#there was so much wrong with volumes 7 and 8 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

whimsyfinny · 2 months

Text

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader

Summary: Charlie discovers the Winchester boys to be struggling with keeping the bunker tidy, looking after themselves and being able to do their job simultaneously. Luckily she has a friend who’s from a Hunter family that is in need of work and can help them with research. Or so she thought that’s what her job would be. When Dean sees your more domesticated side, his head won’t stop swimming with all the wrong ideas.

Slow burn, enemies to lovers, smut

Warnings: provocative dancing, slight Sam x Reader, jealous Dean

Chapter Word Count: 4211

—-MDNI—-

A/N: So I had to post this chapter in 2 parts because of how long it was and the formatting was weird otherwise. So here we are, and 2 part chapter! But yeah same as always pls let me know of any errors as I am the only one who proof reads this shit.

——————————————————————

Please read the below first:

Prologue Chapter 1

Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Chapter 4 Chapter 5

Chapter 6 Chapter 7

Chapter 8 pt. 1

I’m Not Your F*cking Maid

Chapter 8 - Part 2

Charlie eventually left after a few hours of convincing Sam and Dean that I would be absolutely fine infiltrating the club without them. At least at first. Some negotiations took place and after a while we all came to an agreement - I’d go in, scope the place out and unlock every door before leaving and letting the boys take over, handing over the intel on who everyone was and where they were stationed. This would make the kills less messy and reduce civilian casualties. Once this decision was made, we ate dinner before the guys went back upstairs to get as much information on the strip club as possible, whilst I went to finish the laundry from earlier.

I’d dropped Sam’s clothes off in his room before I headed Deans room to deposit his. Upon arriving, I twisted the handle and let myself in, breathing in the intoxicating scent of him before placing the neat stacks of clothing on his bed. Patting the top on the piles to ensure they wouldn’t topple over, I was turning to leave when something caught my eye. It was a pile of napkins and receipts crumpled up and tossed in the bin by the door - the same ones that made me feel so deflated earlier today. I smiled, feeling some semblance of relief course through me as I made my way upstairs again. As I walked I pondered; the Winchesters unknowing of the fact that I’d spent a short amount of time taking exotic dance classes. My ex boyfriend had paid for them so I could give him a ‘private show’ in cheap lingerie, and not to toot my own horn but I was pretty good at what I did back then so this should be a breeze. The only thing was that now I had a point to prove, and boy was I going to prove it.

I strode into the room where the boys were - Deans head in his hands and Sam’s face pressed to the inside of a book that was open on the table. He could have been asleep, if it wasn't for the fact that his eyes opened when I walked in. Without saying a word I grabbed an empty chair and set it in the middle of the room away from the desks and bookcases, making both men flinch at the abruptness.

“What are you doing?” Dean quizzed, lifting his head from his hands.

“Proving to you that I’m perfect for this case.”

Dean raised an eyebrow and I was unsure if he was catching on. I grabbed his phone from the table, unlocking it and finding the perfect song to play, settling on ‘Apocalyptic’ by Halestorm. At the start of the music he seemed to realise what was going on and he sat up eagerly, watching me intently as I undid my hair from its ponytail. I ruffled it up close to the roots, putting some volume in there as he went to stand up. I placed my fingertips on his chest and pushed gently, making him sit back down in his chair. I shook my head.

“Not you.”

He looked at me, puzzled; however his jaw dropped when I took Sam’s hand and urged him to stand. Sam had been paying minimal attention and just about knew what was going on when I gently pushed on his toned stomach, moving him backwards towards the chair in the middle of the room. I felt my heart do a small flip at the sheer size of the younger Winchester, this being my first time standing so close to him. And he smelt softer than Dean - less leather and gunpowder and more mint and fresh linens. I looked up at Sam through my lashes, watching his chest rise and fall more rapidly than before as he scanned my face. I smiled.

“Just relax, Sam. I Promise I don’t bite - at least not unless you want me to,” as the words left my lips I heard a SNAP and looked over at Dean, who’d now crushed the pencil he was using into splinters. I couldn’t help but smirk, starting to enjoy this perhaps a little more than I should. I pushed on Sam’s hips, urging him to sit, now in perfect view of his older brother. I stood in between Sam’s thighs and looked down at him, watching how his big eyes followed my hands as I slid them down over his shoulders and chest before running them back up again, tracing a single finger up over his Adam’s apple and tilting his chin up to look at me. The moment his eyes met mine his lips parted slightly and I leaned in close, so close that I could almost taste him. He let out the quietest groan and I whispered over his lips:

“I’ll try to make this enjoyable.”

I was bending over slightly, feeling my already very short skirt ride up. I sashayed around Sam, swaying my hips to the music and trailing my hands over his body with feather-light touches. Every time I did I felt him tense up or let out a small noise, especially when I crouched down behind the chair and slid myself underneath it, appearing between his legs and pushing myself up, my own legs straight and spread wide as I leant forwards. I now faced Dean, making eye contact with him as he watched me slide my hands up Sam’s thighs as I perched myself in his lap, swaying my hips as I pressed into him. I heard him suck in a breath at the contact, his manhood twitching in his jeans beneath the softness of my ass. I brought my knees and ankles together in a ladylike fashion before spreading them wide again, my legs pressing hard into the inside of Sam’s thighs. Deans knuckles went white as I ran my hands over my body and through my hair, biting my bottom lip sensually. Feeling Sam’s hands graze my knees, they slowly started to trail up my thighs as he snuck touches in where he could. My heart fluttered in my chest - his hands were already treating me far more gently than Deans did. I let him touch me for a few moments before I smacked his hands away and stood up. Spinning to face him I flipped my hair back, and slowly - oh so slowly - traced my hands down my own figure. As I outlined every curve I lowered myself so I was kneeling right before him - right between his legs that were spread wide like my own as my bare knees rested on the cold floor. I ghosted my hands up the inside of his thighs as he let out a shaky breath. I smiled up at him, but it seemed he was past the niceties as I noticed how dark his eyes had gone. I drew my hands back and spun around so I was now facing Dean whilst still nestled between Sam’s thighs. The older brother had pulled his chair out for a better view as his elbows rested on his knees as his large palms came together - as though in prayer - in front of his plump, kissable lips. He stared at me, unmoving and barely blinking, as though he were in a trance. Still on my knees, I threw Dean a coy grin before I placed my hands on the floor and walked them forwards, my ass now completely on show to Sam as my denim skirt did nothing to keep me covered. My back dipped in a feline manner as my chest came into contact with the floor, and I couldn’t help but think to myself that I would put money down that Dean loves this position for rough, pleasure-seeking sex. I hummed to myself at the thought of him fucking me into his mattress like this; one large, rough hand on my hip and the other propping himself up over me as he would moan my name and I would lose myself in his bedsheets.

I tore myself away from my daydream by sliding my hands forward so I was laying on my front before rolling onto my back, tilting my head back so I was looking at Dean upside down, my hair pooling around me. I gnawed on my bottom lip again as I planted both feet on the floor so my knees were bent and touching, before lifting one leg as gracefully as I could into the air and pointing my toes. Reaching my arms up, I gently touched my ankle and trailed my fingers over my leg, up my thigh - catching on my skirt and lifting it higher - along the soft skin of my exposed torso and over my breasts. I then dragged my fingers through my hair and over my scalp, my outstretched arms lifting my tank top a little - flashing Sam some braless underboob. I heard him moan and shuffle in his chair, however my eyes were still locked with Deans, and I watched as the older brother leant back and spread his legs a little wider, adjusting himself in his jeans as he laced his fingers together over his abdomen. Without missing a beat, I flipped myself back over onto my stomach and played the previous motions in reverse - sliding upwards so I was on all fours and then back to being just on my knees. I turned so I was facing Sam again, grinning at his hooded eyes and slack jaw as I placed my hands on his knees and pushed myself up to standing. I stepped around him slowly, my hands running down his broad shoulders as I moved to stand behind him. I leant down and whispered into his ear, his head dipping to the side slightly as my breath fanned out over his hot skin:

“Admit it, I’m perfect for the case.”

I watched his eyes flutter closed as he replied in a breathy voice.

“Yes… you’re perfect…” he paused, like he’d forgotten to finish his sentence, “…perfect for the case, I mean.”

I smiled as I stood up straight, catching Deans piercing gaze again.

“I’m going to bed - it’s been a long day. You boys should too,” my voice came out perhaps a little more sultry than I expected.

They both nodded, humming in response as I turned away, walking to my bedroom and leaving behind me at least one testosterone-field time bomb.

I’ll probably regret that whole ordeal in the morning

——————————————————————

Taglist: @justjensenandhisalteregos @suckitands33 @jackles010378 @lanassmarty @aliceeinwonderland420 @tina-theslytherin @deans-queen @hell0-ki11y111 @hobby27 @lilcuutiee @sobearcowboy @girls-alias @selfdestructionandrhum @ericasabe @lacilou @littlemadamred @viridiesa @anneanirac @deans-baby-momma @swimregulas @ashdoctor @littlemarvelstan8 @atcamillanorrman @deangirl96 @zannemes @kr804573 @foxyjwls007 @divadinag @ilikw @cookiemonstermusic258 @mysterialee @vsplanet @ababy-girl @joonseuph0ria @mxltifxnd0m @deans-spinster-witch @st4bl3-ch40s @raven-red10 @feyresqueen @lori69 @roseblue373 @clusterfuck-meup @urinternetmom @rachiem4-blog @ceeshellecee @qinnroki @winchestergirl82 @mojos-hidden-castle @snowayumi @evzyi @mymuseisbipolar @magssteenkamp @koharuheartfilia @fics-pics-andotherthings-i-like @lazygrungekid

Some of the tags haven’t worked so please check your settings if your name is highlighted!

——————————————————————

Up Next:

Chapter 9

#dean winchester #dean winchester smut #dean x y/n #dean x you #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester x you #dean x female!reader #dean x reader #dean winchester x reader smut #dean winchester x you smut #eventual smut #supernatural smut #slow burn #supernatural #spn #dean winchester enemies to lovers #enemies to lovers #smut

265 notes · View notes

anthurak · 1 year

Text

I’ve talked before about my theories about the full potential of Ruby’s semblance. That being, Ruby’s ability to deconstruct and reconstruct herself at a molecular level has some pretty wild applications.

Among others, the ones I think are the most interesting are Ruby effectively being able to shapeshift, ie; she can reconstruct her body, her clothing and Crescent Rose into entirely new shapes and forms. And on top of that, Ruby’s ability to reconstruct herself would potential allow to recover from just about any injury. Whether it be losing a limb, being impaled, cut to pieces or even EXPLODED, one activation of her semblance later and Ruby is back to normal. Effectively giving a ‘healing factor’ on par with Salem’s immortality.

And the thing is, I think abilities like these are thematically perfect for Ruby.

You know how there’s been a lot of discussion on how it seems like every character’s semblance seems to represent the major flaw/problem that character has spent the show grappling with in some way or another? Often in some dramatically ironic way? Like how Weiss is a girl who has been working so hard to separate herself from the baggage and burden of her family’s responsibility and legacy, yet has what seems to be the ONLY fully-hereditary semblance in existence? And in Ruby’s case, of course the girl who has spent the entire show, and likely much of her life running away from her pain and trauma has a speed semblance.

But the funny thing is, for Ruby it’s pretty clear that the show has already started building to a big subversion of this idea. In Volume 7 we see that while Ruby has always thought she had a speed semblance, Harriet voices that it’s probably something else.

And in Volume 8, Penny outright confirms that Ruby’s semblance ISN’T ‘speed’, but rather the ability to deconstruct and reconstruct herself at a molecular level.

It turns out that Ruby was wrong about what her semblance actually did. And through that, it turns out that this idea of Ruby’s semblance representing her attempts to run away from her pain are likewise flawed.

And now that we are in a Volume set to explore themes of transformation and our characters discovering who they might truly be, I think this is going to be the perfect time for Ruby, and the narrative, to reevaluate just what it is her semblance represents.

Because whereas Ruby’s Petal Burst simply being speed represented Ruby’s fixation on running away from her pain, Petal Burst being molecular deconstruction/reconstruction can instead represent Ruby’s unshakable idealism fully realized.

Now there is no obstacle that can stop her, because there is nothing she cannot move around or through. There is no challenge she cannot find a solution for, because she is infinitely adaptable. And there is NOTHING that can truly break her for good, because she can ALWAYS build herself back up from her literal molecules.

In other words, Ruby’s body may be weak and breakable, but her spirit is INDOMITABLE.

#rwby #rwby analysis #rwby theory #Ruby Rose #rwby semblance #Ruby's semblance #of course i'm going to name drop the song XD

1K notes · View notes

marvelmymarvel · 1 year

Text

Guardian (Part 1)

Sakumo Hatake x Sarutobi!Reader

Jiraiya x Sarutobi!Reader

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

Synopsis: Your brother gave you an assignment, "Go ask Sakumo Hatake if he needs help with his newborn." It was a simple task, but it snowballed into so much more.

TW: Mention of death and suicide

Ages:

The reader is the same age as the Sannins - 26 at the beginning

Sakumo is 38 at the beginning

A/n: There will be multiple parts to this. I've never seen this concept before but it may be my favorite.

Naruto Masterlist: Here

Your fist hovered over the wooden door, unsure why you had suddenly grown hesitant. Your brother told you to see if Sakumo Hatake needed help with his newborn considering his wife died during childbirth. It was an assignment, nothing more. But something within you made you feel funny. You, of course, knew what was making you feel so funny, but you had to push it down.

The door swung open, making you jump in your spot, "Sakumo! Hello. Um…" Your mouth grew dry as he looked down at you expectantly. The area under his eyes was dark and heavy; you could tell he hadn't been getting any sleep. Raising a newborn was hard, but it must have been impossible when doing it alone. He nodded at you, encouraging you to continue. "I-"

A shrill cry hit your ears, and your eyes traveled inside the dark house. Sakumo sighed, "Do you or Lord Third need something? If not, I need to go soothe Kakashi-"

"No! No. That's why I'm here. Hiruzen asked me to check and see if you needed a hand."

Sakumo grew silent at that, eyebrows creasing as he tried to figure out what to say. Kakashi's cries rose in volume, and your maternal instincts made you ansty, "May I?" Your question flew out before you could stop it, he needed help, and you knew he wouldn't ask for it.

He stepped to the side and allowed you inside his home. You moved toward the source of the crying before finally ending up in the nursery. Your lip curled into a sweet smile, eyes crinkling as you cooed down at the white-haired baby.

"Hi there, Kakashi."

Sakumo stood frozen in the doorway as he watched your hands cradle the baby before bringing him out of the crib and into your arms, "Do you have milk? I can try rocking him to sleep" Sakumo nodded before silently leaving you two to grab the formula. You began to bounce Kakashi, coos and sweet words leaving your lips as you slowly calmed the babies screeching until all that came out were little whimpers.

Sakumo returned a few minutes later with the formula and found you already in the rocking chair. You shot him a smile before extending out your hand for the food, "Thank you." Your whisper was soothing even to him, "Why don't you lay down? I can watch him through the night."

He liked that idea. He hadn't gotten much sleep in the past few weeks. Without another word, the older man headed to his bedroom, leaving you alone with Kakashi.

3 Years Later

Over time, you had grown closer to the Hatake family and began dating Sakumo. Your brother was initially displeased with the predicament but accepted it once he saw how happy you were. As Hiruzen looked down at the adoption paper, he realized you loved this family more than anything else.

"Are you sure you want to adopt Kakashi?"

You nodded at your brother before repositioning the child on your hip. Sakumo stood beside you, bouncing on his toes as he waited for Lord Third's approval. Hiruzen pursed his lips as he took in the three of you. "Are you two going to get married?" Your eyes widened at the question. Marriage was never brought up; it didn't seem like Sakumo wanted that. You didn't blame him, either. He had lost his wife three years prior, so even just dating you felt wrong. "I won't sign these papers until you promise to marry her someday-"

"Hiruzen-"

"My sister deserves a family, and a family includes marriage, not just kids."

"Hiruzen, that is not true, and you know it-"

Sakumo cut off your angry words by grabbing your free hand, "I'll marry her. Don't worry about that part of it. Please, though, for right now, sign the papers. She already is his mother, but I want that to be legally true as well."

Your mouth and eyes were wide open in shock as you looked at Sakumo beside you. Was he being serious?

"Very well," Hiruzen called out before plucking his pen from the desk. "I expect you two to be married within the year" Sakumo smiled at that before letting go of your hand to move towards your brother. "Thank you, Lord Third. For everything"

Hiruzen sent a glare up at the man. He really didn't intend for you to fall in love with the older man; all he wanted was for you to help. His eyes drifted over to you and Kakashi. A smile proudly adorned your lips as you held the three-year-old close to you. While Hiruzen didn't like how this turned out, he couldn't deny that your happiness made him feel better. Hiruzen sighed and handed the papers to Sakumo before leaning back.

"Within the year."

Sakumo gripped the paper and nodded quickly, "Within the year. You have my word."

The rain pounded down hard against your umbrella as you hurried back home with Kakashi. "Mama, do you think Daddy will be better?" Your blood ran cold at the question. Sakumo had done something against the Ninja code, causing many to turn their backs on him. It broke him, broke him harder than you could heal him. Kakashi's fingers dug into your hand at your silence, silently wincing at how the diamond ring bit into his flesh. His dad had been acting funny. Even though he was four, he knew something was wrong.

"I don't know, baby. I hope so," your voice trailed off as your eyes caught sight of the front door of your house. Sakumo was supposed to be going somewhere; you didn't expect him to return so soon. Your heart raced as you got closer. You tried to be around him whenever possible. It was the only way to keep him safe from himself. "Kakashi baby, sit here, okay? Mama is gonna go in quick."

The four-year-old nodded before sitting in the chair on the porch, happily content with watching the rain. Your breath was shaky as you moved into the house, panic rising in your throat as you saw him on the floor. "Oh… no" Your lip trembled as you approached. Maybe he was just sleeping or relaxing.

Wishful thinking.

"Oh Gods," you cried out quietly, hand clasping over your mouth as you took in Sakumo's lifeless form. Your hand shook violently against your lips, pain seeping through you as you thought through what you needed to do. Who do you go to? Kakashi couldn't see this, but you couldn't just leave him. A name flashed through your head, causing you to inhale sharply. He was the only one who could help you.

You knelt to Sakumo, hand lightly brushing through his hair. His skin was cold against your hand, making you feel lightheaded. "I'm so sorry, Saku," you whispered before kissing his temple. Your tears fell onto his face, cascading down his features before landing on the floor below. Realizing that Kakashi would grow antsy and come in, you stood up and walked towards the door.

Kakashi jumped in the seat as you emerged from the house again, "Is daddy in there?"

Your heart lurched at the question, but you ignored it and picked him up, "We are going to an old friend of mine. Okay?"

The roof extending over his front door did nothing to shield you and Kakashi from the rain. The young boy shivered against you, and you scolded yourself for forgetting the umbrella back at the house. You took a deep breath as you brought your fist up to pound at the door urgently. Retracting your fist, you pulled Kakashi deeper into you, hoping to warm him up. Your hair was sopping wet, and your makeup was ruined. You knew the man behind the door would be concerned. So you prepared for it.

But you weren't prepared for this.

The door swung open, and your eyes widened. The woman before you was scantily clothed, and you fought the urge to cover Kakashi's eyes. "Can I help you?"

"Uh… Is Jiraiya here?"

She pursed her red lips at that before eyeing the child on your hip. "He's busy."

You breathed a sigh of relief, happy he was at least here. "I need to talk to him. Can you please-"

"Jiraiya! Who the hell is this kid!?"

Your eyebrows furrowed at her sudden shift in demeanor, but looking down at Kakashi made you realize what she was getting at. "Oh. No, no, this isn't-"

"JIRAIYA. So HELP ME IF THIS IS YOUR KID-"

"What the hell are you yelling about-"

Jiraiya stumbled out into the hall before freezing at the sight of you and Kakashi. "Y/n" His voice sent you into a spiral as you took him in. He was wearing nothing but boxers, and he was out of breath. You eyed the pair before giving a sheepish smile. "Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt but-"

"It's okay…" he breathed as he heard the thickness in your voice. He knew you like the back of his hand, and he knew that something serious had happened.

"What do you need, baby?"

"Baby?! Who the hell is she?!"

"Akira, I think you need to go home-"

"Excuse me!? I'm your girlfriend. She needs to go home."

"I need you," you called out between their arguing, not immensely enjoying being the cause of such discourse. Jiraiya nodded before heading back into the bedroom to get dressed. His girlfriend, Akira, as you learned seconds ago, stormed after him. Ranting and raving about how he was cheating on her. He ignored her, causing her to fly out and storm back towards you. "You think you can just come here and take him from me!?"

"No. I'm-" You cut yourself off. Your next word was going to be 'engaged,' it was something you would say to the men at the bar, and it had become second nature when approaching the subject of dating. But it wasn't true anymore. Were you still engaged? Even if he was dead? You let your gaze fall to the floor. "I'm not interested in dating."

You hoped the words would calm her, but they only seemed to anger her. "So you're going to take him from me and leave him?! You're a real bitch-"

"Akira, that's enough. She's engaged."

Akira shut her mouth at that as she let her eyes travel to your left hand dangling by your side. You grew uncomfortable with her staring and adjusted Kakashi on your right hip. Jiraiya brushed past Akira before grabbing your left hand, "Come on. Take me to where you need me."

You nodded before pulling him with you toward your home. Akira still screamed at him, crying out how she'd never see him again if he kept going, but he didn't listen. His only concern right now was you. You, however, couldn't help but feel bad for causing a fight. "So sorry for that-"

"She doesn't matter right now; what's going on?"

His words were sharp with a warning. You came before everyone else; no one could replace your importance to him. You eyed Kakashi, who looked up at the big man with wide eyes, he had never seen anyone so tall before, and while he was shy, he couldn't help his curiosity. "Mama, who's this?"

"An old friend of mine, Kakashi. His name is Jiraiya."

"He's tall."

You smiled softly at his awe-struck face, but it quickly fell once you realized you'd have to explain what happened in a few moments. Jiraiya didn't like that you weren't verbally telling him what was going on, but your actions and demeanor had him connecting the dots.

The house came into view, and you picked up the pace, anxiety filling your chest as you once more set Kakashi on the chair. "We will be right back, okay? Stay here. Do not come in."

"Mama, I miss Daddy."

Your wince went unnoticed by Jiraiya as he entered the house. "I know, baby, I know. Just please stay here and do not come in" Kakashi bit his lip but nodded. Pressing a kiss to his temple, you started towards the door.

Jiraiya knelt beside Sakumo, fingers pressed into his neck as if checking for a faint pulse. "I don't know what to do" Your words were soft as you moved to him. Jiraiya looked up at you sadly as if apologizing for not finding a pulse; it made you sick. "We need to get your brother-"

"What about Kakashi? He needs to know. How do I… How do I even tell him what happened?"

Jiraiya didn't say anything. For he didn't know how to tell a child that their father was so sad he couldn't keep living. He couldn't bear it. Turning on your heel, you headed back to Kakashi. You wouldn't tell him everything, just enough for his little brain to understand.

The cool air hit your face as you exited the house, lips trembling as you prepared for the most brutal talk of your life. "Can I come in now, mommy?" You shook your head before kneeling in front of him. How the hell were you going to do this?

"Daddy's not okay, is he, mommy?"

You shook your head at him, tears brimming along your lash line as you fought the urge to throw up. "Daddy is not okay," your confirmation caused his brown eyes to well up with tears as you ran a hand through his wet hair. "Can I say goodbye?" You winced at the question before shaking your head no at him. A cry flew from his lips, and you drug him into your embrace, "I'm sorry, baby. Just know he loved you more than anything. Okay?" This would be his first time experiencing death, and you would have to help him through it. You had to be strong for him.

There was no time to mourn.

Kakashi sobbed into your shoulder harder as you rocked him back and forth, cooing and promising him that you were there. Jiraiya stood by the door, watching you comfort the child. He knew you would push the emotions down until you exploded. You would put Kakashi first. Rightfully so, of course, but as he watched you both comfort and fight off your own pain, he realized you needed him around.

Akira would not like this.

#jiraiya x reader #jiraiya imagine #jiraiya imagines #sakumo hatake imagine #sakumo hatake imagines #naruto imagine #naruto imagines #naruto x reader #naruto fanfiction #naruto #sakumo hatake #jiraiya #angst #fluff

189 notes · View notes

goshdangronpa · 1 year

Text

Let's rate new hairstyles

16. Teruteru - already the worst haicut on the worst character, he keeps up his losing streak

15. Hajime - sea urchin-lookin ass

14. Sonia - reeeeally not fond of this

13. Hiyoko - the next evolution to her final Karen form, very grandma

12. Fuyuhiko - so much more generic, looks like a shonen protag

11. Nagito - wrong wrong wrong. He's supposed to be scrungly, never met a brush or comb that liked him, wtf is this

10. Mahiru - more volume than necessary, not bad but not flattering

9. Nekomaru - very protag, but it's more fitting for him and less generic than Fuyuhiko so there's that

8. Ibuki - this is just how it looks when she doesn't take two hours to style it in the morning

7. Gundham - lmao

6. Imposter - is fine but also get a haircut hippie

5. Peko - nice to see her loosen up a bit!

4. Chiaki - the same but longer, which ain't bad at all

3. Kazuichi - looking good, bisexual confirmed

2. Akane - yeeees. Arguably not with her character, but definitely looks great and she can rock it like no one’s business

1. Mikan - also arguably not with her character, but it's what she deserves. No more hack jobs from bullies. Get that pro cut, bangs in a perfect line, locks chopped for evenness. Look how happy she is. Would you take that from her?

386 notes · View notes

dextixer · 7 months

Text

"Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me", "Once its happenstance, twice its a coincidence, thrice is deliberate", " The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. "

Many quotes/sayings exist in many different languages and many different cultures, all carrying the same meaning. The meaning that while mistakes can and WILL happen, a person should learn from those mistakes to not repeat them. Making mistakes is natural, understandable. Repeating those same mistakes over and over however, indicates a problem, a problem that rarely has an excuse.

RT is no different in this regard. As always, we are at the point where the crew commentary is released, that part of the year when many a critic and fan can read the thought of the crew producing RWBY, and despair at what they see.

It was revealed and i think known a bit before the recent days that RWBY Volume 9 had an entire episode cut, in the second part of the show. It was "unforseen" complications that lead the crew needing to cut a lot of stuff and keep the "most important" parts of the episodes, thats why after Ruby suicide the cut-away seemed so strange.

While i did not see CRWBY make any excuses (yet) about this besides saying that it happened, many fans are already doing it for them, simply saying that these are just "expected" things in production, that CRWBY are not to blame, and yet, they are.

Priorities

First of all, CRWBY are the ones who decide on what parts of the show to prioritize in production. On Twitter Eddy Rivas confirmed that episodes 1-7 were fully produced before episodes 8+ were. The argument presented there is that the solution of "Cutting things from 1-7 and add more to 8+" doesnt work because they were both done at different times of production.

While that is true it does pose a question on why exactly does CRWBY keep doing this then? This problem is not new, the fact that many of RWBY volumes are very back-ended and it causes problems is not new and has been known for a long time now. This is the reason why in most of the Volumes, critics usually focus on things that happen at the end of the Volume, because that is when most of the problems with things like writing occur.

So why continue doing this? So many of RWBY plotlines can be better distributed alongside the entire Volume instead of trying to cram it in at the last second. Lets take for example a character like Oscar. Volume 7 proved that Oscar and his relationship/changes due to Ozpin can be very well done if its all distributed properly in the Volume. Compare this to V6 where it all has to happen offscreen just because "There is no time" to explore Oscar.

Why is then so much of V9 so back-ended? Apparently there was going to be an explanation there that Neo gained her new powers because she landed in the God of Darkness acre. The Ascencion phenomena was going to be expanded upon. We have Ruby and her suicide. We have Jaunes break-down. We have Rubys break-down and i could go on.... and on.... There is just SO MUCH there, why?

The explanations of Neos powers could have been done earlier in the Volume. Ascencion could have been distributed during the entire V9 etc.

Instead we have parts of an episode focused on a talking trash panda that ends up not mattering as an example?

It just feels like the wrong things are prioritized in the show and most of them are back-loaded to such an extent that its INEVITABLE that it will cause a point of failure. Just like it did the REST of the times with the preceding Volumes. Why has that lesson not been learned yet?

When one builds something, the most important first parts are a skeleton. You can do the rest later, but you should have the MAIN feature of your product finished first, everything else is extra. And yet it seems that RWBY constantly tries to do everything at once and then when they inevitably fail to actually finish it all, they start cutting important stuff.

Ambition

The other problem is that there is just SO MUCH SHIT that they want to do. They want to use the Ever After to confirm BB and to further give their relationship time. They want to focus on Neo, her new powers (Now related to the God of Darkness). They want the Ever-After to explore Ruby and Jaune and their developments after V8. They want to explore the concepts of acceptance and reincarnation. They want to develop a new character, Little. They want to connect the Ever-After with the gods of RWBY. Thats just SOME of what they tried to focus on, and at the end of the day, isnt it a bit much?

This always happens with RWBY, the show writers dont seem to understand their limitations and they try to cram as MANY ideas as they can into a Volume, when that Volume wont be able to properly develop those ideas in the first place. This is why a lot of RWBY kingdom arcs feel like they miss an entire extra Volume, be it Mistral or Atlas. They simply have no time to develop the concepts they want.

But instead of cutting down on them and focusing on whats most important, they keep stuffing more and more things into the show. And then decide "Well, people will understand/guess what we kept offscreen".

Did you know that Neo got her new powers with Jabberwocker (Basically, literal fucking death?) because she landed in an Acre that belonged to the gods of RWBY? Well, we were supposed to "Guess" or "Understand" that according to the writers. HOW? I have no idea. But we were "Supposed to".

This is the kind of thing, this bloat that plagues many an indie development. Where the developers/makers just add more and more features that pop into their heads, instead of focusing on what they already have and is important.

Understandable in V1-V3. But holy hell RT is a full on corporation right now, so now its no longer understandable.

End Word

Anyways, apologies for being missing in a large capacity for this, entire month i think? Way too much stuff to do, also got involved with wiki editing, which takes a lot of time. Next thread will be next week and i will focus on the suicide/reincarnation/acceptance message that the Volume tried to portray, because the crew commentary has given me more info to talk about.

"Budget" and "Cuts" stop being excuses for the shows writing when its a regular occurrence.

#rwby #rwde #crwby #roosterteeth #rwby volume 9

87 notes · View notes

bestworstcase · 3 months

Note

I'm just thinking about your points about Penny and dehumanization and the heroes essentially taking decisions away from Penny while trying to protect her. Penny and Winter don't interact until Penny passes the Maiden powers to Winter in Volume 8. But in 7 - the last time they see each other - Winter buys time for Penny to make her decision with Fria. Which I think puts a neat layer into Penny ultimately saving Winter in the Winter versus Ironwood fight.

You can read Penny being puppeteered as a continuation of the dehumanization and how Atlas treats individuals. And she never really has a chance to fight that personally. The whole Cinder blowing up the evac plan happens first. But Peny being the tipping point with Winter versus Ironwood, especially in the reading that they were both baring the weight together... The thing is it is very very hard to get out of bad situations solo. And Penny did get someone out. I hope this makes sense

what always gets to me is. winter panics when penny rescues her ("what are you doing?! my life doesn't matter!") because it puts fria and the staff in jeopardy. and then not five minutes later she makes what is clearly a conscious, deliberate choice to step back and let fria choose penny as her heir, throwing herself in between them and cinder with her aura still depleted, against ironwood's orders. it's such an important moment bc it reveals that winter absolutely meant what she told penny earlier about wrestling with her feelings because she values her humanity—winter is not mindlessly following orders or blindly self-sacrificial, but she is willing to die for what she believes is right.

(winter is also the reason we know fria's name, because she makes a point of saying fria instead of calling her the winter maiden. which is the moment her break from ironwood becomes narratively inevitable, that rejection of fria's dehumanization)

i think the way penny frames the situation to jaune is really revealing of her perspective on… everything that's happened to her since she became the maiden. in her eyes it snatched away what little autonomy she had; ironwood and the ace-ops pulled out all the stops to manipulate and then outright control her, and all of her friends collectively decided that the maiden power was too valuable and too vulnerable for penny to do anything except go hide somewhere they hoped salem couldn't follow. everyone puts so much emphasis and importance on the magic that when penny is being eaten alive by watts' virus she considers the situation in terms of "i can make sure the powers go to [ruby]."

so when cinder fatally wounds her--and penny recognizes that there isn't enough time to heal her (& there isn't, he had less than sixty seconds before cinder had weiss disarmed on the ground)… "let me choose this one thing."

it's weiss, or winter, or cinder. if jaune hesitates or ignores what penny tells him, cinder kills weiss and then him and then claims the power for herself; if he mercy-kills penny now, penny can make sure the power goes to weiss so that weiss can get herself and jaune out alive…

…or she can give it to winter, her best friend. who for all she knows is already in vacuo right now, as penny has no way of knowing that ironwood is free or that winter is in danger.

in many ways, winter is the wrong choice in that moment; weiss and jaune are in danger, cinder has both relics, and without the magic weiss doesn't stand a chance. winter is not here, and penny has no idea where she is--or even if she's still alive!--so the pragmatic choice, the "correct" decision, the thing she "needed" to do, was make sure the magic went to weiss.

penny's whole arc in atlas is about the unreconcilable conflict between what she needs to do and what she wants to do, and in the end--forced by horrible circumstances to make a binary choice--she chooses to do what she wants. to follow her heart. to think of her friend. to take a small moment of peace and happiness for herself by saying goodbye to someone she loves very dearly.

and that's the moment of triumph over ironwood, who saw his own humanity as his greatest weakness!! penny choosing to do something for herself, because it's what she wants. in coldly rational terms it was the wrong choice, but thematically it was the right thing for penny to do--the human thing--so it saves not only winter but also weiss and jaune, too (although both of them do fall, because penny took a risk and a central theme of V8 is that risks don't always turn out for the best).

it's such a well-constructed tragedy. and it's thematically so important that penny choosing her friend over her 'duty' is the only reason winter survives, bc that final battle between ironwood and winter symbolizes the ideological conflict of the atlas arc--is human feeling strength, or is it weakness? has he made hard but necessary choices or has he sacrificed everyone and everything that truly mattered?--so of course penny's humanity is his undoing.

#you chose nothing. this was a *gift*#WAUGH.

52 notes · View notes

iamafanofcartoons · 9 months

Text

Reasons to love Cinder Fall from RWBY, by June / Blightmxb on Twitter

1. Her outfits.

She's had MORE wardrobe changes than any other RWBY character. she's a fashion victim and she looks GORGEOUS while doing every evil deed

2. Her story.

She's the survivor of an abusive environment in a world where nothing was given to her, she learned that taking the things she wants is the only way to survive. She's such a tragic villain cause there was never a kind hand that could've lead her on a different path

3. Jessica Nigri's VA skills.

I cannot stress enough how much i LOVE Cinder's voicing. Her velvety voice when she's being mean, her grunts of frustration, how raw she sounds when she FIGHTS. Jessica Nigri does a marvellous job for her volume after volume!

4. She's a girlfailure.

She has been defeated numerous times by a little girl, has been allegedly killed by another maiden, challenged by Jaune (affectionate), kicked by THE Blake Belladonna. The list of failures goes on and i support her ALWAYS coming back

5. Her powers.

She can materialize incandescent cristals, fire, make any given weapon on the spot and BREATHE FIRE. how absolutely COOL is that !!

6. How PETTY she is.

"Do you believe in destiny?" "Yes." // "Someone once asked me if I believed in destiny and I'm happy to say I still do" Cause after coming back from the dead (almost) she es yet again ready to commit atrocities to become even stronger, i respect her tenacity

7. She looks so awesome.

The atrocities look GOOD on her and she is a feast to the eyes when she's on screen

8. She is an overconfident, manipulative, intelligent, ruthless, cunning, villain who knows exactly how to get what she wants AND she's a woman.

Enough of morally corrupted men in media, I want morally corrupted WOMEN who are POWER-HUNGRY & not afraid to take what they want !!

9. If Ruby is the light of RWBY, Cinder is the shadow.

As the show goes on, Ruby & Cinder both face failure, loss, trauma and they both slowly lose parts of themselves. But while Ruby overcomes the struggles and becomes better, Cinder doesn't change her ways and becomes worse

10. Her Cinderella theme

i'm obsessed with how she's based on cinderella but she mirrors that entire tale and instead of becoming kind and forgiving and loving she becomes ruthless, cold hearted, and vengeful

11. She is the heart of the conflict in RWBY.

She’s the only consistent villain that brings conflict to the story. Grimm are background threats, & Salem & the other villains have less impactful scenes but Cinder is ALWAYS at the centre of the main events that further the plot

12. She would give it a shot to bisexuality.

And I think that's very cool of her to love women !!

13. Overall, I think she's a pivotal character in the RWBY universe who stirs things up and gives us such memorable (and painful) moments and I just love a complex and morally dubious villain !!

Disclaimer, cause I know you guys like to take things out of context. Do I condone her actions? No. She's done terrible things and she'll have to pay for them. Do I think she deserves a happy ending? I think she's too far gone for any hope of redemption, so probably no.

I personally don't want her to die, but knowing how RWBY works there's a slim chance she'll survive after what she's done. So. I would like her to hit rock bottom so hard she realizes she's neck deep in the wrong path, but she can still do One Good thing before she's done for(+)+) and that is sacrifice herself for Ruby. Or save her/help her in any capacity when all seems lost and she's too far gone to survive. Her own little redemption to all the terrible things she's done. That isn't enough but it's Something. I want her dark life to end with a light

www.twitter.com/Blightmxb/status/1652622432560111616

#rwby #rwby cinder #cinder fall #rwby character discussion #rwby character analysis #blightmxb #rwby analysis #rwby discussion #iamafanofcartoons

98 notes · View notes

irldiancie · 27 days

Text

All Kagehina “proof” I know of

Ok i wasnt gonna post this but ive been told by a friend to explain why some might ship Kagehina so... try me. i dont exactly ship this myself but lets just say im a pro when it comes to this topic also it's not as bad as i thought it was there are worse ships idk why i was a hater also i lowkey got some of this from shipping wiki but most of it i knew already, plus NOT ALL OF THIS IS NECESSARILY REFERENCES TO THE SHIP it kinda just adds on to it anyways lets just get into it

ok so starting with common knowledge i think everyone knows that Hinata is the protagonist followed with Kageyama being the deuteragonist, they get the most screen time together and are pretty much paired MOST of the series, we get a lot of content with them together while also getting content of them on their own, they're known as the "freak duo," the "greatest teammates" and like 100 other names they've been called I've seen a lot of people intemperate their relationship wrong, I've seen a few say Kageyama was downright "abusive" to Hinata which I think is a little farfetched, but to each their own! They genuinely do care for each other and it shows, even at the end of the manga you can tell how far their relationship has come, even if they consider themselves rivals, they are without a doubt still friends Now a lot of people have said "well they're not gay they're just friends", while this is true, it has been referenced/implied officially in many places, including manga panels and english dubs, so while it isn't canon there is a few cute things about it which we know are official which is why I'm sharing this, I myself know it isn't canon, plus I didn't really make this to prove anything it was kinda for fun sorry if that made little to no sense but I'll start getting into more interesting stuff 1. at the tip of the iceberg we have the fact they're in so much official art together

theres like a 1000 more of these btw theyre often put near eachother even in official arts not based off them

I have like 1k more of these but i have more proof than this but i think you get my point some of this is probably promo art but that's also considered official art so 2. moving on i think another known one is that Ukai calls them lovebirds ONE TIME in English dub and I have no idea who approved that but I think it's funny and obviously this probably meant nothing but take it as you want video of it here 3. this is kinda randomly thrown in but the fact that they also trust eachother, they've mentioned it a couple times but I think it's nice to know 4. i dont remember when this was or what chapter or something but kageyamas grandfather said "somebody even better will come for you", which just happened to be Hinata of course 5. ALSO after that whole fight scene back in season two, Hinata says this

he didnt really consider kageyama as a friend, but he considered him a partner which i believe is more important to hinata. teammates/partners were always something Hinata wanted, as before he went to Karasuno, he didn't feel like his friends in Junior high were necessarily teammates. Meaning he valued Kageyama more because he was his partner.

(credits to triananero for these images) and when him and Kageyama started working together, they most definitely were perfect together, as they balanced each-other out, which made them become an unstoppable duo or whatever they called them 6. the fact that they have matching jersey numbers 9 and 10 moving on to less canon stuff, there is a light novel of Haikyuu called Haikyū!! Shōsetsuban!! which probably isnt close to canon but Furudate was a part of it even though it wasn't written by him, so it's at least somewhat official 7. anyway according to shipping wiki there is a chapter where Kageyama feels "fluttery feelings at the bottom of his stomach" when Hinata texts him, it's on volume 8 chapter 1, I REALLY WANTED TO SHOW YOU GUYS BUT I COULDNT FIND IT ANYWHERE ONLINE. i searched countless tumblr posts and websites but i could only find chapter five and chapter three so im fully convinced this is lost media LMAOOOO 8. also in Haikyū!! Shōsetsuban!! apparently there's a part where Hinata daydreams about him and Kageyama eating under cherry blossom trees i just found that cute AS MUCH AS I WANNA SHOW YOU GUYS I LITERALLY CANNOT FIND ANYTHING OF THIS LIGHT NOVEL ANYWHERE i just know it's real, if I ever get my hands on it which I doubt, I'll share proof it exists btw AND THIS IS REALLY RANDOM AND SOMEONE WANTED ME TO INCLUDE THIS BUT 9. Basically there was a ad for deodorant a couple years back, collabing with Haikyuu, where you could buy deodorants to “smell like them” or whatever, some shippers believe it’s a Kagehina reference as they also advertised Kageyama and Hinatas scents together as some like matching couple thing

and then there's this

And I think I've said enough, there's way more you can find out about this ship, but I hope with this post you've learned something new or whatever... I MIGHT MAKE THIS A SERIES should i do kenhina next or kuroken ANYWAYS DISCLAIMER I didnt look too much into most of these things but I can gaurentee this stuff is true also this was just for fun and not serious but i hope you liked my little post!

#haikyuu #kagehina #im just rambling #kageyama #tobio kageyama #haikyuu!!#ship #um #PLS ignore all the grammar mistakes i made this wasnt supposed to be serious #i love hinata shouyou #hinata shouyou #shippingpost #haikyu #hi #wht ship should i do next

31 notes · View notes

x-on-the-calendar-business · 9 months

Text

ryan ross iceberg (tier 2)

tier 1, tier 3, tier 4, tier 5, tier 6, tier 7, tier 8

the tip of the iceberg:

the young veins:

this is the band that ryan and jon started after they split from panic! it included a few other members, and often times ryan’s good friends z berg and alex greenwald (formerly of phantom planet), who will be mentioned more later on. they only released one album in 2010, called take a vacation! they played some live shows, but at the end of that same year, they went on an indefinite hiatus. HOWEVER, they made an official instagram account and have been active this year!! it’s likely because there will be vinyl repress (further supported by a comment jon left on their only post) but it’s super cool nonetheless [i].

this is a personal aside, but i honestly like this band more than anything panic! released post split, with the exception of new perspective and the calendar. like god this was such a good fucking band.

dottie, elwood, and hobo:

these were all ryan’s dogs.

hobo was the dog he got in 2006. however, when he and keltie (we will discuss her soon) broke up, she took her with her [ii].

dottie was a dog he got circa 2015.

elwood is the dog he got in 2017.

i’m not sure if ryan still has dottie and elwood since he has pretty much disappeared from the internet.

eta: i misspelled elwood's name as elmwood in the iceberg image. sorry about that!

z berg:

this is one of ryan’s exes and his bestie. they dated around 2009/2010. they still hang out today and he’s made appearances at these events she does called proms. she gives us the majority of ryan content that we’ve gotten in the past few years.

he featured on one of her songs, “the bad list,” and she featured of the young veins cover of “nothing matters but you.” she will come up more in other entries as well, which is why i'm not going super in depth here.

throam:

whew.

this is a ryden fic – probably the most iconic after the milk fic – called the heart rate of a mouse, written by anna green. it was originally posted on livejournal, and it’s LONG, coming in at 3 volumes and over 500k words.

the plot summary is that in the 1970s, ryan is the lead singer/guitarist of a famous band called the followers, and brendon is a roadie on their tour. brendon is openly gay, and ryan and brendon start hooking up, even though ryan is “straight.” from there, the series becomes 3 volumes of angst and pining. of course, there’s so much more that happens, but i won’t say too much for the sake of spoilers.

despite it being a ryden fic, it’s incredibly well written (if you’re able to get past the explicit smut), so i do recommend reading it at least once in your life. i’m gonna keep it 100, i’ve read this series at least 10 times with a yearly reread and have physical copies of it.

anna also wrote some ficlets to go along with it, such as one from brendon’s pov and just some extra stuff that didn’t end up in the final cut. she also wrote a lot of other iconic fics (all of which i also recommend), like the black rose season, how a resurrection really feels, posing in a ballroom, miguel sanchez’s grand slam of love, amongst many, many others. sadly, she purged her entire livejournal account, so you would have to turn to internet archives to read anything other than throam [iii].

unfortunately, this fic also reached the icon status that the milk fic did so multiple people from the bandom sphere know about it and have acknowledged it. for example, keltie, ryan’s ex-girlfriend, has read it and mentioned it on twitter multiple times (embarrassing for her but whatever) [iv]. jon tweeted about it once [v]. also, i swear that vicky t from cobra starship mentioned it (i wanna say it was on instagram, but i could be wrong); however, i can’t find the comment she made anymore.

link to throam for those who are curious

jac and keltie:

these are two of ryan’s exes from the panic! days.

jac vanek was a scene queen in the early 2000s, and they dated from november 2005 until feburary 2006 [vi]. it was a pretty cringey teenage relationship that was overly (grossly) chronicled on livejournal, and if you’re interested to read more, there will be a link in a later tier.

an interesting tidbit is that while ryan was dating jac, brendon was dating another scene queen named audrey kitching, which will also come up later in this iceberg.

keltie knight (née colleen) and ryan started their relationship in august 2006 after meeting at the vmas, where panic! was performing and keltie was a backup dancer (she was a rockette). he was 19 and she was 24, which may not seem like a big deal, but it definitely played into some power dynamics in their relationship. for example, in keltie’s book, she says she often had pay ryan's bills for him. also in her book, she stated that he didn't take their relationship seriously, leading him to propose to her and asking her to move in (maybe he wasn't taking it as seriously as you because he was barely in his 20s keltie just a thought). they broke up in 2009 right before the split. we’ll touch on that again later. there is honestly so much more that i could say about this relationship/keltie, but some of it will be covered in this iceberg and the rest will be linked along with the jac info.

sun and moon:

another ryden entry. this refers to a theory about ryan and brendon about which one is considered the moon, and the other is the sun; it’s based on their personalities, like who embodies which more. polar opposites and all that. when ryden was still relevant, who is the moon vs who is the sun was a hotly debated topic (ryan is the moon, while brendon is the sun is the only correct answer).

this also loosely tied into some lyrics from panic and their solo music. for example, when the day met the night is often referenced in relation to this theory, although this song is definitely about keltie [vii]. also, in 2014 ryan wrote lonely moonlight, which also could refer back to this theory and kind of calls back to the lyrics in when the day met the night [viii]. however, this song is most likely about keltie too, if not another past relationship (not brendon).

dead end kids club:

this is a band/touring project that ryan was part of, including z berg, dan keyes, and the band palm springsteen. it was first announced in july, 2019. later that same year, they went on tour, hitting 8 cities for fall balls. this was referred to as the “1st annual” but….[ix]

in 2020, they released a song called lonesome town that featured a lot of videos from fans [x]. also that year, palm springsteen was accused of assault, which dekc posted a couple of statements about on twitter, here and here, stating that they had been removed from the project “a long time ago” [xi]. they pretty much disbanded after that and haven’t been active since october 2020.

livejournal:

iconic. livejournal (aka lj) was basically tumblr before tumblr existed. similarly, it could be used as a personal blog, a place to post rpf fic, an emo poetry hub, a photo album, etc. it’s on this iceberg because ryan was very prolific on livejournal, under the username i_amclandestine, and it’s essentially where panic! got its start. ryan made contact with pete wentz through lj, sending him the early demos, which lead to pete signing them and then cue domino effect to a taylor swift song.

anyway, ryan made many iconic posts on there, some of which will be addressed directly in this iceberg, but i will leave a link to an archive of his lj account for further viewing. he made his last post in june of 2006, but he deleted the account in july of that year after receiving a spam of hate. at the same time, brendon changed his (part_time_lovah) to friends only [xii].

along with the links to ryan’s old lj, i’m also going to link a youtube video by one of my favorite channels, the cozy representative, in which julian goes through ryan’s posts.

this is the web archive for ryan’s lj (does not include his last post):

this is a tumblr masterpost of all of his entries, including the last one missing from the above link:

and finally, julian’s video:

youtube

ryan and spencer childhood besties:

ryan and spencer became friends when they were around 5 or so years old, which was always the saddest part of the 2009 split to me. ryan and spencer were in the og band before panic!, which will be discussed later.

in 2016, spencer’s wife tweeted that ryan and spencer were still friends. however, ryan did not attend spencer’s wedding, which could have been for a number of reasons, one of which we will also discuss more heavily later on [xiii]. of course, there is no way for us to know whether ryan wasn’t invited or if he just decided not to go.

mcr makes me dance:

in 2004, ryan went to the chemicalromance livejournal community and posted, “hey im ryan im new i live in las vegas my chemical romance makes me dance” and history was made [xiv]. this became a "meme" amongst panic! fans, and they started bringing signs with that phrase written on them for ryan told in pics. this has continued even in recent times.

newsboy cap:

this is another iconic piece of ryan ross fashion. he wore it a lot in 2004-2006 cause he’s a little fruity. like seriously, this hat had him in the biggest chokehold.

now, we move onto some of the deeper stuff and into the waters.

tier 3

references:

[i] https://www.instagram.com/theyoungveinsmusic/

[ii] https://pathetic-at-the-disco.tumblr.com/post/171475122211/did-keltie-knight-ever-steal-ryans-dog-or

[iii] https://web.archive.org/web/20170606154418/http:/beggarsnotes.livejournal.com/

[iv] https://youngveins.tumblr.com/post/141384273691/keltie-has-read-throam-this-is-not-the-twitter

[v] https://twitter.com/iamjonwalker/status/958805938227433472

[vi] https://pathetic-at-the-disco.tumblr.com/post/170958104996/the-tragic-love-life-of-ryan-ross-part-2

[vii] https://genius.com/Panic-at-the-disco-when-the-day-met-the-night-lyrics

[viii] https://genius.com/Ryan-ross-lonely-moonlight-lyrics

[ix]https://www.instagram.com/thedeadendkidsclub/?hl=en

[x] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzcWGQQiFDU

[xi] https://twitter.com/DeadEndKidsClub/status/1275849828459823105, https://twitter.com/DeadEndKidsClub/status/1283511345330049026

[xii] https://prettyoddfever.tumblr.com/post/629056560433446912/why-ryan-ross-deleted-his-livejournal-and-brendon

[xiii] https://pathetic-at-the-disco.tumblr.com/post/171901498176/so-i-saw-your-ryanspencer-post-and-i-was-just

[xiv] https://chemicalromance.livejournal.com/96360.html?page=1

#ryan ross #the young veins #panic! at the disco #jon walker #ryan ross iceberg #spencer smith #brendon urie #patd #ryan patd #panic at the disco #Youtube

56 notes · View notes

psyga315 · 7 months

Text

This is not a trolley problem with x number of people from Mantle on one side and y number of people from Atlas on the other. This is a trolley problem with a wealthy and powerful person on one track, and a disadvantaged person an alternate track, and Ironwood choosing to pull the lever instead of trying to stop the trolley.

Everyone brings this up but ignores how they spent an entire episode evacuating what's implied to be hundreds of people in Mantle, so what it should be is "this is a trolley problem with people who live in a floating state and some people we just evacuated vs. people we could try to evacuate but risk Salem catching us and all of us dying, rendering all our efforts for naught." The mere fact that the post has to address that we can't just rationally think about the evacuation process is an oxymoron because it's asking us to ignore what we've seen on screen. It's like how Cinder said "thousands". You can't just ignore that and then go "we don't actually know what thousands mean".

RWBY's solution isn't much better. Their "plan" is the equivalent of pulling Ironwood away from the lever and then blaming him for putting it there in the first place despite Salem being the out of control Trolley. And then when the trolley hits the larger portion of people, both teams are like "welp, can't be helped" and the only reason Salem is even dealt with in the first place is because a third party (Neo) forced the situation onto one of the teams.

Also, can we bring up the irony that RWBY disagrees with sacrifices despite the fact that literally any time they got a victory in Volume 8, it was brought about through a sacrifice? Salem's temporary defeat? Hazel sacrificed himself. Winter turning the tide of battle and the evacuation? Penny let Jaune slit her throat. Mantle being saved (despite the fact that it would have been emptied and then it would have been destroyed by Atlas falling)? Vine took the bomb. Hell, them saving Penny required them sacrificing Atlas and Mantle in the first place.

They say the theme is cooperation, and, you know, I can see it. Volume 7 clearly showed that the consequence of not having that results in the shitstorm that is Volume 8. The lack of cooperation between teammates (that aren't into each other) is what nearly led a certain curious cat with the ability to basically summon an army of the dead to invade Remnant.

This is obviously not a show about hard men making hard choices (despite Volume 8's big climatic moment being a hard man making a hard choice to kill the one girl they spent all Volume trying to protect), nor is it about cold-blooded calculations to pull up the ladder (despite Ruby basically making the decisions for Penny to the point where assisted suicide was considered her "one true choice").

But it's clearly not about empathy or compassion or cooperation. It's about throwing enough of a hissy fit that God Alice The Tree THE POOPSMITH has to give you a pat on the back and say how you did nothing wrong before sending you to an alternate universe (because 2023 is the year of the multiverse) where your gambit succeeded.

#rwde #rwby

42 notes · View notes

ghnbear · 1 year

Text

BL MANHWA RECOMMENDATIONS

Hello everyone! I've read so many good manhwa and I just want to find others just as good but people only recommend toxic ones, guys, what is wrong with you? My life is alredy very toxic alone, I don't need do add more, thank you. I WANT CUTE AND FUNNY manhwas so i going to give a list of my favorites. Some of those are acttualy toxic but they're still cute and nice to read if you are in a depressive state like I am. OK.

1. On of off

I find a hard time on selecting a firts place, BUT, this one is just... cute, funny, great, a lot of great secindary characters!!!!!! I love everything about this, I quot it in my mind every second of the day. Just cute. Read it as soon as possible, please, you're doing a favor to yourself. I wish i could read it for the first time again.... And i wish i could find some even similar.

2. Payback

PAYBACK ITS JUST... i don't have words. Everyone, I am addicted to this. It's not complete yet, but READ IT alredy. The good thing is that this one is actually very popular, so you probably alredy knew it. I love it, so much. People say that Jay it's toxic, but, guys, he is just... In love. It's beautiful. I love both!!!!! Best uke and seme you ever going to find. Great, funny, also very dark and ..... don't have words.

3. Killer crush

This is the funniest thing i ever read. I laught so much, just remembering make me smile, some scene are just great. LOVE it. I put the last 3 in this order but, to me, they are the number 1. GREAT BEAUTIFUL CUTE just,...... read it

4. 19 days

I read it in a day. I am serious. It's funny, cute, you can't let it go intil the end, but it's not complete!!!!! It kinda made me sad because I never going to have nothing similar in my life. And it's a very lonely manwha, even though it's mostly about friendship and... love. I love everything about it. It's so nice and chill and also it's very sad and make you be... very conscious....? I can't find the word

5. Semantic error

Beautiful. Sad. Cute. LOVE IT.

6- Perfect buddy

7. Roses and Champagne

8. Dangerous Convinience Store

9. Sign

10. Shutline

11. Full volume

12 love tractor

13. Red Candy

14. Bj Alex

15. Under the green light (WARNING: SAD)

16. Love for sale

17. The pizza DeliveryMan and the gold palace

THAT IT!!! t=These are the best i ever read, so IF you alredy read one of those and have some recommendations to me, please, tell me immediately. I need more cute and funny manhwa. PLEASE FEED THIS HUNGRY SOUL. I don't like omegaverse, btw, BUT i start reading How to snag an alpha and it's cute. Gonna keep reading and i will come back later with more recommendations. PLEASE RECOMMEND ME SOMETHING I AM ALONE IN THIS WORLD.

Thanks for readind :)

#bl manhwa #manhwa #yaoi #funny manhwa #cute manhwa #webtoon #boys love #lezhin #boys love webtoon #manhwa recommendation #korean manhwa #webtoons #webtoons recommendations

77 notes · View notes

thepaintedlady00 · 1 year

Text

Burden

Chapter 8: The Mist Waits

Chapter 7 | Chapter 9

I finished earlier than I thought I would, so enjoy the early chapter release y'all!

TW: Violence, confrontations, The Fates, Desire, blood, Dark Daunt, cliffhanger

Rose Walker was having an odd day. So much had happened in such a short time, and the girl wasn’t sure whether the appropriate response would be to cry in joy or to scream in frustration. She had family left, a Great Grandmother that seemed to want the same things that she did. Jed back home and safe, and them to all be a family once again. Now she had the resources to start truly looking for her brother and, hopefully, to bring him home once and for all.

“I’ll just get Lyta. Be right back,” Rose said in answer to one of the new people added to her odd little circle.

“Rose,” a voice called out to her, soft and young.

She stopped walking for a moment, quietly questioning whether the voice was in her head or actually coming from within the home. “Rosebud,” another voice said, maternal and warm.

“Rose Walker,” a third replied, cold and older.

She felt afraid and uncertain for a moment as her feet carried her forward to the closest door, the only logical place one could whisper to her from. Once she opened the door, she was greeted by three figures clothed in black.

“Hello, Rosie,” the youngest said.

The second smiled. “Come in, my butterfly.”

“You are at a crossroads, Rose Walker.”

She tilted her head slightly. “How do you know my name? Who are you?”

“Names, names, names,” the eldest among them said, waving her question away.

The youngest smiled sweetly. “Each name is but a single aspect of the whole.”

“Be satisfied by the trinity you have, love. You wouldn’t want to meet us as The Kindly Ones.”

“We can only caution you, sister.” The youngest looked darker. “We can’t protect you.”

A chill ran up Rose’s spine as she asked, “Protect me from…”

A maternal laugh echoed around her. “From life, my posy.”

“And the things that hover beyond life.”

“Thrashing themselves against it,” the eldest finished.

“Beware dreams,” the youngest whispered. “And houses. And trees.”

The cold voice sighed. “You ask the wrong question.”

“Had you asked the right one, we could have warned you against The Corinthian and the ghost of mist that haunts his steps.” The warm voice said.

“Told you about Jed,” the young voice continued.

“And about Morpheus.”

The light turned on, and the figures vanished before Rose’s eyes, almost as if they’d never been there… and maybe they hadn’t.

He stood in the center of the throne room, staring at the steps that Daunt had stood on. Dream had spent every free moment searching for The Forest, to no avail. The realm had either vanished entirely or closed itself off from him, as Daunt had after that day in Fiddler’s Green. Sadly, he was more inclined to believe the latter to be true. His head spun with the sheer number of concerns plaguing him, awaiting to be addressed. Dream of the Endless felt like he had back in the Burgess basement, only somehow worse. He felt he was being pulled in every direction, forced to split his focus between dire events, and feared no matter what he did, one or more would slip through the cracks and result in yet another loss for him to bear.

“My lord,” Lucienne’s soft voice called him from the dark corners of his mind as she approached with a book. “Forgive me for intruding, but I have the volume you requested.”

“Yes,” he sighed, taking the heavy leatherbound book from her hand and moving to sit on the bottom step of the stairs, hoping the vision of her bloodstained gown would fade from memory if he was not looking at them. “I assume it holds nothing of use as all the others.”

His librarian nodded solemnly. “I’m afraid so.”

“Jed Walker is still in the realm of the living, but I cannot find him.”

“No. Nor I, my lord.” She answered.

“All humans are connected to The Dreaming.” He shook his head. “They spend a third of their life here. Breaking that connection would require knowledge. And power.”

“Then it may interest you to know that the last nightmare Jed Walker had before he disappeared was of Gault.”

“You think she severed him from The Dreaming?”

Lucienne nodded. “I do.”

“Why?” He questioned.

“Because he’s not just any child, is he?” She replied. “He’s Rose Walker’s brother. She is the Vortex.”

Quiet footsteps echoed in the empty throne room as a dark figure walked toward them. “Excuse me. I am Rose Walker. What do you know about my brother Jed?”

Lucienne turned to Dream with wide eyes and an open mouth. Daunt’s words echoed in his ears. Sight alone will not tell you her secrets. He stood and smiled. “You are welcome here, Rose Walker.”

She looked around for a moment before asking, “Who are you?”

“You have somehow dreamed your way into an audience with Lord Morpheus. The King of Dreams,” Lucienne answered sternly. “And now you must go.”

“Lucienne.”

His librarian sighed. “She shouldn’t be here.”

He tilted his head slightly. “No, but I should like her to stay.

Rose Walker was indeed the vortex. Dream could feel it swirling around her. Power and mystery and something else, something that felt familiar. Lucienne’s apprehensive demeanor did not shift while Rose stood in his realm. He could not blame her. After all, a Vortex was a volatile and uncertain thing. Matthew agreed to watch over her in the Waking World, and as Rose Walker returned to her bed, Lucienne gave Dream a look. “Are you certain this is wise, my lord?”

“Gault must be found one way or another,” he answered carefully. “Leave Rose Walker to me, Lucienne. In the meantime, continue your search of the library for anything that may lead us to The Forest.”

The Corinthian enjoyed tea. He enjoyed the smell of the soft floral notes and earthiness and found the taste to be almost comforting. Though he’d never allow himself to linger on why he enjoyed such things, a lingering nagging voice in the back of his mind told him repeatedly. It reminds you of her. This was, of course, a voice he smothered when he was able. Instead, he smiled beside Unity, listening to her so easily give up the information he needed. It was inconvenient that Rose Walker had returned to America, but The Corinthian didn’t mind much.

If she was the key to his permanent freedom, he’d go to the ends of the earth to find her. Daunt’s white form stood before him, bathed in the light from the window, but that light did not touch her. Instead, she dampened it with her presence alone. “What do you fear more, I wonder? Not finding your vortex in time or having her deny you as all others have.”

As he walked out of the old home, he clenched his jaw at her presence beside him. “Answer me, nightmare.” She insisted. “Answer me, betrayer.”

“I’m not scared of anything,” he spat at her. “Not some fuckin kid, not Dream, and certainly not you.”

Laughter echoed around him as the sky grew dark with storm clouds. He turned to face her, to find her gone once again, but before he could even breathe, he felt her cold hand wrap around his neck. Long nails bit into his skin as she leaned in closely and whispered. “You should fear me, dear Corinthian.”

He tore himself away from her, searching for the white maiden in the open streets. “Mine will be the last face you see.”

“My lord,” Lucienne called out as she approached with confident steps. “May I help?”

Hunched over the table, he glanced up at her. “Is this everything we have on Rose Walker?”

She nodded. “And Jes Walker. But I shouldn’t think there’s anything in those you don’t already know. Except perhaps-”

“Except perhaps why she was able to wander into my throne room.” Dream sighed. “What do you think? Why did Gault target her brother and not her?”

“Did you read about Unity Kincaid?” She asked, turning away from him to fetch another book. “The day you were imprisoned, there were people all over the world who fell asleep and could not wake up. Unity Kincaid is the sole survivor of what they called the “sleepy sickness.” The day you returned, she woke up.” She set the book down in front of him. “Rose Walker is her great-granddaughter.”

He hummed. “Which would seem to suggest that my absence caused the birth of a vortex.”

“Is that not a possibility?”

“Vortexes are naturally occurring phenomena,” he stated with a smile. “No one knows why they happen. Not even I know. But I do know they are not caused or created. They simply happen.”

Lucienne’s eyes narrowed as she thought about his words. “Then this is all a coincidence? And not an imminent threat?”

Dream sighed. “My instinct says no, but tonight, when Rose Walker sleeps, I shall see it more clearly. May I?”

Lucienne held up a hand to stop him. “There is something else, my lord.”

“What is it?” He asked, reading the way her face tightened as she spoke.

“I know every book in this library,” she began, turning away from him and retrieving something from a nearby shelf. “I know this library and these books and… yet…” she returned, holding a pale book in her hands and offering it to him with a saddened face. “Somehow, this one has been hidden from me for eons. It should not be possible.”

“And yet it is,” he said, gently running his hands along the white bindings, glistening with jeweled leaves of green. On the first page, The Great Tree was illustrated in deep tones of brown and emerald, surrounded by the smaller trees covered in mist. It was almost as if he could feel the leaves beneath his fingertips and the cold mist caressing his skin. It was almost as if this book was alive.

Lucienne looked at the beautiful thing with fondness and apprehension warring in her eyes. “I’ve tried to read it, but it’s… Incoherent.”

“How so?”

“Most of the pages are blank. There appear to be remnants of words written on some, and other pages or paragraphs are perfectly legible. The words, however, make little sense given all that is missing.” She shook her head and sighed. “Only the illustrations remain intact.”

As Dream flipped through the pages, studying the little words scribed here, he stopped at another picture. Daunt, or rather a drawing of her, white amidst a sea of dark colors. His heart felt heavy in his chest the longer he looked. “This will not tell us where she is.”

Lucienne’s soft eyes met his as she spoke, “No, my lord, it won’t. But…"

“What is it, Lucienne?”

“One of the illustrations seems to depict what happened to her… What kept her from reaching you the day she left.” He handed the book to her instantly. If there was a way to learn what befell her on his behalf, he had to see it. He had to know.

The librarian quickly flipped through the pages before holding the book back to him with downcast eyes. There on the red-stained page were three words… Daunts last words. “My dear Corinthian.” The image showed her standing on a bridge, holding his nightmares cheek as The Corinthian pushed his blade into her chest.

Dream drew in a deep breath as The Dreaming rippled with the rage that filled his heart. “The Corinthian…”

Lucienne bowed her head lower. “It is my fault. I should not have given her his location nor asked her to seek him out.”

“No.” He breathed out, tears welling as his finger glided across the worn page. “The fault lies with me. She would not have been vulnerable had I failed my duty to retrieve the nightmare.”

“My lord…” she whispered. “If this image is corrected, then… is Daunt not… dead?”

“No.” Dream looked up at her, meeting her wet eyes with his own. “Death told me she’d not been called to The Forest for Daunt. Daunt herself told us she was lost.”

Lucienne shook her head. “My lord, that… vision… that apparition spoke in naught but riddles. If it was truly Daunt, then she is not in her right mind.”

“Perhaps she is not,” Dream replied solemnly. “But the fact still stands that she lives. She lives, and I will find her if it is the last thing I do in this existence.”

That night he accompanied Rose in her dreams to search for Jed Walker and Gault. That night he had the chance to examine the vortex up close. Dream had expected Rose Walker to be impressive, but the way she adapted to her newfound abilities as a Vortex was surprising, even to him. She found her way through the dreams of those closest to her, following his advice and asking questions, seemingly wanting to learn from him. Most impressive was her ability to stay focused through each dream, never losing sight of her purpose within them and never seeking to abuse the power she held.

She led him to Gault with ease, and once his nightmare was back within his grasp, he ensured she would not be free to defy him again. He did not regret his harsh punishment of the shapeshifter, but he did feel an unpleasant knot form in his stomach after his less-than-kind treatment of Lucienne after the fact. Still, he moved forward. Too much demanded his attention to focus on keeping his realm safe. The notion of that seemed simple enough until a crack appeared in the stained glass window above his throne, and the entire palace shook violently around him. After that, all he could do was watch in horror as the cracks grew before his very eyes.

“Loosh? You in here?” The pumpkin head made a quiet noise of apprehension. “Sorry, boss, I was just looking for Lucienne. See ya.”

“Wait.” He ordered. “Why were you looking for Lucienne?”

“Oh, well, we just had some minor seismic activity and a little, you know, damage I wanted to report.”

“Then why not report it to me?” He asked.

“Uh, because you’re busy?” Mervyn offered. “While you were away, Lucienne started taking care of that stuff, so I figured why bother you when-”

A dark feeling curled around him, nearly squeezing all the air as he said, “Mervyn if The Dreaming has been damaged in any way, I will be the one to address it.”

The floor shook, and the cracks spread throughout the windows and up the stone walls. “Oh, for crying out loud. Do you want me to fix that for you? Or will it just keep happening?”

“It will not keep happening because I will find the cause of the disturbance, and I will eliminate it. Thank you, Mervyn.”

“Uh, you’re welcome,” the handyman replied before turning and hurrying in the opposite direction.

Dream returned his eyes to the glass as it continued to crack. He would not watch his realm crumble again. The halls shook around him as he made his way to the library with hopes Lucienne would be able to provide him with some information on these tremors. “Lucienne?”

She stood off to the side, re-shelving books with a slightly pensive face. “My lord.”

“I have come to return these.” He handed her the books, their eyes meeting in an awkward stare. “And to assess the extent of the damage from the recent disturbances.” She said nothing, merely watching him as he bent down and picked up a stack of fallen books. “Have you any idea as to what caused them?”

“I assumed it was you, sir,” she said almost coldly.

“Me?”

“Making further improvements to the realm… now that you’re back.” She clarified as she brushed past him.

Dream sighed quietly. “Lucienne, when we last spoke, I did not mean to imply that your efforts beyond the library are without value.”

“Oh?” She questioned, clearly frustrated.

“I merely wish to relieve you of responsibilities with which, had I been here, you would never have been burdened.”

“I see.”

“And in that time, did you experience any… similar seismic disturbances?” he inquired offhandedly, looking at the book he still awkwardly held, only peeking up at her.

I did not.”

“Have you any… theory as to their origin?” He pressed cautiously.

At last, Lucienne set down the stack of books she held and turned to him. “Speaking strictly as a librarian? I do. But you won’t like it.”

“Go on.”

“I know you’re waiting to see if the vortex will lead you to The Corinthian and Fiddler’s Green. The way she led you to Gualt.”

“She may yet still.”

She scoffed. “Yes, but while you’re waiting, she’s putting cracks in the foundation.”

“Rose Walker has visited this realm before and done no damage,” he pointed out. “This is something else, something new.”

“Perhaps, but if there is something new in The Dreaming and you did not create it, how did it get here?” She asked. “This is the vortex. I assure you.”

As soon as he could, Dream found Rose Walker’s dreams and watched her closely as the landscape marred with cracks and the house he’d not built appeared before him. Lyta Hall was indeed pregnant; by the look of it, she and her dead husband had somehow managed to find a way inside his realm in secret. He would be furious. How could he have been so blind? How could he have allowed a vortex to cause such chaos just to aid him in mending his own troubles?

Matthew cawed beside him. “So, what do you think?”

“Tell Lucienne she was right about the source of the tremors.” Dream ordered. “And that I am taking care of it.”

The raven took to the skies quickly as he moved forward, entering the house with ease and staring down the spirit that had found its way here. He knew, without Dream having to say a single word, the spirit knew that his time here was up.

Lyta and Rose entered, laughing with one another. “Hector, look who’s here.”

Both women slowed as they looked at him. Lytas face was drained of the happiness that had been there moments ago, while Rose looked confused. “Lyta, you remember I told you about Lord Morpheus, the King of Dreams?”

“What do you want?”

“He wants us to leave,” the spirit answered.

Rose looked at her dead friend and then back to him. “Why?”

“Because a ghost cannot escape his fate by hiding in The Dreaming. Nor can a living human being escape her grief here.” He shook his head. “Do you not see the damage your presence has done to this realm? I cannot allow you to stay.”

“Is there anything we can do?”

“You belong with the dead,” Dream answered. “You must go to the place appointed for you. I’m sorry, but you must say your goodbyes now.”

Lyta exhaled a shaking breath and shook her head. “No. I’m not losing you again.”

The spirit approached her with a sad smile. “I love you so much.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” the woman insisted, pressing a kiss to her lover’s lips. “Get out of our house!”

“Lyta-”

A soft chill stilled the harsh words on his tongue as mist swept across the floor. Dream turned to look at her lithe figure standing in the room with them. Daunt did not acknowledge him or Rose or even Lyta, only the spirit once named Hector. She raised a pale hand, covered in frost and frozen vines, toward him as she whispered, “Come.”

“Hector!” Lyta cried out, taking hold of the spirit’s arm as he began to turn toward the specter.

“She’s here for me.”

“You can’t go with her. You can’t go!” Lyta cried. “I can’t… not again.”

“What is lost will always be found.” Her words were cold, carrying the chill of the mist and frost. Dreams’ heart stuttered at the sound of it.

“Daunt,” he whispered her name like a desperate prayer, a plea to her. Hear me... Look at me.

Her head turned in his direction, and even from behind the veil that shrouded her face, he could feel her eyes. He almost dropped to his knees then and there in the crumbling dream Lyta Hall, and her dead husband had built, but she turned away from him and once again beckoned the spirit to her.

Hector spared Lyta a look before pressing a kiss to her lips and cradling her round belly in his hands. “Tell the baby I love them. Never let them forget just how much I love them.”

With a weak sob, she nodded. “I won’t, not ever.” She sobbed as she cupped his cheeks. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” the spirit whispered. “Goodbye.”

He turned and lifted his palm into Daunts. A wave of mist and distant wolf howls echoed all around them. Dream took a half step forward at the familiar sounds of The Forest’s call - of Daunt’s call. The spirit let the mist wash over him with a content sigh before he vanished from sight. Rose held her friend closely but never looked away from Daunt as she remained.

“Child born of death and dreams,” Daunt said, her voice echoing like ocean waves. “Evil will seek it out to steal its power.”

“No!” Lyta shouted, turning her head toward the white figure. She shook her head, holding her stomach tighter. “No.”

Rose rubbed her arms. “Don’t worry, we’ll keep them safe.” She looked at Dream desperately. “Right, Dream?”

He was frozen for a moment, still looking at her, before he nodded stiffly and looked at Lyta. “So long as I live, no harm shall befall your child. Not in the Waking World and not in dreams.”

The woman didn’t look convinced, but after a moment, she nodded and eased into Rose’s arms.

“We are running out of time,” Daunt said to him.

“Then help me,” he pleaded. “Open your realm and let me in.”

She tilted her head. “Only you hold the power to do so, Dream of The Endless.”

“What do you mean?”

“My realm was never closed to you,” she answered.

Dream sighed, stepping closer to her. “I do not understand.”

Daunt lifted a frozen hand to his face, her thin fingers traced over his eyes. “You do not need to understand. You only need to see.”

Mist slid through his fingers and smoother gently across his cheek. Gone again from him, the crumbling dream was all that remained. The two looked sad when he turned back to Lyta Hall and Rose Walker. Sad for him. Lytas’ eyes held an understanding beneath her deep anger and loss. Rose spoke, “Who was she?”

“An immortal being,” Dream answered simply. “One that is not your concern.”

“You care for her.”

A painful longing exploded within him as he turned away from them and said, “This dream is over.”

When he finished repairing the damage to his realm, he sought Lucienne out. Matthew would have already delivered his message, but Dream owed his librarian an apology. “Lucienne?”

“My lord. There’s something I must tell you,” she said as she hurried out from around the corner.

“And I will listen. But, first, you must let me tell you that… you were right.” He said softly, noticing immediately how her eyes looked up at him with light and hope renewed inside them. “The vortex was responsible for the damage to our realm, and I was… wrong to risk our safety in the hope that she would locate the missing Arcana.”

“You were not entirely wrong, sir. She’s found them both.”

“What? The Corinthian and Fiddler’s Green? Where? How do you know?”

“Fiddler’s Green told me.” She looked over to the shelves at the man… at Fiddler’s Green as he emerged from behind the racks.

He bowed. “Apologies, lord, for having left.”

“Why?” He asked, desperate to understand what he’d done wrong. “Why did you leave? I trusted you. You were the heart of The Dreaming.”

“No, sir. You were the heart of The Dreaming. And you were gone. I was curious. And it turns out that life as a human contains substance I never even imagined when I was here.” He sounded so vibrant. “Which is why I’ve returned because… he’s murdering them.”

“The Corinthian?” It wasn’t shocking to learn of his nightmare’s recklessness.

Fiddler’s Green nodded, face twisting in disgust. “He appears to have built up a cult of worshipers who kill for pleasure, endangering the Waking World and the life of a friend called Rose Walker.”

“The Corinthian has found Rose Walker?”

“Yes.”

Lucienne shook her head. “Can you imagine the damage he could do with someone like Rose?”

“You must tell me where they are.”

The Corinthian stood at the podium, delivering a confident and proud speech inspiring the room of pathetic and deluded humans to imagine their atrocities. Dream stood in the aisle, watching his creation with ill-tempered rage swimming in his chest. The nightmare noticed him quickly but did not stop his speech until he’d finished. Always doing things on his own terms, Dream thought silently, for a brief moment admiring the determination he had forged. But was it not that determination that led him to plunge that knife into Daunt’s chest? To betray the one he called friend?

“You disappoint me, Corinthian,” Dream said through tight lips. “You and these humans you’ve inspired and created… disappoint me.”

His words visibly struck his creation as he bared his teeth. “I’ve done my best to be what you made me.”

“No,” he replied with a slight chuckle as he walked toward the stage. “You’ve done your worst, which was in so many ways what I had hoped. You were my masterpiece. A dark mirror made to reflect everything humanity will not confront.”

“That’s what I am,” The Nightmare nodded, straightening his back as he turned to face his creator. “That’s what I’ve done.”

“No. Look at you, walking this Earth for over a century infecting others with your joy of death, but what have you given them? What have you wrought?” His anger began to seep into his words. “Nothing. Just something else for people to be afraid of. That is all.”

The Corinthian scoffed, cocking his head ever so slightly. “So what now? You send me back into their dreams?” He pulled a knife from his jacket, a knife not unlike the one he’d used on Daunt, and shook his head. “Cause I won’t go willingly.”

“A knife against a dream?” His voice was dark wind and shadow as he stepped towards his creation slowly.

“You don’t think dreams can die? Let’s find out.” The Corinthian insisted.

Dream held his hand out, drawing upon his power. “Enough.” The sand moved at his feet as The Corinthian stabbed his knife into his outstretched hand. The pain startled him back and to his knees as he looked down at the wound. “How?”

“I’ve got Rose Walker getting stronger every second while you get weaker,” The nightmare said with a wide grin. “She’s taking your place at the center of The Dreaming. She’s bringing the walls down between the sleepers’ minds, and now they’re all dreaming the same dream. A dream that I inspired.”

“No.”

“It’s already happening. There’s nothing you can do. She’s asleep and dreaming.”

“Then she’s not beyond my reach.”

The Corinthian shrugged. “Oh, I think she is. Now that she knows you’re planning to kill her.”

Dream pushed himself into the horrific visions molding together just as she and her brother turned towards him. “You need to wake up!”

“Don’t listen to him, Rosebud. You’re the one with the power now, not him. This is your dream.”

“It’s his dream for your world,” Dream corrected.

The Corinthian smiled at Rose. “Then let’s make it yours. Whatever you want, Rose. A blank canvas!”

The dreams of her brother and the other humans vanished, and Rose’s eyes went wide with fear. “Where’s Jed?”

“Jed’s fine. He’s upstairs, asleep, he’s right next to you. This dream is yours now. The Dreaming is yours now!”

“The Dreaming is yours? Is that what he told you?” Dream demanded coldly.

Rose looked up at him, confusion evident in her eyes. “He told me you were gonna kill me.”

“Did he tell you why? When a vortex brings down the walls between dreams, she creates a single volatile dream that will collapse in upon itself, and take the waking world with it. Your world. Everything and everyone will die.”

The Corinthian bent down to Rose’s ear. “Don’t believe him, Rosie.”

“It’s happened before. I failed in my duty, an entire universe was lost.”

“He can’t kill you if you kill him first.”

“Killing me may save your life, but it won’t save the lives of those you love.”

“I’m tryin’ to keep you alive here!” The nightmare growled, the playful mask he bore slipping at last.

“I’m trying to keep your world alive,” Dream argued.

The Corinthian growled, “You have to choose one of us, Rose!”

“Enough!” She shouted above their noise, waves of power rolling off her and amplifying her voice. Rose Walker looked to The Corinthian. “If I’m as powerful as you say I am, then I will find my own way. In the meantime, the walls go back up.” She lifted her hand, willing the walls between the dreams to return.

A loud groaning sound echoed all around them as the mist began to overtake the room. Rose drifted back closer to Dream as everything around them changed. “What is this? What’s happening?”

Trees, gnarled and dripping with blood, surrounded them as dark figures moved in the woods, and all manner of noises surrounded them. The tree roots wound around The Corinthian’s limbs as The Nightmare tried to take a step back from the figure in white that now stood at the treeline. “Daunt.”

Dream wanted to reach out to her, to speak to her, anything, but Daunt was not herself. Her blood-covered form was no more than mist and bitter frost. Instead, Dream took hold of Rose’s arm and pulled her behind him. “At last,” Daunt said softly, but her voice sounded anything but. “You have come to see the damage caused by your hands.”

The roots of the trees began to squeeze the nightmare tightly. He groaned as his bones began to creak beneath the wood. “This is still your dream Rose.”

The figure in white turned her head, and ice crept along Dream’s form under her gaze. “No.”

Rose shivered from behind him and quickly uttered the words she’d heard him say, “This dream is over.”

“NO!” Daunt screamed, lunging forward as the dream vanished.

Standing back in the hotel, his nightmare breathed a relieved breath and stood once again as Dream looked down at his now-healed hand. His nightmare removed the dark shades that shielded the rows of teeth from view. That anger that filled him became unbearable as he looked over at the nightmare with watering eyes. “She trusted you, loved you, and you betrayed her.”

The Corinthian sneered. “You, of all people, have no right to judge me, Dream. After all, you drove her away in the first place! If you think I’m going back to The Dreaming with you-”

The floorboards beneath their feet began to tremble and crack. Mist filled the room as tall trees tore through the floors, and The Forest started to bleed into the Waking World. The Corinthian looked around him with stoic features as roots quickly began overtaking everything in the room. Standing in the crowd, Daunt breathed heavily, the veil gone, revealing her bleeding chest and wide eyes. “You do not get to leave me again, Corinthian.”

“Daunty,” the nightmare said softly. Roots twined around him as she walked up the stage and past Dream to stand in front of his rouge creation, the creation that had betrayed her.

“Have you any idea what it was like?” She demanded. “Knowing all this time that it was you that plunged the blade into my heart. That you… my friend… would doom me to this.”

For the first time, Dream could see the sorrow and pain in the nightmares eyes as he looked up at Daunt. “I’m sorry.”

A sob escaped her throat as everything in the room grew colder. “LIAR!”

The roots stabbed through The Corinthian in various places, digging deep into his body. He took it all with a sheer grit of his teeth, never looking away from Daunt as she stepped closer to him, a blade… the blade poised in her hands and pressed against The Corinthian’s chest. “Do it.” He told her. “I deserve it.”

Dream moved closer to her, ignoring the way it stung his skin. “Daunt…”

“No,” The Corinthian told him. “Do it, Daunty. Finish me.”

“Was it worth it?” She demanded, her gaze shifting to the humans that sat in the crowded room. “Was all this worth it?”

“The only thing I regret is what I did to you,” The Corinthian said carefully.

“Regret?” She questioned, deathly quiet. “You do not know regret… not nearly enough to satisfy me.”

“Daunt,” Dream called out, hoping to pull her from the darkness that echoed in her words.

The blade flashed in the dim light as she drove it through The Corinthians ribs, twisting it as she knelt down, leaning her head closer to the nightmare and listening to his pained noises. “Look into my eyes, betrayer. Look and see what you wrought.”

He seemed to shake the longer he met Daunt’s gaze, the stoic features of his face twisting into pain and sorrow. The trees closest to her caught fire, and the sounds of fear and screaming. “Daunt…”

“You did this!” She screamed, tearing the blade from his ribs and stabbing him again.

The Corinthian bowed his head, pulling the blade from his flesh and holding it out to her. “Please.”

A sharp and pained scream echoed around Dream as Daunt fell back slightly, holding her chest as the wound began to bleed once more. She sobbed quietly, holding her hands to blood and crying as she looked to The Corinthian. “I trusted you…”

“I didn’t mean for this,” he whispered. “I didn’t…”

Daunt wept, “I cannot kill you, dear Corinthian. No matter how much you deserve it. Our fates are sealed, yours and mine.”

The Corinthian’s lips quivered as he looked back up at Dream. “Finish it, Dream.”

His voice was low, nearly hoarse, as he spoke, “I brought you into this world to serve humanity. Not to feed upon it.”

“I do it to taste what it’s like to be human.” The Corinthian admitted. “You don’t care about humanity, none of them. You can’t even bring yourself to care about her. You only care about yourself and your realm and your rules.”

“I contain the entire collective unconscious. Without my rules, it would consume me. Humanity would be consumed.”

“Or you might actually feel something. I am not the problem, Dream.”

With a look to Daunt, whose form slowly began to be overtaken with frost, he replied, “You are right. This was my fault, not yours. I had so much hope for you, but I created you poorly then. So I must uncreate you now.”

The sand swirled, glowing red as it ate away at his masterpiece. Daunt lifted her hand to his cheek, and he looked down at her as the last remnants of him faded. The Corinthian smiled at her, a soft smile, one he’d never known the nightmare to show before now. “Yours is the last face I will see.”

Daunt held the tiny skull of his nightmare in her bloodstained hand, standing slowly and turning to face him. More blood streamed down her cheeks as she cried tears of red. She placed the skull in his hand, and she whispered before he could even utter a word. “Find us, Dream. Please.”

And just as suddenly as she’d appeared, Daunt was gone again from his sight. His hand curled around the skull as he turned to the crowd of his creation’s flawed inspiration and shook his head. “And you… who call yourselves collectors, until now you have sustained fantasies in which you are the victims, comforting daydreams in which you are always right. But no more. The dream is over. I have taken it away. For this is my judgment upon you, that you shall know from this moment on exactly how craven and selfish and monstrous you are. That you shall feel the pain of those you have slaughtered. And the grief of those that mourn them still, and you shall carry that pain and grief and guilt with you until the end of time.”

They all rose from their seats and walked, dazed, out of the room. Dream looked around him at the lack of trees, mist, and all Daunt had brought with her. He closed his eyes and silently swore he would find her.

Rose Walker was not only the vortex but the child with the blood of an Endless. A child born of his sibling’s games. As soon as Dream had laid eyes on the dark heart she’d pulled from her chest and given to Unity Kincaid, he knew it. With a swiftness powered by his rage alone, Dream entered his gallery and grabbed the heart on the wall. “Desire. I stand in my gallery, and I hold your sigil. Talk to me.”

The faint image of his sibling’s wide red grin shinned from within the stone. “Why, sweet Dream. This is a surprise. Almost an event, I might say.”

“Good. I’m coming through,” he bit out through clenched teeth.

“You are?” They questioned, a slight pitch of fear entering their voice before they chuckled. “But of course. You know you’re always welcome in my chambers.”

The glossy red of Desire’s realm was hideous. He’d forgotten how much he detested the vivid color and how pungent the sickeningly sweet smell of summer peaches was. Dream took slow, deliberate steps closer to his sibling, who lounged in a chair in their gallery. “Lovely to see you,” they purred. “Can I get you anything you desire?”

“I desire nothing from you save some answers,” he replied tensely.

“Ooh, is this a test?”

“Unity Kincaid should’ve been the vortex of this era. But someone took advantage of my imprisonment and fathered a child with her, knowing full well that it would become the vortex, and I would be forced to kill it.”

Desire’s smile widened. “Was I really that obvious?”

“No,” Dream answered, circling them. “You covered your tracks remarkably well.”

“Well, that’s high praise coming from you.”

“What did you truly intend? That I should spill family blood? With all that would entail?”

They laughed. “This time, it almost worked.”

It was no secret that he and Desire loathed one another, but Dream hadn’t thought they would stoop to such drastic whims to see him dead. With a scoff, he shook his head. “My sibling, we of the Endless are the servants of the living, not their masters. We exist only because they know deep in their hearts that we exist. We do not manipulate them. If anything, they manipulate us.” Standing behind them now, his voice lowered, threatening and dark. “And you and Despair, and even poor Deliruim would do well to remember that.” He pulled their head back by their light hair and looked deep into the golden eyes that now flared with anger and fear. “Mess with me or mine again, and I shall forget you are family. Do you believe yourself strong enough to stand against me? Against Death? Against Destiny?”

“No,” they said in a trembling tone.

“Remember that next time you’re inspired to interfere in my affairs,” he whispered to them as his eyes trailed away from their golden irises to the red bitemarks that marred their hand. His hands tightened in their hair. “Where did you get those marks?”

“Is it not obvious, big brother?” They sneered with a smile. “Our lovely Mistake sends her regards.”

“What have you done with her?”

Desire’s smile widened. “So predictable, big brother.”

Anger laced deep into his voice. “What did you do?”

“I merely gave her what she always wanted.” Their golden eyes flared. “An end to her pitiful excuse of an existence.”

“You would dare to raise a hand against her?”

Desire scoffed. “She is no Endless. She is a Mistake. One that refused to see reason.”

“Where is she?”

“Right where I left her,” they answered. “In that pathetic little forest of hers with that stupid mutt.”

“How did you find it?”

Desire’s eyes sparkled. “Oh, you still haven’t been to see her? How sad. From what I hear, she doesn’t have much time left.”

Dream released their hair, practically throwing them forward as he turned and strode back down the hall he’d arrived in. “If Daunt dies, I will be back for your head.”

“Give her my best,” they called after him. “She looked rather ill when I last saw her.”

Daunt was alive, he reminded himself. She was alive, and he would find her. He would not lose her again.

It had been weeks since he’d finished his business with the Vortex and Desire. Months and still, there had been nothing to help him find her. He scoured every book and dream, desperately searching every corner he could reach for her to no avail. The ember of hope he’d held all this time slowly began to dwindle as the days passed… as he grew closer and closer to facing the horrible reality that he’d failed her.

Matthew had followed him to Fiddler’s Green, as the bird was known to do now that he was no longer shadowing Rose Walker, making comments on his incredibly sullen behavior, but Dream didn’t care enough to answer him. Instead, as he stood among the green fields and the flowers and the memories of their moonlit dances and conversations, Dream cared about nothing else but her. He wanted to see her again, to hold her in his arms and to beg for her forgiveness… to tell her, the real her, that he loved her and that he had for quite some time.

He stared out at the peaceful meadow for a moment longer before turning to leave. There was nothing for him here. Or was there? He halted almost instantly at the sight of white standing in the trees in front of him. The white stag stood between two large trees, watching Dream. Matthew looked over to where his master was staring and quietly asked, “What’s that thing?”

“A creature I thought had long abandoned this realm,” Dream answered as the stag turned away and began walking into the forest. Something inside him forced his feet to move, to follow the creature into the dark woods.

“Oh! So we’re following the weird lookin thing?” Matthew cawed loudly, taking to the sky to fly after them.

The trees grew closer and closer together, and darkness began to make it difficult to follow the creature forward. Mist rolled over Dream’s boots, and a chill seared his skin, forcing him to halt. This was not Fiddlers Green. This was nothing of his realm. “The Forest.”

A few steps ahead of him, the stag looked back and huffed, its breath visible in the frozen air, before it continued forward, stepping over the gnarled roots. Dream moved, too, a newfound desperation in his steps as they emerged from the thick trees into a small glen of frozen moss. Death and blood hung in the air all around them. The hollow resembled that which he’d seen in the short dream Daunt had influenced.

The stag took a half-step forward, a small frozen twig snapping beneath one of its hoofs. The sound echoed far louder than it should have, filling the silence with it. A heartbeat passed before a black shadow lunged out of the trees and dug its claws into the stag’s back, clawing and biting until the poor creature collapsed and its blood coated the white ground. Dream stood perfectly still as the beast tore into the stag’s flesh and devoured the steaming meat.

“Holy shit,” Matthew breathed from a branch beside Dream. The beast’s head turned, revealing two grey eyes locking onto Dream. It turned, claws clutching the stag’s body tightly, and let out a loud screech. Blood and spit coated its sharp teeth as its foul breath wafted to Dream’s nose.

The beast gave little to no warning before it pounced, claws tearing out of the carcass and slicing through the air as it made its way toward him, ready and willing to take the killing blow. White shot out through the forest, slamming into the black creature and forcing it onto the other side of the clearing. Growls and barks echoed through the trees before suddenly all grew silent. Matthew flew down from his perch, hopping toward the stag cautiously. “Where the fuck are we?”

Before Dream could answer the birds’ quiet question, the white blur returned. It leaped from nowhere and pinned Matthew to the snowy ground by a wing. The bloodstained teeth of the white wolf, marred with scars both old and new, chomped as he raised his head to look up at Dream. One eye was blue, crystal, and starry, while the other was faded gray and scarred. “What manner of demon are you?”

119 notes · View notes