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meraki-yao · 2 months

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Now I'm curious to know all the "candies" between Nick and Tay 👀 lol I don't ship them but I also find it interesting that some fans really ship real people together and gather evidence or proof of it. If its fine with you to share it pls do 🙏 but if not its also fine :)

Huh...

Actually, sure! I kinda wanted to share some of these at times but again I understand that rps is a complicated subject.

A couple of quick prefaces though:

1, If you’re uncomfortable with the subject, again, please don’t read under the post

2, I don’t have all the candies because I really just view them in passing, so I’m just gonna write/translate the ones I’ve seen, remember and find at least a logical speculation

3, I need to reiterate this in case my position in this gets misunderstood: Me writing about “candies” isn’t because these are MY opinion or things *I* found or *I* believe in them being evidence. I am just a translator and messenger.

4, (this one is gonna sound a little academic lol) Two things I realized when thinking about this “candy eating” culture is that Chinese people have a very difference understanding of platonic/romantic affection/relationships with the Western world, and that they look at the candies with rose-tinted glass. Chinese/Asian people are generally a lot less affectionate with their personal relationships, for example friends wouldn’t say “love you” to each other if they’re just friends, nor would they expand their friend group to the others easily or other stuff. And these people who look for candy go into their “investigation” already with the belief that “they are together”, everything remotely resembling a close relationship will automatically be interpreted as romantic. I thought about it a lot, and honestly among the “candies” I’ve seen, most of them are a matter of interpretation: yes those are things couples will do, but it wouldn’t be weird if friends did it too. So they’re not that seriously or up for further speculation. There is I think only one “candy” that I can’t quite say the same, which I will explain and elaborate on in this post.

5, Please remember that the people who do this do it in good nature: something I didn’t make clear in my post yesterday, which is on me, is that the fans do want them to be together, but they’re not like… yandere level or something. If they’re just friends the fans won’t be upset or betrayed or anything, they just prefer to see them as romantic. They don’t mean any harm, and they don’t cause any harm because China is physically and digitally too far away for them to actually fuck shit up, and they understand the lines of parasocial relationships: those who met with Taylor during his China trip in December know to, and didn’t bring up this in front of him. They know where to draw the line, and whoever doesn’t and starts becoming a problem gets kicked out of the community. This is meant for fun.

6, Ok Future Meraki here, turns out, there’s a lot to translate, a lot more than I anticipated Jesus Christ and I do want to get this post how within today and make it a reasonable length, so I’m just gonna do two events and the one that I mentioned in 4. If yall want a part 2 let me know.

Ok with that being said, the main event under the cut:

In December they made a whole article about “candies” from December, and to quickly summarise (again noted that all of this is speculation, I didn’t and can’t fact check them, and I’m just a translator) (also this ended up way longer than I anticipated so for photo reference if you can please go to the link of the original article):

Academy Gala:

Nick and Taylor both attended the gala: Since the strike ended up to that point, the two times Nick attends a public event, Taylor’s there too (GQ men of the year and Academy Gala), and for both times he’s wearing Cartier’s Tank Must Watch (remember this watch, I’m gonna elaborate on it later because it is the only candy that even I can’t say it’s a matter of interpretation)

In various pictures of the night’s party that other people took, the boys can be seen together in the background

How the photography worked that night was magazine photographers wandered around the venue and randomly found people to take some relatively candid photos: so people who were walking/sitting/in any way sticking together would be photographed together. So best friends and married couples would be photographed together, which is what happened to Meryl Streep, Greta Gerwig, Saoirse Ronan, and Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy and their wives. With that logic, Taylor and Nick were caught by the photographer together TWICE, in clearly different places. Later Korean fans (with the same “candy-searching” mindset) read the time on Taylor’s watch in the photos: one was 8:30, one was 9:50. The implication is that they were together for at least that period of time (nearly 1.5 hours)

In both photos of the boys together, Nick’s elbow is…straight up leaning into Taylor's chest. In a photo with Kaia, Nick’s friend and co-star from Bottoms (Brittany), there’s visible space between Nick and Kaia but none between Nick and Taylor (… okay I’m gonna pop in with my own opinion on the latter one real quick: I really think that one is just Nick being a gentleman)

During that night, Taylor re-posted an Instagram post from July onto Little Red Book: but the things is in the comment section of the original Instagram post, Taylor teasingly pretends to not know Nick; and according to the posting time and the time calculated in 3, Nick would have been watching him post that to Little Red Book.

Nick got a photo with Taylor’s friend Jay Ellis (Jay and Taylor follow each other on Instagram, and Taylor comments under Jay’s post), even though Nick and Jay don’t seem to have any direct connections. Kaia and Taylor started following each other on Instagram after the event.

While other people who got photos with Taylor posted them, in Taylor’s Instagram Post for the night: He only included his photo with Nick, the rest are all solo portraits of himself. Not only that: he edited the background of the photo so it’s just them, and proceeded to put the photo in the middle of the post.

a bunch of Taylor's good friends, including Taylor’s cousin went to like Nick’s post for the academy gala night. Taylor’s sister Ash shared Taylor’s post to her stories: 2 photos of Taylor himself, and the one photo of Taylor and Nick. Taylor mentioned in a past interview if he had any emotional or relationship (I don’t know which one is the right translation, the original wording is 感情) issues, he would talk to Ash. (please note that I didn’t not and don’t know how to fact-check any of the things mentioned above except for Ash’s Instagram)

Conclusion/ Speculation (okay the academy gala part alone took me 40 minutes what the fuck): I cannot reiterate this enough: THIS IS JUST SPECULATION DO NOT TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY but under the assumption that Taylor and Nick are a thing, the serious of shenanigans that happened that night, especially with the family and friends stuff in 6,7,8, was interpreted as they announcing it to their personal social circle. AGAIN THIS IS SPECUALTION DON’T TAKE THIS SERIOSULY

Taylor’s China Trip

On 7th December, Taylor had a photo shoot at the GQ gala venue, but spent the rest of the afternoon taking photos and signing things for fans. Among those, one was the photo of him and Nick from the academy gala just three days ago. He was visibly extra happy and showed off the photo to the crowd, unlike the other photos which he simply gets it, signs it, and then gives it back.

This day was also the start of “Taylor giving Nick/Henry a moustache”: throughout the trip, he drew on four photos of the two of them

(This one is a … really big stretch) among the four, one of them was the GQ magazine shoot, and he first drew the moustache on Nick’s face, giggling “I’ll sign on Nick’s face”, signed his own signature, then just when he was about to give the magazine back he suddenly changed his mind and said “wait wait I wanna do something on my face”, and then drew a crown on his head while muttering “crown prince”. And the thing is… historically, George Villers had a moustache. And then he drew a moustache on Nick and a crown on himself. Also, one of the most popular Chinese RWRB fic on AO3 is called “The King’s Palace”, and the premise is putting Henry in George place as the social climber and the Duke of Buckingham (it is literally George’s character with blonde hair and a different name), and Alex as the crown prince who ascended to the throne and is also utterly infatuated with Henry. So… yeah.

When he drew the fourth photo, which was the piano scene, the fan who asked said “Oh you’re so nice to Nick!” and according to their description (there’s no video), Taylor blushed a little and said “yeaahhhhh” with a big grin

While Taylor was in China people were stirring shit up on Twitter about him, and during the Twitter drama, Nick liked Taylor’s Academy Gala post.

The boys liked the same video on Instagram but from different accounts (a video about a pony in the snow)

During the trip, Taylor was seen wearing a white button-up with blue stripes. Nick has been seen wearing a shirt that looks identical before.

Cartier Watch (aka the one that makes me do a double take)

Taylor used to wear a lot of Cartier watches until he started wearing Tagheuer last July due to a commercial partnership

Nick likes wearing Omega watches. In fact, Henry’s watch in the movie is Nick’s own omega watch. He also has a commercial partnership with Omega.

But then starting last year, both of them were seen wearing matching Cartier’s Tank Must Watches (the silver on with a black surface and a sapphire crown): Taylor can be seen wearing it in the 5th photos of his September post, while Nick can be seen wearing it during the GQ gala, the Academy Gala, in Milan during fan interactions, and last weekend in his TIOY co-star’s Instagram story.

And the thing about this watch is (and here is where I need to reiterate that I’m just translating, I didn’t fact check this) 1, watch is a typical thing to give a lover, and you must be familiar with their wrist size 2, Cartier is a pretty romantic brand 3, the price of this watch is closer to what Taylor’s used to wearing but much cheaper than Omega 4, This specific watch is a popular watch to give a partner/lover, 5, David and Victoria Beckham’s relationship was discovered because paparazzi saw the Cartier watch he gave her and connected dots together

Jesus Christ at this point I should consider getting a part time job in translation

This was fun but this took me so much time, it’s ~2000 words long

Again, all of this was found and speculate for fun, and mean no ill will, and haven’t, and won’t harm the boys, please understand that and don’t take this took seriously. If you find this interesting and want a part two, let me know.

#rwrb #red white and royal blue #rwrb movie #taylor zakhar perez #nicholas galitzine #alex claremont diaz #henry hanover stuart fox #henry fox mountchristen windsor #firstprince #taynick #meraki essay #meraki translates #i genuinely like doing this but they tend to take so much energy out of me #it's fucking 1 30 AM i need to go to sleep #Anon ask #Answered

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nenilein · 1 month

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Hello! Apologies for sending an ask out of the blue but considering your familiarity with localisation differences in persona 4/golden, I was wondering if anything comes to your mind regarding this aspect and how the game depicts queerness and queer themes? Thank you!

Heya! Don't worry, I was thinking people would probably ask stuff like this. After all, I already replied to somebody's tags asking this same thing previously, but I know not many people saw that, so let me use the chance to go into more detail:

Unfortunately, Persona 4's treatment of queer themes is not a result of the translation. The only things that were down to translation choices were small things, such as which pronouns are used in which situation (because Japanese does not at all have the same concept of third person pronouns as English, and the way first person classifiers that mean "I" work is very complex and a lot more vibes-based than actually tied to gender.)

But for the most part, everything is pretty much the same. Kanji's reaction to Chie mumbling about something being "off" about how he interacted with Naoto that first time, the tent scene, Yosuke's extreme insecurity in his own sexuality in addition to everyone else's... I think maybe the only thing that's a biiit better in Japanese is that Teddie is kiiinda genderfluid in Japanese, with the artbook outright stating that he doesn't necessarily consider himself "male" when he's in his bear form, unless it's necessary for a joke.

A lot of this can be traced to the really odd relationship the game's director, Katsura Hashino, has to queer themes. In interviews about Catherine Fullbody (a game which infamously has a rather weirdly handled gay romance route which, however, is notably also the only romance route in the game that cannot possibly result in a bad ending), he talks about how he's always admired queer people for being "strong" and wanted to write queer stories, but couldn't really do it until Fullbody because Atlus higher ups were afraid of backlash from the fans.

Traces of this are actually seen in Persona 4 Vanilla's data, where remnants of a surprisingly well done romance route for YOSUKE, of all people, are still present. That route made it far enough into development to have voiced lines in both, English and Japanese. However, it was dummied out in the final game and its script content was removed. Yosuke STILL has the "girlfriend flag" in the code that all the female romance options also have, but in the finished game it only checks whether you can hug him during his social link or not. Everything else was dummied out. You can still find the voice files on the cutting room floor if you want:

And yes, the "I like you" line is unambiguously romantic in Japanese. His wording is very hard to misinterpret.

However, in the finished game and the rest of the franchise Yosuke's bisexuality was reduced to an in-joke of the developers. It's most poignant in Persona Q (the first one), where if you get the "marriage" scene with Yosuke in the second dungeon, his reactions differ WILDLY depending on which Protagonist you are playing as, far more than other male characters. With Makoto Yuki he acts nonchallant and deadpan about it. With Yu Narukami he acts like a blushy Tsundere and panics constantly. So, yeah.

Okay, so, if the director had interest in writing queer stories since before Persona 4, why is Persona 4 the way it is then?

Well, because - and there's no way around it - he sucks at it.

Katsura Hashino has to be one of the clumsiest "gay activists" I've ever seen in my whole darn life. He finds queer people "cool", but seemingly never had any queer writers or sensitivity readers on his teams and it's caused enormous blunders in how these themes have been handled. For example, when after Persona 3 it was pointed out to him that the writing of the female characters in interaction with the male characters was bad, he immediately hired more female writers and gave them free reign for how to handle the female characters from then on out. But apparently the same thing never happened with his mishandling of queer themes. He wants Catherine's Erica and Rin to be empowering figures for trans women and gay men, but makes a lot of blunders in how he has other characters interact with them to the point it buries his good intentions. Erica's boyfriend having gay panic upon realizing she's trans is treated as "funny and cute", even by Erica herself. Rin technically being a monogender alien really undermines his story of becoming more secure in his sexuality. It goes on and on like that.

The intention with Naoto's story was to point out the extreme sexism in Japanese society and how it forces female nerds to find alternate modes of self-expression, but the clumsy choice of including surgery themes in Naoto's dungeon completely buried that for especially western queer audiences. Most people don't even remember Naoto's dungeon was outright modeled after a Kamen Rider villain hideout. They completely shot themselves in the foot with this one. Additionally, the way Naoto is handled AFTER the dungeon makes her (I'm using that pronoun because she calls herself a "woman" in Japanese in the game) seem more like someone who's on the verge of discovering they are X-gender (the japanese word for "nonbinary") than a repressed girl. Like, right down to how she has Rise help her experiment with clothes in the canonical drama CDs only to realize she really is uncomfortable with skirts and go for an androgynous but less restrictive look going forward. The way she dresses in the Golden epilogue and P4D is pretty X-gender core if you ask me. If they had leaned into that they could have genuinely have had something AMAZING, while also presenting the themes of sexism they wanted to explore, but the lack of queer sensitivity readers kind of ruined it.

Same for Kanji. The way they write him makes it seem like he's bisexual or pansexual, rather than straight, but they kinda shove that part of him aside after his dungeon is done, leaving his actual orientation up in the air and wasting a really good chance for representation. NOW, given what happened to Yosuke's social link, it's quite possible the original intent WAS to explore this more and it got cut, but as it stands, we'll never know. The huge problem of the internalized toxic stereotypes his Shadow presented never being reflected on and put into their right context in the rest of the game, when his social link could've given a great opportunity for that is also a huge shame.

All of this happened because of Atlus being unwilling to let their writers go all out with queer themes in fears of alienating a cishet audience AND because Hashino never sat his writing team down with any actual queer writers to sort this shit out and learn how to get across what the team was ACTUALLY trying to say. Now, given, Persona 4 was far from the only Japanese media property with that exact issue at the time, but it hurts especially much in its case because of the game's themes of exploring the truth to its logical conclusion, as well as psychology. These are issues that a remake REALLY would do well to address and correct. I feel like they actually will HAVE to do that, because sensitivity readers have become the NORM in handling these themes now in Japanese media, rather than the exception. You can thank trail blazing mainstream works like Zombie Land Saga for that.

All in all, Persona 4's handling of queer themes is an exercise in frustration that I hope is corrected soon.

#Persona 4 #Neni Replies #Naoto Shirogane #Kanji Tatsumi

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amive2567 · 1 year

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Ingredients: Suna Rintaro x gn!reader, Kenma x gn!reader, Kuroo x gn!reader, Ushijima x gn!reader

Contains: headcanons, social media, mentions of social media apps, not proofread

Type of order: macarons (headcanons),

Suna:

he always takes pictures, on dates, at the gym, during training, and even at home

His Instagram is a great priority in his life

There is no day without a post and a story

One of those influencers

His fans should always be update

And even at games he takes pictures and uploads them hem on Instagram

He also uses twitter pretty often, he makes his dad joke there and uses it to annoy Atsumu

If he gets hate comments he just blocks the person instantly, but if someone makes a bad comment about you it is over for the person they will get humiliated during an Instagram lifestream. No one will be mean to his s/o

He will roast the fuck out of everyone who will talk bad about you

The haters are crying on the floor

Will send you snaps all the time, your flames are really high

His snapscore, therefore is astronomical

You're on almost every post of his and you're not people get suspicious and form theories about your breakup

Fangirls/boys are always sending him some weird dms so he has to be creative with his way of answering those terrible pickup lines

Kenma:

his job is social media, but he is still a streamer by heart

He is daily streaming on twitch, even when he has an important game to play

Will announce his streams on Twitter and Instagram

He sometimes uploads cute couple pictures of you on Instagram

His viewers want to see him and you play different games, so you set up a day where both of you game together like animal crossing, stardew valley, phasmophobia, and other stuff. From horror to casual everything

Mario kart is still a heavy topic because it almost caused and an insane argument

Just like suna, he will not be nice to any haters he will make fun of every hater in his chat

When someone bullied you in chat or on Instagram he will bring hell upon them, they have chosen death

He will report them and they will lose all their social media status and dignity

Has multiple corporations and sweepstakes

He is one of the most famous influencers in japan

But he will not tell everything on his social media, some things are still private like the engagement or the wedding

Kuroo:

his Twitter account is filled with chemistry puns/memes/jokes

He will brag about you on every platform

Makes occasional tik tok likes pranks or educational

He once pranked you with the salt spoon prank and you never let him back into the kitchen even though it was a prank

He doesn't do extreme pranks like breakups or injuries, but he still tries to get you mad on purpose

He thinks it's kinda hot

Just has fun on social media

Isn't as active as his friends but he still shares parts of his life with his fans

A big part of his life is you so you will be in almost every picture

Whole japan is shipping you because of Kuroo's cheesy captions

Ushijima:

thinks social media is a waste of time

Wants to spend his life in a reality where not everything is perfect and photoshopped

Still has to use some platform to be present as a celebrity he is

Only uses Instagram to share his gym experience

He is one of the fitness influencers

He gets used to social media and uses it quite frequently

Pictures of him and you are limited because he doesn't want to use your relationship for cloud

But every time he posts a cute couple picture everyone is over the moon about how cute the both of you are

Charity galas are often mentioned in his posts and he even has links so you can donate for multiple fundraisers

His post are authentic and real

#haikyuu #ami writes #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu x gn!reader #suna x reader #suna rintarou #kenma kozume x reader #kenma x reader #kenma kuzome #suna rintarou x reader #kuroo x reader #kuroo tetsuro x reader #Kuroo tetsuro #ushijima x reader #ushijima wakatoshi #suna headcanons #kenma headcanons #kuroo headcanons #ushijima headcanons

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glowingmin · 3 months

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chapter 53 of this is an adjuration but its (moderately) analyzed

hi everyone we need to talk about chapter 53 aka i’m going to talk about it and you are going to listen. spoilers for the not only the entire chapter (btw i’m gonna be going crazy) but basically chapters 39 to 53 too. also yes i will be talking about all 100+ footnotes and yes i am going to be mad theorizing throughout. we cite our sources in this bitch.

first off: we’re starting off with Red being dead! fantastic! already in tears again thank you Vio. But now we get a different point of view, which is a lot more detailed. Makes sense because 1: vio and 2: four.

footnote 1: the implications of the hesitation. followed by footnote 76. green is an interesting critter. Red clearly is worried about dying, about becoming nothing if their sword is lost (footnote 93). From what I’m understanding, Vio and maybe Blue also felt the same during the sealing? Not too sure about Blue.

But also this comes back with when they go to pull the sword again! All of Link is in agreement (footnote 101). Which includes Green. Does existing again as Link where they don’t all fit back together perfectly help this along?

“Shadows grow, harsh and angular, a myriad of isosceles shards spilling out in a tiled plane. The power of them thrums, climes up Vio’s spine in a way that is so very familiar.”

Is Twilight’s shard the same Darkness as Shadow? As the Dark Mirror? I know nothing about twilight princess so I’m probably not qualified to theorize on it. Spoiler alert we're doing it anyways. The wording of shadows here, shadows being used, makes me think that it Has to be the same thing. Especially since Vio says that it feels familiar.

The portals that are taking them across time, whether caused by Hylia or Dink or Hyrule or Whoever Else is playing Tug of Link, also seem to be this dark magic. I don’t remember Vio saying that feels similar. So there has to be some sort of difference between types of dark magic.

revision glowmin here: did some twilight princess research. Apparently Twilight and Vio can shake hands on a friend breaking a mirror and disappearing. they should start a club.

footnote 2: Red and Vio bonding about Shadow! the pain of ‘when that happens, i’ll be right there’. but!! red isn’t here anymore!! christ!! “He’s good at that. Putting his feelings into metaphorical little boxes where they can’t touch him. Where they can sit and wait until he is no longer, and Link can take the boxes and open them up and the piece that is Vio can examine them under the safety of being a fragment, of being less-than-entire, of being whole, of being One.”

lets talk about this paragraph for a second. Link will no longer exist again. this is Unhealthy Coping 101 lads. He can’t be Link anymore to sort through all of those emotions (I figure Red is normally the one doing the mental housekeeping there anyways). So its going to sit in those boxes and rot there. Will it eventually explode? It sure seems like it during Ravio’s time travel dissertation!

footnote 3: king link the first. Sky? is Sky the king link mentioned here? like ik he’s the first in the Reincarnation thingie. is link doomed to be the hero because he was named after the king? if he’d been named bob would he have been spared? hmmmm. i mean Sky is literally mentioned in the sentence the footnote is linked to so.

“(...) it would be so easy to think that it was a piece of the King himself that died.”

but when you think about it, its true. the reincarnation stuff. Four is a Link. Four is a reincarnation of Sky. A part of him just died. So technically yes, I think thats literal.

“Oh. Blue. Blue is here. He can breathe now.”

“He blinks the blurriness out of his vision, to see Blue (his Blue, his guardian, his safety, his wall of ice between them and the world)”

“Of course he has to spell this out for him. Nothing can ever be easy with this man.”

the dual sides of the Vio opinion of one berry boy. The wall of ice though. Is that a callback to Blue being frozen solid in the FSA manga? And how Red had to save him? I notice there’s a lot of elemental imagery in the color-pov’s; green in particular about being comparable to the wind.

footnote 4:Absolute whiplash of a contrast to footnote 2. We go from Red offering to hear Vio talk about Shadow to chapter 39. chapter 39 my beloathed my sleep paralysis demon. The last thing Vio says to Red.

And we know context for why Red died. Red thought that Dink was Shadow. He offers the benefit of the doubt to Dink under that assumption. Even though Vio just spat at him, even though Vio is pulling away, Red is still trying. It gets him killed. If Vio figures out that information, I feel like it’ll be a terrible time.

“Vi isn’t… isn’t really sure which outcome would be worse. Either one would be better than this limbo, this waiting and floating and his body’s instinctive attempts to make him feel.”

emotions can’t touch me these shades are gucci - vio, probably. also I didn’t realize that Vio was still holding Red’s hand when they tried to become One again.

“After that, it’s as simple as wanting, of believing that to not be would be better than being, of feeling the thin tether of magic between himself and the gem in the pommel of his sword, and trying to make it stop. (...) Blue scoops up Red’s sword, the only bit of him left behind but his spilled blood, and two glowing points of red cut through the haze.”

foreshadowing?? foreshadowing?? i don’t remember if any other colors have commented on the tether between their swords and themselves. with that out of the way lets Talk about the difference between Vio and Blue’s thoughts of merging and then we’re getting into my Red Isn’t Dead coping theory

From chapter 40: “The three of them come to him, pushing at the magic and praying to anyone who might be kind enough to listen. There’s a flash of light, and Blue braces himself for the momentarily disorienting experience of becoming One, of having himself overwritten as a part from which the sum is made.

So we know from chapter 53 in particular that Vio has not great self imagery. like not at all. His thoughts of becoming one is summarized in that “believing that to not be would be better than being”. Blue, on the other hand, doesn’t have that thought. It’s a bit more vague, but it’s still enough to notice that merging seems to feel different for all the colors (or at the very least Blue and Vio have different interpretations).

The 2 gems on Red’s sword are glowing, and for the rest its just 1. I didn’t know that was a Thing until chapter 53. so here is my thought: where do the colors come from, actually? This chapter is implying that they are an extension of their swords. Are they physical magic, forced into a ‘body’? So hear me out on this one because I went and reread some of the other chapters to formulate this theory (i am coping hard).

What if: Red isn’t dead. He’s not alive, but not dead. Chapter 41: “Sky sees now, with horrible clarity, the similarity between the glow of the twin gemstones set in the pommel and cross guard of the sword, ruby red like his eyes were, and the sky blue pulsing light of Fi’s consciousness (...) Sky does not know if Red is conscious, if he is aware. He does not even know if he even is anymore. He knows only that Red is dead, and whatever remains of him is inside of that blade.”

First time I read this I was still in tears about Red dying so it didn’t make sense. I’ll be coming back to this theory later but for now let’s leave it at ‘red might not be fully dead he might just be in a coma’.

footnote 5: christ time travel makes my head hurt. i’m looking at it i promise i’m looking at it but the brain is rejecting the knowledge like gas station sushi.

footnote 6: FOUR SWORDS MANGA MENTIONED

footnote 7: ‘magical intervention for dead patients’ you mean the fucking necromancy

footnote 8: thesaurus dot com save me /reference

“What does he think? Of the situation? Of the idea that he has to live like this indefinitely? Of the reality in which Vio lives? Of the fact that this has happened twice now?”

Thoughts are stored in the Vio. the ‘twice now’ really hits hard. going to have a cry break again.

footnote 9: SHIT there isn’t a body either time. both times there’s some Item left behind; the shattered Dark Mirror, Red’s sword. but that’s not enough. good grief this is some trauma

remember the theory i literally just mentioned? here’s another point. I’m unsure how much of FSA manga is canon to adjuration (ik its not canon in LU shut up) but at the end we see very well that Shadow is still alive-ish.

Now hear me out: what if this is the same situation for Red? Alive, but no longer able to interact with the real world? Palace of the Four Sword lore from the Ravio cooking show?? put a pin in it we’re coming back later

““I think that creating a chain of alternative realities would be exactly the kind of thing I’d do to get them back. I think that I’d do whatever it takes, break whatever it takes, until all five of us, were together and home, and safe.” Green nods, and Vio knows that he has been overruled. “We go forward, into whatever fate awaits. We’re going to find who did this, and we’re going to kill them.””

Green doesn’t even ask Blue, now that i’m looking at it. that probably spurred a fight at some point off screen?? Also Vio mentioning five here!! and nobody questions it! I’m guessing they think Vio is out of it because Red is dead and that’s why nobody asked. remember this quote it’s going to be important later.

footnote 10: Green can’t lie? i’m gonna have to reread a bit to see that in a new light. Does Green actually want Shadow back? i hope so i think that would be cool.

“Vio nods. Wind can touch him. Wind is kind, Wind is safe. Wind is robed in blue and just as lovingly violent. Wind is a known quantity.”

Blue is also called a protector multiple times in this chapter and i think thats sweet. bittersweet, but sweet. stark contrast to Vio’s opinion in footnote 6 and between footnotes 3-4.vio honey the opinions aren’t staying in those boxes you made you need a U-haul.

footnote 11: i love these domestic colors moments they’re so. good

““I need you to get your shit together, can you do that for me?” Directions unclear, too broad.”

i am not going to make the joke i am Not going to make the joke

footnote 12: never even watched lttp gameplay but i looked it up just for this footnote. rosetta stone hylian edition real

footnote 13: seeing red. i see what you did there.

““...we lost Blue?” Not another, not a third, Vio can’t do this again, he can’t see that again.”

Green pea please be more specific you aren’t helping things. Considering that just a few paragraphs ago Vio was calling Blue their guardian, I would like to think that Vio is instantly going worst case scenario. and who can blame him, really?

footnote 14: heehoo shadow got thanos snapped, more trauma on the vio boat

footnote 15: I’m not sure how much minish cap is in Adjuration lore but him training at a young age makes him being picked to repair the picori blade more reasonable. because why else would you send a child into the wilderness without any help. he got like 2 years of training He’s Fine.

footnote 16: footnote 84 callback

“Wind is blue and water, and he feels just like a big brother should. (...) Green has his voice, has blown it away with his already made up mind.”

More elemental imagery for the colors! And its also being applied to Wind, who wears Blue, and is being compared to Blue.

footnote 17: i couldn’t find any reference of something called a ‘tracking hawk’ other than something that happens in twilight princess apparently? so maybe that’s what this is referencing.

footnote 18: hesitation to smash the Dark Mirror shaking hands with hesitation to put the Four Sword back in its pedestal? also your daily reminder that in the manga TINGLE contributes to why Vio didn’t smash the mirror

footnote 19: is this Blue perception in the memory? about the ice? maybe.

footnote 20: vio picture perfect memory canon.

“A flash of blue. Blue? No, Wind, screaming and disemboweling a moblin three times his size, an unmoving obstacle between Vio and what had been his certain death.”

From chapter 42: “The rest of them all be fucking damned, Wind is getting Vio out of this alive.”

just figured this little nod to that would be important to point out. Wind goes big brother mode and I’m here for it.

footnote 21: tragedy + time = comedy reference maybe? I figure Blue has had some time to cool down by killing monsters, so that’s probably why he’s able to muster a joke. if it was even on purpose

footnote 22: A field guide on first aid would honestly be really good for the colors/Link to know. especially if minish cap is fully in Adjuration canon. I don’t know how well Ezlo would be for administering hylian first aid in the field.

footnote 23: from FSA manga, vio: “Because I was ‘the smart one’ I thought I was always right. I learned ‘smart’ and ‘wise’ aren’t always the same’. Concussion is definitely going to put some struggle on the braincell.

footnote 24: Is Vio the only color capable of lying?

“Vio sighs, and melts into the warmth, the scent of the Dark. It is familiar and it is safe and he is free to go away.”

THE Dark? Implication that there’s only One Type, so. scratch whatever nonsense I was on earlier about there maybe being different types of Dark, ig.

footnote 25: MINISH CAP MENTIONED!!!!!!!!!

footnote 26: more domestic color moments. Is their home labeled ‘four’? I’m assuming it is because there is an ‘r’ and ‘u’ and each color is painting 1 letter.

theory number three time: what the piss is going on at four’s house. from chapter 44: “Even still, Legend could swear that he saw the handle turn as he drops.” and then chapter 53: “Even still, Vio knows that he sees the door handle turn.” we have 2 inbetween footnotes to go through really quick and then we’re theorizing again.

footnote 27: more fodder for the theory of the colors just being their swords, I think!

footnote 28: wonder which of the colors is the most attuned to magic. maybe vio?

alright its THEORY NUMBER THREE FOR REAL TIME MOTHERFUCKERS THIS IS WHERE I GO CRAZY

“Something Dark and familiar crawls like a shiver up his spine.”

Vio knows Dark magic, okay I think we all understand that. He knows Twilight has Dark magic, the Dark Mirror was Dark magic, Shadow was Dark magic. what in the hell is dark magic inside the color’s home? no clue! this is where my theory comes in (it’s a two in one deal)

theory 3.1: Shadow is going to be revived at some point. The Dark magic is familiar to Vio because it’s Shadow, and Vio knows Shadow’s magic. Is Shadow playing tug of war with Dink to bring the colors home? How would he return from the dead? What time even is it in Four’s era at this 10 second pitstop? This is where I think that this is maybe during the late, LATE part of their adventure through time. but the gist is Shadow is somehow alive and is trying and failing to draw anything other than an uno reverse card.

from chapter 45: ““Odd, that. It’s not like there’s anything interesting in there. We tore the whole place apart after the first time. It’s just a small town forge.””

we will bring this back up at the Ravio hour. everything comes up at the ravio hour.

theory 3.2: its Vio from the future. when we get to the Ravio Insanity I’ll get more into this, but we need to go back to this line from chapter 53: “I think that creating a chain of alternative realities would be exactly the kind of thing I’d do to get them back. I think that I’d do whatever it takes, break whatever it takes, until all five of us, were together and home, and safe.” Maybe this is Future Vio making good on his word. ripping apart time and space alike for a CHANCE to save Red.

footnote 29: legend is royalty Adjuration canon?

footnote 30: vio gaslighting hour, but he’s only gaslighting himself. from FSA manga Vio says: “But as a hero, I never strayed from my hopes and goals.” He calls himself a hero here, but then laments about it later. Plus he doesn’t seem happy during the whole confrontation sooooo

footnote 31: fourth edition hehehe

footnote 32: So Blue is to blame for the color’s haircut? I am so deep into brainworms I can’t remember if Four’s eyes changed colors or not.

““He’s got like thirty books crammed in here, where has he been getting them all?””

i love Green and Blue doing their best to bring Vio back to them. rise and shine gamer you need to read your concussion away.

footnote 33: existential crisis from footnote 27

footnote 34: excellent word choice Blue

“Vio pulls the book up, out of the bag and into his lap. It’s heavy and leather bound, with a metalwork crescent moon on the cover. A present from Ravio. (...) Ravio who insists at some point in their future, Vio will want to shatter a Light spell.”

remember theory 1? about Red not being dead? here’s more food for this theory. Four is also called the Hero of Light. A Light Spell. The Four Sword is made to cleave through the darkness (chapter 52). To shatter a Light Spell might be them trying to bring Red back from limbo. if he is in limbo. i hope he’s just in limbo.

“His brothers are both in their usual positions relative to him when they sit like this, the empty space where Red ought to be gaping like a wound.”

you did not have to hurt me like this

footnote 35: Dark Mirror related trauma hours part TWO!!!!

footnote 36: and then it pivots right back from me tearing up to cackling about Shadow and Vio antics. I wonder what word Vio said here to make Shadow confused.

footnote 37: looking at shattering a Light Spell. looking at the magic of the Four Sword. if the Light spell Vio wants to shatter really is Red’s sword, the fact that Four is a blacksmith just might be what saves the situation

“The book is tugged from his hands and Blue’s own, cold and calloused, take hold.”

Are Blue’s hands permanently cold from being frozen? I know there’s been ice and water imagery in the past with Blue but this would be neat. Also did Blue and Green also see the note Ravio left (Don’t let anyone but you Four see this) and that’s why Blue is taking the book away?

footnote 38: we love character insight!! we love link knowing that a custom product tailored to the horse is better than a one size fits all mold!! hell yeah!

“Vi watches as Blue’s expression ices over.”

More ice imagery, this time with Wind present! Wind is sticking up for Vio like the big brother he is. And from chapter 45 we know that Wind most likely just finished telling Sky off about not being okay, too, so he is just picking up Red’s place as therapist I guess!

39: more important possible minish cap or just adventure in general books to have read

“Wind is curled into the front of him, blankets tangled up in the boy’s legs. Vio twists in place, spinning to face Blue. His brother is still in his sleep, face softer than it ever is when he’s conscious. Red’s sword creating a barrier between them, laid in its scabbard (Blue’s scabbard, they have to get him a new one just for him now) on the bedding, Blue’s fingers held fast to the hilt. Where’s Green?”

I skimmed through chapter 45-46 and I didn’t see any mention of where Green is at this point so I’m not sure where he is. But Wind is in on the cuddling and I’m here for it. And also… Red’s sword is still in the pile. Is there symbolism behind Red’s sword being between Vio and Blue? About how Blue is using the voice reserved for Red for Vio, now?

footnote 40: thinking this is pre minish cap, I think link already has a scabbard when he starts that journey.

“The boy gently presses them to Vio’s temples, and it is warm and loving and wild and red.”

All of those adjectives are applicable to Red. food for thought.

“Vio looks back down at the book in his hands. Not Ravio’s, good. His brothers aren’t that stupid, thank Hylia.”

So here I think the other colors have seen the note Ravio left them. I don’t know if they’ve discussed anything about it or not. or maybe they don’t know and its only Vio?

footnote 41: concussion

footnote 42: book (yeah I don’t have much to say for these two footnotes)

“The fire is warm and the floor is hard under his shoulder blades as he stares up at the ceiling, Blue on one side, Wind on the other.”

Wind is shoving Green out of the equation I think. I feel like this animosity will probably become important later but so far I don’t think anythings happened.

footnote 43: I know nothing about coffee so I really don’t know what this footnote is about, but Red is precious as always.

footnote 44: BODY LANGUAGE FOR DUMMIES i cackled when i saw that

“Green visibly chews that idea over in his mind, probably working overtime to have an original thought.” Compared to chapter 46: “Green frowns, starting to mentally replay every interaction that he has had with Legend. The universe, or fate, or… Hylia, maybe the Goddess herself decides that that is enough thinking for him today, because that is when the portal opens.”

footnote 45: “Not that Shadow's pressence here is strange, but for the first time, Vio didn't sense him coming. The alarms didn't start going off. He was woken by a physical touch, not warned seconds before by the indescribable feeling of wrong that slithers up his spine whenever this boy gets too close.”

WE ARE GOING TO BE COMING BACK TO THIS FOOTNOTE KEEP IT IN YOUR BRAINS FOLKS

footnote 46: Sky is arguing with Green, and then it references the downfall of Skyloft. beans

footnote 47: arson is the answer. arson is always the answer.

““Walk away before I break your nose again.” His protector says this as casually as if he were listing off how many nails they needed to make that week.”

Blue is (as the quote says) protecting Vio here. which is sweet. Blue broke Green’s nose back at the ranch (chapter 46)

footnote 48: Dark Mirror shattering reference? I wonder how long after the adventure this is. Also we know one set of the footsteps is Blue, but who’s the other?

footnote 49: A feeling of something Dark, something wrong slithers with a shiver up his spine. Vio looks up, and sihloutted in the moonlight, there is a boy in a tree.

WE’RE COMING BACK TO THIS ONE TOO.

footnote 50: honestly surprised its not a plastic plant but this is arguably funnier

““Hyrule says a big fight is heading our way. We aren’t going to be able to keep you out of it.””

We’re at chapter 47 now!

footnote 51: considering how Easy the bow is to use in FSA this footnote makes a lot of sense.

footnote 52: multivariable calculus and ‘simple straightforward’ do not belong in the same sentence vio what the shit.

footnote 53: in the manga vio is shown to load 2 arrows at once, so yeah archery being preferred makes sense to me!

footnote 54: blacksmith fun!

footnote 55: god i fucking hate geometry all my homies hate geometry

footnote 56: MINISH!!!!

footnote 57: john mulaney reference?? also grandpa and the colors! wonder where Four’s father went

“Vio nearly laughs at the realization that all of that pain and suffering could have been avoided if they had simply gone through in pieces every time. And he’s supposed to be the smart one.”

They’ve been through a few portals since Red’s death by now, so the fact that he’s only noticing this now speaks volumes to how… mm, withdrawn into himself he’s been.

“Vio stares at the portal itself, considering. Hyrule made this. He didn’t know that was something that one of them could just do. (...) Vio slides his hand into his own pack, feeling around until he makes contact with the book Ravio gave him, finger tracing delicately around the thin ornamentation. All this time, he has had the directions for non-paradoxical time travel literally in his fucking pocket.”

hey remember theory 3.2? this might be where Vio gets the idea that he can do this sort of thing.

revision glowmin here: for some reason footnote 58 got deleted. So here it is! Vio does in fact look smug.

““How long have you known that Red was going to die?” Vio aks, voice as hard and unfeeling as stone.”

More earth elemental imagery for Vio!

“Ravio flinches, not meeting Vio’s stare. “The eighth,” he practically whispers, as if confessing to a crime.”

I know I mentioned this in my Ravio Board Analysis but the Link To Ravio timeline traveling being nonlinear makes my brain hurt and I cry.

footnote 59: Vio would forgo reading to watch Blue and Vio spar (?) so you know its good stuff

““So don’t. Because I’m sorry Legend, but I’m going to have to kill your husband now.” Blue says this as gently and steady as a summer rain.”

graduated cylinder homophobia

footnote 60: the stark comparison between Blue’s playful sparring with green (footnote 59) and the dance fight with Red (this footnote) really makes him going for Legend look like murder. which. was the point but you know what I mean

footnote 61: I am 90% sure this scene happens right after Shadow disguises himself as Vio in order to get the other colors to actually fight Vaati effectively. We don’t see which direction Shadow leaves and Vio enters from, but it is possible that its the same direction. and the next time we see Shadow he is limping, so,,,, yeah.

“(...) Blue flips his grip on Red’s sword and slams the pommel into Legend’s nose, which Legend answers with a shield bash of his own right to his brother’s face. Vio hopes it hurts.”

This strikes me as a bit odd since Vio has been calling Blue ‘protector’ and ‘guardian’ throughout this chapter, albeit with pauses of dismissing him for brashness. Perhaps its because of the note Ravio left in that book, and the knowledge that in the future he wants to shatter a Light spell? And in order to do that Ravio must still be alive, so that’s my reasoning on why Vio wants Blue to hurt.

footnote 62: MINISH CAP MENTIONED also this must be before the minish cap journey because I think after that any attempt to say Link is ‘too old for that nonsense’ is thrown out the window.

footnote 63: vidow (metal pipe sound effect)

““Captain,” he says, walking over to him first. “This is from him.” (...) A room full of eyes on him, Vio tears open the envelope and carefully pulls out the single scrap of paper. (...) ‘You’re going to have to trust me, Violet. And you’re going to have to prove you’re as good a liar as he says you are. I’m trying to help all Five of you. -Not a hypocrite, either.’”

WE’RE HERE ITS TIME FOR THE THEORIES TO COME ROLLING. YOU REMEMBER THE FOOTNOTES I TOLD YOU TO REMEMBER? THEY’RE COMING IN NOW.

back to back here we have the mentioning of a ‘he/him’. I think its pretty clear that when Ravio is addressing Warriors, he’s referring to Wind in the future. Wind hasn’t gone to the War of Eras yet, and he gets called some weather nicknames in chapter 52 (“That crazy little hurricane who knew more than any person should, and was drowning in the weight of all that unwanted wisdom.” (...) “kidnapping people like my poor self and that damn riptide.”)

So that begs the question: who is the ‘he’ Ravio is mentioning in his letter to Vio? Is this future Wind? I see two possibilities, and so I raise you theory 3.2.1: Wind is the one who is helping future Vio rip holes in the fabric of time. You remember right before footnote 10, where Vio mentions five instead of four? Maybe this is where Wind would get the ‘five’ from when describing things to Ravio. Not super important I think but it is absolutely worth mentioning.

now I hope you’re ready for my insanity folks!

The line ‘not a hypocrite either’ leads me to believe that Ravio is referring to himself and Legend. Ravio is Legend’s dark world counterpart, just as Shadow is Four’s. To imply that he is not a hypocrite means that Ravio knows of Shadow’s existence. More than that, he knows of Vio and Shadow’s relationship.

Now I’ve reread Adjuration 3x now and Legend has completed the Palace of the Four Sword (chapter 24: “I FUCKING KNEW IT!” Legend’s mouth moves faster than his brain for once in his life, and he winces, but goes with it. “I knew I recognized that damn sword.”) My running theory is that perhaps the Palace of the Four Sword being in the Dark World is what could possibly lead to Shadow being revived. let me explain.

in the board of madness of chapter 49, we get the timeline of the visits. Chapter 49 is visit 8 for Ravio. It is the only one thats black. For Ravio, he apparently learns who Shadow is BEFORE he learns who Red is. The visit for when he learns about Shadow (visit 8 ravio visit 6 links) is yet to happen in Adjuration. There’s 1 more visit between visit 2 ravio visit 8 links (visit 6 ravio visit 7 links) so SOMETHING is going to happen between the next 2 visits, i guarantee it. My theory? Control is going to be waived from Dink (if only slightly) and he is going to Get Pissed. More on that later but first: who’s at the forge.

Each time Shadow’s magic/Dark magic is addressed by Vio, it is done in a similar way. Chapter 53: “The power of them thrums, climes up Vio’s spine in a way that is so very familiar.” “Something Dark and familiar crawls like a shiver up his spine.” “He was woken by a physical touch, not warned seconds before by the indescribable feeling of wrong that slithers up his spine whenever this boy gets too close.” “A feeling of something Dark, something wrong slithers with a shiver up his spine.”

Every. Single. Time. Dark magic is either called ‘familiar’ or ‘wrong’, and it sometimes causes Vio to shiver. There is some force of Dark magic attempting to bring the chain to Four’s forge. It is that line about it being familiar when they drop in their most recent visit that leads me to believe that it is Shadow. How is it Shadow? Freyja confirmed that Shadow is 100% dead at the end of the events of the manga, so we know he’s dead. I have almost zero basis for this but I have a Theory (this logic is solely going off of the “Entity in the Forge” vibes).

In chapter 24, we get insight on the Palace of the Four Sword from Legend. “Don’t think about where he saw it the first time, don’t picture Four like that , don’t think about the malice and the stench of death, the black magic and the hatred rolling off the blade in waves. Fight now. Panic later.”

Is there a difference between black magic and Dark magic? I don’t know enough Zelda lore to say for certain. What we do know is that Legend is from Four’s future. Time travel confusion aside, in a Link to the Past, there is a copy of Red. What I think is going on here is that the Palace of the Four Sword being in the Dark World is perhaps a catalyst to revive Shadow. He came from the Dark Mirror after all; surely that much Dark magic in one place would be good for this sort of thing? The hatred is a bit concerning but I think a little anger is good as a treat.

How does he get back to his proper time period? Cia’s spellbook, I think. I truly honestly 85% believe that the tug of war here is between Shadow and Dink/the Yiga Clan. From tumblr, we have the list of the chain as follows: Sky, Four, Red, Green, Blue, Vio, Time, Legend, Hyrule, Wind, Twilight, Warriors, Wild, and then a redaction of a member.

(brief pause by revision glowmin here: the distinction of Four being different than the RGBV is a neat detail)

As far as I know there’s only a few options that this 14th Link could be. It could be the link from Spirit Tracks; unless Adjuration Wind also has that adventure. It could possibly be the Ancient hero from BOTW, the one shown on the tapestry and then in the Hero’s Aspect in TOTK. It could be the first ever Link, the one before Sky. Or it could be Shadow. I don’t think any of these four options deal with Dark magic other than Shadow.

There’s also my other theory that it’s Vio (and possibly Future Wind?). Vio has already made it clear that he will do whatever it takes (confirmed by freyja via tumblr: “Vio is willing to get his hands dirty. Vio is willing to shatter fragile things. Vio has nothing left to loose.”) I’ll bet my stockpile of gummy worms that the other 15% is this scenario. (“He doesn’t need to. For the five of them, there is no price too high, no cost too great. He’s going to do whatever it takes.”)

(revision glowmin again. no cost too great? hollow knight moment.)

Now let’s talk about the Yiga Clan for a bit. I want to strangle them like a wet sock. They’re like the Eyes of Ganon that Hyrule talks about sometimes. I know little about them, but the point is that their goals are the same: kill the hero to revive Ganon. For the Eyes, its Hyrule, because they need his blood. For the Yiga Clan, it’s Wild, because… well, he killed Ganon and its revenge time.

I think the reason the Yiga Clan are so against the chain being in Four’s era for more than a few seconds (other than the fact that they’re not the ones taking the chain there) is related to Ravio’s thesis. “His era might not be poison to Darkness the way that Sky’s is, but it’s too closely guarded.”

If the chain wind up in Four’s era, and the Yiga can’t wrangle them back, Dink might lost control of the ordeal. For the most part it seems like he’s been the one picking and choosing where the portals will lead the heroes. (“The Captain arches an eyebrow, “Who are the other players?” / “Hylia, The Yiga clan, and Hyrule, though he has hesitated to take his turns, for starters.””)If he lost that control, I feel like it would be a spiral of madness as he goes off script to get them back under his thumb.

For the silly, how I’ve been coping with the angst has been that Red and Shadow are 2 ghosts following the Chain around and just watching all this shit go down. Canon? 99% sure that’s not the case, but it sure would be funny! i drew a little something to commemorate this coping mechanism.

okay. ramblings and thoerizationings are over (I probably repeated myself way too much). tldr: there’s plausible cause for the dark entity at Four’s forge to be Shadow, but it could also possibly be Vio from the future/near the end of the journey. Whoever it is, they’re threatening to remove some of Dink’s control of the situation and that might Escalate Conflict. The Palace of the Four Sword is important to a possible Red revival (and maybe Shadow)! I am never going to emotionally recover from this.

back to your regularly scheduled analysis that is probably going to go off the walls again.

footnote 64: again: if Four had been named Bob and not Link, would the Minish have had to pick a different hero? I wonder what reasoning Four’s father had for naming him after the king, anyways.

footnote 65: Ravio and Legend’s dynamics being directly related to Vio and Shadow. More correlation of Ravio saying he’s ‘not a hypocrite either’.

footnote 66: domestic color antics. Blue screaming that he’s going to kill Red, starkly contrasting with how Blue reacted when Red actually died. We know that Blue was exaggerating here in the flashback but it’s here, so its getting mentioned.

“Vio gets up, leaving them to it in order to get a better view of Ravio’s notes. It’s not hard to follow. The Timeline in the middle, their lives in bullet points on one end, their visits to this era in history on the other.”

Vio sweetie I don’t understand the visits to the Ravio Center. at least he gets it so good for him I guess.

“Wind marches over, frowning. “What are you - oh.” The sailor frowns as he takes it all in. “Why is my name all over this?” / Green blinks. “That’s what I was asking you.””

The revisitation of the animosity growing between Green and Wind!

footnote 67: Not sure when this flashback takes place, but I’m assuming its shortly after Shadow’s death?

footnote 68: There is a lot of. unrest in the chain because of Red’s death. Twilight gets outed as Wolfie, the colors are in shambles, Green and Wind are fighting, Twilight and Wild are not having good terms, the Fierce Deity is brought out, etc etc it is a Shit Show.

rapid fire footnote time

footnote 69: Legend just said that he might not stop Blue from killing Ravio this time. This is, of course, comparable to how the last thing Vio said to Red was to spit in his face. which is what this footnote is a recap of.

footnote 70: projection moment

footnote 71: Shadow gets blasted to bits

footnote 72: I believe this is a callback to footnote 48

footnote 73: More broken glass imagery back to back. Vio pointing out that for the next two visits that happen for Ravio is going to be when he possibly learns who Shadow is, and a better understanding of Red. I think. the timeline of the Ravio Hours hurts my head.

footnote 74: WHO IS THE HE. we already went over this but I’m bringing it up again. Wind or Shadow, I’m placing my bets.

footnote 75: Red again reassuring Vio about Shadow, and about how they all would like him back. Which is, again, making Vio spitting at Red right before he dies all the worse.

footnote 76: “Green on the other hand, feels nothing but the desire to get this over with.” Now that I’ve given it more thought, I don’t think this is ‘hee hoo Green is Diet Link’. I think Green is still feeling unnerved about it (see footnote 1), but its perhaps muddled over him trying to keep the others from backing out.

footnote 77: of course vio knows statistics

footnote 78: Vio calling himself a traitor here, I think is an implication of how he considers himself a villain but… if he’s a traitor to Shadow, who is the ‘villain’ here, at the very least it’s morally grey territory. i think. i don’t know man

footnote 79: I believe this also happens right after footnote 48

footnote 80: Okay but the fact that this is ‘twice will happen thrice’. This has happened twice to Vio (Shadow and Red). The third time would be Ravio.

footnote 81: Wind specifically being mentioned here is important I think. I don’t know why its important but it feels important. especially since he was the one who stood up to Green.

footnote 82: crying

“Vio freezes, words going still in his throat as they choke him. He’s getting overly emotional. He’s getting worked up. His feelings are trying to exhume themselves.”

I feel like this is a direct callback to the start of the chapter. Vio says that he can put all his emotions into boxes to save them for when he becomes One. I think the boxes are beginning to overflow.

footnote 84: another continuation of footnote 48, 72, and 79 I think.

footnote 85: Vio throwing shade at Green

footnote 86: blue performed a whoopsies

footnote 87: Derealization moment I think. Which honestly, yeah with all the screaming going on in this scene I can. yeah.

“Vio turns and sees Wild, lowering a serving tray down, upon which rests four cups full of steaming tea.”

Four cups, but I think in this case the four are Vio, Blue, Green, and Sky. I don’t think there’s anyone else in this part of the conversation.

footnote 88: IMPORTANT!! IMPORTANT SHIT HERE!! SOUND THE ALARMS. Not only is it a title drop, but we also have Shadow beginning to understand that he can be more than just one thing. He was created by Ganon to be evil, yes, but then in the manga Zelda tells him that he is as much a hero as the colors are. I think this is a scene that will come into play later if the entity at the forge is in fact Shadow. or if there’s any future Shadow related plot points.

footnote 89: I think Vio might be the only color capable of lying. In chapter 53 we hear that Blue nor Green can (or are good at) lying. Red being able to lie isn’t brought up, but I’d assume it to be the same scenario.

footnote 90: quote straight out of the manga

“Everyone else moves an instant after Legend’s fist crashes into Wild’s eye, to pull them apart or join in the fight, Vio isn’t sure.”

Here we learn that Legend punches Wild! I’m pretty sure this is where his knuckles get injured, and its the wound Hyrule’s blood heals.

footnote 91: Shadow dies and then Ganon shows up, so it is… a situation, that’s for sure! Unless Adjuration takes a different spin on that part of the manga. Vio calling himself a villain again is also important because he does not define himself as a hero.

““I’m not letting go of Red,” Blue says, as passive a threat as a sheet of ice above a turbulent river. “Take me if you need to, but not Red.””

It seems like all of the colors understand now that they are (?) their swords. He’s telling Warriors to take himself, but not Red, in reference to disarming. Also, more ice and water symbolism!

footnote 92: ‘singular point of light’. I feel like this might be a contribution to shattering a Light spell

footnote 93: fire imagery for Red!

footnote 94: IT WAS THE WORD FOUR. okay good I wasn’t tripping. I think the black paint here is for Shadow. And since its Link doing this, I think that it is proof that its not just Vio who wants Shadow back but rather All the colors.

footnote 95: callbacks to all the training flashbacks of Link and his father, I think

footnote 96: Ravio says that Four does not fail, and then the footnote is a flashback of him failing to exist after merging back together for the first time. short king stay winning

footnote 97: MINISH CAP MENTIONED. but also ‘happy and warm and safe and red’.... more Red imagery

footnote 98: I think this must be shortly before the adventure begins. Link isn’t split, but he knows that he is able to. So it has to be after the Four Sword is removed from the seal, but before the journey starts else he’d probably be addressed as Four here.

““But we keep going there, so it’s not entirely out of the running?” Warriors asks, trying to make sense of the plot. / “It wasn’t, but it is now.” Ravio sighs. “Dink isn’t sending you there, he isn’t going there if he can help it. The risks far outweigh the benefits.”

refer back to my deranged ramblings about Dink losing a smidgen of control of the situation in regards to this quote.

footnote 99: More wondering of how Ravio learns there’s 5 instead of 4. It’s not mentioned in the Palace of the Four Sword as far as I’m aware

footnote 100: again I am pointing at my deranged ramblings above.

footnote 101: In comparison to Green wanting to get it over with, Link being entirely in agreement to split again here is important. The seal will hold for years, they have time to exist. Why spend that time needlessly suffering?

footnote 102: I would ALSO like to know what happened to the Four Sword Ravio. also cute nickname hours and domestic color times.

footnote 103: MINISH CAP CALLBACK to Zelda and Link being childhood friends. It’s also a FS manga callback but shhhh

““The fate of the Four Sword is not relevant to the mission at hand… Captain.””

The hesitation here. I think it means something. I feel as if its to be directed at someone else (maybe Vio?) that this point of the story isn’t important yet.

footnote 104: And here’s the distinction between Four and the colors, in the 14 links guide.

footnote 105: Green is not Diet Link and we all will die on this hill

“One revelation at a time, Ravio chips away at the stone of Vio’s heart.”

More earth elemental imagery for Vio

footnote 106: (we did it we made it to the last one holy shit.) and of course the last footnote is domestic color moments, and its just… so bittersweet.

““Hey Vio? Can you finish this for me?” Ravio calls him back to the real world. He’s kneeling over a small pile of books, pointing to the righted bookcase by the front door. “I need to check on someone.””

This is absolutely done on purpose. “Between History of Masks and Hytopian History of High Fashion, entirely unassuming, is Cia’s spellbook.” There is absolutely zero way that this part, getting Vio to see Cia’s book here, was not intentionally orchestrated by Ravio.

“What this Palace could be Vio has no idea, yet he thinks the answer to both questions might be one and the same.”

alright we did it. we finished the play by play. a few wrap up thoughts and then class is dismissed.

ranking my theories based on how probable I think they are.

1: Shadow is the one at the forge.

2: Wind and Green’s animosity is going to become a key point later on.

3: The ‘he’ mentioned in Ravio’s letter to Vio is Shadow.

4: The ‘he’ mentioned in Ravio’s letter to Vio is Wind from after the War of Ages.

5: Future Vio is the one at the forge.

6: Future Vio is being assisted by future Wind at the forge.

7: Cia’s spellbook is going to corrupt the colors, leading to the versions of the colors that Legend fights. Could possibly be an alternate timeline

8: The Palace of the Four Sword was put in the Dark World by malicious forces to keep the chain from getting something important out of there.

overall this chapter absolutely demolished my mental state metaphorically and literally. revision glowmin will return at a later time to maybe make this more coherent but I unfortunately sold my braincell already. i heart adjuration but it needs to start paying rent.

#glow whispers and junk #this is an adjuration #im normal about this i swear i promise im normal about this #i might tidy this up later but... i needed to get the thoughts out #final wordcount is like 8k. christ

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inkblackorchid · 10 months

Text

What the hell happened with Crow: an autopsy (Part 1)

*deep breath* Hiiiiiiii.

After sitting on this for ages, I finally decided to make the Crow post. And because this ended up getting stupidly long, I decided to turn this into part one of two, maybe three, we'll see (which I honestly should have done with the Aki posts too, but oh well). So let me quickly make it clear what I'm about here: This analysis is not meant to convince people who hate Crow to change their mind. It is also not meant to dissuade people who love Crow from doing so. Instead, I wanna look at how Crow was handled during the show (up until the end of the DS arc for now, I'll dive into the rest later) and give my own take on why he developed the way he did and turned into such a polarising character. Also, disclaimer, despite the fact that I'll be making an effort to analyse things objectively, I am a mere human and obviously not the one and only expert on all things 5Ds. My only claim to knowledge here is that I've watched 5Ds several times now, love the show and its characters deeply, and like to think I have a decent amount of media literacy. Also, I take no responsibility for the length of this post. Despite me splitting things up, it's stupidly, exhaustingly long. Like, very, very long. So. Let's hop to it, shall we?

Before I get into the meat of things, there's one more thing I would like to get out of the way: I know plenty of people, even now, so long after the show ended, would answer the question of "what happened with Crow, anyway" with something along the lines of "well Blackwings got so popular" or "well Aki's VA got pregnant so Crow stole her spotlight" and I need to burst some people's bubbles here because no. Neither of these things are true. Nor is the infamous "well Crow was meant to be the main villain", actually! And I could go into all of that here, but that would be a whole post of its own for each topic, and luckily, someone else has already done all of that work. I direct you to two posts over on Reddit from @mbg159, who did an absurd amount of digging to comprehensively disprove two of the 5Ds fandom's favourite scapegoat theories:

No, Crow was not meant to be a dark signer, and most certainly not the boss of the dark signers.

No, Aki being sidelined and suddenly having less presence in the narrative than him was not because her VA got pregnant.

I really don't want this to come off as an "assigned reading"-thing, but it is so, so important to keep these things in mind when looking at Crow, and honestly? I'm just tired of these rumours at this point. It's been 12 years since the show ended, we don't need to keep believing this nonsense. And the posts linked above aren't crackpot theories or anything of the sort—they provide sources all over and all of the links still work. If you still can't be bothered to read them (they are long, yes), then at least take away this tl;dr: Crow allegedly having been planned as a villain doesn't work because there is no evidence that supports it, and both his spike in screentime being caused by the Blackwings' popularity and him "taking Aki's spot" because her VA got pregnant make zero sense because they simply don't match up with the production timeline of the show. It is literally impossible for either of these things to be true. (And believe me, I am as mad as anyone that Aki got shafted, maybe even madder than the average fan, but if it doesn't add up, it simply doesn't add up and there were no regrettable outside influences, someone just actively made shitty writing decisions and that's that.) So please. It has been 12 years. Forget this stuff. Ditch it. Let it die. Because I'm not here to spin conspiracy theories, I'm here to analyse the writing of the show as best I'm able. Okay? Okay.

Now, for the good part. Shall we start with some facts? Let's start with some facts.

Crow is introduced to the audience in episode 30, shortly after the dark signers arc kicks off. And considering that he later ends up as one of the main characters, arguably even the third most important character in the show after Yusei and Jack, this immediately stands out. For reference, the rest of the signer group is introduced within the first 14 episodes of the show. Even Aki, who is the last signer to be introduced, takes less than half the number of episodes Crow does to finally make her debut. And I don't think you could blame anyone for finding this weird. 30 episodes, even in a show with a relatively short episode length like 5Ds, is an absurd amount of time for a protagonist to get introduced. As for how he's introduced to us...

We get the gist of his character pretty quickly. He's a daredevil, he's used to flipping sector security the bird (pun not intended), he's got a soft spot for kids, and he knows Yusei well—well enough for the two of them to tag-duel some security officers almost immediately after not seeing each other for an undefined amount of time, which, if you know anything about yugioh, says it all.

(Pictured: two lads getting up to Shenanigans.)

There is history there. These two know each other's decks. They know how each the other plays. They can work together immediately and seamlessly. This is a big deal. Aaaaannd... It immediately begs some questions: If this guy knows Yusei so well, and they are really close friends, why the hell is he only showing up now? Why wasn't he helping Yusei put together his duel runner? Why didn't he help him stick it to sector security at the start? Why weren't they in contact?

The thing is, the show never really answers any of that. At least not properly. We can only read between the lines as to why Crow wasn't with Yusei from the start. (At least in-universe. Irl, it's easy enough to guess that Crow was not there at the start of the show because the writers at first didn't think they'd be putting this side character Takahashi originally came up with into the show.) Which brings me to the Enforcers. (Side note: As a sub watcher, I know the Japanese name is Team Satisfaction and I know Kiryu's catchphrase works a million times better with that name, but "Team Satisfaction" will always sound like a boyband name to me and I like to mix and match the sub and dub names based on what I like better on an individual basis anyway, please bear with me.) And before I properly open that can of worms, I feel the need to point something out: After Crow made his debut in episode 30 and got the opportunity to show off his duelling a bit during episodes 30-31, we are immediately introduced to Kiryu/Kalin at the end of episode 32. What this means for Crow is that he has zero backstory at this point and his character had zero time to settle. His only tie to the main story, as far as the audience is concerned, is that he's Yusei's friend from however long ago, and aside from that, he's only got two other things going to endear him to viewers: 1. he stands up to sector security (whom the first season did a pretty good job of establishing as pigs) and 2. he cares for abandoned children. He gets a "Save the Cat" moment and a tie to the main character, and that's it. Just to put that into perspective, we know the most important points of all the other signers' backstories by that point. Jack and Yusei's deal is made obvious to us within the first five episodes; the twins, though the narrative largely only spares them breadcrumbs, anyway, at least have that bit about Ruka/Luna having been in a coma at one point and having a connection to the spirit world shown during episodes 18-19; and though it once again takes Aki the longest to reveal what she's all about, we at least have a good idea of why she is the way she is by episode 24, and we get the icing on the cake of her traumatic past during the narratively excellent duel in episodes 40-41 (no, I will never shut up about how much I love this duel). Plus, she arguably has the most complicated backstory, so it's no surprise that it takes longer to reveal. But here's where the Enforcers come in again.

(And here we see the arguably most deranged rat bastard of a man (affectionate) in the entire show. But hey, at least he has an exquisite sense for dramatics.)

As far as backstory for Crow is concerned, the Enforcers drama initially revealed during episodes 33-35 is as much as we get for him after his introduction. His later duel with dark signer!Bommer/Greiger during episodes 51-53 offers a bit more, but more on that later. First, I want to preface this by saying that I don't think it was a coincidence that Crow and Kiryu/Kalin were introduced so shortly after one another. Because at this point in the story, I think Crow's main role is to add a counterweight to Kiryu/Kalin. To Crow, whatever happened with the Enforcers was evidently not enough to break the friendship between him and Yusei—they're still close and get along well. And then we have Kiryu/Kalin—for him, whatever happened with the Enforcers was a big deal and he's more than a little resentful about it, to the point of wanting to murder Yusei in revenge. (It is also noteworthy that this is the first thing that ever calls Yusei's character into question, because here is a guy who evidently knew him well once and absolutely loathes him, and it's clearly not because of his Satellite upbringing, his marker, or any of the stuff the other antagonists up until this point hated him for. Yusei fucked something up here. Big time. But let's not get sidetracked.) So, what does the Enforcer drama tell us about Crow, anyway? Frankly, not much. We learn two things: One, same as Yusei and Jack, Crow was all for the "liberating Satellite"-thing at first. Two (and this one's way spicier), unlike Yusei, he had the guts to ditch Kiryu/Kalin when it became clear he was willing to go too far. He was even the first to do it. (And I'd argue that if Crow hadn't walked away, Jack wouldn't have, either, but the relationship between these two is a whole other funky can of worms.)

(I love how Yusei grabs him like a naughty cat every time Crow gets worked up.)

The thing is, I wish I could say this tells us something integral to Crow's character, but looking at the rest of the show... it kind of doesn't. Implicitly, it shows us that he draws the line somewhere, and where people he loves doing absolutely insane things is concerned, he does it sooner than Yusei. It's just that this is never brought up again. And as far as his introduction is concerned, this, the first dark signer!Kiryu/Kalin duel, and him rushing to get Yusei to Martha's on his runner is the last we see of Crow for a while.

(For the love of all that's good and holy, why on earth did he deposit Yusei on his runner like that, shrapnel-stab-wound-side down?? Did he pull out the biggest piece of shrapnel before doing this? How did Yusei's legs not drag on the asphalt? Why did nobody think to tie something around his stomach to slow down the bleeding? Ok I need to calm down I'm overthinking this)

After this bit, the signers are pulled centre stage for a while—which was to be expected, for one, and also seems like the right call, writing-wise. After all, they're the ones the audience expects to save the day. As far as viewers are concerned at this point, Crow is just Some Dude who happens to be good friends with Yusei. We've had characters like this before. Hell, the opening episode of 5Ds introduced us to a whole four of them, and for all we know, Crow could have a first been intended to be precisely that, just another Satellite side character, who just so happens to have ties to the Enforcers-debacle that the others don't.

However. Where the writing for Crow as a character, especially considering where he ends up later, is concerned, this looks like less of a smart move. Because the "set-up" (if you can even call it that) to make Crow a protagonist later is... shaky, to say the least. And I'll be frank with you, I'm pretty sure this is because Crow was intended to be neither a dark signer nor a signer (which the Reddit post about him I linked above also proposes). In other words, it was never meant to be set-up in the first place. Considering how the show developed and turned him into a protagonist later, though, I can't help but wonder how Crow could have been written differently to make him actually slot in well with the rest of the signers without stepping on many people's toes. But before we dive into hypotheticals, let's continue looking at what they did with him first.

We see him between episodes 30 and 35, and then he briefly poofs out of existence until episodes 43-44 where he... mistakes Yaeger/Lazar for a dark signer and has a duel with no outcome against him, which only barely serves to keep him relevant.

(The face of a dark mastermind, servant of an ancient, immeasurable evil. Truly.)

Though him outmanoeuvring the vice director despite all the data he has on him shows him to be a cunning duellist, it feels a bit like a throwaway episode, like the show saying "oh yeah wait don't forget that this guy's also there". Crow exists in the narrative—and gets to duel, which sets him apart from Yusei's other Satellite friends—but he does nothing to advance the plot, despite getting whole episode segments dedicated solely to what he's currently getting up to. He's just kind of there, and it doesn't help to set up any of what comes later, except the idea that he can and will fight a dark signer if he finds one, maybe. But the thing is, Crow vanishes after this duel. Literally.

(Run, bird boy, run! Or, uh... drive?)

And look. The way this moment looks? With the black fog literally catching back up to Crow on-screen? And with what he says, swearing that he won't die here, which is strikingly similar to how the other dark signers refused to die, swearing themselves to revenge instead? I get why people thought this would be the moment Crow died and turned into a dark signer himself. But the thing is, even without all the hints pointing to Goodwin instead of him from the start (Goodwin speaks about being willing to sacrifice Satellite within the first ten episodes, the condor is literally on his shirt, ffs, and the corresponding geoglyph is shown in the background when he talks about the Nazca Lines, I am not making this up), Crow becoming a dark signer makes zero sense because it doesn't fit his character. He has no motivation to become a dark signer, because the dark signers ultimately aim to destroy Satellite. And even with what little the audience knows about Crow at this point, it is crystal clear that Crow would never destroy Satellite, not to speak of sacrificing the children he cares for to summon an Earthbound Immortal. It simply doesn't work, because his character doesn't work like that. Crow is deeply protective of Satellite—as his devotion to making it better during the Enforcer days shows—and he is even more fiercely protective of the kids he takes care of. Destroying either or both to turn the world into a literal hellscape instead goes against everything we've seen him say and do up until this point.

However, this is where we have to address the refrigerator in the room.

(Ah yes. The fridge for Crow. The fridge for Crow that was there from the start. The fridge that Crow totally had the time to curl up and hide inside of. The fridge specifically for Crow. Crow's fridge.)

Every time I watch this moment, I don't know whether to laugh like a maniac or heave the biggest sigh of my life. Even when you're being extremely generous with the show and its writing, there is no getting around the fact that this is as though someone wrote DEUS EX MACHINA all across the screen in bold, red letters. And again, I get why people thought this was the moment where the writers decided to do a 180 and turn Crow into a good guy instead of a dark signer due to the popularity of his cards or whatever. The production timeline still doesn't add up, but I get it. And cards or no cards, you can tell that someone made an out-of-left-field decision in Crow's writing for this moment to exist, because the way things were going for him before, purely based on visual evidence, it looked more like he was going to be another victim of the ominous black fog here, for someone (presumably Yusei) to have an angsty moment about later. (Or, hell, perhaps somewhere around this point, they decided that the final boss duel against Rex Goodwin would be a 3v1 turbo duel, which Aki, despite being a kickass duellist, categorically couldn't participate in because she doesn't have a license at this point! It could have been as simple as that.) To contextualise this, between Crow vanishing and him reappearing here, 7 whole episodes pass. He vanishes in episode 44 and reappears in episode 51. His saving grace is that all the duels in between canonically take place within the same night, which is why it's technically not unrealistic for him to be stuck in a fridge for a few hours. Technically. Ok, but what does he reappear for? Well, to have his very own dark signer duel, of course.

(Not pictured: Bommer's hilariously large runner.)

This is the first time we get to see Crow actively contributing to the larger plot, and in light of where he ends up later, I think this duel does a world of good for him. Firstly, it offers us more backstory (though still less than for the other signers), establishing why Crow's so attached to his orphans, why he's so close to Yusei, and throwing in tidbits like how he learned to read from duel monsters cards. It's "Save the Cat" moments all over, and it also does two other things well: For one, this is the only dark signer duel we get where both parties technically have the exact same goal—revenge. Bommer wants to avenge his hometown, Crow his kids. This duel, more than anything else, shows us that Crow could have become a dark signer—in a world where doing so didn't also mean destroying Satellite and killing his kids. Plus, it's the only duel against a dark signer we get that is fought and won by someone who, at this point, is not a signer. And this is especially important to me because it supports themes the show already began establishing with Rudger/Roman Goodwin and continues much later with Team Ragnarok and the likes: Fate is bullshit, the future is not set in stone, it is determined by what we do here and now and we have to fight to make it better. Therefore, contrary to what "fate" would dictate, Bommer/Greiger is not beaten by a signer. He's beaten by Crow. This is an extremely solid bit of writing that 100% supports the show's themes. (Arguably, this duel might have been even more solid if Crow hadn't actually turned into a signer, because him as a non-signer who stayed a non-signer would have been an even bigger "fuck you" to fate than him becoming the replacement fifth signer later.)

And, well, we know where Crow ends up after that. Seeing as he's been freed from fridge-prison and seeing as Aki doesn't have a runner yet, but the final boss duel is set up as a turbo duel, he joins the fray next to Yusei and Jack to fight Rex Goodwin. And the only thing this duel does for Crow character-wise is bring the whole Daedalus Bridge story full circle.

Which. Let me swing back to that for a second and put on my extra big nerd glasses because wouldn't you know it, I'm a greek mythology nerd and when I hear the name "Daedalus", I perk up like a dog that just spotted a piece of ham.

(Pictured: The least OSHA compliant bridge in the world, probably.)

So. As not to derail this with greek mythology, the short version of the Daedalus myth, as far as it's relevant here, for people who don't know it: Daedalus was a famed architect of Crete, who (among other things) built the labyrinth that kept the Minotaur imprisoned. What he also built was a pair of functional, sort-of mechanical wings held together by wax (because he needed to make a quick getaway at some point, but let's not go there). And he had a son: Icarus. Who famously donned the wings his father built and flew too close to the sun, which made the wax holding the wings together melt, causing him to fall into the sea and die, leaving his father to grieve.

I don't think it's hard to see how the Daedalus-Icarus story connects to the bridge. The Daedalus bridge is named after the genius inventor, reaches into the sky towards the sun, and our mechanical wings in this case are the wings attached first to Rex Goodwin's duel runner and then, you guessed it, the Blackbird. This would lead us to liken Rex Goodwin, of all people, to Icarus, then. And I'd argue the comparison works, too. See, the reason for which Goodwin actually built the bridge at first is left completely up in the air. We know that Crow believes a version wherein the "legendary duellist" wanted to build that bridge to reunite Satellite and the city—and the thing is, for all we know, that might be true. Goodwin never contradicts it, he only claims he was doing it to "oppose destiny" (read: follow Rudger/Roman's plan to take his brother's mark, assemble the signers and fight and win against the dark signers instead of having someone bear both a dark signer and a signer mark on themselves).

(Since when does becoming a dark signer make people swole, anyway? Where was that beef when Kiryu became a dark signer?)

Perhaps along the way, he thought he might as well reunite Satellite with the city, since things were already going to hell there. (Before he became director, which I find very interesting. Did the city decide immediately after the explosion that Satellite was contaminated and needed to be isolated or some such? Were efforts made to reunite city people with their relatives who might now have been stranded in Satellite? Did MIDS, hoping to cover up their mistake, lobby for cutting the Satellite off from the city? Was corruption involved? So many questions...) Or perhaps he simply built the bridge for himself, to get back to civilisation in order to follow his brother's plan and everyone else just interpreted it differently. It matters little—the only thing that matters is how Crow sees it. To him, building the bridge was obviously an attempt to reach the city, despite how hopeless things in Satellite seemed, and Goodwin's final ditch effort to jump off the bridge and "fly" on his duel runner was an act of defiance that turned him into a legend. Most importantly, both these things connect to freedom for Crow. Freedom from the misery in Satellite, freedom from sector security, and arguably, freedom from destiny. But then Goodwin tells him that all building the Daedalus Bridge and jumping off it did for him was teach him that destiny is inevitable. And Crow calls bullshit, because of course he does.

And I'd argue this is even more of a reason why Goodwin works as Icarus: He jumped off the bridge (flew too close to the sun), fell and lost his arm (the wax melted and he crashed into the sea), and ultimately, that fall completely changed his outlook on life and turned him from a (possible) hero into a villain (he "died", metaphorically speaking). This led to him now confronting every hopeful, younger person with the outlook that fate cannot be altered unless you're willing to sacrifice your very humanity itself. And there's Crow, a non-signer partaking in a "destined battle" only signers are supposed to be part of, calling bullshit on all of that merely by breathing.

(Bird boy is angry, watch out)

This moment could have been exemplary to emphasising the show's later themes (and I think to those who love Crow, it is), yet, at the same time, I understand why some people think the writers fumbled the ball with his introduction and role in the plot and cast of characters too much for it to hit as well as it could have. There is also the argument to be considered that the whole Daedalus Bridge-thing, though it might thematically fit Satellite, feels like it could have been written in solely to prop up Crow's character and give him something to clash with Goodwin about. Which, you know. I can't refute that, really. It might have been. And the timeline on Goodwin's shenanigans as the legendary duellist is a bit wonky, too, unfortunately—after all, we know only that the Zero Reverse happened 17 years before the show's start, when Yusei is only a year old. Crow's story would then lead us to believe that Goodwin, after somehow surviving that explosion, stayed in Satellite long enough to see it start turning into a floating heap of junk. (Which means this either happened very quickly or it took him a good few years to start building the bridge; both options have some logisitical issues.) Then he builds the bridge, gets cornered by security, jumps off, and... Then what? He looses his arm (but somehow manages to hold onto his brother's??), somehow makes it over to the city anyway (wow, he must be a great swimmer), then... manages to get hired by the public maintenance bureau somehow, only to climb the ranks at record speed and become director within only a few years? (Or did he meet Iliaster first and they somehow helped him climb to the city's political top?) It's all rather nebulous, and does suggest that Goodwin was not originally written with this bit as part of his backstory in mind. But can I prove that? Nope. Might also just be another instance of the writers fumbling the ball, despite having a solid story outline.

At the end of the day, Crow closes out the dark signers arc by establishing himself as a part of our team of heroes—which is, of course, strongly emphasised by him receiving the dragon's tail mark, while the dragon's head switches over to Yusei.

(The Crimson Dragon, probably: Oh, sod it. Fine, the other guy went batshit and you actually helped. Here's your mark. I'll get you a dragon later or whatever.)

Now, I know this in and of itself was already a polarising moment for people—and the funny thing is, I know that even some people who like Crow hated this moment. And I can see why. Crow's whole thing during the latter half of the DS arc up until here was that he was the only one taking part in the destined battle who was decidedly not destined to be a part of it. He was repeatedly spitting in fate's face, and as I mentioned, this could have been brilliant to throw some weight behind themes the show later brings up again. So in terms of character writing, this moment might have undermined Crow's character, rather than supported it, because it feels like less of a reward and more of a "gotcha": If you're extra uncharitable, Crow suddenly isn't the guy who defied fate and fought for the future (does that ring a bell?) anyway, he's the guy who was supposed to become a chosen one anyway and, like Yusei during the start of the Fortune Cup, simply didn't have a visible mark yet. However. There is also the bigger picture to consider. Character writing aside, Rudger/Roman Goodwin dying would have had a rather sizeable impact on the story, had nobody else become a signer in his stead—because there are supposed to be five signers and Rudger/Roman dying would have seen the group short one chosen one (and short one dragon, but we'll get to THAT can of worms in part two). So, to add my two cents for a minute, I don't think adding a new signer was a bad idea, per se. The execution of this move, however...

And I can hear you yelling. "Rua/Leo should have become a signer instead". And yes. I get that, too. And yes, I know Life Stream Dragon was teased before Black-Winged Dragon was ever conceived of, probably. So yes, Rua/Leo should have become a signer earlier. The question is just where. Because the way this final boss duel is set up, nobody could become an additional signer before this point, it would have turned Rex Goodwin's whole shindig on its head. (Even though the duel against Dimak/Devack could have been a good opportunity to reward Rua with a signer mark early.) Arguably, making Rua a signer instead but letting Crow join the main cast anyway could have made for a stronger showing overall. It would have made the twins harder to sideline the way they were later. And it would have kept Crow's "piss on fate"-theme.

But. This is what we got. Crow got a fast-paced introduction, was quickly made as likeable as possible, had an unfortunate stretch of episodes where he vanished very suspiciously (what I wouldn't give to know what decisions were made among the writers in that period), came back to make a very strong showing against Bommer/Greiger and then participate in the final boss duel against Rex Goodwin, where he got to shove his fate-nonsense back in his face, too. A smooth character arc? Hardly. And with everything laid out like this, I get why he rubbed some people the wrong way. Similarly, I get why he's some people's absolute favourite, though. Both sides have a basis in canon. (But please, let's not justify either with decade-old production conspiracy theories, okay?)

To close this out, allow me to do my thing for a moment and imagine a 5Ds canon where Crow was handled in a way that allowed his character to shine more, and maybe not piss as many people off.

Imagine a Crow who was there with Yusei from the start, alongside Nerve, Blitz, Taka, and Rally. A Crow who was, maybe, angrier at Jack for leaving and stealing Stardust than Yusei was, and who was determined to help his friend get his dragon back. A Crow who still had his kids to look after, and who introduced us to the Daedalus Bridge legend way earlier, to establish it as an organic part of Satellite culture, and who maybe drops hints about the Enforcers earlier, too. And we switch back to him every once in a while as the Fortune Cup is going on. Maybe he's the only one who's slippery enough to outrun Yaeger/Lazar's people when they come to capture Yusei's friends in order to use them as blackmail against him. And he starts looking for them, and runs into Saiga/Blister, and learns what's going on over in the city. Maybe he tries to follow Yusei because all of it rings alarm bells for him, maybe he doesn't because he figures security will be too tight now that Yusei has escaped. Instead of them stumbling out of a container to find TV conveniently playing the Fortune Cup Finale, Yusei's friends are found by Crow, who gets them back to the hideout, where they all catch the finale with Saiga/Blister. (Optional: If we want him to stay a signer, maybe he gets a weird feeling while watching the finale.) Then Yusei's suddenly back and Kiryu/Kalin's introduction proceeds as we know it. Yusei's injured, but Crow sticks around for a little longer, leaving only once he knows Yusei's gonna be fine. Then he decides that he needs to take up arms against the dark signers, too, because like hell is he gonna let anyone destroy Satellite and sacrifice his kids. He can still duel Yeager/Lazar while Aki and Yusei are duking it out in the hospital and the signers learn what the hell being a signer means, it matters little. Maybe this time, he outruns the black fog—barely—and there's no fridge. And he realises that stuff makes people vanish. While the signers start their big battle, he races back to check on the kids and finds the same disaster we already know, and everything else from there on out proceeds as previously. (Except that maybe, the first time Crow sees Jack again, he has some choice words for him for legging it to the city and stealing from Yusei.) Whether he turns into a signer at the end or not is up to preference, I think.

Nobody has to be on board with this version, but this is probably how I would have adjusted it to make things less jarring.

For now, see you in part two.

#yugioh 5ds #crow hogan #ygo 5ds #5ds #rex goodwin #character analysis #yugioh meta #orchid rambles #oh sweet baby jesus this took SO LONG #AND NOW I NEED A PART TWO #BECAUSE I HAVE TOO MANY THOUGHTS #god damn #it's very late at night here but I just Had To Get This Done #anyway take it #here it is #I'll try my best to work on part two quickly but I have no idea when I'm gonna get done with that

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accio-victuuri · 1 year

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apparently, i’m not done clowning. I did a bit here ( now edited for correction 🍊) but there a few more that has come up. specifically a galaxy cpn about toy/model planes. sooooo.. let’s go! 💪🏻

The most obvious one is from ZZ’s weibo post of course. They only know seat number 5 and I am here for it. 🙏🏼

to add on the cpn post i linked about wyb knowing how to cook — there are photos going around of someone who was able to take photos of his stuff ( allegedly ) that’s being transported out once a project has wrapped up. you can see pots & pans and a mini washer. This adds to the fake rumors & his co-stars stories that he cooks.

this might not be as sweet to others but i’m personally invested in it. it’s the change in wyb ever since he got to know xz and them being in a stable relationship. some fans still love to identify him as this bachelor who can’t cook and does the bare minimum to fend for himself. and that may be yibo before but certainly not now. I love seeing him grow and be a more responsible version of himself. I’m not giving all the credit to XZ, but i think he helped a lot for WYB to go into this direction. Cooking for himself and making his workplace feel like home even if he is stuck in hotels.

NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT TOY / MODEL PLANES!

The story starts in the last few months before 2021 ended, the CPN about the toy plane they both had. ZZ was using his on a vlog and then it magically appears in WYB’s hand in a NYE photoshoot. His performance that night had nothing to do with planes or flying. It was even black and white so we can’t see the color.

Tho some people were thinking this is a clue for his new project, which is BTF. where he plays a pilot. Which actually has a point but the thing is he can use just about any kind of toy plane! Not the same one as his sworn rival XZ! 😂😂😂😂

Our CPN here is that XZ gave it to him, we’ve seen fake rumors of how they give each other the most mundane stuff ( example the toy night light ) so this kinda checks out. It can be a joke and also a random, “hey this plane is for you cause you’re gonna be a pilot in a film.” ( and well paper planes have always been their thing )

2023, during the BTF roadshow, one of his co stars shared a story about WYB ( as requested by the audience ) and the gist is, on the last day of filming with the planes ( this is Yanliang end of April ) they were sad cause they will miss it. Then Yu-ge said that he saw a shop that sells plane models and everyone was just “okay”, in the meantime, Yibo was all — “ really where is it?” 🤩🤩 Then as soon as Yu-Ge arrived in the store, WYB was already there and he had his mask on. He can’t call out his name so he just said “Lei Yu” and WYB looked so excited and captivated by the models. I mean, we know WYB and his love for them right? Yu-ge said WYB bought all models. and that WYB said he will give it to his friends.

There was a big j-20 model that yu-ge wanted but the shop keeper said they don’t have stock cause the man ( yibo ) got it already 😂😂😂. WYB then told yu-ge that it’s okay, he can ask the shop to order for him and they can ship it to beijing directly so it will be easier. but yu ge really wanted it and said, wyb can do that himself but wyb said he got it and he will take it with him today. this gremlin boy honestly.

We can actually end this story here and even without the CPN, this is a cute story! It’s WYB being the collector and wanting a piece of Pilot Lei Yu with him.

This CPN may seem out there but please stay with me. LOL. So it’s been a popular CPN that as soon as BTF was finished filming ( Tongchuan on 5/12 ) WYB drove to where XZ was working ( Huairou, Beijing ). Which is sort of explained over here and the whole covid test fiasco on 5/13. The speculation is, XZ is one of the “friend” that will be gifted with an airplane model and WYB wants to hand deliver it to him. The photo i shared above ( right with the boxes ) was something posted before, of a person saying it’s the closest they can be to wyb. and those are most likely the model planes he bought to be delivered. I’m not saying all the models are for XZ, but he will get one. Possibly the big J-20, cause the boxes on the courier all seem to be the same size. && in the story, the big j-20 is what he will take with him.

If it’s just for WYB/friends they can all be shipped right? So why did he insist to take it with him? Another question, If i’m one of those “friends” in yibo’s circle, shouldn’t i show off during this period that WYB gave me a model plane years ago? so far no one has posted. I’m not doubting that he has friend and lord knows this boy is so generous, but i’m just wondering.

this is one of those cpns that i think will get clearer as time goes by and if we get more information ( and it’s okay if we don’t really. ) & crumbs like :

1. If we spot a model plane that looks like one of those in BTF in any of XZS vlogs. Which is highly unlikely, but let’s see cause sometimes they wanna troll us. 🤡

2. If WYB tells the story about these models himself and what happened.

I’m just in this state of thinking about WYB who wanted to secure a nice J-20 model to give to ZZ as soon as they can meet in Beijing. ZZ gave him a literal toy plane and now WYB will exchange it for a better one, A J-20 that his character used. ♥️

reference source.

#yizhan #bjyx #there is no science here i’m just clowning like i always do

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simp4thedemonbros · 1 year

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Playing Mario Kart with the brothers

Hey gang! It’s been a while huh.. A lot of stuff has happened in the past year and I was burnt out with life in general, lmao but here I am, trying my best.

This is short and stupid tbh, but I just wanted something to help me get back into writing about my fav boys, I hope you enjoy :)

I love you all v much

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masterlist

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Pairing: Brothers x gn!MC

Word Count: 1061

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Lucifer

Mains as Bowser (he's tryna be so big and scary smh)

Surprisingly good

You expected him to be like a 90 year old that has never seen technology in his life, but he knows all the controls AND starts picking up on how to drift

I'm not saying he can beat you but he's usually coming in a steady 3rd place when you race.

Even sometimes comes in 1st if you're having a bad round. ("WHY IS THE GUY IN 10TH PLACE THROWING BLUE SHELLS HOWS THAT GONNA HELP HIM AT ALL?!") (......guys am i ok??????)

Enjoys it a lot more than you thought he would

It started out as him finally giving in to you asking him to play but over time he finds himself asking if you want to play.

It's a fun way for him to wind down

Enjoys seeing you get competitive, and loves seeing you blush when he compliments your skills out loud.

Mammon

Mains as Wario (I can not justify this I just think it’s funny)

Is pretty much on par with your skills

You're both constantly overtaking each other in and out of 1st place

You are both ABSOLUTELY jumping on top of each other, trying to block the other from seeing the screen. (THE SQUID IS NOT ENOUGH!)

"Hey knock it off would ya the Great Mammon is kicking your ass fair and square"

Immediately does the same to you the second you're in 1st for more than 5 seconds.

You're both on a mission to ruin the CPUs life the moment it overtakes you both while you're arguing.

You spend loads of time watching the highlight reel because something stupid happened and you both think it's the funniest thing ever.

You pretend to hate each other during the game but immediately return to being super close and cuddly after the game is over.

He absolutely makes bets with you - "MC if I win this you have to do WHATEVER I say for the whole night!"

Leviathan

Mains as Yoshi (idk why I just think it fits him) or Link ("bc he’s so cool" (so true bestie))

A monster

Impossibly good (He's had years of racing game practice so idk what you expect) but BOY does it suck to think you're good at a game and then have someone prove to you you're just average at it.

It's good to see him have so much fun though, and trying to cause blue shell chaos from way back in the CPU pack is pretty fun.

He’s definitely helping you to also get impossibly good at the game, you're already able to beat everyone but him when you start picking up on some of his skills.

He knows every shortcut.

Idk bro I just think some cheating is in order. Maybe congratulate his win by kissing his cheek and watching him stutter and fumble through the next round.

Satan

Mains as Dry Bowser (tryna be better n cooler than Lucifer oops)

I'm not gonna lie to you, his wrathful side will 100% come out when you start kicking his ass.

Is the death glare you're receiving right now worth the victory?? YES, ABSOLUTELY

This is what the game is about BAYBEE

Maybe you give him a few wins so he doesn’t kill you though, you'd never tell him you LET him though.

Games aren't really his thing but once he gets the swing of things and you give him the few wins he finds it much easier and starts to enjoy himself a bit more, and definitely chills out on the death glare.. especially when you're kind enough to not only celebrate your own wins but his as well.

After playing definitely apologises if he made you uncomfortable or upset and absolutely lets you do whatever you want.

Want him to read his favourite book for you?? Cool. Get you some tea?? He's on it. Give you some kisses?? He might need to get over the sudden boldness but he'll happily oblige.

Asmodeus

Mains as Princess Peach (the pink gold one tho yk) or a mii as himself.

Listen not to conform to the "pretty boys don't play video games" stereotype but he probably doesn't care all that much about the game.

Mostly wants to play to see you smiling and laughing as you have fun. That's when you're the most attractive after all.

Surprisingly likes rainbow road. (Sadistic idk what to tell you..) but also it is a pretty track, and he enjoys the colours.

Honestly he likes any tracks with bright colours and nice/fun music.

He's not that competitive, he went into the game knowing he wasn't going to be that good at it so he's just there to give you company.

After all the fun of it all he definitely asks if you want to come into his bathroom to unwind with him and relax.

Beelzebub

Mains as Donkey Kong

You're absolutely sitting in front of him in between his legs while he has his arms around you with his own controller.

There are so many snacks.

You're both pretty average at the game so it's honestly more like both of you trying to be as problematic to whoever is in 1st place as possible.

And having fun doing it.

He's always loved doing chill nights like this so having you to enjoy them with just makes them even better.

Will celebrate any and every victory by kissing your forehead and then offering you a snack while he begins eating his own, ignoring how flustered you might be.

Will apologise if he hits you with a blue shell even when you tell him "It’s part of the game Beel, don't worry"

Belphegor

Mains as Waluigi (Me, personally… as a Waluigi main I wouldn't let that slide)

Chaotic

Will cause problems on purpose.

If he ever overtakes you/hits you with an item/comes in first and you complain he will say something along the lines of "then get good" or "skill issue"

His behaviour makes you SUPER competitive but also makes playing the game with him super fun because of it.

It's also super fun to hit him with items and then overtake him last minute when he thinks he's going to win.

You probably don't play for that long and end up cuddling up for a nap together instead.

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hazethestrange · 1 year

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[Edit]SPOILERS FOR NEW UPDATE!

Okay but can I say how much I love this update? I wanna walk about so many things all at once from Time throwing a blanket over a sleeping (and clearly exhausted) Hyrule, to all the Twilight Princess stuff from Ilia, Zelda, Minda and Ganon, and the whole situation where the gang probably has caught on that Twilight is Time's descendent, but wanna focus on Time's and Warriors interaction here.

Warriors calling Time his actual name of "Link" shows that it's only ever used to grab their attention which Warriors was doing here. Time was clearly in his own head until being addressed by his name.

And then just...all of this. Warrior now knows why Time and Twilight always seemed so close with one another, its cause they are actual family. Not through just bonds like the rest of them, but by blood.

The comment Warrior makes, saying how many of them don't have family hurts a little. We know some do, such as Wind with his sister and grandma, and Time with Malon as his wife, but many of the boys don't have family to go back to.

And Warriors comment about Time should be proud, proud that he eventually will start is own family is a nice comment. Idk, I know what I want to say, but finding words is hard XD.

And Time thanking Warriors for being so reliable during this time is great also, shows that he really does trust him to take care of things when he himself probably isn't in the right state to help.

#linked universe #lu time #lu warriors #Idk I am rambling here!#linked universe spoilers

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wolffallsintodanmeihell · 5 months

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So I was talking to my bf the other night and made this rec eps list for fun. The idea pretty much was like to challenge myself to see if I had to recc someone who was hesitant to watch the entire show due to length and wanted to get a general gist, which eps would I recc for them to get a good feel, esp if they've maybe onIy had prior experience fics/art or want to delve on that but wanted to have an idea of canon first. I llimited myself to 15 eps with 5 extra "reccomended ", my focus being character dev eps and plot stuff like the lead up to reign storm, valerie's plotline, danielle, etc.

To be honest it was kinda hard at points lol, esp since DP is episodic moreso than plot heavy so it's not really like making a list for like a long running battle shonen or something, but hey this was fun to do fndnd.

Also again this is not a "you must follow this or else" type thing, I only did this for fun, I'll even link the tiermaker I used in case someone has their own version and opinions they wanna post as well which I'd honestly love to see.

To explain my reasonings

Req. Tier

Mystery Meat - First ep of the show, get introduced to main cast, set up yada yada

Parental Bonding - Introductuon to Paulina, first ep we get an idea for Sam and Danny's relationship.

What You Want - Tucker only really has two episodes during the show, so at the very least the first one focusing on him would be good to have to delve a bit into him.

Bitter Reunions - First Vlad ep, esp since he's Danny's arch-nemesis would be weird not to get introduced for later on.

My Brother's Keeper - Jazz finding out about Danny's secret, plus I really feel this is a great episode showing their dynanic and getting to learn more of how Jazz is.

Shades of Grey - best character Valerie gets introduced here, so felt it was pretty important to include esp for later on.

Public Enemies - This is the first episode where the status quo is changed and now Amity Park is just generally aware of Danny. Thinking he's an enemy yeah, buttttt still aware of Inviso-Bill i nearly typed in buffalo bill

Maternal Instincts - Danny and Maddie getting screentime together, Vlad's second appearance, and the start of Maddie straight up hating his ass lol.

Memory Blank - Mainly chose this one since it's where we learn how Danny first had the accident, so hey backstory stuff.

Reign Storm - The whole plotline with Vlad and Pariah Dark's ring and crown, more Valerie development, it's a fun episode imo. Too bad this didn't get followed in S3 but-

The Ultimate Enemy - Do I really gotta explain lol, Dan and Clockwork, Danny finding out Jazz knows his secret, etc etc like it's pretty much the episode every reccomends.

Flirting With Disaster - Big development for Valerie showing how she's developed imo, continues the Danny and Valerie stuff from Reign Storm, also again I'm biased towards Valerie lol

Reality Trip - Look I'll just be blunt I fucking love this episode, like it's genuinely my favorite of the three specials. It's a fun adventure, I love the Danny being revealed plot line, it's an exciting watch, could not leave it out.

Kindred Spirits - Danielle introduction plus more Vlad development as well, plus depending on your watch order I think this is counted as the S2 finale?

D-Stabilized - More on Danielle and Valerie's plotlines, and for a general bias honestly find it to be a pretty good episode and if any I'd say are "required" from S3 it would def be this one.

Recc. Tier

These were the most difficult cause there's still a bunch of episodes I'd rec.

Life Lessons - First ep where we see Danny and Valerie learn about each other outside of a negative context, plus pretty funny episode.

King Tuck - Again, Tucker barely gets any episodes so I do think his should be watched. Similar reasons to what I put for "What You Want".

Secret Weapons - First ep post-TUE where we see how Jazz and Danny are now that they're both aware she knows his secret. Get more development between them and more Vlad screentime too.

Eye for an Eye - This was such a hard one to choose between D-Stabilized and it, but I felt the former was more important in the end. Sets up the Vlad becoming mayor plotline that gies throughout S3 and also it's just funny like Vlad really rigged an election over a prank war with a 14 yr old.

Urban Jungle - I'm personally not the biggest fan of this episode, plus it's not really a special despite being advertised as such, but it does introduce the ice powers Danny gets that stays with him till the end so I felt it would be a good one to have listed as well.

Fun fact I actually had an earlier ver that incl. Million Dollar Ghost over Public Enemies, but when I thought about it I felt the latter had more bigger impact than the former simply setting up a plot line that Reign Storm goes more into anyway. Plus I really wanted to include Control Freaks cause it introduces Freak Show but again was limited 😭😭

Also it's very hilarious that for all the villains who's episodes I couldn't include, Desiree got BOTH her episodes in, like damn her impact 🤣

Anyways here's the Tiermaker I used in case someone wants to do their own!

#danny phantom #wolf rambles #meg rambles

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mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune · 6 months

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My Thoughts On Canon-Mammon From S2-EP7 Of Helluva Boss Part 1

[Note: This Is For Mature Audience Readers Only, even if I could switch the labels from "Everyone" to "Mature", it might okay as it is for now.......but seriously, this will be for Mature Audience Readers Only. also it is optional to read the whole talking about the episode in this post along with the off topic stuff in this, so only read this if you want to.]

first I want to say Happy Halloween before I give my thoughts on the episode, also if some fans haven't seen it yet, don't read this until after you watched the episode. :)

gotta say, Mammon might seem like a big adorkable goober of a goofball jester, but he is also a jerk.

I know I still want to call dibs on the Mammon from our dimension, cause I still want to punch him below the belt....

even if it is normal to be a bit greedy, but NO one and I mean NO one messes with my Caffeine....and it sucked that they had raised the price on the Coca-Cola, which with that and certain prices that is raised a bit too high at times, can ya blame me thinking that Mammon is involved.

I may be a Defective Earth Angel who doesn't work at 100% like other Earth Angels, and I gave myself the nicknames "Eveningstar Princess" and "The Embodiment Of Weirdness" and there is the whole my still procrastinating with that whole checking to see if my blood type will come out O RH D Negative for a third type...

because who would look forward to getting their finger or thumb pricked by a needle...? and I know I have mentioned before the last few times we tried to check but finally got it right and it was successful, I ended up feeling not so great when doing that blood type test, but I learned to keep my eyes closed and that is what I'm going to do when we finally get around to doing that blood type test again...

but anyway, I might be a Defective Earth Angel but it doesn't mean I like being pushed around...and I don't like having my past lives not being protected properly.

I mean if it were still possible, I would still want to give Lucifer the cold hands to face punishment for doing that rebellion right in the middle of the imbalance between the Masculine and Feminine energies, that is linked to the dethroning of The Goddess and as well as about the Indo-Europeans, like I said before...

I learned about it from that book called "Stones Of The Goddess: Crystals for The Divine Feminine" by Nicholas Pearson.

but I don't want to take slag from Mammon, and if it were possible, I would tackle him to the ground and while he is on his back, I would slap him silly....

and well, if the Mammon from Helluva Boss were real, I would want to call dibs on his butt as well just so I can kick it.

well, I know I never really kicked anyone's butt in real life....unless you count video games.

I know that once I had to be held back when someone was bullying one of my family members, I guess I wasn't really thinking during that time but the moment I saw it, I think I got really mad and when I was about to go over to them, I was being held back....

I know I was a weird baby as well, and I know I gave my Mom a few surprises after I was born....one of them being on how big I was...

my hair turned out to be a golden color...

I said I started to call myself the "Embodiment Of Weirdness"

well if ya knew how weird I was when I was a baby and did some freaky stuff not very long after I was born, you freak out as well...

like being told that while laying on my belly, I kept raising my arms up to my head and resting my head on them....and I know I wasn't a year old when that happen because what I had been told about it.

it's like a mix of cute and freaky, well it did freak my family out but they also thought it was really cute.

it be funny if that happen with Charlie from Hazbin Hotel, picture Lucifer freaking out and telling Lilith. XD

or if Adam the Leader of the Exterminators, had a baby and he witnesses the same thing and starts freaking out.

or if Ozzie and Fizz adopt a baby, and they see the same thing and start freaking out even more than Lucifer and Adam.

that would be funny and adorable.

and speaking of Fizz, I know he looked up to Mammon, but it's too bad he couldn't see through Mammon.

but at least the relationship between Ozzie and Fizz became open.

and they kissed on the lips, and it seems that everyone in that universe who ended up learning that Ozzie loved Fizz...

it got every hellborn present fangirling, I wouldn't be surprised if some of them yelled out "YES!!! MY OTP SHIP IS CANON!"

I mean come on, ya can't be surprised that those two would have real supporters both from our dimension and from that universe. XD

of course now I have the weird idea about wanting to ship Mammon with Molly, Angel's twin sister.

and believe me, I have some weird ideas on how that Mammolly would go.

and yeah the ship name just came to me just now.

and besides being weird, I know I'm still paranoid about the Asmodeus from our dimension....and I have good reason to be of him.

like worrying about if he would try to seduce me and make me fall for him, only for it to be a trick and trap because it is some sick and twisted revenge plan on King Solomon.

and yeah, in case no one read the parts that had me talking about it before and ask "what does that have to do with King Solomon...?"

the reason I believe that Asmodeus would want to do that, like use me as revenge on him.....it's because I'm one of King Solomon's descendants.

I guess I should try not to think about that too much and just me being paranoid.....but I still think that not being able to take that throne is more of a blessing and not really a curse at all.

I mean even if I'm somehow right about Asmodeus wanting revenge on King Solomon, he could pick anyone of his descendants, not just me.....though it is possible not all of his descendants would end up being Earth Angels, even a Defective Earth Angel.

and yeah as weird as it might be, I have a small crush on Ozzie and Fizz from Helluva Boss, but I still want them to be together.

I mean there are different levels of crushes, and not all of them would be close to the point of being really in love.

just like there is different levels of fans, there are the safe and dangerous ranks of them.

even those who are the mild-crazy fans are a bit more safer than the really REALLY bad types, like that guy we see in that new episode who couldn't take a "No" and was obviously a stalker from what Blitz had mentioned what he was doing at his and Fizz's dressing room.

well at least Blitz was there to protect Fizz.

I can't help but think I might be the same height as those two, or even a inch shorter than them.

I know I'm suppose to be 5'5" and once I thought I was 5'6" but apparently I wasn't...

plus whenever I see my shadow on the wall or door, I notice how dang short I am and even when I take my shoes off I seem even shorter, like stepping out of them makes me look like I lost some height just a bit.

if it turns out Blitz and Fizz are around 5'6" I might end up being surprised, cause it would mean I was right about them being around my height.....well more like them being a bit taller than me.

hey, I'm weird and that is one of the weird thoughts that pop into my head.

and Angel is like way taller than those two, he could probably pick me up like a doll. O_O

and I can't help but think that Arackniss might be even taller than me.

like for all I know, he could be a inch taller than me.

but anyway, I loved the episode that Mammon appeared on, and it had a very touching moment in it that showed such a sweet side of Fizz when he was using sign language to a little Impling boy who wanted to be just like him, and it was both sweet and a surprise that Fizz knew sign language, and he was able to understand what that boy was saying, but I think they gave Fizz some comfort because they were a fan that not only looked up to him but also treated him as a person.

Fizz would make a good parent someday, I mean even if it doesn't happen in the canon, it can in the fanon and yeah fans have made Fizz and Ozzie have children of their own in the Fanon Timelines.

and I'm guessing that Fizz was worried what everyone would say or think if they found out that he and Ozzie were dating and that they loved each other, I mean his face kind of gave that worry away after Ozzie admit that he was in love with him.

but instead of getting "boos" and "looks of disgust" they ended up with a lot of Hellborns being all happy and fangirling.

I really wouldn't be surprised now, that some of their fans had been shipping them and seeing that their ship is canon, might of ended up going into a fangirl coma.

like picture after Ozzie admitting he loves Fizz, and a fangirl gets so happy she faints into a fangirl coma and one of those goats with the candles on their heads while wearing a doctor coat, ends up having to revive her and yells out "CLEAR!" and then the shocks to the fangirl's body starts to happen and keeps happening until she comes out of the fangirl coma....even if that doesn't really happen for a coma, but maybe that can be for a fangirl coma in cartoons.

I wonder if Glitz and Glam will end up being Mammon's "Harley Quinn Twins" well I guess I'm curious about that.

Mammon did seem a bit s*xist in the start of the episode, wouldn't be surprised if he still is.

I mean I don't know if he would laugh at this joke

"what do you call a skeleton out in the snow....?"

........."chilled to the bone."

I had posted a undertale fan art before over at another place that had that joke.

it was a few years ago when I came up with that joke.

I think Fizz had viewed Mammon as a type of Father Figure, but from what was going on in the episode, it doesn't seem so now.

Fizz having a panic attack, must of been scary for him and even having to pretend he was okay in front of Mammon.

at least Fizz didn't hit his head on a ceiling of a car during it...

cause once again I had a panic attack in 2015, of course I don't think I figured out it was a panic attack until much later.

and yeah even though I didn't have one while in the car this year, while being alone and waiting for family to come back, I still hated how long it seem they were taking and I got that weird feeling where my heart is.....I don't think it is anxiety, so my family could be wrong about that.

but at least I was able to fully control myself and try to keep calm, well as calm as I could be.

and there is reasons why I don't like being outside alone, even when just waiting in the car.

even if both Fizz and I have different reasons to get panic attacks, but it's good that Blitz and Ozzie were there for him when he needed it.

and well besides wanting to punch Mammon from Helluva Boss, below the belt, I also want to flip him the double bird.

even if my own Dad wasn't really around and I only met him once, Mammon would make him and even my Possible Soul-Dad better and not so bad at being a father figure.

like it can still be possible I was made up of fused soul fragments, and one of them being from my Earth Angel Mom....

I might be weird but I'm also a very weird experience. XD

anyway, I don't want to give everything away from that new episode.

but I can't help to want to view the Fanon-Mammon as "Mammon Jr." and being the Canon-Mammon's Son in the Fanon Timeline.

just picture Canon-Mammon yelling out "Oh, Junior!" when yelling for Fanon-Mammon who then yells "Shut up Dad! I'm texting Robo-Fizz!"

yeah, I'm weird for thinking about that, but I like that idea.

it's okay not everyone agrees about that weird idea that the two Mammons become like Father & Son.

at least in the episode Fizz and Ozzie had those cute moments and even kissed.

seriously you two, stop being so freaking adorable, your going to cause some fans to go into a fangirl coma. XD

even if some of those who go into a fangirl coma, turn out to be fanboys or fan-enboys or fan-enbirls.

Enboy is Nonbinary-Boys & Enbirls are Nonbinary-Girls.

I think I will talk about my thoughts about the episode that Canon-Mammon (nickname Mammon Sr.) first appeared in, more some other time.

I really need to hurry up and post this now, so I can get a Crossover ship drawing post next before Halloween is over with and it becomes tomorrow.

so yeah, if some ended up reading this, hope you like the whole idea bout Mammon Sr. and Mammon Jr., as well as talking about my thoughts about Ozzie admitting he loves Fizz, had ended up sending someone into a fangirl coma, don't know what type of hellborn they would be, so they could be a Imp or any other type of hellborn that ends up in that fangirl coma.

Fizz might of not been expecting so many to be so happy for him and Ozzie, but even if some aren't, the Fizz x Ozzie shippers could out number the ones that might not be happy about it.

so Striker, Stella, Andrea and a few others in that universe who aren't happy about those two being together, might end up being out numbered by the ones who supports their love.

anyway when I can, I will talk more about the episode where Mammon Sr. appeared in, but it might be a while.

cause I think I will wait a bit longer before I talk about certain spoilers from that episode.

also how the whole Fanon-Mammon could be that version's son in the Fanon Timelines (But NOT in the Canon-Timeline)

has to do with a fragmenting a part of Mammon Sr., ya know like his soul or whatever he has....

so kind of being what happen with Asmodeus Sr. from our dimension, which if info is true, it would be King Solomon that caused it, I will have to look it up again.

also I'm going to make this post into a Part 1, and when I can I will write Part 2 of this...

#do not reblog without permission #mature audiences only #part 1 #helluva boss spoilers #mammon helluva boss #asmodeus x fizzarolli #asmodeus helluva boss #fizzarolli helluva boss #my thoughts #talking about feelings #october 31 #october 2023

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beautifulhigh · 2 years

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Life, believe, is not a dream, so dark as sages say (17k, AO3 link)

Four people inside the bank: codenames but no attempts to hide their faces and willing to execute people in front of a crowd of witnesses. Clearly rehearsed actions and an obvious plan which didn't involve anything you would expect from people holding up a bank. Others outside the bank with their own instructions and contingency plans.

This was not going to go by any kind of playbook Carlos knew, especially not one that had any intention of a happy ending.

---

Carlos and Grace are in the wrong place at the wrong time, caught up in a bank hostage situation. How do you negotiate with someone when it's not about money but about causing harm? And how do you cope when you're the target of it all?

They say it takes a village to raise a child. It took a damn city to write this fic. This has been a long time coming and would not have gotten to this stage if it weren't for everyone who has helped me along the way.

In no particular order, I want to thank: @slayerkitty, @bubblesandroses8, @sapphire11, @queen-saltyfries, @doublel27, @chaotictarlos, @bisexual-unicorn0, @harryhorrorpictureshow, and everyone else on this hellsite who has sent me love and encouragement.

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. For your help, encouragement, ideas, lines, support, prodding, translations, and for generally not giving up on me.

Title comes from the poem "Life" by Charlotte Brontë

Life, believe, is not a dream So dark as sages say; Oft a little morning rain Foretells a pleasant day.

------

Carlos likes to think he's a patient man. He has to be. As a patrol officer he's one of the go-to guys for canvassing, asking the same questions, often recording the same answers. He's sat on duty desks during the graveyard shifts where the biggest event was his cell phone battery dying and robbing him of his only distraction.

Hell, he waited TK Strand out and now look at them.

Carlos likes to think he's a patient man but god help him if this queue at the bank wasn't making him re-evaluate that conclusion. He's actually convinced that he's further back than he was when he started. He should have come earlier. Or left it until later. Or another day. He's waited this long, what was another day? He'd have another day off at some point, a day when TK was at work and he could run this errand. He could absolutely do this another day.

Maybe he'd spend that day in this same queue.

"Hey, honey," came a voice beside him and he turned to see Grace slipping into the line next to him. She flashed a smile to the person behind them and linked her arm with his. "Please let me cut in, I swear I cannot spend my day off in this line," she added quietly.

Carlos laughed softly and patted the hand that was on his arm. "Of course, darling."

"D'ya think they do this on purpose?" she asked. "Put fewer people on the counters just before lunch?"

"Should be a crime if they do," Carlos muttered.

"Feel free to have a word," Grace laughed softly.

"Maybe I will."

"So what brings you down here?" she asked. "I would have thought you'd be all online for everything."

"Normally I am," Carlos said. "But you need to come down in person to close the account so this is how I'm apparently spending my day off."

"Me too," Grace sighed.

"Isn't Judd on shift?" Carlos asked. "You leave Charlie in the car?"

"Window's cracked," she quipped. "No, she's in day care. Lord knows I love that girl more than life itself, but her momma was a whole person before her and sometimes I think I forget that. Like there's not a thing of mine that doesn't have her stuff in now, don't think I own a bag that doesn't now have diapers and wipes and bags in." She paused for a second. "Does that make me a bad mom?"

"I think that makes you a good person. Taking time for yourself means Charlie gets the best version of you."

"This is why I like you," she laughed.

"Being a parent can't be easy."

"No, but it's amazing. And unexpected sometimes." She caught Carlos' look of confusion and smiled. "Wyatt," she added by way of explanation.

"Right. Yeah."

"Judd took to bein' a father like the proverbial duck with Charlie, and he stepped right up with Wyatt too, making plans for trips and days out and spending time with him. I think Judd's tryin' to make up for missing out on so much, even though it weren't his fault."

"He's a good man, Grace."

"He's the best. Family comes first for him, full of love, nothing's too much. Think you've got one of them yourself."

Carlos smiled in agreement. "Yeah, I do."

Keep reading on AO3

#tarlos #tk strand #carlos reyes #911 lone star #911ls #otp: hey baby #writing jen is writing #tarlos fic

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myers-meadow · 2 years

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Ambrose Summer Vacation ch. 3

Title: The Ambrose Summer Vacation, chapter 3: Strange Harvest.

Chapter 1: 45 Miles To Go. Chapter 2: Malda.

Summary: On vacation in southern Louisiana, a friend is seduced by a handsome southern man to visit his museum in a small town called Ambrose. The vacation lasts longer than intended. During her stay, Katyusha tries her best to get a hold of the Sinclair brothers, to understand what is going on, and perhaps to claw her way to freedom. Their receptiveness to her soon causes a complicated predicament and her struggles grow as she gets in over her head.

Contents: Vincent x OC and Bo x OC. OC is female, named, but has otherwise little specified backstory. Slower burn than my usual stuff, and it is dark. It is a poly fic, but no threesomes and the brothers aren't involved with each other.

Warnings: Kidnapping, canon-typical violence. Dub-con touching, nudity. 18 + chapter. Sexually explicit scenes. Stockholm syndrome?

Wordcount: 3899

Enjoy! I had great time writing this, thing are happening after the set up of previous chapters, and I'm so glad I can share this with you after days of working on this part <3. It's also a bit longer than previous chapters.

Ao3 link. Link to masterlist.

Divider by @/firefly-graphics.

The tourists didn’t show up that day, and it felt like a waste to have been so on edge the whole time. The ‘watching Katya’ shift changed, and Vincent took me upstairs to the bedrooms. I’d been there often enough before, to clean. Bo had the big bedroom, the one I suspected used to be their parent’s. They must’ve shared a room, the one that’s now Vincent’s, but there was barely anything there to remind of Bo’s presence. I liked the small bathroom best, though. Despite the guestroom that always sat untouched, neat, with the quilt thrown over the foot end of the bed and the curtains closed, they never let me sleep there. Perhaps because Vincent made so little use of the upstairs, preferring to work, sleep and eat in the basement whenever possible.

That evening, he went straight to his room, making sure I followed. Leaving me to stand awkwardly by the door, he fiddled with the record player, until something jazzy, with lazy vocals, something rhythmic and seductive, filled the room. I dared a few steps inside. He walked around me, movements swift, overly familiar with the space, and opened the adjoined bathroom, the sage green one. Gestured me inside, handed me a razor and pulled at the waistband of my skirt. I raised my eyebrows in confusion. Pulling my hand in between us, flattening it, and using the end of the razor to write something letter by letter.

‘Shave. Down there.’

“You want me to- what?”

He sighed and retrieved a sketchbook from his nightstand, with a pencil. “I need a nude model. So I’d like you to shave there.”

I blinked. “I’ve never shaved before.”

We stared at each other for a beat. He handed me a tub of shaving cream. It never occurred to me that he’d shave, or perhaps have a beard underneath the mask. “Go against the grain. Take your time.” And with that, he shut the bathroom door.

After shaving, showering, and drying myself off with a threadbare towel, I stood still, staring at the door. Since he had specified to shave down there, I left my legs and armpits hairy as they were. What would be worse; coming out nude, or undressing in front of him? The power he had over me made my head swirl.

Stepping out of the bathroom, I ignored his eye on me and headed to sit on the bed, as he usually drew me sitting down. He sat in the only chair in the room, by the room covered with old toy cars on the window sill. He flipped the page he was working on over, starting a new one as soon as he saw me. Perhaps he did art at university. Perhaps he was very used to seeing nude women. He stood up as I tried to sit in a somewhat modest position, and leaned his knee on the bed. He loomed over me, even more frightening than before, and I willed my hands to stay on the duvet. To not react with fear or defensiveness. Gentler than before though, his hand pushed my shoulder until I leaned back, and he helped my legs up on the bed until I laid down. A shudder travelled through me from the warmth of his hands. It was still September, but the evenings cooled down considerably. He noticed, his gaze quickly shooting up to mine, before resuming his movements to position me. His fingers slid along the skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake. Shoulder to elbow, to wrist, then onto hip, over the roundness of me there, his breath hitched, and it was then that the movements could not be considered professional by any stretch of the imagination. He kneaded hip and thigh, digging in his fingers, testing softness, firmness, where the bones were hidden. The mask showed nothing of his expression, but his breath was heavy as it echoed against the wax.

In a desperate attempt to distract him, to place something in between us, to do anything at all, I leaned up and reached for the sketchbook. At the same time as I brough our faces closer by reaching for it, it occurred to me, clear as day, sharp like being pricked by a needle. Those wandering hands, that heavy breathing; I could use it. I could survive this place. At least until others come, until I steal the keys to Bo’s truck – until something goes well for me. The thought was quickly squashed as Vincent gripped my wrist with a large hand, stopping me from flipping it over to the side he was drawing on, and it was just as clear that if he wanted anything, he would have it.

“Can I see your drawings? You’ve drawn me almost daily, but I’ve never seen any of those,” my voice was thin, the lisp worsening as my mouth felt foreign and dry so close to him. Close enough to smell the wax, his heat, to see the coarse white dog hairs on his t-shirt. “Please?”

He searched my face, eventually sat back, tucking his legs underneath him. He grabbed one of my legs to throw over his lap, then picked up the paper with a last look at me, and flipped through it until he decided on a good one. Holding it out for me to take and I did.

It was me, yes. One of the earlier days, I wore the same clothes as I came there with, my hair in a single, messy braid – must’ve been the first week. Why did that stick out? Vincent’s style was naturalistic, realistic, but seemingly more lifelike than I was in all my flesh and blood. My expression was serene, looking away from the spectator, eyes averted, face relaxed, almost smiling.

“Do I really look like this?” I mumbled. It wasn’t a judgement, of either his art or of me, just the realisation that he has had opinions on my body since the moment he set eyes on me. “Sorry. You’re really good. Do you have a formal education in art?”

He shook his head, watching my reactions. He flipped to another page, one by the window in the kitchen, the light illuminating my figure like a baroque painting. His warm hand returned to rest atop my knee after each time he flipped a page. Another, one where I had no idea he drew me; more of a sketch, also in the kitchen, reaching up to take something from a cabinet. A homely scene. Another in the basement, on his table, this time with an incredibly detailed background, including Jonesy at the foot of the workbench.

Couldn’t help a fond smile at her head laying on her paws, “you’ve drawn Jonesy too.”

On I looked, and as he flipped through the pages, more confident as I commented idly as he did so. Me, me, me. Page after page. Some had details. Pages of just my hand with my rings, of just eyes, eyebrows, different positions sketched out quickly and messily. The ones where you could barely tell it was me were my favourite.

“The way you draw me, the shadows… It reminds me of Rubens, or was it Caravaggio? I believe it’s called chiaroscuro, the contrast.”

His eye shot up to mine, fingers ghosting over the page. He nodded slowly. A new page, he pressed hard on the pencil as he wrote something down. “How do you know?”

“I took a lot of art history courses back home,” I said, feeling the memories of my previous life choking me. Yet it felt like I could speak more freely now that he’d shown an interest in hearing what I have to say. “It feels strange to see myself drawn… Like I can view myself from your eyes. See what you see when you look at me, even if you try to be objective.”

He flipped to another page, an intricate one, a portrait. His hand didn’t return to the warmed up spot on my knee, instead he traced the features of my face on the paper. Eyebrow to nose to lips. With a certain hesitation he brought his other hand up to my face, and touched me, featherlight, following the path his other hand invented.

Even without words, that spoke of something, a feeling, so instinctual that it preceded language entirely. I averted my gaze. He traced the outline of my lips, letting his thumb linger after his pointer finger had already left to feel my jaw. A sigh escaped me, he shuddered, pressing his eye closed briefly, the blue disappearing between dark lashes, and pulled away suddenly – leaving me cold on top of the duvet. Grabbing the sketchbook and pencil, he briskly walked out the door, letting it clatter noisily against the frame. I slept uneasy, not daring to leave or wander about. Awoke with wrists tied to the bedframe without any sign of either of the brothers.

Bo was right about the visitors that were coming. They came just after lunch the next day, during which I was barely able to eat, stomach filled with dread instead.

First, they lingered outside, exploring the town, then the gas station. When we heard them come nearer, Bo looked up from the hood of the car and smiled at me, his crow’s feet made it feel genuinely reassuring. Just follow along. Breathe deep.

“Hey there, we’re looking for a mechanic? Could you help us?” The man that stepped forward was young, in his early thirties at most, dark hair, wore pilot sunglasses. The sleeves of his light blue button up were rolled over his elbows, showing hairy underarms.

“Ya found one,” said Bo, straightening up and turning to him. The look he sent me was intoxicating. “What do you need?”

The man came closer, taking off his sunglasses and clipping them to his shirt pocket. “Hi, yeah, our car broke down, just down the dirt road from the 35.”

“Do y’know what’s wrong with it?” asked Bo, he grabbed a rag and wiped his hands clean, before tossing it.

“No, not very car savvy,” said the man. “It just won’t start. We weren’t having any trouble before, and we always check up with the garage before going on long trips.”

“Guess we’ll have to check it out then,” said Bo, looking back at me with a grin. “Darlin’, will ya mind the shop while I’m gone?”

With the most casual nod, he threw me the keys. The trust, the familiarity, how was he so good at this? It made me lightheaded. The other people had gathered and we went outside. They were just a young woman, and another young man.

“Yeah, he can help us,” said the man in the button up to the rest.

“Name’s Bo, by the way.” Bo leaned on the door to the garage and motioned to me. “And that’s Katyusha, my assistant at the shop.”

The visitors looked to me and made their own introductions. There was the first man, Thomas, the woman’s name was Sylvie, the other man, blond, was Baxter.

“So, you’ll take me to your car, then?” Bo asked Thomas. “See what can be done to get you on your way.”

Thomas nodded. Sylvie grabbed his arm. “Don’t you want me to come along, baby?”

“No need for that, honey,” was all he said. Bo sent me a look.

I spoke, clearing my throat. “I can take you both up to the house for something cold to drink? It’s hot out here.” To punctuate my point I wiped the sweat from my brow.

Baxter was quick to agree. “Yeah, sounds good. It’s not far I hope?”

“Not at all.”

And so we split up.

Once at the house, I let the two roam, to get ice from the fridge and glasses from the cupboard.

“The town seems nice,” said Baxter, lingering in the kitchen. “Quiet, though.”

“Yeah,” I answered with my back to him, “most folk are out of town at this time of year. But we like it just fine.” I handed him the cold glass of lemon water with a smile. Condensation made the glass slippery, or was that the sweat of my palms.

We moved to the living room, where Sylvie snooped around. She was looking at the various stuff stacked on the drawers and the coffee table. At least it was all clean and neat. I set the glass down for her too, sank into a wooden chair, leaving them to sit on the couch.

“So, you and the mechanic guy, you two together?” asked Baxter. He seemed younger than Thomas. Sweet face, freckles, blond curls.

“No, not at all. I just help out at the shop sometimes, so he can do his thing. But it’s not like we get many customers out here.” The glass was chilly in my hand. I should do something, anything for this moment to stop and for my nerves to calm down. Unfortunately t was much easier to keep my voice steady, than it was when dealing directly with the twins. “Where were you three headed?”

“Just on a journey to see as much as possible. We have all taken as much time off as we could get.”

“No destination?”

“We’re going east, to the coast. We’re visiting some landmarks. Planning on going via Baton Rouge too.”

Sylvie nods. “We heard about a festival up there? Perhaps we’ll check it out. Is there a bathroom here? Excuse me.”

I pointed her the way and she disappeared. Baxter shifted closer on the couch, our legs were almost touching from how wide he spread himself out.

“What’s that on your wrists? Are those scars?” he asked, even daring to point. Reflexively, I rubbed the marks.

“They’re old,” I said, but immediately knew my tone was off. “The heat makes them… seem worse again.”

He gave me a look that very much felt like balancing on the edge of a cliff, but whatever he said was interrupted by a scream. He shot up, and I pressed my eyes closed for a second before getting up too.

“Was that-?” he asked.

I shrugged, holding a wrist tightly, to soothe the memory of the ropes. He grabbed my arm and pulled me along the hallway to where he saw Sylvie go. He tried a door, then looked back at me. At that look, his posture fell.

“What is going on?” he asked, disbelief and fear settling over his features. I realised then, how my face was scrunched up in fear. He grabbed my hand and looked closer at the marks, and I could not help myself. Tears filled my eyes.

“I’m sorry,” was all I was able to say, voice barely a whisper. Baxtor released his grip on my hands, instead pushing me to the wall by my shoulders, gritting his teeth.

“What kind of trap is this?” he hissed. I only shook my head, shocked by the quick change in his demeanour. Despite knowing better, despite it being a bad idea, the hope that these tourists could be my rescue dissipated like a drop of water on a hot pan. The door behind him opened soundlessly, but when he noticed my stare, it was too late. A blade pierced his chest, stopping short of mine by just five centimetres. I wiped my tears, clearing my vision and found myself face to face with Vincent’s chest. He hummed softly and rubbed my arms. The rough texture of his jumper against my cheek was comforting. Safe. Shock overwhelmed me and there was little to do but cling on to what I knew – who I knew.

Waking up was painful. The room was a proper bedroom, Vincent’s. There was a glass of water on the nightstand, a note underneath. The sheets smelled like him, like wax and the particular way Vincent smelled like a man. Vaguely of laundry detergent. The curtains were drawn, but the bits of light that shone in through the cracks were enough to make my head pound. Quickly scribbled letters read: ‘there’s breakfast in the fridge, I’m in the basement. Avoid Bo.’

These words were casual, but at this time, it was best to take them as instruction. Breakfast was a banana, and even that felt like a terrible decision, and down the stairs I went. Bo was nowhere in sight, thankfully.

Vincent was working on a sculpture. He heard me approach and looked up. Hands darting to pen and paper. His handwriting was as familiar as the sound of my own voice.

“How are you feeling?”

I shrugged. “Headache, but I’m fine. Didn’t see Bo. How… how did everything go?”

With a bounce in his step, he moved over to a cabinet with medical supplies, took out two bottles. He handed them to me, and I examined the labels. Painkillers.

“Thank you,” I said, took one out of each, put the bottles back. “Is there some water?”

He was writing again. “Bo kept the girl, but she stabbed him. He’s in a bad mood. Other than that, all is well.”

At times like these, his masked face was frightening. No emotion. The warmth of our closeness on my skin as he guided me next to him at the workbench. It was Baxter.

Vincent continued writing. “He was going to hurt you.”

“I tricked him. Them. Bo- he took me to the shop to help.” The desperation in my voice made me sick. Did Vincent know of Bo’s plan to use me to draw victims like a spider in a web?

His hair tickled my shoulder, he pulled me closer, away from the sedated man. His hand on my chin to make me look at him, but I closed my eyes instead. Another tug. Fingers moved to my throat, grazing the pulse points. I shivered, then opened my eyes.

His blue one looking directly at me. He was braver than the day before. The kill, or the sculpting, seemed to invigorate him. We were closer than I thought, I was almost pressed against his woollen jumper.

“You did well,” he wrote on the little scrap of paper from his pocket. The way his fingers trailed over my cheek, lips, neck, could almost be considered affectionate. He drew letters on my underarm, “You were so good, for me.”

And I saw it without even seeing his face, his eye was enough. Pupil blown wide with desire. And I felt it too, as something that crawled under the skin where he touched me. Perhaps it was there the day before, as it seemed to have warmed him considerably too. His gaze so lazily taking me in, lingering on my lips just too long. The little movement of his head, forward, closer, his hand curling around my neck. I whimpered. That one little movement, instinctual, of baring my neck, of angling my head, that little glance at the wax lips – it was all he needed. Slammed me into a cabinet nearer to the bed, hips grinding. His apron was gone in an instant. Scrambling behind me to get something from the cabinet. A syringe. He was quick to grab my arm to hold me still. Fuck-

“No, please, Vincent, you don’t need to do that. I’ve been so good, I’ll be good for you…” Wrong words. The neediness in my voice sickened me. “I know you want to touch me, I want to touch you too. To feel your hands, your skin… Please, Vincent.”

The syringe clattered to the floor. Immediately his hands were on me, he was panting. Fingers dug harshly in the soft skin of my hips, he kneaded his way up to my breasts. I pressed myself to his chest, experimentally trailed my fingers under his jumper. His skin was feverishly hot. He pulled a leg to his waist, leaning me back against the cabinet. Breaths against my ear. His groin pressed against my heat. He was hard as he moved against me. I hiked up my skirt, hissed at the harshness of his zipper. The hand I had around his neck for support, he pushed down, fingers digging so hard they’d leave bruises. Papers scattered around as he pushed me on the surface, legs spread around his hips.

He whimpered when my hand found the button on his jeans. This is what he wanted, right? This is what he kept me for. The pounding behind my eyes made it hard to think. I wrapped my fingers around his cock firmly. He was painfully hard, velvet length leaking precum. His broad hand angled my head up to his, looking him in the eye. The pressure on my throat increased as he gripped it tighter. Eyebrows scrunched together from desperation and guilt.

His hips and my hand created a rhythm. I licked my dry lips, not daring to look away from him. The fierceness in his eye scared me more than the tightening hand around my throat. Hard to tell which moans and pants came from which throat. His eye fell shut and his hips stuttered, before a mess of cum spurted over my bare leg. It dripped lazily on the floor and the wax nose of Vincent’s mask bumped my cheek. His hand on my neck stayed, although its grip loosened with each of his shuddering breaths. I stroked him through the aftershocks until he softened. He released my neck, took hold of my cum-slick hand and intertwined our fingers.

“Did that feel good? I just want you to feel good,” I breathed and another low grumble escaped from under the mask. Jolts of something new sparked through me. I pleased him. He pet my hair, made soft sounds and rubbed his mask against my cheek. I did well. That thought, both exhilarating and sickening, carried me into the night.

The new wax statue found a place in one of the houses. The other victim was not deemed worthy, for whatever reason. They sent me to clean the old lady’s house, check the mechanism, dust the knickknacks on the cabinets and coffee table. Bo’s fury was resolved when his stab wound healed. It was shallower than he made it out to be.

A threshold had been crossed when it came to my involvement. They let me out more easily, some nights Vincent took me up to his room. He found it difficult to keep his hands off me, even at the most domestic of times; greeting me with a squeeze of the shoulder or a hand on my back. Bo got more physical too, but he preferred to shove me out of his way, to back me into cabinets, to grab me and to yell when he had his moods. Secretly, I thought he did so to scare me on purpose. To not forget my place, and perhaps to indirectly protect Vincent. To make sure I wasn’t a disappointment.

The nights when I brought Vincent to orgasm with just my hands and his shallow breaths and whines still resounded in my ears, it felt as though my power in the dynamic grew. The desperation of him gave me a high unlike anything else, but I still had to be careful, to show myself in ways they liked me to appear. Daydreams of getting out of Ambrose seemed far away, but Vincent’s hunger for affection was a light that illuminated the path to escape.

#poly sinclairs #house of wax #bo sinclair x oc x vincent sinclair #bo sinclair x oc #vincent sinclair x oc #bo sinclair #vincent sinclair #house of wax fanfic #slasher fandom #slasher community #house of wax (2005)#house of wax 2005 #house of wax smut #poly sinclair #polyamory #ambrose

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