#this will be the only chance ill have to live on my own bc i cant afford to keep going to school here

[4giorno]

aaaaa im pretty excited, my xiaos first plunge does already 40k with the level 77 jade spear and 175 crit dmg, versus 41k with the level 90 blackcliff and 196 crit dmg. seems like when its level 90, the jade spear will be a really nice upgrade for him AND still have so much more crit dmg left to get on the artifacts

[oars]

after this year im gonna be broke! and i have no skills and im stupid! im cooked its over!!

[snekdood]

i understand its sensitive. i understand you got other problems in your life. but when its so easy to just *not* do something, when it hardly takes away from your life besides not pleasing your every sensibility? what the fuck is the restraint for

[iwontstopme]

i am 👏 👏 👏 sick

[devotedlystrangewizard]

having to celebrate christmas with my abusive stepdad vs the fact that its the last christmas ill ever have to celebrate in this godforsaken household

[k1ngdom-of-thieves]

Hello! May I ask for a Vil,Riddle,Trey,Idia and Jack with a frail reader who has a lot of medical issues like having a lot of meds and struggling to live in Ramshackle bc of the dust etc? I have a problem with my strength so it would be cool to see these characters deal with a reader like this.

Vil, Riddle, Trey, Idia and Jack + reader with medical issues

I tried to keep descriptions vague because I’m not the best with writing for illnesses.

Vil Schoenheit

Vil would immediately ask you to stay in Pomfiore as soon as he found out about your current living conditions. The dust and bugs in the dorm are not gonna be helping your medical issues in the slightest.

If you agree to going to Pomfiore, he’ll make sure that your room would be set up with any medical supplies you could need. From various types of allergy medicine, to practically any flavor of cough drop you could possibly want. Is it a little overboard? Yes, but he’s just really worried about you.

If you opt to stay in Ramshackle, Vil would be very against the notion but wouldn’t argue with you about it. Instead, he’ll help you clean every nook and cranny in that dorm.

Although he looks fairly thin, he’s still plenty strong. Don’t even think about over-exerting yourself; not only will you get the longest scolding of your life, he’ll also take whatever you were trying to carry and do it for you.

“Please don’t place too much pressure on yourself. I know you are plenty capable on your own, but you can still rely on me if you feel overwhelmed.”

Riddle Rosehearts

Riddle would be so irritated that Crowley would make you stay in a place like Ramshackle knowing of your medical problems. How could such a great mage be so irresponsible!?

He doesn’t mind if you would rather stay in the dorm than live somewhere else, but that just means he’ll work to make sure Ramshackle is spotless.

Since his parents are doctors, he knows a little bit about how to treat certain conditions or what medications work the best. He’ll practically buy the entire store’s stock of whatever medicine would make you feel better.

If you ever get sick, he’ll be worrying more than you’d be. He’s checking up on you every chance he gets; from in between classes, to after the equestrian club meetings, and before he goes to sleep.

“Do you want anything from the store? I could bring a humidifier just in case you need it.”

Trey Clover

Trey would love to be able to offer you a place in Heartslabyul, but he’s really in no position to do so; with him having three other roommates in his dorm room. But he’ll definitely ask Riddle about it if you’re interested.

He’ll be right by your side if you need anything, no matter how small it is. Even if it’s during club meetings, plus Rook doesn’t seem to be offended by Trey disappearing from time to time. He says stuff about being able to witness the beauty of young love.

Even though he’s a better baker than chef, he’ll still try to make you any dish that you could want. Don’t worry about it being to complex for him to make, if anything he’ll just ask one of the cafeteria ghosts to help him out.

If you ever experience aches and pains, he’ll offer to give you a massage. Sure, it may not help with all of your pain but it’ll definitely be super relaxing.

“How are you feeling? Please let me know if you’re feeling any pain; I may not be able to get rid of all of it, but I’ll try my best if it’s for you.”

Idia Shroud

Idia would have nothing but the highest respect for you. Not only are you living in a dusty, rundown, haunted building with no wifi; you’re doing it all with a bunch of medical conditions! That’s like playing on maddening difficulty!!

He’ll make sure that Ignihyde has the best medical equipment if you ever choose to spend the night there. He might go a little overboard with it, but he’s just worried about not being able to help of you need him.

Don’t be surprised if you see a little robot delivering treats to you if you’re not feeling the best. Sometimes, it’ll be Ortho that comes to sing you a tune from a show he and Idia watched.

If you ever ask him to let you live at his dorm, he’d be over the moon. He’d be so excited to have you around more often.

“How are you feeling? If you’re not feeling the best, let me know and I’ll turn your difficulty settings down as fast as I can!.” He just wants to help.

Jack Howl

Jack is another guy who’ll want to invite you to his dorm; just to get you away from all the dust if nothing else. But seeing that his dorm is Savanaclaw, you probably won’t be getting the best medical attention aside from athletic injuries.

He will drop everything that he’s doing in order to help you if you’re ever in pain or just feeling under the weather. Don’t ever feel guilty about him always being there when you call; he’s doing it because he loves you, and he wouldn’t trade it for the world.

This wolf boy has like a sixth sense for knowing what you need when you need it. Even if it’s not something like medicine; once he bought you bug spray without you even knowing you were out of it.

Constantly spends the night in Ramshackle to be able to check on you easier. He gets anxious sometimes. It’s gotten to the point where the ghosts have started bringing an extra chair to the dinner table for him.

“What? No I wasn’t worried over you, I know you can handle yourself. My ears aren’t drooping either!”

[jaeyunsz]

a writer’s main character - lee heeseung

pairing: heeseung x fem!reader (she/her)

genre: college!au, writer!heeseung, ill!reader, ANGST

expected word count: 25k+

warnings: mentions of death and sickness, unrequited love, cursing, smut (more will be added when it is finalized)

summary:  in your whole life, you have never fallen in love. love was a feeling that you wanted to experience and after finding out that you have just a little more than a year to live, you become more desperate to fall in love with someone. lucky for you, the head editor of your university’s newspaper is determined find a muse for their best writer, lee heeseung, for him to finish up his last article before he graduates. you only accept in one condition; heeseung would help you fall in love.

a/n: reposting this bc i decided to finish it and hope to post it in the upcoming weeks!

It was already April and Heeseung still had zero idea what to write about. He had recently turned in his latest article. He wanted to start writing his last article for the year immediately so it wouldn’t bother him when he gets busy with graduation. He didn’t expect to be out of ideas since his mind was always clouded with new stuff to type on his laptop. Well, there was a first time for everything, right? He just wanted his last article to be big and original, never been done before. He wanted to leave an impact.

Being a literature major, Heeseung had always liked to read books and write in his dusty notebook. His dream was to publish a book and he would do everything to make his dream come true. He was still young and had a lot to learn. Throughout the years, he worked next to different writers and publishers.

Heeseung had been writing for the university’s newspaper since the freshmen year. People barely got the chance to publish their own writings in the newspaper so it came as a surprise when Heeseung’s article was seen on the first page as a first year student. He was on cloud nine to see that he had given a chance to prove himself as a writer.

But now, he was on writer’s block and the head editor was getting on his nerves.

‘’Have you thought about what you’re going to write about Heeseung?’’ Yeonjun asked during a meeting, making Heeseung bite the inside of his cheek.

‘’I’m stuck.’’ Heeseung replied, not taking his eyes off from his phone as he scrolled through empty apps. Yeonjun eyed him up and down, watching the writer closely.

‘’I can see that you’re stressed about it. Don’t you seriously have nothing to write about? It’s just- I’ve never seen you like this before. You always have something up your sleeve.’’ The older boy confronted him.

Yeonjun was also surprised by this outcome since Heeseung always had magnificent ideas. Heeseung locked his phone and put it on the table in front of him. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh before looking at Yeonjun again.

‘’I know you don’t like to ask about others for ideas but listen to me for a second before you try to punch me. I think I have certain person in my mind that you might want to write about.’’ Yeonjun continued, his words making Heeseung sit straight up.

‘’I’m desperate at this point. I’m all ears.’’

Yeonjun let released a relieved sigh, a tiny smile replacing the frown on his face. ‘’Have you ever met Beomgyu’s friend, Y/N?’’

‘’Not in person but I think I’ve seen her around.’’

‘’Heeseung, she is dying-‘’

‘’What do you mean she is dying?’’ Heeseung said with a serious expression.

‘’Heeseung, she is literally dying. Beomgyu mentioned that she had a heart condition. It does not look good and her doctor says that she only has around a year before… you know. The interesting part is; after she found all about that she told Beomyu that she wanted to fall in love so why don’t you write about her? Follow her around for a couple months until she finds somebody. Your article will be ready by then. Also the story will stay as a memory in her honor. So what do you say?’’

[running-with-the-feels]

I will be doing that Kenshi character analysis when I have more free time (life's been hectic lately), but until then, please take my headcanons:

Kenshi chews hard candies. This is apparently a genetic trait since Takeda does the same thing.

Frost's real name is Morya (pronounced mori-ya) and she's Russian and Kazakh.

Her hair was also originally black but turned white with age. Which is a common thing for cryomancers, the fact that Kuai Liang has any black hair at his big age is nothing short of a miracle.

Sonya is a kleptomaniac and was a chronic shoplifter in her early teen years (a habit that took months to break). Nothing big just some snack food but she still finds herself pocketing things she's not supposed to.

Liu Kang's favorite song is One Week by Barenaked Ladies. If he's being honest, it kinda reminds him of his relationship with Kung Lao. (I have so many Liu Kang headcanons it's unreal but I'm going to limit myself to one for this ask)

This one's long:

Bi Han, before being kidnapped by the Lin Kuei, wanted to be an opera singer. He wasn't good at singing to start out, but one of his mom's friends worked at an opera house and was happy to give him free lessons. After being initiated into the Lin Kuei he was banned from indulging in hobbies as they were seen as meaningless. But he continued to practice if he had time on solo missions. He saw it as his own act of freedom/rebellion.

Then Hanzo tore his head off. As Noob he didn't even get to try, since the whole mind control business. Sometimes he'd find himself unconsciously falling back into old habits leading to people being unnerved when Noob fucking Saibot started hitting notes high enough to crack glass at them like some kind of horror movie.

Even after getting his humanity restored, his vocal cords were permanently damaged and pushing his voice too hard results in coughing fits, soreness, and losing his voice for days at a time. And when he does sing, it's strained and sometimes hurts. But if Bi Han's anything it's stubborn so he continues to "build up his tolerance" as he calls it.

EEEEEEEEEE can't wait to see it and I love these

The first time Sonya sees Kenshi chew a hard candy she walks straight into a wall in horror. Cassie does the same when she catches Takeda doing it.

The only people allowed to call Frost Morya are Kuai Liang and Cassie. Kuai Liang only ever does it when she's ill or injured and though she'll never admit it she finds it very comforting, and Cassie calls her that whenever she wants to kiss her really bad (bc Frost always kisses her when she does)

Kuai Liang still has black hair that oddly shows no sign of greying, but his eyes tend to flicker between their normal brown and a terrifyingly bright blue whenever he has a strong emotion, a trait also common in cryomancers.

Johnny is actually Sonya's biggest supporter in breaking her habit of nicking things and is the only person she's ever met that hasn't judged her for it, which she appreciates

Kung Lao's fav song is all star by smash mouth and he's the one who introduced Liu Kang to most of the music that Liu Kang knows (pls tell me your Liu Kang hc if you get the chance, I Beg)

Bi-Han used to sing lullabies to Kuai Liang and Tomáš in the Lin Kuei and Enenra can still be founding humming the tunes along to himself after a hard battle.

Noob got a bit of a reputation as a siren in the Netherrealm bc if you heard him singing it meant you were already dead.

After they resurrected Bi-Han and he began living at the Lin Kuei temple with Kuai Liang, Hanzo eventually came to apologize for killing him, it didn't go well but Hanzo is trying to atone and Bi-Han is struggling to stay angry about it (especially when Kuai Liang wants them to get along so bad)

Hanzo found out about the damage to his vocal chords and sought out an edenian tea said to be able to aid in the healing of such wounds, gifting it to the shadow wielder as part of his apology.

Bi-Han will never admit it but it actually works and being able to sing without pain again, even if only for as long as the tea is in effect, is the first thing to make him really feel human again

[oetscop]

hey! absolutely love your art and your rainer interpretation- can you talk about your headcanons lore-wise involving rainer and mike? honestly you can talk about more than just those two as well i'm very curious about your interpretations honestly.

YOOO I LOVE UR RAINER ALSO thank u.....

this will hopefully not be complete word salad. bc my brains fried already, but my views on petscop characters are esoteric and best and downright incomprehensible at worst. so idk how legible this will be JDKSHSKSBSK

uhh ill start with like. jill is significantly older than anna and lina. rainers actually fairly close in age to anna.

rainers biological dad isnt in the picture and actually went missing a few years after him and jill divorced. it runs in the family i guess. but since tom was there longer hes only ever called him dad, and both jill and him took the last name hammond when they got married. and mike was actually an accident! a welcome one tho. jill and tom were in their 40s and rainer was like 16 or so.

they were very close tho! he was very close with his immediate family. for the brief time he was in college he still lived at home despite the commute.

mike would sit and watch him work on the game all the time. he wanted him to teach him how to code (thats why he created the "petscop kids" after school program! at first anyway...) but 5-6 year olds dont exactly have the attention span for explaining how the dev kit console works. unless theyre belle i guess. but he did get into art! and considering rainers also an artist he encouraged it. mike would sometimes draw his own pets to be put in the game, but since it never went past evencare they never showed up. he did sorta base toneth on mike, and that was before he based any of the other pets on other family members.

mike went missing shortly after rainers mental health was declining. he ran away after some argument with his mom, and nobody remembers what the argument was even about. since this was after marvin hit the dog with the car, and he was beginning to experience psychosis, he immediately made the connection and believed marvin had something to do with it. the cops found it a little suspicious that rainer somehow just knew he had been struck by a car, and he was the only suspect for quite a while. tom had to vouch for him pretty hard and get him a lawyer.

as for vaguer things. the newmaker plane was started in an attempt to find out where mike wouldve run to. he was already recording movements in game, so he put all of mikes in game behaviors into a to scale version of their town, trying to train it to show him where he couldve gone. this obviously didnt work. didnt help that it was completely flat terrain and like had only their house, the marks house, the school and like a couple roads. it actually lead him to the opposite side of the town than where his body was located.

marvin is ALSO severely mentally ill and was convinced that care was lina reborn before any of this happened. obviously anna didnt believe that since shes still. yknow. alive. but rainer introduced the A/B/NLM concept to him, and they both began to believe care was just lina A reborn. pre traumatic event lina. they were both trying to see if they could somehow force something like that to occur, in an attempt to bring mike A back. when belle didnt work, they figured she was too old, so they moved to care. part of this whole "changing your past" thing involved plucking out her eyebrows (lina A had trich) and essentially trying to reenact aforementioned traumatic event. thats why marvin kidnapped her to keep her in the school. and it didnt work! just traumatized the fuck outta the kid. they never had the chance to do anything to "bring mike back" by the end of it, which lead to Bathroom Tomb Event. however, last belle heard, he was pretty certain paul was actually mike A. she tried her best to keep that from paul before they became distant.

i feel like the core of a lot of this is that i really dont believe that the rebirthing process does anything at all. with enough manipulation you may start developing false memories, sure, but its not actually working. in retrospect it makes rainers character a lot sadder. just a terrified kid trying in vain to bring his baby brother back. its not easy losing someone so young in such a horrible way without knowing who took his life.

BUT UUHHH YEAH ^}^ can you tell ive been thinking abt petscop pretty much nonstop since the end of 2022 i bet you cant

[i-bring-crack]

To be fair I did have a lot more expectation on the mother daughter relationship that could have been shown between Chameleon and Zhen because the past three stories have always been about father and son relationships, which had been well done, so I kinda expected their first female one to be done just as well. In some aspects I liked the concept but it also lacked a lot of scenes that would have fit well with the stablished quota. In my part it would have been nice to see it as a reverse Soothsayer and Shen dynamic, but explored through a different complex dynamic. As if, instead of the child turning evil due to their rebellion, it is the parent(and master) who has become corrupted with trying to achieve as much power as possible in order to protect their children. Someone who had at first a noble attitude and was resilient to the struggles she faced (she was short, she was weak. I dont mean to completely take away her backstory in kfp 4 , especially with how much the people on the team tried so hard to put aomething out there), no matter how much it hurt she was still going to become strong enough to protect those she loved, but she slwoly started to succumb to the ambition of power that her own reasons dissipated with time and greed over what others had that she didn't.

And Zhen could have followed on her footsteps for a long amount of time, thinking that well, Chamaeleon is her protector so of course she should be grateful despite the horrible things she does to protect them, just like in the og kfp4 (but not just looting or being the boss of a gang but maybe actively being just as bad as Lord Shen in a different way. Like, Chamaeleon killing so many heroes because she saw them as a threat and they saw her as a threat too, that entire villages lost their protection and even their lives against her troops.) And whenever or not Zhen should be redeemed is another case of its own so ill leave that out of the window. (Mainly bc that new dragon succesor could be interesting, but i feel like it should have been executed later faaaar later and not broken so many plot holes.)

If she gets to be redeemed then (for me for me) i think the trip would have been the last knot or the breaking point to the suspivion that Zhen would have had a long time ago. Maybe her resolution to go against her mother would be sealed when she started to notice that Chameleon no longer cared for her or the family she had protected for so long, even going so far as endangering them for the sake of obtaining more power.

That betrayal would not only reinforce the fact that Zhen would have been so loyal to her mother that not even the dragon warrior would have changed her ways in a simple trip, but also the fact that she had to expirience the horrible side of her own mother to understand even just a hint of what so many people had been afraid of for years. I wish Zhen could have been able to sympathise with someone over that; over having a strict parent who was the only person that wanted to care for you and you owned them the world for that (cough Tai lung cough—) but at the end of the day it felt crushing that you wouldnt be able to meet their expectations (in the case of zhen she didnt become a sorcerer and instead a martial artist, and also betrayal). It would have hurt, and well maybe Po or Shifu himself (in the kidnapped situation they had planned before im going way too divergent) would have told her that the actions of her parents are not her own fault.

Chameleon had chosen to go on a darker path on her own. (I would either like to put it that the chance was there but also wasnt, like she was already strong enough to be respected at some point but her descend to madness blinded her to anything but getting revenge on everyone who thought she was weak. Maybe showing the story of the chameleon through Zhen's eyes and slowly getting to doubt something as time goes on but never truly questions it. As a watcher you CAN see how she is slowly becoming evil, but Zhen had lived with the idea that this was how it always had been.)

But Zhen, probably throught the story finding out the extent of the horrible things her mother had done and not being able to excuse it, as well as being shown the possible chances that there were in life which her mother couldnt afford, realized she had to break that cycle right where it started and put an end to her mother's schemes before anyone else got hurt in the same way they both did. (Because like, Chameleon incidentally letting innocents die for her gains, had become the things she resented and trjed to destroy.)

(Im probably going to do another long post of things i would like to ramble about kung fu panda four, and no hate to the artists that worked on the show. Just like a pinch of salt thrown mostly at certain people but i still get it. From the beggining it was going to be a mess. BUT i liked the pitched in ideas in the interview with the co director and my little dumb brain likes expanding upon weird niche topics so—

I could be nitpicky of other things but the first 3 had been so centered around the relationships of fathers, from strict to spoiled to wise to absent and more, that well, i did WANT to expect a lot of the mother relations when its a trope that has so so many ways to be explored and it DID have a chance through the concepts (a chameleon, supoosedly weak and short and not being able to do kung fu trying to spraise a child [who knows kung fu where did she even learn it??] In a horrible enviroment who doesnt care for them both LIKE PLEASE. Of course i would be interested.)

[rowrowknowa]

guidelines

---General Rules

✮ this blog contains some NSFW content; i'll always try my best to tag all warnings appropriately

✮ MDNI, non-negotiable. i won't interact with ageless or take requests from ageless blogs. don't follow me, don't send asks, stay outta grown folks business!! ✮ i don't take requests for minors (obviously), even SFW asks if they're romantic in nature

✮ black bi, i dont tolerate any type of racism, colorism, ableism, fatphobia, zionism, homo/queer/transphobia -- i want a space of inclusiveness and i will check you

✮ i currently am taking requests! but to keep it real theres no guarantees so dont be offended if i dont do yours

✮ i take spoilers VERY seriously and VERY personally for myself and others im so serious so please pay attention to where i am in a given work (anime only) and try not to give anything away pls (if ur not sure ask)

---General Writing

✮ what i write for at any given moment will depend on what my current fixation is

✮ ill always write for one piece (anime and live action). currently taking requests for FE3H and JJK as well - if you have a request for me to write for something outside of these feel free to suggest

✮ im a reader insert lover im so sorry so majority of my works will be in the second person. only rarely will i have an OC and thats likely for longer works

✮ all works will likely default to member x cis f!reader because thats the POV im most familiar with (i.e. i tend to write myself as a placeholder), but don't take that to mean i won't write any other reader inserts. i'm open to writing with a reader insert of any gender / any genitalia so please request it! and leave feedback and critique so i can improve on writing in those POV

---NSFW writing

✮ i dont do scat, (watersports is a maybe...if you're convincing enough), dont do abo, dont do raceplay, dont do ageplay, no extremely dark content/kinks/themes, dont do gore, not a fan of "daddy"

✮ a separate bullet because this one is important bc its popular: i won't do size kinks that center/elevate petite/skinny frames. ive seen so many works that write them in a way thats bigger/taller/larger body exclusive and bordering fatphobic/heightist.. i dont want people who are already marginalized to feel even further marginalized. if you wanna read that go find another work.

✮ i do write for a variety of kinks. the inclusion/exclusion criteria here isnt exhaustive if you're not sure, ask.

✮ i don't write characterxcharacter usually but im a slut for a good threesome with it peppered in. i won't write a poly relationship mostly because i know my strengths and weaknesses and i promise you wont want to read my attempt at that

---Requests!

✮ requests are welcome!

✮ headcanons, A-Z, MTLs, reactions, and scenarios are more likely to be fulfilled because they're less intensive to me, fun and quick!

✮ when sending an ask, please be specific! give mama (me) something to work with. feel free to try and make it interesting, give me ideas to bounce off of, send your thoughts/fantasies/etc

✮ i will take one shot requests but the longer, more complex it is the longer it'll take/lower chance it is i'll do it if it's not speaking to me

✮ i'm my own biggest critic so if i feel like i don't like what i write i won't post it

✮ i do work a full time big girl job so be patient and don't be offended if i don't get to your ask

[ohtobeleah]

omg can we talk about Bobby Bear for a minute bc that entire portion of the finale had me sobbing 😭

Like seeing as how Dot’s only 3 and blocks out most of the final ToE events as she gets older, I doubt that she really remembers Bob or the significance of Bobby Bear. Of course she’ll still have him as a teenager, but I’m just thinking of what it’s like after the events of “Dot visits Jaidyn in jail” where she learns that someone literally died to save her. I’m also thinking of how she might ask her parents to take her to visit Bob’s grave—his final resting place for the last decade at that point 🧸

ToE

{ Listen, I’m a firm believer in the ideology that kids see ghosts. My mum used to tell me that when I was a kid I’d sit on the pool step talking to myself for ages and one time when she was hanging out the washing she heard me talking and asked who I was talking to and I said Nana Leonie. Who’s my dads mum who died when he was 12 in a car accident. They had never told be about her because I was only like four/five at the time. }

And I think that’s what happens to little Dot. She’s sitting on her swing set just talking to herself. She’s got Bobby Bear sitting on the grass beside her. Minding her own business.

“Who you talkin to over there princess?” Bradley’s asking as he hangs out some of the washing that needed to be done in an emergency batch. Flightsuits and stuff.

“Bobby—“

“Bobby Bear got something to say does he?” And Dot has Bradley frozen in a flashback that he can’t get out of when she replies to him.

“He says mama has a baby on board.” And all Bradley can hear in his mind is Jake’s infectious laugh coming through the comms from when they all came back together for the uranium mission, where Jake had assumed Bob stood for baby on board.

“Did Bobby Bear say that?” He’s got a little layer of sweat across his forehead as he asks. There’s no way, right?

“No, Bob did.” Dots correcting her soon to be legal guardian. In a few short months that’s what Bradley would be. “He says hi Tooster.” And it’s just the most shocking moment for Rooster. Because he’s just standing there at the line hanging washing watching Dot talk to herself and is all of a sudden in the middle of an existential crisis about the possibility of ghosts being a legitimate thing.

“Hey Dotty.” Bradley knows it’s probably stupid to ask but if there was a chance, even just the slightest chance, he wanted Bob to know. “Can you tell Bob I’m sorry?” And Bradley watches as Dot converses with herself like she’s having a full on in-depth discussion with someone standing right next to her.

“He said he knows.” That’s when Bradley is scooping little miss Dot up and collecting Bobby Bear and barreling into the house. He’s looking for you in a panic. Anxiety attack approaching.

“Fe?” Bradley calls when you aren’t in the living room. Dots hanging upside down as Bradley holds her like a surfboard. She’s a giggling mess. “Honey you around?”

“What’s wrong?” You’re racing down the hall because the way Bradley sounded made you believe the house was on fire. “Roo—?” He looked pale, like he’d just seen a ghost. Or heard from one that was.

“You need to take a pregnancy test and Dot sees ghosts.”

“Did you hit your head on something?” It’s a genuine question to a very puzzling statement. “Bradley, hon, what happened why do you look ill?” It’s the palm against his forehead that calms Rooster down, your touch always brought him solace. He placed little Odette down who takes her Bobby Bear and makes her way into her room. She had better things to be doing than watching her dad have a full blown anxiety attack. “What happened?”

“Do you ever talk to her about Bob?” It’s a blunt question Bradley is sure he already knows the answer to. You don’t talk about Bob to anyone let alone Odette. But everyone had agreed to not bring Bob up around your little girl, incase it triggered an episode. She’d begun to block it out, her therapist had told you it was normal in childhood trauma. It was a coping mechanism.

“Not directly no.” You frowned curiously. “Why?”

“She said that Bob said that you have a baby on board and then I asked her to tell Bob I was sorry and she said he already knows!” Bradley knew he sounded crazy by the look on your face you gave him in reaction to his explanation. “I ain’t crazy baby don’t look at me like that.”

“Bradley, I love you—but there’s no such thing a ghosts.” You reply a little sharper than normal. Bradley knows why, the topic of Bob never left you feeling good. It was still a fresh wound. “I’ll take a pregnancy test in a few days if I’m late—“ You leave it at that. Rooster hangs around the threshold of Dots room just watching her play. He felt like he was going crazy.

But what made it even worse was when that pregnancy test came back positive.

“Holy shit you do have a baby on board—“ The whole experience kind of confirms that there’s some sort of life after death for Bradley, which gives him a lot of closer, brings him a lot of peace. You don’t buy into it. And Odette doesn’t seem to really stick with the whole kids see ghosts thing either because as she grows up, her imaginary friend Bob doesn’t seem to appear as much anymore. She just grows out of it much like you thought she would. Bobby Bear is just another one of her many toys and suddenly—she’s being told exactly what happened that night on Uncle Jakes front porch after going to see that monster she’d been calling her dad for months on end.

“Will you take me to see him?” Dot had spent the majority of the day with you in bed, talking about the things that you’d endured, talking about Bob and about how Bradley was just always there for the two of you. “Bob?” Odette had a new found appreciation for Bradley, her dad.

“Sure baby, you know—before Riley was born you kinda had Rooster in a frenzy thinking ghosts were real and that Bob wasn’t just some imaginary friend of yours.” You could remember it like it was yesterday, how pale and scared out of his fucking kind Bradley had really been that day. He was convinced Bob was about to have him staring in something right out of the conjuring.

“How?” Dots asking, she just wanted to keep the conversation going. She wanted to know everything, no detail left out or stone unturned. If she couldn’t get it from you she now knew who to go to. Uncle Jake.

“You used to say a lot of weird things, just things only Bob would know— Or you somehow knew things we’d never told you about.”

“You don’t believe in ghost mum?” You shook your head with a firm No and a tight smile.

“I don’t believe that a man who was ground in mathematics and science and probability theory would ever be a ghost, no.” You just didn’t believe it was in Bobs inherit nature.

So the next day, you and Bradley took Odette up to Bobs grave. She’d never been there before. You’d never taken her purely to keep the memories at bay for her. All you ever did say in and day out as a mother was protect your kids.

“How’s it hangin’ Floyd?” Bradley clapped as he picked up some of the dead flowers Natasha had last left. He knew it was her because there was a beer bottle sitting next to the bouquet. The beer Bob never got to give Rhett. It became a tradition every-time Rhett was in North Island, the two would go up and see Bob for a while. “Brought you a visitor man, little Dotty got big didn’t she?”

“Does he do this a lot?” Dots asking as she walks with you up to Bobs headstone. Her hand couldn’t have been tighter in yours if she wanted it to be. Bradley Bradshaw had lost a lot of good people in his life, the idea they weren’t inherently gone for good helped him process that loss.

“Yeah, you should see him at your grandparents graves—it’s heartbreaking.” It’s a little overwhelming for the teenager who was only just now learning about the events you’d kept a secret from her. The fact someone had died trying to protect you, protect her made her stomach churn.

“I feel like I’m gonna be sick.”

“That feeling never goes away.” You held your daughter close as she cried into your chest. “I’m so sorry we didn’t tell you everything sooner sweetheart.”

“Bobby Bear?” Dot sobbed as she pulled away and wiped her tears. “That was Bob wasn’t it?”

“Uncle Rhett has one too.” Bradley confirmed as if it had been a massive secret that no one ever spoke about. “He was the one who gave it to you.”

“And we all have the same pair of glasses tattooed.” You showed your daughter the faded outline of the pair of aviators you had on your finger. It really needed to be redone. “Your father has his on his wrist.” Dot already knew about the tattoos you both had, she just didn’t know the symbolism behind them.

“Jake has his on his ass—“ The three of you laugh just as the wind picks up around you, Bradley’s convinced it’s Bob laughing too. You just think it’s been windy all damn day.

It’s not till a few weeks later when Rhett’s in town for parent teacher interviews with Phoenix and the twins does he learn that Odette knows about Bob. She tells him point blank when he’s over for dinner catching up with Jake and Amilia.

“Where do you keep your bear Uncle Rhett?”

“What the hell do I keep my what now?” Rhett’s frowning curiously until Dot hands him the tattered old bear that had been threw her entire childhood. Her favourite teddy bear. Bobby Bear.

“Jake told me everything that happened—“ She didn’t have the heart to tell him why, she couldn’t tell her Uncle Rhett she went to see the man who killed his brother. “Mum told me all about him, Bob that is.” Rhett doesn’t know what to say, he knew this day would come. He just wasn’t expecting it to be today.

“C’mere kid.” Rhett’s heading back into the house, he makes his way to the spare room as Dot follows and opened his suitcase. Right at the top is the same identical bear. Just a little less beat up. “He comes everywhere with me.”

***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~

[sevikasleftpussyflap]

You: "Totally want to write about how she’d deal with her pregnant s/o."

Me: *kicks your askbox open*

Legit I was gonna ask you about amab!Sevika's reaction to getting the Reader pregnant, but let's roll for cis!Sevika, too. How does she react? If they keep the baby, what's the decision process like? How does Sevika deal with the Reader's cravings, hormones, mood swings, etc?

Also the mental image of Sevika holding an itty bitty baby makes my ovaries explode sorry not sorry.

These are really shitty bc I’m having a crisis <3 might do more later

I think she’d be proud if she got you pregnant. Definitely triggers her memory of the time it most likely happened and she will look at your belly and smirk. Because she did that.

Will only cradle your belly with her human hand. Even though she’s never once nicked you with those claws when you weren’t pregnant, she’s not taking any chances and ignores your pleas of missing that metal arm around you.

She’d adjust to your unstable moods fairly quickly. She likes your increased libido and has only edged you the one time when you broke down in tears. She only sticks to light teasing now. I think she would be more of a pushover while you’re in this state. And once you catch on you’ll start using it to your advantage.

You’ll press her hard limits and break down in tears and yelling when she doesn’t give in. She allows herself to be manipulated by you, but when she doesn’t, she will silently hold you while you cry or give you space.

Will have a hand around you and resting against your stomach in public. You’d always have to be tucked into her side.

Sevika won’t let you do a damn thing by yourself. Not even pull out your chair. Either her and her men will get you whatever you need. That also includes late night cravings. She becomes an extra light sleeper once you’re pregnant, and your struggle to get out of bed always wakes her up. She’ll simply pull you down with a gruff, groggy, “No.” and go get you what you’ve been craving for the last five days.

Cuts back on the violence around you because she knows it makes you nauseous. She doesn’t bother to hide her judgmental stare at the baby growing in your belly whenever it makes you Ill

When preparing for the baby and buying clothes, toys, stuff like that, Sevika will start buying them weapons too.

If it’s not planned, Sevika would try to keep her face as stoic as possible to not show the panic and unsure emotions flickering across her face. Because she’s been on her own for so long and used to looking out for herself only, the first thought that pops into her head is to leave you. But she’s dealt with that throughout the entirety of your relationship. When she fell in love with you, her mind screamed at her to cut ties with you. When you got her a one year anniversary gift, she hovered near the door with her bags packed that night until you tiredly called her back to bed, unable to sleep peacefully without her. You make her weak and a part of her will always hate you for it.

But she loves you so she stays. She wouldn’t know how to continue living without you now that she knows what it’s like to have you in her life.

Sevika will wear one of those baby slings and go about her job (the less dangerous parts) with them when you need a break. She’ll occasionally lift a tiny hand to her mouth to give it a kiss when it’s been a good gremlin.

Definitely kills people while holding them when you’re not around. She wants to desensitize them young.

[carpathianspaceprincess]

Wintering (The Irish Poem) - Joel Miller x Reader

Summary: Joel reads a favourite poem of yours, and reflects on the subject's similarities to you.

Rating: E. minors dni.

Pairing: Joel Miller x SeasonalDepression!Reader (F)

Tags: Irish coded reader. a little bit of Gaeilge. One Shot. Happy Ending(™). FLUFF. Sickening fluff. Soft!Joel. Established relationship/situationship. No smut in this but could be in the future.(❀❛ ֊ ❛„). Book a dentist appointment my friends, you will probably have cavities after reading this.

CW: brief mention of suicide and overdose attempt, mentions of seasonal depression/mental illness symptoms, mention of SSRIs. 

WC: 2.4k

A/N: Happy late St. Patrick’s Day! This work was inspired by an Irish poem called “Geimhriú” by Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh. The translation came from this post, and I only have a little Irish but it seems right. The Irish language is beautiful and I love it dearly, so I wanted my first posted work to celebrate it (i'm terrified of sharing this btw lol). I wrote this bc culture and language is nearly always left behind and forgotten in survivalist worlds like TLOU, and it’s rarely a theme in fics, but is an essential part of survival, especially for Irish communities. I may potentially expand this work to a series to explore more aspects of Irish culture as part of the story if it's well-received and I feel like it. btw this is not beta-read and idk how to format anything - this is genuinely my first time posting so there are likely mistakes! please comment if you find one, or have constructive criticisms, and of course like/reshare and interact if you had a good time reading this, it would mean the world to this little Irish gal.

(♡ ὅ ◡ ὅ )ʃ♡ enjoy!

₊‧°𐐪♡𐑂°‧₊.

Even at the end of the world, in the fucking apocalypse, in this shitty, godforsaken place, you were still somehow suffering from a seasonal affliction. 

Depression, that is. 

Joel saw it immediately, the way you took a little longer to answer the door when he came for you in the mornings, the bags under your eyes just a little more pronounced as the days in your district grew less colourful and the dry leaves wilted to the sodden earth. He also saw how you tried to hide it and for a while, tried to respect your clear denial of something being very, very wrong. 

To your credit, you did what you could; soldiered on. Ate and slept more than usual, like a bear. Before the outbreak, you’d been on Zoloft, then Wellbutrin, but the chances of any SSRI medication still existing were so slim you knew you didn’t need to bother checking. 

Even so, it frustrated you every morning, the fact that you weren’t like Joel. That you couldn’t just get up and get on with your day, that you needed some stupid chemical to make your brain work just because the weather was cold and the sky was churning furiously, gnashing it's teeth on nothing but grey, day-in and day-out. 

You couldn’t make sense of it. You were living in near constant poverty, under a dystopian military dictatorship and in the middle of a civil war every god-damned fucking day whether the sun was shining or not, so why did the fields being barren and slick with sleet make you viscerally despise life so much more than seeing them full of fresh flowers and humming with bees? You’d still be hungry at the end of the day. Exhausted. What should the seasons matter to you now? There was no difference. No future. Not then.

You had hoped that maybe eventually, living in constant survival mode might, y’know, actually make your brain want to survive. But it didn’t. You hated it. But what you hated about yourself most of all was the fact that you desperately needed help. It was pathetic. Weak. 

Joel didn't see it that way. Well, he didn't now.

At the start he thought it hadn't been too serious. Maybe you were 'just tired'.

But then winter had nearly taken you from him that year. The sudden and shocking bone-chill of Boston post-October had him practically dragging you out of your own bed every morning for the “supply run” he had taken to bringing you along on; silently begging you to get up and keep going for his sake if not your own. Telling you if a man from Texas could survive it, you’d better get your sorry ass up and do the same. 

He’d found you then, in late December, the dead of night, throwing up and barely breathing. You’d collected enough opioids to kill a horse and tried to take your own life. You’d been lucky to see the next sunrise, and that was the last time he’d allowed you to sleep on your own. And the first time he’d heard of “Seasonal Depressive Disorder”, or whatever it was. 

You’d explained that before all this, you’d had medications that would have stopped this issue for you; so Joel, having then appointed your fragile well-being as his responsibility, had looked for some. But of course there was nothing. So much to everyone else's delight, he spent the winter just like you; because like two really fucked-up peas in a pod, if you were in a foul mood, Joel’s was never far behind. With the QZ being overcrowded, freezing, and insistent on working you both to the bone, you were always in a foul mood. 

₊‧°𐐪♡𐑂°‧₊

So now he can admit to himself that he likes this; likes seeing the glow of your rosy, apple cheeks in the tangerine afternoon rays of a tired day. The way the sunlight dapples the colour of your hair; the lazy smile that breaks across your gentle mouth as the cool breeze caresses you both. This wheat field is completely abandoned, high bland stalks swaying quietly. The rush of the little river nearby. A perfect place to take you; you who were beaming so joyfully, could’ve replaced the goddamn sun itself as far as it concerned him. 

He feels the embroidered spine of your book in his hand, holding it away from your reach. The one you always had open on the same page, the one he caught you reading when you were supposed to have your hands on your rifle and your sharp eyes looking for guards and raiders.

“Let me read it.” he grins without realizing it, stretching a little further away as your fingers grab for purchase, pointlessly. You're too short to even touch the cover as he leans over you. “No!” You reiterate, and he frowns, a finger coming to his lips to remind you of your surroundings. Still careful. “Why not, huh? Can't be that bad if y'like it so much.” 

A slow blush stains you as you huff, dropping your arms to your sides. Like a petulant child. Admitting defeat.

“Fine, but it’s not even in English.”

He quirks an eyebrow at that, and keeps your gaze as he flips the faded, worn pages open to find the one he’s looking for. “You won’t understand it.” You whisper. But he doesn’t need to understand it, he just wants to see. It makes perfect sense to him that you're bilingual, he doesn't know a lot about you, but he knows you're smart, and sharp as a tack...as long as something interests you.

The paper of this page in particular is dog-eared to the point of severe damage, and marked to all hell, but it isn’t dusty at all. Whatever this is, he sees that it’s well-loved by you. Well-read. His curiosity gets the better of him as you make one last reach for the precious item and he, with ease and very quiet glee, denies you. 

He doesn’t try to read it aloud though, the words roll around on his tongue unfamiliar, tangled up in the calculator of his brain that is so used to the anglo-saxon american structure of speech. But he scans it quietly all the same, to your surprise. 

Ná labhair focal,

ná féach im threo,

tá duifean ar mo chroí

nách n-ardófar. 

Géillim don ngeimhriú

Ní aithneofar mé 

go péacadh na mbachlóg. 

Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh.

He clears his throat, and runs a finger along the last line of text; “This the author?” 

You peer over, nodding. He hums in acknowledgement, filing the information away for later. Then he graciously hands the book back to you, brushing your fingers with his, and you snatch it away; folding it closed against your lap. A low gust of wind makes the hair that frames the sides of your face dance delicately. You lean back on your arms then, to appear relaxed. Trying not to think of the delicious electricity sparkling under your smooth skin at his touch. Failing. You're hot, now. The humidity doing nothing to cool off the desire pooling in your belly as you look up at him through thick lashes. He's chewing a thought in his mouth, you can see it.

“Gaelic?” 

You are actually taken aback, but smile and shake your head good-naturedly at the attempt. “Gaeilge.” 

A look of confusion crosses his brow and a laugh, golden and sugary, pours from your chest. It squeezes him with violent affection for you. “Gaelic is Scottish. This is Irish. Gaeilge.” You repeat, cocking your head. “They’re different.” 

He nods slowly. He wants to ask you how you came to speak it, and is that why you have a lilt in your accent? did you come from there? From Ireland? And how did you manage to keep speaking it after the outbreak?

 But, he thinks those questions can wait til later. You'll tell him your story on your own terms when you're ready, and he respects that. What he does know is that this must be important to you somehow, and he's happy to focus on that for now.

 “You gonna tell me what it’s about?” 

“I could...but those are meant to be read and understood in the spirit of the language they’re in. They’re not meant to be in English.” You season the last word with some disdain, teasing.

He gives you a dry look and you laugh again. Rolling his eyes and pretending to fall over, he pops back up and props his dozy head with his elbow against the coffee-brown and burgundy leaves that have scattered and broken on the ground beneath gale-swept branches. Then he waits. 

You take him in in all his intensity, the way his curls ruffle against his hand. The sleeves of his shirt pushed to his elbows, muscles and tendons flexing and taut, brown in the sun and from working outdoors.

You guess you do owe him one. Reaching your free hand towards him, he turns his face into your gentle touch on his jaw, and you just about explode. How could you deny him anything when he looks like this?

“Alright,” You give in, and it feels like the easiest thing in the world.  

The book opens once more, and his pretty eyes follow your slender finger against the printed words with his gaze; you feel observed; shy. And you begin, your voice unsure of itself. But his hand on your thigh is cosy, encouraging.

“Don’t say a word,

Don’t look in my direction,

There’s something on my heart 

That can’t be lifted. 

I give in to wintering 

You won’t see me

Til the buds begin to blossom”. 

“Til the buds begin to blossom.” He repeats slowly, intentionally. 

“You a man of literature now, Miller?” 

He exhales sharply. “Not at all, ma’am. Just a curious one.”

The corner of your lips tugs upwards at this easier side of him - and you hum as you close the book and set it down with care, next to you. You each settle against the other comfortably then, taking in the sights and scents around you. A tranquility has made home inside your bones, with the feeling of his warm front against your back and you raise your face to the rays of sun; still beaming onto you from the early evening sky. Your whole body rests now, soothed by his presence.

Comfortable silence blankets over you both, for a few minutes. 

“So, d’ya like the view?” He asks all of a sudden, kicking his feet back and stretching against the massive tree he’s got you both behind - completely hidden from the view of the gate patrol. He’s been scoping this place out for weeks, he knows it’s safe. 

You feel his shirt ride up against your back and it ignites something that quickly dwarfs anything mellow or peaceful inside you.

“Do I like it, Joel Miller?” You repeat incredulously, turning around and crawling onto his lap; with only a little grace. His rough, calloused hands instinctively come up to your hips, and the denim of your worn jeans suddenly feels far too tight and restrictive for the kinds of lovely, fuzzy messages your body is giving to you. You straighten up, leaning in to breathe; a faint hint of whiskey, lot of smoke. Lot of man. Yours. Your man. 

Before you can unleash the teasing reply you had tucked away for him, an unwelcome thought sobers you. He notices the shadow cross your pretty face, the terrible memory flickering away in the back of your mind. Calling back to your thoughts before, you realise very abruptly that you do owe him one. In fact, you owe him your life for this very afternoon. The seeping heat on your skin and the pastel wildflowers. The gorgeous vermillion colour of the sky. The rush of contentment in your heart.

“I never would have even seen this sunset if it wasn’t for you.” You murmur, lowly enough that he has to strain to hear it. A grumble rumbles in his chest but he says nothing in reply, so you stay quiet, and take his larger hands into yours. Trying to convey how grateful you are with your touch. Hoping it'll osmosis or something. Knowing you can never repay him for his selflessness, his friendship, his sacrifices. 

He clears his throat then, to get your attention, and you lock eyes with him; searching and deep. Knowing. 

“You know I love it.” you whisper, appreciating the deep brown irises framed by spectacular eyelashes. The eyes you’d know absolutely anywhere. “I love it more than anything.”

You’re not talking about the view anymore. 

 He knows it, too; lines softening at the complete adoration on your face, the vulnerability; the way you’re giving it all to him. And he wants it even though he really shouldn’t. He wants you exactly like this for the rest of your lives. Warm and happy, tucked up next to him in some butt-fuck middle of nowhere place in the sun, tending to your garden and reading your books and your poems, unbothered by the harsh realities of the world revolving around you. Away and safe from the sickness and cruelty of the cities.

 He watches carefully the radiant glow that’s touching your expression, and he can’t help but understand then, why you like that poem. 

It’s you. 

In moments like these, when you’re pressed up against him and smelling so sweet he feels heady and drunk, it’s much harder to shove away those very domesticated thoughts he’s been having; of you and the kind of things he wants to give you. The kind of life he wants you to have, together. Although he couldn’t tell you out loud, not yet anyway. He’s working on it. 

You wonder what he's thinking about, leaning to press a soft kiss to his chin to bring him back to earth- closing your eyes at rough stubble brushing against your cheek. You feel an earth-shattering smile and wish you could see, but it’s gone by the time you raise your head again. 

What you do see is a tanned arm reaching behind you to pluck something from the soft earth.

It’s a sunflower. Bright and plush and golden. 

 Like you, he thinks. 

Firm fingers gently and deftly push your strands aside, carefully slipping the green stalk of it right behind your left ear.

Leaning back to peer at you and admire his handiwork, he tucks his hands behind his head.

 He compares what’s in front of him now to his memories of last month; your face tear-tracked and pale in his bed, telling him you didn’t want to live. Him never knowing how to help you, spending those bleak evenings with fear poisoning his every thought, constantly worrying he would come back home to you cold and still. Wrapping himself tight around you in his bed late at night in the hopes he could somehow just piece it all back together by holding you. The memories the experience brought up for him; the ones fuelling his terror of failing you, like he failed her. 

And now you here, surrounded by spring buds blossoming in the sweet change of the season. Wildflowers, peonies, just like you, so easily pleased by the sun and the green of the forest and the view from the top of your apartment building once the snow had begun to melt. Softened by just a little bit of warmth and a lot of love. A lot of care. He's proud of you and how hard you've worked to drag yourself out of the place you were in.

He’s suddenly finding it difficult to control the way he wants to cry with relief. 

You don’t know any of this, of course. But the way he observes you so deliberately sends little shivers down your spine, despite the humidity and haze. You do feel kind of silly sitting like this though, so you reach up to pull the flower from your hair, but his fingers grip your wrist hard and fast before you can get to it and they tell you otherwise, pressing indents into your skin that you'll remember later tonight.

“Don’t.” He says softly. “I like it.”

You try to stop the grin from breaking out but fail miserably, and he's dazzled by it. One smile, and he’s completely and overwhelmingly filled with love for you.

 Yes, he thinks; even at the end of the world, even in this shitty fucking place, this apocalyptic nightmare, you still somehow manage to blossom in the sun.

[breakfastassociation]

I dont think death is a cheater

*big ol text for something very teeny*

one of puss' lives introduces the idea that death is cheating because he's coming after puss even though hes totally alive. which sure sounds like cheating to me!

but as many have noted(1), we do not see death hanging around all the time

he wasnt at mama lunas

he wasnt on the road part of the roadtrip to the star

he wasnt with puss in the safety of the woods and perrito

etc

we only see death when puss is risking his life

over consuming milk(2)

slaying the giant (this one is an easter egg)

getting shot at after stealing the map from horner

facing the bakers dozen

getting stuck in the cave of lost souls a la narcissus (this is my own pet theory, see prev post)

so it looks like death cant nab him at any old time, there is a set of boundaries that death has to operate in, ie puss has to be in real danger of losing his life to see death

which brings us to the Puss V Death sword fights that bookend this movie.

The First: death comes really close to getting puss (blood is drawn) and eventually disarms him. it would have been really easy to get this cat when hes down but he kicks the rapier over and tells him to pick it up (and continue the fight)

The Second: death appears right after puss finally has his hands on the map and is ready to make his 9 life wish. horner was stuck in his bag(3) as far as we knew and goldi + co were reconciled; there seemed to be no immediate threat to puss' life. but death rolls up nonetheless. is this the last chance, last ditch effort of death to finally get him?!

Puss got encircled in the arena of flames but like, the first thing death does after introductions is kick that rapier back over to puss and challenge him to the duel

So. in regards to cheating. i don't think death was cheating by coming after puss in person. i think if he was really cheating, he would have axed puss the first chance he got. that would line up with this whole 'vengeance' idea.

i think the writers upheld death's mythos of being an unstoppable, altho rule-bound force, of nature. taking puss' life without cause, executioner style, would have been cheating(4)

i think death kept egging puss to pick up his sword so that

puss had the opportunity to live or die in fair, armed combat

death had the opportunity to take puss' life without stepping outside the bounds of 'only taking lives in danger of being lost'

But puss earning his life back by kicking the scythe back over to death instead of running.. and acknowledging that hes fighting a losing battle but staying anyways..

idk if any of this was intentional but if it, was i think its a great job on part of the writers of showing how such a complex system of balances could be depicted without outright showing the rule book to the audience. and to give death (the plot device, not the character) such an elaborate code to adhere to...ugh ive said it before and ill say it again the writers are so good at recycling

1 - another interesting thing is that death is waiting until puss' ninth life to come for him. hes had this grudge against cats for a while and never got to short them(1.1) if hes a cheater, youd think hed take more than just one the one life of one very ungrateful cat

altho, they might value their lives more and be less deserving of getting cheated

1.1 - for the sake of this post im ignoring this bc its pure speculation + off topic #justgirlytings

2 - unconfirmed but a fun idea

3 - was this the writers telling us that the real villain will always be a white man whos getting the bag ($) ?

4 - while it may not be standard protocol for death to show up and start fights, i think we can excuse this due to the extenuating circumstances (puss legit wasted 8 lives already, fucking cats am i right fellas?)

[asterssunzephyr]

Hear me out

hs au where the esmp s1 gang are all graduating (s2 is college!!) but Shelby left right after Graduation to go home and see her parents and Katherine asks if anyone saw them (all my aus have he/she/they prns c!Shelby)

And theyre all in a gc but only the twins brought their phones to graduation (bc its the twins) and their gc gets a text from Shelby

Shubble: Ill see you guys again!! I dont know when, since im going to a college for magic but hopefully when we all graduate:)

And the Twins share a look and then everyones RUSHING to Scott's limo, and saying goodbye to their parents so they can make Nature Wives happen

And Kat's panicking because do we even know what flight he's on?!

but they get to the airport, everyone in formal wear or still in their cap & gowns, and they're rushing through to get to Shelby's gate right as the second to final call for the flight is made

and they see Shelby in line and Scott yells out to stop them, and Shelby turns their head to see the other 11 (and maybe Xornoth bc he drove, he wanted to see nw happen) running towards the gate

and Shelby has to make the choice between staying or going and he looks at Katherine who looks so panicked and out of hope and she steps out of the line for boarding, asking for a flight delay of 10 minutes, please thats all I need. Make it quick kid, Flight takes off in 5.

And so Shelby runs towards the group and rather than having the chance to say anything, Katherine kisses her and everyone pauses because oh my god did Kat really do that

and Shelbys surprised and then theres the final call and Shelby asks if they can make something work out, wether it be long distance relationship or waiting four years for each other and Kat takes the long distance option because shes already waited four years to kiss Shelby, she doesnt think she can wait another four to do it again & they'll have holidays & breaks to see each other

And then Shelby runs to the gate to board the plane, waving bye to everyone with a huge fucking smile on their face and everyone else is waving and yelling bye back, and as soon as Shelbys out of side, Katherine almost passes out (but Pearl catches her!!) and everyone else is hyping her up

and then the graduation days for Shelbys college & the others colleges are a separate date, so they all get to make it to their own graduation and Shelbys, and vice versa for Shelby

and IF THERES A S3, which has been hinted at kinda by Fwhip?, then s3 would be their lives as adults and nw living together:)