#who also happens to be a bit of a girl failure herself but she keeps trying her best anyways

[khickuwa]

oc x marius, skiploaf chp 46 redraw

[subwaytostardew]

Subway to Stardew - Passenger Events - Saloon Part 2

This plays after you see the first saloon event (submas having lunch with Elliott!) and visit on a Friday after reaching 3 hearts with Elesa.

Commentary under the read-more!

Did you notice the sprites? No? Great! I finally stopped procrastinating and recolored their spritesheets so now they don't share the same brown outline and match vanilla style a bit more!

Sprite-wise... they're over 80. Emmet's in his 90's.

So many sprites.....

Also... Elesa's back! We have a basic outline for what would happen in Elesa's events, but we haven't written anything for her yet... She has plans though! She's rounding up all the artists for it. Meanwhile, submas are still struggling with passenger relations.

Elesa's storyline is going to be fun to plan out but one of her B plots is making sure Ingo and Emmet take their breaks!

Elesa's fun. She's a bit awkward herself (girl can NOT keep a secret for the life of her) but she's doing things. Nimbasa trio share a braincell and they pass it around throughout this event.

We wanted to show a little more insight into their life in the valley and how others feel about them. This time, you're catching them on a bad day. One of my favorite things about Stardew is how everyone is very much flawed in some way and everyone is an unreliable narrator. I love how it just presents life in a run-down town as is and it's up to you to interpret whatever glimpses you get.

Trying to merge the two different media's in terms of tone and seriousness is a bit complex. Pokémon - as a franchise - is at the end of a the day; kid friendly. Stardew Valley, while may look happy go lucky and cute touches upon some really heavy topics.

We are basically skirting the lines here and there with the themes and even trying to make it in character for the Pokémon characters as well.

Taking a kid friendly characters and just trying to touch upon tough subjects while also trying not to seem OOC or off - is tough. So creative liberties it is.

Not everyone gets along in Stardew. I tried to emphasize that in Sebastian's distaste for submas. He would hate being their neighbor. He's cranky because he can't sleep in until 10:00 AM anymore because they're already at work before it turns 6:00 in the morning. Extreme opposites with their problems.

Sebastian and Submas DO NOT get along... They may tolerate each other at the end of the story but they just do not mix well.

I also think that Sebastian would just project a lot of his personal problems onto them... He already does that with Maru. He's not the best taking out his frustrations in the right direction. Haven't finished Maru's passenger event yet (another battle event...) but submas would be decently close with her since she has an interest in Pokemon and Sebastian would take that as "siding" against him. They are also decently aquainted with Demetrius which isn't the best for Sebastian's dad issues. He's not fond of the invasive species they brought in but they do appreciate infodumping to each other about mechanics and such.

Oh, Demetrius... I'm going to have fun with world building info-dumps with him. Ya'll like world building? Well, talk to the villagers, they may have a glimpse into things.

I do headcanon Demetrius (pretty much painfully canon...), Maru, and Sebastian as autistic themselves just like the Nimbasa trio. Unfortunately, that does not necessarily mean that they'll always have solidarity. For one, Sebastian's sensitivity to loud noises puts him at odds with Ingo. Submas fare better with the more infodumpy types.

Sibling relations are a sore subject for all of them so submas are horrified at even the thought of splitting tracks and hating each other because they have codependency issues; Sebastian has an inferiority complex and hates how they make him feel like even more of a failure because he doesn't like Maru. Neither parties are exactly healthy, but you can pick between who you're going for! (I was curious as to what the deal was with Sebastian so he was the first bachelor I married... I think you can tell that I divorced him.)

Sebastian has his issues... He was also going to be my first bachelor but uhh, I went with Harvey. I still love Sebastian as a character tho, he is really complex especially family dynamic wise. I do feel bad for him....

He does. I do appreciate how messy his family dynamic is, but I'm a little biased against him since I appreciate Maru and Demetrius more (sorry). I really like how he doesn't handle his issues healthily (I mean... look at Emmet.) and it's interesting to compare him to the other characters.

Like Sam! Sam's a good kid (college age 20 something year old...) and actually really emotionally mature even if he's a bit childish at times. Abigail... isn't quite all there yet but she has a strong sense of what's right and wrong. She's less hesitant than Sam when it comes to things, but Sam serves a bit as damage control here. I headcanon Sam and Abigail to have ADHD so they kind of have an idea about submas being autistic and what that entails, but it's not at the forefront of their mind. It doesn't help that their autism manifests in verrrrry different ways and they don't really know them all that well in the first place. It's a bit awkward between them but they're okay with each other.

We had a bit of fun determining the heart point changes between each route. Personally, I think friendship decreases are hilarious. Also if you don't back up anyone in this situation then... 🤨

(1) Sebastian -

Ingo -100 | Emmet -250 | Sebastian +250 | Sam -5 | Abigail -15

(2) Ingo -

Ingo +40 | Emmet +5 | Sebastian -100 | Sam -20 | Abigail -25

(3) Emmet -

Ingo +25 | Emmet +30 | Sebastian -100 | Sam -5 | Abigail -5

(4) Sam and Abigail -

Ingo +20 | Emmet +5 | Sebastian -40 | Sam +50 | Abigail +50

(5) Nobody -

Ingo -50 | Emmet -200 | Sebastian -200 | Sam -50 | Abigail -50

I don't see friendship decreases as characters getting angry at you per se. It can always just be them feeling awkward and wanting to distance themselves from you for a bit. For example, if you reject Ingo in his 8 heart event, you get knocked down two hearts just so you can get more friendly-but-not-too-friendly dialogue before it stagnates again at 8 hearts.

The "true ending" is Sam and Abigail's route since they're fairly neutral picks. You should stand up for them! Sebastian would agree that him lashing out was wrong, but he just doesn't want to talk to you about it. Why would he? You would just lecture him or something.

Bad ending is not siding with anybody like a coward. Sebastian's being a bit of a bully here (mainly to a grown man a whole head taller than him, but still, his friends got caught in the crossfire) and if you're wishy-washy then that's just odd of you as the town's farmer and supposed protagonist that goes out of their way to befriend everyone. Not a good look.

Sebastian's route is a bit of a jab at how his romance plays out. A few people have mentioned Emmet and Sebastian being friends with each other under the reasoning that they're lonely autists (but mostly just being favorites, which I get) buuuut... Not sure why you would go for Sebastian when submas is right there. Pick one or the other. They're enemies here. I can't quite see them getting along past that surface-level analysis. Smoking alone is a hard No. from Emmet since birds are super sensitive to airborne toxins (so much so, you can't even have non-stick pans around them!) and he's protective over his defeatist of an Archeops.

Ingo's route is more for fun than anything. If you really want Ingo, you do get the most points with him for mentioning him, but he's confused as to why you're trying to win him over now of all times. He's concerned about Emmet first and foremost!

Emmet has trust issues so even the slightest red flag puts a quite a bit of distance between you. He has low point increases because it's hard to win his trust. In this situation, a point increase mostly just means you didn't do anything wrong. If you side with him, that's what you're supposed to do since he's the side against Sebastian. He may be getting picked on, but he's a bit of an instigator himself. His own route aside, Ingo would be most pleased to see you speak up for his brother. Ingo's route is only has the highest point increases for him because it's well, his.

As for the bar fight... It was a bit difficult to figure out how to make it play out believably and interestingly despite it being three New Yorkers against some grocery store owner. Ingo is more focused on defense, de-escalation, and protecting his passengers (in this case, the college kids). He can take a hit and doesn't want to resort to making any attacks unless absolutely necessary, so he was blocking for the most part. Had Ingo not been the designated grocery shopper, Pierre and Emmet probably would have already killed each other. Emmet doesn't have the patience to deal with Pierre. He thinks Reshiram will smite him for upcharging them and will take it upon himself to deliver the justice of truth. Emmet's swinging at Pierre. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the best defense nor balance when he's kicking and punching. Pierre's too drunk to talk about it, but even sober he suspects that submas are working with Joja because as far as he knows, he saw Morris walk away from the Railroad when they first arrived.

Ah yes. Joja stuff. *Realigns stacks of papers* Lets touch upon Joja here for a moment and Pierre's view of things. When Submas first came around. Pierre was already suspicious of them - more confused if anything - why are two major city boys who also- mind you- come from a foreign region and bring along Pokémon. Take interest in a small town? With an abandon railroad? Right off the bat he does not have a great view; he is worried about his store, his income, and family and this is stemmed all due to Joja Mart.

Now Pierre spots Morris heading towards the railroad - of course Pierre does not know what the interactions between Submas and Morris are. In his mind it's Submas making a deal to work with them or is already with them! Pierre already hates Morris as it is.

That is why he is so passive aggressive to Ingo and Emmet. Just this time around - Pierre is drunk... and Abigail's friend is being "annoyed" by them.

Well... outright agressive in this event haha. I don't quite remember how the idea was finalized, but we decided that they would get into a barfight when doing another "showing passenger relations at the Saloon" event.

As for Joja itself. I most definitely headcannon them in this whole crossover universe as the typical "bad guy" Pokémon team. However they have already won/succeeded (Pokémon are no longer in The Ferngill Republic....) However things are now being shaken up and changing.

I could go on and on about Joja and how I view them... but I think that will be a separate post (if people want to know)

The fight was a pain to debug. For one, Pierre kept running off into the void like a coward. Ingo's lines about staying behind the yellow line were made in the debugging phase because I got fed up with him for doing that.

Worse yet. 1.6 broke the Pokemon animations so now I have to go back into every event and redo everything (RIP green bean X-Scissor). The old method I was using no longer worked; before, I was using the addObject command. Now they show up as error signs because the sprites that were previously on the sheet called from were removed as they are not valid objects.

I ended up having to figure out the temporarySprites command to replace the "using a Pokeball" animation. There are no instances of it being used in vanilla. Nobody seemed to figure it out either, so I had to make a mini-event just to test its usage and figure it out.

I eventually did. Thanks to the help of my emotional support Emmet.

Ah yes... 1.6 has broken some events. Small things. (events are still playable) But we will definitely be revisiting some events to improve or make better. Or to just fix.

I have so much backtracking to do 😭😭😭😭😭 Oh well... I thought events were safe to work on since barely anything about them changed in 1.6... I was wrong.

The ending had quite a bit of revising for concision and tone. It was much more lighthearted in Kade's drafts, but I figured that Emmet is low on steam and probably would have gone nonverbal after everything. Too much passenger interaction for the day. He just wants to depart back to his home station.

Yeah there was a lot of dialog and exposition cut. (Hmm no wonder why it's only 13 minutes long. lol)

Only 13 minutes... Still a lot considering that most vanilla events are around the 1-3 minute mark...

Poor Emmet.. and Ingo. I won't lie, when first seeing the event I burst out laughing during the fistfight. Just somthing about Ingo suddenly collapsing due to Pierre. BUT THEY'RE OKAY - ISH.

It's a bit comical! I had fun ragdolling them. Emmet was going to be much more swingy in his attacks but I ended up not keeping it in since it just didn't look right when used as an animation frame.

We at least kept one of the rag-doll sprite as a "knock back" from Pierre. Which transitions well with his passed out sprite.

Until next time! Thank you for boarding!

[neppednep]

Could I perhaps request first date headcanons for Sayaka and Homura, since the first Madoka and Mami headcanons were also first date it feels fitting

First Date w/ Homura Akemi HCs

I will do Sayaka too, just figured I'd get this out since it's been done. I may do a version with the other Homura, I just didn't know how the hell that one would go to simping for her best friend to random bozo #28 without a backstory. Consider this one a prequel if that ever drops.

Sorry for the rambling at the beginning too. Doesn't actually get to the date until later on. Enjoy.

》 It was a bit of a surprise to learn your class was getting a transfer student this late into the year. You would be lying if you said you really cared. You weren't exactly a social butterfly to begin with, so realistically a new student wouldn't affect you too much. 

》 However, you were pleasantly surprised when she came in to introduce herself. Her black hair was tied into two braids with her purple ribbons, and violet eyes were hidden behind a pair of red glasses. Cute was the first word that came to your mind. She apparently came after a long stay in the hospital and it certainly showed. She was shy and didn't seem to be the brightest when it came to academics.

》 After introductions, the teacher sat her next to you. You two exchanged glances, but nothing beyond that. Just like some generic anime scene, you had to share your textbook. It was a bit awkward at first, being so close but you quickly got over it. Judging by the red dusting her cheeks, you couldn't say the same for her though. After class ended, people quickly surrounded your combined desks and started yapping. Luckily for her though, the nurse's aide came by to pull her away. Your first meeting wasn't exactly anything special, but it wasn't horrible either.

》 Even with her desk being right next to yours, it took another week or two to actually speak to her again. You two were assigned to clean the classroom at the end of the school week. You've heard rumors of her… lacking physical abilities but actually seeing it for yourself was another thing. You felt kind of bad seeing her having so much trouble with cleaning and she insisted she could keep going. She didn't look like she was in great shape, looking like she was going to pass out any second. You politely called her stupid and told her to take a break.  She didn't argue, just putting her head down and leaving the room.

》 You got the work done a lot quicker than you did while having to worry about her, so you left with good time to spare to find her and let her know you're done.  When you did find her you were irked to say the least. Three girls around her were laughing at her and calling her names. Sure, Homura isn't perfect but she deserves more than that.

“Homura, is everything alright?” You question, obviously knowing exactly what was happening. You stare at the girls as you walk towards them before stopping next to Homura.

“There you are, L/N. We were just asking four eyes why she's standing around instead of cleaning. She gets more and more useless by the day.”

You have to hold back a few choice words that almost slip past your lips. Seriously, who even says four eyes anymore? If you're going to bully someone at least be good at it. This ain't Disney. Instead, you grab Homura’s hand and simply walk away. Well, that's what you would like to say. What you actually said was more like:

“I see…” You say with a slow nod as if in deep thought. “Your shoe is untied. Not surprising considering you're a failure who couldn't even tie a proper noo-”

Homura squeaks, squeezing your hand and practically dragging you away from the shocked girls.

》 That incident didn't really make you best friends or anything, but people did start somewhat leaving her alone after that. She started to hang out with you more too, instead of sitting alone at lunch she would come and sit with you and your friends. She didn’t speak often, but you still welcomed her with open arms.

》 It wasn't until one day, seemingly out of nowhere, she approached you with the nurses’ aide behind her, her face a deep red as she stopped in front of you. You were a bit worried at first, it wasn't unusual to see Homura with the pink haired girl due to her condition, so you thought something might have happened. After a little nudge from her friend, Homura stutters out a request, asking if you'd go on a date with her. You were a bit surprised at first, but looking back on it, it was possible most of the stuff you just attributed to her being shy could have been because of a crush. Either way, you accepted with a smile before she quickly scurried off, the pink haired girl offering you a smile and a quick thanks before following after her friend.

》 When the day finally came, you honestly didn't really know what to do. You don't really want to force her out of her comfort zone or push her too hard. After being in the hospital for so long, she hasn't got to experience much so something simple was good with her. It also didn't help that you weren't as familiar with her as you would've liked.

》 She wasn't much of a talker or one for physical activity, so that alone took out things like restaurants or games. You were thinking of a movie, it wouldn't be some awkward silence like a restaurant but there's still the problem of just sitting there, staring at a screen. Not your idea of a good time.

》 You eventually just decided to take her to the local aquarium. Miktihara was a big city on the coast, so it goes without saying it's aquarium was well known and pretty famous. She wouldn't feel forced to talk or anything and it would be her first time going to one, so hopefully it would be a good experience for her.

》 You picked her up at her house and were off. as expected she didn't really say much so you carried the conversation. It was a bit harder than expected. Her home life was non-existent, school wasn't the best, and she didn't really have too many hobbies. She did start talking about a few friends she made at school though, you were happy to hear she was branching out, but she was still a bit hesitant to go into too much detail.

》 Luckily things picked up when you got there. Homura was bamboozled! It was definitely worth it to see her eyes light up as the two of you walked around. Don't mean to brag or anything, but you went very far with her for a first date. You didn't know she was the type but you held hands while walking around.

》 The day wasn't exactly eventful but it was still fun nonetheless. You ended up buying her some plush she had her eye on before you left, it was slightly a scam with how much it was but she seemed happy enough with it, so it was worth the price. Her smile practically never leaving her face as the two of you walked back to her house. She was a lot more open by the end of it, talking pretty much the entire way back.

The two of you stood in front of her house, it's been a long day so you were fairly tired, not really wanting it to end. Judging by the fact Homura was still holding onto your hand, it’s safe to say she didn't either.

She reluctantly let go, turning to you, her cheeks a light shade of red. You were tempted to reach up and pinch them, but that would be pretty weird, so you resist. She breathes in before saying, “T- thank you, Y/N. We should, uh… Can we...?”

You wait for her to finish, but her eyes just shift around as if she's looking for what she wants to say. You can't help but laugh before nodding. “How does next Sunday sound?”

Her eyes widen but she quickly nods, thankful she wasn't the one that had to say it. “I'd like that.” She says with a soft smile.

You were a bit shocked as she lunged forward, wrapping her arms around you. She didn't give you much time to even process it before she let out a squeak and practically started sprinting to the door at a world record pace. You blink a few times, staring at the floor she just ran through before turning on your heel and walking away. You can tell things will definitely be more lively from now on.

[xstarlightxstarbrightx]

Lumi headcanons

i have dragged myself outta the hell that's been my weekend and have FINALLY cobbled together all of my thoughts abt Lumine,,, it's a lot so bear w/ me bc i love her so so so much. the big list of h/c's: - extroverted lumi,,, - tired older sister / mom of Paimon. Paimon may know more about Teyvat than Lumine does, but Lumine's the one who takes care of Paimon and guides her through the harder things in life; definitely gives the vibes of Paimon being a kid sister and Lumine being very protective of her. somewhat mother but also not??? definitely the adult between the two smh - incredibly smart. very perceptive with a lotta intuition. i mean, you need to be able to be quick on the draw if you're going to be traveling nonstop, y'know?? - paragon Lumi is my roman empire. - frugal as SHIT, penny pincher extraordinaire. Paimon has yet to find all the emergency funds, and Lumine is adamant on KEEPING it that way. - abandonment issues. listen,,, listen she's got em, we all know she does, and i feel like she gets very attached to people but doesn't really let them know. - stemming from abandonment issues, I feel like she's got this issue of putting the weight of the world on her shoulders? like she cannot let herself feel negative emotions and bottles up a lot of the bad shit she deals with. her belief is that if she's not being a positive force, she's failing everyone around her and they'll one day leave her behind. - adding onto that bit, it definitely shows through the fact that she's not quick to actually anger. like her anger is VERY VERY rare, and usually she's very relaxed and tries to work through things as calmly as possible. - despite lumi being slow to anger, she's def violent in a mischievous gremlin way. definitely gives the vibe of 'u called me short, i am consuming ur knee caps'. But this is more of a bit and something to do as an intimidation tactic for ppl who don't know her, and it feels very accurate tbh - Lumi is bilingual, nothing more needs to be said. - she has scars. like a few of em, too. Mostly from her adventures in Teyvat, since she's less durable than she's used to being??? She has some scars from her fight against Dvalin, a scar or two from fighting Childe, a LOT of scars from Inazuma, as well as scars from using the elements!! - on the topic of scars, i DO believe she has scars from losing her wings in the fight with the Unknown God. and like, this hurts her. she feels such intense guilt over what happened and how she failed to protect her brother. she would gladly boast to you about any of her scars, but if you mention the ones on her back, she gets,,, quiet,,,, - i have done a deep dive dissection of the differences between the twin's elemental animations, and one day i will post that i swear; but for now all imma say is that Lumi struggles w/ Geo element the most. - fear of failure! i mentioned it before, but I personally feel like this has such a huge affect on her? - speaking of fears; CLAUSTROPHOBIA! listen, lumi definitely feels like she'd be claustrophobic, can't handle tight spaces. she also is terrified of the Abyss specifically, but tight spaces? unable to move? feeling trapped???? yeah, she's got that besties. - she feels like such a mom sometimes i s2g. like some of these characters feels like characters she would call her kids teasingly. personally believe Bennett called her "mom" once and he hasn't been able to live it down since b/c she refuses to answer to anything else from him now. - protective Lumi is my favorite, nothing more to add. - Lumine is very dancer-like in a lot of her animations, so me personally i think she would be a good dancer ong. - GOD tiered Cook, she's so fuckin good at that shit, like girl can crack just about any damn recipe she gets.

OKAY,,, I THINK,,,,,,,,,,,, I THINK I GOT THEM ALL DOWN,,,,,,,,,,

this went way longer than i meant, the brain worms ate through my skull and i got very carried away. but also it feels good to have the general gist of it all down,,, my beloved lumine i adore u so so much,,,,

anyway these were my h/c's for Lumi, i'll work on Kaeya next i think b/c i have Many Thoughts (tm) on him. :)c

[aspookycrow]

I don’t know where to put this thought because I usually just stick to theory, but I picture Celia with soft dark brown wavy-pattern hair, the kind that she likes to keep defined at work or on dates, but will frizz up a bit when she wakes up on a dewy side of the road, etc. I picture it grown out because her current priorities lean her away from frequent trims, at least long enough so she has to tie it back with a large scrunchie into a sloppy bun when she feeds Jack because otherwise he’ll get distracted and get food in it trying to play with it.

I bet Sam wants to touch it, and that Alice would, upon (subconsciously) clocking that, decide to engage her in a convo about what leave-in conditioner she uses and upon receiving fantastic advice begrudgingly switch brands, forgetting all about the choice until one day after inviting Sam over, when she experiences a flash pang of dread at the thought of him seeing it on her bathroom counter. She decides this amount of vulnerability is unacceptable so she conspicuously rushes in ahead of him and tucks it away in a drawer, even if he had been there for the whole haircare conversation and would have at worst said something earnest and unassuming (yet devastatingly intimate) like “Ohh right, yeah I remember Celia recommending that. How do you like it? I think it smells really nice.” like GOD how mortifying would that be

(author’s note: this would not actually have been mortifying in the moment because she would have played it off immediately with a dig, but leaving herself open to the potential for that sort of comment is a rookie move. Being recognized as Trying in front of a witness is an unacceptable liability to her aloof cool girl image, and she’d react in a flash to mock either him or whatever he comments on to maintain it. She’s keenly aware as of late that her brand of prickly is getting some seriously diminishing returns with Sam and could cause him to pull away further

…but she’d still do it though.)

Goshhhhh, but really. I love the comedy that’s generated when serious things are happeninggg in a story, but they’re happening to big dorks who are pretending to be cool so their hang ups are all mixed into their priorities. Genuinely human antics. We are but a tapestry of our failures and drives.

Also, I realize this mental image has much more to say about what I picture when I think of milfs than any sensible interpretation of the text and for that I’ll never apologize.

[majoringinsarcasm]

“V9 was filler because nothing changed about Ruby or Jaune, she could’ve had her breakdown in Vacuo while the real plot was being fleshed out.”

Ahem

1) Above all else you sound like you hate fun bc V9 was so freaking cool and visually stunning and new and different and weird and wonderful

2) Had Ruby gone to Vacuo right away she would NOT have properly grieved Penny nor would she have had time to vent her frustrations because she is a Leader, capital L, and it’s been 8 volumes of her not addressing her issues or having bursts of anger and then immediately trying to comfort someone else. See V4 when she tries to tell Jaune that Ren and Nora will be fine. He responds “you don’t know that” and we see her smile fade. Her uncle might die and it’s her fault he’s hurt but she’s trying to comfort Jaune. No time for her.

Or in V6 where she just learned the big bad they are fighting seemingly can’t die. She goes to Oscar and makes him feel human she comforts him even though she’s no doubt flipping out inside. And then later when she smashes the bottle to wake Qrow up she is visually upset that he’s passed out drinking again but she softens and hugs him and offers support.

She has been trying to prove herself since Volume 1. She is the one who tells Jaune that as Leaders they have to put their team first and themselves second and she’s stuck to that rule. She wants to prove that Ozpin making her Leader wasn’t a mistake. With Jaune, it’s similar, he doesn’t ask for help from anyone with his emotions. He’s the golden retriever, the lovable idiot stuck in the tree. He didn’t want to be a team player at all he wanted to be The Hero, someone who didn’t need help, someone who could save his friends instead of being shoved in a locker and moved to safety. He didn’t want to work With them, he wanted to save them all.

And that’s why V9 is so special. For the first time since the series began Ruby Rose “puts herself first”. She’s been lamenting all of her failures she’s been stewing in this hopelessly because she thinks SHE is the issue when that’s not the case.

“What about me?!”

“What happens if I choose me?”

She decides she is Enough, flaws and failed plans and all. She does not need to change into someone else to be better because SHE was never the problem. The world would have fought against whoever came out of that tree and she’s holding her own hand and saying “I will be there for this girl I will grab the weapon she made and I will fight for Myself as well as everyone else. I am worth fighting for.”

And with Jaune, well he got to be The Hero all by himself. He got to be the protector of a group of beings that did what he asked and wanted to make him happy. Who Let Him Help. No one shoved him into a locker, he wasn’t laughed at for making up silly team attack names, he was in charge all by himself. He was selfish but he STILL wasn’t putting himself first at the same time. He was clinging to unhealthy ideals because he was without a team to lean on or even help. He had no one to call him out nobody to keep him level. It’s not until the final battle that he gets to be “the man he’s always wanted to be.”

Jaune is a strategist. He’s good at looking at the whole picture BECAUSE he’s not on the frontlines from the start. He provides perspective and new ideas. In V4 he also plays this role but he’s a bit reluctant. He’s without a weapon and sees at first the role as lesser, but now he’s fully embracing it. He’s from a big family and then had a team he’s not Built to be a lone wolf. He’s built to be with a family, he’s meant to be part of something bigger. After years of being the rusted knight he never changed or got better and THAT was the lesson. He got to play out his ideal and was worse because of it because a hero isn’t what he thought it would be. Or what he wanted it to be.

In the end Ruby still doesn’t call herself a huntress. Somewhat calls her that. In the end Ruby still doesn’t pick that definition for herself, but someone she showed kindness to and helped just because she could called her that. THAT is what makes Ruby a huntress. It’s not just about fighting monsters or even protecting those who can’t protect themselves. It’s about kindness, it’s about love, it’s about patience.

Ruby Rose is a huntress, because SHE embodies what a HUNTRESS should mean, not the other way around. And That is why this finale means everything to me. She’s better than the heroes in the books, and now she gets to save herself along with everyone else.

[murmurmurl]

i need u to tell me everything about your unit so when ill be writing once i have time, i can put them in it too

hohoheheoehehehoheoe,,,,,,, I'm gonna use this as an opportunity to shove all of the most important info into one place. Everything is a little all over the place tho, but it's always like that wjkhkskh

Helianthus♡Light!

Helianthus is the genus which includes sunflowers. Fumi and Seina suggested this part of the name, since Fumi loves flowers and the flower language/symbolism behind them, and Seina knows the more,, biological/scientific stuffs. The "Light" part is both because it also has to do with sunflowers, and Toshiro suggested that they're "reaching for light", because they chose the name at the end of their main story and they were feeling very hopeful,, it's not like they're not hopeful now, idk why I phrased it like that ANYWAYS.

I'm kind of not sure what type of music they play (mainly because I don't know ANYTHING about music genres lol), but it's definitely something warm, nostalgic, maybe a bit echo-y, somewhat soft, and their cover arts definitely include a lot of nature stuff,,,,, I haven't designed their virtual singers yet, but they're probably gonna be Rin and Luka (and Miku obv)

Unit members!

Toshiro Hasegawa (they/he)

178 cm tall, unit leader, probably main vocalist?, class 2-B (post-3rd anni), class 1-C (pre-3rd anni). Pretty energetic and outgoing, straight-A student, very afraid of failure and tends to try to earn love and affection through exceeding at everything because family problems, yay. Has an older brother (Hiroto Hasegawa, he/him), who is a part of ANOTHER unit,, The two are pretty distant. The whole family actually is, woops. Toshiro is also VERY into crystals and spirituality. It gives a sense of certainty. Also has an orange cat named Surfer. They're a big MMJ fan, specifically Airi fan. Friends with Ichika and An. Always braids/does everyone's hair.

Matsu Kimura (he/him)

162 cm, probably also vocals, but mainly deals with the uhm technical musical stuff that I know nothing about?? class 3-C (post-3rd anni), class 2-B (pre-3rd anni). Very bubbly, energetic, affectionate, super-uber-extra autism (sea-flavoured), very average grades because he only really does what he's interested in, but he does it rlly good. Used to get bullied in middle school, struggles with people's expectations and trying to fit in. Very-very silly. Only child. Keeps pet fish. Friends with Emu. Very tactile, loves tackling people.

Fumi Hatanaka (she/they)

169 cm, loves musical instruments and plays guitar, class 2-A (post-3rd anni), class 1-B (pre-3rd anni). A surprisingly bad student, doesn't care about school. She's pretty reserved and a bit grumpy most of the time but tends to easily get angry and even a little aggressive. Cares a lot about her friends, even though she doesn't really know how to show it. Also doesn't want to show "weakness". Blames herself for being too soft in middle school and not being able to help Matsu. Her family owns and runs a small flower shop. Friends with Shiho, dislikes Tsukasa and Rui (thinks they're too obnoxious and chaotic lmao). Also an only child. Doesn't have pets, but feeds strays that often hang out around the shop. Friends with Shiho and pretty much all of leo/need, as well as Toya. Can be pretty distant physically, but likes subtle physical gestures of affection.

Seina Amari (she/her)

175 cm, writes lyrics for their songs, loves writing in general, the only one in the group who goes to Miya girls', class 3-B (post-3rd anni), class 2-B (pre-3rd anni). Does VERY good at school, super responsible, helps everyone, though isn't actually all that interested in most subjects except literature. She's very calm and caring, always tries to help everyone, has a very gentle energy about her. This mostly comes from the fact that she had hurt a dear friend in the past, which was actually genuinly her fault, but also some shit happened, and she ended up dealing with this by being overly-caring and not letting her loved ones see when she's struggling. Doesn't mean she doesn't ACTUALLY care though. She very much does. Has a younger sibling (Taru Amari, they/them), who's also part of the same unit Hiroto is! Also has a pet bunny named Puddle, who's very similar to her, which I think is funny,, not exactly friends with Mafuyu, but just a little bit closer than regular acquaintances. Close friends with Shizuku and pretty much the rest of MMJ too (Toshiro nearly fainted when they found out). Has a part-time job at a local coffee shop, where she met and became friends with Ena. Often shows affection/compassion by something like placing a hand on someone's shoulder.

I decided that they all should have emojis because,, idk,,,, it's fun,,,,,, so:

Toshiro – 🍑

Matsu – 🦈 (or jellyfish, but I don't have this one and don't want to have to copy-paste it every time,,)

Fumi – 🍊

Seina – 🍃 or ✒️ (but here I mostly use ✒️)

How all of them know each other!

(Because I wanted ALL of them to have some kind of connection to each other before the unit was formed. I think it's fun.)

🦈🍊 Matsu and Fumi are childhood friends and went to the same middle school. It was very awkward and tense at first when they met again in high-school, because back then Fumi felt extremely guilty and ended up distancing herself, eventually kind of abandoning Matsu when he needed support most.

🍑🍊 (fucking fruits /j) Toshiro's brother visits Fumi's family's flower shop very frequently, that's how Toshiro and Fumi met, since she often helps out with the shop in the evenings. Though they didn't become close until the main story started and the unit was firmed.

🍑✒️ Toshiro and Seina know each other because their siblings, Hiroto and Taru, are friends! So they kinda met through Seina accompanying Taru whenever they wanted to visit Hiroto.

🍊✒️ Fumi loves coffee and met Seina when going to the coffee shop Seina works part-time at. Because Fumi ended up being a regular customer there, even with their tough personality the two became acquaintances, but also didn't become very close until the events of the main story.

🍑🦈 Toshiro and Matsu just kinda bumped into each other at school. They became friends before the events of the main story.

🦈✒️ I think Matsu and Seina are the only exception though. They've only met when the main story started.

[also, side note – none of them canonically have labels, but the pronouns are canon]

Dynamics!!

🍑🍊 They bicker and argue a lot, but not, like, SERIOUSLY. They're both aware they're joking and most of the time it's affectionate. Fumi isn't as big of a fan of physical affection as it seems the rest of the unit is, so Toshiro doesn't get the chance to braid her hair that often. But when he does, it's very nice and relaxing for both. Surprisingly, Toshiro might be the closest to Fumi, after Matsu, that is.

🍑✒️ Toshiro loves braiding/doing everyone's hair, as I've mentioned already, and his favorite to do this to is Seina. They especially like braiding these tail-like longer parts of her hair. Overall, they're pretty close because of their siblings, and Toshiro might be one of the first people Seina eventually opens up to. Also, I keep forgetting that Toshiro is actually taller. Most of the time, Seina just. FEELS taller, idk.

🍑🦈 These two are very close. They both kinda admire Rui and Tsukasa, which worsens their already chaotic behavior. They're actually two menaces together and no one is safe. Matsu loves tackling Toshiro more than everyone else and Toshiro might sometimes jokingly complain, but loves the attention. Matsu's hair is also his second favorite to braid. Also they drag Matsu to MMJ concerts and keep trying to convert him into being an MMJ fan,,,,,,

🍊✒️ Seina has a surprising way of calming Fumi down better than anyone else. Sometimes, maybe if they're waiting for something or riding a train somewhere, Fumi even allows herself to rest on Seina's shoulder. She's less harsh with Seina (even if her harshness isn't malicious with her friends). Seina sometimes has to stop Fumi from getting into fights. Even if she struggles to show it, Fumi tries her best and appreciates Seina a lot.

🍊🦈 As I mentioned before, Matsu and Fumi are childhood friends. At the beginning of the unit story things are still pretty awkward and Fumi is very tense around Matsu, as she still feels guilty, but isn't sure how to properly express any of it, while Matsu still feels a little hiet over her abandoning him. Though as the story goes on, this conflict pretty much gets resolved, even though it will still take a lot of time for any awkwardness to disappear completely. After the unit is formed, they're pretty close again, despite, uh, all of what I just said. They need some time to get used to each other again, but ARGHHH I LOVE THEM SO MUCH, they care about each other A LOT, even if Fumi isn't the best at expressing it. The whole reason she became so mean and harsh is to be able to protect Matsu.

✒️🦈 Seina kinda feels like an older sister figure to Matsu, I think? At least, for me,, She worries about him a lot, maybe even more than with the others, helps in overwhelming situations, all that. He's still very affectionate, but it's kinda like his affection is more calm with her (basically, he doesn't tackle her as hard as everyone else /hj)

SEKAI description!!!

(I just copy-pasted this from the post where I first described it. I'm NOT typing all that ever again)

I mentioned that I call it the overgrown sekai. Because it's, well, overgrown. As you could hopefully guess. The main part of it is an old stone structure, with some intricate carvings still remaining visible and even discernable, although everything does look like it's at least.. a few centuries old, no less. However, taking into account that it's a sekai, it probably isn't that ancient. Almost everything is pretty much overrun by plants – ivy spreading across the grey stone walls, grass (and most importantly flowers) breaking their way through the floor that seems to be made of marble, but it's too old, overgrown and at times dirty to be completely sure. The said flowers are a strange mix of forget-me-nots and sunflowers that may not quite make sense, but it *is* a whole ass other dimension, after all. There's plenty of light, despite practically no windows in sight, save for a few small ones. The reason for that being the roof, shaped like a dome, with holes in it that clearly weren't here by the first design, having appeared because of the stone collapsing over time. Unsurprisingly, the flowers are concentrated in the areas where the most light seeps through those holes. And speaking of light, the time here is always the same – late afternoon, with the season always remaining a comfortable sunny summer.

There's some furniture in the building, mostly along the walls, with the center looking almost like a flowerbed. That furniture seems to represent each of the owners of the sekai – an old desk made of dark wood with a quil and some paper thrown around it, almost giving it an impression that the owner left in a hurry. The paper has become a light yellow color over what may or may not be a rather long amount of time. Next to it – a somewhat fancy wooden chair. There are mirrors hung around this part of the space – some broken, some have the glass taken out entirely. Just a little further – a shelf and an armchair. Both items' materials and overall look fit that of nearly very other piece of furniture here. The shelf is filled with items that seem to have some spiritualistic significance – amulets, crystals and stones, all of them hand-made and hand-carved, yet seeming to lack in accuracy and having been made in a hurry. The armchair strangely has a few long chains hanging on its back. One of the more noticeable pieces of furniture is... a fish tank. It has no fish. In fact, it doesn't even have water, though it's probably not intended to be that way – the tank is spacious and has pretty much almost everything a fish would need to be happy and content in captivity. But it's old and worn out – the driftwood rotting away, whatever plants used to be inside have withered and everything is covered in a thin layer of... dust..? The tank itself stands on top of something of a dresser. If you care to open its doors, you will see rows upon rows of books – as many as could fit in the little space there is inside. Most of them have to do with marine life, but there are also some journals full of incomprehensible messy writing, as if whoever was filling them either didn't have much time, or was feeling too much emotion to care. Perhaps the strangest item in the building is a cage. It's designed just like one of those small restricting bird cages, glistening with gold in the light from above, but for some reason, the cage could easily fit a human. If you decide to step in, you might notice an unexpected aroma. It's vague and subtle, but... it almost seems like fresh black coffee mixed with something citrusy. Outside, the building is surrounded by a dense forest. The light can't penetrate the abundance of trees, but somehow, it doesn't feel eerie or threatening. It feels familiar in an unexplainable way. Have you already seen these woods somewhere..?

I think that's pretty much all the important stuff..? I ramble A LOT about small details pretty often, but uhm. Explodes.

[gachagon]

This volume was genuinely the best out all of them. I loved the journey that Ruby had to go through, the journey of a young hero who has a lot placed on her shoulders who is crumbling under the pressure, and who is given actual time to try and heal and get better from the trauma she has faced during all of this...it's a really beautiful arc of the Hero's Journey that I wish and hope more shows do in the future.

That ending song was beautiful as well, and I already know V9 is gonna be my new favorite ost after 8. I can kind of see why people might hate this, considering it's mostly a filler season we've been given to develop the protagonist more, however I love seasons like this where the writers decide to spend time and energy making the characters have more depth to them then they did before.

I also am a bit confused by why everyone thinks this is them just writing themselves out of a corner, considering we really didn't know where the Brothers came from, and all that stuff with Salem can still happen, it's just not really relevant to what Ruby and the gang are going through right now. The whole point of this season seems to be to take a break from the constant fear and dread that IS Salem, so it doesn't surprise me that we don't get to hear about her at all in this volume. Nothing has really changed besides Ruby's mental stability and her new outlook on life as a Huntress.

Before Ruby was pretty much the generic Hero who thoughtlessly fought to protect other people with no regard for her own well being, not because she felt like she had to, but because she personally feels obligated too. Which I think is why the countless failures she has faced really hurt her psyche and made her doubt her own self worth. When you're told to be perfect, you hold yourself to those standards, and if you fail every time it can really eat away at you. But Ruby actually got time, some confirmation and support from someone else that yeah this shits really fucking difficult. They're going up against the unkillable and that is NOT an easy task for a teenaged girl.

I feel like time and time again Ruby and many of the adults around her have just been pushing her to continue without really considering that she might get tired one day, that she might not want to be the one to fight Salem. So it takes an actual omnipotent being who creates life to tell her she DOES have a choice, and that at any moment or time she CAN stop if she wants to, that she can let someone else take that burden for just a moment if that's what she really needs.

And in the end Ruby chooses to just be herself, because she realizes that the ability to "choose" was what she needed in life. To be able to depend on other people, and fail without having everything crumble around her is the thing she needed to keep going. And now I can't wait to see how she faces off against Salem in Volume 10, she has a new resolve, one that isn't so easily broken by failure as well (which is what Salem thrives off of when beating people, crushing their ability to continue is what has kept Salem stronger then any foe in the show in my opinion.)

[beetoo]

SWEAR ON IT SINCLAIR ✧ :: part two

[2120 Words] | WATTPAD | AO3 | [previous chapter]

❝ What happened the night of Enid and Ajax's date? ❞

However, this was not the same once morning drew more light into their room, and Wednesday was engulfed into a hug by the werewolf.

She pretended not to move or know. She listened while Enid panics to take her hands off Wednesday only to put it back on her and pull the other girl into a tighter hug. Mischief pursued the heart of Enid, but teasing Wednesday at the beginning of their day together was definitely not a smart move on her end.

The blonde knew the other girl was awake. With a smirk plastered on her face, Enid pulls Wednesday a little closer and whispers, "Good morning, Wednesday." into her ear and watched the other girl fume bright red, hiding her face into her beddings and kicking Enid out.

With a loud laugh, Enid left triumphantly to get ready while Wednesday is left in bed to contemplate her symptoms of heart failure. "Am I dying? Why am I experiencing tachycardia and diaphoresis this early in the morning when it's freezing outside and I am cold? I should stitch that witch's lips closed. I've been cursed."

Wednesday cackles quietly to herself, possibly giving in to delirium due to the lack of proper sleep. "Might as well play her game too."

Ready for the day, the two girls were about to exit the door, Wednesday grabs Enid by the wrist gently and tugs her back into the room. Closing the door behind her, Enid was suddenly pushed to the door with Wednesday looking up at her.

"Enid, do me a favor, and figure yourself out." Wednesday put a hand on the back of Enid's neck. "I will not let you meddle with my feelings so carelessly." She pulls her in the a gentle kiss then pulling away and letting the hand that was on Enid's neck fall to Enid's stomach--using it to push her into the door more.

"Can you swear on it, Sinclair?"

"Wednesday this is the most emotion you've spared me since you first came, does that mean you like me back too?" Looking down on Wednesday, their height difference was more than evident. Enid liked it a lot--She could see every part of Wednesday's face despite being mostly hidden behind her bangs. Enid cuffs the paler girl's face into her hands, fitting perfectly like a puzzle piece among her facial structure. Enid's fingers traced Wednesday's cheekbones down to her pinky sitting perfectly under the other girl's jawline.

The blonde had never felt like this when she was with Ajax. There was something forced about liking him that she couldn’t understand. Perhaps because he was someone who was also interested in her that she felt obligated to like him back to feel… Normal. But ever since Enid met Wednesday Addams, being outlandish seemed a lot better than giving in to social norms. She would know that, especially with the whole lycanthropy conversion therapy her mother’s been pushing.

With their faces breaths apart, Wednesday was too dedicated on playing her role this morning and didn't give in to Enid's advances at dominating this... Situation. Wednesday moves her hand that was on Enid's stomach and slithers it under her shirt. Her cold hands sketched a map right to Enid's heart--which was beating way too fast for Enid's liking. "Was the kiss not enough proof?" Wednesday purrs, watching Enid scramble for a response until she felt satisfied with her morning torture. Running her cold, slim fingers right back down and out of her clothes, a loud knock disturbed their moment.

"Girls? Wednesday? Enid? Are you both awake?" Another set of knocks follow. Wednesday, quick to think, opens the door a little bit and hides Enid behind it, hand on her mouth, telling her to keep quiet.

"Good morning Ms. Thornhill. Enid's getting ready right now so I'm waiting for her so we can leave together." Wednesday said, back to her usual monotonous voice. The girl in black looked at Thornhill with a stone face, not a single trace her morning shenanigans left on her face for the dorm mother to use as evidence to solve against a case of youthful love. “I see. Well I need to see you both leave in 10 minutes, class is starting soon! It’s very unusual of you to be unpunctual Miss Addams, is everything okay?”

As Wednesday was about to answer, she felt something wet touch against her palm sending chills down her spine and too flustered to respond. Enid, feeling left out, licked Wednesday’s hand. What a dog. Wednesday snide in disgust in her thoughts. Ever so stubborn, Sinclair.

"Wednesday! You don't look so good! What's going on?" Ms. Thornhill inquires, clueless to what is going on behind the door. Wednesday removed her hand from Enid’s mouth and used it to force the semi-open door to fully open, smushing Enid in the process. Wiping her hands on her uniform she replies curtly to the dorm mother.

"I am fine Ms. Thornhill. I just couldn't sleep due to my roommate being unable to cope with her recent heartbreak." Wednesday didn't lie, this was partially the truth. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to yell at Enid to hurry up."

With that, the girl in black shuts the door and Enid falls on the floor, looking up at a seemingly frustrated but flustered Wednesday.

"Sinclair. Don't you ever do that in the presence of others. I will have your head, I swear it on my late scorpion's soul." Wednesday looms over Enid trying to hold up a hostile stare but couldn’t help but break character due to Enid’s response.

“So what I’m hearing is… I can lick you if no one’s around?” The werewolf says mischievously, slowly standing up from the floor and dusting her uniform off. Wednesday looks away, hand on her mouth to protest against a blush trying to debut on Wednesday’s usually pale complexion.

“You disgust me, Sinclair.” Wednesday responds with great despondency dripping from her words.

“That wasn’t a no—”

Wednesday cuts her off with a huff and violently opens the door, walking out without Enid.

Enid stood there for a moment, her brain couldn’t digest everything that’s lead up to this moment of stillness. Thoughts racing, Enid was at a crossroads between Ajax and Wednesday. I already know what the answer is but a part of myself doesn’t want to let go of Ajax. Everything I’ve talked about with my friends and my parents will all come crumbling down if she lets him go. What am I supposed to tell Yoko? She was so excited to hear about my date with him. What if she thinks I’m weird for liking Wednesday? What if—

Enid’s thoughts came to a humble stop when she heard Ms. Thornhill's voice, a bit further from their room asking Wednesday why she wasn't leaving with Enid.

Enid runs to get her bag, catching up with Wednesday to avoid the both of them getting in trouble. As they found themselves walking in the Quad, Enid couldn’t help but stay quiet for once. Wednesday was carrying on as her usual self, but her inner monologue was quite violent. If I see Ajax today I will kill him. If I see Ajax today I will kill him. If I see Ajax today I will kill him. And so on. The two shared first period together, which was outcast history and culture. Today was a lecture day—Meaning Wednesday will be putting all her attention on the teacher and not on Enid who usually tweets during class, personal and her gossip blog.

At entry, the whole class stared at the two of them. The teacher heeds them to their seats, Wednesday beside Bianca and Enid beside Yoko, then starts to lecture about outcast culture varying by region. Definitely not something Enid cared about.

As class started to calm and quiet down, Enid felt a tap on her arm. It was Yoko, ushering Enid to check her texts.

Yoko ENID. HAVE YOU CHECKED TWITTER.

Enid Not yet! You know how strict Mr. Tundlebee is about phones in this class!

Yoko THIS IS URGENT. LOOK. NOW.

With everything that’s happened this morning, Enid was on the edge of her seat. What if they know? How would they have found out? Is Yoko going to stop being friends with me? Enid started shaking the table from her leg bouncing up and down and Yoko gently grabbed her arm and whispered, “You have nothing to worry about. I support you.” With those words, Enid relaxed her leg and Yoko smiled, but pointed to her paper that said, ‘CHECK TWITTER’ in all caps.

Enid gives in and pulls her phone out from under her textbook, then looking up to check if the teacher was paying any attention to his students. He wasn’t, instead he was absorbed in his lecture. The blonde also stole a glance at Wednesday who was as absorbed in the lecture as the teacher was. If looks could kill, Mr. Tundlebee AND the chalkboard would be dead ten times over. Enid chuckles and pulls up Twitter on her phone.

Thing @ itsthingbitch I just witnessed something… fruity. #wenclairisreal

Yoko @ yok_ingdeznutz IM CRYING FINALLY #wenclairisreal

xavier @ xavierthorpe this can’t be real bro wednesday is mine

Tyler @tylerishyding @ xavierthorpe shut the fuck up you emo looking head ass she’s mine bro back tf off

Bianca @queenbbianca YES! I’m so happy for my girls < 3 @ xavierthorpe @ tylerishyding can y’all stfu clearly this does not apply to either of you

Enid kept reading the comments over and over. They support me? I’m not fucked up? They wanted this to happen? What is going on? Overwhelmed, Enid couldn’t help but lay her head down. Was I the only one who didn’t see this coming? Minutes turned to an hour and Enid felt familiar cold hands grazing her face, removing loose strands of hair from her face.

“Yoko, what happened?” Wednesday asked, while preparing Enid’s things.

“I told her to check Twitter and she just passed out. I mean, I wouldn’t know why, it was just some tweets Thing tweeted about the two of you, with me and Bianca replying in the comments how supportive we were.”

Wednesday threw Enid’s backpack over her shoulder, and hummed. “It’s been quite a morning. I’ll carry her to the dorms, she’s annoyingly a heavy sleeper. Thank you, Yoko.” Wednesday nodded her head in regards to Yoko’s support and hauled Enid over her shoulder.

“Holy crap, for someone your size, I’m surprised you’re throwing Sinclair around like a sack of rice. No wonder why Thing tweeted this morning. You two are literally a married couple.” Bianca chimes in, walking over after organizing her things into her bag. “Wednesday Addams finally softened out, for a rainbow werewolf nonetheless.”

“I’ll have you know one of my hobbies is grave digging. Throwing a dead body or two over my shoulder is nothing serious.” Wednesday retorts, adjusting Enid’s position on her shoulders.

Yoko chimes in. “Opposites attract. God literally, death and rainbows.” She giggles, playfully slapping Bianca’s arm. “You two are a walking Wattpad trope. I’m dying.”

“As befuddled as I am about this conversation and how thrilling it is to know you’re dying Yoko, I need to go. She’s getting wriggly and I only like carrying bodies in full rigor.” Wednesday starts walking away. “Oh and Yoko? Do me a favor and tell all of Enid’s teachers she’s dead.”

The vampire and siren smile at Wednesday’s concern for Enid’s academic career (and lack thereof), with Yoko replying, “Got it boss.” The two wave goodbye to the couple and turn to each other once they’re out of sight.

“Can you believe it? Wednesday? And Enid? I never saw it coming but also… DID.” Yoko squeals, shaking Bianca back and forth out of excitement. “I’m going to annoy Divina about this ALL day.”

“I’m just glad the two of them finally figured things out. I mean, have you seen the way Wednesday looks at Enid? How did that girl NOT know?” Bianca faced the vampire in excitement. “We need to find Thing. He knows all the juicy details. Tweet right now that you’re going to do a girl’s night and he’s invited.”

“Okay boss, chill out. You know, I never expected you to be a wenclair stan.”

“Uh, I have 20/20 vision. Everyone at Nevermore who knows OF Wednesday can see that girl is IN LOVE.”

“Okay but did you hear anything about Ajax? He was apparently supposed to have a date with Enid last night, but if Wednesday and Enid are a thing now then like, what happened?”

“God who knows, maybe the dumb ass flaked. Which—in hindsight very stupid of him. Now he’s probably on Wednesday’s hit list.”

Yoko gasps. “Do you think he might have stoned himself again?”

Bianca looked at the girl in sunglasses. For a moment, they shared the same thought. We need to talk to Kent.

While the two of them played detective for the rest of the school day, Wednesday brought Enid back into their dorm with Ms. Thornhill trailing behind them. As Wednesday gently laid Enid on her bed and tucked her in, Thornhill cleared her throat and knocked at that open door.

“Come in.” Wednesday says.

“Back so quickly. Is everything alright? What’s going on with Enid?” Thornhill walks over to Enid who was knocked out cold. No stimulation to anyone’s touch, not even Wednesday’s.

“She decided to spare me a quiet afternoon. We can all thank Ajax for that. I should send him some regards for this wonderful happenings. Maybe a box full of tarantulas from my collection?” Wednesday answers, walking to her side of the room and dropping both their bags onto the floor.

Ms. Thornhill shudders at the thought and gives Wednesday a firm ‘No’. “Wednesday, there will be none of that happening understood? Whatever happened between Ajax and Enid are their affairs to deal with. Can I burden you to take care of your roommate? It seems the both of you are not fit to go to class.”

The dorm mother walks over to Wednesday and presses the outer part of her hand onto the girl in black’s forehead. “You were quite flustered this morning, Wednesday. I worry you’re starting to get sick. You both stay in here and rest. If you’re hungry you can always just make your way into the dining hall, Bertha and Jerry are always happy to serve you anything at any time.”

With that, Thornhill made her way out of the girls’ dorm, closing the door on her way out.

“God finally she left!” Enid suddenly gasps, groaning into her pillow.

“You were awake.” Wednesday states, while folding her arms. “I carried you for nothing.”

“Yeah I was awake the whole time. I just liked being carried. I feel like a princess!” Enid smiles, bringing her hands to her face, giddy over being carried.

“I should have thrown you into the fountain in the Quad.” Wednesday mutters, picking up a change of comfortable clothes and walking into their bathroom to change.

The blonde flailed in bed, groaning and whining. I miss her already. Enid couldn’t get over her little joyride up to the dorms. She smells so good… Enid thought, yearning for Wednesday’s scent. She hopped off her bed and roamed into Wednesday’s side of the room, finding herself tucked into Wednesday’s bed, enjoying the timber musk with tones of violet and lavender mixed in. Wednesday smells like a good memory. Enid couldn’t exactly pinpoint which one, but she was satisfied with just knowing it was good.

The other girl opened the bathroom only to find the werewolf in her bed. She only had one complaint which was Enid wearing her uniform into her bed. Walking up to the edge of her own bed, Wednesday lifts up the covers and pushes Enid out.

“Go change you filthy animal.”

Enid whimpers but listens. Wednesday truly didn’t sleep well last night and a headache had been looming over her since awakening. The girl in black was plagued by thoughts she’d never find herself reminiscing on in a lifetime. Or any lifetime. I don’t understand any of this. There is no logical explanation for any of my symptoms and I find it an egregious that I’ve come to like Sinclair. I don’t. I don’t even know what love is.

She thinks that, but subconsciously leaves space for Enid to come back to when she finished changing back into her pajamas from this morning. Feeling the bed move at the arrival of the werewolf, Wednesday shifted further away from the other girl, tucking her hand under her head. Enid covered herself and Wednesday with her comforter, tucking the both of them in. She looks over at the other girl, and opens her mouth to say something, but held her words captive for a little while longer.

The blonde shifts her position to face Wednesday’s back, playfully drawing smiley faces on it in hopes of getting Wednesday to face Enid. That didn’t happen, but instead after a few minutes of drawing a bird, a car, and maybe a dick, Enid checked on Wednesday—only to find that she’s been lulled to sleep.

Enid collapsed back into her side of the bed, quietly frustrated she didn’t get a chance to talk to Wednesday about what Thing posted. Instead, she declared what was in her heart before following the girl in black to slumber.

“I think I’ve figured myself out Wednesday,” Enid whispers, tracing a heart on Wednesday’s back. “I swear to you, I will take good care of your feelings. So long as you do the same with mine. Can you swear on it, Addams?”

[ previous chapter ]

[pacinosgf]

many old guard stars have succesfully made the transition into the digital era, but barbara ann robinson is not of them: no social media team or presence whatsoever, though is known that she keeps a tight staff running anything related to her work. since she started dating a (younger) girl a few years ago, she has made some appearances on the internet: besides showing up on her girlfriend's account from time to time, barbara now has an instagram account from herself, where she posts videos playing bass and piano from time to time with the help of her beloved girlfriend. still, no one imagined she would show up in 2022 to talk about her only dig at a solo career for spotify, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the cult classic contemplations and ramblings.

     barbara ann: it's been 40 years since contemplations. that's more than half of my life. ( barbara chucks lightly to the camera, dressed in one of her famous flowy dresses and wearing her cowboy boots. ) so many things have happened since then. i've had girlfriends. i've broken up and reconciled with my husband. i've written some songs, we will get back to this. i've done some few shows. i turn 75 this year. it's been an eventful, mostly good, life. above everything, it's my life, and i think it's already obvious how much i like to ramble. i have always thought a bit too much for my own good, but it's important to contemplate from time to time, to remember where you came from and check where you are now. that's what i needed to do when i released contemplations. that was my remembering-and-checking moment.

     barbara ann: so, the first song is core. i had just come back from what you could call a nervous breakdown. i was desperately trying to get back on my feet, all i had to talk about was this solid emptiness inside of me. when i realized i wanted to do this record, and i wanted the theme to be, you know, my contemplations, i knew i wanted it to go from low to high. i start the record by saying that i know i ruined it all, that i couldn't face myself and that, well, if you are here you know it- that breaking up with brooke wellington messed me up. but there i was now, ready to accept the punch and move on with my life. the only thing that could truly make me feel better was reconciling with her, and that was not going to happen, so. i had to go on.

( pictures from the robinsons personal archives are shown on the screen, with home videos of barbara in her home studio and newspaper cutouts about barbara at the time of her mental breakdown and the end of midnight mayhems. )

     barbara ann: the second is don't tell me, the first one of many i wrote about brooke. you know, during my breakdown, i wasn't in the country, i was travelling. this is one of the first songs i wrote once i felt like myself again, probably at some european beach, while my husband pretended not to look what i was writing. it's me, finally letting some of this terrible pain crawl out of my body. if you don't know anything about the relationship me and brooke had, you'd think, by the lyrics, it was easier and ended better than it actually did. i still have this journal entry.

     barbara ann: this is where the fun starts, and the point where the rock fans who bought the record finally shut up about all my folk and country. success would be a perfect country song, but i wanted a contrast between the desperate lyrics and the dancing sound. i like to think some kids danced over my lyrics complaining about how terrible were the shifts as a nurse and how nobody but me believed that i could make it as a singer. it's a personal favorite out of the tracklist.

     barbara ann: here we come with success' sister, failure. thank god i became more subtle with time. also a rock song, now i admit that though i was in the top of the world at some point, i certainly didn't feel like it. i wasted that time worrying and once it was over i lost everything i loved. i had wasted all my years of hard work. when i listen to this one, i feel this sorrow all over again. it was not easy for me to admit that i had failed, that we had lost the war. but once again, the rythm distracts you from all that. failure is also an answer to brooke's playing your song, but i am only admitting this now.

     barbara ann: annie is my childhood nickname and the fifth song of the record. it's the longest one. my parents were odd and shy people just like i am, and though they mainly expressed their love through giving me a bed to sleep and food to eat, they were very loving. as a girl, me having to get married and leave home destroyed them. if it weren't the fact that i had to get married so i could study and leave my town, i would have stayed with them forever. it took me long to get used to the idea that my family would now be my husband's family and my only connection with the family i was born would now be my memories. i loved them. after my first tour with the band, i came back home all excited to share that happiness with them. they weren't so pleased.

( three pictures of young barbara show up on the screen. barbara as a baby on her father's truck, barbara studying as a well-behaved teenage girl and barbara smiling for the camera on the day of her wedding, just a few moments before becoming mrs. robinson. )

     barbara ann: the contemplations wouldn't be complete if i didn't come back to my childhood. i talk about running with the chickens all over our farm, about dreading my aunt's piano lessons, about being a young girl waiting for her lover to show up. about being a grown woman who had lived so much since then and wondering how that girl became this. i talk about how me and jim have been solid as a rock since the moment i agreed to be with him. i talk about how i never actually thought me and brooke would ever be over. i talk a lot. nowadays only jim calls me annie, since it's the person that has been the longest with me, and that's what i like about our relationship. he has seen and been through all the barbaras that i have been.

     barbara ann: i go back to talking about brooke with crazy on you. it's quite a sensual song. our relationship wasn't all about sex, but it was a big deal for both of us. brooke was, is, a free spirit, and it took me long to follow her steps and stop being so repressed. i think she would still call me repressed. but here i reminisce our nights on tour, when everything was so intense and hot and there was nothing we wanted to do more than to go crazy on each other. i try to sing like she does, i reference her song ash. i really did not want to be subtle.

     barbara ann: bait and love bites are sensual too, but in a different way. i acknowledge the complexities of our relationship, how one day we would be making love promises to each other and then the next day we'd say we were just messing around, and then the next we would break up. and repeat it all the next day. but it didn't matter, because we always came back to each other. even after all those years, if she called me, i'd drop anything to answer. i'm her bait. for love bites. and all.

     barbara ann: we get to moving on, where i finally collect myself and stop crying over brooke. it was hard, but i did. there is a point where you learn how to live with the pain and the simple things that suddenly seemed so hard to do become simple again. i'd never get over her, but for my own sake, i had to pretend i could. and so i did.

     barbara ann: it's a stroke of luck having myself again, i saw a girl in the street wearing this shirt once. stroke is my favorite song out of the released ones. it's me, being able to trust myself again, being able to live with myself again. i have the belief that you don't have to love yourself, but you can't make your own life harder than it needs to be. you have to at least be neutral about yourself, and i liked having myself on my side.

     barbara ann: the last one is call her. it obviously doesn't match the rest of the record, but i needed to add it, so entranced i was by amèlie bergstein's charm, whom i met at one of those boring hollywood parties. she flirted with me and said i should make a new record, i promptly told her i had a few song written down. it's also the only song out of the album that became a hit, the song to her, the song about her. i know for a fact she loves it.

     barbara ann: this is the official tracklist, the one i released way back in 1982. many songs were left out, and those, along some others that i have written over the years, will be released in contemplations and ramblings' special reissue for its 40th anniversary. i told you i had lived so much since then. ( barbara chuckles, and the camera lowers down to show the record cover she holds, a modern version of the contemplations one, with older barbara and her characteristic melancholic look staring at the camera. )

( once again pictures from the robinsons person archive show up on the screen, pictures taken since 1982. you can see barbara with her stepchildren, barbara and some of the girlfriends she had since then, barbara and jim at their ranch. )

     barbara ann: we start the new batch with bw. somehow someone leaked it and now there are dozens of audios of the song around the internet. i recorded it so it could be on contemplations, but i thought it was too heavy for the record. i still think it's quite heavy. it's another song that i wrote during my exile, and you can see by all the traces of sorrow and bitterness in the lyrics. it's bw for brooke wellington. i couldn't find a better name for it, but the lyrics made up for the lack of a creative name. i've never been more honest in a song. this kind of love i wrote about back then, which is the love we had, is not one you get over. i lost myself when i lost her, and i got myself back by accepting that i could not get her back, but daydreaming about it should be enough.

     barbara ann: on a brighter note, we have maybe love. it's about my husband. i've never written many songs about him, which i know upsets him and it's a flaw of mine. i was always very protective of our relationship, because i soon realized people understood brooke and dash's arrangement better than ours. brooke and dash were different people. they would scream and get their feelings out and they didn't care about anything as long as they were having fun. but me and jim worried, i felt bad because i loved someone else, he felt bad because he could never compare, we would suck it up until we finally exploded. but i also haven't written many songs about him because me and jim were real. solid. we existed in both of the worlds we lived. we were in the same band, but we also would go back home and do the groceries and i'd say that he had to fix the sink and he'd say i had burned the eggs again. the day-to-day mattered me. meanwhile, i had to resort to writing songs to talk about my relationship with brooke.

     barbara ann: anyway, maybe love goes back to our early days, as boyfriend and girlfriend, as newlyweds. i remember the anxiety i felt about finally becoming a woman, going from girl to wife in a night. i didn't love jim from the start, but i wanted to, and as we progressed, as i felt it was safe to trust him... well, after so many years, we are still together, you see.

     barbara ann: i sang this one in a midnight mayhems' concert once and it almost made it into the contemplations' setlist, but it's finally out. renegade is, obviously, about brooke, straight out of the midnight mayhems momentum. as i sang it and attentively watched her face so i could see what she was thinking, she held her head high and went on drinking her beer, left the stage a few times, didn't say much besides alright, enough with the moping. she had this thing about saying that she never needed anybody or anything, that nothing could ever affect her. we fought a lot about this. i wanted to be there for her, she wanted me to go easy and leave her alone. the drugs and the chaos gave her an escape from this life, while i wanted to pull her out of that. i couldn't accept to watch her destroying herself. sometimes i though she did it on purpose, kept fucking herself up so i would get tired of her or whatever. i couldn't understand her, she couldn't understand me. after i finished the song, just me, rambling alone on the mic and playing a made in the moment melody for five minutes, i remember dash said something like you are fucked up, barbara on his mic. as always, we aired the dirty laundry on stage. the only thing we did without a crowd, besides sex, was breaking up.

     barbara ann: his song is about the years me and jim spent apart. i wanted to free him from our relationship, so i said he was free to go, to meet someone nice and have a normal relationship as he dserved. i wanted him to do it. but he felt i was getting rid of him, so he got back at me. if you are here, you know what happened, i don't wanna talk about it, but the song is i what i felt during those years. i thought we'd never reconcile. i still haven't forgiven him for what he did. but then again, he will never forgive me for falling in love with someone else. we will have to keep on living this way.

     barbara ann: if it's been 40 years since contemplations, it's been a bit longer since the moment i told brooke i was leaving. we have done a few band reunions, we never had a proper relationship, but my love for her is still as strong as it was then. every girlfriend of mine has had to deal with her shadow, and i don't plan to get rid of it. this love keeps me grounded, as much i have suffered over it, as much as it is hopeless. as you age, you start to appreciate even the bad things that happened to you. i will always ache over the fact that we didn't work out, but at the same time it's such a beautiful feeling! i wouldn't trade it for anything. our love was fleeting and intense in a way that doesn't seem real. sometimes i wonder if she ever loved me too or if i simply want to believe she did. but what is the good in thinking so much? love is something to feel.

     barbara ann: and i do feel. i never buried brooke's ashes, you see. i kept the memories as my allies in life, close to me so i could dip into them whenever reality felt too much. ashes is a song i wrote for contemplations, but it never made into the final cut. i think i only recorded half of it back then. jim asked me to not release it, and though he gave me no reason, i felt obliged to comply. he had never felt anything so strong about my work to the point he couldn't simply ignore it. but we have accepted our problems since then, enough that i'm releasing it now.

     barbara ann: the same way i accept mine and brooke's relationship in ashes, i accept mine and jim's relationship in yosemite. we did good things for each other, we did bad things for each other, through affairs and children and breakdowns, we are the person each other wants to be with every day, and so we will, until we die.

     barbara ann: we finish with years, baby sister to annie and stroke. it's me, talking to myself, once again thinking about everything that happened in my life and who i am in this world. ever since i was a child and even after i decided to retreat from living in the spotlight, people have been trying to tell me who i am, who i must be, and their words were once my sense of self. this is the past. the best thing aging gives you is that you realize that nothing really matters in this world, but that you must engage with life anyway. before we even know it, it's over, but we once lived.

@gllianowens

[mechanicalriddle]

midnight, pain, and skin for siithi!

from this ask meme

pain: What's the worst pain your OC has ever felt? Do they have a high pain tolerance?

GIRLS WHO ARE DEFINED BY PAIN lol. There are a lot of contenders for her. I do think “having half your skin melted off by industrial effluent” is probably up there, acutely. Admittedly she exalted not long after that and probably didn’t feel much of it afterwards. (Lunar oxbodies aka the things that give you more health are, notably, the strongest among the Exalted, even in comparison to Solars)

As someone who has been known to get beat up recreationally I think there are definitely worse feelings in her book. But also since she doesn’t have the ‘pain tolerance’ merit i think she’s still at least a little bit of a princess about it. Maybe that’s all… part of the appeal.

midnight: What keeps your OC up at night? Do they have nightmares? Fears? Anxieties? What do they do in the small hours of the morning when they should be sleeping?

Her sleep schedule is weirdly normal, very early-to-bed-early-to-rise. Unfortunately necromancy is sort of a preferably nocturnal activity and being hooked up to the Neverborn can make you kind of sleep-avoidant (thats when they get in, to your brain). So I think what happens most often is she gets some kind of perturbing vision around 3 am and then stays awake & skulks off to her laboratory to study, or get some stuff done, and takes her mind off of it for the most part.

She has led sort of a stupid life and has many regrets for a normal person. Small potatoes for the Exalted. Once you’re a couple war crimes in now THATS how you wind up going days without a wink. I’m sure she’ll get there once she gets her Necrotech war machines up and running.

skin: How comfortable is your OC in their skin? Do they grapple with anything that lives inside them—a beast, a curse, a failure, a monster? How do they face the smallest, weakest, most horrible version of themself? Are they able to acknowledge it at all?

Fascinating question, lots of angles. As far as her beastman form goes she quite likes that, it’s a gift from Luna so you're not allowed to not like it. It is large, slimy, bizarre and kind of gross which are all points in its favor. It also makes a great… Mask, at least among her fellows in the Deliberative, almost like an alternate persona. There’s some baggage associated with making her human face her public facing-side so she simply chooses to… Not do that.

Which is not to say she doesn’t -like- her human form. She spends most of her time in it and likes it quite a lot; it also reflects her “ideal self” because when you go Lunar your body pretty much changes to match your idealized self-image. It’s just weird to have people look at you and think “wow, humanity perfected right here” when you spent most of your life being the guy who sucks. Maybe she’ll get used to it one day.

There’s not really any monsters in there (I guess you could call her tie to the neverborn that, but she’s more just ‘tuned in’ rather than embodying them or whatever) + shes met the smallest weakest most horrible version of herself. That guy’s not so bad

[dykelawlight]

How would Female L, Light, Mikami, Matsuda, Soichiro, and Mogi be?

Well babe you sure came to the right place with this one!!! I've obviously written fic that provides some of my opinions re L/Light/Mikami as women but I sure am happy to extrapolate

L

I see female L as like. A lesbian who's lazily gnc. Like she's not "doing" butchness but she's also not "doing" anything, she's just existing. She doesn't shave, she keeps her hair fairly short, she wears men's clothes because they're significantly more comfortable. She wants to do whatever takes up the least of her time and makes it easiest for her to think clearly. I think of anybody she's the one who would change the least from her canon personality if she were written as a woman, because I think she would have gender roles inflicted upon her much less harshly, being that she didn't grow up in Japan and was raised to be first and foremost a supergenius, not a Woman™ who happens to be smart.

Light

I could write about female Light for DAYYYYYYSSSS (and indeed I have; see this post about butch Light I wrote before I made this blog). I see Light as a butch lesbian who gets through life experiencing minimal social punishment for that due to the fact that she's perceived as prioritizing intelligence over appearance and following in her father's footsteps, even though I actually think she's extremely particular and even a little obsessive about how she looks/presents herself socially. I think she's had to combat a lot of bullshit attitudes about what women are "supposed" to be doing in order to rise to the top of the nation academically and be taken even a little bit seriously, but I also think she has a "not like other girls" streak a mile wide and generally considers other women to be stupid and not worth her time. Strongly prefers the company of men except in romantic contexts (as much as she "prefers" anybody, because she's still a total misanthrope who thinks most other people are fucking morons) and hardly has a lot of girlfriends. She has more respect for other butches than for feminine women, but does not have butch friends and is not involved in the broader LGBT community.

I actually don't think she's explicitly out as a lesbian for years and years, maybe even until post-timeskip, because she recognizes that there's a greater disadvantage to openly being gay than to being a woman who is masculine in appearance but ostensibly heterosexual. I think she dates a lot of random smart & successful but very boring boys/men in high school/college before she sort of drops out of the public sphere entirely when she starts living in the task force building. I think it makes her crazy insane that L simply does not think about her appearance very much and successfully just coasts on her intellect without ever being questioned about why she isn't a "girl" the way Light has been from time to time throughout her life.

Mikami

I think Light and Mikami are very similar as women, but Mikami lacks the social insulation that Light gets from her father's job/her class position. Mikami is consciously "doing" masculinity in the same way Light is, but has to fight a lot harder than Light does to be taken seriously in her field because she doesn't have the built-in advantage of being constantly positively compared to a successful man in her family. I think she was a tomboyish child and the bullying she canonically experienced in school had a lesbophobic edge, which made her mother's failure to support her that much more painful (but simultaneously less of a disappointment, because she never expected her mother would want her to be gay/masculine). That said, the higher she rises in the legal/law enforcement field, the easier it becomes to command respect. By the time she's a serious attorney in the public prosecutor's office post-timeskip, she receives very little bullshit from colleagues/other people and has developed a sufficiently imperious front to ward it off.

Matsuda

I think Matsuda is a little bit more serious/defensive of herself as a police officer than she is canonically if she's written as a woman. Obviously this doesn't eliminate her sort of klutzy cringefail personality, but I think she's much more self-conscious about it because the law enforcement field is so male-dominated and she's already given so much less respect than her peers. I think she takes personal offense to L's like "Matsuda grab me a coffee" bullshit because she already gets assumed to be, like, a receptionist or something on a daily basis. She's young-looking for her age and fairly feminine but not excessively so — think Naomi Misora's canon appearance. I think she's also much more protective of Misa when she's pretending to be her manager and leans more heavily into the idea of maintaining Misa's virtue and modesty and shit when Yotsuba slimeballs et al. make passes at her. She thinks Light and Misa's relationship is adorable and is completely, 100% oblivious to the fact that they're fucking. Like I'm not completely sure that she knows lesbians are real.

Soichiro

I can only imagine Soichiro as straight lmao like I think it's necessary for her to be doing heterosexuality at least mostly "correctly" in order for Light to get by unscathed as a butch lesbian. Therefore I'm imagining her as this sort of austere older woman who beat the odds and is maybe the first/only woman to have achieved her rank on the force. I can't decide if this means that male Sachiko is like a stay-at-home dad that Soichiro gets "playfully" ribbed (i.e. literally lightly scolded) at work for "emasculating," or if Light and Sayu have a very different childhood as children of a dual-income household whose mom isn't home much. Either way, I think Light still idolizes her, but there's a different dimension to it being that she's the first woman who's gotten as far as she has on the Tokyo police force. I think Light sets her sights more clearly on being a cop or a prosecutor in this scenario and wants to equal and surpass her mom's achievements, even though Light generally doesn't otherwise give a fuck about women who are the "first woman" to do anything. (She's like [redditor voice] Um I actually don't see why gender matters in this scenario. Sad that some of you are so sexist that you think women should be applauded for doing the same things men do. 🙄)

Mogi

Mogi would be so hot as a butch dyke that I got dizzy attempting to type this out. That said, I think she's the kind of butch Light is inclined to avoid; she's this big-boned, kind of working-class woman and Light thinks she's above all that, because Light sucks.

Alternatively, if she was straight, I think she would have trouble being perceived as genuinely "feminine" because she's strong as hell and has kind of naturally masculine features. I think she experiences some of the same professional problems a female Matsuda would but for different reasons; Matsuda is this cute young girl who clearly has no business being a police officer, but Mogi is sort of met with the attitude that she's a cop because no other job would take a woman who looks like her. I think she's used to being insulted and takes it in stride but is still privately pissed off about it. People are always kind of rudely surprised that she has a boyfriend and that they live together. That said I think she's still quite kind and good-hearted the way she canonically is and is similarly protective of Misa in the way Matsuda is.

[streets-in-paradise]

Is it wrong that I like Hector and the Mycenean Princess together as well? That’s be a great AU if she married Hector.

OMG thank you for sending this. I love to talk about my fic, but almost never get asks allowing me to go deeper into it. I'm so excited i could start a long ramble, but i will try to avoid doing that. Mostly because i don't want to accidentally be a self spoiler hahaha.

The thing is that, you are absolutely right. The point of the dynamic i'm trying to build between them shows they could be a good fit for each other. Odysseus himself is trying to do the match and that man is not a fool. The most resourcefull man in Greece wouldn't take a step so huge if he wouldn't be sure of what he is doing.

People can look at them and go like " they are a power couple meant to rule the world", but they are just being themselves to each other. It's a paralelistic situation regarding the perceptions people have of Helen and Achilles, both judged the most perfect people on Greece and for so automatically expected ( and wrongfully suspected) of wanting each other.

And, in this case, they also happen to share a good amount of similarities.

Hector is the archetype of the perfect prince for his people and a flawless son for his father. He has so many expectatives to fullfill of people who has idealized him that he sometimes can feel like he is loosing himself on that. And she understands that, because she struggled with that her whole life. She is meant to be the femenine equivalent of what Hector represents but, unlike him, she started to resent it sooner.

For her there is no positive reward in doing that sacrifice. Hector does it and gets loved by his family and country, but she is obligated to do it in order to exist and not be suspected. As girl who was born in royal family with a long history of queens becoming failures, she has to be the perfect princess just to survive. She is stucked in the middle of what Helen and Clytemnestra represent. Greece will never get over the obsession with her aunt, so her good behavior will not necesarily make her iconic in the sense of being loved by everyone. In contrast, the memory of her mother is like a boogeyman. She has to appear flawless to not evoke that latent fear Clytemnestra inspires.

That's why her vision is a bit more pesimistic and cynical. She has come to a point where she knows nothing will ever be enough and incarnating the perfect princess becomes harder and harder for her.

When she acknowledges Hector as a man who carries the sensibilities of a woman, she refers to this. Hector is an icon and for that he has given himself to Troy. He does what he has to do, what he is told to do, at any given time because serving his country is his reason to be. In the POV of a girl who is used to rampant masculine impunity on the powerfull men arround her, Hector's sense of duty hits way closer with the feelings of a woman.

It's a fascinating dynamic because they see a bit of themselves in each other. From the start Hector has always treated her like if she was another greek dyplomat. He makes no differences. Talking with him she doesn't have to feel like a woman all the time, but not in a sense of denying herself of her feminity to appear a serious politician.

He doesn't care about the fact that she is a woman, in their interactions there is no trace of hierarchy. On his part, this comes from a position of genuine acknowledgement of her as another royal he is meeting who is in equal esteem for their host.

In the imaginary of Agamemnon Hector is what he thinks he could have got if his daughter would have been a son. She has competed against this lack for years and now she meets the guy and discovers an equal.

They do have an amazing, super interesting dynamic that I plan to keep exploring.The point is that they know that, if they would get married, it will be a win-win situation for everyone else but them. Troy would get peace, but Hector would be doomed to occupy the spot of Achilles. His father in law would want to drag him into his wars thinking he would be the obbedient hero poster boy of his empire that Achilles never would be.

Knowing they are perfect for each other in the eyes of everyone else pushes both to decide if they are going to follow duty or do what they want for themselves. I'm going to get deeper into this on the next chapter so, if you enjoy this dynamic, you will enjoy what's coming.

I don't want to get into any spoilers, so i will try to stop here, but i want to show i understand where you are coming from. Hector and her are a good match, they would do great things for their unified kingdom together … if they wanted each other. What isn't the case in this particular escenario, since both have already met other people they have fallen for. The tragedy they present is the world needing them together while that's not what they would choose for themselves.

What you said it's accurate, they have potential for an AU. In this particular fic i'm not going for the romantical route regarding them, but i see the potential your ask implies and it also feels to me like an interesting alternative.

In some ways, although the paralel is not a perfect analogy, it can be said the choice presented to her is the equivalent the princess has to the two options prophecy signaling the doom of Achilles.

[ragdollsaal]

AN INTRODUCTION TO SAALIHA FINKELSTEIN ✄

Positive traits: observant, clever, kind, romantic, sensible, honest, sympathetic, creative, curious

Negative traits: restless, clumsy, timid, unsure/self-doubting, lost, anxious, stubborn

INFJ * 25 * Human * 5’8 * Pharmacist * Ambidextrous 

Little Details:

a lot of people tend to underestimate saaliha due to her kind, calm nature.  don’t mistake those qualities for weakness. girl can do the damn thing!

doesn’t scare or panic easily. worrying is a different story though... BUT if you’ve got a huge spider in your apartment or something and need to call for reinforcements… call saaliha. she will probably make friends with it. 

very loyal/reliable and values all her friendships with her WHOLE HEART. her friends are everything to her. the “found family” trope is real!

night owl. lovesssss nighttime walks. 

HUGE tea girl. has a whole cabinet dedicated to it and loves mixing flavors together to make some delicious drinks. 

often finds her old self battling with her new self. or rather the self her father forced her to be versus the self she’s bloomed into after running away. can lead to a bit of imposter syndrome when she gets too in her head/heart about it. 

a sucker for love and romance. loves valentine’s day almost as much as halloween. 

she’s a very eclectic girl in every aspect. style, knowledge, hobbies, interests, decor…

saaliha is definitely going through her young and free, rebellious, adventurer phase right now. there is so much she wants to try! so much she wants to learn about! so much she doesn’t want to miss out on! the only problem is that sometimes her timid side can get the best of her. especially if it's anything that results in a lot of attention on her. 

v skilled with a mortar and pestle. saaliha makes a lot of her own herbal concoctions for daily routines. oh, you’re inquiring about how she keeps her hair so long, shiny and healthy? she’ll give you a bottle of the hair oil she makes herself!

can often be suckered into helping someone persistent/friendly enough with with just about anything. be kind not to take advantage of her :) or do. 

Dive Deeper:

Saaliha is a deeply observant girl with a pretty good judge of character. She also tends to be very aware and in tune with her surroundings. Because of this, Saaliha finds herself with the spooky talent of occasionally feeling when something bad or good is about to happen. Her gut is her biggest ally, whether she decides to follow it or not.

In this new outside world far away from her father, Saaliha is able to explore and connect with her creative side for the first time. As a girl who grew up surrounded by patients and prescriptions, she never thought she’d be savvy in the arts… but there’s so much to do! She’s particularly grown fond of sewing and clothing design. To her surprise, they come quite naturally to her! The brunette makes a lot of her own clothes, and if you happen to catch her on Halloween, she’ll tremendously appreciate any kind words you have for her handmade costumes. Additionally, Saaliha has also developed quite the knack for drawing and poetry.

Every time Saaliha steals a glance at her scars she’s reminded of all the pain that stemmed from the accident of her first escape attempt. She battles with her own insecurities from the unnerving marks that decorate her skin, and frequently hides them from wandering eyes. When she traces them with her fingers, self-doubt creeps along her spine and she can practically hear the lingering whispers of her father calling her a “foolish, fragile girl.” Saaliha hopes that one day, she’ll look at her scars as a reminder of her bravery instead of failure.

Saaliha truly doesn’t know what to think about being a pharmacist. Sure, she’s always had a talent for medicine… but it was talent that was forced on her by her father. Sometimes she thinks herself a coward for staying in a profession she doesn’t fully enjoy… but there is so much that is still so new to her… plus she was resentfully good at it. Saaliha found fascinating moments in medicine every once in a while. Mostly so when it came to herbal medicine. That area was always her favorite.

Being stuck in the dreary, dull and mundane for nearly all her life, Saaliha finds solace in the weird and wonderful. She’s a friend to all misfits and enjoys places that might be overlooked or discarded. The world is full of such beauty— whether conventional or not. She never judges anything or anyone at face value and is very open to trying new things.

[crystalelemental]

Alright, time for some Off-Type Clears!  Because man, I do enjoy doing the F2P clears sometimes, but also I miss using some of my favorites that have been sidelined.

Vs. Hala Champion Iris has been on the bench for a long time in CS, and it's a shame.  5/5 grid when?  Anyway, I opted for C!Elesa who is the eternal best partner for her, and Variety Lorelei, whose offensive buffs perfectly complement Iris'.  Gotta get the Lorelei value in somehow to justify spending on the low-effort alt.  The main struggle here was Iris hitting crit on sync.  She missed it three times out of five runs.  THREE!  It's an 80%!  Anyway.  The other failure was my own fault, I got greedy with gauge and Iris couldn't queue up a move so we fell behind the sync requirement, and Hala's sync is Ice, so it dropped Elesa too.  The next round went better.  Iris still nukes for like infinity billion damage.  Slightly related, but I'm still considering giving her Defense Crush as a lucky skill.  I'm holding off only because I'm really, really hopeful that her grid expansion packs it.  It's like the only thing aside from Power Play and Aggravation I could see benefiting her.

Vs. Olivia My girl Caitlin is so good.  It turns out, the Lucian combo actually does work spectacularly.  His debuffs are perfectly aligned to this comp, with SC Jasmine buffing up special defense, and attack drops keeping her alive against a physical damage dealer.  Caitlin herself just trucks the center, ending on a big explosion.  I do let SC Jasmine take first sync, and we just happened to get the quad queue, so I don't know how well they'd take Olivia's sync.  Also, important note: you might think that, with speed buffs, Jasmine can use Flash Cannon here for guaranteed debuffs if needed.  That's the devil talking.  The gauge isn't that good, even at +6.  Also Absorb recoups a lost gauge which is far more ideal for Caitlin specifically.  Also yes I know this team is filled with redundancy but let me live.

Vs. Kahili I am pissed on Lusamine's behalf, which means now it's everyone's problem.  I opted to bring in Sabrina as the tank, because the condition was permanent field effects, and I figured hey, Sabrina sets Reflect, which boosts speed.  This is an ideal outcome that will in no way harm me.  Spoilers: it harmed me.  Sabrina is not a good physical tank.  Bianca has also finally bitten the bullet.  I gave her Head Start.  At this point, there's no reason not to anymore.  Also we were having legitimate trouble getting the clear without it, so like...I'm calling it an essential change.

Vs. Acerola Now that Zinnia is 3/5, I wanted to see how she did.  Turns out, pretty good.  I will say, this particular team is really nice.  Masked Royal has a lot of benefit with Brutal Swing, kicking off Calem's Buddy move a bit quicker and debuffing defense.  Zinnia herself is just hilarious.  I still can't get over the +3 to all stats condition getting immediately blasted by an AoE Snatch attack with a 70% chance to just flinch everyone.  The sickest part is her sync, which wasn't even full investment, hit for like 35k.  Comparable damage to Iris.  Like okay.  Sure.

Vs. Kukui My girls have languished.  I haven't run this team in a long time, and now they'll be brought out for the 12.5k meta.  And you may be wondering, how'd they do?  Well, it turns out that Lillie could two-shot the sides after Caitlin's sync.  So a double denial, which is hysterical.  Now, the first attempt failed.  Because I forgot, Cynthia's sync is physical, and I had physical damage reduction on so Lillie could hit as hard as possible.  So Cynthia's sync bounced off him for like 7k and then we just didn't recover from that.  His sync is a sure KO against Cynthia, even if you cap defense.  However on the second attempt, sync still happens to us because i still didn't take off physical damage reduction because I didn't leave the fight and hit retry and decided to just let Lillie sync. Turns out she could handle it.  Once again, Healthy Benefits 5 paying off.  And this all got to be with permanent field effects, which is great for H!Caitlin.  You basically just get everything.

Final Thoughts Alola was the last of the old school CS regions, before Sinnoh showed up with the insanity of Entry x2 skills and all that.  As a result, I feel like it's a good middle of the road region.  There's some tough stuff, but nothing outrageous.  This week in particular didn't feel too bad, nothing was all that unreasonable to handle.  But still, I had fun.  I miss using my favorites.  I've gotten too invested in F2P clears, I'm doing off-type for a while.

[the-firebird69]

Starcraft 2 Heart of The Swarm Ending | Final Scene Sarah Kerrigan【HD】

Our son and daughter say there's a fight here over control and they want to control our son and they are riding people and they want to be the ones who own the apartment and things like that and next look like Max yeah and in large part that's who it is riding people to get here to take over their jobs and Stan's job is a prime job it's primo they say and they compete with each other over not extremely hard but they're wrecking people who are here in those positions it's a very keen observation and it's very true stann is in way over his head just like our son says. Entire empire is breathing down his neck there's nothing he can do about it. And they also say it's another washout can't handle the empire stuff and their clams couldn't and they turned evil. Is Mom can't help it anymore and the creature is out of control in the beginning and it's just a ridiculous way of doing business and they're not going to go anywhere and they haven't learned anything and they're not controlling any monsters for real mac daddy is correct and that ultimately failures and have been for quite a while and their motif and modus is illegal cuts max out based on race and other things that are not appropriate and it's actually true you don't cut the smart people out of the max they say hey is a big mistake so this is going to occur and it's weird and strange Sherry is trying to save her to look like Lily for some reason and we don't want that crap these people are weaklings and that guy is a girl that fights Lily and Lillian defeats her and that's the scene to watch she looks like she's going to live through it though. She does get killed in a couple movies one of them is very badly and that's in the huntsman but her head is intact but she needs a body and uses a clone and it is from herself and it's not the greatest so she's trying to find the parents of Queen Elizabeth the second she can't seem to do it so she needs the Queen's body if you ever think of that one Mac and Mac is disgusted and says no and that's gross too and all of you are gross this is you really should I thought about all this cuz I told you that we do anything for our people and these Max are out of control and I guess you couldn't stop them but these idiots don't need to be here and it doesn't do you any good and it is gross isn't it I mean xenomore would be great dinner company for just about any Satanist so he says that's disgusting but I do see what you're saying I'm sitting here asking for more and more and it's already here tearing us a new one it's not fair that I probably is we don't like it but these people need out I understand you know it's them and you're trying to get them out and once again that got slowed down and things get really weird. And is going on and on things go back to normal sort of a little bit and people are huge assholes and then not and it's gross but really close on to fight Sherry in other movies and kicks her ass a whole bunch of times what movie is she killed her so bad the people are saying just give it up Sherry cuz it was gross and she survived that there's a whole bunch of movies that happened after the ever of all mankind parishes so this has deciding with Stan saga withstand and people think it's after Trump passes and probably is and he wants to move in the apartment and people are fighting him on it makes it easier here with Trump out

Thor Freya it does seem that way the Trump would be out before Stan but they're fighting up north and Warhammer and is beginning and Warcraft will start and starcraft and Pennsylvania is where they're fighting and he parishes and it is because of what he's doing here and he's a loser and keeps being huge a huge a****** and we think it happens faster than people think he has a bunker in Pennsylvania he's got several in the northern country one in New Hampshire one in Maine wanted Vermont and he's spying on his own broke just like he wanted to and it's because he his kids look like Max in nut cases. To make a long story short they know about it and they hate him they're trying to push him out and take the stuff and he comes creeping back in so trying to get him away from the apartment business and he doesn't own the apartments anymore the most part he doesn't have control and share and that's how the roof got done and they want him out for being someone in the way he said you're not on our side you're in our way so they're going to push him out of the business completely we feel and they'll fire him as a management company and Stan is going to say it. So our son says to Nancy kerrigan or Sarah kerrigan because Stan says we made you into a monster and he says this kind of adults or what so she ignores him and says he made us all monsters and it's an adult thing to say and it was Hera but Lily feels that way too and she said this guy is not even human it's not true it's just a stop screwing around with it thank God this is what is going what f****** prick my whole life I'm living like a popper from hand to mouth cuz of this stupid idiot and she said it laughing and said we were too that was great I didn't put them in power and it's sitting there sucking wind and saying stuff as you're lucky to be indoors I said at this rate with what you guys are doing and she says yeah probably but at least you took the clones on you know. And yeah they keeping poor and they're ridiculous losers and they're not helping themselves they ruined everything and they're just young and not very bright but this this ends it right here they strive to fight Jason's people because of the ACT and then find out Sherry was involved and they're fighting the woman and they all die

Thor Freya

Olympus

Zues Hera