#When the plot ends she gives one of the stray cats to her parents as a 'sorry i died' gift

[bluejaybytes]

@snowshinobi Hiiiii :3 I'm responding to your tags on a new post and not the original since the original was already somewhat lengthy, and I plan on being LONG and RAMBLY, but I have sooo many thoughts on what you said and I'm going to say them. Also my browser crashed TWICE (TWO TIMES. 2) when trying to write this post so I'm really fighting for my life out here to get my silly little OC posts done. Also it's under the cut because it's looooong as hell LMAO

Firstly, you're so nice to me forever <3 Secondly, I think you've basically hit the nail on the head. The majority of the issues Maggie has coming back from death and her 9 years gone are really tied almost exclusively to her close family, because she... never really had anyone else. While in-universe it's only 9 years, realistically the jump in technology and culture is around ~20-30 years (Maggie died in the 90s/early 2000s essentially, and wakes up in a just barely futuristic city), but... the most jarring thing to her in terms of what she missed out on is just. Flipphones are no longer popular. Other than her family, she's only close with one other person... who just so happens to be a ghost, and therefore both 1. Wouldn't change much over the timespan due to how long she's been a ghost and 2. Unlike her family, was aware that something happened, since she could see the ghost-of-a-ghost Maggie left behind (The ghosts name is Opal, she positions herself as a sort of "guardian angel" figure, though she's not actually, and serves as just another parental figure for Maggie while also getting after the ghosts that constantly harass her to pass on messages to the living). Maggie has no real relationships outside of her family, and while her relationships with her family are massively impacted by her unknowing death, other than that... the timeskip itself doesn't weigh on her because she had no one regardless. Her struggle to adjust to everything thats happened would've happened regardless of the timeskip for her, because she was such an isolated shut-in that it's the same whether it happened the next day, or nearly a full decade later

So another very interesting thing is that you've actually completely seen where I was going with everything, in spite of everything I said being very surface level and not actually delving into the plot at all. I completely skimmed over Jenna (She's very important to the plot, but she's by in large a regular person as opposed to Maggie's... everything), but for some additional context, Jenna has a horrendously shitty homelife, so her moving in with Maggie is both a gradual process (It goes from spending time there, to spending nights, to eventually just never going back home and moving in fully), and also serves as an escape for her. Part of that is also, so vitally, the food aspect. For some additional additional context, souls essentially serve as a persons lifeforce, practically every bodily function is improved by a soul that's stronger, though the "strength" of a soul is essentially entirely random, and not dependent on the individuals actions of any kind. Maggie had a generally weird soul before (Seeing ghosts inherently means she has to have something going on with her soul), but when she wakes up after her death, her soul is now even weirder, and part of that is that it essentially lets her get away with bad habits she absolutely should be seeing more consequences for. She barely eats, and when she does, it's basically exclusively crackers and whatever other safe foods she has around the house, because actually making food is a level of care and effort she just... doesn't give to herself in the slightest. Part of Jenna staying with her is that Jenna, without really discussing it, entirely takes up the mantle of caretaker of the apartment, with the biggest task being food prep, Jenna sees Maggie's unwillingness to take care of herself and silently steps up and starts making her actual meals so she's eating properly.

The problem is is that this also kinda... just straight up sucks? Jenna doesn't think much of it, it's something that needed to be done so she's doing it, she wants Maggie to be well fed even if she won't do it herself, and she's already been responsible for making all of her own meals for years prior anyways, so it's just another thing she does. Except that's shitty! Maggie's seen firsthand how terrible her homelife is, and it really weighs on her how even in her escape from that, Jenna's still being put in a position where she feels like she must care for her or else she just won't eat properly. So food is such a massively important thing to both of them, it's this symbol of love for both of them, it's love on the part of Jenna, for stepping in and taking care of Maggie when she can't do it herself, and it's love on the part of Maggie, for realizing how her own bad habits impact the people she cares about and wanting to lift that weight by taking care of herself better. It's also very vital for Maggie because she just... doesn't... have hobbies. Learning how to cook becomes really her only hobby and she puts all of her love and care into it, because for the first time in a long while she's actually passionate about something! ...Unfortunately she also is very very bad at it. She's inventing new dishes like "Burnt Salad" and "Please Help I Fucked Up Kraft Mac N Cheese" and still having to have Jenna come in and help her. But it's the thought that counts, and it'll only be a matter of time before she can make something vaguely edible.

And finally, the stuff about names! I didn't post it here, but while idly talking about her in a Discord server I'm in, I definitely think that had I made Maggie like even a few months later than I would've done she would've been nonbinary. As it stands right now though, I'm saying she's probably some form of genderweird but too busy trying not to die to think about it <3 Growing up knowing that ghosts are real and routinely being shut down by authority figures in her life about it has made her very aware of how bullshit a lot of things are and how the people who claim to be knowledgeable tend to not know what they're talking about (Beyond just the "people don't think ghosts are real", she's also got ghosts willing to tell her when people are lying because they've got nothing better to do than just gossip) , so if she spent even just a moment thinking about gender as a social construct she'd instantly recognize that and probably take up some form of genderweird label, but as it stands she's just too stressed with Being The Protagonist to think about that

Now, the thing with Margaret. I'm not even going to lie to you, I think you made a better connection to how a name connects with community in terms of the narrative themes than I did. The thing with Margaret denying the name "Maggie" existed for two reasons, the in-universe explanation is that, with the little scrap of soul Margaret has leftover from Maggie, it's essentially working overtime just to keep her vitals working, it can't dedicate time and energy to making her an individual with preferences and a personality, so part of that is that she doesn't respond to "Maggie" because ultimately, that is not her name. Her name is Margaret and she's not going to respond to "Maggie" because "Maggie" isn't her name. Of course, out of universe the reasoning is that I wanted an easy way to distinguish between Maggie as she is the protagonist, and the version of her that lived in the years she was gone, so different names makes the most sense.

I think your connection to how name relates to community genuinely works on a level I hadn't fully pieced together myself yet and I really love that because I think that absolutely works with everything. One of the main conflicts of the plot is how Maggie is entirely disconnected from her family thanks to the years she was gone, with Margaret having no priorities beyond "survive", she basically never spoke with her parents or brother for years. While her family tried to reach out to her repeatedly (Especially given that, while they're unaware the truth of what happened the night Maggie was murdered, they do know something happened, and they believe that whatever it was severely traumatized her, and that's where the sudden and drastic shift in personality came from), there's a point where they just... gave up. She wasn't trying to talk with them or contact them in the slightest, so around a year or two after Margaret moved out, her parents gave up on her. Her brother would still be there a bit, but he also didn't really... try... anymore.

When Maggie wakes up, she tries to call her parents... and they don't pick up. They'd grown resentful over the years, and now that Maggie wants to talk to them, they don't forgive her for the years of not speaking to them, and aren't interested in whatever she has to say after nearly a decade of trying to reconnect with her and being met with nothing. It's her insistence that she wants to be called Maggie that actually gets her brother to realize she's telling the truth and that something happened. She shows up at his door, already something that Margaret wouldn't have done, and that combined with her being visibly upset when he calls her Margaret and tells him that's not her and that she's Maggie, it signals to him that whatever's going on is real (...though he would've figured this out eventually, given that she also literally 17 again and not in her mid-20s, and has a giant glowing stab wound in her chest). I think it works absolutely perfectly as being a symbol of community, her disconnect from her community is what led to her being called Margaret, and her desperation to be returned to that community is when she's Maggie again. So uh. Congrats on getting the themes of my OCs better than I did <3

And uhhhh closing thoughts! I honestly did still skim over the majority of the plot (Literally never even mentioned Eli or what's going on with her stab wound </3), but I think you reeeeally hit the nail on the head with everything I'm kinda getting at with these OCs, which is... frankly wild given how little main plot I actually got at. Basically everything I mentioned in my original post was the setup, not the main plot. But waaaaugh thank you for being so niceys to me and also giving me another excuse to ramble endlessly <3

#my OCs #uhhh MAGGIE FUN FACTS: #Animals can tell when a soul is weird so she has a colony of stray cats that hang around her apartment door #she doesnt even LIKE animals that much (She barely takes care of HERSELF shes not taking care of any animals.) #but they all like her weirdass soul and keep hanging around because of it #When the plot ends she gives one of the stray cats to her parents as a 'sorry i died' gift #The cats name is Marge- named by Jenna and also specifically its 'Marge' said in a Simpsons impression. any Simpson #It's Jennas FAVORITE cat out of the strays bc she says she looks like Maggie. also Marge is a male cat #Neither Jenna nor Maggie know how to tell the difference between a male and female cat reliably so they assume Marge is female- hes not #Also Eli's the closest to the 'main antagonist' the story gets. hes an old coworker of Margarets and basically her only friend #and Maggie's too scared with her whole 'is actively dying' thing and doesnt know how to tell him 'hey im not your friend- she died' #ELI thinks that Margaret is essentially have some sort of extreme mental breakdown and is trying to get her help bc he cares about her- #-unaware that Maggie is essentially a different person and doesnt know him #anyways uhhhh Maggie attempts to beat him to death with her laptop once. sorry Eli. luckily shes 17 and scrawny as fuck- #-so he's able to throw her off of him but its still. BAD #Maggie's got INSANE insomnia for a large variety of reasons- and falls asleep on the floor one night while on her laptop #Eli- having gotten off work late and going to check on Margaret- who hasnt shown up to work in weeks and isnt answering her phone #-spots Maggie passed out on the floor and assumes shes having some sort of medical emergency #Margaret had left her spare keys at work which he'd grabbed- so he lets himself in to get her to a hospital #Only for Maggie to wake up. With a strange man in her apartment in the middle of the night. Wuh Oh ! #THIS time however- when she's home alone (shes not alone Jenna's asleep in the other room) and she spots a stranger in her house- #-she ends up with a fight reaction and NOT freeze <3 #also her full name is Margaret Elisabeth Newell and her brothers name is Hawke #one of the very few times i will give my OC a full name- and entirely bc my friend suggested her last name LMAO #also she believes in bigfoot. GHOSTS are real and theyre WAY less believable than 'big ape' so she fully believes it #Opal keeps trying to tell her no that ones ACTUALLY not real and shes like uh huh. sure. ill believe it when i see it

[shaunamilfman]

Don’t know why but the thought of JackieNat as roommates during their senior year or after college is giving me such insane brain rot.

- Jackie’s parent’s pay for her half of the rent, while Natalie has to work, sometimes a lot, so Jackie has started getting up early to make breakfast and lunches for Nat, so she can eat before/at work. At first it was really bad, cause Jackie can probably barely work a toaster, and Natalie could only take a bite or two for Jackie’s sake and then throw away what she couldn’t bare to eat. But Jackie gets the hang of it eventually and Natalie really looks forward to eating lunch, cause Jackie writes her little notes with it.

- Natalie and Jackie got close but Jackie didn’t know everything about Nat, cause when she walked into the apartment and was greeted by an ugly, straggly (previously stray) cat, she is surprised, to say the least. Natalie introduces him as “Shithead, the cat she found in a dumpster”, and Jackie has to force a smile and pretend she doesn’t absolutely HATE cats. For a while Jackie was convinced the cat is plotting her murder cause it would follow her EVERYWHERE, occasionally swipe his paw in the space under Jackie’s door, and just sit and stare at her. Natalie tells Jackie it’s just cause he likes her and he’s curious, but Jackie doesn’t believe her. Weeks later after a double shift at work, Natalie comes home to find Jackie on the couch, Shithead on Jackie’s chest, purring with his eyes closed as Jackie scratches his chin and cheeks as Jackie’s just smiling ear to ear at the cat. Jackie calls Natalie and herself, his parents from that point on.

- Jackie and Natalie at first fought about what to watch because there is only one TV and Jackie comes to the conclusion if Nat just watched what Jackie wanted it would be fine, So she forces Nat to watch all her shitty reality romance/dating shows, at first Natalie HATES it, she just goes to her room and doesn’t watch, but there was one night where she was too tired to move and she ended up getting invested. Now they watch it together every Thursday night.

- Jackie single handedly improves Nat’s living standards, because Natalie lives like a divorced dad, or a frat guy and it knocks Jackie off of her feet. Natalie uses lawn chairs at the dining table and she doesn’t have a bed frame, Jackie saw those things and nearly had a panic attack. So Jackie gets them ACTUAL furniture, because despite how much Nat argues it, one beanbag in the middle of the living room doesn’t count as a chair. She decorates the place, and Natalie actually likes how it turns out.

- They host little movie nights for the girls to come by, and by ‘they’ it’s mostly Jackie, she makes snacks and drinks and picks out the movie options. But Nat is hanging out with them and she’s happy and laughing and that’s enough for Jackie.

So sorry I went on a tangent here, I told you, I love their old married couple dynamic, hope your presentation went well <3

nat the first time Jackie made her a sandwich: 😯😁. nat the hundredth time Jackie has made her the only sandwich she knows how to make: 😔.

makes her lowkey miss her previous bag of chips and a Gatorade because atleast she could vary the flavors.

nat has all of the notes hidden deep in her room and will burn them before she lets Jackie realize she kept them. she pretended not to have read one once as a joke but never made it again because Jackie almost teared up.

Jackie is the dad who doesn't want a cat and then is the cats bestie once you get him omg

Jackie doing girl math with the TV lmao you know that's right. nat does that thing where she stands in the doorway pretending she's not watching it and gets closer and closer until she's finally sitting down. but it you acknowledge she's watching it she's gone.

nat is strangely invested in one of the reality shows Jackie watches all the time. Nat's home sitting on the couch playing on her gameboy or some shit at like 8 pm on the dot every Thursday. she will take that secret to her grave, but Jackie knows damn well how into it she is.

Nat's never had a home before and kind of has a little freak out when she realizes that not only does she own more than she can carry, but that she's made her home with Jackie fucking Taylor.

nat loves movie nights because Jackie alternates letting her have a day in what they watch without a fight lmao. she also loves having like a scheduled weekly event because her family never had one of those as a kid. she mentions this to Jackie and jackie's like "you think I'm your family? 😁". cue nat crossing her arms petulantly and being like "Pff. Nooooo. 😳🙄"

my presentation went very well actually, thank you! glad it's fucking over though. you can always feel free to go on a tangent in my inbox lmao

#soffsh #jackie thoughts 🩷 #nat thoughts 🖤 #jackienat thoughts 🩷🖤

[artzychic27]

Anymore Class of Heroes headcanons?

Adrien has a gallon of conditioner and shampoo that usually lasts a person with waist length hair up to two months. He uses them up in a day

Denise has all sorts of jewelry inspired by retro video games. Their PacMan earrings are their favorite

Nathaniel has no idea that he snores loudly

Nathaniel: *Skips gracefully into the classroom with songbirds flying behind him* I had the best sleep. How about you guys?

*His classmates all have bloodshot eyes, heavy bags, and appear to be twitching*

Kim: … Is he mocking us?

The star on Aurore’s wand actually comes off. It’s just for decoration

Again. Do NOT. Throw Jean off his groove

Jean: *In the middle of a lavish musical number when Kim walks in at the wrong moment*

Kim: Oh. Sorry, did I-

Jean: Kiiim! You interrupted! Now I have to start all over. Okay, people! From the top!

Cosette is the opposite- They will keep performing no matter what. Some heckler throws their shoe on stage? Cosette chucks it right at their head while nailing that high note

Reshma has a secret love for Indian rock and purple and black clothing, but is terrified of her grandmother finding out

Whenever parents and legal guardians come to visit, it’s always hectic with the students making sure their rooms are pristine, or they’re hiding stuff they don’t want their parents knowing about

Kim and Denise not so subtly show off their biceps just to get Ondine and Simon to simp

Once, Marinette dressed as a guy just to see how everyone would react, and the reactions were not what she expected

Chloé: … Who the fuck is that handsome man?

Jean: I saw him first!

Max: I normally don’t give in to such emotions, but… He’s is so fucking hot!

Alya: *Subtly taking photos* I can’t believe Marinette is missing this.

Every shoe Zoé owns is made of glass- Sneakers, boots, flats, crocs, sandals

Chloé and Cosette are desperately trying to get her to wear some normal shoes before she cuts her foot

Lions are still cats. And as such, Mireille freaks out whenever she sees a cucumber

Mireille: Hey, guys, I- OH, FUCK! WHAT IS THAT THING?! *Points to a cucumber in Alya’s hand*

Alya: … Hon, this is a cucumber.

Mireille: C-can it see me?! What’s it doing?!

Never leave windows open in Aurore, Nino, Lacey, and Simon’s rooms. They sleep float

If you find Ismael’s lamp, wear gloves before handling it. He doesn’t want it smudged

Nathaniel is the only one who dares to brave Marc’s ice storm and ask who upset him

Myléne only loves SOME of her stuffed animals, and the guilt is killing her

If they focus enough, Denise is able to glitch from room to room

Alya sometimes has to chase her friends out of her kitchen when she cooking, like they’re a bunch of strays

Alya: *Notices Adrien reaching for something* Hey! No!… *Taps the counter with a spoon* Go on! Get!

Adrien: … *Slowly reaches again*

Alya: Bad! *Sprays Adrien with a squirt bottle. He hisses and runs out of the room* I swear to- *Sees Kim and Marinette* Hey! Don’t make me use this spoon! I will use it!

Sabrina can’t watch trees getting cut down without feeling sick

Kim does push-ups while Max sits on his back and reads

Kagami can and will shoot any of the asshole royals with her arrows if she catches them messing with her friends and partners

They once slipped an apple into Myléne’s lunch, and Kagami went feral

Juleka will not hesitate to kick your ass with you toss rings onto her horns. And if she won’t, Rose will

She also has a regimen she follows in order to keep her horns from getting too long and too dull at the ends

Alix is a regular down at the village orphanage, often lending her assistance with fund raisers and reading to a few of the kids

It took Adrien seven hours to figure out why his hair felt heavier than normal… Nath fell asleep in it

Lila’s plots to kill of Cosette and steal its music are always thwarted by its classmates. And none of them are amused, especially Zoé

Denise: *Cracks their knuckles*

Marc: *Summons stalagmites*

Reshma: *Summons a carnivorous plant*

Jean: *Whips out his staff*

Zoé: *Hits her glass shoe against the wall, sharpening the end to a fine point* Run, bitch.

Ivan, Denise, Mireille, and Marc are the only ones able to fall asleep on hard surfaces without having back pains when they wake up

For the short time Jess was at DuPont, she became fast friends with Myléne, Adrien, Reshma, and Nathaniel since they liked being outside so much

Also, for reasons unknown, her hair blows perfectly in the wind with a strand never getting in her face. Adrien wants to know her secrets

Reshma HATES the word ‘useless’ with a burning passion. She heard her little sister get called that ever since she didn’t get her gift, and will not put up with anyone using that word against someone else

Chloé may or may not have a slight crush on the village baker’s apprentice, but that doesn’t stop Zoé and Sabrina from teasing her about it

Max does the anime glasses thing whenever he senses something off. It scares people

@msweebyness @imsparky2002

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #mlb au #science kids #akuma class #mlb ocs #class of heroes #Disney heroes #Disney au #answered ask #ask me stuff

[sepyana]

Jjba Diamond Is Unbreakable Ep 30 - FINALE Thoughts

This is gonna be a big one. Part one of two maybe?

Ep 30

Kira Yoshikage's no good very bad day.

Shinobu is not good with cats for someone who supposedly likes them.

I've always loved cats so seeing them hurt upsets me a bit more than other animals. Funnily enough, dogs die a lot more in jjba than cats but I'm pretty sure Araki likes dogs more.

I was going thru jojowiki's interview archive and found this interesting bit from Araki:

To me, dogs symbolize loyalty and friendship. All you cat lovers out there might be wondering why I didn't pick a cat, but I feel like a cat would betray them somewhere along the line (laughs wryly). They may be a playmate for you, but they're not your friend. I always end up putting cats on the enemy side, like with how the elder D'Arby used them to cheat which might say something about how I view them."

It's a bit sad that he thinks cats can be companions like dogs but that explains a lot about Kira's heavy association with cats right? He has the "personality of a cat" too.

Let's talk about Shinobu and Hayato for a bit.

I do feel bad for her, her situation is definitely not enviable. My sympathy starts to run dry when we see how she treats Hayato, though. She is upset he isn't trying to build a connection with her as if it isn't her responsibility to do that. I think it's pretty clear that she doesn't like him because she views him as the reason why she is stuck in her marriage. Well, this is a sensitive and long topic so I'm cutting it here.

Speaking of Hayato, I like him. I wasn't expecting that considering how late he was introduced and how easy it would be to fuck it up. He helped a lot the move the plot forward. Watching him struggle and find a way to break through Bites The Dust was really entertaining (which I will get into later). There is one major thing about him that's hard to ignore and that's how he doesn't feel like an 11 year old at all. What kind of 11 year old installs cameras in their house to spy on ther parents? What's funnier is that the show ignores this like it's normal. As if everyone spied on their parents when they were in elementary school. It's so unnecessary too. Having him get suspicious about Stray Cat and learning Kira is an impostor while hiding would be enough. I'm not like, upset at this I'm just really confused.

Stray cat acts on base instincts moreso than the other animals we have seen like Iggy and Pet Shop. It's weird that some animals are as smart as humans while other's are more like themselves.

I was initally confused on why they set up Kira having affection for Shinobu as it does not get brought up ever again. I think it's to give a reason for why he doesn't kill her. His need to kill grows stronger by day but he can't kill Shinobu without messing up the plot.

Ep 31 - 34

Okay, so, the next four episodes catalogue four different events happening in the same day all at once. Which is pretty cool. Diu has a big cast so of course we'd want to utilize them all, right?

Superfly

I like this part the least, not because it's bad or anything. I just think other parts have more to offer.

Mikitaka just waited there as binoculars and hoping Josuke and Okuyasu would happen to walk there. It worked but. I feel like he made the situation worse? If he hadn't pointed it out Josuke and Okuyasu wouldn't go in the tower to begin with.

Enigma

This stand is way too cool to only appear in two episodes. The design of the actual stand itself is a bit boring but the effects. The effects both look and sound great.

You need to make your target show their sign of fear twice for it to work. It reminds me of D'arby in that way. The interesting thing is that Terunosuke can also store items and himself in paper. If this stand was given to someone who is not a psychopath it could still be really useful.

D:

Yuya gets some time to shine. We are reaching the end so it was either gonna be now or never. I like his design fine. I can't say that his face heel turn was forced since we knew very little about the dude before anyway. I think it's funny that the reason he helps Josuke is because he would be very upset if this happened to one of his girls. Good job Yuya, you are experiencing compassion, and empathy! I also like the way he says "Highway Star!!".

Highway Star is not an outstanding design or anything but I do like the way the zipper on his chin looks like a pointy beard.

My main issue with this part is Terunosuke being turned into a book for the rest of time. He sucks but he is nowhere as bad as Angelo, I don't really think he deserves a fate worse than death like him. It's weird that Josuke causally does these things too. You could mention Giorno but he isn't even aware of GER's power. GER says so himself.

It's a bit unfortunate that the only dark skinned character in Part 4 literaly turns into an object. I don't think Araki intended this obviously but it's there now.

Cheap Trick

What kind of pranks Rohan has been pulling for Koichi to think this was a joke?

Curiosity killed the Rohan. I'm sure this is not gonna foreshadow anything.

Rohan always gets the weirdest stand fights I swear. They all specifically counter Heaven's Door in some way. Heaven's Door is juuust at the edge of being too OP. It's awkward to work with in some aspects. I'd say having Rohan actually write the commands instead of them naturally appearing would make more sense. This would make it even worse at fights but it's not meant to be that. I don't mind the stand as is though, it's literary called 'Heaven's Door" it's meant to be busted. Plus, Heaven's Door is adorable, it can be a lil OP, as a treat.

Cheap Trick looks like it has a diaper on. It looks like a baby if you squint hard enough. A lot of people do feel "trapped" by their kids, so uhh lol

Killer Queen

Kira finally goes in to for a kill. Unfortunately for him Hayato is a freak and has been following him thr entire time. It's entertaining to watch but it doesn't reveal anything about Kira that we don't already know.

Ep 35-36

There are a lot of great things about the Bites The Dust Arc. One thing I wanna mention is just how hopeless the situation feels. At first for Kira and then for our crew. Like,

Episode 35 starts with Kira getting checkmated by a child. He can't kill Hayato but he can't let him go either. Kira is incredibly arrogant but I wouldn't say he is impulsive. This was enough to get to him though, he kills Hayato without thinking and puts himself in the worst situation possible.

He isn't even trying to keep cover at this point. Changing his hair to symbolize that.

You could say Kira gaining a new ability was a stupid asspull, I don't mind it at all. Stories like conflict and giving a villain powerups will create more conflict, unlike deus ex machinas, which remove them. Some people get really upset about those but idrc. I thought Jotaro being able to stop time was a really cool reveal. It's a bit lame that it didn't get foreshadowed at all but it's not the end of the world for me. It is the end of The World for Dio though :D

Bites The Dust activates. Seeing Hayato alive was weird enough but then you see Kira the most confident yet. He is so confident in fact that he straight up tells Hayato his real identity.

Kira is such a huge moron. He basically has the world at his side and he still somehow manages to fuck it up. I'm surprised that got away with murder for 15 years without Killer Queen or anything.

Kira revealing his identity becomes shortly relevant when we see Rohan, with what might be his best fit yet. I'm not sure about the gloves though.

I love how they did this scene. The slow reveal of Hayato's pages seeing the future. The music stopping and Rohan's voice getting lower and lower as he realises what is happening.

The protags and their allies are almost always very selfless. Rohan is going to die yet his main concern is telling others Kira's identity. Much in the same way Kak's last thought was telling Joseph The World's power. Also similar to how the last thing Ceasar does is get the antidote for Joseph. I don't really like how samey the allies are in that regard. At points, their total lack of self-preservation annoys me. I wanna talk about this more on another post but I doubt I'll do it.

I was a little sad about Rohan dying but I was mostly sad for Reimi. I did feel bad when she called him "Little Rohan". Imagine being Reimi in that situation.

And another one gone, and another one gone, another one bites the dusttttt

I like the simple set-ups and pay-offs this arc. You learn Hayato has most likely rewinded time before, then you see "Rohan Kishibe also died. You are shown whoever dies during Bites The Dust is fated to die again, then we are shown Hayato getting caught by out crew. Makes the moment infinitely more tense.

Also, i's incredibly concerning one of the first things Hayato thinks of is to kill himself. He is like 11!

I love that Killer Queen shows up to look at Hayato dead in the eyes. Hayato can't see stands, Bites The Dust is an independent stand. Killer Queen shows just enough emotion in these scenes to make you think. Not enough to be sure of any interpretation. I think that's a cool detail... Killer Queen in the manga doesn't have the intense look of her anime counterpart.

It was around at this point when I started think "I have no idea how they are going to get out of this."

Hayato calling Josuke for help was pretty smart! Kira not being able to use his stand while Bites The Dust is active makes a lot of sense. I feel stupid for not figuring that out sooner.

Little man omg

Ep 37-38

I have a lot to say about this part but I also have nothing. There are a lot of small things so.. a lightning round:

The red glow of Killer Queen's eyes looks amazing. Combined eith the art and the animation she is just so menacing. Like in her initial appearance.

I appreciate that Josuke mentions Shigechi.

The fight between Crazy Diamond and Killer Queen was smooth as hell. The fights in Jojo are moreso about outsmarting the enemy and beating them up is the reward. You don't see them trade blow for blow like this.

The colors are especially nice too. Greenish blue Crazy Diamond is pretty.

Killer Queen being bad at fighting due to Kira's no conflict policy is not something I thought about before, but it makes a lot of sense. Of course someone like him wouldn't have a stand great in combat.

Kira saying he despises conflict more than anything else made me thing of Dio's whole "Peace of mind" speech. The thing human psyche wants is secure serenity and all that. I'd say this applies to Dio as well even though he doesn't consider himself human. This isn't about him though.

Now that those are out of the way... let's talk Okuyasu's "death". I initially hated it, I like it a bit more now. Kira turning the dying Okuyasu into a bomb like Aya was brutal. When Terunosuke threw the paper with Koichi's name, Josuke went after it despite calling it bait. He said even if there was a minuscule chance of it being Koichi, he had save it. He knows that Okuyasu is a bomb but he cannot accept that. If the slight chance of him not being a bom was true, and he didn't save him, he would not be able to live with himself.

Josuke being in denial that Okuyasu died like how he did with his grandfather.

The way Crazy Diamond and Killer Queen contrast each other is lovely. KQ's ability stopping Josuke from healing and how CD can reverse Kira's explosions.

Okuyasu finally making a choice for himself and coiing back is a nice cap to his character arc. It was a really wholesome moment.

My main issue with it is I don't really like fake-out deaths. I don't think Araki is good at writing them. This was true for Avdol and it's true for Okuyasu. Just imagine if this was the way Okuyasu died for real. Gets killed out of nowhere at the end just so Josuke could have a sad moment. At first I thought maybe another bites thr fust would happen because it didn't feel right for him to die this way. But then the show kept insisting he was dead.

I felt like there were a lot of ways to do this without doing a fakeout death at the second to last episode of Part 4.

On a side note, I don't really understand how the dried blood works exactly? I don't understand how Kira can control the air bomb. Sure, he turned that thing into a bomb but it is Stray Cat who can control those things to begin with. Idk idk.

They used Dio's theme at the end there. Fits the moment well

Ep 39 - Epilogue

This my favourite episode in all of Jojo so far. I think I've watched the confrontation with Kira over 100 times at this point. It has the exact same effect on me cocomelon has on little kids haha

Kira's confession is already funny as is but then there is Killer Queen's thousand yard stare. She does NOT want to be there.

Everything about Kira's defeat was just so good. The animation, the colors, the sound effects, the voice acting, the timing it just hits the right spot.

More evidence that Star Platinum can say things other than ora. Also, you really gotta love how they used the exact same music that played before Dio "killed" Joseph.

The intense music that hits when Jotaro and Rohan run towards Kira only for him to activate Bites the Dust. The effects were amazing. It makes tou think though, is this what you see when you die or is it from Kira thinking Bites The Dust activated. Who knows. (I can't believe jojo actually fake outed us with the fake BtD lol)

I love how everyone got to do something. Rohan and Reimi found Hayato. Hayato defeated Bites The Dust and let Kira be found by the crew. Josuke gravely injured Kira, Okuyasu got rid of his air bombs. Koichi gave Jotaro enough time for him to stop Kira for good. Reimi gathered everyone for help and sent his ass to hell at the end. Even my boy Arnold got to bite Kira's hand and help Reimi.

Part 4 is focused more on the group as a whole instead of Josuke like Parts 2 and 3. And that's okay. I hear some people say Josuke got done dirty but he has arguably carried the team harder than Jotaro did part 3. Only person who did almost as much as him was Koichi. People say Jotaro stole the spotlight from Josuke but Koichi did way more than Jotaro.

I'm not crying about Reimi leaving, you are

It's so wholesome how Reimi treats Rohan like he is her younger brother. It's common here for little kids to have high school students who they look up to for help, a neighbor or a cousin of some kind. When you are so little sophomores feel like grown adults. It's more of a cultural thing as not all of them give a lot of importance to neighbors and extended family. I couldn't help but make the connection though. Not sure how it is in Japan.

Okuyasu looking after Stray Cat... Thank you Araki for not killing them off.

Shout out to Joduke for stealing Joseph's money. He deserved it.

Jotaro leaving Morioh on a boat instead of a plane cuz Joseph's there. Memories.

AND DONE. Actually not really. I wanna give some general thoughts about Part 4 later since this is more of a episode by episode thing. I still have some stuff to say unfortunately.

This took so much longer than part 3. I think there was a lot more stuff to talk about in part 4. You can definitely see why so many people have it as their favourite.

Uhh see anyone reading this after I finish Golden Wind. I'm gonna binge it this time. And liveblog just a bit.

#sepya watches jjba #↪ posts

[inamindfarfaraway]

My Excessively Detailed, Heavily Opinionated Catwoman Comics Timeline (Major Spoilers)

Backstory

Selina Kyle is born in the East End in Gotham, in the area’s typical poverty, to Cuban immigrant Maria and Irish American Brian. Maria is a loving and protective parent, if troubled and sometimes emotionally distant. She loves cats and in some stories explicitly keeps several at home, preferring them to humans. Brian is your classic abusive alcoholic archetype with a side of racism - he isn’t confirmed to have physically abused his daughters, but he is verbally aggressive toward them and Maria is shown to make a point to send them away when his anger is peaking. He also regularly mistreats her, including in front of their daughters, and generally has no observable love for his family.

Yes, I said daughters, plural. Selina has a little sister named Maggie. (Their exact age difference is never specified, but it’s probably about two or three years. Maggie is drawn noticeably smaller when they’re kids. In one flashback she has toddler proportions when Selina is clearly older than that. Also, her hair colour oscillates between ginger, light brown and blonde, and her eyes are usually brown, but sometimes blue.) The two are polar opposites. Where Selina’s idealism rapidly degrades, Maggie’s persists; where Selina sharpens her edges and puts up emotional walls, Maggie openly seeks love and validation; where Selina lashes out at the world and looks out for herself, Maggie is kind, selfless and pacifistic. It’s easy to conclude that Maggie gets to be softer because her big sister is growing up too fast for her. Basically, they’re both put through early childhood trauma, and as Maggie puts in in the Relentless storyline, “[they] both survived [it] in entirely different ways” and both “thought [their own] way was right” for years.

Age is still never specified, but Selina is consistently described as ‘just a girl’ when Maria kills herself. The girls find her in the blood-filled bathtub. This moment will be recalled repeatedly, including in full-on traumatic flashbacks, and is agreed to kinda be Selina’s ‘equivalent’ in defining traumatic childhood events to Bruce’s night in Crime Alley.

Selina has been doing gymnastics since she was a little kid, BTW, supported by Maria. It’s said to be all she was still interested in once her mother died.

Brian’s parenting does not improve now he’s a single parent. The time of his death is another thing disagreed upon: in the Kyle sisters-centric Catwoman origin story Her Sister’s Keeper, he dies two months before the plot when both his daughters are adults, the news of which shocks Selina but she doesn’t seem to particularly mourn him for what a great guy he was. However, later tellings quietly retcon this to him dying ‘not long after’ Maria (the constant imprecision is very annoying to me. Give me numbers, dammit!).

Either way, just a few years after Maria’s death, the girls end up orphans and homeless. Selina goes to Sprang Juvenile Hall because Gotham’s social safety net is fantastic, but rather than let Maggie be cast to the winds of chance, before she’s locked up she takes Maggie to a children’s home run by actually good people - nuns - and abandons her there. Why doesn’t she stay and grow up there too? Well, given her intense self-hatred, bad luck and how throughout their interactions she puts Maggie before herself, I read this as her not believing she deserves it and/or believing she’d ruin any happiness she had, and Maggie had with her present, due to her supposed inherent badness. That’s just my interpretation, but I think it makes the most sense. So Maggie has a much healthier, happier and more stable late childhood and adolescence. She becomes a nun herself called Sister Magdeline, in fact. And always feeds the stray cats outside the convent.

Meanwhile, Selina is abused in juvie until she breaks out at thirteen and lives on the streets. Namely Alleytown, a slum between the East End and Old Gotham. She starts her career as a thief and swindler here, in the Alleytown Kids gang run by Mama Fortuna, who lets them stay in her house, nicknamed the Nest, and teaches them to use people’s underestimation of kids against them. Selina takes to crime like a cat to hunting, earning the woman’s respect. She befriends a fellow kid there, Sylvia Sinclair. But Mama Fortuna takes all the kids’ loot for herself and makes them do her chores and dirty work, so Selina and Sylvia run away together.

A pimp named Stan hires Selina as as sex worker. You get three guesses if he’s an abusive bastard; the first two don’t count. Sylvia likewise becomes a sex worker, and when they have their first times at fourteen, Sylvia volunteers to go first. Selina has no idea how to comfort or help her in the wake of this extremely traumatic experience, so she just… doesn’t. Unbeknownst to her, Sylvia holds a grudge over this. They’re pulled apart quickly after that by the chaos of the streets. Years later, Selina fails Sylvia again when she ditches her to get arrested during a diamond heist Sylvia asked for her help with. Sylvia goes to prison.

When Selina’s seventeen, she meets thirteen-year-old homeless girl Holly Robinson (whose hair oscillates between blonde, red and strawberry blonde because again, comic books are as consistent as Greek mythology). Holly’s turned to sex work too after running away from her abusive junkie parents, leaving her older brother behind. She’s at that moment being assaulted by a cop. Selina punches him out and rescues her, taking her under her wing. This is the first time Holly realizes that she doesn’t have to passively accept whatever cruelty life subjects her to, and she becomes Selina’s sidekick and little sister figure. Selina canonically has strong Big Sister Energy.

Comics Timeline

Her Sister’s Keeper. Selina learns martial arts from Wildcat and becomes Catwoman, inspired by the early appearances of Batman, initially to get her revenge on Stan. (Her age is vague, but a cop guesses that she’s sixteen or seventeen and Holly looks like a young teen, so she’s probably in her late teens to early twenties. Except Maggie is a fully fledged nun, and you need to be eighteen for that. Damn comic book chronology. Maybe Selina and Holly look younger than they is because of their chronic childhood malnutrition stunting their growth?) She reunites with Maggie, Stan captures Maggie to hurt her, Selina technically doesn’t murder him but does in spirit, Holly also gets beaten up by a cop, Batman is just trying to do his job and the Batcat ship is born in what else but a fight where she neatly summarizes their stage one relationship with a kiss immediately followed by a scratch. It all escalates into a whole debacle. Selina ultimately comes to three conclusions: 1. she’s gonna be a badass thief now; 2. Batman is hot and they’re into each other, but he’s a little too much like a cop for her to trust him; and 3. she’s willing to take the risks of her lifestyle, but not to let her loved ones get hurt, and so sends Holly to live with Maggie in the convent. That last one is important! Though Selina is habitually selfish in practical terms, she also will always want better for those she loves and has a responsibility/guilt complex about needing to protect them from harm. Her foundational self-concept is to some degree inherently a Bad Person, therefore pushing people away from her is her idea of doing what’s best for them. Almost every time someone she cares about gets hurt by a villain’s own actions or something else beyond her control, she believes it’s her fault! When she cares, she cares so much!

Ahem. I have strong feelings about this character. She has broken into my head and is stealing my time and mental energy.

HSK is Catwoman Volume 1. For a long time after this we’ve got the classic status quo. She’s the best thief in the world. She steals from the rich and gives to herself, mostly, to the point that she becomes a self-made socialite with fabulous outfits. She and Batman have their on-and-off enemies-and-lovers relationship, or alternatively, they speedrun enemies-to-lovers arcs and back again over and over. Sometimes as a socialite she flirts and has flings with Bruce Wayne, who’s nice, but her real love is Batman! (Cut to Bruce and Clark commiserating in a bar that their crushes have dumped them for themselves in a costume.) Occasionally she and Bats dare to dream of something more serious and committed between them, but his strict moral code and her amorality and both their intimacy and trust issues keep getting in the way. Go to therapy, you two. Please.

Volume 2 gives Catwoman her own rogues’ gallery. This includes bitter copycat rival She-Cat, who Selina rejected as a friend when they knew each other as orphan kids and must now deal with as an enemy; the scientist Cyber-Cat who uses shiny feline power armour and gets just a tiny little bit obsessed with the thief who humiliated her despite it; and Hellhound, her former classmate at a martial arts dojo with an ego even greater than his actual skill. Selina’s also presumed dead for a few years at the end because comics. The list of comic book characters who have never been truly, functionally or presumed dead is getting worryingly short…

I will summarize its major events, but before you read any further, I implore you to read Ed Brubaker’s run of Volume 3 (2002) if you have the time. Please. It is the Catwoman run. Brubaker is the best writer the character has ever had and - the abomination that was Selina and Slam being a couple notwithstanding - his writing is overall some of the best DC’s ever had in my opinion. Just read it if you want to know who Selina Kyle is and what she’s about.

I’m serious. I’ll wait.

Okay! Offscreen in the years before Volume 3, Maggie and Holly leave the convent and Gotham and part ways. Maggie fit in great there until an apparent crisis of faith, but Holly never felt like she fully belonged in that world and this feeling of discontentment only worsens. Maggie gets a degree in psychology, falls in love with a good man named Simon and settles into a comfortable life of domestic bliss. Holly in contrast spirals downward, returning to sex work on the streets and doing heroin.

Volume 3 proper starts with the story Catwoman: Anodyne. A series of murders of working girls gives Selina a blast from the past and makes her take a look at herself in her penthouse with her collection of lavish ball gowns and jewels. She realizes that she’s lost sight of her roots of standing up for people like herself and Holly against corruption and abuse. So she reinvents her Catwoman identity to be an antiheroic vigilante actively championing social justice, particularly focused on the East End. Respect. Because as this story’s events remind her, the cops don’t care about the poor and marginalized like sex workers. Private investigator Slam Bradley is her contact in legal crime solving, rather than a police officer, and he consistently disdains cops. Obviously she still steals, but it’s less of her defining characteristic. She’s more generous with the spoils too. For example, she funds Bruce’s charity projects. Stealing with no noble ulterior motive is presented less as empowerment from now on and more as a self-destructive compulsion, a symptom of her unhealthy, trauma-based survivalist mindset that she’s trying to escape.

Her change of heart improves her relationship with Batman. They get to know each other’s secret identities. The more cooperative Batcat, with the added intimacy and domesticity of Brucelina, is pretty much the Batman franchise OTP with Brutalia having petered out. I don’t want to get into ship wars, but at present canon, ever fickle mistress that it is, does largely lean my way.

Selina reunites with Holly in Anodyne, Holly only a few months off heroin. She starts pretending to be homeless, truly acting as Catwoman’s eyes and ears on the East End streets, and later becomes the new leader of the Alleytown Kids. She’s also a lesbian and has a girlfriend named Karon (whose hair is finally a consistent colour - purple). Selina tracks down and reunites her with her long-lost brother Davey in a nice roadtrip story. In One Year Later, the timeline in which Selina and Bruce have Helena Wayne, she succeeds the Catwoman mantle when Selina quits to be a more devoted mother. And in the buildup to Infinite Crisis, she befriends the antihero Harley Quinn and lives with her for some time.

Speaking of Harley Quinn, Selina has close friendships with her fellow morally flexible badass women, Harley and Poison Ivy. They collectively form the Gotham City Sirens. Their comic run of the same name brings this to the fore with them sharing a home and on paper all going straight. (They don’t, obviously). Bruce actually encourages these bonds because Selina keeps the other two in check and their friendship brings out their inner altruism; he knows Selina will side with him if Harley and Ivy, traditionally outright villains, fall too far into the darker shades of grey. The three still hurt each other, all having their own issues and different worldviews, but overall they’re a heartwarming, fun, awesome trio.

Selina trains Stephanie Brown as rookie Spoiler for a bit. Another interesting relationship given how similar Selina and Steph’s childhoods were that writers refuse to explore, because DC doesn’t let us have nice things. At least not for long.

Leslie Thompkins is another good friend of Selina, supporting her in helping the East End community.

But wait! Did you think DC would be satisfied with the amount of pain these characters have already gone through? Hell no! Catwoman: Relentless, chronologically before Gotham City Sirens, is a great big kick in the teeth. Buckle up. Selina’s been a significant thorn in Black Mask’s side, stealing $28 million from him in diamonds to fund an East End Community Centre, and he wants to make her pay for it with interest. He blows up the centre and kidnaps first Simon, then Maggie. Sylvia comes back into Selina’s life leading the Alleytown Kids (before Holly does it, sorry if my ordering is confusing) and seemingly is a friend and ally. But it’s revealed that due to her animosity toward her she’s been working for Black Mask the whole time and luring her into a trap. She was the one who told him her secret identity, enabling him to do all of this. Meanwhile, Black Mask is holding Maggie hostage. How does he hurt her to hurt Selina? Well, he tortures and murders her husband in front of her, cuts his eyes out and makes her eat them. Under-fucking-standably, Maggie’s sanity is… broken. Holly, who naturally also gets captured and tortured, ends up shooting Sylvia to save Selina’s life. Not just wilfully allowing her to die, actively shooting her. Selina also basically breaks her no-killing rule here. She kicks Black Mask off his balcony, then stands right in front of him and watches him slowly lose his grip on the ledge he caught in disgust while he begs her to help him. So that’s cool. But she and the people she loves are very, very hurt and traumatized, and she blames herself for all of it for trusting Sylvia and not being able to protect them.

Maggie has to live in a mental hospital after Relentless, trapped in an unresponsive catatonic state. What happens to her afterward… well… yet again, comics can’t give a straight answer. Blackest Night, that big crossover event with with loads of dead characters being revived as evil Black Lanterns, has Black Mask return to life and kidnap her to hurt Selina again, only for the Sirens to rescue her. But Maggie runs away and the chronologically later Gotham City Sirens run picks that thread up with her being homeless and now believing Selina is possessed by a cat demon and that’s why her life is full of sin, misfortune and general bad things. In the course of seeking to exorcise her, she gets possessed herself by an apparent (though suspiciously harmful and violent) genuine angel who not only causes her hallucinations that make her delusion look true, but gives her supernatural powers and possesses Harley too at one point. Maggie turns into the Christian extremist antivillain Sister Zero determined to ‘save’ her sister’s soul whether that keeps it in the mortal plane or not. It’s very weird. The nature and goals of the ‘angel’ are literally never explained, and that itself isn’t necessarily bad, but… I personally don’t like or agree with that direction, the whole thing just comes out of nowhere for me and I think the sisters have had enough angst and division already. I haven’t seen Sister Zero appear outside that series. The ongoing Volume 5 ignores all of that and begins with her still hospitalized and catatonic, having been so long enough that her straight bob has grown to be shoulder-length and curly. This run immediately follows the failed wedding fiasco in Tom King’s Batman run that I know a lot of fans, myself included, disdain and disregard. Here Maggie gradually improves. She’s taken to live with Selina to save her from villainous scheming. She regains her speech, she’s happy, she makes peace with Selina being Catwoman and the risks and pragmatism it entails. However, by issue #35 another villain, Christian fundamentalist assassin Father Valley, nearly kills Maggie just because of her association with Selina, and both sisters are pretty damn sick of people doing that. Maggie also wants to live on her own and reassert her independence. So she leaves Gotham and isn’t planning to come back, last time I checked.

During the time where Dick is Batman, we’re introduced to (vaguely aged, of course) adolescent Kitrina Falcone, the youngest child of the notorious Falcone crime family. She’s raised by her abusive, negligent uncle Mario. She spends a lot of time on the streets to avoid him, running jobs for criminals like the Penguin and getting prodigiously skilled at theft, breaking in and out of places, escaping restraints and mapmaking. Catwoman is her hero. Selina meanwhile wants to get ahead in an evolving crime scene, so she infiltrates the Falcone home and steals Kitrina’s maps of the new Black Mask’s territory alongside other valuables. The family accuse Kitrina of helping her and try to murder her. Lovely. She escapes sleeping with the fishes, confronts Selina and impresses her by escaping her and stealing her maps back. A familial bond forms between them and Kitrina is reborn as Catgirl! Catwoman’s very own Robin equivalent on the frontline. We joke about Bruce’s pattern of taking in traumatized young boys with nowhere else to go, but Selina has exactly the same pattern with that type of girl. I guess after she left one behind in Maggie, in repentance she’s proceeded to open her heart to every new one she comes across. Bruce is a massive hypocrite and disapproves of Kitrina being endangered like this, even though he’s permitted multiple Robins and Batgirls by now, and wants her to go to a boarding school upstate and improve her life the mundane way. Kitrina nearly dies one too many times and she and Selina concede that as hypocritical as it is, his argument holds water. Kitrina promises to return, though. A promise DC has yet to uphold!

Volume 4 confirms that Selina Kyle is canonically bisexual! She has a romance with Eiko Hasigawa, a Yakuza heiress and admirer of hers who takes up the Catwoman mantle while Selina temporarily operates as a crime kingpin. But in a good way. It’s complicated. No wonder she hangs out with Harley and Ivy as much as Bruce…

Volume 5 has Selina declare herself the ‘queen of Alleytown’ and take over the Nest, rebranding the Alleytown Kids the Alleytown Strays and teaching them to protect and provide for themselves with genuine care unlike her predecessors except Holly. It’s nice. But a lot of shit goes down involving Selina matching wits and trading blows with villains like the aforementioned Father Valley, the Penguin, the Riddler, and more! There are always more! The issues in the Fear State crossover overarching storyline are the climax, wherein the corrupt mayor and GCDP put Alleytown under siege at the same time as the villains’ overlapping schemes, and the Token Good Cop supporting character Hadley is killed for trying to help Selina. Alleytown is in ruins, but Selina sees it’s always been the people that are truly important, not the place. The people of this neighbourhood, her people, will endure. Deciding that mentoring them in professional crime is actually kinda counterproductive to giving the Strays better lives in the long term, she ‘abdicates’ her throne and gives the Nest to them as a safe haven in issue #39, the conclusion of Ram V’s run. Oh, and special attention is placed on one member of the Strays, a teenage girl known only by her nickname Shoes, and connected to the assassin Cheshire *SPOILERS* because she’s her and Arsenal’s long-lost presumed dead daughter Lian Harper. I personally disagree with this entire concept, but oh well. That makes four traumatized adolescent girl protégés from broken homes plus one token biologically related family member. Selina, you really are Bruce’s match.

#catwoman says defund the police fund the community #and women and sex worker’s rights! #watching selina build her own found family of kindred spirits she gets to mentor and support like nobody did her at their ages: 🥰 #watching them all be separated from her in a tragic cycle and her blame herself for not being able to maintain positive relationships: 🥺 #hey her one biological relative (maggie) was the first in her life while bruce’s (damian) was one of the last batkids #i want a comic that’s just batcat meeting each other’s string of young same-gender trainees #batman about holly: being so close to your dangerous lifestyle and at risk by your enemies is no life for a child #selina: yeah okay fine i can’t let her get hurt #[cut to selina seeing fresh-out-of-the-cave robin i] #bruce: i know what you’re - #selina: don’t you think that’s nO LifE foR a CHiLd #selina: mine wasn’t directly fighting criminals holy shit this is way worse #[cut to bruce seeing catgirl] #bruce: looks like your kid there is… directly fighting criminals #selina: if the ‘i trained them and they need it’ argument works for you - #bruce: at least all of mine still went to school #selina: at least none of mine have DIED! #bruce: #selina: fuck that was too far i’m sorry #oh no now it’s sad #selina kyle #catwoman #maggie kyle #holly robinson #kitrina falcone #catgirl #dc #dc comics #her sister’s keeper #catwoman relentless

[spellbcok]

" 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋, 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈 𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐌𝐘 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑— 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐏 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐒! "

Was that [ZOE COLLETTI]? Oh no no, that was just [SABRINA SPELLMAN], a [CANON CHARACTER] from [ARCHIE COMICS]. They are [TWENTY] years old, use [SHE/HER], and [ARE] aware that they are not actually from Washington DC. Too bad they can’t stray from this city for long.

how long has your character been here?

sabrina arrived in august of 2023. at one point, believed she was raised here by {insert adopted parent}, but discovered that is not the case.

what is your character's job?

sabrina is a college student + intern at a magazine.

where has your character been pulled from in their fandom?

i mentioned this on my muse page, but sabrina is taken after graduating high school (comics/sitcom) & the start of college (sitcom only).

has any magic affected your character?

nope, nothing has changed for her. actually, making it so the collision of the comics & sitcom can mesh, sabrina believes all of it occurred in the 90s (since the original comics is set in the 70s/sitcom in the 90s).

anything else?

you can find more info here & on wiki here.

i've revamped sabrina to follow the canon of the 70s comics & animated show as well as the 90s sitcom instead of chilling adventures.

a quick overview of how i've melded them—

sabrina has always known she was a witch (comics) but at 16 is when she began her official training (comics+sitcom). she cannot be trained by her father, therefore moved in with her aunts.

timeline-wise: sabrina grew up and lived with her parents in greendale (comics), ran away to live a more mortal life for a semester at riverdale (70s animation/comics) before turning sixteen & moving in with her aunts in westbridge (sitcom).

(( i've never seen the show riverdale and so i'm not going to assume sabrina will know riverdale muses here as the show/comics seem fairly different. but if you do then i will go with the flow ~ also up for plotting them knowing each other / retelling what i know of their connection in the comics. ))

aside from locations, the biggest difference is the usage of magic.

in the comics witches are supposed to "vex people & do nasty things" & in the sitcom it's more mortal-friendly.

in both, however, sabrina has the same intentions & personal philosophy on magic. first & foremost she wants to use it to help others.

whether or not she actually helps others is up for debate & typically she ends up needing to clean up the messes she makes in her attempt.

she cannot reveal herself as a witch as per witch rules, but she also does magic out in the open so is always on the verge of getting caught.

because of that she became the queen of doing a disappearing act & gaslighting ppl into thinking they are seeing things.

naturally, she has platinum hair that she glamours to a more normal looking yellow; has freckles; & casts spells with the pull of her ear and/or a zap of her finger.

she's pretty much a mess, but at least she has good intentions most of the time.

sidenote in general about the canon: i really just wanted to include all the connections as well as give her a more well-rounded personality. i love the comics, but it's very monster/problem of the week then revert back. she doesn't really have strong friendships/connections outside of her family & harvey either so i wanted to expand her life more. she also has more interests in the sitcom (protests, science, the magazine). however, since no one else is taken in the fandom atm she will reference her aunts as they are depicted in the comics.

wanted connections.

small plea for salem saberhagen (( ex-witch turned into a cat as punishment for trying to take over the world version )).

magazine co-workers

college peers (she's a journalism major)

adopted parent from when she was unaware.

witch-y friends

just all the friends? maybe enemies/former bullies from unaware life?

#food tw #000.intro #000.sabrina #hw: intro

[clawsnoir]

meta-anon here and oh I'm glad my long asks weren't annoying! discussing meta and films like this is v interesting imo so I'm happy that I wasn't being ...too much afskdkkd! as for the analysis ask I mentioned...well it's quite long so uh fair warning for that, but here it is:

(Also uh tumblr kept glitching out on me while writing this so I hope you can see the full thing, there should be like 4 paragraphs in this ask?)

"it reeks of racism that the fandom can somehow manage to draw all these parallels between batman and the riddler while selina is left out of the conversation completely." god yeah...while I understand that the parallels between Batman and riddler are very important for the movie's themes (since like you said it's a dark mirror situation) and analyzing how intricately their parallels as foils are implemented is interesting and useful and the whole movie also just more or less shoves it in the viewers face how important these parallels are to the story and to Bruce's character arc...it's also... really upsetting? That there aren't really many meta posts on how Selina comes into play there?

Because she is a foil to Bruce, too (and also to Edward, for that matter) - except instead of representing his darkness and what kind of monster he could become if he doesn't catch himself from falling into that abyss, Selina represents positive traits he needs to adapt as well as lessons he needs to learn about Gotham's social structure and system and his own position in it, and their parallels and differences are just as important to the plot! Selina and Bruce are both orphans. They're both 'city royalty' in a way, with Bruce being called Gotham's prince multiple times, being part of Gotham's upper class 'nobility' and with Selina as Falcone's daughter essentially being the princess of Gotham's underworld. Both Selina and Bruce lost their parents because of Falcone- Selina directly and Bruce metaphorically (loosing faith in his father because of what Falcone claimed about him) or..potentially directly, too, if his parents death was a hit ordered by Falcone. But while Bruce doesn't care about anyone - not even himself - doesn't see the victims, only the perpetrators and only lives to fulfill his need for vengeance, Selina cares so much about people, about strays and victims, about those that are downtrodden and forgotten, about those that fall through the cracks, about...well, about the 'poor stray cats' of Gotham. Sure, Selina doesn't care about the city as a whole - not in the way Bruce does -but she cares about the individual people in it, the victims, the ones that no one else cares about, and that's something Bruce had to learn from her (and he did, in the end!). Selina shows Bruce that it's ok to care for people, that it's ok to be vulnerable (just look at the scene where she gently caresses his cheek and he just. melts into it! When most other times in the movie he's just stoic and distant), she gives him something to care about and a reason to do what he does that isn't just selfish (by wanting to protect her instead of just punishing others). And when she herself starts getting consumed by pain, trauma and vengeance, she also acts as a mirror to him, showing him how this want for vengeance is painful, hurtful, how it twists people into something worse. And seeing this gives him the incentive to actively think about it, and to stop her from going down that path of vengeance just like he later learns to stop himself, too. And I've seen a lot of people say that he should've just let her have her revenge but that would be so counter productive to the themes of the story and to both Bruce and Selina's characters? Bruce's whole thing is that he hates lethal violence - for now just because of his trauma and because he's afraid that if he kills once he will kill again, but later once he's learned to care more, and to understand that morality isn't so black and white and to see the reasons behind why people become criminals instead of just seeing them as one dimensional monsters, he likely also won't kill because it would take away the criminals/villains chance to heal their scars and become better people - and him meeting Selina and stopping her from killing Falcone is an important step in this character development (a development he's heading towards as evidenced by his ending monologue!). Plus, Selina going down a dark path of vengeance but being stopped by Bruce, being saved from loosing herself in it, being saved before she can become something darker, is also a parallel to how Bruce's actions as Batman directly caused Edward to jump over that edge, to decide that he will actively loose himself in vengeance and become something vile and horrible. it was too late for Bruce to save Edward from letting his trauma twist him into a murderer - so it's even more important that Bruce managed to be there for Selina just in time to save her. (not that Selina ever would've gone to the horrible lengths of what Edward does in the movie ofc but it still works as a parallel)

But then she isn't just a foil to Bruce, but also to Edward - they're both forgotten children of Gotham, people nobody 'saw' or cared about, who grew up in poverty and horrible circumstances (also: parallel of Edward saying how he grew up watching other children become drug addicts to cope with their trauma, while Selina's circumstances force her to work for the people that sell those same drugs), seeing the worst the city had to offer and directly witnessing the horror and suffering the corrupt system caused. and while she might disagree with his methods she agrees with his motives, she agrees with his disdain for the corruption and the privileged rich people that ruined the city, with how to the people in the upper class the poor 'nobodies' (like her, Annika and Edward, for that matter) are invisible, how horrible things could happen to them (like what happened to Annika and the kids at the orphanage) and how nobody would care or even notice. She even shares his disdain or hatred for Bruce Wayne (and..they also share a love for Batman, actually). They parallel eachother when Selina wants to kill Falcone by shooting him but gets stopped by Batman, only for Edward to shoot Falcone right after. But while Edward chooses to let himself stay and simmer in his trauma, gets consumed by it and only lives for his selfish need for vengeance, not caring about the victims or consequences (like Bruce!) , Selina cares about others - about a limited circle of people, yes, but she cares - she chooses to try and escape her trauma, to look for a better life elsewhere. And she does escape the circle of violence that Edward lost himself in, because Bruce saved her by stopping her from killing Falcone, just like Selina saves Bruce and helps him escape the cycle of violence, too, before it can consume him. And these parallels between Selina and Edward existing is important too, because Selina agreeing with (parts of) his motivations is supposed to show that those parts - the whole 'the rich and privileged don't see the poor and disadvantaged, they don't care about them and cause them to suffer for the sake of their own greed' thing - aren't wrong, and that he's not a villain because of these beliefs but because of his methods and selfish need for violence (and as is pointed out in the deleted scene, the reason why he does what he does isn't even his political motives, it's his selfish want for payback and attention)...which is a very important parallel to exist because otherwise the film could easily come off as vilifying the points about corruption and systemic neglect of poor people and outcasts. So Selina , as someone who is clearly framed as a good person, reiterating that the points themselves are valid even if the methods aren't and showing Bruce the issues his privileged world view and his behavior cause, is extremely important for the themes of the story as well as for character development.

and in the end all three of them are foils to eachother and each represent different ways of dealing with trauma - Selina as looking for a better future away from everything, trying to heal the scars that trauma left by leaving everything behind, Edward as getting stuck in the past and letting trauma become a festering wound and Bruce as a middle ground, starting out fixated on the past, learning to look for a brighter future, and ending up staying in the present to help others heal - and it's such a shame that fandom just ignores Selina because she's clearly so important for the story at large as well as the part she plays in that whole dynamic in that way... and I've got more thoughts about her, especially her relationship with Annika and how that plays into the themes as well, but this is already such a long ask ahhsbsbd

(oh but also: wanted to mention that what you said about Bruce and edward in the interrogation scene essentially just being "lost little boys throwing tantrums at eachother" was a really good point! they're both so extremely childish in their behavior, whining, yelling, throwing tantrums - it's clear that neither of them ever really grew up emotionally and imo it's funny how that kind of is also reflected in their character design because they both keep wearing clothes that look way too big for them, as if they're kids wearing their parents wardrobe to cosplay as adults...so it's interesting how out of the three orphans Selina is the most emotionally mature, too?)

But yeah uh thanks for indulging me and letting me ramble my meta thoughts at you! 💕

talk that omg!!! 🗣️📢

I don't really have anything to add, I agree with most of this. I would love to hear your thoughts on Annika and Selina because the handling of that specific plot point is actually one of the few legitimate grievances I have with the film. I haven't spoken about it much on here, but suffice to say I was not a fan and it could have handled better.

thank you for sharing your analysis with me, I didn't feel you were rambling at all - if you ever get the urge to meta again please share ❤️

#asks #the batman #meta

[tvitr]

uwu I don’t make the ruwules

(Okay fine, reasons/opinions below the cut but be warned! I won’t be holding back on game or book spoilers. Or rambling. This got longer than I anticipated lol)

BETTER IN THE BOOK

Eis “Fireman Sam” Glover: I don’t know what the game was trying to do with this one. I guess he gets overwhelmed by the fire and loses his composure or gets scared or... something?  Also why did he not bring a hose. Or a mask.  This is why so many reviewers thought Wonderworld was a metaphor for purgatory and all the inhabitants are dead I swear. Who cares, the book handled it a lot better. I wouldn’t say it’s perfect, but there’s definitely a good idea here with some interesting themes. The gist is that he feels ashamed following his captain’s orders to retreat during a serious blaze, which his colleagues disobeyed, and his colleagues are later hailed as heroes by the press.  Is Balan the Book trying to take on toxic masculinity...? How brave. Tl;dr, the book conveyed the story a Hell of lot better than the game. Honestly I’m surprised this is the only one.

BETTER IN THE GAME

Haoyu “Airplane Boi” Chang: So the book tried waaaay too hard to draw a parallel between Haoyu and Fiona (aka, Dolphin Girl) to the point that they both share a similar backstory, in that they had a hobby which led to a near-fatal accident and now they’re too traumatised to resume said hobby. And that’s not a bad thing per se but... “near fatal accident” was already Fiona’s backstory. We didn’t need a duplicate. And this is more personal preference, but I kinda liked Haoyu’s story in the game anyway. His failure at building a functioning aeroplane out of crap he found in his garage is endearingly funny in the game, and the resolution of him taking time out to sit down and study before building anything is a nice spin on the whole “if at first you don’t succeed” theme the chapter wanted. 

Sana “Bird Lady” Hudson: So the book decided they didn’t want to make Cal an angry sore loser so guess what? They made Sana an angry misanthrope. Wonderful. Okay maybe that’s harsh, but she definitely came off as very bitter and unsympathetic in the book. Like there’s a scene at the end where she harasses a firefighter and tries to steal a fire engine because they’re working on a building fire and not supervising her park. That’s not a character you wanna root for. That’s a Karen. The game had a better plot thread and resolution to her story rather than a boring cookie-cutter “humans vs. nature grrrr humans are so evil” story, like the game story here had a bit more depth to it and approached the topic more maturely than the book did. Which is ironic considering how hilariously edgy the book gets sometimes, but I guess throwing a few smashed eggs and frozen bird skeletons into your story doesn’t mean anything if you’re still going to paint such a black-and-white narrative.

Iben “Frozen Elsa” Bia: This story didn’t need dialogue. Like... we don’t need her to justify why she’s upset her parents are dead because we’d already assume that. They’re her parents! Of course we’d assume she’d be upset! They died! Simultaneously! That’s horrible! WE DON’T NEED HER TO EXPLAIN THIS! Also her dialogue in the book was... pretty terrible, not gonna lie. Like if you’re gonna insist on dialogue at least make it gOOD. I’m actually planning on just reviewing her book scene so I can fully articulate just how bad it is anyway, so stay tuned for that mess lol.

FINE IN BOTH

I mean there’s not really too much to say here but anyways:

Jose/”The Farmer” having a family in the book gives him a bit more depth, even if we never hear from them again after his backstory dump.

Fiona/”Dolphin Girl” almost drowns in a slightly different way, with a dolphin straight up pulling her mask off rather than knocking it out of her mouth, and the book also goes more into detail about her love for diving and dolphins. Also the book ships her and Haoyu like. So hard. Like they never shut up about how similar they are or what they other’s doing or if the other’s okay or not. By the end of it I was expecting them to just start making out in front of everyone, they’re that obsessed with each other. And it would be funny if they didn’t use this to wreck Haoyu’s backstory like I mentioned earlier.

Yuri/”Bug Kid”/”Is that a Pokémon reference?” is now being kinda bullied for liking bugs, which yeah gives her more depth and reason to be upset but I also kinda related to her just being that One Kid with interests that nobody else had. But it’s not as bad as some of the other changes, so I can let it slide.

Atillio/Clown and Bruce/Old Man are the same, nothing to say here.

Lucy/”The Artist” is a total drama queen but then again so are Art People so I can let it slide. I did like them changing her problem from “artist’s block” (seriously?) to her feeling too under pressure to create masterpieces, unless that’s what the game was aiming for? Oh who cares.

JUST A BIG MESS

Cass “Dead Cat Girl” Milligan: This is a weird one because the story is the same between the game and book (though the book mentions she witnessed a more severe car accident rather than a speeding car which she assumes kills the cat, and the cat isn’t even her cat, it’s a stray) but the story itself is... flawed. According to the book, they wanted to convey the idea that running away from the accident was irresponsible, and she just needed to look back and she’d see her cat is okay, but the game kind of makes it look more like Balan turned back time to save her cat, and the book mentions a serious car crash which I don’t think anyone would willingly return to. I feel there’s a better way to convey this idea of being responsible for your pets, like say her cat escapes from the house and gets lost, and her resolution is going out and properly looking for it. That’s a more effective (and natural) way to relay that message, especially as they weren’t going to commit to the idea of grieving a lost pet.

I’M CONFLICTED

Cal “Chess Daddy” Suresh: God this was a tough call. On one hand Cal’s game backstory is one of the ones most YouTube players single out as the weakest backstory in the game. He’s just “that guy who lost one game of chess”. Being right before Iben’s level certainly doesn’t help. I could honestly write a separate post about how bad the story placements are in this game but that’s too long for here.  On the other hand, I still... kinda like it? Like I like this idea of him being a sore loser with a bad temper who needs to learn some humility, sure it’s not as serious as “I almost drowned” or “my parents are dead” but one of the few good things about the game is that it balanced “serious” stories with “benign” ones, if that makes sense. HOWEVER His book scene is... probably one of the best written in the whole book. Which isn’t saying much, but it felt like it hit the intended degree of darkness that the rest of the book was trying to hit. One of my main issues with the book is how much it edged up everyone’s backstory, which doesn’t sound bad but when you have 12 characters with edgy backstories to sit through, it starts to feel like a 14 year old's first attempt at writing an angsty fanfiction very quickly. And yes, Cal’s story is dark and angsty but it felt like the perfect balance of dark and angsty. Or as perfect as the book can get. Like even Balan’s annoying rhyming dialogue sounded good for the tone of the scene. Man maybe I should just do a review of both his backstories in a bigger post.  Obviously I could be biased because I’m a sucker for chess aesthetics and dark skinned men with long permed hair so I’m just putting more thought into him but still.

#at the end of the say i'm just some schmuck who talks too much lmao #balan wonderworld

[toomanystoriessolittletime]

Second chance

Summary: 7 months passed since Dave found out the woman he loved didn't die. Would she ever remember him?

Pairing: Dave York x OFC (can be read as reader insert)

Wordcount: 2.4k

Warnings: amnesia, f e e l i n g s, angst

A/N: I tried myself on another part of this. I hope you like it.

Part one: two lives

Masterlist

*Taglist in Reblog

Dave York wasn’t someone who believed in second chances. It came with the line of work he was doing. Had been doing. Sighing, he looked at the small house in front of him. He had been sitting in his car for almost 15 minutes, his heart too heavy to open the door, get out of the car and walk over to the door where she would be, still not remembering any moment they had shared.

It was Lissy’s third birthday.

Of course he was invited, the paternity test had confirmed that shortly after their run in at the park. And even though she couldn’t remember him, she would never deny Lissy having a father in her life. Many things had changed in the 7 months since the park.

Dave had quit his job, having made enough money to last three lifetimes. She had moved to town, so Dave would be able to build a relationship with his daughter. Lissy was the sweetest little girl, warming up to him within weeks. The first time she called him Daddy would be something he would forever remember.

They were in the park, him, Lissy and her mother, after having lunch and there were three pigeons chasing Lissy.

“Save me Daddddyyyyyy,” she had cried, jumping into his arms. He had laughed, hugged her close to save her from the pigeons, hiding the emotions behind his mask.

But she was getting better at reading him.

While Lissy was well on her way to being a Daddy's girl it was her mother that seemed to have a hard time letting Dave in. Of course, in a perfect world she would have remembered their whole life together before the accident in the moment in the park. But they weren’t living in a perfect world. And she definitely didn’t remember anything about him. It was hard, looking at the woman he still loved and seeing that she didn’t feel the same way. He had sent Carol a huge bouquet of flowers a month after the park with an apology for not having been a better husband in the past.

It was hard for Dave. Especially when he noticed patterns in her behavior that were just so much her.

She still couldn’t cook, but she tried.

“I do have a mouth more to feed, so I was thinking about taking some cooking classes,” she had said in one of their sessions. Oh yeah. They were going to therapy together every week. Dave thought it would help her remember, but in the end, after 6 months of nothing, he was questioning why he was going.

Because you love her, he thought to himself.

Today would be hard. Not only because of the birthday but because she wanted to introduce Dave to the man she had been dating for a month now. It truly was over and he somehow had to make his peace with it. At least he had Lissy to look forward to.

“Hey Dave,” she smiled as she opened the door. He smiled back, his smile not reaching his eyes. She noticed this happened more often in the last weeks.

“Hi. Am I late?”

“No. Just in time. We’re gonna cut the cake in a couple of minutes,” she stepped to the side, letting the man in. Spending time with Dave was making her feel so confused every time, yet she found herself wanting to see him more lately. Getting used to finding out so many things about her past has been overwhelming to say the least. She could see the longing in his eyes every time he looked at her in the beginning. Yet lately he seemed to shut himself off, wearing a mask to hide behind. She couldn’t blame him. If they really loved each other like he explained to her in therapy, she would die a thousand deaths spending time with him, when it was him who couldn’t remember her.

“I hope she likes her present,” Dave said, shrugging his coat off.

“She’s gonna love it. You could gift her some old socks, and she would love them,” she smiled and Dave smiled back.

“I can’t stay long, but I would love to take her this weekend,” Dave said.

“The whole weekend?” she asked. She had never spent more than a day parted from her since she was born. Dave sighed.

“We can talk about it later…”

“No, help me get out the cake and we can talk,” she said walking through the house with him following her. He could hear music from the living room and laughter and he had to smile. At least his daughter was happy with her friends.

“Talk,” she said and he sighed.

“I can’t do this anymore. I want to spend time with Lissy but I need a break…” he shook his head and she turned around.

“You need a break from me?” she asked quietly without judgment. She knew she was hurting him. And she wanted everything but to hurt the man in front of her. She could see why she fell in love with him. The old her. He was a strong and passionate man who always put his family first. There was something dangerous in his eyes that seemed to make her pulse quicken every time he let it spark through. He knew how she drank her coffee and he always warmed her hands, that seemed to be always cold, stating that they had always been like that. She spent nights awake in her big and lonely bed, trying to make herself remember him. She wanted nothing more than that. To give her and him a happily ever after but she just couldn’t. And it was starting to hurt them both.

“I don’t want to I just… If we wanna do this, co-parenting, I need to find a way to live with the feelings I still have for you. And I think for that it’s best if we take a little break.”

She only nodded, sucking her bottom lip in. Why was this hurting her so much?

“You’re dating and you deserve to be happy, but so do I,” he added stepping closer towards her.

“I know,” she whispered, crossing her arm as if she was hugging herself.

“I wish I could just flip a switch and everything would be like back then…”

“I’m not dating, I only told you that in hopes that this would make you move on,” she confessed and Dave took a deep breath, ignoring the wave of relief that flooded through his body.

“Will you let me take you out to dinner?” he asked.

“Like on a date?” she asked.

“It doesn’t have to be, but yeah. Like on a date.”

He was almost as touching her now, his chest against hers.

“But you said you wanted a break,” she whispered.

“It’s a break so I can fall out of love with you, or a date so you can start to fall back in love with me,” he said quietly and she found herself smiling softly.

“I’m not the same person you fell in love with, Dave. I may look like her on the outside, but….”

“I know. Just let me have one night. I’ll cook for you and we can talk. Without a therapist or Lissy around. Just us,” he smiled hopeful, his hand coming up to put a stray of hair behind her ear.

“Okay.”

She had never been to Dave’s apartment before. She knew that he was still living in the same place she used to live with him. She didn’t want to imagine the amount of heartbreak he went through ever since she disappeared. She still didn’t know the whole story about them. She only knew that they both met because they both had worked at the CIA. And she wanted to get answers today. There were some pieces of the puzzle that were her past, that didn’t make any sense to her. Maybe this was the reason she just couldn’t remember a thing.

She smelled something delicious as she made her way up the stairs, knocking on the apartment door. She was nervous. In all the time knowing each other since the park they never spend time alone.

The door flew open and she smiled seeing him barefoot, wearing jeans and a shirt.

“Hey,” he smiled, stepping to the side so she could walk in. She couldn’t stop letting her eyes wander through the big room that seemed to be hallway, dining room, living room and kitchen all at once. It seemed familiar. Dave only watched her as she slowly walked in, her fingers brushing over a bookshelf that held her books.

She jumped when she felt something rub over her feet, followed by a meow. A cat was sniffing at her feet, rubbing her soft body at her calves.

“That’s kitty. She’s… She’s your cat,” Dave explained. She looked at him with big eyes.

“I had a cat?” she leaned down to pick her up, a calmness washing over her, as the cat purred against her chest.

“You found her outside as a kitten and took her in. She’s a little over 6 years old now.”

“She’s a sweetheart,” she smiled, not letting go of the cat as she followed Dave.

“Yeah she grew on me after…” he shook his head, smiling softly before he turned from her.

“I hope you still like my paella. You used to love it,” he said.

“I love paella,” she said with a smile, leaning with her hand propped up on her hands on the kitchen island.

“It smells delicious. I can’t wait to taste it.”

“Wine?” he asked and she nodded. She watched him as he opened the bottle of wine and couldn’t help but let her eyes wander up his strong arms. When she looked into his eyes he just winked at her and she felt herself blush.

“Hungry?” he asked, handing her the glass of wine.

“Starving!” she answered.

“So we met at the CIA but I hated you at first?”

“I am a pretty big asshole to most people.”

“Must be your face. When you have this brooding look you look like you’re plotting murder,” she joked a while later, sitting on the sofa across from him. Kitty hadn’t left her side the whole evening. She was now sleeping peacefully in her leap.

Dave sighed.

“You wanted the truth. How we met. How we fell in love. How… How I thought you died and left…” he choked on his words, looking away from her. This would be hard.

“Dave… Did we kill people?” she asked out of the blue. Dave turned his head to look at her for a long time.

“Yes. Yes we did. And we were the best at it,” he added. She sucked her bottom lip in, nodding slowly. And so he told her. Every little thing. About the death of McCall and about how they took jobs outside the CIA making a name for themselves. He answered every single question she had.

“I should be scared of you and of the person I was but looking at you…” she breathed in deep, shaking her head.

“I feel safe with you. Like I’m finally where I’m supposed to be. I can’t describe it. I can see why I fell in love with you,” she smiled a little.

“This is a lot to take in. I had my suspicions about my past. There are pieces of things I remember but it’s not enough to understand them. And at this point I’m not sure if I want to remember. Though I have so many things to be thankful for from my old life…”

“Such as?” Dave asked.

“Meeting you? I wouldn’t have Lissy if it weren’t for you,” she whispered and Dave felt himself smile at her.

“I didn’t know you were pregnant. I wouldn’t have taken the job for us if I had known… I’m so sorry,” he closed his eyes, letting his head fall down. Her heart broke. Yes, she was the one who experienced the memory loss but he had all the memories. Carefully she pulled Kitty off her lap and closed the distance between herself and Dave. Taking his hands in hers, she felt him shake.

“It’s not your fault. Do you think I would have listened to you? It’s not your fault Dave. You hear me?” she squeezed his hand and felt him shudder. He let his head fall against her shoulder and she gasped, letting go of his hands to hug him against her. He was shaking in her arms as he silently cried against her shoulder.

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t know I was pregnant back then. I wish I could remember. We would have been so happy,” she smiled, letting her head fall against his.

“You are such a good Dad. I wish you would have been there when Lissy was a baby. But you’re here now. And we’re not going anywhere,” she promised, her heart full. He had stopped shaking at some point, yet couldn’t bring himself to look at her. He never wanted to let go. He felt her kiss his temple and he shuddered again. One of her hands pushed under his chin tilting his head up so he had to look at her.

“I may not remember being in love with you, but I think I am falling in love with you,” she whispered looking into his eyes. Dave stopped breathing, trying to register the words that had just left her lips. He just looked at her, taking her in before he leaned in, closing the distance between them, to finally kiss her. She gasped against his lips, her arms wrapping around his neck as she melted against him. This. This is what felt right. She never wanted to let go.

Resting with his forehead against hers he smiled.

“Promise me to never leave me again without saying goodbye,” he whispered and she smiled back.

“Never,” she vowed kissing him again.

#my writing #dave york #Dave York x reader #Pedro pascal #fanfic #fanfiction #dave york fanfic

[whenwordsmakesense]

Chapter 2: Memories

“But I-” Derek started, but Stiles interrupted him. He damn well knew what everyone thought, and that's because they never told anyone the truth.

“Yes. I love my dad, but he's not my bio dad, okay? And nobody but me and him know this, so please. Please just take me home, let me wallow in peace,”

Derek continued looking at him, gobsmacked, but he did start the car and led them out of the cemetery.

Stiles hated the silence, but right now it felt good.

Derek left him in front of his house, his dad's cruiser in the driveway. “Text me, okay?” Stiles nodded. He knew what Derek meant: “I am here for you. Text me when you are ready.”

“Thanks,” he said, as Derek pulled out of the driveway. He knew Derek heard him.

Stiles entered the house and immediately ran to his room, aware of his dad watching TV in the living room. He didn't ask him what's wrong, just let him be in his room, and only came to give him food when it was time for dinner.

Stiles wondered if all main men in his life were going to be emotionally constipated. Although dad wasn't that much of a macho man, he is the more gestures kind of guy than words.

He's not like that, himself, but that might be because of his mom. She never let an opportunity to profess love or whatever she was feeling pass by.

He then wondered if his ‘real’ parents are like that. He then tried to think if he even knew something about them.

Nothing. He knew nothing about them.

His mother used to tell him it was like an angel came to give him to them; they'd wanted a child so badly but she couldn't have kids, and then one day, nestled in their couch in their apartment was a basket, in which Stiles was there, sleeping. There was a note which read, “Claudia Gajos, take care of him. Be safe in Beacon Hills.”

His dad had told him he didn't understand why they had to move here just because the note said so, but when the ‘werewolves are real!’ cat came out of the bag, he started to have a theory. Dad told him how he felt as if there was magic in his life ever since Claudia entered it, but he thought it was his love speaking. His dad has been doing research on it, actually, the whole Gajos family and why there are no relatives from that side of the family.

He wandered downstairs at that thought. He doesn't know anything about his birth parents; that's fine by him. They couldn't raise him, he gets that, especially if they were Supernatural and this Spark thing is genetic. But that doesn't mean he isn't angry at them, because he is. Very much so. And he'd rather know about the people who raised him.

“Dad?”

“Are you ready to talk about whatever is bothering you?” Straight to the point. Dad might not exactly be the type to have heart-to-hearts, but he is the type that worries over those he cares about and is willing to go to any lengths to protect them. Stiles thinks he gets his own similar tendencies from him.

“Not right now,” he says as he settles beside his dad on the couch. The older man turns towards him, face a clear picture of curious cat. “I was wondering if you had any luck on, you know, on mom's side of the family?”

Dad sighed and stood up. He walked towards his office and came back with a vanilla colored folder, similar to case files that are kept in the station. “I did,” he admitted. When Stiles started to protest why he didn't tell him, his dad held up his hand. “It's nothing good, kiddo, and I didn't want to add more stress to your life. I know this is as important to you as it's to me, but let me just believe for a second that I am the one protecting you, okay? That I haven't failed as a parent.”

“You haven't! You're the best dad I could have asked for, don't think shit like that,” he knew his dad felt like this sometimes, but he'd hoped the feeling would go away. His dad had done the best he could, and when he came into the know, he didn't take Stiles away from it. He let his young son do what he wants, and that, being able to choose your son's happiness -- however bleak that might be -- over his own selfishness of keeping him safe, makes his dad an awesome parent. An awesome human, in fact, to be risking the life of his child for the protection of others.

“Language,” his dad chided, but he had a small smile on his face. Stiles smiled back and bumped their shoulders together when he sat back down. He made grabby hands for the folder. “Are you sure you want to know?”

He refrained from sighing. He simply nodded.

*

Derek had left Stiles at his home and gone back to the cemetery, feeling like something was calling him there. He didn't know what, but it was instinct, and up until now his instincts had never led him wrong. It was only when he didn't follow them that... Things happened.

He knew he should not feel hurt by the fact that Stiles had kept such a big secret from him, but then, they weren't friends, were they? Sure, Derek considered him Pack, but in the end Stiles will always choose Scott, and Scott was decidedly not in his Pack. Not because Derek didn't want him to be, but because the teen wolf -- well, the first of the teen wolves -- hated his guts. But then Stiles had said nobody but he and his dad knew that Stiles wasn't a Stilinski by blood, and now Derek did too.

He felt a petty sort of happiness at that. Suck it, McCall.

By the time he reached his family's graves -- The Hales have lived here for generations, and were in fact the founders of this town. Having their own plot in the graveyard is just another extension of that -- he wasn't sure why he was there. He'd wanted to come here, his wolf growling when he strayed off the path, but now that he was here... Why was he here?

He sat in front of his parents' grave. He folded his legs and put his chin on his knees, as if he was sitting down to listen to the numerous stories his dad used to tell him and the other kids of the Pack on various nights. His dad, Nathaniel Hale, was an avid fan of the Supernatural, and this tendency had only increased when he discovered that it was real. He now had actual, practical information, afterall.

Derek closed his eyes and lost himself in the memory.

Derek sat between his sisters, Cora on his left and Laura on his right, snuggled in the blanket fort on the floor as his cousins all settled around them. Today dad was going to tell them a story about a creature that has only been spotted once in history. How cool?! He'd love to meet such a rare creature. Will they be friends with him or not, he wondered, as his dad's voice started to tell them the story.

“The one and only time he was spotted was in Portugal, around the early 19th Century. Many those who saw him claim that he appeared out of a crack in the wall, eyes glowing gold, shadow of wings falling on the wall behind him.”

“A 'wolf with wings? Cool!” exclaimed Jaimie, the youngest of them all. He's only four, and a total pain in the butt. Dad laughed and shook his head.

“Not everyone with yellow eyes are 'wolf, Jaimie. And the wings part might not even be true,” there were pouts on all of the kid's faces, and dad just laughed harder. “Hey, it's not like all what we read is true. Some of them are just stories is all. But tell you what: we don't care about that. We care about what happened to this Spark, don't we? And oh, did you know why he's called a Spark? It's because the crack -- remember how I said people say came out of a crack in the wall? -- well, it looked like lightening, and he was stumbling for some reason.”

“Did he drink big people juice?” asked Cora, eyes wide. Dad winked at her.

“He might have,” he said. “He was reported to be saying he's in the wrong time, that a certain ‘Cas’ would kill him if he left the child in whatever time that was. When people asked what he was saying, who did he wish to leave the child with then, he just said ‘Claudia Gajos, as this note says,’ and then he just... Vanished. Like he was never even there. Thankfully, the people he'd appeared in front of knew of the Supernatural and were Supernatural. It's even more interesting because the man who had asked the question was a Gajos himself.”

Derek opened his eyes. Whatever that was that he remembered right now, that had to be true. With everything he's faced in his life -- a rogue Peter, Kanima, the Alpha Pack, a 1000 year old Fox Demon -- adding a time-travelling Spark carrying a baby Stiles to find one particular Claudia Gajos to the list should not be all that hard.

What even was his life.

#Chapter 2 #My fic #Sterek #Teen Wolf×Supernatural crossover #Superwolf #whenwordsmakesense #edit 17 sep 2021: i won't be continuing this! (tbh i totally forgot this existed thanks for the likes tho)

[thepandapopo]

His Star - Chapter 2: Proposals

Can I get this out before midnight? who knows. But I’m determined to at least bang this chapter out in one sitting because it was Claude’s birthday yesterday damn it and I told myself that for his birthday, I would post at least 2 chapters to this fic, bake him a cake, and have a perfect tea time with myself.

So far everything has been accomplished except for the second chapter. so HERE WE GO.

Pairing: Claude x F!Byleth

In which Claude proposes a vacation to Byleth which may or may not be stress free, and may or may not include going back to Almyra with him so that he can court her properly. 

OR

The one where Claude schemes to take his star home so that he can finally get started on his plans to make an honest woman out of her... and also get his parents off his back.

Chapter List

1 / 2 / 2.5  

Masterlist

If you would like to be added to a tag list whenever I update, please let me know!

XxXxXxXxX 

Of all the things Claude expected to come back to, Byleth falling off a cliff was not one of them.

In fact, after the first time he watched her fall off a cliff following the Battle of Garreg Mach, he never wanted to see it ever again. So when he was faced with his greatest fear for the second time - no no no, she couldn’t leave him again - he had not hesitated to throw caution to the wind and abandon his position at the head of his army. He had dug his heels into Zahra’s flank and as always, the white wyvern was on the same page as her master, flying faster than she had ever flown before towards the falling queen.

Claude was used to any physical contact with Byleth feeling electric, like little shocks of pleasure shooting from his nerves and sending shivers down his spine, but when he caught her in his arms, he was alarmed by how hot her skin felt even through the thick leather of his gloves.

It was clear that Byleth was ill. Extremely ill. And yet she pushed herself to her very limits, standing at the front lines with her soldiers to show them that no matter what, she was with them because she believed in a world of peace.

She believed in his dream.

Suddenly, the fear that gripped his heart mere moments ago gives way to a fiery hot rage that burns through his body.

Byleth has done enough for Fodlan. She has fought countless battles, pushed her body to the very limits, and even carried the burden of having the powers of a goddess (”Teach, you’re joking, right? What do you mean you can turn back time?” “It is exactly what I said, Claude.”).

And now these stragglers and remnants of the Imperial army and Those Who Slither in the Dark come once more to try and revive their warped plans?

There are many things that Byleth deserves, Claude thinks, and being able to lay in bed recovering from a cold without worrying about crazy delusional dark mages is probably near the top of that list.

So when the newly crowned King finally makes it to Marianne and entrusts his secret fiance to her care, he no longer has his usual mask of cheerful indifference. Instead, storm clouds roil and darken his visage, verdant eyes sharp and blazing with cold, calculating determination.

Claude doesn’t remember how many enemies he shoots down that day. But he does know that it isn’t enough to quell the fury that simmers beneath his skin.

----

It is four days after the battle before Byleth finally regains consciousness.

Much to his chagrin, Claude is not there by her side when she rejoins the land of the conscious. In the aftermath of the battle, he resolves to step up and help Byleth with some of her duties while she is recovering. Which is exactly how Claude has found himself in the middle of a dreadfully exasperating conversation with Count Gloucester going over resource allocation for the umpteenth time. Thankfully, the servant chooses this time to burst through the door with the news.

“Your majesty!! She’s awake!”

The words are barely registering in his brain before he is moving, hastily throwing half-hearted apologies towards the clearly disgruntled Count, and rushing out the door.

He makes it to her room in record time. And he knows this because he has timed how long it takes to get to her room from any location in the castle, just in case he needs to get to her quickly.

Sitting upright against a mountain of pillows and bathed in the sunlight from the open terrace doors, Byleth is a vision for sore eyes.

He opens his mouth to speak and cannot help but slip back into the playful banter that he is so used to.

“Teach, we really gotta talk about you and cliffs. I don’t think it’s working out in your favor.”

Claude distantly wonders if maybe he should have said something more romantic, or even just a simply inquiry about her health, but those options don’t sit right with him.

She loves him for who he is, and that includes his old habits and light quips.

She is staring at him like he is a ghost, and really, he cannot blame her. The bed sinks a little with his weight and he reaches out to brush a stray lock of mint so that he can see those beautiful eyes that he missed so dearly. 

It has been a long six and a half months since he left her at the top of the Goddess Tower. Probably even more shocking yet, he has since ascended the Almyran throne and that feat itself is quite evident from the brightly coloured and extravagant robes that he now dons on a daily basis.

“What’s the matter, Teach? Cat got your- oof!”

She crashes into him without warning and he is immediately reminded of how solidly built she actually is. Byleth is a fighter first and foremost, after all. Claude should have known that a few months behind a desk tending to paperwork wouldn’t have been enough to deteriorate the wall of lean muscle she has built over years of mercenary work.

“I... You... you’re really here?”

Oh, Goddess. He has missed her voice.

His arms snake around her, one coming to a rest across her lower back, pulling her smaller form closer to him as the other hand snakes its way into her hair. 

Lips against her temple, he gifts her with a gentle kiss before humming his reply against her skin.

“I am, my love. I’m sorry I made you wait so long.”

Neither of them can bring themselves to separate, not when this moment feels so much like a dream that could dissolve at any second. Instead, they trade quiet whispers of affection that do not even come close to reflecting the longing and yearning they have experienced since they parted ways.

The sun is beginning to fall below the horizon by the time they manage to pull apart for longer than a heartbeat. Byleth has long since scooted over and pulled Claude under the covers so that they can lay side by side rather than perched uncomfortably at the edge of her bed.

He lets out a pleasant hum when her fingers begin carding through his hair, slender fingers parting his thick brown hair and smoothing it down the back of his head.

“So...” 

He knows that tone. He’s been on the receiving end of it multiple times, mostly back in his schooldays when she catches him red handed with a vial of his latest experiment uncorked and ready to pour into someone’s meal.

“King now, is it?”

“Er... yeah.” He ignores the urge to scratch his neck sheepishly and opts to bury his face in her shoulder, inhaling the sweet scent of blade oil and jasmine that is unique to Byleth.

“King Khalid.”

Ah crap.

He lifts his sheepish expression to meet her narrowed eyes, “By, you have to believe me when I say I was going to tell you. But I had to sort a lot of things out first.” 

He brings their hands up under the fading sunlight and verdant eyes shift to look at their intertwined fingers.“You know already that I am part Almyran. And I told you before I left that I had some...royal connections -”

“I believe you described them as ‘insignificant’.” As usual, her memory and mind are as sharp as her sword and he knows that he cannot weasel his way out of this situation.

“Haha... did I say that? I mean, even though technically I was the crown Prince, it’s not like I was guaranteed the throne. Almyrian traditions are a bit different than here in Fodlan.”

He’s half expecting her to throw another quip back at him about another one of the ways he’s botched this whole thing up, but to his surprise, she merely stares at him with those unwavering green eyes and nods for him to continue.

It’s now or never. He may not have been able to be completely truthful with her before, but now those obligations and promises that veiled his truths no longer bind him.

So he tells her. He tells her about his mother and how she made him promise to keep his identity a secret. He tells her about his promise to his father that he would return home to put his name in the running for the throne when it was time for his father to step down. He tells her about the fights and trials that he had to go through to beat out all the other contenders to prove his strength and abilities as a leader and King. And finally, he tells her of how he took the title of King of Almyra and how it took several weeks for him to get everything under control, only to get intelligence that Those Who Slither in the Dark were plotting one last stand, and how he barely had time to muster his army and march at full speed to make it to her side in time.

When he is finished, Byleth is silent and for a moment, he fears that perhaps it is all too much for her. There is a nasty voice in his heart of hearts, quiet though it may be, that whispers that maybe she has decided that she no longer wants to be with him because how can she trust a man whose real name she didn’t even know?

When he finally musters enough courage to meet her eyes again, his heart does a funny little flop in his chest and the back of his eyes burn with the familiar sting of tears.

Byleth may not be a woman of many words, but the firm squeeze of his hand and steady, soft gaze says everything he needs to know.

I understand. And I love you.

He wheezes out a chuckle and brings her hand to his lips, kissing the digits almost reverently. “I wanted to tell you before I proposed to you, but I needed to honor the promises I made to Mother and Baba. Trust me when I say the first thing I did when I went home was ask them to relieve me of those burdens.”

“Did...did they ask why?” Her voice is hesitant, even as the question leaves her tongue.

Goddess, just once he would like to be able to pull the wool over her eyes, but as usual, Teach is sharp on the uptake and Claude really cannot get anything by her.

He reaches up to finger the emerald ring hanging from a silver chain around her neck, dragging out the silence as long as possible before giving the answer he knows she is dreading.

“I maaaay have told them that I had a certain special someone in mind that I wanted to introduce them to...” His sentence trails off into laughter as he watches the horror creep into his beloved’s expression.

Byleth Eisner. The Ashen Demon. The first leader of the United Kingdom of Fodlan. The Hero of Fodlan.

Claude finds it hilarious that the woman he loves can carry such daunting titles and face an army head on with no fear, but is absolutely terrified of the idea of meeting her future in-laws.

“Khalid-” he likes the way his real name sounds coming from her lips, even if it is a horrified gasp. “-I can’t. I don’t even know what to do! I’m not a noble and I don’t know anything about etiquette on meeting royalty from a foreign country, much less your parents.”

“Aww, don’t worry Teach! You’ll be perfectly fine, just like when you joined the Alliance Round Table for the first time.” He winks at her, biting his cheek to stop the laughter that is threatening to bubble over.

“In case you’ve forgotten, I also have a country to run. One that you so gladly dumped on my lap before escaping across Fodlan’s Throat.”

She must be desperate now if she is willing to hide behind her duties.

“Not to fret, my dear.” He leans over to place a chaste peck on the tip of her nose, flashing her his signature wink and grin afterwards. “I’ve already cleared it with Seteth. After all, it was the stress from the non stop work that caused you to fall ill in the first place, right? I simply proposed that you could take a month or two off from your duties to relax and recover from your injuries-”

“-I have no injuries-”

“-and maybe come back with me to Almyra for a little vacation.”

While she doesn’t officially reject his proposition, he does receive her reluctant acceptance in the form of several pillows being chucked unceremoniously at his head.

XxXxXxXxX

I’M TERRIBLE AT WRITING ENDINGS. I promise I’ll come back later to fix this one up too. 

Hope you all liked chapter 2!!

Note: I did NOT get this out before midnight. It is currently 1:56AM.

Previous Chapter

Next Chapter

#Claudeleth #claude von riegan #Byleth eisner #claude x byleth #F!byleth #my writing #popo writes #fanfiction #fire emblem #3 houses #fire emblem 3 houses #FE3H #post cannon #Post S rank support

[princess-of-the-corner]

Could you please do more headcanons for the Beetle and Tomcat au or it's variant Red Velvet and Tuxedo? Gabe with the earrings sounds like a trip. Also this could be an au with Régalien in it (what I've taken to calling Peacock!Adrien)

Okay! So! I can't find the original post, but I remember it was Tom vs. Gabriel with the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous. 

I think I prefer Red Velvet vs. Tuxedo just for Kwami shenanigans alone. Because Tikki living in a bakery is great. And Plagg would spend his free time fucking with Gabriel. 

So, plotwise here's how it starts: 

The Black Cat Miraculous is lost when the Peacock and Butterfly are. So Gabriel has all three. The Peacock is still broken, Emilie goes into her Magic Coma, and Gabriel becomes Tuxedo to lure out the Guardian and get the Ladybug Miraculous. 

Fu still tries to give the Ladybug to Marinette. However, Tom comes up to Mari's room and finds the box on her desk. Curious, he opens it and finds Tikki. After finding out that Mari is supposed to be a Hero, Tom's like "no she is a child i am not putting her in danger like that!!!" And decides to be a Hero himself, becoming Red Velvet. 

Despite the usual 'secret identities' rule, Tom does tell Sabine. Because you don't hide things from Sabine. Marinette does find out too. She does get a bit of a confidence boost from hearing that some mystical guardian guy had believed she was the right person for the job, even if her dad said no. 

Meanwhile, school drama is pretty similar. Though without the Lovesquare. Which means Mari and Adrien have mutual crushes and it doesn't take long for them to get together. 

As for the Peacock: while Peacock!Adrien could be fun…. I have a different idea for both the Peacock and the Butterfly. 

As I said, Plagg does whatever he can to fuck with Gabriel. This includes hiding the other Miraculous. Now, Plagg can't stray too far from Gabriel. But he can go anywhere in the mansion as long as Adrien and any staff don't see him. 

So if the other Miraculous happen to end up in Adrien's room, well, it's the last place Gabriel would look when he goes to look for them. 

Adrien finds the brooches and is a little confused. They don't look familiar, and this happens after his birthday so they're not gifts. Shrugging it off, he thinks the brooches arent really his style and decides to gift them. 

Which two girls are close enough to him for him to give gifts? Marinette, his crush, and Chloé, his childhood friend. 

Marinette gets the Peacock, Chloé gets the Butterfly. I'll focus on Chloé a little later. For now, Mari and the Peacock!

Marinette brings the brooch home, and Tikki immediately recognizes it. She also realizes it's damaged. As the Ladybug Miraculous is supposed to fix the others, they quickly fix it and talk to Duusu to ask her where she's been and if she knows who Tuxedo is or where the Butterfly is. 

Unfortunately, Duusu has no idea. Her Miraculous being broken affected her memory of that time. She remembers someone using her Miraculous, and that that person was hurt by it, but she can't remember who or even when that happened. 

They decide to try and work backwards. Marinette knows that Adrien gave her the brooch. Well, Adrien's obviously not Tuxedo. Even if the Miraculous could change his height and build like that, Tuxedo uses Cataclysm multiple times in battle and is therefore an adult. Next best suspect is Gabriel. 

Marinette gets up the courage to partner with Adrien on a school assignment so that she can snoop. She feels bad using him like that but this is important!!

Unfortunately, Gabriel is already working on faking his alibis, and Marinette is the perfect kind of person to be a witness. While Tuxedo shows up and is destroying stuff, Nathalie uses hologram!Gabriel to check on Adrien and Marinette, insisting that Marinette stay until the danger has past and ordering dinner for them. To Marinette, it looks like Gabriel is here while Tuxedo is in a fight, proving they're not the same person. 

Believing this to be a dead end, they assume that the missing Miraculous probably got separated over the years.

Marinette makes another decision. The Peacock is the second Miraculous to be gifted to her. Clearly the Universe wants her to be in this fight. Tom and Sabine say no, but she has an idea. 

Marinette uses the Peacock Miraculous and creates a Sentimonster of herself. As she's holding both the Peacock and the Amokized item, she can essentially astral-project and puppet the Sentimonster. Therefore, she can fight while also remaining safe. 

The catch is powers. On one hand, Marinette can make the Sentimonster have any power. But if she wants to have a different power she needs to remake the Sentimonster. She ends up basing the various powers on other Miraculous, changing the Sentimonster's costume to reflect that. So theres a Senti!Multimouse, a Senti!Fennette, a Senti!Bee, etc. 

Gabriel assumes that Red Velvet's "sidekick" is just using the other Miraculous, not that she's a Sentimonster. 

I want to give her a single name because the public would realize that it's the same girl and not "Red Velvet's 15 identical daughters". I'm thinking Mockingbird. A bird reference for the Peacock, and a reference to her imitating other Miraculous powers. 

Now for Chloé and the Butterfly Miraculous!

Chloé puts on the brooch at home and meets Nooroo. On one hand she would like to be a Hero, but she hesitates. This is early on when they don't know how dangerous Tuxedo is, and Cataclysm is kind of terrifying. 

Unlike Duusu, Nooroo does remember what happened before. Unfortunately, he's been forbidden from talking about it without being asked directly, and Chloé doesn't know enough background to ask. 

So Chloé plays it safe. Mostly just keeping Nooroo as a friend no one knows about. Sometimes though, Monarch wanders the rooftops at night. Occasionally stopping petty crime if she runs across it. She becomes a little bit of an urban legend. Paris's little Cryptid. 

As a civilian though…. Chloé's having an interesting time. 

Obviously she doesn't have the same relationship toward Red Velvet as she has toward Ladybug. Though she does gain a little bit of a hero crush on Mockingbird when she shows up. 

However, Chloé's feeling toward Red Velvet is more "oh? Is this what genuine parental affection is like?". Because yeah even though Tom and Mari know what Chloé is like, she's different with Red Velvet and Mockingbird. Also Tom just radiates dad energy. 

The biggest thing with Chloé though is that, because she's wearing the Butterfly Miraculous, she can feel everyone's emotions. 

This means that when she's mean to someone, she can feel what they're feeling. And honestly she doesn't like that. So she kinda… stops going out of her way to hurt them. 

Then it becomes 'okay, someone is upset and if you're upset I have to feel it so fuck you we're going to fix your problems!!' Which confuses the hell out of everyone else. 

This leads to her realizing that okay yeah making others feel happy is kinda nice? Even if it's from a selfish 'I don't want to feel your bad vibes' way. 

No one's really sure why she's doing this. The class comes to the agreement that Chloé probably reevaluated her priorities after a near-death experience with Tuxedo. 

The biggest nail in the coffin though is when Audrey comes back, and Chloé can physically feel the lack of love from her. Like, some small part of Chloé always knew Audrey might not truly love her. But just. There's no real way around it with Magic Empathy Powers. 

This is probably when Monarch becomes known to the people as more than 'local Cryptid'. Because she goes for a rooftop run during the day to avoid Audrey. And of course both sides are interested in a new Hero. 

Monarch bumps into Tuxedo first, but she runs because YIKES. Red Velvet and Mockingbird show up next. Red Velvet fights Tuxedo while Mockingbird chases down Monarch. 

Red Velvet and Mockingbird get to talk to Monarch after Tuxedo disappears. They ask her about her powers, and she admits that it's the Butterfly Miraculous, and she got it because a friend gave her a brooch that happened to be Magic. 

Monarch also kinda rambles about how she usually goes out at night because that's when she feels restless and sad, but she's out now because the Butterfly's Empathy powers let her know that her mother doesn't love her so you know how it be. 

Red Velvet and Mockingbird are like "okay you're family now we're adopting you!". They don’t want to let her in on the fight, and Monarch points out that technically she doesn’t have to be, she can just power them up when necessary. 

Meanwhile, Gabriel believes that Monarch has joined the Heroes, and decides "hey, let's give Nathalie the Butterfly because this is starting to get difficult". Except he can't find the Butterfly. Or the Peacock. He finds out that Plagg hid them months ago and 'doesn't remember where'. Gabriel goes through the mansion looking for them but can't find them. 

He doesn't immediately connect Mockingbird and Monarch to the Peacock and Butterfly. Partly because he doesn't think the Miraculous could leave the house. Partly because Monarch has yet to display her powers and Mockingbird has always been a different miraculous-themed sentimonster. 

Lets take a break to check in on other characters like the classmates and especially Adrien!

Alya still runs a blog dedicated to the Heroes, but after the earlier dangerous activity, Red Velvet sat her down and explained why her actions were dangerous. So she's less invasive. 

The class is doing fairly well since Chloé has decided to be nicer. I already said that they assume she decided to turn her life around after a near-death experience. 

A lot of their plots and drama are still the same, but altered since there are no Akumas to shake things up. They are better at talking things out though. Ironically, they're also better at voicing when they're upset because Chloé can always tell who's feeling bad, no matter how much they try and hide it. And after a few rounds of her deciding to fix things they know to speak up first. 

Adrien is blissfully unaware that everyone around him is a Hero or Villain. He has a mini hero crush on Mockingbird, but doesn't know it's technically Marinette. Doesn't know he gave away Magic jewelry. Doesn't know Gabriel is Tuxedo. Etc. 

Adrien does, however, think his house is haunted. Because even though Plagg has been banned from letting Adrien see him, he wasn’t banned from talking! So Adrien thinks that Plagg is a friendly-ish ghost hanging around. 

That’s what I have for now.

#ml red velvet au

[seokiloquy]

Broken Wood Panels - Semi Eita

AU: Regular / Holiday (Non-specific)

Requested (though I did stray a bit, it still follows the concept though)

Tags/Warnings: Gn-Reader, Time-skip, Mentions of domestic abuse, not heavy, but please be warned, more of a drabble with plot

Word Count: 1k+

“Are they still stuck in traffic?”

Eita laid lax on the deep-set couch in the living room, listening to you talk on your phone as he plucked gently at the strings of his acoustic guitar —here by request of your parents. Your one arm was crossed over your torso as you pulled the phone away from your ear, pressing on the button to hang up.

“Ya. Don’t know why they decided today was the day they took the cat to get her nails trimmed.”

Eita clicked his tongue with a stupid grin, ruffling his ash-blond hair off the arm of the couch, before pulling you to sit at his side as you came closer. He chuckled lightly, “I miss Matcha; she gives me kisses.”

Taking the large guitar off his chest, you set it down on the couch’s side before digging an elbow gently into his stomach. “Replacing me with my family cat now huh?” you teased, pinching his nose. “Come help me prep dinner. They won’t be back for a while.”

You took to stirring the soup as Eita worked seasoning into the thawed out meat on the wooden counter. His arm swung up, and with an overexaggerated roar he slammed the dull pointed knife into the meat. 

You get out a strangled gasp, spinning on your heel with wide eyes to see the short mullet-wearing man give you an equally surprised (though entirely fake) expression. A snort ripped its way out of your nose.

“Eita,” you chuckled. “You’re gonna give me a heart attack.”

“In only good ways I hope,” he purred, giving you a soft smile.

“Seriously.” A three-beat knock came from your parent’s front door. You turned off the soup’s heat. “I’ll get that. Don’t let the soup burn, would you?”

Eita cut up the last few pieces of meat before making his way to the soup, listening to your footsteps pad their way to the front entrance. He stood there for a while, listening to the bubbling liquid as it ran over the muffled conversation outside. Once the soup finally settled he reached for the metal lid to keep it warm.

A loud bang ran through the mostly empty house, followed by the sound of splintering wood from the front entrance. 

Running to the door, and groping the metal tightly in his hand Eita found himself unable to push it open. With a furrowed brow and heart pounding in his ear, he grabbed his phone off the kitchen counter and rushed to the front window, moving the heavy curtains to get a look outside.

The view made his stomach churn. With your shoulders scrunched up to your ears and back pressed firmly against the front door, you glared up at a man whose worn out jean clad arms pinned you there. Looking closer Eita could see that one hand was fisted against the wooden door frame, surrounded by splinters and staining the white paint red. Watching the man snarl in your face, unable to go out and help, Eita dialled the short number into his phone. Listening to it ring over the man’s angered screams as he kept an eye on you from behind the glass wall.

You shook violently in Eita’s arms as your parents finally arrived, rushing out of their car, past the uniform wearing cops to come to your side.

Your mother rubbed your shoulder gently, taking you out of Eita’s arms and walking you inside, cat carrier in hand. Eita stood with your father in the doorway, watching the cop car pull away from the curb. 

The older man glared. “Damn that, Itsuki. Never knowing when to stop.”

Eita followed the car with a worried gaze until it turned around the corner. “Who was he.”

Your father sighed, biting his lip as he raised a hand to brush over the broken wooden frame, shame pulling at his posture. “(Y/N)’s ex from the end of highschool. It’s really not my story to tell, but, please just be gentle. That boy is horrid beyond reason. Hasn’t changed and years and likely never will.”

Inside, Eita saw you curled up on the couch where he had previously been lounging, head in your mother’s lap as she plucked the strings of his guitar in a nonsensical pattern. “I’ll take over. The soup should be ready but the meat needs to get cooked.”

Your mother nodded, lifting up your head for Eita to slide in instead and grabbing your father's arm and dragging him into the kitchen with a mumbled order. Matcha jumped onto your chest, head reaching up to bump against Eita’s arm.

Eita scratched that cat’s head before switching to let the calloused tips of his fingers brush against the edge of your hairline, cooing gently as you tried to curl further into the heat of his lap, knocking Matcha off your chest and into the curve of your stomach on the couch. “Do you want me to play something for you?” he asked, already picking up his guitar as a tired hum escaped you.

He smiled, brushing his thumb over your eyelid gently, before playing a gentle tune into the almost silent house.

I hope with was alright, a little rushed, a little short, not much character plot or anything but ehhhhh, the next one won't be much better, I can’t get my mind around writing things at the moment - Bacon

#semi eita #semi x reader #Haikyuu x reader #Haikyuu #x reader #oneshot #oneshots #haikyuu oneshots #haikyuu reader insert #reader insert #aus #haikyuu aus #fluff #haikyu #anime x reader #anime #manga x reader #manga

[insanitysscribblings]

Back To Us: Reading Map

Someone asked for it AGES ago, so finally, here it is! I tried to minimize spoilers as much as possible just in case new readers happen across this. Hope it helps! <3 (Under a readmore because it’s FUCKIN’ LONG [but who is surprised at this point?])

Chapter One: Prologue

Ladybug and Chat Noir are doing their hero thing when an unforeseen tragedy splits them apart. Marinette struggles with her identity as a hero and Adrien flees the country in the wake of tragedy.

Chapter Two: Seven Years Later...

What it says on the tin. We get a glimpse into an older Marinette as an aspiring fashion student who comes across a grown-up Adrien by chance. As she plots the details of a fashion competition, and laments the state of her internship, an akuma attacks Paris for the first time in seven years. Ladybug appears to deal with the issue, only to discover that Chat Noir has returned as well.

Chapter Three: Strangers pt. 1

Ladybug enlists Chat’s help to take down the akuma, only to discover that his heroic philosophies have skewed over the years. Meanwhile, Marinette seeks to impress Adrien with her fashion prowess, only to be sorely disappointed by his cold response.

Chapter Four: Strangers pt. 2

Ladybug and Chat Noir clash as they deal with an akuma close to home. Adrien makes a date with Ladybug. Later, Ladybug and Chat Noir argue about the past, the present, and the future. (Yes, this is the chapter where @edendaphne​‘s comic comes into play.) Marinette finds the courage to stand up to Adrien and assert her boundaries with him.

Chapter Five: Enigma

Marinette decides to start training for akuma attacks. She runs into Adrien (literally) and they jog to a bakery where Marinette’s parents proceed to embarrass her. Marinette seeks hero/boy advice from her old master. Adrien’s date with Ladybug doesn’t go as he hoped.

Chapter Six: Guardian

With Alya’s help, Marinette finds a way to push past recent distractions and start developing ideas for her own fashion line. Marinette’s boss interrupts by sending her to retrieve her wayward assistant Felix. As Marinette goes hunting for him, she comes across a terrifying scene at Master Fu’s. As he recovers, he puts her in charge of very important things. Symone, Marinette’s boss, becomes a hypocrite.

Chapter Seven: Autograph

Marinette struggles with her decision to let her boss plagiarize from her. Eventually, she decides it isn’t worth it. Adrien indirectly makes fun of her for never signing a card years ago.

Chapter Eight: Ruined

Marinette adjusts to life without her internship as well as working without Chat Noir. She and Desiree talk shop, and she becomes suspicious of Felix (not for the first time). During an akuma attack, Marinette gives Chat Noir a piece of her mind, and then shames Paris as Ladybug for being callous towards an akumatized victim. She indirectly pleads for Chat Noir to return to her, but he rejects her.

Chapter Nine: Friends

Adrien and Nino have an unpleasant reunion. This bothers Adrien so much that Marinette has to have a late-night intervention with him that carries into the next morning, when they go to see a familiar face for professional help.

Chapter Ten: Recovery pt. 1

Adrien begins the slow road to recovery. At one point, Nino gives him the business for the way their friendship ended...but leaves the door open to said friendship, just in case. Marinette gets her second jogging gift from Adrien (this is a thing).

Chapter Eleven: Recovery pt. 2

Adrien struggles with his new philosophy on akumatized victims, only for his resolve to crumble when he sees too much of himself in a bruised little girl hiding behind borrowed power. Conflicted, Adrien flees to his therapist and confesses perhaps more than is advised. Nevertheless, Nino welcomes him back into the fold. Marinette gains a clue about a hidden ally. Later, Nino gets a super surprise in the mail.

Chapter Twelve: Surprise! pt. 1

Marinette begins work on her fashion line. Adrien invites her on a not-date. Alya makes a bet with Marinette.

Chapter Thirteen: Surprise! pt. 2

A new hero by the moniker Emerald Shell arrives on the scene to assist Ladybug in her hour of need. Chat Noir pays Marinette a surprise night visit. Marinette shares a secret with Nino. The hidden ally has a name: Pavone.

Chapter Fourteen: Duty

Marinette and Nino seek advice from their aging master. Alya preps Marinette for her not-date. She and Adrien spend time ‘not’ flirting, and Marinette invites him to spend Christmas with her and her folks.

Chapter Fifteen: Mistletoe

The Ball Chapter. Marinette is thrust into a glittering world of the rich and famous, but she finds familiar faces nonetheless in the form of Desiree and Felix. A misunderstanding naturally causes an akuma, and afterwards, Adrien gets closure from Ladybug. Later, he and Marinette stumble under a mistletoe, and after a Christmas gift from Marinette, Adrien realizes he fucked up.

Chapter Sixteen: Trouble

Adrien spends an agonizing session at his therapist’s as he wrestles with newfound feelings. Felix gives Marinette unsolicited advice as she tries to close her parents’ bakery. Later, she stumbles upon Adrien standing in the rain and drags him home to dry off. Goofing off happens...and leads to something more.

Chapter Seventeen: Heat

Tikki and Plagg share a moment. Adrien and Marinette confirm that they are, indeed, attracted to each other. Domestic shit happens. Alya reluctantly wins a bet.

Chapter Eighteen: Deception

Nino finds himself mediating between his overprotective girlfriend and his helpless best friend. He also teases Marinette about her and Adrien’s not-relationship. Emerald Shell and Ladybug deal with an akuma, and then talk relationships. Alya gets the wrong impression from an overheard conversation between Marinette and Nino.

Chapter Nineteen: Faith

Alya doesn’t appreciate the silent treatment. She gets some unexpected advice from Desiree, and decides to do what she does best and investigate matters on her own. Unfortunately, she and Nino are unable to see eye to eye, which puts their relationship in jeopardy. Later, a frank conversation with Emerald Shell becomes too honest, and Alya accidentally discovers a couple of secrets. She and Nino reconcile, and Nino happens to spy a stray cat watching over a ladybug. Nino and Alya’s relationship is taken to the next level.

Chapter Twenty: Balance

Marinette rejoices in Alya’s engagement. Alya interrogates her about her not-relationship with Adrien. Marinette and Adrien privately agree to be ‘friends who kiss a lot’. Later, Ladybug’s negligence results in a suicide, and the widow becomes akumatized. Ladybug is almost defeated, but at the last minute, Chat Noir appears to save the day, and their partnership is restored.

Chapter Twenty-One: Blind

Emerald Shell is not pleased. (That’s it, that’s the chapter.) Nino expresses concern for one of his best friends. Marinette receives unexpected visitors—the first is unwelcome, as opposed to the second. Marinette flirts a little with Chat Noir, only to learn that he’s seeing someone. Uncomfortable after the night’s events, Marinette decides to bunk with Alya for a few days.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Bonds pt. 1

A press conference announcing Chat Noir’s return to the side of Good is not well-received by the citizens. Ladybug registers the change in dynamic between her and Chat, and is not sure what to make of it. Meanwhile, Alya encourages Marinette to pursue Adrien, but when Marinette shows up unannounced, she finds a woman in a towel in his home.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Bonds pt. 2

Marinette behaves like a fucking adult and allows Adrien to introduce her to his friend/ex-girlfriend, Erika. Through Erika, Marinette discovers Adrien and Felix are cousins. She and Erika start a frank conversation about Adrien, but the subject of said conversation interrupts. Erika goes off for a walk, and a couple minutes later, an akuma appears to terrorize the city. A face stealer transplants Chat’s face onto Emerald Shell’s shield when he jumps in the way to save Ladybug. The face stealer is chased off by a Miraculous wielder by the name of Camille.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Bonds pt. 3

Despite Ladybug not trusting her (and becoming overprotective of Chat Noir), she, Camille, and the rest of Team Miraculous devise a plan to track down the akuma. Ladybug assumes she knows who the akumatized victim is, but then circumstantial evidence points her towards Camille instead. Alya accidentally discovers Chat Noir’s secret. Nino points out an inconvenient truth to Marinette. Before Erika returns to Italy, she confides the existence of a troubling Miraculous wielder to Marinette: Shade.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Coincidence...?

The Valentine’s Day Chapter. Marinette and Nino are advised by Master Fu to bring Chat Noir into their counsel. Adrien asks Alya for another favor. Marinette and Adrien go on a proper date, though they spend much of the night confusing each other. An ill-timed akuma appears, and Ladybug and Chat Noir can’t help but notice each other’s fancy additions. Later, a multitude of clues lead Adrien to the conclusion that Marinette may not be who he thought she was at all.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Suspicions

Marinette comes to the same conclusion Adrien does...but then decides that she doesn’t want to know for sure. Not yet. Plagg dresses down Adrien in front of his therapist. Alya does a collective facepalm upon hearing Marinette (sort of) express her misgivings about Adrien. Alya tags along to an akuma fight, much to Emerald Shell’s chagrin. The Anti-Akuma Taskforce bump heads with a new group identified as the Akumatized Victims Anonymous, and chaos breaks out before Alya tricks them all into clearing off with the sound of a police siren. Afterwards, Marinette entrusts the search for a new Miraculous wielder to Nino.

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Aesthetics

Nino and Marinette try to gather clues on the Butterfly and Shade. Marinette runs into Desiree while shopping, and Desiree brings up some concerning questions before Felix interrupts out of the blue. Marinette’s fashion line is finally revealed in her university’s competition. She and Adrien dance around forbidden knowledge.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Outfoxed

Nino makes a decision on who should join Team Miraculous, but then falls for the oldest trick in the book. Alya gets acquainted with her new powers.

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Changes

On top of everything else she has to do, Ladybug agrees to be the face of a new unity campaign Deputy Mayor Reine proposes when tension between AVA and AAT only continue to escalate. Meanwhile, Alya decides to use her powers for Good by slipping behind enemy lines in disguise.

Chapter Thirty: Shadow

Marinette and Adrien’s alone time is interrupted by fashion disasters. Still, the fashion show goes off without a hitch...until Shade crashes the party.

Chapter Thirty-One: Anarchy

Team Miraculous comes to the unpleasant conclusion that Shade knows more than she should. Meanwhile, AVA wreaks enough havoc that the mayor feels threatened and does the unthinkable. Emerald Shell spots a familiar Miraculous and leaves to confront the owner. Meanwhile, with AVA’s leadership in shambles, Alya suggests that they take things in another direction. When she returns home, a very angry surprise awaits her.

Chapter Thirty-Two: Tension

Team Miraculous (both in and out of their suits) deal with the aftermath of the last chapter. AVA’s new approach to protesting moves Marinette, and she and Alya stage a makeshift fashion show with AVA wearing Marinette’s designs, a decision that does not thrill Adrien.

Chapter Thirty-Three: Revealed

Everything comes to a head in this chapter. Adrien loses patience with Marinette’s constant promises of ‘later’, and they are cornered at the Eiffel Tower by Shade and the citizens under her thrall. Both heroes nearly meet their doom, only to be assisted at the last minute by Pavone. Where one couple of Team Miraculous reconciles, the other splits.

Chapter Thirty-Four: Squad

Marinette makes moves towards her future, despite her love life being in shambles. Vixen is introduced to Team Miraculous, and they have a pow-wow to share information. After patrol, Vixen splits, and Ladybug forces Emerald Shell and Chat Noir into a reveal of their own. Nino and Adrien return to Adrien’s place for a talk, and Adrien is comforted during a breakdown by his best friend.

Chapter Thirty-Five: Amends

The Wedding Chapter. Marinette and Adrien deal with their broken hearts as best they can while sitting through Ivan and Myléne’s wedding. It takes the combined efforts of their friends and the strength of their own hearts for Marinette and Adrien to reconcile at last.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Finale

The Final Chapter. Everyone who hasn’t been revealed yet is unmasked, including Alya, Camille, and Felix. Team Miraculous splits up to deal with the akuma flooding Paris as well as chasing down Shade, who reveals the motivation behind her actions at last. Past mistakes are almost repeated in the heroes’ pursuit, but all is well that ends well.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Epilogue

What it says on the tin. Banter is shared, relationships have progressed happily, and things are peaceful. Thus, Longfic the Toothy comes to a quiet close.

#reyna writes #miraculous ladybug fanfic #back to us #btu reading map #GOD THIS TOOK FOREVER #serves me right for writing monster fics I suppose #anyhow hope this helps! #if there's a detail you want to find and you don't see it mentioned here ask me #I'll probably be able to tell you which chapter to look at #probably...

[biancasfm]

            (  2 / 2  )  it’s  kofi  again  with  bianca’s  introduction  !  she’s  a  relatively  brand  new  muse  so  forgive  me  if  she  strays  a  little  from  her  intro  as  time  goes  on  ,  but  i’m  so  excited  to  play  the  beautiful  vinetria  for  the  first  time  .  so  ,  here  we  go  !

            ✼:♡*ﾟ✿ ↝  vinetria  .  cis  woman  .  she / her  .  /  bianca  gould  is  blasting  nasty  by  ariana  grande  again  ...  ugh  ,  i  swear  they  play  that  song  every  single  day  !  you’d  think  they’d  learn  how  to  pipe  down  .  oh  ,  you  don’t  know  them  ?  they  live  in  apartment  4C  .  i  haven’t  talked  to  them  much  ,  but  i  know  that  they’re  twenty  three  years  old  ,  and  that  they’ve  been  living  in  the  complex  for  five  years  .  i  always  run  into  them  when  they’re  coming  back  from  milton  perks  ,  and  they  seem  really  zestful  and  unscrupulous  .  maybe  you’ll  have  better  luck  with  the  aries  than  i  do  .  

001  .  STATISTICS  .

            name  :  bianca  mai  gould  .  nicknames  :  bia  .  date  of  birth  :  march  25th,  1997  .  zodiac  :  aires  .  birthplace  :  surrey  ,  british  columbia  current  location  :  vancouver  ,  british  columbia  .  love  language  :  receiving  gifts  &  acts  of  service  .  height  :  5′9″  .  father  :  daniel  gould  (  plastic  surgeon  )  .  mother  :  lonh  gould  (  née  tran  /  pediatric  nurse  )  .  occupation  :  cut  off  &  part  time  barista  at  ralph  &  rue’s  .  orientation  :  bisexual  &  biromantic  .  markings  :  standard  lobes  ,  mid  helix  (  left  )  ,  &  daith  (  right  )  .  surgery  scar  on  her  right  knee  .  

002  .  BACKSTORY  .

            with  both  parents  working  in  the  medical  field  ,  life  for  bianca  has  always  been  comfortable  .  living  in  toronto  as  the  only  child  of  daniel  &  lonh  ,  bianca  lived  in  an  expansive  home  that  was  comfortable  for  the  small  family  of  three  .  while  growing  up  ,  bianca’s  life  was  consumed  by  her  parents’  hectic  schedules  ,  but  they  always  made  it  up  to  her  by  consistently  being  there  when  she  needed  them  ,  i.e.  at  her  track  meets  or  at  any  other  event  that  bianca  wanted  them  to  attend  .

            bianca  ,  like  most  children  of  privilege  ,  liked  to  flaunt  what  she  had  .  she  didn’t  attend  the  best  school  in  toronto  not  to  .  with  good  grades  and  exceptional  athletic  prowess  ,  it  was  no  shocker  that  the  then  sixteen  year  old  bianca  committed  to  attending  stanford  university  .  bianca  had  been  ecstatic  to  attend  stanford  ,  &  kept  up  with  her  training  throughout  her  final  years  of  high  school  to  ensure  her  place  .  unfortunately  for  bianca  ,  her  dreams  of  running  track  had  been  snatched  when  a  sudden  knee  injury  got  in  the  way  .  originally  ,  bianca  deferred  her  acceptance  to  stanford  while  recovering  from  surgery  ,  but  it  turns  out  that  she  needed  more  than  a  year  .  actually  ,  she  wouldn’t  be  able  to  run  ever  again  .

            for  the  first  six  months  ,  bianca  pretended  as  though  she  was  fine  .  she  pretended  as  though  losing  out  on  her  dream  hadn’t  been  a  big  deal  ,  but  it  was  .  with  parents  in  the  medical  field  ,  there  was  always  the  constant  reminder  that  she  needed  to  not  put  pressure  on  her  knee  .  to  not  over  exert  herself  ,  to  be  careful  .  bianca  made  the  decision  to  leave  toronto  after  a  year  of  running  from  her  problems  ,  getting  a  new  start  in  vancouver  .  although  only  an  hour  away  from  home  ,  the  distance  was  much  needed  &  appreciated  .  however  ,  the  move  also  led  to  bianca  being  a  lot  more  frivolous  with  the  money  that  her  parents  provided  for  her  .  with  rent  &  basic  necessities  covered  ,  her  monthly  allowance  was  spent  erratically  :  postmastes  ,  saint  laurent  ,  bar  tabs  ,  repeat  .  

           with  her  parents  monitoring  her  spending  habits  &  originally  letting  her  get  away  with  it  in  hopes  that  things  would  change  ,  the  sudden  decrease  of  her  spending  limit  from  a  smooth  $10k  to  a  measly  $4k  made  bianca  sober  up  quickly  .  her  parents  ,  wanting  to  see  some  responsibility  from  their  daughter  ,  required  for  her  to  get  a  job  &  at  least  take  some  general  courses  at  ucb  ,  which  she’s  doing  now  .  right  now  she’s  in  her  junior  year  of  studying  gender  ,  race  ,  sexuality  &  social  justice  while  also  working  as  a  part  time  barista  .

            as  for  her  personality  ,  i  don’t  know  why  i  draw  so  much  energy  from  the  positions  album  but  i  do  NVCBVH  .  can  be  kind  of  bitter  about  things  sometimes  &  she  gets  upset  when  people  ask  about  her  scar  ,  so  don’t  do  that  .  can  come  off  as  very  nonchalant  &  can  be  kind  of  infuriating  because  she  doesn’t  give  up  .  when  she’s  set  her  mind  to  something  then  there’s  a  high  chance  she  won’t  stop  .  overall  ,  she’s  relatively  full  of  life  &  energy  ,  so  if  you’re  in  need  of  someone  who  will  boost  your  spirits  ,  then  she’s  your  girl  !  truly  gives  vlogging  youtuber  x12  vibes  .  she  can  also  be  kind  of  mean  ,  not  in  an  overbearing  way  ,  but  she  can  still  get  a  little  snippy  at  times  .

003  .  CONNECTIONS  .

i’m  a  sucker  for  a  best  friend  🥺

platonic  soulmates  !  borderline  best  friends  not  entirely  ?  like  they  just  really  got  along  and  they’re  really  close  .

a  wing(wo)man  !  they  perhaps  spend  a  little  too  much  time  at  cat’s  cradle  trying  to  scope  out  their  options  for  the  night  ,  but  they  mostly  get  drunk  and  end  up  giggling  over  a  shared  plate  of  fries  .

one  night  stand(s)  !  i  say  multiple  because  it  wouldn’t  be  out  of  character  for  her  to  ,  but  there’s  also  the  option  of  it  occurring  between  two  parties  more  than  once  .

a  flirtationship  !  they  may  not  necessarily  have  feelings  towards  each  other  but  they  sure  as  hell  flirt  like  they  do  .  

friends  with  benefits  .  hand  it  over  !

her  own  pov  type  love  .  my  hand  is  out  &  i’m  WAITING  .

and  again  ,  i’m  willing  to  work  based  off  chemistry  or  fill  any  plots  that  you  may  have  !

#opalintro #injury cw #now on to her theme NJFD

[lizz-revs]

Dandelion - Wishes brought to you -

A manage your stats game, with cut-scenes that feature your chosen romantic interest. You choose your activities and interactions, but not the cut-scenes and the cut-scenes don’t influence the further development of the relationship.

Story

The main character is a girl, who is a business major in a university. She is mentally unstable (I’d say almost depressive and close to a complete burn-out) and very unhappy with her current life. The reason for that is her strict mother, who never allowed her to do the things she wanted, but had a close observation regarding everything her daughter was doing and with whom she was interacting. The heroine tried to escape from her mother by choosing to live on her own, but her influence still prevails because the main character isn’t able to change her life (the business major was her mother’s order).

One day though she finds a basket in front of her door with five pets in it: Three rabbits and two cats. She is very happy to be able to adopt them and suddenly her life isn’t boring anymore because she has to take care of the animals. However, those animals aren’t ordinary and, when she begins to fall in love with one of them, all of the animals change back to human form and are in fact handsome guys. Now the heroine is sharing her house with five men and is able to have a romantic relationship with one of them. This relationship isn’t as easy to maintain as it seems and even more difficult it gets after the heroine realizes that these people haven’t come to her world only to be with her.

The characters

Heejung

She is a rather quiet girl, who is living by herself since about three years. At the beginning of the game, she is quite ordinary, but since you as the player can level up her stats, you can enhance her beauty, femininity and her art skills. With increased femininity, she gets better at chores and with increased beauty at make-up and fashion. The heroine slowly wants to change her life, but she is very scared. She is easily pressured and since she isn’t studying, what she wants, every time she studies she gets stressed and needs to take a break. Her self-esteem is pretty low as well, since she can’t really fight back and just accepts being criticised, while thinking that it was her fault. She is used to doing as others want her to do, so the first time she starts actually doing what she wants is after falling in love with one of the guys and realizing that there are people, who accept her as she is and want her to do, what makes her happy. After realizing this, she becomes more mature and is willing to make sacrifices for the person that she loves and wants to live a life that suits her.

The rabbits

Jihae

He is the silver rabbit and rather anti-social. His only communication partner is Jieun and he has a very low self-esteem. At the beginning he isn’t very talkative, but polite and somehow cold towards the heroine. He always calls her “my lady” and wants to be as least a bother to her as possible. In his free time he takes care of Jieun like a butler (from feeding him to carrying him around).

Jieun

He is the white rabbit with red eyes and is really cute. At the beginning, he is shy and you can only watch him as the heroine, but eventually he opens up to her and starts talking more. At first, he isn’t able to do anything without Jihae’s help and clings to him like someone would to a parent. This is rather weird because Jieun isn’t a child, but a teenage boy, and still isn’t able to feed himself or tie his ribbon himself. However, he is able to change his behaviour gradually.

Jiwoo

He is a very noisy and kind of obnoxious rabbit. I’d call him a great example for the tsundere-personality. He is much of an attention freak, but, if the heroine gives him the attention, he just starts harassing her. In addition, he thinks he is very knowledgeable in romance since he has read a huge amount of romance novels and watched some shows. Nevertheless, it’s more like there is no one less clueless regarding romance as him besides the heroine. This makes it rather funny, when he is the chosen candidate and doesn’t know, how to deal with it.

The cats

Jiyeon

At first Jiyeun seems very friendly and social. He is an orange cat, who adores oranges. After transforming to a human his love for oranges still prevails and he seems to be more or less like a cheerful kid, who doesn’t know Korean that well and often makes mistakes, when choosing appropriate words. Well, this isn’t actually quite his true personality as you can see in his route.

Jisoo

On the other hand, Jisoo is really unfriendly and as anti-social as he can be. He is more of a stray cat, who wanders around. He calls the heroine “Foodgiver”, which pretty much characterizes their relationship. Jisoo cares about his looks because he appears to be always kind of stylish. He had a difficult past and distrusts the heroine at first as he doesn’t think that she will choose him anyway. But, when she does choose him things get rather complicated as well because of his personality…

Gameplay

As I mentioned the gameplay is based on choosing activities. Every day the player can choose an activity, which levels the heroine’s stats. Regarding the activity, it is also important that the player doesn’t choose blindly, but minds the other characters. On the map are pictures of the pets that show their locations and while doing an activity the heroine may encounter one of them, if they are in the same room. Therefore, it’s useful to look up a guide about the characters and what they like to do in order to choose the right activity. You will need to interact with your chosen character because otherwise you won’t be able to get him to like you or get his route. Another important aspect is that the heroine has a stress- and a pressure-meter. If she doesn’t study, she gets more pressure, but if she studies her stress increases. If pressure or stress is maxed out, you will automatically get a bad end. Regarding the stats and the chosen character’s affection, you can look both up in “Status”.

At the weekend later in the game, you can also choose to go on Dates with one of the characters. It boosts their affection and you can collect their stamps to unlock pictures at the end of the game. For that, it is also important to boost the heroine’s eye sight.

 My Opinion

In my opinion, this game is really good.

The characters feel very much alive. They have a distinct personality and, since it is Cheritz, also a surprisingly dark side. The story feels natural, the relationships feel logical and aren’t rushed. Because there are always time skips between the scenes, you are able to take breaks and just boost some stats instead of reading the whole time. The gameplay is enjoyable and straightforward, although it gets rather tedious after a while and you need a lot of time to clear the routes.

I think, it’s still worth the time though because you get to read the cut-scenes, which are simply amazing. Every story and every character in this game moved me. I mean you can relate to every one of them and the heroine. They aren’t fixed on romance or anything, but they try to heal from their bad experiences and past. I think it’s really important that even, if this is a romance game, there isn’t only romance in the game. Personally, I hate it, when developers try to focus on romance and not the plot because it leads to irrational behaviour of the main character and to more or less a “damsel in distress” story. Meanwhile, the heroine in Dandelion is just scared. She doesn’t try to be saved or to be saved by love. She genuinely starts to care for one of the men and just wants to spend time with them. I think such a story moves a reader’s heart way more than a story about “I want to get a boyfriend”.

Another aspect I really like in this game is the music, especially the opening and ending sequences. Moreover, since I liked it so much, I even bought the OST…

Anyway, I don’t know, if I’m not biased about this game though, since I am a fan of Cheritz. However, I still think everyone should know about Cheritz AND about this game because otherwise you miss out a few of the best visual novels you could find. In addition to that reading Cheritz’s novels is a good change of pace after reading novels from Idea Factory. Both Idea Factory and Cheritz publish great novels, but Cheritz focusses more on creating characters, which seem alive to me and I like every one of them, while Idea Factory has great stories, but I still never liked all the characters the game has to offer.

So, I think Cheritz’s games are one of the classics you just have to read. 10/10

#cheritz #dandelion #game #visual novel #review #curator