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timeagainreviews · 5 months

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Bombastically Subtle: The Giggle

In my review for “The Power of the Doctor,” I talked about the power of lowering expectations. It’s good to approach Doctor Who with an open mind as it leaves room for being pleasantly surprised. One major truth for the Doctor Who fandom is how often we play ourselves with our expectations. We get it in our heads how something is supposed to be and we get mad that it isn’t that thing. That being said, there is a rational standard to be expected. Before “Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS,” aired, I had a small list of things I wanted to see in the TARDIS. Things which if included, would mean they didn’t waste the opportunity. I wanted to see a big gothic library. Check! I wanted to see the swimming pool. Check! I wanted to see a room that looked like the outdoors. Check! I wanted to see an M.C. Escher room like from “Castrovalva.” Well, three out of four ain’t bad. Speaking of three out of four, remember “The Celestial Toymaker”?

Of the 97 missing episodes of Doctor Who, three are from the four-part story “The Celestial Toymaker.” It would be four out of four, but the last episode “The Final Test,” was eventually returned to BBC in 1984 but wasn’t made available to the public until 1991. For years, all fans had left of this story was the Target novelisation and their imaginations. You could argue that “The Celestial Toymaker,” is a story which has benefitted from going missing. It enjoys a sort of mythic status no effects budget from 1966 could ever live up to. So when it was revealed that the Toymaker would be returning to Doctor Who in “The Giggle,” I saw it as an opportunity for them to finally give us the episode that has existed in our collective imagination for decades.

It makes sense that it took 57 years to return the Toymaker to the screen. It’s easier to write “The Doctor sees himself in puppet form,” than it is to film. Words may be the cheapest way to put big images in our heads, but we’ve got Disney money now. Doctor Who can finally afford to give the Toymaker the visuals he deserves. And the episode delivers on those visuals. It’s as mindbending and dazzling as you would expect for a trickster from the Island of Misfit Toys. Not only are the visuals impressive, but they’re also creative. That last bit is something people often forget. Style is everything. The Toymaker’s old-timey shop is beautiful and this design aesthetic carries over to visuals he produces. He feels appropriately out of time and timeless. I wanted to say this upfront because, honestly, there is so much more going on than stellar visuals.

One complaint I’ve seen consistently about the 60th Anniversary Specials is that they often seem like pale imitations of what came before. Just last week I compared “Wild Blue Yonder,” unfavourably to “Midnight,” but I had to concede to the fact that these specials are a bit of an homage to all of Doctor Who. Of course, there are similarities, it’s a celebration of 60 years of Doctor Who. That would be like complaining that they put a Santa robot in a Christmas episode. “The Star Beast,” harkens to alien invasion stories and evil dictators. “Wild Blue Yonder,” is like our “Midnight,” “The Edge of Destruction,” and “Heaven Sent,” type stories with a healthy dose of body horror. And “The Giggle,” is a bit more like “The Ultimate Foe,” “The Mind Robber,” or even “The Sound of Drums.” If these episodes are, as Russell T Davies said, the finale to the 2005 series, they’re a fitting send-off.

Much like “Wild Blue Yonder,” I found the introduction to “The Giggle,” to be the weakest section of the episode. Something about both scenes in both episodes had unnatural dialogue and poor pacing. It feels almost as though the episodes are both trying their best to get going as fast as possible. It makes sense when you consider that a major plot point is that the Doctor doesn’t take time to rest. Also, there is a lot of information to be imparted within three episodes. Regardless, I got a little nervous by Neil Patrick Harris’ over-the-top German accent bouncing off of Charlie de Melo’s confused face. But when Banerjee says to the Toymaker that his accent was slipping, I relaxed a bit. It’s like when Dorothy Vallens tears her bad wig off in “Blue Velvet.” You think “Oh thank god, they realise it’s unrealistic.”

I love the inclusion of John Logie Baird into the story. Not only is he from Scotland (my newfound home), but an oft-overlooked person in history. Using the inventor of television to celebrate one of Britain’s oldest TV shows feels appropriate. RTD said in an interview that he started reading up on Baird while working on his miniseries “Nolly.” Initially, the only villain of the story was going to be the puppet, Stooky Bill, but Davies realised that might look a bit naff so he considered who might be the puppet master and the Toymaker was a natural fit. I love hearing how writers form stories from seemingly disparate elements. Had RTD never written “Nolly,” we would have probably not seen the Toymaker, which would have been a different 60th anniversary altogether.

Thanks to things like “Doctor Who Unleashed,” and the commentaries, we’ve been given some intriguing insights into Davies’ creative process. Initially, he worried that the Toymaker was too ancient a character for modern fans to care about, but that never stopped Steven Moffat from introducing a new generation of fans to the Great Intelligence. He also took time to discuss the Toymaker’s racist roots. While I’ve never once thought of the Toymaker as yellowface, I can see how their use of the word “celestial,” and his Chinese silks might send the wrong message in this day and age. It’s funny then that that is also the reason he decided to give the Toymaker various accents, as a call back to his problematic nature. He is a villain after all. But is it really racist to make fun of Germans? I prefer my friend Taryn’s explanation that the Toymaker changes his voice often because the Doctor originally beat him by impersonating his voice.

With London at each other’s throats, it’s easy to see why UNIT would be relieved to see the Doctor. I half-expected Kate Stewart to slap the Doctor, but instead, she greets him with a hug. In the words of the Doctor- “This is new!” Now it’s been said before, so I’ll just agree that yes UNIT HQ looks like Avengers tower. We’ve already established that RTD is taking a page out of the Marvel playbook, no need to belabour the point. Back at UNIT, the Doctor is reintroduced to some familiar faces. We see Kate Stewart, Shirley Bingham, but most excitingly, Mel Bush. That’s right, I said “excitingly,” and “Mel Bush,” in the same sentence. I once met Bonnie Langford at a convention and I feel like she could tell I was lying when I said “I liked you in Doctor Who,” because in all honesty, I didn’t. But after rewatching “Paradise Towers,” and admiring Mel’s individuality in the face of the mocking Kangs, I thought “Maybe Hughie Lewis was right, it is hip to be square.” Furthermore, I knew RTD would do her right.

Something I’ve really enjoyed about the RTD2 era is how he has somewhat elevated the role of companion. Too often in the show's history have the companions been forced into the role of audience surrogate, fit only to ask the Doctor what’s happening and to get captured. Both Mel and Donna are rocking shit at their computer consoles. Finally, a writer who remembered Mel is a computer wiz, go figure! And of course, the best temp in Chiswick is leading the attack. But beyond being useful, he’s allowing the companions to have actual depth of emotion. Mel’s life doesn’t feel like a sad sack existence that landed her in a support group. She had a fun life with Glitz. Furthermore, it was a life she chose. There’s no baggage between her and the Doctor, just delight.

The Doctor learns that it’s not just Londoners losing their minds, but the whole world. Even our beloved Trinity Wells has fallen prone to the vitriol on her Fox News-esque talk show. The source of this anger is an arpeggiated laugh over the image of the first-ever televised face- Stooky Bill. This of course is the aspect that reminded me most of the “Utopia/The Sound of Drums/Last of the Time Lords” three-parter. Like the rhythmic heartbeats of a Time Lord, this signal has laid dormant on every television, computer, tablet, and phone screen for years. This is, of course, Russell T Davies’ comment on the current state of discourse on the internet these days. And in another way, it’s his comment on the state of the Doctor Who fandom lately. He seems well aware of the divisions in the fandom and it’s nice to see that aside from the sexists, racists, and transphobes, he’s interested in bringing the rest of us together, but I digress.

In what may be one of the most effective scenes in the whole episode, Kate Stewart removes her Zeedex, a device invented by the mysterious Vlinx to inhibit the effects of the giggle signal. After removing it, we watch in horror as our beloved Kate Stewart devolves into a paranoid ableist bigot who hates gingers. Jemma Redgrave gives a chilling and vulnerable performance that was hard to watch. I found myself choked up seeing her in this state, and watching her profusely apologise to Shirley afterwards was heartbreaking. That said, I loved Shirley’s reaction. It’s nice that RTD in his desire to portray marginalised people hasn’t forgotten that we’re not all helpless. Shirley understood the situation and she’s strong enough to take it. Even more, I loved it when the Doctor snapped at her with a bit of sass. It’s good to see Davies treating this new diverse cast as flawed and vulnerable people. He’s not ticking boxes, these are real characters.

The Doctor begins to get an inkling as to who they are dealing with. The words “puppetmaster,” and “toying with,” begin entering his vocabulary. The hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as something deep inside him is screaming “Toymaker!” Having correlated the mass outbreak of violence with the launch of a South Korean satellite, Kate gets permission from the Doctor to take out the satellite with a Galvanic beam. I loved how it was the Doctor’s job as President of the World to give the command. He must have hated that. Eagle-eyed viewers will remember galvanic radiation as the poisonous light from the planet Midnight. Once again RTD calls back to one of his best stories. Meanwhile, Donna hits Kate up for a job at UNIT netting her six figures a year and five weeks of holiday. Go Donna! While all of this is happening, Shirley has traced the original Stooky Bill broadcast back to SoHo in 1925. The Doctor and Donna pile into the TARDIS to follow this lead which takes them to the Toymaker’s shopfront.

What I love most about including the Toymaker is that it has introduced magic into Doctor Who. The ‘70s gave us many occult storylines, but even then most of them could be explained with science. Seldom does Doctor Who give us a storyline where the Doctor is unable to explain what happened. We got the Beast in “The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit,” and the haunted house from “The Chimes of Midnight,” but for the most part, magic has never been real in Doctor Who. Not even the Carrionites used actual magic in their word-based witchcraft. Perhaps RTD’s time working on “Wizards vs Aliens,” rubbed off on him. Either way, it’s an interesting way to breathe new life into Doctor Who. The Doctor hasn’t really ever dealt with actual magic and I am curious how it will affect him moving forward. Superman is one of the most powerful beings in DC comics, but along with Kryptonite, one of his greatest weaknesses is magic. Magic plays by its own rules.

As a being governed by magic, the Toymaker is bound to a set of rules. The Toymaker takes pride in his rules, so much so that when Donna implies he’ll cheat the Doctor, he looks genuinely offended. There is clear animosity between the Doctor and the Toymaker that is palpable throughout the story. The Doctor even antagonises the Toymaker by implying he is a slave to his rules of play. The Toymaker isn’t just interested in revenge, he wants to humiliate the Doctor in front of the person who loves him the most- Donna. He attempts to weaken her faith in the Doctor by illustrating the Doctor’s past failures to save his companions while highlighting the ways the Doctor justifies his failures. The one thing the Toymaker didn’t consider is that Donna knows this about the Doctor already. He can’t break her faith in a man she regularly puts in his place. This woman once called the Doctor “a thin line of alien nothing.” Do your worst, Toymaker, because Donna has already said it and more.

The real secret behind this episode’s success is in its subtlety, which is hard to imagine in a story where a man turns bullets into flowers while singing to the Spice Girls. Despite all of the big colourful chaos, the most effective moves are quiet. I mentioned in my review for “The Star Beast,” that Davies was more successful in his moments of subtlety than his big declarations, and here is no different. The Doctor and Toymaker play a simple card game. The Doctor loses this game but wins on the technicality that they are now even. There’s no way the Toymaker can allow for a tie, a winner must be decided. You can’t beat the Toymaker with bullets or Osterhagen Keys, but rather by playing his games. Underneath all of the expensive CGI and set design, it ultimately comes down to a game of wits. This is classic Doctor Who, “The Brain of Morbius” stuff.

That art of subtlety had seemed all but gone with the Chibnall era. I grew tired of the Doctor constantly knowing everything and never being out of her depth. It’s good to see the Doctor still has to solve things. It’s why I’ve enjoyed seeing Tennant skulking around being a detective. It’s why people always harp on about “show don’t tell.” It’s better to see how the Doctor slowly pieces things together than for the Doctor to tell us upfront. Knowing everything is not what makes the Doctor clever. Knowing nothing, having no plan, and discovering the path is far more gratifying to see. Ultimately it comes down to Davies having a better understanding of the Doctor as a character. The Doctor is flawed, vain, aloof, and prone to getting frazzled. Its his ability to soldier on that makes him special. The Doctor’s strength isn’t in knowing everything, it’s in knowing his limitations. You can’t learn if you have everything figured out.

While we’re on the subject of subtle changes and Chibnall, it might be worth it to discuss how this story addresses “The Timeless Children,” because I’ve seen zero people talking about it. When the Toymaker flashes the gold tooth in his disturbingly toothy grin, he tells us a little more than the Master’s fate. In a blink-and-you-miss-it line, he implies that he turned the Doctor’s timeline into a jigsaw puzzle. It’s such a subtle moment that it’s not surprising that most people missed it. But think for a moment- what recently turned the Doctor’s life into a convoluted mess? The Timeless Child storyline, of course. I love this line because it does two things. First, it allows the people who enjoyed “The Timeless Children,” to continue on in their enjoyment. Secondly, it allows those of us who disliked it to compartmentalise the storyline into something that finally made sense as a plan devised by a villain. If you ever wondered why the Timeless Child storyline was necessary, you now have a canon explanation- it wasn’t.

Unable to foresee the Doctor’s clever escape clause or Donna’s ability to bash a doll against a wall (love love loved that by the way), the Toymaker decides to change the playing field from his Toyshop to UNIT HQ. Neil Patrick Harris seems to be having the time of his life terrorising UNIT to the tune of “Spice Up Your Life.” At first you think “Oh how funny,” and then you see Mel take a tumble and you think “Woah man, that’s an elderly woman there!” As he gleefully turns two soldiers into a pile of colourful plastic balls, the act is no longer cute. The Toymaker is a horrifying monster with no conscience. Our lives are playthings in his hands and he must be stopped.

This scene illustrates beautifully the exciting possibilities of a magical Whoniverse. The Brigadier once famously quipped “You know, just once I'd like to meet an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets.” Turning bullets into flowers certainly fits the bill, but it begs an even deeper question- how do you fight an enemy that is immune to science? Kate Stewart took great pride in reforming UNIT to be more science-based, but magic doesn’t care about facts. Magic rewrites reality. The Doctor tries to comfort Shirley by explaining that the Toymaker can change atomic matter with his mind, but admits that even that is a poor explanation. Both the Doctor and UNIT are in new territory. It really ups the danger and makes you wonder how the Doctor will adapt. I said in my review of “The Star Beast,” that the sonic screwdriver was like a magic wand and perhaps it may need to become one! Sorry, War Doctor, it’s no longer a scientific instrument.

Exasperated by the Doctor’s trickery, the Toymaker shocks by shooting the Doctor with the Galvanic beam, stating that he wants to play the final game with the next Doctor. This jumpstarts a new regeneration, but as we all know, it’s not your usual regeneration. But before we get into that, I would like to discuss the moments leading up to that infamous moment because some interesting stuff happens. Having Donna and Mel join the Doctor’s side was exciting because we’re so used to the Doctor regenerating in a blast of energy powerful enough to destroy TARDIS consoles and Dalek ships. It’s easy to forget that the Doctor used to regenerate surrounded by his friends. So there the Doctor stands, surrounded by what the Eleventh Doctor would refer to as “the ultimate ginge.” I think we all sort of expected to hear the Doctor say something like “I don’t want to go,” or “I’m ready to go,” and I applaud RTD for avoiding both in favour of a far more appropriate “Allons y!”

Now, if you’re a terminally online Doctor Who fan like myself, you’d probably read the leak about bi-generation and were therefore not surprised. I kind of regret it because it turned out to be true. I am so used to “leaks,” and “fan theories,” being wrong that I expected the same here. However, part of me is somewhat glad I read the leak as it gave me time to think about the concept. I had seen people immediately hate the idea, so I think a part of me decided to be fair. After all, if you read just the synopsis of any story, divorced of all context and tone, you might also say “That sounds terrible.” In context to the rest of this episode, and what came after, bi-geneation was an absolute joy to behold.

Usually when we get a regeneration, we get maybe 20 seconds to enjoy the new Doctor and then have to wait a few months to see more. But here we not only get to meet Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor, we get to see him in a mult-Doctor episode with David Tennant! What a treat. Immediately I took to Ncuti as he tells the Fourteenth Doctor to push and then admits he doesn’t know that it will work. This is all new to him as well. I said above that I like when the Doctor is slightly out of his depth, and this is no exception. I will say it’s very lucky for both of them that one of them got the pants and the other got the trousers. Can you imagine that scene playing out with one of them having a Winnie the Pooh thing going on? However, they did miss a chance to call back to the Twelfth Doctor by not giving the Doctor question mark underpants. Oh well.

After watching this episode I asked Taryn what she thought about the Fifteenth Doctor and she told me that she felt it was too early to tell. I then pointed out that while we don’t fully know his personality yet, there was no point during which he didn’t feel like the Doctor. Ncuti takes to the role like a fish in water. He is the Doctor and I cannot wait to learn more about his personality. But first, we have a Toymaker to banish. Now I’ve seen people complain that a game of catch was a disappointing climax to the story, but I disagree. Both of the games the Doctor plays against the Toymaker are simple. Which card face is higher? Can you catch the ball without dropping? It’s nice to have a simple solution against a backdrop of heavy special effects. There are some comical moments such as when Fifteen throws the ball as if he’s trying to win against Fourteen. Also just seeing Ncuti run around in his pants was very funny. Ultimately it is the Toymaker who drops the ball. The Fourteenth Doctor takes his prize in the form of banishing him from our universe forever, but not before the Toymaker warns of his minions spilling into our reality. I was reminded of the “Babylon 5” spin-off “Crusade,” where the Shadows of B5 had been defeated, but their minions continued to plague the galaxy. Or if you’re a Tolkien nerd, it’s like when Sauron continued the work of Morgoth. It’s very exciting stuff.

They continue to set things up for future episodes. They call back to the salt thing from “Wild Blue Yonder,” when Kate orders her men to encase the Toymaker’s box in salt. They also give us a hint of future Master appearances when a mysterious hand with cherry red nail polish retrieves the Toymaker’s tooth. Is it just me or was that lady floating? Because I can’t tell where she would have been standing. But most exciting of all would be the implications of bi-generation and the Fifteenth Doctor’s prize of splitting the TARDIS. According to Davies, he sees this as something that happens across every regeneration. Now every Doctor goes on to have further adventures with their own TARDIS. I’ll be honest, I like this idea less, but that’s mostly just because it’s a bit messy. But why I like it is that it makes a case for its existence. Doctor Who has always been slightly metafictional. Do you need to replace an actor? Well, now the Doctor’s body can change. But this has also introduced a problem into the show which is that if an actor gets too old to play their Doctor, you have to come up with some weird excuse as to why they now look old and bald. But not anymore! While the concept of time streams would have been a cleaner and more wibbly wobbly way to approach this issue, I’m fine with this explanation. It serves a purpose and fixes one of the show’s oldest conundrums.

One aspect the fandom still seems a bit murky on is whether or not the Fourteenth Doctor will still go on to become the Fifteenth Doctor. I’ve seen some people wonder if the Fourteenth Doctor might go on to become the Currator. But I like to think it’s more like a Clara thing where he’ll eventually return to his original point of death to bi-generate into Ncuti Gatwa. One reason I think this is because the Fifteenth Doctor feels at peace with himself. I like to imagine this is due to living a life with the Noble-Temple-Mott family. Something inside the Doctor heals and he’s eventually ready to get back out there and travel like the good ol’ days. Truthfully though, neither scenario would really bother me. With Donna now working at UNIT and Fourteen sticking around I expect we’ll see them again, but at this point, I’m ready to watch Ncuti dazzle us for a bit.

The epilogue with Donna’s family was such a nice and necessary scene. While Ncuti had since become the new Doctor, he wasn’t yet the current Doctor. We still needed to say goodbye to the Fourteenth Doctor. A good and proper goodbye. Earlier in the episode, Donna mentions to the Doctor that he never seems to rest, but here he seems at peace. It’s funny how it took 15 years to explore how the Tenth Doctor could have been “so much more,” but here it is. The real reason he came back was to retire, to have a family, to find peace. It’s as though every regeneration still swimming around in the Doctor’s mind is finally able to relax. We do however get a hint that it’s not all sunny days and lemonade. If you read Rose Noble’s Magic Card, it mentions she is ready for adventures in her own right. Seeing as she is known to have the occasional trip to Mars with Uncle Doctor, I suspect we’ll see her in the TARDIS sometime if not Big Finish.

Back in his own fully accessible TARDIS, the Fifteenth Doctor is finally the current Doctor. He runs around his TARDIS consoles flipping switches and having the time of his life, ready to get out there and show the universe what he can do. And what a joy it is to see, is it not? I had been very nervous about this episode because I was worried about where Doctor Who would end up in the end. So much had changed during the Chibnall era and not all of it was for the better. The future of the show felt very shaky and uncertain. Ultimately I was hoping the show could once again find some sort of equilibrium and I feel it has. Doctor Who feels like it’s finally at a point where it can comfortably move forward. I can’t think of anything better to say now than “Allons y!”

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anonymousbeefriendfanfics · 22 days

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Felix x Rime x MC Polycule Domestic Headcannons

Fandom: Last Legacy (Fictif/Nix Hydra/Dorian) Characters: Felix, Rime, Gender neutral MC Prompt: hcs ab how would domestic life be for Felix and Rime and MC polycule Requested by: @mossmosis Warnings: Brief stabbing mention (Rime is in this, so-)

Last Legacy content, in this day and age?! It's more likely than you think! I've gotten a bit distracted with other fandoms, but I've been meaning to return to my beloved Fictif fandoms. I suppose now's the time!

Also, thank the dice gods for bringing you this particular treat! I had motivation to write, but no idea what to do, so I rolled some dice and this was the result!

Requests are open, as always, so if you'd like to see more, send me an ask!

For starters, there is no shortage of sarcasm and snarky commentary in this relationship. It's practically one of your love languages at this point! Rime and Felix are both prone to making smart remarks, and when they're both in the mood for banter, things can get mildly out of hand... you've had to calm Anisa down after she witnessed one such moment, assuring her that the two of them were not, in fact, in a terrible mood and taking it out on each other. You've come to enjoy their banter, regardless whether you join in or simply sit back and watch the show.

Both of them enjoy teasing you and each other, though there are some stylistic differences. Felix tends to be a little softer and kinder with his teasing - don't get me wrong, there's often a little bite behind his words, that cute little smirk and playful sparkle in his eyes that makes your heart flutter. He teases you about lighter subjects, and though he often speaks without thinking, he never means any harm by it.

Rime, on the other hand, doesn't hold back in the slightest. It's not that he means to hurt your feelings, he isn't doing it out of malice - he simply doesn't know when to back off sometimes. If you call him on it, he'll scoff and roll his eyes, likely making some little comment about you not being able to take a joke - but he won't tease you about that again, and he'll do something nice for you in the near future as an unspoken apology.

Speaking of gifts, both of them will absolutely shower you and each other with small gifts for absolutely no reason. Felix is prone to bringing something home for you both anytime he visits the market - it's very rare that he forgets, though sometimes he'll return empty-handed and visibly frustrated that he couldn't find anything suitable. He sometimes gifts you and Rime jewelry, and has surprisingly impeccable taste, always giving you something you'll love. Books are another of his frequent gifts, of course - you can expect any new books to go missing shortly afterwards as he borrows them to read them himself before quietly returning them a few days later. You've also received a few trinkets that match his gothic mage aesthetic, too, because it wouldn't be Felix if he didn't share his love of vaguely creepy things with you!

Rime tends to focus less on physical gifts and more on actions. He spends time with you both, learns about your interests, stabs your enemies, and does small things to help you out. He prefers to be a little more subtle with his affections, almost pretending like he doesn't care, when in reality he cares very much. It's not that he's hiding it, he just... isn't very open with his emotions yet. When he does bring you gifts, though, it's usually something pretty simple, like some random trinket he saw and thought of one or both of you. I could also see him taking up woodcarving as a hobby to help him relax and unwind, so you'll occasionally find a new gift from him sitting on your desk, carved from wood or, sometimes, from his shed antlers. He likes bringing you food, too, and memorizes both of your tastes and favorite treats so he can choose the best treats.

Getting all three of you in bed at the same time can be difficult, but when it is achieved, you have a delightful time cuddling with each other. On the somewhat rare occasion that you all turn in together, you take turns being the one in the middle unless one of you has had a particularly bad day and needs double the snuggles. Most of the time, though, whoever goes to bed first ends up in the middle, with the other two crawling in wherever there's space when they're finally tired enough to get some sleep.

Mornings are always interesting, too. You or Rime are always up first - it's almost never Felix. Whoever is up first starts making the coffee and/or tea, and you try to take turns making breakfast. Rime might complain if you miss your turn, but you know he doesn't really mean it. He won't admit it easily, but he actually enjoys cooking, especially for his partners. Once breakfast is ready and one of you drags Felix out of bed, you all sit down for a nice meal together. Depending on how busy you three are, sometimes breakfast is the only meal you can all have together, so you make the most of it!

When you do have time off from your busy schedules, you almost always spend it together. Most of the time you're in the study/library at Fathom, doing more casual research projects together or reading books in a comfortable silence. Sometimes, though, you go out to get some fresh air and a change of scenery! Wandering around Porriman markets is often a good way to spend an afternoon, sampling various treats and buying interesting things for one another.

Something else you three often do together is stargazing. Felix obviously loves it, especially when he gets to share it with his loves, and though Rime might comment that it's boring just to be a bit of a brat, once he gets comfortable he'll become far more relaxed. Often times these nights consist of you and Rime gazing quietly at the stars, listening contentedly to Felix's soft voice as he rambles on and on about them. He'll inevitably get a bit flustered when he realizes just how long he's been talking, but it's nothing a few kisses can't fix~

Honestly this entire relationship would just be so soft and so chaotic at the same time. You all love each other so much and care deeply for one another, but there's rarely a dull moment!

#hi mossy #beefriend-writes #Felix x Rime x Reader #felix escellun #rime solano varela #felix escellun x rime valera x reader #last legacy #last legacy fictif #fictif last legacy #fictif felix #fictif rime

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souredwaters · 9 months

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To clarify, I don't HATE the canon design. I just think that there were a lot more interesting things they could have done.

I cannot believe how much is MISSED in the canon design. Like a lot of history EXISTS in fashion. I will be addressing some of points in greater detail here.

The makeup is my favorite bit of Victorian era trivia. Tuberculosis was an incredibly common and deadly virus that Charlie definitely would have known about and understood. And it's impact on fashion is very interesting. In 1882, Robert Koch discovered how tuberculosis spread, and then everyone lost their shit. Like masks for covid, people began changing what they wore to accommodate. And also people really liked how women who had contracted tuberculosis looked. Pale skin, red cheeks, dark lips, and a thinner face shape became standards of fashion that still remain to this day. Charlie would have for sure kept up with this trend herself, regardless of it's odd origin.

A large staple of the Victorian aesthetic in general is an excess of detail. This was the time of the industrial revolution and things like fabric could finally be made in extremely large amounts for a much lower cost. Statement fashion was no longer for JUST the upper crust, now EVERYONE had a gaudy outfit to wear. If Charlie REALLY wanted to command respect, she would be wearing something with a style that says "I have a LOT of money to spend!".

It's also important to understand the difference between a LATE Victorian and a MID Victorian silhouette. Mid Victorian silhouettes have a more bell like shape. Another fashion trend that resulted from tuberculosis and the discovery of germs was a raised hemline for dresses. After people learned that they could get sick from tracking filth in their homes, they no longer wanted to wear clothes that dragged around picking up dirt from outside. This had the additional effect of kickstarting the women's shoe fashion industry, but that's beside the point. Late Victorian silhouettes had a slimmer shape near the calves, much like Charlie's canon design. Both mid and late Victorian outfits utilized bump pads to add shape to the rear end, same with Edwardian. Yes, Charlie would have seen and probably worn clothes with a late Victorian silhouette, but a mid Victorian silhouette would command power through age. It's appearance is old enough to exude a more studious air, but not so old as to look like an old lady's clothes. Not only that but a larger silhouette takes up more space in a room and generally make her appear more important.

I hope you enjoyed my excuse to info dump Victorian era trivia! It's one of my favorite things to learn about!

#dst #dst charlie #dont starve together #charlie dst #i am so normal about the victorian era ughh #i have so much more info to share and not enough brainpower to share it

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vveakfish · 6 months

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do you have any thoughts about the core four whose gender(s) are basically just a trans fruit cocktail that you would like to talk about? because I would love to listen

oh boy DO I !!!

I have So Many thoughts about them Anon, so thank you for giving me an excuse to try and put it into words beyond “Damn, these bitches trans! Good for them.”

Honestly, there are so many different ways to explore these characters genders based on how you choose to interpret their life experiences, and their aesthetic changes, and their relationships with each other. I am of the belief that any of them could be trans in any direction

But, that said, I Do have particular gender headcanons for YJ that i am very fond of, so thats what I’ll be talking about today.

(Small disclaimer. I have not finished all of the comics referenced in this. I am using the information i have to inform these, but you know, i might come back to this post at some point in the future and look at it like “wow, i don’t agree with any of this anymore.” And i think thats okay.

I’m just here to have fun, and i thoroughly enjoy these little guys, and think abt them alot, so enjoy

(also if you dont want to read 4.1k words of blorbo gender analysis, or would like to avoid spoilers for Superboy (1993), Young Justice (1998) & (2019), and Red Robin (2009) in varying degrees of detail, or you just want to see what lables i assigned them, scroll down to the bottom <3))

lets get started.

Bart:

Bart's gender is the most complex, but his thought process about it is also the most simple. I think his view of gender would be very much influenced by the fact that he grew up in VR in the future like…

A body is just an avatar, do what ever the fuck you want with it.

That said, the lil guy has always given me transmasc vibes. These vibes, however, are by no means binary.

He understands that in the 21st century a lot of people do not have his sort of “throw things at the wall and see what sticks” approach to gender, so he’s okay with being put in the box of Boy™. But his gender is a lot more * hand waves vaguely *

Clothes don’t have gender in his eyes, they’re fabric you put on your body. Wear what ever you want forever!

Bart in skirts is something i have seen many people draw/talk about before, and its something i agree with wholeheartedly. He likes hair clips, and like, those loud (actually loud and visually loud) beaded bracelet type things that ravers wear. He like nail polish. He doesn’t grow facial hair, but he wouldn’t care if he did. He’s not on hormones, but he definitely considered it for the bit. “Gotta drink my boy juice” Kind of vibes.

For him gender has Nothing to do with performance, its all about comfort. About wearing what feels right, regardless of whether or not he’s adhering to expectations of masculinity.

Yes, he Will wear that god awful outfit out of the house, haters can die mad

Cassie:

Anon, I need you to understand how much i love early yj98 cass. She is everything to me — her process of coming to terms with herself, and being able to watch her start to feel at home in her own skin. It makes me absolutely feral.

lets see if i can explain why… succinctly

When we first meet her in yj98, her identity as “Wonder Girl” is this sort of amalgamation of What it Means To Be A Hero in her eyes. She has her party city blunt bob wig (Because Diana is who she looks up to), the gloves, leather jacket, goggles combo (that so clearly take inspiration from Kon).

At this point in her life Wonder Girl is not really her. Its very clearly a mask she’s putting on. which is what makes it the perfect avenue for her to explore gender expression without it having to actually be about her gender.

I think the part that specifically makes me feral though is her… we’ll call it admiration of Kon.

The girl is a self proclaimed Superboy stan + theres all the weird not-drama between Cassie and Cissie over wanting attention from Kon. (And i say Not Drama bc its like… Kon flirting with cissie (which like… have you met 90’s Kon?? he flirts with everything that moves) and Cassie being upset that he’s Not flirting with her. and cissie is just along for the ride. She’s not quite as much of a flirt as kon is, but she has her moments)

All of this to say i feel like its impossible to have a conversation about Cassie’s gender without also talking about her experiences with comphet and lesbianism.

At the beginning, Cassie sees Kon — this cocksure, conventionally attractive boy with powers that (at first glance) seem very similar to hers, and felt something about it. And, in the way of teen girls who have been told since grade school that they’re supposed to like boys, Cassie comes to the conclusion that what she feels for Kon must be romantic in nature, right?.

All of this, the jealousy over Kon and Cissie flirting, basing her costume off Superboy’s (intentionally or otherwise), the fact that she wont let her team see her without the wig and goggles at all for so much of yj98. To me it all reads as the tangled mix of undiscovered lesbianism and gender dysphoria that the poor girl simply doesn’t have the words to define yet.

So, then what IS cassie’s deal with gender???

i am so very glad you asked.

She, too, is a transmasc of the nonbinary variety.

I think her relationship to femininity is complex, and ever changing. She doesn’t feel comfortable performing femininity the way the world expects her to, but she is also part Amazon. And i think having a relationship with both Diana and Donna would greatly influence how she felt about femininity as a whole.

The Amazons are strong, their femininity isn’t about beauty, or being soft spoken — it isn’t about Men at all. On Themyscira, to be a Woman is about bravery, honor, skill, and in some ways, divinity. Getting closer with her Amazonian sisters would change her relationship to womanhood immensely.

But it still wouldn’t feel Right. She would be able to see that womanhood can be defined differently, but that wouldn’t change the connotations that womanhood had as she was growing up. She’d never be able to lean into it the way Diana or Donna do — they both grew up only having woman defined as strong and brave and confident. Their experiences are not analogous.

The baggage of growing up a girl under the patriarchy wouldn’t just… vanish because she sees that it Doesn’t have to be that way. In some ways, the knowledge that it didn’t have to be that way could make her dysphoria all that stronger (especially if she hasn’t quite deciphered that dysphoria is what she’s feeling).

but i think there would be a point where two things sharpen into focus for her.

fiirstly she has a big fat crush on cissie king-jones.

and second (which would only come AFTER realizing her feelings for cissie) is that what she feels for Kon is Not the same as what she feels for Ciss.

She didn’t want to be with Kon romantically, she just wanted his gender.

I could see her experimenting with wearing a binder, liking that she can get rid of her boobs if she isn’t feeling them that day.

She already has her short hair, and her leather jacket and jeans, and shes big and buff and strong (because she deserves to be butch!!! okay???).

I still think she would use she/her pronouns, but she wouldn’t be picky ab it (if she gets called sir while at the pizza place, she’s not going to correct them.)

But here’s the kicker — I think leaning hard into her masculinity would be EXACTLY what she needs in order to actually ENJOY expressing femininity again.

When putting on the mask that is ‘womanhood’ becomes something that she can Choose to do, rather than something that is being forced on her, it can be pleasant. Like playing dress up.

She has a new appreciation for it, especially since her friends respect her gender, and she knows at the end of the day, when she takes the makeup, the clothes, and the wig off, underneath it all she’s just her.

(Small addendum re: TT’03 Cassie’s fem phase. I have Many thoughts about this as well, and while they end up in roughly the same place, i exploring her experience with comphet and her decision to dress in a more traditionally feminine in that run is something id like to explore in another post (once i’ve actually read the run too.)

Cissie (bonus):

This one should be shorter than Cassies, mainly because my reasoning for it is much simpler.

YJ'98 (#11)

She lists all these names, all of them feminine except for Fucking Ralph. “One weird phase” she calls it.

To me, Cissie is a transgirl through and through. She has this huge list of femme names she tried on while she tried to find the one that fit best. She mentions ralph in this off handed way, as if its not important, and i think thats just her way of dismissing her deadname as something of little consequence.

(that said, i think there’s lots of fun to be had with transmasc cissie, or tried transing-her-gender and realized it wasn’t for her Cissie. But as a transfemme, tgirl cissie is So important to me <3)

Kon:

other people on here have made posts about Kon’s gender that are much more coherent than this will be, but i’m putting the words down anyway. bear with me.

Kon’s experience with identity (especially in his earlier years) is almost entirely about the external rather than the internal.

Kon has his whole life planned out for him from the moment he opens his eyes. It’s simple really — become Superman.

So you have this freshly hatched teenage boy, saving the world as Superman (not the Only one, but definitely the coolest one (Kon would argue)). All eyes on him, all the time. In some ways, performance is inseparable from who he is. From the very beginning, everything he does is on display.

He starts his life with a Name (Superman), a life path (…again, Superman), and all the confidence of a sixteen year old jock with nothing but wins under his belt. then it all gets taken away.

Turns out Clark ISNT dead, and the world doesn’t need its pint sized superman anymore now that its got the real thing.

enter Superboy

Kon’s entire identity, his whole purpose for being alive, was to step into the shoes of a dead man who is no longer dead. So where does that leave our genetically engineered test tube baby?

lost, and extremely confused.

But he’s good at using his charisma as a shield, and even better at keeping himself busy. His problems aren’t there if he doesn’t have the time to think about them, right?

and i think that’s true about his gender as well.

Similar to Cassie, his discovery and exploration of his gender feels incredibly tied to his sexuality (to me). If you’ve read sb93, you know Kon’s deal with women. He is cute & conventionally attractive & he's like superman with a fashion sense, so of course there are people fawning over him.

And he loves the attention. He likes that people want him, or that they are looking at him. The issue is he doesn’t have the life experience to realize that their reasons for paying attention to him are often very shallow, manipulative, or selfish.

He isn’t treated as a person very often. He’s a brand, a product, a tool, a weapon. He’s arm candy, he’s a photo op, he’s a headline, he’s a paycheck. And it takes him a long time to be able to tell the difference between someone Liking Him & someone Using Him.

For the longest Time, Superboy is all he is. He doesn’t have a name outside of that identity (except for the various pet names the women in his life give him (kid & pup, mainly)).

And even when Clark does give him his real name, Kon-El, its still Attatched to his identity as Superboy.

I dont think that he would really even be able to start dissecting how HE feels about his identity until he’s much older.

Part of this would come from the space to be someone else that gaining a civilian identity would give him. As Superboy, the goal has always been to stand out, to be seen, to shine like the sun.

As Conner Kent, he has to blend in. He doesnt want to draw attention to himself, or the Kents, or Clark. He has to fit in, which was never something he had to do as Kon. And i think it would kind of chafe at him — but he wouldn’t really know why.

I think he’d chalk it up to how different of an experience it is. Not being loud, having to be normal™. And so i think he’d just… continue to play the part. For a while anyway.

And like, part of being Normalest Boy Conner Kent would also involve actively un-queer coding himself for the sake of fitting into the ecosystem of Smallville High. and its like…

Young Justice, as a friend group, is SOOO queerplatonic. The lines between romantic and platonic intimacy are so blurred, and Prior to Kon’s YJ days he he was also like… living with these woman who he had complicated relationships with that also blurred the lines between platonic, romantic, and sexual (…looking at you, Knockout).

So learning where the line is when it comes to how he can acceptably interact with his civilian friends (particularly the boys) would Really open his eyes to just how close he is with Bart and Tim, and how similar his feelings for them are to his feelings for… lets say, Simon Valentine.

But i dont think That is what would actually tip the scale. I think realizing that these feelings for his friends aren’t considered ‘normal’ would make him shove them down deeper. As ‘Conner’ anyway.

from here it could go two ways, right?

Either we get Teen Titans ‘03 t-shirt Kon, who sheds his GNC 90s swag in exchange for adhering closer to traditional (read; boring) masculine gender roles.

or we get a Kon who leans Harder into his punk roots, but its a conscious choice now.

(this isn’t even digging into how he would feel once Jon comes into the picture, because while Kon cares for that boy Deeply, his feelings abt the new kiddo in the family could also be very complicated. But that’s a post for another time.)

Personally i prefer the second one.

Kon has always been a curious kid, i love the way he makes pop culture references, and how he bases his behavior off of 90’s teen tropes that he Most Definitely learned from TV. In his early days this wasn’t done in a research way necessarily, but he Did want to learn what it was like to Be a Teen™, and TV was the easiest way to figure that out.

(and, playing in the space of Kon adaptations, his love of media/pop culture, and just over all thirst for knowledge, are present both in the Reign of the Supermen Movie, and in his iteration during the n52 (which is one of the few things i personally have internalized from reading n52 Superboy/Teen Titans)).

But post gay awakening, i feel liked he’d be interested not just in behaviors, but also the context of them. Digging into punk as a subculture rather than as an aesthetic. Learning about its connections to queerness, and community, and self expression. And i think this would be extremely freeing for him. (especially if this were around the time of Jon becoming Superboy v.3, but again, not the point of this post.)

this all culminates in Kon being like yk? gender just… isnt for me. Like, it takes im a long time to get to this point, but realizing that the path that was set out for him is just one of the potential paths he can take, and while he might not know where this new path will take him, its his, that that matters.

And also like, Because his friends are who they are, he’s seen different versions of queerness, and transness, but i think it would take him a bit to see himself as someone who Isn’t Cis bc like… he doesnt have dysphoria in the traditional sense.

He’s still the beefcake he’s always been, but i think he’d start playing with makeup when he realizes it makes him feel good (he shows up the the cave one day with smudgy eye liner and Cissie is immediately like a) you look so good and b) can i Please do your makeup? (and then she does it, and he looks so pretty, and he gets these weird giddy feelings that he doesn’t realize is gender euphoria until his friends start talking abt gender euphoria)

His uniform starts to get more personalized too, like the designs where he has knee patches, and all his little belts, and stuff. maybe he starts experimenting with showing skin. bc he deserves it

(’its for maximum sun exposure!!!’ is the what he tells clark… he’s not sure if clark bought it or not)

And hey, exploring gender presentation more as Superboy might help him do the same as Conner. Cassie will take him thrifting, he’ll try of a flowy skirt or a sun dress or something and then its Over. Gender euphoria part two, electric boogagloo.

In the end, its about realizing that adhering gender roles (and truthfully, any socially imposed ‘rule’ about self expression) is something he can simply Choose not to do. And i think this freedom would be something that benefits him in his civilian life as well.

His gender is: literally what ever, man.

Tim:

Ok, here’s the thing about Tim and gender, right? I think he’s kind of just comfortable as he is. He’s good at playing the roles he needs to in what ever situation hes thrown into. ‘Robin’ and ‘Tim Drake’ (and even ‘Tim Drake-Wayne’ if you want to split hairs) might be masks he wears, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less him. if that makes sense. like…

Lets look at the differences between Bruce (or Brucie) and Batman for a second. They really are different people. Batman is who bruce is at his core, ‘bruce’ is this sort of liminal space between the cowl and his public persona, and then theres Brucie™, and well, you know how he is. These are personas that Bruce puts on.

With Tim its like he just highlights different aspects of himself when a situation requires it. (oh no, the autistic!Tim head canons are being loud today.) But like, he’s Always been masking. And i think this is something he would look at as like… getting a good grade in adapting. or something. He’s comfortable, all the roles he plays are ones he’s familiar with, and he doesn’t really question who he is outside of who he needs to be.

That is, until Caroline Hill makes an appearance.

I feel that the decision to go undercover as a woman was a wholly practical decision in the moment. It’s what the mission required, and therefore tim stepped up. Its just another mask, right? Surely this wont awaken anything in him…right?

But this is an entirely new mask. And i think it might like… shift the way he looks at/thinks about the other masks he puts on. He was able to step into a role that was very foreign to him, and it Worked. (and he felt pretty, which like… woah, thats a new feeling. and he kinda liked it? file that under ‘thoughts he doesn’t have the bandwidth to process right now.’ Bruce needs him back at the cave! its time to debreif! and he has a biology test tmrw! no time for gender scaries!!!).

I think it would take a while for him to be able to admit it to himself though. Because like… hes Not uncomfortable with his body, but he also keeps thinking about how good he felt dressed up femininely, and how he felt powerful, in a way. That putting on that mask felt just as good as putting on his domino.

Personally, i think itd be funny if instead of coming out right away, Tim doing undercover missions essentially in drag becomes a recurring thing. And i imagine some people give him a hard time. (not in a transphobic way or anything, i just mean like, teasing him fondly or what ever.) (Also, i like to imagine that when cissie Did kons makeup, bart and Tim jumped in there too bc like hey why not, and hoooooo boy, if Tims egg hadn’t cracked before then, it sure would have cracked after.)

The thing about him is, i’m not sure if he’d come to the realization himself. You know, that he would like to present femme sometimes, in a situation that has Nothing to do with a mission.

I could see Tim convincing himself that its a pointless or frivolous desire, which is Why he relegates his time presenting femme to when he can prove that it’s useful.

but i have this image in my mind, right? Of him, taking his makeup and wig off, and hes chatting with whoever is in the room with him (literally anyone else mentioned above… or Dick). And Tim’s just talking about how he wishes he could present this way in situations other than missions.

and the other person in the room is just like… i mean, you literally can.

and hes just like…. shit you’re right. i Can :0

I could probably go further into depth abt this, but i think this just frees him to start playing with gender more as Tim. and start to recognize when he’s feeling more masculine, more feminine, or somewhere in between.

His gender isn’t consistent, its this thing he’s constantly listening to, and trying to understand. but in the mean time, he can paint his face, and wear pretty clothes, or dress like just Some Guy, or be a hedgehog dressed in traffic light colors, or what ever his heart desires.

As far as like… how He describes his gender, i think he’d say something corny like bi^2 (bi of both the sexual and the gendered varieties). Or shrug, handwave, generally give a non-helpful vague description. Or tell who evers asking to buzz off.

(small addendum wrt Kon and Cassie in TT’03. I haven’t read this run yet, so i didn’t really include it in this post. But i Do have thoughts about what might cause the two of them (my gnc besties from my comics books) to lean sooooo hard into traditional gender roles after being So Queercoded in their other appearences. Before i talk abt that though, i want to read the comic. So, that will have to be a post for another time)

ANYWAY, heres that TL;DR i promised.

Bart: NB Transmasc Cassie: NB Lesbian (of the transmasc variety) Kon: Agender Tim: Fluid (bi-gender) + Cissie: Transgirl

Thank you soooooo much for giving me the opporrtunity to ramble abt the silles and how Not Cis i think they are. Love you forever.

#𓆟 #𓆟 | 📨#anon #disclaimer: this all for fun! i love these kiddos & am working on reading more of their comics #And my thoughts here are based on things that i have extrapolated from what they have gone through in canon & how that might influence #their relationships to their own genders #Core Four #Young Just Us #Bart Allen #Cassie Sandsmark #Cissie King Jones #Kon-El #Tim Drake #LOL will Tumblr let me post this now?#(i spent like... 15 minutes futzing with the formatting just for it to go 'srry cant post this hehe'

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ghostdrinksmoonshine · 1 year

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astro observations: I

hello! this is my first post on this blog! I’m kinda new to this but I wanted a place to dump my observations so I’m starting here. thank you and I hope you enjoy :)

also quick disclaimer! this post contains my personal opinions and observations and as such is not meant to be taken very seriously or as fact. these posts are written purely for entertainment purposes so only take what resonates 💕

𖤓 pisces rising or people with pisces placements are SO easy to pick out, either through their appearance or their mannerisms. I’ve never met a pisces (or someone with prominent pisces placements) who didn’t look somewhat ethereal, either with big round eyes or a sweet voice. they’ve got those siren eyes, you know? and incredibly soft skin. they move like they belong in water. the more neptunian the person, the more prominent these qualities are. although having pisces rising and/or planets in the 12th house will do the trick too

𖤓 speaking of rising signs, aries rising people are also easy to pick out. they tend to have very prominent eyebrows (arched, like the horns of the ram) and a real presence about them. unless the native has other aspects which suggest a meeker personality, aries rising is not typically a wallflower placement. they either walk with purpose (power walk with a spark in their eyes, a real “don’t fuck with me” vibe) or like a little kid, all cheery and skipping around. the earlier the degree, the more childlike the aries rising will appear upon first meeting

𖤓 ^^ I have aries rising and have found that people tend to underestimate me upon first meeting because I have a very childlike and “happy-go-lucky” disposition. I’m a capricorn sun though, and every time someone gets to know me they always say I’m more serious and pragmatic than they thought I would be. like it’s a real shock </3

𖤓 sagittarius suns (or people with prominent sag placements) usually have a gap between the teeth! look out for it, if you know someone with it they probably have planets in sagittarius and/or the ninth house

𖤓 I see a lot of people say that libra mars is a “submissive” or “docile” mars placement but honestly I think people forget that libra is a cardinal sign, not a mutable sign. every libra mars person I’ve met has been fond of debating (and they are excellent debaters) and tend to play devil’s advocate. that, or they like to investigate every aspect of an argument to reach the most “fair” conclusion

𖤓 ^^ I think the “docile” stereotype comes from the fact that they’re not necessarily aggressive either, and don’t tend to anger easily. in fact, since libra is ruled by venus these people tend to be very socially charming (to the point of people pleasing). still, this doesn’t mean they won’t argue because they very much will. like I said, they’re big on fairness, as well as making sure all the “facts” line up. many of my friends with this placement ended up studying political science and/or law, or at least have an interest in politics. if you miss an essential detail they’ll pick up on it. they’re similar to virgo mars in a way, except libra mars focuses on fairness/balance, whereas virgo mars are nitpicky about details for precision/perfectionist reasons. they work hard to get the best results

𖤓 however, I’ve noticed that if the mars is on the cusp of virgo/libra, then the native will also use this ability to focus on beauty and aesthetics, regardless of whether their actual mars is virgo or libra. check your degrees, it’s important

𖤓 and on that note, I’ve also noticed that a majority of famous writers have prominent virgo placements! it’s usually a mix between virgo, sagittarius and some water sign/house, but virgo appears most consistently. since writing is an incredibly mercurial practice (editing/prose writing demands that eye for detail that virgos are famous for) this isn’t surprising at all

𖤓 gemini suns are so fucking cheeky, they really are the “little devil” of the zodiac. seriously, these people love taking the piss and trolling others. I grew up in a house of gemini boys can you imagine my pain. my boss is a gemini sun and he literally teases my coworkers all the time, calling them nicknames and messing with them. these people like to poke the bear and see how far they can go 😭 this also goes for people with strong gemini influences, for example my best friend isn’t a gemini sun but her mercury conjuncts her ascendent exactly and has the same humour I just described (this is because gemini is ruled by mercury)

𖤓 and continuing with this placement, mercury conjunct the ascendent makes the native a very good speaker, especially if it’s positively aspected. my friend is the only person who can persuade me to do anything, and she’s incredibly well spoken. the same applies to mercury in the first house, although it’s stronger when it’s conjunct the ascendent

𖤓 people with pluto in the first house have the most chilling stares, it’s like having scorpio rising even if you have no other scorpio placements in your chart. another friend of mine has pluto conjunct the ascendent (again, exactly) and we always joke that he has “fuck me” eyes 😂 that scorpio influence darkens any ascendent you have, it’s a very powerful placement. my brother also has pluto in the first house and my family used to say he had “evil eyes” whenever he got angry (his glare could kill you). my girlfriend says people say the same thing about her and she also has pluto in the first house! this is intensified if you also have scorpio rising (true for both my brother and my girlfriend, god bless)

𖤓 ^^ another thing to note about pluto in the first house: this placement usually indicates that the native will go through a major transformation regarding their identity in their lifetime, especially if it has to do with their physical appearance and/or presentation. what this means specifically depends on the rest of the chart and whether or not pluto is positively aspected, but it’s definitely a significant aspect of this placement!

okay that’s all for now! I have a lot of thoughts about astrology (I’m currently reading a lot about synastry and composite charts too) so let me know if you liked this! ✨✨✨

#ghost’s astro thoughts #astrology #astrology observations #astro observations #natal chart #pisces rising #pisces sun #aries rising #saggittarius sun #libra mars #virgo mars #gemini sun #mercury in 1st house #pluto in 1st house

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josnhoes · 1 year

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What about Duke, Jason and Barbra around knak mc?

Duke takes his job as the family braincell seriously. Look he knows technically speaking Tim is the smartest. But he was the one in the family with common sense...aside Alfred obviously... so obviously *he* had the brain cell.

Well that's how he sees it.

His time with reader is spent with him take the role of fun but safe big brother. He takes you to age appropriate activities and enjoys them as much as you. (He snuck you to the zoo once. Sneaking because otherwise Damien would want to come and he wanted one on one time!)

As responsible as he sounds on paper he is still young so he doesn't plan for things like snacks or things to keep you occupied during car drives. He's not used to being around 6-8yr Olds. He isn't bad he just doesn't have the full bordering dad/mom/parent brain going.

Jason is the cool brother who borders uncle that parents *don't* want you to be around. Which just makes you want to be around him more. Well that's the energy he has. Actually he's fairly responsible. Makes sure you eat, keeps you safe, other then that he let's you do what you want. With him watching over you though.

Absolutely teaches you to fire a gun and how to steal from people. Just don't tell Bruce. Might even get you a custom small gun in your aesthetic.

Not just scary dog privileges, you get Feral scary dog privileges. He never *ever* wants you to suffer like he has. If the Joker even sniffs around you he will absolutely kill him. Sure he's trying to make good with Bruce again, be better. But your safety is more important.

And obviously as yanderes the batclan would see his point, and while they scold him lightly they'd actually get over it.

Barbra always enjoys when more girls are added to the family and you're just so cute! Likes to teach you about her role as oracle low key hoping you'll pick up the mantle someday. It'd be much safer then you going onto the field. *If* anyone would even let you.

You're kind of her little flying monkey. You help her find blackmail...I mean cute family memories to save.

Very happy to help nurture your hobbies and help with any class work. Though she will admit you rarely need her help with your normal class work. Such a smart baby sister!

Is the most concerned for your mental state. Because she looked you up and there was no adult with your name where you claimed to be from. So obviously you were never an adult. It leads her to wonder where you got that idea. Is it some sort of mental block you use to protect yourself? Something you were taught so your parents could just have you taking care of yourself? Why did they think you needed to understand taxes? Regardless it's signs you had a neglectful family so she and the family will just have to step up so you can be a kid again!

#DC knak au #yandere #platonic yandere #batfam #batman

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askthealternateakis · 6 months

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Alternate Akis For People’s Robot Master OCs Part 1: Angel/Flash Woman

So remember that one time when I brought up the idea of me potentially making Alternate Akis for the various Robot Master OCS people have made for Mega Man Fully Charged? Well, let’s just say I wasn’t kidding.

I decided to start off strong with one of my personal favorites: @littengamer909’s incredible OC Angel/Flash Woman! Their DM’s weren’t open so I wasn’t able to get too much feedback regarding the development process, but I hope I managed to do a decent enough job regardless! Anyway, enough with the chit-chat, let’s cut right to the chase and get her properly introduced!

Name: Aether (the fifth classical element that was believed in ancient times to have filled the region of the universe beyond the terrestrial sphere, aka the heavens)

Theme/Aesthetic: Japanese street fashion, specifically decora kei and fairy kei (albeit incredibly simplified both because I’m bad at drawing complex stuff and I want to make sure she’s easy to draw)

Basic Archetype: cute but scheming mixed with a tad bit of PG-rated yandere-ness

Relation To Respective Robot Master: adopted little sister

Fun Facts (these aren’t set in stone by any means, just my personal take on how I’d write her, you’re free to alter them to your own whims if you feel they don’t line up with how you envision Angel/Flash Woman as I don’t want to make it seem like I know more about her than her own creator):

cheerful and friendly to everyone unless they get on her bad side

looks childlike and innocent, but is actually rather mature for her age

not afraid to get brutally honest with people

easily annoyed and terrifying when angry

avid collector of both hair clips and dolls

lover of all things cute and girly and hates anything and everything she deems “gross” or “ugly” with a burning passion

very kind and affectionate towards her friends and family, to the point of coming off across as kind of clingy

gets jealous easily

goes out of her way to make Sgt. Night’s life a living hell whenever she gets the chance

good at reading people and knows how to manipulate a situation to her advantage

originally became Mega Man (or I guess Mega Woman) out of a desire to make a name for herself and escape her sister’s shadow, since as much as she loves her, she can’t help but feel a bit insecure around her

Hope you enjoy her as much as I enjoyed creating her! Feel free to make as much fanart of her as you’d like as long as I and @littengamer909 are tagged in it, and if you have a Robot Master OC you’d like me to make an Aki for, don’t hesitate to let me know!

#ooc #mega man #megaman #rockman #mega man fully charged #mmfc #megaman fully charged #fully charged #alternate akis #askthealternateakis #lovely people #angel #flash woman #flashwoman

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pantoneyoongi · 2 years

Text

i think i loved you more. | kth

title ; i think i loved you more. you don’t even think about me.

description ; how could you love me and then walk away?

cast ; taehyung x you

word count ; 3.2k

tracklist ; chilly - niki, fools - troye sivan, consequences - camila cabello, the apartment we won’t share - niki

tags ; best friends to lovers to exes, angst, it’s literally just angst, anyway surprise!! i didn’t think i’d actually finish this but here we are so i hope u like it

present

it would be a lie to say you haven’t thought about taehyung in years. it would be a lie because taehyung crosses your mind far more frequently than you care to admit, occupying his own little corner, sitting so comfortably there that he’s made a home out of it, the kind of thing you wish didn’t feel like such a constant in your life, and yet, it is.

and while you’re relatively good at pretending taehyung isn’t a permanent facet in your mental inventory, a part of you still knows full well that he loiters. you should’ve fined him six months into it; either he start paying rent or move the fuck on out of your head.

of course, then, you’d have to admit you never moved on as much as you should have.

regardless, there are still times when he doesn’t linger in the recesses of your mind, when your thoughts decide to take a break from playing grainy film reels of memories that you can’t seem to burn. photos can be deleted but it’s much harder to erase the sight of his lips slowly curving upwards, until it grows into that big, goofy grin you love so much.

loved. loved, so much.

the point being, that for once you weren’t thinking of taehyung tonight. it’s a little difficult to be thinking of past love affairs when you’re too busy trying to find and squeeze yourself into a hoseok-appropriate outfit (how come yoongi gets away with wearing whatever the hell he wants but if it’s you it’s all, ‘i know damn well you can do better than that y/n,’ and ‘i know you did not come to this fancy ass restaurant in jeans y/n’ like? it’s blatant favoritism.)

by the time you show up to whatever new instagram-aesthetic restaurant hoseok has been begging you to come with him to lately, you’re approximately ten minutes late. by your standards - it’s not so bad. yoongi might not even whine about being forced to wait for you to show up to order something more than drinks.

(come to think of it, maybe hoseok doesn’t play favorites. you have to wear something nice; yoongi isn’t allowed to start eating without you. all things considered, you pulled the better bargain.)

“fucking finally,” yoongi groans, as you slide into the booth across from him. yoongi never does pass up an opportunity to complain.

“it’s not even 7:30,” you wave him off. a waiter sets down a plate of calamari in front of you and you raise your brows. “and it looks like you got an appetizer anyway.” so much for waiting for you.

“that’s because in five minutes they would’ve kicked us out for waiting any longer,” yoongi raises his brows back at you, eyes darting away only so he can gauge when hoseok is finally satisfied with the number of photos he’s snapped.

“cut her some slack,” hoseok tucks his phone away. “she dressed like a person today. that probably took some time.”

you stare at him. “that’s it? that’s all i get?”

hoseok grins. “you’re ten minutes late, i can’t be honest with you or your ego will get too big. if i tell you you look stunning, next time you’re gonna show up twenty minutes late looking breathtaking.”

“or i could show up on time in a hoodie,” you offer, cackling when his expression flattens immediately, unimpressed with you. hoseok knows you enjoy dressing up, it’s just that you’re too lazy to do it if he isn’t there to badger you about it.

“here,” he passes you a menu, which you flip open and browse through as he starts chattering on about his day, complaining about how namjoon got on his ass again about something or another at his job.

“i love him, i do, but that man is anal as fuck,” hoseok gripes, to which yoongi smirks and hoseok narrows his eyes back. lucky for hoseok, yoongi is too busy enjoying his calamari to be bothered to stop eating just to fire off sexual innuendos about hoseok and his love/hate relationship with his coworker.

you glance around the restaurant. it’s a nice place, as expected given it was hoseok’s choice. it has a bit of an old-timey look, but what makes it stand out is the space carved out in the center, where you spot couples dancing together, or friends dragging each other onto the dance floor, laughter intermingling with the jazzy tune playing over the speakers.

taehyung would like this place.

for someone as mischievous and childish as taehyung, he liked jazz a lot. in retrospect it made a lot of sense - the sassiness in the notes, the moments when the music would take a surprise leap in another direction. it suited taehyung. he was whimsical and unexpected, a troublemaker and everybody’s favorite.

including yours.

sophomore year of high school

“miss y/l/n,” mr. kang stops you in the hall. “have you seen taehyung?”

you blink back at your teacher. “no,” you’re a little baffled why he’s asking you. how are you supposed to know where taehyung is?

mr. kang makes a displeased expression. he grunts. “that kid owes me homework. if you see him, send him my way, please.”

mr. kang is an older, crankier teacher, but he’s also one of the most lenient. taehyung’s lucky the two of you got him for language arts; anybody else would’ve simply given taehyung a zero on his missing essay and called it a day. that’s all that crosses your mind when you head off, in search of your friend.

it turns out, mr. kang stopping you in the hallway is the first in a long series of people asking you for taehyung’s whereabouts. you don’t consider yourself stuck to him like glue, but it seems the rest of the school does, the remainder of high school passing with questions of, hey can you pass this along to taehyung? or have you seen taehyung? or do you know if taehyung’s busy this weekend? as if you’re his keeper. but you’re only his friend. no one could ever be taehyung’s keeper.

you wonder sometimes if anyone ever asks taehyung about you. you know of course the answer is no, because, for one, no one can ever seem to find taehyung in the first place, and two, nobody’s ever looking for you if they’re not already looking for him, anyway.

you always knew taehyung was a troublemaker, but much like the rest of the school, he had you wrapped around his little finger. he wasn’t exactly the class clown, per say, but he could still upturn a whole class with a few well-timed, choice words, leaving teachers scrambling to get everyone back in order. he had a mischievous streak, but not enough to be considered a bad boy - just enough to have his grades dropping a little more than they probably should have, between the missing homeworks and the crammed studying he did right before his exams.

but he was a good guy. he was your best friend. he made your goody-two-shoes life just that little more entertaining, and he loved to do just that. the only detentions you ever got were because he was involved in them, but they were far and few between, because taehyung rarely let you take the fall for anything. taehyung might’ve gotten you into trouble - but he also did his best to get you out of it.

maybe that’s why you loved him. taehyung was balanced in an odd sort of way. or maybe it was just that he balanced you.

you think maybe because of that you might’ve followed him to the end of the world and back if he’d have let you.

junior year of high school

“this is really weird,” you state, staring at the plastic baby in taehyung’s arms. sex ed is fine, maybe a little exasperating to get through considering half the boys in your class can’t talk about sexual organs without snickering or looking much more confused than they really should be, but this parenting assignment?

this is really fucking weird.

“i just wish it was cuter,” taehyung rocks the (again - plastic) child in his arms. “there’s no way you and me would pop out a baby this ugly.”

you choke on your juice. you have never once in your life considered ‘popping out a baby’ with taehyung. your mind does work at quick speeds on a regular basis, but now it’s doing double time imagining a future with taehyung and - unnecessarily - the probable process that is required in order to have said child.

stop. stop. this is so incredibly off limits.

when you’re older - and taehyung is somehow yours, for a time - you learn that it’s actually really easy to imagine a future with taehyung. it’s easy to see him in your life for the rest of eternity because taehyung isn’t shy about wanting to spend his time with you. you were fully prepared to pair off with jimin for this assignment but taehyung gave you an offended look and said, “are you really ditching me for jimin?”

you don’t think there’s anything wrong with jimin, considering jimin is a much better student than taehyung.

but also it’s taehyung. so he has a point.

taehyung passes you a napkin. he doesn’t look at you when he says it, but, “is it really that weird to think about?”

“think about what?”

he looks up. the smile that taehyung usually has playing on his face at all times is nowhere to be found. “you and me,” he says, softly.

he looks like he wants to say more, but he stops there, eyes trained on yours. you feel like your heart is simultaneously frozen in your chest and racing at an unhealthy rate, pounding hard against your ribcage. you don’t understand him. you understand him completely. he knows you do. between the two of you, you’ve always been the smart one.

but then he cracks a grin, unreadable, dark eyes transforming into those familiar, bright ones again. “yeah, you’re right,” he sighs as if you’ve even said a word. “i’m way out of your league.”

you sock him hard in the arm and relish in his cry of pain.

senior year of high school

taehyung falls in love with you first.

you don’t know it, until you do. until he’s catching you from tripping over your heels at the homecoming dance, both arms secure around you, breath catching because your faces are too close together and it makes him nervous.

he wants to kiss you, and you can tell.

he doesn’t. he simply lifts you back upright, cheeks dusted in pink and hands shoved back into his pockets, a teasing remark slipping past his lips that you swat at him for.

he tells you to slip off your heels - “who cares, y/n? just dance!” and taehyung, like always, is good at convincing you to do anything.

taehyung falls in love with you first. he kisses you on your doorstep when he drops you home after the dance. he falls in love with you first, and you can tell.

but you fall in love with him harder, and when you get older, when you’re no longer a teenager in love, when you’re no longer distracted by the feeling consuming your chest, blooming into roses and lilacs and carnations, you’ll wish you weren’t able to tell.

but you can.

present

loving taehyung was a lot of things.

it was secret glances from across the room. it was snickers bitten down, eyes alight with laughter you weren’t allowed to let out because your teachers were frowning down at you. it was those absolutely massive hugs only kim taehyung could give out - crushing you tight against him, leaving you basking in his warmth and that ever-familiar woodsy scent of his. it was screaming when he lifted you clean off the ground to spin you in circles, until he got dizzy and you both toppled to the ground - but taehyung was always careful in making sure you landed on him, a clumsy but soft fall, filled with giggles and crinkled, crescent eyes.

loving taehyung was wishing he’d have let you go in the same way - clumsily, but softly.

your eyes wander the dance floor. you spend too much time creating new memories with taehyung that will never happen. no one else knows the way you still wonder what it’d be like to pass him on the street, or bump into him in the grocery store. if he’d smile at you and ask how you’re doing, or if whatever look on his face at the moment would drop and suddenly he’d be unreadable, like he was when he left you.

but they’re just fantasies. daydreams and idle passings. taehyung is your first love and he was your best friend to top it off. it makes sense that it’s hard for you to let go, even years and various partners after the fact.

“did you just say seokjin’s having a kid?” hoseok near shouts, yoongi wincing at the volume and rubbing at his ear.

“yeah,” he grumbles, digging at the food on his plate. “you don’t have to sound so surprised about it. you knew they were trying.”

you open your mouth to respond, head turning back to pay attention to your friends, when you stop, lips still parted from a sentence that never quite hits the air.

yoongi notices. he turns in the direction you’re looking, which makes hoseok turn in the direction he’s looking, and both of them immediately quiet.

taehyung.

passing fantasies, fleeting memories, all of them scramble in your head and form kim taehyung from across the floor. you were right. taehyung does like this place.

there’s a girl wrapped around him, dancing with him. you hardly notice her, rather, it’s the way he smiles, eyes alight, mischievous as ever, closed-lipped smile turning slowly into a wide grin.

he looks happy. it’s funny because it’s been years and you’ve promised yourself you’ve moved on and yet at just the sight of him you know it was wrong to keep him lingering in the back of your mind every day, pretending it’s just a habit from years of knowing and loving taehyung.

he spins her around and you’re thrown back into a life that no longer belongs to you. he pulls her close and you watch a future you still dream of sometimes crumble into dust. his eyes shine and you feel the wind sweep away the ashes, your heart sinking low in your chest.

maybe yoongi and hoseok are trying to talk to you. maybe you should pay attention, maybe you should listen, maybe you should react to hoseok’s gentle touch on your arm trying to get you to come back down to earth. but you don’t hear or feel any of it. you and taehyung were years in the making. it’s funny how easily that all went away. it’s funny how years pass and he looks so happy. without you. taehyung is happy without you.

some part of you is slowly running reels through your mind. black and white and gray - the way taehyung kissed you, the way taehyung spun you in circles, the way taehyung curled up beside you in bed, tugging you close to his chest, murmuring about forever.

the thing about taehyung is that you always knew he was a flight risk. taehyung doesn’t sit still. taehyung can’t even hold a single topic for longer than five minutes, so maybe it’s your fault for believing he’d love you for longer than he actually did. maybe it’s your fault for thinking he’d hold onto you, settle down with you.

it’s just - you really thought he would love you enough to stay.

the other half of your brain is running reels in color - reds and blues and greens, a child, a home, a ring. sometimes it shifts back into black and white, like one of those old-timey films taehyung loves so much, where things were oddly domestic, honey, i’m home - taehyung loved to swing open your apartment door singing those words.

that apartment is someone else’s now. your furniture is gone. your clothes are elsewhere. his hoodies aren’t mixed with yours.

it’s funny. it would be a lie to say you haven’t thought about taehyung in years. it would be a lie because you think about taehyung every single fucking day but when you see him across the room, tangled with someone else, you know.

i don’t think i even cross your mind anymore.

they say there are three types of everlasting loves.

one. your first love. puppy love, giddy, fresh and young and exciting. clumsy and filled with good intention. and generally never meant to last. but everything is new, everything is a first - and you never really forget your firsts.

two. the person you will never be able to forget. the person you will probably love most, even if things don’t work out. the person who connects with you in a way that you never thought was possible, someone who aligns right next to you - until they don’t. until life gets in the way. until even loving them isn’t enough to keep things together.

three. your last love. the person you choose, every day. the person you want for forever, the person who maybe doesn’t light up the kind of sparks you get with your first love, or make you feel the depth that you feel with the person you’ll never forget, but still - they love you, and you love them, and it feels stable. it feels right. it feels everlasting.

taehyung’s eyes meet yours from across the room and you know there’s no one else but you who would’ve noticed his reaction. the marginal twitch in his expression, the way his eyes flicker in recognition of you. the subtle tenseness he gets in his fingers, the way he has to blink out the memory of you.

taehyung loved you first. you knew that. you knew it in the way he left roses in your locker or traded lunches with you when you didn’t like yours. you knew it in the way he lost his breath at the sight of you in a prom dress, or how he lit up at the prospect of going to college together.

but you loved him more. you knew that too. you knew it in the way you suggested living together first, in the way you waited every day for him to come home. you knew it in the way you buried yourself in his clothes when he wasn’t around, in the way you carefully prepared anniversary gifts while he had a tendency to forget. you knew it in the way you were always reaching for his hand even when he was pulling away, knew it when you were the one whispering i love you in the dark when he was fast asleep.

you knew, because he was the one who left you.

there are three types of everlasting loves. for taehyung, you’re the first.

for you, taehyung might be all of them. even if he doesn’t choose you, it seems you never stopped choosing him.

the world colors itself back in slowly. you don’t know how long taehyung’s eyes are on yours. you just know that he’s the first to look away, a loving smile directed to his partner, a smile that no longer belongs to you.

the last remaining part of your heart - that was holding on to something you knew wasn’t ever coming back for you - shatters.

i don’t think i ever stopped loving you.

#taehyung x you #taehyung x reader #taehyung x yn #taehyung x y/n #taehyung #taehyung angst #angst #am i ever gonna have a consistent formatting? probably not #i was also gonna wait a little to post this but i decided to say fuck it! and so.. yeah #fic: lymt

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pancake-breakfast · 10 months

Text

It's been a week. "But Pancake," you say, "it's only Monday."

Yes.

At least we can all come together and cry over Trigun.

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for TriMax Vol. 6, Chapters 1-2 below.

TriMax Volume 6 Covers

This is the most band cover of the covers. Except someone forgot to tell Vash and he's just enjoying hanging out with everyone, and Milly has given up on her cool pose because it's just too hot.

Ohhhhhh, crap! I don't recognize most of the people on the back cover, but there's a certain two-gunned fellow who looks familiar. I'm so excited to meet him!

I love how the text on the back frames this like some fun, action-packed adventure instead of action-trauma with an extra side of MORE trauma.

I don't have a clue what's going on with the gag covers. I wish everyone the best in the inevitable tentacle wars.

Oh, man. These chapter titles have me hyped!

Chapter 1: The Gunslinger

Every time Vash is wrapped in a big cloak like that I think of him looking over the crater of July.

Is this... Meryl having a bit of a panic attack over all the information?

Yep, that's what it is.

At least Milly is sleeping again. And apparently through Meryl waking up screaming.

Maaaaannnn, the old-timey Southwestern U.S. aesthetic is real.

Oh, dude. Was this guy in '98? Are we gonna get to see Vash's drinking tie again??

Telling someone who refused to give you a guy that they're gonna regret not giving you a gun isn't a very sound argument for them giving you a gun.

Eyyy, it's Vash!

LOL, "Lightning." I wonder what this guy's seen Vash do to give him a nickname like that.

Nick thinks Meryl just wants some of his food.... I mean, eating probably would make her feel a bit better.

Wolfwood knows. Sort of.

I don't think he's trying to drive her away so much as he's trying to protect her.

Look at him being all pretty here....

You know... Nightow hasn't exactly portrayed sheriffs as good, upstanding citizens in this series....

He's not a very good sheriff if he couldn't figure out that Marlon and this "total stranger" have a bit of a history.

Oh, don't worry about Meryl. She's seen worse. A lot worse.

Glad she takes her weapons seriously.

Whyyyyy is this guy a walking, talking bell??

That's soooooo many bullets....

Good hell, Vash. Burning off some steam or something? Pretty sure you don't need to shoot that much.

Sherrif's an idiot if he doesn't recognize the skill required for precise grouping. Doesn't deserve a gun.

Dude. I don't like this sheriff guy. I know I already implied that, but now I'm gonna spell it out.

Spoilers for '98: Ok, this gunsmith guy is apparently a direct descendant of the character from the anime. That explains the resemblance; I'm pretty sure that episode aired before this volume was compiled and likely before this chapter was written.

Ah, this shitty sheriff can handle a gun. But he goes straight for killshots and doesn't have nearly the precise grouping Vash has. Also, Vash's face....

Vash still claps for the guy. He knows it's expected of him, and he'll get further with the guy if he tries to smooth things out than if he criticizes his technique. They're not close enough for that yet.

Marlon gets it. Also, I think it's hilarious that he calls the sheriff "kid," since I'm guessing the sheriff assumes he's older than Vash. But it seems like the Marlon family has a history with Vash that goes back far enough to know he's not exactly human.

Ooooh, Vash just went straight into panic mode. Poor boy, he's got so much trauma....

Dynamite for EVERYONE!!!!

Milly seems happy to be able to go back to hiding behind Meryl. Can't wait to see this dynamic in Stampede.

Uhhhhh, that's a lot more than one....

Rocket? Is... is this Wolfwood?

LOL, what the heck, Vash?? Aaaand there's the Punisher, so....

Bet me Vash is gonna do this without firing a single shot, just to prove a point. Maybe without even pulling a gun.

These shield guys are so Mad Max.

Geez, regardless of whatever other conflicted emotions they might have about him, they're so worried for his wellbeing.

Pretty sure he can still pull the trigger. Pretty sure he still doesn't want to, though.

Oop, he's got a gun out... aaaaand he's pulling crazy trick shots again.

The sheriff continues to be the real dumbass here.

He's putting two and two together. Took him long enough.

Oh, now Vash has the Vash gun.

Yep, that's Vash right there.

His look is like... a bit of an apology, and maybe a bit of embarrassment. He didn't mean to worry Meryl, I think. And he's not used to being seen so plainly.

LOL, he stole the Punisher. Wolfwood will get over it. He just missed his security giant machine gun cross.

Chapter 2: Double Team

Dramatic Wolfwood pose!

The thing about never being able to go back to the people you left to keep safe is you can never quite be sure if they're actually safe in your absence.

Dang, that's quite a recruitment squad that came for him there.

Did... Knives kill everyone at the orphanage??

Nightow really likes his custom alcohol labels, doesn't he? I wish we could get a better look at this one, 'cause it looks all kinds of intricate.

Barkeep's trying to be friendly, but Wolfwood's in no mood to talk.

Yyyyyeeeaaahhh, comparing someone to Bluesummers is not a compliment.

Is the "him" Wolfwood is thinking of here Knives or Vash?

Fffffwwwwhaaaaaaat?? Knives shows up, Vash blows a hole in the moon, and Wolfwood, gosh darnit, he goes straight to Knives and pulls a gun on him??? Dang, boy is far more like Midvalley than he'd like to admit.

HC Vash picked up on Wolfwood feeling down and out and deliberately went to find him and check up on him. I mean, if he was able to pick up Wolfwood's voice in the crazy that was the fight in the Dragon's Nest from however far away....