#but i'm excited for the future of arcane either way

[watchmakermori]

something I appreciate arcane for above all else is the perspective it takes on violence and change. it would have been so easy for this show to take a ‘violence is never the answer’ stance, wherein silco’s aggression and terrorism only make things worse for the people of zaun and his anger gets in the way of resolution. likewise, it also would’ve been very easy for this show to take a ‘violence is always the answer’ approach, leaning harder on the revolution aspect and taking the stance that compromise with oppressors is always failure. but instead, it approaches these themes with a lot more nuance, showing how violence can both aid and hinder progress, and how brokering peace can often only solve conflict in the short term

this is represented most keenly via vander and silco. we’re positioned to like vander, and his goals are sympathetic; he has an uneasy peace with the enforcers, which keeps the undercity in poverty but saves them from more tyrannical violence. it’s understandable why he wants this, after having lost so much in a previous revolution, but it ultimately hurts the city in the long run. constantly making peace with piltover leads to dissent amongst his own people, and his inaction is the catalyst that allows silco to take over. that puts the people of zaun in even more peril

but silco also represents change. he’s a ruthless kingpin who ravages his own people with shimmer, but the power he holds is what ultimately gives zaun a chance at independence. the council would never have entertained this when vander was in charge, because he bowed to their every whim. by becoming a genuine threat, silco gained bargaining power, and very nearly gained the independence he’d spent years grasping for

I really like that the thing which dooms zaun and piltover’s prospect of peace is not silco’s destructive nature. it’s his benevolence - his love for his daughter, who he refuses to give up. but on the other side of this, it is jinx’s violence that ultimately shatters any chance of peace between the two nations, when she makes the decision to attack the council

there are just so many layers to it, and this theme is present in more than just silco and vander’s characters too. we see how horrified jayce is when he accidentally - but brutally - kills a child in the undercity, but we also know that the council’s ongoing negligence towards zaun kills far more children, and he was happy to ignore that for years. we see how heimerdinger cautions against developing hextech for fear of the destruction it could cause, yet ignores the day-to-day suffering that hextech might alleviate, because he is privileged enough to turn away from it.

arcane is one of very few stories that successfully takes a big-picture look at how violence and peace are not necessarily polar opposites, and how sometimes brokering a peace to maintain an oppressive system is the most violent thing you can do. it manages to capture the nuances of how violence can both help and hinder a cause, without ever giving us an easy answer of how to resolve things. i love it so much and I hope that complexity carries through into the next season

#arcane #i just finished watching it for the second time and damn it really just is so good #that final episode is incredible #i'm glad silco died at the end of season 1 because it's the perfect arc for him #but I don't think any villian in future could ever be as good #there are lots of things that are good about arcane obviously #but silco is just so /integral/ to the story and he gives it so much intrigue #i've made peace with the fact that season 1 will probably always be the best one #but i'm excited for the future of arcane either way

[marimayscarlett]

I wonder what kind of costume change we'll be gifted with next summer now that the chicken coat is no more.

Would be fun to see a complete style overhaul for all of them for the new era, but since it's a continuation of the tour, I doubt we will.

Hi!!

I think this is a topic which actually is on a lot of minds throughout the fandom - especially since the chicken coat supposedly found his place for retirement in the Rammstein museum. As it should, it really did a good job and looks like it needs time to rest 👀

I agree with you that new outfits and styles for the whole band would be nice, but I think that either some parts of their wardrobe will be overhauled or maybe some outfits make a come back, which weren't used much or were worn a longer time ago (that's just wishful thinking on my part I guess). I'm especially thinking about the following (plus incudling some thoughts what would fit some of them concerning new outfits, at least imho):

Schneider's really comfortable looking, kind of yoga-suit from this year. He looks so good and relaxed in it, would be nice to see it again 🤍 Anything more lose-fitting or maybe some kind of cape would be really cool to see on him.

picture credit: @iinchicore

Paul's red snake suit (worn in 2019 I think), I really liked the color shade of it and the matching boots! In general would just wish for a little bit more color on him next year - maybe red or something completely different, just something else than the grey suit would be neat.

Regarding Olli, I just really wish for anything which makes him more visible on stage - please no more all black outfits and makeup 🙏 The stage make up from 2022 was absolutely amazing and so unique (thanks to @wizzardclown who reminded me of this!):

picture credit: @derwahnsinn

or Olli in red, which made him visible and made him look pretty arcane in a mystical way:

picture credit: Suzanne Mannifield

With Flake, I really want to see something other than a sparkly suit on him. I know it's his signature look currently and for the last few years, but this guy deserves a different look I think. Maybe something like the various medical scrubs he wore, I really dig this look:

But make it more refined and whimsical. (Funnily enough, even Willy Wonka popped into my head when I thought about potential Flake outfits, please don't ask me what's happening in my brain again)

I'm not the biggest fan of Till's outfits in general, but I liked the style and cut of the snake suit very much! But please, another material would be nice.

My favourite outift of Till will always be the one from Völkerball, it's really unmatched and fits him quite well.

Now, for Richard I have three very defined wishes.

1. The most realistic wish probably: I DEMAND that the vampire coat HAS to stay. This outfit keeps me alive, is the air that I breath and how he lives rent free in my head:

picture credits: @sechsherzen

2. If the vampire coat has to go (god forbid) or a new coat is entering the scene, something studded like this one I'd love:

(My second favourite after the vampire coat)

3. Bring back the Michael Jackson-esque leg belt thing, this was such a look. Would look exceptionally good in combination with his coat:

A kind of chaotic list and these are just my thoughts and opinions 🤍 Now I'm even more excited to see what kind of gems the future tour will bring us style-wise ✨

#Rammstein #rambling over fashion yet again eventhough i know nothing about it #really tried to stay at least a bit realistic #will definitely make a post about with outfit wishes which will have zero chance to come true #just because i can #ask #thank you for this ask! #stage outfits #stage fashion #rammstein tour 2024 #richard kruspe #paul landers #till lindemann #christoph schneider #flake lorenz #oliver riedel

[renardtrickster]

My last post going over my thoughts on Hazbin Hotel ended at episode 4. 8 episodes later, in honor of the season ending and also Symmetry, the rest.

It's a lot longer, so I'm ditching the bullet points and putting it under a readmore.

My largest and foremost gripe with the series as a whole (and this extends to Helluva Boss as well) is that the female cast feels weirdly underdeveloped. They're not poorly written per se, Charlie is likeable and well-realized even if she's been mostly static (vanilla protagonist?), and Vaggie did get some interesting folds when her being a former angel was revealed (I didn't know this was a fan theory btw), but Niffty's been mostly a joke, and all the same they're blown out of the water compared to the amount of screentime and focus devoted to guys like Angel Dust, Alastor, Vox, and even Husk perhaps. The good thing is that this is one of those issues where you don't have to "go back" and fix anything, you just have to give them more of a spotlight in future episodes. Which I hope they do.

I think even Christians would agree that Lucifer was always the most interesting character in the Bible, and I was excited for the show's take on him. There are shades of "Lucifer as an embodiment of freedom in contrast to God's order" which is a pretty standard read on his character, but the big thing they seemed to stress was his characteristics as a dreamer and an artist, which is pretty fresh. So introducing him stuck in a creative rut and essentially poo-pooing Charlie's dreams for the hotel is a good indicator that something's deeply wrong. It turns out that Hell is a pretty hopeless environment to be in, and his disinterest in the Hotel or helping Charlie make it succeed was because he's now riding the philosophy of "if you never chase your dreams you never get hurt when they fail", which is just depressing to hear. I have thoughts on the show's depiction and philosophy on Hell, but I'll group it with my thoughts on Heaven two paragraphs from now. Also his design fucks, I like the snake-apple-crown around his top hat, I didn't even notice his torso is meant to look like an apple core until someone else pointed it out, we stan a short king, etc. etc.

I found Heaven to be pretty interesting. I was expecting most of the angels to look more or less the same as each other, but the variety in display (some are furries, some are dudes, some are polygonal creatures) was more interesting, in addition to making me think "wow the fact that they draw from the same design pool in hell is interesting", to which my main man @arcane-nrok posited that it's because the people in Heaven and Hell are not fundamentally different from each other, where they end up depends solely on their environment and upbringing. Then Adam said nobody drinks because "there are no hard days in Heaven" and we both began pogging out of our minds.

The biggest bombshell when it comes to discussing Heaven or Hell is that despite our antagonists literally being the forces of Heaven, God has never been mentioned even once. Because of this, I have to disagree with the people claiming that Hazbin Hotel is some screed against Christianity (even though as an anti-theist, I wouldn't object if it were), and I definitely don't think it's a "fuck you mom" immature one either. It reads to me as more of a rebuttal and criticism of Christians and Christian morality than the actual religion itself. I mentioned the implications of class inequality before, that Adam more or less implies that if you have an easy life, you'll more easily find Heaven, and that if you have a harder life, you'll more easily find Hell. And while I know a lot of Christians were offended by the fact that the Angels don't seem to like the sinners and also don't seem to give much of a shit about the concept of redemption either, this reading makes sense if you imagine them not as Angels but as humans, interpreting doctrine in whatever way benefits them at the expense of others. Allegorically, Adam is the "christian who has never read the bible" who flaunts basically every rule but is de facto understood to be a "good christian" and so his behavior gets a pass as he and everyone else focuses on the shortcomings of everyone else, Lute is so ideologically locked into eating from her trash can that she's essentially been turned into a weapon focused on denouncing and punishing the unworthy, Sera is empathetic and aware of the internal incoherency and cruelties of the system he upholds but is locked into it to such an extent that she has to justify, compartmentalize, or ignore those glaring issues, and Emily is the same, except young enough that the indoctrination isn't as strong, and without the "tenure" such that she's most likely at risk to be excommunicated for her concerns. And on Hell, the great philosophical evil present over anything else is that while there may be some truly despicable people in there, the possibility of redemption must remain, to such an extent that it's positioned as an almost universal right and that the denial of it is an almost cosmic injustice (which in terms of theology and critical reading of the bible is almost as old as, the bible). Not only is the denial of redemption a tool used by the Angels to justify the existence of the system as it is (the argument of "they had their chance to get into heaven, it's too late now" is said by Adam at least twice and by at least five different sinners), but the sheer bleakness of it was enough to temporarily drain all the joy and hope from creation's first artist and dreamer. In short, the nightmare that Hazbin Hotel conjures isn't that God is cruel or unjust, but that he's been dethroned by his most fundamentalist followers.

Also Vaggie got kicked out of Heaven for refusing to kill a child, so I actually I take it back this show is extremely biblically accurate.

To suddenly jerk away from theology, philosophy, and societal critique and back to "here's my cartoon criticism", the pacing. I still maintain that if you blame anybody but the jokers who gave them eight episodes to work with, I'm going to fuck your wife, but I feel like it's been as much of a good thing as a bad thing??? The good news is that the plot is advancing constantly (as opposed to Helluva Boss which can feel dawdling and aimless), and the brisk pace means we don't have to "dwell" on things that make me groan when other shows dwell on them. Sir Pentious' introduction to the hotel, for example, could have devoted more time to the "Angel Dust feels that Pentious is a sussy amongus and also maybe a bit inadequate because the snake is an immediately better guest than him" element, or could have had Sir Pentious run away after getting caught, the attempt at redemption being a fib until he comes back a second time and stays for real. But they didn't in either case, and I feel like the episode was better for it (I was pleasantly shocked when he signed on for real). The bad news is, there's no room to breathe, meaning that everything necessarily must reach the high stakes being set by the rest of the plot, and we can't devote more time to the quieter, slower moments without making them take up the episode (as in episode 4, not that I thought that sequence was bad). Episode 7 is the embodiment of this dual nature, I think. Charlie felt hurt by Vaggie keeping secret the fact that she used to be an Exterminator, and while she felt hurt (as she should, her feelings are valid), she did ultimately resolve them after a frank talk and an exploration of what she's really feeling. Seeing that is refreshing after seeing Every Other Show turn this "plot" into a season-length dramafest, but Charlie essentially resolved this on her own with the help of Rosie, and by the time she meets up with Vaggie they've both essentially buried the hatchet without even the implication they talked to each other about it. "Deeds not words" was the big clincher for Charlie forgiving her, but I'm not alone in thinking this is some sort of mis-step, right? My hope with season 2, along with getting more episodes, please, is that they get more room to breath, but also don't "slog". A tough needle to thread, but a doable one I believe.

"Too much red." - Adam Firstman

Season 2 is a killer for a fair number of shows that end season 1 with a bang. They can enter "the sophomore slump" as they try to find their footing exploring new ground while also not fully divorcing themselves from the identity they built up in season 1. But I feel like they set up quite a number of threads to follow up on. The Angels have been defeated (RIP Adam, he sucked but he was fun to watch), Lute is still thirsty for revenge, and apparently they not only have Lilith, but they're going to deploy her soon. Pentious officially got into heaven, which will undoubtedly cause a shitstorm as redemption is proven officially possible, the Seraphim are the first to meet him, as well as "I wanna see how this goober acts in heaven". The hotel is rebuilt, and is now "on the map" seeing as how everyone knows Charlie stopped the extermination. Alastor has an ace up his sleeve with Charlie's deal, and his motives are still largely enigmatic. Vox and his cronies are emboldened and plan to make a push. There's at least three powderkegs present, with several irons in the fire nearby, which should be plenty of material to follow up with or deliver on.

My final hope is that, as I said in the last post, Hazbin Hotel feels like an improvement upon Helluva Boss's shortcomings. There's still shared issues, like the aforementioned Feminism Loss, but it knows and follows on its own premise (whereas the IMPs haven't been doing much assassinating), swears casually but only purposefully overuses it for obnoxious characters like Vox or Adam or when someone is emotionally compromised (meanwhile half of Blitzo's dialogue can bleed into a white noise of fuck words), keeps up the tension and advances the plot (as opposed to the aforementioned dawdling and aimlessness), etc. So in the same vein as my hopes that Season 2 of Hazbin Hotel follows up on its strong points while working on its weaker points, I hope Season 3 of Helluva Boss similarly learns and improves from its sister series.

#oh no renardie is posting #hazbin hotel

[lullabyes22-blog]

unpopular opinion i guess: i can understand disliking mel and/ jayce because they are in the 'top circle' of piltover's political posse and all that but i'll never understand the hate they get. it's just unwarranted. They both have flaws, sure, but they're also, at the heart, good. especially jayce. he's so new at this whole thing of course he's gonna make mistakes.

I absolutely agree<3

To be honest, my pretentious way-too-old-for-this hipster soul tends to ignore whatever 'popular opinion' is happening among fandom at any given moment, because it's usually a caricature of the characters and tends to either exaggerate certain qualities or downplay others to make them palatable and uwu

Jayce and Mel both represent the folly of good intentions without a broader understanding of social context. They're a bit like Powder in ep 3 in that they're both gung-ho about making a difference and proving their worth (Jayce as the son from a minor noble house, Mel to her mother and Noxus in general). But because they fail to see the big picture, they make matters worse and cause untold casualties.

Yet by the end, they also course correct and try to do the right thing. If that's not a sign of personal growth, I don't know what is.

(Then Jinx blows them all up - but that's the tragic beauty of Arcane. None of us escape the consequences of our actions.)

I'm excited to see where these two will go in S2. I will be blind and deaf to hate (which I never read anyway because twitter has awful takes on life in general) and coo over all the future pretty gifs<3

#asks #arcane #arcane league of legends #arcane netflix #arcane jayce #arcane mel #mel medarda #jayce talis

[not-poignant]

Just curious since it's been a while since the last time but will you be writing any fic for characters or properties that are not your own in the near future?

You can just call it fanfic! :D :D

I'd like to, but I frankly haven't been hugely into any fandoms for a couple of years. Or the fandoms I've really gotten into have pretty much no fanfiction attached (and hell, I've even written some fics for those), and the fandom experience is very different to how it used to be.

But honestly even outside of the fandom experience changing, I just haven't loved a show or anything enough to want to fic for it more than anything else. I really really miss writing fanfiction, but there's been nothing that's really captured my attention for more than a few weeks, and that's not enough to sustain like, writing a longfic like I used to. Some of that is probably the fact that TV etc. is now released all at once instead of week by week a lot of the time. But some of it is also just that...like, while I enjoy a lot of things, I don't feel like ficcing for it.

I came close with Arcane, but the pairing I like had almost no fics (and only like two short porny fics - nothing wrong with that!) and I get, frankly, tired of writing rarepairs. And again, I didn't actually love Arcane, I thought it was very pretty, I disliked a lot of the characters, and it's hard to kind of rev yourself up for one side pairing in that situation.

Likewise I am still curious about writing an old Bull/Cullen fic idea, but it's very old, the fandom is very quiet, it's still a rarepair, and it's hard to commit two years of my life to something I might end up abandoning.

I really miss being deep deep into a fandom, frankly. It's not like I stopped watching TV or movies, or stopped playing video games. But nothing's really spoken to me. Television has either become more excessively grimdark, or more wholesome, and none of it really has what used to hook me in, in the past. It's actually something I've kind of been grieving. Even these days I struggle to find fanfiction written recently that I really love compared to older fics in my bookmarks. It's like... it all has disclaimers for antis, or caveats, or it's weirdly wholesome and pure (fine if you like it, but don't advertise it as whump/angst/hurt/comfort/darkfic), or it's excessively dark to the point of just being a tragedy, etc.

I know there are still really good fandom spaces. If I was still in Mo Dao Zu Shi fandom things might be different, but I felt edged out of that fandom by The Untamed folks kind of taking it over and not separate-tagging their fics, which was just a 'oh I have ideas! Oh...actually never mind' experience.

But yeah I'm just... I mean it sucks. I love writing fanfiction, but the last thing I wrote was last year and it wasn't very long. I thought about returning to the Hades fandom, but again, I just didn't have a very...intense fandom experience, the kind of thing that really revs you up and excites you to write fanfiction! Fandom without community is lonely, and while I don't go as deep into fandoms as others, I still...like some of it?

This is a very navel gazing way of saying 'something will have to change in the media landscape, or in the world around me, or maybe even in me' to make fanfic a 'near' possibility. I have no actual plans to commit to any fanfic in the future, I'm just more excited about things like Underline the Black, which honestly has ALL the tropes I love in fandom, and struggle to find (same with a lot of the other things I write). I consider a lot of my original writing to be an homage to fandom and the fanfiction serial style, but yeah in terms of the literal fanfic, damn, I really miss being hooked on a TV show or a movie or a game and the pandemic has kind of killed that part of me, and so has the shenanigans of antis changing the general fandom climate (if you're putting in disclaimers in your fics just for the sake of antis please fucking stop), and the way TV releases now, and the empty sense of endlessness re: Marvel movies and shows, and just...I don't know.

It's sad and I hate it and I wish it wasn't that way, but it has been this way for a lot of the pandemic and I don't know if/when it will come back. I hope it does. I miss it so much. Meeting new people through writing fanfiction was one of my favourite things, I have friends from different fandoms still, and just... *sighs*

Oof. I'm very sad now. Tl;dr - No, I don't have any plans to write fanfiction in the near future, and it sucks.

#asks and answers #personal #pia on fanfiction #idk what to say really #frankly many 'oldschool fanfiction writers' that i know #are no longer writing fanfiction #at least not like they used to #i think we've all been hit hard for a lot of reasons #including lack of general positive feedback #the rise of antis #the pandemic (writing for free and for fun when you're disabled and your life is falling apart is actually not always fun) #idk everyone has their own personal reasons #but i can think of like 10 authors off the top of my head #who i love #whose works i've bookmarked #who all used to be very fandom active #who *all* stopped writing fanfic about 1-3 years ago #and just haven't picked it up again since

[thewheezingwyvern]

OOO OOO PICK ME PICK ME!

I would like Bakugou or Kirishima please 🥺

Imma pick number 13 for inspo unless that's been done already. SFW or NSFW whatever you want I'm just excited to read 👀 can you take my Katsukikitten blog when/if you answer this?

🖤 Katsukikitten

Ooooh @katsukikitten you gave me some good wiggle room to work with. I ended up going SFW because I had an idea! Hopefully this helps fill your Bakugou needs!

𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰'𝘴 𝘊𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦

Oracle!Bakugou x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Angst, Mention of blood and death

It was midday by the time you and Bakugou reached your destination. Rather, you reached where your partner had intended to take you and until that moment you had no idea what place it was he had in mind. Turns out, it was an old canyon that speared through the vast expanse of the Aural Desert. Sweat was pouring from your skin and Katsuki was no better, having shed his shirt during the travel some time ago. The horse you two had taken, a northern dunn that was bred to travel in the desert, nickered softly in approval once shade eclipsed over you. It was still blazingly hot but the further you strayed into the craggy paths tucked away from the sun’s glare, the cooler it grew. The change in temperature was a blessing, small on paper but large in practice.

“Keep up.” He snapped back at you over his shoulder.

A frown twisted across your lips, brows furrowing. Katsuki was not known for his calm nature but he had been far more irritable and snappish in the past few weeks. And not once had he even given you a hint of answers until today. It was slow work picking through the canyon, razor ferns creeping through cracks in the rocky walls that threatened to slice your flesh if either of you brushed against their leaves. Your mouth was incredibly dry and you wished you had the proper gloves so you could pluck those leaves off their stems and cut them open. When carefully handled, razor fern leaves stored a lot of water and could help slake your thirst.

“Where are we going Katsuki?” you asked for the fifth time that day.

“If you ask me one more time, I’m going to leave you behind, brat.” He snapped back at you, “Now shut up and follow me.”

Crestfallen at another question unanswered, you followed with a scowl. Katsuki had come and found you just before you joined your father in his tent with his retainers. Your absence would surely be noticed so you felt that you were owed at least something of an explanation. But your friend, crush and body guard was impossibly stubborn and you knew you would sooner have luck asking a mountain to move for you than get him to change his mind. Bakugou, however, was going out of his mind himself. As your bodyguard , appointed by the chief himself, he knew it was risky to bring you into the desert. A calloused hand touched the hilt of his curved scimitar sheathed at his hip. If anyone or anything tried to touch you, he’d make them regret it.

“We’re here.” He finally said.

‘Here’ was a rocky alcove, the wall of the canyon stretching up to blot out the light of the sun. Buried in the wall were long bands of vibrant color, smoky purples, vivacious reds, shimmering golds and streaks of laughing teals that were like the captured spirit of the seas so far away. It was a stunning alcove. And the cliff was clearly formed of the rocks and clay that your people used to craft their paints and makeups for use. But it was still just a wall and you couldn’t figure out why Katsuki would want to bring you to it. You folded your arms beneath your breasts, looking around once before turning back to your protector.

“It’s a wall.”

“Heh, shows what you know.” He sneered.

The blonde advanced forward to a large stone slab that was settled up against the wall. It didn’t look any different than the other rocks in the area. That is until he started sliding the rock to the side, fine granules of sand on the ground helping fill the air with a crunching sound. When he was finished, he revealed a tunnel that was worn into the side of the canyon. Katsuki smirked smugly at you before gesturing towards the opening of the hidden cave.

“After you, princess.”

When you glared at him as you walked by, he closed in behind you snickering. The light from outside streamed in enough to illuminate your first several steps into the cave. But just around the bend there was a distant light as well, it pooled on the walls and beckoned you forward. You’d never seen a glow like that and it was entrancing, urging you forward without being nudged by your companion. The passage snaked deeper into the rock, bands of the same color following you along until the both of you emerged into a chamber. Above in the ceiling, a small hole allowed a beam of sunlight to stream through until it gathered on a large pool of water that was nestled in the center of the chamber. At first you thought the water was glowing because of the single ray of sunshine that struck the calm surface of the pool but closer inspection revealed that wasn’t the case. Mesmerized, you feet carried you forward without your permission to see that this was more than a simple pool. There was a sharp drop cut into earth, almost like a sink hole that led deep into the ground. The water glowed in a myriad of icy blue, deepened violet and fractals of starlight.

“What is this place?” you whispered softly, your voice echoing off the walls.

“This is a sacred pool.” Katsuki supplied, falling beside you, “This is where oracles like me used to go to magnify their foresight. They used to be everywhere but they’ve been drying up more and more as the years pass.”

“I thought those were a myth.”

“They’re real…”

A far off, haunted expression flickered over his face, leading you to touch his arm, “Katsuki…what did you see?”

His foresight had proven invaluable for your clan and he was almost never wrong. But never before had you seen him look so tortured. Silence fell over you both for several moments before he started to walk forward. Even with his back to you, the pool bathed him in an ethereal light, shadows gathering along the contours of his back. Bakugou turned his head and looked over his shoulder at you.

“It’ll be easier to just show you. Come here.”

Tentatively you drew closer to him until you both were standing at the edge of the sacred pool. It swirled before you, begging for you to enter it’s depths and see the it’s wonders. But it was really, really deep and it was hard not to feel nervous. Bakugou seemed to notice your hesitation and snorted with disdain.

“You really think I would have you do something dangerous, brat? I’m supposed to protect you.”

“Well there was that one time-”

“That was your idea, dumbass, not mine.”

You giggled, “It worked out didn’t it?”

Katsuki let the corner of his mouth twitch before he turned to face you. Suddenly you were aware of how close he was to you and how he still wasn’t wearing a shirt. The tanned plains of his chest begged for your hands to touch and wander but the serious expression in face made that thought evaporate. A rough hand came up and clapped you on the top of your head gently, shaking you a bit in a display of affection.

“Trust me, princess…”

“…Ok.”

Bakugou pulled you to him and the both of you leapt into the pool. The initial contact was like normal water, refreshingly cool and it chased away the heat that had built up in you from the desert sun. But soon the feeling evaporated and it was like the two of you were floating in the night sky. With surprise you found yourself able to breathe and you drifted with Katsuki, sinking deeper down into the embrace of the sacred waters. Flecks of fiery red flaked off of your companion, swirling around the two of you until they shattered into fractals to form intricate images. Images of fire and blood. Thick plumes of smoke were rising from the the caravan of tents that your clan made their homes in, blotting out the sky in inky clouds. A flash and you saw your father with a sword hilted into his chest and the culprit was one of his own retainers.

The pool shifted colors then to golden yellow, showing Bakugou trying to warn your father. It showed him being ignored, dismissed that his vision was incorrect and that he just didn’t know what he was seeing. Your body guard hauled you against him, your back pressed up against his chest as he cradled you close. His arms squeezed you tightly, as if he were afraid you would drift away from him if he let go. The fractals of light continued to swirl, shifting to paint out your future, each more grim than the last if you stayed to fight. A thousand and one ways you could try to save your clan and a thousand and one ways you would fail.

“There is no hope for them…” he whispered out hoarsely, “But there is for you…runaway with me.”

“But…but maybe with me there my father will-”

“I’ve already tried to warn him. And I’ve already tried to see that way too. He won’t listen.” Katsuki buried his face into your shoulder, his arms squeezing you even tighter to him, “If you don’t leave…your death is the nicest fate out of all of them.”

“Is there really no other way?”

“No…No there isn’t.” Was he crying? “I’m supposed to protect you but even I can’t stand against an entire fucking army. Princes…please. Runaway with me.”

“But-”

“I can’t save them,” he interrupted, “but dammit I can save you. Don’t be stupid.”

Tears were flowing from your eyes as you felt reality crash down around your ears. Live with your clan wandering the sands was over no matter what choice you made. But the thought of leaving behind your family without even trying left a bitter taste in your mouth. But there was really no way out. And that was how you decided to leave your life and clan behind: bathed in starlight and sinking into a never ending pit.

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