#//putting it under a read more just in case\\

[mr-sadman]

Hello wonderful people! 

We are back again this year with our wonderful Dreamling Week, which will be taking place from June 2nd to June 8th this year!

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We do not accept nor condone the use of plagiarism, including the use of AI, whether in writing or art. If you are caught using either, you will be disqualified from the current event and barred entry for the other events the Mr. Sadman team puts forward.

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The official tags for this year’s edition are : #Dreamling Week 2024 and #Dreamling Week

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Official AO3 Collection : Dreamling Week 2024 [link]

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Since the event is a few weeks away, what can I do now?

Spread the word and the joy! We have decided to post the prompts earlier this year to give more time for people to get creative!

Without further ado here is this year’s prompt list : 

Sunday 2nd Hunt Body swap Indulgence [First Time] Monday 3rd Pirates Hourglass Flowers [Exhibitionism] Tuesday 4th Steampunk/Solarpunk Painting Meet cute/ugly [Massage] Wednesday 5th Shapeshifter Storm Finger food [Dirty] Thursday 6th Soulmates Lecture Midsummer [Friends with benefits] Friday 7th Through the ages Nightmare Monochromatic [Hate sex] Saturday 8th Assassins Memories Sunrise/Sunset [Roleplay]

FAQs/TLDR

FAQs : 

When is the event ? From June 2nd to June 8th! While you should post the prompt for each day it is associated with, we will also be accepting late submissions, so have no worry!

Can I combine prompts? YES!! Be sure to indicate which days and prompts you are using in your description, otherwise, go free! You can post on either days associated with your prompts, or, if it’s a multipart work, on each corresponding day!

Is there any content restriction ? We accept all  works of all mediums - writing, art, collages, playlists, podfics, translations, video edits, etc. - , whether they are SFW, NSFW and/or triggering. Writers and artists- tag appropriately ; Readers and viewers - be mindful of tags!

Where should I post my work ? Anywhere from Tumblr or AO3!! We have accounts on both platforms and we also have an AO3 collection : Dreamling Week 2024 [link]!

What tag should I use for visibility ? We recommend using both #Dreamling Week and #Dreamling Week 2024 as well as tag our account (mr-sadman) ! We will try our best to reblog every entry but if you see that we haven’t reblogged/retweeted your post yet, don’t be afraid to DM us! Make sure your blog settings are set so that your posts appear in searches - otherwise we might not see them!

Are polyamorous ships accepted ? Yes!! As long as the focus of your entry is Dreamling, poly-ships are absolutely accepted!

Do I need to be a part of the server to participate? Absolutely not! Dreamling Week is open to all! Although some additional events (such as a watch party, game nights and fic read-alongs) will be held on the server, submissions do not need to come from server members only!!

I need help, how do I reach a mod?

If there is something that is not covered by our rules masterpost and/or FAQ, you are very free to reach out to us in the Discord server’s dedicated channel or in Tumblr DMs! 

Keep on Dreamling!~ <3

#dreamling week #dreamling week 2024 #mr sadman #the sandman #dreamling #dream x hob #sandman fanfic #the sandman netflix #sandman fanart #sandman #the sandman fanart #dream of the endless #hob gadling

[lonelyroommp3]

*please read the explanations below the poll options before voting*

was thinking about this on my coach home and naturally had to make it into an overcomplicated poll

explanations, disclaimers, etc. under the cut:

until tumblr enables polls with infinite options there is no way for me to account for the entire breadth of human experience here. the categories provided and the examples thereof will not be, and are not intended to be, exhaustive. if you can't find the exact thing you do listed here or you think it falls into more than one category then please use your best judgement to select whatever answer is closest. only choose "something else not covered here" if there is actually nothing even close to what you do listed in the poll (and please elaborate in the tags if this is the case! i'm curious)

i really wanted to include "guy running alongside the moving vehicle you are in" but ran out of options. sorry

if you feel you do two or more of these things in equal measure just pick whatever one answer you want based on vibes

music video: anything you imagine as a standalone, prerecorded visual to accompany the music. this may feature musical performance elements, dance, a narrative, or any combination of the above. if you're imagining your little scene as if it's intended to be viewed on MTV, youtube, etc as the official visual complement to the music, it probably comes under this category

a music video mainly featuring somebody else: this could be you, your blorbos, your self insert OC, another artist you'd like to see cover the song, random actors/celebrities you would cast in the video, etc. whether they are performing the song within the video or not. if the bulk of the "running time" of your daydream is taken up by people who aren't the artist who originally performs the version of the song you're listening to, pick this one

a live performance: this could be in concert (whether a concert version that already exists e.g. imagining taylor swift's eras tour staging when you hear cruel summer, or a version you would like to see), at karaoke, at an open mic night, your acoustic cover that goes viral when you post it on youtube, busking on the street, performing to the other passengers on the bus, etc. could apply to dance as well as singing/music!

a diegetic use in narrative context: imagining the song being performed as a musical number by people in a story that exists beyond the scope of this one song in order to accompany or advance said story. this might be imagining the song being performed as one of many musical numbers in a stage or movie musical, or it could be a performance that takes place in universe (like the performances in glee, or scott pilgrim vs the world)

non diegetic narrative use: imagining the song as the soundtrack to a scene in a story that exists beyond the scope of this one song, but it is not being played/performed/heard by the people within the scene. for example, you imagine a fight scene in a movie taking place to this song, or perhaps it would play in the background during your OTP's first kiss if your favourite fanfiction was adapted into a netflix original tv series.

AMV/edit: a video compilation of existing* scenes from a piece of media, put together by a fan and set to music. (*existing might be taken loosely; e.g. you might be imagining an AMV of scenes from a book with no actual visual media adaptation. the main distinction is that here you are imagining the actual editing process of splicing scenes together as a fan project, as opposed to the music accompanying one continuous scene or sequence of scenes - which would come under "non diegetic narrative use" - or the clips being intended as the official visual accompaniment to a song, which would come under "music video".)

an abstract or lyric based visualiser: 2000s core windows media player visuals, a lyric video, anything that focuses more on objects, scenery, abstract patterns, words moreso than People/Fictional Characters/Animals/etc Doing Things To Music

#for me i'd say it is music video feat. other people very closely followed by diegetic use. i love imagining my blorbos Doing A Musical

[heysweetheart-writes]

WIP Wednesday!

Hii! I'm sort of back. After finishing the RPF fic (which you can find on ao3) my brain refused to produce more words for a while and it didn't help that @brokenpartsmightfit was traveling and not being the amazing beta that she is. But here are some words for you!

Thank you so much for today's tags: @priincebutt @theprinceandagcd @onthewaytosomewhere @suseagull04 @blueeyedgrlwrites (and thank you for your help!)

@taste-thewaste @thesleepyskipper & @firenati0n You all have some delicious things cooking!!

Here's my snippet from the neighbours au! I'm not entirely happy with it but I've decided to share anyway. Sorry for any mistakes!

“This is an amethyst,” June explains unprompted about the, honestly very beautiful, purple crystal she’s holding in her hands, not bigger than her palm. “It’s a natural tranquilliser and it's known for relieving stress and anxiety.” “Oh um–” Henry says a little hesitant because he doesn’t want to be disrespectful but he doesn’t know the first thing about crystals. “I’m not sure if I believe in these things?” “And that’s totally okay! You don’t have to!” June walks backwards looking around Henry’s living room and finally sets the rock down on a bookshelf. “It’s just a pretty rock. If anyone asks, you can say a friend gave it to you as a decoration!” 

“I don't have many visitors, mostly Alex.” June oofs, “In that case I should get you a tourmaline for Alex’s weird vibes or maybe a milky quartz. I’ll ask my crystals girl.” She nods to herself.  “I don’t think it’ll be necessary, actually. Alex doesn’t bring odd um– vibes, as you put it. He’s usually very relaxed when he comes over.”  June and Nora give each other a look. Like they’re reading each other’s minds and then Nora cracks and starts laughing. “Are you hanging out with the same Alex as we are?” “He’s a bundle of anxious energy and weird vibes.” June adds. “Bueno, ya Catalina con las vibes de los demás. Suficiente.” “No me digas Catalina, Gabriel.” June says through gritted teeth and flicks Alex’s ear. Alex flicks her right back. They glare at each other for a moment before June rolls her eyes and waves Alex away. The entire conversation is a tad ridiculous if Henry is honest, but it’s also very endearing and even while picking at each other, Henry can see the special bond between them. “Anyway, if you say Alex is chill then you’ll be fine with the amethyst.”

tags under the cut!

I’m tagging both people I want to see what they’re up to and people I’m hoping will see this snip: @read-and-write- @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @cricketnationrise @pridepages @clottedcreamfudge

@anincompletelist @myheartalivewrites @three-drink-amy @lizzie-bennetdarcy @kiwiana-writes

@zwiazdziarka @bigassbowlingballhead @onward--upward @tailsbeth-writes @getmehighonmagic

@ninzied @nocoastposts @wordsofhoneydew @14carrotghoul @eusuntgratie

@cha-melodius @itsmaybitheway @i-am-freyja as usual, sorry if you posted and I missed it and if you don't want to be tagged, let me know!

#rwrb #rwrb fic #wip wednesday #my fic #acd #alex claremont diaz #henry fox #red white and royal blue #firstprince #firstprince fanfiction #firstprince fic #neighbours!au

[reigningqueenofwords]

Prom Woes

Pairing: Dean x Reader Word count: 1,246 Request: Anonymous. Hey, I saw one of your dean x reader imagines and I loved it a lot! So I was wondering if you could do a fanfic where dean and the reader are about 17 and the reader’s prom date breaks up with her during the dance and Dean comforts her and confesses his feelings? Fluff follows? 😂😂love your fics bunches!!!

Read on AO3

Standing in the middle of the dance floor, your eyes watered. People moved around you, bodies close to their dates. Sniffing, you shook your head and turned, making your way off the dance floor. It was your senior prom, and the memories that should have been magical were shattered.

“Oh, Y/N/N, you look beautiful.” Your mother gushed, holding her hands together by her chin. She’d just put the finishing touches on your hair once you’d finished your makeup. Your dress was a lovely shade of purple, and shimmered slightly. You’d had your eye on it for months before your parents agreed to go prom shopping. Your father refused to buy a dress months ahead of time in case you changed your mind. So, you’d scrambled two weeks prior to make sure you got your dress.

As you passed a trash can, you ripped the flower from your wrist and tossed it in. “Stupid jerk.” You muttered, wanting to punch him in the face. Finding your table, you dropped into your seat.

“Well, that doesn’t look like how you should look at your prom.” Came your best friend’s voice.

You sighed and shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.” You told him sadly, wiping under your eye and smudging your makeup. “Oh, great.” You groaned, seeing the black line on your hand. “Perfect.” You sighed.

Dean furrowed his brows and sat next to you. “What the hell happened? You’ve been looking forward to this night for months.”

You grinned as you Dean sat on the couch watching movies. “We’re seniors!” You squealed.

“Technically, we’re not students until Monday.” He teased. “And you are way too excited.”

“This is the final year of high school. And prom!” You saw him roll his eyes and shoved him lightly. “I can’t wait.” You added. “Jessie will look so hot in a tux.” You sighed.

Dean chuckled lightly. “I still can’t believe you’re dating that idiot.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

You played with the table cloth. “Jessie broke up with me.” You sniffed, your eyes watering all over.

“What?!” He asked, sitting straight up. “When? Why?”

Despite how bad you felt, you let out a soft chuckle at how he sounded. “Just a few minutes ago- on the dance floor.” Your eyes shot to where it was still packed for a moment, then back to the table. “He didn’t really give a good reason, actually.” That fact was just hitting you, and made your more angry than anything. You’d been together since the July before- that was 11 months of your life with him. All to have it ended. At your prom. Your senior prom!

Dean was clearly angry. “What a dick. Where’s that asshole now?”

You shrugged. “I don’t know. He left me on the dance floor. I think I spaced out for a few minutes before I made my way over here. I kinda just wanna go home…” What was the point of staying when you looked like hell from crying, and you were miserable?

“Come on.” Dean got up and held out his hand. “Let’s have our own prom.” He grinned.

Taking his hand, you narrowed your eyes. “Should I be worried?” You asked, half joking.

“Nah.” He pretended to think for a moment. “I don’t think…” He laughed.

Sitting across from him at Burger King, you covered your mouth as you laughed. You had been chewing your burger, and he had made a stupid face. “Stop!” You waved. “I’m trying to eat.”

“Hey, I’m just happy to see you smiling again.” Dean grinned, taking a sip of his soda. “I hate when you’re all upset.” He shrugged.

You licked your lips before taking a sip of your soda, giving him a small smile. “Well, you’re good at making me smile.” You blushed. “You’ve been my best friend for forever.” You chuckled lightly.

Dean pouted, crossing his arms over his chest as he sat on your couch. The four year old was not at all pleased that he was staying at his mother’s friend’s house while she was off having his baby brother.

“Hi!” Came a small voice as you climbed up next to him on the couch. “I’m Y/N/N. ‘Member me?” You looked hopeful, as you’d had playdates with him a couple times before.

He glared. “Stupid girls.” He huffed, instantly regretting it when you looked like you’d cry. “Hey, you know how to play hide and seek?”

You face lit of. “Course I do!” You giggled.

“W-what if I’d like to be more than best friends?” He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

You froze with your burger almost to your mouth. “What?” You asked, not sure that you’d heard him right. Setting down your food, you swallowed. “You want to be more?”

He shrugged. “I’d like the chance.” Dean admitted nervously. “I’ve loved you for awhile now, honestly.” Your felt your chest tighten as your stomach fluttered at his words. “I just always wanted you happy, and didn’t want to screw us up. Then I saw how bad that dick hurt you.” He sighed, running his hand through his short blond hair. “All I wanted to do was hold you close and make it stop hurting you.”

Chewing on your lip, you chose your words wisely. “Dean…” You said gently. “I just got out of almost a year long relationship.” Which was something you needed to say before saying more. “While I do love you, a lot, I’m not going to pretend I can be more right now.” That would be fair to Dean at all. “I won’t shut the idea down, though.”

Dean nodded, smiling. “I get that, I do!” He told you. “I just couldn’t hold my tongue anymore.”

You chuckled lightly. “I vote that we finish our food, and go to my house, get comfortable, and watch cheesy movies.” 

“I like that idea.” He agreed.

–6 months later–

Dean pouted at you over Skype. “You can’t make it home?”

“I’m sorry!” You sighed. “I have to work.” You explained to your boyfriend of three months. “I’ll be home for Christmas, I promise.”

“Fiiiiine.” He said dramatically, making you chuckle. “How about we have a Skype date on Thanksgiving? You with your food, me with mine.”

You smiled. “I love that idea, actually.” At least you knew that you’d be seeing him in a month, so this would work for now. “How is everyone?”

Dean chuckled. “Mom keeps asking about you. Dad calls you his daughter already, and Sam just started high school.” He shook his head. “I hope he hits a growth spurt soon.” You laughed, knowing what he meant. Sam was a bit on the skinnier side. “How’s school?”

“It’s school.” You shrugged. “I miss you, though. I went to a party the other night with a friend and wound up leaving because I got tired of telling guys off.”

“Well…”

You furrowed your brows. “What?”

Dean smirked, a twinkle in his eye. “What if I told you that you won’t have to worry about that for long?” You raised an eyebrow, urging him to go on. “I’m getting an apartment near you. This January.”

“Really?!” You grinned. “How?”

He laughed. “Dad is opening up a second garage. He needs someone to oversee it. I said I’d do it. I’ll be just half an hour away from you. Not three or so hours.”

“You did that for me?” You asked, feeling loved.

“Us, babe.” He corrected you. 

#dean x reader #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester oneshot

[brucewaynehater101]

In my evil era. I've come to spread the misery

So I read a wingfic a while ago and I recall there being a titans tower scene where Tim tried to fly away but Jason grabbed him by the wing and his wing got fucked but don't quote me on that

So here's my idea

=======

Author decision on if anybody other than Tim has wings or other bird features and instincts, but Tim has bird traits like wings, talons, bird noises and maybe a tail if you pick

And for whatever reason, Tim hides his bird features

Who cares if binding his wings and other means of hiding it has proven time and time again to have horrific effects on one's health in studies older than him?

It's annoying how during the night—typically when he's Robin—he needs to take off the bindings and whatnot to keep himself from deteriorating too fast but it is what it is

Besides, his cape covers it up and he's trained in passing for human

It isn't until his wings are used against him in battle—like say a goon or a rogue (maybe even Jason at Titans Tower) being lucky enough to grab them and beat him black and blue due to it—does he reconsider how he views his wings

Tim Drake became Robin with a mission. A mission to restore Batman to the symbol of Justice he was withering from, one that expanded to putting everything into supporting all heroes

But more importantly his generation of Teen Titans and the Bats

His wings were just used against him, and in such a serious way that he's lucky he could nurse himself back to health

It was one time too many

He has a mission

The deadline is Death

=======

The next morning, Luthor Corp down hundreds of millions and they'll never notice until months later. Too late to recover the assets

=======

"Mind letting me in on what it is I'm guarding or even assisting you for?"

"We covered this in the contract Deathstroke; You guard this safehouse and in the future me while I take care of a very time-sensitive case. Benifits are just as negotiated.

"I will be locking myself in the room I will do my work. You are under no circumstances to enter unless told to. Rest assure, it can fufill my physical needs.

"If I open the door and I say 'Asylum,' it means I will be out of the safehouse for a time where you are to protect my room in addition to the rest of the safehouse until I return.

"If I open the door and say 'visitors' or shout it through the walls, it means we're being invaded through my room, and you have all the permission you need to kick down the door to come and assist me.

"If I open the door and say 'mission half-finished,' do so through the walls, or by passing a paper with that text, it means I've finished my mission with no loose ends, but am injured and require your assistance in my recovery.

"And if anybody ever asks; you had to take care of personal matters during your haitus, the Bats will never even come to mind when inquired on this period you're off the grid"

=======

Weeks or Months later (authors pick)

A paper slowly shifts under the door, he picks it up

Mission Half-Finished

he forced the door open to his client shivering on the floor

=======

the timeline is as goes;

Tim tells the bats he's going to be off the grid for a few months for a mission

Tim hacks LexCorp for Lex's future paychecks and assets to-be used for villanous plots

Tim contacts Deathstroke to be a glorified bodyguard + maybe physical therapist/doctor for an indefinite time

gg

25% upfront pay. Deathstroke will only recieve the remaining pay if he fufills his duties as followed and doesn't bail or rat Tim out

Half the reason Deathstroke is being paid six figures is to stay hush

Tim isolates himself in a room that can fufill his needs for a time

Tim isn't working on a case at all. He is preforming surgery on himself to get rid of his wings, tail, and maybe other bird traits, everything short of instincts (or not, your pick lol)

After Tim is finished, he does end up needing Deathstroke's help recovering from the aftermath, but he does everything to make the mercenery believe that it was a mission that fucked him up

Tim recovers and gives Deathstroke the rest of the 75% pay

Deathstroke leaves the safehouse while Tim stays a bit longer to tie up loose ends

Loose ends tied

LexCorp learns of the stolen money and assets, tries, and fails to find where they went

extra notes

That 'Asylum' code word was meant to throw Deathstroke a false trail to follow if he ever gets curious about what Tim was getting up to during their contract

The 'visitors' was in case the safehouse did get broken into, and 'Mission Half-Finished' in the likely case Tim legit needed treating the aftermath or physical therapy after what he did

SO yeah. This could go a lot of ways

(assume when I say wings, I use it as an umbella term for all his removed bird traits)

In Tim's ideal world, he's either bury his wings where they would rapidly rot into nothing, or keep them in his house or safest, secure, and isolated place where he preserves them and looks at them to remind himself to never let anything, anything bring him down again

But he doesn't live there

Maybe the Bats find out that Tim lost his wings, and later on, that Tim did it to himself, and are promptly horrified but Tim is all like "they were pulling me back, I had to for the mission!"

Cue more horror

Esp if Jason was the one to yank Tim by the wings

Maybe whoever yanked Tim by the wings assumes it's common knowledge that Tim is birdy^2 and is confused when everyone says the Robin is human or at least has no wings

Imagine if it's not even a rogue but a goon who even has photo evidence of the Robin's wings but recent photos, he doesn't have them at all?

And word spreads a Robin literally had his wings torn from him literally and it reaches rogues and even the Bats?

All hell breaks loose

Deathstroke thinks he's safe because he was 'busy with his personal life' until he realizes the Robin they're talking about is the one that hired him and needed his help recovering from something

He is screaming, he didn't wanna be caught up in this!

Or perhaps Deathstroke gets suspicious about the possibility he's been lied to on the contract despite how squeaky clean everything seems, and gives up that 75% to confront Tim

Only to find the kid just starting or in the middle of surgically removing his wings

Or maybe Deathstroke sniffs around after Tim needs his help recovering from his mission and find's the stash of wings he's planning to dispose of or preserve

either way he's going "What the Capital F Fuck is this?"

=======

I think any conversation between people and Tim could be dumbed down to this

"Why did you remove your'e wings??!"

"They were a burden, besides, it's not like I'm becoming disabled am I? I'm just becoming more passing for human then ever"

"That's not how it works!!"

Ooh. Okay. I think, in this AU, most of the Bats don't have wings. The exception would be Duke and Babs (Cass used to as well, but they were taken from her). For Barbara, the bullet that injured her spine also went through one of her wings.

I think Cass, who would bond with Tim using their bird instincts and who's wings were forcibly taken, would be especially devastated.

You're absolutely correct that Tim would do such a fucked up thing, but gods does it hurt.

#dc comics #tim drake #dc universe #thank you for the ask!!!! #dc au

[adreamfromnevermore]

Watched Dead Boy Detectives recently and read some of the comics, putting some thoughts here to get them into words. Minor speculation for the future if we get a second season (which'll be under a cut)

In the comics the boys are younger, somewhere around 12 or 13 I think and their deaths are a little different. The first major plot is actually focused entirely on the school, I like the shift from that and the way they took the cases in the show a lot actually. Although having them meet Crystal in boarding school would've been funny.

I think aging them up was actually the better option, especially if we want more than one season. Actually having them be as young as they were in the comics would've made it so they had to recast every few seasons since dead boys don't exactly age. I think it also allowed for a wider audience, having two main characters as 13 year olds would've been a little young for a lot of viewers to take the show seriously and to tie in with the Sandman show.

I'm really interested to see where they go from here, if they've decided not to use the school at all and how they handle Crystal and her parents. In the show so far we've only really seen the one glimpse of them but they have a bit more depth (like a tiny bit) in the comics and I do wonder if we'll see anything like that or if they'll be just as absent if we get a season 2. A few of the separate big bads they deal with in the comics come from the school, I'm leaning towards that being mostly left behind because of what we saw with Simon, in the comics he was definitely not someone who was ever going to be redeemed or make peace.

I'm putting the rest under a read more for season 2 spec that some people might not want to see (primarily a bit about Niko and where she might be)

So, my first thought is the Neitherlands. Idk how much it shows up in Sandman comics because I haven't gotten to those and is pretty big plot wise in the 2014 DBD run.

The Neitherlands is where a few different characters are trapped, namely 2 friends of Crystals, Hana and Rosa. In the original comics Rosa is taken as a child while with Crystal on a rollercoaster and Hana is sacrificed so her body can be stolen by a demon. Neither of them are exactly what happens to Niko but we don't really know what that charm did and I'm willing to entertain the idea because of it's connection to Tragic Mike.

Now, the thing that made me think of this at all is the most striking feature of the Neitherlands, snow made of bone. In the comics it appears without color, but the main defining feature from the beginning is snow made of bone. I could be entirely off base, but in the comics they are able to rescue and return people from the Neitherlands.

The question about that, is that in the comics the bodies are still alive. Rosa in a coma and Hana possessed by a demon. If Niko is in the Neitherlands while her body has died what does that mean for her return?

(other slight connection between the Neitherlands is that slightly more walrussy Tragic Mike has a direct path in his shop that allows him to go to the Neitherlands. Direct path as in like, him drowning for a while I think, but it works for him. And he did give Niko the lucky charm)

#dead boy detectives #dbda #edwin paine #charles rowland #dead boy detectives netflix #dead boy detective agency #dead boy detective spec #this was just to put my thoughts somewhere #might be entirely wrong #niko sasaki #tragic mick #crystal palace #crystal dead boy detectives #niko dead boy detectives #edwin dead boy detectives #charles dead boy detectives

[chaifootsteps]

I can’t wait for enough time to pass for HB/HH to be in their “Wait I can fix it” phase. You know, when enough time has passed that people can make fix it fics/comics/whatever without the rose tinted glasses and most people aren’t so passionate about it so the backlash that we see right now doesn’t exist. Or even better, make their own story with their ocs inspired by these shows! I want Viv to be the animation equivalent to that guy that was so wrong that other people invented many other theories just to disprove him and started a new branch of philosophy, I think it was Freud (though I’m not sure, if I can find the references I’ll send them later).

Like, I can’t be really invested in Vaggie in the show, but I would love to read a story about a girl that is one of the best in their role as a soldier, but is deemed a traitor due a small act of indifference (it doesn’t need to be outright kindness!!) to the enemy side, finds a an enemy noble that wants some kind of peace trough redemption of their people, and the protagonist joins her with the pretense of wanting to help, but really just wanting to fight back those who hurt her.

She may even start to form a crush on the noble and they may enter in a relationship, but with the progress of the story she understands that she puts the noble on a pedestal because she was saved by her, and as she starts to really care about the people in this side, even start to see how misguided the nobles actions are, even if the intent is good. They break the relationship on good terms and continue to work together for a common goal. In this case part of the drama is because of the initial intentions of the protagonists, not because she was “one of them” and didn’t tell anyone.

Eventually the noble’s actions make their situation worse by putting them under attack, and the protagonist goes off to negotiate with an infamous arms dealer to aid them. She finds how much their values align and with the negotiations and preparations for the confrontation that approaches, she starts to create a genuine bond with this woman.

I’m thinking since this story doesn’t need to be placed in hell, it could just be in a fantasy world with many kinds of creatures, and the protagonist just hides her identity in public by

Aside from the fact that you could also keep the fact that Vaggie looks like a moth demon and transform that to the protagonist may also disguise herself as some common species from the enemy side while in public to not cause much commotion with her presence.

This was just one example from one character, and I still haven’t thought enough about Carmilla to see how she would change in this story (and everybody else).

Idk if I’m making my point understandable, but I feel like Viv had the best ingredients and kitchen appliances to cook, and she gave us mac and cheese (unsalted)

✨sewing anon ✨

Even unsalted mac and cheese can be fixed with the addition of more salt and cheese. I don't know that there's any fixing this, not with Viv at the helm.

#Anonymous #sewing anon #hazbin hotel critical #viv stuff #actual blog post

[that-ari-blogger]

"Eda, do you have kids?" (Eda's Requiem)

The Owl House is a series about identity and the freedom to express oneself the way they wish. It explores the ways in which that affects relationships with others and oneself. Self-image, mental health, love, all fall under this bracket. This is partly why I would refer to The Owl House as a queer story rather than just a story with a queer protagonist. It engages with the concept in a nuanced way that I think is interesting.

The Owl House is also about family. The theme was present at the beginning, but it was very much a background thought. However, season two examined this idea in a ton more detail, through the Golden Guard, through Amity, and even through the side characters.

But the single best part of The Owl House is its ability to weave themes together. Family and identity are parts of each other. A family is a group of people with a shared identity, and a persons sense of self is usually defined by their experiences with their family. That is why found family is a part of family, it’s not about blood, it’s about connection.

This duality is directly the cause of my two favourite episodes in the show, Reaching Out, and Eda’s Requiem, the latter of which deals with a crisis of identity and a juxtaposition of past and future.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD (The Owl House)

How does Eda define herself?

That is a question that grows more complicated over time. She is the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles, which is a neat thing have while it remains true. However, she stops being that at the end of season one, and still clings to the moniker, why?

“How did you become the Owl Lady with your stage fright?”

It’s a persona, an act that she puts on to impress everyone, including herself. It is an identity that she wears like a mask, and who would know more about wearing masks than Raine Whispers.

I’m going to take a brief moment to talk about my favourite little detail in the series, and I give all credit to @Idlescreee’s video, Names in The Owl House: Breakdown and Analysis, which pointed this out to me.

I am one of those people for whom silence makes my skin crawl, and so I like to put on music or white noise while I work. One of my go to sounds is that of rain, I am literally listening to it as I write this post.

So Raine Whispers is a quiet name about the beauty of nature and the quietness of a natural sound. Perfect for a bard, right?

Well, not exactly. Context gives meaning more than anything else, and Raine’s context is the Boiling Isles, in which the rain is acid, making a hissing sound as it destroys everything in its path. Raine Whispers is a name that refers to the fury of nature. It is quaint at first glance but could destroy you if given the chance. A fitting name for a spy.

In any case, the purpose of Raine in this episode is to provide a contrast to Eda, they are someone from their past who has changed a lot since the two last met. Raine is unconditionally the wisest character in the series, and their ability to read people is unrivalled. So, they can see through any illusion she throws up.

They are also the first named non-binary character in the series, and it is a neat piece of storytelling that a character who’s sense of identity involves not being confined by binary gender would be against a villain who runs on categorising people. It’s not dwelled on, which is a strength of the show’s normalisation, but it’s cool, none the less.

The mirroring of Eda means that the audience can notice the two’s similarities more easily. Most importantly, Eda has also changed, although not as much as she thinks.

I am going to bring back the concept of a lowest common denominator style of character analysis. Essentially, a character can be boiled down to a single concept that cannot be changed for the character to stay the same person. The character can switch up their entire identity, allegiance, or even body in some cases, but it is this attribute that keeps them recognisable.

For example, Hunter is brave. He switches up characterisation almost entirely over the series, going from the Golden Guard to the most precious boi over the course of two seasons, but he keeps the fact that he is, at all times, bone numbingly terrified, and still able to persevere. Hunter is brave.

Eda, meanwhile, is complicated. She is an agent of chaos, but she brings stability to the lives of everyone she is close to. She is against authority, but that is an allegiance rather than a descriptor. So, with the full understanding that this is inaccurate, I will say that Eda is free.

Again, this is inaccurate, and oversimplifying, but it’s the best I can come up with. Eda is unabashedly herself, and the primary conflict of this episode is trying to work out who that is. So… Eda is Eda? That’s unhelpful but hold onto it for a moment.

The episode itself follows an opportunity to live the good old life with an old friend, and Eda jumps on it. She is growing distant from Luz and King, and she doesn’t quite understand why this upsets her as much as it does. She has become a parent without even realising it.

So, she takes the chance to go with Raine, chasing the high of connection and creating the persona of Mama Eda, although that is where the analysis gets weird.

Maternal and paternal behaviours are different across cultures, but they are usually not specifically necessarily reliant on gender. Yes, they are linked by association (it’s part of the words), but it’s not intrinsic.

Case and point, in the culture that I read this story from, Eda is absolutely terrible at being maternal. So she doesn’t try to be, instead, she fills a ton of paternal roles in the lives of those around her. But it’s also inaccurate to read her as entirely paternal. Instead, she fits both roles, leaning further into one, but not entirely.

Essentially, Eda parents in her own way, and struggles when trying to live up to “the right method” of doing things. Eda is Eda. She excels at doing her own thing. Trying to define her as one archetype is reductive and misses the nuance of her character.

What I think is really interesting, is that Eda realises she has become a parent when the story essentially threatens to take her family away, and she is surprised by how she feels.

While I have my opinions on the fake out, it is an effective way to see what the fear of loss does to a person, or rather, the fear of unimportance.

Being a parent is about guiding your children, but its also about letting go. Eventually, every bird will eventually leave the nest. However, that doesn’t mean the relationship is over. People still need guidance, even as adults.

Eda is willing to throw her life away as a last-ditch effort to help her family without having to say goodbye. She doesn’t think they need her anymore, so she is willing to go out with a bang. But she is wrong.

Eda clings to the instrument, even as it kills her. She thinks that love means dying for the people she cares about, but that's not entirely true. You have to live for them as well. I wonder who else in the series could learn that lesson.

A rhapsody is a musical piece associated with strong, enthusiastic emotions. A requiem is about remembrance. Raine’s song is about hope, and the joy of a future yet to be. Eda’s is about a past well lived, and the memory of that love. If you put the two together, you get a song that can bring down a mountain.

“Eda, do you have kids?” “Uh, they're not mine-mine. Well, it doesn't matter. They both have real families to return to.” “I don't know what you're running from, but a great witch once told me... something about punching fears in the face? What I'm trying to say is don't give up so easily. They probably need you more than you realize. We can find another way to stop Belos together.”

Remember what I said about Raine being wise? This is that.

Raine teaches Eda that she is still needed. She lets Eda know that her purpose isn’t gone, its just different. You are different people all throughout your life, you just need to remember what you have seen, and change with the times.

Why is the line read of this girl realising she's back in the conformatorium so heartbreaking?

I also want to point out the fear of insignificance from a found family perspective. Eda thinks that her relationship with Luz is less valuable than their blood relations, but I don’t really believe that. Eda has taught Luz magic and sheltered her from a literal dictator. She has raised King from childhood. I think those are pretty important things for a family member to do, whether through direct relation or not.

In the resolution of this episode, King changes his name to be an official part of Eda’s family, which, sure, that’s how things work in the Boiling Isles.

“Surprise, Eda! Now we're connected for life, and there's nothing you can do about it!”

She’s a parent now, and that relationship is as important to king as finding out who his biological father is. In other words, Eda still has a purpose, and the fact this surprises her means that she has a lot to learn, but she is better at it than she thinks.

One last thing I want to talk about before I go is that Raine is a unique rebel. Usually, in stories about fighting an authoritarian regime, the cost of rebellion comes up. This is the conceit of Andor, but also part of Wicked, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. In these stories, the idea that one person must use the tools of their enemy. Not as bad as their opponents by any stretch of the imagination, but sacrificing their own morality in a small way for future generations.

Raine doesn’t do that. Raine is fighting for a better world, and at all times, they will sacrifice their plans to save the individual. Raine has plans in motion that can counteract any single “failure”, but crucially, preserving the world they want to protect is never a failure to them.

So, in summary, found family is just as important as blood family. More important in some cases. Eda has built her identity around being a parent without realising that is what she has been doing, this episode is her confronting that. Raine is cool. Defining people is difficult and takes away from who they are as people. The Owl House is a good show.

A Kikimora is a creature associated with sleep paralysis. So her ability to paralyse people is a neat thing, as well as that "night night" line.

Final Thoughts

This season has a string of episodes that are determined to break me, but I will stay strong. Through The Looking Glass Ruins, Hunting Palismen, and now this. But I’m fine, I’ve got this.

Eda’s Requiem is one of my two favourite episodes in the series. I can’t gush enough about the music, the pacing, the purpose seeking. This is so compelling, and it really works as a piece of storytelling.

The episode does have one flaw, in my opinion, and to me, this is an example of how one weird piece of direction can mess with my suspension of disbelief. The extended syllable whenever anyone says “legally” in this episode is so… off putting. It’s like King is expecting to be cut off, and it’s asking for Eda to misunderstand him. It’s such a small detail, but the episode is almost perfect otherwise, and this sticks out to me like a sore thumb.

The episode is still phenomenal though, and so to balance out my criticism, here’s a small detail I really liked. When Eda punches the guard, his head spins around 360 degrees. First up, the casual worldbuilding that this guy can do that but also the fact that the outfit doesn’t react that much to it means that it has been made especially to fit his anatomy. That’s a cool detail.

Anyway, next week I’ll be looking at Knock, Knock, Knockin’ on Hooty’s Door, which is a Hooty episode. Something fun, and entertaining. I’m sure nothing plot relevant will happen then, right? Right?

Stick around if you want to see my analysis of that chaos.

Previous - Next

#rants #literary analysis #literature analysis #what's so special about...? #character analysis #the owl house #toh #toh eda #toh raine #toh raeda #raine whispers #eda clawthorne #lgbtq #nonbinary

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

The Chapter 4 Essay Part 1: Kokichi Ouma

A metapost on my thoughts on Kokichi’s overall motivations and Gonta’s actions during ch4. Split into two parts. You can find the Gonta half here: (LINK)

I think the way Kokichi acts when he’s telling the truth says something crucial about his personality. When he’s telling the genuine truth, his expression becomes carefully neutral.

(post trial, chapter 1)

To me, it feels like he’s trying very hard to keep this face of neutrality. Normally, he’s able to expertly express any emotion that he wants to. In these moments, its almost like the emotion he’s feeling is so overpowering that he’s trying to repress it in order to maintain control over the face he presents to everyone else, but isn’t quite able to do so.

Kokichi is very careful about keeping people from seeing the parts of himself that he doesn’t choose to show. His villain persona and constant lying is part of this- He wants to keep people away from him. During the events of the killing game, he uses the distance that he creates in many ways. Part of it was that not having many close alliances allowed him to go off and do whatever he wanted during daily life. This let him explore the school and investigate the truth of the killing game without interruption or much attention. Lying also gave him distance between the game and himself. Pretending that the killing game was fun might’ve been his way to cope with everything that was happening. I think Kokichi is really damn good at separating himself from his emotions, lying to himself to do what he thinks needs to be done. This line from Chapter 1 is pretty telling…

(post trial, chapter 1)

This was also something he says himself to Kaito in the exisal hanger during chapter 5.

(post trial, chapter 5)

I’m inclined to believe everything that Kokichi says to Kaito in the exisal hanger. As Kiibo says when Kaito questions it, “I think his dying words may have been the honest truth.” Knowing he was about the die, and that he absolutely needed Kaito’s help to get his plan to break the killing game to work- to achieve his genuine, true goal- I don’t see any reason for him to lie.

This emotional distance extends past just the killing game. I think it's a key part of how he interacts with others around him.

Kokichi is an ultimate leader. I think he uses his talent throughout the game in an attempt to “lead” everyone from the shadows. He wanted to stop the killing game and escape with as many people as possible. However, his methods are very ends-justify-the-means. I believe that he did genuinely care about everyone at the ultimate academy, but in the detached way a distant king might care about his subjects. On the other hand, if he had to use or sacrifice a few as pawns for the greater good, that is what had to be done. It’s not like it didn’t emotionally affect him, but I think he was deliberately trying to keep his distance so that it would not impact him as much, and so that he could continue trying to tear the killing game apart with as many tools in his arsenal as possible.

(post trial, chapter 5)

With this core motivation in mind, this brings us to Chapter 4.

In my opinion, the Killing Game Busters was never a plan that was meant to succeed. From an in-game perspective, the idea that he was originally going to follow this mercy kill plan doesn’t make sense to me. Firstly, Kokichi already had suspicions that they were being watched as early as chapter 3.

(post trial, chapter 3)

…and he later confirms that he was fully convinced of this fact when Monokuma agreed to reuse the chapter 4 motive in the virtual world.

(post trial, chapter 5)

He knew that this killing game was for somebody else’s entertainment. I’ll go a bit into the secret of the outside world in a moment, but considering this, I don’t think he ever fully believed in it. Choosing to mercy kill everyone, in the name of a “truth” that was incompatible with what he had discovered… just doesn’t make sense to me.

Not to mention, from a narrative standpoint, I think the idea that he was completely for this mercy kill plan, decided to throw out the plan mid-trial, and then start an entirely different plan to end the killing game in chapter 5, isn’t very compelling. It weakens Kokichi’s overall character by making his motivation less cohesive and making him seem less organized over all, which I think is one of his strengths as a character. A Kokichi that is this fickle with what he’s trying to do would not have been able to write the script for chapter 5.

I think he always had different goals in mind with the Killing Game Busters. The first was something that is made very clear in chapter 5, but started here in chapter 4: He wanted to stop the killing to give himself room to break the game while minimizing deaths. The second was to further villainize himself, for all the reasons I talked about above, and some more I will get into in a little bit.

Seeing the secret of the outside world was undoubtably disturbing, regardless of whether he believed it or not; there is a noticeable shift in how Kokichi acts before and after he swipes that card key. Combined with discovering that Miu, someone he’d been working with closely, was planning on murdering him, I believe that seeing the destruction of the outside world pushed him towards more drastic measures than what he had been doing in previous chapters. He decided that in order for his plan in chapter 5 to work (which he had almost certainly already been planning at this point, considering how elaborate it was), he needed to make everyone question if pursuing the truth was the right thing to do at all.

After Miu’s body discovery, nobody was really worried about losing this class trial. Everyone had seen how Shuichi had guided them all to the truth and caught the blackened three times in a row, despite the unique difficulties in each case. They had full confidence in his abilities.

(investigation, chapter 4)

Shuichi is also not really doubting his abilities as a detective anymore. One of Shuichi’s core internal conflicts is his fear of the consequences of revealing the truth. Up to this point, it seems like he’s been moving past it. Especially after catching Korekiyo “Actual Serial Killer” Shinguji, who had no regrets or grey motivation for his killings. Shuichi’s morale, and subsequently everyone else’s, was at an all time high. (Of course, he was starting to feel a lot of pressure to solve these cases and save everyone on his own… but that’s another issue. ily Shuichi)

If Kokichi could take the wind out of Shuichi’s sails, really destroy the confidence he had built up so far, he could set up his impossible trial in chapter 5 to be more likely to work as intended. Everyone will be less motivated to try and figure out what happened if they are uncertain that finding the truth would actually result in anything good.

And I do believe he was trying to knock Shuichi off balance specifically. Damaging his confidence is one thing, but he was also deliberately trying to drive a wedge between him and Kaito. He antagonizes Kaito all chapter 4 investigation, including making up a nickname for Shuichi (“Shumai”) that directly riffs off Kaito’s closeness with Maki. He insists into the trial that he and Shuichi are partners now.

(class trial, chapter 4)

(Sidenote: Kokichi’s behaviour during trial 4 is genuinely really interesting to me. On top of the direct digs like this, he says a lot more subtle things to get under Kaito’s skin during trial 4 that I think are super neat to pay attention to.)

Theoretically, pushing Kaito away from Shuichi, combined with the powerlessness he’ll feel in the wake of the truth of both trial 4 and the outside world, could make him easier to convince to join Kokichi’s “side”. He even directly asks Shuichi to team up with him before leaving the virtual world:

(daily life, Chapter 4)

This leads me to believe that Shuichi was originally the one that Kokichi intended to use to build his impossible trial. I mean, if Shuichi was the one in the exisal hanger and presumed dead instead of Kaito, the chances of everyone else solving that mystery drops Significantly. Everyone else, aside from maybe Kiibo, was 100% convinced that Kokichi was the mastermind at that point. No one except Shuichi would’ve tried to dig as deep as he did, for better or for worse. I think this idea is supported by the note that Kokichi wrote next to Shuichi’s face on the whiteboard in his room (“trustworthy?”). He was clearly considering Shuichi as a person for one reason or another, and I believe this is it.

By condemning Gonta, who everyone else perceived as a kind soul who would never hurt anybody, someone who was struggling to understand what the virtual world even was with his amnesia, would be perceived by the others as kicking someone when they were down. Gonta has an absolutely miserable time through the accusations and wholly blames himself for how things turned out in the end. That, and Gonta’s actions were even well-intentioned. The secret of the outside world was apparently so horrible, Gonta thought it would be kinder to mercy kill everyone rather than force them to face it. This result would make everyone question if the truth was really as undoubtably good as they had come to think so far; Not only did Gonta suffer because they had to find the truth, but seeking the secret of the outside world would apparently also only lead to suffering. This would make them hesitate during Kokichi’s impossible trial.

(class trial, chapter 4)

As I said before, Kokichi’s second goal for trial 4 was villainizing himself even further. He says that this was a goal himself to Kaito in chapter 5.

(post trial, chapter 5)

Part of this villainization was just adding to the persona he had already created for himself and that I already talked about his motivations for before. The other part was what he says here. He specifically wanted everyone to think that he was the mastermind. This gave him leverage in two main ways. First, making himself appear to be the mastermind with an actual mastermind as hands off as Tsumugi genuinely gave him power over everyone else. He used this in chapter 5 to put a pause to the killings and give himself more room to enact his plan to break the killing game from the inside.

(daily life, chapter 5)

Although he then says “You guys can commit suicide together or kill each other… / Or, you can change your mind and stay here! You’re welcome to do that too!”, having experienced the secret of the outside world already, I think he’s pretty confident in what they will be feeling in this moment. No one is going to kill each other, and he knows that. He wants them to take that second option for the time being while he sets up his plot.

Making himself appear like the mastermind also benefited his impossible trial plan directly. Everyone would be much more likely to vote for someone they were convinced was the mastermind rather than one of their friends. No one would suspect that it was really him that was the victim.

“Using Gonta and making him into a murderer” was a significant part of how he villainized himself, but the way he treated Gonta during this whole experience was also a major factor. Starting as early as just after Miu was killed, he begins to be really aggressively mean to Gonta. He just straight up bullies him throughout the second half of the trial.

(daily life, chapter 4)

(class trial, chapter 4)

And then, after all this, he acts remorseful and sides himself with Gonta at the very end. It isn't genuine emotion like he felt before Kaede's execution, shown by his neutral expression. To me, this uncharacteristically open expression of grief feels like it was just set up to exacerbate the impact of his cruelty after Gonta’s execution. At this point, everybody’s little faith in Kokichi has been shaken significantly. With the shock of the trial, maybe you Could start to believe they were on the same side, as a team. Then, at the reveal of the extent of Kokichi’s manipulation, that is all ripped painfully away again.

(post trial, chapter 4)

(post trial, chapter 4)

Even if these parts of trial 4 make my stomach turn, I don’t want to imply that Kokichi is completely cold-hearted and unfeeling. Actually, I think there were multiple moments in chapter 4 that show him struggling to regulate his emotions and keep face around everyone else while he enacted this plan.

1: I don’t think Kokichi initially planned to make the reveal that Gonta was the killer as dramatic (or frankly, a bit traumatic) as it ended up being. He had been carrying himself a certain way during the first half of the trial, and I think Shuichi lying to his face in front of everyone about Kokichi’s own alibi dramatically changed his attitude. I mean, Shuichi lied (as he had done almost every trial and gotten 0 flack for) and Tsumugi even called him out on it, but everyone believed him over Kokichi anyways. So when Kokichi lies, it’s completely inexcusable, even though he’s been working tirelessly on his own trying to save everyone?* But when SHUICHI lies, and gets caught in it, people go along with him? They don’t doubt their trust in him for even a second? This double standard infuriated him. It’s at this point that he completely shifts in energy. If Shuichi, no, everyone, is going to disrespect him like this, he was going to make them suffer for it.

(class trial, chapter 4)

2: Kokichi only goes full villain after Kaito says “Kokichi, If you really cared for Gonta, explain yourself to everyone” in the post trial. I think that even though he was always going to paint himself as the villain, he was legitimately affected by the things that had just happened (Gonta’s death, Miu’s attempted murder, the secret of the outside world, even if he knew it wasn’t real) and what he’d just done. Even if he was trying hard not to be. The sudden shift he has from not saying anything to cackling about how little he cared about Gonta feels to me like he was kicking himself back into gear after trying to process some genuinely difficult emotions. 3: After Kokichi punches Kaito down, and everyone completely ignores him in favour of helping Kaito up, Shuichi says these iconic words to Kokichi: “Kaito always has us by his side, see? But no one wants to be around you. / You’re alone, Kokichi. And you always will be.” Kokichi responds like this:

(Post-trial, chapter 4)

There’s something about the way he cuts himself off, pauses, and then his mask falls. I think Shuichi’s words got to him more than he wanted them to. Honestly, Kokichi’s attitude towards cooperation, keeping everyone at arm’s length, and insisting (to himself) that he (as a leader) must fix the killing game completely on his own just seems so lonely to me. Even if he is intentionally trying to alienate himself and get everyone to hate him, being so viscerally cut into like this must have hurt. Especially from someone he was trying to work to get onto his side. It’s no wonder he quickly left after this moment.

This is what I think drove Kokichi in chapter 4. He’s a leader who wants to “lead” his classmates into safety, but he isn’t afraid to use underhanded, cruel tactics if he thinks it will get him ahead in the game for the greater good. He viscerally represses his emotions in order to keep himself going and keep everyone else away from him. He tried to destroy Shuichi’s confidence and drive a wedge between him and Kaito to get him on his side for his plan. He used and made Gonta into a murderer to villainize himself and discourage everyone else from seeking the truth.

Whenever I imagine Kokichi on his own, out of the spotlight of the Audience or the eyes of his castmates, he’s never as expressive as he is in the open. I think in reality, Kokichi is a pretty depressed and lonely person. His clownish personality isn’t entirely a facade, and outside of a killing game scenario, I think he would act pretty similarly to how he does in game. But I do think that he uses it as a mask for his true emotions. While I feel like the “evil villain” persona is a genuine part of Kokichi’s personality, outside of the killing game he probably doesn’t act on it as deeply as he does in-game. I also think Kokichi struggles with letting people become close to him, even without anything on the line. The killing game just caused him to lean into these aspects of his personality hard, and in potentially the worst ways.

*I feel like here it’s important to mention that personally, I still think the collateral damage he caused in his attempts to stop the killing game matters. A lot. I don’t think he should be excused for the things he did, even if he had good intentions. This makes him a really interesting, morally grey character, and I like that about him.

#kokichi ouma #danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #ndrv3 #ouma kokichi #kokichi oma #oma kokichi #drv3 spoilers #meta post #long post #(Sorry- I'm not putting this under a readmore because in the case where I change my username or deactivate #I still want this post to be readable) #id in alt text #Caveat that this interpretation is entirely based on the english localization #which I still think is valid #Part 2 coming in literally a couple minutes- just need to read over it one more time and add tags #shut up me

[ohmaerieme]

how i love super paper mario

#ref image under read more #so unbelievably low on energy rn but its ok. super papemario #/// #super paper mario #super paper mario fanart #spm #spm fanart #dimentio #dimentio fanart #luigi #spm luigi #luigi fanart #body horror #just in case <- #brainwashing #cw brainwashing #tw brainwashing #super paper mario spoilers #spm spoilers #seeing more ppl put that there so i will too from now on #my art #ohmaerieme

[raayllum]

also cause I'm not there yet in my 5x08 liveblog but because even just a whiff of "Callum gave Finnegrin the spell" made the fandom troll come running into my inbox to say otherwise, just wanna clear up a few things for peace of mind before we get there

The first is that I know it was the fandom troll because of the timing & presentation, not necessarily because the now deleted/blocked ask had the "Callum purposefully gave Finnegrin the wrong spell" take. While that was an indication to me that this was probably the fandom troll since they seem to take issue with my characterization of Callum in particular, perfectly smart reasonable people have also proposed that possibility of the spell ingredients being not entirely accurate as purposeful; it's not exclusive to crappy people by any measure.

With all that in mind, I want to discuss how I view the scene (and indeed how I think it's meant to be interpreted per a casual viewer reading) as well as why I think Callum giving Finnegrin a not word-for-word accurate actually kind of makes his choice more morally questionable, not less

So let's begin

1) I don't think the scene's intended takeaway is that Callum gave Finnegrin the wrong spell

I think Callum panicked, and he folded, and he would've told Finnegrin anything the pirate had asked for in that moment to try and spare Rayla's life. While TDP is an immensely detailed show in many ways (hell I have a tag dedicated to just those details), every scene still has to ultimately work for a casual viewer. I don't think this scene is any exception. One of the first things in the series that we learn is that humans took down the King of the Dragons with dark magic and it's a repeated fact throughout most of the first season, and into the third when we see the events that transpired exactly.

So when Finnegrin mentions it, we're probably going to remember that was a thing that happened and it involved Harrow and Viren, but we're probably not going to remember the specific ingredients. Therefore, like Finnegrin, most audience members are going to take Callum at his word, especially since throughout most of his conversation with Finnegrin, Callum is arguably far more honest than he needs to be (fessing up that he did dark magic at all, mentioning that he studies all the primals, that he did the spell to save a friend at all - which is exactly why Finnegrin sets him the hand cutting test to try and break him, etc). The scene - again, for the audience's benefit - even as Callum clarify for those that wouldn't remember why he was spouting things about dying breaths and unicorn horns, because again, I do think this is the Intended Takeaway:

Part of the reason I think Callum panicked (other than Jack de Sena's wonderful voice acting and uneven breaths) is because, if Callum was thinking clearly enough to withhold information purposefully, he could've considered 1) that Finnegrin is bluffing about threatening Rayla (Callum cannot see her or any of the others, so that could be the case) and 2) Finnegrin would have limited means to know that Callum was lying if Callum said exclusively the wrong ingredients and sent him on a wild goose chase. To give as much as he did accurately was dangerous (but we'll talk more about that in a second).

We also know from instances in the previous seasons and just the prior episode that Callum doesn't have all sky spells (ones that he can do whenever he wants basically) memorized either, and that it's not out of the realm of possibility that Viren would've fudged a little to Harrow about some components of the spell (such as emphasizing love and hatred) because he was actively trying to convince - somewhat guilt-trip and manipulate - Harrow into doing something didn't really want to do, but ultimately couldn't say no to.

However, one of the things that's the most fun meta is reading into things deeply, looking at various character interpretations, and seeing what we can find below the surface level / casual viewership read. Just because something may not be the 'intended takeaway' (which can already be hard to define) doesn't mean it's not a real possibility, especially if enough dots connect, and doesn't mean it's not worthwhile and or without merit.

So let's look at the scene from the assumption that Callum is giving Finnegrin a not totally accurate spell On Purpose - what does he omit, what does that tell us, and where does that leave us from a character standpoint?

2) Haha, jk, unless...?

First things first, let's look at what Callum says vs what Viren says

No, no, wait! A dying breath. Blood filled with hatred. And a unicorn horn. That's the dark magic you want.

In her final moments, I captured something that I hoped we could use later. It contains her dying breath. [...] Claudia captured a unicorn and brought me its horn. The dying breath. The unicorn's pure horn. There's one last component I need. The undying hatred of one who loved the victim. Your blood.

Now, even Viren's stance and the circumstances of the spell isn't entirely clear. We don't know if any dying breath would do, or if it had to be Sarai's (and had to go her killer, as opposed to someone else). We don't know if the spell requires the unicorn's horn to be 'pure' (I'm assuming not already corrupted somehow with dark magic) or if it would work regardless. And we don't know whether the hatred or love is more important, or just one, or if they're equally important. It's quite a list, after all.

Which is why I think in some ways Callum's lack of specificity actually makes what Callum told Finnegrin more dangerous, whether you read the minor omissions as intentional or not.

Cause think of it this way, you're a pirate lord and you want to kill your enemy. You heard from this mage kid that any dying breath would do. What's your next move going to be? You're probably going to murder a random member of your crew and collect the breath because you were never told it had to be your loved one's final breath (which would make the spell impossible).

So that's one murder down, bare minimum. Then you're going to either send people out or word that you're looking for a unicorn horn at a port where people already canonically smuggle dark magic supplies (Chasing Shadows, TDP reflection). This will either lead to you hiring people to eliminate one of the - it appears to be - few remaining unicorns that still exist to bring you the horn, or if you've put out a reward, multiple dark mages / mercenaries may try their hand at killing one and bringing the horn to you. That's probably 1-5 unicorn murders as a result, if the mages are working not in communication with each other and all vying for the reward. This is also assuming that none of the mercenaries or mages come back empty handed and get harmed or killed because of Finnegrin's anger at their failures.

You also might torment and torture someone else to get them to hate you before you drain them of blood / take their blood for the spell, again not realizing that 'love' has to be a facet of it. At best, that would maybe be what you do to the crew member before you kill them for their final breath.

Then, once he has all the ingredients (and he'd need some sort of incantation, because dark magic is a lot of steps and processes) there's two main avenues.

Either these all work and he successfully has his weapon of vengeance needed to kill Domina Profundis, because what was given was enough. This would mean Callum's actions led to about 2-3 successful murders of mostly innocent people and possibly more political upheaval at the death of another archdragon (the ocean would certainly be out of whack, but it's not clear how much, if any, political power Domina still holds).

It doesn't work and Finnegrin, stubborn as he is about control and loathe to admit he can't commandeer something (magic and wills included), figures that something went wrong and tries again, having to collect the ingredients all over again. Depending on how many times he'd try (I feel like maybe 2-3 max), this could put those murders up to maybe nine innocent individuals, assuming Finnegrin's worsening temper over his failures doesn't increase the tally.

Rattling off the accurate spell ingredients could've actually minimized the damage, because any of the specifics might've stopped Finnegrin in his tracks. If Finnegrin just needed hatred of one who loved the victim, he could've fulfilled that on his own with some of his own blood ("I loved that crab" and her definitely hates Domina Profundis). The one that could've entirely halted his plan is if the dying breath had to come from the victim, in which case the chance to avenge his beloved crab is long gone. Finnegrin could've heard the list of very specific ingredients, deduced that he would not be capable of carrying out the spell, and been on his merry way to use Rayla as revenge fish bait.

But by giving Finnegrin an 'imperfect' list, Callum made the pirate captain more likely to engage in the violence required to get there, without an actual textual guarantee to the audience that what was given wouldn't have worked, either (aka we have two ingredients list and without a third to tip the scales, it'll always be a technical 50-50, maybe 60-40 read in favour of Viren).

So where does that leave us?

With these two readings in mind, you have two options:

Callum is willing to sacrifice Domina Profundis', and a few unnamed innocent lives/creatures, to save Rayla and thereby gave Finnegrin a dangerous in its own way, if not more dangerous because of potential increased collateral damage, list of spell ingredients, because he acted entirely out of emotionally fuelled panic where he wasn't totally thinking clearly

OR

Callum is willing to sacrifice unnamed innocent lives and creatures, but not Domina Profundis', in order save Rayla, because he decided on purpose to give Finnegrin a more achievable sounding list of ingredients that would increase collateral damage, but not let him kill the dragon, because he made a calculated decision on purpose that those lives were worth less than Rayla's and Domina's to him (for some reason, as she's a stranger to him)

To be clear, I would love the second option as an interpretation because I do think Callum can be calculating and I do think that's the far more Viren-like option - choosing what to sacrifice for other people in the mindset of harm mitigation ("A thousand men and women are prepared to fall protecting you tonight, but you won't let one sacrifice their lives for you?" / "If you must choose, choose the egg").

But again, given the framing of the scene I think the first reading is 1) more sympathetic and speaks to Callum's more compassionate emotional nature and 2) is the intended takeaway, but if people want to read it as Callum strategically deciding that certain lives - other than Rayla's - were worth sacrificing that so she and Domina Profundis wouldn't be killed, that is absolutely a valid prerogative.

It's just not mine

#tdp #the dragon prince #mini meta #analysis series #5x08 #s5 #arc 2 #analysis #dark magic #tdp callum #tdp meta #callum #like at most if you do the purposeful read he spared domina #but that just means he still threw under strangers under the bus #and decided this one stranger meant enough he'd send finnegrin on a wild goose chase #which is valid! of course he doesn't want to cause more harm to more people than he has to #but if you read it as on purpose i do think that's actually making him far more calculated / selectively loyalty #than he already is #& saved the ask just in case it's insinuated for some reason that i am lying (just i would not put that above ppl)

[autism-email]

um i got thigh highs and few things

im not even a programmer

#there's just a thigh pic under nothing much but i did put it under a read more just in case #reblogs and compliments always welcome <3 #meow #my fleshsona #🐛

[alienaiver]

Something to think about on this fine day....

Shinou has to get a vaccine. He hates vaccines. You make them more fun with bandaids in the most absurd colors and designs.

But what designs does he pick to put on your arm when you get your vaccine?

dira ur making my brain go crazy !!!!! that is the cutest little thing in thE WORLD !!! i couldnt help but write a little smth for that 🥺🥺

its 715 words and i dont mention the needles or go into detail abt the vaccine itself !! 🧡✨

ty for inspiring me my beloved !!! its good to get out of the one-track-mind i get in when i work on One Project ! 🥹🧡✨

(also all this is written on my phone, i havent had energy to proof read as it just came quickly to me !!! 🧡)

"hitoshi, get up." you playfully smack at his forearm but all it does is make him curl more in on himself. you snort a laugh and when you try to get your hands underneath the blanket to tickle him, your cat Soup joins the fray. you sit back on your haunches with a raised brow, "you can't hide in there forever. we have to leave in a few minutes."

a sound between a groan and a whine is heard from the pile in front of you before he dramatically throws the duvet off of him and spreads his arms fully onto the bed, "I don't wanna." he moans with his eyes glued shut. you shake your head at his childish antics from his valid fear, "i know baby but you gotta. im in the high risk group, right? and with your job you-" he starts blabbering noises to make you stop before he admits with a pout, "i know.."

you lean down and kiss his forehead, "is there a way i can make this easier? a treat from starbucks on the way back? a muffin from the bakery?"

shinsou huffs, "y'kno we have shared economy, right?"

you roll your eyes, "it's the act of me buying it for you, not the actual money spent."

he blows you a raspberry. you laugh and kiss his nose, "what if we bring our own band-aids? the ones you love with the kittens?"

shinsou's eyes show his earnest excitement about that when he tries to steel his expression. then, he grabs your cheeks with his hands and looks into your eyes, a serious expression painted in his features, "will you put it on me?"

you smile, "if they let me."

it makes it easier. you're also incredibly lucky that the lady vaccinating the both of you is incredibly kind and patient. she lets you go first to show shinsou that it isn't that scary and she lets him put on a band-aid on you if he sanitizes his hands first, which is a good step for him to know that she'll let you do the same when it's his turn. he spent a few minutes debating which band-aids each of you should get and when you see what he put on you, you can't help but coo at him.

it's the one with the black cat that looks like his old cat, the one aizawa and yamada had back when he moved in with them - he's been very careful about when those band-aids are to be used lest they run out, but here he is, willingly putting one on you.

for himself, he's chosen the one that he knows is your favorite. it's the one with the cat you think is the cutest because of the pose. the doctor goes through each step carefully for shinsou as you hold his hand and keep his eyes focused on you.

it's honestly over before he realizes, but he squeezes your hand a moment longer than necessary, as if to silently thank you for being there through his odd anxiety (you don't think it's half as odd as he thinks himself). he only lets go when you need your hand to put on the band-aid.

he sighs out in relief after you've put it on, but let out a surprised yelp when you pat the area after you've put on the band-aid. you heave in a quick breath before you apologize, "i'm so sorry babe that was reflex! i didn't mean to.. oh god, it didn't hurt too bad right?"

he ends up just laughing at you, "you're really hurting me after i've gone through this?"

on the way out you're holding hands, your thumb caressing the hand in yours, reminding him you're here and that he was very brave. when you prompt him about which reward he would like, he scratches the back of his neck as he admits, "i'd like both the coffee and the muffin.. and a kiss."

you happily oblige to all three wishes, only teasing him about being greedy but promising him you'll never deprive him from what he wants. it's a successful day.

you're not sure how to tell him that he'll need to repeat it next year. you'll wait at least 10-11 months before telling him, you think - and you'll maybe buy the specific band-aids as soon as possible and hide them, so you're sure you have them if they're out of production next year.

#AAAAAA DIRA UR MAKING ME GO CRAZY THIS WAS SO CUTE #honestly shinsou being afraid of it is such a cute thought. he'd ve so precious abt it #AND THE BAND AIDS 🥹🥹😭😭😭😭 #bnha x reader #shinsou hitoshi x reader #shinsou hitoshi fluff #bnha fluff #nohr.writing #nohr.bnha #idk if this is over 500words but im Pretty Sure it is so i put it under the read more just in case !!! #edit i counted after and its 715!!! #nohr.talks #lovenote: dira 🥰✨

[singersalvaged]

hi loves,

my time here may be sporadic over the next few weeks or so. I just found out some hard-hitting news last night and I'm not in the best mental space. I'll be in and out for a little longer, my focus just isn't what it normally is.

#tw negative #tw loss #putting this under a read more just in case

[pathologictwo]

little “getting to know you better” game from @euryalex !!! thanks for tagging me :-)

last song: flightless bird by roar. currently afflicted with an illness that can only be cured by listening to it over and over again.

favorite color: dark green, but tbh have been liking burnt red/maroon a lot and keep changing my mind.

last tv show/movie: The Grand Budapest Hotel, because my sister had never seen it before and it’s free on YouTube. the colors are so pretty it’s visually gorgeous i love it

spicy/savory/sweet: spicy is generally a no bc as much as i love it, ik what i can handle and consider “spicy” is very mild. would say savory bc my adderall made me like sweets less

current obsession: Baldur’s Gate 3, obviously. it’s kind of inspired me to write again…maybe…

last thing i googled: i looked up to see if the quest related to my last post was guaranteed to end violently based on the mistake i made. it is.

tagging @amalkavian @socially-awkward-skeleton @stacispratt @adelaidedrubman and you if you’re not already listed and want to !!

#put under a read more in case ppl get annoyed by these #i think they’re fun though #also i do see the tags for writing stuff i just haven’t written a thing in forever. idk #x #tag meme #about

[thecherrygod]

i just had an idea for a harrykim fic in which, after having another dora dream, harry wakes up like “im so fucking tired of these dreams i *need* to stop being in love with my ex” but he doesnt know how. none of the skills do, if they knew he would have stopped already.

so, what does he do with that? he begins asking everyone he knows what to do. “hey kim quick question how do i stop being in love with my ex?” and kim is like. surprised but in a nice way bc wow hes trying to leave that behind, but he cant help him. “sorry detective, i dont really know, but im sure you’ll figure it out”, maybe with a pat on the shoulder, and empathy tells harry hes not the kind of guy to get that attached to his partners, so he doesnt really know what to do.

he continues asking all the others: jean, judit, civilians and others related to the cases hes working on, he just asks how do you stop loving someone.

sadly, people either tell him a- they dont know, b- to fuck off, c- to just give it some time. but how can that last one work? its one of the few things hes aware of from his life before waking up in martinaise! its been going on for years!! he cant stop with just some time!!

and then he sees trant again after some time of not doing so, and so he asks. and trant being like that tm tells him “well you could try to give it some more time, but at this point it doesnt seem like that could work for you... maybe if you just allowed yourself to fall for someone new, then youd finally stop being so tied up to her” or something like that, and harry gets a new thought, maybe “do you believe in love after love” idk

and time goes on with few changes, some more cases, spending more time with kim outside of work too, stuff like that. and then he has a new dora dream but shes like “this is the last one. youre finally ready to let me go. youre into something new, and theres no more room for me in your heart” and harry is confused but really fucking glad its over, and he wakes up thinking “oh i *have* to tell kim about this!” and as he goes through his morning routine his kim thoughts are more and more often more than he thought.

and then hes just carrying coffee for both of them for when they meet up for their job, and once he sees kim it falls on him like a fucking brick, the thought gets completed and its “you do and its him. you may have actually been feeling something for your partner since you first met him, but you were so caught up with your ex you couldnt really see it until now” or something, and he stumbles on his steps and both coffees fall off his hands in his attempt to not fall on the floor himself while having a “fuck. shit” moment and kim being like “are you okay detective? did something happen?” and checking if harry didnt burn himself with the coffee, while harry is just going through it, also i feel like his composure would get lowered from the thought being completed.

next time he meets trant he says “just so you know, you were right” with no more context than that, it doesnt matter how long its been or how many conversation in between they had. trant would figure it out at some point and be like “youre welcome. or good luck” and harryd be like “both, thanks”.

i dont really have much more than that </3

#my posts #disco elysium #harrykim #kimharry #im most likely just posting it for the sake of posting this bc i dont think id write it #im not really the writing type. ive tried a few times but im never able to finish things giusdg #also actually last time i wrote a fanfic it was about 10 years ago ngl help #but! i was on the shower thinking and this came to me lmao #idk if i should put this under a read more? i mean its kinda long but its not thaaaat long its scrollable #worst case scenario ill deal with that later lmao anyways yeah i cant stop thinking about them <3