#the characters importance does not disappear because you want them too

[strrwbrrryjam]

either treat abigail, molly, mary, with respect or die looking down the barrel of my gun

i'm being one hundred percent serious when i say i'm tired of people disregarding and disrespecting them to uplift their queer ships. it's bad and it needs to stop.

like i just read a jovier post where they have john cheat on abigail?what the fuck man.

his love for her is unwavering and he is incredibly committed to abigail, he's so devoted to her, working so hard to create a life for the three of them. john is willing to lay down his life to protect his family, and he does so, rescuing them is his whole motive for seeking redemption in the first game. he would never disrespect abigail like that, he's learned and grown, he's no longer the shithead deadbeat dad when jack was young, he loves her.

arthur still so clearly loves mary, his love remaining steadfast and unwavering even years after their broken engagement, it's so obvious on his face when he looks at her. his heart still yearns for her that when she calls, he comes, even if he's a little miffed at the start, he still goes. honestly, i believe if arthur didn't have other commitments in the gang, he would have run away with her when she asked him.

and while molly and dutch's relationship is tumultuous and dutch absolutely does not deserve her, molly is so important to dutch's character and the story as a whole. molly's loyalty to dutch highlights dutch's charisma and the ways dutch inspires loyalty throughout the gang. her existence also depicts the internal conflicts dutch has and the moral uncertainty of dutch's actions. her presence within the gang and relationship with dutch represents the internal strife and conflicts within the gang, highlighting the human cost of their choices and the sacrifices that are made in pursuit of a false freedom in the old west.

and let's not even mention the treatment eliza, annabelle, bessie and even susan receive, which is hardly any mention at all.

eliza, annabelle and bessie each play small but significant parts to not just their respective partners, but to the story as a whole.

eliza shapes arthu’rs past and motivations. her tragic death, along with their son, isaac, has a large impact on arthur and his present relationships, such as abigail and jack. their memory serves as a driving force of arthurs path to redemption.

annabelles fate fuels dutch's vendetta against colm and the o'driscolls, and adds personal stakes to the gang as a reminder of the consequences of their life as an outlaw.

and bessie, oh bessie, not only does she add depth to hosea and represents hosea's wishes for a more peaceful life, but hosea loves her so much that when coming to terms with his inevitable death, whether by gunshot or sickness, the mere chance of reuniting with bessie brings him so much comfort, despite the fact that he fears that bessie lives above, while hosea will be traveling down below.

susan is a very controversial character due to her treatment of the women in the gang and her murdering molly, who did not betray the gang, both of which i do not condone, but it is impossible to deny her importance to the story. not only was, from what we know, dutch's first woman, coming before annabelle and molly, she also served an important role in the gang, acting as an authority figure, maintaining order and discipline within the gang where tensions often rise. she serves as an emotional anchor, which is incredibly important when death is constantly looming over you and adds so much depth and complexity to the story of rdr2.

when you ignore and disregard these characters you are undermining the depth and the richness of the story, each of these characters are important to the story. if you wish to truly appreciate the storytelling of rdr2, it is important to recognize and respect each of these characters.

[klmp11s]

There’s never enough male reader content so thank you 🙏

Could I request first years realizing they have a crush on a guy for the first time (you) and how they go about that 💙

I LOVE U I had so much fun writing this 🙏🙏(English is not my first language, sorry for any mistakes)

Characters: Ace Trappola, Deuce Spade, Jack Howl, Epel Felmier, Sebek Zigvolt; (Mention of Rook, Vil, Lilia, Malleus) Warning: male!reader

Summary: first years realizing they have a crush on a guy for the first time (you) and how they go about that.

Ace Trappola

HE'S LITERALLY TOP 1 IN DENIAL OF FEELINGS

Like, he doesn't have time for romance, you know? He is busy studying and in general he is a free guy. NO YOU DIDN'T SEE HE STARING AT YOU THE WHOLE LESSON, THAT'S A LIE

He won’t understand until the very end that his feelings for you are not platonic at all.

Is he holding you by the shoulders? Well, yes, we are friends. Is he constantly in your personal space? Pfft, what's wrong with that?

Does he have a disgusted look on his face when unfamiliar students approach you? He doesn’t know them, what if they’re bad?

This man will literally always be with you, no matter when or where.

Are you going to lunch? Is he with you. Do you need to go to the library to do homework? He will complain, but at the same time he never left behind you while you were walking.

You're the first person he always invites to his basketball game.

Like, you know, he can play and the moment he hears how you support his team and himself, his desire to win increases three times.

He finally understands his feelings after other people pointed out your closeness with him several times. His reaction is “of course we are close, we are best friends” and at the moment he literally “..we are close 🫢😶😳”

Now the troublemaker begins to notice that everything connected with you is important to him

The gears in his field are like this 🔁  and he understands that the desire to be close, hug, kiss, hold, make you smile are not platonic feelings at all.

I also think that for some time he will not understand how much he liked the guy, but as soon as he remembers your image, all questions from his head will disappear and he will curse your too beautiful face, magnificent eyes, your- AHEM

At first he doesn’t know what to do with it at all. Because 1. You are his best friend 2. He is your best friend 3. What if you don't like boys??? The boy is literally broken

Despite this, he becomes completely shameless. Teases, flirts and speaks with the simplest possible hints. Forgive him, the boy is trying to get you to react and understand whether you like him

Most likely, HE will be waiting for recognition. (He's too afraid that you don't like him and it will ruin your friendship)

He is the type that will look at you with puppy dog ​​eyes and when you remark, he will immediately begin to turn the arrow on you. “I am NOT staring. And you? You miss my face so much that you’re staring at me, huh? Don't say a word about his red face, the boy is literally dying inside for being burned so stupidly

Be patient, because if you confess to him, his ego will grow to incredible proportions and he will be the most smug guy ever (you literally can just kiss him on the cheek and he'll die)

Deuce Spade

HE IS SO CUTE, he also didn’t notice for a long time that he feels different with you

Like: “yes, I want to spend more time with him, I look at him often, and suggest we study together. Is there something wrong?"

He's the kind of guy who will randomly look at you and literally be like: Deuce.exe doesn't answer. You 100% caught this look on yourself. You could even stare back for a while until Deuce realized it and turned his head away at the speed of light.

He thanks the seven because you never talk about it

He would rather die than answer the questions “why are you staring?” YOU DEFINITELY SAID ONCE SOMETHING LIKE “do you like what you see?” the boy couldn't speak or look at you for a couple of weeks.

He also 100% told his mom about you when he called her and she could also tease him, because he didn’t even notice what exactly he was talking about you and then he just sat there with a red face looking at the floor

I think he realized his feelings at the moment when you were in your dorm and in silence doing your own thing. Have you heard that people become 100% more handsome when they go about their business with complete confidence and skill? Exactly this moment.

The boy literally didn’t take his eyes off you and didn’t say a word while he looked at you. Do you have to be so charming?

Please don't ask why he's red, he 's ready to get up and run away right now.

From that moment on, he understands that his heart beating too quickly and the desire to be closer are not platonic.

HE CALLS MOM IMMEDIATELY (if the time is not later) he absolutely does not know what to do in this situation. Fortunately, his mother calms him down and says that he should confess to you. I think this conversation took a couple of hours, but after that he confidently decided that he would look after you so that you would like him.

Absolutely the behavior of a handsome prince, holds the door for you, compliments you (even if he is absolutely red), tries to invite you more often to spend time together, etc.

He might even invite you to his home for the holidays to introduce you to his mother 💔

He is the type who would rather admit his feelings rather than wait for recognition. He wants the moment to be perfect and you like it and remember it

He tried so hard that he most likely asked third-year students for advice

They jokingly now call him lover boy.

But after confessing, he becomes the happiest guy. He can finally hold your hand, hug you in front of strangers AND KISS YOU OKAY HE'S IN HEAVEN

The most in love and happy because now he has the best guy in the world.

He definitely invited you to his home, only as HIS BOYFRIEND

Jack Howl

Love is not for him. He's a lone wolf. Stop looking at his tail, which only affects you if you're nearby.

Okay, okay, listen, he constantly stands next to you, sits together, his ears twitch only if you speak. He literally has a radar on you.

Listens to everything you say, goes with you everywhere if you ask.

He doesn't say a word to you if you take his arm

This is the usual behavior of close friends, what's wrong with it?

He definitely realized his feelings almost immediately. But most likely this was influenced by the moment when you asked to touch his ears and he agreed without thinking.

His brain is literally like "yes"...Wait WHAT

Okay now you have a gloomy tsundere wolf

You are literally the most handsome, interesting man he has seen in his life, you know?

He didn't talk about it anymore and he prayed that you wouldn't start this conversation.

He definitely told his cacti about you, with that stupid loving smile, but as soon as he noticed it he immediately became like: 😳😤

He definitely suggested playing sports together a couple of times (the boy just wants to spend time together doing what he loves 🙏 . Yes, you can consider it a date because he won't say it)

Now in the company he is not at all against anything from your side. Hug him? Hmm. hold his hand? Hmm. Put your hand on his thigh? He died

I'm sure that at such moments his tail hit your legs or back a couple of times

Courtship? DEFINED

If you put your head on his shoulder while talking to other people, he will become a statue, as long as you don't remove it.

Courtship among wolves is more tactile, so he tries to be as close to you physically as possible.

He confesses first. Most likely, he will organize a date where it is just the two of you, and he will be able to calmly talk about his feelings.

He is so glad that now he can kiss you, hug you, hold your hand, bite you AND RUSH HIS HEAD ON YOU.

You and he definitely became the parents of his cacti

Epel felmier

No

Absolutely not. He doesn't like a man, IT'S NOT MASCULINE

The boy just doesn't know what to do

You literally evoke the strongest emotions in him and he always feels dizzy and has butterflies in his stomach when you are around.

Like, have you seen yourself?? You are so cool, smart, interesting, handsome-

WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM

Boy in Denial #2

He loves you, yes, you are his FRIEND, it’s normal to love friends, isn’t it?? He can't come to terms

He tries to pretend that his cheeks are not burning while you are sitting close together or leaning on him.

Okay, HE'S LITERALLY READY TO FORGIVE YOU FOR YOUR JOKES ABOUT HIS GREATEST, YOU KNOW

He realized and accepted his feelings at the sleepover at your dorm. The vibe of calm conversations, your calm voice, relaxed look and that stupidly beautiful smile destroyed his denial.

Congratulations, you now have a protector and a prince trying to impress you.

He will literally protect your pride, even in minor situations. Did they answer you rudely/hit you with a shoulder? He's ready to punch someone in the face

The moments when you two just communicate become the most pleasant for him. Do you and the person you like spend time together, alone? He will move mountains for this

He will definitely confess first, because that’s what real men do!

(Still trying to impress you)

He definitely had help from Rook and Vil with his confession. Like, no, EPEL, you are not going to confess your love to the man of your dreams in THIS

This is most likely why he was late, but I swear he RUNNED TO YOU AS FAST AS HE COULD

He literally blurts out a confession and stands completely red for a couple of seconds while you smile. (you won’t say that you already knew, right?)

Good good now you have a wonderful strong, brave and caring guy who will do anything for you that you ask.

Your dates are in Harveston because he doesn't want to kiss his man somewhere where Rook or Vil can see him

(He will still kiss you wherever he can)

Sebek Zigvolt

Lmao are you Malleus?

I'm surprised that you're so gorgeous that you can not only make friends but also make Sebek fall in love with you

Boy in Denial #3

I'm pretty sure he realized his feelings when he started thinking about chas more often than Malleus.

Like, yes, you are a good friend, smart, strong, he respects you, but something more? “best friends?” HE THOUGHT IT WAS JUST PLATONIC LOVE

At one point, Lilia began to tease him about your friendship with him.

MALLEUS GIGGED AT THIS A COUPLE OF TIMES

Sebek died at this moment

Like, he’s a strong knight, a protector, sits completely red while they hint at his feelings for you

HE WAS 100% ASKED TO CONFESS TO YOU WHEN HE WAS JUST RECOGNIZING HIS FEELINGS

Okay, okay, maybe he likes you, but he has better things to do!! He is a knight and must protect Malleus! (He goes for a walk with you on the grounds of your dorm because you are bored)

Do you think that because he is in love with you, you are automatically protected from his screams? LMAO JUST THE OPPOSITE

He really tries not to scream in front of you, but he does a VERY bad job. Forgive him, you cause too many emotions for him to think adequately and behave calmly

IF YOU DECIDE TO FLIRT OR TEASE he will literally explode like your eardrums. This boy is in a panic and doesn’t know what to do or say, please let him go and let him and let him scream into the pillow, he won’t withstand such pressure

He will come to Lilia for advice. From this moment on, he will begin to care for you. You can literally lie on him and all he will do is tell you not to do that 🙄  (He is ready not to move if you feel comfortable)

If you hugged him from the front, he might rub his head against you a couple of times, but if you even said a word about it, the only thing you would hear was screams

Just let the boy rest and spend time with you, he tries to do it carefully and respectfully

His date organized the entire dorm. LITERALLY everyone was sure that he would return back with his boyfriend. Also, everything happened somewhere in a quiet place because he could not stand it if at such an important moment someone disturbed him.

HE GLOWS if you reciprocate his feelings. He is happy that now he can show love to you and not hide it.

100% took you after to Diasomnia.

Lilia didn't stop teasing YOU BOTH, now he has another son~

The characters do not belong to me, they belong to their rightful owners, please do not edit, translate, repost my works on other platforms, also without my permission and @

[thunderstomm]

I was originally not going to make a post about this, but after seeing a few other posts about it, I wanted to make my own. I have a LOT to talk about.

TW: Transphobia, Homophobia, Ableism

If you don’t know what I’m taking about- there was a post made by a user, who’s name I will not disclose or share, who discussed how they would rewrite the new Monster High G3 Cartoon. While some of the points were mundane, or points of preference, others made me very uncomfortable, as they got rid of much of the diversity that G3 has brought into the Monster High Universe. I want to quickly go through three of the points that I felt were erasing these steps in diversity, and my thoughts on each one, and why I think that it’s iffy, to say the least.

First is the statement “all of the couples from G1 will stay together”. While this may read to some as a preference for the old couples, in the context of rewriting G3- it comes across as the erasure of both couples involving a neurodivergent character being the subject of a crush, and being seen as desirable and loved (Manny x Twyla), and what probably was the intended couples they wanted to seperate, the canonically queer ships. In particular, this is most likely against Clankie (and POSSIBLY an s2 ship which I won’t say by name because some people want to go in blind. Instead I will refer to it as 🧡💚.). In this rewrite context, wanting to take away queer relationships which many writers and designers for Monster High have fought for in many shapes and forms. G1 never had explicit queer characters, the closest things being a scrapped SDCC diary entry (Valentine x Spelldon), Post-Ending 3rd party statements (Clawdeen is a Lesbian, Rebecca x Venus, etc.) and implied characters (Kiyomi). While these are okay, they are NOT the same as explicit queer couples, which are arguably more important to push forward in the talk and scope of present and future representation.

While it is okay to prefer the G1 ships, in the context of bringing them back for G3, it erases these queer couples, and ignores the lore and universe of G3. In G3, Cleo and Deuce are exes. And if you don’t like that, you can still watch G1!! It’s not magically disappeared, the movies and shows and music is all still out there, and most of it is free! But, erasing Clankie, 🧡💚, and other potential queer ships in G3, for the preservation of a m/f ship isn’t okay.

On the subject of erasure, there is the statement “Frankie is still non-binary, but now uses she/they pronouns”. A character canonically using they/them in cartoons, especially ones made for kids, are uncommon. Honestly, I don’t even know if I could name 10, and that says more about the state of non-binary representation than it does about me. While changing the pronouns of a cisgender character to gender neutral ones is often done in fandom, and often not a point of issue, taking a character who is canonically non-binary and solely uses they/them and giving them typically gendered pronouns erases that under represented group, and allows for transphobes to ignore the “they” in “she/they”, and only use “she” for the character. This is an issue in real life too, for many who use multiple sets of pronouns, including myself (they (preferred) / he) ! We deserve both of their sets of pronouns to be used, and people who only use they/them deserve to be referred to by and as they/them. These changes hurt everyone.

Then, we come to the one I see the most talk about, and the one that made me audibly yell “what the f-?!”- taking away Twyla’s canon autism diagnosis, and symptoms & traits, and replacing it with autism coding, so that she is easier to identify with. First of all- easier for who??? Neurotypicals ?? It is incredibly rare to see a character on kids TV outright say “I am autistic”, and Twyla is wonderful as representation. Twyla will not resonate or be relatable to every person- but that is true for all characters, not just autistic ones. Autistic people are not a monolith, it is a spectrum, with many different ways to present itself. Also… taking away all of her traits and symptoms to make her more relatable? These traits and symptoms are what would have made her “autistic coded”, and without them, you have a character who is NT.

Autism isn’t a quirky word you can use to describe anyone, it is a disability, that myself and many others have, and see misrepresented time and time again. And to say that a good example of it is not good, and would be better off to be erased and replaced with coding is insane. Coding is okay, but that’s all it is. Real spoken representation matters so much to me, and so many other people, even if the characters we see are not identical to us in those symptoms and traits they exhibit. These characters should not be changed, but rather, more autistic characters, with different presenting symptoms and traits, should be introduced !

You can like G1, you can prefer G1, but that does not mean that you have to make a sanitised version of G3, that makes it identical to G1. In terms of representation, there is no arguing that G3 has G1 beat. The poster said on their post that “any new characters would be made more relatable”, but… to who? Because I relate to a lot of the G3 characters more than the G1 ones, and I grew up loving G1! It’s not been wiped, all of the media still exists for you to watch, and make headcanons for ! If you like G1- good for you! But please, stop trying to make G3 exactly like it. Because change is inevitable in these kinds of reboots, and it allows for the representation some want to take away.

Thank-You for those who read all the way!

[nyonyen]

NSFW ALPHABET - nyen

AO3

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

smoke a cigarette, make sure you’re not permanently injured, and go to his room/kick you out to sleep (unless he’s really into you, then he’ll spoon you whether you want it or not)

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

nyen loves his claws, as well as his abs. why wouldn’t he! he loves your neck, and how much you tremble when he traces it with his finger, threatening to dig his aforementioned claw in

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

always always always inside, whether that be in your mouth, pussy, ass… it’s important to him! plus, better clean-up, right?

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

likes it when you successfully overpower or trap him. he knows he could instantly flip the script, but seeing you in power… it does something to him

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

nyen likes to think of himself as being super experienced, but the truth is, he didn’t get that much action prior to being a catman. he takes pride in what he knows though, even if he is a bit too rough

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

loves fucking you against a wall standing up, but prefers it when you’re facing him. nyen just generally loves standing during sex, so you can lay down on the bed, hang off the edge, and he’ll be just fine

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

has this man ever been goofy? maybe, but it’s not gonna be during sex

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

trimmed almost down to the follicle, but he ‘doesn’t have time to shave/wax,’ according to him

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

nyen maintains eye contact whenever possible, so take from that what you will

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

jerks it in the bathroom after he’s had a successful kill, but that’s really it

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

anything sadistic, but specifically choking & scratching. loves to spit on you, doesn’t necessarily have to be in your mouth. 

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

bathroom (usually against the sink), living room wall when he can

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

killing, being pissed off, when you wear his hat, and when you smoke one of his cigs

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

try asking nyen to bottom, see what happens. i dare you

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

obsessed with fucking your throat, and feeling you gag.

will pick you up and make you sit on/straddle his face, that’s really the only time he’ll give you oral

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

fast as all hell, until he wants to tease you before you cum (if he lets you at all)

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

adores quickies because they usually leave you unsatisfied, but he’s fine just having a hole to fill. nyen’ll use any opportunity to get his dick wet like that

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

everything this catman does is a risk, an experiment to see how much you can take. he doesn’t want you to die, god no, but he’ll bring you to the brink at some point

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

i don’t think his stamina ever runs out… it only ends when he decides

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

he used to have a fleshlight/tenga, but it disappeared a few months back (randal probably nicked it, gross)

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

loves to tease, but honestly? he prefers overstimulating you to the point of tears more

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

eerily quiet… until he’s about to cum. he bites down on you to hide his groans

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

unsurprisingly, he loves marking you. his favorite thing, though, is when others in the household ask you about them. ‘oh no, it seems like you got into a cat fight! let me take a look at that…’ -luther

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

7-inch, a bit too veiny…

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

he doesn’t ‘yearn’ per say, but he times his needs to inconvenience you the most

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

waits until you knock out before he lets himself rest. what a gentleman!

[volvolts]

the fuck is crocodile's deal???

thinking about how its next to impossible to construct a proper backstory for crocodile because of how little we know of him and how little he makes sense as a person

like we know nothing of mihawk but his personality is much like zoro. he wants to be the strongest so his ascetic lifestyle makes sense. hes a wildcard too but only because his moral compass follows strictly to himself (he keeps zoro alive and trains him because he wants a challenge, he became a warlord because he wants to be left alone, he joins cross guild for that same reason. the only times he went out of his way to do anything for others was when he shows shanks luffy's first bounty and maybe take care of perona)

but crocodile? we got NOTHING. we don't even know his last name. and i know some of them don't have last names but crocodile was a major villain. plus important characters without a last name kinda have a reason (sabo denounced his family name, buggy and shanks are implied to have been with the roger pirates since they were born)

like something happened to him to lose all his trust in other people and discard them like paper. he spent over a decade searching for pluton only to give up when luffy beat him? he willingly goes to impel down and planned to stay there until he heard whitebeard is gonna show up. he does fuck all to whitebeard. then he gives up on whitebeard, you know the reason why he's left impel down in the first place, then he saves ace, then he saves jinbe and luffy. he disappears for 10 real life years and he's back and we still got nothing on him

he doesn't trust people and yet pulled two bad bitches with swords. people praise how strong he is but he hasn't had a real fight with a real character who mattered since alabasta. and he's clearly strong cuz he got punched in the face with full blown haki and was still standing and he parried mihawk and doflamingo's attacks without any damage. speaking of doflamingo what the fuck was his deal with doflamingo? doffy clearly respected him enough to not believe he was beaten by smoker and he wanted a team up but then its never brought up again?? like was that just banter??

and the theories of his backstory are all still contradictory? whitebeard's birth son? well whitebeard didn't care that much about him and crocodile clearly doesn't either nor do any of the whitebeard pirates seem familiar with him. an ex-revolutionary? other than ivankov's comment of knowing crocodile "when he was a rookie" there's not much else. the backstory of the revolutionary army hasn't mentioned anything about him so we can toss that one out too. rocks d xebec's son? he was a warlord for over 20 years! youre telling me they never had a background check on the guy? you know they would want him dead if he was xebecs son given how far they went for roger's son. he doesn't have a grandpa who's besties with the fleet admiral to cover it up either

and then theres the theories that end up being too similar to other characters. ex-son of whitebeard? already debunked shown above and also thats just blackbeard. from a family of wealth and lost it, or was simply born evil? doflamingo did that already. cabin boy/child of an infamous pirate crew that was disbanded after the death of the captain? buggy and shanks are right there.

the man has so much going on and yet absolutely nothing at the same time. i NEED to know more about this guy at least tell me if he can even do haki PLEASE

[genericpuff]

Since you have mentioned your own original webcomic has time travel, do you have any advice for people who want to make comics or simply write stories that deal with time travel?

Could be any kind of time travel, like time loops, characters traveling to the past/future, dealing with paradoxes, etc.

Short answer: don't LOL

Long answer: Obviously if you wanna tackle time travel, go for it, but the first and most important rule of any time travel is to establish your rules. How does the time travel work? And how will you commit to consistency?

Some basic time travel rule structures include:

Clone travelling - This is the most common form of time travel that's used the most. When you go back in time, your past self is present alongside your present self. Examples include Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Doctor Who, and Austin Powers.

Singular consciousness travelling - This is one I've only seen used a couple of times, and the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Life is Strange, but what I like to call 'singular consciousness travelling' is the form of time travel where instead of travelling to a point in the past, you return to a version of your past self, fully aware of the future that awaits you but 'stuck' within that past to live out the timeline in real time again. Though it's not as commonly used, it's one that will typically present less paradoxes as there are less moving parts to worry about. Prophecy storylines also use a similar philosophy to this, albeit without the literal time travel and more so 'time travel' via premonition (could we call Raven from That's So Raven a time traveller?)

Loops - This is a form of time travelling seen in media such as Groundhog Day, where a person continuously travels back to the same point in time over and over again to relive the same events until they can somehow break the loop.

There are loads more of time travel structures I could go over, but those are three of the most basic. Regardless of which structure you use, you have to be willing to commit to it. It's like choosing a writing perspective and tense, if you choose third person past tense ("he said, she said, they said"), then suddenly switching to first person present tense ("I say", "I do", "I feel") without any context to establish that switch will be jarring. Make your rules, and if you have to break them, make sure they're broken for the sake of the story (ex. if you present some sort of plot twist to reveal the 'true nature' of the time travelling plotline).

Here's a great video that goes over some different time travel plotlines from movies/books/etc.:

As for my original comic, we go for the time travel = multiverse theory approach, where any changes made to a timeline in a past state will not change that timeline's future, but rather, create a new timeline where those past changes are true and written into the script, essentially relegating every single new timeline to a parallel universe. This is essentially how it's done in Avengers: Endgame , but instead of characters abusing the laws of quantum physics to travel back in time, it's characters abusing a magical book of diary entries that are primarily used by the main character to help him control and guide his time travelling abilities. Every diary entry essentially serves as a roadmap for him to find his way back to his home timeline from which he disappears every time he jumps. Much of the story is written entirely atop a paradox, specifically the bootstrap paradox:

(because if there are gonna be paradoxes no matter what you do, may as well have fun with them!)

There's a lot more I could go into regarding that, but for the sake of sparing the handful of Time Gate readers here of spoilers, Time Gate's laws of time travel dictate that you can't really change your past, just the future for other versions of you that you create when you try to change things.

All that said, I will say that in most cases, thinking too hard about any time travel story will cause it to fall apart, because time travel is a fictional trope that relies a lot on logical sequencing of events to work. So you kind of do just have to 'let it go' and have fun with it - but having rules to stick to will make things less of a headache for everyone, especially when it comes to telling a coherent story. Even my own criticisms of LO's time travel really don't matter in the end, because LO's problems go far deeper than some cheaply-made time travel and any of the time travel problems in the story will undoubtedly be explained away as "timey wimey shit". I'll still be pissed about it, but time travel isn't real (at least not for you) so it's not worth getting too bogged down by. Just do your best to tell an entertaining and coherent story.

[jackie5656]

Say It Like You Mean It With; Anthony Lockwood

A/N: Hello again! We’ve begun a new obsession, I am absolutely hooked on this show. And if there’s no renewal announcement in the next month, or at all, I’m fighting. @sunshineangel-reads​ provided some suggestions in the inbox, so I figured I’d tag <3. All right, hope you enjoy!

Summary: The one where you meet the newest addition to the agency, and insomnia strikes again

IMPORTANT: All characters are aged up. I wouldn’t be comfortable doing so if they were played by minors, but that’s not the case here. Just wanted to make that clear before we begin. 

“She can’t just go taking two at once like that.” 

“the rule is each member of the agency can only take one biscuit at a time in a strict rotation. Keeps things fair.”

“E-each member of the agency?” 

“Assuming you are still interested in the position?” The front door opens just as Lockwood’s finished. Three heads snapping toward the mud room as you shuffle in, arms weighed down from grocery bags.

“Of course she’s still interested!” To Lucy’s relief, it’s a female voice that sounds before you appear in font of them. Tufts of hair spilling over your face at the exertion of errands. The two boys are immediately at your side, ridding you of all baggage and heaving it toward what she assumes is the kitchen.

“Lucy,” Lockward calls out behind him as he descends the staircase along George. “Meet y/n y/l/n, another associate.” You scoff, extending a hand with a kind smile. Undoubtedly the most welcoming so far. “She’s most sensitive to sound, much like you. Not bad with a rapier, either.” 

“I hope they haven’t irritated you too much so far.” You beckon her to follow the boy’s path with you. “Please tell me you didn’t use the bloody toothbrush cup.” 

“Of course not.” Lockwood taps his nose with his finger when your back is to him, a silent beckon for your potential hiree not to snitch.

 The kitchen’s just down a flight of stairs, where you get unloading items into their designated spaces as George works on cooking. 

“We call this the thinking cloth,” Lockwood taps onto the wooden table after tossing you a box of pasta to put away. “We jot down memos, theories, trains of thought-”

“Cheesy love confessions.”

“Shut up, George.” The redhead misses the inside joke, brows furrowing with confusion as Anthony continues on. “I located the bones of the Fenchurch Street Ghoul by sketching out the street plans here at three in the morning over cheese on toast.”

“When a case goes badly an we’re not talking to one another, it’s good for exchanging insults too.”

“Ah, and how often does that happen?”

“Almost never.” You butt in, giving her your most genuine expression despite the white lie. You’re so eager to finally have another girl around, it’s only fair you promote the job as much as possible. 

“Now, basement. Follow me.” Lucy does as asked, sending a quick look of concern your way before she disappears down the stairway. 

“She’ll never last.”

“Oh c’mon George, I was more than welcoming when you came along.” 

“That’s because my natural talent was evident.” 

“Is that why you screamed like a little girl during the test?” 

“I wasn’t expecting the gunshots from the knife, alright?”

**********

“This was my bedroom when I was little, and y/n’s for a while. You can use it, if you’d like. Unless you have other sleeping arrangements?” 

“Yes...No-I mean-”

“Of course, we’d deduct the rent from your wages. Nothing too steep. Just enough to cover the bills. I’m a very reliable landlord.” 

“Jesus, Anthony. Give her a second.” You tear open the blinds, smirking when Lucy takes a moment to admire the view at such height. Something tells you the pair of you will get on just fine. She hesitates, then. Looking Iver to you with confusion. 

“Do you sleep elsewhere?” There’s a sudden silence between the three of you. Lockwood clearing his throat as he pulls at a the tuft of hair at the nape of his neck. He studies the newest employee with a twinge of anxiety, presumably understanding how things might seem...Unprofessional. Granted, it’s a business run by an 18 year old, but an official one nonetheless.��

“We share the bedroom downstairs.” Is all you manage, blush adorning your features as her jaw slacks in understanding. 

“I’d like to make it clear,” Anthony looks over your frame, smiling fondly. Then back to Lucy. Who seems to hold no judgement despite her obvious contemplation. “Y/n and I attended academy together, she was with me when this all began.” 

“In other words,” you finish for him. “We were sleeping together before he became my employer.” The closed-off girl huffs a laugh for the first time since you’ve met her, though your boyfriend twinges pink with an abashed smile. Diffidence is awfully rare on him, though it's quite adorable. It’s then Lucy decides she’s fond of you already. 

“Please excuse my girlfriend’s lack of filter. I suppose George’s rubbed off on her.” He's only teasing, Lucy knows that when you shove at his shoulder. The pair of you are not overly affectionate, you don’t seem like the types anyway. Of course, she’s only caught a glimpse of your relationship, there’s an undeniable glint in her potential boss’ eyes as he looks at you. 

“Like Anthony said-” 

“Lockwood, please.” Though he interrupts you, he’s only looking at Lucy. She comes to understand you may be the only one unwilling to refer to him as such. It almost twitches a smile to her lips. 

“This used to be my room, before Anthony begged for my hand.” 

“Was that before or after you professed your undying love for me?” Said boy backs up toward the stairs, noticing the inklings of a friendship beginning to form between the two girls front him. 

“Before then, but definitely after you pleaded to kiss me when you drank the better half of MY whiskey. Which was a gift, by the way. An expensive one.” 

“From that muppet at academy?” He scoffs, wiping an invisible stream of dust off the banister. “Horrid flirt.” A grimace sets upon his face. Josh Collins was a right prick, you had to admit. Though it was an obliged graduation gift. 

“Don’t speak so poorly of yourself, sweetheart.” Lucy can’t help but really smile this time, features immediately dulling once she realizes she’s been caught. You pretend not to notice.

Lockwood sends a half-assed glare your way, holding his tongue in lieu of the new company. “This has got it’s own bathroom. There’s a bigger one downstairs, but that’s mean sharing with George. And I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.” A beat of silence after you nod in agreement, cringing at the flashbacks. “Right, well, we’ll leave you to unpack. Settle in. That’s assuming-”

“Those newspaper clippings on the wall...”

“Oh. You saw those. Not very modest, is it?” 

“But definitely on brand.” You mutter what you think is to yourself, smiling innocently when they look your way. 

“Should really take them down.” 

“No, it’s more...It’s just. Well you haven’t said anything about...I mean, who are you guys?” 

“Plenty of time for that. You should rest. Get some sleep.”

“That’s...If you’ll take the job?” You hope you don’t sound as desperate as you are, voice tilting with anticipation as you wring your hands together. 

There’s a couple, agonizing beats of silence that feel like hours. Finally, the girl nods, “yes.” 

You all but shout, fighting jumping up and down at the confirmation. Anthony shakes his head at you with a fond roll of his eyes, sending Lucy hopeful smile. “Well then, welcome to Lockwood and Co.” You squeeze her arm gently in congratulation, taking hold of your boyfriend’s chin to press a swift kiss to his cheeks. Unaware of his skin flushing with heat as you descend the stairs in an elated hurry.

“Georgie, she said yes!!”

****************

It’s dark when you wake, rolling over in search of warmth that isn’t there. Unsurprisingly, Anthony’s not beside you. You huff a sigh, cursing your boyfriends’ relentless insomnia before wrapping the quilt folded at the bottom of the bed around your form and stalking down the hall.

He’s in the library, of course. The bright fire pops into the silence of the night, illuminating the room in a tantalizing warmth. Lockwood runs a finger over his bottom lip as his eyes remain trained on the book in hand. Up until a weak floor board gives your presence away with a groaning creak.

His lips curl into a tired, yet no less pleased smile at the sight of you. Shifting the couch so you’ll fit perfectly into his side. “Why are you awake, dove? It’s late.” He pushes a stray strand of hair from your face, brows furrowing when you scoff at the irony.

“Could say the same for you. Can’t sleep again?” He hums, elaboration not necessary. Hurt tugs at your heart strings as your thumb trails over the dark skin just below his eyes. A hand wrapping around your wrist to kiss your doting ones away.

In the solitude of these hours, you’re both able to find comfort in your gentle affections. It’s much easier alone, sometimes. There’s an unspoken ease in the solitude of it all. In these moments, Lockwood can feed into the delusion it’s just you and him in this house, in the whole world.

“Close your eyes and get some rest.” He wraps an arm around your sternum. Your back to his chest as he continues reading. A pout adorns your features, eyes narrowing.

“But I’m not tired.”

“Yes. You most definitely are,” the corners of us eyes crinkle with his knowing smirk. “You just don’t want to make me feel bad for making you feel obligated to stay awake with me.”

You envy his ability to read you more often than not. Pulling the quilt further over the two of you so as to seem inconspicuous. Failing miserably when a yawn tears through you. Long lashes fluttering over your cheekbones as you blink slow, gazing up at him. Anthony feigns stoicism under your gaze, though you’re just about the only person to make his heart race with just a look. The one you’re giving him right now is particularly cruel. Pleading, soft, all things sweet and alluring. He figures you’ve perfected the craft of drawing him in, unknowingly or otherwise.

“I’m wide awake, actually.” Is all you manage. Voice rasped with sleep as your nails run over the exposed skin of his forearm. Sending chills down his spine. The arm resting over you pulls slightly back, just enough to enable his hand to hold the side of your face. Fingers smoothing over your warm skin to lull you further.

You’ve always been naturally much warmer than him. A personal furnace, he regards you. Seeing as he’s always too cold for his liking.

It makes sense. You’re all things sweet and painstakingly kind. There’s not a soul who’d be able to repay half the debts you deem mere favors. You’d give the shirt off your back to anyone who needed it, especially those you care for.

You’re everything Anthony Lockwood is not. And sometimes, most times, he hates himself for it. Hates he’s too selfish to let you go and award you opportunity to find someone much more worthy of your heart.

“Hey. Where’d you go?” He’s stopped his ministrations, seizing your attention from the cackling fire and back to him. He offers a small smile, one you read right through. Here he is again, pulling away and closing off in the moments you’re both most vulnerable. It’d hurt, at first. The beginnings of your relationship...Friendship, even. Had often been strained by Anthony’s reclusive  habits. You’ve shared just about every piece of yourselves to one another, yet he still manages to find more fear in love than fighting the dead.

Over time you’ve developed patience. Reveling in the small moments of softness he’s awarded you in all the chaos. They’re worth it. Knowing him, learning how to love him, has been worth it.

“I’m right here, love. I’m always here.” He presses a gentle kiss to the crown of your head. Pretending to get lost in the pages afront him once more.

“Come to bed.” You’re so quiet he almost misses it, folding the book against his chest to meet your gaze. Doing his best to ward off your obvious puppy eyes. (though he lacks lacks the best track record with this)

“Just one more chapter? Then I’ll take you to bed and pretend to sleep for the next few hours.” You frown at his teasing, swatting away his poke to your sides in search of a smile.

“You’re not funny, Lockwood. All i want is for you to rest. Really rest, for once.” Rapier-calloused fingers card through his hair, eliciting a gracious sigh.

“I’m only joking. I do rest much easier with you around,” a swift kiss to your lips. “Sleep better when you’re beside me,” two more against your cheeks for good measure.

“You’re awful.”

“Awful?”

“Awful!” A hand collides with his chest, chastising. “Being sweet so I’ll stop worrying. It won’t work. I’ll always worry about you.” And there it is again. The agonizing clutch at his heart at your compassion. Unable to resist the notion there are so many others much more worthy of your affections.

“I know.” It’s a whisperer, forehead pressing against yours. “You should probably start saving that for a bloke who deserves it.” There’s no self-pity to it. No trace of malice or fish for reassurance. So succinct and matter of fact you want to tackle him into an embrace in lieu of willing away every deprecating thought that intrudes his conscience.

“Anthony Lockwood.” You’re stern, then. Maneuvering upward so your head can rest on the arm of the love-worn couch and better face him. “If you’re mean to my boyfriend one more time, I’ll ensure my spirit is tied to you. Haunting you with love and affection for the rest of eternity.”

“I feel like that’s supposed to be a threat...” Cold fingers trace over your collar bone, peeking out from under his dress shirt you’ve stolen. “Though it’s almost endearing. I’d quite like to be stuck with you for the rest of time, I think.” A blush flushes your features, worsening when it elicits his cocky smirk at the observation.

“I hate you.” Hands concealing your abashed face with the muffled whine.

“Say it like you mean it, Darling.” He stretches under you, nudging at your forearms with the spine of his book. “Will you uncover yourself now? I’d like to see you again.” You oblige, hands falling atop your thighs and against his stomach. Anthony’s gasp startles you, features taught with confusion. “My God, it’s happened again!”

“What?”

“You’ve gotten prettier! Just now, I swear it!” A groan sounds as you press your face into his chest, shaking along with his rumbles of laughter. 

“Just read your book, Lockwood. I like you better when you’re quiet.”

“Just one more chapter. Then we’ll head to bed.” He straightens, getting ahold of himself as he obliges. Eyes meeting yours once you tap his elbow.

“Read to me?”

“I thought you liked me better quiet?”

“I like you best complacent.”

“Noted.” And with that, he begins.

You stretch over him as he begins, his shirt on you rising just enough to expose your mid drift. Greedy fingers take the opportunity to run themselves over your soft skin. Cool rings giving eliciting goosebumps. He does it mindlessly, which makes you heat even more

“Stop blushing, you’re distracting me.”

************

Lockwood squints as the curtains are torn open with a cruel screech. George stands a-front him, hands on his hips. You’d never managed to make it back to bed, both having fallen asleep in the sam positions as the hours before. This particularly apparent when Anthony raises his head from the back of the coach, wincing at the soreness in his neck. 

“You know, I may as well take the master bedroom if you’re never gonna use it.” 

“Quiet down, George. You’ll wake her.” The curly-haired boy rolls his eyes when his colleague cuffs his hands over your ears, shielding you from the noise. 

“Good. We have work to do.” 

****

“Our first official case as a team of four.” Your boyfriend beams brightly despite the morbid information in hand. Passing it along so the rest of you can be caught up. 

“Mrs. Hope...Looking to rid her house of a Problem following the demise of her late husband.” George adjusts his glasses as he sums the story to you and Lucy.

“Cheeky.” The girl deadpans, taking a sip of her steaming cup of tea groggily.

“Pay grade. That we desperately need.” You shrug, doing your best to make light of each job despite their implications. 

“George, you should get a head start on the research while we pack the bags. Lucy we have to learn plans A-F, as well.” The three of you nod along, Lockwood tilting his chin upward to allow you better room to adjust his tie, Pulling away so he can offer the portion of buttered toast and chopped fruit he’s plated for you. You only take a strawberry, a polite shake of your head when he pushes it forward once more. 

“Later.” You note, running your fingers under his collar to smooth it out. 

“You should eat.” He’s stern, pulling away his steaming mug you reach for with furrowed brows. “Can’t have tea on an empty stomach, you get all shaky.” Your jaw slacks in half-serious offense at the notion, the pair of you turning your heads toward your colleagues sat at the table, 

“You’ll have to get used to their old-married-folk tendencies. It’s quite insufferable at first, but becomes increasingly tolerable over time.”

“Oh shut it.” It's in unison, only aiding in your flushed demeanors as their grins grow. 

“Told you.” The bastards’ irritatingly smug as he motions toward you. “I’ll be off to the archives, I’ve reached my morning’s capacity of affections.” Anthony’s arms cross with a scoff, eyes trailing over to you and face igniting in a mischievous smirk. Your brows furrow, about to question his sudden change in attitude before he’s on you. Making a show of grabbing the sides of your face and littering kisses all over your face. Pushing so you have to step backward toward a horrified George, hands over his ears as he attempts to escape the treachery. 

Lucy can’t help but laugh. Overcome with the realization of all the agencies in London, she’s likely ended up with the best one. 

[smoozie]

Secret Life Roomates AU?

-🌌

OH I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED!!

Something about the alliances this season just felt right. The mounders are the main inspiration for the au tbh, I absolutely ADORED them! The roomies as well! I couldn't get the idea of them as actual roommates out of my head, thus the au spawned.

All secret life alliances are roommates! That's kinda the whole premise, but there are some important footnotes.

First of all, I put Scar and Lizzie together. Yes they both technically were loners all season, but their interactions KILL me! No one gets them like I do okay. They both think the other is the weird one and they are one-sided frenemies.

The mounders live in a house. Like they all bought a house together. Everyone else has apartments, the mounders get a house. They said "mounders for life" and decided they would all buy a house together. I can't decide if they decided they were mounders because of the mound in their yard or if they bought the house because there was a mound in their yard.

Also my prologue to the au is basically that Etho and Cleo found Grian in Distressing Situation and just. Took him home with them. Now he lives with them. The only people he knows are Evo. Basically, Grian just randomly disappeared as a teenager and no one knew exactly what happened to him. Then Etho and Cleo take him home and now he is reunited with his old friends!

Lizzie and Jimmy are siblings, I adore my seablings. And my skyblings, Grian and Pearl are also siblings. I am physically incapable of writing anything that does not have a set of traumatically torn apart siblings in it. I am tempted to just make all of them siblings (I like Grian as siblings with Lizzie and Jimmy too!), but we'll see.

I have very specific scenes in mind for Grian meeting Bdubs and Scar. And a lose idea for his Pearl reunion. I am a lover of shenanigans.

I am also obsessed with a few dynamics that I really want to be a focus, but I'm still figuring out how to incorporate the relationship I want some characters to have. Like obviously I can't have Gem and Pearl be former allies who killed all their friends together and then were so strong to their home alliances they were forced to fight against each other in the final battle, pleading for the other to defect and join their side. Cuz this is Real Life. So uh, I need to figure out how to make That Bond happen, without the murder.

But that is an overview of my au. It is still in the works and I am SO EXCITED

[whetstonefires]

So re: Qin Su's death, one thing I'm absolutely certain of is that she did not just conveniently kill herself due to her high level of distress, at the exact moment most convenient to a person she was super mad at.

Because, frankly, mxtx is not that shitty a writer. She doesn't sweat the details or logistics of things, characters are allowed to coincidentally turn up in the right place to make the plot work and so forth, but these novels are intensely concerned with character motive and internal life. Everyone does things for their own reasons.

People do what the plot requires, but a defining feature of her writing is that everyone is fashioned into the shape of the kind of person who would do that thing in this situation. Sometimes whole scenes or subplots exist mainly to put on display the underlying cognitive patterns that justify as individual choices the kinds of things stock characters routinely do in genre novels, for no reason than that they are The Type Of Character who Does That.

If Qin Su was going to commit suicide about the bad news, there would have been hints that this was the direction her thoughts were trending during the preceding scene, where we're introduced to her reactions. And there aren't.

Her primary reaction is anger. She's scared to death when her husband paralyzes her and puts her on his dismemberment table to interrogate later for the name of her informant. She is contemptuous of his caring almost exclusively about what all these horrors could do to their reputation.

There is nothing in the scene to suggest she would, given the opportunity to denounce him to the cultivation world, choose instead to escape by knife.

The interpretation of this sequence that says she Just Did That really annoys me, because it requires ignoring basically every single piece of information about the character other than the fact that Wei Wuxian always thought since they were kids that she wasn't very bright.

Furthermore, it would be out of character for Jin Guangyao to have knowingly arranged a situation likely to go so badly for him, and wildly unusual for him to get so lucky if he had. This man has shit luck normally.

The sensible thing for him to do, in a universe where Qin Su just conveniently opted for suicide instead of ratting on him, would have been to take the ten to twenty minutes of prep time he had to work with to disappear her the same way he did nmj's head.

This might have required killing her first, since we don't know where he put it, but while I'm sure he didn't want to do that I'm equally sure he was entirely capable. He had a convenient scapegoat handy to blame for her disappearance.

He had no reason to allow her to be visible and capable of independent action when his cavalcade of guests arrived. But there she was, dazed but unrestrained. And then...cursed knife time.

Super convenient! She's dead and can't blab, and lots of important people saw her do it and saw how horrified he was and are disposed to be sympathetic. Works out much better for him than the risk of being blamed if she disappears.

So Wei Wuxian's assumption that jgy set the suicide up and compelled her somehow is the most logical inference. Neither of their characters is really compatible with the other scenario.

If Jin Guangyao had actual mind control powers he definitely would have used them a lot, so the most straightforward version of what happened is he used some technique or drug that would confuse her and suppress her cognition, then deliberately put 'cursed dagger that preys on your negative feelings and makes you kill yourself' within reach just before everyone entered.

I'm sure if it hadn't worked, and she'd just kind of stared into the distance while he talked his way out of the unproveable allegations and weaponized Mo Xuanyu's bad reputation and so forth, he'd have been happy with that outcome too, since it would still have meant a lot of important people saw her alive and not freaking out, and then he'd still have been able to torture her for information later. (Again, something I'm sure he didn't want to do, but absolutely would have.)

But this worked out well and got rid of two exposure threats at once while buying him sympathy points.

Although considering his shit luck, I wouldn't rule out that his plan only went as far as sedating her so she couldn't make trouble and he could show everyone how not paralyzed on his murder table she was, and he'd forgotten he had an evil dagger that compelled you to kill yourself lying around in reach of a woman whose ability to exert force of will he'd just reduced to nothing.

And he wasn't expecting that result at all.

[gffa]

Knight Terrors, as a storyline, should be about the things that haunt the characters the most and it's certainly interesting to see what Dick's mind conjures for him--he spends so much of this issue separated away from any other characters he cares about and, the first time I read through it, I was frustrated because I wanted to dig into his relationships with the other characters and I wanted the issue to have something to say about what these nightmares meant to the character. But on second read through, I'm finding it actually pretty interesting--Dick spends the majority of the issue on his own, locked away in Arkham for something he doesn't remember doing (but will eventually, and it's not hard to guess that it's something to do with Batman, that's not a shocking reveal so much as it's an inevitable doom hanging over the issue, which I thought worked really well) and only the briefest moments of his parents crumbling to dust before him, the memory surfacing of having killed Batman, the ending of Babs being consumed by metal as she's dragged past his cell. What does this say about the character? That what really haunts him is isolation from those he loves--he spends the majority of the issue separated from them. That his parents are crumbling into ash in his own mind, he doesn't even recognize them at first under their masks, and then he tries to so gently touch them, but they wither and disappear from him--how long has it been since he saw their faces, does he fear that he's forgotten them, that their memories are little more than dust in his mind, because of how long it's been? That he killed Batman--this can be straightforward and still be interesting, if I was going to put money on any character being able to physically beat Batman in a fight (other than Cass), it would be Dick, because he knows Bruce the most, because he learned from Bruce the longest, because Bruce lets his guard down around Dick, because Dick has won fights with him before. But also in a less straightforward way--how many times has Dick been the one to drag Bruce back from the emotional ledge of darkness, how many times has Dick been the one to save Batman? How many times has Dick said that he needs to prioritize his own missions and his own life over helping Bruce and Gotham? Does he fear that one day he'll stop doing that and be the one that gets Bruce killed because Dick decided living his own life was more important than helping Bruce? And, upon realizing it, he's willing to sacrifice anything of himself to fix it: "First I killed my father. Now they have the woman I love. I don't give a damn if this isn't real. I'll tear this whole place apart, even if it means destroying my own mind in the process." How new and fragile his relationship with Babs must feel, they've danced around each other for so long, they're finally moving forward together again, how much must it haunt him that they'll be ripped apart again, that she'll be taken from him, too? Dick Grayson is someone who thrives on connection with those he loves and putting him into isolation, making his parents' memory barely there, putting his adoptive father's death on his hands, having Babs barely be there to even talk to him, it feels wrong because this is someone who should be chatting away with the people he loves, not feeling stripped of them. This is what haunts Dick Grayson's nightmares--everyone he loves being taken from him, whether through forgetting them, him failing them, or being taken from him. That to really hurt him, you isolate him away from the other characters that he loves so much, that's what breaks him down more than anything.

[petitprincess1]

What critiques do you have of Hazbin? I'm wondering because I keep seeing a lot of criticism and hate towards it and I don't Wana get into something that's possible waste of time. Srry if thats rude

Dude, you're perfectly fine. I'm gonna keep it to like five points bc some things that I have problems with are mainly nitpicks. None of this, imo, is a dealbreaker for me. However, if it is for you, fair.

This is one that everyone has talked about and I fully agree with. The pacing is whiplash-inducing. I still do believe it's better than HB S1, but there is just so much information being thrown around that it's mind-boggling. The songs definitely help to slow things down a bit and introduce more info in an engaging, catchy way. However, I feel like there were some eps that either needed to come sooner or later in the series. I get they were fighting the clock, but still.

Lucifer and Charlie's relationship needed better explaining. Without going into spoilers, from what it felt like in the Pilot, it seemed like they were building up to something a bit more confrontational. I always figured Charlie possibly embellished Lucifer's words, but now it makes it feel like Charlie was talking to a completely different man. Someone that isn't even her father. Lu acts so much like Charlie, or vice versa, that it seems almost impossible to misinterpret his words.

NO FILLERS! The closest episode to a filler is the 3 ep, but even that brings up information and moves the plot along with key points. Now, that's not a bad thing entirely. It keeps you engaged. But this show very much lacks any breathing room. There's so much being thrown your way. Either things get overly talked about or not talked about enough. Which brings me to my next point-

The world-building is both fulfilling and empty. You do get a good sense of Heaven and Hell in this universe, especially Hell. You get an idea of the hierarchy and even some hypocrisy. However, we also don't really know how Heaven nor Hell operates. Like Lucifer appeared to be a shut-in. Yes, Lilith was the one inspiring demonkind, but what about when she disappeared? Is that why everything is garbage now? How much does Lucifer influence Hell? Where are the archangels? Was this conflict not important? Is there a "God" even in this show? What is Heaven's hierarchal system? There's so much being said, while also nothing being explained.

This one is the lowest for me bc I'm a bit torn on it. I've seen a few people complain about how the main characters are introduced as if you're supposed to know them. I didn't get this feeling, but I'm also a fan of Hazbin. I try to go in with a fairly "empty mind" so that I can view the material without rose-tinted glasses. However, it felt like some of the characters were given decent introductions at times. Idk. I'd like to know other's opinions on that.

Another one that I want to add is probably more diversity in the body sizes in the show. I'm not too worried about it bc Helluva Boss does a great job with body diversity, but Hazbin seems to be fairly stick and slender. But, again, I'm not too worried about it.

All in all, those are my biggest issues with the show. Like I said, none of these are dealbreakers, especially since we'll be getting a S2. Vivzie seems to listen to criticism, judging by the differences with HB S1 vs S2. So, I'm really hoping that we finally get to relax and actually get to know the characters more. Like, Adam shows the 7 Deadly Sins, while Charlie shows the 7 Virtues. I hope Adam isn't permanently dead bc I feel like this would be a good wake-up for him. He'll become the being that they were exterminating. But only time will tell.

Majority of this can be blamed on Prime and A24 for only giving them 8 episodes. I feel like either a longer run-time or more eps would've helped the show. Hopefully, they'll have learned from their mistakes in the next season.

[moonelnone]

LUFFY WANTS TO FLY A KITE AU QnA!!! Thank you for supporting my mini comic, as a ty I compiled a bunch of questions below.!

it’s a long one, so beware!

Q (Anonymous): What inspired you to write this comic? Outside the horrors what are you trying to tell?

A: Inspiration would probably be the frequent hallucinations I have and my longing to go back in the fields... I miss my cows 😭 As for the story i’m trying to tell.. It’s a bit hard to explain without spoiling the story….

Q: (@oddity-txt): For your kite au- what do ace and sabo see when they look at luffy?

A: Clearly something that isn't Luffy, but it looks like Luffy

Q: (Anonymous): Since Vivi is introduced would she play a key role or would she appear for like just a few parts, would she have a blog like Sabo?

A: She's important to the story!! She's child of the pastor in this au-- Sabo and Ace used to be Altar servers for his church so they have history of working with her before... As for a blog.. No not really. Though if you look close enough you'll find that you can contact Vivi just before the events of the story to pry information.. But unfortunately whatever happens to her is set in stone •ᴗ• Q: (@washingmachineonfir ): Can you elaborate in religion topic in the city? About the house, why its like this? How many kids disappear?

A: The religion in ASL's neighborhood is simple, you know it already. Now about the house? You don't wanna know. As for the kids... hm.. Depends on how many kids can fill a school bus Q: (@courtroomac3): Hi

A: Get outta here boy Q: White boy Flavor of the month...

A: idk Q: (@humoofsegsual) Is there a possible ending in which everyone dies?

A: nods nods, when that happens everything disappears . Don't forget to say goodbye before it happens!!!! Q: (@plastirk): What kinds of trigger warnings are we gonna see?

A: everything in this list

Q: (Anonymous): Why does Nika go after Ace and Sabo?

A: Because Luffy wants to be with them . But Nika doesn’t want to let go of Luffy.

Q: (Anonymous): Does Nika hate Ace and Sabo?? all their interactions with them are with malice 😭

A: I wouldn’t say malice I suppose… I’d say maybe frustration?

Q: (Anonymous): Where are other characters in this? Like Garp, Dragon, and etc

A: They’re living their normal lives somewhere else!! Koby and Helmeppo are employees at the store Sabo often goes to. Vivi is a librarian, her father is a priest in the town’s church, she met Ace and Sabo a lot because they were altar servers back then! Law is one of the brothers’ neighbors, he frequently leaves though. (Copy pasted from my discord)

Q: (Anonymous): Is it true that one of the brothers might die ☹️

A: . Yes! Im cheering for their downfall! but you guys aren’t 😞

Q: (Anonymous): Are ASL biologically related here?

A: …No

Q: (Anonymous): What does the kite have to do with this au?

A: It’s something Luffy owns!!!! Don’t worry about it too much ;]

Q: (Anonymous): Is there a symbolism with the ghost costume? It makes me wonder what was it for other than to scare A and S

A: It’s by far the biggest hint in the first part 😵‍💫 I wonder if anyone caught it at first

Q: (Anonymous): Are Luffy’s friends going to appear? (Zoro, Nami, Sanji, and Ussop?)

A: mhm! You’ll see one or two of them sooner or later

Q: (Anonymous): What wouldve happened if we chose the other option in the first two parts?

A: The first poll would’ve decided on who runs the ‘blog’ ^w^!!

the one who wasn’t pick was cursed to run a tumblr blog lmao

Last Question:

Q: (Anonymous): Why are Luffy’s friends here if Nika just wanted him?

A: Luffy treasures his friends.!!

Bonus:

Q: (Anonymous): Will Detective Chopper have the same horror elements as the Kite au?

A: Yeah, but I suppose it’s more drama oriented

[theotherseapancakes]

Psssst. You mentioned no one cares about Philemon, but now I'm curious if you have any thoughts about his role in the games after he disappeared. And for sillies sake, does he have anything to do with the Dance games?

I have been waiting my entire life for this. Anon do you realize how verbose I'm going to get. DO YOU REALIZE? I hope you like read mores. Let me preface this with I am aware and have seen some popular theories, so I'm going to sidestep a lot of them and present one I've built since... well, I became a Persona fan as a teenager. MAJOR PERSONA SERIES SPOILERS LIKE THE ENTIRE THING OK? OK. yes even royal.

The P2 PSP additional scenario is so incredibly important and I think everyone missed the point of it. THE PERSONA 2 PSP ADDITIONAL TATSUYA SCENARIO!!!! It's beyond important, because it reveals to us Philemon can have more than one Avatar we know about, just like Nyarly. (Casual reminder he's like half the shopkeeps in P2. Time Count, anyone? Why was the Time Count so hot. Anyway.) Disclaimer: I'm just a casual fan who has played a LOT of Persona and SMT. I haven't gotten around to all of them, but I've played/finished both paths of 1, 2, 3 (and p3p) as well as 4 and 5. Didn't manage to get my hands on Golden but I've seen enough of it. (It's funny you ask about the dance games, they're the only ones I don't have right now! But my roommate does, and will be gone for a few months soon, perhaps I will take the time to start with p4DAN. I'm atrocious at rhythm games though so more than likely I'll find a video. Anyway.) WHAT is Philemon? If we can't define that, we can't talk about The Positivity Guy Ever.

So let's talk about Phil. He's a fascinating character. His Persona is just a form of Himself, But Cooler. And he seems to HAVE no set shape, not unlike Nyarlathotep. People have various theories about Shadows and their origins etc., but Phil is more like that vote of confidence in people. I think, personally, that after the end of Innocent Sin, Phil's been pretty weak. We see in Eternal Punishment he's fading pretty roughly, and has a hard time talking to the party. Presumably ending Nyarly might to some degree fix things when Deja-vu Boy goes home, but... the problem is, we don't know how fixed they truly ended up being, or the full depth of how much he could/did expend!

In fact, the first time we even see Phil without the dumb mask is when Tatsuya decks him. Pay close attention to that fact. To the mask motifs here. I want you to really soak in Phil's everything. He's a leader. A kind soul. He's the good of people. He wants to believe the best.

Anyway, most of these things overlook what I find really interesting as we've gotten more games worth of lore: he and Nyarly aren't the only eldritch entities walking around like that. Yes, Nyx is one too. Yes, it's probable she may even be their 'mom'. It's possible they all came from Nyx initially, but it's also possible (and should be considered) they too may have been outsiders at one point. We need to ask ourselves how far the human collective unsconsciousness can go. Is that sea infinite? Could it affect other worlds? Think about Aion in Devil Summoner Soul Hackers 2. Yes, I am asking you to think about Soul Hackers 2. Deal with it, I don't care. They're sister series. They share many things. SO! Did the shape of the human mind change a bunch of eldritch creatures and make them interact with us even more after Nyx smacked the moon a gazillion years ago? Is there multiple worlds? Weird bullshit? Just the two? Hmm. Well... I, personally, think so. I think he was touched by humanity just like Nyarlathotep, but in the other way. The reason I bring this up is two-fold. The first is Nodens. Now, we don't know much about the actual Nodens, unfortunately, just some speculation. Which is a shame. (If anyone has more info I'd love to have it, ngl. As a pagan this shit fascinates me.) But what we do get on him in Lovecraftian lore can provide us some intriguing possibilities about Phil's everything, which the games love to keep really rather vague. (And this is putting aside that his human Persona is based off the obviously bogus Jungian Spirit Guide, but we love an old guy in a mask anyway. He probably felt that was more 'friendly' for humans, hah.) I believe that Nodens, and Phil by extension, are just as responsible for nurturing and keeping the collective unconsciousness alive and positive. We see the butterfly symbol everywhere. We see it with Lavenza, too. "This is truly an unjust game." So was the bet Phil made with Nyarly, a game he rigged. Phil made the mistake of thinking the Crawling Chaos wouldn't cheat, a mistake he is never making again, I assume, if he can help it. Shit, you could view his boss fight in P2EP as him trying to train the EP crew to beat the snot out of Nyarly, even. But off topic. If Nyarly is basically the father of all Shadows, and they and Personas are the same coin, it makes me wonder a lot of things. The two have always been portrayed as simultaneously diametrically opposed, but also not? They have identical halls in P2. They have similar powers and talents... I think after Persona 3, Phil's remnants sank into the Collective Unconsciousness, to attempt to rehabilitate humanity from what it lost, from what he himself lost. I think Igor took over the room, because he took a backseat to recover. It would go a long, long way towards explaining why only SOME characters have the tier of the Wild Card, which is similar to the 'original' Persona power. (Having multiple.) He was took weak to remain in his Spirit Guide (Philemon) form, and had to abandon it to return to the depths as Nodens... So. Let me go back to Nodens and make some notes about design.

Nodens, as seen here, sort of resembles an iron maiden. It really brings to mind the idea of maybe Tatsuya or someone's humanoid form sleeping within it, doesn't it? Fitting for an aspect of Philemon! ... You probably can see where I'm going with this, but let me pull up some screens to finish the point:

That's right! It's Azathoth, Baby! I believe that unlike mythology, he's yet another aspect of Philemon. Eldritch positivity, in too much force, could be used for accidental bad, too. (Reasons Maruki is my favorite Law Hero, haha.) Let me explain. I think Philemon always existed in... let's call it parts. Azathoth is said to be a dreaming god in whom's universe we all just happen to be alive inside, right? "Dream of butterfly" (Philemon) "Or is life a dream? Don't wanna wake up. Cuz I'm happy here." That sure is thematic to what Maki goes through in Persona 1, and what Maruki's beloved suffers, isn't it? ISN'T IT. The "true reality" he creates... would help Maruki create in the additional Semester--would be something most humans would never pass the muster to even try to control. But we have seen Phil test a few people and find them worth passing before! However, that seems like ages ago. Why has he been so quiet? I think because he was spending time conserving his energy. He believed in humanity enough to give Makoto a push when it was needed in p3 (or femc, if you play her), but otherwise trusted Igor while he restored what needed it. But in Persona 5 Royal, he hand-picked Maruki, didn't he? At first, when I played Persona 5 Royal, I really thought it was some part of Nyarly, but I no longer believe this to be the case. The coloration and symbolism in the background (the golds, the whole garden of eden themes, the way his Palace was laid out), the whole sea of soul motifs in P3Re later... mmm. I have a lot of thoughts about this, but this post is already way too long for one simple ask. So let's wrap up by going one step further and looking finally at Nodens' dialogue to the party in the Extra Scenario in Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PSP). The following is a transcript, you can find a video here:

Nodens: This is the memory of the lost child whom you all seek. Nodens: Memory occasionally brings about much distress and suffering, but it is absolutely vital to distinguish oneself from others and manufacture one's own psyche. Nodens: Ever since it began, life's memory has accumulated unbroken, passing through individual experiences and spanning several generations. Nodens: And so it has given shape to Kadath and the Collective Unconsciousness, thereby becoming a foundation for the next generation. Nodens: Even if the roots of the world are directed by fear and anxiety, never forget that the true essence of life is brimming with joy. Nodens: You must not stop seeking the answer for why life was born in a cosmos progressing towards absurdity and chaos. Nodens: Life brims with joy, bringing about balance in a universe predestined to heat death, and that allows the world to live a long time.

So to answer your question, I think he's taken a much subtler role. I think he's influencing people by pretending to be a Persona for Maruki, because he believes it will help them grow. I don't think he was intending a forever-control vice grip, but rather to prove a point. No matter what, the primordial chaos of humanity will rise up for chaotic good, lawful good, whatever "good" is needed. Azathoth is... interesting. Adam Kadmon is also interesting. But mostly I HIGHLY suspect we may see him again in Persona 6, or at least I'm hoping so. It's my personal pet theory by then he'll be less faded and come back to us in a new form of some kind. He's never had a set one, after all. Now for funsies about the dancing game, well, he's a positive guy, he wanted to just make sure everyone had their fitness regimen checked off. Obviously. (This is a joke.) Did the devs intend this? I'm honestly not sure? Like there's a lot of nods to older Personas in 5 and now 3RE especially, but it's definitely worth chewing on. I could go on and on about things I think he's connected to, but ultimately they have the final say lol. I'm just a crackpot conspiracy theorist on tumblr who really likes Philemon. He and the Room are my favorites. :) Ask me about attendants for additional dumb, sometime, I guess lol.

[silverdynetruther]

a lot of ppl on this app and others where there’s a cyberpunk fanbase have this idea that kerry ‘moves on too fast’ or ‘doesn’t care about v’

hi i’m here to prove you wrong, and tell you that kerry is the only person v can actually stay with if he survives.

something about kerry to understand is he’s always been repressive when it came to how he expressed himself. something else to understand is that kerry loved v more than he had ever loved anyone or anything else, and that’s because of what v did for him.

a lot of people say that it was ‘out of character’ or ‘disappointing’ the way kerry reacts in the tower ending, but in reality it is the most consistent one of all the romance options. throughout the game, kerry is shown to still deal with the issues johnny left behind. he still struggles with the inability to move on, to cope, to form healthy attachments or even live happily. but because of v, kerry is able to reach a level of contentment. kerry says to v, in the sun ending, when he asks kerry if he ever thinks about johnny;

‘i’ve got someone more important to fill that hole with now.’

kerry was incomplete, or at least he felt it without johnny. and we know that, with the conversation during boat drinks, that because of v, kerry is able to move on. boat drinks is where he confesses this. because of v, kerry reaches a level of self-satisfaction and even acceptance. in this gig, kerry and v reach the conclusion that he has reached ‘maturity.’

kerry is no longer grieving johnny, and moves on and no longer thinks about him. he’s no longer suicidal or unhappy with his life, and he is no longer looking for external sources to fill his life with. despite kerry saying ‘to fill that hole with now’ we know that v taught kerry to healthily process and move on from things that hold him back. ‘someone more important’ being v, shows us that v allowed kerry to form healthy, good attachments that help him.

the way that they showed this development, in my biased opinion, was flawless and realistic. and the way they tied this into the tower ending was just as flawless and consistent with kerry’s character development. even after v disappears, kerry chases his dream to perform on the crystal palace. he couldn’t have done that without v. he releases new music that he feels proud of, and he couldn’t have done it without v. and he spends two years working towards these healthy, self-serving goals that help him work through the trauma of losing a loved one (again). and we know, from when johnny came back after FIFTY years, that kerry’s reaction was very minor. kerry expected johnny to come back, he waited for him. in those fifty years, he managed to produce the same amount as he did in the TWO years he spent waiting for v. and we know kerry was waiting for v because he reacts the same way, only completely overjoyed. this, being something that does not change when kerry matures and grows, must just be the way kerry is, the way he loves. he waits, and trusts.

kerry told v to wait for him. kerry was realistic about how long he’d be, and this, is a perfectly valid ask considering how long he had waited for v. kerry is overjoyed to see v alive and (mostly) well. he feels this for v, and not for johnny, which just further proves that v gave him what he needed to move on. he says to v, ‘i wish you were here.’ when we look at this compared to the other romance opinions, it’s more than clear that kerry loves v the most, and he means the most to kerry out of everyone. judy moves on and gets married to someone else after only two years, and then accuses v of trying to ruin her happiness. panam doesn’t even want to talk to v, and river tells v that he won’t see them, and hangs up on them mid-sentence. but kerry? laughs ecstatically when he sees v, tells him he wishes he was there too, and then promises that he’ll come back after four months at the absolute most. he doesn’t lie to v, he doesn’t ignore v, he values what v says, and offers to help in any way he can, and promises he will come back. that’s love.

how people got the notion that kerry moves on is genuinely confusing to me. he is on a contract, he cannot, even when he desperately wants to, just leave. also, bro was in SPACE he can’t just fly to earth on a whim.

kerry growing and maturing and learning to cope healthily is not kerry losing care for v over those two years. kerry, especially when we look at the other romance opinions, loved v an immense amount. and as a complex character, we have to look at the complex reasoning behind his actions and words, which CDPR did nothing but justice to.

[therantingsage]

Misc additional observations/notes relating to the implication analysis post that I either forgot to add or omitted for pacing reasons.

This one's embarrassing to admit, but I literally did not remember this until the post was done and posted:

N being bad at keeping things to himself is literally the first thing we learn about him when he starts talking. "Inclusive reflexes" isn't what teaches Uzi this, it's literally the first thing she finds out about his character, so she has no excuse. There is no plausible deniability she knows her boyfriend can't keep secrets.

((Unrelated to anything but since I'm talking about the pilot like. Why does he fan himself here. Dude you don't even have feelings for her yet bro what's this about. Guy who really likes strong personalities I guess))

N's tiny little smile in Promening when Uzi admits to wanting his help. He's like, critically underappreciated by the people around him before this so Uzi reaching out to him here must be so meaningful to him. He wants to be helpful and she's letting him be.

And Uzi, too, despite being stubborn about it. N being so eager to offer help in the first place isn't something she's used to, either. I'm pretty sure the (correct) general consensus is that this is the episode she falls for him, and honestly all the blushing has very little to do with why I think that's the case.

Because, like...no one really bothered even pretending to get along with her. Like, aside from Thad, but that's for like one scene total before N enters the picture, and Uzi's "how do you know my name, people willingly talk to you" implies to me that they didn't have a lot of, if any, meaningful interactions before that point anyway. And then here comes N, who despite how they'd parted, doesn't even seem upset with her. They both spent their time apart terrified of things being bad between them....but it all just melts away when they reunite and the mutual genuine concern shines through. It's great.

N maybe has fragments of memories of life at the manor, not a lot, but he probably has the vague sense that people used to be nicer to him in general. So it's not as foreign to him. Uzi does not have that luxury so having N be so enthusiastically in her corner definitely touches her heart. And it shows through in how she interacts with him in this episode.

There's lots and lots of little moments in Cabin Fever that I like but this tiny sheepish blush is a funny one. Like he just. Alluded to talking about her. And that flusters her for some reason. We have no idea how much time has actually passed since the last episode but its clear from how little it takes for this reaction to happen that her feelings have grown stronger. She likes him and its cute.

This scene is one I want to talk about in more detail, though. Home establishes that V still has faint lingering feelings for N, so it's not that hard to assume that her behavior here is at least partially motivated by jealousy. She's petty and vindictive and jealous...but most importantly she's perceptive.

Uzi has abandonment issues, which I think is easy enough to understand so I'm not going to elaborate on it. But V figured that out, and makes this threat with the knowledge that Uzi is worried about being abandoned. Uzi fears the idea that she wouldn't be missed if she disappeared, and here comes V, claiming that the one person she cares most about wouldn't care either. Hitting her where it hurts, trying to convince her that her fears are justified and inevitable.

It's likely that this moment contributes to her eventually going feral. That the stress overheats her faster.

She's incredibly vulnerable, when she snaps out of it. Shares that specific fear with N, who reassures her. Because this whole scene is him telling her that no, he wouldn't be able to just get over it if she was gone, because their brief time apart in this single episode was already something that scared him. That she's already become important enough to him that her absence was keenly felt.

It's probably around here, or a bit after this point in the nebulous timeskip between this episode and the next, that N falls for her. Scratch that, his whole speech, as I said in the prior post, just...really feels like some kind of romantic-adjacent confession. But I don't think it WAS explicitly them confessing feelings for each other. N figures out he likes her in this episode I'd like to think, but that speech was the closest he could come to admitting that. Cuz. Y'know. Uzi needs reassurance in other ways right now, no point in muddying the issue.

((and also not news to anybody I'm sure but the song that plays during that scene is LITERALLY called 'Falling...for you??' so. y'know. hindsight is 20/20 this is genuinely the moment he realizes his feelings for her are romantic))

And additional thing I like that I think about a lot, but the way he deliberately choses to switch his hands to claws when he pries her wings open. "I'm a monster, leave me be" she says, to which he replies "Hey, look, I am too, see? It's ok". It's great, he's mirroring, trying to make her feel seen. And by the vulnerability of her next line, it works. They really just, understand each other so damn well.

Home stuff. The fact that the first word that comes to mind to describe him is 'cute' is funny enough, but the fact that she even goes so far as to SAY it out loud before hastily correcting herself. Looking at her bf's baby pictures-coded. Has to keep her image up tho, this version doesn't know her so she can't be too weird or open about it.

But she still wants this version to think she's cool cuz she's a dork who likes him. It's unclear how much of this episode is diegetic when you subtract Uzi, but since these are memories and not proper time travel, we don't know to what extent Uzi's trying to avoid affecting the events. She might not care at all. Did the real N even go down to that basement willingly at any point? I doubt it. But we don't know! And also that's not what I'm making this post to talk about.

Funny Solvercam-Uzi body language on display. Delighted he recognizes her finally, spits out something edgy to play it cool (genuinely my favorite Uzi line of all time), sheepishly looks back at him, and shyly averts her gaze when he thanks her before looking back. Had she her regular face I'm sure she'd be smiling and blushing about it. It's cute as hell. It's very open delight, when you think about it. But still awkwardly teenage. It's easy to see this and have it make a whole lotta sense if they were already dating at this point. Got that meaningful eye contact going on. She likes making him happy so she's proud she succeeded.

Him trying to help steady her when they land. She blushes and slaps his hand away like 'dude I'm fine people are LOOKING at us stoooooop >:('

Her tail chewing on him is fine tho because we don't know if she controls it fully or if it does things subconsciously. And also the others aren't actually looking at them in this shot. Neither of them make the tail stop chewing so at the very least N doesn't mind.

Still flustered easily when he shows her he cares tho. Early-relationship 'hehehe he likes meeee' moment, adorable. Still clearly giddy that someone cares about her.

He's so conflicted after 'Tessa' tells him Uzi needs to die. He loves her, he loves her so so much, but Tessa is his oldest friend. All the memories he has of her paint a picture of someone he's supposed to listen to. Someone he can trust. Someone who wouldn't lie to him. He spends the rest of this episode bracing himself for a goodbye he doesn't want to give and its heartbreaking.

And despite his fear...Uzi still manages to comfort him the best way she knows how. And it gets him to smile! Because that's what the two of them are to each other. He's scared...but she's with him, so its less scary.

They've both caught up to the moment. 'Oh. We're still holding hands while the other two can see oh god'. They're both tight-lipped. She bumps him and they let go, maybe N thinks 'oh, right, yeah, not in public' but then they hold hands again but with intent this time.

And once again, it gets N to smile! And a second later Uzi does too! Awkward little moment of intimacy that must be so refreshing for them because there's so much heavy stuff happening but now they get to be distracted thinking about something lower-stakes.

To me, this bit is an interesting parallel to the Cabin Fever falling scene. He tends to be pretty perceptive about Uzi's worries. He's a good listener. Uzi fears abandonment, he fires back with a promise to stay with her.

But here, the thing Uzi fears is that things are being kept from her. That these two are keeping secrets from her. But instead of assuring her that they'll talk later, like they said they would, he instead chooses to use this moment to put his foot down with 'Tessa'. He just lost V maybe, and he's not willing to lose Uzi too, so he's decided she must be wrong about this being the only solution to the problem.

Up until that very moment, she didn't realize hurting her was on the table. It comes out of nowhere, freaks her out, and confirms her fear that she's not being told something. So she runs.

And the guilt he feels for scaring her off is heartbreaking. Half this episode is limb-chopping, genuinely, so the fact that he chooses this bone-saw to cut himself free instead of the litany of other things he has that he knows are quicker can't be a coincidence. He's punishing himself. And, additionally, probably reminding himself of V, hiding things because he worries the truth will hurt. Which makes the V hologram showing up moments later thematically very appropriate.

Can't add anymore pictures to this so maybe I'll make a part three later lol

[panlight]

you mentioned the saga has too many side characters for a love story. In your opinion - who could be removed, without having their disappearance effecting the overall story? Personally i feel like Esme and Emmett could be taken out and there wouldn't be so much that'd change. But i never really thought about others. I guess the movies did well with removing Lauren and Ben.

My dilemma is that I LOVE all the side characters. By and large I find them more interesting than the mains. BUT because Twilight is, after all, a romance . . . there's just not a lot of 'room' for the side characters. Which is probably why I find them interesting! Because we get just enough information about them that I want to know more, but also leaves plenty of room for headcanons and personal interpretations.

But since romances are always about the central couple, there's just really no need for so MANY characters in this series. The movies were smart to combine some of the human high school characters to get the numbers down there, but since most of the other characters don't have any arcs or storylines of their own, they could have been cut or combined too. Does the wolfpack 'need' Paul AND Jared? Do Brady and Collin do anything? Do we really 'need' three Volturi leaders and all those guards? Do we 'need' all those visiting vampires in covens of 3-4, or could we have had more solo vamps or just pairs?

And yes, with the Cullens, it's absolutely Esme and Emmett. And I love them! They're some of my favorites! But in terms of the plot you just don't need them. You need Carlisle as the creator of Edward and for all the times the plot calls for a doctor. You need Alice as the facilitator of the romance and the quirky friend you often see in romances. Plus, her power plays a large role in the plot. Jasper has the New Moon attack and the history with newborns which becomes relevant in Eclipse. And Rosalie becomes important in Breaking Dawn, and she had a fun slightly antagonistic vibe. But you could cut out Emmett and Esme and the plot would not meaningfully change. In fact, in some way, it might improve.

For example I never really got why Edward was so hopeless about ever finding love when he has examples in his own family/coven of it taking a long, long time to find a partner. It took Jasper almost 100 years. It took Carlisle about 250. Rosalie and Emmett were outliers! Edward being all "forever alone" after 90 years as a vampire always felt a little off, like, there's still time. He's roughly at the age Jasper was when he met Alice. But if Carlisle and Rosalie were also still single, that makes Edward's hopelessness make a bit more sense. Like "if Carlisle the Amazing has not found a partner in 350 years what hope do I have?" or whatever.

Or you could try to combine characters. A Jasper/Emmett hybrid miiiiiight work. Emmett's backstory never matters, but you would have to sacrifice some elements of each of their personalities. I don't think making Rosalie Carlisle's wife/Edward's mother would work at all though. Feels wrong just to put it into words. Would combining Alice and Esme, making her Carlisle's wife/Edward's mother, and then having Rosalie with the Jasper/Emmett hybrid be better? Ugh, no, still doesn't work.

I think they all gotta be single, with Alice/Jasper the only couple. And then, yeah, the Edward/Bella thing would feel more miraculous. It was always funny to me it was like "oh no! the love between a human and vampire is forbidden and/or never works out well!" when literally in Edward's own family there were two couples who met when one was still human. I mean admittedly Emmett was minutes from death but still, technically, Rosalie and Carlisle both ended up with humans they 'saved.' Then there's Benjamin going back for Tia; Aro choosing human Sulpicia, like, it's not that usual. But you erase the R/Em and C/Es couples and then, sure, Ed/B seems more rare and impossible.

Ultimately, though, rather than cut characters I'd rather expand to the story to be more of an ensemble fantasy adventure WITH a romance rather than a romance that dips in and out of fantasy adventure. You can have a central character, and even a central romance, and still develop side characters and let them have their own arcs. Jasper could have actually had an arc about overcoming his thirst instead of just sulking about how Bella is so good at it. Carlisle could have had something about actually convincing some vampires to become vegetarian. Alice discovering her human origins could have had more of a meaningful effect on her characterization rather than just being something she infodumps on Bella as a fun bit of trivia. Esme and Emmett could have had plot-relevant reasons to exist rather than Rosalie and Carlisle just needing partners. And Ed/B's romance could still have been the centerpiece.