#I repurposed the entirety of the flashbacks from something else

[angelic-ish-phantom]

Dannymay7

Lab safety

“This doesn’t sound safe.” Jazz protested. From the look on her face, Danny thought she might have been trying to sound judgmental, but she only managed worried.

“Relax, Jazzy.” Dad said, “Dann-o’s more than old enough to be allowed in the lab. Besides, he actually wants to do some chores for a change!”

“He already does…” Jazz murmured.

“I wanna help in the basement!” Danny insisted, jumping excitedly.

“But what if he gets hurt!” His sister insisted.

“Danny what are our rules?” Mom asked absently.

“Um- No, no being in the lab without adult superstition,”

oOo

Danny felt a wave of regret as he walked down the basement steps. His legs grew lead-heavy, and he slowed to a nervous amble-shuffle behind his two closest—only—friends, wishing, not for the first time, that he had put a stop to this excursion when it had only been an idea.

He couldn’t remember for the life of him how Sam and Tucker had made this sound so appealing.

“Guys, there really isn’t anything interesting down there” he attempted, uncertain. It was technically true, for all the time his parents spent down there—a familiar pang of resentment struck him, a twisted blade in an old wound—few things in the lab worked, as many of them required ‘ghosts’ to be tested or demonstrated; nearly every single one of his parents’ gadgets was a product of ‘ludicrous delusions’ (as Jazz had put it) despite the fact they were able to construct ridiculously complex and advanced technology based on their fictional creatures.

“Danny, You live here. You’re hardly one to judge.” Tucker said, excitement tinting his voice, and while Danny couldn’t deny that was valid, it was hardly fair.

“Plus, you said they’ve been building a portal, how do you not hear how cool that sounds?” Sam countered easily, stopping in her descent to lightly grab his wrist, and began pulling him along. He almost abandoned his protest.

The portal. It was his parents’ life’s work. The hole in the wall of the lab had been there since before he was born, and anytime he caught his parents going over theories, or blueprints, or just any aspect of their profession, the portal came up. It was even the reason they weren’t home; Jazz had pushed them to stop moping at its failure, called their festering dependence on its success unhealthy, and told them to go out and enjoy themselves, and Danny admittedly couldn’t remember the last time his parents left the house for anything that was purely recreational.

It was actually unbelievable that the portal hadn’t come up prominently in a conversation with his best friends before… Although It had been on the forefront of Danny’s mind lately. He thought it’s completion (it’s failure) might mean his parents would drop the whole ‘ghost hunters’ thing—not that he could imagine that—and hopefully pursue a normal career, or at least obsess over something more… tangible.

“Come on dude, your parents are never out. We might not get the chance to check it out again. Plus, you’ve got to admit it does sound cool. What’s the harm?”

oOo

“Supervision.” Jazz corrected.

“That’s what I said! Don’t interrupt or I’ll forget!”

“If you forget them, then you don’t know them and you should be allowed in the lab! Danny it’s dangerous.”

Danny scowled and ignored her, counting off the second rule on his fingers as he continued, “Always wear my science suit,”

oOo

“What is it?” He asked, curious. Sam turned and looked at him, before a devious, mirthful glint entered her eyes. He shouldn’t have asked, terrible idea, he’d never felt so much regret..

“Danny, you should go inside the portal.” She said waving her camera. Oh. He tried to protest.

“I really shouldn’t. It could be dangerous.” He offered.

“You said it doesn’t work, so there shouldn’t be any problem.” Tucker countered, teasing, a silent dare on the words, as he moved to stand with him and Sam.

“Tuck…” Danny groaned.

“That settles it.” Sam half-cheered, pushing him towards the wall opening.

“But, the radiation—” Danny started, digging his feet into the ground. He knew that line of argument was pointless; ‘ectoplasmic radiation’ could potentially do some terrifying things—the fridge was a prime example of that—but with the concentration the portal was emitting, the worst he could get was something akin to a sunburn (plus contamination). His parent must have told him a thousand times at this point, and always they followed up with attempts to talk him and Jazz into wearing their—

“Didn’t you say you had a hazmat suit in here.” Sam interrupted, grinning like the cat that caught the canary.

“There’s a box of clothes on that cabinet.” Tucker pointed out, already moving to carry it down.

“…There are open wires in there.” Danny knew his objections had devolved into whining at this point.

Sam simply raised an eyebrow, letting her eyes fall to the thick wires that ran across the portal floor, and the few, spark-less cut ones tucked neatly to the sides of the portal. Danny’s shoulders slumped as he admit defeat.

“Just one picture.” Danny compromised heading over to the box, Tucker was already digging through.

Sam appeared to be opposed, but didn’t say otherwise. “one picture,” she assured, following him.

In the box, there were four complete hazmat suits, only two of them being his size: One orange, one a pale white. Danny chose the white one, because it was the same make as the ones his parents constantly dawned, while the other, while thicker, rigged with lead and metal parts that would offer more protection, it might have taken him hours to figure out how to put on complex article, even with Sam and Tucker’s help.

He quickly unzipped it, slipping into the suit easily and zipping it up over his clothes, before looking down at himself with a pained expression.

“I look ridiculous.” He said into his gloved hands, covering the emerging blush.

Sam walked up to him and ripped off the sticker of his father’s face that had been stuck on the centre of his chest. “Problem solved.” She deadpanned.

Danny groaned, but conceded. He headed towards the portal entrance, keeping a hand on the edge. He looked back: Tucker was grinning madly, and Sam beckoned him forward, camera still in hand. He sighed and gazed back into the portal.

oOo

“-and… never ever play with any of the stuff mom and dad build.” He finished smugly.

oOo

“If I die, I’m going to haunt both of you!” Danny threw over his shoulder, much the amusement of his closest companions.

Step. Step. Step.

Danny felt himself becoming more weighed down with each step. Anxieties and fears pooling in his gut, knotting his stomach. He breathed out slowly, attempting to push back the pointless dread he felt. He continued to tensely tiptoe over the wires. Nothing in here could hurt him. He flinched at a released puff of steam. So why was he so afraid?

He turned around to see Sam’s camera raised. He gave, a small, shaky smile.

Flash.

Danny rubbed his eyes, stumbling a bit, but caught himself. Tucker looked over Sam’s shoulder as she shook out the photo; he waited.

“It’s good!” She called over to him. Good. He could get out of here now.

“This one’s definitely a keeper!” Tucker declared merrily, snatching it out of Sam’s hand and holding it up to his own face.

“Hey!” Sam complained reaching for it, but Tucker held It out of her reach. He was the tallest of the three of them, so Sam shouldn’t have been able to get it back. A kick to the shins accompanied by a yelp, and Tucker was down.

Danny sighed fondly. Tucker may be tall, but Sam was Sam.

Danny watched the scene, a genuine smile stretching across his face. “Just make sure my parents don’t see it or they’ll never let me take this stupid jumpsuit off.” Danny was only half joking, and judging by the way his Sam cackled, while Tucker tried to hide his snorts, they could tell. He eased up, moving an arm up to lean against the wall of the portal.

It hit him like a brick.

Pure unadulterated dread, as he commit to the action, the unnatural air that had been resting over the house, over Amity as a whole, turned cloying and thick.

Something was coming, something was coming. Something was coming. SomethingwascomingSomethingwascom—

Click.

A lot of things happened in the next instant.

The first thing Danny saw was white. Well, he wasn’t so sure he’d seen it, as opposed to feeling it: hot white, seething on the surface of his skin, running up his arm and phasing deeper and deeper until Danny was sure he was feeling his bones, the light cutting through the fibres of his being, tiny needles made from static.

It hurt.

He was hyperaware; he was cognisant of every part of his body. He was connected with the rims of his bleeding ears, felt the backs of his eyes roll as they charred and shrivelled, tasted his too-dry organs as if they were a bad meal coming back up.

It hurt.

The next thing Danny saw was green. At this point Danny was sure he had been frozen in the blistering light-heat for some long agonising minutes, but only when that chilling of green washed over him, through him—hitting him like the weight of an avalanche in a dream, fuzzy and not there with a force—did he acknowledge time had slowed, that he hadn’t even been there for a second.

Ithurt.

Reality twisted upright upon the green’s impact and Danny finally felt, full-force, something he knew was present, but hadn’t truly been able to process before then. He was in pain. He was burning and freezing all over. His body was being grated away at. He vaguely recalled when he was eight and Dash had shoved him into the pavement while he’d been running from him: the scrapes were deep on his knees and hands, and his split open lip made eating burn for days; the pain felt dull and quiet compared to this. But, that memory played in the back of his mind, meanwhile, any semblance of coherent thought fizzed away, the contorting sensations and sharp agonies trying to erase him, leave only cold ashes behind.

(His last real thought was doused In relief; he thanked every star in the sky that this had been his mistake, that Sam and Tucker were safe and wouldn’t have to feel this torture. They should never have to.)

Ithurt Ithurt Ithurt

Seconds passed and that thrum of awareness that had let him feel everything as he was cooked Inside out, dulled painfully. Slowly. Enough for him to regain thought, to try and make his lungs work (to no avail), to try and blink away the fire only to find his eyelids just weren’t there anymore.

Ithurtithurtihurt

He felt something heavy grow in his chest (or maybe somewhere far away? He wasn’t too sure) and pull pieces of his mind away. Coax pieces of something more him than his mind, something more.

He wasn’t as resistant to it as he should have been, instead letting it lump within him—it felt like that strange green—take charge while memories resurfaced. He just wanted the pain to stop.

ItHuRt iTHurT IthUrT—

Suddenly, Danny remembered. He remembered when Jazz took him to school on his first day of first grade. He remembered how happy he was when she’d gotten him a toy rocket for show and tell. He remembered looking up at her and telling her exactly what he’d always thought; Jazzy was the best sister in the world and he wanted to be smart and amazing like her. He remembers how he met Tucker when he was crying, because Ryan had torn his new Barrett, and Danny had snagged it back, hid it away, and later offered to help him fix it. He remembers how happy he was when his mom taught him how to sew (even though he already knew how), and he remembered how ecstatic he was when she tried to teach him how to cook for the first time. He remembers how joyous he felt when his dad agreed to come in for careers day. He remembered how much he regret asking. He remembered the whispers of freak, and the way they’d called his parents loons. He remembered the way Star and Mickey, and Lester, and Ashley, and Mia wouldn’t hang around him anymore. He remembered feeling alone. He remembered when Tucker didn’t leave. He remembered the way his teachers looked at him with disappointment, thinking he couldn’t be smart like Jazz. He remembered trying to prove them wrong. He remembered getting fed up with Dash and Dale’s when their teasing and tormenting got worse for everyone when they got on the football team. He remembered Dash taking everything he did as a challenge. He remembered getting in trouble for fighting Dash even though he never fought back. He remembered some of his peers stopped insulting him when he passed by. He remembered when some of them thanked him. He remembered when he didn’t tell Jazz but she knew anyway. He remembered when the men in white coats came to his house and his parents argued with them really loudly. He remembered when his parents started spending even more time in the basement. He remembered spending a week at Tucker’s house before his parent noticed he was missing in the third grade. He remembered when his family stargazed together for the last time. He remembered when he grew a taste for exploration. He remembered when he decided he wanted to be an astronaut. He remembered first seeing Sam at recess in fourth grade when her parents let her go to public school, admiring the flowers. He remembered making her a flower crown with all the best colours. He remembered her yelling at him for picking the flowers. He remembered him and Tucker helping her take care of a bent tree In the schoolyard. He remembered Dash destroying it. He remembered catching the chickenpox, and giving it to Jazz. He remembered their parents looking after them even if his dad thought ghosts had made them sick and tried to decontaminate them. He remembered when Paulina stopped talking, to him and asking him to braid her hair, even though it had been in secret, and started calling him names too. He remembered not wanting to hurt anymore. He remembered when the names stopped making him too upset. He remembered when he finally acknowledged his parents weren’t quite normal. He remembered when Jazz got him a toy telescope for his birthday. He remembered that being the second time his parents forgot his birthday. He remembered finding that injured rabbit in the park. He remembered how he, Sam and Tucker had taken turns hiding It while they took care of it. He remembered when Sam’s parents found it. He remembered the first time her parents had said what they thought of him to his face. He remembered not wanting to feel inadequate. He remembered how happy he was when Mickey started asking him for help in physics. He remembered when Jazz stopped pretending that she wasn’t psychoanalyzing him. He remembered when Jazz and his parents got him a real telescope for his birthday. He remembered his first day of high school being memorably mundane. He remembered when Mia and Rachel asked to use his telescope. He remembered agreeing to meet them in the park next Friday…

(Danny fixated on something, several things actually, as the events of his life flashed by in a haze of vivid joys and regrets. He tried to place it… he wished he’d done more. More things he’d wanted to do. He wished that he’d succeeded more, that he’d done more to help. He’d always cared about being useful. He’d never wanted people to feel bad, or hurt, or ignored, but… he felt, for all he’d tried, he could have done more. He wanted to do more.)

ｉｔ ｈｕｒｔｓ.

Danny remembered going Into the lab with Sam and Tucker. He remembered going inside the portal. He remembered the switch being on the inside. He remembered…

He couldn’t remember.

He couldn’t remember anything. His mind went blank as one by one his senses switched off, that odd energy, a second brain, still trying to pick at his mind, scavenging memories and something more. What was left of his eyes stopped seeing light, leaving him in a painless dark. Then, He became deaf to the thrum of electricity and the crackle of energy as his now brittle bones shattered away, the desperate yells from something beyond the haze of green and light. Next, his hoarse voice went quiet (had he been screaming?) as his mouth sealed shut, the coppery taste of blood faded as his black, crinkled tongue became numb. He couldn’t smell the burning; he couldn’t breathe. He felt shadows embrace his consciousness, guiding him away from his body once he’d lost feeling in it. The shadows became clearer, a single dominating presence ruling them all, plunging him into a cold pool, emitting surety and gentle reassurance. Everything went dark.

It was like an outstretched hand had taken a hold of his psyche, and he could tell it was going to take him somewhere much better.

Nothing hurt.

oOo

“Honestly honey, you worry too much.” Maddie said, ruffling Jazz’s hair in a way Danny knew she didn’t like. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

#cw: pretty vivid descriptions of the accident #I mean- it’s fine :D nothing bad ever happens in basements seriously #c’mon read my thing #it’s soft and not graphic I swear ;) #but seriously don’t read this if Danny being burnt alive will make u uncomfortable or anything #I repurposed the entirety of the flashbacks from something else #i’m tired #danny phantom #dp #danny fenton #Sam Manson #tucker foley #jack fenton #maddie fenton #jazz fenton #fanfiction #phicc #fanfic #phanphic #dannymay2022 #dannymay 2022 #dannymay lab safety #dannymay day 7 #the accident™

[makeste]

this is just a post listing all of the scenes in BnHA which underline Bakugou’s narrative importance and the way that it’s intrinsically connected to Deku and his storyline, because I really want to emphasize that the MORE THAN 300 CHAPTERS OF BUILD-UP just slightly outweigh the literal seven chapters in which he hasn’t played a major role just lately. recency bias is a thing guys, and we should all try to remember that.

not Kacchan establishing his goal and ultimate endgame less than one page after his introduction.

not Kacchan being saved by Deku less than an hour after burning his notebook and telling him to jump off a roof, establishing the contradictory nature of their relationship right from the get-go, and changing Deku’s destiny forever as All Might witnesses this moment and realizes that Deku is more heroic than he ever could have imagined. “you looked like you needed saving.” that’s a line that’s already had at least one callback, and with Deku now struggling in the current manga the time could be ripe for an even more powerful one.

not “win and save” being established as the two cornerstones of the hero philosophy all the way back in chapter 5, with Deku and Kacchan each embodying one of these dual aspects, and being narratively primed to walk opposite paths in their respective hero journeys, only to meet at the middle when they reach the end.

not Deku and Kacchan having an iconic battle less than ten chapters into the series, during which their rivalry is further established and the complicated history of their childhood friendship is expanded on.

not Kacchan’s first childhood flashback revealing that the pivotal, character-defining event of his childhood was baby Deku reaching out his hand and asking if he was okay.

not Deku instinctively reaching out to Kacchan yet again all of two chapters later, making a fateful decision which will have massive ramifications down the line and which will eventually alter the course of Kacchan’s character development.

not Kacchan’s teachers thoughtfully praising his “overwhelming tenacity” and All Might noting his potential for greatness early on the series.

not Deku choosing a hero name originally given to him by Kacchan, but repurposing and reclaiming it, and possibly paving the way for another parallel that’s just waiting to be capitalized on. Kacchan feel free to tell us more about your own hero name’s meaning whenever you get a chance.

not Deku becoming stronger by learning from Kacchan (win to save).

not Deku and Kacchan deliberately being paired together for their final exam and Kacchan having a fucking meltdown until Deku literally knocks some sense into him, at which point he immediately gets his head back on straight because the two of them are capable of getting through to each other in a way that nobody else can.

not All Might being all “THIS FIGHT SURE IS SOME GREAT FORESHADOWING FOR THE TWO OF THEM TEAMING UP TOGETHER IN THE FUTURE AS FORETOLD BY DESTINY.”

not Kacchan becoming stronger by taking a page out of Deku’s book (save to win).

not Deku being the last person Kacchan sees before the LoV take him away, and the two of them locking eyes until the last possible second before Kacchan disappears and Deku literally falls to his knees screaming in the most dramatic breakdown of the entire series.

not the two of them being singled out in a crowd of hundreds and framed side by side desperately cheering on All Might in his darkest hour in the battle which will change the entire course of the series.

not Aizawa literally saying that class 1-A revolves around Bakugou and Deku.

not Deku and Kacchan having the most iconic battle of the entire series and being all “goddammit I can’t figure out why my entire life revolves around you and it’s driving me crazy” and being fully honest with each other for the first time in their lives, and then having All Might come over and tell them “you two need each other, and you need to learn from each other, because each of you intuitively understands part of what it means to be a great hero, and by working together you will both one day be able to rise to the top.”

not Kacchan, and only Kacchan, being inducted into Club OFA a full two hundred chapters before anybody else.

not Kacchan and Deku obsessing over showing off for each other in the Joint Training arc while All Might looks on like a proud dad.

not Kacchan’s phenomenal progress in the JT arc being traced directly back to the lessons he learned from All Might and Deku.

not Deku being triggered into activating a wholeass new fucking quirk because someone said something mean about Kacchan.

not Horikoshi answering the question of “so what’s next for Kacchan’s character development?” with “he’s going to begin the slow burn process of realizing that he needs to make amends to Deku.”

not Kacchan being focused on Deku during Tomura’s attack on Jakku, and realizing what he’s about to do, and immediately moving in step beside him without the slightest hesitation because he’s determined to stay with him and protect him.

not All Might literally saying “THEY WILL GET A CHANCE TO TALK YOU GUYS SO JUST BE PATIENT.”

not Kacchan unconsciously emulating Deku when he’s focused on saving, and mimicking everything from his exact style of strategizing down to his speech patterns, in the exact same way that Deku starts unconsciously imitating Kacchan’s own mannerisms and speech when he’s focused on winning.

not Kacchan’s milestone “Rising” chapter being explicitly centered around this transcendent moment when he reacts without thinking in order to save Deku’s life.

not Deku activating a wholeass new fucking quirk AGAIN because someone insulted Kacchan AGAIN.

not Kacchan being all “Deku’s not the only one whose quirk goes through Awakenings when he sees that his childhood rivalfriend is in danger.”

not Kacchan having an entire character arc devoted solely to the importance of him choosing a hero name, which he has yet to reveal to Deku.

last but not least, not a whole entire montage of Horikoshi interview quotes with him talking about the thematic importance of “win to save, save to win” (it’s literally what heroism means to him), and talking about Bakugou’s future, and how he’s determined to write an even better ending than the one in Heroes Rising, and how the story will have a conclusion where all of the characters come together in the end.

so yeah. just in case it isn’t clear from all of this,

Bakugou and Deku’s destinies are intertwined in a way that runs deeper than any other connection in the series

the two of them have spurred on each other’s growth throughout the entirety of the manga

their character development has revolved around each other literally from the start

their journeys mirror and complement each other in a way that enriches the narrative

they each represent one half of All Might’s legacy

and their bond is at the center of the series’s emotional resonance

and Horikoshi is not just going to all of a sudden forget all of that and ignore it entirely in the series’s final act. I literally can’t understand why anyone would think that. it’s all right there you guys. 300 chapters’ worth of history and development. this is how it is, and this is how it has always been. like it or not, these two idiots are both in this together, and their respective endgames are inextricably tied to one another. win and save, you guys.

#bnha meta #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #bakudeku #bakugou meta #deku meta #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #fifty-one images in this post lol #tumblr you have such a good thing going on right now seriously #why would you want to change that #is it because people like me keep making gigantic posts with fifty images apiece #don't answer that

[akari-hope]

Could you talk more about Catra’s role in perpetuating the cycle of abuse when it came to her past treatment of Scorpia & Entrapta? And I know we didn’t get to see much of it onscreen (unfortunately), but how do you think she made amends w/ them & unlearned the survival tactics that were toxic in general? It’s always awesome to hear your input!

sure!

so we’re all on the same page, abusive relationships typically involve a power imbalance, as well as some degree of reliance or trust. that’s why it’s often so hard to leave abusive romantic partners, or to get away from abusive parents. the victims trust and/or rely on the abuser, and it’s how the abuser keeps them in line, how they’re able to manipulate them. now, important to note: some abusers are NOT aware that they are being abusive. and i don’t mean people who pretend they’re not, who use that as part of their gaslighting or other methods of control, i mean genuinely not realizing the degree of their actions until the damage they’ve done is too great.

with that being said, let’s talk about catra. we already know catra herself is an abuse survivor, and that has a big effect on how she goes about forming relationships with others. she’s alone and afraid, and doesn’t know how to BE friends with someone, really.

enter scorpia. scorpia is basically everything catra isn’t. patient, kind, laid-back. she doesn’t care nearly as much (arguably at all) about ranks and the horde’s “mission”. and this all makes catra feel deeply uncomfortable. she tries to push scorpia away again and again. until...she realizes scorpia can be useful. 

princess prom is really the big turning point in their relationship. catra uses scorpia’s status to enact her plan, and that’s when it really gets cemented in her head that she’d be better off keeping scorpia around than pushing her away. problem is that catra doesn’t know how to be friends with someone. she has sincere moments of affection that shine through (sharing the blanket in “white out”, the entirety of “once upon a time in the waste”), but for the most part their friendship hinges entirely on scorpia’s genuine care for catra. meanwhile, catra constantly berates and insults her, and uses her for her own ends.

now, entrapta gets it even worse in my opinion. the minute entrapta shows up, catra’s already thinking about how she can use her for her own gain. she uses physical affection as a weapon, stroking entrapta’s hair to comfort her, to convince her to work for catra. it’s a strikingly similar scene, mirroring something shadow weaver has done regularly to both catra and adora. (quick side note, it’s kind of brilliant that we see catra repurposing this before we even really see shadow weaver do it. if i’m remembering correctly, we don’t see this specific gesture until flashbacks in “promise”.) unlike with scorpia, catra also uses physical force with entrapta, grabbing her by the hair being a go-to. catra really relies on entrapta’s lower position and lack of social awareness to keep her on her side. after hordak takes a liking to entrapta, though, catra realizes this method won’t fly anymore.

you could call both of these situations simply “toxic friendships”, but to me that really doesn’t cut it. this is where catra really projects her own trauma and abuse onto others. this is where she perpetuates the cycle. the other common claims of catra abusing people, adora and hordak, really just don’t have that power imbalance, that level of trust necessary for that idea to hold water. but scorpia and entrapta, up until the end of s3, both REALLY trust catra. they consider her their friend. and catra uses this to get what she wants out of them both, all while treating them like shit.

the dividing point for both entrapta AND scorpia is the same - when catra shocks entrapta and sends her to beast island. it’s the first time she uses REAL force against either of them, and the first time she directly threatens scorpia. the illusion is broken. she’s NOT their friend, not really. catra is only in it for herself. and come s4, catra is once again using her position of power over scorpia, cutting what few threads kept scorpia tied to catra.

with entrapta, catra used her from the start. there was never a genuine thread of friendship there. it’s one of the reasons i think that what she did to entrapta merely haunted her, and didn’t break her. with scorpia, it’s hard to say if catra really meant to hurt her or not. there’s moments where it seems like catra truly cares. and i think she didn’t actually have the intention of hurting scorpia. it’s why scorpia saying “you’re a bad friend” and leaving hits catra so much harder than anything else.

the biggest thing that catra needed to unlearn, i think, is that being vulnerable is bad, and that she won’t be rejected if she is. this is the biggest one we see her grow to learn in s5. apologizing to entrapta is her first big challenge after “save the cat”, and we can see how much she’s struggling to get the words out, how she flinches when entrapta reaches out. she’s fully expecting to be met with hostility, or at least rejection...but instead entrapta forgives her. she doesn’t excuse catra’s actions, but she’s willing to let catra back in. she’s willing to try.

and catra’s very lucky that entrapta and scorpia are both incredibly forgiving people. she’s very lucky that they both know she can be better, and that they’re willing to be in her life again. that’s something that could’ve very well ended her relationship with them permanently. catra’s healing is something that can only be done, really, with other people. so, making amends with catra and scorpia is part of her healing. they’re both the end and the means.

#anon #hopefully this makes sense dfjhskbn i am Very Tired

[lunamanar]

What are some of your headcanons on Squall and Rinoa's relationship and how it progresses post-game?

I’m glad you said “some” because the full answer is the biggest reason I write fiction for FFVIII in the first place (I’m just not good at finishing it, eheh). I can do “some,” though.

I suppose the first is simply, “they stay together.” I know, I know, then we can all pack up and go home, right? Nothing more to see, here. 

In seriousness, though, I’ve written plenty of doomed romances. I do not see Squall and Rinoa as one of those. I’m not saying there not huge obstacles for them to overcome, or that there are no possible situations where they would break up or be forced apart, or that there aren’t valid interpretations of them who are simply incompatible. That would be unreasonable, and…I mean, just look at fanfiction.net. Of course they could, and of course there are. But If you’re looking for that sort of drama, you won’t find it in anything I write, and I don’t think it spoils anything to say so. But that’s forced me to tackle all of the “well how do they deal with ____?” questions (and really, that in mind, if you want interpersonal tension and drama, sometimes holding on is the hard option). Those questions in turn have led to a lot of worldbuilding and plot points, which then led to a lot of the other answers I’ve given over the last several days. So to say that the entirety of my headcanon revolves around them wouldn’t be too far off-base. 

I’m a lot more focused on how they grow over time, as individuals and as a unit, how they overcome obstacles both inevitable and inserted in their path by Yours Truly, and how it all affects how they see the world, how they see other people, each other, and themselves. I really like getting into the gritty details of character development for my faves, and they’re some of my favorites of all time, so I love everything I can get from them, whether it feels amazing or hurts like hell. They give me a hearty helping of both, haha. 

With that said, while the game presents a lot of options with Rinoa and Squall as an either/or experience, in most cases I re-envision the scenes so that most of the possible outcomes are true. For instance, my Rinoa initially has a very nice talk with Squall at the FH concert. She says her heartfelt piece, and feels good about it…and then Squall clams up. And Eyes on Me starts playing after the playful jig. That reminds her of her mother, who was quite an example of “we can’t predict the future…” Which saddens her, makes her feel very vulnerable all of a sudden, and when she realizes Squall hasn’t moved toward her or said a damn word for minutes…well, that’s when the other dialogue happens, she gets upset, and leaves. 

I even, surprisingly enough, found a way to make most of the dialogue with everyone reuniting at FH work (whether you sent her to D-district or not, with my end result being that she does not go), so…keep in mind the precise version of the game I’m keeping in my head. It’s already a tiny bit edited, although I really don’t think it’s edited enough to be called AU. Just, my headcanons start inside canon, so it’s probably worth my pointing that out. (Self-plug: you can find a number of these on my DA, AO3 and FFN pages.)

Moving on…immediately post-game, my Squall is a damned mess. He barely survived Time Compression and it takes weeks for him to recover physically. Dealing with the mental trauma will take a great deal longer. He’s having flashbacks, waking nightmares, various sleep disturbances, freezing/staring episodes…the whole experience messed with his head but good. He wants to get back to work, but Dr. Kadowaki refuses to clear him. So, even though Rinoa has stayed with him for the whole thing, he’s pinned in the worst place he can think of being: tearing himself apart on the inside and unable to do anything about anything. 

And Rinoa has her own…situation. Word is spreading that Garden is housing the successor to Adel’s powers (the whole…thing with Ultimecia is not actually that widely known outside of Esthar), and that successor is the daughter of General Caraway, once “involved” with terrorists from Timber. Galbadia doesn’t like this very much and is demanding answers. Although mostly harmless, Odine is being creepy wanting to “observe” her to see how she “handles” what seems must be an oroborousine feedback loop of Hyne’s powers. Meanwhile Dollet is heralding her as some kind of heroine due the version of the story that reached them: that she stopped Adel and broke the back of Galbadia’s army, causing it to cease its assault on their borders indefinitely. Even the people of Esthar, more knowledgeable than most, seem determined to refer to her as “their” sorceress, and are intensely intrigued by the fact she seems to benevolent. So she is at once a villain, a hero, a science project, and a somewhat holy figurehead she never asked to be. She’s barely had any time to learn how to use her powers, so she’s in a dangerously tenuous position with trauma of her own, even without a boyfriend suffering acute PTSD and maybe some other things, too. 

The solution: turn it all off, pack it up, and take a vacation from everything. 

Well, ‘vacation’ might be too idyllic a word, but essentially. Edea has decided she is going to rebuild her house, and repurpose it as both a place for her and Cid to retire, and as a sort of Bed & Breakfast, haha, as the only outpost in Centra, in the hopes that adventurous people will have a starting point to return, explore, and repopulate the fractured continent. The repairs on the main building are already complete, so it’s in livable condition, if only barely.

And, sympathetic to Rinoa’s situation, as well as the only person available to her who has the experience and desire to teach her, Edea agrees to take Rinoa with her, quietly, while Galbadia’s attention is still focused on Garden and Esthar. In turn, Rinoa asks Squall to come with her. He’s doing nothing but spinning his wheels at Garden, not even allowed to arm himself for the Training Center. There are only so many laps and pushups you can do in a day, he needs something to do, a plan of action to focus on. Squall is function-oriented, and denied the freedom to perform that function, he’ll run himself in circles until he starts losing screws and bolts. 

And his new function, alone with Rinoa and Edea at the abandoned house of his childhood: help Rinoa become the best damn sorceress she can be. Be her “Knight,” her partner in coming to understand her magic skills, even perhaps her target, when it comes to it. Use all that strength he’s gained to make sure that by the time they rejoin Garden in six months, she’s ready for anything. 

After some resistance, he agrees. It’s just six months, right? Xu and Quistis can take care of things for that long. 

Turns out to be a long six months. This is where a lot of the domestic problems crop up–among the worst of which is that for some reason, Rinoa always takes the soap out of the shower with her and leaves it in weird places and seriously, what the hell, Rinoa?!–but it’s also where a lot of ground is covered between Squall and Rinoa, because there are no distractions, no one else for thousands of miles in any direction. Just the two of them, to hold each other up or crash and burn together. 

Oh yeah, and there’s a ghost in the woods across the field. It doesn’t seem all that friendly, either. So there’s that. 

But yeah, basically the thing that I think is most important for Rinoa and Squall’s relationship to work is for the both of them to–temporarily–disconnect, focus on themselves and each other. And I think it makes a lot of sense that they both do exactly that. So much has changed for them, so much damage has been done to them and their former lives, even if they weren’t involved with each other, it would be nearly impossible for them to just keep on doing what they’d been doing and recover in any meaningful way at the same time. I’ve seen a lot of fics where Rinoa goes insane because she doesn’t have the support she needs as a very new, very powerful sorceress, and others where Squall regresses and withdraws even worse than he had been while trying to fulfill the demands of being SeeD’s leader immediately after the events of the game. And I think that’s perfectly reasonable. I also think it’s reasonable to just put it all in a box and come back after they’ve done some figuring things out…and maybe having a little adventure on the side. 

I’ve talked in other asks about how my sorceresses have the ability to tap into the life force of other people and even bind themselves permanently to a person for the purpose of augmenting their powers. Edea’s house is where Squall finds out that this is possible…not because Edea tells him, but because he finds it in a very old book that had survived the weathering of the house. It’s the sort of absolute purpose Squall romanticizes, and although Rinoa is afraid of the idea and Edea is flat-out against it, it’s something that holds his attention, an idea that allows him to concentrate and a perspective that helps him work through a lot of the lingering problems even Rinoa can’t seem to touch. 

Even by the time they finally go back to Garden, they’re a ways off from anything like that, but the idea’s been put forth…

A lot of people have already seen the very end of that particular story, because as an Epilogue, it kind of stands on its own: Miles to Go, a comic I did with @skribleskrable a couple years back, caps things off and marks where they are by the time they come back to Garden: uncertain, still a little confused, but hopeful, and ready to face whatever happens next together.

There’s a lot that does happen, a ton of headcanons I could share, but I should probably stop rambling, as this has gone on for quite a bit. I’ve only glanced over so much of it…I hope some point soon here I’m going to have the time and the space I need to stop thinking about this stuff so much and actually get to writing it. 

#ff8 #Anonymous #headcanons #squall and rinoa #squall leonhart #rinoa heartilly #sorcery #succession of witches #story: miles to go #ff8 world #asks