#This was a hard chapter

[mysteroads]

Chapter 7: Burned Fingers

Summary: After revealing painful realities to a room of hero students, Dabi and Toga arrive back at the dorms. But getting away from the students doesn't mean Dabi's escaped the demons in his own head.

Excerpt:

Oh fuck, Dabi realized, stomach twisting into a knot as he followed Toga down the stairs. Hawks. 

He’d have to tell Hawks.

Of course Hawks wouldn’t care, he’d understand, the hero knew all about surviving, but… Dabi blew out a small cloud of smoke laced with sparks, and steadied himself on the bannister rail. 

“It’s not the killing you’re worried about, is it?” a voice whispered in his ear, smelling like cheap booze and bringing memories of dull needles and crude fingers. His temperature spiked again until he fought it down. He was not going to fall apart. Not over something like this. Not just because he'd told a bunch of fresh faced brats a bitter truth. Definitely not because his little brother had been there, staring at him with a stricken expression. Would Natsuo look at him like that too? Would Rei? Would horror turn to disgust— 

He stopped that line of thinking right there, gripping the bannister so hard his hand seams began to ooze blood and the wood charred. What was it that Sako and Kurogiri had told him about? The breathing thing? Shit, he couldn't remember. Something about counting and breathing? Fuck. Whatever.

Dabi stayed on the stairs until he felt like he could talk without ripping his own skin off or bursting into flames.

Toga had gained a good lead on him and beat him to the kitchen, which was fine by him. Jin already had her in a full on bear hug, and was crying, because he was the worst sympathetic crier Dabi had ever met before Izuku Midoriya. It had been funny as hell the first time Midoriya started crying, which set Jin off, which got Midoriya crying harder… Shigaraki had shared the video with all of 1-A and it had gone viral through the school. Today, though, the sound of Jin's cartoonish wailing and Toga's muffled sobs grated on his nerves, and he felt the ghost of three pairs of cold little hands tugging on his shirt, begging for attention as they cried just as hard.

“What happened?” Sako asked, setting aside the knife he’d been using to cut celery. Spinner and Hawks looked just as stunned. 

Dabi ignored their stares and went to a window, opened it, and pulled out another cigarette. He started to light it, but his quirk flared and he had to stop, so he just put it in his mouth. Left the window open, though, because smoke was starting to seep out from his seams and setting off the fire alarm would be icing on top of this already shitty day. 

In short sentences, he told them what happened, and both Spinner and Sako pulled out their phones, probably to text Magne and Kurogiri respectively. That would get a fast response. Kurogiri was the younger member's shadow dad, but that just meant Shigaraki was his first kid. Dabi didn't know if it was because the nomu had been created for Shigaraki, or if Kurogiri just really did love their bratty boss, but he always felt a tiny bit envious of their relationship either way.

Hawks came over to Dabi, pretty gold eyes filled with worry. He tried to get up a smile for his bird, but guessed he didn't do a very good job because the worry just got worse. Hawks tentatively reached up, probably to run his talons through Dabi's hair, but Dabi shook his head. “Not right now, birdie,” he said quietly. “I’m running hot. Could burn you.”

Hawks lowered his hand and nodded, eyes still fixed on Dabi’s. “Whatever you need.”

That calm acceptance of a boundary leeched away some of Dabi's tension, and the knot in his stomach loosened. He'd thank a god if he believed in the bastards.

Of course, the universe in general was ever prepared to throw spitballs at him, so that was the moment Kurogiri chose to open a portal into the kitchen. He liked to arrive before 1-A got back, to let the hiccups settle in first, but this was earlier than usual. Probably the expected fast response to the texts from Sako and Spinner. Dabi’s assumption was confirmed when the first thing out of Kurogiri’s invisible mouth was, “Where is Tomura Shigaraki? Is he upstairs?”

Held on Magne’s hip, little Kana looked around with her big red eyes, the same shape and color as her father’s. Aisho too glanced around, expecting to see Shigaraki. She was a female copy of Aizawa in miniature, including the deceptively uncaring expression on her angel face. That neutral expression turned pinched and unhappy when she realized that Tomura wasn't in the kitchen. He had only missed one of their returns from Kurogiri’s ‘class’ in the nearly two months they’d been at UA, and had felt horribly guilty over it. He’d sworn not to miss another without a very good reason. The girls trusted that promise, and knew "a good reason" probably meant something bad had happened.

Eri, adorable and quiet as Aisho, took the smaller girl’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Seeing those two hands clasped tight, and that head of white hair, made something else twist in Dabi’s chest. 

Why couldn’t the past just die?  

#This was a hard chapter #dabihawks #my hero academia #my hero academia fanfic #dabi #toya todoroki #boko no hero academia #hawks #takami keigo #my writing #fanfiction #mha #bnha #everyone needs therapy! #panic attack #trauma #because trauma is Dabi's real middle name #mha hotwings

[atissi]

i don't really like when people say dungeon meshi is accidentally good autistic representation, because while i understand not wanting to make conclusions without explicit confirmation from the author, there's always the weird assumption that non-western authors somehow don't know about things like neurodivergency/queerness/etc. (on top of the assumptions that east asian authors are somehow more naive or oblivious to "western" social issues).

given that dungeon meshi started being published in 2014, it's not really a "work belonging to its times"—it's as contemporary as any other media we discuss on this site, which means it should be fair to assume it engages with contemporary topics (and at the very least, you shouldn't say that the representation is accidental with so much confidence)

but anyways, the chapter "perfect communication" in ryoko kui's "terrarium in a drawer" is some of the most straightforward autistic representation I've seen, and from now on I'm going to assume that laios's character writing is absolutely intentional in that regard:

#beepbeep.txt #dungeon meshi #ryoko kui #this is me trying to explain h/ollow knight lore #also yayyyy reading new things. chapter 18 'spring' is basically UFUT if you squint (sorry for the jumpscare if you know UFUT) #but the last two pages were such a surprising gut punch....it's hard not to see it as a metaphor for both the experience of raising childre #and of taking care of your parents in old age....aughh....

[blueboyluca]

“When I first heard it, from a dog trainer who knew her behavioral science, it was a stunning moment. I remember where I was standing, what block of Brooklyn’s streets. It was like holding a piece of polished obsidian in the hand, feeling its weight and irreducibility. And its fathomless blackness. Punishment is reinforcing to the punisher. Of course. It fit the science, and it also fit the hidden memories stored in a deeply buried, rusty lockbox inside me. The people who walked down the street arbitrarily compressing their dogs’ tracheas, to which the poor beasts could only submit in uncomprehending misery; the parents who slapped their crying toddlers for the crime of being tired or hungry: These were not aberrantly malevolent villains. They were not doing what they did because they thought it was right, or even because it worked very well. They were simply caught in the same feedback loop in which all behavior is made. Their spasms of delivering small torments relieved their frustration and gave the impression of momentum toward a solution. Most potently, it immediately stopped the behavior. No matter that the effect probably won’t last: the reinforcer—the silence or the cessation of the annoyance—was exquisitely timed. Now. Boy does that feel good.”

— Melissa Holbrook Pierson, The Secret History of Kindness (2015)

#dog books #this chapter was very sad reading #when you become aware of punishment #and its use and its prevalence #it's hard not to despair #again this is why positive reinforcement feels like absolution #maybe now my eyes are open I can make up for what I did #what I did because it's what everyone does #because it's more acceptable to punish than to do anything else #I've been having so many thoughts about punishment and society and justice #this book was very validating #another great validating moment in my jumbled thoughts #was listening to the You're Wrong About episode on justice #with Amanda Knox #it helped to ease the despair a little

[frownyalfred]

“this is a compilation of all of my fics from different fandoms—”

Make them separate fics. I’m begging you. I can’t keep scrolling past that one fic with 115 fandoms and 75 chapters of one-sentence drabbles. I can’t.

#I might sound crotchety but #I can’t keep doing this #please make separate fics #trying to navigate each chapter is so hard #ao3 #archive of our own #thoughts

[psychlocke]

i may be skeptical abt labru, but there's no denying how much laios is on kabru's mind jfc

#dungeon meshi #kabru of utaya #kabru #laios touden #ok well this isn't necessarily a ship thing (more of proof of kabru's respect and acknowledgement of laios being more fit to rule the #dungeon). but My God literally every move he makes is to guarantee laios's future #kabru so knight core #too bad laios dgaf abt him LMAOAOOAOA #ok just kidding... anyways #not tagging this as a spoiler bc well... this spoils nothing #i would like to apologize to the labru community i was not familiar with your game #one-sided labru kinda go hard though #ok sorry #don't attack me y'all i can acknowledge how down bad kabru is for this guy #delicious in dungeon #dunmeshi #chapter 62 #manga #dungeon meshi manga #delicious in dungeon manga #dunmeshi manga #labru #laios x kabru

[hajihiko]

Nice night 🌘

#fuyuhiko kuzuryu #hajime hinata #kazuichi souda #akane owari #sonia nevermind #sdr2 #super danganronpa 2 #danganronpa 2 #danganronpa #an art #Me drawing this at 8 in the morning: #I was drawing this after working on the fic a bit. I'm struggling....but trying.... !!!!!!! #Please for the love of God don't focus on the hand size changing. You think u can keep track of that??? #Edit: the final chapter is almost done. I drew this as a comfort before All That lol so. Enjoy #Me after writing: ...... and then it was all a bad dream the end :) #Vi if you see this. I'm waving. Tysm for your hard work

[itsmeimcathy]

#ao3 stop telling me what to do challenge #this is a new chapter....it deserves new kudos.... what's so hard to get #ao3 #text

[kasieli]

Hear me out: MC and Seb exploring the underwater caves together

#sebastian sallow #hogwarts legacy mc #sebastian sallow x mc #hogwarts legacy #fanart #IM JUST SAYIN #it could be…quite…romantic? #or more? #like listen no one in their right of mind is going to dive in FULL ON ROBES #so realistically speaking #things are coming off #my gal Elly was NOT prepared for this #homegirl is literally just trying to find some armour or something #wow why am I doing this to myself #when I need to WRITE #hell this could even be a scene in an upcoming chapter but NO IM TOO IMPATIENT #this was so hard to draw guys #like I was STRUGGLING #water? #wet skin? #WET CLOTHES ON WET SKIN? #ugh awful

[theonewhowails]

silly stuff i drew while reading Feel No Evil by @payasita , in which the Lamb does not know how to propose, Narinder does not know how to be alive, and neither of them knows what an obligate carnivore is

bonus? lmao

#my art #cotl #i am looking into your soul with my huge autistic eyes. read this fic right now. blease #hksfdjghdfghldkfg im sorry it just fucking kills me that for the first 4ish chapters narinder is just. so nasty #like all the followers are like There He Is. The Leader's Favorite Guy. and its this filthy half-dead cat that hasnt bathed in 10+ years #like he has hardly eaten the entire time he's been mortal and he looks like absolute dogshit #and their unbeatable normally serene and gracious leadergod is hovering around his stinky ass like omg nari hiiiiii #its fucking hilarious to me. and also heartwrenching bc this fic does also get into how hard it is to be alive when uve never learned how #gonna draw the twins desperately bringing him soap later i just had so many things i wanted to draw for this

[glowingsand]

Every day she wakes up to slander him

#he’s such a tired dad pls he tries so hard for her #the newest manga chapter was awesome though T-T #spy x family #spy family #sxf manga #spy x family spoilers #loid forger #anya forger

[twobluep]

once upon a dream

#twisted wonderland #twst #malleus draconia #sketch #chapter 7 hits me so hard:')

[buttercupshands]

can you even call it a warm up if I'm going to bed without drawing anything big

and a sketch I made while sitting in the park today

#sketch #my art #bnha #shigaraki tomura #tenko shimura #all for one #midoriya izuku #bnha manga spoilers #only after I finished basically polishing this sketch did I notice how it's basically dark and light mode #also the first one is basically a redraw of illustration from vol 11 #I know that translation of Tenko's words is different in official but eh #fanart #I've kind of recovered from recent chapters #and I was analysing those chapters all morning #I'm still thinking but otherwise the chapters are so good #also did you notice that AFO actually talked about how his other him didn't use that 'last thing' yet and that was in ch 410 #and in ch 419 he did so it's real and it's still sad #but still AFO was never hiding it enough #from Tomura maybe but we as readers actually saw his plans play out #in any case I'm still just sitting with those two Izuku and Tenko interaction chapters #I waited long enough #and if you don't count AFO's return Izuku DID save Tenko and it's so interesting #since he now has to save his OTHER origin that was in ch 237 taught to kill whatever he wants #Tenko and Tomura both had 'origins' chapters and for now we only worked with 235 and 236 #and even if Izuku helped with the start of 237 there's still AFO #in any case it was a hard week #also the second thing actually had them holding hands #and then I was like 'but at that point Izuku's hands are gone oh no' #and it was just Tenko holding air where the hand was destroyed #in any case that scene.

[fleetways]

Chapter 25: To Us

#sonadow #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #sonic the werehog #sonadow fanfiction #mdlhea #chazart #if you’re going to reblog any of my chapter arts #pleaaase let it be this one #i worked so hard okay #i hope it is worth the wait :) #also I’ll be posting refs for their outfits later HEHEH #hall of fame #mdlhea chapter

[ruporas]

drank too much

[ID: Digital Art of Vash and Wolfwood from Trigun Maximum. Vash’s body is turned slightly away from the viewer as he holds a staggering Wolfwood by his shoulder. He has one foot ahead of the other, the foot in the back used to stabilize himself from tipping over. Wolfwood is tethering into Vash, his weight pressed into him with his arms wrapped around Vash’s waist and his face is hidden away as he leans against Vash’s shoulder. Vash’s expression can be seen, his eyes wide and mouth tight-lipped, and his face is flushed red. A speech bubble comes out from Wolfwood, saying a drawled “Spikeyyy...”. The background are desaturated pastels of blue and green, showing night time, as they stand in the middle of an empty street that is also lit by the moon not depicted. Yellow light is seen coming from the inside of a saloon. End ID]

#vashwood #Vash the Stampede #nicholas d wolfwood #trigun #trigun maximum #when i think of who handles their alcohol best -- it's going to be vash naturally. considering his age but also his plant biology? #idk how his plant biology comes into things but it feels like it makes sense... and helps build his tolerance... also he's canonically #a bit of an alcoholic i think... one of his vices. and im sure ww drinks but his go-to comfort is through smoking not drinking #slight detour but the barkeeper was also like i'm the angel that provides drinks for these troubled souls. all i could think of is #a parallel from ww to vash... vash going thru this hell on his own during that point in the chapter and ww is the angel who will give him #his space and then also save him later. But anyway. that's a completely different topic. as a result of ww Not being much of a drinker #i feel like he'd be clingy... a LOT less verbal but more physically affectionate #i feel like he'd be able to speak as he normally does but when he wants to ask for something he'd just reduce it down to names #spikey needle noggin while tugging on vash's arm. vash explodes immediately #this is also very self indulgent if u cant tell. #i was just thinking that ww while sober is a hard cage to crack through no matter how close vw gets to one another. #while ww can end up being emotionally vulnerable -- has to at some point within their relationship -- he still just has tons of trouble #navigating his own personal wants. #ruporas art

[enden-agolor]

thanks for giving recovery 600 kudos, that is actually crazy?? i will never understand how this fic became so successful but i'm seriously so honored, so here's some quick little doodles <:D

#i dont have time to put a lot of effort into art so #im hoping to do something more special for this fic once it's finally finished and done #life has gotten.. very difficult as of recent so im having hard time finding the room to draw let alone even write the last chapters #sooo yeah thanks for your patience if you're reading this #recovery fic #jesskas #mcsm #my art #mcsm jesse #mcsm lukas

[lucky-fy]

For the Laicion nation (aka, me and three other people)

I had this illustration commissioned (a big thank you to @lunehowls) for my werewolf AU Laicion fic (still a WIP).

The general pitch is as follows :

AU in which Laios never got to meet his sister again, putting his life on a whole other path, a more desperate one. A military deserter with barely a coin to his name, Laios hitches a ride on a boat to one of the elven continents, where he learns about magical tattoos that binds one’s soul to a wolf’s, effectively making them artificial werewolves. Illegal magic be damned, this feels like the answer to… everything.

In the process, he learns about the existence of an illegal fighting ring in one of the elven cities, where beastmen gladiators gather. Freshly tattooed and without anywhere else to go to, Laios decides to head there, where he meets Lycion, an elf and artificial werewolf gladiator. If they first bond over a simple shared meal, by spending time together (sharing the same room in the barracks, maybe the same bed? gasp) they find that they have a lot in common, notably a shared distaste for the body they were born in, a dysphoria partially remedied by becoming a werewolf.

They bond :)

#dungeon meshi #laios touden #lycion #laicion #I'm heads deep in research regarding Ancient Rome gladiators... and loving it. Really fascinating stuff. #I bemoan the fact that most papers are locked behind a paywall (though I found one that gives a free pdf access) #(and no. Sci-hub is not an option. It's blocked in my country) #I'm also re-reading DunMeshi and taking notes to get a better grasp of Laios and Lycion as characters. Character studies if you will #and I still need to fully outline the fic #I know where I'm starting (struggling to choose a POV for that first chapter LOL) and where I'm ending so there's that #and a bunch of disconnected scenes (as we all do ahaha) #anyway. Doing all of this while studying for veterinary school. It's hard. I feel guilty whenever I'm not studying... #let's just say I don't expect the prep work for the fic to be ready before this summer (+ I need to finish the Kuro cosplay for Japan Expo) #hopefully; once it's done; I'll be able to set a schedule and write smoothly #werewolf #werewolf laios #rarepair #Fy posts