#and that that canonically is heavily influenced by the people it came from

[tobi-smp]

you know, with hindsight now what it is I really do think a more literal reading of c!techno's chat would have helped his characterization a Lot

and mind you, this was originally intended to be the case, and very well may have been intended all along even if it wasn't usually emphasized within the lore

and don't get me wrong, I Get why it fell out of favor within the fandom. it coincides with a Very storied ableist trope that demonizes DID and disorders adjacent to it, and Can be spoken about in a way that is essentially indistinguishable from it depending on the word choice.

but the thing is ! not only does it not Have to be an allegory for DID, I straight up don't think it is At All.

because we Know what it's an allegory for. It's His Chat. there's technoblade playing the game, and there's the thousands of people watching with expectations and wants that he's compelled to meet (or, at the very least, pacify through Entertainment).

and this makes much Much more sense when conceived of as Supernatural. be that spirits, gods, demons, or anything that could fill that role. separate entities that, for whatever reason, only techno can sense the presence of and be affected by.

and of course, to an extent this is true for all creators. everyone had an audience that they were meant to entertain and the choices they made were influenced by that fact.

but technoblade came in with a Very distinct set of expectations that heavily impacted the choices he was Expected to make and the kinds of stories that he could tell. he was more or less a living legend in real life just as much as he was in roleplay, and these things were inherently connected.

and it's like !

when c!technoblade says he was peer pressured into killing tubbo at the red festival he Is technically talking about what happened within the roleplay. schlatt was demanding it from him, there's a sort of pressure there. but schlatt was also the dictator they were set to kill, and techno has never had any trouble fighting people he considered a dictator before, and certainly not Schlatt of all people.

but he WAS being peer pressured By His Audience. by thousands of people, most of which were demanding blood Because It Was The Expectation, because it'd be Fun.

out of universe technoblade made the decision he thought would be the most Entertaining, and he was right! consistently he made choices that would let him do the most bombastic Spectacles possible. And It's Great. he's Excellent at pulling dramatics and making a compelling scene that give other people room to work off of. in that sense I'd consider techno an Excellent actor, and I have to imagine that he was fun to work with.

the problem is when you then have to justify it from an in character perspective, grounded in those mushy things like Feelings with characters that can be traumatized and sustain lasting damage, Especially Without acknowledging the out of character incentive.

mind you, it's not Impossible to Create a backstory that could justify it. why a character as consistently powerful and feared as technoblade would feel pressured to kill an ally by someone he not only Can kill but Wanted To Kill. why a character as seemingly secure and in control as technoblade would lash out the way that he does to perceived betrayal, and yet consistently puts no weight onto having killed and permanently scarred an ally that trusted him.

what that'd need is tragedy. a storied history of being hurt and having to survive. building up To an untouchable god from a much much more vulnerable position. Long Lasting trauma that's lead to this deep insecurity and paranoia. and that's Possible and that's Compelling.

but it's just not in the text.

not only did we never learn basically Anything that c!technoblade was up to pre-series, we actually know Less by the end than when we started because of the sbi retconning.

it's a Theoretically Possible interpretation that's technically never Contradicted by canon, but would have to be created by scratch. it's a compelling idea for a fan fic (and one I'd like to read) and it's compelling for a theoretical recontextualization of the character, but it's just not In The Text.

meanwhile, we have the video above.

we have the Objective Fact that technoblade's decision making was often subject to the rule of cool (very Very effectively) to entertain his audience.

and most compellingly, these concepts Don't Need To Be Separate. in fact, in my opinion they're Stronger when you put them together.

because the thing is. it's Difficult to imagine techno as ever being in a vulnerable position. he is just Objectively more powerful than everyone else on the server, both in real life And within the lore. How could he have ever been afraid when he was stronger than anyone and everyone combined? when we saw with our own eyes that techno could face nearly the whole server at once and win.

but he Is a tragic character, at least he's meant to be. and that tragedy makes much Much more sense as something Inward.

technoblade as a character who Needs connection, who Needs stability, who Needs security, who Needs friendship and community and Love. but Lashes Out, Obliterates to the core of the earth, because of something that's not only out of his control but that other people Cannot Understand.

how do you explain to a child that you killed their best friend because a chorus of the undead called for his blood and you (in all the glory that he'd idolized) were unable to do anything but comply? how do you explain to that child that you beat him senseless in a pit as the restless dead jeered and laughed?

That's interesting. That's Compelling.

technoblade is idolized like a god, feared like a force of nature, and in an instant cut himself off from nearly everyone who'd considered him an ally. and that seems to be a pattern, over and over and over again. he's left isolated, and in return he faces retaliation, and in return he's always Waiting for retaliation.

and what do you say to someone who wants to kill you for being a monster? that it's Fine Actually because you only did what you did because you have a curse that compels you to? that the supernatural guided you to destroy their homes and kill their people? (rip jack manifold you will be missed)?

That Doesn't Quite Help Your Case.

technoblade as someone who is beholden to this literal cycle of violence and Loses those things that could ground him, community, stability, People, as a result. who Tries to overcome this very fact (to become a better person, in his own words as per the clip above), but is pulled back into it as a consequence of his own actions.

that's a tragedy !! that Makes Sense. that allows him to be Both this force of nature that other characters have to survive And A Person Who Is Hurt By The Same Conflict.

"I'm a person!" that fear of dehumanization makes So So Much More Sense when you see technoblade as someone who Already fears himself. who fears being a monster, who fears losing control, who has faced isolation again and again and again.

and, importantly, it doesn't have to be anyone else's Fault.

by making the source both Internal and Completely External (something that none of the other characters have any awareness or control over), you can Have techno as a tragic character without demonizing anyone else Or erasing the impact that c!techno had on them.

and in that sense, it Can be an allegory for mental illness, but not in that direct "oooooh how scary he hears voices" kind of way that people fear it looks. but in that sometimes people Will do things that can hurt others while not feeling in control. anger and mania and paranoia, things that you can't always Control and yet that impact that you have on other people still Matters.

and the answer to that is, often, vulnerability and accountability.

I think a lot about technoblade isolating himself so near entirely from the rest of the server, and slowly gathering a support system Back by the end. and I Really Do think that framing of it through this lens is a Very impactful way of breaking it down.

tubbo, tommy, wilbur, ranboo, niki, I think they'd All understand not feeling in control. lashing out, maybe even feeling justified in the moment, but hurting people they care about and furthering their own isolation.

There's Something There, and it's already In The Text. it just needs to be expanded on.

and why not do that ourselves now?

#dream smp #dsmp #technoblade #tommyinnit #tubbo #meta #long post #back on my bullshit #I really do think that his character is just outright Stronger under this framing #and I genuinely think everything post doomsday would've been stronger if he'd leaned into this #that said this is probably messier than some of my other techno analysis #because I've been chewing on it for a few days rather than my usual of rehashing the same idea for two years in a row #but I'm rusty so give me a break #also derivakat voices is a straight up banger and you can all pry it from my cold dead hands

[bruhstation]

Wait a sec, so if Hiro was a time traveler who fast forward through 100 years did he leave anyone behind in the past like say.. a wife or maybe a child?

Did Hiro have any family ?

hiro does, sadly. his family never knew what happened to him despite the outrage his disappearance sparked in japan, and hiro in casa tidmouth didn’t know how the entirety of his nuclear family got destroyed by one of japan’s greatest natural catasthropes.

hiro’s wife and children (except satoko) were eventually wiped out the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, but he does have descendants of his own that he managed to meet after the events of casa tidmouth’s Hero of the Rails arc.

(more info about them under the cut)

THE YEAR IS 1894.

Hiro Hideki

秀紀 弘 Hideki Hiro

Age: 57 (before transportation, canon Casa Tidmouth is 62)

The patriarch of the Hideki family. Wise, calm, level headed, but has a tendency to overwork himself and put others before himself. He has a mindset of finishing his work first before rewarding himself with the most basic necessities such as eating or going to the bathroom which exasperated Kamome.

Hiro originated from 1894, the Meiji era. Before he was transported to 1994, he’s a civil engineer and railway inspector that was heavily involved during the modernization and westernization of Japan and oversaw the construction of the Tokyo to Yokohama railway in 1872 and its subsequent expansion to Kozu in the following years.

In an attempt to further the connections with the United Kingdom and as part of a collaboration to improvise their engines and railways, the Emperor formed a research group and sent them to England and its surrounding islands – one of them being the Island of Sodor, infamous for its rumored supernatural influence and cases of outsiders going missing (not a great idea, Emperor). Hiro was sent there alongside his colleagues and seniors and the next thing he knew… his environment was alien, his clothes were tattered, he cannot remember anything, and he’s all alone in a steep siding.

Kamome Hideki

秀紀 鴎 Hideki Kamome

Age: 54 (83 at death)

Hiro’s wife. Their marriage was arranged by their parents but Hiro fell in love with her at first sight. While Hiro speaks gently and avoids unnecessary conflict, Kamome is blunt and goes straight to the point when talking. She was constantly seen wearing a tasuki sash and was well-toned for her age. The neighbors and family’s acquaintances see her as a scary woman with a sharp tongue and even sharper eyes, but… that’s just how her face is. Kamome doesn’t take compliments well and instead of smiling, she usually purses her lips or scrunch her eyebrows to express her happiness (Hiro thinks it’s cute).

During the early years of Hiro’s disappearance, Kamome put on a strong facade for their children. She didn’t have much financial worries because their children already had jobs. Hirokazu’s and Akira’s families visit from time to time, and Kamome quickly came into terms with Hiro’s disappearance, but the loneliness and frustration inside her heart still well.

I took her given name from the limited express train service that JR Kyushu operated, Kamome. Her name also means “seagull”.

Hirokazu Hideki

秀紀 弘和 Hideki Hirokazu

Age: 34 (63 at death)

Hiro’s eldest son. He was named after his father. Hirokazu was a serious, rigid man — always bent on following every rule there in his line of work and wouldn't hesitate to reprimand people for messing up. He liked expressing his thoughts (usually related to Japanese politics) without sugarcoating anything and got a knack for debating with his peers, so he’s often exhausted with his father who’s always calm and open to anything Hirokazu says without refuting much of his opinions. Despite being polar opposites, Hirokazu greatly respected and adored Hiro — hence why he followed in his footsteps to become a civil engineer.

Ever since Hiro disappeared, everytime Kamome looked at Hirokazu she felt like he resembled Hiro more and more. Hirokazu’s responsibility in taking care of his family (especially his elderly mother) grew stronger and his need to live up to his father’s legacy eats away at him.

Akira Hideki

秀紀 明 Hideki Akira

Age: 31 (60 at death)

A shy, stoic woman whose social battery drains quickly. She’s soft spoken and doesn’t talk much because of her social anxiety, so he enjoyed conversations with her gentle father more. Akira is also kinda awkward at socializing — behind her neutral face, she’s constantly nervous when faced with a crowd or an unexpected acquaintance of either his father or mother who wanted to chat with her, something she’s extremely self conscious about (Hiro told her she’s fine the way she is). When she succeeded in a conversation, however, she got all fired up and overly proud of herself Akira married a wealthy textile businessman who’s been seeing her for a while and is incredibly smitten with her.

After Hiro went missing, Akira’s husband, mother, and siblings often find her wandering around the train station, sitting solemnly or even asking railwaymen and random passersby if they’ve seen her father. She wasn’t doing mentally well, but luckily her family was there for her.

Masaharu Hideki

秀紀 雅治 Hideki Masaharu

Age: 24 (53 at death)

A student from the Tokyo Imperial University. He studies medicine and was an apprentice of his professor at a hospital in Tokyo. He’s timid, always stressed out, and have trouble standing up for himself, especially against his professor who always reprimand him for even the smallest things such as being late to a conference or being too slow to hand him an operating tool. Masaharu was also a mama’s boy. Kamome fusses over him and always tells him to eat more. Hiro too, but he’s not the most stern.

His professor used his connections to help Masaharu look for his father. Rescue teams, fellow colleagues from Europe, even autopsy labs and funeral homes — he looked everywhere, yet he and Masaharu are stumped. Masaharu felt so useless and even considered dropping out, but Kamome and Hirokazu dragged him back to reality, which made Masaharu end up crying.

Hisae Hideki

秀紀 久愛 Hideki Hisae

Age: 21 (50 at death)

Spunky, stubborn, and always up-to-date. She is IN LOVE with western fashion and a HUGE francophile. She’s a tad spoiled and always asks Hiro for some money whenever new clothes hit the market. Hisae likes dressing up her younger sister Satoko in various clothes she made or bought. She also worked at Irohanayama’s tea house because government officials and their wives always visit in their western attire. She’s also good at talking with people and pleasing upper-crusts. She dreamed of visiting France someday, though this is mostly because of the rose-tinted glasses she has for Europe.

After Hiro went missing, Hisae spent most of her days moping, not wanting to eat or leave her room until Hirokazu and Satoko convinced her to. One day, she suddenly stopped holing herself up in her room, quit her tea house job, and planned on opening her own clothes shop.

Satoko Hideki

秀紀 聡子 Hideki Satoko

Age: 17 (46 during Great Kanto Earthquake)

Being the youngest and most obedient, Kamome frequently asked her to go out to town to run errands. Generally a quiet person, though she always butt heads with her more hotheaded sister Hisae. Most of her clothes during her late teenage years are hand-me-downs from her. She didn’t really have any notable abilities or talents, but she likes collecting hairpins and combs.

In 1923, Satoko survived the Great Kanto Earthquake because she lived at her husband’s hometown far from Tokyo, making her the only living member of Hiro’s nuclear family (some grandchildren from the Hideki family survived but that’s another story. It’ll make this tree longer)

She is Kenji and Kana’s great grandmother.

———

THE YEAR IS 1999.

Kenji and Kana met Hiro during their visit to the Great Kanto Earthquake Memorial Museum. When Kana was taking pictures of the memorial hall for her school assignments, Kana spotted Hiro staring at the list of names. Kenji went to the bathroom for a second, and Kana saw Hiro sitting alone on the bench. Kana sat beside him and sparked a conversation, leading to them eventually becoming friends. Kenji joined them shortly after, and they parted ways soon after it got dark and Kana urged Kenji to take her home so she can print her photos. Hiro bid them farewell, looking wistful but also satisfied with himself.

Neither of them knew that they’re Hiro’s great great grandchildren… until much, much, later.

Kenji Shirogane

白鐘 健二 Shirogane Kenji

Age: 22

Lives in Shinjuku, Tokyo, with his younger sister, Kana. Ever since their parents went abroad for work-related purposes, Kenji has been acting as a guardian for his sister. He studies biomed at Tokyo University in Bunkyou. He goes there via the Yamanote line.

Kenji’s great at cooking and Kana only likes his curry rice because he doesn’t put any “weird” vegetables in it. He likes Japanese variety shows like Takeshi’s Castle and Gaki no Tsukai.

Kana Shirogane

白鐘 華菜 Shirogane Kana

Age: 16

Lives in Shinjuku, Tokyo, with her older brother, Kenji. Second year in high school. She’s in the sports club at her school and is a star for the girls’ running team. A cheerful and hyperactive girl, Kana is rather mischievous and can put on crocodile tears whenever Kenji doesn’t allow her to do something. She frequently gets into trouble at school because of her purple inner dye and grommet belt.

Kana is also quite foul-mouthed and has little respect towards most adults that boss her around, labeling her as a problem child at school. Kenji’s fond of her, but he also describes her as “disrespectful towards older folks”. She would also pull on his nose whenever she’s hungry in the middle of the night and saw Kenji sleeping by the couch to wake him up. However, she truly cares about her family and loves her older brother. Kana’s just a kid being a kid.

#asks #isjssjsjshuuuuuuuuuuuuyyyyyyyyyy #ttte hiro #ttte kenji #ttte kana #kamome (oc) #hirokazu (oc) #akira (oc) #masaharu (oc) #hisae (oc) #satoko (oc) #casa tidmouth #casa tidmouth act 2 #senjart #(insert spencer whispering into hiro’s ear about how nobody is waiting for him in japan)

[gabrielsbubblegumbitch]

Please, elaborate more on these Hazbin Hotel headcanons. I’m very interested in hearing about them.

I would like to preface all my posts on headcanons related to psychology and mental illness with a disclaimer: diagnosing mental conditions, especially personality disorders, can be extremely challenging. It's a complicated process that relies heavily on a psychologist's interpretation of facts, making it susceptible to biases. Personality disorders cannot be diagnosed based on surface-level observations and are not just labels that we can assign to people like in the case of MBTI. Additionally, I am not a clinician with any expertise in diagnosing people. Therefore, the following post should not be taken as a reliable professional opinion. It's simply my interpretation of the internal mechanisms that may be responsible for the behavior of certain characters in my fan fiction. Furthermore, I want to make it clear that I have no intention of stigmatizing people with personality disorders by associating them with villains. A personality disorder does not determine someone's character or make them a bad person. Some characters may be evil because of the choices they make, not as a result of their mental conditions.

Since you didn't ask about anything specific, I'll just give some headcanons on Vs since I think about them the most.

> Vs are not a polycule, it's VoxVal + Velvette because she would never touch any of these losers. What's more, Vox and Val are extremely sexist (I mean it's kinda canon, we heard how they speak about women) so if she had sex with any (or both) of them, she would no longer be one of the boys and become one of the bitches.

> Vox has NPD, Val has BPD, Vel has APD.

> Vox is continuously overstimulated because he's constantly connected to his web. That's why snaps so easily and sometimes goes through 5 stages of grief in 5 seconds. He could disconnect (and sometimes he does) but he's too much of a control freak to not lurk constantly.

> During his life on earth, Valentino had a terrible, toxic father. Very much machismo who abused him relentlessly for being queer. (Not that I want to make him sympathetic, I just think that evil people are often miserable before they become evil.) Because Val is very queer, not just "man occasionally fucking other men", he's always been loud and proud pansexual and gender non-conforming. He wasn't some kind of activist, very concerned about queer issues, he just refused to stay in the closet out of spite, and because it made men around him uncomfortable. He just enjoyed being perceived as a deviant. It was one of the things that eventually got him killed.

> Vox is like a hardcore sadist. He cuts people open just to feel powerful.

> During his life on Earth, Vox used to be extremely homophobic because his bisexuality was threatening to his masculinity. He's also the embodiment of toxic white masculinity from the 50's. He actually did some personal growth in Hell, eg. He gave up racism, homophobia, transphobia, and most other -phobias, and now he despites everyone rather equally. He just bullies women more because misogynistic violence is a low-hanging fruit.

> So with Velvette I had some fun because she manifested in Hell not so long ago and happened to be as powerful as other Vs, who had much more experience and souls collected. So I assumed she must be completely deranged. I came up with the idea that she used to be a toxic influencer who built a cult-like following around her. She weaponized it against multiple people, ruining lives, and manipulating kids into committing crimes or even suicides. Her methods are very fine, Vox and Val have nothing on her when it comes to cruelty.

> Velvette is not misogynistic per se but she despises weak women who can't fight for themselves. That's why other Vs behavior don't bother her, she doesn't feel threatened by their aggression.

> Angel Dust has BPD and an eating disorder. That's why he fell for Valentino so terribly, to trust him with his soul. He used to think that Valentino is the only person fucked up enough to truly love him as damaged as he'd been. (More hc about Val and Angel here). Actually Val has a very similar backstory to him - a queer, gender non-conforming man in a very masculine environment (I'm not sure how canonic is Angel working for the Italian Mafia at this point but I stick to it until proven otherwise).

Other headcanos about Vox and Val ❤️🩵

#hazbin hotel #valentino #vox #Velvette #VoxVal #angel dust #Huskerdust #headcanon #ask #vox hazbin hotel #valentino hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel velvette

[kidnappedbycartoons]

I'm bored, so it's time to talk about Zutara. Again. I already talked about their connection while in the catacombs.

But what about after that?In the beginning of book 3, they are apart for the most part. Something interesting to me is that right after Zuko helps Azula defeat the gaang, he's on his way back to the Fire Nation and Mai comes to talk to him. She asks him if he's cold, to which Zuko begins to open up a bit. He tells her that he has a lot on his mind, he wonders what has changed, he wonders how he has changed. Now, we have never seen Zuko open up like this before. Actually, no, scratch that. We did see Zuko open up like this before when he was in the catacombs with Katara. And how did she respond to this? With warmth, with understanding, with compassion. But how does his canon love interest respond to this? She yawns, tells him to stop worrying, is sarcastic, and then kisses him. Do you not see the difference?

In the following episodes, the gang is hiding in the Fire Nation. I just want to point out these episodes because, I'm not saying that it was her talk with Zuko that influenced a part of this, but it is very interesting to see how involved Katara gets with the Fire Nation. She is excited to wear their clothes, she participates in the dance, she helps out the people in the village by donning a disguise heavily associated with their culture, etc. I just want to point this out, because a common criticism about them as a couple is that Katara would want nothing to do with the Fire Nation due to her trauma and it's like...baby, did you watch the show?

Now, when Zuko tries to join the gaang, obviously he's turned down. What's interesting is that, out of all of them, Katara is the one most against it. Which makes sense, she feels personally betrayed by him. She even admits that after their conversation in the catacombs, she felt sorry for him and trusted him. We all remember that conversation she had with him at the end of the Western Air Temple episode. This Katara and Catacombs Katara are different. If Zuko said that he wanted to join the gaang at the end of book two, I'm almost positive he would not have gotten this threat from Katara. We all saw that episode. We saw how they connected. We saw how they opened up to each other. No, he would not have gotten that threat from Katara. The reason why she is like this towards him is because she feels personally betrayed after she trusted him and opened up to him while they were in the catacombs. The pirates, the necklace, chasing down the Avatar, those have nothing to do with this. It is because of what happened in those catacombs.

Interestingly enough, for someone that doesn't trust him that well, she definitely has no problem letting her brother and the Avatar go off with him on missions alone. And each time they came back, they were fine. With these little adventures, she was slowly starting to see a new side of Zuko. Another thing, which should be apparent in the GIF above this paragraph. In the Southern Raiders episode, when Zuko is falling from the sky, who is it that reaches out to catch him? Katara. The one that trust him the least out of the group. The one that feels personally betrayed by him. The one that threatened to end his life. She is the one that reaches out to catch him. And it's in her character, I cannot see her willingly letting somebody fall to their death. But, I just want it very interesting that out of all those people on Appa, it was her that reached out for him.

I'm not going to talk about the whole episode here. I could do a whole breakdown of that. But I just wanted to bring up these moments here. It's the little things.

#atla #avatar: the last airbender #zutara #atla katara #atla zuko

[bibibbon]

MHA chapter 415 leaks

A lot of the problems I have with this chapter are already ones that I talked about in previous chapter posts which can be found here 👇

However I still wanna talk about things that I don't like in this chapter.

1) the memory sharing thing and how random it is. I stand by the point that this plot point came out of nowhere, is a speedy and cheap way to try and build up what little development izuku and shigarakis dynamic lacks. The memories that are being shared also seem very inconsistent like why did one memory trigger another? It makes no sense why Izuku's fight with todoroki would ultimately trigger the usj and why the fight itself would be triggered by a convo that stain and shigaraki have. In my opinion, this is also a very good way for hori to just show off how he has improved his own art and be like "oh look at how good my art is now" which kinda sucks because we don't get any story but just some cool looking manga chapters

2) power of rejection?!?! Seems like a fancy plot armour for izuku not to lose all of his quirks to me🤷‍♀️. The power of rejection just sounds like such a cliche way to be like oh izuku won't lose his quirk to plot armour because he physically cannot lose his quirks since shigaraki is rejecting them. Like seriously what is it with Izuku not being able to keep his powers and we are just having him HAVE TO PASS DOWN HIS QUIRK FOR NO REASON?!?!?! you already passed down the quirk that caused the most distress aka kudos so won't izuku suffer even more if he passed down blackwhip which is the quirk that is keeping him both alive and is giving him the ability to move like why would izuku the and transfer that?!?! Seems stupid to me 😭 and low-key further reinforces the idea that the power of rejection is (A) there a plot point introduced to make it so that izuku doesn't lose his quirks and (B) so horikoshi can still create intense looking manga pages that he won't be able to create if izuku can't use his quirks anymore.

3) The unnerving focus on the police officer who took Tenko home. This manga page low-key confirmed the one theory that was like the police officer is afo and that AFO gave tomura his quirk which if it is true just doesn't line up or make sense when it comes to canon. I see how this theory can help develop both the parallels further in fanon but in canon it just damages tomura's character and its like an excuse that we should pity shigaraki even more because this police guy who was supposed to help him was a villain who gave him a destructive quirk and made him go insane /cause his families deaths. This also takes away from the half baked plot point that the gene for quirks actually heavily influence behaviour but if this theory is true then shigaraki just wants destruction because he wants destruction 🤷‍♀️ nothing more and nothing less.

4) Eri becoming relevant to the plot now? I have already said this and I will say it again Eri's quirk is too narrative breaking and too powerful. You literally cannot have the plot go on since we discovered that Eri can legit just rewind people to a time they were at their prime like she did with mirio. This brings up the question as to why she didn't do this with aizawa or all might and therefore her quirk could be used to make the series and characters have no long lasting concequences. Also how are the heroes so irresponsible thaT THEY COULD LET A CHILD SIMPLY RUN INTO A DANGEROUS AND TERRIFYING BATTLE FIELD LIKE WHATS WRONG WITH YOU ECTOPLASM DO SOMETHING YOURE SUPPOSED TO PROTECT THE CHILD ARENT YOU?!?!?!!? also this is such a shame Eri could of actually been a very good character who symbolised the traumatic events that victims of hero society faced and how young children could be kidnapped and exploited for powerful quirks however instead of getting anything like that we just get Eri BECOMING A TOOL FOR THE HEROES WHICH IS SOMETHING THAT SHE WAS Traumatised TO DO DUE TO OVERHAUL MAKING HER A TOOL FOR HIM AND NOTHING ELSE?!?!? talk about double standards. This is also making the Eri will rewind shigaraki into Tenko theory much more plausible and I hate that theory for so many reasons. However, it's either this or the theory that she will have to separate Izuku and shigaraki BECAUSE FOR SOME forsaken REASON THOSE TWO ARE SOMEHOW MERGING AND BECOMING THE SAME PERSON LIKE THAT MAKES ANY SENSE

5) where did the damage that kudos quirk was supposed to do to shigaraki go? Is it me but I seriously don't see shigaraki getting any damaged or recoil from kudos quirk like I could see some of it from the last chapter where shigaraki was somewhat struggling but that's it nothing else. Shigaraki can now fight perfectly fine and isn't getting the recoil hit if a nuke something that izuku was suffering with the majority of the fight which just seems unfair at this point like?!?! Its also another example of how hori fails at show don't tell

Seriously I still don't like the leaks but at least we got my girl hatsume and la brava that's the only good thing I can think about when it comes to these leaks.

#mha critical #bnha critical #mha #hori is a bad writer #horikoshi critical #izuku deserves better #bhna critical #midoriya izuku #shigaraki tomura #the leaks are all over the place i dont like them at all #bnha

[drewexe]

Like The Stars Pt. 1

pt.1 pt.2 pt.3 pt.4

Pairing: jaemin x fem!reader

Genre: smut, fluff, sex lessons au, friends to lovers

Word Count: ~8,8k

Includes: high school seniors (everyone is legal of age); canon bisexual mc; side characters donghyuck, renjun, and karina; profanities; obviously, sex lessons; kind of a slow burn?; mc being oblivious and kind of innocent but hopefully not in an annoying way; one handjob (for now)

Summary: you'd had a crush on renjun for as long as you could remember, but your lack of experience always stopped you from taking the first step; it's a good thing you have your trusted friend jaemin to help you out

Author's note: fun fact about this story, i've been writing it ever since ridin came out... i edited it a bit to make that less obvious, but i apologize for any writing inconsistencies that may appear, as there is only so much i can change without rewriting the full thing also if you see any mentions of hair colors, no you didn't also i meant to post this as one part but i wasn't able to finish it by the day i wanted to post it so imma stop procrastinating and finish it on the go hehe

It was something like an unwritten rule that rich kids would go to private schools, at least where you lived, which could also be heavily influenced by the fact that one of the best private schools in the country was located in your town. Of course, coming from a family of successful businessmen, you had been enrolled the moment your family stepped foot there three years ago. About 95% of the students were filthy rich, the remaining 5% being scholarship kids that you didn’t really communicate with much. Well, truth be told, you only really communicated with four people in the school but in all honesty, you enjoyed your school life.

You walked into the school cafeteria and headed over to the table where your best friend Karina was already enjoying her lunch. Across from her was sitting Donghyuck, another one of your friends. Karina and Hyuck had a long story back, both of them teasing each other all the time, never actually getting together yet for some reason. You had given up trying to help them. You had enough to worry about with your own secret crush anyway.

“The school year started two weeks ago, how come I already have three different assignments,” you complained instead of a greeting once you sat down at the table.

“Senior year, Y/N, we all knew that was coming,” Hyuck shrugged, grinning slightly with an astonishing lack of empathy.

You just rolled your eyes, not bothering to respond. You took a bite out of your lunch but got distracted as soon as two familiar figures entered the cafeteria. The other two in your small group – Na Jaemin and Huang Renjun. Your eyes quickly stopped on the Chinese boy and you couldn't help but let out a quiet sigh.

“Y/N, dear, can you please tell him finally?” Karina rolled her eyes next to you, leaning closer and lowering her voice so Hyuck wouldn't listen in. “You’ve had a crush on Renjun for as long as I’ve known you, you should just go for it.” 

You shook your head quickly, opening your mouth to say something in objection but then the two boys had already reached the table. You closed your mouth again and waved at them with a smile.

“Hello there,” Jaemin greeted, grinning slightly as he sat on the table next to you. Like, literally on the table, his feet stepping on the bench. You looked up at him, eyebrows raised in just a slightly judging manner.

“Hey, kiddo,” you smiled back, reaching up to ruffle his hair.

Yet your smile melted as Renjun suddenly sat down next to you, greeting you with a soft “Hello, beautiful” of his own and throwing his arm over your shoulder. You greeted back softly, enjoying the feeling of his body near yours.

Renjun confused you a lot of the time - he seemed open to you, he flirted and complimented you a lot, but he’d never really addressed any feelings and you knew him as a straightforward guy that wouldn’t just keep quiet if he wanted something. Which is why you were scared to ask him yourself. That, and your lack of experience. Well, you weren’t innocent and pure, you had dated and had sex before, but it had been with girls. Men were a confusing thing to you, you weren't sure what to do with those and feared messing up, as dumb as that was. But you just didn’t want to mess up with Renjun.

“People, I am planning on organizing a back-to-school party this year,” Jaemin said, pulling you away from your thoughts. 

“Are parties all you think about?” Renjun tsked in disapproval on your left, making you chuckle. “You’re legally an adult already, Nana, you can’t always just have fun.”

“So, who wants to host it?” Jaemin ignored him, a grin spreading on his lips. “My parents are home tonight so it can’t be at my place. Hyuckie?” Donghyuck shook his head with a roll of his eyes. 

“Don’t look at me,” he whined. “Last time I let you have a party at my place, I had to find my precious Michael Jackson albums in the bottom of the laundry basket, under at least three shirts that weren’t mine!”

The grin on Jaemin’s lips didn’t fall, instead, he just seemed pleased with the mentioned outcome.

“My parents aren’t home, actually,” you mentioned, chuckling slightly. “And you’re in luck, I actually feel like dealing with one of your parties, Jaem,” you said, smiling at the boy that immediately turned to you, a happy glow in his eyes that melted you a bit on the inside.

“Great then, I’ll go invite everyone important!” he jumped up, already taking out his phone and ignoring Renjun’s eye roll and disappointed sigh.

“Y/N, you should finish your lunch,” Renjun said to you, smiling sweetly. “If you’ll be dealing with him all night, you’ll need all your energy.” You nodded slightly as you took a big bite of your meal, eyes shining from the approval on Renjun’s face.

You failed to notice Jaemin’s mood faltering and the way his smile dropped as he left the cafeteria. And when you realized he had left, you just shrugged, assuming it was just to talk to his friends about the party.

The school day passed by quickly, and soon you found yourself at home getting everything ready for the party. The home staff had helped you stock up enough alcohol and snacks for as many people as you could, not really sure who Jaemin would even have invited. You hoped it wouldn’t be the whole school, which he had done once in Renjun’s house. You were relieved to see not that many people arriving. I mean, of course, it was a pretty big party, but you could handle this much and still have a house by the next day.

The night was going well, everyone seemed to be having fun, a lot of the kids were already getting drunk, and you were pretty sure at least one of the guest rooms was taken up, but you were happy. And maybe a little tipsy yourself.

“Y/N, baby, come play with us,” you heard your best friend’s voice call out to you and turned around with a smile, seeing Karina, the three boys, and some other kids. You approached curiously, taking a sip from your glass filled with vodka and cranberry juice.

“What are we playing?” you asked, tilting your head to the side.

“Truth or dare,” Hyuck answered instead, grinning. You took notice of the boy sitting a lot closer to Karina than usual, which made you raise your eyebrows and a smirk curve your lips, throwing the other girl an amused glance to which she replied with a wink.

“I’m in,” you giggled, sitting down in the free spot next to Renjun and across from Jaemin. They had already started playing and apparently, one of the girls had to sit in another guy’s lap, which he seemed to enjoy a lot more than her. The same boy spun the bottle and it landed on you, another giggle escaping you. Okay, maybe you were more than just a little tipsy.

“Uh, if you had to date someone from the group, who would it be?” the boy asked awkwardly, which you gave to the fact that you didn’t really know each other.

“Easy, Karina” you grinned, laughing a bit after that, though judging by his expression he expected the answer to be a boy. “But if you insist it has to be with a dick, then I’d say Renjun,” you added, your mind cloudy enough to not overthink it. Renjun laughed amused, leaning over to peck your cheek, and if anyone could know that you were suddenly feeling warmer, you'd blame it on the alcohol.

As the game goes, it was your turn to spin the bottle and so you did, landing on a girl from the class below yours. You knew her very vaguely yet made up some dumb dare that the girl still ended up enjoying. A few more rounds went by and the bottle fell on Jaemin, who picked dare almost the same second.

“Kiss the person across from you,” whoever had spun said.

It took you a moment to realize that was you. You blinked, looking up and your eyes met. Unlike the confident expression you could see on his face usually, Jaemin looked unsure, you could see a question in his eyes. “I can drink if you don’t-“ he started, but you shook your head.

“Na Jaemin doesn’t step down from dares,” you declared, giggling and taking a sip from your drink again. “I ain’t gonna be the reason you change that.” With that you got up on your knees, leaning over the bottle closer to him.

You could see him still hesitating, which made you narrow your eyebrows slightly and pout. “If you don’t want to, though…“ you started, your tone a bit upset in your drunken haze, which seemed to snap him out of his anxiousness and he moved up, closer to you. His hand reached up, cupping your cheek gently.

“Any preferences on the kiss?” he asked suddenly, you weren't sure if he was asking you or the person that had given the dare. 

“Aye, don’t be boring, give us a show,” someone shouted from the side and your eyes widened a bit as you realized that maybe you hadn’t really thought this through.

You hadn’t kissed boys, although you supposed it wouldn’t be much different from kissing girls. But you had never expected the first boy you kissed would be Jaemin, one of your closest friends. Yet you didn’t mind, or at least the alcohol in your system helped you not to mind. 

“You better make my first kiss with a boy worth it, Na” you mumbled jokingly and then leaned closer, pressing your lips against his softly.

He seemed taken aback for a second, yet reacted almost immediately after that, kissing back and tilting his head to the side to deepen the kiss. His hand moved from your cheek to the back of your neck as he seemed to pull you closer. His tongue gently darted along your lips and you gladly opened them, letting him do whatever he pleased, the alcohol on his tongue mixing with the taste of vodka in your own mouth. You could hear cheers around you, and you could hear your brain complaining about what Renjun would think of you, but Jaemin was very distracting from both of those. Apparently, people weren’t lying when they said he was skilled with that stuff.

When he finally pulled away, you could feel your head spinning a bit, the oxygen a little short for your already intoxicated brain and you stumbled a bit as you sat back down. Renjun wrapped his arms around you quickly to help you so you wouldn’t fall. You thanked him softly, smiling at Jaemin. The other boy had already sat back down as well, seemingly calm, although his eyes were moving around anxiously. ‘Was I a bad kiss?’ was the first thought in your head, making you widen your eyes slightly. And being the dysfunctional drunk you were, the thought stuck with you for the rest of the game. You answered some questions, did some dares but didn’t even give them thought. Your mind was entirely somewhere else. All you could think about was that you had been so bad Jaemin regretted it... and that you wouldn’t be good enough for Renjun.

Caught up in your thoughts, you didn’t notice it had been your turn to spin the bottle until Renjun shook you gently. You blinked, eyes focusing on him and widening slightly when you realized how close he was. Your head was spinning and suddenly you felt the urge to kiss him. 

“Sorry, someone take my turn,” you coughed out, getting up and walking away quickly as panic flooded your mind.

You headed straight for your room, closing the door behind you and leaning your back on the wall. You could feel tears rushing to your eyes so you took a large sip of your drink to distract yourself. It was going to be okay, you thought, you'd sober up and it would get better. This was a dumb reason to cry anyway.

“You okay, princess?” you heard a familiar voice suddenly. Not expecting him to be there, you jumped up slightly, looking over at Jaemin. “Sorry, I just got worried when you left so quickly and wanted to check if everything is alright.”

“Was I a bad kiss?” you asked, not really paying attention to what he had said. You could only focus on one thing at the moment.

“I’m sorry, what?“ Jaemin widened his eyes, choking slightly on air.

“Did it feel bad? Kissing me, I mean,” you reworded your question, your lips trembling a little.

“Of course not!” he shot back immediately, his face heating up noticeably. “You were one of the best kisses I’ve ever had,” he added a little more collected this time as he looked away and coughed awkwardly. You weren't sure if he was honest or just saying that to calm you down but decided not to question it for your own sake. You pouted and looked at your drink.

“Good enough for Renjun?” you asked quietly instead. You hadn’t mentioned your crush in front of the boys in your friend group because you were scared they would spread the information just because they were friends, yet at the moment that wasn’t your biggest concern. Jaemin didn’t reply though. When you looked up, his face was blank. “I’m sorry, that was a dumb question, ignore it,” you forced a laugh and took a sip from your drink as if to say ‘Look, everything’s so alright I can even drink!’

“You haven’t confessed to him yet because you’re scared you wouldn’t be good enough at kissing?” Jaemin asked, raising his eyebrow as his usual teasing grin slowly took back its place on his lips.

“Well, not just a kiss, I,“ you started explaining, then a gasp left your lips and your eyes widened. “You know?!” you screeched and covered your face with your hands.

“It’s just a little obvious,” Jaemin replied jokingly as he stepped closer to you and pulled your hands away from your face, taking the glass away from you and setting it down on the shelf near you. He’d closed the door after he’d walked in, leaving the two of you alone in your bedroom. “Now tell me, what did you mean?”

“Well, I’m scared I’ll be a disappointment,” you signed, leaning back against the wall and crossing your arms. “I’ve been with girls before. But I’ve never been with a boy, I’m scared I’ll mess up when I’m with him and he won’t want to be with me but won’t tell me because he’s just too sweet and we’ll be stuck in a relationship he doesn’t want and I can’t let go.” You were ranting at this point, the alcohol blurring your thoughts.

“You know he wouldn’t judge you for something like this,” Jaemin said quietly, one of his hands gently cupping your cheek, which made you remember the kiss earlier when he had held you the same way. “And I’m sure you’d figure out what to do quickly anyways” he added, a small smile curving his lips as if to comfort you. You were quiet for a bit, your mind once again working on its own thing.

“I know! You’ll teach me!” you exclaimed suddenly, grabbing his arms excitedly. In your eyes, there was a glimmer and Jaemin had to take a step back. 

“What?!“ he choked out, and you giggled, finding his surprise adorable. 

“Teach me how to please a boy, Nana,” you asked, a grin spreading your lips at the brilliant idea you had just had.

“I think you should stop drinking and just go to bed, Y/N,” the boy chuckled awkwardly, pushing you away from himself. He pulled you gently to the big bed in the corner of the room.

You narrowed your eyebrows - going to sleep wasn’t what you had wanted. So when the two of you reached the bed, you pushed Jaemin to sit on it instead, surprising him enough so he couldn’t stop you, and got in his lap. Your arms came to rest on his shoulders and you looked down at his wide eyes and flustered expression.

“I’m serious, Jaemin, you have experience with these things and I trust you.” You could see him swallowing hard, hopefully, that was supposed to mean that he was giving in. “Teach me how to fuck boys, Jaem” you whispered, begging him with your eyes.

He was still unresponsive. And if you had been sober, you probably would have apologized already and stepped away. But you weren't. So instead of that, you let your head drop until your lips could press comfortably against the skin of his neck and you started leaving open-mouthed kisses down his neck. Then you decided to go back on the same path, this time sucking and nibbling gently along the way. If the way he swallowed dryly and let out a shaky breath was any indication, your actions seemed to be doing the trick and a pleased smile curved your lips. Getting bolder as he didn’t seem to want to stop you anymore, you took it further, lips attaching to a spot you liked and sucking harshly, aiming to leave a mark. At the same time, you rolled your hips against his.

“Fuck-“ Jaemin moaned out lowly at the action, and his hips bucked up slightly against you.

And then you felt a bulge in his pants, pressing against your thigh. You thought that would mean you had won, yet suddenly he pushed you away, startling you enough to make you take a step back and off his lap. His eyes were blown wide as he looked at you, his breathing - heavy.

“Love, believe me, I would love nothing more than to push you onto this bed and have you scream my name,” he said. For some reason, the pet name sent tingles down your spine. Or it could have been the things he’d said. Or the low, raspy tone of voice that you had never heard before. You blamed it on the alcohol.

“Then why haven’t you yet?” you asked, attempting to sound seductive, yet it came out as more of a whine. “What do you want me to do, Nana? Beg for you? Beg for your dick? I can do that, I will do whatever you want me to do.” 

Your eyes were tearing up a little bit at this point. You were drunk and you were now horny, and Jaemin was like a ray of light, a promise of a good time. He had just said that he wanted to do this too. So why was he still refusing?

“Y/N, you are literally wasted,” he said, his eyes softening as he stood up from the bed and approached you again. His hands cupped your cheeks, squishing them slightly and you narrowed your eyebrows. “I am not going to do anything with you in such a state.” He must have seen the disappointment on your face though, as he let out a soft sigh and pecked your lips gently, surprising you. “Listen, if when you wake up tomorrow, you still remember this and you still want me to… teach you, we’ll talk about this more, okay?”

You wanted to argue, to insist on it being right then and there. But you knew that he wouldn’t step down. And deep down, you were grateful about it. And maybe your eyes were stinging a lot more than they did a minute ago, and the bed seemed awfully inviting now.

“But what about you though?” you asked quietly, looking away from him. It wasn't until you looked back at him due to his lack of response, that you realized he didn’t understand your question. “Well, I made you… hard...?” you said, almost a question. 

A chuckle left Jaemin’s lips and he shook his head a little as he pulled you to the bed, letting you lay down and carefully tucking you under the covers. His fingers got buried in your hair and he gently hummed. You were drifting away faster than you had expected. By the time his quiet reply came, you were already too gone to make out the words. 

~

The pain in your head was a bitch. There wasn’t a single thought in your mind besides “fucking hell” for the first few hours after you'd woken up, thankful that Jaemin had been smart enough to throw his party on a Friday, so you could sleep in and die in peace. You didn’t remember getting in bed, but you didn’t really bother about it. It was your own house, you had probably gotten tired and had gone to sleep, in your room, as normal as that.

With a quiet groan, you got up, first heading into the bathroom for your usual morning routine, as well as to take a shower - you felt as if the smell of alcohol had soaked up in your bones. After that, you went to the medicine cabinet in the kitchen. There wasn’t much, but you managed to find a pack of painkillers and gladly took two. You could only hope they would work soon.

Finally feeling a bit more conscious, you decided breakfast would be nice. Obviously, you weren't in the mood to prepare anything complicated, so you just put two slices of bread in the toaster. While waiting for them to be done, you finally checked your phone. Usually, it would be the first thing you do when you wake up, but today you hadn’t had the power to. First of all, you decided to check your messages - there were some from all of your friends from last night.

“you okay?"; "nana said you went to sleep”; “kinda weird if u ask me”; “did you really fall asleep at your own party-” had asked Karina. A chuckle escaped your lips. You quickly typed back an apology, assuring her that you were okay before you opened Hyuck’s message. The smile on your face quickly dropped after you read that one, confusion taking over you.

“girl, if u thought no one would notice the giant hickey on jaemins neck-“ That was the first one. There was another one that made your pulse speed up. “fucker was looking too smug when he came back from ur room did u like suck him off or smth???”

Still unsure what he meant, you opened Renjun’s message. “Jaemin told us that you’d had too much to drink and needed rest. I hope you feel okay in the morning. Make sure to drink lots of water”. After that, there was another short one “Text me if you need anything” followed by a smiley emoji and a heart, which made you melt on the inside a little.

You were more than confused though, your brain was working at its maximum capacity in a hangover state as you moved your toast to a plate, together with some fruit, and then returned to your room to eat there. Munching on a piece of bread, you tried to remember what had happened last night. Finally, you decided that this called for drastic measures.

“Aye, thought you might have died,” were Donghyuck’s first words when he picked up the phone, his voice the usual childish tone over the speaker, a grin evident even in the way he spoke. “Am still waiting for an answer, what did you do to the poor boy?”

“That’s the thing, Hyuck, I don’t remember doing anything,” you sighed, rolling your eyes as you already regretted calling him. “I don’t really remember even being with him, honestly, I must have completely blacked out after… uh, say, did we play something last night...?” you asked, narrowing your eyebrows and nervously nibbling on your nail as you vaguely remembered sitting in a circle with a lot of other people.

“Yeah, truth or dare,” the boy responded, chuckling. “You don’t remember?” You didn’t respond for a while, which the boy seemed to take as a confirmation. “Well, uh…”

“Donghyuck...?” you asked carefully after a moment of silence. “Did I do something really weird?” Still no response. It was unusual for him to be so quiet and you were starting to get very nervous.

“I mean aside from telling everyone that you’d date Renjun and making out with Jaemin, I don’t think there’s anything you could worry about,” he said finally, his voice the normal lazy tone he had as if he hadn’t just told you what he had just told you.

“WHAT???” you screeched, hearing him whine on the other side that you had broken his ears. “Please tell me that you’re messing with me, please, Hyuckie,” you whimpered.

“Nah, you straight up had your tongue down Jaemin’s throat as if your life depended on it. Like, technically you asked for it. It was his dare and he was going to drink but you insisted quite passionately,” he replied casually as if that was the most normal thing ever. “And the Renjun thing wasn’t even that serious, I mean I doubt anyone took it that seriously.” He at least had the decency to try to sound reassuring.

You needed a moment to take it all in. Your fingers got buried in your hair, tugging on it in shock. “Do you think he caught on? He’s smart enough, he probably understood what it meant…“ you whispered, not even minding that Donghyuck seemed to be quite aware of your feelings for Renjun. “I don’t even wanna know what he thought of me - saying that and then kissing… kissing Jaemin,“ you choked on the last words, the thought was so foreign to you.

“It really wasn’t that serious, it was a dare and we had all drank quite a lot, he’d be an idiot to think any less of you for it. But maybe your drunk self was worried too, y’know, you were staring at him for a while there before you suddenly ran away to your room,” the boy on the other side said, humming. His tone seemed a bit more serious now as if he had caught onto your distress even though he was still joking about it.

You pushed your brain more, trying to find the pieces in your mind now that you knew what you were looking for. You could remember the feeling of soft lips on yours, even though the face was not there. “What happened after that? Do you know?”

“All I know is that Jaemin went after you.” You let out a hum, still trying to think. “He came back down about 20 minutes later with a giant dark bruise on his neck. He looked very distracted also, like, he seemed to be thinking about something, fidgeting around all the time and-“

Before he could finish his sentence, you let out another loud screech. It had finally clicked. Not all of it was there, but enough had returned to you and you wanted to die. To bury yourself alive and not ever appear in the land of living again.

“If you’ll repay me for my help by making me permanently deaf, I will just hang up,” Hyuck whined, but you couldn’t care less. You were horrified by your own actions.

“Donghyuck, I asked Jaemin to teach me how to have sex.”

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

“You did what-“ it was a mix between a choke and a laugh as if Donghyuck was in disbelief. Understandably so. This was something quite out of your character. “Sweetie, correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t you crushing on Renjun for, like, the past couple of years?”

“I asked Jaemin cause I was scared I’d fuck up with Renjun, I’m… Hyuckie, what do I do?” you cried out, your head falling on your desk, but you barely noticed the pain in your forehead. “Hyuckie, I literally begged him and threw myself on him.” It was quiet on the other side of the line for a while and when Donghyuck spoke again, amusement laced his tone, as if he was a second away from bursting out laughing.

“Well, well, now it all makes sense…” You were just going to ask what he meant, when he continued, his tone turning suddenly more serious than you ever remembered hearing him. “I would suggest you think very carefully about this and call him and talk to him about the situation.”

“I- I mean, of course, but… Am I missing something else here?” you asked, lifting your head and narrowing your eyebrows in confusion.

“No, Y/N, just be careful. I gotta go now, Karina’s waiting for me” he said, his tone finally lightening up again and you knew you'd have to ask your best friend about it later. 

“Bye,” you replied quickly, a second later the hang-up tone resonated around your room.

You picked up your phone again, nibbling on your lower lip as you reread Renjun’s message. What was he thinking of you now? He was an angel, he probably didn’t even think much of your behavior last night, brushing it off due to the alcohol you had consumed, just as Donghyuck had. But maybe he found it inappropriate. What if he had thought that you were innocent and sweet and now his opinion had been ruined forever? You figured that you didn’t dare ask and find out. So in the end, you sent him a short “Thank you” with a heart emoji, before sending Jaemin a text that you'd be at his place in 30 minutes.

~

Waiting at the door for Jaemin to open was nerve-wracking. You could feel your hands shaking and you were tempted to turn around and run away. Actually, that seemed like a great idea. You could call him from home, why had you even decided to meet up in person in the first place?

“Hey, princess,” his greeting startled you and ruined the chance of escaping, your wide eyes meeting his soft ones, a bright smile on his lips. He looked just like any other time you'd seen him as if nothing had happened. His hair was still messy, as if you had just woken him up, which would make sense on a Saturday morning after a party. He was wearing a large t-shirt and loose sweatpants and he looked so soft you wanted to squish him and put him in your pocket. The irony that this was the same boy you had begged to fuck you was not lost on you. “What’s up, why did you come?” he asked, once again pulling you out of your thoughts.

“I wanted to talk to you,” you squeaked out, embarrassed as to how little your voice sounded. Jaemin’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, yet he smiled even more, even though that seemed impossible, and led you inside and up to his room, taking a pack of chips and two cans of Fanta from the kitchen on your way up.

He opened one of the cans and handed it to you, before opening the other one for himself, and looked up at you. 

“What’s up? How are you feeling, by the way, any hangover difficulties?” he asked, his caring nature peaking. You had to take a breath, he was one of the sweetest people you had ever met, how did you get yourself in this situation with him… You shook your head slightly as a no, which was obviously a lie, but you didn’t wanna let yourself procrastinate.

“Nana, I am so sorry for everything I did last night,” you said quietly, not daring to meet his eyes, staring at the wall behind him instead as your fingers were fidgeting with the tab of your Fanta. Yet you still managed to catch the way his expression changed, the smile falling suddenly. It was almost painful.

“So you did remember after all?” he asked quietly, taking a sip of his drink and setting it on the bedside table. “How much do you remember, princess? And what are you apologizing for exactly?”

“I- I think I remember most of it, I remember how I asked you to…“ You couldn’t finish the sentence, so you took a sip of your drink instead, trying to calm your mind a bit. “I remember I also tried to force you into agreeing…” Unconsciously, your eyes fell on his neck as if searching for… there it was, a bright reddish spot, proudly peeking over the collar of his shirt and suddenly you felt a new wave of embarrassment flooding you. “I am so sorry, I shouldn’t have invaded your space like that without permission,” you shook your head, forcing your eyes away from the bruised skin. "Not that there’s really an excuse for that…"

Jaemin obviously noticed your stare, readjusting his shirt slightly so the collar would cover the hickey. His eyes were gentle as he looked at you while you spoke, his lips pressed in a line.

“It’s okay, Y/N,” he said and something in the way he said your name made your stomach twist uneasy - it didn’t sound like usual, he sounded strained. “I could tell you’re not really in control of yourself, so don’t worry, we can just forget about it, hm?”

You looked up at him, observing his face. You could try to forget about it, of course. But you knew you wouldn’t be able to. And maybe you didn’t remember much, but you were sure he had said… what did he say exactly? Something like ‘I would love to have you scream my name.’ And hadn’t he hinted that he might agree to help you? You took a deep breath, shooting the next sentence out before you could have the time to regret it.

“I still want you to teach me”

Jaemin froze, his eyes widening as he looked up at you as if a second head had just grown out of your neck. You held his gaze, despite your mind literally screaming in fear to run away. You cleared your throat slightly and licked your lips before speaking again.

“You said that if I still want it, we can talk about it, so… If you don’t want to do it, that’s fine, I completely understand, just say something, Nana,” you asked, hoping that you hadn’t just single-handedly ruined your whole friendship.

“Are you completely sure that you want me, specifically me, to teach you about sex?” the boy asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest. His eyes were unreadable, you couldn’t tell whether he wanted to do it, or to say no, you couldn’t even guess what he might be thinking about which honestly terrified you, yet you still nodded.

“I trust you more than any other guy I know, aside from Renjun and Hyuck, but they are obviously not an option. I know that you have experience, it’s not gonna be a jump in the dark…” He was still looking at you with the same expression as if waiting for you to go on. “I don’t even know why I came up with that idea back then, but I know that if I will be having sex with a boy, I would really love it if you’re the first one.” You weren't sure if what you said made sense or if it gave out the right message to the boy, especially since he knew that you liked Renjun.

“I told you last night, and I still stand behind my words, Renjun wouldn’t judge you for something like this,” he pointed out, eyes boring into yours as if he’d manage to read your mind. “You don’t need to do this for him.”

“It’s not only for him, yeah, it may be part of the reason, but I just think it’s time I stopped being afraid of being intimate with a guy,” you tried to make your idea make sense to him. He still seemed doubtful, so you forced an awkward smile on your lips as you added almost jokingly: “And I mean, why would I wanna settle for someone else if I can have the hottest guy I know?”

Tickling his ego seemed to finally do the trick, Jaemin’s mouth curved slightly at the corners and his eyes finally softened.

“Well, if you put it that way…“ he said, laughing cheerfully and you were relieved. “Fine, if you’re sure about it, I will help you,” he agreed, his tone still serious, but now it was just to show he understood the importance of what he was agreeing to. “I’ll go with your speed and I will teach you what you ask me about, okay? If you say you want something, we will do it, but I will not be initiating anything.” You nodded, smiling at him in appreciation.

“Can we not tell the others about it though?” you asked carefully, biting your lips. “I mean, Hyuck knows about last night but… can we keep this just between ourselves?”

“I mean, sure,” he shrugged, taking a sip of his drink before he looked at you again and grinned. “We have a deal, princess, just hit me up when you want to-”

“What about right now?” you shot quickly before even realizing it and the surprise on his face was almost comical.

“Well, you sure go all in…” he chuckled, shaking his head. “What do you wanna know first that you’re so impatient about?”

You looked away again, suddenly embarrassed by how eager you were.

“Well, I don’t know, you could just fuck me, like how you said you wanted to last night,” you said, a smirk curving your lips as some sudden wave of confidence washed over you. But it seemed like Jaemin was either not embarrassed to admit that or was better prepared for you now.

“I mean, I would love to,” he chuckled, a cocky smirk on his lips in return. “But lesson number one - don’t fuck a guy who doesn’t have a condom around,” he chuckled, amused at your surprised expression. “Unless, of course, you are taking pills. Or want to risk it with kids.” You quickly shook your head as a no to both.

“Then… we can try something else?” you asked, biting your lips. He was looking at you expectantly and you remembered that he’d said he wouldn’t initiate anything. “Like… we could go on what we dropped off last night and, well, I could give you… a blowjob?”

“You sure?” he asked after a long moment and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes.

“My God, Nana, if I’m asking you to do it, it obviously means that I’m-”

“Fine then, come here” he interrupted you, something in his eyes flashing and you could feel a shiver run down your spine at his deeper tone. You stood in your spot, frozen for a few seconds and a devilish smirk curved his lips. "Having second thoughts already? You seemed pretty sure just now..." he teased and the subtle mockery in his voice seemed to be enough to get you back to your senses.

Setting the half-empty can on the bedside table, you stood up and made your way over to the boy who had put his arms behind himself and leaned back on them as he waited for you. You weren’t exactly sure whether you were supposed to try and seduce him so the way you plopped yourself on his lap wasn’t exactly graceful or sexy, but he didn’t seem to mind as one of his arms wrapped around your waist to support you.

“I think you should refrain from leaving more hickeys though if you don’t want anyone to know about this,” he chuckled softly and you nodded, although quite honestly the thought made you a bit sad.  You had indeed wanted to go ahead and mark him up some more. The thought was quickly pushed to the back of your mind though, in favor of focusing on what you were actually supposed to do.

The task seemed much more difficult now that you knew he wouldn’t stop you and that your mind wasn’t buzzing with too much alcohol.

“You’re supposed to guide me, you know,” you mumbled, wrapping your arms around his neck and another chuckle escaped his lips.

“You wanted to continue from where we stopped last night, I thought you would be okay on your own with that,” he retorted. “Okay, let’s set something straight first,” he licked his lips, his eyes falling on yours for a second before he looked back up to your eyes again. “Is kissing included in this deal? We established yesterday that you are good enough at it already, so there’s no reason to include that in the lessons if you don’t want to.”

You took a moment, considering his question. On one side, he was right and it wasn’t necessary. Plus, it would make the whole thing even more intimate than it already seemed to be. Yet you kind of… wanted to include that as well. And you would probably feel more comfortable if there was something you were already used to in this whole situation. So, finally, you nodded in confirmation.

Seems like that was all he needed as a second later he crashed his lips on yours. For a moment, you were startled by the sudden intensity, yet you kissed back right away, pressing closer to him as if on instinct. He didn’t give you much time, forcing his tongue in your mouth and taking control of you almost immediately. Your fingers pushed through his hair, tugging gently. The arm around your waist tightened its grip and pulled you closer, as his free hand moved to the back of your thigh, squeezing gently.

Kissing Jaemin felt amazing. Even more so now that you were sober and entirely conscious of what was going on. Getting lost in the kiss, you nearly forgot what the real point of this was. You could spend hours more just like this, yet you remembered that “this” was not the main idea of your deal with Jaemin. Getting back to the point, you rolled your hips against his slowly, a low hum coming from the boy in response as he squeezed you harder and bucked his hips up against yours.

“Already getting hard?” you teased him, out of breath, as you pulled away from his lips just enough to be able to speak. You were tempted to go in again, yet you chose against it in favor of kissing down his jawline and lower down his neck, sucking very lightly, trying to keep up your hip movements against him at the same time.

“One of the hottest girls I have ever met literally just asked me to suck me off and is currently grinding on my dick, excuse me if I’m a little affected,” he rolled his eyes, a subtle rasp in his voice as he leaned his head back to give you more space. You felt a flutter in your chest at his compliment. You couldn’t lie, it gave you a small boost of confidence seeing him enjoy your actions so freely.

“Hope I can live up to the expectations,” you whispered against his skin, feeling him shiver slightly at the way your breath hit his skin. Once again, you were kissing down his neck and collarbones. Okay, maybe you were stalling. You were anxious to go on further than this. You tried to excuse the long time you were taking by making sure he was aroused enough to proceed but you knew that the real reason was that you were scared to go on.

“Princess, are you sure you really want to go through with this right now?” he asked breathlessly as if sensing your hesitation. “I already said that I will help, if you’re scared that I will back out by the time you feel ready-” he started but cut himself off when you got off his lap and fell to your knees. The smile you sent his way showcased much more confidence than you actually felt. Pressing his lips in a tight line, he chose to quiet down and observe you.

Carefully, ignoring the slight shaking of your fingers, you reached up and untied the knot of his sweatpants. You chose to look up at him again when you carefully tugged them down together with his underwear. Licking his lips slightly, he lifted his hips to help you, his eyes boring into yours. You let the clothing fall to the floor before finally lowering your eyes to his crotch. The sight overwhelmed you.

The reality of the situation hit you hard as the fact that for the first time in your life you were seeing a man naked (more precisely a man’s lower half), and that man was your best friend Jaemin sunk in. His dick was standing hard between his legs, the tip leaking slightly. You couldn’t objectively compare it to anything, but the size still scared you.

Jaemin gave you a few moments to collect yourself, before letting out a sigh and leaning a bit forward to cup your chin and tilt your head up so you would look at his eyes instead.

“You’re not ready for that, are you?” he asked gently, with no hint of accusation or displeasure in his voice. You gulped slowly. You wanted to go through with it, you wanted to prove that you had not been just talking big words earlier. But you couldn’t push yourself to lie. You expected him to be disappointed, but he smiled instead. “Come on, get up,” he offered.

Something in the way he seemed ready to just drop it all despite literally having you on your knees in front of him made you want to push through, so you shook your head in disagreement. He narrowed his eyebrows.

“Jaemin, I’m supposed to be learning here, how can I learn if I don’t go out of my comfort zone,” you pouted slightly.

“You literally don’t feel comfortable doing this right now,” he pointed out, raising his eyebrow. “Get up, we can do this some other time,” he insisted, yet you still refused to back down. An exasperated chuckle left his lips and he shook his head in disbelief. “Fine. Give me your hand then,” he prompted and you reached up, placing your hand in his expecting one.

Slowly, as if to give you time to change your mind, he brought it forward until both your hands were hovering over his length. His eyes looked into yours for confirmation and when you nodded slightly, he placed your hand on himself, gently wrapping your fingers around the shaft. There was a visible tightening in his body at the action and you observed curiously as he took a short breath before placing his hand on top of yours.

“We’ll leave the blowjobs for next time, okay?” he said and you nodded slightly. “For now, this will do. For both of us,” he clarified, his eyes staring into yours intensely. When you nodded in agreement, he wrapped his fingers over yours and gently tightened his hold as he started moving your hand slowly along his length.

Getting the cue, you took it upon yourself to go on and stroke him, carefully watching his expression for any changes and signs if you’re doing well or need to change something. He seemed tense, though, looking back at you as he slowly moved his hand away and left you on your own. You went for a little longer like that, experimenting slightly by tightening your grip, and were pleased when a sharp exhale escaped Jaemin’s lips, assuring you that, well, at least you weren’t doing terribly.

“You can-“ he said after a while, clearing his throat to get rid of the sudden rasp in his voice before trying again. “You can tease the tip as well if you want.” You hummed in acknowledgment, obediently moving your hand up so you could carefully rub your thumb over his head. The quiet groan that he let out put a small smile on your face so you repeated the action just so you could enjoy the way his body twitched slightly at your actions.

Little by little, you were getting more familiar with what he seemed to enjoy and what made him curse under his breath or bite his lips. You were still hesitant at times, yet by now you were getting the grasp of it. A small thought popped into your mind as you watched Jaemin close his eyes. Slowly, you leaned down and stuck your tongue out, licking the tip as you twisted your hand gently around him.

“Y/N-“ he gasped out, as he unconsciously bucked his hips up and his eyes snapped open at you in surprise. You blinked at him, faking innocence. “Didn’t we agree that-“

“I just wanted to see how you’d react,” you chuckled, biting down your smile as he glared at you. “Am I doing okay?” you asked, using the moment to make sure. Instead of replying, Jaemin scoffed and leaned down a bit to get closer to you.

“The fact that you stopped is killing me right now,” he said, his pupils dilated with lust, you noted. “Be a doll and finish me off, princess, okay?” 

The words sounded more like an order than anything and you couldn’t help but gulp slightly. You had been so used to childish and bubbly Jaemin that the slight hint of dominance he showcased made your stomach twist. Having the moment to yourself, you realized just how needy you were yourself. There was no way that the situation wouldn’t affect you, yet you hadn’t really expected it would be like this.

Shifting uncomfortably in your spot, you refocused on the task at hand, meaning, Jaemin’s dick. You noted that the tip was leaking, as well as the slight tightening of the boy’s stomach when you wrapped your hand around him again and renewed your work. Resting your other hand on his thigh, you did your best to make the boy feel good. Squeezing your hand harder at times, trying to maintain a good rhythm, and it wasn’t even about the learning process anymore. You just wanted to give him the most you could right now.

Your effort didn’t go to waste as soon enough, Jaemin’s breathing got hitched, his body tensed up and before you knew it, he came all over your hand and his stomach, making a mess out of his t-shirt (that you honestly regretted keeping on him… but there was time for everything).

It took him a while to calm his breath and focus properly again, his eyes landing on you again. A small awkward smile curved his lips as he reached over to his bedside table and pulled out a pack of tissues. You reached over to get them, but he stopped you and carefully cleaned up your hand instead, as well as his stomach, before helping you up and letting you sit on the bed while he fixed his pants and went to change the t-shirt.

You shifted uncomfortably in your seat, feeling how your own arousal had grown to an almost unbearable point. You could ask Jaemin to help you out, you thought… But would that be okay? The deal was to have him teach you the things you didn't know, it wasn't like he owed you any more favors. So you suppressed the idea of having Jaemin eat you out that had popped uninvited and did your best to ignore the wetness between your legs.

“Well, that was something,” he laughed when he was finally back, picking up his forgotten can and taking a large sip. You couldn’t help but notice he avoided looking at you. “You’re not at all bad, you just need to gain confidence,” he smiled at the wall behind your back and you narrowed your eyebrows.

“Nana?” you questioned, getting a hum in response. Yet he still wouldn’t look at you so you got up and walked over to him, grabbing his face gently and turning him so he wouldn’t have the option not to look at you. “You good?” you asked, scared you’d fucked up somewhere. Maybe everywhere.

“Yea, don’t worry, princess,” he smiled, a little strained, yet a blink later he went back again to beaming as usual. "Mind still going over this whole thing, y’know,” he laughed cheerfully.

You hummed quietly, choosing to believe him for now, as you smiled as well.

“Jaem,” you said, drawing a hum from him before you leaned over to peck his cheek. “Thank you for helping me,” you mumbled quietly, before pulling away from him with a grin. “Now, I remember that you promised me at the end of last year that we can watch that show I've been waiting for together and you still owe that to me.”

And with that, the tension from earlier seemed to go away, the deal buried down in both of your minds until the next time, as you made your way to the living room and curled up on the couch together with a pack of chips.

#nct #nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct smut #nct dream #nct dream scenarios #nct dream imagines #nct dream smut #nct jaemin #jaemin imagines #jaemin smut #jaemin x reader #na jaemin #na jaemin scenarios #na jaemin smut #na jaemin x reader

[witchzoe]

Did The Fire Nation Actually Lose The War?

Well one would assume yes.

At the end of the show Team Avatar defeats the Fire Nation by defeating Fire Lord Ozai and crowning Zuko as the new Fire Lord. Any further details of the Fire Nation defeat are explored through the various comics, with the main topic being the decolonisation of the Fire Nation colonies of the Earth Kingdom.

But if you take a look at how the comics ultimately resolve this issue, it becomes clear that actually the Fire Nation kind of won the 100 Year War.

But didn't the Fire Nation had to decolonise after the war?

Kind of. In the comic "The Promise" it is revealed that the oldest Fire Nation colonies actually become independent and later form the United Republic of Nations. This is because Zuko and Aang decide, that the Fire Nation people and Earth Kingdom people had become too intertwined to belong to either the Earth Kingdom or the Fire Nation.

Now one has to keep in mind, that these colonies belonged to the Earth Kingdom originally before the war. So this decision actually means the Earth Kingdom lost a not insignificant chunk of their country, especially because the colonies are portrayed as quite industrious and wealthy in the comics.

Meanwhile the Fire Nation gained a new allied nation. A lot of the Fire Nation colonists are aligned with the Fire Nation, and this sentiment would therefore also be found in the United Republic of Nations, especially because Fire Nation colonists made up the higher strata of their society.

What about reparations?

Well, the comics don't actually mention reparations. But what we get in the comic "North and South" is the Southern Water Tribe asking the Fire Nation for funds for expanding their economy. Which to me heavily implies that in canon the Fire Nation never actually had to pay reparations, because otherwise the Souther Water Tribe had probably demanded reparations, instead of asking for funds.

This is especially interesting, because investments in poorer, less industrialised nations (like the Southern Water Tribe) can be utilized by richer and more industrialised nations (like the Fire Nation) as another form of imperialism. Either by tying specific requirements, e.g. favourable trade agreements or specific economic policies, to the funds or by using these investments to acquire a lot of economic influence in the nation.

This also means that the Fire Nation economy isn't burdened by paying reparations

Didn't the Fire Nation also suffer under the war?

In comparison to the other nations not really. The Air Nomads got wiped out, the Southern Water Tribe suffered from a cultural genocide, the Northern Water Tribe suffered under the Siege of the North and large swath of the Earth Kingdom were destroyed and its people displaced.

In contrast to that, the Fire Nation didn't even really suffer any civilian casualties or damage to their industrial base. The only attack on the Fire Nation mainland was the Day of the Black Sun, which failed and because the Fire Nation was forewarned didn't result in any civilian casualties. The Fire Nation only really lost soldiers to the war.

But Zuko is Fire Lord now!

Zuko would have become the Fire Lord even if Ozai wouldn't have been defeated, he was the next in line anyway.

And it is nice that he reforms the Fire Nation, but that is not really relevant if we discuss who won the war.

He may have reduced the size of the navy and the army, but it was out of his own volition, not because of some stipulations of a peace treaty. And why wouldn't he? The war is over. The Fire Nation is on good terms with the Southern Water Tribe, the Kyoshi Warriors, who work for Zuko on multiple occasions, and on neutral terms with the Earth Kingdom under King Kuei.

So what is the Score?

The Fire Nation ultimately came out of the war and the peace process with:

A new allied nation in the United Republic of Nations.

Economic influence in the Southern Water Tribe.

Good Relationships with the Southern Water Tribe and the Kyoshi Warriors.

an undamaged industrial base and an economy unburdened by reparations.

losses were mostly limited to military members, with almost no civilian casualties.

Weakened rival nations due to the heavy losses they suffered, which also include a lot of civilian losses.

Wars have been fought for less and have been considered won by achieving less. So in conclusion, if you consider the comics as canon, the Fire Nation came out of the 100 year war as a clear winner. Especially if one considers how much the other nations suffered in the war.

Did the other nations gain anything from the peace process at all?

Yes. They got to live and now have the security that the Fire Nation won't burn them all to the ground. Or at least some of the nations got this security.

#atla #avatar comics #fire nation #earth kingdom #southern water tribe #100 year war #meta #atla meta #united republic of nations

[lilunebriumplays]

Soooo, those Mindflayer eyes...

While I’ve been playing BG3 on and off since early access released, I’ve never really dove that deep into it until a few days ago, so I’m so sorry if this is already a heavily discussed topic in fandom! But one thing that’s always stuck out to me are the Mindflayers, specifically how they’re always described as having pale, milky eyes throughout the majority of DnD history;

[...] Their eyes, sheltered by brow ridges, were uniformly pale and devoid of pupils in addition to being bloated and featureless, similar to those of blind cave fish.

Yet Larian seems to have made a point of giving them actual humanoid eyes, complete with iris and pupils. Not only that, they feature it heavily on promotional artwork. Like compare the eyes of the game’s Mindflayer -

- with what up until recently has been the canon Mindflayer -

It’s a very clear and striking difference, almost complete polar opposite in that they went from bland and non-descript to piercing and radiant.

Now I kind of shrugged it off and was happy to just note it down as artistic liberty, until I started a new playthrough yesterday and realised there’s someone else in the game who has the same eyes as our Cthulhuian friends.

That someone is Raphael:

What’s more, after losing myself in the Larian forums for a bit, I stumbled upon this post from user Ulla G in a thread about the Absolute;

They describe how in earlier patches, whenever they got to the first dream scene where you can hear Daisy’s voice going “Where are you?” as you go to bed, they continuously got a glitch where they saw a wing tip hovering over their Tav, which they then linked to Raphael when they saw his true form in his introduction scene.

There’s also continuous references throughout the game itself that the tadpole inside your head seems to be altered, which made me almost feel the ! appear above my head when I got the “charmed in more ways than one”-line from Raphael when you choose to introduce yourself to him in camp -

Plus, there’s something odd going on with Daisy and the tadpole.

I always thought they were one and the same, but whenever Daisy seems to be getting close to getting Tav to give in to their seduction, there’s always a vivid recoil coming from somewhere inside, as well as a murderous lust for blood and barely suppressed violence in later scenes which is aimed directly at Daisy themselves.

Could it be that Daisy is not the manifestation of the tadpole, but instead represents an outside force that’s instead responsible for altering it?

Tinfoil Hat Time™

Are the Mindflayers we see in-game charmed? Are they under the influence of someone else?

There’s a common theme running throughout at least Early Access of people bearing loyalty to or at least doing the bidding of either a person or a force that’s in reality actually manipulating them - Lae’zel and Vlaakith, Astarion and Cazador, Wyll and Mizora, Shadowheart and the Sharr worshippers, the Druids and Kagha, the Goblins and the Absolute. Are the Mindflayers victims of this too?

The Absolute seems to be tied to The Three somehow, and considering Edowin and his siblings have clear instructions to find and kill any survivors of the Mindflayer crash, they don’t seem to be in cahoots.

The fact the Mindflayer ship was immediately attacked by devils when it came to Avernus seems to speak against Devil influence, despite the potential link to Raphael’s eyes and his seeming knowledge of what’s actually happening. Unless Raphael is also working for an outside force. Or unless he isn’t tied to the traditional Devils at all.

In the tutorial phase on the ship, if you manage to keep the Mindflayer alive while killing the devil Commander and all the other devilkin at the helm, you get a sweet sword the Mindflayer turns against you and says you’re no longer needed before he attempts to kill you, even though you still bear the tadpole. Does this mean the altered tadpole and Tav&Co’s untransformed state are completely separate from what the Mindflayers were originally intending to do? (Why kill Tav and the other tadpole-bearers in the first place, when they could be useful Thralls?)

Where does the Githyanki artefact fit into this?

How does the conflict between Sharr and Selûne play into it all?

Is there a connection to the constant references to Netheril? 

To the Weave, to the attempt on Mystra’s life and seat, orchestrated by Sharr 109 years ago? (potential interesting tidbit; if a devil dies outside of Baator, it takes them 99 years to regenerate)

I don’t even know where I’m going with all this, I just needed to blurt all my thoughts into words somewhere and get some facts straight, I guess. I haven’t been this excited to figure out a story in a while. I am so intrigued by every little snippet Larian throws our way, and I am so so so so so stoked for August 3rd to see how this will all play out~

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #larian studios #mindflayer #bg3 raphael #bg3 spoilers #baldur's gate 3 spoilers

[hello-nichya-here]

If you could give zuko and azula royal epithets/nicknames, what would you call them?

Ex. William I "The Conqueror", Ivan IV "The Terrible", Alexander III "The Great", Elizabeth I "The Virgin Queen"

considering the descriptors can be positive or negative, there are lots of possibilities for them lol

To answer this ask, I'm stealing a bunch of titles from George R.R. Martin's works, otherwise it'd just be "Sister-fucker and brother-fucker" XD

Titles For Azula

Red Viper - I just like the thought of Azula killing enemies with poison, like Ursa killed Azulon, AND I like giving her cool weapons, so a poisoned spear would be awesome.

And lets face it, Azula is just a character that DEMANDS a title that suggests she's two-faced and deadly.

The Red Woman/His Red Shadow - I love, love, love, love making Azula Zuko's mistress & advisor, much like Melisandre is to Stannis (through I prefer her giving him babies that are not murderous shadow), and she'd absolutely get labelled as the evil witch who seduced the king and is leading him down the wrong path, just like Mel.

Plus, Melisandre and Stannis canonically go for moonlight walks in the books, and fuck on top of a war table/map in the show, and that is just perfect aesthetics for Zucest.

Realm's Delight/Light Of The West - Little Azula, with all of her disturbing tendencies, being called "realms delight", like she's the cutest, most precious thing in the whole world is just funny to me. And I like Rhaenyra, so of course I'd give Azula one of her titles.

And she'd definitively take a page from Cersei's book of "Give yourself a new title while you help your baby boy usurp the throne", only in this case she's stealing Kuei's throne for herself (and Zuzu).

The Queen That Never Was - Azula is just made for politics and to be a ruler, so I would not be surprised if, before her relationship with Zuko is made public and they get married, some people are still not over the fact that she never got to truly rule over the Fire Nation. Even after the whole "you're all banished" thing, I can easily see at least half the Dai Li calling her "The Fire Lord that never was" as they are all sad their favorite 14-year-old child soldier didn't get to enjoy rulling over the world.

Titles For Zuko

The Rogue Prince - You look me in the eye and tell this title doesn't fit the banished prince that had to stay away from home for three years, came back, willingly left to stand against his father/Fire Lord, and then came back AGAIN to change everything. Do it. I dare you.

The King Who Cared - Again, my love for Stannis and Melisandre heavily influenced this one. I like Zuko being the grumpy, furious, highkey entitled king that has a change of heart and decides "You know what, I need to take care of my people if I want them to respect me as a ruler" - and his "evil" mistress just comes along for the ride because she's THE most devoted woman ever.

The Peaceful - Unlike with King Viserys, this won't be a polite way to call Zuko "the cowardly/incompetent king." Like I said before, Zuko has a kind, righteous side and he is at his strongest when he embraces said side, and considering he helped end a 100 year and intends to be a merciful ruler, this just feels like a good title for him - not to mention, it will make it easier for enemies to understimate him, thinking he'll be easy to defeat, and then be brutally reminded that Zuko is being kind BY CHOICE, not because he can't ever be one hell of powerful, dangerous enemy to go against.

Sea Snake - @timur-pannonicus had Zuko be given that title after a major victory in his fanfic, and I just thought it was cool as hell. Plus I just love any connection to the three years Zuko spent at sea.

Titles For Both

The Conqueror - Zuko and Azula going the evil route, invading all the other nations and forcing the world to submit might be morally abhorent... but it's one hell of a great aesthetic and definitively makes them worthy of Aegon's title.

The Unworthy - Come on. Azula is Ozai's favorite, a prodigy, scarily competent and never "betrayed" the Fire Nation. Zuko is the firstborn, Ozai's MALE heir, won the crown and managed to help end a 100 year war. No way one of them gets crowned without half the nation/world going "BUT HIS/HER SIBLING DESERVED IT WAY! HE/SHE IS THE TRUE HEIR, NOT THIS DISGRACE OF A PERSON!"

Protector Of The Realm, Lord/Lady Of The Four Nations - Needs no explanation (but I do think Azula would only use the title of "Fire LADY" if she's rulling as Zuko's wife. If he had to marry her to win the crown, they're both having the title of Fire Lord)

Stormborn - That is just a very cool title and a future king/queen being born during an insanely dangerous storm is some epic myth stuff.

The Unlikely - Both of them are kids of the Fire Lord's second son, their uncle (aka the rightful heir) is still alive, Azula is a girl and younger than Zuko, and Zuko was fucking banished and disgraced. Nobody was making bets on either of them being crowned for a long time.

The King/Queen In Chains - Humiliating title for the sibling that lost the Agni Kai for the crown AND a thinly veiled way people have of saying "These royals are VERY kinky." Perfect for Zucest.

Phoenix King/Queen - Ozai's title was just objectively cool, Azula would totally see it as a legitimate thing just because her dad was the one to come up with it, and Zuko would TOTALLY want to be the first actually get to use that title as one last "FUCK YOU, DAD!"

Bonus

Azula has ABSOLUTELY called Zuko "The royal dum-dum" at some point, you cannot change my mind.

#asks #zucest #not safe for what

[facelessfinest]

I came up with a plot for a second Ghost Trick game/ Post-Canon AU. Spoilers for the game, obviously.

The day Yomiel is released from prison, he finds out that Sissel (The woman) has been kidnapped as part of another attempt by the foreign country to erase all the people who know about temsik. Sissel knows about temsik because Yomiel told her in his letters from jail.

With help from the cast of the original game, he tries to find her. When the team tries to confront whoever the country sent to come after them, it turns out to be…Yomiel. Again.

There’s a lot of distrust and confusion, but eventually they find out that there is a ghost who can copy the powers of anyone previously touched by the temsik meteorite, even if their death was erased. Yomiel, as the manipulator, obviously has some of the most useful abilities.

To create a ghost who could use such abilities however, the foreign country killed a lot of animals and people. In order to try and save them, yomiel kills himself in the presence of the meteor fragment in order to regain his ghost tricks. Sissel (the cat) begged him not to, because he wouldn’t be able to come back unless Sissel died as well, and Yomiel had made him promise he wouldn’t do that.

The new manipulator turns out to be a ferret named Fromm who was tricked into thinking he was Yomiel after he died. He can use any ghosts abilities he likes, but he experiences amnesia when switching between them, which is why he does it very infrequently and is very vulnerable when he does, besides, he’s must useful to the foreign country when he thinks he is Yomiel. It comes to light that the foreign country killed Sissel (the woman) to make Fromm believe the detective team had done it, in order to influence him to do the countries bidding. Yomiel finds out his fiancé is dead and goes into a rage and disappears, leading Sissel to give up his life to find him. They team up to get Sissel (the woman) back, and free all the ghosts the foreign country made in order to give Fromm all his abilities, as well as to free Fromm too. The others think he might be too far gone, but Sissel (the cat) insists that can’t be the case, and cites Yomiel as proof. Yomiel has mixed feelings, he knows Fromm is experiencing the same thing he once did, but the loss of his wife after 10 years of trying to get over her death, and another 10 years in prison waiting to see her again weigh on him heavily and alter his judgement.

Yomiel has to learn how to connect with people who haven’t been to the ghost world in order to speak with everyone, along with other new abilities.

#Probably some plot holes here but it is a first draft #I would love to make a full length fic for this #but I feel like it’s a little too barebones #So if anyone wants to help with ideas and write a fic with me #Dm me #ghost trick phantom detective #ghost trick #ghost trick spoilers #massive ghost trick spoilers #sissel #inspector cabanela #yomiel #lynne #kamila #jowd #ghost trick au #adhdfinest writes #adhdfinest #cw sui mention #tw sucidal ideation

[zone-seven]

Thinking about zones culture...

(Before I get into this, please keep in mind that I see the DD universe as like 75 years removed from the literal apocalypse, so things like communication, transportation, and infrastructure are very different from our modern world, or even the real world 1950s. Add that to extreme poverty, and you get zone dwellers living 'only' 200km apart who don't necessarily know that much about each other first hand.)

Really there is no singular "zones culture". Well, there is in a sense — in the interplay between the collective cultures of the California Desert — but that's nobody's real culture. It's just the natural result of cultures colliding.

This half-real "Zones" culture is little things — like everybody knowing a little bit of English, but not because they speak it for real, just because it's the lingua franca between communities, and between the desert and Battery City. It's using the same ingredients in very different cuisines because those are what's available in this time and climate. It's dressing pretty differently but following similar principles, since everyone lives with the same relentless sun, dust, and drought. It's broad things that came about due to proximity or convenience, not necessarily out of a sense of community.

But then there are smaller, much real-er cultures — local ones, lone ones, town-by-town ones. It does tend to cluster in regions, and there is lots of crossover of course, but each settlement, whether 100 people or 10,000 people, has it's own norms and customs. There's a lot of dead space out there; neutral towns vary wildly in their languages, religions, beliefs, and values... and smart folks will know at least a bit about their immediate neighbours! It's hard not to, to be honest. Life in the desert of California (and maintaining sovereignty from Battery City) requires a decent bit of cooperation and willingness to form alliances.

Some of the biggest towns in the Zones — the few approaching that 10,000 citizens mark — have quite the influence on the settlements around them. The biggest of them even exert influence on the entirety of the Zones, being big enough to support things like newspapers and far-reaching radio stations. Even then, though, people really do value tradition and custom; they've fought tooth and nail to keep it, as did their parents, grandparents, and so on. The city is already after their culture. They're not friendly to people trying to change their ways.

Killjoy culture is a little different.

Killjoy culture, as I'm defining it in my canon, is primarily the culture of ex-citizens of Battery City. Of course, it is also describing a political movement, and these escapees are not totally isolated in their politics, so it also includes some people who were born in the desert. There are plenty of reasons why desert-borns dislike the city, though few take it so far as to join up with killjoys. Similarly, some immigrants from the city have no interest in the political fight and instead do their best to assimilate into (usually) one of the larger towns. Mainly, however, I think about Killjoy culture as being heavily influenced by Battery City, especially in ways that feel very 'un-city' and free to people who once lived there, but feel restrictive and extremely 'city' to anyone desert-born. It's sort of separate from the cultures of desert towns as a whole, because they do not interact nearly as much or on as good terms. Neutrals don't have the sort of wariness with each other as they do with 'joys.

So, I think killjoy culture is sort of false in the same way that "zones culture" is false. It exists, but it's built first and foremost around something other than its people. Well, that combined with whatever scraps of Old World (pre apocalypse) culture their family in the city managed to keep. Very “killjoy” to have one-of-a-kind cobbled together cultures like that.

Killjoys do have a sense of community, though neutrals often miss this because killjoy community looks different than theirs. Killjoys are often rather nomadic, and they're always scattered. A lot of their culture is in media, and in folklore, and in the few events that are important enough for mass gatherings. Different than typical zones folklore, which often follows certain themes — killjoy folklore is heavily influenced by lobby culture, including a lot of droid religion.

But folklore is another topic…

#by 'lone cultures' i mean ones that are very different from any other in the desert. only one that speaks XYZ language for instance #eg. ghoul grew up in a very orthodox jewish community that has no equivalent. there are 2 other jewish communities nearby but hers #was the only yiddish speaking one and also the only hardcore religious one. no experience like it anywhere else. #and she fits in kind of 'weird' because of it. not at all city enough to fit 100% with joys and not quite desert enough for everyone else #I think the zones does fall into a sort of urban rural divide too. big towns are much more liberal and politically involved #(against bli I mean. not that there’s no politics in small settlements) #Jet grew up in the second biggest zones town and that one is more actively ‘fuck bli. we’re our own people’ than ghouls town of 500-odd ppl #hard to organise and stand up to it with that few so people care more about keeping a low profile so they don’t get bothered #danger days #the true lives of the fabulous killjoys #ttlotfk #zones culture

[marvelmusing]

Shadows of the Past

Pairing: Aleksander Morozova x Fem!Reader

Summary: After witnessing you lose your temper in front of your regiment, Aleksander decides to check in on you.

Warnings: canon level violence.

My Masterlist

The Corporal falls hard, face first into the mud, and the easygoing atmosphere shifts as voices are lowered to curious murmurs.

“Anyone else who insults a Grisha gets a personal arsekicking.” You snarl, anger thrumming through your entire, your voice raised to address your entire regiment. “Now get back to your posts.”

You don’t wait for a response as you stride over to your tent, disappearing from sight.

Aleksander tilts his head slightly, as he runs your actions over in his head. As a Lieutenant of the First Army, Aleksander had never expected you to become such a valued member of his War Council. But the two of you together were a force to be reckoned with, every soldier and noble could see it.

Aleksander has always admired your attention to detail, your focus on every minor action and the influence it has over the people around you. There’s nothing you do without thinking it through first.

Which is why he is currently so bemused.

If you wanted your soldiers to respect your authority, you would have simply cut the Corporal down with your words. Aleksander often enjoys seeing you put the people who doubt your abilities in their place. But this is different.

Your face had been twisted into a near heartbroken fury.

He knows that the last skiff to return from the Fold had shaken you up. The Grisha casualties were much greater than those from the First Army during this trip. He had seen you comforting a young Squaller, Mila, which had stirred up an undetermined emotion in Aleksander’s heart.

He waits until the First Army soldiers have dispersed themselves, following your order to return to their work. Then he approaches your tent. Aleksander pushes the flap of the tent open, stepping inside.

The first thing he notices is the contents of your desk, scattered over the floor. Papers and maps crumbled over the rugs, along with pencils and other utensils. One of your chairs has been overturned, and you’re leaning your hands against the desk as you breathe heavily.

You raise your head to look at him. You can always sense when he’s close, even when shrouded in his shadows. You straighten slightly, ignoring the singular tear drying on your cheek.

“General Kirigan, may I help you?”

“Quite the contrary, Lieutenant.” He says, stepping towards you. “I wanted to ensure that you are alright.” Your strong expression falters slightly at the caring response from him.

“I’m fine.” You insist, looking down at the desk, now devoid of contents after you had swept them to the floor in frustration. He nods,

“Regardless, I’m here.” He sits down on a chair not far from your desk, keeping his eyes on you. You hold his gaze for a long moment, indecision in your eyes as you contemplate your next words.

“My sister was Grisha.” You admit in a small voice. “A Squaller.” A faint smile creeps over your lips at the memory of her, and Aleksander watches your expression carefully behind his dark eyes. “My family had a goat farm, in the North up near the mountains. The closest village was several miles away.”

Your fingers trace over the grooves in the wood of your desk, your gaze unfocused as you relive your childhood in only a moment. Aleksander’s eyes flicker down to follow the motion of your hand, before his gaze returns to your face, hating the sorrow haunting your expression.

“The Grisha testers came to that village once a year. My sister showed her abilities young, we all knew she was Grisha. My parents were so happy.” Aleksander’s brow creases lightly. Parents usually weren’t happy that their children were Grisha, it was why the Crown had to offer families so much money to keep their children at the Little Palace. “My mother always said there was little for us in our quiet town. Being Grisha meant that Lena would leave. She would have had good schooling, friends, three meals a day that didn’t consist of goat’s cheese and bread.”

You laugh softly, though there’s a bitter edge to it, and your expression hardens as you continue.

“She was around six when my parents considered taking her to the village to meet with the Grisha testers. I knew what that meant. I knew she would leave.” You swallow hard, tears blurring your vision until the details of the desk have merged into one dark mass of brown. “I begged my parents to wait until the next visit. I just wanted one more year with her.”

The tears fall heavily down your cheeks now, and desperation claws at Aleksander’s heart. He wants to take you into his arms, hold you against his chest, and ensure that you never have a reason to cry ever again.

“Not even a month later, a Drüskelle party passed through the woods by our house.”

Aleksander’s stomach plummets. He’s all too familiar with end of this story. Yet it always fills him with the same sense of grief. The grief that makes him want to make them all suffer, as his people have done for centuries.

“I’m the one that found her.” There’s a pause as you choke on a sob. “What was left of her.” Your entire body is trembling as Aleksander stands. Through your tears, you don’t see him approaching as you whisper in a broken voice, “It was my fault.”

“Look at me.” Aleksander demands in a soft voice, much closer than you expected him to be. Your tear filled eyes find his dark ones with ease. “It was not your fault. You wanted more time with your sister, there’s no shame or guilt in that.” He insists, fingers curling around your biceps to hold you steady. He sighs with a heavy heart as he adds, “I wish more than anything you could have had it.”

“If I hadn’t said anything, she would have grown up in the Little Palace.” He nods.

“Yes, and joined the Second Army, where she could have died in battle.”

“At least she would have had a childhood.” An angry sob shakes your body. “And that is all Ravka can offer a Grisha. A childhood of comfort, only to be thrown into a war by a King that doesn’t care.”

Aleksander is startled by your words - so similar to his own sentiments that for a moment he believes this could be a trap, to have him reveal his plans of treason and regicide. But then he sees the fierce pain and fury in your eyes. Aleksander has lived long enough to know that emotions like that can not be faked.

“That’s why I lost my temper with Petrov.” You explain, referring to the Corporal you had sent sprawling into the mud. “After what happened on the last skiff journey, he said ‘the less Grisha the better’.” Aleksander stiffens slightly. “I know I shouldn’t have but-“

“You have far more restraint than I have.” Aleksander remarks, his voice tense. Your expression softens, offering him a weak smile. His fingers are still curled around your biceps, and he nudges the back of your arms gently, encouraging you to step into his arms.

His kefta is unbuttoned, allowing you to press yourself close to his body. You curl your arms around his waist, your cheek against the warm fabric of his tunic. His arms wrap around your body, one around your shoulders, the other around your waist as he holds you tight. Aleksander feels your body shaking as you cry, fresh tears pooling down your cheeks. There’s an ache in his heart at the sight of you so vulnerable.

“I know it hurts milaya.” He says softly, smoothing his hand up and down your back before he settles it at the base of your neck. “But I’m here, I’ve got you.”

His words soothe some of the aching in your heart, and you cling even tighter to him. He presses a delicate kiss to the crown of your head, and your heart begins to ache for an entirely different reason. You want to belong here - in his arms. You tilt your head so that you can admire his face, only to find him already looking down at you. A small frown creases at his brows,

“What is it?” You shake your head slightly, your cheeks warming as you admit quietly,

“Just wanted to look at you.” His eyes soften as he breathes out your name, cupping your cheek with care. Your eyes flutter closed at his touch, and you murmur, “Always makes everything better.”

He can’t help himself.

He presses his lips against yours, tentative at first, allowing you to pull away if need be. Then he feels your hand in his hair, nails scraping lightly over his scalp as you grasp at his dark locks, and he deepens the kiss. There’s a delightful sound of pleasure humming at the back of your throat, and your other hand slides over his chest.

You continue to cling to one another, even as your lips break apart, your breathing laboured as you press your foreheads together.

A smile curls at his lips, as his eyes admire your own smile, now knowing how soft your lips feel against his own. He presses a tender kiss to your lips, brushing his nose against yours as he does which causes your smile to widen.

Aleksander feels a weight lifted from his chest at the sight of your smile, and with each kiss to your lips, he vows to keep you safe from harm.

#the darkling #the darkling x reader #aleksander morozova #aleksander morozova x reader #aleksander morovoza #aleksander kirigan #aleksander kirigan x reader #general kirigan imagine #general kirigan x reader #general kirigan #ben barnes #ben barnes x reader #netflix shadow and bone #shadow and bone netflix #shadow and bone au

[simemeoww]

Last meeting

Summary: You were able to escape. He understands that it's time to let you go But still, he thinks that lastly he should give you something. Has nothing to do with canon, just a funny thought that came to mind.

Author's note: This is based from my character Mateo, who happens to be a yandere. I made a visual novel where he is one of the main characters. If you wanna play my game(to what i will be really happy) here is the link: https://simemeow.itch.io/love-stuck

It is known that time puts everything in its place. If you are patient, you can witness these very changes; of course, it is unlikely that a person will be able to greatly influence the course of time and change everything as his ego wishes.

Then many questions arise from this. Are all your actions in vain and will lead to one unhappy end? This is too pessimistic. This is a terrible nightmare for all humanity who go out of their way to adjust everything in this world to their will.

You tossed and turned restlessly on the mattress, burdening your head with negative judgments. The blanket that kept you warm had long ago ended up on the cold floor, which was also heavily littered.

“Just calm down. You just need to do a calming exercise,” you tried to reason with yourself. No matter how many times you reminded yourself that you were able to successfully escape from Mateo, you still had a gnawing feeling of danger, that he was still somewhere out there looking for you. You took a deep breath, gulping air greedily. Having filled your lungs with air, you slowly exhaled, relaxing your shoulders. Were you really that tense?

How long has it been since you ran away? Three months, and all this time there was no hint that Mateo was somewhere nearby. Perhaps your brain just still can't get used to the sudden freedom. After all, you’ve never had the opportunity to go anywhere further than the porch of Mateo’s house before. A house that was far from the company of other people. Therefore, the former environment may be more familiar to you than a city where there are a lot of people, where it is so noisy and bright. But you won’t trade this uncomfortable life for the old suffocating conditions. No matter how Mateo tried to give the appearance of his house heavenly conditions, you understood that it was a pathetic and deceitful carbon copy of paradise. He himself was saturated with sweet lies, which managed to poison you too. His speech, which promised you a happy life, was nothing more than promises that were not destined to come true.

Picking up the blanket from the floor and burying yourself in it, you closed your eyes, hoping that you would fall asleep soon. Sleepless nights made themselves felt and slowly your eyelids began to get heavier, and the stream of thoughts ended.

Even in a sleepy state it was not easy for you, you tossed and turned from one place to another. Your breathing was ragged, your fists tightly clenching the sheet under you. Stress has eaten you alive, not allowing you to feel even a moment of peace.

“You look tired,” Mateo whispered. If you weren't sleeping right now, you probably would have died from what you saw. He approached you, not too close, at arm's length. His hand automatically reached out to touch your face, but at the last second he pulled it away, abandoning the idea. “I'm glad to see you after so long. I’d like to think that you do too… But I know that most likely my feelings are not mutual.”

The guy looked around in the room you rented with his stolen money. Involuntarily, a grin appeared on his smile from the state in which you keep yourself. He felt sorry for you, so he decided to save the money for last before leaving your place.

“I hope you don’t throw this away,” he said, placing a piece of paper next to you with a drawing of you and a simple “I love you” written on it.

Looking at you one last time, Mateo hurried to leave, because the police were actively looking for him. He seemed to understand that this might be your last meeting and that at this point your paths would diverge forever.

#lovestuck #lovestuck mateo #lovestuck loren #male yandere #soft yandere #tw yandere #visual novel #yandere boyfriend #yandere male #yandere oc #yandere visual novel #yandere x reader #yandere x you #yandere headcanons #yandere

[betatrolls]

so i keep getting this post on my feed about how people hate vriska because she's a girl or whatever blah blah blah this is old, but their phrasing was? interesting? they compared her to eridan and gamzee (as usual), so I'm gonna break it down real quick. they said gamzee is worse because he's a serial killer, and eridan is worse because he's a genocide apologist and a ""sexpest"" (good lord, that's a thirteen year old.) let's start with the comparison to gamzee, because girly, vriska is also a serial killer. that's a whole thing. not to mention gamzee was LITERALLY NOT OF SOUND MIND WHILE RAMPAGING. anyway, on to the eridan part. yes, eridan did attempt genocide, we get it. i literally cannot go five minutes on homestuck tumblr without seeing somebody complain about it. obviously, not a cool thing to do, but we can't just completely ignore the fact that vriska also killed people? like, at the scale we're working on, mass murder is mass murder. vriska isn't innocent of being weird about lowbloods, either, which brings us to our next topic. now, do i think it's right to call thirteen year olds sexpests?? no, obviously not, what the fuck. but if we're bringing that up, I'm not gonna shy away from mentioning that vriska sexually harassed tavros quite a few times in canon. concept explored, rant over. they're all bad people to a pretty strong degree (maybe gamzee less so than people make him out to be since, y'know, he was experiencing extreme symptoms of withdrawal), but they're all kids who grew up in a society that practically encouraged them to be that way. extra point, do i like eridan and gamzee more than i like vriska? yes. is that because i hate vriska, or think she's worse than them, or dislike trans women? absolutely not, that's a ludicrous accusation to jump to off of such minimal information. do i have my own unique feelings and opinions on characters that frequently change as i understand them better and are heavily influenced by outside factors as well as canon ones, which have nothing to do with prejudice or blindly following other people's malcontent? yes! I won't say that nobody hates vriska for baseless reasons, of course such a controversy-fueled fandom will breed some strange opinions, but "transmisogynistic murder apologist incapable of forming unique opinions" is a rather harsh label to attach to a mostly harmless preference.

no negativity intended towards the person who made the post I'm referencing, even if i came off a little harsh, although i do have them blocked because of how triggering that post was to me so I doubt they'll actually see this at any point.

(you can really see where in this post kankri forced his way to the front to engage in his favorite kind of discourse, huh. being plural is so funny actually. anyway im letting this post out of the drafts, im sure he wont mind)

#homestuck #homestuck vriska #vriska serket #eridan ampora #gamzee makara #homestuck eridan #homestuck gamzee #vriscourse #sort of? does this count as vriscourse? whatever #typing this at six in the morning after net zero sleep clearly I'm mentally well

[whatsasonc]

If you want to know about my funky little AU,

I’ve basically only consumed Sonic media through secondhand accounts, so this sort of how I’ve pieced it together and grown the narrative in my head through what I’ve heard, and I built on top of that, kept things that I realized were untrue but I personally liked better than canon.

All of the events of Sonic take place vaguely in the semi-distant future.

Mobius

Mobius is canon here, and is divided between a large Pangea-like landmass called The Mainland, and several islands scattered across the planet. Green Hills is part of an archipelago near the opposite side of the planet from the Mainland.

Earth is very distant in terms of physical space, but easily accessible. Mobius and Earth have teleportation stations that function similar to airports. Mobius is heavily influenced by Earth, but Earth is not very influenced by Mobius.

Both English and Japanese are spoken widely on Mobius, the same way English is spoken widely on Earth. Most Mobians speak three languages: English, Japanese, and their regional language.

Mobians

Mobians are all the same species that fall into several different races. Two different Mobian races can produce a child easily, and the child will be either one race or the other. "Hybrids" are extremely rare.

A Mobian/human child is physically impossible to produce.

Mobians are very animal-like, but try to emulate humans to the best of their ability due to Earth's influence over their culture. Some races have traits unique to them, but most Mobians share certain features regardless of race (the distinctive eyes, and head-to body ratio).

Mobians reach maturity at the same time humans do, but the process is much smoother and slower. Adolescence is not as messy for Mobians. Sonic and friends are very visibly juveniles, and will be taller and have slightly different proportions as adults. (the Sonic team in Boom is very close to what they would look like as adults, with the exception of Tails)

Sonic

The first of the main cast to meet Sonic was Tails. Sonic was 11 and Tails was 4/5ish. Sonic was non-verbal and a loner, and kind of didn’t want anything to do with Tails. But Tails… tailed him, sure that they would make a good team. Sonic eventually warmed up to him, and eventually started talking. The events of the games continue pretty normally past that.

Most people know Sonic to be very open, but closer observation shows him to be a rather private person. Sonic doesn’t like to talk about his past before Tails, his birth family, or where he came from. If you ask, he’ll find a way to change the subject.

Sonic speaks English and Japanese, but doesn’t speak any Mobian language. He knows a handful of Mobian words, but he doesn’t know what language it is, or what region it’s from.

Tails

Tails won’t talk about his past unprompted, but will tell you if you demonstrate that already know something about it. He was born to nobles in the heart of the Mainland, to The House of Prower. They’re a deeply religious and superstitious group who interpreted Tails’s tails as a sign of great misfortune. His parents gave him to a maid, with orders for her to kill him. She took pity on him and cared for him in a dungeon cell instead. As he grew, his curiosity proved challenging, and he kept escaping to explore his surroundings. When he was almost three, she finally gave up on him and abandoned him on the streets.

He found his way to a library and basically lived there for a year before he was caught and thrown out. After continued harassment on the streets for his deformity, he snuck away onto a trade boat with hopes for a better life far, far away. He ended up on the archipelago where Green Hills was, where he continued to be bullied, now by locals, until he met Sonic.

Sonic doesn’t learn about any of this until they entered the Mainland, around when Sonic is 17 and Tails is 10. Tails would have told him, but Sonic never asked. (Sonic generally doesn’t ask about people’s pasts, because to him, where you came from isn’t nearly as important as who you are now.)

Shadow (and Maria)

Maria was brought onto the ARK when she was three, a year after Gerald had began working on Project Shadow and just after the Bio Lizard failure. Soon afterwards, Black Doom came and assisted in the creation of Shadow, donating Mobian Hedgehog DNA, and his own. Shadow was grown in a tube and "born" as a baby, when Maria was four.

Shadow and Maria had an instant attachment to each other. Maria confidently told everyone that she was his big sister, and he was her baby brother. The scientists attempted to discourage this behavior, but to no avail. The only time they were apart was when they took Shadow in for tests; Shadow always accompanied Maria to her doctor visits.

Maria was a troublemaker and as stubborn as a mule. She had a strong will and a strong personality, and she was always taking Shadow to their next "adventure."

Shadow on the ARK was radically different from post-ARK Shadow, especially as a child. He was meek, sensitive, and hated breaking rules. Maria's antics always made him nervous, but he would never say no to her.

They often played a game where Maria would play with Abraham Tower, and Shadow would try to get as close to them as he could without Abraham discovering his existence. It was Maria's idea.

As they grew, Shadow became increasingly aware of the pressure that was on him, and how the ARK, the scientists, and Maria's future depended on his ability to be a proper weapon for GUN. He forces himself to change, to be more mature and serious. Maria does her best to provide resistance to this change, and they often butt heads over what the proper work/play life balance was. Despite this, they never grew distant, and were always there for each other.

When Maria was 15 and Shadow was 11, her condition took a turn for the worse, and she was left in constant pain and with limited mobility. Their roles effectively reversed, with Shadow trying constantly to get her to smile, and Maria all but accepting that she would probably never see the cure to her illness.

Maria was 19 when she died. Shadow was 15, and GUN soldiers had come onto the ARK to kill most people aboard. Maria ejected Shadow from the ARK, and he spent a brief time running from GUN before he was inevitably caught and frozen for 50 years.

Shadow effectively broke from these events. The Shadow from the ARK had spiritually died, and Shadow did his best to bury him deep. He couldn't have weaknesses. He was a weapon. The safety he knew on the ARK would never come back to him, and he couldn't live under the assumption that he could ever be safe again.

#sonic the hedgehog #sth #miles tails prower #me talk #shadow the hedgehog #maria robotnik #my funky little au #mflau

[the-giggling-guava]

been rereading the invasion arc (season 4 part 2) and find many of your comments that fair and not jumping in conclusion about Blaine "heel-turns" like at episode of Infiltration and Lorena's project. Now, Blaine character flesh out imho kinda done (with him vs Prez part 2, I've read the fp so feel free if want to take canon detail as long as give spoiler warning beforehand)

My question is very simple, but take time to answer because it's hard.. With everything so far - with how Blaine reacts and his relationship with everyone (espc Maria and Frederick, two blondes that basically try to stops him with word but no avail), could he still had chance to get redeemed???

For me, personally, he absolutely does. Why? Because of this:

He was ripped away from his mother, and then conditioned by his father to be the way that he is now. How well-adjusted do people think they would become if they were basically severed from their mother's influence, to be raised at the hands of somebody like Leland? Let's ruminate on the tragedy of the entire situation, which becomes clear if you zoom out and look at the bigger picture: he's the oldest brother of the three, but at not even in the middle of his twenties, he's still basically a kid, a kid who's been abused the longest by the sperm donor. All of this time, he's been worked like a puppet in the interest of Leland's plans.

Let's recall for a second that this hardline, resolved stance and demeanor that he seems to have adopted came only after Leland put him through abuse for the purpose of reinforcing what he has been instilling in him, breaking him so that Leland could rebuild him in the way that he wants. Let's recall this particular scene:

Let's take note of how Blaine offers pushback to Leland's request, and let's also remember that this took place before the torture session in the dungeon. He looks like a scared, conflicted kid, who knows what he is being asked is wrong, but also scared of the consequence of not doing it. Now, I know that it sounds like I'm pulling something out of a hat in saying that, and someone could just tell me, "How do you know he was scared? You're reaching." Well, just look at the expression on his face, and the sweat running down it. If he wasn't frightened, he could just simply say, "Oh no, father, I couldn't possibly do that," with a calm, unperturbed continence, but that isn't what happened.

He's having a moment of fighting within himself, reckoning between what he knows what is right morally, and what he knows would be in the interest of his own health. And Leland is clever, because what does he do?

The way he's managed to work this is actually very smart; he doesn't threaten Blaine, but he dangles the carrot of being happy with Maria, in the interest of feigning an "It's all in your best interest approach," bypassing the advent of abuse to make it a final option to ensure complete compliance.

My ultimate reasoning, as asinine as it may sound, is that "Cursed Princess Club" is a story, one that borrows heavily and contains themes from and nods to fairytales often, in that way, it's not supposed to mirror real life, where tragedies do take place, and often do not go rectified. What's happened to Blaine - what's happened to that whole family - is a tragedy. A kid was alienated from his mother, conditioned by the father, perhaps with the occasional reinforcement of physical abuse, and then had the promise of a happy life teased by his abuser, only for it to get ripped away.

If that little boy doesn't have an opportunity, a chance, to redeem himself, and just remain lost, to become hurt, or worse, I would consider that a great tragedy, one that would not fit with the entire state of themes that the story has espoused as those at its core up until now.