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#does he even have a stable concept of it
bluegarners · 1 year
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feeling mentally ill about dick grayson's concept of home.... like he literally can never go home
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felidaefatigue · 3 months
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genuinely pondering what i actually want to do for the next 50 years because im pretty sure life is going to become... Not unlivable in the sense of humans cease but so completely and utterly Not This that i feel like any goals need to be achieved asap if they rely at all on global systems
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dokyeomini · 8 months
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honestly what it seems like to me is boston can't handle any change .... anyone growing or moving on from the way their dynamics are
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datastate · 2 years
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how do i write the fact that mr. chidouin is enabling kai’s self-destructive tendencies/the pedestal he places the chidouins on when mr. chidouin isn’t there (i could’ve written the manipulation outright even if kai didn’t recognize it in his own dialogue) and the fic is from kai’s pov (where he thinks of them as no less than his salvation and for the longest time didn’t notice it because he was too taken aback by the fact he was offered kindness and compassion at all in the first place...)
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zwhoreo · 9 months
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hello! It was just recently when I found your page and Immediately loved how you write Luffy!
I wanted to know if you could write a short fic about jealous! Luffy, maybe the crew land on a island, they went to a bar and reader started get hit on by another dude, I wonder if luffy would be overprotective or wouldn’t care that much.
tysm for the support! I’m so happy you like my writing, that means a lot!! :’) I’ve had some ideas for this concept and I love how this turned out, so thanks sm for the request <3
jealous luffy - luffy x gn!reader
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fluff
summary in request, luffy’s progression from uneasy cluelessness into overprotective rage
words: 1k
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Luffy’s been holding your hand all day, like he always does. And he’s been roughly dragging you around across the island because he’s excited to be in a new town and make friends and find adventures. Evening comes and your hand is sweaty, you love Luffy but you want a little break, so you tell him that, as gently as you can, when you follow some of the crew into a tavern in the town square.
It’s loud and warm and Luffy wanders off to see if they have food here, so you’re left alone to sit in one of the bar stools and wait to catch the bartender’s attention so you can get a drink. Your excitement doesn’t overflow like Luffy’s does but it’s been a long, boring voyage over this particular sea and the stable ground, the unfamiliar faces, the world outside of a wooden box are so welcome, and so you’re in a particularly good mood, more outgoing than you would normally be.
So when a man comes to you, and sits by you, and begins to ask you who you are and compliment your clothes you let him, you talk back happily. Because you’ve been talking to just the same nine people for far too long. When he offers to buy you a drink you think why not? and agree with a dismissive laugh.
Luffy is bored and notices you talking to a man he’s never seen before. He isn’t jealous, not yet. He doesn’t pick up on anything out of the ordinary, he doesn’t see a problem with his hand being close to yours, or the drink he offers you. In fact, Luffy’s jealous of you, because you’re getting something for free and he isn’t. He gets antsy and wants to hold your hand again, now that he’s in a bad mood. So he comes and sits cross legged on the floor, leaning against your stool, not saying anything.
You smile at him and return to your conversation. You’re aware, only vaguely, of how the man is leaning in closer towards you, how his gestures brush your arm. Luffy isn’t. But Luffy still feels agitated, like something’s not right, though he can’t place it. He plays with the cuff of your pants, staring straight ahead, brows furrowed.
You lean away as the man gets closer. You don’t feel in danger, you’re slightly amused at this man’s clear attempts to hit on you, you continue to laugh it off because Luffy’s there and you feel safe. You bring your hand up to rest your head on, to get it away from his creeping fingers, your body language is subtle but Luffy is starting to feel like something isn’t right. Something feels off in his heart, his stomach.
He’s watching the man now, from the floor beneath you, glaring as the man glances down icily at him. Luffy is stressed, a hand wrapping around your ankle. The man doesn’t feel threatened, he’s too confident, emboldened and cocky he rubs it in by leaning closer and complimenting you more. He wants to make Luffy jealous.
Luffy is angry. His face is heating up. Who does this man think he is? And as Luffy gets angry you’re feeling off too, like the man is getting too close, fingers reach out and brush your hair.
“Hey,” you try to dodge, not having any fun anymore. You want out, you’re racing to think up an excuse, or try to get Luffy to do something, but you’re scared. The man is tall and strong, probably a pirate himself, you don’t know what he might do in the face of denial. You feel awful for your kindness and excitement just minutes ago, you feel a little sick. The man tries to hold your hand and you jerk away, no subtlety anymore.
And that’s when Luffy breaks. The rage inside him suddenly explodes because he may not know what it means to come onto someone, but he knows you, he knows when you’re upset. And his overprotective side takes over and he decides that this man is going to be the one to pay.
Luffy shoots up from the floor and punches the man in the face with all the force he can, yelling at him to get away from you. You gasp and scurry off the stool, trying to grab Luffy’s shoulders, but he lunges at the man again with a sharp uppercut. The man reaches for the cutlass on his belt, blood dripping from his mouth, but Luffy sees red and hits and hits.
The tavern has turned to the three of you in shock, but cheers erupt from the alcohol ridden crowd as an animalistic fight breaks the bar in half. And there’s a clear winner.
Luffy stands, soon, in a rage-filled daze, fists clenched as he looks down at the unconscious man beneath him. And in an instant you’re crushed into strong, flexed arms, lifted from the ground, hands gripping your skin as Luffy holds you tightly in a silent need to keep you for himself. Kisses pepper your face and he rubs your hands and wrists and shoulders where you had been touched before by the man Luffy can’t stand to look at again.
“He can’t have you,” Luffy says unhappily, face buried in your neck, pouting like a child.
“Luffy…” You wrap your arms around him and try to steady your breathing, soaking in his familiar smell and warmth. “I’m ok… it’s alright-”
Your lips are met with a forceful kiss before you finish speaking. “Mmm!” Luffy grumbles into your mouth, still mad, a newfound clinginess developing in his heart as he grips you protectively.
You’re so aware of all the eyes on you, but all that you need right now is the overpowering presence of Luffy all around you. You’re safe. It’s over now. You close your eyes, Luffy’s mouth still attached to yours, as Nami rushes over to drag both of you out of the tavern.
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kaseyskat · 8 months
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okay since they said that the san diego show is gonna be the only one Not recorded, i'll do my best to summarize the show for y'all!!!
-glenn's dad fact: the glenn close trio instagram (? i think?) is full of pictures of glenn standing next to a picture of the real glenn close
-darryl's dad fact: he and carol go to san diego very frequently because darryl likes the breweries and carol likes surfing! they have not "had sex" there once, but they HAVE made love (statements that made me cringe out loud)
-henry's dad fact: he and mercedes make a fake san diego burrito for themselves and the twins. it sounds awful.
-ron's dad fact: he thinks san diego is a type of eggo waffle
-the prompt that we rolled was called DADDY BABIES. the plotline? the dads (and paeden) went to the dimensional witch tilt toblerona to ask her to give them the strength of their youth back so they could find their kids. instead, tilt turned them into babies.
-the dads still have all of their memories of who they are as people and they can talk to themselves and to paeden (tilt does not understand them though, tilt only hears baby noises) but physically Being a baby affects their mental state just a bit
-ron wanted to stay a baby forever. henry tried to explain the concept of ageplay to him, darryl got confused thinking that ron just wanted to HAVE a baby like with samantha, henry had to explain fetishes
-during the baby section, henry is the most "adult" and ends up having to corral the others. darryl is a close second, but glenn and ron both Suffer Immensely
-while tilt is making. applesauce? the babies scheme on how to escape, involving an elaborate scheme in which henry uses mold earth on playdoh to make fake versions of themselves blue in the face and choking in a plastic bag and ron throwing his voice to sound like a baby crying. beth made the worst fake crying noise ever but then also gave us an INSANE dolphin noise when anthony called her out on it
-(also the dads had to roll object permanence to see if they thought tilt was gone forever when she was out of their line of sight. glenn failed this check very badly. darryl even played peekaboo with him to demonstrate object permanence and it failed. anthony made a horrible horrible joke that glenn's not a bad parent he just has bad object permanence even when it comes to nick)
-somehow this works? they trap tilt toblerona (glenn using illusory mind prison to make tilt think SHES the one choking on a plastic bag, henry casting stone wall on her to build a lego wall around her and effectively cask of amontillado-ing her) and then wander around the house looking for a way out.
-they realize they need tilt's key to escape, but first they watch an episode of bluey! henry is the only one who saved on a roll to Not be sucked into watching bluey and ends up unplugging the TV and going on a tangent about how screentime is bad
-(which is really fucking funny because he very explicitly says "lark and sparrow are well behaved because we set boundaries and have them play outside instead of using screens" and we all know how lark and sparrow are like. not???? not well behaved. henry im so sorry to break this to you but they are not well behaved-)
-anyways they get back to tilt, find and steal her key, and then open the door, promptly getting sucked through dimensions
-(darryl thinks for a second that he's in the rapture and tries to baptize himself in case his baby form isn't baptized. henry tries to help but goes on another tangent and they miss the opportunity)
-when they awaken, they find themselves now as teenagers in a classroom! and they see a GOTH PUNK SEEKER OF DARKNESS (phrases that made the entire crowd erupt in screaming, myself included)
-this time, darryl is the most stable of the dads! glenn coming in second, and then ron and henry were both. very teenager.
-darryl immediately offers to play ball with link. link is interested but ultimately gets shot down by tilt, who explains that they are in interdimensional detention forever
-glenn and taylor immediately bond over how cool they are
-scary asks ron if she can copy his math homework because he seems smart with a tie. ron agrees to let her but is very nervous about it (we later find out this is because he is not very good at math)
-teenage henry is a fucking delight yall. he sits there staring out the window at the trees and writing poetry (with long hair! long hair teenage hen is real!!!) about the trees and enjoying nature
-scary has to roll not to fall in love with him the second she finds out that he writes poetry (she fails)
-normal tries to bond with his grandfather. henry brushes him off entirely. its heartbreaking and also hilariously funny
-normal goes fucking apeshit yall. he gets so fed up of henry ignoring him and the others not talking to him and being trapped in this small room that he takes a crossbow and threatens tilt with it. she calls his bluff and he SHOOTS HER?
-at least, he tries. she catches the bolt and then tells him that if he's serious he needs to actually stab the bolt into her heart himself. he does. he's unhinged.
-tilt tries to explain her entire sob story backstory. darryl interrupts to boo her and call her a loser.
-glenn and taylor throw a desk out of the window to break it open. going out the window Will Kill You.
-ron paints the window like a slip and slide to try and trick tilt into going into it. it doesn't work. however two guards come in and it DOES work on one of the guards
-the other guard eventually gets physically thrown out of the window by taylor, who proudly declares that this will not affect him at all
-henry goes to talk to scary. scary gets excited, but then henry just asks if she thinks that teen darryl would go out with henry because even though he's "not henry's type", something about him is captivating. scary is heartbroken.
-darryl overhears this and rejects henry on the basis of him still dating carol! but offers to set henry up with carol's friends.
-glenn and taylor use awful fireworks to blind tilt, the other guard (that taylor kills), and normal since he was in range.
-scary tries to be bitter and calls henry out for being blind, but henry wasn't hit with the spell and immediately says some fakedeep shit about seeing more than most people do. it is insanely funny i cannot stress how funny teenage henry is
-link is now convinced that public schools were a mistake and he needs to leave Right Now. he rolls a nat 20 on taking the key, but uses it for himself to fucking dip. he just ditches them. he bolts for it. normal even tries to give him a high five and link completely goes NOPE.
-when nobody else has another form of escape, henry takes out his sketchbook? that apparently he always has as a teen? and uses summon creature to draw a boar and bring it to life. the boar smashes through the door and now they are saved!
-it is here that it is revealed this was all a dream but specifically a dream set pre-canon. darryl makes a comment about link being a narc. glenn tells taylor to never change because he's perfect exactly the way he is. scary tells ron that he sucks at math (and ron is very confused about scary's existence he doesn't know who she is).
-HENRY. tells normal to be the best version of himself. AND TO HELP HIM WITH THAT. he draws. TEENY. TO GIVE TO NORMAL AND INSPIRE HIM TO BE HIS BEST SELF. and that is how normal came up with teeny the teen as the mascot of teen high
-it was such a fun show, i'm so glad i got to attend! shame that it isn't being recorded
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phantomfallacy · 18 days
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There’s not nearly enough analyses of Wriothesley and the panopticon that is Meropide.
Like, sure, the connection is there, but are your lines connecting to the right points? Because if you think Wriothesley’s office is the control tower and the Fortress is his all-knowing domain, I think you’re wrong.
Spoilers for his character quest and the Meropide world quest ahead, as well as various tidbits in mini quests:
The Unfinished Comedy reveals that there is a child who had been born in the prison, more or less a decade ago. More than enough time for Wriothesley to “discover” her. But he doesn’t. He is, without a doubt, an advocator of children, and would never allow her to stay in prison if he can help it. No matter what excuse there is, such as being busy with the reformation of the prison, the Fatui invasion, or the Wingalet construction, it doesn’t negate the fact that Wriothesley doesn’t know, or he would’ve acted.
The Beret Society as well, while coming under Wriothesley’s purview, has existed long enough to brainwash and break the spirits of the people who have joined. He had no evidence that Dougier had been breaking rules and infringing on human rights.
So no, Wriothesley, contrary to the Fortress of Meropide description, does not know everything that goes on in the Fortress, and he tells us so.
So then why does the description say otherwise?
The concept of the panopticon is that a single prison warden can maintain order because people will never be able to tell if his eyes are on them. As a result, they will behave, regardless of whether the warden is truly watching or not. Wriothesley tells us that he doesn’t have eyes and ears everywhere because we are not a prisoner. We do not need to be intimidated into behaving. Moreover, the Traveler seems to be an exception to everything like a harem protagonist so let’s discount “our” knowledge of Wriothesley’s claim.
What I think slaps the most though, is that his panopticon isn’t just the Fortress, but the Court of Fontaine as well.
It is mentioned that Wriothesley knows the ongoings of the overworld despite rarely coming up. The citizens of Fontaine see Meropide as this horrible place, even after Wriothesley’s reforms, and it’s not only because of prejudice (though that is most certainly the case), but because of his refusal to be perceived. He refuses Charlotte’s interviews, though being a Duke would most certainly put him in the eye of the public. This is a tentative maintenance of his public persona: that of a cruel and unfathomable man.
“The less people see of me, the happier they will be.”
If people understood that Meropide had welfare meals, stable work hours, and relatively accessible healthcare, why would they be incentivized to follow the law? Especially those of Fleuvre Cendre. But Meropide cannot possibly be that kind of haven. It is a prison, and forever should be—because it is not sustainable.
What humans cannot understand, they fear, and that works to keep the rest of Fontaine in check from committing crimes. No one wants to go to prison, no one wants to suffer, no one wants to see the Duke of Meropide. It’s embedded into the very society, so much that they have pop culture-like phrases for it.
The Duke’s office isn’t the control tower. The whole of Meropide Fortress is, and Fontaine is the “prison.”
There are other interpretations of course, such as the factor of more recent commentary on panopticons and how they bring up the topic of holding those in absolute power accountable. The warden at the center of the panopticon has absolute power, but how is he to be kept accountable?
It could be a hint about how Wriothesley isn’t as in control as he presents himself, and the way he rules is dependent on the people who keep him in check. After all, he says that as Duke, he must set an example of persecuting only after evidence has been found of a wrongdoing, otherwise he could have simply killed Dougier. However, that would certainly bring the Fortress down around him as people questioned his reputation as a fair ruler. (Cough bringing back my sword of Damocles bullshit here//shot).
Alternatively, Wriothesley himself could be a sword of Damocles upon Fontaine, evidenced by Neuvillette’s story quest, but I feel like that would be a Wriolette thread…
Without the source material confirming anything, we’re just playing with Schrödinger’s cat though. Just some food for thought.
Next time on Dragon Ball Z: my TED Talk on why the Fortress of Meropide is not called the Fortress of Atlantis because Wriothesley presents it as communism but it is totalitarian and why that works— (Kidding, I don’t wanna touch this with a ten foot pole pls don’t respond with political philosophies I will perish 🫠🫠🫠😵)
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teenagenutant · 1 year
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Ngl I love Galileo's entire concept. Does he have double the ego-mask and double the insecurities?
hope you don't mind me using this message to compile some asks ^^ (if you don't see yours im probably planning on doing something else with it) thank you so much!! first off... yeah totally LOL
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gali's being totally genuine here. i don't think galileo masks their feelings at all- they're a total emotional open book in contrast to both donnie and leo, lmao. when they're being egotistical, they mean it 200%, but its also the same when they're feeling insecure...
(a bunch more galileo asks beloooow)
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made me giggle LMAO
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in regards to powers: i'm still unsure on exactly how to handle it, but i do like the idea of being able to create more stable portal constructs... maybe being able to teleport constructed items? maybe being able to create more sci/fantasy constructs than donnie alone can...? much to think about. parmi definitely has a combined Even More Insane portal powers, messing with both dimensions and space... (but he operates on rule of funny, lol, so a bit unpredictable) they can probably still use their normal separate abilities to some extent, but probably are still affected by each other!
i love the idea of galileo getting Very hyperfocused Very easily- gali gets their love of learning and being right, and they don't feel hungry or tired as much as either donnie or leo would, so they can get really lost in the weeds... components of a fusion remember everything that happens and would probably retain the information learned, but wouldn't for example make leo instantly knowledgable on all the complicated science stuff donnie knows, and vice versa. aka: leo and donnie both ending up with a LOT of contextless, near-useless trivia after unfusing post-wikipedia binge. the image of them fusing exclusively to combine their ability to Prove Someone Wrong On The Internet is really, really good LMAO
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THANK YOU !! galileo was a fun guy to design, i'm really glad people like them. i think being galileo is actually really fun, especially in the moment... like how initially excited donnie was + how hyped leo was to make scifi stuff in mind meld..
thank y'all for the asks!! i'll be tagging this stuff as 'fusion mayhem au' in the future. (again no promises this'll be a Formal AU Thing but i thought it be helpful for people to have a tag to filter!)
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hana-no-seiiki · 4 months
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But like the ship trope where PERSON A looks like a childish brat on the outside but is actually the stable, mature one in the relationship
while PERSON B is the opposite wherein they’re super stoic, cool-headed but is actually super petty and aggressive at times.
tw/cw: soft yandere themes, seggs but not explicit
😤🫸🏽🫷🏽
That but with Villain and/or Vigilante! Reader and Yandere! Damian.
I’ve seen this a lot in Damian Wayne works so credits go to those amazing writers that inspired me to have my own take on this!! A lot of this is just a rehash/amalgamation of what people have already written but with some of my input and thoughts…lots and lots of thoughts.
Anyways, you seem like the type of person to ruin another’s life for the sake of it. Just your wicked whims. You’re notorious for stealing massive amounts of properties or (in case of Vigilante) beat if not kill people who you deem unredeemable.
MINORS/AGELESS BLOGS DONT GO BEYOND THIS POINT
VER I : I’m thinking second gen Catwoman/Batman + CatNoir/Ladybug (both the OG anime concept and the series) dynamic, just gn reader.
You’re always clinging unto to Robin/New Batman. Saying sweet nothings and flirting with him, if not full on making out/having sex with the vigilante. You like the dude, really. But your heart remains with Damian Wayne. Robin/Batman just really reminded you of him sometimes.
Hatefucking. Hatefucking happens a lot. Robin/Batman loves pinning you to the walls/floors of alleyways before you two get down and dirty.
Whereas, people (namely his fellow vigilantes) think he’s done with you, but he’s probably the biggest [Villain Name] fanboy out there.
He knows basically everything about you except your true identity. Which is somehow completely inaccessible to him.
Little does he know that it was actually his own doing, locking your civilian self’s private information as a favor between friends.
But because of this he misunderstands and thinks you’re even more of a genius or something because you managed to outwit him!! You!! Are!! So!! Damn!! Amazing!!
Damian acts cold with everybody. He’s a brooding guy. He doesn’t express much. Only about 1% of what he’s feeling actually gets put into action and/or words.
So the fact that he insists on taking on missions where he has to face you, assists you if you aren’t harming anyone, or actually indulges in your flirtation is a big thing.
So it’s safe to say when he found out you liked someone else other than him, that you were just using him to get yourself to feel better about not having said dude he gets petty.
You two used to have this pact, to never interfere with each other’s civilian lives and to respect your secret identities (of which he’s tried to breach remotely several times). But all that goes up in flames as he stalks you after a heist. Following you home.
He finds out about your secret identity, your ‘unrequited’ love for him, and you two begin dating. But you’re still oblivious about his other identity.
Damian kinda has a kink for it ngl. Like he’ll charm you as Robin/Batman even as you tell him you’re already dating someone else.
Like it’s so adorable how you keep resisting him, telling him how much you love his civilian counterpart.
But then he still proceeds to fuck your brains out as a Vigilante.
Man didn’t know he was into roleplaying until this moment. Like he’ll murmur stuff like “You say you love him, but nothing beats this. I’ve already carved a place inside you, Beloved. A place shaped in my image.”
Or “Where did your ‘undying love’ go, hm? Nowhere. You’re right back with me. Complete undone within moments of my touch.”
Things go a little awry though when you, ever the mature/communicative one in the relationship attempt to break up because Robin/Batman is leaving you confused as to how you truly feel. In addition to you not want to cuck your beautiful (soon to be ex) boyfriend any longer.
VER II: Is more on Vigilante x Vigilante. Similar to the one above except your relationship is a lot more professional and less hate-fuckey. You know of each other’s civilian/vigilante selves.
You’ve always admired Damian. Despite being quite close in age, you always saw him as a younger brother if not like a son almost. Witnessing him grow up and mature alongside you.
But your doting nature always came off a tad bit romantic. Flirtatious even. You tended to be a playful person after all. Hell you even call him Babe or Baby like that’s totally normal for you to call friends that.
A lot of your friends and colleagues always laugh at Damian’s expense whenever you arrive to come nag and/or flirt with him. It’s honestly hilarious. Judging from his murderous aura, people always thought that he wanted you 6 feet under.
The truth of the matter was that his glares and thoughts of murder were all directed to everyone else but you.
Damian never felt so at home and at peace with anyone or anything but his pets in life.
He’d be damned if anything happens to you.
Still, it frustrates him. He knows that you only see him as sibling almost. That you’d die for him but never date him. That despite your honeyed words he’s probably neck deep in the friendzone.
And so to the absolute surprise of everybody, he starts flirting back.
e.g. murdering those who slighted you and/or gazed upon your visage for too long, delivering their remains to your doorstep, amongst a bouquet flowers of course, and the occasional chocolates
You eventually fall in love back, though you ask him to tone it down on the violence.
- might edit more soon, but for now adios!!!
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adarkrainbow · 7 months
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Why was Hansel the meal of the witch?
This is a question I was aked recently, and I thought it would make a good subject for a post. "Why did the witch only try to fatten up and eat Hansel? Why didn't she imprison and fattened up Gretel too? Why did she choose to make Gretel her slave instead of Hansel?"
Which is actually a fascinating question. Now, I do not promise that there is some grand truth or secret meaning behind this. It is just a little detail and some technical workings of fairytales. But it is a point that many authors and rewriters have taken an interest upon, and that if a true well of reinterpretations.
So let's go... Why was Hansel the meal, and Gretel the slave?
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If we go by the "canon" of the text (of course "canonical" fairytales do not exist, this is just an expression) - if we go by the Brothers Grimm's text, we... well we do not know. It is not specified anywhere why the witch decides to lock up and fatten up Hansel out of the siblings, and to not do the same thing for Gretel. There is no reason explicitely spelled out or given. Maybe she simply prefers the meat of boys over the one of girls? This absence of justification, and the apparent "randomness" of the choice opens a door for authors who would like to change things: for example in "A Tale Dark and Grimm" (the book, not the Netflix series), it is both Hansel and Gretel that are fattened up by the witch, and she only picks Hansel as the first one to be roasted. The Looney Tunes Hansel and Gretel also were both in the cooking pot of the witch Hazel...
The text only leaves implications for the reader. For example, the need for the witch to have a slave/assistant to help her with the chores is implied by the facts that she is 1) elderly 2) has a very bad sight and 3) walks with crutches (a very important point). So it is understandable she would require a slave to help her - but then why pick Gretel, and not Hansel? Again, the text does not answer. Many people like to portray Hansel as the oldest child of the duo, and Gretel as a younger sister - this is because Hansel seems to be the strongest, bravest and most intelligent one, as well as with how his name always comes first in the text, Gretel being after him. Maybe the witch chose to eat him first because he was precisely older, and thus there was a more developed body to eat? Even if the siblings are of the same age, we can always imagine the very old and present male/female dichotomy that claims that men's body are naturaly stronger, larger and meatier than women's, who have graceful, slender, lighter bodies. Maybe such a concept is at work, putting forward a mindset where a cannibal witch will always go for boys first as a main course, and girls next as an appetizer...
One possible reading of the story is that the witch only had enough place to lock up ONE child and thus had to make a choice. Maybe there wasn't enough room for two kids in her prison for future meals? This interpretation is supported by the ORIGINAL text of the Grimm's fairytale. In the first edition of the brothers Grimm's fairytales (provided by Jack Zipes), there is an explicit mention of the place Hansel is locked in: it isn't some sort of stable or cage as it would later be described, oh no! It is a chicken coop so small Hansel can BARELY MOVE. It is a really tiny prison, in which he barely fits. Of course, on a practical side, it can help with the whole fattening process since having a child eat rich meals without ever moving is certain to make him plump in no time (just look at these horrible industrial farms and how they lock up animals in tiny cages) ; but this detail actually explained why the witch only placed her efforts on one child, and not two: she obviously had only enough to place to lock up one kid, and had to deal with the other in a different way.
But even if we admit all those implications - that the elderly, handicaped witch needed a help, that she had only enough room to lock up one child, that maybe Hansel as an older boy makes a better meal than Gretel - there are still some strange and bizarre logical holes. For example, the witch beats up and starves and exhausts Gretel. This is the complete opposite of what she does to Hansel, who is pampered and fattened up - does this imply the witch maybe does NOT want to eat Gretel? Or does she really have only enough resources to fatten up one child, and can only afford making Gretel more edible once she is done with Hansel?
Again, mysteries upon mysteries. Fairytales are not created to work on practical details or actual psychological processes - they are stories relying on powerful visuals and ancient motifs and a dream-logic-structure. When we are told that the witch locks up Hansel to fatten him up and eat him, and that Gretel is becoming an abused slave, we just accept it, because it works on a set of powerful visuals, such as the malnurished slave sister cooking and feeding her imprisoned and soon-to-be-killed brother. The idea of the sister being reduced to a tool in the process of killing her own brother is a very powerful one, never explicitly stated, but still present and sometimes used by adaptations. There was this German Hansel and Gretel movie released in 2005 that explicitly played on this: the children were never told by the witch her intentions when she locked up Hansel, and for the first week or so of Gretel being a slave and Hansel fattened up, they were left in the dark concerning the real intentions of their mysterious jailers. This was a stark contrast with many Americanized adaptations that have the witch gloating and explaining her cannibalistic desires to her victims, and which opened the door for some interesting plot points - in this movie's case, Gretel being quite jealous and envious of Hansel's new life of feasting and being kindly treated by the witch when she got all the insults and chores. Of course, when they discover the truth, their mutual feelings reverse as Hansel realizes his seemingly "easier" fate is actually the worst of the two.
Still, the text is left ambiguous and open-ended enough for us to imagine TONS of things. There could be a rewrite of the tale where the witch exclusively eats little boys, and hates little girls. One nterpretation of dark poetry of the tale can be found in Znescope's Gretel mini-series. Despite this mini-series having BIG flaws (the choice of the witch's true identity was... quite bad to be honest), it does have a very interestng and morbid answer to the "Why was Hansel the only one fattened up?" question. It chooses to depict this difference of treatment as a sick and cruel game the witch plays with her preys: Hansel and Gretel are both her prisoners, but she fattens up Hansel while she starves Gretel, to make a contrast between the two, simply out of a perverse amusement. There is one particularly striking image of the two children locked in two cages arranged like a weighing scale, with Hansel's cage going lower as he grows fatter and Gretel's going up as she becomes skeletal... It is a nice visual contrast that has been reused by various artists.
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Now, I spoke mainly here of the content of the story and of the text itself. However, as I stated before, we must look beyond the story itself to understand why Hansel was to be the meal, and not Gretel. Or rather we need to look at the fairy tale's structure, on a meta-level.
As I said before, the fairy tale works here on a system of duality. Hansel and Gretel are meant to be a yin and a yang, complementary reflections. The boy and the girl, the brave and the coward, the cunning older brother and the crying little sister. The idea that their fates are "split" into the house of the witch not only furthers the anguish of the characters, who at this point were always together but now find themselves separated, unable to face together the same trials, but also keeps on playing on these visuals and motifs. As I said, there is something that many artists read in the tale, in the opposition between a malnourished Gretel and a feasting Hansel. This is part of the same duality of food and famine present all throughout the tale, such as the woodcutter's famished and poor household, opposed to the witch's house made of sweets and with chests full of pearls. The siblings represent two forms of abuse and evilness enacted by the witch, but in complementary forms: with Gretel the witch becomes a domestic abuser and an enslaver, with Hansel she becomes a jailer and an ogress.
One can also read in this an extension of the typical sexist duality between men and women in these old centuries: the fates the witch forces upon the two children can be caricatures of what each gender is supposed to "do" in such a society. Gretel, like women, is expected to do household chores and to cook for her "man" - here it is caricatured into her becoming a slave, and only helping fattening up her brother like some cattle. In return, Hansel, like a man, is supposed to be well-treated and well-fed, but here the caring wife/mother figure is a monstrous hag who only makes him feast so she could eat him later. In fact, it is quite interesting to see how both siblings are dehumanized and reduced to the status of animals - from Hansel being fattened up in the stables like some pig or chicken, to Gretel being fed leftovers like a dog.
All of that being said, there is another much needed argument that must be made: the answer fo thte question can be easily found in the story's structure. This is the most obvious solving of the problem when you consider it all: the story of Hansel and Gretel relies on the idea that the two children must save each other in turn. There is a balance in the tale, which bears the name of the two protagonists as heroes, but one before the other. During the first part of the tale, it is Hansel who takes the lead and the decisions. He is the cunning hero who tricks his parents, saves his sister from the woods, returns home thanks to his plan. Gretel is only seen being scared, and crying, and not doing anything except follow her brother around. In the second part of the tale, within the witch's house, it is Gretel who becomes the hero. Her brother is "out of the race", locked up away and unable to do anything, and it is Gretel who this time has to trick the deadly parental figure, come up with a clever ruse, and ultimately save her brother from death. This creates a perfect balance between the two characters: Hansel starts out as the hero protecting his useless sister, and then it is Gretel who vanquishes her uselessness to become the hero saving her own, impotent brother. The siblings need each other to survive, and thus save each other in turn. This is how the story works. And this is why Hansel must be the locked-up, fattened-up victim, so that his sister can save him. Else it would have been the story of "Hansel", and not "Hansel and Gretel".
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All of that being said, a last point must be made about a final theory. A theory and reading of the tale that has been very prevalent and prominent in recent adaptations of the story.
The recent "Gretel and Hansel" horror movie did it. Before the (X horror movie) also did it. Neil Gaiman's Hansel and Gretel also used this idea. The comics Fables toyed with it in a side-way. And this idea is simple: the witch did not want to eat Gretel, but rather wanted to make her a witch like herself. Gretel wasn't the witch's slave, but unwilling apprentice.
This idea is born of course from a reconsideration of what a "witch" is, and the gender questions attached with the figure of the witch. In the original story, the witch is not a witch in the modern sense of the term, in fact she is a monster that is very clearly an ogress by another name. There is no question of learning how to be a witch, or making deal with dark powers, or anything like that. But when you read the tale with the modern sense of "witch", as a symbol of dark and hostile feminity, as a woman of power, who works against the domination of men, or the tyranny of patriarchy - when you consider all the gender questions surrounding real-life witches and the witch hunts, you see the witch's actions under a different eye. Her not wanting to eat Gretel at first, and making her do her chores, and forcing her to live with her, might hint at the fact she still considers her more "human" or more valuable than her brother, who is nothing but food, a mere cattle. Several of the modern reinventions of the tale, such as those stated above, decide to add the twist that the witch actually wants to shape or make the little girl into her image: from a slave doing the witch's chores, she becomes the witch apprentice, who is by her side in everything she does. Some of those readngs remove the elements of abuse towards Gretel, while others do not forget them. Neil Gaiman's take on the story is especially fascinating as the witch is explicitely described as oscillating between periods of sweetness and kidndness, promising Gretel all of her secrets and great powers, and periods of pure hatred and violence where she just insults and beats up the girl - all of it highlighting either the witch's madness, or a form of senility due to her old age.
But this theme of "Gretel as a future witch" or "Gretel as the witch's apprentice" ties in with another subtext well-hidden in the original text, but that many like to weave upon: Gretel as the "daughter" of the witch. In many of those rewrites and reinterpretations, the witch doesn't just treat Gretel as an apprentice, but as an heir or a replacement daughter. This is no surprise since it is very clear that in the original tale, the witch is the dark side of the mother figure, and an evil doppelganger of the wicked stepmother/mother of the siblings. As such, it makes sense for her to impose an abusive and unconsented motherhood upon Gretel - doesn't her forcing the girl to do all the chores not reminiscent of how famous fairytales stepmothers treat heroines like Cinderella? Such a perverse motherhood was already explicit and obvious in her treatment of Hansel: like a mother she nourishes and feeds Hansel (in fact she succeeds where the wicked stepmother failed), but this is all to devour him, in a ritual of "un-birth", she becomes a death-givers who doesn't expel a child out of her womb, but has it return to her stomach. [This is a very common and usual motif among ogres of fairytales, who are all caricatures of parenthood].
More generally, to have the witch act in such a way actually makes the fairytale more "feminist" somehow, but in a quite perverse way. Because in such a reading, we have a women-dominated world. The true active and powerful characters of the story are beings such as the wicked stepmother and the witch, who command, control and influence the other characters - especially the male ones. The father is a weak puppet who can't stand up to his wife, Hansel is reduced to a fat pig in a cage. Hansel did try to escape the tyranny of the wicked woman, but all he could do was push back his doom, and his plans ultimately failed. Gretel, as a woman herself, is given a special treatment - and in the "apprentice/daughter" interpretation, is "absorbed" by this world of wicked, dominating women. But she actually breaks from it, and kills the one that would have "turned" her - and it is telling and interesting that the only one who can have a true an full success, a definitive victory in this tale is Gretel. Hansel's plans work and save them, but only for a brief time, and his last plan fails dramaticaly, before he gets locked up and "out of the story". Gretel meanwhile, when she gets the courage and intelligence to act, proves herself much more efficient and definitive than her brother, as she puts a true end to the threat other them by killing the witch (and by extension killing the wicked stepmother/mother). This is something Hansel couldn't do - all he could was trck the wicked woman, and nullify her plans, but he could not remove the threat of the death and the hunger.
Anyway, as you can see, despite being a quite superficial and silly question, this fact (or rather absence of facts) opens up a whole jar of various interpretations, readings and themes, and proves the hidden complexity of these apparently "simple" stories.
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thesoftboiledegg · 6 months
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"Auto Erotic Assimilation" from season two is one of my least favorite episodes because it takes one of the queerest concepts in the series and makes it aggressively heterosexual. Aside from a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene with one male alien and a joke about Rick possibly contracting STDs from coal miners, most of the episode is a straight male power fantasy.
"Look at all the hot women with big boobs throwing themselves at Rick! He's the man! Unity's avatar is another alien lady with big boobs! Don't worry, folks--even if Rick talks to a man, he's really talking to HER! Don't you wish you were him, straight male viewer? Sexy alien orgies everywhere!"
The episode does have poignant moments and famously culminates with Rick's suicide attempt after reading Unity's final message, but a third of the plot is just a goofy teenage boy's fantasy. I watch it when I rewatch the entire series, but that's the only time I expose myself to that one.
When I saw screenshots from this episode that featured Unity, I thought "Oh God, not this again." Just let it stay in season two!
Admittedly, "Air Force Wong" handled Unity with more maturity. If this episode aired in season two or three, a bunch of sexy women probably would've mobbed Rick as soon as he stepped foot in Virginia. Here, the writers focused solely on the characters' relationships--not just Rick and Unity but Rick, President Curtis and Dr. Wong and their web of interactions.
I liked how Rick referred to Unity as "them," although he starts using "she" pronouns when she disconnects from the hivemind. This highlights one of my issues from the original episode: Unity is a hivemind, but she's also a hot, sexy alien babe who controls everybody, which are two opposing concepts. This seems like a backdoor way to make Rick's interactions Certified Hetero (which is probably what it was, to be honest.)
I also thought the resolution was unsatisfying. Unity's note at the end of "Auto Erotic Assimilation" makes it clear that she and Rick just make each other worse, but "Air Force Wong" implies that they should have stayed in touch. I was hoping Rick would get closure by ending it for good, but it seems like they're maintaining their distant but toxic connection.
I did like how the end of "Air Force Wong" parallels "Auto Erotic Assimilation." Rick heads back to the garage to drink, but instead of attempting suicide again, he decides to visit the president and put aside some of their differences. Like Dr. Wong says: it's a slow process, but he's changing!
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Aside from that, I loved this episode. President Curtis was hilarious ("Civil war, baby!" is already one of my favorite season seven lines), and he's as petty as ever. In fact, he's so petty that he was willing to enslave the entire Earth just for a 100% approval rating. He makes Rick look calm and responsible!
As usual, Dr. Wong was the voice of reason. She could've been just a crowd-pleasing cameo, but she guided Rick through his interactions and helped him remain stable in the face of emotional turmoil. While she flirted with the president, she didn't lose herself in some unprofessional whirlwind romance.
After watching "Pickle Rick" in 2017, who would have thought that Rick would not only willingly see Dr. Wong every week but try to punch the president to protect her honor? I wondered if he had a crush on her, but nothing he said implied romantic feelings, so I think he just feels protective over her because he distrusts the president.
Likewise, we're getting glimpses of how Rick treats his family: apologizing to Summer, sticking up for Morty when President Curtis insults him (I half-expected Rick to ruin that by giving Morty shit, but he didn't.) Morty sticking up for himself was nice, although man, the writers are underusing him. I think the president had more lines in "Air Force Wong" than Morty's had in these entire three episodes. And Morty's name is in the title!
Otherwise, setting up Prime's return was great. We're probably going to have a slow drip as season seven builds to their next confrontation. It seems like most of the trailer scenes are from the first four episodes and maybe "Wet Kuat Amortican Summer," so who knows what's in store for the other five.
And I mean--the Unity scenes weren't bad. Most of my issues are holdovers from 2015, which the writers can't change now. I'd prefer not to revisit it again, though. That's like taking another trip to Gazorpazorp.
Then again, later seasons have been correcting earlier issues (Summer saying "Sorry, Rick, but your opinion means very little to me" is one of my favorites), so revisiting "Raising Gazorpazorp" with a feminist lens could be another middle finger to the dudebros who are crying for Roiland's return and howling as Ian Cardoni outpaces him.
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bonny-kookoo · 7 months
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I have a request for Velvet Heart.
I'd like to know how or why things changed for Jungkook, what happened in the past that brought him so close to madness.
A/N: Obviously warning for Yandere content, psychological horror, mental illness. Don't read if that makes you uncomfortable, I'm not responsible for what you consume.
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Jungkook has always been a little.. vulnerable, mentally. He's easily stressed, and stress makes him act irrationally sometimes- but no one ever thought it would become an issue, down the line.
He's just soft. It'll be fine when he grows older.
Wrong. It just got worse.
So much so that after yet another incident of someone finding out his phone number and mass calling him, he's brushed off as no issue at all. That he's old enough to deal with this on his own now- 'You're 21 now, that's an adult, Jungkook. And adults have to make their own decisions.'
Suddenly. Huh?
Suddenly he's supposed to be independent.
After years and years of being babied and belittled and having everything chewed up for him so he wouldn't have to use his teeth for anything. Suddenly he's supposed to hunt down his own food and provide for himself.
And it's when he realizes it, in the darkness of his small private apartment he got scolded for buying last year.
He's nothing but a product. No one actually cares for him- only for what he represents. A brand. A puppet. Something to buy. Nothing to love.
He's told to just ignore it, use another phone or request another number and just move on from it. But how can he move on if there's people out there who call him nothing but a dog for simply missing a comment on a livestream? He can't just play after everyone's tune, there's too much music at this point, beats bleeding into one another so much so that he can't find a spot to place his feet any longer.
He keeps tripping, and everyone blames him for it.
They've even taken his phone away from him entirely, years back. Now they're doing different things to control him. Tell him to concentrate, loose weight, gain it back, loose it again. Get surgery, don't get it, or rather get it but hide it. Promote this, just to get blamed if the brand does something stupid, stop promoting it just to get called a coward.
Die, but stay alive, but also die, but also keep going. What's going on?
Left?
Right?
Is there a middle to choose instead?
He's got no voice. He sings, loudly so, stable as ever- but his voice doesn't belong to himself. Is what's wanted, it's what fits the concept, just like the rest of him.
Interchangeable. Morphing, constantly.
One day he's the boyfriend, next he is the brother, then he's the boy next door, just to become the sexiest crush all the girls want. What is he?
Who is he?
He hasn't called back the company, has locked his doors and shut the blinds. He doesn't want to do this any longer, this is all just insanity, doesn't anyone see this? Is everyone just so obsessed with wealth that they don't care about being honest?
He's walking alongside Han River, hood deep over his head, facemask hiding what's exposed, clothes dark. He doesn't want to be known, by anyone, ever again. But even if he moved to the other end of the world, starting again as a no-name is a luxury he'll never be granted.
Someone's sitting on the ground, clothes wetly sticking to the skin. Long hair. A girl? He's not sure.
You're moving, barely so, shivering, body trembling in the cold temperature. He lends you his jacket, eyes wide open as they look at yours. You're like a scared little animal, nothing behind those eyes that's coherent, but most importantly-
there's no recognition.
Even when he pulls his mask down a little to test it- you don't seem to know who he is. You don't talk at all, even when asked for your name.
You just cry, scared, terrified, leaning closer to him when he tries to get up.
Is that affection? Or maybe what affection could feel like?
If so, this is affection without any thought behind it. Nothing to gain. Nothing to receive. You just want to be close to him. To him.
Not to him.
It's so wrong. God it's so wrong, it makes him nauseous, makes him panic a little when he realizes that he somehow managed to get you into his home, where you now sleep in his bed, freshly showered, arms wrapped in bandages, hair dried, dressed in his softest clothes, safely tucked beneath the covers.
He should call the cops. But then he'd be blamed, right? They'll think he's insane, a creep, a criminal- and when it get's out, he's a wanted man, even if he somehow doesn't get put into jail.
No. He can't do that.
He can't have that.
But he can have you.
And he wants to have you.
Someone who wants him.
And not the version of him staring back at him from the billboard across the street.
You're just what he needs.
And he'll become all that you'll need in return.
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moodywyrm · 1 year
Note
need abby to play with my nipples until i cum from that alone.
who said that......
-🧩
babe. I've been staring at this for hours now. our brains? linked. synched. need to give u a forehead kiss for this one. u have nip piercings in this one, if u don't just imagine pls <3
Abby, titty lover that she is, is obsessed with your nipples. Remember the thing I wrote about her finding out you have nipple piercings? Yeah. Every time you have sex, it ends with your tits covered in hickies, spit, deliciously sore from her fingers and mouth working at you. but one thing she didn't know? Under the right conditions, you could cum from nipple stimulation alone. She only finds out when Manny is telling her about his latest hook up and the girl came from him playing with her titties.
"Abby, you don't understand, it was insane. I hadn't even really touched her down there yet, and she finished? I mean it was hot but damn," He huffed, not actually upset. Abby, however, feels like her whole world has been expanded. Later, when she heads back home, she is on a fucking mission (pun intended).
She finds you on the couch, wearing one of her muscle tees and a pair of her boxers. You're about to ask how her day was when she's kneeling in front of you, hands smoothing up your thighs, and up, and up, until she's groping at your tits and rolling the pretty pierced buds between her fingers. At the same time, her mouth is on yours, kissing you so intensely you wonder what got her so riled up.
"What - mmm - any reason? Or just - mm - just excited?" And you can barely get the words about because Abby can't stop kissing you. She reluctantly pulls away to explain, wanting you to know what she's trying to do.
"Manny told me about this thing. That can happen."
"What thing?" She's breathing so heavy you're kinda concerned, but you trust her and her unbearably horny mind.
"Can I make you cum by playing with your tits?" And the words rush out so fast, they barely register. When they do, you're nodding so hard she laughs, pulling your shirt off and moaning at the sight. She's diving in, mouth laving at one nipple, licking it, biting it, pulling it into her mouth and toying with the jewelry.
As she's toying with you, she's whispering praises, trying to get you mentally worked up and aroused with touching your cunt, even though she can feel the heat of it against her tummy from where she's kneeling between your legs and she wants to fuck you open so bad.
"You're so fucking pretty baby, prettiest tits in the world. Could spend forever playing with 'em, you'd like that huh? Love wearing my shirts so they slip out the sides? Always fucking pretty, sweetheart," and she's fucking got you. You're whining, clawing at her back and stroking her flushed cheeks, holding her against your chest. You weren't sure she could actually make you cum from playing with your nipples, but goddamn if Abigail Anderson isn't ridiculously good at everything she does.
She's switching between your nipples, moaning at the way you whine when the spit slicked buds make contact with air, cold and sensitive when her fingers play with them. You don't know how long it's been since she started, because honestly you don't have a stable concept of time right now, but you can feel yourself getting closer and closer, almost dropping back into the couch were it not for one of Abby's ridiculously strong arms wrapped around your back, pinning you to her mouth. She leans in harder, feeling the heat against her tummy get warmer and warmer, her body pushing your legs wider and that fucking does it.
The feel of her, so strong and broad and intense, pulling at every nerve in your body while only playing with your tits pushes you over, arching your back and pushing your tits farther into her mouth, wailing as your thighs shake and clench around her waist, pussy leaking into her boxers. Abby can feel the wet spot growing, pressing against her, and she's groaning as she pulls away from your chest to meet your lips.
"Fucking hell, perfect girl, my perfect girl. So good for me, sweetheart," smiling at the way you cling to her, hauling her up onto the couch so you can return the favor.
Your hands, still shaky, making quick work of her belt and dragging her pants and boxers down her legs, diving in to thank your girl <3
who said that.
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j0elmill3r · 1 year
Text
The Last of the Real Ones
Pairing: Joel Miller x adopted!Daughter!Reader (She's just a baby)
Summary: Joel finds something - or someone - much different than what he planned to find on his latest supply run.
Warnings - Dead parents, blood, descriptions of violence, Joel is once again sad.
Word Count - 1.3k
Anonymous asked:
Kind of different idea: Joel finding a little baby girl (small child) on one of his supply runs/outings, and he ends up keeping her (you are so good with daughter!reader fics I can't handle the loooooveeee)
A/N: Going 3 for 3, it's me with 3 fics in a row? Who are they? A short but sweet one here, I hope everyone enjoys! As always, feedback, reblogs, and likes are always appreciated on this blog!
Joel Miller Masterlist
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Joel stopped in his tracks as he noticed a couple of runners, crowded around something laying on the floor. 'Great, another ditched supply run', He thought to himself, sighing quietly. Getting ready to head back to where him and Tommy's new refuge was, he took notice of the runners scurrying off, some other poor bastard left to suffer the same fate as they did. As he made his way into the drivers seat of the old truck, he took a minute to think of Sarah.
She would have been 18 today.
It was a sour day for Joel, but he had volunteered to go on the supply run to try and keep his mind off of his daughter. But then something - no, someone - caught his attention. He slowly got out of the drivers side of the truck, quietly and stealthily making his way over to inspect what the runners had been so brainlessly invested in.
Oh.
His heart dropped as he saw you, laying sleepingxcfvg  in a bloodied car seat with a blood stained diaper bag clipped to the handle. Joel could only have assumed the two previous runners to be who used to be your mother and father, and judging by the handwritten note tucked in beside you, it was obvious that they were hoping someone would find you and take you in, look after you. Joel knew he couldn't leave you, a defenceless baby, here, all on your own - he knew he'd be sealing your fate, and may as well have fed you to the runners himself. Almost as if acting on fatherly instinct, Joel gently picked up the carrier by the handle, the diaper bag with some essential baby supplies gently tapping off your feet. He put you beside him in the truck, facing him on the passenger seat, taking the note out of your carrier.
To whoever finds our Y/N.
She is 6 months old, please, please take care of her as you would your own. She is so loving, loves to be held and will smile at you if you smile at her too. Please, do not tell her about us and what we became, she does not deserve that - just know that we loved her for the short time that we had with her, please keep our girl safe.
Joel sighed sadly as he looked over at you, now awake, your eyes studying him to see if you would trust him - His heart oddly swelling when you giggled and smiled at him, blissfully unaware of the world you were unfortunate enough to be born into. But he had decided, he would do as your parents had asked and look after you, and raise you as his own.
-
Even with all of the sleepless nights that had come with raising you, Joel honestly wouldn't have traded it for a thing - Tommy had even noticed that Joel was slightly happier, which he didn't think it was possible for anyone to get happier in a world like this. You were now two, and Joel and Tommy had finally found a QZ that was stable enough that Joel could raise you in and try to give you some form of childhood.
"Daddy," You nudged Joel's shoulder, trying your hardest to wake him up. He grumbled in response, waving you off and telling you to wake him in five more minutes - you, however, had no concept of time, as a toddler. You gave it five seconds. "Daddy!" You yelled, a frustrated pout on your face. Joel chuckled as he lifted you up onto his bed.
"Good morning  to you too, baby," He said sleepily, wrapping both of his arms around you. He loved the moments like these, they reminded him of his daughter, who you reminded him of so much with your sass. "You sleep good?" Joel asked you, smiling as you nodded, wriggling out of his arms and jumping out of his bed.
"Daddy I wanna go outside," You whined, pointing out to the front door, bouncing on your feet as your looked at your dad. Joel was reluctant, he wasn't sure on how the infection worked in children as young as you, he didn't want to risk you falling victim to the infection that had already stolen so many lives. He got out of bed, picking you up as he left his bedroom.
"I'm not sure, baby girl," Joel told you, pouring you a bowl of cereal and using the last of the powered milk which he had sourced.  "Let me think about it, okay?" He offered you a compromise, even though he knew it was going to be a no. He felt like you were his second chance, so he would do anything to keep you safe. You nodded and finished off your cereal, handing the bowl back to Joel as you wiped your face of the milk that coated your lips. "All done?" He asked you. You nodded and smiled at him, he smiled back.
"Yeah, thank you daddy," You told him, holding your arms out for him to carry you. Joel obliged and picked you up from under your arms, holding you at his waist and resting your head on his shoulder. He could afford to have the day off with you, there wasn't much he could really do with you, it wasn't as if Disney World had post apocalyptic opening hours - But you were happy enough to have him just spend the day with you, even if you spent it doing nothing, you hardly really knew much different. "Can I stay in my jammas today daddy?" You asked him, pulling the most innocent face you could. Joel couldn't resist it, he couldn't say no to your little face. You somehow managed to remind him that even in the dark days that this infection so often brought, that you, with your childish innocence, would brighten up those dark days.
"Of course baby, you can stay in your pyjamas today," He assured you, smiling as he started pulling your hair back into a pony tail, he knew you didn't like it in your face. "We can have a relaxed day today, okay?" He offered you, smiling as you nodded and cuddled into him. Joel didn't know how long you had been awake for before you decided to wake him up, but you must have been up for a good while, as indicated by the yawn and stretch you let out. "Are you tired, baby girl?" You nodded and cuddled into your dad, indicating that you didn't want to go to your bed to sleep. Joel rubbed your back as you dozed off to sleep in his lap, your head bobbing as you drifted off. He could have moved, put you to your own bed so he could go to work, but he wouldn't break his promise to you. So he sat with you on his lap, holding you as you slept peacefully in his arms.
He sometimes wondered if you ever doubted that Joel was your father, but then he realised that you hadn't known anything other than him, he would think of an excuse if you ever asked about your real parents, he would tell you the truth. But he hoped that you wouldn't, that you would always consider him your actual father.
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bunni-v1 · 7 months
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My request is for riddle x reader where the reader is a very skilled equestrian
Riddle and His Equestrian Partner 
TW: My little pony reference; swearing
Info: Riddle x Reader; Horses; Idk shit about horses
🍓This low-key turned into a whole short story in several parts before I remembered these were head cannons and forcefully split it up lol. It’s not too long, because little concepts like this aren’t exactly the easiest to write a multi-page story about, but I try my best. I kinda of just went off on my own though, so I hope this is what you wanted lol. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy it, and sorry about the whole waiting thing only for a mini piece like this.
Riddle
-Ah! Riddle Rosehearts, we meet again.
-Riddle is a proud man. He’s multi-talented, incredibly hardworking, intelligent, and not so much kind, but it's not his fault his mother shoved a stick up his pompous ass.
-He takes great enjoyment in being the best at the things he does, but he fully accepts that… maybe… possibly he won’t always be at the top of the top.
-He does try, though. Very hard, because if he doesn’t his mother will be very cross with him.
-Something he takes greatest pride in is his talent in horseback riding. He’s a very talented equestrian, and he adores his horses. It’s one of the very few hobbies he was pushed into that he genuinely loves.
-He loves it so much that, when he gets accepted to attend NRC, he willingly and excitedly signs up for the equestrian club. In fact — other than his mother forcing the school down his throat — NRC’s equestrian club was one of the main draws of the school to him.
-This is where he meets you, his freshman year of college. 
-He walks into the stables, the smell of hay, feed, and mud (and horse shit) filling him with nothing but delight. 
-Students are allowed to bring their own horses from home if they’d like, but the school provides a handful of wonderful purebreds for those new to the sport or not willing to transport their own to campus.
-Riddle decided against bringing his old girl the first semester, even though she would be more reliable. He wanted a change, something new and exciting. He was good with horses, so he was sure whichever one he was given would be easy enough to work with and train how he liked. 
-While he was looking at the different horses, one in particular caught his eye. A beautiful Appaloosa with a shiny clean coat and pretty braided hair.
-It was love at first sight for him. This was his horse, gaping at it with an open mouth, he looked rather stupid. 
-At least, that’s what you thought at least. Stupid and endearing staring at your big baby of a horse like she was the most perfect creature on earth.
-To be fair, she was really pretty, just not… not pretty enough for this reaction, you think.
-“Hey, you okay?” You ask.
“Ah- Uhm, yes. Just… appreciating the horse.”
-Riddle is bright red trying to explain why he felt so… inspired by your horse. 
-Surprisingly, however, it goes well, as you very enthusiastically tell him all about Rainbow Dash, “Dashie”, the third. 
-You’re his first friend on campus! (Other than Trey).
-However, your name sounds very familiar, and he can’t quite get it out of his head after your first meeting.
-So… he looks you up, and he sees your insanely impressive track record. First-place medals, championship trophies, the whole shebang. You’re far more talented than him, and it almost makes him jealous he wasn’t so incredibly impressed.
-Truly Night Raven College has the most impressive students attending within its walls.
-He would initiate some sort of rivalry, but you’re just so… cool. So relaxed, and confident about your skills. He can’t help but admire you more than he wishes he were you.
-The two of you have very different schedules, so you hardly get to see each other outside of club meetings, your interactions are strictly horse-related.
-However, you hear about his violent temper and you find it kind of funny. 
-“You’re like an untrained horse, you need a good rider to reel you in.” You always tease with a wink whenever he gets particularly angry at a match or during practice.
-To everyone’s surprise, he doesn’t blow up at you, just flustered and grumbles like a toddler being scolded by his parent.
-In fact, you’re the only person he really doesn’t blow up at. Your mutual love for horses and hard work in classes make you a nearly unstoppable duo.
-When he gets frustrated training his new horse from the school, you’re there to help cool him down and find a productive way to retrain the horse. When he doesn’t perform well in a match or compares himself to you and your records, you remind him of how different your training was compared to his.
-You two become incredibly close through all of this.
-So it’s no surprise when you both decide to start meeting up outside of class to study together. Then you start meeting up to just hang out in his dorm room. Then you start treating him to sweet treats off campus. Then you start showing up to Heartslabyul’s tea parties.
-It was honestly only a matter of time before the two of you decided to make things official, and when you do, it’s incredibly easy!
-You both plan horse riding dates with each other and spend the majority of your time together talking about training techniques or studying for your upcoming tests.
-Him bringing you home to meet his horse was honestly a bigger deal than meeting his mother.
-He was afraid you wouldn’t find him as beautiful since you own Dashie, but you were absolutely in love with his old girl. She seemed to like you too, given she didn’t try to buck you off the second you claimed onto her back.
-He’s incredibly supportive of you at your own matches and your matches alongside him. 
-Now he’s proud of not only his skills, but you and yours as well, and he wouldn’t want it any other way.
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elliespuns · 2 months
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Can we talk about how talented the the last of us concept artists are? Not only does it paint a picture for us but it translates to their emotions & personality’s through there facial expressions.
The first bottom picture reads ‘Dina starts to doubt if the bloodshed & distress are worth the outcome as she dresses Ellie’s wounds’.
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You can see the embarrassment & pain on Ellie’s face while being taken care of, while Dina concentrating on how to sew up her wounds is doubting if all this revenge is good for Ellie.
‘Ellie feels a deep love for her son, but her trauma threatens the safety of the tiny family. Below the concepts of Ellie carrying the baby while doing routine chores around the farm’
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Those one shows the love Ellie truly has for JJ & Dina, but her PTSD & trauma is so bad that she physically nor is mentally stable enough as much as she tries (also LOOK AT JJS LITTLE SHOES!!! So cute!!)
‘The prologue to the game gives us our first & only look at Joel’s daughter, Sarah. Although Sarah is much more innocent, it was important to establish her as a down-to-earth girl who shares many qualities with Ellie. Sarah’s look needed to feel authentic & clearly show her relationship with Joel, while at the same time establishing her as a distinct character with her own sense of style. Her facial features are based on the actress who played & voiced her, Hanna Hayes’
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I love that they really made Sarah her own concept art, yes she is important to show the relationship with Joel but then again putting her in a way that she IS her OWN character & not just a side character. & it really shows & connects to how Joel really finds & connects to Ellie seeing the light of Sarah he needed after all those years, something to fight for again, something to look forward to no matter how much Ellie hurt him, because deep down he saw her as a daughter when he denied his own feelings in chapter 1. Ellie knew she wasn’t his daughter, & made it clear in the second game. Showing how much her relationship changed with Joel going from. “I see you as my dad” to “ I am Not your daughter.”
Artists: Hyoung Taek Nam, John Sweeney (pic 1 & 2) , Alex Neonekis, John Sweeney (pic 3), & I can’t find the artist for Sarah’s concept art
Anyway, I’m gonna not go anonymous anymore! But I’ll add my emoji just in case - 🕸️
This is such a beautiful ask. What always got me about the concept art was how fitting it was to the final results of the game. When you think about it, the concept art was created long before the game even started developing. There were just some ideas and concepts (hence the art), but no scrip (at least not the whole thing, maybe like scraps), and yet when we look back at most of these arts, we can see how close they are to the characters we learned to love. This is what I call a precise job. You can see the game was done with love in the heart. 
The scene where Dina is taking care of Ellie is so well done. Be it on the concept art or on the screen, There's so much pain in Ellie in that scene; you wouldn't even have to see that she's all shaken, covered in blood, and crying. All you can do is close your eyes and listen to her voice when she speaks to Dina. Chills.
What I always found very interesting about Sarah, though, was why they chose to make her blond. This makes me even more curious about Joel's ex-wife because, this way, Sarah looks more like Tommy's daughter than Joel's (not suggesting that's true, lol). Looking at the concept art, there are versions of Sarah with darker hair. I wonder why they decided to make her blond all of a sudden. As if it had a reason and they were planning to show us a little of Joel's (blond) ex-wife in Part 3? Hm, who knows?
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