#idk I referred to 'welcome to the fandom' as 'welcome home' and it made me think lol | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

factual-fantasy · 2 months

Text

26 ASKS! :DD THANK YOU! :}} 🥓

I mean, knowing me I'll come back around to it someday. I love Octonauts and tend to loop back around to that show every so often.. Its just that I've had a lot of uncomfortable experiences in the Octonauts fandom. Especially recently..

I don't really wanna go into detail, but I will say that I've encountered more upsetting situations in the Octonauts fandom, than I have in nearly every other fandom combined. Which is rather surprising considering its a kids show. And also unfortunate, since I don't really feel free to have fun in the Octonauts fandom the way I want to..

I'm hoping that at some point I can get my confidence back and find my way around that fandom and have the fun I want. But for now I'm just kind'a keeping my distance and thinking about it. I don't need any extra stress rn-

@unpopularartist14

I use FireAlpaca! :D As for how to draw injuries and bruises.. hmm.. well.. injuries are different from drawing to drawing and hard to explain.. but bruises? aaa how do I explain it--

Well, for character with pale skin. Like Wario and Waluigi.. I find I just airbrush some deep purples and reds in one spot on their face and put some dark purple/red scratches on top.. and how much purple or red you use depends on the freshness/severity of the bruise. If that makes sense..??

Like- Using this post with the Wario "bros" as an example, the bruise on Waluigi's chin/cheek is a muddy purple and has dark purple scratches on it. I feel like using purple makes the bruise look little older and likes its healed some.

Meanwhile on Wario's chin the bruise is pink/red-ish. Making it look "bloody" and fresh. I think so at least--

AGHHG- sorry, I'm not the best at explaining things. I hope you can look to that post as a reference and draw some bruises. I used the airbrush and pencil tool to draw them if that helps! <:D

@untitled-7613 (Comic in question)

Hmm.. my favorite Disney character.. I know that Disney bought Pixar and now owns all the characters. So I'm trying to think of characters that Disney made, not bought.. and I'm having some trouble remembering the older movies..

I think I liked Tarzan! Though I wouldn't say he's my favorite.. hmm.. I like Mufasa from the Lion King and I like the Genie from Aladdin! I also liked John Silver from treasure planet! (That was Disney right?) But idk if I'd say they're my favorite Disney characters.. hmm..

Now, if you're asking what my favorite Disney/Pixar character is? Well that's easy 👇

@tallchest13-blog

XDD Thank you so much! :DD I'm glad you like it! :}}}}

:x I have not seen the welcome home update-- all my info comes from MatPat/his channels. I'm way too lazy to actually go look into any welcome home stuff myself <XDD

ALTHOUGH!- I have heard that Julie has monster paws! :DD No doubt she has them for different reasons than my Julie, but still! it felt like an Apollos dodgeball moment for me! XDD

I'm not sure why you're telling me all this.. but I suppose I'll put in my 2 cents while you're here-

While some of this is true, this sounds like a rather 1 sided view of Alphys' character. I know most of the Undertale characters are beautifully complex and thought out, Alphys included. And I don't think this view is accurate to who she really is.

For example, as far as I remember she wasn't watching anime to "slack off". I'm sure she was severely depressed and extremely overwhelmed with everything going on in her life atm.

I think it would be a good idea for you to watch some character analysis videos on Alphys. Since I don't remember her very clearly, I cannot defend her very well. But I recall seeing a lot of posts/videos in defense of Alphys and explaining why she did the things she did.

Basically, I think its worth your while to actually look into Alphys and give her a chance! Who knows, after gaining some more understanding of her, you might just like her! :}

WAAAHAAG THANK YOU SO MUCH!! THAT MEANS A LOT TO MEEE!!😭💖💖😭💖

And hey, I get where you're coming from about the whole art theft thing. :( That is my biggest struggle being here on Tumblr. The constant art theft is so disheartening. In fact there were several times in the past where I almost threw in the towel and quit Tumblr all together over it.

But what's kept me around is people like you! :D There's some folks out there that really care about what I make. And are excited to see what I make next! The nice comments they leave me and the engagement with my work has really stuck with me. And it's what keeps me coming back! Maybe someday if you decide to take that first step and post some artwork, you'll find a lotta nice folks that make the art theft seem not so bad :}

Also giant watermarks. Giaaant watermarks that are just annoying to look at. That might discourage art theft <XDD

As for Jevil and Grillby.. In my AU, Jevil has this power to create mirrors and jump from timeline to timeline through them.

At some point when it was just him and Seam traveling together, they wound up in this Snowdin at night. Grillby was about to close his bar but he saw these too tired and hungry people so he let them in.

At some point while they were sitting at the counter and talking to Grillby.. Jevil could feel in his soul that this timeline they were in was about to collapse. Killing everyone in it. Jevil reacted on instinct and grabbed Seam and Grillby's arm and pulled the three of them through a mirror. The timeline was destroyed as soon as they disaapered.

What this meant is Jevil had saved Grillby's life!.. But his AU/timeline no longer existed. All of Grillby's friends and family were gone.. his home was gone.. He was now a homeless wandering traveler just like Seam and Jevil.

Deep down, Grillby doesn't really hate Jevil. He just took the grief of it all really hard and blamed it all on Jevil in response. He wished that Jevil hadn't saved him so he could have just died with the rest of his family.. and not have to experience this grief today..

Overtime he gets better.. and he understands that Jevil didn't want for any of this to happen. Eventually they talk about it a little and they end up on better terms. Maybe even becoming true friends someday. :}

@astaherussy (Recent development post on the Wario "bros") (Old Wario "bros" post) (Old King Boo/Boos post)

Thank you so much! I'm glad you like what I've made! :DD As for Wario and Waluigi.. the main changes I'm working on are visual/design changes. In their outfits especially. And I'm thinking of taking away their hats. They looked obviously very similar to Mario and Luigi's..

When it comes to their story, that is also being developed. I think I wanna keep the aspect of the Mario bros getting in some trouble and the Wario "bros" rescue them. Though with recent developments.. I don't know if the whole thing in Shy Guy woods is gonna work out-

In other news, actually no! :0 I wasn't aware that Spidercrab is so liked, but I am very glad to hear that he is! :DD

And a lot of those vibes was what I was going for! Tired, traumatized, has anxiety but is better at hiding it. Though the father figure is unexpected XD but I guess it fits! He's rather introverted and prefers quiet and space. But he is also the crews medic, and boy does he worry and care too much for his own good. He cares too much about them to spend all his time alone. He not only cares about their physical health, but he cares about them as people.

He wants to be there for his crew. He want's to be the first to notice when something is wrong or one of his crew is unwell. So he tries to participate in all their gatherings. Despite how much he'd rather just go read a book in his hammock <XDD

Though, he is still antisocial/awkward.. so there could have been many times he noticed one of the crew seemed off. But he didn't have the guts to talk to them. So he would go and tip off one of the other crew members to check up on them. Stuff like that I imagine is his way of showing he cares. :}

WAHG! I rambled a bit there didn't I? <XD Well I hope it was a fun read at least- as a thanks for taking interest in Spidercrab! It means a lot to me :}}}

Thank you so much!! And indeed he is! I'm so honored that you remembered him! :DD Though he's looking at some major re-designing and a biiiiit of lore re-structuring too <XDD 💔💔

<XD Unfortunately for many reasons I cannot/will not drink any of the things on that list. But! I can drink water! :D

@badlyblurry

<XDD I suppose so, at the very least I'm dipping my toes in and having some fun!

Hmm.. out of all the Mario games I can remember.. I think red shells from Mario kart got on my nerves the most <XDD

That, or this one very specific Zinger from Donkey Kong country. But I get that a DK game might not count XDD

📢📢SHOUT OUT TO YOU SETH!! :DD 📢📢

Thank you!! :DD

@neo-metalscottic

Ahh, I see, thank you for the info! And I'm glad you like my interpretation of them anyways! :DD

And oh yeah, his children's safety is his #1 priority. He's probably getting Kamek to create more Goomba's and rearranging his troops. Setting up a big chunk of them to just be on watch duty around his land. In case the hero's decide to come back..

He's also probably tightening the defenses around his hidden palace. (Where the Koopalings, Kamek, Kammy and the Blue paratroops all live.) Most likely by stationing more troops there and hiding out there himself. He wasn't able to beat the bros but he will still be an obstacle for them if they ever make it to the palace and try to hurt his kids. (Mario and Luigi wouldn't do that most likely but Bowser doesn't really know anything about them at this point- other than the fact they are very powerful and very scary)

I didn't think much about K rool when I made my version of DK. But that guy and his species are intended to exist and be causing problems on DK's island. Though all the details I'm unsure of.. perhaps its what you said, maybe they want the special beets and fruits that the kongs eat? Or maybe they came from another island that didn't have much to eat and now they're here to take over.?? :00

Sorry, I don't take requests! And my ability to draw rn is rather limited anyways... 😅

BUT! May I direct you to this post and point out a detail in the background? Cici only ate the frosting off her cake slice. So Bibi offered his slice so she could scrape off his cake frosting and eat that too XDD What a sweet brother he is :}

@2006-stupid-thatsme

I am not familiar with those sites.. <:0

<XD Mike was kind of a jerk though. Now don't get me wrong, his voice was killer! But I don't think he really changed as a person by the end of the movie.

If they had put him in the second movie he was gonna need a major personality change in order for me to like him <XD

@candyglumboy

I think its alright. :0 And if I have drawn one of the characters? I cant remember doing it <XD

(In relation to this post)

Aw, I'm sorry that you have to deal with all this. It doesn't sound fun that's for sure. :( But thank you for the info! :DD

@littlelightfish

XDD IM GLAD YOU LIKE HIM!! And these are all good questions! Unfortunately I haven't thought much about these things- so let me make some of it up on the fly- <XDD

I imagined he likes to mess with the crew sometimes and pull little pranks. Its all in good fun! Just a bit of goofin off. And he mostly does it to Coco XDD

Now his favorite crew member.. hmm.. I feel like that might be Ellie. Despite her cold exterior, she had a big heart and really does love her crew. Even the butthead that is Tuna <XDD I can see her getting the other crew members to lay off and give Tuna some space. She is known for cooking food to everyone's specific preference, no matter how much longer it takes to make. And she would do the same for Tuna. Cooking what ever he wants, how ever he wants it cooked.

That really means a lot to Tuna.. if he can count on anything, he can count on Ellie to cook a perfect meal just for him.

Now the crew member that understands him the most would be who ever has had similar experiences to him, right..? In that case it might be Pinwheel. Orrr Coco.. maybe Spidercrab..? Ah, I'm gonna need to do some more thinking on that one <XD

The crew member he doesn't feel so comfortable around could be Cuttlefish. She is very mysterious and some would even say untrustworthy. He is probably spooked by her and doesn't fully trust her. Though I'm also experimenting with Tuna having trouble with authority figures. So mayyybe he's less comfortable around Seafoam and Octo..?? :00

Also thank you for your enthusiasm and interest in Tuna! Its the biggest compliment to me/my OCS 🥰🥰

@raccoons-in-a-dumpster

XD Yup! Its me! And thank you! :DD

@beryl-shade

XDD Do they say that? Are there popsicles in the oceans from that game??

I'm not sure.. I'd assume so..? Keep in mind that these character were made from a game that I know next to nothing about-

Maybe? :00

@yeetmysoulintothevoid (Post in question)

No its not a sexual dimorphism thing, its all about stress, exhaustion, health,, etc.

Peach and Daisy have very thin blue markings (like their species is SUPPOSED to have) because they are well fed, well rested, and pampered as princesses.

Wario and Waluigi's blue markings are very large and puffy becuase they eat garbage, get very little to no sleep, and are fighting for their lives on the daily pretty much- if they had a saver living environment and a secure source of food, their eye bag would be much less noticeable-

Now Rosalina's blue marks are noticeable and puffy mostly due to her grief and depression. And partly because she isn't exactly.. aliiive..? Anymore..?? <:D

And yes! Everyone's ears are emotive! :}} Maybe subtly though. They can perk their ears up or droop them down, much more than a human typically can. But they cant do really fine and quick movements to improve their hearing/listen in a certain direction. Like Dogs, cats and rabbits can for example. Its all slow and mostly intentional movements.

Nope, I don't have plans to finish that comic. The writing was horrible and everyone acted super out of character all in the name of angst. 👎👎👎

If anyone wanted to know the ending, Kwazii was gonna patch Barnacle's face and the rest of the crew was gonna show up in the gups. They get him in a gup, take him to the octopod and he gets situated in the sick bay.

Then Kwazii and Peso have this stupid emotional talk about how Peso feels bad for not being there for the captain and blah blah blah. VERY out of character for Peso. The entire point of Peso's character is that he "helps any creature who is hurt or sick, no matter what." There is literally nothing on earth that could have stopped him from helping his own Captain, no, his friend in his time of need. That writing is juuuust so dumb.

Plus Kwazii was a total idiot in that comic- realistically Kwazii would have taken that situation very seriously and would have listened to anything that Peso told him to do. And even if for some reason he was being stupid and continued to approach the Captain, Peso would have stopped him.

And this is even beyond the fact that this whole comic starts with Captain Barnacles doing a series of very stupid and irresponsible things that he would not do. And then a perfect storm of "whoopsies!" happen ever so perfectly to have him wind on that island.

Over all its a veeeeery bad comic. Not my best! 0/10 would NOT draw it again! XD I don't even want to re-write it to make it good. Becuase that whole situation just wouldn't happen from the start.

Although, I am keeping the idea that Barnacles has a very sensitive nose/face. (Due to him being a polar bear with many muscles and nerves in his face) And if he ever got hit in the nose/face? It would be incredibly painful and he would be very disoriented for a time. But the rest of that comic can go down the drain XD

#my response #octonauts #undertale #deltarune #cookie run #cookie run kingdom #cookie run ocs #my ocs #super mario bros #factual fam

77 notes · View notes

roxxeatzgravel · 3 months

Text

felt silly so-

Introduction Post! 2024 editon

Basic Info

Name: Roxx/Roxxi + Romeo Age: 15 Gender: Two Spirit + Non-Binary Birthday: Feb/16th/2009 Pronouns: They/Them Sexuality: Butch Dyke Ethnicity: Scandinavian + Plains Cree Nationality: Canadian

My other socials

Facts about me;

Since I was born on the 16 in Feb, I'm an Aquarius

I am 5"8 and thus taller than John Leguizamo, my favourite actor

I love 2 headcanon characters I think r cool as Queer

I kin both Queen Barb (from trolls) and Roxie Richter (from Scott Pilgrim)

I like to call my favourite characters (who I hc as gay) faggots. IDK why

I hate tomatos

I'm possibly Autistic, but I definitely have ADHD

My dog is old and stupid (/j /lh)

sometimes I like to use Z instead of S, just to be silly

DNI:

N$FW accounts

Cishets

AroAce deniers

Facist + Bigots

Z10n1sts and N@z1s

Wally x Julie and Wally x Eddie/Frank shippers

Pr0/C0mshippers

Butch/Masc/Stem haters we’re beefing

Femme4Femme only Lesbians all of my WLW/NMLNM content is Butch4Butch or Butch4Femme

LGB without the T supporters

Z00s and P3d0s

Zionists

Thin ice:

Oda defenders

Danganronpa fans

Montague’s 🖕🏼🖕🏼 /j

Cishet LGBTQ+ allies

MSPEC Lesbians idk how to feel about y’all

French People /j

Interact:

Queer/LGBTQ+ people

Sapphics and Lesbians

Juggalos and/or Juggalettes

Punks, Goths, Emos, and Anarchists

Furries + Therians

John Leguizamo fans

Neurodivergent folks

Artists any form

Fans of “Sorry Mom”

My fandoms:

Welcome Home Puppet show

R+J (1996) any other version too

ASTV

TF2

SHH (Strange Hill High)

Warrior Cats

Frankenweenie

One Piece to some extent?

My Welcome Home AUs

Trad goth Wally + Juggalo Barnaby

Thriller AU (WH)

Highschool AU

17 AU

Boundaries:

I am comfortable with;

Being called a Dyke

Tagging me in art (this is heavily encouraged!! Please tag me in any sort of fan content, I’d love to see it!!)

She/her being used on me occasionally

Being referred to with masculine, feminine, and androgynous terms

Being called a creature/thing

DM-ing if we’re mutuals

Romantic or sexually suggestive comments directed at my OCs and AUs if the characters are 20 or older

Headcanoning my OCs/AUs if it doesn’t diverge from the canon too much

N$FW content being made of the Thriller!AU and the Trad goth!Wally + Juggalo!Barnaby AU

Saying KYS in a joking way (just please make it clear it is a joke)

Please ask/inform me, before;

Creating N$FW or heavily sexually suggestive content of my AUs + OCs

Making AI bots of my AUs + OCs (especially if they’re N$FW ones)

DM-ing me if we’re aren’t mutuals unless it’s for a reason other than to say hi

Bringing up sexually suggestive topics, unless I have already told you it is okay (specifically topics that aren’t too heavily explicit, like mentioning sex is okay but please do not go into heavy detail)

Making sexually explicit (like somewhat detailed descriptions of sexual acts) comments about my OCs

I am NOT comfortable with;

Sexually explicit comments/asks directed at me or my personas

Exclusively using She/her for me

Fetishizing/making fetishistic content of my characters

People using my legal name online (please only call me Roxx, Roxxi or Romeo)

Have a good day, Be gay Do crime

side note; Me and my persona(s) have different names, the one w/ green devil horns n stubble is Juno, the weird sketchy, half and half creature is Ty, and I'm Roxx (or Roxxi) They both use They/Them, I switch between the two depending on how I'm feeling basically they're my masculinity and my femininity ;3 Though I've been thinking of changing Juno's name to Romeo or smth like that,I like the idea of being called Romeo :3

#intro post

7 notes · View notes

sennaverstappendiary · 5 months

Text

azerbaijan grand prix ✩ 30.04.2023

listen. i'm going to be real. the reason this is so high up is because it was my first taste of lestappen cr4ck c0caine i'm being so fucking serious. 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 this shit fucking killed me. i was unable to talk about anything else. i felt like i had been punched in the fucking gut i'm so fucking serious. 🤧🤧🤧 if you scroll back down far enough you can find my absolute breakdown over this grand prix. i was going BONKERS. getting drunk after quali with my bestie over this shit kinda BONKERS. dancing in the street kinda BONKERS. who needs drugs when you have autism. ☺️☺️☺️

okay lets go back a bit. it had been almost a month since australia, and i had learned A LOT about f1 in the meantime. some very very important things happened, but the most important one is that i made friends! genuine friends! on f1blr! 🥰🥰🥰🤧🤧🌷🌷🌷

i did this by making some rules with myself: if i was going to engage in my hyperfix on tumblr, i should at the very least post my thoughts about it and try to message people. because in all my other fandoms i was just... alone. 😔

to start with, idk how i did it, but i managed to overcome my fear of messaging people first (i was shaking like a leaf while doing it, though), and i somehow managed to message @/verstrapons... which looking back is fucking crazy because i was SCARED and INTIMIDATED and would like... freak out making sure i said the "right stuff" 😭😭😭 looking back this is utterly ridiculous but... i hadn't had online friends in a WHILE okay i was suffering 🥹🥹🥹 it obviously turned out amazingly but!!! i'm so glad we clicked 💕💕 i love you emma... 💓💓💥💥

then i joined the max discord server… i love you guys so much too - i learn stuff every day from y’all and you all made me feel so welcome 🥺🥺🌷🌷 a million flowers to u all… i hope we can meet up at the berlin E prix 🥹🥹🥹

and my lovely bestie @/boxenstopp … my kimi /p… i’m so glad you send me an ask that day on my main blog 🥰🥰🥰 i can’t imagine my life without you and i’m so glad we’re friends… 🥺🥺🥺 you always make me feel so accepted aaaghh… can’t wait to meet up for christmas again 🌷🌷🌷🌷 or maybe we already met. idk when this is coming out 🥹🥹

last but not least… @/xiaoluclair … thank you so much for always messaging with me, especially when we were both more active on tumblr 💌💌💕💕

sappy shit aside.

the other thing that happened during this time? i started realising which drivers i like, which i don’t like as much, and which ships i like and dislike. my top 3 ships have not changed since (lestappen prosenna simi) 😳😳😳 and my tumblr got banned while making a brocedes edit (PLEASE) but it got restored thank the lord LMFAO 🥹🥹🥹 i think i even started my lestappen fic (the first one) during this time‼️‼️ ain’t that something!! don’t mention the fact that sebchal was my first ever f1 fic i will cry 🧍‍♂️/nsrs.

and of course i got to know a lot more about f1! including but not limited to: what the teams actually were, reading the first half of the prosenna book, binging youtube video’s, not quite getting a lot of the references (bono my tyres are dead), what some things on the car do… etc etc. just a lot of general knowledge, although i felt like i didn’t know anything still (well i still feel that way) 😭😭😭

shit we havent even gotten to the race yet. i love yapping 🗣️🗣️🗣️

OH!!!! this was the first time i watched a race while chatting with other people, specifically the ones mentioned above💙💙‼️‼️ thanks for hearing me ramble on about being scared for max always (thats my brand. and he slays every time 🔥🔥🔥)

so, starting with free practice. i still didn’t watch, but i do remember being at my grandparents and quinine texting me that lestappen were 1-2 in fp1? very funny. on the way home i listened to puppy princess and i was like “this is very lestappen core”. lmfao. yeah that changed me as a person for real 😭😭

quali. what. the. fuck. WHAT THE FUCK 🗣️🗣️🗣️‼️‼️‼️‼️ i think i almost passed out. keep in mind, there was a FOUR WEEK gap between australia and baku. i went fucking crazy. when 0.000 happened i blacked out for a moment (/nsrs) and i screamed i was SHAKING i was TREMBLING 😵‍💫😵‍💫 I FELT SICK 🙏🙏 i was happy stimming the entire way to the store (i had to eat afterwards). like that was so sick. i genuinely yelped like a damn puppy (ha) when 0.000 happened. wasnt even upset when charles got pole in the end i was so high on it. and then max kept praising charles OH i felt sick. i felt deranged 💥💥💥💥💥💥

this also happens to be the first sprint race of the season. wish it was the last fuck sprints. sprint quali i just remember me sitting in my brothers room completely disinterested as i always am in fucking spring qualis. lmfao. the real sprint was funny, only bc of the INFAMOUS gax moment 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 hole in the rb19 😨😨😨😨 max angry 🥰🥰🥰 george. 🙄🙄🙄 LIKE THAT SHIT SLAPPED i was mad asf at george at the time tho LMAO 🥹🥹🥹

OHHHH the race itself was ass btw. was genuinely kinda upset after NOTHING GOOD HAPPENED AND THEY FUCKED UP MAXS STRAT 💔💔💔💔💔 post race was great tho. more than great. it was fucking amazing ‼️‼️‼️💓💓💓 we got: max straight up lying to charles (“you were catching!!” <- charles was 20 seconds behind max 🫣); charles sitting on the wrong chair (typical); CHARLES AND MAX SWAPPING PODIUM POSITIONS AND CHARLES BEING DUTCH FOR A SECOND 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️ LIKE WHAT. HUH. SORRY?!?!?? sure. whatever 🤯🤯🤯🤯. and then charles RUNNING over to spray max 🥰🥰🥰 yeah that was good. that was real good 🌷🌷🌷🌷

i really did love this entire race weekend so much - this was my austria 22 i cant even lie. thats also why its ranked so highly, which, looking back, so fucking crazy‼️‼️‼️ we got so spoiled with lestappen content from qatar onwards that looking back this isnt even that much but believe me. to maple this was crack cocaine of the highest level 😁😁😁😁💞💓💕💓💓💘💘💖💞💞💓💗💝

✩ song of the race: puppy princess - hot freaks

erm hem.

#baku gp 2023

4 notes · View notes

danny-chase · 3 years

Text

[Image ID: The first image is a closeup of Damian's masked eyes. Dick says "Happy Birthday." From off panel. The second image shows Damian holding with a black bar in it, engraved with the words "Versus the world". Damian holds it up in front of his face, looking at the bar. "Versus the world?" He asks, confused. Dick's masked face is in the next panel. Dick: "When I was leaving for college, Alfred told me that he knew I could take on the world." The next panel shows a young Dick Grayson happily swinging from a trapeze - the bar is behind his knees, his torso arced up on the end of a swing, he's smiling with his arms behind him. Dick: "It's made from a trapeze bar in my family's act. Alfred got it and painted it black for me." Dick stands explaining, an arm raised in the next panel. Dick: "It helped me remember that I came from 2 worlds. But I think you need this more than I do now. Alfred knew I struggled with my past, present, and future. And any time I needed reminding of who I was, I'd think of that gift..." Damian takes off his mask, his eyes glistening. Dick (off panel): "Damian?" End ID]

Robin (2021) #5

I love this so much, I'm going to break down why I appreciate this moment.

Damian in Batman and Robin (2011) proved his love/empathy was there by presenting Bruce with a meaningful gift - one of his mother's pearls - so for me this moment carries the same weight, Dick showing Damian he cares in a way Damian has used to show his love before.

All the Robins have some connection to Dick's history - Robin is family - this connection completes that. Tim and Jason both have scenes where they visit Dick's show, Steph as Batgirl took the same oath that Dick took (in the same spot, the wax from candlelight dripping in the same spot), and now we have Dick gifting a trapeze bar to Damian. The thing is - Dick had no control over the other additions, he chose Damian and this calls back to that decision. Not just to make Damian Robin, but to welcome him into his family.

Dick acknowledging Damian comes from two worlds is just 😭. So often in fandom and canon, Damian is seen as an irredeemable killing machine, brainwashed by the league - by his own family members. He has a past that he struggles with, and Dick acknowledges that without getting stuck on it, and puts equal weight on Damian's present and future, understanding that Damian's a human - someone with value - someone who's proved they're more than what they were born to be - someone who cares more than they're giving credit for.

Damian being willing to stop the chase for Dick. He's willing to show Dick that side of himself - show him he actually does care - show him not all is lost. He doesn't want to go home, but his willingness to be vulnerable in front of Dick is something they've earned over time and something Damian doesn't give out easily. This really cemented them as idk what to call their relationship other than Batman and Robin. Damian let Dick catch up - he was willing to risk being sent home (which he doesn't want to do yet) over being able to spend quality with him. Dick gives the gift, but Damian is the one who accepts it and allowed him to give it - is what I'm trying to get at here.

The gift itself. Dick giving Damian something that helped him as a child really resonates with me. I have younger siblings and this is exactly the way I wish I could be for them. It's established in canon Dick doesn't keep a lot of stuff with him (or leaves it all packed up) and generally the things he keeps has sentimental value - which for me this places additional weight on this scene - because he has less it's worth that much more. The gift originally coming from Alfred is a nice touch - even though Dick and Damian haven't talked (though he probably remembers going to the funeral as Ric) he already understands how much Alfred dying hurt Damian, and gave him something to remember him by. That - to me - speaks volumes. On the flip side - Dick giving this precious gift to Damian demonstrates the trust he has in Damian to take care of it. And Dick's trust isn't something freely given - Damian worked for that, he earned it.

"Versus the world" - Alfred believed Dick could take on the world, and similarly Dick believes Damian can too. Not for the worse, but for the better. Also sorry but the line "painted it black" makes me think of this song and well, isn't that fitting 😂 and i have no idea if it's a reference or not

Anyways i count this as a solid win for Dick and Damian fans (myself included), and I'm happy they both finally got to talk after everything that's happened.

#i can't define their relationship whether it's more paternal or fraternal but i love it so much #this completes the circle of Damian being symbolically ushered into Dick's family #i feel like maybe i was too Dick focused in this - but you need to remember it's Damian that's the child - and the one allowing for this to #happen - he could have easily kept running - but he chose the hard thing and faced some of his complicated emotions #(he cries over alfred dying right after this)#their relationship has always worked because Dick doesn't force his way in #whereas the others expect certain things from Damian - Dick just lets Damian be Damian #i just want more Dick and Damian moments pretty please DC i would read a comic with these two #Damian dunking on everyone is also hilarious and also partially deserved imo #also for some reason Damian was accused of slitting Tim's throat when that just never happened - Jason's the one that did that #but yeah i love these two and for me this hit well #dc comics #batfam #batfamily #dick grayson #nightwing #damian wayne #robin #wendesday spoilers

174 notes · View notes

denialcity · 2 years

Note

im new to fandom so this might be something obvious but,, is there any difference between tobiizu and izutobi?

welcome to founders hell!!!!

okay whats interesting is we just had a slight cultural difference thing in the chat. cut for length and idk dis/course adjacent stuff

so I’ll give a westernised asian perspective:

it’s just shorthand for who tops/ is more “dominant” (the first name is the top). it doesn’t matter to me much personally, sometimes i choose ship names on aesthetic combination/the more common name rather than top/bottom-- i started saying izutobi when i got into fandom bc that was the vibe + i dont like the double i together in tobiizu, but switched to tobiizu bc it was the more common pairing tag. in another fandom i write character A on the bottom like 80% of the time/ it’s a reversible pairing. so like, anything goes. but to some people it REALLY does matter. i have a friend who categorically refuses to read content if character B tops. Like A/B is her OTP but B/A is her nOTP lol. which is fair, the dynamic tends to be written differently.

it’s why people says sns/ sasunarusasu --> because they couldnt agree on who tops/ it’s shipped reversibly. I think asian side of fandom tends to be stricter about this -- some doujin stores/circles are arranged by who tops/ who bottoms and the reverse is considered a separate ship.

i think a large part of asian fandom (as far as i’ve experienced it) are okay with letting people like what they like. there’s less gender baggage and dischorse about it than you’d expect. no one is gonna cancel you for getting it wrong, esp if you’re staying english-side

i’ll hand the mic over to @firecoloredwater for more western fandom side:

Okay so this starts out similar but like. just similar enough to result in Red and I briefly going ??? at each other when we ran into the differences.

You know that thing where it’s a cliche for straight people to ask gay couples “which of you is the man and which is the woman?” Historically fandom did that, and used the order of ship names to indicate which character was in which role. Sometimes this mainly described sexual roles, but sometimes it would extend to things like who started the relationship, who has a job vs who stays home and cooks and raises kids, and other ways of sorting the characters into a replica of cliche The Man vs The Woman roles.

The first name is The Man and the second name is The Woman. So TobiIzu=Tobirama is more proactive/in control or on top during sex, and IzuTobi=Izuna is in control/on top.

(I’m uh. Pretty ehhhhh on the whole thing and its implications re: sexism and queerphobia, so I may not be giving an entirely fair description. Trying to stick to the most basic facts to avoid that.)

(Also worth noting that anime fandoms in particular were very influenced by Asian fandoms on this topic among others, but I don’t know enough to say exactly how.)

In the last several years English-speaking fandom (at least, that I’m familiar with, there are probably pockets elsewhere that this isn’t true of) is a lot less invested in that distinction, and a lot more aware that relationships are not that strictly divided and partners in most relationships will trade roles depending on the time or context. Or that roles might just not exist. So a lot of people don't bother making the distinction anymore, or only use it to less-explicitly reference what exact scenario we were discussing, without necessarily making implications about the relationship as a whole.

If you look back at fics from, say, ten years ago you’ll find a lot more distinctions being made like that, but if you’re looking at current fics/art it’s less likely to be significant. So it’s helpful to know, but if you don’t care to make the distinction yourself you probably don’t need to; I tend to use TobiIzu all the time because it sounds better to me and only distinguish when I want to uh. discuss whose dick is going where without actually using those words.

A related phenomenon: when ships involve more than two people, the connected names will sometimes imply which relationships are happening rather than or in addition to the role dynamics. So in our dt3 ship with Takami, Meguru, and Kawarama, we usually write it as TakaKawaMegu rather than TakaMeguKawa even though it’s (usually) MeguKawa and not KawaMegu, because the ships are Takami/Kawarama and Meguru/Kawarama but not Takami/Meguru. So Kawarama’s name gets kept in the middle/connected to both of the others. (Of course in a true triangle situation you’d have to repeat a name, and if there’s a fourth person it gets more complicated... but mainly I mention this as an example that there can be other factors in the order of ship names, so ‘first name is on top’ is a guideline but not a rule, even when the ship name is determined by more than just ‘this sounds best to me.’)

#replies from the city council #long post

4 notes · View notes

redteabaron · 4 years

Text

direwolves - prophecies of the starks

If all the direwolves signify something about the starks' endgame -

Grey Wind (we’re all just dust in the wind; dust to dust ashes to ashes; dust or ashes scattered in the wind) Signifying that for all of Robb’s achievements and beginning strides into an independent north he could still die and will. He becomes this titan that moves across the board during the rebellion that Tywin cannot combat on his own. IIRC grrm said that Robb was winning much more quickly than he had originally anticipated and would have won if not for the Red Wedding (or that he had to be killed or he would have won, something along those lines). Grey Wind has perhaps the most tragic significance, imo. Robb becomes a heroic figure representing justice and freedom for the North - but heroes are still mortal and they can still die. And he can, and so he does. He was doomed all along.

Summer (all of Westeros fears the return of winter, and prospers in summertime. “Oh you sweet summer child, what do you know of fear?”) Bran is the first of the Stark children to be victim to power and thrones and the first who knows that fear. If he does sit on the throne of the 5/6 kingdoms (look I hold out hope Dorne gets their independence too okay) he will represent the possibility of a new age (discarding the idea of Targaryen only rule but hopefully not with an elective monarchy or a terrible small council). He may not literally bring with him summer but he will at the very least represent the hope for prosperity and compromise that hadn’t existed otherwise; a wiser, more compassionate age. (Bran the Benevolent sounds a hell of a lot better than Bran the Broken)

Nymeria (the original warrior Queen Nymeria led ships of her people fleeing Valyrian slavers and the fallout over the attack against the dragonlords in search of a new homeland, who married Mors Martell and established the domination of House Martell.) Maybe Arya’s endgame will be found in the Riverlands. She has a lot of threads that lead her back there (calling herself Cat, connections to water, reflecting Catelyn’s need for vengeance, Nymeria being the one to pull Cat’s body from the river, Nymeria still being in the Riverlands building a wolf pack), and Queen Nymeria only set sail to current day Dorne because her people and she needed somewhere to settle. Queen Nymeria burns their ships after they do and says that “their wanderings have come to an end”. That...doesn’t exactly track with Arya just fucking off for places unknown for no reason. Arya already had to wander (and on a ship to Braavos with the name Nymeria) - has she not already wandered enough due to danger? Maybe her endgame as with Queen Nymeria is meant to signify an end to her wandering and the danger she’d fled from for the sake of herself (and her people; perhaps Arya is meant to oust the Lannisters and Freys from the Riverlands - and be Lady Paramount of the Trident; maybe she doesn’t need to marry or have babies since that isn’t her dream - hopefully Roslin and the child survive). (And if Sansa is meant to be Ned’s heir in spirit of the North, then maybe Arya is meant to be Cat’s heir of the Riverlands because I’m not so sure Edmure will be spared in whatever is to come).

Lady (that Lannister woman shall never have this skin, Lady’s bones remain in Winterfell) Sansa will at the very least be the Lady of Winterfell, if not Queen in the end - she is the Key to the North; her endgame lies in her home, because part of her (Lady) waits for her so they can be made whole once more (I am stronger within the walls of Winterfell). The only way she’d likely end up as the Lady of Winterfell and not the Queen is if Rickon will take the throne after he’s of age and ready (thereby still at the very least making her queen regent). But Lady’s end remains in Winterfell, Sansa’s will be found there no matter what.

Shaggydog (I have a short meta about the possibility of Rickon being the asoiaf equivalent of the Max from Where The Wild Things Are, here ) but a shaggy dog is a funny story of which the punchline is essentially absurd or pointless. Because of that it is possible that Rickon’s whole point is to be brought back only to die abruptly with the succession crisis being built in Stannis and Davos’s POV. Maybe his whole point is just a gotcha at the audience and Stannis and Davos. IIRC believe D&D wanted to kill off Rickon much earlier and GRRM said he had a big plan for him - so it could be that Rickon’s ‘punchline’ is something different or he was trolling, idk. But, going off on an optimistic limb - which in this fandom, lol sure ok me sounds great - maybe Rickon’s punchline is that because he’s a lordling being raised by a wildling he will have to be a KITN at some point but we won’t see it; rendering the succession anticlimactic or a joke on Stannis who won’t live to see it and on us who won’t read it at the end of asoiaf because it’ll be a ways off. Which does sound absurd. Little wild Rickon ending up as a king of who we won’t see ruling or really having any immediate significance to asoiaf despite the tension? Maybe. Who’s to say. Rickon is the punchline, but of what, idk (I’m being optimistic in that his joke is that he’s named king but we never read about it and it fizzles out to have no significance in the immediate storyline, if only so Rickon survives.)

Ghost (the manifestation of a dead person, a soul or to give up the ghost (die)) Maybe Jon is a ghost at the end. Perhaps, as with many ghosts who haunt people/places/things Jon will be the last of the immediate Targaryen line, and he will still refuse the name and title; he will be their ghost. There, but not tangible, a vague impression of a once living lineage. After all that Rhaegar did to ensure The Prince That Was Promised, the third head of the dragon, the song of ice and fire - Jon throws it away. He chooses to be their end, their ghost; the last vestiges of them that might still exist but does little else for the Targaryens themselves. Perhaps his ‘exile’ or punishment is seen as such from the south, but the north welcomes him back under the tongue-in-cheek idea that he is being exiled, but remaining with the Starks, with Winterfell, with family.

Jonsa content below because by now you should hear my clown shoes squeaking a mile away

And if Sansa is meant to be Jenny of Oldstones in realtime (there’s tons of meta out there about this so I’m not going to go into it but I suggest this one if you want; probably one of my favorite meta pieces about this: this one by butterflies-dragons), taking in all of the parallels and references we have that may suggest so (that we may be seeing history repeat itself with a less tragic, perhaps a kinder, scenario of Duncan and Jenny).

High in the halls of the kings who are gone Jenny would dance with her ghosts The ones she had lost and the ones she had found And the ones who had loved her the most

Is Jon her Ghost in a castle of all the ones they’d lost?

They spun her around on the damp old stones Spun away all her sorrow and pain

And she never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave Never wanted to leave, never wanted to leave

Does he stay, her Ghost, with his Lady in this place that they never want to leave again?

#jonsa #sansa stark #jon snow #bran stark #arya stark #rickon stark #robb stark #direwolves of the starks #asoiaf spec and meta #book!jonsa #lbr the show cannot be totally trusted #is this edited?#no you know it isn't i don't do that #i only write when i've had too much to drink #and this is tumblr nothing deserves to be edited

87 notes · View notes

love-bokumono-fics · 3 years

Text

Tag Tuesday - First Fic

I thought it was only fitting that the first Tag Tuesday should feature the "My First Fic" and its related tags.

I think, in retrospect, writers tend to look back on our first works and cringe, but I also think there is a lot of love, joy, enthusiasm, and beauty to be found in first fanfics. The whole process back then was new and exciting, and I remember having a kind of almost manic energy and excitement while writing my first fic that I've never been able to recapture since then. So lets take a moment to shed some love on some of the fandoms' first forays into writing fanfiction!

Was your first fic in the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons universe? Send it our way! We'd love to see them!

Hey, see me after class? - by bluebird_lamentation; A New Beginning; >1k; Complete, 1/1

Rating: General Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: M/M

Relationship: Neil/Rod; Characters: Neil, Rod, Allen, Felicity

Additional Tags: Fluff, Friends to Lovers, One-Shot, May add more chapters idk, first fic, Modern School AU

Summary: Neil asks to see Rod after class, it may be better than what he expected...

A Chance to Start Again - by ChewyGirl12; Friends of Mineral Town; 2k; WIP, 2/?

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Characters: Claire the Farmer, All Residents of Mineral Town

Additional Tags: cursing, Daily life of a farmer, Collection of events and stories, ongoing, Really just a way to practice writing, Maybe some drama, This is a Teen up but there is cursing and some mature themes so be advised, Just a happy story of life in a small town, Multiple chapters, Some Romance, Rival marriages are a thing with the correct pairings, You can date either gender in this game!, This is my first fanfic and time here

Summary: After news of her grandfather’s death, Claire receives his old farm in the will. Bored of the city life Claire packs up and heads over to Mineral Town to start her new life as a farmer. Hard work and many happy moments await her as she makes her living and meets new friends along the way. Although Claire is not exactly the sociable type, the residents of Mineral Town still find their way into her heart as she establishes new relationships in this small town, whether that be friendships or perhaps one day love among the many potential romantic candidates among her. This series will be an ongoing tale of a new farmers life in Mineral Town and those in it.

Refuge - by Genderfluid_Writes; Animal Parade, Tree of Tranquility, Stardew Valley; 8k; WIP, 3/?

Rating: Mature; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: Multi

Additional Tags: Assume the usual cast is here, My First Fanfic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, M for Language and Themes, will I ever write smut? who knows, Crossover, Unrequited Love, First Love, Non-binary character, POV Multiple, no beta cos im a lazy coward, Fluff and Angst, May or may not be character deaths

Summary: With news of the Gotoro Empire closing in, a handful of residents from Waffle Island make the perilous journey over the sea, armed only with a friend of a friend's supposed assurance that they'd be welcome in Stardew Valley. For most, it means leaving family behind, but Chase only had unrequited love to run away from. However, reluctantly saddled with his best friend's young cousin and the informal leadership of the group, he has no choice but to get involved with life in let another backwater town. With the others missing their home and worrying about their families' safety, will he be able to stand with them in solidarity, or will he turn tail and run back to his old life? What if he misses the island more than he thought? What if these displaced souls find new life in a horrible situation? First fanfic I've ever written, let alone publicly shared. Hope its not too terrible. Also there's no beta-ing atm, beware of mistypes.

Here You Come Again - by SeasonSuite; Trio of Towns; 58k; WIP, 14/?

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M

Relationships: Female Farmer/Wayne; Minor or Background Relationship(s); Characters: Farmer, Wayne, Frank, Lisette, Ford, Ludus, Trio of Towns ensemble

Additional Tags: Crushes, Falling In Love, Love, farming, Fluff, dolly parton references, Friends to Lovers, cowboy aesthetic. idiots to lovers, Day At The Beach, Flowers, Romance, My First Fanfic, Bonding, Feelings, Humor, Slow Build, Did I Mention Fluff

Summary: On the first day of her new life, June meets a handsome, smooth-talking postman. Caught between his seemingly earnest words and his philandering reputation, she writes him off as bad news. Over the year, as June struggles to build her new farm, Wayne proves her wrong—then right—then wrong again. or, Westown's charming postman is known for being perfect, and he's usually happy to play the part. But when a new farmer tries to get to know the real him, Wayne learns that to be loved, he has to submit to the mortifying ordeal of being known. Trio of Towns made me FEEL a lot of things so here's a sappy romantic love letter to my favorite bachelor. Slow burn Wayne x Holly, fluff and romance and drama. Background ships and more to come. New chapter Fridays or your money back!

Sugar and Spice - by Chibimiie; Animal Parade; 18k; WIP, 15/?

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences, Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Category: F/M

Relationships: Chase/Molly the Farmer, Angela/Luke; Characters: Molly | Hikari, Angela the Farmer, Chase, Luke

Additional Tags: first fic, Slow Burn, at least molly and chase are, oh god how do you tag fics, beginning is kinda rough, angela chapters tend to be shorter, mentions of eating disorders, ya girl was making it up as she went along, alternating povs, Friends to Lovers

Summary: Wanting to get away from past hurts of the city, sisters Molly and Angela decide to respond to a flyer advertising an abandoned farm on the faraway island of Castanet. Leaving behind their closest friends and brother Kasey, the two take a chance and move to the tiny island hoping for a new chance at life.

Lady Of Grasstrail Farms - by FromADenOfBeasts; Pioneers of Olive Town; 43k; WIP, 34/?

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: F/M

Relationship: Female Farmer/Lars; Characters: Original Female Character(s), Female Farmer, Lars, Laura, Angela, Clemens, Damon, Jack, Emilio, Reina, Victor, Gloria, Simon, Jesse

Additional Tags: My First AO3 Post, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, spoilers obviously, Slow Burn, Fluff and Angst, Supportive Big Brother, honestly the best big brother ever

Summary: Pioneers Of Olive Town AU where Lars is single. That's not all that happens but it is the reason I wrote this. A young woman named Vallon quits her job and follows her heart to Olive Town, where her family has roots deeper than she ever thought. Now she has to contend with new neighbors, ancient magic, and getting the hang of farming a wild land. Can she cope on her own, or can she at least find someone to share it with? Formerly titled "Why Not, Lars?" (Please note that this AU was planned so that absolutely nothing has occurred between him and Beth.)

Siblings - by teamBLAZE; Harvest Moon (Friends of Mineral Town, Island of Happiness/Sunshine Islands); 6.3k; Completed, 6/6

Rating: General Audiences; Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply; Category: Other

Relationships: Claire the Farmer/Cliff; Chelsea/Mark

Additional Tags: Family, Hurt/Comfort, Reunions, My First AO3 Post

Summary: Left with only a photograph to remind him of the past, Cliff lives with the hope of seeing his sister again. Years later, a certain girl appears at Verdure Island with the task of reviving the other islands, wishing she would see that somebody once she accomplishes it. Will they find what they have longed for? An experimental fic based from a confession.

#tag tuesday #harvest moon #story of seasons #Friends of Mineral Town #pioneers of olive town #trio of towns #animal parade #a new beginning #tree of tranquility #island of happiness #sunshine islands

6 notes · View notes

deltas-writing-corner · 3 years

Text

Warmth: Prologue (2/3)

Fandom: Ikemen Sengoku

Disclaimers: Besides the prologues, I will be posting the first 1000 or so words of every new/next chapter. There will be a link to my AO3 at the end of the post, where the full chapters are at!

Warnings: mentions of blood

Masterlist: (coming soon)

"Here, let me help with-"

"It's alright!" Fuku shouts as she lifted several rolls of fabric with ease.

To say Fuku was doing a little better is an understatement. She was fantastically better. When Yuki and you came into work the morning after her accident, she didn't greet you both in her usual polite and quiet manner. Fuku had loudly welcomed you both in as if the shop were suddenly a bustling restaurant.

You were mending a ripped seam in the back room when Yuki suddenly enters and whispers, "Please tell me I haven't gone crazy, or is Fuku much more lively than yesterday?"

You resist the urge to smile. She got her spunk back indeed.

"I quite like this sudden shift in her character," you say.

"I do too, really! I haven't seen her like this since I was a kid. But the sudden switch from sweet to sassy is…" her mind trails off with uncertainty. She looks over her shoulder to make sure you two were alone still. "Do you think her accident yesterday had anything to do with her personality change?"

"They say your life flashes before your eyes in an instant when you come close to death. Maybe she decided to drop the quiet act and be true to herself."

"Yeah, that's it isn't it?" Yuki asks more to herself than to you. "But should she really be carrying all those fabric rolls? Those things are heavier than they look."

"Perhaps her back is doing better?"

"In a day?!"

She was getting more confused, more frustrated as she tried to wrap her head around everything. You put your needle and thread down and turn towards her. "Do you remember what I said yesterday?" you ask. Her tense shoulders relax a bit and she nods. "Then trust me on this. She's going to be fine. Would I ever lie to you if I didn't think she would?"

She shakes her head. "I don't know why, but you saying she's going to be okay somehow reassures me that it will be."

You give her a pat on the head, but she pulls you into a tight hug. You would hug her back if she wasn't squeezing your arms against your body. It was strange. Her hugging you like this almost makes you feel as if you two had truly become…

You don't finish that statement, for fear that your rival would hear it and use it against you. You nearly forgot that you could never truly make friends, not when you're still in the midst of a never-ending battle with a damn snake that targets the people around you. One of these days, you're going to get rid of it for good by any means necessary. Even if that means you would have to die with it, so be it. Anything to make sure it doesn't come out victorious.

You won't take away the people I love again.

_______________________________________________________________

The last time you took a vacation was...never. You've never been on vacation. Your 50-year lone journey could technically count, considering you don't work and essentially goof around most of those years. It wasn't to relax from the stresses of work though. It was merely to pass the time before you could integrate back into society without causing a fuss. It would also help you forget about the people you had gotten to know.

You look over to your co-worker and boss. "Can't I just relax at home? Do I really need to go all the way out to…"

"Kyoto," Yuki finishes your thought.

"Right. Do I really need to go out to Kyoto to relax?"

Fuku shakes her head in disbelief. "Honestly, all you ever do is work! You'll go stir crazy if you don't switch up your surroundings every now and then."

"Besides," Yuki chimes in. "If anyone deserves a vacation, it's you. I don't think you understand how much you work. It's admirable, but also very concerning."

Seeing their worried expression, you feel a bit bashful. They were only looking out for you, thinking you to be tied down to the same limitations they have. You badly want to just bite the bullet and tell them the true nature of who you are. Surely they would understand, right? They would accept you for who you truly are, right? The coiling of the snake around your arm keeps your confession at bay.

Apparently, a vacation for you meant a vacation for it as well. Tormenting you must be such a demanding job after all.

You made sure to sharpen your axe real well the other night.

The chugging of the train grew louder and louder. You and a few other people, mostly fellow travelers from outside your town, walk up to the yellow line on the ground and stand to wait. The train begins to slow down into a complete stop. Once halted, a hiss of steam is let out and the doors creak open.

You turn to give your farewells to your friends and surprisingly find yourself in the middle of a group hug. You give Fuku and Yuki their own pat on the back and they squeeze you a bit harder.

"Have fun! Don't forget to call me and take a bunch of pictures!" Yuki demands.

"And bring a man home," Fuku adds.

You laugh at her comment. She really was a feisty one.

Adjusting the bag hanging from your shoulder, you step onto the train cart and take a seat. After a few minutes, the doors close and you begin to depart from the station. As you look back out the window behind you, you see Fuku and Yuki still standing there, waving you off even as you gradually disappear over the horizon. You swear, they both looked ready to burst into tears.

A tightness against your arm grabs your attention. After wriggling about from under your sleeve, the snake finally pokes its head out and turns its head towards you.

"So," you whisper, as to not attract any attention from your fellow passengers. "It took you awhile to come back. Did I cut you up that badly?"

It hisses at you for mocking it. Uncaring of it feelings, you uncoil it from your arm and drop it in the seat next to you. Should any of the passengers have watched you, they would see you moving nothing. You were actually grateful they couldn't see it. If they did, they would all certainly panic. You did not want to be known as the traveler who carries a deadly snake with them.

You cross one leg over the other and sink in your seat. "Y'know, I should give you a name. It's starting to become annoying just referring to you as 'the snake'."

It seemed surprised that you were speaking to it on neutral terms. Usually, your interactions were hostile and more or less ended with you chopping it into fine bits. It slithers back onto you, this time coiling around your neck. You nearly flinch at the familiar sensation you felt as it tightened its grip to gain stability.

I felt this in my first memory. Go figure.

You pull out your phone and quickly search up an image of a color wheel. You take care to lift the screen up to the snake's eye level while not appearing odd from any lingering gazes. You tell it to tap on a color, and from the one it selects, you would refer to it as that henceforth. It was unimpressed by your naming process but you tell it that it was either this or you give it the most insulting name you can think of.

It looks at the screen for a minute. It then presses the tip of its mouth against the glass and selects the color black.

"How original," you sarcastically say. It responds by tightening around your neck. "Alright. I'll call you Kuro from now on. It'll make cutting you up all the more personal."

Your one-sided chat ends with Kuro, who turns his head away and settles around your neck. You pull up your phone's built-in navigation app and look at the expected arrival time, 3 hours. You lean forward and prop both elbows on your knees. For the next few hours, you just sat there and waited, not bothering to look out the window and marvel in the passing scenery. Your focus was entirely on Kuro, making sure that he wouldn't try to sneak off of you and attack any of the other passengers. He usually only goes for people you had grown attached to or spend most of your time with, but you weren't going to take any chances.

You give yourself a bit of comfort by sticking your hand in your duffel bag and squeezing the familiar handle of your axe.

________________________________________________________________

The city still amazes you. It was hard to believe that in just a couple hundred years, humanity would evolve so rapidly. As amazing as the advancement of humanity was, the air quality has gone to complete shit. Along with sleeping and eating, you didn't need to breathe either. You're thankful you didn't have to subject yourself to the polluted air and spare yourself from burning your lungs. Kuro seems to hate the air as well, as he makes a sort of gagging noise once you step out of the station.

Finally, we agree on something

You robotically push past the crowds, flag down a taxi, and check into your hotel room. You send a quick text to Yuki to let her know you arrived safely and thank her again for booking the room for you. Once you set your belongings down and relax against the plush bed, you get a text back.

'What r u going to do?'

That's right. This was supposed to be a vacation. You were supposed to be going out and doing literally anything other than work.

What the hell are you even supposed to do?

You text back, 'idk.'

'Seriously??? There's a ton of stuff you could do in Kyoto!'

'Like what?'

'I heard shrines are lovely this time of the year'

________________________________________________________________

The fact that you, a god, are visiting a shrine to be very, very hilarious. Kuro hates it apparently, which made it even funnier.

"Aww, don't be like that," you jokingly cooed at him.

You used the ladle from the shrine pavilion to scoop up the so-called purified water and bring it close to him. He hisses so violently that the shrine maiden that acted as a guide for you and your fellow visitors flinched and looks around to find the source of her scare. Deciding to spare him any more stress and reason to go on a frenzy, you put the ladle back in the basin and catch up to the departing group.

The tour was simple, a mere walk around the temple and it's public areas while the guide explained the history behind each building, important figures, and various rituals the worshipers practice. It wasn't the most exciting way to spend your first day on vacation, but you found still found it interesting and very educational.

Near the end of the tour, the guide leads you all up to a statue of a woman. Her skin is as white as milk, half of her black hair twisted up in a bun while the rest flowed down her back. It was a hairstyle your mother would style on you and even taught you how to do it yourself. Her kimono was a faded gold color from years of natural degradation. The pattern on her stone clothing reminded you of flames.

Your tour guide stops and turns back towards you all. "This here is a statue of the sun goddess, Amaterasu. She is a central deity within the Shinto religion. The Japanese nobility claim their divine right to rule by claiming to be her descendants."

Your tour guide went on about the shrine's methods of worship for Amaterasu, but you completely drowned out her words. You found yourself completely enamored by the statue.

Something about it was...

Hearing that name was…

Your body was...

"Miss?" One of the tour-goers waves her hands in front of your vision in an attempt to gain your attention. "Is everything alright?"

As you slowly regain your focus, you notice a wetness on your face. You had shed a tear. You quickly wiped it away and gave the concerned woman a reassuring smile. "Allergies."

She seemed relieved and without a second thought reached into her bag to pull out a bottle. She pops off the cap, shakes out two antihistamine pills and hands them to you. You take them and hide them under your tongue before taking a gulp of water from your plastic bottle. You thank her, waiting for her to walk off with the group before spitting them out.

Kuro gives a condescending flick of his tongue against the cheek your tear descended on. You slap his head away and growl, "Not a word."

You take a moment to gather yourself before heading back with the group. Before you turn the corner and lose sight of the statue, you spare it one last glance. When you looked at it again, you were certain what you were feeling wasn't just a fluke.

You felt warm.

________________________________________________________________

The tour ended not long after you all saw the statue of the sun goddess. You didn't leave until night, when the Shrine closed to the public. You spent the entire day just staring at the statue, basking in the familiar warmth that filled within your body.

"I know you don't care, but that wasn't some coincidence," you say to Kuro. "That warm feeling. It's similar, no, the exact same warmth I summon when I heal people!"

You yank him off your neck and plop him on the nearest surface, a stone tablet of sorts with writing carved into it. It was monument for some historical figure, but you didn't care about it. He looks at you as if he was actually considering your words for once. At this point, you could care less about this ingrained rivalry between you two. If there was anyone else in the world that could ever relate to you, it would be him.

"Who the hell am I? What the hell are we? Who the hell made us so hellbent on screwing each other over? Actually, let me rephrase. Why are we so hellbent on screwing each other over?"

You kept rattling on question after question. Contemplating the meaning of your existence to a snake that no one but yourself could see. In your confused frenzy, you fail to notice the grey clouds engulfing the sky. The loud roar of lightning and sudden rainfall put a halt to your pacing.

So much for clear skies.

The sound of footsteps approaching your figure brought your attention back down to earth. "Are you alright ma'am? Do you have an umbrella?" a man in a lab coat and glasses looks at you with a blank stare, but his voice indicates that he was worried for you.

You shake your head. "I didn't think it would rain today."

The man opens his mouth to say something when suddenly, your eardrums are assaulted by another clap of lightning. This time, it struck the space right next to the both of you. You frantically search your surroundings to locate exactly where it struck. The monument that your rival was on had been completely shattered into pieces.

Shit, I put Kuro on that!

The bespectacled man kneels down towards you and offers you his hand. You didn't realize that you had fallen over until you finally registered the stinging on each of your knees. You reach out towards his offered hand. Before you could place your hand in his own, darkness suddenly enveloped your vision followed by a wave of dizziness. You instinctively shut your eyes and nurse your head in your hands.

The wet and cold air of the rainstorm was suddenly replaced with a suffocating heat. You manage to open your eyes and find yourself in a completely new setting. You were on the balcony of a building, currently blanketed in flames and billowing smoke. You accidentally inhaled due to your shock and began to cough as your lungs fill with black air.

Your fit alerts a figure in the room of your presence. Seeing you, a defenseless woman all so suddenly, they found themselves frozen in shock. Your vision began to slowly clear up enough for you to notice the familiar sheen of metal. Whoever it was that you were looking at had a sword in hand, tip aimed to the floor where a man lied unconscious at his feet.

Instinctively, you reached into your handbag and grabbed your axe. You put all the force you could muster into your grip and threw it at the man with the sword. He gave out a cry of pain, indicating that you had landed a hit on him. He suddenly backs away from the body and you think you hear him mutter some sort of apology before running out the room. With the threat now gone, you make your way towards the man on the floor. He was still unconscious, so you took a firm hold of his shoulders and began to shake him awake. He wakes up with a sputter before taking notice of you.

"Who are you?" his booming voice asks

"No time for introductions! The building is burning and we need to leave! Now!"

You didn't give him a chance to get in another word. Grabbing his forearm and hoisting him on his feet, you pulled him out of the fiery room. You make sure to grab your axe, wedged deep into the wood of the door frame, on your way out.

Miraculously, you manage to find a way out the building. As soon as you're lungs fill with fresh air, you double over into another coughing fit. As you try to calm your breaths, you turn back to building. It was a temple, but not like the one you visited earlier in the day. This one seemed more rustic. It was hard to fully picture what it might have looked like due to it being quite on fire still.

If you hadn't escaped in time, the man you dragged along with you would have perished. If not by the stab of the sword looming over him, then by the flames. Speaking of him, he looks out towards the burning temple with you. Instead of worry or panic, he seemed to be rather annoyed.

"Someone tried to do away with me as I slept? Audacious, but foolish. Killing my guards and managing to get so close to me is another matter."

Who cares if you were asleep or not?! You almost died!

He then turns towards you, taking notice of your grip still on his arm. "You there," he addresses you. "Let go of me."

You let go of his arm and he rubs it as if your grip was uncomfortable. He took in the person standing before him, his apparent savior.

"You may be mere entertainment the monks brought in, but you saved my life nonetheless. You have my thanks."

Did he just insinuate that you were a prostitute?

"I must have missed all the monks among the fire. I don't have a clue how I ended up in there," you tell him.

It's now that you begin to take in your surroundings. You were no longer within the city, not a single skyscraper obscuring the night sky in sight. The air, despite standing next to a burning building, wasn't as disgusting to breathe in. The man you rescued had striking features. His hair black and eyes a carnelian hue. He wore armor sporting colors of black, white, and red. You remember seeing such attire way back when your parents were alive. He was some sort of soldier.

"What are you staring at? Surely you know who I am?" He asks. You shake your head, being at a total loss for words. This genuinely confuses him. "You saved me not knowing who I am? Not expecting reward or favor?" He gives a deep chuckle that echoes throughout the night. "So be it, I shall tell you my name. I am the man who will rule all under the sun-"

Your silence is broken by your faint laugh. Was this man seriously going to monologue and create some sort of suspenseful build-up over his own name? After he just escaped the clutches of death?

He lifts an eyebrow. "Have I said something amusing?"

You cover your mouth to stifle your giggles and shake your head once more. Surely, he must have thought you rude.

Instead, he lets out another round of laughter, this time louder. "You're a curious one. No one has acted so impudently to me before." He takes a step closer to you and you take half a step back. "You intrigue me, which is almost as worthy of praise for saving my life. I am the Lord of Azuchi Castle and Daimyo of Owari, Nobunaga Oda."

Your head involuntarily tilts to the side. You look up at him and say, "...Who?"

His brows furrow. Now he was getting frustrated. "Do you truly not know who I am?"

You fiddle with your thumbs. "Noooooo?"

"You are indeed a strange one. But I have given you my name. Now, give me yours."

You hesitated, but decided it was safe to give him your name.

"I see. A good name befitting my savior"

Was that a compliment? Hang on, where the hell are you?!

You shake your head as if to clear your mind of its confused state. "Now that we got the introductions out the way. Tell me, where are we?"

"We are at Honno-ji. The building before you is-"

"A temple. I can see that. What year is it?"

He seems taken back by your question and of the fact that you interrupted him. "It is 1582. Why?"

Ah, 1582………WHAT?!

Before you could understandably freak out, the galloping of hooves grabs both your attention. The man at the front of the small group heading in your direction shouts, "Lord Nobunaga, you're safe!"

Once he reaches a safe distance, he hurriedly dismounts and approaches you both on foot. The others that rode alongside him turn their attention towards the building and begin shouting out orders to put out the flames.

"Mitsunari," Nobunaga turns to him. "Why have you come? Where is Hideyoshi?"

"Lord Hideyoshi sent me ahead. He should arrive here shortly," Mitsunari explains. He then takes in the sight of the smoldering temple and frowns. "It would seem the information we received about your assassination attempt was correct."

You feel another coughing fit coming and try to muffle it. It is then that Mitsunari takes notice of you.

"Oh, who might you be?"

Nobunaga calls out to you. He gives a nod to Mitsunari as an indication that you were no threat and then commanded, "Present yourself to my subordinate."

"I'm- Ow!"

Something pierces your ankle and you nearly fall over yet again. Mitsunari pulls you towards him and swiftly draws his sword out. As your eyes search the ground for what could have bitten you, you notice the familiar black scales of your rival hidden between the blades grass.

"Kuro! You bastard, I thought the lightning fried you to a crisp!"

As much as you hate to admit, you were glad to see the serpent is alive and well. However, as Mitsunari took notice of the snake, he pulled you further in until you were between him and Nobunaga.

"A snake?! Please stand back!"

He firmly planted his right foot on the ground and raised his sword. You immediately went on the defense and shoved him into the Nobunaga's chest. They were dumbfounded as they saw you place yourself protectively in front of the snake as if they were the threat, not it.

"Stop! He's with me!"

"My lady, the snake could potentially be venomous. Please walk carefully towards me,' Mitsunari beckons you to him.

Oh, he's much more than venomous… hold on.

You look down towards Kuro, then to Mitsunari, then to Kuro and back to the grey-haired man again. "You...You can see him?"

"Of course I can! Now please, get back!"

You glare down at him. "You bastard! You can make people see you at will can't you?!"

Unsurprisingly, he plays dumb and slithers back on you. Like before, he situates himself around your neck before turning his gaze towards the two armor-clad men. He sends an almost condescending gaze at the grown men panicking before him, a tiny viper.

"Ok, before you panic let me explain. This is Kuro. Say hi." You roll your eyes as he hisses at them. What else did you expect? "Lovely. He's my…we've known each other for a long time."

"You say that as if the snake were a person." Nobunaga notices.

Man don't even get me started!

"He's more aware than most, but he isn't harmful. So long as you don't annoy him he won't try to lunge at you." You shift your weight to the foot he had bitten, reminding you of the fact that he sunk his fangs into you just moments ago. "Except me. He'll only bite me."

"He's not venomous, is he?" Mitsunari asks.

"He has venom," you stupidly say, but quickly backtrack on your statement. "But he never shoots it in me, I swear! like I said, you just have to be cautious around him and not give him a reason to bite you."

"A woman with a venomous snake as her companion. There is no end to your amusement, is there?" Nobunaga speaks up, impressed, and not at all ashamed of feeling so, "Mitsunari, this is my savior. Remember her well."

"I thank you for rescuing our Lord," the man, clad in purple armor and a singular beauty mark under his right eye, bows deeply towards you. "My name is Mitsunari Ishida. I serve Nobunaga's right-hand man."

You wave your hands frantically to stop him. "Ah, no need to be so formal! Despite the circumstances, It's nice to meet you as well."

you properly introduce yourself to Mitsunari, who instantly perks up at your more welcoming demeanor. "Is your foot alright? That bite must have hurt. Though now that I've gotten a better look at you, you don't appear to be a nun. Are you perhaps from abroad?"

You look down towards yourself and realized you were wearing nothing but a t-shirt, capris, and some old worn out sneakers. You must look like a clown to them. Also, what were you even supposed to say in this sort of situation? Hey, I'm from 500 years in the future. Did I forget to mention I'm actually a 300 year old deity? Life sure is crazy!

Not knowing what is safe and not safe to say, you remained quiet. Mitsunari takes notice of your hesitation and looks back at Nobunaga for some guidance. The man, now over your rude behavior, steps past his subordinate and towers over you.

"Were you not taught to speak when spoken to? You may have saved my life, but there is only so much disobedience I will tolerate. Tell us where you hail from, and quickly."

You and Kuro glance at each other. Like most of your standoffs, there seems to be a mutual understanding between you two without the need for words. Remain silent. Do not tell them of your origin or of the nature of your being. Even if he decides you aren't trustworthy and strikes you down where you stand, you will survive the blow.

You kept your mouth shut. He seems more disappointed than angry towards your answer and turns towards Mitsunari. "Restrain her. She is now officially a suspect in the assassination plot on my life"

"My Lord. She's clearly disoriented from the chaos-"

"Restrain her," he ordered with finality.

Mitsunari, hesitant but not one to disobey orders, grabs a length of rope from his horse's saddle and walks back towards you. "Please give me your hands,' he politely demands of you. You do as you're told.

"It's alright," you whisper to him. "If it makes you feel better, my reason for being silent is just for my safety. I mean you all no harm. You have my word."

"I…" he appears caught between his orders and trusting in you. "I will trust you. No person with ill intent would risk their life to save Lord Nobunaga."

You thank him by giving his hand a comforting squeeze. He makes sure to tie your hands in a manner that would make escaping impossible, but not tight enough to hurt your wrists. You're escorted away from the temple, to a camp not too far away. You're led to a nearby bonfire and told to sit and not make any sudden moves. Mitsunari steps away from you and is replaced by two of the soldiers he brought with him.

"Hey," you try to whisper as quietly as you can to Kuro, "I have a suggestion. Care to hear it?"

He slithers around your neck until he's facing you head-on. It seems he's willing to listen. "Let's call a truce," you simply state. "The only conditions are that we look out and help one another until we find a way back to our time. After we return, we can go back to despising each other for the next hundreds of years."

Were you seriously offering an alliance with your sworn enemy? Yes, yes you were. As much as you both detest the idea of having to tolerate each other, the current situation made it clear that the only way you two are going to manage to get home is to put your heads together. Maybe even get along for a change?

Ugh, the thought of befriending this slithering asshole is deplorable.

"If you agree to those terms, bite my neck."

He doesn't hesitate to sink his fangs into your throat. You're sure he's wanted to bite you until your body was littered in duo puncture marks. The guards are alarmed at your cry of pain and go to kneel beside you to see what was wrong. They both took notice of the black snake around your neck and bleeding wounds. They look at each other and then nod. "Don't move ma'am. We'll take care of the snake-"

"He's a pet! No need to draw your sword," you immediately explain to them. "Could I maybe get a rag to press against my wound?"

The guard on your right seems hesitant, but his fellow soldier nods in assurance. He leaves in search of a rag, while the guard on your left seems to get closer to you. He's probably keeping a closer eye on you until his partner returns.

Two new people enter the camp. One is clad in blue and white armor, hair a pure white color. The other in green armor with red accents, hair a natural brown. You try your hardest to listen to their conversation. So far, both new figures seem to be concerned for the well being of Nobunaga. They question him on how he managed to escape unscathed and soon the attention is turned towards you.

"This is my savior. Due to her lack of answering my inquiries about her person, I've placed her under custody until we return to Azuchi."

"That one, sitting by the fire?" the white-haired one gestured towards you. You gave him a wave with your tied hands. "What a slender thing, but appearances aren't everything. Shall I pry answers from her mouth?"

The threat of torture puts you both on edge. You more than Kuro as you would be the one subjected to it.

Nobunaga seems to notice your fear and revels in it. "Once we return home, if she refuses to explain herself again, I will leave her in your hands. For now, we prepare for our departure."

The white-haired one nods in understanding before sending a spine chilling grin towards you.

Note to self, watch out for that one.

The brown-haired one comes towards you. While he isn't as scary as the other one, his height makes up for it. He's nearly twice your height and taller than anyone in the camp. He glares down at you and says, "Whoever you are, if you have any plans to harm Lord Nobunaga, I will make you regret ever having such thoughts."

Threat after threat after threat. You were getting pretty fed up with it. You were about to give the man a piece of your mind when suddenly, Kuro lunges at him. His fangs were bared and spurted liquid out of his mouth. That wasn't a warning bite. It was an honest attempt to bite and kill.

"Kuro!" You scold him. "That's not going to help the situation!"

"A snake?! Why haven't you noticed and gotten rid of it?!" The green armored one questions your guards.

They stutter over themselves before you finally speak up in place of them. "He's my pet."

"Pet or not. Allowing such a dangerous animal around Lord Nobunaga is a risk I won't take."

He reaches down to his waist to unsheathe his sword. In your panic, you shot up on your feet and you kick him right in the diaphragm. His arms wrap around his stomach and he nearly falls to his knees over from the blow.

"The next person that points a sword at us, I'm going to hold you down myself and let him pump you full of venom!" you scream. Gods, were you so on edge that you were now threatening people?

Your suddenly thrown face first down onto the ground and pinned from behind. You turn your head to see who it was that had restrained you. It was the white-haired one. The empty barrel pointed at you keeps you still.

I smell gunpowder. That's a rifle no doubt. Father used to have one in the house in case wolves came by at night.

"Those things have a tendency to accidentally go off," you tell him.

He smiles down at you. "Indeed. You'll forgive me if it does, yes?"

Second note, I hate this guy.

Angered by his cockiness, you try to wiggle out of his hold, but it utterly fails. In fact, you actually help him get a better grip on you and make it harder for you to escape. Great job, you dumbass.

"What shall we do with the snake, my lord?" The one pinning you down asks Nobunaga.

He stood over your defenseless self and stared at you with indifference. "It is clearly a hazard, but it has yet to leave it's master side and only struck when it perceived her to be under an immediate threat. Leave it, but keep your distance."

"My Lord, that is too much of a risk. Removing the threat now would be the better option," the brown-haired one protested. Slightly bent over in pain from your hit.

"I hate to say it, but I agree with Hideyoshi," the white haired one says. "Even a moment of vulnerability on our part will result in her releasing it on us."

The one you hit is Hideyoshi. Noted.

Nobunaga smirks at him. "If you're so concerned, Mitsuhide, then I suggest you put your sharpshooter skills to good use and keep an eye on the damn thing. Now, if you're both done bickering, let us head out."

Mitsuhide didn't seem to like his new orders but answers with a practiced "yes sir", before helping you up to your feet. Without any more to say, you're escorted to an large crowd of horses and lifted onto a saddle. Mitsunari is your apparent rider and you quietly thank the heavens for your one saving grace.

"Sorry," you whisper, "I sort of made things worse for myself."

You feel him tense, immediately feeling bad for making him worry even more.

"Once we return to Azuchi, you'll be in a secure place and can speak your truth without fear of lingering ears," he tells you. The horse beneath you suddenly kinks into a speedy gallop and you hold onto him for dear life.

You travel for a few minutes before the steeds around you slow down into a complete stop. A man with an eye patch and blue and gold armor appears with another unit of soldiers. Perhaps he was back up? He sure is late though.

"Lord Nobunaga. I see you're unscathed," he says, a more casual hint in his voice.

"Physically, yes. But my pride has taken quite the hit. We're returning to Azuchi. Have your men follow."

"Damn, I guess I was too late to see some action," he answers disappointedly. He turns back towards his reinforcements and shouts, "You heard the man! It's back home for us!"

His soldiers all let out groans of equal disappointment. He laughs at their expense before maneuvering his horse to join with the rest of the retreat. It's when he and his men fully merge that he takes notice of you and your bound hands. "Who's the lass?" He shouts over to Hideyoshi.

"They're under suspicion for the assassination attempt tonight. She has a snake around her neck and it will strike if you get near."

"A woman with a snake, huh? I like you already. The name's Date Masamune. I hope we can get to know each other well."

First I get called a prostitute, then this asshole flirts with me while I'm tied up! So much for a relaxing vacation!

________________________________________________________________

Kennyo watches the retreat of the Oda alliance with rage. His chance to exact revenge was in the palm of his hand but had been slapped away in a mere instance. The rustling of bushes gains his attention and he turns to see Ranmaru knelt before him, sweaty and disheveled. He's now porting a gash across his normally pristine face. "Are you alright? We need to tend to that wound to prevent it from becoming infected. It'll likely scar."

Ranmaru is on the verge of tears. "Master Kennyo, I failed you. All our efforts to eliminate the head of the Oda have gone to waste because of-"

The monk shushes him. "You've done well, Ranmaru. You've demonstrated how well the devil king trusts you. That alone is enough to be the cause of their undoing."

Ranmaru flinches at the mention of the word "trust." Kennyo turns back to look at the retreating forces once more. He turned back just in time to see that the they had a prisoner in their midst. He becomes even more enraged once he realizes that it was a woman.

"They would go so far as to blame a woman for the fire and hold her captive. The Oda couldn't stoop any lower than they have now."

Kennyo begins to walk away into the darkness of the forest. He gestures for the boy to follow, and he does so without hesitation.

________________________________________________________________

Another set of eyes watch the retreat of the Oda alliance from the sidelines.

"How disappointing. Though perhaps this is a blessing in disguise," Kenshin, initially unhappy seeing Nobunaga escape unharmed, immediately perks up at his own thoughts. "I still have an opportunity to drag the devil king out to battle and strike him down myself."

Shingen shakes his head in disbelief. Although he was frustrated as the rest, seeing the Oda pull out victorious and without a single loss, hearing Kenshin retain his bloodlust was reassuring. "He truly earned the title of devil king. Only a demon could have such twisted luck on his side."

"Lord Shingen," Yukimura suddenly notices an unfamiliar figure among the retreating forces, "look at who is riding with Mitsunari Ishida."

Shingen searches out for the familiar tuff of grey hair. He was in a bad mood, but now he's pissed. That was a woman, bound by the wrist the same way a criminal would be. "Unforgivable," is all the Tiger of Kai could growl out.

"Yes," Yoshimoto nods in agreement with his cousin, "Such a small thing. She must be scared to death."

Kenshin doesn't make any comment at the revelation, but he notices the panic that overtakes Sasuke's face upon hearing that a woman had been taken prisoner.

"I've grown bored. Let us return to Echigo and reconvene another day."

Kenshin doesn't wait for an answer. He turns away and the rest of his allies follow without a word. "Sasuke," Kenshin calls out to his ninja who had yet to move from his spot, "Do not keep me waiting."

He snaps out of this train of thought before following along. "Yes, my Lord."

________________________________________________________________

You had remained quiet the entire trip. A few people called your name, but you were so lost in your thoughts that you didn't even acknowledge whoever was speaking to you. You failed to realize that night had turned into morning. Your surroundings had changed from foliage into a massive fortress-like castle.

Kuro paid attention to your surroundings in your stead. Anyone that had gotten even a little close was hissed at and had transparent venom spat at them. Even Mitsunari, your one and only ally as of now, was not spared of the serpents radar.

You finally speak your first words after hours of silence. "If you keep threatening every man that so much as looks in my direction, I might start to believe you actually liked me all this time."

You're once again bitten, this time on the back of your hand. Blood quickly pools in the twin punctures before rolling down and staining your skin.

Mitsuhide had witnessed the snake sink its fangs into you. "Oh my, such a temperamental pet. Are you sure you have it under control?"

You roll your eyes. "Of course I do. Hey, Kuro," you look down to him. "If things turn ugly, pump me full of whatever you got left."

The snake nods, pleased at the privilege you've given it. Mitsuhide narrows his eyes at you, concerned over your order. You make sure to pat Kuro's scaly head while maintaining eye contact with him.

The entourage heads towards the stable. Stable hands awaited their return and began to board and tend to each steed. Mitsunari eventually dismounts and offers his hand for you to take. You gratefully accept his gesture and he helps steady you on the ground.

"How are your hands? If they feel sore I'll redo my bindings," he offers.

You shake your head. "I'm alright. What's going to happen to me now?"

"Lord Nobunaga requested an immediate council upon his return. It will likely be about the events that took place at Honno-ji and will take some time to inform and gather everyone needed. Until then, you...you will be…"

You didn't rush him. He was clearly having a hard time trying to muster up the courage to tell you what will happen to you until the meeting. You already have an idea what it would entail.

"You will be held in a prison cell until your fate is determined."

There it is.

"Will Kuro be allowed to stay with me?"

He nods. "Hideyoshi requested that the snake remain on your person at all times and visible. I hope his request isn't too unreasonable."

"If it puts the people here at ease then I can live with it. I'd feel safe having him close by anyways, so I'm quite thankful he didn't call in some expert snake hunter or something."

Mitsunari smiles at your words. "Even when the odds are against you, you find the positive within. You are truly admirable, my lady."

You return the smile. "Thank you, but I'm sure I told you before not to be so formal!"

"Very well. I agree with the condition that you address me with familiarity too. Is that alright?"

You nod and, for a brief moment, you forget that you were technically still a prisoner.

Previous chapter | Next chapter

#ikemen sengoku #ikesen #ikemen series #otome #ikemen sengoku fanfiction #ikemen sengoku writing #ao3 fanfic #ikesen writing #ikesen fanfic #writing #fanfic: warmth #reader insert #reader insert fanfiction

8 notes · View notes

dogbearinggifts · 5 years

Note

I feel like you're taking a break from TUA so just feel free to answer this whenever. People keep talking about Vanya gaslighting (idk who, maybe that's part of my issue) but I don't understand what they mean by that. Are they talking about her book? I'm not like a Vanya apologist or anything, I'm just curious about what this specific claim is based on.

Not really? I have postponed my seventh rewatch of TUA because I started watching The Good Place on a whim and got sucked in, and I’ve been posting more about TGP than TUA because I don’t have any friends or family who watch this show and I have to talk about Michael it somewhere. But I’m already pretty sure TGP is one of those shows I’ll enjoy immensely without feeling the need to dive into the fandom. I like it quite a bit, but I don’t see myself theorizing or writing fanfic or headcanons for it.

As far as gaslighting goes, I’ll start with the Wikipedia definition:

“Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, making them question their own memory, perception, and sanity. Using persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and lying, gaslighting involves attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim's belief.”

Many pop-culture references to gaslighting I’ve seen center on one specific form of it, where an abuser intentionally tries to make their victim doubt their sanity by lying about events. This is likely a result of the play and film Gaslight, where a husband moves items, lies about events, and contradicts his wife’s memory with the express purpose of making her believe she’s going insane. As you’ve probably guessed, this is where the term gaslighting came from, and so it’s understandable that people would argue the term applies only to the specific sort of behavior the play’s antagonist engages in.

However, in my experience and the experience of many survivors, gaslighting is more expansive and subtle than that. Occasionally, the primary abuser in my home would explicitly deny my version of events, claiming a conversation I confronted her on never happened, or that she apologized when she didn’t, or what have you. More often, she’d use what I like to call malicious autocorrect, and it would go like this:

Her: Why were you so rude to that girl from church? Me: I didn’t mean to be. The two of you were talking, and it seemed like you were mostly talking to each other and I didn’t want to butt in but wasn’t sure if leaving would be rude. I’m sorry I spaced out. My mind tends to wander, but I should have reined it in. Her: Oh, don’t lie to me. You deliberately ignored that girl because you don’t care about anyone but yourself. You think you’re better than she is and you just couldn’t wait to make her feel like crap.

Some would argue that malicious autocorrect isn’t gaslighting because it can be easily contradicted, but I disagree. In my experience, it absolutely can make you doubt your own motives and make you wonder if you’re really as good a person as you think you are. Once it gets into your head, you wonder what else you’re deluding yourself about. Did you really fold the laundry without being asked because you wanted to help, or did you do it because you wanted to passive aggressively tell your abuser that they need to fold it first? Did you really get a B in Algebra because you didn’t understand the material, or did you get less than an A because you don’t give a shit and think you’re too good for school? It makes the victim dependent on their abuser—not only for necessities and the like, but as an objective observer of the victim’s own morality. “Trust your heart” is gibberish to a victim of malicious autocorrect, because the abuse has made them see their own heart as irredeemably corrupt and dependent on their abuser for guidance.

I would also argue that Vanya subjects Allison to this on at least two notable occasions. The first is when Allison warns Vanya about Leonard, telling her that “I’ve had my share of stalkers and creeps...I don’t trust him” and Vanya immediately counters with “You mean you don’t trust me” and goes on to accuse Allison of viewing and treating her like a child (“Worry about your own daughter”). The second is when Allison confesses to Rumoring Vanya when they were four, telling Vanya she was too young to question Reginald’s motives and that she’d never understood what had happened until that moment. Vanya then accuses Allison of doing it because “You couldn’t risk me threatening your place in the house, your dominance…you couldn’t handle the fact that Dad might find me special!”

In both cases, Allison lays her motives bare, and we’re given no reason to doubt them. She’s a celebrity, and celebrities (female celebrities in particular) have to deal with stalkers on an alarmingly regular basis; but she also saw Leonard sneaking around Vanya’s apartment and heard him offer a flimsy excuse when she asked what he was doing there (Vanya lives in the middle of the city; it can’t be that far to the nearest fast-food joint or gas station). Four-year-olds don’t really have the life experience or mental development to question the motives or actions of the adults around them, especially not those who were raised in cloistered, controlling environments as Allison was. Her motives in each case are airtight; and while there’s a chance she was lying, that chance is slim. Yet Vanya still accuses her of possessing far more sinister motives, and grows angry when contradicted.

I don’t think Vanya is fully aware of what she’s doing. I don’t think she’s intentionally engaging in psychological manipulation to try and make Allison doubt herself. I think it’s a mix of wanting to say something that’ll make Allison go away, and projection of her own dismal view of her sister. I think she genuinely believes her sister is the type of person who would make up stories about her boyfriend because she doesn’t trust her and take away her powers because she doesn’t want her sister to be special. Her malicious autocorrect, then, isn’t a calculated attempt to make her sister doubt her own sanity, but rather Vanya denying evidence that her sister isn’t the monster she’s built up in her head.

You’re welcome to disagree with me on this. I’m sure many people do. But in my experience and estimation, Vanya’s behavior toward Allison definitely qualifies as gaslighting.

#the umbrella academy #umbrella academy #tua #gaslighting #vanya hargreeves #allison hargreeves #reginald hargreeves #leonard peabody #harold jenkins #the good place #anon #answered

36 notes · View notes

win-cr-die · 5 years

Photo

sooooo i have finally reached 400 followers which i did not think would happen and let me say something, i love each and every one to death. when i first joined this fandom, i did not think that i would even hit that mark –– let alone make as many friends as i have so this is a little list compiled to say thank you to each and every one of your asses for taking me in as your own and loving on me, daenerys and margaery !!!! if you aren’t included on this list, know that i love you all the same and you’ll have to jump into my IM’s and befriend my ass okay. honestly, i like to think of myself as a friendly and welcoming person so if you’re wanting to do something or just even make a friend, jump at me, yell at me and claim me. but lets get down to business and talk about what we’re really here for –– my bias list which which i was gonna put under a read more to stop everyones dashes from clogging buuuuut everybody deserves to know the wonderful blogs that have impacted my ass !!!!

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

MY SUN AND STARS // @kngcrw

kitcat, you are barely online anymore and that murders me because not only are you a friend but you are literally a fucking sister to me. making connections on this ride only ever enhances the quality of your writing in my eyes and i’ve been lucky enough to find somebody like you. i hate referring to you as a tumblr friend because that’s not all you are ... you are my best friend, my ride or die and my partner in crime and i am blessed to get to speak to you every day and hear your dramas even if they do make me roll my eyes to the back of my head each time you go on a long and twisted story. god, you’re a nightmare but you’re my nightmare and i cannot wait until the day your muse returns from the long lost war. my arms are wide fucking open waiting for you okay !!!!

THE CRYPT BITCHEZ // @quccnnorth @wclfcrown @dracaesanguinem @thcbull @lghtbrnger @sisterofthousands @fjarra

jesus christ. long live the crypt bitchez !!!! you guys have been my rocks for so bloody long and i’m so lucky to have found myself in some morbidly fucked up friendship group that makes the most sickening jokes but also uplifts me when i’m all moody. honestly, you guys make me laugh to death and at times you’ve made me cry but never in a bad way. i truly feel like i have found a home in you guys and we’re not a clique i s2g but a family so thank u all for always making me feel like i have a place with you all. idk where i would actually be at in terms of writing without any of you around because you have taught me so much when it comes to developing my own characters and i feel so lucky that i get to watch all of your own characters beautiful growth ... even if it is as cracky as a crack den

MY HOMIES // @curiouscast @alordnamedsnow @brideofxdragons @xiledbear @theyoungxwolf @missandei-of-naath @blodistridi @asynjja @xneedlepoint @luciddreamsx @stagnot @zaldrczes @wclfsncw @rebxrnbyfire @ofimaginarybeings @chevalier-de-la-fleurs @ladybelmore @foolsgoldt

you guys have near enough been my back bone in providing me with threads that make me go all heart eyed and plots that tear my heart from my ribcage ... as well as friendships that just make me feel so warm and fuzzy inside. listen, i love writing and talking with each and every one of you. thank you so much for being beautiful writing partners and friends that make me chuckle in some really weird awkward way whether i’m at home in my bedroom or out in public reading my phone. listen, you are all the BOMB and i am blessed to have you all on my dash and in my messages. i’m raising my bottle of water as a toast to doing more shit in the future because i love you guys so much okay !!!! i have made some beautiful ass friendships and don’t want to be on this crazy writing journey without any of you whether we write together or we’re just pals on this crazy old site. thank u guys for being the sweetest and nicest bunch of people that i have ever met and heres to whatever we do in the future

THOSE WHO PUT UP WITH ME // @killthebxy @serbriennecftarth @longmayshereignxcersei @reignfyre @secondaryking @goldcnlicn @rhaegail @wolveshonor @regalthorn @goldcnhand @thewhxtewclf @songtouch @thekingslxyer @wolfqueennamedstark @fallesto @champagne-coca1ne-gasoline @lessereviltm @ironbloodied @notenoughmuses @boysbackintown @allthosevoices @blackasniight @wedonotscw @sixthofhisname @ladyoftheiris @lordofthewatch ( aka my pop friend )

i have no idea how you guys have dealt with me jumping into your inboxes and spamming the hell out of you with thread ideas and just general chit chat but just know that i love and value you all to death, whethers it me or you who owes on a thread. i adore writing ( and just talking random shiteeeee tbh ) with each of you as i know i don’t have consistent and ongoing threads with everybody on this list or in some cases, i’ve written with you on previous blogs and have had to keep tabs on you or threads just haven’t taken off but !!!! yeah i love writing the characters that we’ve brought together whether they be in the most au absurd of ways or beaaaaautiful plots but just know that i would wait an eternity just to write with you guys and thank you so much for taking time out of your day to actually invest in me ?? i’m such a whirlwind, like i’m hyperactive and yet you all seem to tolerate me. god, keep on writing with me please because i would die if any of you just disappeared from my dash

ADMIRING FROM AFAR // @zcldrizes @mcsttrusted @boltxnbastard @exilekniight @thecomplication @behindaccents @crowncdcrow @viperspear @paetriarch @thesellsword @tyrion @jonsnowtm @i-will-break-the-wheel @xdraecarys @artfulprecision @jorah--the-andal @cqtelyn @tyrxshisword @perzyr @freefiire @lyspider

there are a few of you that i’ve had minor interractions with, some that i have never spoken to before and others who i’m not even mutuals with but who doesn’t love a little random positivity !!!! each time one of you flashes up on my dash, i am so in awe of whatever it is that i’m reading or looking at and i think that you guys deserve to be part of this bias list for just making my dash a beautiful place to be. thanks for portraying your characters in such an amazing light, even despite season eight sloooowly falling downhill. you guys, even though you all seem to be drowning in threads, deserve to know how much you’re appreciated on the dash –– even by a small old lil blog like mine that’s only hit 400 !!!!

#bias list. ♡♡#honestly this just seems like me being a kiss ass i know but !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#i just want to spread some love and positivity okay and let everyone know #how valued they are and what assets they are to the dash #man this took TIME #[[ ooc ]].#[[ about the mun ]].

40 notes · View notes

lefaystrent · 5 years

Text

Lifeline ch.2

Fandom: Thomas Sanders, Sanders Sides

Pairings: platonic lamp/Thomas

Summary: Unable to help himself, Patton reached out to ruffle Thomas’s hair. The other sides rolled their eyes, knowing what would happen, except—

Patton’s hand.

It made contact.

Chapter Navigation: one , three

AO3 Link

Things were different after the possibility of touch entered the equation.

It took Patton a long while to let go that first time. Roman had to intervene. He caught on to just how overwhelmed Thomas felt and inched his way forward, a placating hand raised.

“C’mon, Padré. Thomas could probably use a little space after this revelation.”

Patton sniffled and shook his head rapidly against Thomas’s shoulder, gripping him tighter. Thomas’s hands grasped onto the cat hoodie Patton wore nowadays ever since Logan gifted it to him. Never had Thomas thought that he’d be able to feel the softness of the material. It was a strange thing to think about, how realistic even Patton’s clothes felt.

It felt a little too real. With the suffocating tension in the air, Thomas tried not to feel guilty for wanting to pull away.

Roman attempted to coax Patton away a couple more times before Patton said weakly, “But what if I let go and I can’t do this again?”

And it broke Thomas’s heart. He loved his sides, he did, but what if Patton was right? What would it mean? What did this mean right now? What did Thomas want it to mean?

He didn’t know . . . and what he didn’t know kind of scared him.

“Pat,” Roman uttered, taken aback. Eyes pleading, he turned to where Virgil had been standing on the stairs hugging himself.

Virgil offered a hard stare in return. A silent conversation passed between them. He opened his mouth a couple of times, and if Thomas had to guess what he’d say, it’d be something along the lines of, “He’s not wrong. This might be a one chance fluke, and you really want to take that away from him?” However much Virgil brought to the table, it wasn’t typically positive reassurances.

But a quick glance at Logan swayed the tide. He stood incredibly still, fingers white where they gripped his arm.

“Logan?” Virgil asked cautiously.

Logan sank out without a word. An electric sensation skittered up from Thomas’s stomach to settle uncomfortably in his chest and throat. Logic had left the building. Now there really was no hope of understanding any of this.

Virgil cursed quietly, smacking his fist against the wooden banister. Face stormy, he hopped off the stairs to come help Roman. He wasn’t used to being gentle, but Thomas could see how much he tried for Patton. It stirred Patton more than Roman’s attempts had and, letting Patton clutch his hands, he pulled him away.

“We can catch up with Thomas later,” Virgil consoled. “S’not like he’s going anywhere we won’t.”

It didn’t matter. Patton wilted against him like they’d never see Thomas again. Virgil had to take a deep breath, letting out a heavy sigh.

“Later, Thomas.” Virgil gave a two-finger salute and sank out with Patton. It wasn’t until they were gone that Thomas realized his cheeks were wet.

He wiped at his eyes. “I must look a mess,” he chuckled, not really feeling any mirth.

“Nonsense. Manly tears are still manly.” Roman grinned with a wink.

He laughed again. “Roman . . . what am I gonna do?”

“Your best.”

“I’m serious.”

“Well so am I.” And from the firm set of his gaze, Roman truly was serious. “You’ve always been your own worst critic, yet despite that you always strive to do your best. Even when you’ve forgotten your lines, or you trip and fall, the show must go on.”

“Yeah . . .” Thomas nodded uncertainly.

There was a lot hidden under Roman’s little analogy, a lot not being said. He could see it in the stiff set of Roman’s jaw and the way he shifted from foot to foot.

If Logan flat out left, then how must Roman, the center of his confidence, feel about all of this?

He tasted the question on his tongue but in the end waited too long.

Roman cleared his throat. “Worry not, Thomas. We’re all in this together.” Then he sank out.

Thomas blew out a long breath. “Life just got weirder and more stressful and my fanciful side is making High School Musical references. I don’t know how to feel about anything anymore.”

He couldn’t help but laugh. It was absurd really. Everything that happened was absurd.

Okay, he might be the tiniest bit hysterical.

Having lost his appetite, Thomas skipped eating and went upstairs to go to bed despite knowing he wouldn’t get a wink of sleep that night.

Thomas didn’t see his sides for some days after that. Any other time, their absence wouldn’t be questioned. Occasionally they didn’t pop up for a week or two. They showed up even less when Thomas surrounded himself with other people. Of course, anyone else couldn’t see them, but they showed up less around others because they tended to be distracting. There had been some close calls with his friends and family asking what he was looking at or who he was talking to.

That being said, the next morning Thomas jumped out of bed far too early and drove to his parent’s house. They were still dressed in their pajamas but welcomed their son in all the same. When his mother asked about the surprise visit, Thomas shrugged.

“Just missed you guys,” he said with a half-smile.

His mother took that for what it was. Things in his life were out of whack and he needed something to ground him. She didn’t pry, only led him to the kitchen and enlisted his help with fixing breakfast. Thomas gladly did so. He stayed and visited and didn’t leave until nightfall.

The next day, he invited Joan and Talyn over but they were busy. Thomas scrolled through his other contacts before tossing his phone aside with a groan. What he wouldn’t give to be able to talk to any one of them, tell them everything that was going on, but this wasn’t their burden to bear and he didn’t want to think about any of it right now anyway. Even simply reaching out to ask to hang with them seemed a monumental effort.

He wanted to drive back to his parents’ house, but they’d seriously question him for the two-days-in-a-row visits.

Then again, the alternative of staying here? His little apartment didn’t seem so little lately, the rooms as empty and eerie as caverns. It was hard to go back to the living room, to see all of their spots, like any moment they’d pop back up and he’d have to face them—

Luckily, his phone chimed with a distraction. His friend Camden wanted to meet up to go over some video editing and Thomas might have replied a little too quickly.

They got together and Thomas lost himself in working. A surge of motivation spurred him on and he’d never been so focused and productive. It paid off when they wrapped up much sooner than expected.

Camden took note of it, joking, “Who are you and what have you done with Thomas?”

Thomas laughed it off, and he knew Camden meant it as a joke but he felt antsy after that. Did Camden realize he was overeager about the work? Too driven where typically he’d be prone to distraction? Could Camden see how off he was, or was Thomas just hyperaware of every time Camden looked at him, afraid he’d see too much?

Suddenly that feeling of wanting to run away from his problems took a one-eighty and screamed at him to leave. No one would catch on if no one was around to see him. Thomas didn’t want to think about what might show up when he got home, but on the other hand he desperately needed to keep his problems to himself. He probably came off as abrupt when he told Camden he should be heading out.

At home, his apartment was just as empty as he’d left it. It might not stay that way, but for now Thomas relaxed.

Or tried to anyway. He went upstairs to take a shower, ignoring the fact that he’d already taken one that morning. He stayed in there longer than he needed to, the water running too hot against his back. Eventually he climbed out, dried off, and slid into a comfy pair of shorts. He closed the lid of the toilet to sit down and let his damp bangs hang in his face. He stared at the bathroom sink for the longest time.

He grabbed his phone and shot a text to Joan. He didn’t have to wait long for a reply.

Joan: Love you too, dude. Sorry today was a no go.

Thomas: Don’t worry about it. I managed to have a productive day.

Joan: Yeah, I heard about that from Camden.

Thomas: …what do you mean?

Joan: Nothing really, except he did ask me if something was up with you.

Thomas: I was just really focused today, lol

Joan: Okay, cool. If something was up though, I’m here.

Thomas bowed his head, resting his forehead against the heel of his hand. His phone hung loosely from the other, and for a minute he had to restrain himself from just outright calling Joan.

The phone chimed again.

Joan: I’d hide a body for you. Like I’d question you, but I’d still do it.

It surprised Thomas into a laugh. Tears in his eyes, he typed into his phone.

Thomas: Thanks. I think I really needed to hear that. Nothing’s really wrong, I just feel like . . . a lot’s changing recently and I’m just being dumb.

Joan: 1) you’re not dumb, I will fight you 2) is this about the new office space we’re getting?

Thomas: No. Maybe? Idk, just been feeling off the past couple days.

Joan: I know you’re not a fan of big changes, but not all changes are bad. Just think about how fucking cool that office is going to look when it’s done.

Thomas: Thanks Joan, you’re the best.

Joan: <3

Not all changes were bad.

Thomas didn’t understand what this new development with his sides meant. He didn’t know if he was going crazy, or going crazy-er he should say. He didn’t know if he’d be able to touch them again or how all of them felt about this. He didn’t know what it would mean if Patton was the only one, or why he had been able to in the first place.

Just like the first time he started seeing them, he went through a lot of inner turmoil that led to him accepting his sides as a part of him, a part that was more beneficial than harmful.

They made his life better, right?

Changes were scary, but he didn’t have to be afraid of this one.

Tag list: @spectralheartt @a-pastel-pan @notalwaysthevillian @rose-gold-roman @ijustrealizedhowdumbmynamewas @katie-the-noble-fangirl @yourroyalydramaticanxiousness @aroundofapplesauce @merlybird500 @beach-fan @jemthebookworm @5am-the-foxing-hour @sevencrashing @ryuity (let me know if you want to be added or removed from this story’s tag list)

164 notes · View notes

brandonflowers420 · 5 years

Text

i reviewed the killers' christmas songs because apparently i think my opinion matters

A Great Big Sled

A great song to have a festive mental breakdown to. "I wanna wish u merry christmas...Ho Ho Ho 🙄" also it just fucking slaps??? Even though it's kind of depressing and crisis inducing.

Don't Shoot Me Santa

Literally about Billy the kid. Could be a play on "The Killers." "Lol What if Santa was after us because we're killers". But to me it's about Billy the fucking kid. Read a little about Billy the kid and don't fucking tell me Santa wouldn't be the only one who truly knew what happened to him. "I've been killing just for fun!" Basically...that's fucking William.

Joesph, Better You Than Me

I'm Joesph. I know nothing about religion and the story of Joseph but I AM JOESPH. "Are you bad at dealing with the pain" YEAH. Also, what up Elton.

¡Happy Birthday, Guadalupe!

-This song makes me so happy!!! Birthday Happy!!!!!

-"My Mexican angel" idk what that means but YEAH DUDE.

-(unfortunately that monologue Brandon does turns me on :( )

-FUCKIN SLAPS, TURN THAT SHIT UP BABY!!!!!!!

Boots

-My favorite Killers Christmas song.

-The references to It's A Wonderful Life really does break and warm my heart.

-The entire song just sounds very hopeful

-my favorite Christmas song

-the chorus, "I can see my mother in the kitchen, my father on the floor, watching television, It's A Wonderful Life. Cinnamon candles burning, snowball fights outside, smile below each nose and above each chin...stomp my boots before I go back in" just makes my dumbass smile.

-"light my way, lift my head, light my way" BITCH! 😭

-OKAY maybe I'm BIASED because this IS the song I listened to after coming out to my brother and sister-in-law..."So happy they found me, love was all around me, stomp my boots before I go back in" HAD ME CHOKING ON MY OWN TEARS

-deserves to have the album named after it

The Cowboys' Christmas Ball

-oh yeah baby YEEHAW. Perfect Christmas song for kids, my kids are gonna grow up listening to this song, thanks

-Brandon's really hot in the music video---I know y'all know this but WEW had to mention it.

I Feel It In My Bones

-LITERALLY the entire Santa trilogy is about BILLY THE KID

-this song is specifically about Billy escaping what was supposedly his murder and Santa is the only one who knows that he escaped, so he's taken it upon himself to get revenge for the crimes Billy's committed. Like, Billy's on the ultimate naughty list and Billy's only plea is "SANTA PLEASE IM JUST A KID I'M SORRY I KILLED LIKE 5ISH PEOPLE!! PLEASE LET ME LIVE I PROMISE I AINT LIKE THAT ANYMORE!!!!!"

Christmas In LA

-This song is literally so sad. Please go back to where your heart is meant to be for the holidays and get TF out of L.A. ommmgggg.

-still sad slaps. sounds like putting too much alcohol in your eggnog on purpose.

Joel The Lump Of Coal

This was the peak of the killers fandom, okay, let me break it down for u. I can't remember if it was a few days before or a day before Joel's release on Jimmy Kimmel, just the single's cover was leaked. THAT'S IT. Everyone was like wtf bc we also didn't know they were gonna be on kimmel. THEN everyone found out they were gonna be on kimmel. I literally stayed up until midnight just to absolutely lose my shit over Brandon looking so fUCKIN SOFT!! Like, we really hadn't seen him in at least a month and he showed up looking like a SOFT SNACK!!! AND THEN HE PUT ON THAT SWEATER AND RED BEANIE AND EVERYONE WAS LIKE ADHEGHFDAFDG BABY BOY!!! SOFT!!!! I watched the skit and performance 9,000 times. All the boys look really nice and cozy in the video and aksjsjssjsjs i Love u Joel and Jimmy Kimmel

Dirt Sledding

classic Christmas song vibes and in my mind is Santa Claus finally letting go of Billy. Like, Billy having a family but no one knows he's The Billy™️. Like...he goes by William now and Santa's finally accepted that he's completely evolved and isn't a kid anymore. So Santa kidnaps him and Billy tells him everything he really wanted for Christmas because he didn't get to have it when he was younger. So yeah, welcome to my true crime community blog where I romanticize a cold blooded killer.

I'll Be Home For Christmas (cover, obviously...who out here thinking they wrote this)

-THREE MINUTES AND 19 SECONDS OF BRANDON MONOLOGUING WITH HIS CUTE LITTLE COWBOY ACCENT UWU ABOUT HIS CUTE LITTLE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES UWU!!!

-"l aaaaa s v e gas"

-"SLOT MACHINES IN THE LAUNDRY MAT"

-"bUT WHAT COULD I DO, I WAS NINE"

-"bLINK"

-"dad got a job in the produce department at the smith's food kind, which was fitting since he managed to PRODUCE 6 kids" dad jokes about dads

-he only rhymes in the end

-it really is so sweet that Brandon's 4th grade teacher made such an impact on him that he thought to get in contact with him YEARS later for a song

-incredible harmony

-my dad thinks it's a really good cover, therefor, anyone who doesn't like it is invalid. Sorry, them's the facts.

#the killers #brandon flowers #ronnie vannucci #dave keuning #mark stoermer

40 notes · View notes

sunshinesunsethappiness · 6 years

Text

Some general thoughts 🙂 Spoilers for the crossover!

I’ll only focus on this shortly since I know a lot of people were upset and I want to respect those feelings. Personally I didn’t mind the double wedding at all. I found the pan out with the two couples kissing quite beautiful and happy after 3 dark episodes (even if they panned out a little too quickly). Diggle throwing up his hands made it complete.

I was nervous about the weddings beforehand because I thought it was going to become a sort of vow-off between WestAllen and Olicity. But I thought the show handled it without making it a competition.

Barry and Iris got beautiful vows, so beautiful. Ideally of course both couples would have gotten their own ceremony/moment, but what can you do.

I understand, but personally I just don’t feel like they were shortchanged in this particular scenario that was already last minute and thrown together, but again that’s just how I feel and to each their own feelings. All in all I’m super happy that Barry and Iris are now officially married, so I’m happy to focus on that.

Moving on,

-Barry and Iris are married! Married! Iris West-Allen for realsies! I still remember the night in season 1 that they released the promo where Barry saw the newspaper with Iris West-Allen on it. Such a great moment. I didn’t participate in fandom back then (I mostly just read stuff people said) and now we’re here. Iris West-Allen has become a reality. How far they’ve come.

-It’s not a competition, but I’ll say during the church wedding Barry (and his teary eyes) moved me the most and during the vows Iris moved me the most. (but I loved both during both moments). Grant really did impressive work in that walking down the aisle scene and Candice really impressed me in her delivery of the vows (they’re both always good, but I mean extra impressed ;)

-Why didn’t the heroes try to use their powers earlier? They would have found out about the power dampening collars immediately.

-I know there probably wasn’t enough time, but it seemed a bit…off to me that the heroes didn’t show any signs of wanting to help the people of Earth X. I completely understand their urgency to go back to their own home, because it was under attack and their loved ones were there and didn’t have much time. But heroes having compassion and wanting to help and protect is such a big part of heroes being heroes. Even just a line about how they were sad they couldn’t do anything to help or something.

-I thought the crossover did a nice job of showcasing Oliver and Felicity’s chemistry. I was quite impressed by that scene in the breach room where Felicity asked Oliver to respect her decision. Even though they were at odds it was such a nice intimate moment and well-acted by both. And just little moments here and there like the quick hand touch when he left the time vault

-The scene with Earth X Felicity was very hard to watch.

-Stein’s death hit hard. The other day I was watching the scene with the welcome home party for Henry Allen and Stein gave such a beautiful speech: forward. I'm going to miss him. They were really setting it up with all the last mission before retirement vibes. Why couldn’t they have just let him retire?

-Loved all the Iris and Felicity team up stuff and how they actually had a really good smart plan for getting Kara out. I love this friendship and would like to see it continue, sadly the two shows might ‘forget’ it now apart from an occasional reference but I’ll try to remain optimistic. So far they haven’t really followed through on Iris and Caitlin’s friendship either.

-Initially I was a bit ?? about how comparatively little Barry was being featured, but after having thought about it I’m fine with it because I prefer that he and the flash were kept away from some of the stuff going on in this crossover. Just in general and after all the Savitar stuff last year and considering the subject matter, it was probably actually better that the Flash was more low-key in this particular storyline and that there wasn’t an evil Earth X Barry counterpart (that we know of in the live action show, idk what they’ll do in the animated version).

-Team Flash needs to learn that there is a lot in between killing and letting someone go. I respect and approve of the no kill stance, but you can at least hand them over to the police? First Amunet and now Thawne. Who knows how many more people these two will hurt in the meantime?

Of all four hours the first was probably the one I liked most.

Anyway, I have more thoughts, but this is getting too long,

#WestAllen #Olicity #the flash #the flash spoilers #arrow spoilers #crossover spoilers #flash spoilers #dctv crossover #long post

6 notes · View notes

straane · 7 years

Text

Motherworld (Ch.3/?)

Title: Motherworld

Author: strane-stelle

Fandom: Final Fantasy X

Central characters: Tidus

Rating: 12+

Chapters: 3/? Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 4

Word count: 2809

Summary: “The fayth said it’s pointless to keep dreaming. The dream will disappear, he said. What did he mean?” After a long journey, Tidus finally gets to go home.

Warnings: Ton of OCs; idk, drug references??

Other comments: credit goes to @shuyiin for the idea.(or virtually the star player himself @leviathkand)

Chapter 3 – Go with the Flow

"Someone order a wacko? With a side of 'runs in the family'?"

To be sure, it was a clichéd line, but it certainly got the attention of all seven Abes, as Tidus joined them a couple of minutes late in the changing room. Not that he wouldn't have turned heads in any case – he would, everywhere he went – but he'd fallen right back into his old bad habit of listening in.

Nella shot up from the bench at once, beaming; to throw her arms around him. Tidus fell back about two steps – she was a head taller, and made of hard tricep and nothing else. There was a great sincerity about the gesture, hefty as it was – she was one of the two who had not uttered one bad word about their now scandal-ridden teammate. At worst, she had seemed worried.

"Welcome back!"

Feeling ever so slightly patronized, and not for the first time today, Tidus quickly broke away and responded with a simple thanks. Granted, he knew that the extremely kind and extremely talented midfielder had meant no disrespect. Nella gave a wide smile – with something resembling relief or anticipation; perhaps both. She had changed her hairstyle, from shoulder-reaching dark curls to clipped darker curls with red streaks.

"Look, we're sorry," a less keen voice breathed over Nella's vast shoulder, irritated. The voice belonged to Edge – also the owner of a well-suited name. Everything about the man was pointed and pallid: eyes, hair, face, personality. The eldest on the team, at 36; he was hardly any sage or father figure, more like a drunk grandpa – disapproving of anything and everything, and starting petty disputes over anything and everything – sometimes, it seemed, his own opinion. In the pool, inexplicably, he'd then transform into a fantastic team player. "What'd you want us to say? What do you think everyone else is saying?"

Tidus didn't have to think, nor did anyone in the room. Teri shifted awkwardly in the corner, moving a strand of her inky short hair; with others mirroring her movements – there was never any telling whether their capable if rather reticent captain was about to say something. But this time Edge beat her to it, adding with a more placid tone, "Well, it's good to see you alive."

Everyone gave approving nods, and resumed practice preparations in a collective synchronized motion, encouraging Tidus to claim his usual spot on the bench as well. Although, after receiving a couple more welcome-backs and a domino effect of apologies, he'd barely gotten around to pulling the zipper on his bag, when he felt obliged to stand up again and spare a few more words. And again the room went frozen and silent.

Tidus rubbed his temples. "Hey, guys... I know it's a lot to ask, but can we not do this whole 'awkward' thing? You know I liked it a lot better when I was just the... y'know, talentless new kid who made the team 'cuz of his dad and nothing else..."

"That was almost two years ago," Nella reminded him, suddenly defensive. "You've more than proven yourself since and you know th--"

"Yeah, I know that," Tidus agreed. "And that was the fun part, proving myself to you guys! Because I knew I could! Just give me another chance, okay? Or even better... let's just focus on practice and not me, okay? Those Duggles are going down," he slammed a fist into his palm, with half-earnest enthusiasm, "right?"

There was a string of half-hearted nods, and a couple of excited ones. That was good enough for Tidus.

Lately, Tidus had began to compartmentalize. Sure, he had witnessed an eerie sight on his very doorstep less than a week ago – heard it talk, even – and if nothing else; for Tidus himself, it had served as a final confirmation; vanquisher of all remaining doubt: Spira was real. He had not hallucinated anything, nor indulged an escapist fantasy or started to believe his own lies – it was all real. And sure, he still missed that place – terribly – this was about as far as he could look back, before it simply became too much. And sure, his life here remained unchanged; messy and vaguely melancholic; with new rumors sprouting up at every turn like Sinspawn; his recently expanded PR team refusing some 90 interviews per day; his plentiful caretakers studying his very breathing for signs – any signs. Even all positive remainders of his old life would appear exactly that: old. Worn-down. Ill-fitting.

But what was he to do? Since the fleeting encounter with the fiend from the other side, he'd not had the pleasure of beholding any additional otherwordly visions, nor had he heard voices or run into any mystical hooded children telling him not to cry (and boy, did he at times want to). So what if a dying demonic animal had transcended time and space just to tell him hi, how did that help him in any way? He'd certainly not been able to help the poor soul. If he didn't know how to reverse the stunt, what was the point of chewing it over?

And just the day before, in a passing moment of clarity, Tidus had finally found a solution. He had finally resolved in his heart to do what he should have done from day one. What Leo referred to as damage control, he would dub making the best of here and now. He would once again let go, surrender to the flow; tag along on a journey he'd never planned to take. He would moderate his responses to Dr. Cidron's questions; eventually phase them into retraction and denial. He would nod along as needed. He would heed Leo's every command. He would play with the Abes again. He would live a life; he would be his old self again.

In the depths of his soul, he would know the truth; in his heart; he would always treasure Yuna. But for now, to save his skin – he'd wear his old one. He didn't have a choice; it was the only thing he could do – he'd give in, he'd accept, he'd believe. He'd allow it to be true.

This was his new reality, and he was stuck in it for good.

The post-storm reconstruction had recently extended over to the pool area as well. The Abes' temporary practice field turned out to be a quite a far cry from what they were used to: a far smaller and simpler watery orb – a puddle almost – filled with; seemingly; lower-quality liquids. The proportions, the layout, Tidus observed; trying hard not to get snobby at a time like this; were all almost beginner-level. Not a lot of room for improvement, he couldn't help but indulge a smidge of that snobbiness, quite literally! Oh well, he then figured, wasn't going back to the basics his plan in any case?

They'd been marching to the pool entrance in a near-perfect line; the air still a bit strained for casual chat, when Frion suddenly broke the formation and ran to Tidus's side. Tidus turned his head in anticipation, and the white-haired youth hesitated a moment before whispering, just as they reached the gateway, "You cleared all the... tests, right?"

There was one thing that Tidus was determined never to 'confess'; not even to steer suspicions; or to give an easy excuse, and it was forbidden substances. He'd done well with Sin's toxin back on Besaid – and here it was again on everyone's lips, whether he liked it or not – but these were totally taboo; his no-good drunkard dad would've disapproved. Well before his own breakthrough; as Tidus vaguely recalled; there had been one case with a particularly nasty sort; one that would simultaneously enchance performance and cause hallucinations. In the end, the offender; a slightly older player if his memory served; had barely lived, and happily admitted to having made a terrible mistake. The incident had since been swept under the rug – mercifully – as a dirty black spot in the oft-glamorized blitz history. But for every blitz fan and every sports magazine that tried their best to forget, there was also one of each that remembered – and that wanted to know the truth about the more recent events; the truth about 'the toxin'.

"You think I'd be here if I didn't?"

Leo, Bern, Dr. Cidron and even Evy were all watching from the stands; Leo looking as though he wanted to produce a forbidden substance from his person right away; Bern buried in a book, sparing a listless glance now and then; Dr. Cidron trying to decide whether to cheer or worry or both; and Evy most definitely settled on cheering – she was as big a fan as ever.

Shortly before Tidus's disappearance, the blitzball powers-that-be had approved for test runs a new type of game-supplementary machina: a set of minuscule earphones and mouthpieces that allowed the players to communicate during the game. As it turned out, the technology had been freshly confirmed as official equipment to be used at the coming Jecht Legacy Cup (a Jecht Memorial Cup relaunch). Tidus had actually conducted one of the test runs himself – a mere week pre-Spira – naturally; as not too long ago he'd been the go-to poster boy of the new blitz generation. On that account, figuring out how the device worked was not the problem – and there wasn't really a problem – only a momentary feeling of mixed nostalgia and detachment as Teri very deliberately handed the headset to Tidus at the pool entrance. He really was back.

Technically, Teri was only the team captain, not the coach – but she effectively did double duty just as Wakka had, as their actual coach was far more interested in his 90% ownership of the team. Hirans, who in Tidus's opinion bore a striking resemblance to Kinoc, was neither a sportsman or even sportsmanlike in any way imaginable, and it was only by some clever navigation through bureaucratic technicalities that he'd been able to snatch the title of coach at all. He'd also been notably absent from Tidus's now infamous press conference, and had since practically gone into hiding, by the looks of it. Dreams or not, Tidus mused, people here sure loved to pretend: fake coach, nominal agent, lazy bodyguard.

"Alright, hope everyone's loving the widgets," Teri addressed the team as they swam into the pool, her own expression betraying a certain level of reservation. There were some cautious murmurs of approval, echoing through everyone's heads – Edge and Arret were covering their ears, apparently fearing that the microscopic gizmo would fall right off at the first wrong movement. Tidus could hardly believe that in something at least, he was actually ahead of the curve (and definitely no thanks to Spira). Juggling two blitzballs above his head, while others still bombarded Teri with questions, he was as ready for some tussle as could be.

"Hey," Nella suddenly gave Tidus a gentle nudge on the shoulder – startling him, and making him lose the ball, "you belong here. You always have." Tidus tried to scrabble for the runaway ball with his both arms and one leg, too; only to fumble the attempt. He gave her a nervous chuckle, which she returned. He appreciated the sentiment – but there was something about the passing moment of clumsiness that suddenly filled him with stress.

The first half of the practice was just alright. Tidus was on the same team with all of his harshest doubters, who also happened to be the ones struggling the most with the new technology. He was hardly at the top of his game himself, still feeling a little disconnected with the environment, and not only because it had recently shrunken in size. The other team, in turn, almost seemed to be going easy on them – or him – sometimes bordering on unprofessional levels. (This was not going unnoticed by Leo, either, judging by his rather lively body language.) The teams mostly relied on basic commands such as 'Catch!', 'No!', 'Come on!', 'Go Riona!' – which would've been easy enough to convey by the traditional non-verbal methods – and at times there was confusion as to who was addressing whom. The first ten minutes were far from a disaster, just markedly tame and tortuous at the same time – and goal-free. Goal-attempt-free, if one squinted – and not because there had been such high-caliber, evenly matched skill on display.

Bern, Dr. Cidron and Evy all departed for work after the first half – of course, Tidus would've been the work, had it not been for Leo's request to meet the boy in private after the practice. Tidus thought he saw the agent exchange a few words with Evy before she turned to leave – an apology for the press conference? The man could feel empathy?

Inexplicably, even the more skeptic fellow Abes seemed to have warmed up to Tidus by the half-time break – after he'd done literally nothing to deserve it. Perhaps nothing was more than enough – whether they'd been expecting him to start selling bags of powder mid-match, or just have a customary nervous breakdown, Tidus wasn't sure, but they were all giving him pats on the shoulder and even sparing some compliments, 'Still got it!'; 'Well, you are full of surprises!' What 'it' and 'surprises' referred to; and how exactly they'd been involved in the most uneventful practice session of all time; Tidus also wasn't sure, but he did feel heartened by the very subtle clap of hands that Edge indicated towards him.

The second half began in somewhat more vigorous spirits, when the opposing side went on the maximum offensive within the first ten seconds. Tidus finally got something to do as he near single-handedly managed to fend off the first scoring attempt, by throwing himself hard against one of the goalposts – and poor Nella, who'd been floating right up there stalking the goal area. Even with the increased resistance from the lower-quality liquids, and her matching if not greater body weight, she was flung quite a distance across the field, all the way to the pool entrance; which she thankfully didn't hit.

"Nella!" Tidus yelped after her, along with the others. "Are you okay?"

They never got a clear answer. From the other side of the pool, they could just see Nella straightening her back, unharmed; shaking her head a little and then starting towards them – only to lose sight of her completely, when there was a sudden outpour of something swift and green, swimming up from behind her and towards them. The headsets immediately turned into a hearing hazard.

"What...?! What are-- are those... fiends?!"

"How'd they get in? Wha-- I haven't seen one in years!"

"Nella!" Tidus shrieked, but there was no time to wait for a reply. Neither was there time to think – the swarm was huge, huge enough to block their single exit – and the fish's apparent entry point. But his fellow Abes were no cowards, and Frion had already grabbed one of the four practice blitzballs floating about – it was time Tidus took a leaf out of Wakka's book as well. Out of the corner of his eye, Tidus could see Leo in the stands, tearing out his hair in absolute horror.

The battle with the aquatic beasts was brief and chaotic. Tidus and Frion took out at least a dozen each, Riona joined in with a third ball after a failed escape attempt, and Teri had just located the fourth makeshift weapon when – just as quickly as they had emerged – the swarm began to vanish; dissolve into those bright, tailed lights.

This time, there we no parting words – the creatures faded away in near-complete silence, with only a distant sound of streaming water flowing through their technologically enhanced ears. Everyone seemed to be doubting their own senses – what exactly had happened, and why were they having an adrenaline rush?

"Hey," a shaky voice then spoke, and nobody seemed to care who it was exactly, "where's Nella?"

Tidus whirled around wildly. All eyes were on him.

"I..."

But she was gone. Nella was gone; without a trace, as abruptly and as definitively as the swarm of infernal fish that had ambushed her. The pool gate loomed bleakly on the other side of the field, not too far from them in the tiny watery sphere, tightly shut and empty of intruders.

Tidus felt a sudden thwack against his back, then another, and then; with one grip of his collar; Edge span Tidus around, tightening his grab as he struck his teammate on the chest, "You what?! What'd you do?! Where is she?!"

Teri tried to break the two apart, but her arms were still trembling, and she received a thump on the shoulder as well.

Tidus was as shocked as anyone. The blows had barely hurt.

"I... I think she went to Spira."

4 notes · View notes