they gonna bite him?!?!

the next morning he’s in the ICU!! so i guess the answer is yes. 

scully comes in to see him.

my guess…. somehow it’s gracie?? people she loves get eaten by snakes?? the biblical idea of women going hand-in-hand with temptation and womanhood being related to the serpent/devil, or something or other?? 

mulder thinks maybe o'connor did the snake righteousness test on himself. well, if so, no one knows if he’ll make it or not. 

ohhh… gracie won’t let him receive treatment on religious grounds…. saying it’s up to god. this is interesting. does she want him to die?

scully asks: what if gracie did this? she told her that her father would be judged. maybe she can handle snakes, too, if she grew up around them…. but what about the others? why would she attack them?

they go chirp’s place to look for clues. he left in a hurry. what is it he was scared of?

OOO, this conversation is worth analysis:

“though i don’t understand it, o’connor’s church exerts a strong pull on these people”

“it’s not so hard to understand. it’s a culture with a very well-defined set of rules.”

“it’s an intolerant culture, mulder”

“i don’t know, scully. sometimes a little intolerance can be a welcome thing. clear-cut right and wrong, black and white, no shades of gray. in a society where hard-and-fast rules are harder and harder to come by, i think some people would appreciate that”

“you’re saying that you, fox mulder, would welcome someone telling you what to believe?”

“i’m just saying that somebody offering you all the answers… could be a very powerful thing”

he’s definitely right. some people love being told exactly what to think. if god or their church says they ought to hate this person or do this action, there’s no reason to question what they're told. not thinking for yourself in any capacity or questioning your own beliefs- it does sound welcoming to people who don’t want to do that work.

i think mulder possibly envies the idea of having a belief system that claims to have all of the answers because his lack of one leaves him to figure it all out for himself. sure, maybe it’s what you and i would consider the morally correct option instead of blindly following along with a snake cult, but the folks in the snake cult have no questions about morality. they do what their snake cult leader says they ought to. and then they sleep easy at night because they have total faith they made all the right choices. while others who do not have a snake cult dictating their every move have to wrestle with their choices and morality.

and scully also struggles with always wanting to do the right thing. she has a faith to guide her, but sometimes the lines get blurry.

without someone telling you exactly what to think on every single subject ever, you have to ask yourself hard questions. and no one likes to ask themselves hard questions.

he makes a good point. i get what he’s saying, even if trying to explain it makes what he is saying feel less profound.

(it reminds me of that scene in fleabag where she’s emotionally lost, uncertain where to go with her life, and she tells the priest she wishes she had someone like him to tell her what to think, how to feel, how to dress. to do all the hard parts for her. she doesn't believe, but there would be comfort to take in knowing what to do next if she did)

((also, you must know that while this whole rather vulnerable exchange is going on, mulder is playing with the rattle like a fidget toy. i like that. i love him. something to hold in your hands probably makes the rawness easier to communicate. shake shake shake))

anyway. mulder finds the lab results that chirp has tossed on the floor.

i love that he asks scully if he’s reading it right :,) but!! it’s a serious matter on this here medical test. chirp was testing himself for sterility! and it turned out to be positive!! as in, he cannot have children!

so… who is the father of gracie's baby…..? maybe chirp was killed because he learned the truth….

the reverend mackey comes to see gracie as she waits by her father’s bed. she begs him to reconsider and allow him to receive the medicine for the venom, but she insists it’s what her father would want. she had seen him bit before, and he always said it was up to god if he lived or died. mackey argues that you can trust god by trusting the doctors. she says she can’t risk his soul. 

mackey reminds her she wanted to live her life for herself. is she living her beliefs or her father's? she cries. and nods. he goes to tell the doctor to give him the medicine. 

but!!! o'connor's heart is going crazy!!! he’s dripping pus!!! and shaking!!!! he reaches out and grabs her!!! 

they’re both gone!!! 

oh god. it’s just as i feared. mackey tells the agents that o’connor is the father of gracie’s child. god. that’s so fucking sad. which is why she wanted to get away from him... and the reverend mackey says she taught her to forgive him.

o'connor grabs gracie, says he’s bringing her home, and hauls her into the church, where all the other members are holding candles. watching. ignoring her as she begs for help. 

he plunges her underwater and she says something is wrong with the baby. they hold her down.  pray over her. demand the evil be expelled. she begs for help. 

ARE THEY GONNA CUT HER OPEN??? is she birthing snakes?????

what the fuck is going on….

the agents arrive after this whole thing goes down. an ambulance is here. scully strides in. she finds gracie and whispers to the paramedic, asking how is she. she asks where the baby is, but the others from the church won’t talk. it’s so protective. i am emotional.

well. mulder has found... something.

“she gave birth to snakes?” “the devil has been cast out” 

the absurdity of this situation is not lost on me. classic x files. "she gave birth to snakes?" needs to go in the hall of fame for wildest lines out of context. yeah. that's network tv, baby!

mulder tells scully to stay behind with gracie because he’s gonna go find o'connor. and presumable throw hands

the reverend mackey is placing programs in his church. OH! it’s a reverend vs reverend showdown. mackey tells o'connor that gracie left on her own because she wanted to escape a life of fear and intolerance. o’connor is mumbling, mumbling. he pulls out a KNIFE?

mulder is here just in time. and trust that he is gonna kill that guy. or at least shoot him. and he certainly does.

oh, god. scully is in the ambulance with gracie. she’s calling for her father and scully tells her its her, agent scully, she’s going to the doctor, can you tell me what happened? 

but gracie says she doesn’t understand- he saved her.

that was a very good shot on mulder's behalf- right in the collarbone, just like scully must have taught him. mulder is holding o’connor down, saying help is on the way- but o'connor says it isn't- mulder still doesn’t know which side he’s on. is it…… the other reverend???

OH!! it must be!!! mulder pulls out his gun… mackey denies killing chirp…. was iris catching on?? “is that was this is really about? ruining o’connor? seducing his daughter? destroying him by any conceivable means?”

mackey asks if mulder is a righteous man. he slams all the doors with some sort of power??? and summons snakes!! they’re all over mulder!!!!

mulder calls for help!!!! scully (who is now here just in time!) is asking o’connor where he is, but he grabs her, says it is his test alone. this obviously does not deter her from getting to her man.

he’s dripping in blood, snakes slithering all over him, and she kicks down the door. but as she opens the door, all the snakes are gone. they’re leaving!!! 

she finds him, unbuttons his shirt. blood on his jaw. blood all over….

cut to a hospital. mulder in a bed. there's no trace of mackey anywhere. “people think the devil has horns and a tail- they’re not used to some kindly man who tells you what you want to hear”

mulder says if it was a test, he must have failed. “i’d say you passed with flying colors. you’re alive, aren’t you?” “proud and fancy free” (they smile at each other)

jump to connecticut… where mackey is now going by the name reverend wells! someone thanks him for having an open and modern view of god. when she leaves, he pulls out a mouse…… and feeds it to the snake inside his mouth. 

i love you, CGI mouth snake.

the end.

i had no idea where this episode was going next, but in a good way. so i was really invested. 

at first, i thought that that the writers were positioning mackey as the "bad guy", and o'connor as the "good guy"- almost like the writers were trying to say that progressive christianity is actually of the devil, and the fundamentalist fire and brimstone path is the way to go.

but then i thought about it for longer than 5 seconds and realized that there was no good guy in this episode (beyond, of course, mulder and scully). o'connor kicked out his daughter, endangered his parish, and also attacked scully, shoving her into a ton of snakes to try and test her faith. who the fuck does any of those things? so even if he did one act at the end of merit- getting gracie out of an abusive situation- he is, in no way, a "good guy".

even his way of getting her out of said situation was terrible- he kidnapped her and then subjected her to traumatic religious ritual in front of a crowd that ignored her cries for help. so while she described herself as "saved" by him, it was still pretty damn awful. and had she not been raised in such a strict and intolerant environment, the idea of fleeing to mackey wouldn't have ever occurred to her.

and i enjoyed that mackey seemed like a genuinely good guy, especially in contrast to o'connor, but still turned out to be an awful person. he seemed to be so clearly the safe place for gracie, but that wielding of religious authority still allowed him to be abusive and hurt those he was placed in charge of. at times, he seemed like he really did care about gracie, like when he was trying to convince her to administer the antidote to her father. maybe he thought he really was doing good, but still took advantage of the power he had and did terrible things with it. and, of course, he was also some sort of snake demon, which didn't help.

it didn't seem like mackey was aiming to take down o'connor as mulder proposed as much as it seemed he was there to lure people into a sense of security- for many of those in his church, that sense of security seemed genuine- but the idea of taking power was too tempting for him to pass up. if it was just about taking down o'connor, i don't see why he would bother to change his identity and go to another community to presumable repeat the cycle. it seemed more like he wanted to give people a sense of safety and community and love (and again, to what extent he believes what he is saying is hard to tell), but doing so would give him a position of authority over people who are especially vulnerable and allow him to do what he pleases.

i also thought mulder's commentary on the appeal of an intolerant culture to be really interesting. it comes down to having all of the answers given to you. no need to question the way things are when someone is telling you that a divine power says this is how you live and how you die and why that is right. there are people who really do live like this. the whole raving, guitar strumming, thumping, hollering hallelujah and laying of hands while the churchgoers convulse... it is a real tradition. one that feels so vividly american. one that, in this story, just like with mackey, raises questions of how much of what he preaches o'connor actually believes, or if he is doing all of this so he can hurt people- like his wife mysteriously dying in a snake accident or the feeling of power her gets from shoving scully's face into a nest of snakes (he seems to have a real issue with women, huh?). regardless of what it is that he personally believes, to those who are part of his church, his power is absolutely real and undeniable.

and it also brings up a very interesting point in regard to gracie leaving such a community- she was immediately vulnerable to being taken advantage of because she had parted with every person she had ever known. escaping a situation like that is incredibly dangerous.

so there was a lot of really interesting commentary on religion, on how the fundamentalist and progressive movements alike can be used to lure people in, give them a feeling of safety and community, and then people in power can prey upon them. and when that is all you ever know, the idea of leaving seems either entirely impossible, or, if it is done, can open doors to further danger.

overall the episode, at least to me, didn't seem anti-religion- more of a warning on how anyone can use their power for evil, no matter their outward appearances or what they say. even mulder seemed less anti-religion than usual. usually he would just tear into scully about how stupid it is that she believes in god or something along those lines, but today he just pointed out that her beliefs and that of the snake church are based on the same book. which was still pretty insensitive, all things considered- is it that hard to not make a condescending comment? but it was one of the LEAST condescending comments he's made so far when it comes to religion, so, progress, i guess?

even though that aspect of mulder is probably always going to annoy me, and i need to just come to terms with it, it was still a great episode for our agents. his stupid joke and then watching her to see if she smiles... him bursting in to save scully from the snakes and then keeping his explosive temper under control while interviewing o'connor because he wanted to get the answers for the case... and then his realization at the end that it was mackey who was hurting gracie... scully getting there right in time... mmm! all good stuff.

and scully! an amazing episode for her, too! what stuck out to me the most was how fiercely protective she was of gracie. god. she was running in to find her, staying with her in the ambulance, telling her she was safe, and the way she just YELLED at those bystanders "where is the baby?!" like she was NOT messing around. do not get between her and the latest person she has been tasked with protecting. gracie seemed like she was really young- maybe still a teenager- and scully always seems especially protective of those she encounters in that age range. it is very interesting.

and then she kicks that door down to get to mulder, the words of this freaky reverend be damned, she will NEVER leave him to be "tested" by himself. opening his shirt to see his snakebites.. yeah. that's intimacy.

and the hospital scene at the end... he thinks he's failed some sort of test on his righteousness, but she tells him he passed with flying colors. because she believes in him. even when he doesn't believe in himself, or in anything at all. and they smile. OOOH!

wow… this episode gave me a lot to chew on, and i enjoyed it. 

[donothing-nothingworks]

recipe blogs aren't even doing the whole "back when I was a kid my grandmother would make this meal" thing anymore they just type out the recipe in a million different ways without ever giving you the actual fucking quantities of anything so you have to scroll all the fuckin way to the bottom where they finally do list out the quantities and it feels like this is what should be at the top of the page

[honeybeeofficial]

plenty of people have said this better than I will but I love it (read: it's very annoying) when people suggest turning a craft hobby into a side business. There is no succinct way to explain to non-crafters, in a casual conversation, that for high-quality handmade goods, the amount of physical labor required already puts the cost of those goods far beyond what regular people would be willing or able to pay for those items. the cost of materials alone is sometimes more than what people would be willing to pay. not to mention the labor required to market yourself, especially if it's a fairly niche thing.

I told a friend about the horseshoe crab backpack I'm making and he made this comment about turning it into a side business. and. I know it's intended to be encouraging and supportive, but like.

Including materials, and given a very optimistic assumption that I will finish this project in another ~3 hours of work,

Charging at the federal minimum hourly wage of $7.25 for my labor, this backpack would cost approximately $203.

Charging at the somewhat more "acceptable" $15 hourly wage, it would cost $395.

Charging at $25/hr for a wage that actually values my labor beyond simple survival, it would cost $615 or more.

I'm not going to finish it in another 3 hours. And I am undeniably an amateur– the finished product isn't going to be perfect and crisp the way something "should" be to cost that much, so it won't be "worth" the amount it's technically worth.

Projects like this that I do for fun I am absolutely willing to replicate for close friends at a significantly lower price as a "gift" (asking for cost of materials and/or only a partial cost of labor). But there's no reasonable way to actually monetize a hobby like this.

Anyway, look at my crab.

[kathaynesart]

The eye of the hurricane. I like to think Cassandra sometimes called the brothers by the nicknames their dad used, given they were probably pretty close before his passing.

BEGINNING || PREVIOUS || NEXT MASTER POST

Man oh man, this one was way messier and off model than my last few updates but whatever, we got to keep this ball rolling! Life's been crazy so I've had to take some unwanted breaks in between updates. Thanks everyone for your patience as always!

One thing I wanted in this flashback was to really get a sense of how the brothers worked as an experienced team with Leo at the helm as a proper leader. It's something we never got to see much of in Rise and I felt it was important to include since half the team is already gone by the time of Replica. Team Dynamics Ted Talk under the cut!

We know from Casey Jr that Leo stressed the importance of listening to your team. A big part of that also means knowing how to communicate with them in general.

With Michelangelo, he keeps it short and succinct, trusting his brother to know what he's doing when in his element. This trust goes a long way with Mikey, having spent years of his youth as the baby striving for the respect he felt he deserved. Leo knows it's best to not bog Mikey down with details, allowing him to improvise as needed. This unspoken freedom has only grown over time as Mikey has dipped deeper into spiritual arts that, frankly, go completely over Leo's head.

The greatest sacrifice Leo has ever made was read Donnie's Big Book of Bad Guy Codes. While he doesn't remember ALL the numbers, he has memorized the ones that matter and it has helped tremendously in avoiding miscommunication with his genius brother. More importantly it silenced any of Donnie's usual belly-aching. As Leo's "twin"/"equal" the two still butt heads from time to time. Donnie respects his brother's authority (mostly) but will still push the boundaries of what he's allowed on a semi-regular basis. Give Donnie an inch and he will take the mile and then find a loop hole that allows him to go twenty miles more. This is partially due to him often being the one left behind at HQ, making the turtle just a TAD stir crazy. Leo does his best to keep him in line regardless.

Big brother Raph will forever and always be big brother to Leo. As such he holds a place of authority in Leo's heart and is someone he still regularly seeks counsel from in both the ways of leadership and more. Raph is always happy to support his younger brother and does a surprisingly good job (albeit after years of practice) of walking the line so as not to step on his brother's toes in the process. At least not since the secret of "the Key" blew up in their faces several years ago. They don't talk about that anymore. Leo is the leader now and he's done a great job in recent years as far as Raph is concerned. He trusts him to make the right call. The two have a close bond and regularly use mind meld to quickly communicate rather than speak ...this will be important to remember for the future.

Hope that overall feeling came through for this group!

[quietstormxr]

Forgotten

Pure, unadulterated angst.

Reader x ?

Poll Results: Reader x Xaden Riorson

A/N: Fourth Wing Spoilers, Mentions of depression

Word Count: 1.7k

Trying something different and asking for y'alls input. There will be a poll at the bottom for you to participate in the story if you're interested.

Tomorrow, Always Tomorrow - Home

You watch as they rally around her. The way they are now busy watching her every move. Training her at every opportunity. They even made her a damn saddle for her dragon. They constantly train her on the mat, design daggers for her hands and strength. 

Staring at the blazing fire in the common room, you slowly watch your surroundings and the comings and goings. But no one knows you’re there. 

You’re invisible.

Not only to those who you thought cared about you, but also thanks to your signet. You huff a laugh as you mask yourself in the alcove that you’ve come to claim as your own. 

All you must do is survive for a few more days before you’re free from them all. Free from any eyes looking for you, free from expectations, from them.

You always knew that you weren’t a priority. You always faded to the back of conversations, the back of the room. Left to your own devices, you let the resentment fester, the feeling of not being worthwhile. 

No one ever described what a bond breaking between a dragon and a human felt like, but you could feel the way your dragon’s voice seemed to start feeling like it was underwater. The communication line between the two of you seeming to be drowning, the same way you felt yourself breaking apart at the seams. 

As you arrived in formation when the alarms went off, you kept to yourself and your eyes straight ahead. Nothing in your mind registered anymore. The only thing behind your eyes was the festering of relentless anger.

As you go to leave formation and gather your things, you feel a tug on your arm. You look back to see Imogen tapping your shoulder. 

“Xaden wants you for the headquarters squad.” You raise your eyes to hers and give a tight nod, nothing showing in your eyes.

While packing your things, you can’t help but wonder if you could just walk away from it all. If they think you’re dead, it wouldn’t matter at this point. With a plan forming in your mind, you pack everything that you deem important and leave the rest of your things behind. You close the door, not leaving a note or anything to find. You’ll either succeed in your plan or you’ll face a punishment you won’t return from.

You head to the flight field. Your dragon waits behind all the others. You huff a laugh at the fact that even your dragon knows how much you just want to fade into the background of it all. 

You may not want to listen or watch the comradery of those you used to consider friends or even a lover, but you make sure to keep your eyes sharp. You watch as everything unfolds in front of you, until you watch as Xaden and Garrick stride towards you.

“I assume Imogen told you that you’re coming with us.” Xaden says, no pretense of niceties in sight. 

“Yes.” Succinct. Final. There’s nothing more to say. 

Both look at you seeming to take in the stone of your appearance, most likely confused by your lack of warmth they were so used to seeing. They exchange a look, but Xaden nods to you and strides away. You watch as they both stride towards Liam and Bodhi, all of them collectively looking back towards you. Even though you are eager to lash out at them, yell, scream, and cry, you just look back with a look of impassivity. 

“Headquarters squad, let’s go.” Xaden calls as he mounts Sgaeyl. 

You fly at the back of the riot, which your dragon does willingly. There’s no need for you to voice your feelings towards those in front of you when your dragon is already well aware. 

The way you lag behind the others has you touching down at the lake about ten minutes after everyone else. As soon as you do, you’re met with a scene that causes you to snort in derision. 

Of course Sorrengail wasn’t going to react well to things that were kept from her. You knew that from just watching the way the girl had treated her friends. Everyone is so preoccupied with the scene in front of them, they don’t realize you’ve landed. 

Forgotten again.

The pattern is now almost comical. You watch, still mounted as Xaden tries to reason with Sorrengail, Liam trying to prove his friendship, Bodhi and Garrick waiting hesitantly.

Soon enough, it seems Xaden has calmed the little scribe down and everyone is mounting again. No one even realizes that you weren’t even aware of the gryphons either. No one tries to reassure you; you just must reassure yourself.

Once at Athbyne, you search the empty barracks on your own and honestly can’t believe your luck. The plan you have may just be easier to pull off than you ever thought. 

While you’re exploring the rooms of the outpost, it seems the group has come to a decision to fight. As you make your way up to the wall where everyone is standing, you listen as Sorrengail goes into details on the venin you’re about to face. 

Without caring to hear more, you turn and head back to your dragon. You’ll still execute your plan, but there’s no way that you’re going to leave innocent people out there to die. If you do, then you’re no better than anyone back at Basgiath. 

As you sweep the perimeter of town, you’re met with a sight that breaks your own heart. A child has been left behind in the mess of confusion and fleeing. A little girl crying, curled up in a ball, wailing somone’s name to save her. 

You can’t help the tears that swim in your eyes feeling like you’re watching yourself break into a million pieces. 

You command your dragon to land and immediately pick up the girl. You begin running towards the mine where the rest of the townspeople are but stop in your tracks. Eyes flaring wide, you watch the venin completely drain Soleil and her dragon. 

You turn again and sprint as fast as you can with the girl in your arms back to your dragon. You mount and command your dragon to bring you to where the rest of the townspeople are being gathered. 

Once there, you bring the little girl to a woman who has her arms out and seems to be shouting the little girl’s name. Watching as she is now cradled and being comforted, you turn your back on the scene and take a deep breath. All you want is someone to comfort you like that. No, not just someone. One specific person. 

You shake your head at the thought that causes your heart to crack open.

When you bring your head up, you’re met with red eyes and a shock of tattered purple robes.

“Such pain for such a young person.” The male voice hisses in a raspy voice that sounds like a distorted rumble.

You can’t hide the flash of recognition at the words that settle in your mind. 

“Why don’t you take all of that pain and channel with me?” He says while beginning to circle around you.

Looking around, you realize that you’re alone. There aren’t any other riders or fliers in this area.

“You can show them what real power looks like and show them you aren’t one to be forgotten.” The words he’s spitting begin to swirl in your mind. The thought of being able to be powerful and not just a shell that’s been rejected hitting you square in the chest.

You shake your head trying to escape the hold that the venin’s words have seemed to settle in your mind. 

“I won’t be controlled. By you or any power.” You spit through clenched teeth, trying to bite back from the hold that you can’t seem to shake from your mind.

“Your spirit is fierce. It would be so pleasant to break you.” The venin continues. 

You find yourself reaching for the sheath that was given to you months ago with instructions not to use unless absolutely necessary. You suppose this situation would render it’s use necessary. 

You double over with the sheer amount of power that the venin seems to be plying towards you. Without overthinking, you grab the hilt of the dagger and fling it. Your aim is the one thing you’ve never questioned about yourself and as you expect, it finds it home in the chest of the venin. 

The creature’s eyes seem to blaze with the fury that you were able to best him. You find yourself crawling backwards trying to get as far away as possible.

Suddenly the din of the battle still going on around you crashes back into your mind. You look up to see dragons locked in battle, to your left and right civilians are still running for cover. Realizing that your own dragon’s focus is taken helping Deigh eviscerate a wyvern, you know this is when you have to make your decision. 

You take a steadying deep breath, trying to calm yourself from the interaction with the venin. As soon as you feel your heartbeat return to something a little more normal, you’re off. You swing your pack on your back as you run. With one look back, you feel like your entire being is breaking, but you just can’t imagine staying anymore. 

A slight panic tries to break through your thoughts, it must be your dragon knowing what you’re about to do. However, as you continue running, you feel your dragon’s connection growing thinner and thinner. There’s no reason to devote much thought to it as you keep going, if you die away from your dragon, so be it. No matter what, from now on it will be on your terms. 

You steal into a thick cover of forest and throw your bag down. You slide down the trunk of a tree and collapse into a tired heap. At this point, the sun has crested on the horizon and night is beginning to set. Your mind can’t help but wonder if anyone has even realized that you’re gone. The last thought you have before sleep finds you is that your dragon can find a new and worthy rider.

[walkingstackofbooks]

IPS/BIL AU where Tain dies before he can send the message. Garak and Worf never go to the gamma quadrant. Julian and Martok don't get rescued.

Back on DS9 the changeling is stopped pretty much just as it was in canon, with Kira and Dax managing to stop the Yukon from reaching the sun, just as it explodes. (Maybe since Garak is still on the station, he notifies Sisko that Bashir has taken the Yukon out?) This time, however, no-one knows it was a changeling, and among all the shock and grief, there's tense speculation about what the hell Julian was doing out there in a runabout with a bomb.

The changeling had planned to never be identified, believing it would sow more confusion and fear in the Federation if they believe one of their own had been secretly allied with the Dominion. And so the changeling had left behind a trail of "Julian" interacting with highly questionable locked-down message-boards such as "Would enhanced individuals be better off under the Dominion?", which would never have been tracked back to him apart from under such scrutiny he's now post-humously receiving. (The changeling knew about Julian's enhancements - to become something is to understand that thing, after all.)

Of course, it is considered whether Julian may have been impersonated by a changeling, but once the link to his enhancements has been revealed - and his parents can't hide it, they confess, and are sentenced to time in a penal colony - it seems very much decided that Doctor Bashir had become an augment extremist, biding his time on DS9 until he could play out his part in the Dominion plot. There's varying levels of acceptance of this among Julian's friends - even if it seems that they have to admit it, it's still almost impossible to believe that Julian could have tried to do that. But it doesn't really matter what they think - life has to go on, and the war's continuing whether they like it or not, and little by little they move on with their now-Julian-less lives.

Time passes. they get a new CMO. The Cardassians re-occupy the station, and Sisko leads the campaign to get it back. Worf and Jadzia get married. Garak gets a message.

A.L.I.V.E. J.S.B.

And no-one knows what to think. JSB can't be... can it? But how...

Garak argues that Doctor Bashir's death is so well-known that no-one would use his name as the basis for some sort of trap. Miles agrees. Everyone else wants to agree. (For a certain definition of 'want'. Julian being alive, not a traitor... that also means he's been doing somewhere in the past ten months, and it's difficult to think about what sort of awful place that might have been.)

Garak and Worf are sent out to chase this signal - in theory, it's recon, but naturally it quickly devolves. They get captured themsleves, finding Camp 371 and Julian, looking ten months worse for wear. Garak learns about Tain's death, and the subspace transmitter he'd began working on and that they'd only just been able to finish, having managed to recruit a recently-abducted Starfleet engineer. An engineer who's currently in solitary, leaving them with a plan to escape now there's a runabout in orbit, but no way to effect it. Unless there's something Garak can do...

And Worf, of course, meets Martok, and is impressed by the Klingon's tale of daily fights for nearly three years. "Almost every day," Martok corrects him. "There have been times when I've woken up with a sore head to find that the doctor has taken my place."

Worf looks to Julian, nodding. "So you are the man we remember," he says. "Your enhancements may have helped you fight, but it was an honourable thing to volunteer."

"My... my enhancements?" asks Julian faintly. "What- what do you mean?"

"Commander, is now really the time—" Garak tries to interrupt but Julian speaks over him.

"No, Garak, I want to know— I-I need to know. What do you mean, Worf?"

And Worf, in his short, succinct way tells Julian how they had believed he had died, and what they had discovered thereafter, and while they know now that he is not an augment extremist, his parents' confession made it clear that he is an augment.

Julian doesn't say very much after that, apart from what is needed to help with the rescue - he calms Garak down, he volunteers to try and figure out what needs doing in the crawl space ("I've learnt at least a few things from tinkering with it over those seven months...") - but otherwise, he's withdrawn and spacey. Garak perserveres - he must get Julian back to DS9, has to hope there's still time to rekindle that light in his doctor's eyes - and manages to get them out, and even locking onto the engineer's life sign in solitary. They make it to the runabout, and escape.

It's a very different sort of homecoming. This time, rather than having only a few hours to get used to the idea that Julian had been missing for a month, they've been mourning him for almost a year, angry and confused and left with so many questions. And they've had almost a week of wondering what's become of Worf and Garak, and to tie themselves in circles wondering if J.S.B really could be Julian Subatoi Bashir.

Garak gets them all beamed directly to sickbay, and it's obvious that Julian's overwhelmed enough by that without having hordes of emotional friends come to greet him. So they're allowed in, one at a time. Miles petitions to be first, and wraps Julian up in what would have been the firmest of hugs - apart from Julian's so gaunt, so... so fragile, that Miles finds he dares not squeeze too hard. Words gush out - ones that he'd never have thought he'd admit out loud - about how much he missed Julian and how glad he is none of what they said was true, and it takes him some time to realise that he's been blabbering on and Julian's not been saying a word.

Julian has been clinging onto him tightly, though, and that... that's got to be enough, for now.

[mayajadewrites]

── .✦ Renaissance - Levi Ackerman .✦ ──

🪽 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ levi x fem reader

summary: levi leaves you in the underground for the scouts, only for him to find you again in marley when the war is over. however, nothing about you is the same as it once was. you are not the same person you were 12 years ago. cw: canon universe, eventual smut, fluff, yearning ao3

pls lmk what you think so far i need validation in order to continue writing LOL LOVE U

PREFACE

"I'm leaving tonight."

Levi's tone was succinct, not allowing any room for discussion.

"So you're really leaving? Leaving me?"

You're sitting on the edge of the grungy bed that you and Levi found on the street a few months ago - an upgrade from the last one that was a simple cot. Your palms lay flat on the semi-hard matieral, feeling the coils underneath your fingertips.

"You're not coming with me. Don't even think about it." His back is facing you, his broad shoulder muscles look tense even through the fabric of his shirt.

Giving up and backing down is not something you're familiar with. Growing up in the underground, you've always had to fight for everything, even food.

Levi knows this. He lived it.

You sat in silence for a few moments, his words seeping into your skin.

I'm leaving tonight.

The Scout Regiment had been eyeing Levi for quite some time now, watching how skilled he was and how ruthless he can be. But every night, he would come home to you.

Over the years you grew to rely on Levi more and more, which is biting you in the ass now. He would always protect you through the trials and tribulations of the Underground.

One night, you heard Levi's voice outside the apartment you shared. It was barely livable, but you both made it work.

Then you heard another man's voice. A strong, poised man.

"We can't wait to have you on the Scouts, Levi." You heard the man say, and then heavy footsteps as he fled, and the front door opened.

Your mind was racing, not knowing how to regulate all the thoughts that were bouncing around. You sat up in the bed, the thin blanket pulled to your chest for comfort.

He stepped in the room almost silently. When you looked in his eyes, you knew.

And now here you are.

"You very well might never see me again." Your eyes find his, fighting to hold his gaze.

"I know that."

"And you're willing to lose me for this? For some words that the Commander said?"

"Humanity could be free. You could be free." He sat down on the bed, the mattress dipping slightly as he sat.

"I'll never be free." Your eyes close to stop the tears from spilling out.

He didn't have a reply or rebuttal, like he knew you were right.

You couldn't even bare to look at him - his beautiful skin, his stormy eyes that you found comfort in. Home in.

Levi turned his body towards you, finally looking you in your eyes. As if it was going to kill him to look away from you.

And it was.

Because when he would look away next, he would be gone.

For years.

"I'm doing this for you." He muttered, taking your hand gently in his. "I want you to live a happier life without titans."

"You can keep telling yourself that, but that doesn't make it true."

Yours and Levi's relationship has never had a definition. You grew up together, only being 17 when he was recruited to the Scout regiment.

You were so, so young.

All you knew was him.

"I-I love you Levi." Your hand squeezed his, as if it was your lifeline. "S-So much, so much it's hard to breathe."

He winces, not at the pain from you squeezing his hands, but from your words. He doesn't reply, only giving you a kiss on your forehead.

His warm lips caressed your skin, almost as if he was burning his kiss into your skin. When you look up into his eyes, you can see the life leaving them.

Begging for more, your hand pressed to his cheek as you pull him closer to you, tears in your eyes as you press your lips to his in a messy, tear-filled kiss.

Levi didn't kiss you often. Which you didn't mind, it never really went farther than kissing anyways. Your hands laced in his inky locks as tears stained your face, his thumb subconsciously rubbing them away.

When you pull away for air, he stands up abruptly and grabs his jacket. His hands are slightly shaking as he looks away from you, slowly making his way to the bedroom door.

The last thing you saw of him was the back of his head.

"Goodbye."

[theresattrpgforthat]

My roommate made a joke about wanting to play a sonic the hedgehog tabletop game. Is there a ttrpg for that?

THEME: Sonic the Hedgehog.

Your roommate is about to be surprised because there isn't just a single Sonic ttrpg. There's at least seven.

Speeding Bullets!, by Princess Grace.

In SPEEDING BULLETS!, you play as three to five intrepid, plucky anthropomorphic animals on a quest to save the day- or end it. It’s up to you, some six-sided dice, and your beloved SO (Shadow Operator) to determine the fate of the world.

SPEEDING BULLETS! is a single-page Lasers and Feelings hack where your stats are FAST! (hero) and GUN! (antihero). You and your friends will create Sonic OCs, randomly assign them backstories like "Dark Warrior's Advent" or "Purification via Ruination" from a table of 326 genders, and put them up against insurmountable odds, Dr. Robotnik, and their own rivals.

Lasers and Feelings games all have the same basic premise: you have one number that represents your abilities in two different stat, in this case, Fast and Gun. Rolling above the number is good for one stat, while rolling below the number is good for the other. Roll your number exactly? Then something special happens.

What Speeding Bullets takes from Sonic is rivalries, a perpetual quest to defeat Dr. Robotnik, and an alternate suggestion for playing as your character's rivals, taking references from Dark Mirror. The game also comes with a Gender Table, a roll-table that appears to reference every Shadow the Hedgehog ending.

Rainbow Runaways, by UkeleleBard.

You are an animal living in a human’s world. The humans have found you, and the military will pursue you with every weapon, vehicle, and trap they have at their disposal. You’ve only got one option. RUN!

Rainbow Runaways was created for the Caltrop Core game jam, and runs on the Caltrop Core engine by Titanomachy. You can play it Solo, or with a GM, with a deck of cards and a 1-3 d4's per player.

The goal is simple: escape the military by reaching the edge of the city. You track this by using a clock with 12 slices. The deck of cards represents the actions of the military as they pursue you. Your character is composed of three stats and three techniques.

All in all, Rainbow Runaways is succinct and to the point. I think one of the benefits of fan games like this is that much of the lore is already assumed to be known by the players, and as a result reading the game book can be much quicker, since you just need to learn the rules.

Edge Hedge Arena (Beta), by ANIM TTRPGS (@anim-ttrpgs).

Throughout all human history, people have been given names. You thought yours was only mean to be used as an identifier, but you were wrong. Your name was chosen carefully, with the conscious (or subconscious) knowledge that one day it would inextricably link you to a champion of immense power who is also a hedgehog. This “game” serves as a set of instructions for revealing this mighty guardian, so they can defend your honor and name in a battle to the freaking death!

Still in the early stages, Edge Hedge Arena is partially a battle game. This is firmly a pvp game, using your weapons, powers and style to give you an advantage in the arena. However, first and foremost, Edge Hedge Arena feels like a bit of a love letter to the Sonic Fandom, more than Sonic itself. When you make a character, you actually have to search for art of a hedgehog OC online!

Chaos & Control, by farmergadda (@farmergadda).

Chaos & Control is a hack of Lasers & Feelings by John Harper, inspired by a similar hack, Steel & Spirit by Occupied Hex. In this game, Players will take on the roles of colorful, cartoony animal people and go on adventures through fantastic locations, facing off against maniacal foes, and looking really cool while doing so.

Another Lasers & Feelings hack, Chaos & Control adds the use of character types to further differentiate your characters, as well as tokens that can be used to trigger powerful moves unique to your character. For the GM, there's a number of roll-tables to help generate locations, problems, badniks, and so much more.

Rings and Running Shoes, by RingsandRunningShoes.

Welcome to Sonic's World - A universe unique and beyond what you know from the SEGA games! Where, inspired by Sonic and other heroes of the franchise, you and your friends will create a team of heroes that will save the world from the forces of evil!

The system is based on PbtA with heavy modification to fit the care-free power fantasy of Sonic's Adventures, but anyone familiar with the core game, should know the basics. On a very surface level the gameplay loop consists of alternating between "Peace and Quiet" and "Stages" sections. During P&Q your group will rest, prepare for the Stage, roleplay and develop your characters.

One of the benefits for PbtA games is playbooks. Playbooks keep most of the information that a player will need to know in one place, allowing you to choose a character type based on vibes, and then make selections within just the options provided to you. It's excellent for minimizing choice paralysis, and it can make teaching the game simpler, as each player has a number of references to the rules that are specific to their character in front of them at all times.

Mobius, by Ioan Davies-John.

Mobius is a fan-made tabletop wargame based on Archie Comics’ 24-year run of Sonic the Hedgehog, allowing you to fight Large Skirmishes in the gone-but-not-forgotten take on Sonic's World!

It features stats for all your favorite heroes and villains, and rules to suit every play-style from hordes of Eggman Robots to squads of elite Freedom Fighters. There’s an ever-evolving plethora of army books and supplements to represent the many factions within the pages of the world’s most way past cool comic!

Mobius is a tactical wargame, focused on moving little guys around on a map and taking down your opponents. There's plenty of minutiae here for folks who love figuring out what strategies work for them, including various extra rules, as well as 14 different factions to choose from. If you're not sure who you can play this with, the designer has a link to their community discord on their Itch page!

If you want something a little different in theme but similar in spirit, you might interested in Davies-John's other sonic game, a naval wargame set in the same universe: Egg Fleet!

Radical Spin, by Will Uhl (@raffitheowl)

Will you beat your evil twins, stop the robot army, and survive the perils of high school?

Radical Spin is a micro-RPG about melodramatic action animals. Hedgehog heroes, will you beat your evil twins, stop the robot army, and survive the perils of high school? Live out your bad fanfic fantasies today!

I don't know much about this game, but based on what I can find out about it, it seems to be designed to shine when you're exploring Sunday Morning Cartoon-style plots. I'm expecting characters with abilities that are larger than life, as well as a fairly simple rule set that's easy to pick up and learn without much trouble.

You might also be interested in...

My Silly Games recommendation post, which has a link to a Sonic game called Spindash!

I've also got a Ko-Fi account where you can leave me a tip if you like what I do!

[prying-pandora666]

ATLA Fandom and its Rejection of ATLA’s Messages

Can we talk about something for a moment?

The ATLA fandom loves to go on and on about all the ways the characters are “toxic” and who “deserves” redemption, in ways that are completely at-odds not only the messages and themes of the show but also in ways that are simply incompatible with being imperfect humans.

More than that though, there’s a complete failure or unwillingness to engage with philosophies unfamiliar to them. No effort to try and broaden their understanding. No, it’s all about pearl clutching.

Look at this:

Pretty funny little meme. Was posted on Reddit. Not that far-off from what actually happened in the episode.

Now let’s look at a couple of the comments.

The first commenter outright claims that a remorseless person doesn’t deserve forgiveness. No elaboration. No reasons given for why they disagree with Aang in this moment. It’s just stated as fact and several people uncritically agree. It is assumed that Aang’s thinking is wrong and everyone should agree.

You can see my comment countering this blanket statement, and bless the commenter below me for tying this back in to what Aang said. Understood the assignment! Succinct and to the point.

But then look at this:

The thing that really gets me about this is not only that they ignore the entire message of the very episode being shown here, but that they wholly condemn Aang’s (and his people’s) way of thinking as cowardice or a failing driven by fear. It frames Aang counseling Katara to not murder a man for vengeance as him somehow wanting Katara to stay afraid??? What???

Is it any wonder so many people twist and misrepresent this episode and its lesson?

No wonder then that so much of the fandom—and indeed even NATLA—is full of apologists for the Fire Nation despite their horrendous actions. The irony being that the one Fire Nation character the fandom widely condemns and refuses to extend empathy towards is the same one who expresses the very same sentiment contrary to Aang’s beliefs!

Remember what little Azula said about Iroh surrendering at Ba Sing Se?

The Fire Nation are the ones who believe in vengeance and violence. This is why Zuko thought killing Yon Rha was what she needed. It’s what he’s been taught. It’s what he and his sister were raised to believe. But the show is explicit about the fact that this is wrong. Iroh ends up living in Ba Sing Se peacefully! No revenge necessary!

The Air Nomads, meanwhile, teach forgiveness as a way to cultivate peace within yourself. Of course Aang reflects this teaching. And although Katara isn’t able to fully forgive Yon Rha (nor does Aang feel she has to), she is able to let go of her anger and find closure. She spares Yon Rha. She turns the other cheek. She moves on. Aang is explicitly shown to be right.

You don’t have to agree with all the messages of the show, but can we at least try to engage with them?

[inkdrinkerworld]

𝓒𝓤𝓟𝓘𝓓'𝓢 𝓒𝓤𝓡𝓢𝓔

Synopsis: James can make your days trying to get a story for your company really hard, he gets under your skin and knows exactly what buttons to poke and you hate it.

cw: a bit of an axious!reader, rugby!james, i used the house names for the clubs but it is not at all set in the HP universe.

wc: 1.1k

-`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´--`♡´-

Sports journalism is fun and rewarding. 

You love going to the post and pre-match interviews and talking to the players and managers and getting all the insight you can to then write your story. What you don’t like is having to interview James Potter. 

Everytime James sees you in the press room, he decides it’s his time to be the most non-descriptive, non-responsive to all of your questions and make it difficult for you to even write a story. He loves giving you vague answers that don’t answer any of your questions and it gets under your skin like nothing else. 

It’s even more tiresome when he’s the team’s go to media-man because of his looks. He’s England’s current heartthrob first and their best flanker second. He’s beefy and burly, with curls that look like they’ve been ink dipped individually and dimples that throw a wrench into many a woman’s plan. It also doesn’t help you, mostly, that he’s the perfect gentleman the minute the cameras are on and everything he says takes on this sugary, colying tone.

Dread fills you as you walk into the media room, finding a few familiar faces before you sit to the back. You hope in vain that James isn’t on media today, maybe they’ll put his sweet teammate Remus on media duty. He’s always sweet and succinct, answering all the questions, no matter how ridiculous, with a grace and precision you suspect makes him perfect for being the team’s fly-half. 

You’d even interview his rowdy teammate Sirius, possibly the best winger in the game right now, and endure his loudness and even his flirtations with the camera so long as you just got good answers. 

Your hope is shattered when you hear James talking as he rounds the corner, your hands grow cold knowing that today is the day you write a half decent story about the Gryffindor team. 

“Morning,” he calls as he enters, his eyes find you immediately and the smile he shoots you makes you scowl. It’s going to be a long press day. “It’s great to be back.” 

“How have you and your team prepared for the start of the season? Knowing it’s a derby game must make it all the more exciting to be back.” One journalist starts, sweat already pebbling on your brow. 

James answers perfectly, in depth and with the knowledge that you sometimes forget these players possess. 

“What about the injured players from last season? Can we look out for their names on the starting squad? What sort of system can we look forward to this season?” You ask, hands shaking as you prepare for the worst. You hate how much anxiety courses through you nowadays in these interviews. They used to be far more fun. 

“I can’t well say what we’re going to play this weekend, it’d be a bit of a helping hand to the Slytherin team.” The media room laughs and you have to bite your tongue to keep the scowl off your face. “However, we’ve got a lot of key players back in the squad, so I’ll say keep your ears open for some names you haven’t heard in a couple months.” 

By the time you’re finished with the conference, you’ve got sufficient answers for the hopes of the beginning of the season but every other question was bypassed or you’d received a roundabout answer. 

You’re picking up all your equipment, the other journalists all gone already. James hovers near the door, watching you for whatever reason but it makes your skin crawl. He has to know what he’s done. 

“Can I help you, Potter?” You ask, lifting your head to catch a peek at him. His arms are folded across his chest and he’s leaning against the doorframe, something sort of like a smile on his face. 

“Just waiting for you to be done. Wouldn’t feel right to just leave you in here alone.” There’s a bit of sincerity but mostly amusement in his tone and you roll your eyes. James laughs and pushes off the door frame moving towards you, “All done?” you huff and sigh, hoisting your bag over your shoulder and walking past him. 

“Have a good training session, James.” he nods, watching you go with a smile on his face, one that spreads bigger when your perfume lingers in the room after you. 

-

When you hit submit on your report you feel good but stressed. 

What usually takes you an hour and a half to get done, took you twice as long because reports have been so slow during the off-season that you wanted to get it perfect before the opening match. Stretching, you make your way into the kitchen. 

You’re sure half the worry was unnecessary and the other half was about impressing your boss. God knows you need that woman to be pleased with something you do this year. 

Your phone rings before you can give in to that anxiety inducing thought, your stomach pits and the cup of tea you had to your lips lower. “This is Y/n.” 

“Hi, I want to talk about the interview you just submitted,” Your boss is a bit of a hardass. She’s always harping about things being ‘perfect’ and stories being complete, so in the two years you’ve worked there, though you’ve climbed to higher and higher positions, you’re still the fresh and sort of peppy girl you were to her when you’d handed in your resume and appeared in her office in a blue suit. 

“Sure,” you set down the tea and open your laptop, ready for a slew of changes or to change whatever she wanted you to. 

“It’s great,” that’s high praise, yet you sense something in her tone. You’re almost certain she’s going to make you rewrite the entire thing to make the opening game of the season, a derby game no less, seem even more anticipated than it already is. “I just want you to add a little more about the history of both teams. Potter’s already brought in an influx of new fans, we want to make it easy for them to get into the season and get behind either team and feel the rivalry.” 

That’s not what you’d been expecting. Not what you were expecting in the least. 

“I’ll resubmit tonight by eight.” is what you say but inside you’re twirling and jumping around your apartment while morning sun streaks through your living and early 2000s pop music is blasting through the house. 

James Potter and his non-answers be damned, you just got the best compliment of your work life.

[xothatnerdykid]

Aizawa x Reader Established Relationship Headcanons

(Cannot, for the life of me, get over my writer's block but I've still got Aizawa brainrot thanks to s7 so here.)

I might be in the minority here but I don't think Aizawa would smoke. He eats healthy and works out to keep his body in shape. Why would he compromise his health by smoking?

His only vices are chronic snacking (he loves those jelly pouch things) and caffeine.

He's usually up 'til dawn most days because duh, he works two jobs (hence the 5-7 shots of espresso in his coffee). 

Despite his sleep deprivation most days, he is soooo sexy when he wakes up in the morning. Messy hair. Baggy shirt and boxers. Or sometimes a body hugging tank top and sweatpants. And his voice — his raspy, sleep-addled voice. The feeling of his stubble against the smooth planes of your face waking you up. 

He doesn’t usually cook breakfast but he does always brew a fresh pot of coffee for you. And he never leaves without a kiss goodbye, even when you’re still snuggled up in bed, asleep.

When you first start dating, Shouta talks to you pretty much the same way he talks to everyone else. So curt and succinct, you sometimes used to wonder if he was upset with you. He’d usually get confused as to what made you ask that, and then explained that he’s just a man of a few words, that’s all. 

As your relationship becomes more established, you notice subtle shifts in the way he communicates. It's not a sudden change, but your conversations start to feel more like a secret code over time, filled with inside jokes that never fail to make him smirk.

Shouta’s love language is definitely acts of service. He’s a pragmatic, action-oriented person who values efficiency. So of course he’d think that actions speak louder than words when it comes to letting someone know your true feelings. 

That’s why he loves it when he comes home to your cooking, especially when you surprise him with his favorite dish. Because after 16-hours or so of working two jobs, he usually just passes out on the couch the moment he gets home and you’re not around.

He feels so bad when he comes home too late sometimes and finds you already asleep and his dinner sitting cold on the stovetop or in the fridge. He always makes sure to make it up to you by preparing breakfast the next day or…other…pleasing ways…

Seeing you take care of Sushi, the cat his very-well-and-alive friend Nemuri sometimes asks him to babysit, makes him feel all warm inside, too (although he doesn’t actually admit it, you just catch him smiling softly at you sometimes and quickly looking away when you notice).

As for how he expresses his love for you, it mostly comes in the form of acts of service, too, as well as gifts and physical touch.

Shouta’s romantic gestures are like rare collectibles. They often come as a surprise, but when they happen, you cherish them dearly. He'll surprise you with a thoughtful gift and leave it on your desk with a simple, "Saw this and thought of you."

He won't serenade you under the moonlight or anything, but he'll make you a warm cup of tea when you're tired, or wrap a scarf around you when it's cold.

You don't really have time to go out on dates most weeks, but when you do, you're either at a quiet restaurant or taking a walk through nature in the parks. 

His favorite thing to do is sit with you by the window sill on rainy days and just have you snuggle up to him, bundled in his arms, while you read or do your own thing in comfortable silence.

Fighting with Shouta was like having a verbal sparring match. He’s always strategic, although his patience wears thin sometimes, even with you. Still, he knew when to bring something up and when to back down. 

He won't shy away from a disagreement, but he's not one to let it linger. He’ll tackle the issue head-on, find a compromise, and move on.

One of your favorite things about him was that he never held a grudge or took conflicts personally.  

Shouta’s life is a constant juggle between being a pro hero, a UA teacher, a single dad, and being your boyfriend. But oh, does he master it.

At first you thought maybe he was just a really efficient and organized planner, but one look at him, his apartment, his phone, and his non-existent planner told you otherwise.

“How do you plan on getting all of this done?” You often ask him about his mountain of papers to grade and reports to submit, to which he just shrugs.

“I don’t know, the usual? Coffee. Eye drops.” He sucks on his second jelly pouch of the day and goes back to his cluttered desk, papers strewn about like fallen leaves. "Duct taping my eyelids," he grumbles the last part under his breath.

You laugh, watching him from the couch with a fond look in your eyes. “You’re incredible, you know that?”

He looks up, one eyebrow raised. “For what? Managing to stay awake?”

“For…everything,” you shrug, walking over to perch yourself atop the edge of his desk. “For being you.”

He hums appreciatively as he pulls you closer by the waist.

“I don’t know how you do it, but I’m grateful.”

He glances up at you, smiling a little. You scratch at the stubble on his chin. 

“Ready to call it a night?”

“Not quite,” he smirks before leaning up to kiss you fervently, tangling his hands in your hair.

Both of you slept better than you have all week. Afterwards.

You occasionally surprise him by finding him when he’s out on patrol and checking up on him. You love seeing him like this, in his element. He’s so kind to all the people he helps…

(A lot of the time, you end up making out against an alleyway or with him hanging upside down from a fire escape, but that’s neither here nor there.) 

[misasimagines]

least to most jealous! (Tokyo Debunker)

included characters: all of them except Subaru I'm so sorry!!!!

rating: Technically SFW but suggestive

warnings: unhealthy and toxic behaviors, some suggestive (sexual and violent) content though nothing graphic. GN reader.

Okay, some clarification:

Regarding Subaru: I HAVE to give a disclaimer here and say that I simply do not get him. I’m so sorry Suba fans. I just think he's lying and acting and I'm not comfortable writing for him when I can't figure out what his deal is.

I've been working on this for days and simply cannot perceive it any more so please forgive typos and... god everything else. It's so long.

I formatted it as "bad end" and "good end" so the bad ends are like the absolute worst and most exaggerated negative outcomes and behaviors while the good ends assume everyone behaves as if they are capable of being rational (which they are). This doesn't mean to romanticize any of the toxic behaviors, we're just having fun :)!

If you disagree.... [I am already laying dead on the floor]

Zenji

Bad End: You have to be the toxic one for a bad end and you have to be downright CRIMINAL to make Zenji break up with you. You have to be breaking his damn heart because he'll forgive you for so much. You could be having sex with a bunch of other people and plan the timing so he'd see it and he'd sadly be like, oh of course, I can't really show them that kind of affection the way that I am… I'm grateful they spend any time with me at all. If you do this to him, I'm killing you actually. If you cheat on Zenji, I'm coming out of your Tumblr browsing device like the girl from the Ring and I'm attacking you. He's TOO GOOD AND SWEET for you to do this to him 😡😡😡

Good End: He's very forgiving and understanding and doesn't really get jealous. If he's worried about you being unhappy with him or his situation, he will talk to you about it and give you 100 outs to break up with him amicably. If you refuse them all and tell him you don't want anyone else, he'll be overjoyed if not still feeling very bittersweet. Expect to hear a sad little poem or song about lovers doomed to live on opposite sides of mortality or something.

Jiro

Bad End: You’re going to have to be the toxic one here for a bad end and that bad end is very simple and succinct. He tells you that if you want to see other people, you can break up with him. And then he waits for you to respond because he’s not putting up with this. If you break up with him, that’s that, he’s washed his hands of you and is moving on. If you ask him out again later, he’ll just tell you he doesn’t have the time to waste on someone who’s so disloyal. If you don’t break up with him, and you are a cheating bastard, when he sees it (and he WILL, because his ass is NOT DUMB), he’ll break up with you and ask that you don’t bother him again. Further attempts at communication will be very brief.

Good End: He’s too straightforward for this. If he sees you being “too friendly” with someone, he will ask you point blank what was going on there. He doesn’t mind you being friendly or affectionate with other people, he doesn’t overreact when you get hit on, he doesn’t have a problem with you wanting to spend a night with friends instead of him. He’s just like, that’s fine. Bring a jacket because it’ll be cold. If you’re uncomfortable because someone’s hitting on you, he’s just like okay, I’m in the situation now, and that’s generally enough to stop anyone from being handsy or flirty with you because Jiro is like 6’6. Who’s trying to fight him, let’s be real. If they keep going he’s just like, okay I’ll take my s/o and go then. Just an unbothered KING. This is what you want in a man BELIEVE ME. He just behaves rationally and calmly even if he could chainsaw someone to death.

That being said, if he has to chainsaw murder someone to death, I don't think he'll feel that bad about it.

Ed

Bad End: He might pull some of his sickly old man cards out to be like ah, my dear, please don’t leave me today while my health is failing. You should cancel your plans and watch this Youtuber stream the process of building a house in the rain forest out of clay and sticks with me… I need you to take care of me... He just milks your sympathy for all he can get. 

Good End: Really, he’s not TOO worried because he is immortal, he is a powerful vampire, and he does kind of want to have a degree of separation from you due to your fragile human mortality. I can’t imagine Ed being the most monogamous lover, and while he might not be interested in pursuing other people while he’s with you, I can see him adopting a stance of “you’re young, you should experience all life has to offer” in regards to your social life. He might poke at you like oh, did the young lad you went to see a movie with take adequate care of you or do I need to make up for his inexperience now? He’s not too worried if you go elsewhere, he has time, he’ll be the most serious love in your life at least.

Luca

Bad End: He jumps to conclusions, big shocker. He reads into your emotions and expressions and uses them as evidence to prove his own beliefs. He thinks he's doing right by you, protecting you, when he sees you frown while talking to someone or recoil when they try to touch you and immediately jumps in to protect you. He scolds people and doesn't hesitate to start and end a fight if they react aggressively. But also…he perceives a lot more danger towards you than there is, and can't always differentiate his jealousy and your actual safety. You end up with a lot of friendships being destroyed by your knight in shining armor who can't stop threatening people with bodily harm if they don't back away from you. When he sees this bothering you, he stops intervening on your behalf when you can see it and starts doing it behind your back. You're just weaker, it's fine, he's stronger and it's his duty to protect you even if you don't always agree with it.

Good End: He still jumps to conclusions and assumes the worst, but you can talk him down. No, Luca, one unhappy expression doesn't mean this person has dishonored me and my entire family. You don't need to pull your swords out! He is a gentleman more than anything and doesn't want to burden you with his own insecurities, so he tries to hold back and only brings things up to you when he's too worried to be quiet. Admittedly, it's not super often that he's jealous. He wants to think the best of you and doesn’t think that you’d actually reciprocate any of the advances that anyone makes on you. He would not date someone who he doubts is capable of loyalty. Also, he's so focused on his own goals, sadly you are kind of a second priority to him even if he would never admit it to you or himself.

Alan

Bad End: He's more protective and suspicious than jealous and does get it into his head that you're fragile and delicate and anyone could hurt you. He worries that you can't see the dangers he can, so he just…happens to be nearby when you're out for friends, just in case. He wants to know where you'll be so he can come get you immediately if something happens. And if someone does cross your boundaries, if they lay a hand on you, if he sees you look scared or uncomfortable? He'll comfort you after they're dealt with. Just don't be scared of him, you might not have known you were in danger, but he knew what they were thinking and planning and they won't ever be able to threaten you again.

Good End: He isn't the most technologically adept so he does want your itinerary before you go out without him. It is for safety and not jealousy, because he truly doesn't get jealous too often. He trusts you and he trusts your judgement, he has to or else he wouldn't be dating you. He WILL still step in the second he sees that you're uncomfortable, and he WILL lay a bitch out if necessary, but it's normally enough for him to just walk up to you to get anyone to back off. He still wants to set certain boundaries, like he doesn't like you going out at night alone because it's dangerous, not because he's afraid you're meeting your secret lover. If he had that many doubts about your loyalty, he would just break it off.

Haku

Bad End: You really are the forgiving type, huh? Oh, you don't know what that person did? Well, he really shouldn't tell you if you don't know. It'll come out if it has to, right? Just be careful around them. - That's what he does. He sows seeds of doubt in your relationships, so carefully that you don't even realize it's a pattern and eventually you're really not sure who to trust. Haku is always honest with you though, so you can trust him, and if he gives you a pitying look when you say you've made a new friend with someone, it's probably safest to drop them before they hurt you. He really isn't the most jealous, so he doesn't do this too often, but he does it whenever he is, whether he feels guilty for it or not. Ultimately, he IS just protecting you. They might not have done anything to hurt you YET, but they probably would if he didn't step in.

Good End: Otherwise, he's really pretty chill. He believes in your right to agency and if you do ever break any boundaries, he'll talk to you about it and decide if it's something he can live with. It's not like he's a saint. The charming, flirtatious comments come out naturally and he won’t stop complimenting the cashier/waitress/etc if it means getting a discount or better service. That benefits you, too! So what if he makes a few jokes about “my s/o saw you from across the bar and really digged your vibe” and the like. He isn’t serious, not like he is with you, and he’s happy to spend all night proving it to you.

Ritsu

Bad End: Somehow he knows everything about everyone you've been around, talked to, dated, etc. He's pulling receipts. You spent 20 minutes talking to X. Tell me what it was about. You went to this place before our date but it's outside of your routine and I don't see any reason for you to have been there. Please explain clearly why you went and what you did there. He probably has a full dossier on you and he keeps it meticulously updated and you can know about it if you want, but it's probably beyond your understanding so he'll only let you glance at it before he's locking it back up. He wants to draft up contracts, probably, and might even try to get restraining orders for you against people he feels are threats to you and your relationship. And if you're upset about it? Well, you already agreed to section 14 clause B, so if you break up with him now you'll suffer the consequences of breaching your contract. What are the consequences? That's another thick binder, you don't need to read it because you won’t have anything to do with it as long as you don't break your obligations to him.

Good End: He's still very organized and detail oriented, but he's also like: Okay, if I have proof of you cheating, I'm obligated to break our contract- I mean relationship. Essentially the same thing. He doesn't feel as much of a need to obsessively watch over you since he feels confident in the terms he laid out and your verbal agreement to abide by them. If you hang out with someone else, you should tell him what went on and know that if you're found committing perjury or in contempt of the court (okay Ritsu, same thing), then he's breaking up with you. He trusts you but still needs clear communication.

Tohma

Bad End: He always knows where you are and who you’re with and he knows everything about them, too. Interesting that you were hanging out with a known playboy, did you really think he cared about you or are you just as bad as he is? No, that’s not an insult, he’s merely asking. - Tohma asks leading questions and gets you confused so you end up saying exactly what he wants you to say, even if it’s not the truth. Yes I was no I wasn’t here or there or?? And then he’s holding your hand delicately and kissing the back of it and telling you not to worry so much, it’s easy to make mistakes, but that’s why he’s here to help you. For most of the people he doesn’t like you hanging around, he has a reason to convince you to stay away from them. He's not above paying someone off or threatening them or blackmailing them to stay away from you. You get so flustered and upset when you’re confused and uncertain, so he’ll just take all of that uncertainty out of your life. If that means that all you have is him and his hand selected friend group for you, that’s good enough for you both, right?

Good End: He’s still surveilling everything and somehow knows that that person you’re talking to has 2 DUIs, but he just offers this information to you when he really thinks it's dangerous. Like, if you’re hanging out w/ Mr. Drink and Drive, he won’t necessarily say anything unless you’re going to be going out with him to drink and or drive somewhere. In which case, Tohma will tell you that he uncovered some concerning information about their ability to drink responsibly and ask that you use your best judgement. If you choose to still go somewhere potentially dangerous with them, he’ll just do what he has to to keep you safe there and make his disagreement known, but he won’t force you to do anything unless he really thinks that you are walking into inevitable danger. It’s really less jealousy and more being an overbearing and overprotective boyfriend who would baby proof your apartment for you if you so much as tripped over your own misplaced shoes once.

Sho

Bad End: It starts with you hanging out as a trio: Sho, Leo, and you. It's fine at first, and he pretends it doesn't bother him when Leo is snuggling up to you or jokingly calling you their s/o. He just pulls you away and holds you close and tells Leo to back off and Leo laughs and acts like he wasn't even being serious. And then you have inside jokes with Leo, and not him, and you're invited to hang out with Leo alone, and sometimes Sho walks into a room and he SWEARS that you two were talking about him before he walked in. Over time, he can't help but feel every action of possession towards you is just humoring Leo, who really has you, but he also knows the second he stops wanting you or admits his loss, Leo will get bored and throw you aside like an old toy. Only Leo doesn't let his toys go for someone else to pick up and enjoy. He breaks them so no one would ever be able to love them again. So Sho stays and deals and shares you and never feels like he really ever has you, but he can't let you go or you'll be ruined forever.

Good End: He's not too worried. He does his own things, has his own friends, his own plans, and he'd kind of think less of you if you lived exclusively for him. If you want to go out with friends, even if it's with other guys, he's fine, he just makes sure to kiss you extra messily before you part ways for the night and tells you you better not go forgetting about him while you're away. As if you could after that. The only person he kind of gets bothered by is Leo, and that's more for your safety than because he's afraid of you cheating on him or falling for Leo. He knows him and he knows that even though Leo is his friend, maybe even specifically because he is, he wouldn't hesitate to use and manipulate you. So Sho tells you to keep your distance (as much as that's possible) from him. He does also want to meet anyone that you get close to are already are close to, partially to make his own judgement about their intentions and partially to be ready to put on a show of treating you better than they ever could.

Haru

Bad End: Two words: Guilt Trip. Oh, you wanted to hang out with someone else today? That's fine! He'll tell Peekaboo and the other animals you're too busy to see them. They're animals so they won't really understand, but he'll do his best to love them enough for the loss in your affection. And wow, that other friend of yours, you hang out with them a lot. Should he be worried? Haha! Just a joke! He wasn't serious, you're responsible and you wouldn't abandon him and everyone else when they need you. You're not a bad person like that. - So you end up canceling plans with other people and staying with Haru. You can't stand putting more on his plate… he also has a tracker on your phone and asks where you were in a casual way so if you say something else, he's like. Weird! That's not what I thought, but you'd never lie to me, so I guess I can trust you! (He does not.) It just gets to the point where you’re not sure how much he knows, because he never really admits how much he does, but he always seems to know more than he’s letting on.

Good End: He doesn't MEAN to guilt trip you with sad pictures of Peekaboo when you're out with other people, he does just miss you and he's worried he's too much for you to handle and feels like he has to convince you that you love him. You can tell him he doesn't have to worry about it, you like spending time with him and he's your priority, but just like he needs to sometimes put his job first or go hang out at Rui's bar, you need to spend time with other friends and do things on your own! He still can be a bit clingy, wanting to know where you are, who you’re with, making sure they’re not hitting on you or anything because he KNOWS you’re a catch, but you can just calmly redirect that energy and he’ll cool himself off. He’s not unreasonable!

Lyca

Bad End: He's a territorial dog through and through. He doesn't like anyone touching what is his, he doesn't want anyone encroaching on your space, and he is very sensitive to you smelling like anything he isn't familiar with. He will cause a fuss and jump to violence if someone gets handsy with you, even if it's innocent, friendly, and consented to by you. A friend hugs you? No, nope, that's not okay. Your HIS favorite and no one is going to take you from him. Mostly, it stems from a place of fear of losing you, of being abandoned again. He doesn't see you as completely innocent the way some of the others might, and it's a toss up whether he's mad at you or mad at the other person. Why would you try to leave him? Why would you let someone take you away from him? Why does everyone abandon him?? Even at his worst, I don't see him wanting to lock you away or anything since he knows from experience how awful that is, but he would insist on accompanying you everywhere.

Good End: He's still a dog and he's still afraid of you leaving him, but he has people like Subaru who talk him down and convince him that it's okay if you have other people in your life! Lyca does too, and that doesn't make you less meaningful to him. He doesn't like strangers (to him) getting too close to you, so you really do have to do that introducing him through a door to your other friends thing, the same as you would for a new pet. And you probably have to make some allowances around letting him take some of your clothes to snuggle up with when you're away.

Kaito 

Bad End: Everyone is a threat to his relationship with you and he’s a swinging pendulum between overreacting on the spot and trying a number of things to prove you’re with him OR going home and sobbing into his pillows, preparing for the inevitable “we should see other people” text. He will overreact, realize he overreacted, and then send you a slew of texts apologizing, explaining himself, apologizing for the mass of texts, and then being like oh haha lol my phone fell and typed all that, you can just delete those texts… He gets really stuck in his head about it all and will start begging you to not leave him and just tell him what he can do to be good enough for you. It doesn't matter what you say, how many friendships you cut off, how much time you spend with him- he's never going to think he's worthy enough for you and he's never going to trust that you aren't trying to move on.

Good End: He still struggles with trying to prove his worth and being very easily upset about perceived disloyalty. He's easier to talk down though, and you just need one good conversation to tell him that you love him, you want to be with him, and if he feels threatened or unsure, he should tell you first and not try to “fix” problems in your relationship that aren't even there. He feels better after that, and he has a long way to go to gain more self confidence and even trust in others, but he definitely can do it with time and effort.

Rui

Bad End: He's very torn. On one hand, he loves you, he's grateful for you being in his life, and he knows if he COULD, he'd take such perfect care of you that you wouldn't even be able to think about leaving him for anyone else. On the other hand…he knows he has one big limitation, and hates to think that you would suffer from his curse as well. So he convinces himself that it's fine if you're intimate with someone else. He can't touch you, but that doesn't mean you should go untouched. He'll agree if you want an open relationship and it will absolutely devastate him but he'll smile through it. He'll just be perfect whenever you're with him, never disagreeing, always complimenting and praising you, never giving you any reason to want to leave him. It gets to the point where he's acting in every single situation with you, completely overwhelmed with nightmares of your relationships with others, but desperate not to lose what little he has of you. 

Good End: He's still suffering from some insecurities about what he can't give you, and does try to overcompensate in every other field of romance to try to make up for it. For your part, you just have to make it clear that you DON'T want anyone else, that you will make it work with him, and the lack of intimacy might suck but it hopefully won't be permanent and you'll wait for him! This sentiment is so earth shattering for him he wants to just pick you up and spin you around on the spot (but he won't, don't worry). He still gets some worries every once in a while, but do the Pushing Daisies thing where you kiss him through cling wrap and share sweets and drinks with him for “indirect kisses” and sweetly ask to sleep in his clothes to be close to him and he'll be able to let go of a lot of his pressing worries.

Ren

Bad End: He has bad coping mechanisms and he's very pessimistic and negative. Of course he sees you walking with someone else and he convinces himself you're cheating on him. He doesn't go straight at you with this, though. He starts with making self deprecating comments like, “Yeah whatever, of course you're late. Why would you be on time for me when you were having such a good time with someone else?”  and then specifically name-dropping this other person like asking if you had a good time with them, even if you weren't with them, and he's like rolling his eyes when you deny it. It goes so far and he becomes completely convinced that you're cheating on him, but… he doesn't want to break up with you. He keeps complaining and when you snap and you're like fine! If you don't trust me at all, why are you even with me? That's when he's hugging you too tightly and saying it's fine, he can put up with it, just don't leave him, he'll still be your boyfriend even if you're a cheating whore- he didn't mean that.

Good End: he's still jealous and jumps to the worst conclusions, but you talk to him! Because communication truly works wonders. And you can tell him you have other friends but only one Ren 💜 and he says you're cheesy but he feels better. Just when you're out and you run into anyone who he has suspicions about, it's best to be a little annoying with how much PDA you're showing him. Like hold his hand and snuggle up to him and call him terrible pet names and he HATES it but he also feels so very comforted by it all. There are still plenty of times where he talks shit about other people he doesn't like you hanging out with though, so try not to take too much offense and just clearly remind him he's being a dick and you're about to spray him with water if he doesn't stop it.

Leo

Bad End: Honestly, he's offended that you're making him feel this way. What kind of abusive gaslighter are you to be manipulating him into being worried about your loyalty to him? He's the victim. How are you going to fix it? - That's what he does to you. He uses his own (overacted) feelings to make you feel guilty and morally in the wrong so you fawn over him and apologize and try to make up with him. He'll let you grovel and beg and he'll sniffle through fake tears and pet your head and tell you that you're lucky he's so forgiving, no one else would put up with how bad a person you are. He's really a saint for taking you back after you talked to and smiled at that barista today. You won't do that again, right? You won't talk to anyone he doesn't want you talking to? You won't go out without him?

And… well, since you were an adulterous cheater… it's only fair he gets to have his fun without you, right? 

Good End: I mean he's still a dick but you don't let him get into your head. No, bitch, I was not hitting on the cashier at Walgreens, I was buying Plan B because SOMEONE claims to be allergic to latex. He does like pushing your buttons and it's hard to tell exactly when he's seriously jealous (Why would he ever be jealous about you? They're only hitting on you to get to him, obvi). He does plenty behind the scenes, posting you but never your face, keeping your information extremely private and impossible to get to, blackmailing anyone who might know you personally and risks letting anything out. He's doing it for his image, not yours. Okay, maybe it’s a little bit for your image, he can’t be seen dating trash.

Bonus: Even though he is possessive, he would scheme to get you to do things with Sho. He's like I don't care, treat him like a toy I bought you 💜 I’ll watch and help you get the most use out of him.

YANDERE LEVEL!!! Consider them tied for first place:

Yuri

Bad End: Yikes! You just became this doctor's most favorite lab subject! And since you're his favorite, you can't be sullied by the dirty, germ ridden worms outside. You should stay with him, and he'll take care of you, especially because you're so sick. You weren't sick when he fell for you, but you keep getting worse and you're sooo grateful that he takes such good care of you. It's terrible that you ended up bedridden for days after seeing your childhood friend or favorite coworker or someone else you USED to be close to, but he makes your medicine specifically for you and keeps your room at the perfect temperature. Could you ask for a more doting boyfriend? He reminds you that your condition worsens when you go out in public, so he'll supervise any visits anyone wants to make to you. And don't cry that no one has been coming for the last few weeks! They weren't good enough for you (he denied their requests to visit). He's all you need. Really, you won’t even see Jiro after a while, but it won’t matter because you can’t even get out of bed without Yuri to help you.

Good End: He's so insecure and his grandiose act is an act, it's fake it till you make it theatrics. He will swat at Jiro and scold him like there won't be a tomorrow if poor Jiro talks to you or tries to do anything physical towards you in your checkups. Yuri has to be your ONLY doctor, he can do all of it! Please let him do all of it. He assumes you're looking for someone better, so he's constantly trying to convince you he's the best or that you have to only have eyes for him. Even in the good end, he is trying to forbid you from going to certain places (Frostheim) because he's afraid you'll leave him. He wants you to just stay in the lab or otherwise nearby so he can see you on his time and make sure you're not talking to anyone else out there… He just doesn't deal with jealousy well, but it stems from severe insecurities more than anything for him.

Taiga

Bad End: Till death do us part, kitty-cat. When he commits you to memory it's over for you. He'll drag you out of any situation he doesn't like you being in, making sure to show off the entire time that you are absolutely not an option to anyone but him. He's very quick to violence and will be covered in blood and horny more often than anyone really should be. He doesn't really care about your agency in things. You pissed him off and made him jealous, but it's not you who he's going to punish. He's going to beat the other person until they're unrecognizable, and he'll keep doing it until you get it through your head that he was dead serious about death being the only thing that's getting you away from him. Kind of jealous where he reacts poorly and then holds your head still so you have to look at the consequences and he's like, that's all you, kitten. That's what you made me do. If you don't like it, don't piss me off again.

Good End: he's still easily jealous, and he wants to react with violence, but you're not into that and you can convince him it's not worth his time. So he'll make some threats and that's normally enough to get people to stay away from you both. He likes when you hang around with him, his pretty little kitty, but he also gets in moods where he wants to be alone and can't put up with another person so he's not too bothered when you hang out with friends. As long as they don't put any moves on you and you're in his bed at the end of the day, you can do what you want. Just if anyone asks, you're his. No arguments or they're getting shot.

bonus: Probably would be willing to share you with Lulu, just he wants to watch or be involved as well. His two pretty kittens <3 

Towa 

Bad End: oh baby he's killing the competition. He doesn't even hesitate. Someone dares put their hands on you? Lightning strike. Anomalous animal attack. Poison in the water supply. He does not have patience with dealing with people who, to him, want to ruin your love story and hurt you. He doesn't really acknowledge your agency in most things. You're his sweet little Dandelion and those disgusting people are trying to take you away from him. Don't worry, he'll protect you and you can go right back to being his obedient little love. You're not pushing him away, you're just brainwashed by those evil people. Just stay close to him (you don't have a choice) and he'll put it all right again.

Also…he wants Haru in the love story too. He's like the kid slamming his dolls together to make them kiss, so congrats on two boyfriends? Towa’s very doting towards both of you even if he forgets that you can't survive off eating flowers and sometimes you need to sleep.

Good End: He can be the kind of “cute” jealous where he's pouting, wrapping his arms around you, biting you for attention and to assert dominance, even throwing things at people who he's bothered by. You can scold him but he's just biting you harder now and trying to drag you away where you won't be bothered by the mean people who are interrupting his time with his Dandelion. He doesn't really GET the boundaries you try to set, but if you word it right, then he'll respect them. You think he's respecting them, at least. You don't see him poisoning people behind your back. 

He still wants you and Haru to be together too though, so, I mean again, congratulations on the two boyfriends even if Haru is politely excusing himself and apologizing whenever Towa tries to initiate a threesome. Is this a good end? Towa is just kind of Like That. Godspeed.

Jin 

Bad End: It starts slow, he wants to know why you were late. Who were you with? And then he wants to check your phone and read your texts. And then you don't know when he's reading your texts because he set something up that gives him access to your phone whenever he wants. And then people you thought were your friends don't want to talk to you anymore and actually seem a bit afraid being around you at all. And then you're upset and you don't know who else to go to but Jin, who says they're all good for nothing assholes and you don't need them.

And then there's really no reason for you to go to classes or have a job. All you're good for is being his servant, and you like it, right? Because he buys you things, specifically jewelry that you can't take off yourself, bracelets that feel like handcuffs and necklaces that feel like collars. But more than that, you just like being his. It’s easier to not have to use your little brain to make bad decisions. So just stay with him, do what he says, and he'll take care of you.

Good End: It starts the same way as the bad end, but you call him on his shit. He doesn't need to know all of these details and if he does, you'll tell him. He needs to trust you or else he needs to break up with you. He might break up with you, because he's mad that you're being insubordinate and then a few days later he's texting you to come to his room and he's like…whatever, that argument was stupid. You can’t be dumb enough to want anyone else when you have the best anyone can get. (Come cuddle with me before I go crazy.) You have to put up with a level of his emotional immaturity to be with him, but he'll mellow out a bit over time with the jealousy. He'll be more amused at people he thinks are lesser than him trying to hit on you and kind of just likes to mess with them instead of being straight to social ruin and murder. Anyone he actually feels is a threat though, that'll be an argument if you want to keep them in your life because he's stubborn and arrogant and knows he's right.

Romeo

Bad End: No, he's not jealous. He doesn't let himself get to that point because when he sees you with someone else and he doesn't like it? Get in the cage. Lol. No, I'm not joking. Definition of possessive. He doesn't like you talking to his subordinates even when he tells you to. He doesn't want you going out of his sight, and honestly, it's easier for him to keep you protected if you just never leave your room. Your room being one that he's made up for you, decorated, and fitted with security cameras so he can check on whenever he wants. 

He just wants to hold you and brush your hair for you and pick out outfits for you and let you lay around in perfect luxury. And if you want to leave? You don't need to walk as long anymore. You're not going anywhere. (Guy who cuts your Achilles tendon so you can't walk. There, I said it.)

Good End: He's so jealous. He's snapping at anyone who gets too close to you or you get too close to yourself. He is demanding to check your texts so he knows you're not talking to people he wouldn't approve of. This is toxic as all hell, so you can (risk your life) tell him he needs to CHILL. Like you'd waste your time with someone else when you already have the prettiest boyfriend alive. He likes the ego stroking and he can't deny the logic, he's not dating an idiot. You just have to make sure you're giving him enough reassurance that you don't have any interest in anyone else, and sometimes let him let off that insanely jealous energy by threatening someone. I know this is labeled “good end” and he's still toxic but this is good for Romeo okay, Romeo fans aren't trying to get with him because he's been to therapy. You know why you're here.

[sugar-grigri]

How is Chainsaw Man the scariest without being the strongest?

It's still a very succinct analysis, but I find it fascinating how this whole chapter is irrigated by an idea that will only be verbalized at the very end.

How to make a decapitated teenager fearsome: by placing him in the demonic hierarchy.

Demons are closer to the animal kingdom than to the human, or rather, humans are merely the demons' prey, placed after them on the food chain.

But this food chain still exists within the demons themselves, and the law of the strongest naturally prevails.

So this chapter very effectively places us in this hierarchy by means of a key element: reminding us just how strong Guangxi is.

This is most effectively established by the arrogant nail fiend, who flatly submits to Guangxi's plea for mercy before she attacks.

More classically, this is underlined by the speed with which Katana Man was sliced open. The discrepancy being made by the fact that Katana man was transformed when she is not, even in her human form, she remains stronger.

Third element: the relationship with death. Guangxi has the same nature as CSM, weapons that know no finitude. This gives the impression that they're both in the same category and, given her power, puts her above Denji's more chaotic, instinctive abilities.

Which she recognizes. She's obviously stronger than CSM. But this one is more frightening.

Even in his most vulnerable state, human and decapitated, Denji acts like a malevolent totem, pushing an overpowered weapon like Guangxi to bend.

But all this seems confusing because CSM's golden rule is that the scarier a demon is, the stronger it will be. So if Quanxi is scared of CSM, why isn't CSM logically stronger?

The chapter answers this: Guangxi allows Yoru to kill her. In other words, the most logical conclusion to a physical and combative power struggle : death is not what frightens Guangxi. So what is it that frightens Guangxi?

Chainsaw Man is bad luck. When Guangxi faces the more vulnerable Denji, she remains stoic, as if she doesn't want to awaken a curse.

Once again, the answer is in the chapter. What's more frightening for beings who aren't afraid of the logic of the food chain because they don't know death? The death of their loved ones.

The food chain does not allow us to identify the hierarchy between several individuals of different species. How can such a miserable human be the superior of such a strong weapon? Because he holds something precious in his hands: her loved ones. Chainsaw Man is just as much a threat to them, so Guangxi, however strong, doesn't go near him.

Symbolically, this man who had little empathy or respect for his wife doesn't understand the reaction of a demon who refrains from offending Chainsaw Man : Guangxi who clings to the bodies of her lovers like lost treasures.

Seeing Chainsaw Man is a painful memory for Guangxi, as he is the mark of the mission that cost her the lives of her girlfriends.

Even if Chainsaw Man is not the direct result, he is an abyss around which stronger demons sometimes gravitate, but above all a black hole into which loved ones sink.

Denji himself is proof of this, isn't he? He's merged with this curse. His relatives have all paid the price.

Guangxi is actually in the same state as Denji. Decapitated, her lace bandage symbolizing a false scar, a false scar for a being who can't have one, an unhealed mourning.

Denji is once again subject to this curse. For a clue was slipped last time that this one had a bottom of conscience.

What did Denji want to do? Helping Nayuta, no? What stopped him?

Pochita.

When we see Chainsaw Man, we see the scariest thing of all.

Loneliness.

[jetkast]

Listen I know there have been approximately a billion posts about the Divorce but I had to add to the noise.

This conversation really is such a succinct breakup with so much to it. Jayce finally has his moment to say something to Viktor after not knowing if he may ever get the chance at all, only for it all to come out scrambled. I just know he was punching the air at 3am redoing this conversation over and over.

Meanwhile Viktor was acclimating to the sheer body horror of being alive after dying, his own form nearly completely unknown to him, with this "recursive charge" thrumming in his skull that drives him to the most destitute part of the city.

Jayce (ready to beg like his life depends on it): I have royally fucked up and I will be seeking atonement forever for it, please please please love me, don't leave, guilt guilt guilt I'll die from guilt and failure right here on the floor

And my favorite part: 👹 where are you going 👹

I have been obsessed with the delivery of this line because it is exactly the phrase and tone used towards someone you are painfully intimate with and experiencing a rupture (aka divorcing). The panic of 'I cannot let you leave' with 'I'll die' and 'you're not allowed' while also so emotional that all that comes out is a sad anger. Like I can't even capture it. It's about the ownership or entitlement. It's not just "why are you exiting this conversation, that's rude and this is important" but something darker and more pathetic. I DON'T KNOW I JUST RECOGNIZE IT and wanted to ramble about it. Perhaps oddly, it is actually this line (juxtaposed with "it was affection", I'm suffering so much) that locked in them as already being intimately involved for me, beyond friends or lab mates.

These two are just on two entirely different planes of existence in this scene and it's so LAYERED AND UUHHGGFJH this show is going to drive me into my own recursive whateverthefuck.

Jayce is flooding with too much everything, love, fear, desperation, anger, hope, dread, etc, and looking for someone to hold it with him. And Viktor is a husk. And yet, they miss each other, not balancing one another, because they might as well be talking to each other through the looking glass. IT'S JUUUUST AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH lmao