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#obviously realistically nobody is going to believe that he's
notquiteahippy · 6 months
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We all love Danny and Damien being twins and swapping places or confusing people, but I want to see Danielle and Damien switch.
Like Damien sends a message to his brother asking if he could cover for him while on a personal mission.
(Danny and Damien went their separate ways to break out of league "you are one person/ replacement twin or qhatever" mimdwashing. They kept in contact but bruce doesnt know.)
Then either Danny agrees but sends ellie or Ellie gets the message and decides she wants to help (jealous about how close they are maybe).
So she rocks up, wearing a long haired wig over her normal long hair (she wasnt going to cut it)
Everyone obviously immediately clocks sometjing is up obvi. But Ellie is good enough at mimicking that it reads more as Damien is acting weird and less Damien was replace by his identical sister.
When they ask about the wig Ellie Claims she was considering growing it out but wanted to trial it out for a week to see.
Everybody is trying to give "Damien" encouragement to open up about whatever lead him to be acting slightly different and then the major change of the wig.
Then while doing tje whole "im better than you" talk That Damien loves Ellie slips and says "I am the superior sister" then everyone thinks Damiens questioning his gender.
Awkward pep talks and encouragement. Ellie thinks this was a silly accident but the chaos is so worth it.
She relaxes her clothing to be a bit less like Damien and does a "makeover" with Steph, Babs and Cass.
When Damien is coming back he see's Ellie dressed basically like herself and just thinks she got caught. Until He hears somebody call her Damien and he is majorly confused how in the time he was gone it became expected and normal for Damien to wear a bad wig and eyeliner.
Im not sure what happens from there. Depends on how badly they all want the extra siblings to be secret.
If keeping them a secret is top priority then Damien would have to dress like Ellie and slowly go back the other way. Maybe they start switching places frequently enough that everyone assumes Damien is Genderfluid until one day the triplets are revealed and they go batshit.
If the secret was not that big of a deal and they were okay with the family knowing then I imagine Damien would just walk in the next time someone says Damien amd interupt then perhaps ask how Ellie is.
"I cant believe there was such a sudden and drastic change in character and nobody noticed"
Everyone was offended because there was no change in character really. It was a very realistic gender crisis.
Idk I just think this would be a hilariously dumb way to reveal secret Triplets.
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I remember last year one response I saw to the level of outrage on here about What They Did To MIna was "oh modern audiences are so used to 21st century morals that they actually are shocked when Jonathan acts like a normal 19th century man." And idk that's not it for me at all. Like. I love 19th century Brit Lit. I'm very familiar with couples that the narrative wants you to love being problematic by 21st century standards. I get that 19th century novels are gonna have 19th century gender roles. I don't think there was any version of Dracula that Bram Stoker would have realistically written where all the men would have been like "ok great Mina is coming with us to go fight the Count in the dead of night." There was no version of Jonathan Harker that Bram Stoker was gonna write where he'd be like "actually fellas Mina is an adult and she's more than capable of deciding whether or not she wants to risk her life." I understand all this perfectly well.
This is precisely why I find the next three days so excruciating.
Mina and Jonathan Harker are the most 21st century couple I have ever come across in 19th century Brit Lit, and that means when the the ol' gender roles get slammed down on them it hits me like a ton of bricks. Mina has literally made no mistakes in the narrative thus far, she has a stainless record of intellectual activity and personal competence and bravery. And in the end it doesn't matter. She is still left home. Because she's a women, and therefore too weak to handle it. Jonathan Harker, up to this point in the novel has never treated Mina as anything less than an equal. He recognizes and values her intellectual capacities and he listens to her all the time. And in the end it doesn't matter. He tells her to stay back, he's part of the group that forces her to stay back. Because he's a man and the husband so naturally he believes it's ultimately his decision whether or not she can stay involved.
I go feral because if Jonathan and Mina can't break free of it then no one can. And obviously they're just fictional characters, and I'm sure real life Victorians were more radical than their literary characters but fictional relationships are a window into what was going on in real life and it makes my heart bleed, because god it must have been inescapable. If you were a woman who wanted/needed to marry a man chances were you were going to have to deal with being a little condescended to even if he was good, even if he loved you, even if he respected you! And if you were a man, chances you were going to not view your wife on the same level as another man. Even if you really adored her, even if it she was your most intimate connection. That's a fucking tragedy. It was a sickness, and it must have caused so much hurt. That's why I have such a raw emotional response to these days. Not because I wasn't expecting it, but because it's so real, and because nobody escapes it.
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trans-luis-serra · 4 months
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Knowing me I’m gonna absolutely make this into a longer post but like. Isn’t it just SOOOOOOOO SILLY AND SO GOOFY that Luis bestowed the role of Sancho Panza onto Leon even though they’d only JUST met
Like,,,, Don Quixote isn’t just a book Luis loves a lot- he bases his ENTIRE MORALITY on his own ideas of what Don Quixote means and what the messages behind it are. He SURROUNDS himself with chivalric ideals and so, obviously, he holds that book and it’s characters VERY near and dear to him- hell, he doesn’t even let Ada or Ashley in on just how much this damn book means to him!!!!!!! The other scientists who he worked with during his time with Los Illuminados also called him Don Quixote, but realistically, how much would they have known of Luis’ deep-seeded love for that novel??????
So like. Clearly. There is NO WAY IN HELL Luis doesn’t understand the impact of Alonso (Don Quixote himself) and Sancho’s relationship. He ABSOLUTELY understands the importance of it and how vital to the tale each other are and how intrinsically intertwined they are in each others lives and how one would quite literally have not survived without the other and how they’ve gone through hell and back for each other (in Alonso’s eyes LITERALLY) and how Sancho was there for him when his illusions of fantasy finally faded away
So. Like. Luis picking Leon to call his Sancho HAD to be purposeful right????????
He HAD to have understood the weight of his words and the weight of his decision. Maybe Leon didn’t quite understand at first but Luis????? Luis knew DAMN WELL that Don Quixote and Sancho Panza’s relationship went further than two people who just happen to be on the same adventure. Luis picking LEON to be his Sancho was PURPOSEFUL.
He’s not just any old chum he happens to he stuck with; Leon is a man who fully encompasses EVERYTHING GOOD Luis believes in in the world. Leon is EVERYTHING his chivalric ideals want him to be. He’s an inherently kind and caring and selfless human being and he’s everything Luis wants to see in himself. He saved him from certain death and now they’re connected more by just the circumstances of their situation- they’d go through hell and back for each other and they HAVE. He wants Leon not just to like him but to LOVE him. Because Leon sees past his actions; he sees past his mistakes and up until now, nobody has ever given him that privilege. Just like how Sancho still believed in Alonso and still believed that there was worth in his fantastical delusions.
So how does Luis express this gratitude without just straight up saying ‘I love you’????
By using language he understands and is comfortable using, of course.
By projecting a story that has meant SO MUCH to him onto the both of them.
And GOD. THATS SO POIGNANT TO ME. HES TELLING LEON HE LOVES HIM IN A WAY HES BEST AT AND MOST COMFORTABLE DOING. HES SAYING ‘I LOVE YOU’ IN ALL OF HIS ACTIONS AND PROJECTIONS. WHICH MEANS MORE THAN THOSE THREE WORDS EVER COULD. HES USING HIS OWN LOVE FOR THAT BOOK TO PROJECT HIS LOVE ONTO THE PEOPLE HE CARES ABT GODDAMNIT‼️‼️‼️
(ALSO SIDENOTE THIS DOESNT JUST APPLY TO LEON!!!!! THIS APPLIES TO ASHLEY AND ADA TOO!!!!!!!!!!! HE PROJECTS THIS SAME LAMGUAGE ONTO THEM AS WELL, JUST NOT TO THEIR FACES!!!!!!!!!! HE SHOWS THEM KINDNESS AND LOVE IN HIS ACTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!)
And I think on some level Leon knows this too. He probably hasn’t analysed Don Quixote from every angle possible like Luis has, but he knows- in those final actions, when he takes up the mantle of his Sancho and confirms to Luis that, yes, he WAS a fine knight, he WAS his Don Quixote- I think he knew exactly what Luis had been trying to say to him this whole time. Just…. Using words that best describes it in his own way.
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holyvirgilscriptures · 2 months
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This is just my opinion on Noah’s video, and nobody has to agree, as long as we are able to remain civil. But I’m sorry, I don’t understand the people who complain that Noah’s video is just a PR move, or damage control. All “apologies” (or statements, or clarifications, or whatever words you want to use) are damage control by default. Additionally, people would have called it damage control regardless of the situation. If he had done it immediately after the controversy — damage control. If he waited months later from now to do it — damage control. If he never did it — well, obviously he never cared about Palestinians in the first place, and is a rabid racist. Or he’s waiting for people to forget about it — thus, damage control.
The truth is, people’s minds were already made up about Noah — even long before the controversy first happened. And yes, because people don’t want to admit it, a lot of the flames of the controversy are stoked by the fact that he’s gay and Jewish. Unconscious biases still exist, and they come out in regards to getting angry at minorities. Even before Noah made the instagram post, there were people already calling him a Nazi, or saying that he was going to become part of the IDF. And even now, people make jokes degrading his sexuality — not actually focused about the things he’d done. And unless he apparently said a combination of extremely specific magic words, then people were never going to accept him.
There are going to be people will honestly never accept or forgive him. They said he spread misinformation — he deleted/archived his original “I stand with Israel” post. They said he hopes Palestinians die — he labels out in the video that he thinks the mass death and killings of innocent Palestinians (esp. women and children) was bad. Because apparently people didn’t get the memo the first time, and were trigger-happy accusing him of being a monster. Have you guys actually interacted with any hardcore Zionists? I have. They would have never responded to the situation like Noah. They would have found justifications for the continuation of Israeli airstrikes and the deaths of thousands of Gazans. Or they would be literally like Brett Gelman — you know, his castmate who is an old man and should know better than a 19 year-old college student. Additionally, Noah said he’s spoken to Palestinians to learn from their perspectives on the argument. This is another thing hardcore Zionists would not do, because they think all Palestinians deserve to die and not have a voice.
Do I think his video could have stood to say more things? Yes. I think he should have actually brought up the things like the stickers stuff, among others. So I can understand people who were disappointed over that, saying he didn't really apologize. Do I think he should have probably prepared more before the video began? Yes, but honestly people will accuse him of just being fed what to say by his PR team (not that people aren’t already accusing him of such). But do I find the video offensive? No. His political stance of hoping that Israelis and Palestinians will be able to live safely and peacefully together in the Levant should not actually be some controversial claim that have people this riled up about it.
I never expected Noah to say something along the lines of “Fuck Israel” or “I hope Israel gets dissolved.” If that is the apology or statement you seek, then I’m sorry, but it’s just not going to happen. This is not about whether or not I personally want him to say that. It’s just being realistic. Noah very likely has family who currently live in Israel. And I understand most people seem to believe Noah is just a 100% white dude, and that Israel is made up of 100% white people, but that’s not true. The majority of the Israeli population come from those who were ethnically cleansed from neighboring MENA countries. And Noah’s mother is a Moroccan woman (and if you really want to look her up, you can see she’s not “white”). Do you know how many Jews live in Morocco now? About 2000~. Do you know how many Moroccan Jews are in Israel? 900,000.
Also, one last thing. Take it with grain a salt, but according to Noah (in his comments section), his PR team actually told him to stay quiet over the situation. But he felt like that wasn’t right and thus, this video was created. That’s more mature than people are willing to give him credit for. And also, obviously, stop harassing him. Stop calling him slurs, or suibaiting him, or (and this is real) doxxing, stalking, and sexually threatening him. Noah has already (allegedly) filed a restraining order on someone. Again, you are by no means required to actually like him. Continue disliking him, if you want. But these are all horrible things to do to a person, so let’s not.
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endiness · 11 months
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okay, but thinking about all of the potential fallout for roman by kendall exposing that their dad abused him and, like. there's obviously the potential of it forever labelling roman as 'the victim' and emasculating him in an industry setting where you're only ever allowed to be powerful if you want to succeed. and there's also the whole, y'know, thing with how roman's trauma will be outed without his permission and when he’s in no way ready to deal with that in private let alone public.
but there's also how people will probably not believe it, too? because that is also the reaction when abuse is exposed? like, there's literally pap photos of logan pantomiming hitting roman and the two of them laughing about it and hugging out there. you just know people would look at those pics and point to them and go: "see! obviously logan never abused him because nobody who was abused would ever do that and act that way and make a joke of it!" and that’s not even getting into how there’d absolutely be people joking about it. and saying he deserved it. like, that’s even roman’s own response! (and, hell, kendall’s response when roman’s upset about something that hurt him is he liked it.)
also, like, if the show does do anything with this, then that probably is the most realistic outcome? not only because it unfortunately is anyway but because they’ve already done that. with the cruise victims. nothing ever came of that abuse scandal being exposed, none of the perpetrators were ever held accountable for their actions, they all got away with it, and the only people who ended up hurt in the end were the victims.
like, to (kind of ironically, given the circumstances) quote shiv, this is the most likely outcome: “The good thing is, you're gonna have a lot of people on your side. Who will sing your name, and back you up. But the other people? You know, the other side? Normal people, they will doubt you. They'll say terrible things. They'll call you a slut, and a whore, and a money-grubber. Your life is gonna get ripped apart. Your home, you'll want to move out. For two or three days, you're gonna be kind of famous, but then the caravan moves on. But from tomorrow, that's all you'll ever be. To your grandkids, to the people you meet on vacation. When they google you,  yeah? Pages and pages of filth and lies. First line of your obituary. Last line.”
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cumberbatchedandproud · 10 months
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Ok, I just finished Bloodhounds and I still need to scream apparently so here it goes? (Spoilers warning; so beware if you haven’t seen it all yet...)
I came for Woo Do Hwan (no surprise here of course), but actually stayed for and truly enjoyed so much more :) 
First, I have been devastatingly hit in the face/guts/soul right from moment one by Kim Gun/Geon Woo (to which should we stick?). Let’s start with that glorious opening (which i do not need to mention), and then BAM he’s in truth such a pure lovely adorkable cutiepie at the core, and i just melted right away and forever. Yes, please keep politely apologizing while teaching assholes a lesson - this is such a badass move :) - and yet he’s so sincere in his restraint not to harm the stupid irrespectuous nobody and OH MY, THAT’S IT, I LOVE YOU. (I actually rewind that scene THRICE at first watch before going on with the story: that means something.) And then you bet the narrative did put my poor new blorbo though the wringer over and over, and it was sweetly bitterly devastating each and every time - because of course that man does *DRAMA* just so very very very well. And I was so afraid yet definitely expecting his big squeechy heart would end up entirely erased - and ready to go to WAR to save it - (and so ’’Hyung I’ve become a bloodhound’’ was IMO the most heartbreaking line of the show :() - but OH THANK FOR ONCE THE NARRATIVE that it didn’t happen, no matter what? I AM JUST SO HAPPY? (Who cares about gold and being realistic anyway :))
Then, THE FIGHTS. Porn. PURE PORN. The choregraphies, the execution - everything was a (brutal) delight (sort of) to watch. (And yes those seriously mind blowing breath stopping jaw dropping crouchy crouching forward low hits / escapes / moves / combinations definitely caused a new obsession for WDH’s thighs (Honestly? Like I needed yet another obsession over the man? SEND HELP). And I am not ashamed. He obviously trained, and that’s plain to see, so respectfully taking NOTICE is like the minimum I can do to thank him for his service?)
Also, on a side note, I’m a Rocky fan since my youth (yes, I’m a dinosaur, and my sister and I as teens used to watch Rocky IV (along with Top Gun, Dirty Dancing and Pretty Woman) about every rainy sunday - vhs time, sigh...), so I just LOVED all the ‘training’ moments (and not only for THE SHOW (even if my, my what a show...). Just the wink to the iconic running up the stairs had me with such a silly happy smile on my face :) And that ‘please hit me in the abs with a ball’ had me laughing way too hard and will be forever favourite. And the clapping between push ups was the sweetest thing ever. I could go on and on. *dreamy sigh sigh sigh* (and yes, also drooling sigh sigh sigh - but it is not the point i’m trying to make here...)
And then: Hong Woo Jin, my other beloved, of course !! What a sweety pie too !! Their chemistry was just GREAT !! He does care for that kid !! (Also, they wanted to kill him at first in the script? Thanks FATE then - because Gun Woo and Woo Jin DO come in pair - DO NOT SEPARATE !! GRRRR !!) And Badass archer granddaughter Da Min :) And Kim Myung-gil was a delicious villain, with a bonus true bro Kang In-beom to boot.
(Only minus points being (in no particular order) 1) the plot going on moments ‘what are you even doing/thinking/this is not a plan’ (and odd character disappearance (not that much problematic to me because I didn’t really care about Hyeon-joo) - explained since then) 2) the (apparently obligatory in kdrama - should I start worrying about you all?) ‘just let’s get so very drunk’ moments (besides what’s even the point of making a plan while drunk and not remember it in the morning? (do I drink alcohol? YES. (and btw I mean whisky, not beer or so). have i ever been drunk? no. (am i a self-control freak? YOU BET!)) BUT WHEN THEY MADE MY BLORBO DRINK I FELT LIKE CRYING AND THROWING A FIT !! Respect my man’s trauma about his abusive dad (you will not have me believe it was only Mom getting beaten - MY HEART) and his own pledge to himself - even without the obvious reason, everyone is free to decide for themselves what they want to do or not, okay !! GRRRRRRR !! (Luckily though he didn’t get actually drunk and I was SO relieved (I would have been really, really PISSED if they had, because my man would have been feeling so filthy and sick and I would have been devastated and FURIOUS) - had he eaten a lot beforehand? did he make himself regularly puke in the toilets? (the others were so gone they wouldn’t have noticed) Leave my baby alone, anyway !! 3) And well, the torture stuffs and general sort of purification of badness imo = irk !! There are mostly grey characters and greyer characters here (and two sunshines!); do not try to present them as being models of goodness? 4) And last, not a fan of the way Mom was written too - your omelets do look great indeed but where are your claws to defend your shiny and SO deserving of your love and *protection* son, Madam? (I am a Mom) - but I guess it was meant to make Geon Woo only more blorblo worthy, so I guess I’d just have to forget if not approve?)  
Anyway: no need for a season 2 - let them forever from now on just be besties and idiots in peace, please pretty please !! (I would though definitely enjoy a special about them training some more (Woo Jin as trainer :)) etc until  Kim Gun/Geon Woo ends up champion of course, lol - pretty please JUST GIVE IT TO ME!!) 
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npcemi · 10 months
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Welcome to my Meet Cute where Jason is a hopeless romantic whose inner voice is essentially a Jane Austen novel. Part 2
https://archiveofourown.org/works/47612662/chapters/120254056
just a little fun fact. I am totally head cannon Jason looking like his Gotham Knights model, mostly I think it's funnier. Totally not because it made my Redhood crush a little more intense......
“Danny I still can’t believe you literally made it sound like I have a kink for criminals to a Wanye of all people, a hot one at that!” Jazz whined to Danny as Danny, Sam, Kitty, and her were sitting around looking for a cheap condo for sale in Gotham. They were all going to be there through Danny's Ph.D. and whatever remains of Jazz's master’s program, possibly even her doctorate. So that was at least ten years. They had made the excuse to their parents about equity, but realistically they wanted to be able to rogue proof the place. They were going to Gotham after all.
“Jazz, you wouldn’t have liked him, he’s some spoiled rich socialite,” Danny argued.
“Did you see his muscles under his suit, I know you could!” Jazz gushed, Kitty and Sam started to giggle, knowing Danny a little too well.
“One, I would never look at another Man, Johnny is the jealous type, and Two, those were totally dumb gym bro muscles. You need someone who can fight. Not someone you could beat in a fight.” Danny said both contradicting himself and drawing attention to the fact that the Fenton siblings' prolonged and extensive exposure to ectoplasm had changed them significantly. Danny being half ghost obviously was the most changed. However, Jazz’s changes were more subtle. Fangs, eyes a little greener, a little stronger, and a little faster. While the physical changes were the most outwardly obvious, it was the mental changes that were the most significant.
Jazz’s need to analyze and understand people was border lining on an obsession. Both siblings were protective of their family unit. Which encompassed their parents, Tucker, and all of Danny’s partners. This included Sam Danny's high school sweetheart, Ember who both Danny and Sam held a hidden flame, Kitty, who was dating Danny, Johnny, and Ember, and Johnny who was dating Kitty and Danny. The unit also included Danny's clone daughter Danielle “Elle” Phantom who is obsessed with exploration and often roamed the earth in search of the next cool place or people she could meet. She would often send postcards.
Danny and Jazz were both territorial, nobody entered their haunt without permission. Neither would admit it, but this is also the reason they were looking at buying. It was bad enough that they would have to share the building with strangers, but to be beholden to a landlord. That was unacceptable. Their haunt was theirs. They were also more combative. Both as a way of protecting, but also as a way of socializing. Jazz was already looking forward to seeing what the Gotham MMA gyms were like.
“Danny, you can’t just scare off any potential boyfriends.”
“I never even tried to scare him. I just informed him that you clearly have a type!”
“Danny!” Jazz sighed
“Jazz!” Danny exclaimed. His sister sighed again trying to redirect the conversation to the task at hand. “Okay let's go over what our requirements are again.” She said,
“A closet we can turn into a semi-permanent ghost portal,” Danny said,
“The ability to install our own security system and a place for my garden,” Sam added.
“And a way to soundproof the bedrooms,” Kitty added with a bit more enthusiasm than expected. Danny and Sam blushed as Jazz groaned not wanting to be reminded that her little brother somehow had a more productive sex life than her.
“What? Ember is rather loud.” Danny and Sam nodded sagely at Kitty’s comment.
“And when Danny is with Johnny even I need ear plugs, I mean I totally get it, Johnny is a man who can really…” Kitty was cut off by Jazz who found something that may be perfect for the group. She was also thankful for the timing of her find. Jazz asked the group to hear her out on her Idea.
“Danny, our parents made us 12.5% owners each in Fenton works right?” Danny nodded his confirmation.
“Okay, I think we should expand Fenton works and found the anthropological branch which would be headquartered in Gotham!” Jazz looked out to see three confused faces.
“There’s this warehouse in between the Bowery, Park Row and Robinson park. It’s perfect, close to the only real hub of nature in the city for Sam, we can also add a garden to the roof. We can obviously set up whatever security we want and have enough room for all seven of us!”
“Seven?” Sam asked.
“You mean Elle gets her own room when she visits?” Danny asked and responded with a resounding yes,
“And that’s not even the best part. The warehouse, the whole thing, the land it’s on is only three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.” Jazz knew it was technically a little over budget, but between the tax benefits from counting it as a Fenton Works purchase and the fact Danny could grab as many one Kg gold bars from the Keep as he needed, the whole thing was easy to buy and very much worth it.
“Ok, I’m sold, call the realtor,” Danny said, already opening a portal to the ghost zone.
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macdenlover · 1 year
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if macden becomes canon, do you think dennis’ sexuality will be addressed/questioned by the gang or do you think they’ll see it coming/already know? or like how do you see dennis coming out and macden getting together playing out? which comes first? (in your ideal version or in a realistic version either way) sry if this is confusing 😵‍💫 but i’ve been thinking ab whether his attraction to mac or his attraction to men in general will be the point of focus if macden canon 🤔 maybe it will take a season or two to unravel both threads?
first of all amazing question 10/10.
maybe this is an unpopular opinion? idk? but i don’t see them ever giving dennis a whole coming out arc like they did with mac. i think it would be a much more implicit thing that would be tacked onto a bigger transformative arc for his character. because the whole coming out thing for mac had to do with religion and intense homophobia and self punishment and it was a very active denial of something he already knew. dennis on the other hand is just insanely delusional. and there’s this fucked up parasitic relationship between love and sexuality and the mask that he creates for himself. so i see them giving dennis an arc that breaks down that mask and lets his vulnerabilities show which would work Very Well next to macdennis going canon. (i can not stress enough how much i need this mac gets a bf + dennis gets jealous thing to pull through next season). but anyways the point is i don’t think he’d ever announce his sexuality in a profound way bc his queerness isn’t really the emotional crux of his character.
that being said if he does come out i see it being after macdennis happens and in a super casual way and i don’t think he’d ever actually say the word bisexual out loud. i have this headcanon that dennis has his own elaborate kinsey scale system (thanks glenn lmao) and he’d explain to the gang how his sexuality is way more fluid and elevated than the average person and after the whole long winded explanation they’d be like. so bisexual. that’s just being bisexual. and he’d get all offended and frustrated that they obviously didn’t hear what he said. I think it would be a minor thing he’s in denial about but in a way that stems from his own delusion of superiority instead of actual homophobia.
as for the gang knowing, i think nobody has ever really given a shit but mac who would be totally caught off guard by it. and i think the idea of him just not believing that bisexuality is real would be so funny but at the same time he did come up with that plan to tell mandy that dennis has sex with women but is emotionally involved with dudes so IDK!! i’m in the boat that i don’t really care whatever ends up happening but it should be funny <3
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Hey :) i was the anon who asked if you're taking requests. This is a bit specific, so if you don't feel like writing this, that's totally fine. It's fun ghoul (in case you write for him, otherwise frank) x fem!reader (if that's okay). Reader has a few bigger scars on her face (from fighting some dracs or just general assholes) and is feeling pretty insecure about it. One day some people are making fun of her for it and her friend and crush Fun/Frank overhears and gets angry for her sake. She later asks him why he defended her so much, and he confesses he likes her?
You can probably guess who i am now, but I'll stay on anon anyway 😅 as I said, if you don't feel comfortable writing this, i totally get it. But I thought asking isn't hurting anyone.
Have a great week!
The World is Ugly (Frank Iero x reader)
Summary: Frank's best friend has had some pretty rough shit thrown at her by the universe recently, so he's delighted to see her out and about again. But when something happens that infuriates him completely, he's left with no choice but to reveal a secret he's been keeping for years...
Word count: 3689
Warnings: discussion of traumatic injury and facial scarring, people being assholes and making asshole-y comments
(y/n) pronouns: she/her 
AN: I really, really hope that I did this justice for you, sweet anon. While I don't have facial scars, I understand very well what it's like to have something about your body change very suddenly, and the struggle to adapt to that. I understand the pain, and the distress, and the wishes for things to go back to normal. But I promise you, you are still the person you were before. You are loved, and you are wonderful, and you are important.
Things do get better. It can take time, and it's very rarely a smooth process, but better is possible.
I believe in you <3
The mirrors in her apartment were still covered. 
With some of them, it was easy to invent an excuse. Oh, the one propped up against the wall with a button up thrown over the top half? Yeah, that’s just some laundry that I haven’t found the time to put away, and at least when it’s there I can’t trip over it. The little mirror on the desk covered by a tote bag? Well, it kept reflecting the sun in my eyes while I was working so it was just easier to do that. But others, it was harder to explain away. The bathroom mirror, certainly, was a tricky one to come up with something logical for. 
Realistically, everyone that visited knew exactly why they were hidden, just as much as (y/n) did. But nobody would even think about mentioning it. It was too soon, and she clearly needed time to acclimatise. Big changes had happened, and obviously she was still very firmly in the middle of the adjustment period. It was understandable, really. 
A traumatising incident that left significant facial scarring would be horrendous for anyone to deal with. 
She knew that, in time, she would have to accept the changes that had happened. The doctors had said that even once things had healed up fully, there would most likely still be some permanent marks. They had suggested some different things to try, types of creams and oils that could help make the lines less noticeable. But they had also been very clear - it was highly unlikely that her face would ever be quite the same again. Those scars would always be there in some capacity. 
Right now, thinking about that was far too much to bear. Which is why for now, for the forseeable future, the mirrors would remain shrouded. 
It was far more challenging to keep away from other people. Over the first couple of weeks, (y/n) had relied on her family and friends to shop and bring food home to her, simply unable to face the thought of going outside where strangers would be able to see. But cooping herself up inside was driving her insane. She missed the warmth of sunlight on her skin, the sensation of light rain dampening her hair. She missed the sound of dogs playing in the local park when she walked to the bookshop, and the shitty music that filled every store. She missed the smell of the bakery a few streets away, and the smile she always got from the pretty girl at the flower shop next door. She missed human existence. 
And so, staring at the empty carton of milk in her hand and the sparse leftovers in the fridge, she decided that she was going to go back to it. It would be difficult, obviously, but if she stuck to her old routines, she was sure she could manage. 
It was either this, or spend the rest of her life as a hermit. And she knew which idea she preferred. 
Thankfully, it was cool enough outside that (y/n) definitely needed a hoodie - the wind was disturbing the branches of the tree in the little shared garden of the apartment block, and the weather forecast promised rain later. Neither of those things were of vital importance to her; what mattered more was the fact that she would have an easy way to hide her face if needed. 
Going outside for the first time felt a little like being freed from prison. Her incarceration had been self inflicted, but the relief at liberation was a feeling any prisoner would understand. The feeling of the breeze against the new contours of her face, still very sensitive a week after the stitches had been removed, was bizarre. It felt like a cool finger was mapping them out: the one that crossed the bridge of her nose, the large one spanning her cheek, the places where scar tissue met hairline and lip and eyelid. Had she looked at her reflection, she would likely have been pleasantly surprised; none of the scars were as thick as they felt, and they already appeared to be healing fairly smoothly. Scars often feel far worse than they look, and getting used to the idea of their presence is half the battle. But of course, she wasn’t ready for that just yet. Healing takes time, of course. And baby steps were better than no steps at all. 
Her first stop was the bakery; bravery deserved a reward, and just getting past the foyer of the apartment building had taken a huge amount of guts, let alone getting this far. The teenager behind the counter had beamed when she went in, already reaching for her regular shopping. 
“Hey, it’s been far too long! I almost thought you’d been stolen away by that place down the road. Still going for the same stuff?” 
The fact that they hadn’t even commented on her face, simply looking pleased to see her, almost made her tear up. “Yeah, the usual is good with me. Throw a couple of those doughnuts in as well though, please. It’s been... a rough couple of weeks.”
As they took her money and handed over the bag, their smile softened. “Those doughnuts are on the house today. We, uh... we heard what happened. And we’ve all missed seeing our favourite customer, so... it’s nice to have you back.” 
Just about managing to croak out a ‘thanks’ before saying goodbye, promising to be back in again soon, she left. The tears that threatened to fall were happy ones. To have someone treat her just like an ordinary person was all she had wanted. Things were off to a far better start than she’d imagined. 
The next place she wanted to go was the coffee shop - because making her own was just far too much effort, quite honestly, but the number of people in there made her pause for a moment. There’d only been one other customer in the bakery, and he’d spent the entire time engrossed in a YouTube video while eating his way through a bag of mini cheese pastries. The cafe, in comparison, was pretty much packed. 
A familiar grinning face appeared in her line of sight, and the sound of Frank’s voice snapped her out of her little reverie. 
“Hey, if it isn’t my favourite person in the whole wide world! Good seeing you, sweet cheeks. You doing okay?” 
She nodded, pulling a slight face and desperately trying to ignore the way that her heart rate had picked up at the sight of him. “Yeah, I’m... alright, I think. I was just...” 
Having known (y/n) since the two of them were eight years old, Frank understood every one of her little expressions. Every thought and concern in her mind was clear to him. He held out a hand, smiling softly when she tucked herself against his side. He stroked her waist the way he always had done when one of them was feeling down, both of them comforted by the gentle repetitive motions. No matter the situation, being in each other’s presence was often enough to settle their emotions and bring a little clarity to their thoughts. 
“How about I pay for the coffee this time? I’m pretty sure I owe you a few cups anyway, after the last few trips out, so why don’t I get you this one?” 
“That would be nice, yeah...” The hesitation in her voice was blatantly obvious, and he squeezed her just a little tighter. 
“Hey, it’s just you and me. Coffee. We’ll get it to go, and then go sit in the park and stare at all the cute dogs for a while. Sound good?” 
She didn’t even need to look at him to know he was doing those infamous puppy-dog eyes again; it was a look he’d developed decades ago, and it worked on pretty much everyone. No matter who he used them on or what he wanted, whenever he broke them out things were basically guaranteed to go his way. He dropped his bottom lip for added effect, and she felt her heart do a somersault. She was just as under his spell as everyone else was. Well, probably more so.
“Oh, go on then. Only because you’re paying.” 
Grinning, he grabbed her by the hand and led her inside, joining the end of the rather long queue as he filled her in on what had been going on with the band since they’d last seen each other. Frank had been one of the people to bring stuff round to her flat in the days after she’d come home from the hospital, but they hadn’t had a proper conversation during that time. She’d been so worried about what he’d think of the way she looked now that she hadn’t wanted him to see, hadn’t wanted to give him the chance to say something. But so far, he was treating her exactly like he had always done. If she had more time to think into that fact, it would probably upset her all over again: she was desperately hoping for the day that he turned around and told her that he needed more, that he loved her too much to just be her friend. For now, though, normal was enough. Normal was what she needed. 
In between Frank’s rambles on what the band’s latest project was shaping up to be and the bursts of noise from the coffee machine, soft whispers were starting to worm their way into her ears. At first, she desperately hoped she was imagining it, but no - people were definitely talking about her. 
A little boy was tugging on his dad’s sleeve. “Daddy, what’s wrong with that lady’s face?” 
On the next table over, a grandmother was shushing a set of twins. "It's rude to stare, no matter what people look like. Now keep your voices down."
But far worse than innocent childish curiosity were the reactions from the older customers in the shop. Grown adults were sneaking sideways glances at her before turning back to their friends, making almost silent comments and hiding sneers behind their fingers. Some were openly staring, mouths agape and eyes wide.
Feeling the new tension in her shoulders, Frank squeezed her hand, leaning in to murmur against the side of her head. "You doing okay?"
"I... people are saying things. I can tell."
"I know, sweet cheeks. Please don't pay attention to it - I know that's really hard, but we won't be in here much longer. Look, there's only one more person in front of us. Then we can go hang out with the puppies. And those puppies will give you all the love you deserve, okay?"
Managing a nod, (y/n) relaxed a little as they reached the counter, concentrating on the way her best friend's eyes sparkled when he smiled and thanked the barista. She often thought that she could look at him forever - that those eyes, that face, would look perfectly at home in a work of classical art. He was just flawless.
The technique of focusing on the tiniest details of his features worked. She kept her mind occupied with his miniscule freckles, ridiculously pretty eyelashes, the way his hair curled slightly around his ears. He filled her brain entirely, chasing all the negatives away.
Until they turned to leave.
Half way through the queue was a group of teenage boys - and they were staring at her in sheer disgust. Noticing this, Frank shifted so that he would be walking closest to them, doing the best he could to shield her from view. But of course, that couldn't stop them talking.
"Ew, gross."
"What's wrong with the Joker over there?"
"If I looked like that, I wouldn't ever let other people see me."
"Damn, I hope she stays away from kids. That shit's scary."
Very calmly, Frank stopped and handed (y/n) his coffee. "Would you hang onto this for a second, cupcake? I'm about to have my hands full." And as she took it from him, he grabbed the tallest of the group by the collar and dragged him down to look him in the eyes. "You dare speak about her that way one more time - you even THINK something like that about her - and I'll make your face look more fucked up than it already is. You all wanna talk about ugly, go take a look in a mirror. And if you don't like the idea of no longer having your balls attached to you, you'll apologise. Right this instant."
Recognising the man who was threatening them, all four boys blanched, huddling together and barely stuttering out something vaguely like an apology. Arms folded across his chest, Frank was ready to tear them to shreds, but (y/n)'s hand against his upper back made his temper settle marginally. He turned back, and the sight of her trembling very nearly made him launch at the boys again. But the rational part of his mind took over, making it very clear that the best thing to do was just get out of there. And so with one final glare at the offending morons, he led her out to the street.
"Do you wanna go to the park, or do you want me to take you home?"
Taking a deep, faltering breath, she sniffled. "Home. Please."
"Your wish is my command, sweet cheeks. Come on. Let's go."
The walk back to her place was short, but they spent it in silence. He desperately wanted to say something to her, but knew that now just wasn't the right time. Over the years, he'd learned that quiet was the best thing for her until she decided to speak. Pushing conversation too far only ever made the situation even worse.
(y/n) was mute until the two of them were comfortably situated in her living room, sat at opposite ends of the tiny sofa as they sipped at their coffees.
"Thank you for being there."
"Hey, I'm always gonna be there for you. Every time. You could be stuck at the top of Mount Everest and I'd still make it up there to kick some ass if you needed me to."
She snorted, setting her drink down. "You hate the cold."
"That wasn't my point, and you know it." He rolled his eyes, kicking at her feet. "Those kids were total assholes. Half of me wants to go back there and kick their asses all the way into the next century."
"I'm glad you didn't actually do anything, I don't want you getting arrested for me. I’m not worth that much effort.” 
“You absolutely are. To me, you always have been. And you always will be. You're the most important person to me in the whole world.” 
His expression shifted a little, and (y/n) could read him like a book. The prevailing thought in his mind was panic. Clearly, he hadn’t intended to say that in quite that way. And that just made her want to dig a little deeper. 
“Frank... what are you saying?” 
“I just- well, I care about you, obviously. You’re my best friend, of course you’re worth it.” 
“No, that’s not it. I can tell.” 
“I swear, it’s-” 
“Please. Just tell me. I... I need you to be honest with me, okay? I can't keep worrying about the way everyone sees me now. I can't keep worrying that you don't see me the same.” 
He seemed to flounder for a moment before coming to the realisation that this time, he wasn’t going to get away with some flimsy excuse. She was far too clever for that. It had to be everything, raw and unfiltered and straight from the soul. “I’m saying that I love you. More than I could ever possibly describe. You came into my life scrawling smiley faces and animals on my arms in permanent marker, and you wrote yourself into my heart at the same time. I’ve never had eyes for anyone else - it was always an act. Every time someone asked, I’d choose a person at random so nobody would find out it was you. I couldn’t face the thought of losing you if you found out how I really felt. Hell, half my tattoos are based on something I remember about you, something you drew or said or made me laugh about. You are just... everything. Perfection. The sweetest soul this hellhole of a society has ever seen. I'm pretty sure I've loved you forever. That I was born to love you.” 
She could feel the tears catching at the patches of new skin on her face, but couldn’t find it in herself to care about the bizarre sensation. This was what she’d been waiting to hear since she was thirteen. “How... how long has it been? Really, how long?” 
“Um... well, thinking about it... since we were, like, ten. Maybe even before that, but that's probably when I started to notice it.” 
“And you...” She trailed off for a second, trying to think of how best to phrase things. “Even now that I look like this?” 
Frank practically threw himself across the couch and hugged her as tightly as he possibly could, burying his face into her shoulder as he let all of his thoughts out. “You’ve always been beautiful to me. Always. Even when you let your mom cut your hair when you were nine and the bangs were all wonky. Even that time you tried to dye your hair without any help and it went that weird shade of green. Oh, and the time you accidentally shaved off a whole eyebrow so you had to get rid of both, and you could never draw them both the same. Every art class where you ended up with multicolour freckles, and never remembered to wash them off before coming to lunch. Those hideous fake glasses you wore for a year because you were convinced they looked cool. I’ve seen you in every state imaginable, and I’ve never stopped loving you. I've seen you delirious with the flu, unable to walk because you were so hung over, greasy and tangled after not showering for a week. There are so many brilliant, unique things about you. And even if they aren't always things you like, they're still special. These scars are just another special part of you that we can both get to know.” 
Scoffing a little, (y/n) extricated herself from his grip and shuffled back, arms folded over her chest. “They’re not special, they’re awful.” 
Understanding that she needed a little space, he settled for resting a hand on her arm. “Hey. You’re allowed to hate them, you know? It’s totally okay that you do. I just really need you to know that I don’t. I could never hate any part of you, and that includes them.” 
“But I’m not the same.” Her voice cracked a little, and she sniffled, determined not to break down. “I don’t... feel like I’m me any more.” 
“I get that. It’s a big change, and it’s one that’s gonna take time to get used to. But I promise, it doesn’t make a difference to the person that you are inside. And it doesn’t make a difference in the way I feel about you.” 
“How can you be so sure?” 
“Because a life without you is not one I’m interested in living. Every second I’m without you, it feels like my soul is waiting for the rest of it to come back. You are everything to me.” 
He sounded so confident in his words, the honesty practically seeping from his pores, and she knew him well enough to know that he was telling the truth. He really did mean every word he’d said. And that was enough to start the flow of tears again. She didn’t resist as he took her back into his arms, kissing softly across her hairline as she melted against him. 
“I’m sorry. I- that was a lot. If you don’t feel, you know, quite the same way I do, then that’s-” 
Frank found himself unable to speak mid-sentence; (y/n)’s lips were locked against his own, and all he could do was kiss her back. They were both a little breathless when they broke apart, and she jabbed a warning finger into his chest. 
“Don’t you dare apologise. I’ve thought about kissing you, probably since I was twelve. Every date I ever went on, I wished it was you. I spent so many nights laying there in the dark wishing I was brave enough to say something, so I wouldn’t have to watch you with other people any more. I don’t think it’d be possible for me to ever love someone else as much as I love you.” 
Those last three words left them both in silence for a moment, overwhelmed by the enormity of what they’d both just confessed. And then, (y/n) started to giggle. He eyed her curiously. 
“What’s so funny?” 
“Well,” she shrugged, looking a little sheepish. “I just... that’s not exactly how I imagined our first kiss to go, that’s all.” 
He snorted, stroking gently at the spot where the largest of her scars disappeared into her hair. “Yeah, I don’t think I pictured it like that either. It-it was good though, wasn’t it?” 
“Oh, yeah, I’m definitely not complaining.” 
“I mean, we could always... do it again? Just so, you know, we’re sure we’re doing it properly.” 
The little glint in his eyes made her heart flip, and she nuzzled against him. “Sounds good to me.” 
“Good. Because now it’s happened once, I plan on kissing you for the rest of your life. I’ve imagined doing it for so long, there’s no way I’m letting you slip through my fingers again. I hope you’re okay with that, sweet cheeks.” 
As his lips brushed against hers, feather light and tasting of sheer desperation, she just about managed to answer before he took her breath away completely. “I’m sure I can cope with that.” 
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chessna2 · 9 months
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TMA/Hetalia Crossover Ideas
Setting: The Magnus Institute, Helsinki
Archivist: 
Eduard, the new guy who tries to pretend to be an amazing archivist when he has no idea what the heck he’s doing. Has an insatiable curiosity for the supernatural but pretends it’s not real because he believes in “science.” Finally admits it’s real when the fungus almost kills everyone. 
Archivist’s Love Interest:
Tino, a college drop-out who faked his CV to get the job and immediately gets a crush on Eduard, but is terrified to initiate anything because Ed is his boss. Tries so hard to be likable but he’s actually not very kind at heart and when he can finally be comfortable he can finally be as intense as he actually is. 
Bad Guy, Head of the Institute: 
Roderich, snooty, know-it-all, just acts super pretentious and everyone hates him. A love interest for Roderich could be Antonio, who's an avatar of the Stranger and loves to come and pester him in his office. They are either divorced or together, nobody can tell.
Archival Assistants:
Tim-type: Matthais, fun-loving, used to be old coworkers with Eduard, hot, always joking about the monsters that want to kill them. He gets less fun about it when his boyfriend Lukas, who he used to bring by the institute, is killed by the The Dark. Lukas is later found to be alive and an avatar of the dark, which really fucks with Matthais and he's not the same after that.
Sasha-type: Liz, also fun-loving and jokes and ribs Matthais a lot. Extremely competent and good at research. She’s been at the institute longer than the others and should have realistically gotten Ed’s job. 
Melanie-type: Ivan, who gets roped into supernatural stuff via his little sister, now avatar of the Corruption, Natalia. He makes a couple of statements about it, then later shows up to warn the institute that Natalia is coming for them. Everyone is worried he might be an avatar of the corruption, but he evades it because he murdered his alcoholic father when he was a teenager and has been a slaughter avatar ever since. This doesn’t manifest itself until later. 
Daisy-type: Gilbert, who is a cop mad with the hunt chasing down supernatural beings. Doesn’t like Ed much and gives him a hard time. Later they get along much better after Ed saves his life. 
Basira-type: Ludwig, who is loyal to his big brother to a fault, also a cop, covers up for him. Ruthlessly efficient and unbothered by supernatural nonsense. 
Other characters: 
Gertrude: I think Gertrude just stays Gertrude. She is irreplaceable. 
Gerard: Hong Kong, whose guardian growing up was Yao, and Yao taught him everything he knows about entities. They split ways, Yao is still an active Desolation avatar.
Eric Delano - Arthur, Hong Kong's other guardian, a pretty normal British guy roped into supernatural chases by his relationship with Yao. He manages to leave the institute by blinding himself. He was never blood-related to Hong Kong, but considered him a son.
Jurgin Leitner: Berwald, the self-important supernatural academic who tries to contain the world's most powerful entities in a library. He's older and wiser, tired from a lifetime of running for his life.
Georgie-type: Raivis, Eduard’s cousin who is staying in a college dorm with his roommate, Peter. Eduard has to crash at their dorm when he has nowhere else to go. Raivis is skeptical but trying to do the right thing for Ed. 
Selasa: This is obvious, it’s Francis. Overly friendly and charismatic man selling you objects that will kill you.
Avatars: 
The Corruption: Natalia, who is the first to attack the institute. We first hear about her through Ivan’s statement, then he comes back freaked out that she’s going to attack. Fungus grows through the doors, they keep finding soft white-green putty in corners and tiny mushrooms.  She obviously gets this from her love of mushrooming and being obsessed with her brother. 
The Spiral: Feliks, who loves to pester Eduard and sit back and watch the shit show. If I were to replace him it would be with Toris, who starts off much more mellow and not liking being the Spiral at all, then embracing it and ending up as unhinged as Feliks was, and talks with Ed about what it's like becoming an avatar.
The Lonely: Matthew, but like a lonely lumberjack version. He’s got huge shoulders and he wears plaid and has a beard. He smells like pine needles; he takes people out on hikes and just abandons them. He doesn't like explaining things so he gets Alfred to do it for him.
The Vast: Alfred, who is annoyingly charming and enjoys throwing people off buildings and blasting them into space. He and Mattie are related and they pester each other like old begrudging friends. He won't shut up about space. 
The Desolation: Yao, Hong Kong's guardian and one of the oldest, most powerful avatars. He can be seen working with his latest pupil, Emil. He is convinced Hong Kong was a Desolation avatar but just suppressed it because he hated the entities so much.
The Stranger: The creepier of the group, the Italian brothers, Feli and Lovino. They show up with plastic masks and smile and argue and trade off sentences and their heads are never quite on straight. 
The Web: Taiwan, very convincing and beautiful, cunning, she seems to always know something the main cast doesn't, Ed doesn’t trust her at all. 
Other characters appear in statements but don’t play a huge role. 
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naavispider · 1 year
Note
Updating the fanfic every day is already a huge blessing, so please take your time 💙 as for the meantime, I had an prompt/idea(?) I wanted to share, but it’s rather dark so it is 100% okay if you are uncomfortable with this, I was just thinking.
(TW: mentions of self-harm but nothing graphic) Spider going through the guilt and self-hate of helping his enemies destroy his friends and family he wishes would adopt him mist feel so overwhelming, so what if he, maybe in a bathroom before bed, looks at hismself and for a split second, just a split second, the hatered for the boy in front of him becomes too much and he picks up a razor blade.
He doesn’t want to do anything to himself, not at all, it is only a split second impulsive decision that he decides against the very next second, because he is no longer that desperate at this point of the story.
Sadly, he has no time to put the blade back as Quaritch walks in (did he forget to lock the door?) and just proceeds to stare at his son with a razor blade in his hands, and Spider scrambles to explain that it’s not what it looks like.
What do you think his reaction might be? (Again, if you’re uncomfortable with such themes you absolutely don’t have to respond, taking care of one’s mental health is always a 1# priority!)
Hi! I think for sure this is a realistic idea! 🥰 I can 100% see Spider picking up a blade and just sort of staring at it, wondering what it would be like for someone to actually use it - but of course not actually really considering it himself.
I can see this happening maybe in his room or as he is sat on the top deck of the ship swinging his legs over the side. He is having a quiet moment during some downtime (in between village raids) and Quaritch just forced him to translate for the Olo'eyktan and Tsahik. His eye catches something shiny left on the floor, and he picks it up - unsure what it actually is at first. He realises it's a razor blade and turns it over in his hands.
Quaritch has been looking for Spider since he realised the boy had disappeared upon returning from the Ta'unui village. He strolls around the deck of the ship and nobody dares interrupt him in his search. Then he sees Spider. And Spider has a blade in his hands. Confusion clouds Quaritch's thoughts for only a split second before all his years of military training force him to react, protect, and ask questions later.
He almost leaps over to the child, and grabs Spider's wrist that is holding the blade, pulling it towards him. Spider shifts with the sudden pull, confusion and hurt colouring his face. "Hey!"
"What the hell do you think you're doing kid?" Quaritch growled angrily, in disbelief at what he had just seen. He held Spider's hand up, which was still holding the blade. "What is this?"
Quaritch knew the answer of course - it was a rhetorical question, but Spider scrambled to find an answer. The boy frowned, anger and probably embarrassment making his decisions for him and clouding his words. "It's not... I wasn't... Let go of me!"
Quaritch took the blade out of Spider's hand and let him go. He stood up from crouching and threw the blade as hard as he could into the ocean.
"Do not ever think about doing that." His anger suddenly gave way to to the realisation that he had no idea what to say to follow this up. Crap.
"I wasn't," Spider held his furious gaze. "I just found it on the floor."
Quaritch tried to work out if this was true. He stared hard at the child, who hadn't attempted to get up from the edge of the ship. Spider's eyes were strong, fierce. Fire blazed beneath them. He obviously believed his own words. Quaritch sighed angrily and turned away, before facing back to Spider.
"Don't scare me like that," was all he could think to say.
Spider rolled his eyes, but it looked pained. "I wouldn't," he replied seriously, and Quaritch could feel a level of truthfulness bleeding through the space between them.
"Come inside," Quaritch ended the discussion with a jerk of his head towards the airlock.
Realising he didn't have a choice, and not wishing to create more drama, Spider followed ruefully.
Huh. So Quaritch was mad. He kept showing these insane reactions - firstly when Spider had a nervous breakdown in the forest, then when he had a night terror at Bridgehead, and now when Quaritch thought that he'd been contemplating killing himself.
Spider thought back to a time he would have likely done it. Memories of a cold, hard, lonely cell returned to him.
He pushed them away. Things had changed. So much. He knew he could never do it now. It was getting easier and easier to believe that Quaritch had developed feelings for him. And harder and harder for Spider to come to terms with that.
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aww-writing-no · 1 year
Text
For @winterhawkbingo Round 4, Square N4: Stuck in an elevator
Ao3 Link
Elevé:
"I told you we should have taken the stairs," Bucky said to Clint with his hands on his hips. "I said it looked like a death trap and we'd be lucky if we only got stuck instead of plummeting to our deaths and look, here we are. Stuck. And possibly about to plummet to our deaths."
Clint leveled him with a glare. "Bucky, I am on crutches. I wasn't going to take the stairs when there was an elevator right there!"
"You've been on crutches for like a month now. Two flights of stairs isn't going to kill you," Bucky countered. "This elevator might, on the other hand."
Clint rolled his eyes. "Would you stop being so dramatic? We're not going to die in an elevator."
"How do you know that? We might get stuck here forever and starve to death. They won't find our desiccated corpses until they finally get around to condemning the elevator because we're the only fools who decided to use this deathtrap."
"Oh, I see we're being extra dramatic now," Clint said dryly.
"I'm just being realistic."
"Riiiiight." Clint rolled his eyes again. "Because nobody from the company is going to notice that we're missing? It might take longer for them to notice I'm not there since I'm not expected at the rehearsal tonight, but you're kind of a lead in one of the acts. Pretty sure they'd notice if you don't make it. I'll pay good money that Steve is here trying to rip the elevator doors from their hinges within the hour."
"Given the state of this elevator, he'd probably manage it," Bucky grumbled.
Clint was about to open his mouth to complain about Bucky's complaining when there was a loud thud from the top of the elevator. It sounded like something heavy had landed on the elevator.
"Ten bucks says that's Steve," Clint said, looking up at the ceiling.
Bucky smirked. "You're on. That's way too heavy to be Steve."
There was a scraping noise as one of the ceiling panels was dragged off. "Hellooooo," Wade called, sticking his head through the hole in the ceiling. "Did someone call the cavalry for a rescue?"
Clint sighed heavily as Bucky held out his hand. He reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet and handed Bucky a ten dollar bill.
"Told you it was too heavy to be Steve," Bucky said smugly.
Wade gasped theatrically. "Are you calling me fat?" he wailed, breath hitching in an obviously fake sob. "I climbed into an elevator shaft to rescue you and you, you thank me by calling me fat? Oh, the injustice!"
Clint rolled his eyes at Wade's dramatics while Bucky put his face in his hands.
Wade took that opportunity to swivel around on top of the elevator and drop in, feet first. He brought a large cloud of dust and dirt with him.
"Ugh," Clint coughed, waving his hand futilely as he tried to clear the air. "Did you have to bring an entire dust storm with you?"
"I mean, this deathtrap has probably never been cleaned," Bucky grumbled, holding his sleeve over his mouth and nose.
"Would you stop it with the deathtrap thing?" Clint snapped.
"Nah, he's right," Wade said, looking thoughtfully at the ceiling. "This thing really is a death trap. There are things I saw in that elevator shaft that cannot be unseen. It's a cursed knowledge. I'll never be the same man again. If we even make it out alive."
"Are you kidding me right now!?"
Clint couldn't believe Wade was siding with Bucky. Well, except for the fact Wade always sided with whatever caused the most chaos, so Clint supposed he could believe Wade was siding with Bucky. He was still going to be mad about it, though. "Also, how do you propose to get us out of here?"
Wade looked at Clint guiltily.
"You wanted us to climb back through the ceiling, didn't you?"
Wade looked at his feet. "Uhh, maybe?"
"I. Am. On. Crutches," Clint said, thumping the floor of the elevator after each word with said crutches for emphasis. "Why is this so difficult to remember? I got pulled from the entire season; I think that would be pretty noticeable."
"Out of sight, out of mind?" Wade supplied, then clapped his hands over his mouth when Clint leveled him with a glare. "Sorry, uhhhh..."
"I didn't forget you're on crutches," Bucky said when Wade clearly couldn't find an answer. "I just knew this thing was a deathtrap and figured you'd rather hop your way up a couple flights of stairs than die in an elevator. Clearly I was mistaken."
Clint let out a long-suffering sigh. "You could have taken the stairs without me."
"And let you get trapped in an elevator alone? What kind of friend do you think I am?"
"The kind that's hoping for a little dick action when you get stuck in the elevator?" Wade suggested.
Both Clint and Bucky stared at him with horror.
"I mean, don't let me stop you," Wade said, waving his hands in the air. "I'll cover my eyes even, if that'll make you feel better."
"Wade," Bucky said, closing his eyes briefly, "we are not having sex in a malfunctioning elevator. We were never planning on having sex in this elevator. I don't know where you get these ideas."
"I mean, why else would you follow Clint into an elevator that looks like it's gonna fall apart at any minute?" Wade asked like it was the most reasonable question in the world.
While Bucky was opening and closing his mouth like some kind of overgrown koi fish, Clint asked Wade, "why did you climb through an elevator shaft into this elevator, then?"
Wade frowned as if confused by Clint's question.
"To watch you two boning in the broken elevator, of course."
Bucky made a choking noise.
"I mean, I'd also be down for a threesome if you're interested," Wade added, rolling his hips in what was probably the least seductive manner in existence.
"Oh my god," Clint muttered, wondering vaguely if he was having a really vivid nightmare right now. "We're not having sex in an elevator, and we're definitely not having a threesome in an elevator."
"You sure?" Wade asked, wiggling his eyebrows in a manner about as seductive a manner as his hip shimmy.
Clint couldn't decide if he was more insulted or horrified that Wade thought he'd be attracted to that.
"Very sure," Bucky told him.
"The most sure," Clint seconded.
"Your loss," Wade said with a shrug, tossing his head. He didn't have enough hair for a hair flip, but it was clear what effect he was going for.
Clint blinked slowly. "I think I can live with that," he said.
"I know I can live with that," Bucky said, edging as far away from Wade as he could get in the cramped elevator.
The three of them were all staring at each other with varying degrees of horror when they heard a loud clang from outside the elevator. A scraping noise began outside the elevator doors, and the three of them stared at the doors with anticipation.
"Ten bucks says that's Steve," Clint said, looking at Bucky.
Bucky shook his head. "I'm not taking that bet. Ten bucks says he gets through the doors of this deathtrap in less than five minutes."
Clint considered that for a moment. "You're on," he said, figuring it would take Steve at least five minutes to pry the doors apart with whatever random tool he'd found for the job. "The deal is negated if he got help from the fire department or something, though. If there are professionals involved, that doesn't count."
"Deal," Bucky said, holding out his hand for Clint to shake.
They had just finished shaking on it when the elevator doors slid open with the ear-splitting scream of rusty metal.
"Hey guys," Steve said, sticking his head through the opening. "You need a hand?"
Clint looked at the mismatched floors of the elevator and the hallway. The floor Steve was standing on was higher than the elevator by at least a foot.
Before Clint could answer, Wade yelled, "yeah, 'cause they refuse to have a threesome in this elevator with me, which I'm finding rather hurtful".
"Okay, I'm out of here," Bucky said, rushing to the elevator doors and scrambling out as fast as possible.
Clint was left standing there with Wade, feeling a little bit betrayed. It would have been nice if Bucky had stayed to help him out of the elevator instead of running away at the first opportunity. It wasn't like Clint had forced him to get in the elevator in the first place.
"I, uhh, could actually use a little help," Clint admitted, shifting his weight from side to side.
"Don't worry, I got you," Wade said confidently, sidling up next to Clint. "I'm a pro at this, after all."
"You're a pro at breaking into elevators and getting stuck with the people you're trying to rescue?" Steve asked with wry amusement.
Wade stuck his tongue out at Steve.
"No, I'm a pro at sweeping handsome and well-built men off their feet," he said, picking Clint up by the waist and depositing him on the floor outside the elevator.
Steve grabbed Clint's arms to steady him while he recovered from the shock.
"A little warning next time?" Clint snapped at Wade who had hopped out of the elevator behind him.
"I thought that was a warning," Wade told him with a frown. "Why else would I tell you I'm a pro at sweeping men off their feet?"
"Because you're a maniac with no sense of decorum?" Steve asked, letting go of Clint's arms to look at Wade thoughtfully.
Wade spluttered indignantly. "I can't believe you would spread such lies about me!"
Clint rolled his eyes and whacked Wade's leg lightly with the leg of his crutch. "You're the one who suggested we have a threesome in the elevator. Repeatedly."
"You wound me," Wade gasped, hand splayed over his heart dramatically. "Physically too," he wailed, reaching down to grasp his leg where Clint had bumped him and putting the back of his other hand across his forehead like some kind of tragic Victorian maiden. He hopped around like this for a few seconds, clutching his leg and making woeful noises until Steve grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him out the door.
Clint was still staring out the door, trying to figure out what had just happened when Steve said, "I can't believe Bucky followed you into that elevator".
He turned to look at Steve, who was studying him with intense concentration. It felt a bit like Steve was trying to stare into his soul.
"What do you mean?" Clint asked, suddenly nervous for reasons he couldn't explain. Something about Steve's expression and Bucky taking off like a rocket was setting off quiet alarm bells in the back of Clint's brain.
"Clint," Steve said, looking directly into his eyes as Clint tried not to fidget, "Bucky's claustrophobic. He hates elevators."
"Oh," Clint said, more of a sigh than a statement. That... that made sense, he thought as memories slotted into place. The deathtrap comments, and Bucky running off, and the way he always took the stairs if he could help it. The way he always paused before stepping into an elevator, the way he maneuvered himself to be on the outside of the couch when they cuddled, it all made sense now. How had Clint missed that?
"But why would he get in with me, then?" Clint mused.
Steve stared at him for a long moment before looking around.
"Because he's in love with you, Clint."
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ozlices · 7 months
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about kanna's route vs shin's route
maybe im just biased, but kanna's route has always felt... off to me. and not in the ways people usually talk about.
hear me out. idk if much of this will make sense, but. im throwing out Thoughts and Feelings, ok. (under a cut bc this winded up being v long. adhd infodumping abt a hyperfixation at its finest)
when it comes to people discussing kanna's route, and preferring shin's over it, they usually refer to kanna's route as "it feels too good to be true. it's too happy" and, like, it does have a very distinctly hopeful tone to it, but i wouldn't call shin's route hopeless in comparison.
obviously, much more drama and hardship happens in shin's route that is exclusive to his route. but, like... he isn't involved with them directly.
"oh but joe's ai being corrupted is his doing" ok, but... is that Actually, blatantly confirmed? no.
it is very suspicious to me that in chapter 2, it is shown that the game masters are willing to corrupt ai of deceased characters to fuck with the cast. they literally did it with mishima's ai, and shin went out of his way to ensure that ai was taken down.
i think his "final gift" in kanna's route was finalizing his decorruption of joe's ai, and that joe's ai was made by the game masters specifically to fuck with sara. because they are aware that joe is sara's anchor. quite literally. he anchors her in reality, and keeps her from leaning into her malicious side. that is why he was the sacrifice in the first chapter. he had to be sure to be the first one to die, so they could ensure sara could be skewed into her ""true self"".
it is very possible that they made joe's ai with the intent of manipulating sara. and, what better way to use that than to frame shin? something that comes with the added bonus of causing a rift within the group, because everyone would default to believing it was him who did it as revenge for kanna, or revenge for himself should he have been voted out.
he and sara already had tension between each other. nobody would've questioned it, nor would his defenses for himself have mattered.
he probably knew that all along. knew that plan all along, and in the route where kanna survives, i think he gave his "final gift" to sara on kanna's behalf. because he knew that kanna loved her. and he wanted to ensure she would be able to protect her in his stead at her full strength, with joe's legacy on her side.
meanwhile, in his own route, he has nothing to motivate him left. he has no reason to quell the tension he has with sara. he's not gonna do it for his own personal gain when he has so much self hatred. so, he doesn't. if he was the one who did it, i think he still would've gone back on it for kanna's legacy. but, if he wasn't the one who created it, he has nothing to atone for except knowing it existed and that's it.
as far as reko/alice's fate... he quite literally has absolutely nothing to do with their death at all. that is entirely a result of sara being successfully corrupted or swayed by successfully being forced to forget joe. shin didn't do that. he wasn't involved with it at all. nor was he present for any of it happening until it was all over.
that's not to say shin has never done anything wrong ever, because he has. but, i think trying to say shin's route is depressing or hopeless in comparison to kanna's when he isn't involved with the differences between them is... hm. hard to find the right word. but maybe those actions themselves just feel off to me.
so, then, all that being said, why does kanna's route feel off to me?
i've concluded, that given the tone of the game, the reason kanna's route feels off to me is that shin's route feels more realistic in this game's universe. and, in comparison, kanna's route doesn't necessarily feel unrealistic. it comes across as "...this is not how things are supposed to go/would go in this universe."
kanna's route comes across as a scenario the characters made up in their heads to cope. it is such a drastic tone shift from the rest of the game. and, it's not like everything is peachy in her route, either.
the dummy's fates are still the same, regardless of who you choose. it is only the humans who hang in the balance of your decision. isn't that weird? in a game where human lives being toyed with is the entire point, one person being chosen as the survivor in one chapter, can so starkly determine which other humans survive in the next?
it's suspicious to me.
and, it's even more odd given that shin directly has a connection with midori/sou, who is arguably the most vile enemy the group has faced thus far.
i highly doubt that with how openly midori has had a hand with so much of the game, that he would truly be satisfied with shin dying before at least getting to see him again. he's far too possessive to just be like "awe i woulda liked to kill him myself </3" and also not do everything in his power to make sure he can revenge him. or make the people who caused his death absolute hell.
but, when it comes to midori, not much changes in his personality between the routes. the only exclusive thing either route gets with his involvement is that only kanna's route gets the "shin was actually kanna's biological older brother" reveal because kanna finding out both of her older siblings that she looked up to died because of her is the closest midori can get to ruining her.
he doesn't really have to do anything like that with shin since he's already had his claws in him since shin was in high school. he knows exactly how to push him, and he does, but not in a way exclusive to him per se. the shin ai is a thing in both routes. that's probably the worst thing he does to shin that we actually see, and he does it to him whether he's there to see it or not.
i really wonder if kanna's route is going to be revealed as just another simulation. because there are so many things in it that felt so weird. i really felt like nobody was acting like themselves. including kanna.
her newfound confidence is sweet and all, but the kanna we see throughout the game would not have that shift that quickly. she was in absolute shambles over her sister. she and shin spent so much time together, i really cannot see her knowing he died for her to be spared and just... suddenly becoming shounen protag of the year, you know.
it feels off, and it feels like that's on purpose. and, with how your time to shine's happy routes always end with sara saying to delete it and restart it as many times as it takes... i wouldn't be surprised if that's foreshadowing for the main game's ending for kanna's route.
i think both routes will have a "true ending", but in vastly different reveals and ways. shin's connection to the person who literally brought everyone into the game is going to be important in his route, without a doubt.
kanna's route just feels like an opportunity to expose the full depths of the simulations, and just how deep they can get.
yeah. very scattered and rambly i am sorry for the HUGE post but. i had to get all this out. lmao.
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octopusoptimusprime · 2 years
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mike. mike wheeler means so much to me you don’t even know. since s1 we have watched this boy with so many insecurities who never feels like he’s good enough for anyones time or attention throw his entire self into looking for will because no one else is and that’s his best friend goddamnit why is he the only one trying and he thinks the absolute world of will but in the best and most realistic way and he is literally willing to die for him (the quarry scene in s1) and with el he has always looked up to her. always been amazed, fascinated, saved by her. he calls her a superhero because he has never thought of her as anything else. she was his key to getting will back. and like lucas said in s1 the only reason mike ‘loved’ her was bc she was the only girl paying him attention. and mike feels obligated to reciprocate that attention and ‘love’ because hell, he’s 12 and a nerd and he’s never kissed anyone before and now there’s a real life girl here and it’s his chance at a normal life so he might as well take it. and he feels a little better but then he loses el and gets will in one fell swoop and now will is back and every powerful ‘best friend’ feeling mike has towards him comes careening back and mike can never support will and el at the same time because he likes el in a way where he looks up to her and holds her to a high standard and therefore the entire relationship is mostly superficial and they’re not even similar at all they were both just there. but with will that’s his best friend and he loves him and he can be himself around him (this obviously can’t happen with el because again mike feels inferior to her so he pushes away his friends and his interests to seem cooler to her because. it’s all about superficial image to them) and this is the root of the central conflict in s4 between mike el and will because el is gone and mike has that innate need to be a protector, to help and to save everyone he loves, but he doesn’t feel good enough to do that. (hence the quarry scene, hence every el-related breakdown he has) (the guy can’t even say i love you to her because he knows. he knows it’s not true. yeah all the wheelers suck at communication and no mike has never been able to say the word love because he’s a socially awkward and criminally insecure dumbass. but he does not love el. he worships her and he looks to her to save will. to save all of them. and when there is no saving to be done their relationship amounts to. nothing.) and now in s4 mike and will haven’t spoken in ages (i believe mike had called a lot but like he said the phone was always occupied bc of joyce. he is hurt that will never returned these calls. will doesn’t know they even happened. stupid boys suck at communicating) and so we get the airport scene where mike is trying so desperately to be cool and to be seen ‘correctly’ by el and el is doing to same to him by lying about rink o mania and angela. and it shows that both of them view the relationship superficially and neither think they’re good enough for the other. but wills ‘you’re the heart’ speech in the van and the conversation between will and mike in wills bedroom shows that they view each other as equals and love each other exactly as they are. they know almost everything about one another and they love how nerdy they are and never feel like they have to be cooler or better in order to impress each other. and mike doesn’t feel like he is enough which is why wills speech in the van made him so happy because that’s how he wishes his relationship with el was and if he knew that speech was from wills pov instead of els? imo he would go feral. because that boy has never even considered that anyone would love him just how he is. especially not someone that knows all the parts of him he feels he needs to change. and oh my god nobody touch me
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lollytea · 2 years
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i just read your latest fic and it had me so emotional, like it felt very true to them, in darius’s inner thoughts about how hunter ‘snuck into’ his heart, to his dorky ‘HAH’ at hunter, to hunter’s ears basically burning off. then the hug at the end was so funny but also so sweet! do you have any darius and hunter headcanons that weren’t mentioned? no pressure to answer, mainly came here to say i loved ur writing! hope u have a nice day
(This ask is several weeks old. Sorry I forgot about it for so long but I finally feel like talking about Darius again.)
To be honest while I do enjoy this idea of Darius and Hunter forming their own little family, I was definitely drawing a few blanks on how it would realistically get to that point, given what we know from canon interactions. But when sitting down to write the fic, I tried figuring that out. I don't really have any cutesy domestic family hcs about them but I can ramble a little about my hcs about how their dynamic formed? From like. Pre-ASIAS to post King's Tide. Idk if that's what you're asking for but I'll go for that.
-- I see Darius as somebody who is very flawed but ultimately good. He's not very nice but he’s a hero. He risked his life for his cause because he wanted to save the lives of everyone on the Boiling Isles. He cares about people as a whole but he doesn’t really like most of them individually. He believes children should mix with other children and have healthy friendships with each other but he also can’t stand children anywhere near him. 
He’s very much “Yeah I believe in the inherent goodness of witch-kind. I just think witch-kind is very annoying and everyone should stay the fuck away from me.” 
Like he's so self-involved and wrapped up with his own agendas that he really doesn't spare the lives and feelings and motivations of other people a second thought. Unless it's somebody he actually cares about (like Eberwolf.) they just don't matter to him personally. 
-- This was originally his view on Hunter. Darius never really thought about this kid unless he was standing directly in front of him and even then, his only feeling about him was annoyance. Due to that self-involved nature, it never occurred to Darius to maybe analyse for a minute why Hunter might be the way he is. He just believed him to be an uptight, arrogant spoiled brat. 
Based on Lilith’s opinion of Hunter, I personally believe that Belos’s abuse over him was a secret and nobody in the coven had any idea what was going on behind closed doors.(Except for Kikimora cuz shes nosy.)  They all just assumed he was a pampered little prince who got special treatment just for being a prodigy and having a familial connection to Belos, Darius included. 
Plus he was very obviously a snitch and they couldn’t risk having him around. Darius found that when he ignored Hunter, he usually got all pissy and stormed off so this was his go-to method of keeping Hunter’s nose out of their rebellion business. 
There’s also, of course, Darius’s extremely complicated and somewhat stifled feelings of having a kid with his mentor’s eyes running around. I figure Darius largely repressed how deeply this hurt to look at him when Hunter was very young and manages not to think about it most of the time. But it still hits him sometimes when he least expects it.
Like Hunter is his mentor’s replacement. Just looking at him was a reminder that the man Darius knew was dead. In the past Hunter’s existence filled Darius with sadness and anger. This probably had an effect on how icy Darius became when Hunter was around, though it had mostly numbed into indifference by the time he was a teenager. 
-- Hunter’s original feelings towards Darius are interesting. I think he secretly looked up to him even before the events of ASIAS. But of course Darius is nothing but distant and dismissive which infuriates him. (I still think about his palismen recording where he’s like “Darius just IGNORED me. ALSO as per usual.” He sounds so petty. So full of contempt. Its hilarious. It sounds like Darius is in the room across the hall and Hunter is speaking loud enough to make sure he hears.) This causes Hunter to act out to a pathetic extent. Whenever they interact he plucks up all of his Golden Guard-ness to make himself seem more impressive so Darius will stop looking at him like that.
In their first scene together in ASIAS, Hunter is struggling to grip on to his authority over Darius but he just comes across as a petulant child. But the moment Darius starts making those disapproving comments, Hunter folds completely. One conversation with Darius and he’s become a desperate puppy who wants to be told he’s doing a good job. I wonder if he would have reacted like this if it were just anybody or if he specifically wants Darius’s approval so badly because he’s someone who’s never given him any. Obviously Hunter’s self-worth in general is mostly at play, but I think the person who makes him feel shitty being Darius definitely has some influence over it. 
Like Hunter is Darius’s superior and we know that in any other circumstance he would probably be offended that someone who ranks below him has the audacity to order him around. But Hunter spends the whole episode carrying out Darius’s “orders” like a good little child soldier and excitedly blowing up his phone like “I did good! I did so good!! When you see how good I did you’re gonna be like “Hunter you did good!” You’ll see!!”  
(Also “How did you get this number?!”
*shifty eyes* “doesn’t matter.”
HUNTER???) 
So its like. The two of them start off with a very clashing dynamic that is kinda unhealthy for the both of them. But there is hope. There is always hope. 
-- Their final scene in ASIAS is a turning point for this relationship because it’s when they really begin to see each other in an entirely new light. It turns their former dynamic on its head. Hunter wanted Darius’s approval because he was a well respected and intelligent Coven Head, someone who was deeply involved in “Belos’s World”, something that Hunter was so passionate about being a part of. 
But in that moment where Darius expressed how proud he was of Hunter rebelling and making connections outside of the castle and assuring him that he won’t tell Belos about this incident or about Flapjack, this perception Hunter has of him changes.
With this, he has dipped into Hunter’s world, his private messy conflicted little world and he doesn’t judge him for it. Basically Darius encourages Hunter’s identity outside of being the Golden Guard and Belos’s loyal nephew. 
And Hunter doesn’t really know how to wrap his head around this at first. Like he doesn’t smile in the scene. He’s confused. Completely fucking bewildered. He does not have a single clue what is happening or why Darius is suddenly being nice to him for no reason. Like for the whole episode he wanted to hear Darius say he was impressed but now that it’s happened he’s like “huh???” 
But Darius showed Hunter kindness and if there’s one thing Hunter is always grateful for, it’s kindness. So his respect towards Darius doesn’t disappear but it definitely shifts into another direction because it now comes from a different place entirely. He now has a little affection for him too, which did not exist before. So it’s like. Originally antagonistic co-workers but now maybe friends?? Maybe?? Acquaintances at the least. And that’s a start. 
Darius keeps his word and never breathes a word of this to Belos which makes Hunter feel like maybe he can actually trust somebody in this castle. Like maybe he can like. Tell Darius things? And he won’t have to worry about it getting around. There’s definitely a tentative trust building. 
-- On Darius’s end, the ASIAS scene was the first time his brain really saw the whole picture. It made him stop and re-evaluate the boy he had previously written off. It humanized Hunter in Darius’s eyes. Enough so that once the night is over, he might even feel a little guilty that it had taken him so long to realize that he really was just a lonely kid this whole time. But at that moment, he’s so pleasantly surprised and amused that he’s just overtaken by a bout of genuine warmth. His brain is just going “Good kid!! You’re a good kid!!” 
I feel like Darius’s comment about sewing lessons was supposed to imply that the two of them do end up spending some time together after that episode. Which presents this set up. Darius has known Hunter for years but it has always been as the Golden Guard. But what kind of person is he when he’s off duty and he’s just a kid clumsily learning to cross-stich? Well Darius gradually finds out and it’s like meeting someone new. He becomes quite attached, in spite of himself. 
As mentioned above, Darius being his secret-keeper coaxes Hunter into being a little more open during their conversations, which further strengthens then budding bond. And it’s like. He doesn’t say it outright. It’s all about the implications. But Darius soon comes to realize that Hunter’s relationship with Belos is not what everyone thought it was. 
-- Darius does not fully realize just how attached he is getting to Hunter. He sorta figures he just finds him somewhat endearing. Like a friendly neighbour giving a kid life advice but still keeping him at arm’s length. Like he’s bored. Might as well teach some dorky kid to sew idk. 
I love his extreme reaction to Hunter being mentioned during Hollow Mind. The instinctive movement, followed by the sheepish body language. I like to interpret it as Darius being like “Okay yeah sorry I don’t really know what that was either.” It’s him realizing for the first time that the love he has for Hunter has snuck up on him.
But as the night goes on, he comes to fully accept that he really really cannot deal with the thought of that kid getting hurt. Which is kinda huge for Darius “Some of you may die. But that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.” Deamonne. Really the only person alive whose wellbeing worries him to that extent is Eberwolf. 
-- However everything Darius has been working towards is finally building up to a climax so he doesn't have time to focus on his conflicted sense of attachment towards the boy. He doesn't see himself as a very paternal person so its a little too much to unpack right now.
All he knows is that his goal has extended to something more specific. He's always understood the reality that some people might die in the process of saving the Boiling Isles and he has accepted it. But now he's decided that it cannot be Hunter. This Golden Guard needs to survive. If he doesn't, Darius doesn't know if he'll sleep right ever again.
-- Once they come into contact again after the events of Labyrinth Runners, Darius tries to keeps a distance between himself and Hunter, both physically and emotionally. He doesn't freeze him out entirely like the way he acted pre-ASIAS and he keeps up their amicable relationship but he doesn't meet with him in person, only speaking with him sparsely over crystal ball. This is partly because of paranoia over spies possibly picking up on the rebellion leader's fondness for the former golden guard, and partly because he doesn’t want to encourage Hunter into getting involved in all of this and Darius fears that showing too much approval or affection would only egg him on.
However, during their first conversation, it is obvious that Hunter fully intends to be involved. This is obvious from the way he carries himself in Darius's presence, the brusque and businesslike way he speaks, as though this is a government strategy meeting, oblivious to the fact that Darius only called to make sure he was safe. He's also filthy and exhausted looking and as he's rambling away about the EC invasion of Hexside, so obviously having practised it in the mirror beforehand, Darius feels his throat tighten.
This is so obviously a kid, his immaturity is transparent and even after everything he's been through, Hunter still feels an obligation to play the role of a self sacrificial hero. This is the moment when Darius's vow of downplaying his fondness crumbles and he can only sigh, overwhelmed with relief that this child is still alive in spite of everything. Darius tells Hunter that he's proud of him. He didn't plan on it but he just had to.
Darius had to reign himself in after that, swearing not to be so often until the Day of Unity was over. He was rather aloof with Hunter from that point on. Hunter notices the shift in his Darius’s behavior and assumes it's just because their situation is grave. He mirrors it when they converse, just to further prove that he is taking this seriously.
-- Hunter is terrified at the very idea of being involved in this final stand against Belos. It keeps him up at night just thinking about it. However, not being involved simply isn't an option. There's too many lives at stakes and he has never done nothing in his life. Plus at the front of all this is Darius leading the rebellion and Hunter wants to be as brave as Darius. He feels like he would be a disappointment if he doesn't make himself useful.
He's been compensating during their talks by summoning as much as the Golden Guard as he possibly can because all of his confidence has kinda deteriorated since Hollow Mind, which he is desperately trying to hide from Darius. Their relationship just reached a point of mutual respect and he's terrified of losing that.
Despite how much they have come to care about each other, they still don't fully understand each other, due to their own flaws as people and the limited time they've spent together. Hunter is still under the belief that he has to earn this relationship through heroics, despite the fact that he really doesn't want to.
Meanwhile, Darius doesn't understand that maybe he should talk to Hunter a little more, express how much he cares about him, stabilize their relationship in Hunter's eyes. Maybe then they could have come to an honest understanding and Darius could have found a job for Hunter that would have helped the rebellion but wouldn't have put him directly in the crossfire. However Darius has never been good at expressing deeper emotions, so he just doesn't. So they get absolutely nowhere.
-- Darius assigning Hunter as Luz's escort was absolutely a sneaky way of giving him something to do that would keep him out of harm's way, similar to how Eda sent Luz off on the "mission" in the first place.
Darius kept his connection to Hunter to himself. It wasn't something he talked about. But Raine could obviously tell. And of course Raine tells their girlfriend everything. And like. Who would understand what Darius is going through better than Eda? She also took in some dumb kids just for shits and giggles only to become unwillingly attached to them. And though Darius remained tight lipped on his own dilema, he did listen as Eda plonked down beside him, offering him a swig of her apple blood ("Ew. No. Your spit is on that.") and expressed how frustrated she gets with those kids sometimes. Too young and too stubborn and unwilling to back down, even when Eda is begging them to let her keep them safe. But they'd never trust her again if she forced them out of it, so now she just feels completely helpless.
And though Darius never mentioned Hunter, Eda knew that he felt similarly. The Amity mission was the brainchild between the two of them, a way of getting both their children out of the way, without them feeling like they were being pushed out of the way.
-- Once the dust lifts, the draining spell stops and the Boiling Isles is turned upside-down, the BATTS are forced to regroup and adjust to their current dilema. But, as Darius and Eda eventually discover, Hunter, Luz and King are nowhere to be found.
-- There are also 4 distressed and furious fathers who want answers on the whereabouts of their children. With everyone in such hysterics, Darius is obligated to be the level-headed one, despite his own nerves. He assures the parents that wherever their children are, he believes that they are definitely with an amazing boy who will do everything in his power to keep himself. This Darius promises, because he cannot fathom a reality where Hunter is torn away from the other kids. He has to be with them.
Darius later sits down next to Eda, finally opts to take a swig of her flask (Truly a sign that the end is nigh.) And says "You know I meant that. They won't be hurt while he's with them. Luz included."
Eda erupts with a dismissive snorty laugh. "Luz doesn't need that nerd taking care of her. Betcha twenty snails that when they pop up again, we find out that she was the one saving his butt."
Darius scoffs. "Twenty snails? Really, Eda? I know you can make it more interesting than that. Fifty."
It might be an odd way of coping but Darius and Eda making wagers over which of their kids is tougher really reinforces the wishful thinking that their kids are out there somewhere and they're alive. Because Darius and Eda don't know what they would do if they let themselves believe otherwise.
-- So like. At this point Darius and Hunter care very deeply for each other but they haven't had the chance to come to a mutual understanding, which has led to miscommunication and uncertainty and a reluctance to admit just how much they do care. The groundwork is in place but they still have so much building to do. I figure that it'll be after season 3 before their relationship can really grow. But I kinda LOVE how complicated it has the potential to be.
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schismusic · 3 months
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On abandonment, Lou X, the eternal recurrence of the same
Browsing through the people I follow (and my followers) I can't help but notice just how many of these blogs haven't been updated in literal years. That line Diane Venora has in Michael Mann's Heat comes to mind: "you live among the remains of dead people…".
The idea of neglect and disuse is a weird thing to me, in that I never registered it as an inherently negative thing - it's melancholic, sure, but not everything needs to keep being active and productive. In unrelated news I'm listening to Lou X as we speak, go figure. For my international followers, Lou X is a rapper from Pescara who made his last full record in 1998. It is called La Realtà, la Lealtà e lo Scontro and you could call it a conscious/gangsta rap record in Italian/Abruzzese dialect. Then he basically went off the radar except for maybe one feature or two on other people's songs and albums.
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If you think about it Italy's greatest contributions to the culture of the past century mostly involve objects that either don't exist, are somehow crystallized into unserviceable forms, were abandoned years ago and have reached an absolutely dismal state that could only make them interesting as a work of art. Think about it: Neorealism in cinema (and maybe even the Realists' interest in decrepit/disadvantages rural realities, but that would be an overarching nineteenth-century European thing), Ennio Flaiano's Tempo di uccidere, the last writings of Cesare Pavese ("Tutto questo fa schifo. Non parole. Un gesto. Non scriverò più": what else here but the defeated realisation that nothing could ever change?), Italo Calvino's Le città invisibili, Luigi Ghirri's landscape photography work, CCCP and CSI even.
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Europe is doomed to its binary division and therefore we are of course doomed to repeat stylings and "revolutionary" aesthetics in never-ending loops: Disciplinatha were smart enough to point it out, but like Whitehouse said: "grubbing job-hunting artists and art aficionados who prefer art that 'raises questions' are certainly as disgusting as those rubbered dilettantes who recognize that the answers are what you masturbate over". Whitehouse also had this to say, in the same context: "So better to just shut your fucking mouth".
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Obviously mentioning a rapper from Abruzzo has implications for those of you who know anything about me. God knows there are very few places as left to their own devices as that region of Italy, and considering my violently antihumanist views regarding the Abruzzese people I'm inclined to say that the only reason this abandon should end is just so I can no longer hear these motherfuckers bitch and moan about nobody giving a shit about them or something. It's no big deal to be fair - people think Abruzzo is further down South than Rome is because it was added into the monetary help program for the South of Italy at the end of World War II. The Abruzzese people who have voted for Matteo Salvini in the past seem to have conveniently forgotten that if it didn't mean more votes to him, they would be seen as cannon fodder at best and shit under his feet at worst.
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When the Amatrice earthquake hit in 2016 we knew that would be the end of the very little good things we had managed to get back after L'Aquila in 2009: the small towns in the province, which is unreasonably fucking big in L'Aquila's case but honestly what are we going to do, make Sulmona or Avezzano their own province like assholes?, anyway I'm getting distracted - my point being everything went even further to shit when that happened. A lot of the old people, some of whom not as old as you would expect, died in consequence to the quakes or went further down into some form of (if I had to guess) trauma-induced dementia. Happens even to the best of us - then, you can imagine how easily it happens to the average Abruzzese. I was setting up another band with some kids and if we had our way, honestly, I believe there would be no NUMBERS, simply because I had found people who really got me, in the typically effortless way that teens bonding through activities do, and I do believe I got them, too. When I meet them now, and I never meet them together because one of the two guys can no longer come to town now, it feels like I'm on a completely different wavelength. Yet I refuse to let go, because in true Abruzzese fashion I never fucking learn. We did manage to get a record out, though. Its only tangible effect was, likely, to stop NUMBERS and the Operators from playing the La Zona d'Ombra festival at Bronson, in Ravenna. Here in the future, everyone has their fifteen seconds of fame.
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In relating to the theme of this post, I cannot seem to let go of this fucking post. I have been writing in circles for literal hours at this point because the idea of abandonment ultimately scares me, disproving what I said at the beginning. It's no surprise that the only things I can think of when they suggest to me the idea of abandonment are Burial, Forest Swords, Techno Animal, maybe some ambient music. No point in trying to prove at all costs that "I'm different" or that "I have something fundamental to say about it".
So better to just shut my fucking mouth.
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