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tojipie · 1 year

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prison bf series linked here !

hii ! not rly phone sex, but sex nonetheless. i’m rly loving this series <33 prison toji unboxing fic coming someday in the distant future.

content: nsfw + phone sex

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the sudden vibrations of your phone’s ringer rips you from the boundary between sleep and awareness. you groggily reach for the device from it’s place under your pillow, clicking the off button twice to end the call.

the number rings again, then a third time before you finally pick up, ready to tear into the poor soul on the other line. it’s a facetime call from an area code you don’t recognize, probably just a misdial if you’re lucky.

you hesitantly accept and tilt the camera towards the ceiling, shielding your face from the stranger.

“hello..?” you mumble sleepily, trying to get a good look at your phone without revealing too much of yourself. the person’s screen is grainy from the lack of light, probably calling you on an older model.

the stranger’s camera pans down, revealing familiar tufts of straight raven hair. toji stares up at you from his bunk, shirtless with the sheets bunched up to his chest.

“you too good to pick up the phone now?” he asks, clearly teasing. the inmate’s voice is quiet, coming out in choppy rivets as his dated microphone picks up what it can.

“toji!?” you whisper scream, sitting up to turn your beside lamp on. the additional light helps illuminate your figure better, you notice his eyes perk up at the clearer sight of you.

“mmmh, happy to see you babydoll.” he grins, leaning closer to get a good look at you. your eyes are puffy with the promise of rest, giving you that extra bought of softness he loves so much.

“oh shit, were you sleeping? m’ sorry.”

he doesn’t sound sorry at all.

“nono i’m awake.” you reassure the older man, taking in the sight of him laid out on the narrow cot. your boyfriend had aged since the beginning of his sentence, though you figure that’s not out of the ordinary for someone serving time. “how’d you even get a phone?”

“s’ a secret.” he muses, clearly finding the situation amusing. “i get to talk to my baby though, isn’t that nice?” he states plainly, shifting to prop his head up with his hand.

“it is, actually.” you mumble apologetically, feeling bad at your initial lack of a greeting. “m’ happy you called me.”

you pause, choosing your next words carefully “don’t you have bunkmates?” you wonder, searching the background for any signs of other men in the dark cell. the promise of being ratted out by a cell mate was one that wouldn’t end well for either of you.

“nah, lawyers said i’m too dangerous to be staying in D-block with everyone.” he states boredly, shifting again to lie on his back with a grunt.

“wh— are you serious?” you whine, already mulling over the countless conversations you’ve had with him regarding his nasty fighting habit.

“pfttt, no?” the inmate chuckles, throwing his head back with a hearty laugh. “last guy in the cell got out on wednesday, ‘s just me in here till’ my sentence is up.”

he stills, looking you up and down quickly.

"fuck." he grumbles, you look real pretty right now."

you sigh in relief, ignoring the compliment to continue grilling him. “so you’ve been getting along with people?” you ask, skill skeptical.

“you know—hah- how i am.” he tells you, clearing his throat before continuing. the screen begins to wobble a little, blurring his figure for a moment. “when have i —fuck- ever been out of line, huh? ”

“i think you were pretty out of line when you went to fucking jail.” you tease, pausing to analyze his hurried breaths on the other line.

“toji? do you feel ok?” you ask, wishing you were there to check up on him.

“yeah—mmgh- why? his camera starts to pan up shakily, phone slipping from his hand. the last of his facade shatters as a pleased groan rings out in the tiny cell.

“fuck.” he whines, “fuck— oh my god. you’re gonna make me fucking cum.”

“show me.” you command, finally piecing everything together.

the older man flips the camera and brings it right up to his hard cock, stroking it from the base up with vigor.

his tip is an angry pink, weeping milky precum down his shaft to glaze his knuckles. the sounds coming from your phone are absolutely filthy, a hot mix of pants, groans and expletives .

“oh my god.” you giggle, propping your phone up to watch better. “is that all for me?” the dips and hills of his abs jolt as he laughs.

“all for you.” he pants, bucking his hips up every time his fist meets his tip.

“is this why you called me?” you tease, watching his cock bob back and forth in his hand. the older man stops to thumb his slit, massaging milky pre into the tip before starting up again. “you just wanted to get off? didn’t wanna talk to me or nothing?”

“no—hah. i mean—.” he groans, clearly too out of it to answer. “fuck. fuck i’m close.”

you squeeze your legs together to quell the ache between your thighs, content to just watch him enjoy himself.

sharing a room with 4 other people means little to no time alone, that much you knew from your visits. it wasn’t rare for him to pitch a tent during your supervised phone calls, squeezing his cock behind a glass barrier while you gushed about your day.

a hearty groan knocks your train of thought loose as ropes of cum stream down his knuckles and onto the sheets. you watch in awe as he milks his dick, slapping it onto his stomach for the added simulation.

you wait until his breaths even out to speak, watching him grab a towel from off camera to clean himself up.

“feel better?” you ask, so badly wishing you were there to kiss him in the midst of his afterglow.

“so much better.” he sighs, shifting to lay on his side again.

“they definitely heard you. i mean those rooms don’t have doors right?”

“of course they fucking have doors.” he grumbles, clearly embarrassed at the thought of getting caught dick-in-hand.

“did you..” he trails off, rubbing his eyes with a soft yawn.

“too tired.” you state plainly, shifting the focus from your pleasure to his.

“i don’t deserve you.” he mumbles, dark eyes barely open.

“course you do baby.” you whisper. “you wanna head to bed? i’m coming up on thursday to visit.”

“you are?” the excitement in his voice is adorable.

“mhm, might even bring you a charger for that piece of shit burner you swiped.”

the jab earns you a booming laugh, lulling you back to the precipice of sleep.

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tag list ! <3 🏷️

@honeybee54321 @m150-50up @kuryoomi @t4naiis @serendippindots @sillyalo @levixbby @powerrwa

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percheduphere · 5 months

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How do you think Mobius will live his life in the timeline? Many theorize that something happens to Don and Mobius takes his identity so his sons live with a father. I prefer that Mobius reflects on his old life, realizes he can’t live it, and creates his own life.

Oh, boy, Anon. I have a lot of fanfic ideas for this, but let's get into the meta-analysis side of this before we get into the rabbit hole that is my washer-dryer machine of an imagination.

Mobius is not doing well. He is going through the stages of grief. I've written an extensive meta here regarding the darker aspects of his character and how he's at risk by the end of the series. I also wrote a brief meta here regarding how his grief might manifest.

With this in mind, I actively HATE the idea of Mobius spiraling to the point he becomes "corrupted". I don't what Michael Waldron did to Wanda. I guess you could make the argument that it would be interesting to see a man emotionally unravel in such a way, but I hold Mobius's unshakable kindness dear in my heart. I don't ever want him to lose it because it is essentially his superpower.

[Sidebar: comics canon House of M notwithstanding; Marvel and DC comics canon are consistently horrible in their characterization of exceptionally powerful women: Wanda Maximoff Jean Grey/Phoenix; Carol Danvers/then Ms. Marvel; Rogue; on and on; I'll throw Sylvie in here, too, because why not, it's true.]

I see Mobius mourning Loki for two years. Two years because, statistically, that is how long it takes for most people who've lost an intimate loved one to get out of clinical depression. During this period, I see him losing weight, wandering aimlessly between timelines, trying and failing to copy Don's life by taking a job that involves jet skis or aquatics more generally. B-15 would make a point to check-in on him and know he's not doing well, but Mobius, because he does not want anyone to worry about him, because he is used to being the person who keeps people together, insists he's fine.

MY FANFIC IDEA

I see Mobius eventually recognizing he needs a therapist, which he will find ironic and deeply troubling, but he's not about to give up on trying to live for Loki's sake.

And in his conversations with his therapist and B-15, Mobius will come to realize that he can still use his key strengths outside of the TVA: analyzing people, deconstructing what makes them tick, using that knowledge to help the other person, similar to a therapist but more active in support. Mobius is very well-suited to become a social worker of troubled and at-risk youth. I think he should pursue this and ...

Mobius will choose a branched timeline in the late 90s/early 2000s. There, he will meet a war-orphaned, thirteen year-old Wanda Maximoff, who is friendless and struggling to understand the nature of her powers (magic). Mobius is drawn to her right away. It takes time, but he eventually gains Wanda's trust.

Red. Red is Wanda's color. It's in her hair, her cheeks, her magic. Now that red reaches Wanda's eyes, filled with tears her anger stoppers. "You saw what I can do. What I did. The other kids call me a 'witch' 'cause that's what I am. A witch. A monster."

Mobius sits next to the young girl on the stoop. The sun winks at them through the green tree boughs, and he wonders, for a moment, what Loki might think of him now, finding solace in a child who needs solace.

"That's not true. You're not a monster, but I tell you what: witches are pretty cool." Mobius grins, knocking his knee against hers. The fabric of his slacks shakes, still too loose. "Y'know, my best friend has magic just like yours, except it's green instead of red."

Wanda peers at him, hopeful and dubious. "Really?"

"Yup. He had a tough time, too, being different." He leans closer to her, sharing a secret. "But things got better. You should've seen him. He was--is-- magnificent. You're magnificent."

Her lips purse into an embarrassed smile. She drops her head, thoughtful, and tucks her hands beneath the fold of her knees. "Where is he now? Do you still see him?"

The question is innocent, as all things are with a soul of thirteen. She doesn't mean to hurt him. Mobius knows this. So he takes the thorn of her words and presses it against his ribcage. His throat works. The ache comes and goes but never fully abates.

"Well," Mobius sighs. "He had to move on. Life is like that sometimes. People come and go. Things happen and ... there's not much you can do except hope they're okay. That they're happy and safe."

He can't look up. Not at the tree or the sun. He worries if he does, he'll start to cry, and that won't do when this girl who reminds him so much of his wily god has finally cracked a smile.

"C'mon," he says, rising to his feet. "Let's get you something to eat."

"McDonald's?" Wanda brightens.

Another thorn. He takes that one too and thinks of pretty roses.

"Whatever you want, kiddo."

#anon asks #asks #loki #mobius #lokius #loki series #loki season 2 #loki headcanons #my headcanons #my fanfic ideas #loki meta #my meta #lokius fanfic #wanda maximoff #scarlett witch #my writing

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andrewwtca · 1 year

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the Aubrey problem (or how Omori's writing failed her)

Also available to read on Archive of our Own.

I really like video games. If the fanfiction, theory posts, and occasional essays weren’t enough, here’s me saying it—I really like video games! They’re a conversation between writing, art, music, and human interaction, between the player, the game, and the characters in them. Of course, not all games have all of that, some being only text-based, some being lifeless wastelands, but whatever they end up choosing to work with, they often do something amazing.

Sunny is one of my favorite protagonists in any realm of media—video game, movie, book—and he genuinely changed the way I view the world. Not just him, but the entire world built around him, Headspace and its charming inhabitants and the wondrous sights and music, the creative bosses that leave so much insight, the beautiful overworld that is Faraway and a nostalgic look into what we leave behind, and what we return to.

So that’s why I’m so disappointed I don’t like Aubrey.

This game blew my mind away when I first saw it—my first experience with the game wasn’t even my own playthrough, but sitting through a 20-hour longplay!—and I lost so many hours of sleep twisting and turning and trying to make peace with the grief it left me feeling. And after finishing, I realized that its flaws were plenty, but not enough to drag me out of my enjoyment. But Aubrey? Aubrey didn’t make me feel the way I knew she was supposed to.

That frustrated me, especially as I became a bigger and bigger fan of the game. I had no qualms about liking her archetype, the feminine bully with a tragic backstory, and yet I do with her.

As someone who craves literary analysis and in-depth looks into every media I consume, I just needed to know: what made me dislike Aubrey?

And after over two years of being a fan of the game, I’ve finally figured it out: it’s a good mixture of 1) lack of explanation, 2) rushed self-awareness, and 3) lackluster narrative choices. And I’ve found the words I needed to explain these concepts, so please join me on my messy journey to understanding what went wrong with Aubrey.

preface

If you’re an Aubrey apologist, this essay is not for you. I’ve heard plenty of arguments about why Aubrey was actually in the right, not limited to “Basil deserved it,” and, “Aubrey was hurting too,” so I’d like to begin by stating that Aubrey was a bully very clearly.

Rejecting the notion that she actively harmed others is rejecting a core component of understanding her character. Before we dive into her character and how the writing failed her character arc, I would like us all to be on the same page: she physically, verbally, and socially bullied Basil. It was not Basil’s fault, and it will never be a victim’s fault to get bullied. She is not the victim of her own crime, just like how Sunny is not the victim of Mari’s death, and Basil is not the victim of Mari’s hanging. We, as the player, are to recognize their responsibilities in their actions. The same must be extended to Aubrey.

Some people feel the need to deny this aspect of her character to justify her actions and/or justify liking her. Firstly, the purpose of this essay isn’t to villainize anyone for liking Aubrey. I’m simply analyzing what was attempted with her character and why it didn’t strike a chord with me and so many others. Secondly, as Kel wisely said, “Just because you did something bad, doesn't make you a bad person.” I’m not here to say that Aubrey is a bad person—no, nobody in Omori is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and labeling characters as such is taking away the nuance they possess. And I’m certainly not saying liking a character who did something bad makes you bad, either!

Liking Aubrey is in no way a problem (which makes me a tad bit sad that I need to clarify), and I’ll even go as far as to say kudos to you, but if you bend and twist to stop her from holding any responsibility for her actions, that’s when problems arise. Basil is a fictional character and won’t care if you think it was his fault he was bullied, but for the people around you who may have been in similar positions to him?

And lastly, I want to say that if you cite sexism as the reason people don’t like Aubrey… actually, this is the perfect transition into the analysis.

gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss

Femme bullies are not a new phenomenon. Perhaps it’s the break from the stereotypical sweet feminine girl that makes them so fascinating, using their femininity to not sing to animals or wish for a man, but pull down others and advance their status.

I, for one, adore the femme bully trope. Especially if they’re one who used to be extremely kind and underwent some sort of ‘fall from grace’ that led to a bastardization. But, as for all bullies, if they are left without a proper backstory and motivation, I’m turned off from them. Most humans are not mean just because they can be but rather are products of how they were raised. When these causes are ignored, the trope falls flat, and instead of being a good reconstruction, it’s a flat stereotype.

The best way to analyze this is by comparing Aubrey’s character to good examples of femme bullies in the past. Specifically, I’m picking my favorites: Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Nanami from Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Sophie from The School for Good and Evil. I’m going to do a quick (and a bit sarcastic) overview of their characters in their respective media, but a quick warning for suicide in Asuka’s overview, and animal cruelty in Nanami’s.

Asuka is a pilot for one of the mechas, the Evangelion, and she always thought of herself as better than everyone. Well, of course, she would: she studied hard, worked harder than everyone around her, and she’s just naturally talented. And yet, she’s still always threatened by others and how they can ruin her status. Specifically, for the course of the show, she targets Shinji—he’s this nobody from nowhere who could suddenly pilot an Eva, while she had to fight her whole life to get here! How is that fair? And what has that asshole been through anyway? Did he have to see his mother’s corpse after she committed suicide as a small child? Did he fight for his mother’s love his entire life just for her to kill herself? Does he have to fight for male attention just so he isn’t thrown aside? No, of course not! So how is any of it fair?

Nanami is the sister to the wonderful student body president Touga, and she wants nothing more than his attention. And with her being the youngest of the cast, one cannot be mad at her for not understanding the severity of violence and finality of death, so her anger as a small child with a kitten whom Touga adored is also understandable. One simply cannot be mad at her for drowning it. So, of course, you cannot blame her for wanting to punish the ever-elusive Anthy and Utena, who Touga has become fixated on. What does Anthy or Utena have that Nanami doesn’t? They’re stupid girls, not Touga’s sister. No matter what, Nanami is going to win her brother’s affection (and in her pursuit, ignore how horribly he’s been manipulating her the entire time).

And Sophie is the Witch of Woods Beyond, capable of powerful spells beyond the imagination, from a place that few know of. And she wants nothing more than for her own fairy-tale ending—why do all the princesses around her get princes and castles and beautiful dresses, and she’s doomed to being hideous and alone for the rest of her life? Who decided that for her? She’s beautiful, after all, so she should be a princess! It doesn’t matter who stands in the way of her happily ever after; especially not if it’s Agatha, her lifelong best friend. No matter what, Sophie will not end up like her mother who died all alone, with her husband forgetting her and moving on. Sophie will be loved, no matter who she has to hurt.

What do they all have in common? Firstly, they’re all girls. As stated, femme bullies are different from masc bullies, especially as they reveal aspects of femininity and womanhood in general that many people—see, a male audience—will neglect to face, and overall uncover sexism that's still present in both media and society. Secondly, they’re all bullies, and they targeted someone in particular who they saw as detrimental to their happiness. And thirdly, they all had specific upbringings that conditioned them to have their ‘falls from grace’. What is this third, unidentified thing?

Mommy issues!

(Sorry, I know Nanami technically has a brother complex, but I just wanted to say mommy issues.)

A pattern has been developed with all of these girls. They all start fairly, what one can call, ‘feminine’ or at least, per standard stereotypes. They’re gentle and sweet and shine when needed. And they all have a ‘fall from grace’—a moment, or sequence of moments, that leads them to reject traditional femininity and embrace a more vengeful version of it. And a final moment, where they are faced with their opposite, who represents all that they do not have.

Asuka was sweet and kind and bubbly until her mother killed herself. After that, she dedicated herself to her studies and getting adult male attention through means of the over-sexualization of herself. And then, she began to bully Shinji.

Sophie was sweet and kind and bright until her mother died. After that, she idolized her mother’s false display of femininity and became obsessed with becoming a princess. And then, at the School for Evil, she began to bully Agatha.

Nanami was assumedly sweet—she deviates from this pattern slightly, being built off assumptions of a good past rather than showcases—until she was brought into this family and became obsessed with her brother and was manipulated by him. After that, she became desperate for his attention, fighting any other who could take it. And then, she began to bully Utena (and Anthy.)

While Nanami does deviate from this pattern, they all have clear origins. They were not bullies from the start. As aforementioned, in the face of an adversary, the majority of people do not turn to hurting one another. Something in their pasts, their ‘falls from grace’, was the foundation of their actions, what led them to believe what they were doing was okay. It’s not justification—it's a much-needed explanation. After all, if you do not understand, how can you empathize?

Still, you may fail to see my point. The game has lots of hints of Aubrey’s troubled upbringing. And that’s exactly what the problem is. These girls have clear origins while Aubrey’s is muddled.

Of course, I don’t expect Omori to have spoon-fed me details of her past. You can put the pieces together by walking through her home and seeing bottles laid on the ground. But, even in a game dependent on nuance and having the player put certain things together, it’s better to leave things out directly rather than to work a way around.

To build up a good femme bully, we need a good origin story. What happened to her that made her turn to violence? Why should we care? We know Aubrey probably had a troubled childhood. But the game doesn’t supply enough. It leaves too much to fill in the blanks. I know that Asuka saw her mother’s corpse, I know that Sophie was forced into a misogynistic viewpoint upon her mother’s death, and I know that Nanami was manipulated to hell and back. I know what these girls have been through so I know why they ended up walking their paths.

But the game simply doesn’t reveal enough about Aubrey. Fan speculation is not enough. Canon interpretation should not be confused with fan interpretation—according to the fans, Aubrey’s father is a deadbeat, and her mother is an abusive, neglectful alcoholic. According to the game? Aubrey’s dad is “strict”, and her house is an absolute disaster. The house is one of the biggest clues as to Aubrey’s childhood, and while some may praise this as ‘showing and not telling’, the game never tries to make workarounds for the other characters (which I will dig deeper into later). I can assume what happened in her house but it’s not my job to find ways to empathize with the character; that is the story’s job.

This is the first of Omori’s three sins and we haven’t even scratched the surface.

actions speak more than words, or something like that

I recently saw a post that I thought would make a good intro for this section. It’s an apologist post for Aubrey, discussing how the game did treat her with just enough harshness—that because she’s been beating herself up, because she’s suffered a public breakdown, because it took kindness to help her heal, it’s proof of her regret. There’s some good Basil blaming in there too, with a strange turn saying that she refused to leave Basil’s house because of her willingness to turn over a new leaf. And it ends with a weird claim that she was a “good person all along,” (implying an argument otherwise), but I’m not here to rat on that post.

Despite how frustrated the post made me, I am inclined to agree. It’s black-and-white to state that Aubrey didn’t change at all. If you compare her first Faraway appearance to her final scenes, she’s a completely different person. Which would've been nice if the change didn’t take two scenes.

Much like how I compared Aubrey’s backstory to that of other femme bullies, I’m going to compare Aubrey’s redemption to that of my favorite redemption story in all of media: Riku from Kingdom Hearts (the fact that I’m so in touch with his story may also explain some of my disappointment with Aubrey’s).

Riku starts off his journey on Destiny Islands. He’s always wondered what lies beyond his small home and dreamed of taking a sailboat with his best friends, Sora and Kairi. However, jealousy is an awful thing—Sora and Kairi are close. And it seems that Riku has been hearing about how they’re thinking of leaving him behind. So, he does what any teenager dealing with larger-than-life feelings does: he gives in to the magical Darkness and effectively kills everyone on the islands, separating him, Sora, and Kairi (don’t worry—everyone comes back.)

By the end of the game, he’s come to his senses, but it takes a lot of time. He fights with Sora a lot because he just knows, deep down, that he’s right and Sora is wrong, and if Sora would just listen…but no. Sora keeps abandoning him. So he has to work through that and all the feelings that accompany those abandonment issues, he has to work through the question of “What is even making me want to kill my best friend, anyway?”, and he has to work through “Wait…can I kill my best friend?” So, it takes a lot of time for him to get to his senses.

And then, he goes through hell. Literally and metaphorically. He dedicates himself wholly to making up for what he did. How? Well, he first identifies what he did wrong—he separated from his friends, he gave in to his jealousy, and he submerged his home in Darkness. He apologizes for it directly—although he doesn’t have a chance to speak with Sora right away, he's constantly apologizing for the fact that he gave in to the Darkness, so much that it became a running gag to some fans. He put up distance—he didn’t feel like he was owed forgiveness right away (or at all, but that’s a different matter) and didn’t stick at Sora’s side to wait for his best friend to forgive him. He worked hard to show that he’s changed—it would be a much longer essay if I attempted to explain the lengths he went through, but it’s not limited to allowing himself to be possessed, going to literal Hell, forcing himself into isolation, and enduring multiple handicapping injuries.

Long story short? He really, really tries to make it up to Sora. And when he and Sora finally talk (it took three years in real life, took perhaps a year in the game), Sora doesn’t even hesitate to forgive his friend…though it may be in part to Sora just being Sora. Nevertheless, Riku had earned that forgiveness.

And then, after that, Riku continues to give himself hell! He never stops to sweep what he did under the rug. It’s a part of him, after all, an ugly past but his past nonetheless. It does not define him but it cannot be forgotten, otherwise, he hasn't learned anything at all.

Deep breath. We talked a lot about Kingdom Hearts in an Omori essay. But it’s important to understand the sheer depth put into his redemption: identification, distance, and work.

What’s most frustrating about Aubrey’s arc is that fragments of this good writing exist, but that’s what they are: fragments. I would like it to be stated for the record that everything I explained for Riku’s arc wasn’t me creating speculation based on what the games said. It’s what the games literally came out and said. Aubrey however…

Identification—she apologizes to Sunny, Kel, and Hero by saying “I’m sorry, guys… I’ve been acting like such a jerk.” While I may give her grief for the usage of the word ‘jerk’ when perhaps a stronger, more evocative term would’ve done a better job, it’s certainly better than what she said in front of Basil’s door: "I just wanted to say that… I’m sorry for the way I’ve been treating you.” Completely separating herself from the issue at hand.

Distance—none. She's immediately reintroduced to her old friend group, at a rate that ended up giving me whiplash the first time around. The question, “What about the Hooligans?” is never brought up, and things are back to how they always were, with no problems at all.

Work—Aubrey stayed the night at Basil’s house, wanting to make sure he was safe. To which, if you end up getting the neutral ending, you get the most insightful message of Aubrey’s arc (which is technically non-canon): “I'm so sorry, Basil. Please forgive me…” If getting the good or bad ending, her staying the night meant literally nothing, as Sunny’s fight took the reins.

These are fragments of a character arc. These are fragments of good characterization. While I praise Omori for how often it appears realistic, this kind of exponential growth simply isn’t. In what world, does someone who’s been bullying someone for four years, take less than two days to realize she’s been a bully and decide to change the entire course of her life?

While I could rat on Aubrey, this isn’t her problem. This is the game misreading what makes a good redemption. Redemption means work. It means effort. It is not a character simply changing their ways. Those characters feel cheap and empty—there’s a reason, after all, why the majority of fans always characterize Aubrey as the mean girl she’s shown to be when she first appeared in fan works. It’s because the ‘new’ Aubrey, the Aubrey buried under layers of hurt, hasn’t earned the right to exist.

The Riku I love in Kingdom Hearts III has earned the right to be angsty and gay and happy and his new self because he’s put in 17 years' worth of effort to become that person. It’s beautiful, it’s inspiring, it’s hopeful—you can make a mistake and go past it. It doesn’t define you. You can be forgiven. You can have hurt and have been hurt and still be worthy of love and loving.

The Aubrey at the end of Omori has not earned the right to be there, simply put. She’s the product of lazy, or ignorant writing, and it feels harsh to type out, but there’s no other way to describe it. Her self-awareness happened too quickly. She passes by Sunny’s house every day, sees Kel playing basketball every day, and could freely visit Mari’s grave whenever she wants—there were four years for her to change who she was. If Kel wasn’t able to give up his toxic positivity until the bitter end of the neutral ending, it’s quite hard to believe that a few hours of just talking made her change her ways. Especially considering that the Hooligans were characterized as her new, accepting friends, who love her and hear her out.

And again, the best fragment of an arc that could’ve been appears in the neutral ending! While it was not directly Aubrey’s actions that led Basil to take his life, it’s very impactful to see her begin to blame herself. It’s not right for her to blame herself—but that’s perhaps the only scene in the entire game where I really sympathized with her. It’s the only scene in the entire game where I truly saw that she wanted to change.

A quick note I wanted to pull out before finishing: the inclusion of the Hooligans. They were, again, fragments of an amazing arc. While they could’ve been a good way to show how kind Aubrey still is, they are thrown aside and mainly included in scenes where Aubrey is still being a bully. It’s in content outside of the game (see: Aubrey birthday comic) that they contrast Aubrey’s harsh exterior and show her sweet insides. But no, they’re underdeveloped and unutilized to make Aubrey’s arc feel doable.

There seems to be a very clear culprit to both this and the femme bully problem, and a solution that should’ve been considered more deeply.

rome wasn’t built in a day

There’s a loud rumor in the Omori fandom that Omori was originally supposed to take place over ten days rather than three days. While I’m not sure how much merit this rumor has, the fact that it exists leads me to my ultimate point:

Omori should’ve been longer.

Specifically, Omori should’ve taken place over a longer period.

EDIT: Before we continue, I just had an excellent conversation with a friend ( /ᐠ ._. ᐟ\ﾉ ). This solution only applies to if one is unwilling to change Aubrey's core character; essentially, the extent of her bullying. By making her someone who goes out of her way to torment Basil, significant screen time is going to be needed to properly unpack all that's been given. Making the base game ten days is only my opinion of the best choice, but there are other ways to solve this. However, the best course of action would be to change the extent of Aubrey's bullying on Basil—in other words, changing how Aubrey's anger presents itself.

For example, she would simply hold a grudge over what she believed was Basil destroying the photos, being extremely passive aggressive towards him. It would make a reconciliation between her and Basil, much, much more doable as well, perhaps him seeking her out in the first place in a peaceful manner to look for the photos. The lake scene could be an emotional explosion for her, perhaps finding out Basil just gave the photo album to Sunny, who is literally about to leave, and then pushes him into the lake. Then, the reflection she has next would fit what has tonally been established, seeming doable. She had, after all, been on good terms with Basil, even if for a little while.

By ‘lackluster narrative choices’, I am referring literally to the belief that Omori should not have been a game that took place in three days. I’m not here to argue about the game's mechanics—should Headspace have been that long? What is the point of a world created to serve as escapism, which should be fleeting moments of happiness, when it ends up being longer than the real world?—as much as I’m here to argue that this is a flaw of the game’s writing as opposed to a game design standpoint.

I’m not going to pretend I know how to make a video game. I’m enthusiastic about them, I follow their development and creation, and I strive to learn as much as I can about the ones that are dear to me, but I’m not going to pretend I know the first thing about making a video game. Omori’s development is one of the most infamous parts of its legacy, and the notion of extending the game would’ve only been another strain on the extended period between its announcement and its final release.

But, I know how to tell a story. Or, at the very least, I know what makes a good story. Now, the three days format of the game serves its other protagonists amazingly.

Sunny, whose arc mainly develops through the interfering ideas established in the real world and the ones previously established in Headspace, doesn’t need an extended time in the real world. His story takes place in his dreams, and the foundations of Headspace are already extremely insecure, based on the idea of covering up the truth. But when faced with a separate truth in reality, despite only a brief exposure, the lies created to protect Headspace fall apart. So Sunny’s arc does not depend on how long he spent in the real world.

Kel and Hero, on the other hand, have a very small arc. They are not flat and are very much dynamic when you compare how they started and how they ended up. However, the majority of their arc had taken place off-screen. The majority of their characterization does not occur through direct interaction with Sunny—we don’t learn about Hero’s depression because of him having a breakdown, but rather Kel discussing it. And in that same scene, we learn about Kel’s toxic positivity and the strain it’s taking on him, rather than through the game. This recontextualization is perfect for Kel and Hero. The change that occurred after Mari’s death is not easily seen by Sunny, and through it being slowly revealed instead, we learn the nature of their changes. Nonetheless, their changes occurred after Mari’s death and another change will occur most likely after the revelation of the truth—either way, their character arcs do not depend on the length of the three days. No amount of time would’ve changed them without Sunny revealing the truth (and as aforementioned, Sunny’s time was well spent in Headspace).

And finally, Basil. He's in the same boat as Kel and Hero, having an arc that occurs entirely off-screen. The difference is, however, the amount of emphasis the game puts on what happened to him as opposed to a few cutscenes with the brothers (though it is understandable, given his role as the game’s deuteragonist). His arc is a downward spiral, from an already unstable boy to an insecure mess who becomes obsessed with the sole idea of keeping his best friend safe. While it’s a progression of who he used to be, it’s development nonetheless, and it also happens off-screen. Given Basil’s fragile mindset, furthermore, the appearance of Sunny suddenly was enough to throw him off, given he was already planning on taking his own life. His rapid spiral into an even worse mess which leads to the fight between him and Sunny, therefore, is understandable. And, similarly to Kel and Hero, his real change will only occur after Sunny reveals the truth. Basil’s character development does not at all depend on how long the game would be.

The simple fact is that the other characters do not go through a drastic change on the days that Sunny comes out, and Sunny’s change was fueled by the existence of Headspace, not by the real world. The game taking place in three days does not affect the others. That is good storytelling. Using the game’s time frame to properly convey their arcs having occurred off-screen.

Aubrey, however, is not subject to that same praise. Her arc occurs on screen—while she descended to becoming a bully after Mari’s death, the arc we the viewer are supposed to acknowledge is her redemption. And three days just isn’t enough time.

The last two problems I covered, a lack of detailed backstory and a general lack of redeeming actions, lie in the same problem: the game went past those scenes far too quickly, as though Aubrey’s redemption is not essential to understanding her. It’s as though the game is trying to place importance on relationships and the joys of rekindling, rather than having to actually rekindle a relationship, having to put in the work. If the game had been slightly longer, Aubrey’s story could’ve been dealt with in a far more effective manner.

I am not Omocat, nor am I a part of the development team. I do not have the ideal solution for what could’ve been. I do, however, have a few ideas that I’d like you, my audience, to consider. How much do you think the game would’ve changed if it was ten days instead of three?

As already explained, Sunny, Kel, Hero, and Basil would not have had any significant difference if the game took place longer. Perhaps, there would’ve been a more natural awkwardness present that accompanies talking to someone for the first time in four years, but aside from that, the events of the game would’ve just taken longer.

Aubrey, however, would’ve had some actual thinking time. Her fight in the church would be her turning point, and her then isolation would feel like she had time to think things over. For a few days, Aubrey would have to be absent, and given the impression she left on the players, this absence would be heavily felt. It would be her return so much more effective, especially if she returns as someone who is unsteady due to their actions.

For the next few days, leading up to Aubrey deciding to stay the night at Basil’s house, we have the chance to know and forgive her better—perhaps, similar to Kel talking to Sunny about Hero’s depression, Aubrey can explain what it was like growing up in her household. Not as a defense, but as an explanation. She would do things with the rest of the group, and she would at a more natural rate, be integrated once again. And not just anything! She would actively help them with whatever the ten days would have to offer, and it would show that she is hurting over her actions.

And, finally, when she would decide to stay at Basil’s house, it wouldn’t feel like the game was just trying to have the cast together for one last moment, but it would feel like she’s trying to bridge the gap of all the hurt she created. When she would go to Basil’s door, it wouldn’t feel like the game was just trying to convince us to forget about her actions, but it would feel like she’s reflected and attempted a new leaf. And hopefully, the game would offer a more heartfelt apology, given more context and material to work with.

Four years of bullying can’t go away in ten days. But that’s not what the game was trying to argue in the first place—it wasn’t fully erasing Aubrey’s action, but trying to create the stepping stone for a way back. But the three days poorly argued her case, with a rushed and lacking version of redemption, and it made her ‘final character’ feel poor.

At the very least, ten days would have allowed the audience to empathize and begin to understand her. And, more importantly, it would’ve made sense that she understood the weight of her actions. And the Aubrey she became, whoever that girl would be?

She would’ve been so, so loved.

a little love in our lives

This has been on my mind for an awful lot of time. Sunny, as aforementioned, is one of my favorite characters of all time (if not my favorite), but the entire cast has a spot in my heart and is very dear to me. That includes Aubrey, but she benefits from association, which hurts me—I hate when girls in media are defined by their relationships with other guys. I wanted to get to the heart of why I couldn’t get her to stand on her own.

To summarize: Aubrey’s character was criminally mismanaged. Instead of it being a hopeful story of redemption, someone finally breaking the cycle of abuse and breaking free of her toxic household, seeking forgiveness by taking an active part in Basil’s healing, she is let off too quickly and makes all her further scenes feel twice as empty. The ideal solution would have been to have the game take place over a larger period, rather than a rushed three days, to allow the audience to empathize and relate to her.

Aubrey apologists truly astound me. I find so many flaws in her writing, and yet other people manage to see those flaws as perfections. I see people making very absurd, ableist arguments, and it makes me question the humanity of many fans, but I’ve always been intrigued by how many different perspectives there are surrounding her. I’ve seen some who relate to her because they were bullies or because they’ve been abandoned by others; so some valid reasons, and others very concerning. But it’s telling how our own experiences make us relate to different characters and help us understand why someone stands in the places they do.

…do you see what I did there? I started talking about relating backgrounds and how that benefits our understanding and— yeah, I suppose you understand, if you got this far (almost 6k words, you should be proud of yourself). If you’re still unfazed and believe that Aubrey’s writing was splendid, all the power to your fannish behaviors. But if I’ve opened your eyes a bit as to the flaws in her writing or if I’ve been able to explain your dislike of her, then I’m glad. It’s important to discuss things that didn’t stick the way they were meant to so that we can do better and we can learn.

Omori’s writing failed Aubrey. Some fans took that as a challenge. I’ve said before that canon interpretation should be separate from fanon interpretation, but I’d have to be heartless (Kingdom Hearts pun intended) to say that many fan’s interpretations didn’t get me to feel with her. I think Aubrey could’ve been brilliant, and while Omori didn’t fully capture that, a lot of fans did. So to everyone who makes art, whether it’s a drawing, a written work, a video, a song, an edit, or whatever, thank you for sharing it. Thank you for telling your stories.

I feel like writing these analysis pieces without connecting them to our own life experiences is pointless. So, to everyone else, please tell your stories. Tell your stories of redemption and love and forgiveness, because that’s what Aubrey’s story was meant to be about, and that’s what we all need in this world. Tell your stories, no matter what they are, because that is what ties us all together. We are made of stories and we return to them. We learn from them and we become better people. We become kinder—and we could all use a little more kindness in the world.

Thanks for reading!

#omori #omori meta #omori analysis #aubrey omori #media analysis #meta essay #literary analysis is my special interest #andrew's essays

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multifandom-onigiri · 10 months

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Ok I’m going to rip off the bandage and talk about the age gap discourse surrounding DarkMilk

I’m going to preface this with a few disclaimers

1. The post is mainly going to center around Dark Choco as a character because there is (unsurprisingly) more to be said about Dark Choco Cookie from what I’ve gathered. (Edit: There was a lot more to be said.)

2. This post isn’t here to force you to change your interpretation or have your take away from this post as “I have to see Dark Choco as this age” or “DarkMilk’s age gap is [insert said range]”. Rather, it’s me presenting an interpretation with an analysis of the game. But nothing about their ages is explicitly confirmed or denied so I could be wrong. You could be wrong too. None of us are the writers.

3. Around half of this post relies on analyzing the Korean names of Dark Choco and Milk. As seen in my pinned post, I’m not Korean so I ran this post through with a mutual who is. That being said, that doesn’t mean this post is immediately 100% right so please correct this post if needed. (To the mutual in question, thank you so much for the help I really mean it.)

A while ago, I found a tweet and then a conversation under it between two users about young prince dark choco’s age based on his name is written in Korean: 어린 왕자.

It’s stated as such on the wiki for Cookie Run Ovenbreak (italicized because we’ll get to this in a bit) but here’s a screenshot in game

There’s two things to note with 어린 왕자

1) 어리다 means young but significantly so (as in the age of the person numerically is small, and thus they can be easily recognized as a child).

2) 어린 왕자 is apparently also the official Korean title for the book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Named as such for the young boy dubbed as the little prince and also yeah I’ve never read this book… else I’d have a segment in this post in speculating why this is the case)

Out of curiosity (and also because I hate missing or getting info wrong), I checked the Cookie Run (for Ovenbreak) wiki to confirm that’s how Young Prince was written. And then I rewatched the CRK Dark Mode cutscenes.

Turns out they changed the way they refer to Young Prince Dark Choco: 어린 왕자 다크초코 쿠키-> 젊은 시절의 다크초코 쿠키

Notable changes are:

1) For starters, 젊은 시절의 다크초코 쿠키 directly translates to “Dark Choco Cookie of Youth”. Note that the word prince was added in the English localization and is not included in the original text.

2) 젊다 is a different word that also means young. Specifically, it refers to being young in thought or action. However, it’s not the same type of young (think like how you would treat a baby/toddler vs. how you’d treat an older teen. With a baby, they’ve just started living and thus know very little about how things and people work. It’s cute at times and annoying at other times. On the other hand, teenagers are still children but they’ve lived much longer than babies, so you expect them to be more mature/responsible than a 5 year old). Also unlike 어리다, 젊다 can be used to describe anyone that’s younger than you and doesn’t really suggest a certain age range because it depends on the speaker and the person they’re referring to.

The big question that can be taken away from this is:

1) Why the change from 어리다 -> 젊다 ?

Disclaimer: I’m not Devsisters so I can really only make guesses but here’s the take we ended up with.

The writers for CRK realized that using the word 어리다 ended up making Young Prince Dark Choco seem younger than he should be, and that 젊다 was a more reasonable choice to properly depict Dark Choco’s age.

Something interesting that was brought up in addition to this point while this section was being checked over is that 어린 왕자 다크초코 쿠키 makes Young Prince Dark Choco sound like he’s a naive little boy who doesn’t know anything about the world because he is too young while 젊은 시절의 다크초코 쿠키 makes him sound like he’s a proper aged man who went through lots of things to obtain many achievements.

I’d also like to point out that they also haven’t changed the way they refer to Young Prince Dark Choco in CROB. It’s still 어린 왕자 다크초코 쿠키 (and I took the screenshot yesterday as of writing this to double check). And both CRK and CROB are treated as mainline games (but probably alternate universes) that are no more canon than the other.

If you ask me what this possibly means, I really don’t have an answer LOL

“So if they aged Young Prince Dark Choco up in CRK, how much older is he supposed to be compared to? Is it possible they aged him up to be an adult?”

The answer to these questions can be found on a specific post posted on March 25th, 2022 by @ gingerbrave_dev on instagram (and @ GingerBrave_Dev on twitter). Gingerbrave_dev is one of the official Cookie Run accounts.

It’s a collage of 4 pictures that depict Dark Choco Cookie growing up. The caption on both Instagram and Twitter is the same which reads as follows:

The important thing here is that Young Prince Dark Choco is *included* in this collage which is said by an official Cookie Run account to be a depiction of his childhood.

Meaning that it’s more likely that if there’s a possible cutoff for Young Prince Dark Choco’s age, the oldest Young Prince Dark Choco could be is 18. (The age range for adolescence, the last stage of child development, is between 13 - 18). But because they include Young Prince Dark Choco in this post, I personally think that Young Prince Dark Choco isn’t meant to be an adult overall.

(Ok quick edit: Adolescence is apparently the transitionary stage between childhood and adulthood but tbh I’m not sure if most people sit down and double check that every exact piece of info aligns with the correct word and definition when designing a character).

And that’s pretty much all I have on official statements and canon that directly (not really) talks about Young Prince Dark Choco’s age.

However, I want to shift the focus from discussing directly about what his age is to why I personally read Young Prince Dark Choco more as a teenager.

When I first saw Young Prince Dark Choco back in 2019, what stuck out to me was the stark contrast between this past version of Dark Choco and his current self. Young Prince Dark Choco is so much more hopeful and driven compared to his current self. He exudes a lot more confidence based on his lines and his main goal in CROB is to save his kingdom by gaining more power. We get the implications from how pessimistic current Dark Choco is that his own actions (obtaining the Strawberry Jam sword) leads to his kingdom’s downfall and he regrets those actions from his past.

For me, that was how I originally concluded he was a teenager. And honestly, I never really reflected about the actual reasoning until we started having this discourse 2 years later because the headcanon just seemed really natural to me.

Fast forward to January/February 2021 with the release of Cookie Run Kingdom, which ended up giving us a lot more lore on Dark Choco. There are two things that are relevant to my proposition of Dark Choco being a teenager.

1) The CRK Artbook

First released during the game’s release, it contains concept art of the world building and the characters (playable characters at the start of the game + ancients + legendaries), who get their own page or two to themselves.

I’m pulling this image off the internet because the one thing that stands out to me and that is also relevant to what we’re talking about is that the current Dark Choco presents more similarly to when he was a child (they’re both quiet and hold serious expressions on their faces).

Meaning that Young Prince Dark Choco is confirmed to not be Dark Choco’s original personality (for lack of better words. I don’t know how to word this better). And seeing Dark Choco and Dark Cacao standing next to each other, you can see how much they resemble each other. Like father, like son.

So the question is: why is Young Prince Dark Choco’s demeanor completely different from when he was younger?

Personally, I think the answer is much more simple than one might think: Young prince Dark Choco was a teenager. More specifically (and this is how I’ll segueway into the next section), Young Prince Dark Choco was an earnest teenager prince who began to question and challenge the traditions/structure of the Dark Cacao Kingdom and of his father.

2) Dark Choco, Dark Cacao, and the Generational Divide that Drives Them Apart

The release of Dark Mode would bring both a lot more long-awaited lore for Dark Choco, and also Dark Cacao Cookie, who piqued people’s interest especially since he is Dark Choco’s father.

The most significant moments happen through the magic-induced flashbacks Dark Choco is forced to relive through, where Young Prince Dark Choco interacts with multiple people. This includes his Dark Cacao, who is the only person to have two separate flashbacks.

The first flashback is a conversation between Dark Choco and Dark Cacao which will be posted below:

What Dark Choco says here stands out to me: “Our Kingdom is in need of change…! We can’t keep hiding behind our walls!

The Dark Cacao Kingdom’s walls is a major subject of Chapters 13 and 14, as one of the main conflicts in that chapter is between the people and Dark Cacao. The villagers outside the kingdom’s walls have been struggling with food shortages and attacks from wild animals. They’ve been trying to contact the king for help but Affogato intercepts and closes the door on them before they can. Meanwhile, most of the resources are being used on maintaining the kingdom’s walls, which causes a change in the portion of the food Dark Cacao’s subjects are receiving. Affogato takes advantages of this to try to cause dissent among Dark Cacao’s court, which was his original plan until the Cookies of Darkness show up.

What’s revealed about why Dark Cacao spends so much time and resources on maintaining the kingdom’s walls is that the walls serve as a safeguard against the Licorice monsters in the Licorice Sea from overtaking the land and eventually the entire world. We get to see a great example of this as Licorice Cookie summons a gigantic Licorice Monster that proceeds to break down a significant portion of the walls.

So from what we read in chapters 13 and 14, we can conclude that the walls is very necessary in protecting the Dark Cacao Kingdom and the Licorice Monsters are nothing to be laughed at. They’re formidable enemies.

It’s very likely from the way that the walls are Dark Cacao’s #1 priority rather than directly addressing whatever is happening with the villages outside the walls that Dark Cacao probably has had previous firsthand experience with the Licorice Monsters and consider them that much of a serious threat.

From the way Young Prince Dark Choco talks to Dark Cacao in the flashback, it sounds like he doesn’t share the same perspective as Dark Cacao.

This is why I think Young Prince Dark Choco being a teenager is a major factor into this difference of perspective.

The thing about teenagers is that during that stage of life, they are going through a lot or at least they think they’re going through a lot because that’s when puberty starts to kick in and the hormones start jumping over the place.

They start questioning their identity. Who they are, what they want to be, what their role is in society. They’re trying to figure out how to be their own person.

They can start questioning the rules. Why am I doing [insert here] ? Why doesn’t Mom and Dad let me do this and that? Why do I have to do this? And because of this, they can become defiant and challenge authority and even what they previously just accepted as fact.

Because of this, teenagers take risks and can make bad or stupid decisions all the time. They end up clashing more with their parents because their parents recognize that their kid will regret what they’re doing later due to the consequences their kid will have to face (and possibly even due to firsthand experience when they themselves were teenagers).

I think all of this applies to this particular flashback.

a) Questioning

Young Prince Dark Choco argues that the kingdom, and by extension, the way Dark Cacao runs it needs to change. He describes kingdom’s walls not as defense, but as a means to hide, which frames the amount of time that the people of the Dark Cacao Kingdom have been living behind as a sign of fear/cowardice. This is also in response to Dark Cacao telling him that he’s still young and has a lot to learn. The flashback seems to throw us, the reader, right into the middle of the conversation without any previous context but with Dark Choco’s response, I think the conversation they were having is overall related to Young Prince Dark Choco’s response.

b) Identity

Something to keep in mind that every person is unique and how they grow up is largely influenced by their environment (the family and friends around them, their socioeconomic status, etc).

Young Prince Dark Choco is not your average human being Cookie. He is the son of Dark Cacao, who is the one of the most powerful cookies in the entire cast outside of the legendaries and the dragons, a warrior known for his abnormal strength (the sword he uses takes 3 regular cookies to carry it) and heroic deeds (like splitting the White and Black Dragon which is treated like a legendary tale), and due to all of the previous, an esteemed king beloved by all of his subjects.

By being the son of Dark Cacao and therefore, the prince of the Dark Cacao Kingdom, Young Prince Dark Choco had a whole legacy to live up to. And although we know Young Prince Dark Choco ends up not being able to live to that legacy due to the Strawberry Jam Sword, we do know from other characters that Dark Choco at that time was doing really well.

Note that if Caramel Arrow, the First Watcher, says that Dark Choco Cookie taught her how to use the bow, then that means that he is most likely also exemplary not with just swordsmanship but also archery as well.

Also don’t forget about how Dark Choco saves the Milk Village from a pack of cream wolves, which leaves a great impression on the Milk Cookie we know.

For the most part, I think Young Prince Dark Choco cares about the people and the kingdom he lives in. He seems very earnest in wanting to help his kingdom from what can be seen in his costume lines in CROB.

But I also think there’s one more underlying possibility behind Young Prince Dark Choco’s character: Young Prince Dark Choco wants to be a hero like his own father because he wants his father’s approval.

In Chapter 14. Dark Choco and Dark Cacao have a very heated conversation right before they try to kill each other. In this conversation, Dark Choco talks about the grievances he’s held against his father over the many years since he was banished. One of the grievances that he mentions is about how he wishes his father cared about him more.

(Note: There’s been issues with the ENG dub for Ch 13 and 14 where the localization makes Dark Choco come off as harsher and more insensitive (so to speak) even if it’s not accurate to the original text.

For the first screenshot, a more accurate translation would be “Ever since I was little, you didn’t give me anything sweet and treated me harshly. We were not even close as father and son like other people.”

Second screenshot is fine.)

This is later acknowledged by Dark Cacao himself as who says after they finish their heated conversation, fight, and finish their sword fight with Dark Cacao defeating Dark Choco: “It is clear as day now… My life’s greatest regret is that I never gave you enough… love”. (And this acknowledgment and really the confrontations leading up to the acknowledgment is the key to Dark Choco finally being able to break away from the sword, but that’s an analysis for another day).

There’s also these illustrations from the art book that stand out to me in this regard (and also makes me depressed). The first illustration showcases young Dark Choco walking behind his father and in his shadow. It actually gets redrawn in a different perspective in the collage of Dark Choco’s childhood I showed earlier, where it adds the detail of young Dark Choco tugging at Dark Cacao’s cloak. In the second illustration, Dark Choco is holding onto the Strawberry Jam sword and staring down at Dark Cacao, who is seated and bent over.

The thing that stays consistent is that Dark Cacao’s back is turned towards him, and I think this represents both this distance in their relationship and Dark Choco’s inability to ever connect with Dark Cacao very well.

I think the combination of his accomplishments during this part of his life and his desire to be closer to his father and gain his approval causes Dark Choco to start both overestimating his abilities and coming to the wrong conclusions. And I don’t necessarily mean this as “Dark Choco became arrogant” because even Dark Cacao says it himself: “What a bright and responsible child he was… Kind, humble…”

But I do believe the reason Young Prince Dark Choco’s costume lines in CROB and the monologue Dark Choco gives after he decides to quit working for Dark Enchantress talks about power and how he was looking for it is because Young Prince Dark Choco wrongly assumed that the kingdom’s problems were a result of not having enough power and then concluded that he could solve those issues if he found a way to become more powerful.

And with what I talked about earlier about how Dark Cacao most likely considers the Licorice Monsters a serious threat that can’t instead just be simply dealt and done with, there’s a chance that Dark Choco not only overestimates his own abilities but also underestimates how powerful and dangerous the Licorice Monsters are because he’s likely never had any firsthand experience with them in his lifetime unlike Dark Cacao.

And my guess is that Dark Cacao noticed this and tried to advise Dark Choco against this conclusion, and that’s what at the root of the first flashback between Young Prince Dark Choco and Dark Cacao.

3) Defiance

Unfortunately, the last two sections I’ve just talked about ends up leading to what we know ends up happening to Dark Choco. He does not listen to Dark Cacao. He finds the Strawberry Jam Sword, believing that it’ll give him the power he needs to solve his problems. Instead he falls prey to what the sword whispers to him, and this results in slashing his father in the chest. This results in Dark Cacao banishing Dark Choco from entering the Dark Cacao Kingdom.

TDLR for this section: The difference in the years of experience between Dark Choco and Dark Cacao causes a major clash between them on how to tackle the Dark Cacao Kingdom’s current issues. Out of both an earnest desire to help the Kingdom he grew up in and the people he grew up with and cares about and a desire to gain his father’s approval by striving to be the type of hero his father is, Dark Choco looks for the Strawberry Sword and falls victim to its powers, which heavily damages the relationship between father and son all the way until Chapter 14 of CRK.

You’ve probably reached this part still absorbing a bunch of information and speculation I’ve thrown at you. Unfortunately, I still have to talk about Milk so yes the post somehow still isn’t over. Luckily or unluckily (depending on how you interpret it), there’s a lot less stuff I can really say about his age, and there won’t be a very extensive character analysis like there is with Dark Choco because Milk Cookie does not have nearly the amount of lore or dedicated writing as Dark Choco does.

Milk in the Dark Mode flashbacks in CRK is referred to as 우유 일족의 어린 쿠키 which translates to Young Cookie of the Milk Tribe. As you can see, the word 어리다 is used to refer to Milk, indicating that Milk Cookie was definitely a child. He’s nowhere close to being an adult.

Unlike with Dark Choco, there really aren’t any other details in his backstory that really suggest a certain age range. The most prominent characteristics about Milk Cookie is that he is strongly attached to his beliefs, and within those beliefs is the belief that Dark Choco is an infallible hero that stems from what happened in the past. The root of that belief is admiration, and admiration… isn’t an age-specific trait. You can look up to many types of people and have role models at any point of your life.

I think really the one thing that does get indicated is that Milk is undeniably younger than Dark Choco.

The first image is the concept art for Milk Cookie that was released around Milk Cookie’s release (I assume. I didn’t see this until 2-3 years later). The second image is from the background of Milk’s doctor costume’s gacha art in CROB.

I think that stands out to me the most is that after staring at it, both of these share a pretty similar height gap between them. However, the second photo makes both of them seem taller especially Milk because of Dark Choco’s legs, which are almost half of his body, gets cut off by the photo. The first image also makes Dark Choco seem a lot bigger because of how it’s sketched out (the shoulder pads and cloak end up making Dark Choco look a lot bigger than he actually is in general LOL).

If you asked me to try to gauge the age gap between these two photos, the only thing I’d tell you really is that there’s no way it’s a 10-15 year age gap; height gap is way too short for that. But I can’t tell you a definitive guess because I’m going to be honest: Cookie Run does not do a great job telling you the ages of characters and just leaves it up to the reader to interpret themselves. There’s not really a standard for what a teenager looks like in Cookie Run, and I feel like that’s the reason why people in this fandom really sort characters into either children or adults. It’s because of this that I also think that nobody in the fandom really knows how to determine that themselves, or else I wouldn’t have written a whole analysis on why I think it’s actually reasonable to see Dark Choco as a teenager in this post. (And there’s also a few other characters that have also gone through age discourse but I don’t want to even touch that right now at all LOL).

(Edit at 12:22 pm because I feel like I need to add this: It’s not the fandom’s fault for not being able to determine ages. It’s solely on Devsisters alone because if the writers aren’t clear, then it’s much harder for the fandom to agree upon anything.)

I also think that realistically you can’t really… come up with an infallible standard for how tall a person is supposed to be at a certain age because people grow up differently depending on multiple factors. People of the same age group aren’t all the same height or weight in real life.

And it’s even more difficult to tell literally anything if the writers refuse to actually confirm anything clearly and instead use vague descriptive terms.

That being said, I can’t actually point at you and say you’re wrong because of what age gap you give to Milk and Dark Choco because as I said in the beginning of this post, I don’t know anything. I also think it does go both ways though, and less people should stop acting like their interpretation has been completely canonized.

But at the end of the day, we’ll keep reading the same stories from the same franchise and interpret how we want to. I HC DarkMilk with a two year age gap. You don’t have to agree (and I bet a lot of people don’t LOL). And that’s okay.

If you ask me whether I’ll make another post talking about this topic, the answer is an absolute resounding no because I think this is the most in-depth I could possibly be about this topic to the point this is definitely my longest post ever. I don’t think there is anything else I can say.

If you liked this analysis, you don’t need to do anything. If you’re extremely tired from reading this, this is the most understandable reaction to this post, and I hope you have a good day.

#holy fucking shit. it’s done. it’s over. oh my fucking goddd #cookie run #cookie run ovenbreak #cookie run kingdom #dark choco cookie #dark cacao cookie #milk cookie #darkmilk #dark cacao cookie gets tagged because he’s an important part of the analysis #cinder rambles #long post

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1moreff-creator · 9 months

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Happy Birthday, Veronika Grebenshchikova!

I have a confession to make. Despite my account being themed after Min and having made several posts analyzing her... I may like Veronika just as much, if not more than Min. Ever since her introduction, this Horror Fanatic has brought a smile to my face every time she comes on screen. Literally. Whenever I see her, my face immediately splits into the dumbest grin, I just adore her far too much. There's a lot we still haven't seen about her, but in honor of her birthday, I shall give a few of the reasons I love this freak to the death, and make a sort of birthday playlist as a gift.

+The main motivation for everything she does is boredom, as stated in her conversation with Teruko on Ch 2 Ep 7. Her profile states she took on her talent to seek thrills.

+This obsession with entertainment twists her personality quite a bit. “I don't care about morals. I don’t care whether people get hurt or whether they die. I just need to be entertained”. She’s honestly such a queen.

+Her twisted morals lead to her hanging out with people based on how entertaining they are instead of, like, normal standards for hanging out with people. Arturo is example number one.

"If you become more and more irredeemable, then I'll only love you more. I want to hear all about those horrible things you did with no justification".

She would be a standard Danganronpa fan, is what I get from this line.

+She has claimed she “used to be an outdoors person”, but apparently isn’t anymore. Whether she simply got bored of the outdoors, or there was something more traumatic at play, is still unclear.

+Her profile states she likes skateboarding. I adore this fact. Why there aren’t piles of fanart where she’s skateboarding, I don’t know. Get on it, people! /j. Unless?

(Also, I like to headcanon that she used to skateboard with Whit in their time at Hope’s Peak, but she was actually really bad at it. She constantly fell on her face, but always got back up laughing her ass off)

+The upper part of her dress is black and white, colors associated with the Tragedy and horror in the DRDT universe. This is stated by Veronika herself in Ch 2 Ep 2. However, this color scheme also kickstarts what I like to call:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mastermind Bingo! Ft Veronika

>She wears black and white, like Monokuma and MonoTV.

>She gets bored easily, and it drives her actions, like Junko and especially Izuru.

>She constantly psychoanalizes people, again like Junko.

>She has childish tendencies (read: likes the playground), which can be connected back to the Warriors of Hope and Monaca.

>"If I wore contacts, a wig, and different clothes, would you recognize me?"

So, thinking a bit like Tsumugi there.

>"That's why I liked horror for such a long time. The genre seeks to elicit base, negative emotions out of you, like fear, disgust, or sadness... That's exciting"

She is one step removed from outright claiming she likes despair! What is this?!

Also, liked, horror? As in, past tense? Is that implying she doesn't feel satisfied with horror anymore?

>"But after a while, fiction is only fiction..."

You look me in the eyes and tell me that's not something Tsumugi would say. She has aspects of every main-line mastermind! I wouldn't be surprised if she starts taking notes from other fangans, I'm half expecting her to start talking about "the resurrection of Divine Luck" or something.

>And that's not even mentioning things like her quote for Mai; "A girl who didn't foresee the consequences". Right, because Veronika would be the one to get the most ominous quote after MonoTV's "It's all your fault".

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To be clear, I don’t actually think Veronika’s the mastermind. I just find it funny how incredibly suspicious she is, to the point of not being suspicious in the slightest.

+CW for self-harm for this one. It is heavily theorized her secret is "You only took on your talent to distract from your incessant need to harm yourself for fun". After all, she is one of the only remaining characters who covers her wrists and most of her body, and doing something like that "for fun"... sort of only fits Veronika, as far as we know.

+Her secret quote is: "Once something is broken, it can never be pieced together in quite the same way again. The same goes for people." Whether she's talking about herself or someone else is unclear.

+The recent Q&A confirmed the following:

•Veronika is pansexual! Congrats on getting her, pansexual community! A true win for you.

•The earing she wears (a small green triangle) was given to her by her “dearest friend”. This friend's name is apparently Alyssa Belyaeva, taking the dubious honor of having a weirder last name than even Grebenshchikova.

•Her favorite color is white with other colors, since it makes the others stand out more, and her least favorite is white by itself, since it’s “soulless”. That’s… huh. Is that meant to mean anything? Could it be she sees herself as the color white; uninteresting and boring on her own, but helps other people seem more interesting by association? Am I reading too much into this? Probably, but that’s sort of my shtick at this point.

•Her favorite ice cream flavor is funfetti. Based.

•She smells strongly like women’s perfume. I guess, why not, right? Notably, Hu smells like women’s perfume as well, but it’s apparently fainter. Doubt it means anything, but it’s there.

+Veronika can do no wrong. This is an objective truth. Slay queen (but, wait to like, chapter five. I really, really hope you don’t die at three).

And finally, like I did with Min, here's a few songs which remind me of Veronika! And as you're gonna see, my music taste sort of really aligns with the kind of songs one would assign Veronika.

CW, some of these can include topics like murder and extremely disturbing imagery.

-The Chattering Lack of Common Sense, by Ghost & Pals

-End World Normophaty, by Ghost & Pals

-Hide And Seek (English cover by Lizz Robinet), original by Ho-Ong-i

-Corrosion, by Riproducer / RIP

-Chronic Wasting Disease, by Riproducer / RIP

-The Spider and the Kitsune-Like Lion, by MASA Works (CW for this one in particular, it's really fucked up. Cannibalism, torture, necrophilia, etc)

-Hi-fi Evolution Theory, by Keu Studio (probably her character playlist song)

-What Gave it Away, by Riproducer / RIP

-Matryoshka, by Hachi

-Honey I'm Home, by Ghost & Pals

-Entomologists, by Ghost & Pals

-The Experiment, by Steampianist

-The Boy who Went to Hell, by SHUDDER

-Secrets of Wysteria, by Steampianist (CW, this one is based on real events of violent crimes)

-The Dismemberment Song, by Blue Kid

-Mad Hatter, by Melanie Martinez

-Uncanny, by Ghost & Pals

-God-ish, by PinocchioP

-I Can't Fix You, by The Living Tombstone (Veronika loves FNAF, you can’t convince me otherwise)

-Always Wanted, by MiatriSs - SayMaxWell

-The Red Means I Love You, by Madds Buckley

-Already Dead, by KittenSneeze

Alright, I'll stop there. With the final song:

-Happy Birthday! (but, like, a creepy cover or something)

#drdt #danganronpa despair time #fanganronpa #veronika grebenshchikova

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neomujinjja · 5 months

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Hi, Hello, my name is what you want it

Pairing: Non idol! Sunwoo x reader

Genre: Spy au, slight angst

Warnings: not edited, betrayal, sunwoo's a liar, i try to reference to Maverick, long-ish

Synopsis: On a mission, you discover a secret about your boyfriend while trying to gain intel.

Note: I might write a second part of this cause I have an idea but we'll see. Also this took so long cause of course I didn't remember my original plot line (because I thought of it during work) 😐

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

"Agent B, the target is at the left-side end of the bar" the voice on your earcom informed you. Your mission was to gather information from the tenants at the charity event. It was believed that someone here was behind the latest events. You walked over to the bar, standing next a male dressed in all black. Despite his back turned to you, you couldn't help but feel that you recognized him. You order a Mojito as you decided to keep an eye on him just in case. You turned to scope out the crowd and area; it had already been done by the team but you felt reassured upon a double check.

"Not mingling out there?" a male's voice asked you. You first noticed the smirk formed on his thick lips before analyzing the rest of his face. His eyes also showed a recognition of who you were as you made the connection.

"Sunwoo, what are you doing here?" you whispered to him, being careful to not have your conversation heard by others.

"I could be asking you the same thing, Y/N" he responded with a low volume. Sunwoo was your boyfriend of 3 years, but the odd thing was he worked in a delivery company.

"I told you I worked for a private investigative company, Sun. The real question is what a delivery man is doing at a high-class charity event?" you countered back as you raised your eyebrow at him. While you never told Sunwoo the entire truth, you hadn't kept your field a secret from him. Shaking your head, you walked away from the male. Right now, you couldn't afford to be distracted, and being around Sunwoo: who lied to you for 3 years was bound to.

"How's that new mansion treating you? If I recall correctly you were mentioning that it was fairly isolated" you asked Natalia, she and her husband had recently purchased a new house.

"Oh yes, we haven't gotten it fully furnished yet but it is so peaceful. You know, it's nice to get away" she told you and the rest of the group with a light laugh. "Are you interested in the area, Derby?" Natalia asked you after a moment of the others agreeing.

"Yes, my family is looking for a new winter house. Something that will fit the entire family for the holidays" you said after nodding. "Plus keep the kids busy" you joked and laughed with the group of ladies.

"Sorry Ladies, do you mind if I steal her from you guys?" a voice asked again, a voice that you didn't want to be around right now. The group of ladies giggled at Sunwoo's interjection before they nodded. You could tell by their smiles that the two of you would be their next gossip for at least a week. Sunwoo just smiled and thanked them as they left. He grab your hand, pulling you into a secluded spot.

"What do you want?" You asked him, looking forward at the crowd. You didn't want to face him for multiple reasons. One part because of the mission you were tasked with and one part because you hurt by him.

"To talk."

"And we will, but not here."

"Babe-"

"No" you interrupted him with a stern tone. "I told you, Sun, we‘ll talk later. Just not here and not now" you continued before walking away from him. You headed to the bathroom, taking a deep breath.

"You okay, B?" the person on the ear-com ask you. They must have heard your shaking sniffles or noticed you weren't on the cameras anymore.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I just had a shock and needed a moment. I'm heading back in now" you told them as you pat your face. You joined the crowd of the charity once again, talking to those you'd gotten closer to during the mission.

"Derby!" You turned at the sound of your undercover name. You were met with Fernando, someone that your group had found highly suspicious.

"Fernando~ Hi" you responded to him with a smile. "How have you been?" you asked him as he walked closer to you.

"It's been good, though I'm ready to go hunting" he responded with his own smile. You laughed along.

"You said, you hunt in Canada right?"

"That's right. I go throughout the fall and winter. You should join some time, I think you'd enjoy it."

"I'll have to think about it" you laughed before taking a sip of your drink.

You walked into the apartment tired from working. The lights are still off you noticed as you take off your shoes. You turned on the lights and moved to sit on the couch, waiting for Sunwoo to come home.

Upon the door opening, you looked over at it. Watching as your boyfriend walked inside of your shared apartment. "Can we talk now?" he asked as he took off his shoes. Sunwoo walked over to the living room and sat on the chair next to the couch.

"Yeah. So explain to me why my boyfriend who works in the delivery field was at a high-end charity event" you said, turning your body to face the male. Now that some time had passed, your hurt had turned into masked anger.

"Look, I get that you hurt by all of this. And I should have said something way earlier, especially after you told me" he started by saying. "I work as a spy for an organization. I was there gathering information, probably for the same reason as you" Sunwoo continued and you watched him through it all. "I didn't think I was going to get as close to you as I was. So I just used my cover job when we met, but that was the only thing I lied about" the man further explained.

"So you told me your real name but not your job. I told you that I work for investigation company and you still decided to lie. How were you sure I wasn't going to look into you?" you pointed out to him. His reasonings didn't make sense to you, it felt like there were holes within it.

"Even if you investigated, it was covered. Our hacker made sure I was in the system, and I do work there but not in the way most would think. I don't know either, I can't say why I told you my actual name" Sunwoo replied. "Did you?" he asked as he tilted his head to the side.

"Did I what?"

"Investigate me?"

"No". That was the truth, you hadn't looked into Sunwoo. You had trusted that he wasn't someone with bad intentions so you believed his words. It was apart of the reason that you hadn't lied to him, instead just keeping some of the truth hidden. Sunwoo nodded his head in silence. The two of you didn't say anything more after that. The air was tense and awkward as the two of you sat there, avoiding each other's eyes. "I need some time to think. We can talk later but I don't want to be around you at the moment" you told him as you stood up from the couch. "I'm going to stay at a friend's place" you continued before moving to the bedroom. You packed up your items for a week, hoping that would be enough until you talked to Sunwoo next. Sunwoo stayed on the couch, not trying to stop you instead watching you from his spot. You appreciate that he was listening to your words and giving you the space that you wanted.

"I never meant for it to turn out this way" Sunwoo says as you stand at the door, putting on your shoes.

"I know".

#kpop #kpop x gender neutral reader #kpop x poc reader #kpop x reader #kpop imagines #the boyz #the boyz sunwoo #tbz x reader #tbz #tbz imagines #tbz sunwoo #the boyz x reader #the boyz imagines #sunwoo #sunwoo x reader #sunwoo imagines

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marvelstarker-mha98 · 1 month

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The Runaway Distance Life Of A Little Stark Last Chapter: Goodbye isn't Farewell

Pairing: Tony Stark & daughter!Reader, Maria hill & tony stark, Friday & reader, Tony stark & The avengers, mystery murder man & Hydra Scientist, Two Mutants twins. Summary: you have read it Warning: conversation, injecting, military jet, space and stones Co author with: callikc Tag: @venomsvl @geeksareunique

Two months had passed since devastation landed in New York City.

Homes had been decimated, landmarks destroyed, and too many people killed.

The Battle of New York was brutal.

You were sitting quietly on the deck area of the warehouse. Your journal was balanced on your lap, a cup of steaming coffee sat comfortably at your side, and your phone was playing Rock Radio. The wind was gentle and birdsong filled the air, making it appear as if nothing had ever disrupted the peace of the state. It seemed almost impossible how quick nature had moved on.

Your brows were furrowed and you subconsciously bit your lip as you detailed your latest vacation. A trip to Florida courtesy of Director Fury. He had all but insisted you take a week or two off since all you did was work and work, therefore leading to your vacation with pay.

You had an amazing time in Miami first. It had been surreal to return to a city as vibrant as Malibu had once been and you spent the majority of your first week partying and taking in every little detail of every single place. Your second week, on the other hand, had been spent at Disney World, filling your heart with childlike glee and wonder.

As you wrote down your experiences, there was a ping from your phone which had previously been playing some hits from Def Leppard. You paused writing to dig it out and take a look, surprised to see that the host of Rock Radio had a special guest.

Your dad.

"Afternoon, folks." The host greeted with a bright tone. "That was Def Leppard with 'Animal'. The English bands really are the forefathers of rock, am I right?"

Your dad's voice spoke next.

"Apparently they just know what we like." Tony said with an air of flamboyance you were actually relieved to recognize. "You can't beat Sabbath."

"Truer words were never spoken." The host laughed. "So, as y'all can guess, I'm here on this fine Monday with the one and only Tony Stark. How's life as a superhero, Tony?"

"I prefer the word 'savior.'" He joked.

"Savior it is. What's it like?"

"Well, you got the adoring fans, the creepy fanfiction, the questionable gifts in the PO box... It's a lot."

As he went on to explain both detailed and brief parts of his new life, you couldn't help simply just listening and smiling. He'd make sarcastic quips and the usual Stark jokes and you would laugh at every one of them. Every few minutes a song would lead to a break from the interview but you waited patiently every time just to hear your dad's voice again.

After perhaps an hour, FRIDAY spoke through your phone, lowering the volume of the interview as she did.

"Miss Stark?"

You leaned back a little, surprised by the interruption. "Hey, FRI. What's up?"

"Can I ask you something, Miss?"

"Always."

"I was analyzing your vitals via the SWM system you installed and noted your heart rate spike when Mr. Stark is mentioned. The biosynthetic pathway is almost immediate."

You smiled. "That's because I'm happy."

"I'm aware of that, Miss, but I do not know why. The stories you tell me of your childhood concern a less than ideal relationship with Mr. Stark. I would compare the feeling to resentment."

"Once upon a time, yeah." Your smile gradually faded as a thoughtful look settled on your features. "It's complicated. He's changed. I guess I can tell? I'm not sure... I just know. He's patient now. A-And almost kind. Don't get me wrong, he's got a long way to go - we both do - but I'm still proud that he's becoming a better person bit by bit."

"'Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.'"

"Yeah, pretty much. Dad is complicated, but he's trying. As long as he's still got the sass, I don't mind."

"My time with you implies that all Starks are related by that one characteristic. I doubt it will go away any time soon."

"Well, you're the expert."

"Hardly." There was a pause before she spoke again. "Do you want to see him again?"

You opened your mouth to reply but quickly found yourself hesitating. It wasn't that you didn't have an answer, you just didn't know how to properly convey it.

"I do." You said quietly. "But there's a lot of things I want that I can't have."

"How so, Miss?" FRIDAY asked.

"I want to see dad again but I've got a target on my back. If I think about it and I get too close, he's at risk too. So are Pepper and Happy and Uncle Rhodey. Everyone I know."

There was a moment of silence as you took a breath.

"If I see my dad again, I don't know if we'll get a happy ending."

Tony stared long and hard at your journal.

There was too much information to take in and too little time to process it all. The only time he moved was to run his hands down his face and get rid of lingering tears.

The wind was soft against his skin. It was as if it were offering comfort. A gentle breeze to soothe the pain.

FRIDAY's voice broke the silence.

"Is Mr. Stark all right?" She asked.

"He is mourning (Y/n)." JARVIS told her in reply. "It's the first time I've heard him this quiet."

Tony closed his eyes for a moment, fighting a smile. "I'm not deaf."

"Apologies, sir."

"You seem at peace, boss." FRIDAY said.

Tony shrugged. "I guess there's a first time for everything. Thanks for showing me this."

"Miss made it my duty. Might I also warn you that Agent Hill has been waiting."

Tony frowned and looked around, surprised to find the mentioned agent indeed waiting patiently by the entrance to the compound. He quickly jumped up, tucking the journal away for now.

"You know, sneaking up on people is considered impolite." He commented.

The woman gave him a smug look in response. "It's a shame I don't care."

"How long have you been there?"

"Long enough. Gotta say, Stark, emotional gratitude doesn't suit you."

"Very funny." He began walking over, eyeing the lot around them. "I can understand the whole 'take your time' thing. This place is pretty big. (Y/n) had it all to herself?"

"Yeah. What do you think?"

Before he could reply, there was a notification on his phone. He dramatically held up one hand and used his other one to hold up his phone. It was a message from Clint on the Avengers group chat.

To: Powerpuff Girls (Remastered) From: Legolas You guys gotta check out the hangar!

Tony raised a brow, curious. It was a simple message but it intrigued him. This place had a hangar too?

"What's up with the hangar?" He asked.

"So, you've found that one." Hill stated. "I think you should come with me."

He waited for her to elaborate but was merely greeted with silence.

"Gonna leave me hanging?" He asked.

"This is something better shown than explained."

"Alright... Can I get a hint?"

"All you need to know is that (Y/n) left it to the team because she knew you'd have a better use for it than she would."

"Wow, that's so much better. Not cryptic at all."

She sighed and began walking, leaving the conversation at that. Tony was about to follow but stopped upon realizing how awkward he looked with your journal stuffed inside his jacket.

Hill noticed and had to hide an amused smirk. "Having trouble?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "Unless you've got TARDIS pockets, don't mock me."

"Just leave it on a bench."

"What?"

"Leave the journal here."

"Uh... No, thanks. I'll be doing some light reading later and I'm not risking some...-" He thought up any excuse to keep it on hand. "Some wild animals taking it or something."

Hill crossed her arms. "Wild animals?"

"If I may, boss." FRIDAY spoke up again. "The only animals within the area are deer and rabbits."

He was still hesitant. "What about wild people?"

"That's even more ridiculous." Hill claimed.

"Hey, this is Upstate. I wouldn't count out the possibility."

"Look, even if that were the case, (Y/n) was clever. She has FRIDAY linked to a few drones by a WBL network. If anyone or anything gets too close to something she values, FRIDAY sends a signal and the drones retrieve it."

Tony was momentarily speechless.

"Initially the designs were to carry groceries and clear out the warehouse but she utilized them for other things."

It hurt to know you were so paranoid that you had to make plans for these things, and yet it was also quite amazing to remember how inventive you were.

"Remind me to take a look later." He said.

Afterwards, he carefully locked the journal back up and looked around for a place to put it. His gaze settled on an isolated bench surrounded by tall plants.

The journal seemed to glitter like a diamond in the sun as he set it down.

His hand lingered over the padlock before he very reluctantly backtracked towards Hill again.

"Satisfied?" She mused.

"Let's just go." Tony grumbled.

As they moved on towards the hangar, he glanced over his shoulder at the journal until it was out of view.

"How are you doing with FRIDAY?" Hill asked, hoping to distract him.

"She's unique." He shrugged. "I don't know what I'll do with her, though. A man doesn't need two AIs."

"What about the others?"

"What, the team? Like I'd entrust any of them with intelligence. Well, maybe Banner. But the others? Disaster waiting to happen. They've got limited reign over JARVIS anyway."

She thought on his words for a moment before eventually settling on an idea. "I could always use an assistant."

He raised a brow. "You?"

"Don't sound so shocked, Stark. Besides, she knows me thanks to (Y/n) and you'll always have the right to use her if JARVIS goes out of commission."

"Pardon me, Agent Hill, but the likelihood of my deactivation is near impossible." JARVIS intervened. "Mr. Stark likes me too much."

"Sorry, JARVIS." She smiled slightly. "I think I could use the help with my new job too actually."

Tony turned to her. "That's new."

"In case you missed it, thousands lost their jobs when SHIELD fell. I'm one of them."

"So where'd you apply?"

"None of your business."

"Why not?"

"Confidentiality."

"Excuse my French, but bullshit."

"Agent Hill has handed in an application for a front desk receptionist at Stark Industries." FRIDAY said.

He was surprised once more.

"FRIDAY, if we're going to be working together, we need to talk about secret keeping." Hill deadpanned.

"Apologies, Miss."

"I can't see you behind a desk." Tony frowned. "I'll tell them to reject it."

"Tony, if you-"

"No, no. Hear me out." He waited a moment to make sure she was listening before explaining. "Screw the desk job, work with me personally."

"I'm not being at your beck and call."

"Not like that. I mean being the Avengers handler or something. You know, keeping us in check and making sure we don't skip too many leg days. That kind of stuff."

Hill looked away, debating it intensely. It would be a decent cover for her SHIELD work. Not to mention that FRIDAY would always be close at hand if the Avengers or Tony needed her for something. It would definitely pay better than a desk job at least.

"We'll talk about it later." She decided.

Tony flashed a smirk. "I'll hold you to that."

By this point, they had reached the outside of the hangar. Waiting already were Steve, Bruce, Thor, and Natasha. Bruce was asking Natasha what Clint wanted to show them but apparently even she didn't know what her best friend was up to.

"So, Dora and friends, how'd the exploring go?" Tony asked once he reached them.

"It's a big place." Steve said. "There's a lot to find."

"The shooting range is nice." Natasha commented.

"I enjoyed the kitchen." Thor chimed in. "A perfect palace for a feast."

Not at all surprised by the god's priorities, Tony went to reply. He was cut off, however, when Clint bounded from the hangar doorway with an almost insane grin.

"Don't tell me you found a Playboy stash." Tony joked.

"Not exactly." Clint replied. "It's cooler."

"Cooler than Playboy?"

"Much coller."

"Shit."

"Yeah."

"Mind clueing us in?" Bruce asked.

"You gotta see to believe. Come on." He began leading them into the building. "I don't think it's technically legal for (Y/n) to even own this, but it's awesome."

The discussions and prodding continued until finally the object of the archer's amazement came into clear view for everyone to see.

It might have been simply hyped up by Clint, but there was no denying it was definitely something to marvel at.

While most of the team simply saw a very cool field mission vehicle, Tony saw a very advanced and very armed VTOL shuttle modified and tinkered with to the best of one's ability. It had to be one of the most tactical aero-weapons created and it had just been in this warehouse collecting dust for years.

It was painted white and red and even had the Avengers name painted on the side.

"I so told you." Clint taunted Natasha.

She returned his tease with a playful glare and an elbow to the ribs.

"What is this?" Steve asked, staring up in amazement. "Military?"

"A SHIELD jet?" Bruce also guessed.

"Not quite." Hill told them, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "I think FRIDAY should do the honors."

Summoned, the AI proudly presented it. Her sudden appearance surprised the team - save for Tony - and they looked around for the source of the voice.

"Captain Rogers is on the right path." She said. "The jet is a VTOL aircraft designed for tactical and head-on mission pursuits, armed with many guns and rockets that Miss (Y/n) installed. It was originally owned by Howard Stark and Miss spent exactly eight months and twenty-six days fixing the disrepair brought on by age and abandonment."

"Uh-" Clint's enjoyment had faded into confusion. "Whomst?"

Even Thor had lifted his hammer in preparation for a fight.

"We're good." Tony assured them with an amused smirk. "Down, boys."

"Did JARVIS get a sex change?" Clint questioned, genuinely serious.

"That's FRIDAY. (Y/n) created her." His tone dampened at your name but he forced his smirk back just as quick. "I guess she runs the place."

"The JARVIS and the FRIDAY are related?" Thor guessed.

"Why didn't we hear her before?" Natasha asked.

"(Y/n) made an AI?" Bruce mumbled to himself. "Incredible."

"Oh, boy. Okay." Tony took a deep breath, preparing to answer all the questions. "No, JARVIS and FRIDAY are not related. You didn't hear her because she was with me and Hill. And, yes, (Y/n) made her. She's like JARVIS, she's got a personality and can adapt to those around her, and she's just as smart."

"I like grandpa JARVIS." FRIDAY said.

Clint found the comment funniest - even snorting - and used Natasha as a shield to avoid the disapproving glances he got afterwards for it.

"She'll be working with Hill." Tony continued.

"What kind of work?" Natasha questioned.

Hill immediately changed the subject.

"Later." She said. "I think you guys should check inside first."

"I couldn't find a hatch." Clint told her, curious. "It's gotta be camouflaged or something."

"Was there a key?" Bruce tried.

"Not that I saw."

"If we're trusting your eyesight, I'd rather check the hangar myself." Natasha mocked.

"Be my guest, Sauron."

As he said the quip, there was a loud hiss and the jet shuddered. Everyone jumped back in surprise and watched as light flooded from inside, the source being LEDs strung around the inside hull.

"Of course there is a key." FRIDAY claimed. "It's located within the laboratory. I can access it from here."

"And you couldn't tell us that before trying to give us heart attacks?" Clint shot back.

She ignored him. "Boss, you can go inside now."

Tony stepped forward. "Thanks, FRIDAY."

He was the first to place a foot on the metal hatch. Each step was burdened with a weight he couldn't describe and yet each breath was filled with amazement as he stared at the interior.

Against one wall was a seating area and against the other was a display filled with knives and guns and explosives and many self-designed weapons. Between these walls was another resting area, although this part had a perimeter of machinery, perhaps to be used as an operating area for emergency fix ups. At the very front were four seats, one for pilot and co-pilot and the other two just for passengers who wanted a better view.

My dad is Tony Stark.

He's brave and he's genius and he's not alone. He has his love, Pepper Potts. He has his protection, Happy Hogan. He has his friendship, Colonel James Rhodes.

There are others too. He has Dum-E, Mama Rhodes, and the Avengers.

He'll be okay.

Tony let his fingers glide across the interior of the jet, his skin glossing over the metallic bumps and scrapes of the work.

It was handmade.

Practically every detail he could guess was designed by you. This jet was the embodiment of your work. He couldn't even fathom how many hours you spent fixing it up. He wondered if you ever had the chance to fly it yourself.

He moved to the front and rested both hands on the piloting chair. It was leather and a little worn but comfortable, exactly like the other seats. In front of it was obviously the main window and controls.

Each button was a different color according to its function and labeled in a way that made the harmless buttons obvious but the ones that released weapons and such much harder to figure out. He assumed that because of your paranoia the system was like that in case anyone tried to steal or hijack the jet.

The main thing that stuck out to him was a yellow post-it note. As he picked it up, Clint had a quick and hushed conversation with Hill.

"This totally isn't legal." He was mumbling. "No way did she have a license for this thing."

"Nope." Hill confirmed. "She said she did flight tests around here and we just assumed she was joking."

"She's a Stark."

"Yeah. She definitely did some illegal scouts."

Back at the front, Tony studied the note in his hand.

Welcome to Aven-Jet Prime The First. She's a beauty, am I right? I built this girl from the ground up so take damn good care of her, you hear me? If not, I'll find you. - (Y/n)

He scoffed as a fond smile tugged at the corner of his lips. His other hand immediately went to the necklace he wore, gripping it so tightly his knuckles almost turned white.

He promised.

Steve watched Tony for a moment with a sympathetic look. After giving his friend some time, he finally approached and placed a hand on Tony's shoulder.

Tony turned to meet his gaze, both of them seeming very worried.

My dad has his team.

They weren't even friends at first. They fought and argued and had differences, but now they're something so much more than that.

They look out for each other. They have fun. They bond. And even though they still argue, they're family.

"Tony?" Steve asked.

A single tear fell from Tony's eye. He closed both for a moment and wiped any emotion away.

"I'm fine." He told the super soldier.

"I know." Steve replied, giving his shoulder a light squeeze. "What do you think of this place?"

"It's pretty damn incredible. I haven't explored much. Been reading."

Steve showed curiosity but Tony wasn't ready to tell anyone else what he was reading about just yet.

"I was thinking we move in." He announced, addressing the entire team.

They each held a different look but they all seemed optimistic.

"The SHIELD and HYDRA leaks are over. They no longer 'trend.' The relevance of (Y/n) Stark's death is fading, her murderer is not a priority."

"Very well. Once again, thank you for taking care of the problem."

While the Avengers talked about a new home, something else was happening on the other side of the globe.

In a desolate woodscape, there stood an old Eastern-European castle on a snowy hill. It was the stuff of fantasy novels, beautiful and isolated and calm. On the inside, however, much darker dealings were taking place.

A man in a mask removed his cover, shaking his head to get the hair out of his eyes. He shoved the mask into the pocket of a long coat and faced a second man. A scientist.

"I should leave." He claimed. "My mission is done, and you have the scepter."

"Your services are appreciated, sir." The scientist told him sincerely.

"Where is my money?"

"It will be waiting for you once we complete the transfer. If I might be so bold, is it wise to remove your guise so soon?"

The once masked man only smiled. It was a cold smile, something sinister and cruel.

"The SHIELD and HYDRA leaks are over. They no longer 'trend.' The relevance of (Y/n) Stark's death is fading, her murderer is not a priority."

"Very well. Once again, thank you for taking care of the problem."

“Before I go, what will you do with the young ones?”

He looked over at a window that separated the research area and what was evidently a testing area.

Inside were two gurneys. Strapped to the beds was a young woman and a young man, both with messy dark hair and an almost identical sparkle in their eyes. Their situation seemed terrifying but the twins were calm and perhaps even excited.

“They will be tested.” The scientist said, watching as a doctor injected something into the wires that connected the pair. “They volunteered to fight, and that is exactly what they will do.”

“Through the scepter?” The man guessed.

“Yes. We will expose them to its raw power soon enough.”

The twins looked to each other as an unidentified serum mixed with their blood. Although they couldn't physically touch they seemed to mentally communicate instead. Whatever they were saying made the woman smile.

Although the Avengers are big and strong and famous, sometimes they're gonna need a hand from other players.

My dad and his team can't always fight alone. Help will be coming for their next battle. Two enhanced individuals will write their own destiny into the dust of this world, and they will become heroes.

They will save lives.

Your grave was beautiful in the dying light of sunset.

Light trickled through the gaps in the trees and bestowed its life upon the flora that lay scattered around. It looked perfect.

Too perfect.

In the midst of all this life was a purple flower. It stood out from the rest in such a way that made it seem impossible to grow there. It looked ethereal and unnatural, but it was so beautiful.

My dad's team is going to need the enhanced for what's coming.

It is something bigger than SHIELD and HYDRA. Something bigger than all of us. If the Avengers can't find a way to stop it, these next few years will probably be the last.

Everyone's last.

Across the universe was a secluded planet.

This planet was surrounded by asteroids and wreckage, the result of a war. The ash and dust of an ancient civilization glided upon the atmosphere, their stories forever lost to the voids of space.

Circling the planet was the skeletal remains of a large creature. A broken landmass perched upon its spine, and upon this landmass stood two beings.

"Humans..." One whispered.

His voice was old. He had lived many lifetimes and destroyed even more in his endeavors, and his tone only raised into anger as he spoke.

"They are not the cowering wretches we were promised. They stand. They are unruly and therefore cannot be ruled!"

The creature he spoke to rose to his feet from a throne and the other quickly bowed his head out of fear and respect for his leader.

"To challenge them is to court Death."

The leader - the bigger and more menacing of the two - turned slightly to glance at his servant. There was a glint in his ancient eyes, something ambitious.

"It has been done before." He stated.

"Of course." The other agreed, keeping his head bowed. "If you truly wish to resurrect your love and deliver justice, we will hasten our search for the stones."

"You will. And this time you will not fail me."

"You have my word. The glorious manipulation of power, the intelligence of the mind, the bending of time, the portals of space, an alternating reality, and the-"

"That power is lost."

"We will find it, my lord. The beauty of the missing stone will shine on the universe once again. With its power to take and restore life, the soul shall be yours."

Your body...

It was cold.

It was skeletal.

It was dead.

The darkness of your coffin was a curse now placed on the hearts of your loved ones. They would mourn and cry but they would find a way to survive. Death was brutal but it comes, in time, to everyone.

It happened in an instant.

The darkness was broken by a glow. It was barely noticeable at first. It could have even been a dust particle. But it only got brighter. It came from the necklace resting on your chest.

The orange light filled the coffin, the very essence of life and death itself filling every inch of the space.

You thought it was your time to die.

But maybe you were wrong.

—-------------------

------------------------------------------------------------- note: Thank you everyone who read, comment and loves this! thank you for the support! its be like what a year and something months since me and my co-writer friend, callikc made this possible. since this is the end of the book, a new book will be born. So stay toon for that

#tony stark #ironman #tony stark x daughter!reader #Tony stark & maria hill #steve rogers #captain america #thor #thor odinson #FRIDAY #JARVIS #clint barton #hawkeye #black widow #natasha romanoff #bruce bannner #hulk #mcu #marvel #avengers

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mauesartetc · 11 months

Note

I've seen it stated in a comment on reddit that Blitzo "deserved what happened to him at Ozzie’s. He forced himself on M&M’s date and then went out of his way to draw attention to himself KNOWING fizz was there. The entire event was a result of his own actions. Hell, Stolas treated it as an actual date and at least tried to make an effort to be sweet."

They also said:

""I’d like an acknowledgment of Blitz being the one who was in the wrong and admitting it himself. Stolas may be an out of touch rich aristocrat yes, but Blitz was neglecting him and taking advantage from the start. Stolas arguably had no reason to suspect that objectifying blitz was a problem considering he never seemed bothered by it until Ozzy’s. I’d like to think the hospital scene is what is starting the process of Stolas finally realizing blitz can’t be helped until he helps up himself and deals with his issues."

And I'm like: wtf? Are you seriously making Stolas into the injured party despite all the cr*p he has done? Hes the one who has apologizing to do; for objectifying and fetishizing Blitzo all while looking down on imps.

The last part stinks of not wanting white/privileged people to take accountability for microaggressions based on the excuse of them being "innocent".

Sorry, I know this is wildly beside the point, but:

cr*p

Dude, this is Tumblr, not TikTok. You don't have to censor yourself here. You don't have to make every word you write commercially viable. It's okay. Be free, little bird! Spew expletives left and right if you feel so moved!

youtube

I want everyone to feel free to speak their minds on this blog, and if that includes a few naughty words, so be it. Besides, I'm pretty sure no one's getting in trouble at work for reading a post that contained the word "crap".

Anyway, to the more pressing issue at hand: It's important to recognize at all times that these are fictional characters, not real people. They are puppets whose actions are dictated by writers. Yes, giving characters the illusion of agency when writing stories is a great way to engage your audience, but when analyzing stories, you have to focus on why the people who wrote them made the choices they did. Debating which character was in the wrong, or which character was more wrong, or which one should apologize, yadda yadda yadda, is a futile fucking exercise if you don't include the writers' intent in that conversation.

Let's look at Blitzo. He pretty objectively caused most of what went down at Ozzie's. He followed Moxxie and Millie, he invited Stolas, he drew attention to himself when he knew people who hated him were present. Now that last one seems pretty stupid, like the kind of mistake no one of sound mind in the real world would ever reasonably make. We could spend all day speculating what about his personality would lead him to do this, whether it's zero sense of self-preservation, a subconscious desire for self-sabotage, or simple inability to keep his damn mouth shut, but here's the thing: Other Helluva Boss characters have the same problem. To reiterate what I said here:

"Why did Octavia fully forgive her dad, no questions asked, even when he couldn't explain why he cheated on her mom? If Loona hates being around Blitzo so much, why didn't she just stay with the succubi on the beach? [...] Why did Moxxie make a huge romantic gesture in an environment where such gestures are frowned upon? [...] Why did Stolas bring an imp to a couples-only club despite knowing it'd ruin his reputation?"

The answer to all these questions is "because the plot demanded it." The writers wanted a certain outcome and wrote themselves into a corner before they could reach it organically. Instead of putting themselves into the characters' shoes or retracing their steps to make the endpoint feel like a logical conclusion, they just said "fuck it" and brute-forced the easiest solution, causing the result to make no goddamn sense.

Given the level this writing is on, it feels kinda pointless to argue with internet strangers over which character was in the right and which one wasn't. Subsequent episodes haven't addressed the events of "Ozzie's" (at least not in a way that means anything), leading me to believe the writers never cared enough about them to spark any sort of in-depth conversation. So why should we?

Honestly, this person just sounds like a Stolas simp. It's kind of a leap to assume they don't want real people of a certain race and class to bear responsibility for their actions. It's not that deep. None of this is that deep.

#helluva boss #helluva critical #helluva stolas #helluva blitz #writing #media literacy

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theambitiouswoman · 10 months

Note

Hi! 👋 Do you have any tips on how to not blow up on people when you're mad? I had a partner I did that to and he ended up leaving me cause of it and it seems like no matter what I try I'm doing the wrong thing. I know I wasn't fair to him so I'm deciding to get better for myself and my future boyfriend so that I don't repeat the same steps.

Hi sweetheart,

Learning how to manage and control anger can be a very valuable skill in life. It's commendable that you recognize the impact this had on your previous partner and that you're motivated to change for the better. This is the first step to change.

When feeling anger, taking a pause is crucial. By stepping back and taking a moment to breathe, excusing yourself from the conversation, counting, or remove yourself from the situation temporarily, you can prevent impulsive reactions and allow yourself the opportunity to regain control of the situation.

When something angers me, instead of reacting, I remove myself from the situation. I know that I will not be able to think logically, and as a result have a positive outcome in the situation. I come back when I am ready to communicate the issue at hand. And that is okay. You were angry. And those feelings are valid. But we need to take the time to understand those emotions, where they are coming from and why it bothers us so much, versus lashing out. We need to analyze the situation for what it is, what it means. And what we really want to do about it.

This pause gives you time to reflect on the underlying reasons for your anger and understand your triggers better. Resume the conversation when you feel logical and level headed. Especially with partners, unless they did something wrong- it's you and your partner against the problem. Not each other.

Pay close attention to your own emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations when you feel anger building up. By being able to recognize a pattern, you can intervene before it escalates and choose a more constructive response.

Effective communication is key. Instead of blowing up on others, practice assertive communication. Express your feelings and concerns using "I" statements, focusing on the specific behavior or issue that is bothering you. Do not be afraid to express how YOU feel. Attacking someone else when we are upset, typically drives us to insult them. This escalates the situation at hand. This approach allows you to communicate your emotions without attacking the person, fostering healthier dialogue and preventing further escalation.

Furthermore, it's important to actively listen to others. Try to understand the other person's perspective, thoughts, and feelings. This demonstrates respect and can defuse tension, paving the way for a more constructive conversation.

Developing healthy coping mechanisms is crucial for managing anger. Engage in hobbies that help you release and manage your emotions in a productive way, such as exercise, mindfulness techniques, journaling, or pursuing hobbies that bring you joy and relaxation.

Learning how to manage your emotions is a very powerful tool in any dynamic in life. You control your emotions, not the other way around. You do not win an argument by acting irrational or out of character. Even if you were right, the lack of emotional control changes the narrative.

Hope this helped <3

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tianshiisdead · 7 months

Text

Hi! I'm going to be writing a loong final message for an ex friend under the readmore, it's very angry and upset and literally just talking about petty personal problems lol so please ignore it. To that ex friend, I know you know who you are and you will probably see this if you have someone tracking my blog, maybe you'll read this, maybe you won't. Either way, it's off my chest and somewhere you can see it. Don't worry, I don't use any names. Warnings for suicide mentions, suibaiting, the works.

Wow! The more I think about you the more I feel like a fucking idiot. I've mulled over this for ages, looked at all of our old chats, wrestled with tears and wondered what I could have done better. Here's my final speech, since you probably didn't read the one I sent last time we spoke.

What I did wrong: didn't set the hardest boundaries, only slightly pushed back when you triggered me and didn't call you out when you clearly triggered me on purpose for not giving you the response you wanted, brushed off your slur-calling and crudeness.

I apologize for that, I stand by the fact that I think I made my issues with your behavior clear since months ago, I honestly didn't mince my words that much, telling you when you hurt or scared me, asking you to be better, and jesus you know I'm not bsing because you always admitted fault and said you wanted to improve, you just never did. But I could have been harsher, meaner, obviously I should have been because you never took anything I said to heart in the long term.

Other than that, how dare you? How dare you think it was okay, whether I pushed back or not, to mock my family's experience with colonialism, and cultural genocide, the colonial violence that produced me, because I wasn't responding to you on voice call? Do you think it's okay to needle and mock things I've been vulnerable with you about and admitted to being sensitive about, just because I didn't call you out every time afterward? Some of the vile things you've said to me shouldn't even have crossed your MIND. How dare you think it was okay to threaten to kill yourself because I was asleep and didn't respond within a couple of hours? How dare you steamroll my boundaries for months after I told you I had a history of life-threatening disorders and weaponize it against me when I lightly disagreed with you on a political topic? How dare you talk behind my back? Do you think me telling you 'you're not a bad person but your actions hurt people' was me not setting boundaries? Do you think you were the only one with issues? I won't pretend you didn't comfort us at times and hype us up, you weren't a cartoon villain, but the amount of times you spoke over us when we were speaking but would RAGE if we didn't respond to you instantly?

How dare you. I destroyed my health to support yours, not because I was up for the task but because you made me feel like, flat-out stated that you would hurt yourself if I didn't and it would be my fault. And to be fair, other times I did reach out myself BECAUSE I CARED ABOUT YOU. And this is how you discard me? I know you feel guilty lol, you always spoke about feeling guilty after hurting us month after month and you'd give a half-assed apology, talk about being on whatever arc, and then continue doing what you always did. You could analyze your own behavior and recognize all of your shittalking behind people's backs was due to your own complexes, yet always stopped short of actually reflecting in a way that brought change. Our last conversation was pathetic. If you genuinely thought you were in the right, I would honestly respect that more. But I know you're guilty, you just refuse to confront that guilt. You refuse to take responsibility and fully deal with how you acted. You always want to blame it on something, you always need to make it about people hating you or being unlovable and evil or whatever unavoidable tragedy, get over yourself, you acted in a shitty way and now it's confronting you, it's not deep or tragic, it's just a shitty human thing you did.

And you know what, I've also been in a place where I've hurt a friend because of a similar mental illness, constantly needy and feeling like she hated me, constantly leaving our chats and spiraling and speaking to her about things she hated but she never told me she hated because she wanted me to be able to talk to her. And at one point she confronted me and told me how she felt, like I and our mutual friend told you. And I'm sorry but I felt bad too, I was also resentful, I wondered why she had never told me and wondered why she didn't set boundaries harder, and I also sat down and reflected and apologized properly. I knew and she knew my actions weren't completely my own, but I still hurt her and overstepped, and from the bottom of my heart I didn't want to lose a friend who I loved. So I apologized properly, not because I didn't want to feel guilty or because I wanted to move on with my life. I apologized because I hurt her, someone I cared about. I suppose that's too much for you to do.

Fuck you and I hope you go to therapy. I know you see me, and our mutual friends as a bad chapter you can discard, that you'll just move on without ever confronting the things you've done to us, some of them worse than what you've done to me, but you were my friend and I cared about you and gave my health and time to you because I wanted to see you happy and thriving. Sometimes I see the unfinished things I was going to draw for you and make with you and cry, and I know you don't have the heart to feel that way for me.

Final note. You told me a few conversations before our final one that you wanted to move on, make better friends that suited you better, make things better for yourself. And that's fine, but also kind of heartless. I don't regret our friendship, though I regret how you hurt us. I cared about you, and I gave you my time because I cared about you. I regret that when it got too much and I told you, over and over and over again through the months, you acknowledged what was wrong and then brushed it off and never changed. I regret that you see us as a bad chapter, guilt you have to get rid of, and not as individuals who cared about you, who you ultimately hurt and discarded. You really are on your grindset lol, always improving yourself, discarding the ones who don't improve you. Life isn't just about improving and grindset, other people have feelings too that aren't just there to build your character arc. We all fuck up and hurt people dude, and sometimes we have to just own up to it.

#hater tag #suicide cw #personal #diary #genuinely please scroll JKLFDHGJLF I JUST NEEDED TO PUT THIS SOMEWHERE THEY COULD SEE... WEH

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nozoomie · 4 months

Text

Moth·er

The word was foreign to you. Not literally – it was plain Nohrian after all. Nor was it from a lack of comprehension, although perhaps one of understanding. You knew what it meant, could recognize it on a page, but something about it prevented it from passing your lips with the same practiced ease of any other word Leo taught you.

It always felt off, its syllables sitting uncomfortably on your tongue. No one would outright say as much, but you imagined it had something to do with having never known one. Even Elise was more experienced than you in that regard, as brief as it may have been.

In the past you made attempts to learn. Days poring over family trees and records, asking Gunter or the maids about the previous Queen and concubines. Most of your research was dedicated to studying their portraits. In them you could find traces of your siblings. Xander, in Queen Katerina’s regal bearing. Camilla, in Lady Ione’s eyes. Leo and Elise, in Lady Odile’s smile.

You cannot find a likeness that bears a resemblance to the woman in your mirror, try though as you might.

Had she passed away before the royal portraitist could capture her image? Maybe she had committed some grave offense to the crown and had her records burned? A magical curse that erased all traces of her memory? Or perhaps she had simply thought to escape and preserve her own life, rather than get involved in the war for succession.

You ask Xander and Camilla, pester your maids, nag at Gunter. Your theories are only ever met with placating smiles and claims of ignorance. You’re not sure if receiving an answer would satisfy you.

Years pass and you never find out.

At some point you stop asking. There’s no sense in chasing a ghost you never knew. She isn’t here anymore.

But your siblings are. Nohr is.

So you dam up your curiosity and put all of your focus into training and studying to be a princess who can serve your country. Xander instructs you on how to handle a sword, how to read a battlefield and analyze her opponents. Camilla teaches you the etiquette expected of Nohrian royalty and how to ride a wyvern. From Leo you learn tactics and politics, and Elise is a daily reminder on how to talk like a normal person and how to find joy in a place as bleak as the northern fortress.

Your efforts pay off as King Garon, your father, sends word that you’re finally ready to be of service to Nohr, that you can leave and join the rest of your siblings. Your family rejoices and laughs and smothers you in a warm embrace.

This is enough.

(right?)

It takes all of one day for your life to be upended completely.

Nearly a decade of training and all you have to show for it is the ire of your father, an unprovoked attack on the Hoshidan border, a friend lost to the abyss, and soon to be the first Nohrian princess to be publicly executed on foreign soil.

Your captor assures you that won’t be the case but you fail to see how, considering the circumstances of your being there.

You wonder how your siblings are doing. If they’re worried about you. If they’re coming for you.

You hope they aren’t. You already had the border skirmish on your conscience, you didn’t need a full blown war as well. A bit morbidly, you wonder how executions are handled in Hoshido. You ask your handler as much, although she doesn’t respond, save for a snort. She merely leads you to an odd looking carriage and rolls open the front, gesturing for you to get in. You obey without much fuss and get comfortable.

Quietly, in the back of your mind, a voice asks if at the end you’ll finally meet her. You wonder if you’ll have much to talk about.

The journey elapses in relative silence. Rinkah, your escort – not a captor or handler, she insisted – isn’t much for conversation, and you are resolved to confront your end with the dignity of a Nohrian royal. You feel the carriage come to a stop, followed by Rinkah knocking against the wood to signal your arrival. This is it. You take a moment to compose yourself, taking a deep breath.

When the screen is rolled up and the light of day hits your eyes, you recoil and scream in pain.

Hoshido is bright, you've discovered. Brighter than anything you’ve seen in your life. A cloth is thrown over your head that blots out the light, and you hear Rinkah mutter something under her breath as you are pulled from the carriage, and guided up a flight of stairs and through what sounds to be a large set of doors. As your feet touch carpet, you hear the doors close behind you and a series of screens – windows? – slide closed.

Hesitantly, you pull the fabric off your head, and you slowly and gently open your eyes. Even indoors and with the windows covered, Hoshido is too bright for someone raised in the dark. You register a gasp and your heart sinks. You were brought before someone? So much for preserving your royal dignity. You sigh and wait for your eyes to adjust to the light. You blink a few more times for good measure before you feel comfortable and drift your gaze up to see this person’s face to find –

The woman from your mirror staring at you. She is older and more weary, but you see your eyes, and your beauty mark, and your hair, and a hope and longing in her eyes you know oh so well, and you feel a weight that you did not know you were carrying fade away, and you feel the dam in your heart breaking down. Your mouth begins to move on its own,

and as easy as

breathing two syllables pass

through your lips. (母)

#vriting #fe fates #corrin fe

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jula483 · 1 year

Note

Any way you’d be willing to summarize Rhett and Link’s convo from todays ear biscuits for us?? People keep saying they feel sad for Link and he’s my comfort person so I’m so nervous to listen to it and feel sad 😭😭

oh gosh, I don't know if I'm the best person to ask that, but I'm gonna try! So yeah, spoilers ahead!

the whole conversation started because of an awkward and embarrassing (for link) interaction he had with a person working at a ski lift on his spring break.

Rhett (and Jenna) tried to explain to Link what made this interaction awkward and how he could respond to it differently. And that moved to them analyzing together how Link behaves when he interacts with other people and especially strangers in some social situations.

He got a little bit defensive but he was very open to listen to the feedback. The thing Rhett pointed out is that when Link meets new people, he wants to make the interaction interesting and fun but usually just for his own entertainment and in some cases either Rhett and Christy have to come into the conversation and pick up what Link left or monitor situation or de-escalate it.

Overall Link was fine with the feedback and he said it's interesting conversation to have especially on Ear Biscuits and it's good content.

Also. They said that it's not about us taking sides, who's right and who's wrong because they are on the same side (!).

And sure Link wanting to get loose and interact with people might be fun but he recognizes it impact people that are with him and people he interacts with. And Rhett's message is not for Link to be less Link or less fun but I guess to be more considerate and have some filter.

And at the very end Link got emotional saying to Rhett: "I want me and you to be able to do stuff and have a good time." (without Rhett feeling like he needs to be nervous or protective when they enter a social interaction with other people together) 😭

#ear biscuits #eb 377 #if anyone wants to add anything I missed please do #this is so chaotic #lol #but I can't wait to watch the video version tomorrow #it's gonna be hard seeing link's reaction tho #ooof #this is so long I'm sorry #anon

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wu-kongs · 2 years

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Same anon about the woobification of Wukong, yeah that's 100% right. Like there's such a lack of nuance and greyscale to the majority of fandom and it's so depressing. Personally I tend to look at chatacters in two ways: 1. How they entertain me during the show and 2. Then deeper character analysis later. (God I've rewatched LMK so many times at this point)

But like, fandom seems to have it so bad that if you like a character you 100% support everything they do! Like no! Spider queen and Iron Fan and Macaque and LBD are great villains and some of my faves! Because they so much fun to watch every time they pop up! I am entertained and thriving. But as people? Oh no no not the...best people for sure. But am I enthralled 100% when they appear? Again YES!

I think so many people get mixed up in fandom politics and drama that it feels hard to find the right people to vibe with anymore. And it's so prominent because LMK is such a tiny fandom.

Conversely, Macaque is my favorite. I'd fight him if I was a character in the show, but I'm not therefore I get to enjoy him as a fictional antagonist as much as I please. (Also I do find it funny that the majority of the fandom hates him on sight but LBD - who seemed to want to comit mass murder - seems to get a huge pass from those same people lmao!)

And also super glad I could brighten your day! I really love this AU so much. I may send you anonymous drabbles if I have the energy to write. :)

i would be honored if you decided to scribble your own ditties for the AU, if that's what you meant ; w ;

on the bit about nuance; i've learned to let a lot of the shit takes i see here go because i realize a lot of the fandom is young and admittedly i had a lot of shit takes in the past because things flew over my head. even now i'm bad at analyzing. i typically jump straight to this character is my favorite fuck you and everyone you love and i'm the most correct person here fuck you LOL but also it's important to recognize that you aren't the most correct person. it's about being open to other perspectives! and of course at the end of it you can just set it aside and be like 'yes i've learned and i've decided this isn't for me'

there's nothing wrong with mindlessly absorbing media but all that can go right out the window if you're tryna interact with someone else who has a radically different view than you about it, and you try to shout over them

also fuck LBD me and all my homies hate LBD. that being said, all of LMK's villains are REALLY good. rather than like. their motivations that are really just run of the mill villain stuff, their characters are so charismatic and there really does end up being hints that there's more to them than just absolute control. it's fun! the writing for LMK is just. really good. i need to rewatch but i have like this emotional thing about going over stuff i've already completed in case it makes me experience Emotional all over again kek

#ask #anonymous

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pickledpascal · 1 year

Text

Sweet Nothing

Chapter Two: Special Order

Summary: Blake decides she needs to work on some relationships, in particular some she may be working with the most. So, she invites them to dinner at her house.

A/N: um sorry if this is a bit out of character for jack and will, i don't really care but this is pretty much how i'll be writing them for the rest of the series.

Warnings: Light ableism (?)

Word Count: 2.6k

Sweet Nothing Masterlist

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Acclimating oneself into a team who seems to be so attached to each other that they would take a bullet for each other is certainly hard, but it’s especially harder when bullets are a real thing they may encounter on a daily basis. So what better way to get to know anyone than to throw a small dinner party? Nothing bad has ever come of those, right? Surely not.

Imagine Jack Crawford’s surprise when he got a hand-written letter on his desk inviting him to dinner at Blake Adler’s home. Or the fact that he wasn’t the only one to get the expensive piece of parchment with his name is calligraphy. It seems she also invited Doctor Hannibal Lecter who he’s never seen interact with Blake before, maybe this was her way of networking? Hannibal did work with their team a lot and Blake hasn’t had a chance to see him much yet. Invitations were also handed out to Doctor Alana Bloom–another Jack realized they didn’t interact with each other–and Will Graham. Will may have been the only person Jack has seen Blake talk to, besides Beverly, but their conversations were short and to the point. Possibly because it’s been slow the past week Blake has been admitted into the Behavioral Unit.

Maybe the serial killers knew to take a break.

As Jack looked up at the house in front of him, he stepped up the stairs to the door. It was a cold Virgina evening, the beginning of winter so he bundled up accordingly. Jack studied the house for a while. It was a small two-story house, more like a cottage–more than enough room for one woman–it had deep blue siding and a black roof with gothic looking windows. If he could guess anyone lived here, it would be Blake Adler. They somehow matched well.

“Jack! Hey, want to come in?” Blake said from the doorway, a light smile on her lips. She also seemed to be bundled up accordingly, a simple deep chocolate sweater and some jeans on. Jack nodded kindly and entered her home. A wash of warmth ran through him. “Hannibal and Alana have already tried asking for wine, but I find it…. Disgusting. Though, I can make mixed drinks.” She said, motioning over to the coat rack for Jack to hang his on.

As Blake ventured in further to her home, Jack followed her to see Hannibal, Will, and Alana already at the table. They straightened in their seats as Jack came closer, deciding to sit next to Will at the table. Hannibal and Alana had some sort of cocktail in their glasses while Will had water in his.

“So what are we having for dinner?” Jack piped up, a polite smile on his lips as he folded his hands on the table. It smelled good at least, but it didn’t smell like anything in particular that he recognized.

Hannibal hummed, “I believe it’s lasagna.” He answered before Blake could, pursing his lips slightly. He had a much more…. Refined palette.

“Right you are, Doctor Lecter.” Blake winked at the older man as she made her way into the kitchen. “It’s my mom’s recipe. Much more of a homey meal than I’m sure you’re used to, Hannibal.” She joked as she took it out of the oven to serve it on the plates set up next to her. She then began to set the plates in front of each of her guests. “If you’re concerned about what’s in it, it’s a homemade meat sauce with ricotta and parmesan.” Blake explained as she sat down at the head of the table.

Will analyzed the lasagna in front of him for a moment before he gathered some on his fork and hummed as the food hit his tongue. He hasn’t really had a home made meal in a while and having one alone with his dogs didn’t…. Have the same effect. It felt…. Strangely nice, as if there was warmth trying to escape from him.

“This is delicious, Doctor Adler.” Alana complimented, wiping her mouth with a napkin after a few bites. She seemed very genuine. But then again Blake is very…. Suspicious of others and how they word things.

Blake smiled graciously at Alana, “Thank you. And you can call me Blake, you met me on the first day anyway.” She shrugged innocently as she went to take another bite. Alana may have thought certain things when she found Blake and Will in a lecture hall together but it wasn’t what it appeared to be to her. Or perhaps, it was just the start of it.

Alana blushed, embarrassed as she looked down at her plate. Hannibal and Will looked amused as they ate their plate of food. “Is there any particular reason you invited us here today?” Hannibal asked, carefully lifting his fork to his mouth. Compared to the rest of them, he was a slow eater.

“Well, I wanted to get to know the people I’ll most likely be working with very closely for the foreseeable future. And, perhaps, you could get to know me.” Blake explained, taking a sip of her sparkling cider. She shrugged as she looked at the others at the table, “You can ask me questions and I’m hoping I can ask you some as well.”

Alana pushed her fork around on her plate, “I was wondering why you chose to opt out of having a Bureau approved psychiatrist.” She admitted softly. Blake’s eye twitched slightly, unsure how she was meant to take that.

“I have my own psychiatrist which I trust and have been with since I graduated college. I simply wouldn’t trust you or Doctor Lecter enough to not tell the Bureau absolutely everything I might say in sessions.” Blake said, finishing up her meal as she gave Alana a light smile. Hannibal cocked his head at Blake. “My therapist, Doctor Martin, is very great at knowing which information to give Jack and which information is more private. No offense, Jack, but you do ask for a lot.” She mused softly.

Jack shrugged, “None taken. And, to ease your worries, Doctor Bloom, Doctor Martin is very experienced and obviously has a great relationship with Blake. I wouldn’t break them apart just for convenience.” He admitted softly.

“Hmm.” Will hummed, thinking it was funny. If he’s known Jack to want anything, it’s convenience. After all, he’s decided Hannibal needed to be his therapist after Alana talked about just how good he was.

Blake looked at Will’s direction before averting her gaze down to the fizzing bubbles in her glass. “Therapy helped me learn a lot about myself. Not to mention putting names to things I do. For instance, to do what I wanted to do today I’m doing a lot of masking. Not necessarily intentional but helps me portray myself as ‘normal’ in others’ company.” She explained, not sure why necessarily she’s telling psychiatrists things they would most likely already know. But then again, you may forget some things after you get your PhD and licensing to be a practicing therapist.

"People on the autism spectrum are more common than one would think, after all, diagnosis was not at all accurate in the early 1900s." Hannibal nodded, adjusting the way his tie laid across his chest.

Blake chuckled softly and nodded as well before she glanced at Will who seemed to be more interested in a specific groove in her wooden table. She pursed her lips, remembering what it felt like to not be included. Whether it was in conversations with friends or simply not being there all together, it was hard. Blake never wanted anyone to feel as if they were left out, sometimes to the point where she'd take on too much at once.

"What do you do in your spare time, Will?" Blake asked, an expression of genuine curiosity to get to know him on her face.

Will answered simply, "I fish." He gave a slightly strained smile, feeling as if Blake only asked the question out of courtesy.

Blake let out a light hum, "I used to fish with my grandparents. Grandpa would take me and my brothers out on his pontoon and, if I was lucky, I'd be able to drive it." Her eyes glazed over slightly as she recounted the memory. Blake was certainly more open than Will would have anticipated.

"What do you…. Do in your spare time?" Will inquired back, feeling much more interested in talking about Blake than himself. The attention of the table turned to her.

Jack pursed his lips, cocking his head as he thought about what Blake might do. She was a somewhat outspoken girl, dyeing her hair might be on the list.

Blake glanced around the table for a moment and let out a dramatic sigh, "I sing. Definitely not well but it gets the emotions out." She admitted with a laugh. "Also boxing, that's pretty good too." Then something else popped into her mind. "And driving! When I was younger, my brothers would take me to race tracks and I always wanted to learn. I eventually did when I turned about twenty, probably would've been the job I picked before I found this."

Alana blinked at her small story. "You would have…. Become a race car driver? And chose the FBI over that?" She was completely shocked.

"Yeah, well, we all start somewhere." Blake chuckled softly. "Mine just so happened to be in my Dad's garage, learning how to change his van's oil when I was ten." She shrugged, fiddling a little with her sleeve.

Jack joked, "Well, now I know how to call when I need to get my next tire rotation."

—-------

After dinner, it was just Blake and Will left. So Blake began washing some dishes, deciding not to kick Will out of her house even if she did have the nagging want to be alone all of the sudden. Blake hummed softly as she set the rinsed dishes into the dishwasher and turned it on.

"Did you really want to be a race car driver?" Will asked, arms folded against his chest as he leaned against the counters. At this proximity, Will almost had to look up to see Blake's face.

Blake hummed in response. "Before I…. Matured, it was fairly easy for me to get in and out of the cars." She explained softly. "But then I was diagnosed and was suddenly very interested in how the brain works and why certain people are the way that they are."

"Your conclusion?" Will asked.

Blake gave the man a light smile and shrugged, standing next to Will as she looked at the floors. "Still not sure. Certain things happen when people are born. Autism is not a disorder that is developed, while things like dissociative disorders are usually developed because something happened in your childhood to make you cope in that way. It all really depends on the person and what that particular person is going through. It also depends on what stage in their life it may be happening." She explained, cocking her head slightly.

Will pursed his lips, eyes fixated on the edges of the countertops. Recently, his grasp on time seemed to have been taken away from him. He certainly wasn't sure why, it hasn't happened before but he has been working on cases more frequently than ever. Perhaps it was taking a toll on his mind.

Except with Blake. He can say for certain that he's been present the whole time he was in her home and even on the way there, Will remembered it. Why…. Was it like this? Will barely ever felt safe at work and, now, with him experiencing lost time there as well, it's even harder. But Doctor Blake Adler…. She felt safe. Her whole home screamed it. With its deep blue walls that almost seemed black and the vintage framed posters on the walls, even the green velvet couch in the living room that was just begging for someone to lay on it. Home was foregin to Will Graham. He only ever felt at home with his dogs, even then it was hard to be in the mindset of home.

"Would you…. Want to get coffee?" Will asked, almost pained to be saying the words. "With me?" He wasn't the best at…. This. Talking. Or intentionally trying to be friendly to meet some end goal.

Blake cocked her head for a moment, honestly thinking about which made Will more nervous than it should have. "There's a Starbucks we can walk to that's not too far from the Bureau." She suggested as she went to grab a coat from her chair.

"Not…. Now." Will let out a dry nervous laugh, lips trembling slightly until he felt the coat on his shoulders.

"I know." Blake winked, hands placed gingerly on Will's shoulder. "You looked cold." She said innocently. "I think it's time you go before it gets colder, okay?"

Will blinked at Blake before he pulled his hands through the sleeves of the jacket. He caught a sniff of Blake's perfume, something light but citrus and almost masculine. The sleeves themselves were almost too big for Will, he let out a small huff of a laugh at it.

Blake then pursed her lips in thought. "I can send you home with some hot cider if you'd like." She suggested softly, pulling her hands away from Will's shoulders. "I can promise it cures any type of cold away from your body."

"Oh, um…. Sure." Will smiled lightly, a small one but it was genuine.

Something Blake learned early on was that Will's smiles were never really true. They were remorseful, strained, disgusted, after a sarcastic comment, but never filled with joy as one would hope a smile entailed.

—------

With a thermos full of warm apple cider, Will made it to his house and was greeted by a herd of dogs. He smiled softly at each one of them, carefully patting each on their heads as he made his way inside. Once they calmed, Will sat on the bed in the corner of the room and looked down at the coat still on his shoulders. He tugged it closer to his body, feeling more of that same emotion. Warmth. Will would never have thought warmth could be classified as an emotion but he sure as hell felt it.

After a while, Will grabbed a mug from his kitchen and poured some cider into it. He watched the steam evaporate in front of him, signifying it was still hot even after the long drive home. It had to be about 1 am by the time he reached his house. Will looked somewhat enthralled with it. The cider was a deep golden color but still transparent enough to see the sides of the mug through the liquid.

Lifting the mug to his lips, Will could only describe the smell as a stereotypical fall day. Probably something filled with jumping in piles of leaves. And the taste of it just reinforced that idea. What magic did Blake perform on this liquid to make it so enticing? Either way, Will wanted more. But he knew to pace himself. He had to savor it. Who knew the next time he would have something like this?

Will made his way to his living room yet again and sat cross-legged by the fireplace as he sipped at the cider. Warmth certainly was coursing through his body while his skin still felt slightly cold. Blake was right. The cider was slowly willing that cold away. Will's expression turned to that of fondness as he tugged the coat tighter and took another sip of his cider.

This was possibly the best he's felt in years. Especially now with Will's blackouts, he's never felt more content and present.

#oc #will graham x oc #will graham #hugh dancy x oc #hugh dancy #nbc hannibal #hannibal #hannibal lecter #jack crawford #alana bloom #hannibal is a cannibal #hannibal is a comedy #will graham is soft

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