#they’re currently on episode 2 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lisafication · 6 months

Text

This post is uh, extremely normal I swear

So hello yes I am absolutely On My Bullshit regarding my new favourite game.

That’s right, it’s the cannibal incest game, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. And I’m here to shove five thousand words of pretentious analysis down your throat because, and I do not exaggerate, I think it is one of, if not the best written game I have ever played. And I have played a lot of games, including Baldur’s Gate 3, Final Fantasy XIV and Undertale, to name a few narrative luminaries to come to mind.

That wordcount is not an exaggeration. My brainworms are extremely powerful and now you can share them with me as I walk you through my insane skyscraper of inference-driven analysis.

Or you can click away. I really wouldn’t blame you, it’s quite a lot.

Content Warnings: …Yes?

(To drop the bit for a moment, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley covers extremely disturbing material and challenges you to examine aspects of living in this world that many have taken for granted all their life, it is not a comfortable game, this will cover similar topics and will often echo the game’s unremitting scepticism on basic principles of society and humanity and you should look after yourself first. My Content Warning is framed as a joke, but it’s also quite real in that the game is designed to make you uncomfortable and there’s no shame in that not being for you.)

This was originally posted on and formatted for Sufficient Velocity, and you can probably more easily read and discuss it with me here.

With that said, let’s dig in. I have had to split this into multiple posts because tumblr will only allow so many images. There will be spoilers for all endings.

She’s excited, are you?

It’s All About Ashley

It really is, isn’t it? I mean, for approximately eighty percent of the total game as currently released and the entirety of Episode 1, you’re in control of Ashley, just as she’s in control of her and Andrew’s relationship for 80% of the game, up until the various ending sequences where it begins to slip. The only other characters who really matter at all in and of themselves are Andrew and her mother — and the former is under her thumb, and she eats the latter. It’s all about Ashley. Even her obsession with Andrew is, ultimately, about Ashley.

But who is Ashley? What is Ashley? Why is Ashley, even? Let’s take a look.

Ashley as presented to us in Episode 1 is very straightforward, so let’s list off the traits we’re given — she is malicious, she is fearless, she lacks empathy, she doesn’t have anything resembling a conscience, she demands Andrew belong to her and her alone, she has him at her beck and call.

In Episode 2, we’re ostensibly shown how she has him at her beck and call— she leverages the threat of reporting Nina’s death over him and had him swear to be with her forever. We’re shown that even as a child she was “just, like that” — but as a child, she hadn’t learnt to live with it yet, to laugh at the farce of it all.

Yeah, exactly like that!

And she does this throughout Episode 1 — The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is a remarkably silly game much of the time, finding moments of absurdity and levity against a backdrop blacker than pitch — and most of the time, your internal narration is coming from Ashley and the jokes will not-infrequently come at her own expense.

She will later get negged by her human sacrifice for her poor ritual circle drawing

Her reaction to being told that her soul is as dark and viscous as tar is “You guess you already knew that” — it’s confirmation to her, not new information. Ashley knows who she is. But who taught her this? There’s layers to this, nothing in this game is as simple and straightforward as it appears at first sight, which is why I’ve been obsessing over it for days.

While it’s common in fiction, the truth of the matter is, most ‘bad people’ really do think they’re good people. But Ashley has never once thought of herself as a good person — or perhaps better put as a person worthy of love — as we learn across Episodes 1 & 2, with our flashbacks to Andy and Leyley and the VERY VERY QUIET!!!

I really wish I had space in this essay to talk about this, but I’d like to touch on these being traits usually more easily forgiven in young boys than young girls at some point.

If she removes all other options, only then can she expect him to like her.

This is something that is echoed in the modern day — her seeming self-assurance is easily shaken and she reaches out to the world — usually Andrew — to affirm and validate her, soothing her insecurities, using any tool she deems necessary. Even when her life is on the line when Andrew has her by the throat at the climax of Episode 1, the only ‘compelling reason’ she can give Andrew to not kill her is her ability to soothe his nightmares. When he tells her there are sleeping pills for that…

Most people would have a bit more to argue for their existence.

While she, unlike Andrew, acknowledges having had friends before the quarantine… you know she’s got a point that they didn’t even bother to answer her calls, that was clearly not something the state was interfering with given Andrew’s calls with his mother and his girlfriend, and given her general demeanour it’s not hard to imagine that… they weren’t ever very close. When we see her and Nina talk in the infamous ‘box scene’, it’s clear that Nina doesn’t like her very much, despite Andrew’s assessment of Nina as being one of Ashley’s friends.

We see further support for her general lack of companionship in her dream sequence in the Burial route — Leyley and Leyley Alone. No matter what you do, you can’t place the pink plushy at the family table, the flowers won’t bloom if you give the Julia and Nina plushies her own as a companion instead of Andrew’s — and if you’re bold enough to go for the ‘incest route’, in the ‘Love’ room you see that no one ever looks happy to be with her in the childlike depictions of her history, nor is she happy in turn, save for when she’s with Andrew. In a bit of heavy-handed metaphor, the player then overwrites all of these tense, upset, hard moments with Andrew, having him fill in for everyone else in life — and happy with her.

Once Upon A Lousy Life…

THE END

And that’s why she needs him to affirm her, because no one else ever has and no one else ever will. It’s even included in their comic beats — when the siblings are getting along well, they’ll often play a game where Andrew dramatically overpraises Ashley while she demands more; it’s a comedic bit but I mean — it really does matter to her!

For the record, she opened a door. She gets a little heart in a speech bubble after this exchange.

We have a great example of this dynamic, that of insecurity and affirmation, in Episode 1, after Andrew has killed for her, butchered for her, his girlfriend broke up with her, he’s seemingly thrown his entire life away for her… she’s still insecure over her relationship with him, she’s uncertain of her control and she needs him to reaffirm it for her.

This is her victory, surely?

Andrew affirms her once, with his usual dead-eyed look.

But she's still not so sure.

He actively reaches out to affirm her again with cheer.

Look how happy she is!

While it’s most obvious and clear cut here, it’s hardly the only case. Let’s look back to the aftermath of Andy and Leyley and the VERY VERY QUIET!!! (I’m not using the other name). Leyley is, after similarly extreme acts — he murdered a girl and hid her body for her — convinced Andy doesn’t like her and she needs this leverage to keep him around, to meet her basic needs for survival. Because that’s what this is — she receives no care of affection elsewhere, so she forces it out of the only source she sees available through the means she sees as necessary.

I really hope we see some of their earlier childhood in Episode 3

What exactly made her like this? Was it just neglect, or something more specific…

She needs this to be the case because otherwise she doesn’t believe he’d stay.

This pattern repeats throughout — Ashley’s insecurities are hit on and she reaches out to Andy to affirm that she is not alone, and she will use any and every tool to exploit her ostensible control over him and force him to be what she needs him to be — and as long as she has that, as long as she is everything to him and it’s not possible for him to leave, she’s happy. As long as she thinks he loves her in her very particular, very peculiar view of love, she’s content, come what may. As long as Andy and Leyley are together, they can take on the world.

Let’s talk about that view of love, because there’s always more layers to unpack here I’m only scratching the surface with this essay — Ashley consistently refers to anyone else Andrew may have befriended or spent time with as a whore, a slut, a bitch — highly gendered insults that bring to mind the idea that he’s cheating in some way. But it’s not even about sex — when Andrew mentions that their parents had friends, she accuses them of cheating on each other in the same way!

There’s a lot to unpack about Ashley’s view of femininity and the role the patriarchy plays in their relationship.

Any kind of emotional engagement, any kind of commitment, any kind of life outside of your significant other is, to Ashley, cheating. Because that’s what she needs from Andrew, a seeming complete and total commitment, secure in her place as the only thing in his life, because she cannot understand anyone picking her if they have a choice.

This insecurity she has in her relationship is what drives her to empower the trinket — he can’t leave her as long as she can protect him with prophetic dreams, after all. She needs every kind of leverage she can get because until she succeeds in being everything to him, in devouring him so completely she has him in her thrall mind, body and soul she can’t be sure of herself — hell, her dream sequence in Burial has you placing Andrew’s signature green plushy, ‘the best thing in the world’ in a cage far away from anything else.

Ultimately, it really is all about Ashley — even her seeming obsession with Andrew ultimately comes back to her own insecurities. If she is everything to ‘the best thing in the world’, some of that ‘best’ must surely reflect on her!

But that’s enough about the more normal, straightforward and understandable sibling.

That was not a joke.

Andrew’s Rank 100 Deception

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he did not exist.

Let me explain.

You might have noticed that in the previous section I often use language such as ‘ostensibly’ or ‘seemingly’ to describe Andy and Leyley’s relationship, and there’s a good reason for that. From the beginning of the game through to its end, Andrew is lying to you, the player, without ever falsely representing or misinforming you about events that occurred.

The common, or obvious ‘initial take’ on Andrew as presented in Episode 1 is fairly straightforward. The game primes you to think this way, it frames things and strings reveals just right so as to make it very easy to overlook the incongruities it introduces in Episode 2. He’s a victim. Plain and simple, Ashley is his abuser and he is her victim and would be fine, a normal albeit kinda depressed guy without her.

It really is not a difficult conclusion to draw

You can go all the way through the game, have him try to accept his mother’s olive branch and enter the Decay route as a method for him to finally actualise his desire to get out from Ashley’s thumb and it makes sense, it’s a reasonable way for the story to go, given his character.

You see him this way because the game primes you in Episode 1 to view their relationship like Andrew does — he’s lying. He’s lying to himself, he’s lying to Ashley and he’s so good at it — Deception Rank 100 — he even lies to you. Without misrepresenting a single event or otherwise misleading you directly, the game gets you to buy into his preferred self-perception. Nina? Ashley. Julia? Ashley. The murders they commit in the course of the game? Ashley, Ashley, Ashley, it’s not his fault he’s not to blame he’s just a doormat at the beck and call of his demonic sister.

But he wants to be there. From the very outset, the very first puzzle, that’s made clear. Does anyone else remember this exchange, from right at the beginning of the game?

Ashley wants to investigate the music!

Andrew disapproves…

…Or does he?!

Like. Listen. Okay. You do not frown when saying ‘Nope’ and then smile when saying that you’ll instead tag along if they do it if your heart is at all in the no. That’s not an objection, that’s using Ashley as his excuse. Especially if you immediately throw her the balcony key that she could not possibly have gotten from you by force (more on Andrew’s ability to use force later).

This is the very first time you control both characters together with Andrew following Ashley instead of off on his own, the first adventure, the first puzzle!

But put a pin in that for now, let’s talk about his initial framing in Episode 2 first. Episode 1 has set us up to, generally speaking, believe the superficial framing of the siblings as portrayed in its promotional art:

The question that we then ask, right at the heart of it is… why is he a doormat? We explore this in his dream sequence in Episode 2, which does make it clear that the boy’s not okay but— it’s real easy, given the priming from Episode 1 to make you think that he’s the one with the originally functional moral compass, to think that that him being fucked up is damage done to him by Nina’s death and being bound to Ashley for his entire life. She corrupted him.

But, well, is that the case?

You're primed to ignore this as manipulation (which it is) but the best manipulation has some truth to it.

Precisely two things spur Andrew to action in the entire game, consistently — they are the fear of consequences and Ashley. And the first incident of that fear, the very first time we’re shown his seeming moral compass as a kid — the first time it’s really hammered home that it’s a fear of consequences rather than any true moral qualms is after Nina’s death. And why does he fear consequences here?

……

The ‘natural’ read that many take away from this sequence, particularly those who have only played Decay, is that Ashley browbeat him into doing this against his will, using emotional blackmail to overwhelm his objections, and then used the event itself to bind him to her forever as her personal doormat.

In a strict sense, this is true. But this doesn’t match up with the details, something the game uses shock to encourage you to overlook. That outburst is before any kind of threat has been made, and absolutely nothing either of them say anything about it being morally bad until Ashley weaponises ‘you’re a bad person’ against Andrew — morality didn’t seem to enter his mind or the equation at all until Ashley brought it up. More than that, his greatest fear and driving motivation even prior to that is, as shown above, being taken away from Ashley.

She, of course, recognises this and uses it against him. But she never needed to, it didn’t change anything about Andrew’s attachment to her, it was there to address her own insecurities.

Just like to touch on how a lot of his affirmations are preceded by him confirming her insecurities.

I adore this phrasing

There’s a second prong to this as well, to the question of ‘who really calls the shots here’ because — Andrew can, at any stage, apply an ‘ultimate veto’ of physical violence. The game is very clear to the player that that is on the table — even when they were children, when Andy swears their blood oath, he briefly considers killing her — and take note of how he ultimately got a ‘winning’ condition out of her by not specifying there wouldn’t be others and she is forced to accept that, there. Even outside of their most serious confrontations, Ashley is portrayed as having to convince, manipulate or otherwise coerce Andrew into going along with her schemes — she really can’t make him do anything, she doesn’t have the supremacy in violence and, to a lesser extent, capability that would allow her to.

Andrew, you are like ten years old.

The truth of the matter is, Ashley can only make Andrew do anything because he lets her. I don’t mean in the sense that I’m saying abuse victims let their abusers emotionally abuse them, I mean in the sense that he is clearly considering his options on the table and choosing to discard those that could stop her, or bring an end to any of this. He needs her.

But it’s true that he hates her, too. He has to hate her, because if he doesn’t hate her, if he isn’t forced to have done this, that means… he’s responsible. And nothing, at the start of the story, is as important to Andrew as avoiding the consequences of his own actions, not even Ashley. By the midpoint, he loves her, he hates her, he can’t live without her, he wants to kill her — by the end… well, that depends if you’re on Decay or Burial, but more on that in a bit.

A great scene to study for this dynamic is the climax of Episode 1, when Andrew grabs Ashley by the throat and considers strangling her to death. She’s pushed him too far with hurtful words and assault, and he’s seemingly had enough.

It’s still framed as a question of risk, of consequences happening to him.

Like, this is not the usual behaviour of someone who’s been pushed past their breaking point.

He tells Ashley that he wants to kill her, because she’s just going to throw another fit and that’s a risk to him. She is… not framed as being able to fight back (she does have a gun here, and more on that in a later essay, maybe). He’s so calculated in how he approaches his use of violence here, which isn’t at all what you’d expect of someone about to commit a crime of passion… but it’s very easy to overlook because of the abuser/victim narrative that the player fits his behaviour into the narrative that the game primes them to accept, brushing incongruities under the carpet.

At the start of Episode 2, we get to control Andrew for the first time, and the first obvious holes in his cover start to show. Some of this is optional — you only learn that he’s been faking having nightmares in order to share a bed with Ashley if you choose to go back into the motel room and check the bed, for example — but not all of it.

----(See reblogs for the second half)

#the coffin of andy and leyley #tcoaal #andrew graves #ashley graves #spoilers #multipost

1K notes · View notes

rnelodyy · 1 year

Text

The Owl House And Restorative Justice

At the end of Season 1 of The Owl House, it is revealed that Lilith, the main overarching antagonist of that season, was the one to curse her sister Eda, one of the protagonists, to win a tournament when they were teenagers. This information causes Eda to fly into a screaming rage and attack Lilith, and understandably so.

Eda’s curse is essentially a chronic illness, one that, in Eda’s own words, has ruined her life, being the reason she’s considered a social outcast and why, before meeting King and Luz, she hadn’t gotten close to anyone in years. In season 2, it’s revealed that the curse is why she pushed away her partner Raine to the point that they broke it off with her, and that during a particularly bad flareup, she accidentally maimed her own father, leaving him half blind and with permanent nerve damage to his hands, making him unable to continue working as a Palisman carver. The curse has ruled Eda’s life for decades now, so to Eda, this is the ultimate betrayal.

In the first episode of Season 2, Lilith has defected from the Emperor’s Coven, split the curse between Eda and herself to mitigate the symptoms for her sister, and has moved in with Eda at the Owl House. While Lilith herself still feels guilty and feels she has to make it up to Eda, everyone else, Eda included, has seemingly either forgiven her or chosen to look past it. Eda even makes fun of her for feeling bad about cursing her, and Lilith’s guilt is seemingly absent for the rest of the series.

The response to this was… Less than stellar, shall we say. A lot of people were angry, saying Lilith got away with her crimes without even a slap on the wrist, and that Eda’s forgiveness of her was far too sudden.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this kind of critique. Amity spent years bullying Willow after her parents forced her to break off their friendship, and when she began trying to mend that relationship, the response from fans was that Willow should have been a lot more angry at Amity, and that they went back to being besties far too soon. I’ve even seen this criticism leveled at Hunter for the things he did while working for Belos, at Vee for impersonating Luz for months to trick her mother, and at Luz for hiding the fact that she helped Philip find the Collector from her friends. And it does seem strange for the show to keep tripping on this same point again and again.

Except, it’s not really. Because I think that, when viewing this show from a different angle, those supposed flaws are actually symptoms of something very important to understand – The Owl House operates on a system of crime and punishment that is very different from our world’s.

More specifically, our world mostly utilizes retributive justice. The world of The Owl House utilizes restorative justice.

So first, what do those terms mean? Broadly, they’re two different forms of handling interpersonal disputes, or dealing with crime.

Retributive justice is the one our current justice system uses, where the focus is primarily on punishing the perpetrator. Retributive justice can mean detention, suspension, expulsion, jail time, monetary fines, some kinds of community service, exile, or in more severe cases, corporal punishment or the death penalty. It’s the lens most people view the world through, where if someone hurts you, hurting them back is the correct response.

Restorative justice is a very different approach, where you instead focus on helping the victim recover from what happened, and rehabilitating the perpetrator to prevent this from happening again. Restorative justice can look like verbal or written apologies, monetary compensation for costs and trauma, therapy for both victim and perpetrator, education for the perpetrator, mediation between victim and perpetrator, a restraining order, etc.

When viewed through a retributive lens, The Owl House lets its characters get away with a lot of shit. Lilith cursing Eda, Hunter rounding up Palismen knowing they’ll be killed, Amity tormenting Willow for years, it’s all stuff that, in a retributive environment, they should be punished for, and they’re just not. Eda is only genuinely angry at Lilith for two scenes, Amity and Willow fix their relationship very quickly once Amity starts making amends, and Hunter isn’t punished at all.

However, I believe the story of The Owl House is best viewed not through a retributive lens, but through a restorative lens.

Let’s look at the Lilith-example again. Lilith’s offense was cursing Eda, which she did because she wanted to win a spot in the Emperor’s Coven. Knowing Eda was better than her, she cast a curse on her, thinking it would only last for a day. But when the time came, Eda forfeited the match, soon after which she transformed into the Owl Beast and was pelted with rocks until she ran. The curse turned out to be very permanent, and Lilith spent the next 20 years trying to fix her mistake by working for Belos to try to capture Eda, since he promised to heal her curse.

However, when she finally succeeded, Belos went back on his promise. Instead of healing Eda, he ordered her to be publicly executed. When Lilith protested, Belos essentially told her to shut up, that it was the Titan’s will, and left her there.

So, having realized her method of fixing her mistake has gone real bad, Lilith sneaks down to the Conformatorium to free Eda herself, but arrives too late and finds Luz instead. After a brief fight they end up teaming up, and Lilith leads Luz to the elevator, but they are captured by Belos and Lilith is thrown into the cage with Eda. There, she restores Eda’s partially petrified body, and after fleeing with her, Luz and King, uses a spell to split Eda’s curse evenly between their two bodies.

From a restorative justice point of view, Lilith has done pretty much everything she reasonably could do to fix things. She’s denounced the Emperor’s Coven, returned Owlbert to Luz, helped Luz find the elevator to the execution platform, saved Eda from petrification, apologized to Eda, and while there’s no way for her to cure Eda’s curse entirely, she took on half of the curse at great expense to her own health, in order to ease Eda’s symptoms.

Eda isn’t angry anymore because in her eyes, Lilith has already fixed things with her. Punishing her more at this point is pointless. What more could Lilith do, really? What other lessons could she learn? The only thing that punishment would bring at this point would be more suffering.

Let’s look at another example: Amity and Willow.

Amity’s offense was breaking off her friendship with Willow because she was a late-bloomer, bullying her for years, and allowing her friends to do so too. Willow is left with horrible self-esteem issues because of this, and combined with her failing grades, turned her into a horribly shy and withdrawn wallflower (no pun intended). After she’s moved to the plant track she starts actually getting better, but Amity and Boscha especially continue to torment her. While Amity’s bullying of Willow does peter out over time, Willow is clearly still extremely resentful of her. In an attempt to make Willow forget their friendship, Amity accidentally sets most of Willow’s memories on fire, leaving her confused, amnesiac, and unable to grasp basic concepts like that chairs are for sitting in.

Luz pushed Amity into fixing Willow’s brain by going into her mind together and piecing her memories back together. There, the Inner Willow revealed what happened to Luz and the audience.

At this point, Amity shows her that her parents were actually the ones who forced her to end the friendship because they didn’t think Willow was a suitably powerful or influential friend, threatening to make sure Willow would never get accepted into Hexside if Amity didn’t force her to leave. Amity then apologizes to Willow for going along with it, and for the bullying, and vows to make sure her friends never mess with Willow again.

Willow accepts her apology, but also makes it clear that, while it’s a start, she’s not yet ready to accept Amity in her life again. Restorative justice has not been fully attained, because to Willow, Amity hasn’t fixed everything – Boscha and her squad are still bullying her, and still consider Amity one of them. This changes two episodes later, when Amity tells Boscha to grow the fuck up when she starts bullying Willow again, and joins her and Luz’s Grudgby team despite her personal issues to get Boscha to back off. Willow doesn’t make a grand gesture of forgiveness in this episode, but it is after this point where the two become comfortable around eachother again.

Did Willow forgive Amity too quickly for years of trauma? Maybe. If she had chosen to continue keeping Amity at a distance I certainly wouldn’t have blamed her. But in the end, Amity fixed the mess she caused as best she could, and has proven herself to want to be a better person, to want to be Willow’s friend again. She worked hard to prove herself to be a person worth trusting, and Willow decided to give that trust a chance again.

And while they did become friends again, that friendship was clearly still affected by what happened, which led to bumps that the two of them had to work through. Like in Labyrinth Runners, where Amity’s overprotectiveness over Willow makes Willow feel like Amity thinks she’s incompetent, and still only sees her as the helpless person she used to be.

Willow continuing to be mad at Amity and punishing her for what she did wouldn’t be an unreasonable reaction, but it wouldn’t have fixed anything. It would certainly have an impact on Amity, seeing her former best friend rejecting her attempts to make up for what she did, but the hurt on both sides would have continued festering, because deep down, Willow missed Amity too.

In Hunter’s case, there’s the question of whether he can even be held responsible for his actions. The Palisman-kidnapping in specific was explicitly done under duress – if he failed he would face verbal and physical abuse, and be threatened with his nightmare scenario: getting thrown out of the Emperor’s Coven.

And that’s not an empty threat either. Hunter has no magic, and Belos has drilled it into him that witches without magic have no future. Without the Emperor’s Coven, his only future prospects would be starving to death on the streets or wasting away in prison. Either way, Hunter would be alone, without family or friends, without a job or job prospects, without anyone to turn to for help. Any child would be terrified of that. Hunter wasn’t always acting on direct orders – in fact he defied direct orders to stay in his room in Eclipse Lake to go look for Titan’s Blood, and then again in Hollow Mind to arrest the rebels. But he made those choices based on the idea that Belos wouldn’t want him if he was a failure, and that he needed a chance to prove that he could still be useful.

And contrary to popular belief, Hunter does know right from wrong. He has a very strong moral compass, he’s just been forced to ignore it in favor of doing whatever the Emperor wants. To shut up that little voice telling him he’s doing the wrong thing, he uses what’s called a thought-terminating cliche, a statement that feels so fundamentally true that the argument need not continue. In Hunter’s case, that statement is “It’s for the greater good.” Sure, kidnapping his new friends and abducting Palismen to feed to the Emperor and threatening someone who’s been nothing but kind to him to take the portal key from her girlfriend and justifying terrorism makes his stomach feel like he swallowed a cactus and saying it out loud makes him sound like a horrible person – but it’s for the greater good. He’s doing it to serve Belos, and Belos knows what’s best.

So by the time Hunter is out of active danger and able to rest and recover from what happened to him… what would further punishment accomplish? He already knows that he did fucked up shit while working for the EC, and he’s proven time and time again that while he’s not fighting for Belos’s approval, he’s actually a genuinely kind-hearted kid. Punishing him now would likely cause him to react very poorly, because he’s been at the wrong end of that stick so often that he’s developed severe PTSD because of it.

And if you think restorative justice is still in order – Hunter is currently hyperfixated on making sure Belos can never hurt anyone again, and for the long term, he has expressed that he wants to become a Palisman carver when he grows up. While it won’t bring back the Palismen that were killed, it will help the current Palisman population recover and reintroduce Palismen to witches who may have had to give up theirs.

When viewed through this lens, the writing of The Owl House starts to make more sense. As a show, it is extremely forgiving towards its characters – they’re still held accountable for their actions, but as long as they’re willing to grow and learn and fix the damage they caused, they are very quickly forgiven.

However, I do understand why these writing choices can be… controversial, so to say. Because it doesn’t feel very satisfying, does it? When someone hurts you on purpose, your first impulse would be to try to hurt them back, that’s just how people work.

That’s the hardest thing to come to terms with when you become an advocate for prison abolition for example – you’re not just arguing for freeing a guy who got 5 years because a cop found weed in his pockets, you’re arguing for the release, and most importantly, the humanity of some of the most vile, disgusting people this planet has ever produced. Even now, when someone commits a truly awful crime and gets sent to prison for life, my first thought is “Good, I hope they rot in there.” But that’s not justice. That’s just revenge. And revenge is not something we as a society should want to build our justice system on.

It’s not satisfying to see Lilith go from using Luz as a human shield in her fight against Eda to sleeping on the couch in Eda’s house within 2 episodes. It’s not satisfying to see Willow let Amity back into her life when Amity has hurt her so badly before, or to see Hunter become romantically involved with Willow after he literally abducted her the first time they met. But that satisfaction isn’t really the point. Revenge is satisfying in the moment, but an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, and if someone shows a genuine willingness to change, it’s often better to give them a chance to.

However, my final point is about what happens when this approach fails. Because not everyone is willing to change. Some people, when faced with the consequences of their actions, decide to dig their heels in and refuse to admit fault, or blame the victim(s), or use those same thought-terminating cliches that Hunter used to justify their actions, “I was just following orders” being a big one.

And thus, we come to Belos.

If Belos showed a willingness to change, a genuine one, not an attempt at manipulation, should he be given the chance to? That vengeful part of me is VERY empathetically saying no. But logically, reasonably, he should be given that chance, if only because he’s a human being and no human being deserves to be mistreated. That doesn’t mean his victims are obligated to forgive him or be around him again, in fact I think that, for the sake of Hunter’s mental health, Belos should stay as far away from him as humanly possible. But he should be given the chance to start over, to truly better himself and do something good with the rest of his life.

But Belos isn’t willing to change.

Belos is a product of a bad environment and grew up with a cult-like mentality and hatred for witches that he had to adopt for his own safety. It’s hard to break out of that mentality, but not impossible. Case in point: Caleb. The tragedy of Belos’s character to me is that he had so many chances to change, so many people to help him make that leap, but all of the people who offered him that help ended up dead by his hands because he couldn’t handle the idea that he may have been wrong.

At this point, Belos is stuck. Changing would mean not only giving up on his life’s work, but acknowledging to himself that everything he’s done, mutilating his body, killing his brother, slaughtering thousands and installing himself as God-Emperor of a population he despises more than anything in order to facilitate a genocide, was completely pointless.

He can’t admit that to himself. Especially the thing about Caleb’s death. He’s sunk-cost-fallacied himself so far into a corner that all he can really do when faced with opposing viewpoints is dig his heels in even deeper and lash out in a rage at anyone who challenges him. Even now, when his body is literally falling apart at the seams, he’s still trying to commit witch-genocide, because it’s all he has.

Restorative justice doesn’t work in this case, because the perpetrator needs to be receptive to it. Logically you would assume the show would default to retributive justice, and characters like Willow and Camila do take a very vengeful glee in imagining themselves beating the snot out of Belos. But right now, the primary motivation of the Hexsquad and Hunter in particular when it comes to Belos is to end the threat he poses. As long as Belos is alive and free, he will continue to hurt and kill people, and if he can’t be talked down, he needs to be either contained or killed to prevent him from causing more harm.

The Owl House provides, in my opinion, a very nuanced take on restorative justice. It shows how it works in action, how different situations impact what it looks like, and what happens when it’s simply not an option. It’s not the most satisfying story to tell your audience, because when someone hurts our babies we want them to suffer, no matter how sorry they say they are. But in this case, I think that sacrificing that bit of audience comfort is worth it to tell the story like this.

#the owl house #the owl house meta #toh meta #toh lilith #toh amity #toh hunter #toh belos

3K notes · View notes

ratboyvince · 17 days

Text

The Magnus Protocol - Glitch theory

In light of the current theory/assumption that in The Magnus Protocol, the audio glitches when the characters lie, I’ve been re listening!! And I’m going to be using this post and others to explore what this means for our beloved characters

The glitches aren’t on the transcript, sometimes there will be a direction like (uncertain) or (unconvincing), but thats the best i can do you for, otherwise you will have to take my word

First though, quick clarifications: what exactly is a lie in this context? - this is fairly obvious but i am including it for the avoidance of any doubt what i have gathered is that, in this theory we are assuming a lie is a character saying something they KNOW is not true in attempt to wilfully deceive someone

It is NOT:

A joke, or sarcasm

Believing something but being wrong

Finally, a lot of the lies i have so far are ones that are known to known to be untrue, what i will do is have a list of the blatant lies SO FAR to make my point, to work as support for the theory on this post then leave out any following ones to avoid making it excessively long.

The rest of them will be under the cut and more on a thread, sorted by episode. If i miss any, feel free to say!!

BLATANT LIES (theory support)

Teddy: Colin was just saying how much of a BLAST he’s having (GLITCH) isn’t that right?

Lena: oh really.

Colin: Aye, sure (GLITCH)

Teddy: And how he’d love to take the after party to the Pub (GLITCH)

Gwen: Sam? You okay?

Sam: um. Yeah. (GLITCH)

Sam: cinnamon swirl. Please. (GLITCH)

Gwen: Wait. Did you get me a coffee?

Sam: yeah. (GLITCH)

Celia: Sorry, sorry, there was an emergency at home (GLITCH)

EPISODES 1-11 (where applicable) UNDER THE CUT

Episode 1

Teddy: Nahh, we’ll stay in touch, right?

Alice: Course…(GLITCH)

Alice either did not intend to keep in touch with Teddy, or genuinely just does not believe they will.

* saying she’ll miss him was NOT a lie, so it’s probably the latter

Episode 3

Sam: right, right i get it. Consider me *scared straight* (GLITCH)

He wasn’t taking Alice seriously, underestimating how serious it actually was (maybe even as light payback for her not taking him seriously)

Episode 5

Lena: I am certain that if he finds his current assignment unmanageable he can request assistance (GLITCH) or resign, of course…

She knows what the deal is with Central IT (whatever “the deal” may be), and just refuses to help. Maybe even sets up a little hostility between Lena and Colin?

Episode 7

Alice: listen, if you need to step out for some air-

Celia: no, I’m fine, really (GLITCH)

Celia was infact, not fine, probably because she recognised Chester’s voice as Jon “The Archivist” Sims himself and she’s freaked out

Episode 8

Gertrude: well I’m…sorry, but I don’t think gerry can help you. (GLITCH)

—

Gerry: -And then i left

Sam: and that’s all?

Gerry: Yeah I’m afraid so! (GLITCH)

Gertrude and Gerry know more than they’re letting on, and intentionally not sharing.

*Gerry not remembering most of it being true, means that while he’s probably leaving something out, there’s more he genuinely is lost on

Sam: I…may have given you a quick google

Celia: then…yeah. I’m doing a favour for Georgie. (GLITCH)

She Is Not Doing A Favour For Georgie - the research (teleportation, time travel, different universes) is more personal!

Episode 11

Sam: you keep glancing at the door

Alice: ah. It’s nothing (GLITCH)

—

Alice: it’ll be nothing! I’m just jumpy (GLITCH)

Alice is dismissing her anxiety following the trip to the institute.

Alice: “What have I told you about thinking?“

Sam: “Don’t.”

Alice: “That’s right.” (GLITCH)

Probably meaning that Alice is starting to doubt her own ideas, but is just pushing that uncertainty away because that’s what she does and she’s still more comfortable in ignorance, even if she doesn’t think it’s exactly RIGHT to ignore.

#the magnus protocol #tmagp #magpod #tmagp spoilers #tmagp speculation #theory

246 notes · View notes

justcallmedolce · 3 months

Text

Violet's death & Mizu's self-hatred.

I don't know if someone already noticed or analyzed this before, but I'm going to talk about it anyway.

As we know, Mizu killed one white "man" before the current events of the show.

It was first mentioned in episode 3, in the meeting with Heiji Shindo.

Mizu confidently says that currently there are 3 white men in Japan, which implies that she was already able to get to one of them.

So from that moment on we are sure she got to kill and get her revenge on one white man, but we don't know anything about how she was able to find them and who they were yet.

This changes at the end of episode 6 though.

When Mizu finally gets to face Fowler in the castle where he was hiding.

After Fowler takes over Mizu, he mentions a certain "Violet", to be precise, he states that "something happened to old Violet" and "was that you?” is the question he asks right after since he understands how dedicated Mizu is to her revenge.

(little note: in other languages Fowler refers to Violet with the “she/her” pronouns)

Thanks to that we know that the white "man" Mizu killed might be a woman, an old white woman named Violet.

Now.

Let's go back to episode 2, before the Four Fangs get to Mizu, she has a strange “vision” of her killing her older self, well at least that’s what I thought at first due to the missing information.

That, in fact, is not a “vision” but a flashback.

A flashback to when Mizu killed Violet.

What we can see is Mizu breaking through what seems to be a house, approaching an old woman sitting on a couch.

Now, the question is, why does she have Mizu’s face?

The answer is quite easy: Mizu’s self-hatred.

Mizu repudiates her white “half”, so deeply that she feels a strong desire to eradicate it from herself.

That leads Mizu to subconsciously switch Violet’s face with her own. As if part of her “impure” blood gets purified whenever she takes away the life of a white man she swore to get revenge on, because they’re actually the ones who made her, in everyone’s and, as a consequence, even in her own eyes, a monster.

—

Lastly I want to add that this is just MY theory, what I stated might not be totally correct. (if you think differently I’d love to see your theory in the comments, I’m curious to know what do you think of the “flashback/vision” Mizu had)

Okay soo, this was all. I honestly can’t wait to know more of Mizu’s past in season 2.

See you there.

#mizu blue eye samurai #mizu #blue eye samurai #bes

302 notes · View notes

koimethehorizon · 8 months

Text

Fionna and Cake theory: Simon the Artist

Nothing like a good old creative panic attack.

Fionna and Cake good. Haven’t been excited about a show like this in a long time, though it being a part of Adventure Time does help quite a bit. I was holding on to some cautious optimism for the show when it was announced as yet another big IP series covering the multiverse (still waiting to groan at THAT scene where Prismo has to explain to us about there being infinite universes), but as usual, Adventure Time’s crew continues to surprise me with its creativity, humor, and thematic resonance.

The most striking part about Fionna and Cake so far is just how deliberately the show wants us to differentiate it from the original Adventure Time.

We’re getting shots where Simon pops an artery from his arm, a theme song that explicitly talks about suicidal ideation, discussions of rent and financial problems, and curses no longer disguised with AT’s usual dialogue. Adventure Time has always had violence, thematic density, and juvenile rating pushers, but they were always reserved at small points. Meanwhile, these are factors that are just casually shown and discussed in Fionna and Cake every 3 minutes or so. This is not an all-ages miniseries, it’s for young adults. (hint: this will be relevant later)

Let’s get right into it. This is much less a speculative lore theory and more on what thematic direction the story may be going.

Before we do, let’s get this out of the way first. This theory assumes that the current Fionna and Cake world is all a part of Simon’s head and not merely a separate multiverse, which… I’m certain is fact for the following reasons.

The immediately obvious piece is that Fionna and Cake was always the Ice King’s fanfiction. Now if you’re versed in AT’s continuity you’re probably going to be asking about the red light in Fionna and Cake + Fionna and… I’ve no answer for it unfortunately. It’ll probably be relevant later in the series and possibly age this post like milk but for now, we’re not here to focus on the how, but the why.

Second is that the intro and the ending of Ep 2 literally show Fionna’s world spilling right out of Simon’s head like an animated world out of a frozen brain. If that isn’t clear enough-

Didn't realize this until writing, but these glasses are just plastic made to look like Betty's

There’s no other explanation for this other than that this world is artificial or influenced by Simon in some sense. Fionna even specifies that the statue went under renovation 12 years ago, but nobody seems to know who it is. Considering how Finn looks in the episode, it’s likely that it’s been that long since Betty’s sacrifice in the finale.

With that out of the way, here it goes.

The reason Fionna and Cake exist in the first place is because the creators found Natasha Allegri’s genderswap designs charming and wanted an in-universe reason to use them the Ice King wanted to create trashy, wish fulfillment through art. It was a phase.

Definitely changed that image for publishing.

Simon can argue if they’re good or bad but it’s undeniably his art. It’s not just a portfolio he left behind in a closet, it’s an experience that was shared with a larger audience.

And even if wasn’t liked at first, the citizens of Ooo seemed to have come around to it. And some of them love it!

Whether Simon likes it or not, he has a fan base that is so endeared to the story he made all those years ago that they demand he makes more. Why let a good story, loved by many, go to rest when you still have some life and creativity left in you?

Can't move on in more ways than one.

Except, the problem is that Simon isn’t Ice King anymore. He’s aged out of it.

His real passion is history, he's an adult who who finds passion in the mundane and antiques from the past. And frankly, there isn’t much room for wish-fulfillment and fantasy anymore. Simon has responsibilities. He has a job and a daughter in a world that is moving faster than he can process.

And where Ice King wrote about looking for love, Simon has already had it.

And lost it. His mind isn’t focused on the rosiness of finding new love, it’s grieving the one he already thought was the one.

Wasn't he supposed to be good with kids?

Despite his new life experiences, all his peers seem to want from him is to make more of what they’re familiar with.

A story made from wants and wishes that he doesn’t even have anymore.

A story that was literally made by someone else at a different time. It’s a fiction he cannot connect to anymore, art that he’s embarrassed by. Yet also jealous of. Because at one point, the body Simon used to be in understood what exactly was missing from his life and could express that easily.

Seeing it again is like experiencing a retrospection of a cringey loser you don’t want to imagine having ever been. It’s not you anymore, and you don’t want to be reminded of that.

Because despite him having a new creative passion, no one seems to care about that. All they want is Fionna and Cake. And what is more lonely than other people misunderstanding what you’re trying to express?

If I failed to make it clear somehow, my theory is that: Simon’s relationship with Fionna and Cake is a metaphor for creators growing out of their art. And this new Fionna and Cake world is still comfort art born out of Simon’s current desires and perceptions.

The snippet subtitles this “child holding a phone”. I guess I’m wrong. Essay over.

Episode 1 and 2 both have direct parallels with each other. They’re both about a protagonist who are feeling displaced from their world, living a phase of losing a significant other, leaving a thankless job, wearing a mask of stability in front of the people they care for, seeking a guru at the heart of the forest, and concluding that they no longer belong in their current world.

But more importantly, Fionna and Cake (the characters, the world, and the show) are no longer for an all-ages crowd. Fionna and Cake now feature young adults, curses, gore, alcohol, partial nudity, financial issues, morning routines, mid-life crisis, and overt suicidal ideation. These are the feelings that Simon relates to and possibly desires to express through art. Thus, his story and our new miniseries have warped that way.

Am I overthinking this? No. How dare you assume that.

Is equating the unconscious writings of his dementia-ridden self to Simon as his younger self seem a bit odd? ….Kinda. Again, it’s not the how but the why that matters in this case. I'm NOT crazy, I have proof that there is some acknowledgment of this directly in the show.

Rewatch the bar scene and apply this reading of the episode to what Simon says there:

“Your old stuff, Fionna and Cake, honest to glob my man, is an inspiration to me.”

“My old stuff, I don’t really want to talk about my old stuff…”

“Why not? You should be proud! You wrote an entire extended universe in a fugue state if you think about it.”

"Simon cringes"

If you have ever shared art with a group of people in the past, you’ve had this conversation.

Not likely, not possibly, no perhapses. You HAVE.

And Fionna and Cake being an epilogue to a massive award-winning, near-decade-spanning, cultural sensation 5 years after it ended, might result in its creators feeling very retrospective about what audiences want from them now.

And how difficult it’s going to be to tell new experiences and tones from what’s come before. Also, come on. “Extended Universe?” That doesn’t sound like Fionna and Cake. That sounds a lot like something else.

Again, seems bad with this kid.

One of the more profound shots in the main trailer for the show features the inconspicuously Finn-like kid crouching at her Fionna and Cake book in Simon’s trash. I believe this character is going to have a major role in two ways. Convincing Simon to be proud of what he’s accomplished and/or embracing that Simon wants to move away from his original work in order to create something new, or perhaps more likely, reinvent Fionna and Cake into what Simon relates to now.

We’ll just have to see what Simon thinks of his new Fionna next week.

PS. Talking as a fan now, WHAT IS UP WITH THE 1000+ TREEHOUSE IN THE INTRO?!!! ARE WE REVISITING THIS TIMELINE AGAIN?

SOMEONE TELL ME NOW!!!

#television #adventure time #fionna and cake #simon petrikov #fionna campbell #animation #speculation #theories #fan theory #character analysis #discussion #adventure time spoilers #fionna and cake spoilers

558 notes · View notes

raven-at-the-writing-desk · 8 months

Note

It's rather interesting that each of the Yuus so far in the manga have been foils of sort to the overblotter in question (disciplined vs strict, competitive vs lazy, seemingly okay in body image vs puts up a mask, in order). Makes me excited to see what future Yuus will be like!!

Yes, it seems that the pattern for the manga!Yuu is that each serves as a foil or a “mirror” to the Episode’s respective OB boy. The idea is super interesting, but I hope they go further with it and actually let the Yuus engage with the OB boy of their Episode in a meaningful way. There’s both similarities and key differences between them, and I think that would make for an excellent opportunity for them to learn from each other, but also for Yuu to have a more active role in the OB boy’s steady, gradual change of heart and character. The way things are currently set up, the manga!Yuus don’t seem to have character arcs of their own or develop in any significant way from start to end; they’re just there to be the “good” example of what each OB boy struggles to attain.

For the Episode of Heartslabyul, I think the distinction between Yuuken’s discipline and Riddle’s strictness is an important one to make. At first glance, you might think being “disciplined” and being “strict” are the same thing. They’re actually not! “Disciplined” refers to control and restraint of oneself. That’s what Yuuken is! He is stoic but knows when to step forward and get serious. Meanwhile, Riddle is “strict”—demanding that both he and others obey the rules to a staggeringly stringent degree. Riddle isn’t “disciplined” because he forces his ideals on others and does not control himself when his temper flares. He is serious all the time and unrelenting in his pursuit of upholding the rules. In this way, Yuuken is actually the kind of person Riddle works toward becoming post-OB: someone with good control of his words and actions, while also observing the rules within reasonable wiggle room.

Another thing!! Yuuken’s style of leadership also greatly contrasts with Riddle’s. Throughout the Episode of Heartslabyul, we see that Yuuken is thinking about his kendo team mates, which spurs him to act or to comfort other characters because they remind him of his teammates. This was the case during the scene when Deuce confessed to his past as an ex-delinquent and Yuuken encouraged him in his endeavors to improve—just as he encouraged his kendo kouhai at the start of the manga. In spite of his stoic face, Yuuken is compassionate and considers the people around him. Meanwhile, Riddle rules with an iron fist and it’s always his way or the highway. He never once considers his classmates, their POVs, or their circumstances, always holding up his own interpretation of the rules as absolute and remaining unwilling to compromise.

For Yuuka, I wouldn’t say the contrast between her and Leona is in competitiveness vs being lazy. From what I’ve seen of her, Yuuka isn’t particularly competitive or lazy. She’s usually the one keeping people (mostly Grim) out of competition or squabbles, and she’s not exactly eager to compete (she steps up when people challenge or threaten her). I would hesitate to slot Leona (based on his actions in book 2 alone) as one or the other as well. Like… how is he lazy if he’s putting forth the effort to enact this whole scheme? And how is he competitive if the point of his plan is to get Diasomnia out of the tournament? Wouldn’t it be truly more “competitive” if he wanted to square up against them anyway?

I would say maybe a more apt point of mirrored traits for Yuuka and Leona are in terms of morality—or, I guess, how far they’re willing to stretch the definition of “playing fair”. Leona is the one that plays loosely, willing to resort to dirty tactics and skirting the rules if it means getting what he wants. Yuuka, however, is more morally upright. She’s keeping her friends out of trouble and stepping up to fight Savanaclaw mobs only when they pose a threat to her. In these ways, she “plays by the book”. As a fellow athlete as well, Yuuka would be able to understand Leona in the struggle to perform and to be seen. Not only that, but they share scars. The reasoning for Leona’s is left unexplained, but Yuuka’s is from a sporting injury. They could totally relate not only in their lived experiences, but by their physical markers.

We’ve only just met Yuuta, so I don’t know if we can draw any definitive conclusions as to how he’s a foil to Azul. However, we can deduce some parallels from his one chapter appearance so far. Both Yuuya and Azul come from restaurants that their respective family operates. Furthermore, Yuuta is and Azul was, overweight. For Azul, this became one of the sources of shame for him. His peers underestimated his competence in part due to his size, and this would later lead to Azul changing a lot about himself to appear “stronger” (including a more restrictive diet in order to maintain his new body). This is not true of Yuuta, who still retains his extra weight and happily chows on food. In fact, I don’t believe weight is even brought up by Yuuta at all. He’s content with his life the way it is, much more chill rather than stoic.

I think another HUGE point that helps Yuuta serve as a foil to Azul is their attitudes on gratitude. Yuuta is thankful for such little things like having food—he even gets mad at Grim for not being thankful for it!! This is a departure from Azul, who, despite running what is basically a wish-granting service, is never satisfied with what he already has. He is always concerned with getting “more”, be it money, influence, information, or abilities robbed from other students. The insecurity especially shows in how he desperately tries to protect his valuable golden contracts with a clever ruse. He keeps collecting and collecting, viewing those physical signifiers (the things he collects) as proof of his “success”.

My prediction for book 3 is 🤔 Azul will definitely see bits of his old self in Yuuta. His old self, whom Azul personally deemed as a weak and inferior version of himself, a version which he has a hard time coming to accept. I don’t think Azul would hate Yuuta or something that extreme, but Azul would feel pity for him and think him pathetic. Going hand-in-hand with the events of book 3, I believe Azul will underestimate Yuuta’s capabilities in the same way that Azul’s old bullies underestimated him when he was little. It would be such a cool parallel because, in this way, we’d get the sense that Azul has become no different than his bullies, pushing around the weak and (arguably just as bad) taking advantage of them for his own gain. And it would ultimately be those traits of Yuuta’s that Azul may have deemed weaknesses of his old self that save the day and get Azul to recognize he’s been living in denial this whole time, thus helping him to better appreciate his old self.

546 notes · View notes

fishing-lesbian-catgirl · 1 month

Note

is there a way to experience arknights that doesn't involve playing a gacha game? i kinda wanna see what it's deal is the girls in it are really hot

Yes there is!

There’s an online tool that lets you read the visual novel story sections: https://akgcc.github.io/cc/story.html. It lets you read the main story, event side stories, operator records (mini stories focused on specific operators), it even has modules (upgrades to operators that cost a lot of resources but also give you a short story blurb when you unlock them). It usually takes a bit for new stuff to get added, so it can’t really let you read along with the current ongoing events (unless you can read Chinese, the CN server is 6 months ahead of the global server and I think the story reader gets updates for their stories but I haven’t checked, it might just be the ones on global).

There are 2 8-episode seasons of an Arknights anime covering the first 2 parts of the main story. They’re called “Arknights: Prelude to Dawn” and “Arknights: Perish in Frost”

There are a handful of official manhua covering various groups of characters, including one for the main characters at Rhine Lab (American science company with a lot of well meaning characters working for a flawed corporation with ethics issues) and one for Blacksteel (the mercenary group with Franka, Liskarm, Jessica, and Vanilla, who I’ve been posting a lot about. The new event side story is about Jessica so that’s why. The mangadex fan translations of this one were tagged as “girls love” and then the official translation made it even gayer, highly recommend for foxgirl dragon girl yuri). As well as a few others. There’s even the mostly lighthearted Rhodes Island test kitchen series about different operators making different foods from their cultures and backgrounds and stuff, it’s very cute. Official translations are here https://www.arknights.global/comic but for the ones that haven’t been fully translated you can usually find them fan translated on mangadex.

Speaking of mangadex, there are also 2 other comic/manga/manhua things you can read. There is the light hearted 4 panel series “Arknights Operators!” that has short, usually comedic, comics about various operators and their lives on the Rhodes Island land ship. I don’t think it’s explicitly canon (it has a gag about Hoshiguma bumping into door frames bc she’s so tall, but her “canon height” is 5’11” [no one likes the canon heights]) but it’s pretty fun and cute.

And what I think is the last thing I have the mention is the Arknights anthology manga series. It’s explicitly non-canon as the comics are all made by guest artists, but it is officially published by Arknights. It was only published in Japanese but scanlators have translated a large portion of it and it’s very good.

#Arknights #if you want side story recommendations or anything I’ll gladly give my input #there’s a lot. I’m probably missing something from this list too

221 notes · View notes

todorokies · 9 months

Text

2:48pm - satoru gojo

contents: fluff, established relationship, fem!reader, teen!gojo or adult!gojo u can imagine whichever, found family trope, megumi & tsumiki are some vv young lads here (they’re like 8 & 9 years old), this is a kinda unserious ngl

a/n: the found family trope will always hold a special place in my heart

“what the hell are you doing?!”

the sight in front of you was absolutely distasteful, nothing could’ve prepared you for the horrors that displayed in the comfort of your own home. not even a trip to the ninth circle of hell could mentally equip you with strength to deal with this troublesome…mess.

satoru’s elongated body currently rests in a downward dog postion as his hands are occupied with his left being on a red circle and the right on a blue circle.

you would think the children that you left in his care would be participating in the child’s game of twister, but that was far from the truth as satoru’s hostages —megumi and tsumiki— sat criss-crossed off the game mat as they shared the same puzzled look with you.

“oh hey baby! we missed you- megs gimme a hand here and spin the wheel for me.” your mouth comically drops so fast you’d think you were in an episode of a cartoon.

with a deep scowl present on his face, the young megumi reluctantly shifts closer to the spinner giving it a weak twirl that eventually lands on ‘right foot, green.’ miraculously, satoru is able to cross his foot over on a green circle in a way that shouldn’t be considered humanly possible.

your boyfriend is gonna break a bone or two if you don’t stop this tomfoolery.

you crouch down to be face to face with him. “you do realize you’re supposed to be looking after the kids while i was gone…not traumatizing them, right?” he raises his head to look at you, “traumatizing them? nonsense! a good game of twister always builds character.”

“a good game of them watching you play alone will build character for them how exactly?”

“well obviously i couldn’t let them play. i wouldn’t want to risk toppling them over and letting them lose in a game that requires skill.”

with that, tsumiki and megumi gets up from their spots on the floor and make their way to the entryway to pick up the snacks you dropped in disarray upon arrival. “but you lost to both me and megumi before…i don’t know why he’s lying.”

ego bruised, he dramatically collapses on the twister mat, “you weren’t suppose to tell her that!” a genuine belly laugh escapes from your mouth, heading towards the couch to high-five the kids who just finished putting away the groceries and had two family sized potato chip bags in their laps.

“good job guys! next time record it on his phone for me.” they both nodded with enthusiasm.

satoru dramatically whines while planting his face in the palm of his hands while striding over to your dvd rack to choose a movie for the night. “cut me some slack, did you really expect me ruin the game for the kids?”

you quizzically contemplate your answer with a finger on your chin and satoru could practically see the sfx question mark above your head. “oh come onnnn!”

you then walk over to the now sulking white haired boy to delicately place both of your hands on his smooth face earning a groan from megumi combined with fake gagging sounds from tsumiki.

“if it makes you feel any better i think they secretly enjoy your antics. tsumiki told me about the tea party you guys had; with tiaras and everything yeah?” he slowly nodded unsure of what you’re trying to get at.

“and you bought megumi that nintendo ds he was subtly hinting for…my point is that they appreciate you so much even if they act like they don’t; i appreciate you.”

satoru’s whole demeanour does a turnaround. smiling gleefully at you as his dimples showcase in all of it’s glory. “i mean, yeah, they don’t wanna admit it to your face in case it’ll hurt your feelings…” his hand inches towards to your neck lightly ghosting above your velvety skin whilst slowly leaning in as his eyes flicker to your lips. “…but i think i’m their favourite parent.”

before his soft lips could capture yours two potato chips come flying in your direction as a sour expression sits upon tsumiki and megumi’s face. “ewww guys! remember we still need to pick something to watch.”

megumi huffs, “and can we not watch ice age for the millionth time i don’t care how much gojo likes that movie.”

reblogs & feedback is appreciated!! <3

446 notes · View notes

geegers22 · 3 months

Text

I’ve seen lots of conversation on here about Zutara shippers opinions on aang and mai and i thought I’d give my point of view.

I want to start by saying that I think there should be more of a distinction between disliking a character because they are a bad person and disliking a character because they are written badly. With that being said, I can confidently say that, with the material of the main ATLA show, I dislike Aang and Mai because they are badly written characters. Meaning, if their arcs were properly finished, I would have no problems with them. This brings me to another topic of how I don’t really ‘hate’ characters who are bad people if they’re well written but that’s a conversation for another post.

I need to point out that I didn’t start disliking Aang and Mai until they had their arcs undermined when Kataang and Maiko became canon. With the arcs they were going on, they had so much potential to be really interesting and I enjoyed their personalities.

When it comes to Aang, I had no problem with him as a character until season 3 part 2 when I started to realize that his world view (which is flawed based solely on the fact that he is young and there is no way he’s going to have a nuanced pov) was not going to be challenged. Aang should have had to give up katara. Aang should not have just had everything handed to him with the lion turtle and the pointy rock.

Then there’s the southern raiders which I would argue, if Aang’s arc had been completed, would not illicit as many conversations and arguments about it as it currently has. Because his actions in that episode make sense (Sokkas don’t really but again-that’s another story) because he’s a kid. This episode should have been a big decider of his change in worldview. The problem is that the creators decided his flaws didn’t exist and that he was perfect. (At 12 years old?!?!?)

Then there’s Mai. She’s a much smaller character but that doesn’t mean she deserves less of an arc. Mai is a character whose personality I love! (I’m all for gloomy depressed women!) There’s two ways Mai’s character could have developed, and I think both options are great, the problem is that Bryke decided to go in neither direction.

On the one hand, Mai could have been a representation of unlearning the propaganda she was taught in the fire nation throughout her whole life. I think this direction would make Maiko more believable, although I still don’t think they are a good couple because their personalities create a toxic dynamic and Mai’s story with Zuko is meant to represent that toxicity.

The second option would be to have her views not change, like we see in the show, and have her not get back together with Zuko. This is the more interesting path in my opinion because it’s more realistic. I don’t think the problem with Mai’s arc lies with her personal views of the fire nation, more so with her relationship with Zuko. As we have it in the show, Mai’s views don’t change. Therefor, it doesn’t make sense for her character or for Zuko’s for them to get back together like nothing ever happened.

When it comes down to it. Both Aang and Mai had their arcs sabotaged because the creators rejected Zutara. Even without Zuko and Katara getting together these were the wrong decisions. Both characters had potential to be well written, but in the end, the creators chose the path didn’t allow that to happen because they just couldn’t kill their darling. (Kataang)

Sorry for rambling, this is kind of just my take on the whole “Zutara shippers hate Aang and Mai” take.

#is this a meta?#atla #avatar the last airbender #anti aang #anti Mai #anti kataang #anti maiko #anti bryke #zutara #ayo fuck bryke all my homies hate bryke #atla critical #aang critical #Mai critical

184 notes · View notes

thebestofoneshots · 6 months

Text

Gilded Constellations | wolfstar x reader

Series Masterlist | Previous episode

Pairing: Wolfstar x Reader Word Count: 6.9 K Warnings: None Prompt: It's finally time... the Quidditch Match. This IS a wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it.

Chapter 19: Silver Bird

When you come home, my crazy heart will greet those silver wings Your pet dog will remember you, and I'll carry your things We'll catch a runnin' make-up, and you will look just fine And you'll remain my friend, my friend until you're mine

It was finally Saturday, James had you arrive at the pitch an hour and a half before the match was going to start, so you could warm up properly. You still had thirty minutes to get there, and you were rummaging through your neverending chest to try and find the stupid blue undies you’d promised to wear.

“Is it this ones?” Mary asked, as she sat next to you.

You looked at the piece she had in her hand and you shook your head, “Those aren’t very comfortable for flying.”

She nodded and continued looking through the chest. Lily, who was looking through your dresser asked “You said cute, baby blue, matching set, right?”

“Yeah,” you responded, not looking at her yet.

“I think I’ve got them.” She said, taking the pair out and showing it to you. You beamed and got up from the floor towards her, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead “It’s perfect, thank you!” you said as you took them from her hands and went inside the bathroom.

“That was a very Sirius thing to do,” said Marlene from her bed as she laced her shoes.

Mary agreed “Sometimes they’re so alike it’s scary.”

“I don’t think so,” said Lily, with a hand on her chin. “She’s not that much like Sirius, if anything I’d say she’s more like Remus.”

“Remus? How?” Asked Beth, she had dropped by to get ready with the girls, they were all planning to use some coloured paint on their faces, along all the Gryffindor memorabilia they had gathered.

“Well, she’s responsible and caring. And she always helps everyone in the study clubs. And even if she hangs out with the boys all the time, she’s never gotten detention. Remus almost never gets detention either. They both know their way around it, somehow.”

“Well, when you say it like that…”

Finally, the door of the bathroom opened and you walked outside, your thick quidditch pants on, along with a simple shirt you were planning to wear underneath your quidditch sweater. You looked out the window, it was getting greyer and grayer “You think it’s gonna rain?” you asked.

“On the forecast, it said it wouldn’t,” said Beth, who had revised it on the papers at breakfast.

“But the current climate divintor is really bad,” complained Marlene “The other day I planned a picnic with Holden, and it said it would be sunny. We were in the middle of the way to the spot we’d found when a storm broke out, we had to use charms to stop the rain from ruining our day.”

“Better take the anti-slippery gloves then,” Beth said, as she picked out a pair from the ones you had laid out on the bed, “just in case.”

You nodded, and took them in your hands, before placing them on the small duffle bag in which you were packing the rest of your equipment. Including the Quidditch robes and anything other than the sweater and the pants. “You’ve already eaten right?” Mary asked.

“Yeah, like 2 hours ago,” you said with a nod “I wanted enough time to digest before flying.

“Brilliant idea!” she said with a smile “Last time Marlene ate last minute she was puking when the game ended.

“That’s because I got a bludger on the edge my broom and spinned around like 30 times,” she huffed, and then turned to you “Ready for your first game luv?”

“Born ready,” you said, with a little smirk.

Marlene mirrored your expression, “That’s exactly what I expected to hear.”

Once in the pitch, you spotted James and Teddy talking to each other, Davis and Gale were sitting on a bench, and you weren’t sure where Sirius was, that was until you felt someone hugged you from behind and planted a kiss on your cheek “You look stunning in those clothes Starshine,” he said as he tightened his grip around your waist.

Sirius was still hugging you when James asked everyone to gather closer to him. And he didn’t let go of you even as James spoke “This is the first match of the year, and we must give it our all! Ravenclaw has a fierce team, Holden is a brilliant seeker, Tobias and Penelope are fierce with the bludgers, they will try to hit every single one of us, and even if we have Sirius and Marlene to protect us, you need to keep an eye on the bludgers at all time. Especially you,” he said, giving you a look “They will try to throw you off your broom.”

You nodded as you took a deep breath, the seekers and the keepers always got the worst of the bludgers, you knew that already, but the seekers had a wider moving area, while as a keeper, you’d have to stay closer to the goals “I’ll have your back,” Sirius whispered in your ear as James continued his speech.

“Their chasers are good, I don’t know much of the newer kids but Adrian is fast, not as fast as you Gale, but fast regardless, keep an eye on him at all times, the further we keep their ball from our goals the better, even if we have (Y/N).”

Teddy intervened later “Just pay full attention to your surroundings at all times, we can beat them, we’ve trained enough.”

“Time for warm-up,” James said then, and had you do a couple of exercises before allowing you to go up in your brooms for a few laps around the pitch.

When you had 10 minutes left, James had you all come down to fasten all the quidditch protection equipment accordingly. He handed you a bag, with a thick brown helmet and a chest plate as well. “I forgot the keeper’s equipment was some of the less glamorous,” you said as you looked at them, he laughed.

“You know how to put it on, don’t you?”

You nodded, and dragged the items to the side, starting with the shin and knee protectors and slowly moving your way up to the chest.

Sirius, who had a lot less things to put on, was done before you and he walked closer to you “Need help?”

“I’m good,” you said as you continued fastening your arm protections. When you put on the breast protector, you started struggling with the fastening, and Sirius closed the gap between the two of you.

“Let me,” he said, his hands over yours, fastening the sides of the thing with ease “It’s that too tight?”

You shook your head, still grasping the fact that you weren’t alone anymore, that you could depend on him, on your new friends. You grabbed the helmet and turned to him “How do I look now?” you asked with a teasing smile, the helmet still held between your hands.

Sirius smirked before he answered “Ravishing.”

You laughed, tilting your head back as you let yourself completely indulge in the fun. Sirius was looking at you adoringly as you tittered, at the way your eyes would crinkle and your smile grew wide. He stared, shamelessly, until he heard someone calling for you from the side, he placed his hand over your shoulder and nodded to their way. You were still smiling when you turned to look at the direction Sirius was pointing at, it was Nina and Sybil.

“Hey, girls!” You said as you approached them happily, almost skipping towards them, Nina had a Gryffindor scarf on and Sybil was holding a pair of red and yellow flags in her hands “You’ll get jinxed by your house members,” you told them motioning to the Gryffindor memorabilia they had on.

“We’re not really close to the players,” Sbybil said with a shrug, of course she wouldn’t care.

“But we do know you.” Nina said with a smile “We brought you something,” she added before bringing her hand inside the messenger bag she had hung across her shoulder and taking out a blue ribbon. Something blue.

“For me?” You asked with a small smile.

“So you remember not all Ravenclaws are against you today,” Nina said. “Sybil says it’s for good luck too.”

“It is,” Sybil confirmed. “Why do you think ladies used to tie something on the lances of the men they liked before a joust? If a person who really cares about you gives it to you, it will be infused with a special kind of magic.”

“Well then, you may tie it wherever you want,” You said with a smile, walking a little closer to the girls, Nina was the one to attach it, lacing it through the thinner side of the chest protection you had on, carefully tying it into a neat little bow.

“I feel like I should say something…” she said with a little smile, you nodded, prompting her to speak “Oh fair lady,” she stated, in a very theatrical tone, even faking a strong Scottish accent “May this token of…”

“–Of affection,” offered Sybil.

“Of affection?” Nina asked with a frown, turning back to her natural voice. Sybil nodded fervently and Nina shrugged, clearing her throat before continuing “May this token of our… devoted affection… deliver you from all evil and take you to victory…” She turned to Sybil, who gave her a thumbs up, and finally, she pulled her hands from your chestplate, a little blush showing on her face.

You smiled, and leaned a little, “Thank you, my lady,” you said in the tone a true knight would, and then looked up at the two girls with a cheeky grin, still mid bow.

You got a soft punch from Nina on the arm “Don’t make it even sillier.”

“I’m not being silly!” you said in between laughs “I’m truly happy you came to support me today.”

Sirius finally came over and placed an arm over your shoulder, bringing you a little closer to him “Can you believe our little Starshine just got a lady’s favour?” He asked James, who was just a couple of metres behind “When have we ever gotten one of those? And from a pair of Ravenclaws nonetheless.”

“It’s for good luck,” Nina said reproachfully. “It’s her first match, don’t tease her so much about it.”

“It’s all right Nina,” you said with a cheeky little smile “Sirius is just jealous.”

He pouted, “Can’t I get a cute ribbon too?”

“Has to be given by someone who really cares about you,” Nina said casually.

“Auch,” Sirius said dramatically.

Nina opened her eyes wide “I didn’t mean that I didn’t ca…”

“He’s just teasing you luv,” you said reassuringly. “Here, lean a little closer,” you told Sirius, when he did, you placed a soft kiss on the corner of his lips. “How’s that for your lady’s favour?” you asked with a teasing grin. Nina averted her gaze from the two of you and Sybil gave her a sympathetic glance.

“Hm… Not sure,” Sirius responded “Might need it to be a little longer, for good measure, you know?”

Finally, Sybil cleared her throat “We’ll go find a good place to sit,” she said with a smile.

“Good luck!” Nina told you with a tight smile before turning to go.

You walked out of Sirius’ grasp and towards her and Sybil “Girls wait!” you said as you grabbed onto Nina’s shoulder “Thank you,” you said earnestly, “for everything.”

Nina smiled, seeing as how you had run to catch her “It’s nothing, really. We wanted to be here.”

“Yeah,” Sybil said, “You do your magic, we’ll be here, rooting for you.”

You smiled at the two of them one last time and they took off towards the bleachers. “Ready for the match?” Remus’ soft voice came from behind, startling you in a good way.

You turned to him and nodded “James had us warm up and even gave us a team spirit speech. It was inspiring.”

Remus caught the slight sarcasm in your tone and chuckled “You’ll be wearing that?” he asked as he motioned to your helmet still in your hand.

You nodded “Keepers are one of the main targets of the bludgers. James wouldn’t let me play without it. Merlin forbid something happens to one of his players,” he chuckled again, leaning down just a little to take the helmet from your hands and place it over your head “What are you doing?”

“Making sure James’ little star-keeper is as safe as she should,” He said casually as he fastened the straps under your chin.

“I was waiting until the very last minute to put it on…”

“Why? You get too hot with it?”

“Not at all, I just think I look like an egg,” you said with a pout.

Remus stepped back just a little, too look at you better “Well, I think you look cute.”

You laughed, and hit him on the shoulder playfully “Sure thing Rem,” you said dismissively, then you heard the blow of the whistle. “Game’s calling,” you said with a dashing smile before walking back to the pitch, Remus stared at your receding figure as you walked towards the pitch.

As you gathered around everyone you managed to see the rest of your friends walking over the bleachers to find a seat. Tom was wearing face paint, just like the rest of the girls, a few stripes of red and gold painted across their cheek. Lily had a banner in her hand that had a fierce-looking lion roaring, and it had written down the names of all the members of the team. Some other people in the crowd had reused the memorabilia from the race, so you even saw a couple of people wearing some of the pins with your faces on them.

Another blow to the whistle and you were walking alongside James to the centre of the pitch. “Captains, step forward!” Said a young Professor you hadn’t met before, but that you’d seen around meals, he must be the flying instructor, you thought. Both James and Lionel did as told, he turned to Lionel “Ready?”

“Ready!”

He turned to James and the boy responded “Ready!”

The teacher nodded, and then gave you a look “Keepers, positions,” he said. Both you and Lionel mounted your brooms and flew toward your places. The wind howled in your ears as you hovered in front of the goals. It was a cold day, and you were thankful you had so much protection gear on since it was enough to keep you a little warm, at least until the action started.

You saw the Professor release the snitch, you could see it glistening with the bit of sun that the clouds allowed to pass through, it circled around James and Holden, taunting them before disappearing into the air. Everyone mounted their brooms. The crowd cheered as the game was just about to start. The atmosphere felt electric and thrilling, the wind pushing you towards your hoops as you steadied your broom to maintain your position.

The Chasers jockeyed for position, determined to outmanoeuvre each other and score those crucial goals. Gale, Davis and Teddy were already in the position they had planned, and the three of them kept their sights on the quaffle that the Professor still held in between his hands. Sirius was flying close to James, while Marlene was flying just above you, ready to stop any bludgers coming your way, as James had instructed.

Marlene tightened her grip on her bat, and with another blow of the whistle the game finally began, the Quaffle soaring into the air in an instant. Gale flew straight to it, managing to size it in the air, and flew straight towards the other team’s goal. But after Sirius hit the bludger towards Lionel, Penelope Linwood, the other team’s beater, shot it straight at Gale, who had to pass the quaffle to Davis to out-manoeuvre the bludger that wouldn’t stop following him.

Davis took the ball and went for a shot, but Lionel managed to catch it just before it went inside the goal hoop to his left. The ball was with the other team, your heart pounded in your ears as adrenaline rushed through your body, you knew the quaffle could be thrown your way any minute now, so whatever you did, you had to focus. You felt the wind blowing even stronger, your broom moving with it a little more than you’d expect it to.

Sirius managed to catch up with Davis and batted the bludger away from him, launching straight towards the chasers of the other team, disrupting their formation and buying you some time. The way they were flying, one against the other, they were probably planning to corner you in between the three of them. One of them, a boy with short red hair, who flew like a lightning bolt to avoid Sirius’ bludger –and who you assumed was Adrian– was dogging absolutely everything and everyone as he flew straight at you.

You smiled confidently when you saw him throw a short glance at one of his chasers, a small girl with neat braids through her entire head. It was Cynthia, you realised, from one of your classes. They were going to faint. So even as you kept your head in Adrian’s direction, you made sure to keep Cynthia in your line of sight at all times. You saw the other bludger be beaten in your direction.

“Focus on your thing!” Marlene shouted, flying straight towards the bludger and batting it fiercely to Adrian, but he managed to dodge the ball and it started following the other chaser instead. The redhead was already reaching the zone, his move would be any second now. He smiled, pretending to throw the ball to the left hoop before throwing it straight to Cynthia. That had been a sick faint, but you had seen it coming, so you didn’t even bother going to the left and instead went straight to the direction Cynthia had thrown the ball, efficiently getting it in between your hands before it even got close to the goals. The audience cheered as you flew a little higher, trying to find Anne Davis. If she got the ball now, you were sure she’d get it across the field and through Lionel.

Once you spotted her, you plunged down and launched the ball at her when she was just a couple of metres away, continuing your way down before doing a sharp turn and going back to your goals. When the ball was in her hands she started dogging the bludgers, that seemed like they were only following her until Marlene flew straight towards one of them and threw it to Lionel.

Davis had to shoot the ball to Teddy for a second but he threw it straight back at her and she launched it toward the goal, Lionel wasn’t fast enough to stop it, and it went straight through. The crowd erupted in cheers. Anne was grinning as she went back to position. As everyone cheered you felt a strong jolt in your broom. You frowned and looked down, studying the broom as you steadied it. You squint your eyes when you feel it again, a lot weaker this time. You turned to the bleachers then, narrowing your eyes in case you spotted someone. The jolt had felt exactly like the one that had thrown you and Sirius off your brooms a couple of weeks ago. You took a deep breath and tightened your grip around your broom. I’m not falling today, you thought before turning your eyes back to the quaffle.

The jolts didn’t come back, as if the person trying to throw you off the broom had given up on them completely, but your grip on the broom did not loosen at all, you had to keep your ward up, at all times now. The quaffle was now in Cynthia's hand, and she had thrown it to a strong-looking boy with a blonde fringe, their last chaser. He came straight to you, looking imposing since he was a lot bigger, perhaps as tall as Remus, but with a wider back, which made him look threatening.

Thank Merlin he’s not a beater, you thought. He came straight onto you, paying no mind to the bludger following closely behind him. You did not keep your eyes away from him until you felt a light hitting straight onto your eyes, blinding you from how bright it was. The blond boy did his shot and you weren’t fast enough, it went right through your right goal, there were cheers from the Ravenclaws, and groans from the Gryffindors.

You went to get the ball and threw it straight at Teddy, who moved further away with it. And you took the time to look around the bleachers, trying to figure out what the hell had blinded you when the light hit you again. You placed your left hand over your eye only to realise a very small dot of light reflecting on it, moving frantically trying to find your eyes again. “A mirror,” you whispered to yourself, “They’re trying to use a bloody mirror.” You then remembered you had Sirius’ goggles, and placed them over your eyes, hoping the sun protection spell they had on them was enough. They were indeed! Just reflective enough to bounce the light off your eyes. You smiled, whoever was trying to sabotage you, and you had a pretty damn good idea who it might have been, would have a bloody hard time doing so.

Finally managing to focus on the game again, you noticed Sirius throw a hard shot towards the blonde boy, managing to hit just on the back of his broom and having him spinning out for a good minute before he managed to get back control.

“Brilliant Black!” you shouted from your spot, not so far away from him. He gave you a little wink, boasting for a good second before ducking as one of the other team’s beaters had thrown the bludger straight back at him. That made you chuckle just a bit, before you saw the same blond boy, doing a daring dive towards you and your goals. This time, when he shot, you managed to stop the quaffle with ease, even if the strength of the hit had you pull back just a little, the impact reverberating through your body as you held on tight. You heard the Gryffindor supporters erupting into cheers, and you felt the same euphoric feeling you felt when you caught a snitch and ended a game back in your old school. With a graceful smile towards them, you sent the quaffle hurtling back into the game.

But Cynthia Abbot intercepted your throw and launched the ball straight onto your goals again. You threw yourself towards the quaffle again, but realising your hand wouldn’t be long enough to stop it, you did a sharp turn and used the back of your broom to bat the ball away from the hoops, accidentally sending it straight towards James’ head, who wasn’t looking. “Prongs! Watch out–“ you tried to warn him but it bounced off his head and Davis managed to size it, diving straight towards Lionel and the Ravenclaw post.

You flew closer to James, still keeping an eye on the quaffle as you did “You ok?” you asked preoccupied “I didn’t mean to–“

“-That was a brilliant save!” He said, turning to you with a smile, “Hurt a little though.”

You winced when you realised the boy was rubbing the back of his head, “Sorry…”

“I’m good, you keep up that amazing work going, don’t worry about me, all right?”

“Suddenly you saw a gold shine pass right in front of your eyes, and you followed it with a short gaze, before turning back to James “Did you see th–“ You didn’t even finish, you knew the answer when you spotted James’ wide grin and his hazel pupils following the snitch with precise movement, “Go get her tiger!” You said as he started flying in its direction.

“Back to your goals,” he said with a smile before flying off towards the snitch. You smiled as you saw him chase behind it, and flew back to your place, the Quaffle was still on your team’s hands, so you were relatively relaxed as you kept your eyes on James, who darted through the air, waving and looping through the players, dodging bludgers and following the snitch’s every move. Holden wasn’t too far behind him, but Marlene and Sirius were making sure he had many flying bludgers to dodge, both also protecting James, so he could reach for the snitch. You admired the way Marlene threw the iron balls at her boyfriend as if he was just some random seeker she had to throw off her broom.

Suddenly the ball was back with the chasers of the other team, Adrian darting towards you while one of the beaters from the other team batted a bludger straight to your face. You knew exactly what you had to do, James hadn’t had you practise handstands and pull-ups so much for nothing, so you went straight for it. Holding yourself up to allow the bludger to pass through as you hit the bludger with your leg, flipping yourself back into your broom with a sharp turn. The crowd cheered again, many had heard of the movement, but they hadn’t seen it, but that wasn’t the end, you dived straight down to catch the quaffle and flew straight towards Gale, passing it on his hands in a quick manoeuvre before flying back to the goals.

Gale, in turn, went straight to Lionel and shot, earning another 10 points for Gryffindor, which had the crowd of Gryffindor supporters standing on their feet as they cheered on for Gale, even you joined them, screaming “Thomas! Thomas! Thomas!” with one of your arms extended out in a triumphant first. He turned to you with a little smile, it was his first goal since he joined the team, he must have been feeling ecstatic, as much as you were whenever you stopped one of the Ravenclaw’s advances.

Time seemed to blur as the match continued, each passing second a testament to your teamwork and determination. The score remained close, both your team and the Ravenclaw had a hard time scoring. Aldrige had been a keeper since 4th grade, so it wasn’t surprising he was such a brilliant player. Which is why you felt a little triumphant at the fact you had stopped more of the balls shot your way than he had. Even if the blonde keeper had probably hurt your left index finger from how hard they had shot the ball one time. You had only cursed under your breath and shot the ball back to Teddy.

Sirius had seen it, and flew your way “You alright luv?” he asked, a little frown on his face.

“Sirius!” you screamed “Behind you.” The boy turned around sharply and barely managed to bat the bludger away from his face “Focus on your bludgers, not on me!” you told him sharply.

He gave you one last look before nodding and flying towards the bludgers. You took a deep breath, yes, it was nice to see him so worried for you, but he could’ve gotten hurt had you not been keeping an eye around you and drowned yourself in the stupid blue of his eyes, which wasn’t hard with the way he had stared at you. James was right, it was better to keep Marlene as your main defender instead.

Cynthia orchestrated a swift series of passes, bringing her team within striking distance of Gryffindor's goalposts. Your heart raced as you braced yourself for the impending shot, a deep breath as you focused your gaze on the ball and their faces, attempting to decipher exactly what it was they were going to do. And then she shot, sending the quaffle towards the hoop that was the farthest from your reach. You lunged yourself towards it, your fingertips barely grazing the smooth surface of the ball. You heard the crowd gasp, and then erupt in cheers as the ball ricocheted off your fingers and veered off course, missing the hoop by inches. When you realised you had managed to stop it, you were breathing heavily, and gripping onto your broom again, a lot tighter than you thought you were. Realising only after that you had almost fallen off your broom when you veered the quaffle odd course.

The final minutes of the match were a whirlwind of adrenaline and emotion. The Seekers soared, the Chasers battled, and the Beaters continued their relentless bludger assault. Every save, every pass, every point earned or lost had the crowd on the edge of their seats.

Marlene was hovering close to you as Sirius struggled to keep the bludgers away from James, and as soon as the quaffle was in your team’s hands, you flew closer to her “Go help Sirius!” you shouted.

“But I’m supposed to defend you!” she argued.

“Leave it, I can dodge, just make sure Prong’s fine so he can get the snitch!”

Marlene looked at you apprehensively, as if she was deciding whether it was a good or a bad idea “Trust me, Mars, I can handle them. They’re all over Potter anyway!”

She took one last glance at you and dove straight to James and Sirius, beating the bludger they had off course and towards Lionel. He managed to dodge by a millisecond and looked shocked when he realised he too had been left alone in the goals. The four beaters were all over the seekers, defending their own house and trying to throw the opponent off his broom.

The redhead chaser came at you again, the quaffle in his hand, one last attempt to score. He was thrilled when he figured Mars was gone and he placed his hand on his mouth, whistling effortlessly, one of the Ravenclaw beaters turned around and batted the bludger straight at you. At the same time, Adrian threw the quaffle in the same direction.

You tried to look at the score, but you were still way below the safe line. If Holden got the snitch, which you hoped wouldn’t happen, your team would lose. So you didn’t move, ready to take the hit of both the bludger and the quaffle at the same time. And you did, catching the quaffle first and using it as a shield to loosen the punch of the bludger, but the blow had been heavy, and even as you tried to stop it, the bludger’s momentum caused the quaffle to sink into your gut with such force that it not only took your breath away but pushed you back a few feet as well. You heard a choir of “Ooos” and “Ouches” from the audience, and you coughed a couple of times, using the same quaffle to throw the bludger towards the other side.

Sirius turned to you, a worried look on his face, James had been too focused on the snitch to notice. But he had the other two beaters on him. “Focus on Potter!” you shouted, however you could, and he hesitantly turned back to James. You were sure it was going to bruise, it had been a harder hit than Barty’s, probably because it had been a bludger the one that pushed the quaffle into your stomach. Panting, you turned around and spotted Teddy just a couple of metres away, an expression of awe on his face, evidently impressed by your display of determination and slightly stupid bravery. You gave him a half smile before throwing the quaffle his way, “Let’s get another 10 points shall we?”

Teddy smiled at you and nodded, catching the quaffle and diving straight to the other side of the field, Gale and Anne easily following behind him and creating a formation, they were going to use one of the plays, and since the other team’s beaters were focused on James, they had the upper hand. A couple of passes and they managed to score.

Then there were cheers from all the Gryffindor supporters, but it wasn’t because of the points they’d just gotten, in fact, high above, at about the same time, James had lunged forwards and wrapped his fingers around the snitch. The game was over, the Gryffindor cheers were so loud, that they made you smile even if you still felt like you wanted to puke, from the stinging pain of the hit.

As you soaked in the cheers of the crowd, you knew that this victory was more than just a game; it was prove of how strong the Gryffindor team was now, how, even if you had so many new members, including yourself, the constant training and early mornings had been of good use. You smiled brightly as you finally managed to land back on the ground, heart still panting as you used your broom to hold yourself up.

Everyone was cheering, you saw the entire team wrap around James, and bring him up in the air as he held the snitch, the crowds still cheering in the background. You finally stood up, smiling as you tried to forget the sharp pain on your stomach and ran towards them, to cheer on. Sirius was the first one to approach you, placing his hands on the sides of your face and scanning it carefully.

“Are you ok?” He asked with a frown.

“Yeah, totally,” you lied with a half smile, but he saw straight through you and pulled you into a hug.

“Please don’t do that again, I wanted to drop the bat and go see what the hell had happened to you because of the way everyone gasped.”

“You didn’t see it?” You asked, pulling back to look straight into his eyes.

He shook his head “When I turned to you, you had the quaffle in your hands and were screaming at me to get behind Prongs again.”

You nodded, “It was just a hard blow, I’m sure people were just being dramatic–“

“–What the hell (Y/N)!” James interrupted. Shit, he knows. “You’re supposed to avoid the Bludgers, not get in their way!”

“Whoever told you, I’m sure they were exaggerating.”

“Lionel Aldrige came over to tell me I had the bravest keeper he’d ever met, that he’d never seen anyone try to stop the goddamned bludger with a quaffle! And that he wasn’t even sure he’d be able to do it himself!” James pretty much shouted.

“Is that what you did?!” Sirius asked, raising his voice at you as well.

“I had to– I had to stop the quaffle somehow.”

“We could afford to lose ten points!”

You shook your head “Not if you hadn’t caught the snitch, we weren’t 160 above them yet!”

“There was no way in hell you had the strength to stop the quaffle with your arms, that’s why we use bats!” Sirius argued then.

“Where the hell was Marlene anyway?” James chimed, pinching his nose.

“Covering for you, I told her to go, you had the beaters all over you, I was free.”

James stared at you in disbelief, “For how long?”

“The beater actually shot from where he was, still trailing behind you, the deacceleration from–“

“What deacceleration? It’s literally an iron ball!” James said, interrupting you again, he was clearly riled up.

“It was reckless!” Sirius said then.

“You can’t do it again!” James added.

“What if it’s all it takes to win a game?”

“I’d rather lose a game than lose a friend!”

You huffed, biting your cheek to avoid saying the retort that came to our mind, how James was being overly dramatic. But it would be useless, it wouldn’t change their minds. “Fine, but let’s just leave this subject behind, we should be celebrating not–“

“Are you ok?” You heard Remus ask from behind “The way the bludger pushed you back almost all the way into the hoops I–“

You sighed, just when you’d gotten James and Sirius off your back, “I’m fine! I’m not some delicate flower that can’t stand the hit of a bludger in the gut!”

“You think we’re worried because you’re a girl?” Remus asked, quick to catch on to why you were being so stubborn about it.

“Is that not it?”

“No, you dumbass! I’d be just as worried if Sirius had gotten hit by a bludger in the gut!”

“You would?” Sirius teased, “That’s so sweet of you Moons.”

You laughed at Sirius’ silly answer, “Fine, maybe it was a dumb thing to–“

“–it was,” Sirius interrupted, emphasising the “was”.

“Whatever, it won’t happen again, case closed, let’s go to the party.”

“Wouldn’t you like to see Madam Pomrey first?” Remus asked.

You shot him a look and walked towards the rest of the team, they were still cheering and celebrating along with their friends.

“She’s so goddamned hot-headed!” Sirius huffed as he stood next to the boys, watching you walk towards Marlene and Lily. You’d probably get a scold from them as well.

“Reminds me of you,” Remus added, looking at Sirius from the side.

Back in the common room, there was music and drinks and somehow even snacks for everyone as they cheered on. When Peter started talking about the things you’d done again, he and Tom had started a motion for you to be carried into the air for a couple of seconds, everyone agreed and you ended up in the air, being shoved up and down a couple of times before they finally let you down. They thought of you as a hero, and you felt like a rockstar. It was something you weren’t used to, but being cheered on by so many people was undoubtedly nice. Even if at some point you had to step away from the crowd and onto a quieter area of the common room, sitting down on the sofa and feeling the pain kick in as the adrenaline started to fade away.

Sirius was next to you a couple of minutes later, placing his arm over your shoulder and dragging you closer to him “With the whole bludger incident, I think I forgot to tell you how freaking amazing you were today on the game,” he said, mouth close to your ear as he spoke, “You barely allowed the Ravenclaws to get any points.”

You leaned into him too, allowing yourself to bask in the warmth he emitted, “You were brilliant too Puppy! No one got hit by bludgers on your watch.”

He turned to you, placing his hand on your waist, but you winced, and he looked at you with a shrug “Does it still hurt?”

You shook your head, not daring to open your mouth, and leaned in to kiss him instead. If it worked to distract him in the restricted section, I’d work to distract him now. But Sirius was hungry today, the adrenaline of the game and the fact that you looked so fucking good in those quidditch pants, had him feeling all sorts of things, so when he kissed back, you could feel the neediness on the kiss.

And he, oblivious to your pain, dug his hands under your sweater and tightened his grip around your waist, pressing his fingers to your warm skin. That had you wince again and he separated from you, his hand still under your shirt.

“It still hurts!” he said accusingly.

“Sirius, I’m fine,” you said, attempting to drag him back into the kiss, but he shook you off.

“I’m gonna lift your sweater, kay?”

“No, I’m–“ He did it anyway, only a little at first, but then a lot more when he realised.

“–Sweetheart, look at this!” he said reproachfully. You looked down, wincing as you saw the various shades of purple and green your stomach had gotten.

“I guess that’s why it hurts…” you muttered, with a little smile, trying to lighten the mood. Sirius just looked at you sternly. “Fine then, just don’t touch that area and then–“

“We’re going to Poppy.”

“But the celebration party.”

“Look at me straight in the eyes and tell me it doesn’t hurt.” You took a deep breath, looking at him and then averting his gaze, “Thought so.”

“I still wanted to make out,” you mumbled under your breath as you let him guide you toward the portrait, his hand neatly wrapped around yours.

“We can make out all you want once Poppy has checked up on you,” he told you, turning back to give you a small wink.

“Where you up to?” you heard Remus’ deep voice from the side.

“Sirius insists on taking me to the infirmary.”

“She has a terrible bruise all over her stomach,” Sirius added what you’d left out.

How did he find out? Remus wondered until it dawned on him. Right, they’re dating.

“It’s not that bad,” you tried to argue, but Sirius threw you another look.

“Mind if I tag along?” He said walking beside the two of you “I need to restock some of my medicine.”

Full moon must be soon, you thought “You don’t even have to ask Rem,” you said as you nodded for him to come along.

Series Masterlist | Next Chapter

TAGLIST: @rayrlupin @callmelovergirl @warcelia @ireneop @endversewinchester @moonyunebi @smuttysluttybitch @mazzymoons @drugs-for-memes @sofiacblair @vmpir3lvr @remuslupinisbae @rabluver @willgrahamisalesbi4n @thatobsessedreader @orkwardx0 @itskailey24 @hell0-kittie @belovedmoony @blacksgarden @loving-and-dreaming @cassie-love20 @starchaser-lily @zucchini-queenie @springflwer07 @sseleniaa @cometsghost @orkwardx0 @imdoingbetternow @sbrewer21 @remuslupinsbae @maxinehufflepuffprincess @wifiatthetrainstation @unstablereader @msblacklupin @oliversaurus @jaylienpotter @remussbitch @hermionelove @izuoyarmin @themarauderswife7

Leve a comment telling me if you wanna be tagged on Gilded Constellations

Want to support me? Like and reblog this post (reblogs are extra nice since they help me get my work to more people), also guys, I absolutely love reading your comments, so do throw them my way if you have any!

A/N: It's a quidditch episode! What do we think? Personally, I had lots of dun writting it, espeially the pre and post game scenes hehe. What can I say, I've got a flare for the dramatic.

Raead more Marauders Fiction

254 notes · View notes

911bts · 13 days

Note

Hi! I was on the 911 wiki and trying to understand the difference between when an actor is labeled a guest star versus a recurring character. Does it just have to do with the initial contract they’re offered for the season? I thought it was about the number of episodes, but since John Harlan Kim was recurring in s4 but Anirudh was labeled as guest in s5 despite appearing in all but 2 episodes I was confused. Thanks!

I KNOW I have a breakdown of these labels somewhere on this blog but I can't find it so:

Main/Regular is someone who is contracted to be a lead on the show. This doesn't mean they are in every episode of the season though.

Current mains are: Angela, Peter, Jennifer, Aisha, Kenny, Ryan, Oliver, Gavin

Previous mains are: Connie, Corinne, Marcanthonee, Rockmond, John*

*For only Season 4, John was actually a series regular. It's believed, but not confirmed, to have been because of visa + pandemic reasons since he's from Australia.

Recurring is someone who comes back for multiple episodes and is planned to.

Some examples are: Anirudh, Arielle, Lou, Bryan, Debra

Guest is someone who is in one episode (or has a small return).

An example of the returning guest cast is like the guys from the cement microwave & merry-go-round calls. They returned, but it was a one-off and not in a major capacity.

This is a rather general breakdown. There's some more technical terms. Technically, there's levels below guest cast and such. If you want the deep dive, here's a resource.

#anon #answered #i hope this makes sense

119 notes · View notes

anewstartrekfan · 4 months

Text

Reading an old Star Trek book and to my surprise Jim Kirk has always had Daddy issues

So the only Star Trek book I’ve read was the one explaining how the tribbles episode was made and the aftermath, so trying to read Enterprise (1986) with some basic knowledge of trek post 2009 is fascinating. Cuz you see where the breadcrumbs of some of the characterization and even backstory come from.

In chapter 2, Sam Kirk and Kirk’s mom show up to Kirk’s ceremony where he takes command of the enterprise. They talk about George Kirk Sr. being in Starfleet, (he’s dead here too) something that I don’t think was in any of the episodes or movies. And how he was always distant and away. And they’re clearly going for some parallels/dramatic irony with the Wrath of Khan when it comes to Kirk not believing he could’ve developed a relationship with his father as an adult. And it plays into the tragic aspect I love about Kirk.

Upon reflection he’s happy that Carol rejected him (he proposed to her in chapter 1) because he doesn’t want to leave anyone behind while on the job, only returning for sparse visits the way his father did. But at the same time, Jim craves companionship. And he can’t get it in his current job because as captain, it is not ethical for him to date anyone else on the Enterprise.

Anyway the long and short is if we take this book into account, Kirk has always had daddy issues. It’s just in TOS EU it was abandonment issues whereas in 2009 it was dad sacrificed himself so high expectations issues.

The little details like the mom’s name getting carried over into the aos movies are a good touch, but then seeing George Kirk being a Starfleet officer actually get incorporated into the 2009 movie as an important plot point, and then also using his absence in Kirk’s life but just in a different way as part of Kirk’s backstory is so cool to me.

A difference though is unlike fanfic tropes, Winona is actually a good mom and wants Jim to succeed in his career where his father failed in his Starfleet career. Unfortunately though Jim appears to be falling into the same pitfalls. As in lack of communication and unwillingness to play workplace politics.

That last burn from Winona tho… like damn girl I felt that.

Another thing I want to backtrack to, Sam Kirk. Sam being the alleged chosen child, the one that was supposed to follow in George Kirk’s footsteps but didn’t, and then Jim strolled in and did even more than what Sam was supposed to do, and Sam and George never reconciled. Like dudes this book is almost 40 years old and this stuff was in strange new worlds last year. Tho xenobiology appears to have morphed into xenoanthropology (tho according to the fan wiki he’s still a biologist so idk what the deal is)

For the record Sam’s characterization isn’t remotely the same here. Likely the choice to keep him out of Starfleet all together removed any sort of resentment of Jim potential like he has in SNW. There’s still tension though, as Sam tries to force Jim to confront why he’s reacting like this to his first mission for the enterprise being an escort job for a flying horse.

Shifting gears back to Jim needing to learn how to play workplace politics. The assumed reason for Pike leaving the enterprise. While SNW is doing the whole, Pike knows he won’t fly the enterprise forever and about the disfigurement and is cool with it, I find if fascinating that he’s more, sad about it here and that he got promoted out of the way for pushing too many buttons. It would be a sad ending but I wonder if SNW would incorporate that into its eventual ending. Hell I wonder if that’s what happened to Kirk between TOS and TMP.

Anyway big picture is this book is a fascinating time capsule and it’s fun seeing just how much has stuck around over the years both in fandom and in the franchise itself. Whether or not that’s the book’s doing is questionable but still. Fun to think about.

#star trek #star trek tos #james t kirk #spock #star trek enterprise #Star Trek enterprise 1986 #it’s a fun read #sam kirk #Star Trek meta #Star Trek analysis #star trek strange new worlds #strange new worlds #snw #star trek the original series #Star Trek enterprise the first adventure #Star Trek AOS #star trek alternate original series #Jim Kirk meta

110 notes · View notes

myouicieloz · 5 months

Text

Softcore

Kim Dahyun x member!reader

Synopsis: dahyun wanted you to reminisce the old times, so you snuck out to one of her friend’s gathering, but things get messy.

Warnings: drinking. angst. reader is recovering from an od episode. mentions of drugs. vomit. mentions of vomit. sensitive content. guilt, pain. tw: overd0se, recovery. everyone’s hurting. they’re trying to help and they’re stressed too.

Word count: 2.4k

Notes: only slightly proofread

Pt.1 | Pt.2 | Pt.3 | Pt.4 | Pt.5

“I still don’t think this is a good idea.” You told Dahyun, adjusting your jacket to suppress a shiver as you waited for the elevator. Your hands were clasped together, since she was too easy to lose in a crowd, and you clung onto the small girl tightly.

“Come on, y/n! You’ve been locked up in your room like some brunette Rapunzel for over a month now. It’s time you start living again, don’t you think?” She left the elevator without looking back, breathing in the penthouse’s atmosphere.

Dayhun had stormed into your room a few hours before, telling you to dress up for a reserved party the two of you were, apparently, attending. Naturally, you tried to argue your way out of it, but she had soon looked at you with those puppy eyes of hers, and you lost it, not having any other option other than doing as told. She meant no harm, you knew it was much; it was simply her way of trying to help you out. You just weren’t sure you were ready — yet.

Sensing your discomfort, Dahyun dropped her fast pace, making a turn to pay you full attention.

“I thought you liked parties. We enjoyed going together before… you know, the thing happened.” Her voice was full of hesitation, one you felt guilty of.

“It’s not that. It’s just…” You sighed, looking around. “Nevermind. Let’s go.”

Your sister shot you a bright smile as the two of you entered the lavish penthouse. The moment you were in, all the eyes were on you, watching your every move. You knew most of them meant no harm: they were all just colleagues, curious and worried to know how you were doing after such a messy incident. However, you’ve never been one to enjoy being the center of attention, much content with staying in the sides of the spotlight. This way, you could have the idol life you knew you were made for, but still maintain your privacy and reserved nature.

Of course, said privacy and respect—the ones you’ve worked so hard to earn— were worth nothing — now. You were back to being the prey, the media’s target and scared little lamb, deprived of confidence and courage to speak up about the things that made you uncomfortable.

Aware of that, you clung onto Dahyun even further, wishing you could simply hide behind her and disappear. It would all be so much easier for everybody, then. If you weren’t currently attending that stupid party, if you hadn’t fucked up your group’s reputation, if you hadn—

“Hello, unnie! How have you been?” Dahyun’s livid tone was quick to snap you out of your thoughts. She gave one of your arms, the one you were holding onto hers for dear life, a gentle squeeze, too, with her fingers tracing patters on your skin with such gentleness only herself could provide.

You don’t need to be wary, her touch said. I’m here with you.

Being the little sunshine she was, Dahyun was unable to go anywhere without greeting someone, chatting her thoughts away whilst you limited yourself to distributing a few small smiles and formal bows.

Suddenly, you found yourself caught in a bubble of people you knew too well. They all shared the same burdens and struggles as you did, trying to navigate the idol industry as best as they could. All the people in this big fucking penthouse were familiar to you and with you, somehow.

It left you with the urge to throw up.

“I will go find something to drink.” You told Dahyun, storming off to find the kitchen before her big, dark eyes were able to process your words properly. She intended to follow you, and she really meant it, but someone had just caught her arm and she got herself into such an interesting conversation—

She decided to check in on you immediately after the conversation is over, then. It’s settled.

Meanwhile, you opened the kitchen’s door abruptly, not opting to attend the bar because there were too many people there. Too many familiar people.

You still couldn’t deal with crowds. It was the reason you've been calling in sick in every fansign, airport dropout and outdoor dates ever since you’ve gotten off the hospital.

Not bothering to care about the staff who looked at you petrified, you merely bowed and hummed something incoherent as you made your way towards the balcony, filled with drinks. Thankfully, they got your favorite. Rum was nice, and the Coca-Cola would assure your body had the glucose it needed for you to not pass out, allowing you to not be sober and make this whole experience bearable without further issues.

The liquid tasted like heaven as it made its way down your throat. You hummed in pleasure— it had been months since you’ve been allowed anything besides juice and water. It tasted like secrecy, like sin. It was punishment.

For the first time in so long, you felt something apart from sorrow and guilt. As your nerves were gradually subsided, you poured yourself another cup.

You threw up on the bushes for the 4th time. It was your fault, you knew it as much. You were nervous, so you drank too much. It would’ve been too much even if you weren’t on your recovering program’s strict diet, anyway.

You cursed yourself, trying to get the long, vomited strands of hair out of your face with shaky fingers. You knew you weren’t done; you could feel the effect of the drinks on your fragile stomach, which still couldn’t quite hold anything long enough to provide the rest of your body the nutrients it needed to ensure you a healthy state.

Once again, you were dealing with the consequences of your impulsive choices.

Leaning the upper half of your torso once again, you discharged the bile onto the green leafs until nothing but your reflex’s sounds came out, followed up with salty tears.

You weren’t sure you could still this for much longer.

“Y/n?” You heard Nayeon’s faint voice from behind you, “Hey, girls. Found her!”

Soon, two pairs of small, strong hands were lifting you up and holding you against them. Their touch was so strong you could barely breathe— but, surprisingly, it didn’t feel suffocating.

If anything, it was comforting, nurturing. This touch felt safe, like love.

Your sobs were slowly subsiding, and you confirmed your hypothesis as soon as fresh mint invaded your nostrils. Jihyo’s shampoo was one of your favorite smells in the world.

“Shh, we found you, it’s ok.” She hummed, still not resuming her grip. “We’re here, darling. You’re all ok.”

You buried your head against the crook of her neck, sensing how the shadows of the others came into your peripheral vision through Jihyo’s dark hair. They circled you, providing a warm bubble as they waited for you to calm down.

Which, after numerous deep breaths, you did, unclasping yourself from Jihyo’s touch. You hated to feel the lack of her warmth, yet you knew you couldn’t hide yourself forever.

At least, not at the moment. You were exposed, raw and so deep in the imperfections you’ve worked so hard to hide from your bandmates and best friends. Your efforts were all in vain, once again shining through the cracks of your skin.

You tried speaking many times, always faltering when not a sound was heard. You desperately wanted to explain, to tell them how it felt to be exhausted, drained and confused about the mess that was going on inside of you.

Instead, you just threw up on the bushes once again.

“Come on, let’s go home.” Nayeon stated, handling you around like a doll as soon as you stopped throwing up.

“She’s clearly not good to go yet, Nayeon. Don’t push it.” Sana’s tone was sharp, and you looked up to find her staring angrily at the oldest member.

“Well, excuse me if I don’t want dispatch to show up and see Y/n like that. It’s like you don’t fucking think, Sana.” The member snapped back, crossing her arms at her friend.

As much as you wished, you couldn’t muster the energy to ask them to stop. After all, the last thing you wanted was for your sisters to argue because of you, or your stupidity. Before you even realize it, your teeth were knitted, and you were shivering, unable to keep your shoulders from shaking or your body to stay still. You felt a big, warm leather jacket rest on your shoulders, as another pair of hands held a firm grip on the side of your body, then.

“Let’s go to the van, ok?” Momo smiled, blocking your vision from the scene unraveling in front of the apartment complex’s garden. “We can wait for the others there. Jihyo just went to get dahyun before we leave. She was looking for you in the north area. She was the one who called Jihyo, actually.”

You nodded, not paying much attention to the dancer’s words. Still, you allowed her to guide you to the vehicle until you were sitting by the door. Momo showed you two small water bottles, handing out one of them.

“Here, take little sips, just so you won’t be too dehydrated.” Momo waited for you to acknowledge her command, smiling with reassurance as you drank, glossy eyes losing a bit of its previous dullness. “Perfect, baby. Now, I’ll use this one to clean your hair, ok? Her hands went to your chin, to hold your head into place, and you winced once you felt a few droplets of cold water reach your skin. “I’m sorry, I know you’re shivering, but we have to get your hair clean. Just stay still for me, please? It won’t take long, promise.”

You did as told, sighing in relief once Momo’s fingers untangled the front strands of your humid hair. She murmured praises after she got her task done with, helping you to get properly seated. You waited for the others in silence, and only thing grounding you was Momo’s warm touch around your shoulders. She caressed your hair, too, and soon you could feel sleep overcome the nausea, making it difficult for your eyes to stay open. You didn’t give in, though. You were terrified of waking up alone, without them by your side.

Fortunately, the rest of the girls got inside soon, too. You felt relieved to see Sana and Nayeon standing next to each other, whispering in hushed tones as they sent you worried, reassuring smiles every once in a while. Jihyo kissed your cheek, exchanging a silent conversation with Momo before going to the passenger’s seat, which left Dahyun, who hesitantly made her way to you.

She looked like a mess: her eyes were swollen, and her cheeks were red, clearly from crying. Her hair, always neatly in place, was pretty much disheveled, as if she’d messed it up in hopes of easing her nervousness.

You knew that as a fact; you knew Dahyun as much as she knew you. You were sisters, after all.

“I-I'm sorry.” You managed to say, in a weakened tone. Dahyun’s mouth dropped into an “o”, clearly stunned, and she chocked on her saliva. You didn’t let her say anything, though, gaining confidence from Momo’s reassuring grip on your skin. “I fucked it up. I shouldn’t have had anything to drink. It’s my fault, only.”

Dahyun looked up, unable to keep the tears from streaming down her face. She was relieved to know you weren’t mad at her, but also completely enraged at herself for being the reason you were in such a state. So small and frail, like a porcelain doll.

That was what you were: their little doll, for the girls to take care of, dote and love. Once again, Dahyun had failed that. She despised herself for it.

“It’s my fault, little angel. My fault.” Dahyun gave you a sad smile, caressing your face. “I… I thought it would give you good memories, to sneak out and party a little, like we used to. I’m to blame: I brought you here, and I left you by yourself, too. I’m so, so sorry.”

You shook your head, hugging her as hard as you could in your weakened state. The van was moving too much, and you were starting to feel nauseous again, yet you didn’t say a word. You simply held Dahyun close to you, reminiscing the fun times you had: when you’d party, laugh, and be extremely hangover, coming home by sunrise while the others pretended not to hear your drunken clumsiness whenever you tried to get into your rooms. Those were great memories, filled with laughter and the opportunity of being normal for a few hours. Just a girl attending a party, for once.

You understood why Dahyun had wanted you to come, then.

“I know, Dahyunie. I know.” You murmured, caressing her hair, just as Momo had done to you. It was a cycle of pain and guilt, one you desperately wanted to end. And the only thing you did was fuck things up further and further. “Thank you for remembering that. We had lots of fun, back then. Right?”

Momo, noticing your breathing becoming quicker, and erratic, drew your head onto her chest. “Close your eyes, my sweet. It’s been a long night. You can talk later.”

You tried to argue, but it seemed as if your body had recognized the command instantly. Your eyelids grew heavy, and the last thing you spotted was Dahyun’s relieved, small smile at you, before you gave into darkness.

Your weariness grew heavy on the girl’s bones, too. They all left the van with exhaustion in their eyes, not a single word exchanged on the way to their apartment. Momo went first, carrying the asleep girl in her arms with ease. You didn’t even move when she placed you in bed with uttermost care, letting the others change you into comfortable pajamas as she went to her bedroom.

Nayeon left once she was done discharging your dirty clothes, too, followed by Sana, after the latter left you water and fruits on your nightstand.

That left Jihyo, who stared into your moving chest with her arms crossed, much like a statue, and Dahyun, small and quiet besides the leader.

“I really didn’t mean it, unnie.” Dahyun murmured, desperate for Jihyo to understand. She was having a hard time figuring out how to help you-- they all were, and feeling the older girl’s disapproval only made her feel worse. “I shouldn’t have snuck her out, and I’m deeply sorry. Please. I only wanted to make things go back to how they were.”

With a sigh, Jihyo finally looked at Dahyun, who eagerly returned the stare. Whatever the leader intended to say, though, was suppressed quickly. Maintaining her blank face, Jihyo excited the room, no words exchanged.

#sol writes #twice angst #dahyun x reader #jihyo x reader #jihyo angst #dahyun angst #momo angst #minatozaki sana x yn #nayeon x reader #kpop angst

139 notes · View notes