#without necessarily erasing part of him

[purpurussy]

everything Dan said about labels in BIG was so extremely real and personal to me and people really gloss over a lot of it sometimes I need to talk about it more about it when I'm not exhausted

[vashtijoy]

have you seen the commentary from the p5r artbook going around? the shuake part of my dash is losing it a bit at the implication that their wishes were mutual!!! that seems to be what some people are getting from the commentary at least… amy insights?

Hi! I have been through the artbook. It's great, isn't it? :D

The image above is called "One Ending", and the creator caption (by illustrator Akane Kabayashi) reads:

When I think about how Akechi's wish was to play chess after school with the protagonist, I almost want to call him out with "You liked him after all, didn't you!"

Look at that. We're told about Akechi's wish, and what it included. We're as good as told outright that he likes Joker—and this isn't the only time, there's also this:

—There are a whole lot of things we can imagine, based on how the protagonist was depicted as someone special to Akechi. Those are more or less the exact emotions represented during Akechi's confidant. (Mumon Usuda, chief designer)

"someone special" here is 特別な存在 tokubetsuna sonzai—literally "a special presence". It means a special person, and more than that; it describes someone you find compelling, someone you can't look away from, someone who becomes one of your most important people, the centre of your world. It's another term that is often romantic, but isn't necessarily romantic.

(In the same way, I think Kabayashi's suki jan! is more tongue-in-cheek than it is a cast-iron confirmation that Akechi was canonly in love with Joker. The language there is teasing, it's ambiguous, it's baity; Kabayashi is joking. This is a rank 6—as they say, if you know, you know. But it is of course ultimately up to all of you.)

There's another mention of this image, down in the creator interview:

Out of all the Maruki ending illustrations, it was Akechi's that stuck with me the most. It made such an impression to see them opening up as friends, having a fun, peaceful time together like high school students should. (Mumon Usuda, chief designer)

What really strikes me in all of this is the emphasis the creators put on the fact that this is Akechi's illustration, Akechi's wish. Because I've thought for a while that we know Akechi has a wish. You can see him struggling with his refusals to Maruki in the first week of January. And you can hear his wish spoken—when Maruki repeats it back to him, during the boss fight, on 2/3:

Maruki {F1 81}君たちとなら、君も過ちのない道を歩めるかも知れないじゃないか！ {F1 81}-kun-tachi to nara, kimi mo ayamachi no nai michi o ayumeru kamoshirenai ja nai ka! If you're with {F1 81}―kun and his friends, you could begin to atone for what you've done! Think about it! With [Amamiya]-kun and his friends beside you, you could choose a path with no mistakes as well!

So this wish has several parts. First, there's that kimi mo, "you also"; it's tempting to read this as Maruki also wanting his new world to erase his past mistakes. Second, there's the first part, "if you're with [Amamiya]-kun and his friends". Where to even start here?

Being with Joker and the others is a prerequisite for the second half of Akechi's wish. It doesn't just coexist, it enables the rest of it. Just like his words in the engine room, "I wonder why we couldn't have met a few years earlier, [Ren]..."

Remember, Akechi's whole arc is about his rejection of trust and friendship, and his insistence on doing everything himself. This is precisely what Futaba calls him out on—"you trusted no one", or "you played life in single-player mode". This is what he unlearns at the climax of the engine room, when he realises he isn't prepared to let the others die—and follows through to save them.

Akechi is nothing without others, and he knows it. Without their support, which he believes he has no right to, he has no hope of living a better life, even were he to be given the chance—and he knows that, too. He has learned, and he has grown—and yet he knows the things he needs and wants so badly are forever inaccessible.

And his wish is about all the Phantom Thieves, not just Joker. There are many tiny references to this end—not least the original Japanese rank 10 line for his confidant, where he sacrifices himself for all of you. Joker is his compelling presence, his someone special, but he's formed small bonds with the others too, God help him.

and then there's the crime thing

The localisation frames Akechi's wish in terms of atonement, but that's not what's on offer. You cannot, after all, atone for things you never did. We see Akechi's wish put into practice, in the Maruki ending, where he appears with his friends beside him, wholly innocent and with unstained hands. And we see it in the first week of January, after he has finally met Maruki and spoken to him:

Akechi: Ah, that reminds me—there was one more thing I wanted to tell you. Akechi: About the reality Maruki's put us in... Akechi: It seems that Okumura and Wakaba are both considered alive by all accounts. [Ren: They're not dead anymore? / What do you mean?] Akechi: They aren't mere illusions, or cognitive beings—they truly are alive and existing in this world. Akechi: In fact, their deaths seem to have never taken place at all in this reality. [Ren: What happened to Shido?] Akechi: Shido was the only one arrested on the crime of attempting to overthrow the government... Akechi: It seems the Phantom Thieves were causing a stir in this society as well, but there's no record of your arrest now. Akechi: Basically, in this reality, you and I haven't committed any crimes.

While Akechi still remembers his crimes, they never took place. They have been undone, and only his lingering memory—and Joker's, at this point—speaks to them. He objects to this on countless levels, he summons all the strength he has to refuse it, but don't make the mistake of thinking that means he doesn't want it. This is Akechi's wish in action.

People are often very certain that Akechi's resolve in the third semester is like iron—that he rejects Maruki's offers right away, is never tempted, never wavers. But that can't be true. We know he's afraid to die. We know about the bad end where you don't complete the Palace, where Akechi says nothing and stares at the floor, seemingly blaming himself internally while all the others blame themselves aloud, for being unable to say no to Maruki's temptations. We know how he responds to this assertion of Maruki's—Maruki, who has perfectly summed up what we know all the other PTs wanted, and who (even if Word of God hadn't just confirmed Akechi's wish) we have, honestly, no reason to doubt.

Because Akechi never refutes this wish that Maruki describes. He never says he doesn't want it. He just rejects it—like all the others, who so desperately want what Maruki could give them. Futaba's mother, Haru's father. Akechi's life, and his innocence. And the people who might have been his friends, if he could dare, one day, to ask.

Akechi is tested just like the others, and the price he pays for his defiance is perhaps the highest of all.

and finally

[The Maruki ending illustrations are] of Maruki's world, where everyone's wishes are granted and they seem happy. The scene shows their actualised wishes, which were never granted in the real world. (Mumon Usuda, chief designer)

We shouldn't forget the price Akechi pays for his impossible wish. Sure, the vision of himself being altered like Sumire clearly haunts him, and I'm sure it made the choice easier—but I don't think it made it that easy. Instead of taking the dream Maruki offered him, Akechi chose to face up to what he'd done, and who he'd become; at the very end, in the third semester and in the engine room, he always makes the right choice.

And that choice was taken away from him. Agency over his life and death, his own acts, and who he would even be—Joker and Maruki take it all away from him and make him a puppet, just like Shido.

Maruki's ending isn't pretty.

revision history

Click here for the latest version.

v1.0 (2024/03/29)—first published.

[riqomi]

LA PLAYA ! ────ㅤ박성훈

박성훈 ˖ 𝑓em!r .. g. fluff. suggestive. ──── BOOKSHELF ( 1331 ) tw: kissing. skinship

the evening has a peaceful, almost magical quality to it as you and sunghoon stroll down the beach, the golden hues of the setting sun casting a soft glow on everything. the sound of the waves crashing against the shore is the only noise breaking the otherwise tranquil silence. the air is warm, but not too hot, with a slight breeze that carries the faint smell of saltwater, making the evening feel almost like an escape from everything.

as you walk beside him, your feet sink slightly into the cool sand, leaving footprints that are quickly erased by the incoming tide. the sky has turned a soft pink and lavender as the sun lowers, painting the horizon in a breathtaking blend of colors. you’re both quiet at first, taking in the beauty of the moment, but there’s an undeniable tension building between you.

sunghoon’s presence is impossible to ignore. even without him saying a word, there’s something magnetic about him, something that makes your heart flutter every time you glance his way. the way the last bits of sunlight catch his face, making his features glow in the warmth, takes your breath away. but it’s not just his looks—it’s the way he holds himself, the subtle grace in his movements, and the quiet intensity in his gaze. his eyes occasionally meet yours, and every time they do, you feel a spark, as if the air itself crackles with unspoken words.

you glance up at him, his eyes already on you. sunghoon’s lips quirk into a soft smile, but there’s something more in his eyes now—a glimmer of something deeper, something that says he's thinking of more than just the beautiful view.

"isn't it perfect?" you ask, your voice a soft murmur, a question meant for the air around you, for the moment itself, not necessarily expecting an answer.

he doesn't speak at first, but his fingers find yours, lightly brushing against them. the contact sends a jolt of warmth up your arm, and you turn your head to meet his gaze. the light from the setting sun catches in his eyes, making them almost glow as they lock onto yours.

“it is,” he agrees, his voice hushed, but there’s an edge to it—something quiet and intimate. “but i think what makes it perfect is that you're here with me.”

the simple sincerity in his words makes your heart race, and before you can respond, he tugs your hand gently, pulling you toward a quieter part of the beach, away from the few scattered people still lingering along the shore. the further you walk, the more the world feels like it shrinks around you, and it’s just the two of you, alone with the rhythm of the waves.

finally, he stops in a secluded spot, just the soft sand beneath your feet, the gentle crash of the waves, and the moon beginning to rise in the sky, casting a cool, silvery light over everything. sunghoon turns toward you, his expression a mix of curiosity and something softer, something longing.

you look at him and notice the way his eyes linger on your lips for a moment before he meets your gaze again. it feels like he’s waiting for something, but you’re not sure what. the tension between you is undeniable now, and it’s like the air itself is charged with the anticipation of what might happen next. you can’t help but feel like the world has slowed, leaving just the two of you in this perfectly suspended moment.

without saying a word, sunghoon steps closer, his hand still holding yours, fingers lightly brushing over your skin. you don’t pull away; you let him pull you in, slowly closing the distance between you. his breath is warm against your face, and you can feel the gentle rise and fall of his chest as he breathes in sync with you.

his other hand comes up to trace along your arm, sending tiny shivers of sensation across your skin. when his fingers reach your neck, his touch is gentle but purposeful, his thumb tracing the line of your jaw. his eyes flicker to your lips again, and this time, you don’t wait for him to make the first move.

you lean in, closing the small gap, and your lips meet—soft at first, like the touch of a feather against your skin. the kiss is slow, tentative, but it immediately sends a shock of warmth through both of you. sunghoon’s lips are so soft, his movements so careful as if he’s savoring the moment, taking his time to memorize the feel of you against him.

as the kiss deepens, his hand slides to your back, pulling you closer, and you can feel the heat of his body pressing against yours, your hearts now beating in sync. the ocean breeze stirs around you, but all you can focus on is the warmth between you and the way his lips move against yours, slow and deliberate. his other hand moves to the side of your face, cupping it gently as he tilts your head just slightly, allowing him to deepen the kiss even more.

your fingers find their way into his hair, tugging him closer as the kiss grows more urgent, the sweet, slow pace turning into something more desperate, more hungry. he responds in kind, his lips now moving with an intensity that mirrors the sudden quickening of your pulse. his hand moves lower, sliding down to your waist, fingers splaying across your back, pulling you even closer, until you’re pressed flush against him.

you can feel every inch of him now—his warmth, the steady beat of his heart, the way his body is molded against yours. the kiss is no longer just a kiss; it’s an exchange, a wordless communication between two people who can’t seem to get close enough.

his lips leave yours only briefly, just enough to catch his breath, but the space between you is short-lived. he leans in again, this time brushing his lips against your neck, his warm breath making you shiver as his lips linger on your skin. his hands roam, one gently tracing the curve of your back, while the other rests at the side of your face, his thumb running over your cheek in soft strokes.

“you feel so right,” he murmurs against your skin, his voice hushed but full of need. his lips return to yours in another deep kiss, and this time, the urgency has returned, his body pressing you back against the soft sand as he pulls you even closer.

you respond eagerly, matching the intensity of his kiss with your own, your fingers gripping the collar of his shirt, pulling him in. the air around you grows warmer, the saltwater breeze now just a faint whisper against the growing heat between your bodies. the world fades around you, leaving just the two of you, lost in the kiss, the rhythm of your breathing in perfect harmony with the sound of the waves.

when the kiss finally breaks, you’re both breathless, hearts pounding, and your skin feels alive from the heat of the kiss. sunghoon’s forehead rests against yours, his breathing ragged as he looks at you with wide, soft eyes, the moonlight reflecting in them, making them look even more intense.

“you’re perfect,” he whispers, his voice low, rough with the emotion of the moment. his hand gently traces your jawline, his thumb brushing your lips like he can’t quite believe the kiss just happened.

you smile softly, reaching up to touch his face, feeling the warmth of his skin beneath your fingertips. “so are you,” you reply, your voice barely above a whisper, but it’s enough for him to hear.

and for a long moment, the two of you just stand there, breathing in sync, letting the world continue on around you as you hold on to the connection you’ve just shared, not quite ready to let go.

this was rushed, but hope u enjoy <33 likes & reblogs much appreciated !!

[beforetimes]

feel like this gets overshadowed by the fact that ekko saved jinx at her very lowest, but i think that their relationship 100% works both ways when it comes to helping the other. and the way jinx helps ekko would be in helping him to loosen up / free him of this massive sense of guilt and responsibility he carries himself with.

we see this thematically in s2ep7 and s2ep9 mostly. when ekko goes to the alternate timeline we get the line that it was his tip that lead to vi's death. which i've mentioned in a previous post as something that i think the og ekko would carry as a source of guilt that guided him to throwing himself into helping the people of zaun, a way to work through his remorse.

and in that deleted scene where ekko goes after powder only for her to say she doesn't want to be saved and that she's jinx now, i feel ekko would have blamed himself for that and internalized it both by using it to fuel his guilt complex but also by painting her as someone past saving. in essence he thinks he killed powder and created jinx. someone who only hurts the undercity by working as silco.

but after his dive into the alternate timeline where he sees and connects with powder and realizes all the potential she has when she grows up, i think he realizes that there is still someone to save back in his original world. that jinx couldn't possibly erase everything that made alternate timeline powder who she is because powder reminds him of their childhood and things left unsaid and how things could be different if they both chose forgiveness (sort of elaborated on here).

anyway, i think jinx's role in accepting ekko's proposal to help out with the war on piltover/zaun would be to show ekko a) that he didn't kill powder completely and that jinx was never truly 100% metamorphosized by this job that he sent them on that indirectly 'killed' her and b) shows that she (in his minds eye) chooses to forgive him, relieving a large part of his guilt, and build something better. which is what ekko has been all about. not necessarily forgiving, but building something better. its what he does with the firelights and their commune.

now, how is freeing him communicated in the show?

i think that they show the way jinx's character allows him to be more free in expressing himself through the change in wardrobe. it is more visually vibrant in comparison to his large jackets in the first season when we see him, but there's also less smoke-screening and secrecy. no more masks, no more gloves, no more large jackets that hide the form. everything is on display now! abdomen and face, skin exposed. and jinx's impact on this change from the first season is visually marked by the x on his shirt. she is directly involved in his evolution into this freer, unburdened self.

i felt in this, the artists were showing how jinx's refusal to stay within the lines would affect ekko in making him freer as well. not just physically revealing himself but also maybe through the way her acceptance of his offer to save her again (after the failed deleted scene mentioned) frees him of the guilt of failing the first time + guilt over what led to him thinking he killed powder.

so while timebomb does feel skewed in showcasing ekko primarly as her saviour and jinx as someone who needed saving, i think that there is a reciprocal nature to the type of healing they can offer each other. ekko through his belief that jinx can be good without needing her to be the way she was before and jinx through her relieving ekko of guilt that has ruled his life since he was a child.

[shangyang]

is this a safe space to talk about my biggest gripe with arcane viktor's character arc? fair warning, this might get long.

the biggest thing (to me) that stands out about machine herald (og league viktor) is that his change from viktor, jayce's partner, to viktor, the machine herald of zaun, stems from this loss of respect and recognition, coupled with the realization that the people who he has held in high esteem have never seen him as their equals. not even the man he once called his partner. we can chalk up this inequality to a lot of things, but for the machine herald, it's very VERY clearly tied to two things that are integral to who he is, and therefore things he cannot necessarily change without radical action: his disability, and his status as a zaunite.

therefore, it makes sense to me that in league, what viktor does is a response to the one thing he CAN change: himself, and by extension, his disability. this is what the glorious evolution is - viktor, in his mind, is attempting to level the playing field by any and all means necessary. if being disabled is a contributing factor - IN HIS MIND - to being denied what he is owed, then viktor must erase that "critical weakness" from himself to evolve into someone who will not only command said respect, but take it by any means necessary.

this is, to put it plainly, eugenics. it's eugenics. there's no other way to really frame it, because what viktor is doing, in attempting to "evolve" himself and the people he helps beyond what he and piltover's hypercapitalist oligarchy percieves as their "deficiencies", is technically culling what a ruling class would deem as "undesirably qualities" from the population. and that's the literal definition of eugenics.

but what does this have to do with arcane viktor? well, what i think is important to note about machine herald viktor, is that a great majority of his actions, after being exiled from piltover, can be read within the lens of him taking piltover's oppressive mindset regarding abled bodies, respect, and fear, and applying it to both himself and zaun.

from my understanding of league events, mh viktor goes to extremes in reaction to what he percieves as massive slights against himself, his personhood, and his status as someone worthy of respect (and therefore someone worthy as being seen as a person), in league. that's why when jayce refuses to defend him against stanwick, and when viktor is cast out from piltover after leaving to do what he viewed was not only his duty as someone from zaun - helping victims of the factorywood explosion - but also piltover's duty to zaun, as their overseers (and oppressors), it calls into question the idea that he was ever a "person" in piltover to begin with. the guiding principle here is this: if you cannot command respect, or are not given respect/regard amongst those you view as your peers, then you're not a person to them, or at least your personhood must therefore exist subservient to theirs, because we respect those who we view as being on, at minimum, equal standing with us.

so that's an integral part of viktor's character - including the fact that the reason his actions must be viewed as misguided and ultimately insanely unethical, is because he's taking his oppressors views and reflecting them onto himself and his fellow opressed populace - a sort of internalized opression - so naturally, his actions therefore cannot be to the overall benefit of himself nor zaun. viktor's glorious evolution is, in some part - no matter how large or small, done in an attempt to negociate a place for himself within piltover's elite. if he cannot have their respect through conventional, by-the-book means (going through the academy), then viktor will have their fear.

to me, this is backed up by the fact that in jayce's path of champions game, if you (as jayce) choose to accept the machine herald's proposal, viktor goes on to present blitzcrank to all of piltover during the innovator's competition, and he makes specific note that he was "not expecting the crowds to embrace [his] work so readily," something which seems to bring him a measure of comfort, if not joy.

so we can distill viktor's arc within league into a pretty simple equation: viktor attempts to make it within piltovan society through the conventional route -> is denigrated and denied via core traits deemed undesirable by piltovan society -> internalizes and overcorrects on a massive scale. (via robot eugenics.) a key throughline in all of this is that these actions are taken, not only in pursuit of viktor's own, ultimate desire to reclaim a sense of personhood and power, but also - in SOME WAY - in retaliation for the real oppression zaun has faced for the near entirety of its existence.

there's definitely a debate to be had regarding how actually altruistic the machine herald is. i would say the answer is, well, not very, but it IS important to note that the machine herald's actions and the way he operations within zaun can be viewed as having the intent to, in some way, provide (what viktor views) to be an essential service to his community. the fact that this percieved essential service occasionally involves overwriting people's free will is...well...not great. remember, guys, free will is good! and important! please do not attempt to cut a man's ability to respond to fear from his mind.

but, okay. i've done a whole lot of talking about the machine herald's arc. what does this have to do with viktor?

my biggest gripe with viktor's character arc in arcane is twofold:

one, it removes the impact and influence of community from his actions. we have to remember, that the big incident that forces viktor from piltover long enough for stanwick to steal his invention is a chemical spill in the factorywoods. viktor specifically chooses to leave piltover behind in order to provide essential aid to his community. he is helping in a rescue effort, and in the wake of a massive disaster within his community, providing both medical aid and what is likely essential assistance, considering viktor's own, highly specialized capabilities as a doctor and a scientist.

(i know the doctor thing is debatable - there's this awesome post here by @clevercorvidae about how viktor in arcane definitely does not fucking understand how evolution and biology works, and you should definitely read it, it lays everything out super clearly and intelligently!)

but secondly, in having the hexcore be the primary impetus for viktor's flight from piltover, and his turn toward the glorious evolution, what arcane does is create an imbalance in viktor's character arc. whose respect is viktor now chasing? whose personhood is he seeking to affirm? you can make the argument, certainly, that the arcane herald, and viktor's decision to become such is still, in some way, a version of league viktor's transformation into the machine herald, but i'm going to be very honest - it's a weak fascimile of that transformation at best.

viktor does not choose to become the arcane herald after he realizes that the people of piltover - including his own partner - do not actually respect him, his contributions to their way of life, or even his personhood. viktor doesn't even decide to undergo the transformation after jayce destroys the commune viktor has created in zaun. in arcane, viktor decides to take that leap after jayce rejects him in the council room.

VIKTOR: Let us do this again, as partners. JAYCE: My partner died in this room.

the scene where viktor fully submits to the transformation - bidding goodbye to the specter of sky in the astral realm - only happens AFTER jayce issues this rejection. you could argue that this is meant to argue the moment where giopara (og league jayce) destroys the crystal the machine herald has been using to keep several, presumed dead, people alive. but they're not necessarily analogous: by the point in time that conflict occurs between giopara and the machine herald, they're already solidly enemies. it's a two-way sort of animosity. neither harbor any hope of getting the other to "see their side," and there are certainly no olive branches extended and summarily rejected.

so what does this mean for viktor's character arc? in my opinion, what this does is upset viktor's original role within league. i'm sure someone else can explain this better than i will, but bear with me.

when league's story was first being drip-fed to us, at the very start of the game's service, early champions gave the player base a feel for the specific themes, aesthetics, and quirks that were going to form the characterizing basis for each region. for example, characters like warwick and singed were the earliest zaun champions to be released, and so set the tone for the kind of stories that would be told in that region. however, jayce and viktor are amongst the earliest champions from the regions of piltover and zaun, whose stories are, in a very integral way, linked to one another. sure, warwick and singed have ties to one another - lore relevant ones at that. but jayce and viktor's stories are some of the earliest to really start to go in depth regarding the deep animosity and inequality that exists between the sister cities.

as i see it, viktor's role, within the greater narrative league is trying to weave, is to make a bit of a point: here is a failed example of unity between piltover and zaun. viktor and jayce's failed relationship in league stands as this great testament to the reasons why a peaceful, equal coexistence has not, and perhaps cannot be brokered between piltover and zaun. equal is the key word here. and maybe peaceful, too. but my point still stands.

arcane, admittedly, has a terrible habit of defanging the very real conflicts it attempts to tackle. you'll notice that a terrible amount of time is spent trying to ensure piltover doesn't come out looking like the ultimate villains of the series. (spoiler alert: piltover is definitely the fucking villain of arcane. no matter how you slice or dice it, it is, and it will always be.) but in order to do this, what arcane must do is completely isolate the majority of its zaunite characters from community with other zaunites. there's a reason you never saw viktor or ekko interact, beyond the final fight. there's a reason why all the zaunite main cast: ekko, jinx, sevika, vi, and viktor - must all operate in these semi-loner positions, lest they come across as being too invested in the well being of their community, and therefore cast too much of a light on the truth of the plight zaun is facing.

sevika and ekko are, of course, extremely interested in building community. but ekko is never really seen with his firelights in a meaningful way: we do not really know any of them, nor ekko's attachments to them. sevika, similarly, spends much of the show working alongisde the quote-unquote villain of season one, silco, in what amounts to little more as a watchdog position. furthermore, her efforts to create community in season two must be mediated through jinx, who notably has no real interest in political revolution, aside from how it might suit her own means (whether those are getting back at vi, or honoring silco in her own way).

arcane's strange handling of viktor's transformation into the machine herald - the arcane herald, now - through the manipulations of the hexcore and the Arcane, exist primarily to draw your eye away from the fact that there was another - more compelling - reason for viktor to go down this path.

not corruption. community. a desire for respect. a desire to truly be respected in piltover, no matter the cost. what viktor's character, at it's best, does is hold a mirror up to piltover. through his actions and his motivations, we see the ways in which piltover's strictly upheld heirarchies have failed not only the people of zaun, but also the people of piltover.

certainly, we see this in a way in arcane. jayce's speech at the very end, where he tells viktor that he is beautiful, imperfections and all, is very literally pointing toward viktor's internalized ableism. but the source of that internalized ableism is never something the show seems particularly interested in explictly exploring. certainly, the animators have left us crumbs and clues: they're there in the way salo - a councilor of piltover - isn't even afforded the dignity of a ramp when he's confined to a wheelchair, and the way viktor's name is never even on the hexgate blueprints. (which the kiramman family are responsible for archiving and keeping, by the way! funny how that works...)

but the show is afraid to say the truth out loud. it's afraid to really confront the root cause of almost every single one of the characters' problems: that being the harshly stratified system of haves and have-nots that piltover continues to enforce with an iron fist. instead, arcane forgoes a serious conversation about that - which is, in my mind, to be had through the medium of viktor and his character arc - for something easier. "more metaphorical." the hexcore corrupts. the arcane corrupts. internalized self hatred corrupts, but perhaps you had better not look too deeply into who placed that seed of self-hatred within you to begin with, or else the questions bloom into uncomfortable answers.

i don't know. it's not to say that i disliked how arcane ended, or where viktor was for the majority of season two. he's my favorite character! i love him dearly. i love the show dearly, faults and all. but as someone who does really love the original machine herald lore, with all its conflicting implications about the nature of piltover and the truth of its ownership over zaun, to take this route with viktor's arc in arcane is upsetting. there had to have been a way to keep the magic angle, while staying true to that commentary on systems of oppression and the mirrors those systems create of themselves that is core (to me) to viktor's character in league.

but i guess we'll never know.

[calypso707]

Can I request a Druid tav x Astarion? Where over time and a ton of talks about it Astarion allows tav to try different ways to flatten his scars on his back? Different lotions/creams and massages? Not necessarily making them disappear but flattening them enough so their not as raised and angry.

That’s a good one, i hope you'll like it, it was a bit more challenging but I enjoyed writing it. I've done it differently, though. I preferred to write the first time they treat his scars. Please don't hesitate to send me feedback ! Enjoy ! (๑˘︶˘๑)

OS - Astarion x Gn druid reader : On your skin.

Since you were a child, you had always imagined that you'd spend your life in the Circle, at the service of nature and protecting the balance. But recent events had completely turned your life upside down: your kidnapping by mind flayers, the crash of their nautiloid, the victory over the goblins… Not to mention the roommate you had in your skull. And these events, however improbable, had driven you to create the strangest alliances.

Your favorite time of day was when you returned to your camp in the Wilderness. You enjoyed the calm that settles all around you as soon as night fell, you liked to hear the wood creak under the fire, you loved to gaze up at the sky as if to interpret the messages left by the stars, you even caught yourself listening for the animals prowling nearby. Oak Father, you loved those quiet moments. You knelt at the edge of the shore, not far from your tent, your eyes closed and your breathing stilled to the rhythm of the waves undulating in the wind. You allowed your mind to wander, you were surrounded by strange companions and you had permitted your heart to fall in with the most unusual being of all.

Astarion.

A vampire.

If your Circle were to find out… For many, vampires were an abomination of nature, but for you, he was just a magistrate with immoral tendencies and a liking for blood. You did not know if the feeling was mutual, and you did not particularly want to find out. Astarion cherished his freedom and it was just as meaningful to you. He had spent much of his spawn life in the service of a cruel lord who had submitted him to all kinds of vices. You thought back to the inscriptions carved into the flesh of his back and how he must have suffered.

A throat-clearing sounded above you and you opened your eyes. Speaking of the devil.. You did not even hear him coming. Astarion was standing in front of you, looking… Unsure?

"I've been thinking about what you said. About my… Scars."

You stood up to face him properly, inviting him with a nod to continue.

"I would like you to treat them to make them less, well.. Noticeable," he added. "They do not, of course, affect my beauty, but if you could make them more pleasing to the eye, I would not say no."

You rolled your eyes at his words. The two of you had discussed this several times. You simply offered to help, you had no wish to erase them because they were part of him. You just wanted to make them less sensitive so you were waiting for him to give you permission. "All right, I will take care of it. Let's go to my tent, so we can have some privacy"

You gestured for him to follow you, which he surprisingly did without protesting. You entered the tent, which was large enough for just one person. On the right was your paillasse, surrounded by books of various subjects. On the left, a huge solid wood table held all your herbs, elixirs, ointments and recipes. You invited him to sit on a wooden stool beside you.

"Let me have a look"

Astarion seemed to hesitate for a moment and finally removed his shirt before tossing it onto your bed. He seemed almost… uncomfortable. Yet it was not the first time you had seen him half-naked. You stood behind him and slowly brought your fingers to his scarred skin.

"May I?"

"Yes," He replied in a breath, his unease was palpable. He seemed vulnerable.

You gently ran your fingers over his upper back, cautiously brushing his scars. You felt him flinch slightly at the warmth of your skin, which contrasted with the coldness of his. It was the first time you had seen them so closely. The Language of the Hells had been carved into his flesh two centuries ago, and you could still guess the pain he must have felt. According to him, it was a poem, a very strange poem. The cruelty of the act made your heart ache and your stomach twist. How could he have survived such pain?

"It was a surprise. As you can see, Cazador's surprises are never good ones," commented Astarion.

You looked up at the mirror in front of you, and although his reflection was not visible, you could see you touching his invisible skin as delicately as possible, his face was turned to the mirror, examining your every move. You detached yourself to search through your ointments and took one you had prepared earlier. It was a derivative of Silvanus' elixir, based on boiling theriac and mugwort bundle. Returning to stand behind him, you took a generous quantity of the mixture with your fingers before applying it delicately to the marks. Astarion twitched again, looking over his shoulder at you.

"I am sorry" You said.

"No, it is cold. But it feels… Nice"

You slowly knelt behind him and carefully applied the ointment, making sure his skin properly absorbed the treatment. The effect was almost instantaneous, and the scars seemed less vivid to the naked eye. It would take several applications for it to be fully effective. You ran your fingers along the long lines that ended at the lower part of his back and noticed that a shiver ran through his body. This moment was different from the others you had shared, even more intimate because he had allowed you to get closer to that part of his past he hated. He had allowed himself to be vulnerable in front of you.

"Do you feel any difference?" you asked, looking up at him as he swiveled on the stool to face you. You wiped your fingers on a clean cloth.

"Hm.." He made a move as if trying to stretch his skin. He seemed a bit surprised. "I used to feel them, itching. I no longer feel that discomfort"

"It will require repeated application for it to be more effective, but it is a good start"

"Oh, are you offering me private sessions for massages?" questioned the vampire, a mischievous smile on his lips.

You smiled at his question and, as you stood up, he grabbed your arm to pull you towards him. He wrapped his right arm around your waist and his left hand slid down your forearm. This embrace took you by surprise, but you did not push him away, on the contrary. He took your hand in his and brought your fingers to his lips, softly. He half-opened his mouth as he slid your index and middle finger over his lower lip, revealing his fangs. A shiver of excitement ran through your body.

"It means a lot, you know, what you do for me. I will never forget it."

⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯ ⎯

I hope you enjoyed it, feel free to have a look at my other writings on Astarion ! Love ya !

Astarion x gn druid reader : On your skin (pt.2)

Astarion x gn reader : A thousand thanks

Astarion x gn reader : No place for love

Fic : Astarion x Fem! bard Tav : Fruit of the Poisonned Tree

[dorlilymylovesss]

I want to speak out on a topic that has been really bothering and stressing me out. For several months now, Me and my friends who don't even ship jegulus, but are just Regulus fans have been harassed by Jily shippers. And not just with hateful words, but with specific accusations of fascism.

I want to start by saying that fandoms are a place where people can express their creativity and interpret characters as they like. Fanfics, art, and shippings are forms of self-expression, and they don't have to conform to canon. It allows us to look at characters from different angles, develop alternative plots, and create something new. And I don't judge or hate people for their favorite characters and ships.

I'm a huge Regulus fan even before the Jegulus ship came along. Regulus Black is a character I have a deep interest in for many reasons. Despite his limited appearance in the Harry Potter books, his story and character leave room for a lot of interpretation and thought. And I don't like it when people describe him as a regular Death Eater.

First, Jily fans often argue their dislike by saying that their ship is canonical( of course this is true and no one denies it) and James would never date a death eater. However, it should be remembered that fan art and shippings are inherently activities for the self and the soul. Even if a couple doesn't conform to "official" canon and never even met, it doesn't diminish the right of fans to create their own stories and interpretations.

Second Jegulus shippers are called misogynists.

But they may simply see these characters as interesting dynamics that catch their attention or interesting tropes that can be created. Choosing this ship doesn't necessarily mean they are intentionally excluding female characters and being negative towards them. Yes there are people among jegulus shippers who dislike Lily and exclude her from the story, but they are a minority. Plenty of jegulus shippers love Lily and also ship jily.

The charge of misogyny implies a conscious and systematic disregard for women or female characters. However, in most cases, Jegulus shippers simply enjoy a particular story or interaction between two male characters. This does not preclude an interest in or respect for female characters. Many shippers actively create and support content featuring female characters in other contexts or ships.

There is always a diversity of interests and preferences in fan circles. Not everyone likes the same characters or couples, and that's fine. However, to infer misogyny just based on someone's preference for a certain male couple without considering the overall context of a person's interests is wrong and unfair. Plus, I've seen thousands of Jily fans who were blatantly homophobic towards the marlily and pandalily enjoyers, and called James her only love, and erase her identity, leaving only her relationship with James.

Third, why calling the death eaters fascists is wrong and insulting to the actual victims of the tragedy.

Fascism as a political ideology and movement had specific historical roots and consequences, including brutal repression, genocide, and war. Death Eaters are fictional characters created by transphobic Rowling for a work of fiction, and their actions and motivations are part of a fictional universe.

Using historical examples of real-life suffering and tragedies to compare to fictional characters is disrespectful to those affected by real-life events. Historical tragedies such as the Holocaust require special respect and careful handling. And many Jewish content makers have already spoken out about it.

The kind of hate I've encountered as a Regulus fan is something I wouldn't wish on anyone. That being said, I've always loved jily, but after the hate, stupid accusations I've cooled off to them. You can't treat living people like that because of fictional characters. A lot of people don't care about canon written by a creepy transphobic woman, can you imagine?

Instead of wasting time on conflict and hate I suggest you create content on your favorite ships and leave other people alone. You have no idea how your hating can affect a person.

Not all shippers have the intention to demean or exclude other characters. Many of us simply love a particular dynamic and choose to explore it in our writing. This should not be taken as a threat or insult to other fans.

I love jegulus and jily, but my fav ship is dorlily and it saddens me that fans of the same fandom hate each other so much.

Not all shippers have the intent to demean or exclude other characters. Many of us simply love a particular dynamic and choose to explore it in our writing. This should not be taken as a threat or insult to other fans.

Leave other people alone. If u can't create content for your favorite ship and only can hate others its your f..king problem, it's unhealthy and childish.

I'm deeply sorry for jegulus artists and writers who got hate here and even death treats. I hope you will continue creating something that makes you happy.

[fopal]

Caleb’s Writing Appreciation Post

SPOILERS ON CALEB’S MYTH, ANCEDOTE, CARDS, AND MAIN STORY.

I might edit this.

Yes, I acknowledge it’s a game and maybe I’m taking it too seriously but I feel like I need to get this off my chest as I feel it’s the reason I create anything in the first place. Also, this is my interpretation. You’re free to agree or disagree.

Caleb from Love and Deepspace is my favorite and I like that he’s not perfect. I never really thought about why I liked him until I started seeing more analysis on his character. In a world where some of us don’t get to grow up with a happy beginning it’s nice to see what I consider a realistic depiction of PTSD. To be able to be seen and not dehumanized more than PTSD victims already are. (I DO NOT SPEAK FOR EVERYONE WHO SUFFERS FROM PTSD OR CPTSD)

There are countless media that can depict it unseriously, barely cover it, and villainize it because in a way it’s easy to. It’s easy for people to accept that the hero moved on and made their own happy ending even through the pain but that’s so invalidating. Some people can but not everyone can make peace with themselves as they don’t know how to.

Caleb is a guy who doesn’t know if he can achieve peace, instead relying on MC for what could probably be his happiness and salvation. His purpose is her and that breaks my heart because Caleb is already enough. He shouldn’t need to rely on MC for that but I understand why he does. I think what breaks my heart is the four star cards because they show Caleb in a way we didn’t get to see in the game. He’s a nerd, a role model, beloved by peers, a leader, respectful but genuinely playful. I don’t see a mask like I do in the main story. Sure he hides his feelings for MC but the rest feels real. All of it. He is so humanized and we get to see the type of person who just looks forward to what he can do. Appreciating the life he has and maybe, I like to think this, sees himself moving on and capable of healing. Healing without MC and just being able to see them separate instead of a combined pair forever.

Yet the reminder of death in the DAA is what stops Caleb because death doesn’t just mean what we all know of it, an absence, but a reintroduction. As we interpreted MC and Caleb were both experimented on by Ever. Yet every time MC died, her memories were erased and Caleb had to reintroduce himself. Messing with his psyche and damaging any structured existence of their relationship at the time. The anecdote explores his powerlessness and the constant reintroduction of the concept of death that came back to haunt him in his childhood.

How he physically doesn’t see himself enough because at the end of the day Caleb is human and he understands his limit. He can’t come back from the dead, he can't stop time, he can’t fly or has abilities that could move the world. He is just a guy which is another layer to loving Caleb because Rafayel is a merman, Sylus is a dragon, and Xavier is an alien. You get the jist. Yes, they all have powers but Caleb knows that his ability useful yet it can't necessarily change what he ultimately is. A human who can’t change the fate that is death because death does come for everyone.

He just is who he is. This is also an interpretation on my part but I deeply believe Caleb hates himself. Not just for what he did in the main story but because he isn’t strong enough for what dangers lurk in the dark. He knows they exist and what is also heartbreaking is his paranoia is correct. There are people out there waiting to hurt him and in a way he feels justified for his anxieties. He is constantly proven throughout his life that there are dangers out there waiting to kill him and MC. I think he wants to be proven wrong but it ultimately isn’t the case.

So yes, we covered Caleb is a human being who constantly is reminded death exists especially when he is made to write letters EVERYTIME he does a mission with the DAA. It might be just me but that is too much even if the intention was good. I don’t know if Caleb was lying in that five star, Floating Floraletter, that the DAA made him do it but seriously wow. That definitely isn’t helpful for his psyche. If he was the only one who did it and the DAA legit didn’t even make that a rule, then it just shows another layer of his helplessness along with trauma of the repetition that the worst part of your past will come back again.

We get to see this weighing on him especially being separated from MC for the first time when he joins the DAA. The reintroduction of death in his life and how he tries to mask this pain in front of others who see him as this rising star. He never saw himself that way, he acknowledges that he’s a good pilot but never was crazy about it. His mental evaluations are the most obvious instance showing his decline in his mental state and I think it’s because his nonchalance with his life stems from the self hatred that he isn’t strong enough which we covered. As he continues on, I think we get the most obvious and important writing of his character which is the accident. He believes he's going to die. He believes his fate has led him up to this and from what we know of the story he isn’t proven wrong about that.

How is Caleb supposed to believe his fears are irrational when the world proves they aren’t?

I think we also get to understand his trauma the most from his accident and in a way what he went through with Ever. How he felt during those days and what sort of beliefs they forced him to accept of himself which is that this is meant to happen. He has to see this as hopeless, Ever made him believe that and that he is a weapon which dehumanizes himself in the process. A weapon for MC. But when that weapon is useless or finds itself at its end then it serves no purpose. He has no purpose but what Ever made him believe and what the world in fact reinforces about those beliefs.

Something I also like about Caleb is he doesn’t use his trauma as an excuse. Never. He doesn’t even mention it to MC. She finds out about the letters on her own and from what I heard in the five star card Painful Signal, she finds out what Ever did to him. (I don’t have Painful Signal but I’m hoping everyday that it will come back 😭I also maybe be wrong but I want to experience it myself). Caleb doesn’t define himself with his trauma and I also maybe wrong about this but I don’t even think he knows how deeply his trauma is affecting him. He doesn’t even try to work through it because he doesn’t think he should as MC’s is more important. Which delves into another thing I want to get into which is codependent relationships.

Like he shouldn’t depend on MC for his happiness and should care more for himself because he is hurting MC by not doing so. Caleb is hurting the one of the most important people in MC’s life, himself. She loves Caleb but he doesn’t from what I figured, love himself especially from what the toring chip is doing in the main story. I don’t even know if he can healthily love himself with that stupid chip. How can someone love someone who doesn’t love themselves?

Yes, Caleb has done awful things. I know. Drugging MC, lying, locking her in a room, and suffocating her independence along with privacy but they make sense. I think it’s another reason why Caleb can’t love himself because he does harmful things whether it be motivated by the chip or otherwise that just validate that “yeah I deserve this because I am only those mistakes. Look what’ve you done, all you do is hurt her even if it is for her own good.” There is a conflict in his character but it all stems from an unresolved trauma that he can’t understand.

I want to say more but yeah this is just a part of why I love him because he represents what literature should represent which is written stories that speak for those who aren’t heard. People who need something to feel seen and heard whether it be trauma or relationships.

Caleb is enough and so is anyone who experienced things similar to him or are struggling with their mental health. You don’t need others for your happiness because it is possible to live your life instead of it being a survival. It’s easy for me to say those words and it is completely different applying them but healing is possible albeit as long as it’s difficult. However, it is possible and I hope it finds whoever is struggling.

[sun-and-moon-mushroom]

So, here’s my take on a soulmate AU:

Airplane-Shooting-Towards-The-Sky lives in a world where soulmates are real, so of course he wants to give his protagonist one, even though he’s never met the person who will make his own soulmark burn. He has a problem though — he also wants to write a harem for his protagonist and it would take all the drama out of it if his main character had a favourite! He comes up with a solution though, because in this world, soulmates aren’t necessarily romantic (although they often are), just people with their fates intertwined. There have been cases of soulmates who never got along, historical accounts of great rivalries, so why not make the soulmate of the protagonist one of the major villains?

Shen Yuan is one of those people lucky enough to have a soulmate, although his family often joke that he’ll never meet them if he never leaves his room. He’s obsessed with a truly terrible webnovel with surprisingly interesting monsters, and a protagonist that he loves (in a completely platonic way). The protagonist is actually the reason he started reading the book in the first place — he came across some fanart of him online and was struck by how similar the soulmark sitting on his exposed chest was to his own, almost as if they matched. It’s not the exact same, but soulmarks never are, each reflecting the one they mark while representing what links them. When it’s revealed that the main villain of the first part of the book, the one who spent years tormenting the protagonist before pushing him into a hell he spent years trying to escape… he’s disappointed somewhat. Sure, Luo Binghe has his harem, his hundreds of wives but… he couldn’t help but wish that he’d had a better soulmate.

Shen Jiu realises the mistake he’s made accepting a new disciple just because Ning Yingying had asked for it when he feels the soulmark hidden underneath his skin burn the moment the little beast gets close. It’s nothing he can’t tolerate, even as he watches as the boy gasps from the pain. He’s felt much worse when the brand was lowered over his own mark to make it ‘match’ the false one given to Qiu Haitang as a child to ensure her family’s status remained unquestioned. Even with the scar mostly erased by his level of cultivation, traces of it still remain. He refuses to care for this child — he’s lived his entire life perfectly fine without a soulmate, and the little beast will be better off the same.

Luo Binghe wipes tea off his face with his new disciple robes, already dirtied so soon after he got them, as the pain in his chest subsides. He doesn’t know what it was, he wasn’t sick or injured or anything like that. It almost felt like what he’d heard some people describe meeting your soulmate to be like — but Luo Binghe has never had a soulmate. The closest he has is an odd birthmark on his chest, but everyone knows that a soulmark is something else completely (when Su Xiyan sealed away his demonic heritage, she also sealed his soulmark) (when he stands on the edge of the Endless Abyss he’ll feel that burning pain again and know what it is).

[harukasangel]

𝓗𝓪𝓻𝓾𝓴𝓪 𝓢𝓪𝓴𝓾𝓻𝓪𝓲 𝓝𝓢𝓕𝓦 𝓪𝓵𝓹𝓱𝓪𝓫𝓮𝓽

now playing: Crime and Punishment - dhl 0:01 ❍─────── 4:28 ↻ ⊲ Ⅱ ⊳ ↺ Volume: ▁▂▃▄▅▆▇ 100%

Characters: Haruka Sakurai x GN!reader

A/N: Just a simple content warning. Good old smut + various kinks down below. GN!reader for the most part, but out of force of habit, there may be some 'fem coded' things here and there. Non Milgram au. Also Haruka is an adult

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Haruka is a bit clumsy during aftercare, he never really had anyone take care of him for a long time. But he's an absolute sweetheart nonetheless! He makes sure you're comfortable and does everything you ask of him. He struggles at first, but he noticeable gets a lot better w/ taking care of you overtime. He loves being useful, and part of that is taking care of you <3

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Haruka canonically doesn't have a favorite body part of his, nor did he really think of it. Even when you two become sexually active, he still doesn't think abt his favorite body part of his. Is it his self-loathing? Partially, and also he just doesn't really have an interest

You, on the other hand, are a completely opposite in Haruka's eyes! He doesn't have a favorite body part on you either, but because he can't choose one! Your cheeks, your fingers, your hair, your lips, everything about you is flawless to him. Honestly, the type to worship every inch of you

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Haruka doesn't think he deserves pleasure, so it's gonna take a lot for him to even allow you to do something that'll have him cum. When you two start 'making love', ummm....let's just say he's still technically a virgin. You never gone farther than having Haruka finger + go down on you ;-;

Pushing that aside, if you do manage to convince him to properly make love to you, the man cums BUCKETS. Very thick and sticky, he was holding back for all this time, he's gonna release a little more than he likes (apologies when he does for like...the first few times you two make love)

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

If it wasn't for him already having trouble tying his own shoes, he had 100% imagined tying you to the bed and overstimulating you're brains out. Bondage has been something that interested him for quite a while, and while he's usually the one tied up when you two do it, he really wants you to be at his mercy, your full attention forced on him

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Let's be honest: The dude is a virgin. He has ZERO idea what he's doing. Really--REALLY--meekly asks Yuno (since Muu said she's not into that 'lewd stuff') for advice, which results in her teasing THE FUCK outta Haruka

Though, I'll be honest; his inexperience, but eagerness to please you is what makes the whole time very....adorable, even charming!

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

The dude LOVES it when you sit on his face. Literally the position doesn't matter, he doesn't know, or care, about the names. Just...sit on his face. Sit on your throne, my liege! Sit on his face like a fucking chair, suffocate him with your thighs. He'll die happy, I promise! (too soon, ik, sorry....)

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

Haruka tries to be as romantic as possible, his earnest shines through. However, this definitely doesn't erase his awkwardness. He's not necessarily goofy, more though things he can do will make you laugh. Like if he's trying to hold back a moan or hump his hips into the mattress as he eats you out. He gets embarrassed when you laugh, thinking he's doing something wrong, but all it takes is a little praise to reassure him

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Haruka never cared much about his intimate spots until he blurted out suggested taking your relationship to the next level. Most likely, your first time was planned, which was PERFECT! The boy wash and shaved his cock CLEAN! He started to take much better care down there. The carpet is a bit darker than the drapes

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

As said before, Haruka tries his best to make sex as romantic as possible. He’s very nervous and a bit of a klutz, but his determination to please you compensates for it. And even with his awkward demeanor, it genuinely makes the moment feel organic, raw and cute

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

When Haruka discovered he had a crush on you, he began to print out your pictures from your socials and make an album of them. Didn't see it as weird, they were already public, but he did feel a little dirty about it. Though, a few pics in there was stuff he asked Mahiru and Mikoto to send him when they were hanging out with you

Let's just say....he tried his best to keep his precious collection clean, but still couldn't help himself. He cleans it as best as he can, but how sticky do you think it is?

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

Light bondage (giving, receiving), praise (giving, receiving), body worship (giving), LIGHT degradation (receiving), femdom, bimbofication, collaring

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Bedroom. And sometimes, the bath/shower. And even then, the slippery floor mixed in with Haruka’s bad coordination is a dangerous combination. Boy is way too shy for anything public and might just faint if you tease him outside the comfort of your room. If he feels horny in public, he’ll be too embarrassed to say it, but tug on your sleeve and look down, blushing and stammering if you two can go home

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Haruka really loves it when you’re wearing his mother’s necklace + promise ring. Two symbols that show him you’re his forever. His to worship and protect, in exchange for all the attention and care you give him. Let the man show you just how much he loves you <3

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Hurting you anyway shape and form. It doesn’t matter if you’re into it, it just doesn’t sit right with Haruka. Especially if you’re younger + shorter than him, he’s deathly afraid of being the one to hurt you when it’s suppose to be a pleasurable moment for you. He wants to use his strength to make you feel protected, not the opposite!

There’s nothing Haruka won’t do for you as long as you’re happy in the end! Though, one thing that turns him off is heavy degradation. You can call him a slut and whore all you want, but don’t go as far as saying you never loved him + embarrassed to have him as your bf. He’ll honestly cry

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

This man is a giver, and a generous one at that! While the first time was a bit ungainly, he improves with time. He wants to know if you enjoyed it, what he can do in the future, what you didn't like, etc. after the session

He won't bring up wanting a blow job...like ever....it's up to you to....well, not exactly force him, but to show him how good it'll feel and that it's okay if *you're* the one to pleasure *him* for once. Sit on his lap, grind down on him, and whisper in his ear how much you want his cock in your mouth. Boy will short circuit he's happy

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Haruka is usually very calm and wants to savor the moment, so he starts off very slow. Key word: starts off. You give this boy permission to go faster? You praised him for being so good? You moan out 'a little more'? The dude can get really rough if you let him get carried away

When he's on top, he's usually a soft, service dom, but combine that with a guy that can get lost in the moment and pound into you with an animalistic pace. And honey, you have no idea that your moans for him, and him alone, only eggs him on

But don't you worry, sweetheart, cause Haruka apologies like the absolute cutie he is! Makes sure to take care of you afterwards + feels so incredibly guilty if he overstimulated you (even if you enjoyed it)

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Haruka prefers if he has all night to keep you up, but if you ever wanted a quickie, he would never say no. Will hesitate if you two are in public and offer to go home really quickly instead

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

As long as you aren't being put in harms way, Haruka is open to try anything you suggest. Again, there's really nothing he won't do to please you!

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Now physically, after say 4-5 rounds~, Haruka would be getting tired. But emotionally? Seeing you look so fucking gorgeous, moaning out *his* name, telling him that he's doing so good, begging for *him*, and having all your attention, especially in such a vulnerable state, on *him*? The dude is going to take you back to heaven with how much he's gonna plough into you

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Okay, HEAR ME OUT! I imagine once you introduce Haruka to using toys in the bedroom (after getting over the shock of what they do), he would be very interested in using them! Though, here's the catch: He'd rather you use them on him. From collars, to ball gags, to vibrators, to anal beads, etc. he will take pleasure from these toys rather than having you waste your precious effort on him

He's a little hesitant to use toys on you if you ask, it's honestly more of a pride thing for him. *He* wants to be the one to make you feel good. But he'll comply if you insist

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

He's usually fair, but may unintentionally do things that make him seem like he's teasing. Like pulling back before you cum? He doesn't mean to edge you, just that he was worried when you cried out. Or overstimulating you until you can't walk? He didn't mean to get rough, it's just hard to control himself. Please, let him carry you to the bath!

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Whimpers.....A LOT. Cries....A LOT.....moans....A LOT

Very vocal, though you're mostly hearing him whine and moan. He's very big on giving praise though, but as much praise as he can through his groans and whimpers

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

I'm the CEO of switch!Haruka. Don't argue with me, you know I'm right/hj/lh. I know lots of people hc him as a true bottom, but I honestly see him as someone that can either be a sub or dom as long as it pleases his partner. Don't think he has a preference. On one hand, Jackalope did say he enjoys being dominated. On the other hand, he *does* want to be useful to his favorite

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

Honestly, nothing impressive, but nothing to scoff at either. He's around 6 inches, 7 when he's hard. His body is, er....twink shaped, me guesses. But don't let that fool you, he can be very strong

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

Low to mid, tbh. I don't see him having a ravenous sex drive, rather he likes sex because it's another activity where your attention is all on him. Even when he's stressed he's not the type to ask for a stress reliever, you're going to have to offer one once he sends you subtle hints

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Even if he's tired, he'll only fall asleep once he is sure you're comfortable and safe in his arms. May smile as he watches you sleep peacefully for a good ten minutes before dozing off himself

[wetcatspellcaster]

Veilguard Thoughts

(my sort-of review, more of a ramble, below the cut in case of spoilers)

I had particularly low expectations for this game, as it felt to me like it was rushed out to try and hit the BG3 crowd and get them to pay £70 at the point where their hyperfixation was failing them. It felt like a very commercially-motivated decision, and I tried to modify my expectations accordingly.

I then started playing... and had to modify my expectations again.

But with two lowering of expectations completed... I genuinely enjoyed this game! I had fun! Sort of! if I squint!!

Thoughts!

I am not a competent gamer, so I like combat that feels fun and engaging without being challenging or a chore (cough, BG3 Act 3, cough), but without being lazy either. I played as a mage in Veilguard and I felt like this hit a sweet spot - moments where I was stressed kind-of invested, no moments when I was bored. The graphics for mage (for spellblade particularly) were awesome and badass, and I loved to new mode of engaging with the mage class in orb and dagger.

I understand the frustration with a lot of lore being retconned, ignored, or wilfully erased or moved away from. Some parts I understood: I do think Veilguard tries to make a move away from grimdark, not out of disloyalty to the franchise and it's roots, but bc grimdark is a very different prospect now than when Origins released. it's a genre that gets a lot more criticism and bad press, and that some people feel genuinely uncomfortable perpetuating as a results. While Origins is my favourite dragon age game, there's a lot of insane things you need to just let slide to enjoy it - like the fact that multiple origins begin with some kind of rape and sexual assault if you're playing as a woman. I don't think retconning that stuff is anything other than being politically savvy, and a little more sensitive to how fantasy has changed.

(I also think this is why they've moved away from the chantry conflict to be honest. Like the optics of Christian religions in fantasy has also changed, and let's be honest, Dragon Age had already fucked THAT, multiple times.)

I did however, like everyone, find it a bit disheartening to see how little Keep decisions mattered. Why is there no Keiran with Morrigan? why can't Mythal move to an inquisitor who drank the Well of Sorrows instead? why is my Inquisitor defending Solas when she ended the game hating him? Why is Hawke being in the Fade meaningless? I know this is just echoing what people have already said, but it was sad to see the 'conclusion' to the franchise (that probably isn't the end, let's be honest, not now that people paid £70 for an underwritten game) was even less satisfying in terms of choice and agency than ME3

This game deliberately skewed itself to read as a 'better DA2', than a 'worse, rushed inquistion'. IDK, it just makes me feel a bit grossed out, and manipulated. I mean, we know DA2 can be made in crunch, lads!!!!! :)))

Criticisms!

EVERYTHING is underwritten. The game is woefully short. If I can complete all the sidequests in a game, then something is wrong. The romances, the character arcs, the main quest, the dialogues. Everything was sparse, with the bare bones of a plot, that (in the case of companions quests) was rarely seen through to a full and satisfying conclusion. And I *know* that's not the writers fault, necessarily, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be done better.

There's so much potential, but I found that most of the companions could be boiled down to one or two traits, and while I can see people headcanoning reasons for this in real time, it's just... underwriting, or bad writing. Extremely telling to me that both Emmrich and Davrin were my favourite companions... because they had their own companions. That meant that they had multiple story hooks - their professions, their relationships, and then their little guys. They got three things, when most people only got two.

This was particularly egrerious for me with Taash, because they started out amazing, and I ended up being extremely disappointed as I watched both them and their mother being reduced down to flat one-dimension caricatures and a tired queer narrative of 'my parents hate me'. Only, this time, it's 'my immigrant parents hate me'. when you couple the reductive approach to Taash with bioware's inability to write the Qunari well or without falling into Orientalism??? they're suddenly an evil repressive queer phobic religion after being supportive of trans characters in inquisition???? you're telling me Shathann, a woman who was forced into a more feminine role by circumstance but considered herself more genderless/masculine as a scholar, wouldn't be on board with non-binary identity? just galling tbh.

The romances are underwritten. And they are badly written, to me. Luckily I know we'll have fic, but in Inquisition, each romance was 90 minutes worth of content. In Veilguard, Lucanis's romance is the longest... at 18 minutes. It just seems stupid and strange to me - if this game is chasing on BG3's coat-tails, why don't they know everyone is fucking horny?

While I liked the decision to give companions more banter together and flesh out their interpersonal relationships, I felt that the balance was off... probably bc it's cheaper to have two actors share a piece of scripted dialogue, than voice a decision tree. It meant that to me Rook often felt like a bystander in their own story, or excluded from their own found family. HR Manager-core, as it were.

General uselessness of the Lords of Fortune coupled with the Orientalism of the Lords of Fortune.... big sad.

I think the choice between Lace and Davrin is highly!!!! suspect!! do you go with fantasy racism (kill off the only dwarf, thus meaning all your dwarf companions are dead in the game, including the one who represented to future for her people) or the real racism (kill off the black man). I really wish this decision was more reactive, and perhaps based in faction strength or character bond, not just a pre-set choice.

I'll never care about solas, the way trick weekes wants me to care about solas. pretty dumb decision, to make a whole game contingent on this fact.

The ending and epilogue screens were underwhelming, and left the game feeling incomplete to me.

Joys!

To end on a more positive note...

everyone is hot. I honestly think everyone is hot. No other dragon age game had a cast of characters whom i all found attractive. This is unheard of. This is why I know all the fic will be fucking stellar.

And you know who else is hot? Rook. Genuinely one of my favourite DA protagonists! Maybe bc of the faction thing, or just the chemistry of the VA I chose. I just felt like she was pretty fucking hot tbh, and that more people in-game should be taking notice of it. Everyone should stop having conversations with each other and start desiring Rook carnally.

Weisshaupt was genuinely an amazing sequence and questline. In fact, I loved that this game featured Grey Wardens more heavily, and I loved all the lore about Wardens that was introduced.

Assan!! <3 Manfred!!! <3

Bellara and Neve kissing with tongue!!! No, I will not elaborate!!!

(I think that Bellara and Neve were two characters who did have strong stories, and that they should kiss about it.)

Elgarnan and Ghilanain.... never before has a dragon age game known what it's like to have a charismatic villain. This time, we got two. Ghilanain was my favourite, bc I'm fucking gay, but even interactions with Elgarnan and his boss battle felt engaging. I honestly don't think a dragon age game has ever had a good villain before, and these guys were both fucking cool.

[confession-of-the-heart]

re: outgrowing AkuRoku, I think the biggest thing is… how to phrase it… it’s not just the obvious age problem in and of itself, but rather that the way fans were reading into their interactions in KH2 (when it first blew up) ended up being completely off base?

That is, to say: AkuRoku is fundamentally completely out of character—for both Axel and Roxas alike. It’s based on a version of the characters that simply doesn’t have any basis in their actual selves, and so there is a major sense of “he would not fucking say that”-type incongruity whenever depictions of it are still encountered—again, age stuff notwithstanding. I’m not trying to make a moral argument here but a character based argument. I would actually also argue that part of this is also wrapped up in XemSai, which is also an outdated take on those respective characters for similar reasons.

There’s a whole web of character interactions and past fandom interpretations which were extremely popular for some time that just don’t have any basis in reality now, so to speak. To elaborate:

Back during the era that KH2 released in, people were going absolutely nuts running with headcanon-heavy interpretations of the characters based on an extremely limited scope of canonical knowledge about them. We knew basically nothing about anyone in the Organization circa KH2. Character ages weren’t necessarily as obvious back then, so a lot of people just sort of went with the popular narrative and assumed Axel was a teenager around Roxas’ age without really giving that idea any critical thought. People with shipping goggles glued to their faces further decided to interpret Axel and Roxas’ emotionally charged interactions in the same manner as they did characters like Sora and Riku.

Meanwhile, it’s not terribly apparent that Axel and Saïx have any connection beyond just working for the same group—and most people see a hot boss interacting with his hot right-hand man, and make a ship out of it.

If the series had stopped with KH2 and we never got any further information about them this would have been all well and good, but, well… then we got more context.

Basically, KH has a shipping meta, and the meta changed—bigtime.

Days comes out, and we get context that tells us Axel is hanging onto his relationship with Roxas and Xion as a way of coping with his deteriorating relationship with Saïx. We get to see what real homoerotic tension in KH looks like between Axel and Saïx; we find out that Saïx has no actual loyalty to or affection for Xemnas, and is in fact overly preoccupied with whatever Axel is doing to the point of being a massive harassing prick to him and his friends over it.

As for Roxas, it’s made strikingly obvious that Axel’s relationship with the kid is one of a mentor—a significant portion of Days is devoted to seeing Axel more-or-less raising Roxas, along with Xion, and explaining basic concepts to them in much the same manner as you would a young child. They’re both less than a year old, after all.

Some liken it more to a family-type relationship and say big-brother while others say dad-like, but no matter which way you shake it it’s very clear by days that the tension in Axel and Roxas’ relationship in KH2 is simply not romantic in any sense of the word. A lot of it actually lies in their relationship with Xion, whose presence had been erased by KH2’s time, but the psychological effect of her presence still lingered.

Add to this the context of BBS up through KH3 giving us a much more intimate and in-depth longstanding history between Axel and Saïx, and there you have it. The character development meta has effectively rendered AkuRoku obsolete as a ship.

So I don’t know if saying one has personally outgrown it is necessarily even “correct” so much as that the series itself thoroughly debunked the entire basis that people had for it in the first place. If you respect where the characters are now, outgrowing it is the natural response. The only people still hanging onto it at this point are by default hanging onto an OOC, even shallow, interpretation of the characters.

Maybe some people hate that things changed. I do often see people talking about how they liked Axel better in CoM, or the Organization better in KH2–but KH has always been a series where the characters develop significantly and show different facets of themselves over time. Personally I’m much more energized by all the new material the series has given us since I first fell in love with it in the 2000s, and the way its characters have surprised me and become so much more fleshed out as people… but some people are more apt to cling to popular fanon and nostalgia until the day they die, I suppose. Well, they can do what they want.

~~~

[leejenowrld]

i have some questions about love me back that i’m curious about. is mark uncomfortable with the fact that y/n and jeno used to be in a long term relationship? does he get uncomfortable thinking about them fucking?

he isn’t necessarily uncomfortable with the idea but mark thinks their relationship was shallow, almost transactional, built on physical attraction rather than anything meaningful. he finds it frustrating how little they truly knew or cared to know about each other, like it was all surface-level and performative. the moments he hears about—like how jeno never noticed when y/n was upset or how she didn’t even know basic things about his life—solidify for mark how toxic and empty it was.

but beneath his frustration is this quiet anger at jeno, not just for how he treated y/n, but for making her believe that was all she deserved. mark hates the thought of y/n settling for someone who never really saw her, who couldn’t appreciate her depth or vulnerability. there’s a bitterness to it, like he wishes he could’ve been the one there all along, showing her what real love and connection could feel like.

more than anything, though, it fuels his resolve. he doesn’t just want to be different from jeno; he wants to be the one who sees every part of her—the good, the bad, the hidden—and loves her for all of it. the idea of y/n being with someone who reduced her to anything less than what she deserves only strengthens mark’s determination to make sure she never feels that way again.

but what does make him uncomfortable is when mark thinks about y/n and jeno fucking, it twists something deep inside him. he doesn’t want to, but his mind drifts to the sounds she must’ve made, the way her body might’ve moved beneath jeno, and it makes his stomach churn. it’s not jealousy in the traditional sense—it’s anger, frustration, and something darker that he can’t quite place.

he imagines how careless it must’ve been, how jeno’s hands were likely all over her, rough and impatient, taking what he wanted without thinking about what she needed. it drives him crazy, the thought of jeno fucking her without understanding her, without seeing her the way mark does. did jeno even care about the way she’d tremble, the way her breath hitched when she was on the edge? did he ever slow down, look into her eyes, or was it just physical—hard and fast and empty?

mark hates that he can’t stop picturing it, hates that it haunts him at the worst times. he thinks about how jeno’s touch must’ve left her feeling more hollow than fulfilled, and it only makes him want to erase every memory of it. when he imagines her like that now, it’s with him—not with jeno. in his mind, he’s the one taking his time with her, learning her body, drawing out every moan and shiver with purpose. he’s the one who would’ve made her feel cherished instead of used, the one who would’ve left her breathless in the best way.

and it’s that thought, the idea of undoing what jeno didn’t care to do, that lingers the most.

[cripplecharacters]

hello again! I'm making an au of a show and I wanted to give most of the characters some disability/disorder/condition.

One character had hair loss (not much and it was magically healed) in the show and I wanted to give her actual hair loss, however she wears a hijab and I was wondering if it was like the mask trope for people with facial differences since she'd always go out with her head covered.

And the other character can see other people's dreams and I was thinking of giving him narcolepsy, but is it insensitive given his magic(?) when awake?

Hey!

I personally would never count religious garments as evoking this trope, I think it's perfectly fine. "Hijabi dealing with hair loss" is a description that fits a lot of people. I have no issue with this and think it's quite cool.

There's also the fact that people who wear a hijab still take it off at home, so presumably she will be described without it at some point. But you can mention her lack of hair when she's out as well - maybe her friend who also wears a hijab struggles with a strand of hair poking out, and she jokes about not having to deal with that anymore.

Of course it depends on what kind of relationship she has with her facial difference, but a lot of people who had theirs for a long time will reference it in a very casual way. Just a once-in-a-while reminder that "yeah it's still there".

If you want to be Extra Safe, you can consider a type of alopecia that affects the eyebrows and eyelashes as well (alopecia universalis), which would make it visible at all times. You can also have another character with alopecia who has it more visible, things like that.

I hope this helps,

mod Sasza

Hi!

Re: narcolepsy: It doesn't seem inherently offensive or insensitive to me. (For context, doctors suspected narcolepsy with me, now no one is sure, it's up in the air, but not official. My body is a mystery.)

For starters, I can name exactly 3 characters with narcolepsy, and 2 are from the same book series. Mysterious Benedict Society, first published 2008, has 2 characters with narcolepsy, which is portrayed sort of okay. And there's one character in The Boys, who was made narcoleptic because his actor often napped on set. My friend, who has narcolepsy, said the only rep he has seen is a one-off episode of Scrubs where the gag is that the narcoleptic has cataplexy when he sees tits, and no other time. As you can imagine, that's definitely not any sort of respectful representation. And he said maybe the Unconscious Argentinean from Moulin Rouge, but again, just sort of vague.

Essentially, there's very little to be found in terms of tropes in the first place, so it's not like you're following any harmful tropes.

As to the power, it seems like while it's connected to narcolepsy, it doesn't necessarily hinge entirely on it. And, more importantly, it doesn't erase the character's disability. That's really the main thing to avoid when it comes to giving disabled characters superpowers.

This is also a power that someone without narcolepsy have, but it's not jumping out as something insensitive.

As a side note, really vivid dreams can be a symptom of narcolepsy. If you want to give him this symptom, maybe this can play a part in the discovery of his powers, or in him not realizing immediately that they are powers.

Hope this helps,

– mod sparrow

[annabelle-creart]

Chikyuu wa mawaru Kimi o kakushite

Kagayaku hitomi Kirameku tomoshibi

Chikyuu wa mawaru Kimi o nosete

Itsuka kitto deau Bokura o nosete

Toosan ga nokoshita Atsui omoi

Kaasan ga kureta Ano manazashi

Drawer: By Primus sake that I sincerely never expected this to happen- like how????

Reader: said the one who literally made it

Drawer: shut up

Characters: Variants of Heatwave and Boulder from Transformers Rescue Bots

Inspiration: Robert Wun’s Haute Couture Autumn/Winter 24 (I’m so in love with that collection by fuck’s sake, I wanted to do something with it before but didn’t, until I thought it would be funny to do a valentine thingy with these two… and here we are)

Reblogs and Hearts are appreciated

Please, do not repost without credits

Extra content under the Read More

Initial song: Kimi wo Nosete by Azumi Inoue. Castle in the Sky's end credits song

Main drawing inspiration:

Background, Boulder’s design and Heatwave’s design (from left to right)

I used the main theme of the pass of time and the layers of the body, which is the original meaning of this collection, but also added my own meanings

The background is the representation of the soul (collection), of its beauty and its bright, nonetheless I added the concept of stars and universe as both a way to stylize and also a way to show how these variants are not something mortal but something that transcends, something that shares a vision but yet is a different thing, and yet is the eternal light of each that they follow

Boulder’s butterfly design was inspired by two things: one, I wanted to give Boulder finials like wings, and two, Butterflies mean change, and that’s something I always maintain with Boulder’s character, Boulder changes, usually for good, not necessarily for Heatwave but yet he is one of the reasons Boulder learns that change doesn’t need to be complete, it can be partial and start with tiny things, also, Boulder’s usually related with nature and butterflies are both the spiritual and literal representation of nature, at my perspective

Heatwave’s veil was inspired by the brilliant veil because I always relate him with stars and water, which are shiny by default, but also a sense of being far, they touch but yet don’t meet because Heatwave always has a veil that covers part of him, with humor or with rudeness, depending on the context, Heatwave never reveals himself, yet, the veil is enough transparent to show what he is comfy showing and also to see enough of everything, the good and the bad, the veil is for protection, not for blindness

Nonetheless, I want you to have on mind that part of Heatwave’s hat and Boulder’s finial seem like ate or burned, that’s a representation of both their flaws and both physical and psychological scars, but these ate (butterflies on middle picture) or burned (hat and flower of right picture) parts are directly from the original designes

With a darker background so you can see how beautiful the plane colors ended up

Background inspiration:

To use another of my fave designs of this collection as second background was pure diversion and practicality but yet it can be understood as they meeting what’s inside the other, of what are they made (not literally)

Meanwhile the soul represented the spiritual part of it and the light they love of the other, the bone is the Earthly part, their tastes on life and how they like to live it (basically, what they love of each other talking about habits or physical manners)

I did the flower of the back of the Main picture just because I could, it has no meaning compared to the rest except that is beautiful and full of light, which is the perspective one has of the other (and fuck is beautiful, I’m proud of it)

The background of the main picture, which I like the most, is beautiful (I already talked about it, is the soul)

And the characters alone because I couldn’t NOT save how beautiful they ended up before erasing the parts that wouldn’t be seen

And that's all:

HAPPY (late) VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Lectora: Ojala los hubieras dibujado besandose

Dibujante: si pero no pegaba despues con el concepto

Escritora: eso es que no sabe dibujar besos

Dibujante: CALLATE!! Hpta

Escritora: AHHHH, NO SABE DIBUJAR BESOS🎶

Dibujante: no sabes terminar tus fanfics

Escritpra: QUE DIJISTE HIJA DE TU PUTA MADRE?!?!

*Se pelean en una esquina... como siempre*

[karafina]

Is it possible to read xxxholic without being overtaken by hopelessness?? Can there ever be a happy ending, at least for watanuki?? you're the resident expert, please help...

Hiii I was incredibly busy today tut

I will take this very seriously, I think the only way to keep your sanity is to make peace with the sadness! Basically xxxHolic is a pretty fun yet bittersweet story, and it’s shaped by it's concept of inevitability: not fate, but that every event has choices that preceded it.. Even if the choices were the right ones, the consequence isn’t necessarily the perfect outcome, and the characters have to live with that because it was the best they could do. Sorry if this is vague, think of the birth of Watanuki; that alone was the continuation of a string of choices Clow, Yuuko, his parents, Fey Wang and Syaoran made.

It’s so interesting that Clamp started Rou with Watanuki on a bad slump and made that the memorable image of his adult self. But that isn’t always the case right? There are days when he wakes up early and days when he feels like doing stuff; he has many hobbies and friends who love him, and enjoys doing his job too. Watanuki does try his best to live a fulfilling life! His healing process is a bit of a realistic shock because it’s not linear and there’s things he'll just never get over, I find that all very touching.

Living with constant pains, depression, and loss doesn’t erase the fun and loving we can give and experience, that's an important part of xxxholic to me. All you can do is carry on with a hopeful heart ❤️

Sorry if this is so scattered….. I think the ending implies he'll stay like that until 'something' changes, so in a way there’s no ending unless he’s satisfied.