#to explain why we do stuff because ''it works'' isn’t satisfying. we ALL have the toddler urge to go BUT WHY??

[bestworstcase]

How likely is it do you think that there are/have been Grimm-based cults? I can't imagine there's Never been Grimm cults, and I'm particularly interested in the idea of there being Grimm cults or even just organizations who Actually Understand the Grimm and safely live alongside them. I think it's such a fascinating idea, I'm very tempted to come up with a mysterious faction that respects/admires the Grimm (like how people did/do respect forces of nature in religion) and (mostly) safely lives alongside them. Any thoughts?

two obvious paths. whether the second is viable depends on how well you trust my basic reading of the grimm as sapient beings who reflect back what they’re given—dark mirrors—but the first is textually sound without any extrapolation required.

#1: the grimm as gods of war

these are the salient facts:

the grimm follow groups of bandits around to scavenge in the wake of their raids

criminals in mistral sometimes use captive grimm to execute members of rival gangs

grimm are more strongly drawn by violent anger and hatred than by sadness, fear, or other negative emotions.

it’s possible (per ‘before the dawn’) for one side of a conflict to "ally" with the grimm in battle if the other side is, er, tastier

ok. imagine you have a region where most of the people live in small nomadic groups—perhaps a steppe or a desert, their subsistence base is herding—with smatterings of fortified towns and villages around the edges of the region where there’s arable land enough to support a larger sedentary population. the nomadic groups can’t produce their own weapons/armor (mines, smelters, and forges aren’t portable), so they’ll need to either raid or trade with the towns for that. and conflicts between these nomadic groups over territory and other resources are inevitable.

how do the grimm figure in this region?

well a) the grimm are going to be following the nomadic groups around, with more warlike groups attracting more grimm, and b) grimm will fight alongside people against a common enemy if their "allies" are calmer or otherwise less appealing.

this is like… a perfect storm for the nomadic groups to start venerating "their" grimm as war-gods, in tandem with fostering warrior-cultures that prize tranquility or joy and mercy in battle; there is no honor in hatred or rage or taking pleasure in killing (our grimm turn against those warriors who lose themselves to bloodlust), so a good warrior must be calm, decisive, and swift, and never prolong a fight unnecessarily. but it’s also beneficial to make one’s enemies fearful and angry, or provoke them into hatred.

all it takes is one or two warriors who kept a cool head in battle noticing that the grimm ignored them to go after another warrior who went berserk and then interpreting this as a moral judgment. historically, we know grimm were thought to be the vengeful or corrupted spirits of animals, or animals possessed by demons; both are understandings that encourage this sort of thinking. these are animal spirits that cannot rest because someone killed them without giving due respect, and now they seek to punish those who commit such wrongs… so we’d better take care to treat our adversaries in battle and the animals we hunt with honor and mercy.

and oh, we should pay our respects to the grimm, too. perhaps make some offerings. they eat the corpses of the slain after a battle, so… a) we mustn’t be wasteful when we hunt, it isn’t respectful, and b) we should consider the grimm in our funeral customs.

this is a very basic. BASIC human impulse. humans will try to propitiate the fucking sky because we’re so good at pattern recognition and also anthropomorphizing things that we’ll find patterns and read meaning into the most random coincidences. take that and add it to the fact that it legitimately is possible to form alliances with grimm… fgrhjsv

under these conditions grimm-worship probably tends to look something like:

warrior cultures that prize moderation, calmness, efficiency, and clever mockery or intimidation of the enemy in battle,

funeral customs that ritualize feeding the dead to grimm, and/or ritual sacrifice of captured enemies,

grimm viewed as battlefield psychopomps and/or patron spirits of warriors, whether as a class or as individuals or both, and

incorporation of grimm-like designs or motifs into armor and clothing of warriors, to intimidate enemies.

with wide variation in the details and elaborations. the reason for this common set of foundational practices is that religion is practical. it’s not arbitrary. it isn’t pretend. prayer and ritual are things people do because it works, or it’s believed to work, and the right methods are figured out through trial and error long before they coagulate into tradition. so with something like grimm, whose behavior really can be meaningfully influenced, similar patterns will emerge across different cultures because whether a given practice does or doesn’t work is a) more than random chance or coincidence, and b) extremely easy to identify because if it doesn’t work the grimm will attack you.

& #2, the grimm as nature gods

these are my presuppositions, based on extrapolation from the text:

the grimm have a physiological need for aura, which they can get by siphoning; they eat their prey in order to extract aura from the remains.

grimm attraction to emotions is akin to our attraction to the aroma and taste of food; strong emotions herald deep auras or excite aura so it’s more "nutritious" for the grimm, so they hunt by following emotion.

because aura/soul separates from the body at death, siphoning aura from a living person is much more efficient than killing and eating; grimm will prefer to be fed aura by someone alive over hunting if possible.

because aura can be channeled outward through tools, clothing, etc, it can also be channeled into a repository and stored for a while; this seems to be how the grimm lures in arrowfell work.

grimm are intelligent, emotional, social creatures who can learn to recognize certain groups of people as 'safe' or as friends/allies, without salem.

grimm reflect back the emotional energy they’re given; they’re not "attracted" to anger or pain per se, they just mirror it. bristle and draw your weapon at a grimm, and the grimm will charge at you. remain calm and retreat slowly, and the grimm will keep its distance too.

if all of these presuppositions are true, you can propitiate grimm by saturating an object with aura and leaving that out for the grimm on the regular. i imagine that organic/living things that naturally have aura would work best for this purpose; sacrificing an animal or a portion of your harvest is intuitive, and if fervent religious belief alone isn’t enough to infuse something with aura, then priests or religious officials whose auras have been unlocked and trained will do the trick.

if aura-saturated offerings aren’t possible, then you’d need someone with aura training to channel aura to the grimm through, like, a stick, or bare-handed if they were brave enough or confident enough. this is a more uncomfortable option (like physically) but we have a canonical example of a character doing it: she found it disconcerting, but not painful, and it’s implied that the grimm didn’t attack her at any point during. so a) it probably doesn’t do any more harm than having one’s defensive aura break, and b) stopping the flow of aura to the grimm by moving away won’t provoke the grimm to attack.

as unpleasant the prospect might seem, if it clearly worked to reduce or eliminate grimm attacks on the community, people would do this. people would absolutely do this. the big hurdle lies in discovering that this is possible—like you’d need someone to willingly approach a grimm, lay a hand on it, and channel aura into it without knowing what will happen, and the kind of person who would even think to TRY that is very rare—but once it was known? religious belief motivates people do all sorts of unpleasant, uncomfortable, or even outright painful and harmful things to themselves. fasting. self-flagellation. hermitage.

like… waves hands. if it’s a known thing in a community that grimm won’t attack anyone if a few people go into the wilderness every morning to stand there and pour aura into grimm who pass by until they’re tapped out for the day, lots of people will be fully willing and able to do that. far more than are willing and able to become huntsmen: it’s not dangerous or difficult, it’s just going to tire you out on your assigned days. and if you have say, a village of a hundred people of whom ten are able to do it, you can rotate so no individual has to do it more often than thrice a month. NBD.

and if nothing else except the emotional mirroring thing is true, then you can… more or less propitiate grimm by doing whatever, because in this case what makes propitiation effective is community belief that it works: if you and everyone else around you believes that wearing pendants carved in the likeness of grimm and pouring a libation of wine outside the village gates to entreat the grimm for safe passage through the wilds is effective in making the grimm leave you alone, then no one’s going to panic or raise the alarm upon seeing a grimm wandering around in the barley field, and the grimm won’t freak out either.

if you believe that a grimm is a being that can be appeased and you cross paths with one in the woods, you’re going to do what you believe will keep you safe; for a huntsman, that’s "draw a weapon and attack," but for you that might be "hold up your grimm pendant and recite a prayer to politely wish it well and ask for its blessing in return," which—if the grimm just reflect your emotional energy back at you—will probably make the grimm pause and look at you for a moment before continuing on, which confirms and reinforces your belief that this is the correct way to deal with grimm. This Is How Religion Works.

so all that to say, as long as i’m correct about at least one of these presuppositions—the one with the strongest textual evidence, no less—then propitiating the grimm will reduce their aggression dramatically if not stop it altogether. and if that’s the case then i’d imagine grimm-worship is quite common and also varied in more remote regions where human-grimm encounters are frequent.

the shape of that worship will evolve out of how people in a given community figured out that you can do this with grimm. if one person tries a certain thing and it works, and then more people try the same thing and it works for them to, then that is going to become known as the Thing That Works and it will be gradually refined and elaborated on from generation to generation. and on the other side of the mountains they might be doing the same process but with a completely different thing that also worked the first time.

so you might have a village making huge ritual productions of preparing a feast for the grimm with a portion of the harvest, orchestrated by a coterie of priests who fill the offerings with aura… and in the hinterlands a few hundred miles away you might have a group of nomadic herders who leave the bones of every sheep they eat for the grimm and also have elaborate coming-of-age rituals where you go into the wilderness to prove yourself to the grimm by baring your soul… and up north on the coast you might have a whaling town where sailors pray to something like the leviathan or the feilong as a sea-god because their ancestors happened to stumble into a symbiotic relationship with a giant grimm that preys on whales and realized these little guys in boats make better hunting partners than they do snacks. etc.

basically if you accept a presupposition that the grimm aren’t "soulless evil monsters whose sole purpose is to kill humans" and consider them as beings that have some rhyme or reason as to when they’re aggressive and when they’re not, and the rhyme or reason is something humans/faunus could plausibly figure out how to accommodate and/or influence, there are a lot of ways to build a grimm cult. ’cause religion is at its core humans trying to understand the world so we can keep ourselves safe, healthy, and comfortable; worshipping grimm is just a cultural framework for a threat management program.

think about it in those terms, and take however you think grimm work and ask "what could people Do to lower the risk of grimm attacking them?" and "what might people Do that doesn’t really have an effect but seems like it maybe does?" and then start to elaborate from there with "okay, what stories do people tell to explain why they do these things and how they learned to do these things? how do they conceive of the grimm and their relationship to grimm? how does this shape the social and moral values of this religion?" etc.

praxis comes first, belief second. and the praxis develops through trial and error with the basic goal of "how can we make the grimm leave us alone?" so things that clearly don’t work will be discarded. (with ‘clearly don’t work’ meaning "we did this and grimm immediately attacked us"; people will tend to take "we did this and grimm didn’t attack us for two months" to mean "it worked! we should do it every other month!")

[breeyn]

An essay rebutting the “bad writing” claims of s2 ofmd. Spoilers herein.

I’ll preface this with saying you’re obviously allowed to like and dislike whatever you want. I am in no way opposing that. And your reasons are your reasons. Have at. (Also - this is a collection of observations from the past few days, I’m not calling anyone out)

I AM going to rebut the idea that season two was poorly written and lost the spirit of what the show is about.

My favourite movie of all time is Empire Strikes Back. It’s been my favourite movie since I was four. I’m pretty sure it’s a fave of David Jenkins, too. He and Taika have made absolutely no attempt to hide their love of all things 80’s - Prince, the Princess Bride, Kate Bush, Star Wars, etc.

I have ancient video tapes (that I can’t play because who has a vcr) where Lucas is interviewed by Leonard Maltin? Malkin? I dunno. Who cares. Maltin asks him about the Star Wars (original trilogy) story arc. Lucas says “in act I, you introduce all the characters. In act II, you put them in a situation they can’t get out of, and in act III, they get out of it.”

That’s how it works. This is how stories and literary structures work.

Of course you’re not satisfied with season two. You’re not supposed to be.

The arguments I have read on why s2 loses the spirit of s1 is because no one heals. No one learns anything. No one moves forward properly. The person who makes the biggest move towards healing dies. The two main characters end the show doing the exact fucking thing they had promised themselves and each other they wouldn’t do. Our romantic lead still doesn’t understand his value or make any headway on addressing his tragic flaw. It makes no goddamn sense.

My gremlins in weird: it’s not supposed to. In Act 2, EVERYONE LOSES. This is how it goes.

I’ve read a lot of people saying “but this felt like a series finale, not a season finale.” We all know that outside politics play a part here, the strikes make everything precarious. I remember the last writers strike. It destroyed tv for fifteen years. Anyone remember Pushing Daisies? Some of y’all have never had your fave show cancelled with zero resolution for the characters and it shows.

Daddy J did us a kindness. He softened the blow of a tough season. After the brutal cliffhanger of s1, he gave us a little softness and hope. All those things you’re mad aren’t resolved? It’s because THE STORY ISN’T OVER.

No one on earth thinks “stuff all your trauma into a box and ignore it” is good advice. A way to actually live. This show did not have enough screen time to throw out dialogue for no reason. There was foreshadowing in s1 for s2, and there is foreshadowing for s3 in s2. This is a well-crafted story by very smart people who care very much for these characters. There is zero chance Frenchie explained the box in his head for no reason. The reason people have not resolved their trauma and growth is because they haven’t done it *yet*.

And friends - it’s not thinly veiled. They straight up fucking tell us what they’re doing.

Luke Skywalker spends the first two movies fucking up and desperately trying to prove himself and just generally being an idiot. Sound familiar? He ignores the lessons he is supposed to be learning to go off and do what he feels like doing, and loses fucking badly. At the end of Empire, Han is gone, Luke and Leia wave goodbye to the Falcon that has Lando and Chewy - the rest of their crew - aboard. Everyone has lost everything they care about. Vader is undefeated. Yoda is pissed. Nothing is resolved.

You see where I’m going?

If you think I’m stretching this too far, welp, when Ed tells Stede he loves him - the climax of the finale - Stede quotes Han fucking Solo. Like - *it’s right there*. The story structure. The reason everything is unresolved.

So yeah. They wave goodbye to their ship because they have wounds to heal (like Luke’s hand). The people aboard the ship have things to find. Ed and Stede have *not* learned their lesson about whims and how not to be like Anne and Mary. It’s not stupid that they’re doing the same thing, and it’s not pointless that we were shown Anne and Mary. It’s all relevant.

The resolution comes in Act 3. None of these people are done. The story is far, far from over. And just in case the studios want to be dicks about it, David Jenkins was lovely enough to not repeat my enduring heartbreak over Pushing Daisies.

Thank you, @davidjenks 🖤

[livwritesstuff]

inspired by a reply @gregre369 left on yesterday’s post. this is why i love this site so much bc i had this idea floating aimlessly around my brain for such a long time and then someone says something that just connects all the dots for me so - much thanks <3

tw: brief reference to domestic violence

One of parenthood’s biggest surprises (in Eddie’s opinion, anyway) was how easy talking to his and Steve’s daughters about why his parents aren’t in his life was.

He’d figured it’d be hard to figure out exactly how to explain that his mother's death was the end result of domestic violence caused by his father, who had died in prison twenty years later – but…that about covers it, honestly. Sure, the exact rendition of the story the girls hear varies as they get older, but…it’s pretty straightforward, actually.

Explaining Steve’s situation turned out to be way more complicated for…well, for a lot of reasons, and the fact that his parents are still alive and breathing and choosing to not be around didn't help things at all.

It also didn't help that the girls totally saw Jim and Joyce as Steve’s parents, but it did lead to a conversation that Eddie doesn't think he'll ever forget:

It happened when he was passing through the kitchen to see that Steve was cooking with Moe.

"What're we up to in here?" he asked.

At four years old (she’s actually almost five), Moe has yet to outgrow a phase of picky eating that had started out right around her second birthday. Steve is trying out a new method where he involves Moe in the cooking process in the hopes that she then actually wants to eat the product of her hard work when it’s done. He's seeing varying levels of success.

“We're making burgers,” Moe said, “Poppy’s recipe.”

Eddie looked at Steve skeptically, “Poppy Jim or Poppy Joyce?”

Steve rolled his eyes, “I’m telling Joyce you said that.”

And then he added, “Jim.”

Satisfied, Eddie continued on his way.

“How come you call your dad Jim?” Moe asked.

And that had Eddie pausing in the hallway just out of their line of sight.

“Well, Poppy’s not my dad, sweet pea,” Steve replied.

“Did you not have a dad?”

“I did have a dad – I do. He lives in Indiana with my mom. We don't really talk to each other anymore though."

"Why?"

"When I was younger, I decided that they didn’t take care of me like I needed them too, and Jim and Joyce stepped in to be like my parents instead."

It's not completely accurate, Eddie knows (and he doesn't love the way Steve is shifting culpability away from his parents because that shit was fully on them, but whatever; it's his story and he can tell it however he wants), but just like how their daughters don't have a completely accurate picture of what happened to Eddie's mom either, they know what they need to know for now and they'll hear more down the line.

“But what did your mom and dad do?” Moe asked.

"Well, you know how Daddy and I read to you and play with you and put you to bed and make food for you – it was a little different because I was older and I needed different stuff than that, but…”

Eddie watched Steve look back at their oldest daughter, watched him see the look of confusion in her big brown eyes.

“They didn’t do that?” Moe asked, sounding perplexed.

Steve shook his head, and Moe continued to look at him as if he might suddenly tell her he was joking.

“That’s crazy,” Moe finally said, and Steve let out a laugh.

“It is kinda crazy, isn’t it?” he agreed, “That’s why I love being your dad so much, because it’s actually so easy to want to take care of you. Even though you sometimes like to make it hard on purpose, right?”

“Yeah,” she grinned proudly, “Like when I make you snuggle me more at bedtime and you fall asleep by accident and then the kitchen is messy in the morning."

"Uh-huh," Steve said, poking her in the side so she giggled, "Exactly like that."

"You're a good dad," Moe told him.

"You think?" Steve asked as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"The best dad."

“The best?” he repeated, “Can’t let Daddy hear that.”

“He can hear it.”

[ryuichirou]

Hello Hello! I was curious (although you rarely talk about them) do you have any Leoruggie Headcanons (SFW or NSFW optional) love your work goodbye! ^^

Hi Anon! Sorry it took me this long to reply to you.

Like I mentioned in a previous reply, yeah, we really do talk about Leona or Ruggie quite rarely, although we love Ruggie quite a lot, he’s a joy to see in the events.

Even though this is quite a late reply and not a lot of hcs, I hope you enjoy reading them. Thank you for enjoying our stuff <3

Their sexual relationship is mutually beneficial. Ruggie doesn’t directly get any money from having sex with Leona, but he still considers this to be a much better deal than sleeping with all the other students for money: it’s an investment. He would talk for hours about how good of a deal it is, but he won’t, because it’s a secret.

Ruggie was very surprised when he realized that they are indeed going to have this deal. He was pretty satisfied with just being able to hang out around Leona and do stuff for him (not completely for free, of course), and he did hear rumors about Leona’s preferences, but he was certain that those are just rumors + that he isn’t Leona’s type.

And he really isn’t Leona’s type, but he fits the role surprisingly perfectly. Neither of them can really explain why, but it makes sense in Leona’s head, so Ruggie doesn’t ask questions. It is quite a nice deal for Leona too though: he likes to think that Ruggie is just using him too, and that Ruggie is smart enough to be careful about this whole thing. And that he’ll try his best to keep Leona satisfied whenever and wherever.

Ruggie has sex with Leona every other day, sometimes more than once a day, but he never sleeps in his bed. He is allowed to sleep anywhere else his room though, with Leona saying something among the lines of “I don’t care, but you have to be gone before I wake up”. In actuality, it means “you fucked me nicely, so you can sleep here”. Ruggie knows it because sometimes Leona just pretends to be asleep when he leaves.

For the most part Leona does prefer to have sex in his own room, because he knows for a fact that no one is going to enter his territory. But sometimes he does get playfully provocative, and Ruggie has to roll his eyes, but still smile and have sex with him in the school garden or something. “I am/you are just a capricious prince, and you know it” is a sentiment that they share but never discuss.

[fairyniceyeah]

🌹💙 Time (Hajoon Series Part 8)

Part 1: Angel Part 2: Nauseous Part 3: Eclipse Part 4: Take Me Down Part 5: Sorry Part 6: Alive Part 7: Sour

Summary: Is it the last time I hold your hand?

CW: low self-esteem

If it’s the last time

I’ll hold your hand in mine

“Hajoon?”, Woosung asked, his voice full of confusion and disbelief, “the fuck is this?”

Hajoon froze in the doorway, his jacket still half on. The other members were gathered in the kitchen. Dojoon and Jaehyeong were sitting at their kitchen table, their expressions unreadable. Woosung was standing behind them, holding an official looking letter with a familiar logo. Likely his results – if he was accepted for college again. They were supposed to arrive today after all.

Why had the others opened his mail? Hajoon was enraged. They had no right! With more force than necessary he ripped his jacket off and stalked towards Woosung to grab the paper. He wanted to do it right, not have them find out accidentally. He didn’t want them to think he was a bad drummer and a coward.

“Why are you going through my mail?”, he asked, resentful. Separated from Hajoon by the table Woosung was easily able to hold it out of his reach. Wasn’t he allowed grace?

“I’m sorry, it’s my fault”, Jaehyeong said quietly, not meeting Hajoon’s eyes. “I was confused why you got mail from an university. So, since Leo and I thought that didn’t match up and they probably put on a wrong address on the letter we wanted to see if we could find out the real owner.”

“It never crossed your mind that I might get mail?”, Hajoon asked in disbelief.

“No, we didn’t think you would get mail from an university. You didn’t say you considered studying again”, Dojoon explained.

“What confuses me even more”, Woosung added, still looking perplexed, “why does it say you were accepted for a full-time study? You don’t have time for that with our work. We’ll be outside of Seoul too often. Besides how do you think you will have time to study and do band-practice, song-writing and other stuff at the same time? Why didn’t you talk to us about options? You’re our drummer, we need you.”

The ’until we find a replacement’ was implied. So the cat was out of the bag. Maybe they would appreciate honesty, would be glad that he took the first step to leave. It would have to happen sooner or later anyway.

“I really hope you find a different drummer soon. I quit. The documents from the lawyer should arrive within the week anyway”, Hajoon spat. For a moment he felt satisfied at seeing the shock on all their faces.

Remembering our highs

It’s hard to say goodbye

But the hidden happiness behind fake-sad faces he had expected didn’t happen. Jaehyeong’s face turned into a heart-broken expression, a soft breath escaping him. Dojoon was frowning, like he didn’t understand anything he had been told. But it was Woosung who looked the worst. The leader had turned deathly pale and was clutching the table hard as if he was scared of fainting, the paper scrunched up in his fingers.

“What?”, Woosung asked softly, eyes impossibly wide.

“I quit. I’m done”, Hajoon repeated, trying and failing not to cry. Tears distorted his sight. He didn’t understand. He hadn’t wanted to keep hurting the members with his presence in the band. Why were they so sad? Was it just bad timing? What was he missing?

“You’re joking, right? This is just a joke. Tell us that you are joking”, Dojoon said weakly, desperately, “this isn’t funny, Joon-ah.”

“It’s not a joke, Dojoon-ssi”, Hajoon choked out, “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t keep pretending I don’t know. I’m done.”

“But … but why? Pretend what? Hajoon-ah, why?”, Jaehyeong asked between sobs, “we can’t be The Rose without you.” He looked like he wanted to say more but he was overwhelmed by his choked crying. Dojoon placed a hand on his back, looking like he was just acting out of instinct not because he was very present.

When was the last time

We laughed until we cried

“We should probably sit down and talk”, Hajoon said, already dreading the conversation. Something wasn’t adding up. Why weren’t they rejoicing? Hadn’t he done what they wanted? But he had heard them – they wanted him to leave.

“Yeah, let’s do that”, Woosung agreed, still pale. He rubbed Jaehyeong’s shoulder for a moment then walked around the table to sit down in his chair next to Hajoon. The drummer hesitantly slumped down, glad he wasn’t sitting across the crying maknae. He didn’t think he could stand seeing him sad any second longer.

“What is this all about, Joon-ah?”, Dojoon asked, reaching over as if he wanted to take Hajoon’s hand in his. Hajoon flinched away.

“I … I know I’m the superfluous member of The Rose, the least liked member”, Hajoon started haltingly. He didn’t want to sob his way through the explanation. “I know you don’t want me around and I’m easily replaceable. Black Roses wouldn’t mind if I left and I’m sure with a new drummer who doesn’t keep fucking up you can reach new highs. I know you’ve been looking for a new drummer. I’m sorry for the inconvenience of leaving now but I don’t think I can stay here any longer. I love you and I know leaving is the best thing I can do for you.”

This is the last time

Closing scene to your story

As he finished, he looked up again. Jaehyeong had his hands in front of his mouth, sobbing. Dojoon was leaning forward, resting his head in his hands and his elbows on the table. They both looked the picture of defeat.

Hajoon dared to look to his lea… - former leader - and it hurt. Woosung looked like he had seen a ghost, tears trailing down his face and hands trembling. As if sensing his gaze Woosung looked up into Hajoon’s eyes. Hajoon didn’t think he had ever seen anybody look so sad.

“Baby”, Woosung whispered finally, “where did you get all of this from? We never … we … we knew something was going on. But this? Hajoon-ah, we love you so much and I don’t think any of us would want to be The Rose without you. We need you, not just as a drummer, because we need you. Our loveable true maknae who keeps telling bad jokes and is obsessed with One Piece. The amazing man who grew with us by our side, who we all go to talk our problems through and who is the reason we are even popular. Without you, without your skills, we …” Woosung broke off, crying.

“Woosung-ssi?”, Hajoon asked, unsure and feeling completely out of balance. This was not what he had expected. Was Woosung really saying the truth?

“It’s hyung, Hajoon-ah”, Woosung whispered, “fuck, I never even noticed how you just kept addressing us in formal speech for weeks. I thought you were teasing but ... Is this why? You thought you needed to speak formally to us because …” Woosung was unable to finish the sentence, say the words. You thought we hated you.

Hajoon nodded. But he was still so unsure of himself.

“But I heard you talking about how I made so many mistakes that night after the concert some time ago, that it couldn’t go on with me? That I was weird. And I understand, I am a liability if I keep making mistakes. I can understand if you want to kick me out and replace me with somebody better…”

I’ll miss you endlessly

Hope we meet again someday smiling like before

Hajoon was interrupted by Dojoon, who stood up and walked around the table to kneel down beside the younger.

“Joon-ah, you overheard but you misunderstood. I’m sorry. We were so worried for you that night. You made so many mistakes and you were so out of it after the concert. We tried to figure out what was going on with you because we love you. We wanted you to be okay and we never talked about replacing you, we were looking for a way to help you. I promise. We will not replace you, that is just stupid. There is no The Rose without you, angel.”

But Dojoon had been searching for a new drummer, hadn’t he been?

“But … but you were looking for a new drummer, weren’t you?”, Hajoon asked desperately, “Leo, I saw your laptop screen. You were on the drummer forum and chatting with drummers, I saw.”

Perhaps they were all still denying what they had done? Were they ashamed in the face of his tears? Didn’t they find anybody to take his spot and had to content with him for the time being?

“What?”, Dojoon gasped, gripping Hajoon’s hands tightly, “I … Hajoon-ah. It’s your birthday in some time. I was chatting with specialists on what to get you. We all wanted to buy you something really special because we love you and you had been so down all the time. You kept pushing us away and we wanted to show you that we care about you. If we couldn’t help you any other way we thought a nice gesture could show how much we love you. Please believe me!”

It … it made sense. Hajoon felt sick. It made so much sense.

Hajoon slowly nodded.

As he looked around, blinking tears away, he saw that Woosung was watching them. There was so much love in his eyes. Jaehyeong had walked around the table and had folded himself into a kneeling position on the ground, face hidden in Woosung’s lap. The leader was gently stroking his hair.

“So … you really don’t hate me or want me out of the group?”

It was hard for Hajoon to wrap his mind around the facts after weeks of believing the complete opposite.

“But you … you three fit together so perfectly. I don’t know who I am in this band anymore. I always felt so distanced from you – whenever we are on stage for sound checks or something it’s just you three and I barely know what to do with myself. You all seem like one being and I barely get to stand beside you. Whenever I tried I was pushed to the back. And … and in the studio? Why did you want me at band practice when I wasn’t able to play if not to show me a soundtrack is as useful as me and show me anybody else could do my job? Why would you want to me to stay with you when there are so many other people to choose from, people who are better than me?”

Can’t change us

Wanna spend more time beside you

Jaehyeong looked up at Hajoon finally, face blotchy and wet.

“Hajoon-ah, we’re sorry you felt like we didn’t want you or felt pushed away on stage. It’s stressful up there but that is no excuse. Just, you have always been so shy. I remember you saying all those years ago that you were glad to be hid behind your drums. We know you aren’t easily comfortable with new people and are rather shy – our only motivation is to make you feel safe and protected. I’m sorry if that made you feel like you were pushed aside. We will do better from now on and not just assume. You will always be our first choice, I promise.”

Oh. So they were doing it to protect him? A misguided attempt in this case but very sweet. How could he have doubted them?

“And that day at the studio”, Woosung added, “We didn’t handle it well and I am sorry I got angry but I was so worried that you would hurt your hands more and so scared why you would hurt yourself just to play. We actually thought you could try singing more if you wanted to, I had intended to ask you earlier but I forgot. I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry”, Hajoon whispered. How had he fucked this up so badly? It was obvious his members cared about him – probably had cared about him. He had basically thrown their kindness in their faces over and over again. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“Baby, you were having a really bad time, a really really bad mental health phase. We will never fault you for that. I think I will never forgive myself that I didn’t push when I saw you were hurting. We thought giving you the space you requested might help but that was the wrong move. We never wanted to hurt you. We all love you so much.” Woosung opened his arms. “Let us show you. Can we cuddle?”

Hajoon nodded. He didn’t know how it had happened but soon he was crying into Woosung’s chest on the kitchen floor, Dojoon hugging him from behind and Jaehyeong in Hajoon’s arms. It was by no means comfortable. Elbows were in ribs, knees close to sensitive places. But it was home. The most loved Hajoon had ever felt.

Oh, know the healing won’t be overnight

Countless nights crying over mights

“I really don’t have to leave?”, Hajoon asked hesitantly, hours later when the cuddle pile had moved to the couch as Woosung complained of a backache and Jaehyeong’s feet kept falling asleep. They all felt too raw to let each other go any time soon.

“You will never have to leave”, Jaehyeong confirmed.

Dojoon added: “You’re our Blue Rose, our miracle. Our angel. You will never ever get rid of us.”

“But the contract elimination?”, Hajoon asked hesitantly. The fallout of the months spend in hurt was scaring him.

“I’ll take care of it, baby”, Woosung said firmly, “hyung will take care of everything. Your only job is to heal and to let us spoil you until you can’t stand us anymore.”

There was a lot they would have to talk about in the future but for tonight it was enough.

Smiling like before

Time will heal us

Masterlist links: Fairy's Full Masterlist Fairy's Masterlist - The Rose  

[arc-misadventures]

Jaune FMK: Cinder Neo Emerald

Jaune: MFK V

Jaune: Okay! Marry, Fuck! But, who will it be…?

Emerald: Uhh… Isn’t there supposed to be a third person to kill?

Neo: 🤔

Emerald: Cinder? Okay… Where is she!

Jaune: Uhhh…

~~~

Jaune lighting a match, and throwing it on a pile of sticks.

Jaune: Hehehe~! Lets see how you like to burn bitch! HAHAHAHAHA!!!

~~~

Emerald: …

Neo: …

Jaune: …

Jaune: Why did I say that out loud…

Emerald: Am I the only one incredibly turned on by this…?

Neo: 😳

Emerald: Oh… good.

Jaune: Okay…? So, whom should I pick for what, that won’t end with one of you beating me up?

Emerald: Do you really think we would do that to you?

Jaune: Yes.

Neo: 😕

Emerald: Oh… Well that doesn’t matter! For we have already decided on who’s going to be what in our relationship~!

Neo: 😃

Jaune: You have? And, what relationship; we’re not dating, or anything, right…?

Emerald: We will by the time we’re done here~!

Jaune: Okay… That doesn’t make me nervous at all…

Neo: 😤

Jaune: I’m dealing with you two! Of course I’m going to be cautious!

Emerald: Since when have you needed to…?!

Jaune: The class room escapades, the times I woke up in bed with one of you there, the time you just so happened to forget to lock the door?! The times you picked said lock!

Neo: …

Emerald: Okay… you can be cautious of us then…

Jaune: Ya think?!

Emerald: But, no matter! It’s time to show you how this relationship is going to play out! Neo!

Neo: 😏

Jaune: …?

Neo: 🤩

Emerald: Ta-da~! So, what do you think?

Jaune: Uhh…? Several questions; First off, am I looking at you two with, Neo’s semblance, or was I looking at, Neo’s semblance before when you were wearing your regular clothes?

Emerald: We were using, Neo’s semblance before; we’re actually wearing these right now.

Jaune: Ahh, okay… So uhh… Neo…

Neo: 🤨

Jaune: You’re wearing a pencil skirt, and a pink, sleevles dress shirt, and high heels? Are you some sort of business woman, Neo?

Neo: 😊

Jaune: Okay…? And, are you wearing a maid uniform? A rather low cut uniform at that.

Emerald: Of course.

Jaune: Okay… Why…?

Emerald: Because its the outfits we’re going to need when you marry, Neo, and fuck me~!

Jaune: Okay… I’m missing something, can you start at where, or whatever the beginning to all of this is?

Emerald: Okay; Neo is your darling wife, and CEO, and founder of, Glass Mirror Insurance Company.

Jaune: Wait, I know that name. Neo, are you really the CEO?

Neo: 😊

Jaune: How?

Neo: 🏠💰❌👮‍♂️

Jaune: It was a front for you to hide your money from all the crimes you’ve committed?!

Neo: 😇💰💰💰

Jaune: Then you went legit when you found out you made more money from owning a insurance agency than committing crimes?!

Neo: 🤭

Jaune: …

Jaune: Okay…? That’s … Okay…?!

Emerald: Yeah, it weirded me out too when I found out.

Jaune: This implies, Neo pay taxes… Do you pay taxes, Neo?!

Neo: 😡🤬

Jaune: She hates paying taxes?! Okay, now that’s weird?!

Emerald: Neo, the taxpayer… Shall we move on?

Jaune: Yeah, lets explain the sexy maid uniform then.

Emerald: Okay! So, you will marry, Neo, and while she is at work, and doing typical business woman stuff. You will randomly pay your beautiful little wife a visit, take her to the supply closet, her office, wherever you want, and bang her brains out until she reduced to a moaning pile of sexual ecstasy!

Neo: 🥴🥰

Jaune: Yeah… Neo would love that… and, what about you?

Emerald: Oh, I will be your, and Mistress’s faithful maid, Master.

Jaune: Master?

Emerald: I will maintain the state of your home, clothing, and other items you have, Master. I will also satisfy any of your desires you wish, Master.

Jaune: Desires?

Emerald: Sexual desires.

Jaune: What?!

Emerald: While the, Mistress Neo is away for business, I will satisfy your sexual desires until the, Mistress’s return. You may take me in any way, and means that satisfy you, Master. I will even sit on the side, and watch as you satisfy the, Mistress. Whatever it may be, it is your choice to make, Master.

Jaune: …

Jaune: Okay, you’re really invested in this…

Emerald: I am, Master.

Jaune: And, you, Neo; you okay with this?

Neo: 👍

Jaune: Okay… Question: What if I wanted to take both my, Maid, and my Wife at the same time?

Neo: 😍

Emerald: That’s your call to make, Master~!

[weareallgonnaliveforawhile]

Sometimes Violence Is the Answer

It is a normal day at the Spirits and Stuff Consultation Office, and we meet our two protagonists who are about to cross the threshold of 'Boss-Employee' to 'Weird Father Figure-Weird Daughter Figure' with the power of violence, panic attacks, and a good cry.

______

| Ao3 |

Warnings: Creepy relatives, panic attacks, Teruhashi Makoto's general existence

Word Count: 3551

Notes:

Kokomi Reigen AU!!!

I want to dedicate this work to @nyxtsu on tumblr! Their fanart inspired this entire AU lol

----

In this world, there are many strange things that can not be explained by science or rational logic! Ghosts, Perfect Girls, spirits, demons, and many more- wait, what was the second one?

We open on a quaint office known as the Spirit's and Such Consultation Office, located in Seasoning City. Here we meet its residents having a quiet day, which is a solid half of their days, at the office. 

It is approximately 5:41pm and 23 seconds.

The eldest resident at age 28, Reigen Arataka, is the founder and boss of the agency. He is the self-proclaimed Greatest Psychic of the 21st Century. He has shown little to back this claim up, but his student never fails to show unwavering belief in this obviously false claim. Furthermore, he runs almost every aspect of this agency and is the primary one to speak to customers.

Due to his silver tongue and fantastic people skills, even when they are given problems unrelated to ghosts, he can satisfy customers into becoming regulars

By all accounts, he looks rather unassuming if not like a blatant con man. Logically, there should be nothing that makes him likable or appealing to his two employees. However, due to his unique way with words and unexpected kindness, he has gained the wholehearted trust of his student and the extremely conditional respect of his other employee.

The second-eldest employee, with quite a large age gap, is the most Perfect Girl in the world. That is not an exaggeration. Teruhashi Kokomi, currently age 16, has known since the moment she was born that she was perfect and has carried herself as such ever since. 

On the surface, she is the exact opposite of Reigen Arataka. The fact she is working at a consultation office for spirits (and such) should cause any sane man or woman to break out into sobs for her sanity and close proximity to a con man. 

This is an unfounded worry. 

Unknown to anyone but herself (and a certain pink-haired boy), Teruhashi Kokomi was an incredibly cunning and cutthroat young woman. She was able to hide it significantly better than Reigen since people were naturally inclined to do whatever she wanted, but she had not grown up blind.

When everyone within a hundred-yard radius of you fawns and ogles over you while constantly saying how perfect you are, you quickly learn your worth. And young Teruhashi Kokomi certainly did. Growing up she learned exactly what words to say to get someone taken by a mob, how to tell if someone was lying to her, if she was being stalked, and many more horrific things that a little girl shouldn’t have to know. 

(She has yet to realize how deeply horrifying this is for a young girl to know. This will be important but later. )

(Not in this story. Just generally much later)

With her silver tongue rivaling Reigen’s trained and genuine charisma, she had thought that she would work the front when she first asked for a job. After all, she was beautiful enough that with her as a receptionist, customers would flock there! She was wrong for one of the few times in her life. 

She attempted to, on her first day, but after an older customer spent the entire consultation attempting to ask her out, Reigen put her slightly away from the customers so that they didn’t immediately see her face if she didn’t actively move toward them.

She still didn’t fully understand why he was making such a large deal over an ordeal that happened to her regularly. She doesn’t know his reaction is because this isn’t a normal thing for a teenage girl to experience. Reigen does not know that the reason this encounter did not faze her was because it happens hourly though he remains concerned nonetheless.

This level of mutual obliviousness is only interrupted by the third resident of the building. A terrifyingly powerful psychic with poor control over his emotions. An individual by the name of Mob.

Actually, his name was Kageyama Shiego, but Mob was a nickname that caught on. He was a middle school student at Salt Middle School and was a very monotone young boy. 

Currently, it was just Reigen and Teruhashi in the office. Mob had been there for a short while but had been sent home to rest after it became clear that he was still tired from P.E. class and wouldn’t be able to do work. Thought, it’s not as if Reigen made Mob do work that wasn’t related to exorcising spirits.

Despite his inherent scumbag nature, he was hesitant to give either of his employees work that they wouldn’t be able to handle. So he primarily made Mob work on his homework and had Teruhashi work more on proofreading their social media site if she completed her own homework before arriving (Which she almost always did as was expected of the Perfect Pretty Girl).

Right now, it was a very pleasant day in the office. Teruhashi was rewriting some of their old advertisements and working on a new one that could be printed out on their faulty old printer. Mob had attempted to fix it yesterday with his powers and hadn’t succeeded much to his disappointment. 

Teruhashi was still adjusting to Mob’s powers but the boy was so mild-mannered and polite that it made it quite difficult to actually be afraid of him. 

Additionally, her beauty made her synonymous with Jesus but if he had blue hair. So between her being blessed by God and Mob’s powers being powerful enough to destroy Japan (probably), they were mostly on equal footing.

She looked up from her computer and stretched her arms, keeping an eye on Reigen in the corner of her eye. No reaction. For the past few weeks, she had been slowly testing the limits to see what he was like. Most men fawned over her as if she was an actual goddess but Reigen remained an odd exception.

He made the remark once that she was incredibly pretty and had predictably said ‘Oh wow’ upon seeing her as everyone did but had done nothing else.

Teruhashi may have been the perfect pretty girl, but contrary to popular belief, her primary personality, barring pettiness, trait was stubbornness. She was committed to figuring out exactly what Reigen wanted with her and wouldn’t rest until she knew his exact, almost definitely impure, intentions.

Teruhashi may have been the perfect pretty girl, but contrary to popular belief, her primary personality, barring pettiness, trait was stubbornness. She was committed to figuring out exactly what Reigen wanted with her and wouldn’t rest until she knew his exact, almost certainly impure, intentions.

Unfortunately for Teruhashi, Reigen Arataka is not a pedophile. Reigen Arataka, even though the man regularly attempts to scam people out of their money and has been lying to a middle schooler for some years, is not a bad person at heart. (This is something that only Mob is aware of, however)

Reigen may have been initially surprised by Teruhashi Kokomi’s beauty, but as he is not attracted to little girls in any sense of the word, he immediately got over it and went into customer service mode. After the first interaction, he witnessed a man older than him leering at a teenage girl, he did his best to ensure that it wouldn’t happen again for Teruhashi’s own well-being.

As it stands, Teruhashi Kokomi is unaware of the fact that Reigen genuinely cares about her well-being with no regard for her beauty (or unsavory intent) and Reigen Arataka is unaware that Teruhashi thinks he has any non-platonic intent to her.

This misunderstanding has been slowly simmering since Teruhashi first started working there a few weeks ago. Uninterrupted, it’s likely this would’ve slowly begun boiling until it exploded in a dramatic confrontation involving tears, yelling, psychic powers, and an angry mob or two.

Luckily for them, that is not what happened because that misunderstanding was cleared up today.

Teruhashi Kokomi stretched, taking a break from where she had been carefully adding subliminal messages to their website, and turned to her boss, “Oh, Reigen-san. Do you mind if I take a break..?”

Here Teruhashi is employing a careful trap. This is the first time she’s asked directly for a break without using Mob’s own wellbeing as an excuse. She’s carefully making herself seem more pitiful to see what Reigen’s reaction to her will be. Will he rise to the bait and do what she’s expecting (Whine or otherwise make an excuse for her to keep working?)

Reigen glanced up from his computer, “What? Of course, you don’t need to ask me. Go ahead and take ten.”

Oh! A skilled parry from Reigen Arataka and he doesn’t even know he’s playing. 

Regardless, Teruhashi’s poker face reveals nothing as she internally curses at him for not taking the bait. She carefully begins to lay her next trap with a sweet smile.

“Ah, thank you, Reigen-san! Do you mind if I-” The girl cuts herself off when she gets a notification on her phone. Mentally, she begins cursing profusely at what idiot could be texting her right now when she is in the middle of laying one of her traps.

Teruhashi looks down at her phone and instantly pales. This catches the attention of Reigen who frowns and stands up a bit, “Hey kid, you alright?”

The sound of another person's voice spurs Teruhashi into action from where she had been staring at her phone in open horror. In her panic, she makes a simple but extremely unmistakable error.

She flounders.

“What? Oh, yes! I’m fine! Um. I just to, I mean I just need to-” The girl begins picking her things, frantically stuffing them into her bag with no care for her usual organization.

Reigen properly stands up from his desk and walks over, only absentmindedly glancing at the phone before focusing his entire attention

“Teruhashi, kid, look at me.” He says in as gentle but stern voice he can manage. It only works for a second, making her instinctively pause and look at him in a panic. But a second is all Reigen Arataka needs.

After all, for all his lies, his best skill is 

People!

“Listen to me. Take a deep breath.” The man begins to make overexaggerated breaths, making sure to make them as physically involved as possible.

Teruhashi Kokomi has gone through many different challenging situations since she was young, but this was the first time since the tricycle incident of 09, that she’s allowed herself to be upset in front of other people. With that being said, that means;

Teruhashi Kokomi has never been genuinely comforted when upset in her entire life. 

Watching her boss do objectively ridiculous motions and hand gestures to show that he’s breathing in and out, her mind is in a state of intense shock at the entire situation, and she copies him.

Once Reigen manages to get Teruhashi to visibly calm down, he opens his mouth to ask something. That something could be anything at all. Place your bets! 

A. “Who was the person on the phone?”

B. “What was that?! You’re not perfect anymore, get out of my office! I’m telling the news!

C. “Your car's extended warranty is up. Are you going to renew that?”

D. “Are y-” [Gets interrupted by frantic knocking]

If you guessed D: “ “Are you-” [Gets interrupted by frantic knocking] ” You would be correct!

Reigen takes one look at the door, another at Teruhashi who is quickly descending back into a panic attack and hurries her into the backroom.

“Alright, I’ll deal with this, you stay here and um.” The man flounders in the face of a teenager on the verge of tears and knocking that is getting increasingly faster as pass, “Eat something? I guess. Or you can just sit and de-stress!”

Without another word, the con man quickly closes the door, takes a deep breath, and opens the front door.

Any greeting he could have is stopped immediately by two factors.

The fact that the man almost shoulder-checks him to get into the room

This itself is incredibly rude and something Reigen was not expecting but it is not what ultimately caused the man to be rendered speechless. After all, it's not the first time he dealt with customers who weren't exactly hospitable. The primary reason was...well.

The man’s appearance

You see, this man…was extremely attractive (and looked weirdly similar to someone Reigen had seen before)

(The man will only realize who this is 71 hours later when watching a rerun of a movie and seeing the main actor. He switches to the next channel)

He was attractive to a point that it almost seemed unearthly. Reigen had only seen this level of raw beauty harnessed into a human vessel in one other person who looked remarkably similar to this man.

For you see, this man is none other than Teruhashi Makoto.

Any Saiki K fans most likely groaned (or screamed) in either dread or annoyance upon reading this man's name. This is the correct reaction.

For those (Mob Psycho only) fans who have the pleasure of not knowing who this individual is, let me enlighten you. On top of being a famous actor he is also-

.

.

.

-a pervert.

You could call him a ‘sis-con’ but that takes away from some of the true revolting nature that he shamelessly excludes.

On top of being a shameless pervert and pedophile, he’s also incredibly rude.

This specific aspect of his truly awful personality is revealed almost instantly as he begins demanding to know where his sister is

“Where is my Kokomi, you miserable charlatan?!” God, he speaks. His voice is truly as awful as everything else about him.

“Sir, sir, calm down. Can you tell me what you’re looking for? Or who you’re looking for?” Oh, Reigen…both the fans and Kokomi (who’s very much spying from the other room, looking in through a crack in the door, while doing something on her phone) applaud you for trying to keep the situation calm, but there’s no use reasoning with a man like this.

“Kokomi! My sister! The tracker in her phone said she was here,-” Ew. “-and she’s been avoiding my texts recently!”

“Listen, sir, if you just calm down we can talk abou- Did you just say tracker?” Ah, it seems like Reigen is beginning to realize, “Why is there a tracker in her phone?”

Oh no, Reigen, don’t ask-

“Because I need to keep tabs on my future wife, of course!” Ah. There it is.

“What.” This is less of a question and more of an involuntary reaction to Makoto. But even if it was a question in some form unfortunately there is no answer to that. Except if you asked ‘What did he just say?’ where the answer would be ‘Exactly what you thought he did’.

“Ah, well you see-” The following rant he goes on could be transcribed, but there is no writer in the world willing to genuinely write it out.

You get the gist though. There is quite a bit of creepy stuff involved in this. Jeez, he just made a third remark about being fated soulmates with his sister.

However, by the bored and embarrassed look on poor Kokomi’s face (who is still typing on her phone, safely hidden by a door), it seems as if this is a common rant that she’s heard. The poor dear. 

…seriously, he’s been taking for a minute. Someone should punch this guy.

It’s a wonder it hasn’t happened already but god, someone should do it. 

…he’s still going. People don’t give Kokomi nearly enough credit for not strangling this man in his sleep. For fuck's sake, I can’t believe no one has-

Oh shit.

Reigen did it.

This is one of Reigen’s special attacks: 

Fuck this Creepy Pervert

Where he punches a pervert, often times a sis-con, in the face because no one else has. 

“Alright, listen. I don’t care who you are, but you need to leave. I don’t condone people like you being in my office.” Reigen's is as awe-inspiring as ever but-

WHAT’S THIS?! TERUHASHI MAKOTO IS NOT DONE WITH HIS ATTACK?!

“I could sue you for this!” Oh no, that’s an actual possibility. While almost every single aspect of him is lacking, the one thing he has an abundance of (other than looks) is money. “Someone like you would never s-”

“Stop.” The woman of the hour herself, Teruhashi Kokomi stands in the doorway of the backroom!

“Go home, Makoto!” She explodes, unable to keep her temper to herself any longer. Good for her.

The piss poor excuse for a man sputters nonsensically, “But, K-kokom-”

But the girl isn’t done yelling, “I told you to stop putting trackers in my phone! I knew it was dumb to assume you hadn’t done it this time, but you promised!” 

You can see Reigen’s heart actively breaking as Kokomi becomes more and more enraged. You could actually use Reigen’s expression for the dictionary definition of ‘Devastated’. It’s actually a bit hard to look at.

“Kokomi, we both know I had to!” Oh shit, he’s still speaking, “Who knows how many horrible and disgusting men are out in the world!” You are one of those men.

Reigen looks as if he’s about to punch Makoto again and Kokomi might beat him to it.

“Kokomi, we both know…” Dang it, he’s about to go on another rant. Also, why is he speaking like she’s a child? Does his creepiness know no bounds- no, it does not. Stupid question to even ask. “...no oth-”

Oh, his phone rang! Maybe we’re lucky, and it’s the cops coming to tell him to turn himself in. The perv looks down at his phone and rolls his eyes before answering it,

“What?! I’m in the middle of something!” Is all he manages to get out before there’s unintelligible screaming coming from the receiver.

The man's face pales, and he attempts to stammer out what seems to be an explanation before the screaming on the other end somehow seems to get louder.

Makoto looks at Kokomi who has an oddly smug look on her face before rushing out of the office, yelling apologies for not being able to stay as he does so.

In the silence of the office, neither of its inhabitants do anything for a long moment. They remain still like statues or paintings, unable to make the first move.

As expected though, Reigen is the first to move. With a simple eyebrow raised at Teruhashi.

“I texted his manager.” She blurted out quickly as if she wouldn’t get another chance to speak. Which was completely false, Reigen would let her speak all she wanted.

Also, that explains what she was doing in the backroom before she ended up coming out. It would make sense, this isn't nearly the first time she's had to do so.

“That’s my brother, Makoto, and for some reason, he thinks that he’s destined to marry me and my parents are never around to tell him that he’s gross and I don’t want that, and he’s creepy, and I hate him-” Okay so, she’s not really breathing while ranting, maybe someone should cut her off actually,

"-and it’s not like they’d even say anything if they were around since they think it’s all one big joke!” Jesus, that is some heavy trauma that she’s dumping.

“Besides, it’s not like I exactly have a place to complain right?! I’m the Perfect Pretty Girl, and I’m not allowed to complain about anything that’s less than horrible, I’ve dealt with him for 16 years, I can deal with him for a few more until I can legally move away, and I can change my name and I can get away and-” She’s cut off by Reigen’s next comment.

“Kid.” She’s cut off by Reigen’s firm voice. He’s squatting in front of her so that she has to look down at him. She didn’t notice he was even there.

With a gentle voice and soft expression, he asks a simple question. The one he wanted to ask in the first place when he first saw her nearly having a panic attack over a text message from a contact named ‘Him’

“Are you okay?” 

It’s almost paternal in its concern and that’s what causes the floodgates to truly open.

Teruhashi breaks into heavy sobs and throws herself into Reigen’s startled but waiting arms.

It’s a long time before she’s able to say anything else before she wipes her tears or has the mind to get embarrassed.

But for now, as she’s being tightly held in arms that are nothing but Platonic and familial for the first time in her life, she allows herself to just focus on the warmth she feels.

In this world, there are many strange things that can not be explained by science or rational logic. Ghosts, Perfect Girls, spirits, demons, and horrible family. 

We close on a quaint office known as the Spirit's and Such Consultation Office, located in Seasoning City. Here we meet its residents having a rather eventful day, which is a solid half of their days, at the office. 

It is approximately 6:24 pm and 45 seconds.

[masterofpasta95]

The “Eggman is actually an adapted insult from Sonic!” thing that we are now proudly reminded of every 20 minutes makes me irrationally angry so I’m going to put an unnecessary amount of effort into explaining why it sucks.

Supreme dumbass (although, perhaps not pointless) nerd rage below.

This seemingly innocuous thing is somehow emblematic of everything I do not like regarding how Sonic is currently handled. It:

- is one of the most blatant “Flynn-isms” (providing an explanation to something which does not need one entirely for the sake of winning brownie points with the fandom and “solving inconsistencies”)

- treats localized material like it is “equally as legitimate” as things which the actual creators of sonic made

- instead of taking the path of least resistance, the explanation is still convoluted and contradictory with other information, therefore meaning its purpose of “solving things” isn’t even fucking accomplished

- makes Eggman, the character, less interesting.

Let’s make a ground rule clear: his name is supposed to be Eggman. We could talk about the merits of “Robotnik” as a name as much as we like, but the fact of the matter is, whether you like it or not, his original, intended name is Eggman. And it works, because this character LOOKS like a fuckin Egg Man.

“Eggman” is a great name because it makes him seem silly and non-threatening, not in spite of it. Eggman is a character defined by contrast; he’s smart, but he’s also kind of absent-minded. He sometimes looks friendly, but he can also look scary and ugly under the right conditions because of his toothy grin and vibrant, perfectly circular glasses. He’s quite jolly and funny, but also capable of extreme anger and desperation.

He seems silly and harmless, but is capable of single-handedly destroying entire ecosystems and designing scarily effective hedgehog killing machines.

He’s trying to do things he think will “improve” the earth, but he ruins it in the process.

If you make Eggman purely evil and imposing, you miss the point of Eggman. These are traits Eggman has in common with actual strangely intelligent manchildren. I would know.

However, I would argue the single most key thing about “Eggman” as a name is it’s second half: man. Eggman is generally representative of humanity and it’s insatiable desire for “progress,” at the cost of everything in its way. And, you know, the “Egg” half is self explanatory.

So, personally, I would say that there is not much reason to try and legitimize “Robotnik” in the first place, beyond it sounding cool and having a pun in it. Eggman is not only more fitting, it is more meaningful.

This is all relevant, because this “adapted insult” shit is spawned exclusively from a desire to try and make the way it was for Americans in real life- Robotnik “changed” to Eggman- the case in THE ACTUAL IN-LORE CANON OF SONIC THE FUCKING BLUE CARTOON HEDGEHOG, for some god forsaken reason. This whole Robotnik thing is also the primary headliner for how the American versions of non-American stories are now given more priority, because they are the more well-known versions, which more or less only serves to retroactively simplify the actual themes Classic Sonic was going for. Why would you do this as a storyteller, unless you were irrationally trying to make everything “equally valid?” It’s supremely shitty to do this fandom-satisfying stuff when viewed from a lens of actual artistic integrity. (And it also makes trying to convince people that Classic Sonic has more going on than it looks a god damn nightmare because they live in this ouroboros-esque feedback loop of misinformation)

And you can’t argue that his name was Robotnik in-universe up until SA1, anyways, and that all of this “wasn’t actually in the games, so it doesn’t contradict anything if it’s retconned!” These things come up all the time in these debates already, and you’re probably bored to tears of hearing about them, but I’m going to use them anyways.

Lol.

You could argue that “oh, he just adapted the insult before Sonic 2!” to which I have to ask, what’s the god damn point, then? Congratulations. He is “Robotnik” for one, maybe two games. You’re not getting what you want out of this, either.

Well, now we have an interesting question on our hands. Why WOULD he call himself “Eggman?”

This is where things become more headcanon-y, but it’s all extrapolated from actual character quirks of Eggman’s.

“Adapted insult” is honestly fiiiine as another “he’s always trying to be one step ahead of Sonic!” thing, but the logic is really tortured and it’s far more interesting to explore “Eggman” as a conscious, self-chosen name.

Consider for a moment how egotistical and proud of himself Eggman is. He genuinely thinks he is the single most awesome specimen there is, he’s so proud of his intelligence and vision that he oftentimes forgets the most basic of logic, in a “you forgot the first rule of X!” sort of way.

Eggman is also a businessman. And all businessmen are obsessed with one thing above all else: marketing.

And so, I choose to interpret “Eggman” as him deliberately selling his image as a perfectly spherical weirdo with a big mustache. It could even be something like a “superhero name,” he’s so proud of it that he wants everyone to know it and respect it. He is the Eggman, that’s what he is, and don’t ask again.

If he came up with a catchy name for himself and started plastering it everywhere, every single person would eventually know who “The Eggman” is. And it’s not like Eggman is insecure about being fat, or whatever; again, he thinks he’s perfect. “Eggman” is a name he’s both proud of and is great for marketing.

Every logo of his also fits cleanly into this “plastering The Eggman everywhere” idea; they’re all either of the word “Egg” itself, or something to do with his appearance, most commonly just straight up his face.

Oh, yeah, and as alluded to earlier, his god damn theme song is about how proud he is about being “The Eggman.”

In summary, “His name was Robotnik, and then Sonic insulted him by calling him Eggman, so he just decided to roll with it” is a dumb explanation, made entirely to both-sides something that is actively worse for being both-sides’ed, and it is significantly better characterization-wise if Eggman just came up with the name himself.

Thus concludes this week’s edition of Pasta’s Dumb Nerd Soapbox, I hope I explained myself well.

[beginningobserver]

Heyyo everyone. I wrote a new Rui-centered thing.

⚠SPOILERS FROM THE MOVIE AHEAD ⚠

Bonds

[AO3 version]

Summary:

Rui is invited to try Daisuke's new ramen recipe with the rest of the group.

Rui + 02 kids • Canon-compliant (KenMiya/Kenyako included) • Post-movie events.

----------------//-----------------

A few months after meeting Daisuke and the others, Rui started to visit them a little more while he waited for Ukkomon’s egg to hatch. He was patient and optimistic that everything would be fine now.

He was invited by Daisuke to eat his newest ramen-creation with the other five. But would they still want to tag along with him? Rui had no idea what true friendship was, because he believed every friend he made after meeting Ukkomon were just manipulated by the digimon like his parents had been.

It could mean that this group he just met would be his first and legitimate friends. Right?

He stood in front of the Ramen Yamatoya building, his hands shaking out of anxiety. He thought -- Should I get in? We were just strangers and I don’t come here too much to not… Bug him--

The door opened from inside and it was by V-mon.

“HEYYOO RUI!”

“A-ah… Hello.”

“Wow, you came really fast!!” the blue digimon exclaimed, and looked outside to see if anyone else was coming, “Really fast!”

“I… I was around, my workplace is in this area.”

“Oho! What do you do for life!?”

“... I work at--”

“THERE YOU ARE!!” Daisuke pooped out from the door, “HEY-WELCOME! GET IN, GET IN!!”

He was interrupted by Daisuke’s energetic voice. And dragged inside. He didn’t manage to answer V-mon’s question and at this point V-mon had lost interest in it, because he tried to answer it again and V-mon just started preparing the counter and led to the stool reserved for him.

He felt like a celebrity with that reception, and this really felt awkward -- Do friends do things like these…?

“Here’s the menu!” and V-mon handed him a card with the stuff included in Daisuke’s ‘Ramen Motomiya’ business;

“Oh, thanks…” he gently took it from V-mon’s hand.

“Hey V-mon, this isn’t needed! Everyone will come here to try out my new creation!”

“What is this new… menu item you were talking about?” Rui asked, out of curiosity.

“It’s a top secret! I’ll reveal its details once everyone is here!”

“Oh, so it’s a surprise…”

“Yup!” Daisuke smiled, “But no worries it’s not sweet! I mean, I know you’re not a fan of sweets so… I had to find the perfect balance of flavor that would make everyone satisfied.”

“Hmm…” He didn’t know what to say, it felt a little odd someone thinking of him and his preferences… But it made him relieved that Daisuke cares enough about him to pull things like these -- This is… True friendship right?

“Iori hates tomatoes,” V-mon explained, “So when Daisuke cooks stuff for everyone he has to remember to not add tomatoes on Iori’s portion.”

“I see…”

“And If someone is lactose intolerant I have to know beforehand so I can prepare a special version of the recipe! Or if they’re vegan. Or if they’re allergic to gluten. Lots of things, culinary school prepared me for this!”

“Yeah!” V-mon nodded, “And that so we cannot get into legal issues! I mean, the boss wouldn’t like to have this place closed because of a little mistake!!”

The door opened and the others came in. V-mon greeted them the same way as Daisuke did before -- Maybe it’s part of their business' greetings? -- and they all got reunited at the counter.

Hikari also came in with her backpack stuffed with something. Rui didn’t know why, it just felt a little… strange??

“So, what is the menu for today, chef?” Takeru chuckled, “You said you created something new.”

“Hehe, glad you asked” Daisuke had the sunglasses on and did the ‘anime glasses thing’ with the light reflection, “V-mon, please.”

“Alright!” and then V-mon served the bowls to the six people, “Bone appetit!” 

“It’s not ‘Bone’ !” Daisuke babbled, “Man, Takeru didn’t ya say it was something like ‘good meal’…”

“Oh, yeah” Takeru nodded, “V-mon it’s ‘ Bon’ , which means ‘good’ in French. And ‘bon appetit’ means ‘enjoy your meal’ ”

“Okay but why is Daisuke using French out of nowhere?” Patamon blinked.

“It’s good to know a bit of each language if I want to open my business in New York!” Daisuke explained, “And maybe I’m considering the idea of doing deliveries later.”

“Is it because of my suggestion?” Iori asked and then Daisuke nodded.

“With the digital gate we can go everywhere!!” V-mon added, “So! We can do something cool like this!!”

“This is just one step to be made!” Daisuke bragged, “Now, enjoy the bowl. I’ll be waiting for your feedback on my most recent creation.”

“Don’t forget to describe the flavors!” V-mon added excitedly.

“So uh, what’s different in it?” Miyako raised an eyebrow, “It doesn’t seem different from the usual bowls you served before…”

“Just… Try it first,” he pouted.

“Will you keep using the sunglasses indoors?” Tailmon seemed quite bothered by that. Even Takeru had taken his beanie off!!

“Well, I’m not a real ramen chef if I don’t have them on.”

“It’s missing the spirals, dagya!” Armadimon commented.

“... I left them at home,” Daisuke shrugged.

“YOU HAVE SUNGLASSES WITH THOSE ANIME SPIRALS!?” Everyone seemed pretty surprised by it. Except V-mon, of course.

“Yeah, and they’re mine!” V-mon replied with a grin.

“THEY BELONG TO V-MON!?”

“I don’t think that should be a surprise” Daisuke took the shades off, “Takeru does the same thing, but with hats!”

“Ah, that’s true,” Wormmon blinked.

“Takeru-san has something equal to that too,” Hawkmon replied with a nod.

“We should quit arguing and start eating!” Takeru babbled nervously when everyone glanced at him, “Or else Daisuke will be even more upset than he is right now!”

The only person not taking part in that discussion was Rui, who was just sitting in the corner and already eating his bowl. Somehow him being this quiet made them all forget he was there… But he didn’t mind it either. He’s still just a stranger, maybe Daisuke only invited him out of courtesy…?

“...”

It’s good -- Rui thought. He didn’t expect something so simple to be good. But isn’t this what Daisuke is in a nutshell? Simple-minded and a box full of surprises. Now he had to compliment that, which is the hard part. The group were already chatting and even arguing about fashion accessories… He felt it would be rude to interrupt them all.

But… This is really good.

He felt even more awkward…

“AHEM!” Daisuke managed to spot he wasn’t involved in their shenanigans, so he just called everyone’s attention to the main subject, “Now, really… Just eat it. And tell me what y’all think about it.”

The group looked at each other and then to Rui sitting there in silence eating. V-mon noticed Rui was… crying??

“Oh no-- is it too bad!?” V-mon gasped, mortified “Daisuke, you made something so horrible he’s--”

“No.”

“Huh??”

“It’s good,” he said, quite awkwardly.

“Then why are you crying??” Patamon asked.

Why am I crying…?? -- Not even he realized the reason for those tears. The group then tried their own bowls, trying to understand Rui’s reaction to the food.

“Oh! It’s tasty!” They all commented.

“See the difference?” Daisuke chuckled.

“What did you do this time??” Hikari asked, impressed by the flavor.

“It’s a secret~”

“He was bored last night and accidentally dropped the wrong seasoning to the broth and then he tried it and got… this new ‘BOOM’ okay??” V-mon explained.

“So it was an accidental discovery,” Iori mused.

“What seasoning was?” Tailmon asked the next question.

“It was…”

Seriously, why am I crying by eating something tasteful? -- Rui kept wondering why a simple ramen bowl could bring him tears. Was it the spice? Was it too spicy? Or too salty?? It didn't make any sense, because he didn’t feel it was too spicy or salty… He just sat there eating in silence and trying to get it, why was he…?!

“Oh, I know! Is it love??” Patamon asked.

“Can you put love in a bowl?” Wormmon asked, innocently.

“Well, putting it that way, yeah it had a ton of love while preparing it for my best pals so…”

“Excuse me,” Miyako stared at Daisuke, “I’m the one who got the Digimental of Love here. Better you teach me your secrets.”

“Then, better you give me your Digimental of Love because I deserve it now.”

“Not a chance!”

They all laughed.

“...”

Meanwhile Rui, oh poor Rui… He was so confused about what the heck is going on with him that he was feeling like spacing out again. He didn’t even realize he finished his bowl quite quicker than the others.

So now he was just watching the empty bowl and thinking how can he describe those feelings and flavors and -- WAIT WHY ARE THEY ALL LOOKING AT HIM NOW?!

“Wow…” Wormmon exclaimed.

“Well… It was d-delicious!” He babbled aloud. Dang it, he’s feeling like a fool…

“Hey, take it easy” Daisuke said, “So uh… How’s that?”

“... It was good.”

“And?”

“... I don’t understand why, but eating this bowl gave me joy… Something I haven’t felt for a long time ago.”

“Oh, so you liked it!?” V-mon gasped.

“V-mon, crying does not always mean sadness” Ken started explaining, “It can mean joy too. Like when Daisuke says something dumb and funny, making everyone cry out of laughter. It can also be out of relief, and so do other reasons as well.”

“... I think I was crying because…”

“... You feel happy to be here, right?” Daisuke tried to guess it.

“H-huh?”

“How’s Ukkomon’s egg going?” Miyako asked, “Did it hatch already?”

“... Not yet,” and then he showed the tiny watch-clock sized egg from his pocket. They all looked at it, “I always take him with me, just in case…”

“That’s a good signal,” Tailmon smiled, and then looked at Hikari, “You have to never lose hope, he will come back. Right, Hikari?”

“Yes, We never lost hope so that’s why we were able to meet each other.”

“... I feel safe with you guys,” Rui blushed a bit. Oh so that’s why he felt a little nervous, right?

“We can help you form connections,” Hawkmon said this time, “But sometimes you need a little push.”

“??”

“Yeah, so that’s why I got you here, dude” Daisuke chuckled, “We want to know more about you!”

“And we want you to know more about us, dagya!”

“... Oh.”

“Ah, I have something to show to everyone!” Hikari then took the stuffed backpack and opened it. Then Tailmon handed each of them a knitted scarf “I made those!!”

“That’s so cute!!” Miyako exclaimed with glee.

“Wow, it has cool details on them!!” Daisuke was in awe, “It reminds me of my Digital World’s jacket!!”

“Mine is Patamon-themed” Takeru commented, then looked at Hikari, “You made all of those, with details… All alone?”

“Oh I helped too” Tailmon started to brag, “I evolved into Angewomon and helped Hikari to knit. So they have an angel touch, haha~”

“Literally an angel touch… (dagya)” The digimon repeated together.

Rui also had one in his hands. It looked like Ukkomon, somehow. Hikari is really nice to give him something too, isn’t she? He kinda needed a little more color in his wardrobe… He had just started to wear some black-and-gray tones after the day he discovered Ukkomon had been hijacking his parents’ bodies (and possibly the rest of the people he had contact with?)… He kinda liked his usual outfit, but this was kinda giving him the will to risk changing a little.

So he put it around his neck. Somehow the colors were too bright for his dark clothes… But he was feeling happy with that humble present. He looked really funny and just felt like a tiny puppy with a new dog collar and wagging his tail happily.

The others just looked at him being more relaxed and comfortable, but Daisuke had to hold his laugh. Yeah, it was a little funny to him. And if he laughed now he could give the wrong message. But that made them all just feel the barrier between them and Rui had turned a little less thicker.

“I can’t use it right now, it will get dirty!!” Daisuke said, blushing, “B-But I will do it later!! And I won’t take it off ever again!”

“It will get stinky and we won’t let you approach us!” Patamon pouted.

“I… I will wash it though!!”

“You can’t wash it if you don’t take it off!”

“I didn’t mean literally not taking it off!!” Daisuke’s awkwardness increased. At least no one was paying attention to Rui feeling so warm and happy with those people taking him to eat ramen and giving him a gift!

More laughs.

“T-thank you…” it was interrupted by Rui simply thanking Hikari, “I… I appreciate it.”

“When Daisuke-kun said he wanted to gather everyone to try a new recipe, I decided to knit those. Now we all have matching scarves. Isn’t it fun?”

“This is the closest to having your crush give you a gift,” V-mon nodded sagely.

“HahahahaHA-- WHAT DO YA MEAN, V-MON!?” Daisuke panicked.

Daisuke-kun is acting weirdly… He probably likes her -- Rui thought. He wasn’t disappointed, but he was now frowning?

“I appreciate it as well, Hikari-chan” Ken thanked her, “Thank you.”

“Yeah, everyone here agrees, right?” Takeru smiled. Everyone agreed in a nod.

“Oh, there’s one more inside” Patamon noticed a 8th scarf in the backpack.

“This one is for Wallace,” Tailmon explained, “He’s part of our friend circle too, don’t forget it.”

“Wallace?” Ken and Rui asked.

“He’s a friend from America,” Hawkmon explained, “But uh… He tends to flirt with girls.”

“He was flirting with Miyako when we first met him,” Daisuke added with an annoyed tone.

“He what ?!” Ken gave Daisuke a legitimate ‘Kaiser-like’ look.

“I think now that you and Miyako-san are dating he would respect that” Iori tried to calm Ken down. He could present the sadistic Kaiser just by that reaction.

“Better he does,” Wormmon said, also sounding very… creepy?

Ichijouji-kun and Wormmon are scary… -- Rui gulped in silence. That murderous glare and the group trying to calm them down… Oh yeah.

“Anyway,” Daisuke slammed his hands on the other side of the counter, “Better you give me your notes. I need approval from this team here. And this includes you too, Rui.”

“... Ah, right… I think I liked it…?” 

“The flavors were well balanced,” Ken said nonchalantly, “and your presentation of it looks refined even if you’re just starting this business. And I think it would’ve been good if…”

They watched Ken just rambling about Daisuke’s ramen  like a legit restaurant reviewer and it made Rui quite impressed.

“... And serving it with a good shot of the client’s preferred drink could improve the experience.”

“Is… Is Ichijouji-kun a food critic…?”

“He tends to do those long reviews,” Tailmon shrugged, “You will get used to him.”

“Yeah, he’s a nerd” Daisuke rolled his eyes. Ken blushed out of embarrassment.

“But we love him so he’s our nerd!” Miyako added, and the blush in Ken intensified.

“Sooooo… Do y’all approve this one?”

“Yeah!/Yes!/Mhm!” They all said.

This group of people and their digimon seem so refreshing… Is this what friendship means? Is this… what having real friends means?

Rui felt his encounter with those people and digimon had helped him to start healing his heart. Somehow… He realized what Ukkomon had said back in time, on his 8th birthday.

The ‘friends’ Ukkomon couldn't bring that time… They weren’t his classmates.

It was those people. It was exactly this group of people, apparently.

He took the egg from his pocket and looked at it, with a calm and warm smile:

Thank you, Ukkomon. For leading me to them.

[itsnothingofinterest]

So I’ve been making a bit of a stink for a while now about how the inciting issues in the HeroAce-verse that actually made the Villains of the League have been going worryingly unaddressed; and have since heard claims this is because those societal inciting issues simply aren’t important compared to the villains personal issues. That society stuff can be dealt with later; those personal things, and saving the villains from them, are what this series is actually about.

But…I want to raise a question with that idea. When? When is this “later” supposed to be. This is the final arc, isn’t it? If so, it’s kind of “now or never” in that respect.

And if the idea is that they’ll solve this stuff off-screen after the war, then boy is that optimistic about the hero kids taking problems that a) other characters put their lives on the line to solve because society was that resistant to change, b) are incredibly easy to half-ass a non-solution to for the same reason, and c) they have largely never cared about; and 1) suddenly start to care so they 2) solve them easily off-screen 3) in a way we can trust works despite all reason not to. I’m honestly jealous of that level of optimism.

Like, someone explain this idea to me. For an example; Shoto Todoroki has not once ever thought to hold heroes like his dad accountable for abusing their powers to commit any kinds of crimes, nor ever thought that any heroes besides his dad would do so. So this close to the end he is a solid 0% on his way to preventing future Touyas from turning to villainy as future Dabis. For those who think this society stuff isn’t going to be addressed in this war by the kids because its not as important as individual issues; how do we get from where Shoto is now to where we know he’ll both care enough to fix that, and put in the effort to do so when not doing that would be easy, such that we know it’ll actually work?

Especially when, and I’ve mentioned this before, but the course of the narrative itself is when change, growth, and progression actually happen. That’s why the way a character or setting is by the time a fiction ends is about what you’re supposed to assume they’ll be like for the rest of their lives/existence. Baring a continuation; we’re meant to expect the worlds of, let’s say Naruto or FMA, to stay how we left them for the foreseeable future.

What that means is that if we’re left with the impression that hero society will keep the circumstances to produce another Dabi; that will never change and it will produce a steady stream of them for the rest of its existence*. Repeat for every other type of villain that naturally results from one of hero society’s flaws, your Toga, your Spinners, your Twices, ect.; all of whom form a chain of Leagues of Villains that incur heavy damage and casualties hoping to spur change (that, for the above reasons, never occurs), and I hope you see the problem.

And yeah, that’s about why I want this stuff addressed now before series end. So all that doesn’t happen.

~~~~~~~~~~

(Not to mention that these are, again, some core inciting-incident-causing problems here. To solve them off-screen as described is as if to have AFO beat Deku and escape through a warp gate in the penultimate chapter, only for a caption box to inform us that 3 days later he was beat up in an ally by a hero we’ve never met and thrown back in prison for good. I mean why not? This story’s not about him either, right? It’s just about Deku saving Tomura, the next generation of heroes saving these specific villains. Satisfying conclusions? Believable outcomes? Who cares about that?

I do, but I’m just some guy on the internet.)

~~~~~~~~~~

* Said life-span of existence for Hero society being less than 70 years before the apocalypse at this rate, but that’s a separate issue the heroes aren’t addressing. Just wanted to point that out in case anyone thought gradual change was on the table.

[riathedreamer]

Dear Riathedreamer,

From recent posts, it looks like you had a Bad Day and stuff doesn’t seem great.   Recently, when I had a bad day, I thought about what would make it better, and then refreshed the AO3 page a bunch of times until a new chapter of Are We Meant To Read The Footnotes posted (I have since gotten an AO3 account exclusively so that I can get email notifications about new chapters instead.)   And your work made my bad day better.  When I saw about your Bad Day, I wanted to return the favor,  but since I don’t know you, this is the best I could think of.

You are an amazingly talented writer.  I have not, historically, read fan fiction, but your work made me question why I hadn’t (though, I will say, there are few others that can hold a candle.)  I could talk about characterization, turns of phrase, the way you are creating a puzzle with just enough clues so that we can’t be sure of the solution but when it pays off it makes total sense.  I was trying to explain to my partner about why we had to wait for dinner until after I finished the latest chapter, and told him about how the pacing is artful… almost every chapter brings a satisfying next step in the story while still ending in a cliffhanger that means I can hardly wait for the next one.  He said, “Are you sure that they aren’t a professional writer?”  And I could only respond with “I have no idea, but I wouldn’t be surprised.”  I don’t know how it is going to end, but I have faith that it is going to be amazing, the same way I have faith that Season 3 will be amazing, because everything that has gone before has justified that faith.  (Including other stories you have written that I read after finding Footnotes… particularly liked One Mans Trash)

And while I am eager to read the next chapter, I can be patient, because you taking care of yourself is most important.  I don’t know if this is the correct use of the ask me anything button, because I don’t really know how to use tumblr, but I don’t comment on stuff publicly very often for assorted reasons.  I hope this isn’t weird, but that instead knowing that your work is appreciated and your writing helps make people thousands of miles away get through their bad days can do at least a tiny bit to make your day better.  

Lord, what a wonderful message to wake up to. You wanted to cheer me up, and so you did, though I also have to shed some touched tears.

You are so kind, and I thank you for going out of your way to comfort me. I have reread this ask so many times today, and I know I will do so in the future. Your words gave me something I needed.

My hope is always that I can cheer my readers up (and sometimes break their hearts in the process) and that a notification email from me can brighten their day. That my words have an impact somewhere.

Thank you for returning the favor <3 I wish you all the best!

[hidingoutbackstage]

Uhh I’m in a creative block so I can’t give you a specific prompt per se, but something Chamberfield 👀 for love and yuri?

Hell yeah peace love and yuri (putting beneath a cut so as not to clog anyone’s dash but yuri should NEVER be hidden <3 so pls read)

Claire was a special kind of homesick. The kind where she was sitting here, in her two bedroom apartment, at the table eating cereal she’d gotten from the grocery store down the street, while wearing cozy pajamas. In all perspectives, she couldn’t be more home. And yet here she was, missing home desperately, because home wasn’t the two wooden chairs where one slightly rocks and the other creaks when sat on, home wasn’t the couch from a a garage sale with a few cigarette burns and various stains, home wasn’t the nightlight in her bedroom that she’d had since she was a child to keep her from waking up terrified and screaming in the dark.

Home was a person, a person who was currently halfway around the world, a person who Claire could feel as she wore said person’s cozy sweatshirt, as she gazed happily at a framed photo of the two of them on the windowsill, as her sloppy handwritten grocery list hung from the fridge with a heart shaped magnet. Despite the lingering feeling of her presence, Rebecca, Claire’s home, was not here, and Claire was getting sick with yearning.

Claire sighed, finally picking up her phone. She told herself she wouldn’t do this today, but to hell with it. She was missing her girlfriend more and more by the day, and she was growing sick of wanting. She flipped open her phone and went into her contacts. To hell with international cell phone charges too.

Of course Becky picked up, because it was Claire who was calling her. Claire half-expected her significant other to lecture her first about being unable to go a day without talking to her, but that never came. She simply answered the phone with a smile apparent in her voice. She called Claire “darling” as she always did, in that sing-song way she was so fond of that made Claire’s heart melt a little bit.

Bashfully, as if they were teenagers, Claire admitted to Becky why she had called. It was probably a given to both women, but Becky “awww”ed like it was the first time she’d heard Claire say the words “I miss you.”

They made idle chit chat. How was Philosophy University? It was good. How was work at home? It was boring. Have you heard from Chris lately? No, have you? No. Watch anything good recently? Not really, you? Not really. Tried out a new recipe for eggs. Oh how was it? I think I added too much oregano. Oh well, maybe next time. Maybe I’ll make it for you. Sounds perfect.

“I really miss you,” Claire blurted out. She dropped her spoon in her mostly-empty bowl of cereal, making a satisfying clang as it fell.

“I really miss you too,” Rebecca said automatically. “I wish I didn’t have to be out here so long, but-”

“Becky, you don’t have to explain anything. It’s work, I get it,” Claire said with a huff. “I just wish work didn’t separate you from me for so long.”

“Well, that’s what these phone calls are for, isn’t it?” She was trying to be gentle, Claire could tell.

“I know, I know,” Claire groaned. “Gd, I’m so clingy. I don’t know how you aren’t sick of me.”

Rebecca just laughed. “Darling, you know I could never get sick of you.” She made a little kiss noise through the phone. “I love you too much.”

They’d been saying those words for years, but sometimes they’d catch Claire off guard and fill her with youthful giddiness. “Yeah, I know.”

“You should distract yourself more when I’m not there.” Ah, Becky. Always a problem-solver. “Go out and do stuff with your other friends.”

Claire snorted. “What other friends? The ones that are as busy as we are?”

“Work friends, then.”

“Is this your polite way of telling me to fuck off and stop calling you, my dear?” Claire teased. Rebecca scoffed.

“I’m trying to help my lovely wife come up with some things to do in her spare time,” Rebecca said monotonously, clearly not even realizing her verbal blunder. Claire did, though, and straightened up to attention.

“Wife?” she blurted out. Rebecca was silent for a minute. “Hun?”

“…Listen,” Rebecca started, and Claire just burst out laughing.

“Oh, hun, you can’t just call me that and expect me to stop missing you!”

“I think of you like that sometimes, okay? We live together, we’ve been dating for a while, I…some of my students have asked if I have a boyfriend, and…”

“Becky, you are so cute,” Claire teased. “It’s fine. That was adorable.”

Rebecca sighed. “Can I hang up now or will you hate me forever? I’m supposed to be meeting with the university director in a few.”

Claire snickered. “Go on, my wife, go do your school things. I’ll just be here thinking about it for the rest of the day.”

Rebecca sputtered, and Claire could picture the woman’s cute blushing face. “I love you. Bye.”

“Bye, my wife!” Claire called giddily as she hung up.

The sharp pang of homesickness in Claire’s heart had faded, replaced by the soft, warm embrace of love.

[lxn-2126]

Small Tsukishima oneshot? since I’m trying to romanticise my god awful English work

you’re both sat in his room at either side of his small coffee table, worksheets scattered everywhere, tea’s sat side by side in the middle of the table surrounded by your various pens and highlighters and his singular ball point pen he stole from you months ago. Your head is laid on the desk lazily scribbling incoherent words onto your workbook and he is sat perfectly upright, trying to focus on his calculations, however you can see his eyes starting to falter and flutter shut from time to time before he jolts upright and shakes his hands subtly to keep awake. It’s 12AM, on a Sunday, and your both studying for your respective termly tests. Tsukishima is shoulders deep into his trig calculations while you are barely hanging on to your [subject] revision. You begin to peel away from your revision, looking up at your boyfriend of 2 years’s puzzled face as he struggles to find an answer to his equation. You sit there, studying his quizzical look; eyebrows furrowed, jaw tightened the last glimpse of hope leaving his eyes. He is completely lost. You chuckle slightly realising how the one and only tsukishima is confused on a maths problem. He meets your eyes, still maintaining the same look of confusion. “ don’t laugh, this isn’t a laughing matter” he says whilst battering the buttons of his calculator. “What!?? Don’t get mad at me just because you can’t make numbers work.” You reply sarcastically. “You can barely string a sentence together, you are in no position to be laughing at me, I mean look at your handwriting right now” he retaliates, smirking, pointing at your paper. “Okay shut up.” You reply, yawning. Some time passes and you decide it’s time to pack away all of your stuff so you can sleep. Whilst your scooping up your books and papers, Tsukishima grabs your wrist, “what are you doing?” “Uhhh packing my stuff away?-” You answer as if it wasn’t obvious enough. “Why?” He asks innocently, “it’s nearly 2AM we need to actually sleep you know.” You continue to place your stuff into your bag messily whilst he watches you, deciding wether or not to join you. Tsukishima, however, is extremely stubborn when it comes to his work and must complete any unfinished questions to be satisfied, so he decides - unwillingly - to complete this equation before tidying his workspace. You finish clearing your space and sprawl out, face down onto his bed, breathing in his freshly washed bedding. Usually when you lay down on tsukishimas bed, he joins you but today, you wait and wait however he still isn’t joining you. You turn around to beg him to lay with you and fall asleep but instead you find him with his head on the desk, eyes closed behind his dark frames and lips slightly parted, releasing soft breaths onto his worksheet. In that moment, your heart melts. Seeing him look so peaceful after having such a stern look on his face makes your heart do backflips. You decide to join him on the floor and pepper kisses along his cheek to wake him - though you would rather leave him be, he will complain about having a bad back - His eyes flutter open, meeting yours “ what are you doing?” He laughs slightly, smiling tiredly. “Making sure you don’t develop back problems, now come lay down with me” you ‘demand’. “But I need to finish this question.” He complains. You reach your hand out as a reply and after a brief thought, he clasps it in his, rubbing his thumb along along the back of your palm. You both climb into bed and cuddle together, his long fingers caressing your hair, serving as a sleep aid for both him and you. The two of you begin to fall asleep to the sounds of eachothers soft breathing, not caring about the unfinished work strewn across tsukishimas bedroom floor. When it comes to you, He can never be stubborn

I am incredibly sorry this is actually terrible 😞 I can never fully explain my ideas but here u go 😭😭

[rallamajoop]

On Resident Evil 7

So in the interests of completionism, and because I am now officially that invested in the Winters family saga, I bought and played Resident Evil 7.

It was, as expected, much more survival-horror than RE8. Aiming is slower, ammo scarcer, inventory space even more limited, and enemies that much more bullet-sponge-y. It is also absolutely scarier – both in the tension-and-gore sense, and in the horrible-things-happening-to-normal-nice-people sense (which gets to me far worse). But then, slasher horror is generally much less my thing, so as much as I absolutely appreciate the work that went into building this game’s aesthetic and villains, it’s just not so much an experience for me as the high gothic horror of RE8.

Where finishing RE8 had me racing back to explore new difficulties, DLC and challenge modes, I just didn’t have the same drive to spend more time in the world and gameplay of RE7. As far as I’ve come in this genre, my stomach can only take so much before it all just becomes a bit unpleasant. This is not a fault of the game: I can fully sympathise with anyone who loved RE7 and was disappointed RE8 strayed so far in new directions – it’s just a very different experience.

That said, the two games do share more than you might think.

Both have their extended spooky openings to build atmosphere before the actual danger starts, punctuated by a big moment where someone Ethan trusted apparently turns on him to horrific effect, and where Mia apparently ‘dies’ (but not really). Then there’s a big cutscene where you meet the family of bosses you’ll be dealing with, which Ethan spends restrained and/or tied to a chair. You’ll be helped in your quest to navigate each boss’s territory by a mysterious ally (Zoe/the Duke), though mostly just via advice. And in both games, the last member of the boss family you'll face is a greasy, showboating SOB* who delights in taunting Ethan over speakers and making him run or fight for his life, and who’s actually not as loyal to the alpha-villainess as she thinks.

Towards the end, you suddenly find yourself playing as that-traitor-from-the-start, who gets to use a machine gun. You'll also get your chance to stop by a lab to read some documents explaining WTF has really been going on all this time. Finally, you discover that the creepy old lady you’d been seeing around the place was really the final boss all along.

We end with Chris Redfield and Mia in a helicopter, and the sinister insinuation that the company supplying all the guns and money to fix bio-terror outbreaks might actually be up to no good (that two different companies play this role in the two games isn’t really a sign of good continuity). The end, cue credits! (And remember to take a drink if any of this same stuff happens in RE9!)

But as much as RE7 has in common with its sequel on paper, I came away from it a lot less satisfied ‒ and not just because it's less my kind of game. Sure, the the final boss fight with Eveline has all the hallmarks of something completed at the last minute to meet a deadline – but the final Eveline section at least wraps up properly. The bigger problem is that by then, we’ve spent so much time setting up for a big boss fight with Lucas (psychotic Baker son, mad inventor and jigsaw-killer-wannabe) that never actually happens. Ethan escapes without ever actually facing Lucas directly.

We’re given so many reasons why Lucas should be a big deal: unlike his originally-nice-and-normal parents, Lucas was a killer long before being infected. He’s slipped Eveline’s control, and has even been working with the company that created her. But this last, potentially huge plot point really only exists as an excuse to have a few significant documents lying around for background on Eveline herself. Look, I did not even like this guy (I could not even get myself to play through the DLC he's in), and I still feel like he was done dirty.

The boss fight with Lucas has instead been saved for Chris Redfield’s DLC chapter – but it doesn’t really deliver there either. There, Lucas is apparently selling research data to some sinister, unnamed party, but we never learn what or who – it’s a sequel hook the actual sequel had no interest in. Otherwise, he murders a few redshirts (because what’s Chris Redfield going to do with himself if he’s not losing people in the field?) then morphs into a utterly-generic big-mutant-monster for the boss fight. It’s all the kind of generic faff you could find in any RE game.

We do also learn that those Umbrella-branded helicopters are being run by a ‘new’ Umbrella that claims it’s reformed, and is trying to make up for the mistakes of the past by funding anti-bioterror operations, and that Chris is working for them despite not really trusting them… and now you know as much about the subject as you’ll learn in the whole DLC. More setup with no real payoff.

The other major plot point the game just leaves hanging is Mia. I love the big reveal that she used to work for the company that created Evaline, the whole section where you play as her – but it leaves so many more questions hanging. How did Mia end up working for such evil people? How did she justify it to herself for so long? Were blackmail or threats involved? And most of all, how’s Ethan going to react to finding out? He’s asking those questions out loud just a few scenes before the Mia reveal, and yet, the ending is in such a rush to tell us he’s happily starting over with Mia that it all falls through the cracks. (I mean, there’s some lovely horror potential in the idea of all those secrets still lurking under their relationship, but if that was the intent, it’s woefully underplayed.)

Speaking of Mia, I do think the game could’ve stood to make it a lot more obvious a lot sooner that the Bakers are, y’know, not her real family. We don’t know jack about Mia going on, but Ethan should at least react when she starts talking about ‘Daddy’ – a line or two to the effect of, “What are you on about? Your Dad’s from Texas – I've met the guy!” or something would’ve gone a long way.

Zoe’s story is similarly done dirty by the ending: whether you save or abandon her, she just vanishes afterwards and is never mentioned again. Resolution has (again) been left for the DLC.

I did like Zoe’s prequel DLC: hot damn does it deliver on the story, atmosphere and horror (seriously, it delivers so hard on that last point that I do not think I could sit through it again). Seeing the Baker family as they used to be, pre-Evaline, just drives home the tragedy so much harder, and I love that Zoe got a little more time in the spotlight. But the “End of Zoe” DLC reduces her to a MacGuffin, with nothing more than a “and eventually Chris’ people find and cure her” tacked on at the end to wrap up her story. GDI, she deserves better!

The big problem plaguing both Mia and Zoe is that I just don’t think the game’s big ‘choose who to save’ decision moment works: it just doesn’t pay off. Save Mia, and she and Ethan will get separated in the swamp, you’ll play through her flashback sequence, and she’ll be alive at the end. Save Zoe, and she’ll get nabbed by Eveline again anyway, and Mia will still wake up in the same place in the swamp for the same big flashback sequence. Sure, you’ll also have to fight and kill Mia when she becomes possessed again – but her death is given so little emotional weight that what’s the point? Either ending leaves us with all those loose threads and unfinished stories.

The whole issue is a pretty classic example of what I call the Schrodinger’s Character problem: if an NPC can be simultaneously alive or dead, then neither outcome can have any real impact on the plot. Our hapless NPC just has to sit in their box, somewhere out of the way (presumably in some state of awkward quantum superposition ‒ though hopefully they at least get to pet the cat). Similar problems can comes up in any branching narrative where the branching is more a gimmick than a feature. Sure, devs may intend to fully develop both possibilities, but that’s twice as much work as just ignoring any inconvenient differences, and thus the first thing to end up on the cutting room floor come crunch. And that’s never more glaring than when Schrodinger’s Character is the PC’s wife (or brother – Deus Ex was terrible this way too), and the game can’t even be arsed to give them a proper half-a-cutscene to grieve before putting them right back on the horse again. Nor is saving them all that much more satisfying when it makes so little difference.

I also can’t help feeling RE7 really missed a trick with Zoe, when you finally see her face for the first time and she’s just… completely normal. Up to then, she’s been this mysterious voice on the phone who seems to know exactly what Ethan’s been doing at all times, but never intervenes in person. Add in the fact we know she’s infected, and it all feels like it’s building to a much bigger reveal, right? Like, that she’s mutated to the point Ethan’s liable to lose his shit if he runs into her without warning – or perhaps even semi-embedded in one of those mould-walls, where she’s able to feel what’s going on all over the house through the mycelium network. Or at least that she’s been holed up in some sort of underground surveillance bunker full of tinned beans and bottled water, physically unable to leave without Evaline getting her. There’s so much they could’ve done with the reveal!

To be clear, I don’t think the game’s failure to explain Zoe’s weirdness is a serious flaw: her phone calls are wonderfully creepy and effective, and that’s so much more important to horror than clear explanations. But not doing more with her still feels like a missed opportunity.

None of this is to say RE8’s ending was flawless by comparison: there are dangling questions and clunky sequel-hooks there too (what went wrong with the ceremony? Why were Miranda’s powers ‘leaving her’? Why are we suddenly teasing the idea the BSAA has gone bad when we haven't heard about them all game? etc). But the greater story felt finished to me in a way RE7 just didn’t. Plenty is left mysterious, but Ethan’s character arc is functionally complete.

On the whole though, there’s still plenty to recommend RE7 as an experience. The atmosphere was everything it needed to be, the old videos and creepy phone calls were solid little mechanics, and I kind of adored the design of Lucas’ horror-escape-room puzzle. I love the subtlety of burying an explanation for how Ethan's able to reattach his hand (and even his leg goddamnit I had no idea that was a thing that could happen until just recently!) in the middle of a document you won't pick up until the endgame, and which many will miss. Seriously, there is some great material in this game.

The villains all live up to the enjoyably campy extremes of the RE series at its best – but it was Marguerite who stood out for me, and I think it’s a crying shame she’s mostly relegated to the middle-chapter between the big events that are Jack, Lucas and Eveline. Nothing against the rest of them, but creepy little girls, dominating father figures, and jigsaw-killer-wannabes are all a dime a dozen in this genre: how many gleefully-revolting, middle-aged mother figures can you think of? That’s rare enough to be really memorable.

Ethan is, unavoidably, a somewhat flatter character than he gets to be in RE8 – he just doesn’t get the opportunity to react to so many things he so obviously should, and that’s very much a script issue (his voice actor does a fine job with what he’s given). Even so, some of his snarky conversations with Zoe are a delight, as is every other time he gets to express his frustration with the whole mad situation.

By contrast, Mia is so much more complex than she gets to be in RE8, where she’s honestly done pretty dirty. And having now played RE7, I’m retroactively a little disappointed that RE8 wasn’t about Ethan and Mia getting to be some kind of awesome battle couple (unconducive to horror as that might be): they’re both kind of badass when they actually get the chance.

So, yeah. At the end of the day, RE7 and RE8 make a very weird little duology. It's well worth checking out at least a Let’s Play of RE7 or a compilation of cutscenes if you loved RE8, just for backstory. But it’s not a game really designed for the same audience – and for me at least, just a much less satisfying experience overall.

*Considering how far apart they are on the fangirl-bait scale, I feel sort of like I ought to apoologise to Heisenberg and his fanbase for even comparing him to Lucas Baker, but I'm sorry: on paper, they do have rather a lot in common.

[kitkatnerds3]

BSD chapter 108 spoilers

 I don’t have pictures so anyone who wants to read this is gonna have to deal with that. I’m also gonna be jumping around a lot, so prepare for unorganized-ness. 

Now, on with the chapter

HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPEND! 

FIRST OFF. The first thing we get in this chapter is Sigma showing Fyodor the card that says ‘help me’. After this Fyodor has a BREAKDOWN. Crying and screaming ‘HELP ME’, after this he calms down and asks what year it is, saying that he is the real Fyodor and that he’s sorry he couldn’t stop the other him from being evil, he then hands Sigma a knife that he just has for some reason, but then SIKE- he stabs Sigma and says something along the lines of ‘ Ah, I can’t believe you fell for that, split personalities are such a cliche’.

(I’m about to go on a long rant, so I want to first say, I think Sigma is fine. Asagiri loves his fake out deaths and Sigma’s story ending here would not be narratively satisfying and there isn’t really on lead up or foreshadowing that would imply that he would die here. Our boi is gonna be fine.)

Now, I know he said that he was lying, but I don’t think Asagiri would have included that for no reason, which is why I want all of us to look back to Fyodor and his ability in Dead Apple. Fyodor was one of the only characters who didn’t have to fight his ability, the other one being Chuuya. Chuuya not having to fight his ability makes sense because it is a singularity. But Fyodor? His ability isn’t like Chuuya’s because unlike his Fyodor’s ability did show up, but it didn’t try to fight him and even worked with him! His gem was also on his hand instead of on the forehead like most of the other abilities. The idea that it was like this is because his ability is in fact a separate entity past the extent of even Elise and is even capable of taking him over is interesting. 

But I don’t think that it’s entirely like that, because Fyodor still betrayed Sigma even if he was the supposed ‘Good One’. I think Fyodor was definitely lying about the there’s a good Fyodor and a bad Fyodor, but I do think there might be more than one Fyodor. So, I want to expand on a theory I saw about Fyodor’s ability where he could send a version of himself into the virtual world. I feel like his ability could probably be like this except it’s not the virtual world, it’s a different plane of reality. I feel like I’ve definitely read stories where a character lives in a plane just above our own and can manipulate stuff there which in turn changes something about its correlating thing in our plane. Maybe this is the plane on which peoples souls reside, and Fyodor’s ability allows him to interact with his soul. If his ability destroys the soul/ life force of a person, then that could make that person die in real life resulting in the blood explosion that we’ve seen happen before. On the matter of having to touch the person, I don’t think that would be necessary, when he was captured by Ace and then killed everyone on the boat, I doubt he managed to sneak up and touch every single one. they were supposed to be good bodyguards and I don’t believe that Fyodor is that athletic, he couldn’t have fought all of them. we’ve also seen that him touching someone doesn’t necessarily kill them, ex: Nikolai and Karma while he was drying Fyodor’s hair. So, I think that him touching people to kill them is just a front he does to trick people, kinda like that thing he did with Ace where he made him think his ability was something else. This could also explain some stuff about Ivan and Nathaniel and how he changed them, maybe he changed their souls in a way that affected their brains!

After all I said the fact is that I’m using the term ‘soul’ kinda broadly, so in my opinion, a soul basically represents everything that a person is, their hopes, dreams, way of thinking, life force, and for ability users, their ability as sort of an add on. And basically Other-Fyodor can just affect people by tinkering with their souls on that plane. So, what if in Dead Apple Shibusawa’s power is him sort of combining the two planes so that ability users can interact with the ability part of their souls. This could also be why the non-ability users disappeared, because they didn’t have the ability part of their soul and therefore did not technically exist in the version of the world Shibusawa summoned.(this isn’t about him but maybe Atsushi’s special in that his ability is not an add on to his soul but is instead actually apart of him, so that’s how even though the thing that technically holds his ability was removed he could still access the tiger) (this could also explain more about how Shibusawa’s ability kept him alive, even though his body died he kept the soul alive therefore keeping pretty much everything that made Shibusawa Shibusawa intact) And since Fyodor was already interacting with his ability/soul in a more complex way previously he was able to just interact with him normally. This could also be more stuff for the Fyodor can only kill non-ability users theory seeing as there are many situations in which it probably would have been better for him to just magic death people, if destroying an ability users soul entails fighting off their ability (cause I like the ‘abilities are born from trauma theory’ and think that they, when not affected by Shibusawa, are supposed to protect their users) then I don’t think Fyodor would be able to go through the trouble of winning a fight. But for a soul unprotected by an ability he could easily just crush it, therefore killing the person! Thinking on it more this does lead to questions about how he could have affected Nate and Ivan, cause those two have abilities too so wouldn’t they protect them? I’ve written too much to go back now so I’ma just say maybe they didn’t sense any lethal intent and therefore saw no need to attack. I’m also ready to go with the idea that, at least for Ivan, he just literally preformed a lobotomy. He definitely did something special to Nate, but I feel like Fyodor’s done crazier stuff then preform a lobotomy, so he could’ve just done that no fancy stuff involved, Ivan does have the head bandages after all!

I feel like there is a lot more I could talk about, with the ability stuff, but my brain is tired, and I want to move on to different things that happened in this chapter, because that’s still what this post is supposed to be about. Still talking about Fyodor for a bit though this chapter caused me to think about him a lot.

So, while I do 100% believe that the ‘Good Fyodor’ act was bullshit, I do think that those emotions were at least a bit real. I think that Fyodor isn’t the calm, cold individual he wants everyone to think he is. We know that he wishes to rid this world of sin, but what if this isn’t only out of a sense of righteous work of god, what if it’s also out of a feeling of fear. Maybe Fyodor is a a-bit more fucked up 14-year-old Ranpo who is terrified of the world around him and never found his Fukuzawa, and just wants help and to be saved from this sin infested world but has to put on a brave/indifferent face and do it himself.

Was this a load of bullshit that I pulled out of my ass? Yes. Yes it was. But they’re kinda cool ideas and even if I do think that they’re probably incorrect they were fun to think of and write and that’s all that matters! Plus, I do slightly believe that parts could be true.

TLDR: I think Fyodor’s ability allows him to interact with his soul on another plane of existence and that he is scared by the world around him.

Wow! didn’t mean to go on that long about Fyodor. my brain just started thinking about things and I couldn’t stop it. Now, onto a subject that is going to take a lot less of my brain power! (my brain is kinda very tired rn)

SECOND THING THAT HAPPEND. SHIN SOUKOKU. GAY GAY HOMOSEXUAL GAY. HOLY SHIT THEY ARE SO IN LOVE!

Some of my theories on what was gonna happen this chapter were kinda correct! Atsushi did indeed land himself in a situation where he couldn’t fight Akutagawa without killing him and so he stopped before hitting him, and then Aku attacked him and Atsushi said something that brought Aku back a little bit. But then my prophetic powers stopped because after that Aya did NOT pull the sword out of Bram, and Aku ripped off Atsu’s arm and leg (0 days since Atsushi has last lost his leg). Atsushi said so much romantic ass bullshit “I know you’re in there” “I’ve got you” and he smiled at him!!! Atsushi was tired and in pain and he STILL tried to SMILE at Aku!!! This feels like a goddamn fanfic!!! It’s wonderful!! And Akutagawa also had a several scenes where he hesitated to hurt Atsu even under the vampire-ness! Sure, he may have still torn his arm and leg off, but the fact still remains that he hesitated!!! He may be saved by gay love yet!!!!

Soukoku still have not shown up, much to the dismay of pretty much everyone, but at the end we did get to see the old man yaoi breakup and let me tell ya, whoo, it is NOT going well!

THIRD THING THAT HAPPENED. DAD HAS BEEN STABBED AND IS BLEEDING OUT. I REPEAT, FUKUZAWA IS IN DANGER OF DYING.

I really, really hope that he won’t die for, just SO many reasons. He probably won’t because Asagiri really does love his fake out deaths, but narratively speaking, Fukuzawa unfortunately has a slight possibility of death.

Oh, also Fukuchi has One Order, but I honestly don’t really know what that is, sooooo... Back to Fukuzawa!

Because I really don’t want to contemplate the idea of dad dying, I am instead going to act as if it is an impossibility and think of what might happen next. So, I think that this might how we get Yosano and Junichirou back in the story! I saw a while ago that the Juni in the bed is an illusion because the Elise drawing with the crossed-out faces didn’t have his face crossed out, and I’m very much inclined to believe this because it just works in many different ways! It makes a way for some more people (mainly Yosano) to sneak into the airport and help out and could lead to the Tanizaki backstory that I crave so very dearly. Actually, the latter thing probably won’t happen for a while, and it might not fit into the story yet, so... yeah actually forgot about the second thing. But we do definitely need some more people to our guys right now! I’m pretty sure Ranpo and Fukuzawa are actively dying and we need more guys to fight Fukuchi with, so Yosano’s gotta make sure her dad and brother don’t die and hopefully they can get Juni, Lucy, and sskk (after Atsushi cures Aku by kissing him on the mouth) to kick Fukuchi’s ass. I honestly have no idea how the fuck they’re gonna deal with the old man, I saw a theory that someone had replaced One Order with one of Kunikidas flash bombs, and that is kinda probable, I think! I’m still pretty sure that Aya is gonna do some girlboss shit in the form of pulling the sword out of Bram i the midst of all of this, but I’m not sure when it’s gonna happen seeing as there is just so much stuff going on right now.

Anyways! The last two sections of this post were probably not the best I could’ve done becuse I spent all my braincells on the Fyodor analysis, but whatever! This was Fun! Can’t wait to see what sort of crazy bullshit goes down next chapter!

[western-magical-girl-confessions]

✨Western Magical Girl Confessions January 2023 Update!✨

Hi everyone!^^ Happy New Year! 🎊

How are you all? What’s new? Still here? Lol Anyways, some of you may be wondering what’s going on with me? Maybe? Maybe not?lol Either way, I’m here to give you an update!

I’ve actually been sick with the flu for almost 3 weeks now! Has it been easy? HECK NO! 😆 So unfortunately, that’s a big chunk of the reason why I haven’t been motivated to make confessions. I’m starting to feel better, but I’m not planning on making any confessions until I’m 100% well! So once again, stay turned and thank you for being patient!

I’ve been just taking a break from this blog in general due to past events that have happened on it. Some due to my own ignorance and mistakes, some due to other factors, like anons. Either way, when I do eventually start making confessions again, I want to start off on a cleaner slate.

Just basically life stuff. Some stressful, some just average.

So after all of that is over and done with, I really want to make confessions again! I really miss doing them! Also, another thing I want to mention, throughout this hiatus in the past few months, I’ve been thinking about a lot of things. So I have a couple of things that I want to say and mention once more before I start up confessions again. I also want to say that this is going to be the last time that I’m going to repeat myself like this when I explain the bare bones of this blog, and to anyone who still doesn’t get it, I’ll just link the rules or link them back to this post.

Note: This stuff isn’t really meant to be aimed towards a particular group of people or certain fans, I’m just explaining this through my experiences and to make sure we are all on the same page here. My goal isn’t to “offend” anyone, it’s for my followers (and others who may pass this blog) to understand more clearly! So please don’t take what I say as offensive, please?

So, like I just said above, this is a confession blog about different western magical girl shows for different criticisms alike. It’s about people being able to express their feelings about different issues that they have with shows, it’s ships, it’s writing etc. I’m doing this blog for fun, for people to have a voice and to give people a chance to vent and to express their opinions without being directly attacked by certain people.

This blog is not JUST about a particular show. It’s about many western magical girl shows alike. So it’s not really fair to act passively aggressive towards the mod or the blog it’s self just because it allows a confession that said something negative about a show or ship that you like (or vice versa). Every opinion alike is allowed, even negative ones.

The mod’s thoughts and opinions on these shows, it’s ships, it’s characters etc. AREN’T a factor on this blog. This blog is about the mod submitting other people’s opinions and thoughts through cards. Their opinions and thoughts litterally have nothing to do with it, so please don’t act like it does to cause disclosure (or anything else of the sort).

If you have certain concerns about certain confessions on this blog, then you need to come to the mod about it so the situation will be taken care of to the best of it’s ability. If that particular problem is not solved in the way that you like it, then I’m sorry. The only other solution that I can recommend to you is to even ignore said problem, block the tags, or just block this blog in general. I personally can’t solve every single problem, especially since they come from different kinds of people, in which their opinions might contradict other’s opinions. If you truly aren’t satisfied with the way I run things, then it’s probably best if you just block and move on. I won’t get offended nor stop you. Sometimes, things just won’t work out 🤷🏾‍♀️

Like I’ve said above, this blog WILL be filled with different opinions and criticisms alike, even ones that you disagree with. If you can’t accept that, then just block this blog and move on. You’re allowed to reblog or comment on these confessions with your own opinions if you like as long as it’s aimed towards that confession in particular, not the blog it’s self. So if I feel like that your just trolling or what your saying is being indirectly vulgar towards this blog, then I’ll just block.

Again, anon hate will automatically be blocked, plain and simple. I don’t have the patience or tolerance anymore.

Again, like I’ve said many times before (and this will be the last time I’ll say this), Confessions are by DIFFERENT people, not the same person, so not ALL confessions are by the mod, nor are they by the same person. So don’t send hate that’s directed at the mod, since not all confessions are by them.

Look, I’m going to try to say this in the most non-belligerent way possible. I will try to take the necessary steps and make the necessary choices to make the blog enjoyable for everyone, not only me of course. However, sometimes those “steps” and “choices” might not be the same as what you want. If you don’t like that, that’s perfectly fine! However, being rude or gaslighting me about it isn’t going to change my mind. Even block the tags that are added to the confessions, or block this blog in general. Your opinions and feelings matter, but they aren’t the only ones that do.

Before submitting your thoughts & confessions, please read the rules.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please leave it in my ask box!

Now! With that out of the way! When I get back into making confessions, some will be unbanned and some will not!

The following confessions that will most likely be unbanned

Nex (Winx Club) confessions.

Positive Nabu (Winx Club) confessions.

All Chloe Bourgeois, Marinette Dupain Cheng, Zoe Lee, Sabrina Raincomprix (Miraculous Ladybug) confessions, regardless positive or negative. However, repetitive ones will most likely be submitted much later!

Anti Catra/Catradora confessions. However, ones that talk too negatively about its fans are still banned!

Negative Hordak (She Ra) confessions.

Negative Entrapta (She R) confessions.

The confessions that will still be banned or will be banned too

Confessions about Thomas Astruc (the creator of Miraculous Ladybug). You can still make criticisms about the writing or other issues, but avoid directly talking about him.

Confessions that talk directly about Chloe Bourgeois’s “redemption arc” (Miraculous Ladybug).

Nabu’s Death (Winx Club) Confessions.

Winx Club v.s. W.I.T.C.H confessions. You can still talk about both shows together, but NOT against each other.

Bloom, Sky and Diaspro (Winx Club) confessions, mostly ones like “Bloom/Sky are crappy people for what they did to Diaspro!”.

Anti Starlight Glimmer (My Little Pony) confessions. I just feel everyone and their grandmother knows how much of a “bad character” she is at this point, and has talked about it enough. I just don’t see the point anymore and just beating a dead horse.

“Bloom (Winx Club) is a Mary-Sue” confessions.

Confessions that claim characters as “Mary-Sues” or “Gary-Stus” in general. I just feel that the term has lost it’s meaning.

“I want the old Winx to come back!” confessions.

Things that could help!

Let me know if there’s any words, triggers, or tags that you would like for me to add to post so you can blacklist/block them.

Explaining your reasons for wanting a certain thing banned or not might help. I might understand or explain why this certain thing is valid/invalid.

The purpose of the blog IS for you to get things off your chest, but positive confessions are accepted too! I would love to hear some positivity about the shows, ships, characters etc. ^^

Please write *SPOILERS* in your confessions before writing it if you know that it’s a spoiler, especially if it’s Miraculous Ladybug and The Owl House. They’re the only active shows right now.

That’s all I really have to say. Sorry if this seems like I’m “making a mountain out of an anthill”, because I understand that this is just a side blog for fun, something that I don’t have to do lol However, I just want to be able to run my blog in peace, without any hurdles from people who refuse to understand. I’m just letting it be known that this is most likely the last time I’m going into detail like this.

So with this said, my little hiatus should be over soon, and I hope to do confessions again! Thank you for listening and if you have any thoughts or questions about any of this, feel free to leave it in my ask box!

Confessions at this time are closed until further notice, so please reframe from sending in confessions and headcanons! If you do so, it will be saved, but be released at a much later time!

Stay Magical!~

-WMGC Mod