#one could argue i guess that none of this was canon but it really really felt like canon interactions like at the start it definitely wasnt

[zivazivc]

Sorry if this has already been asked before but why did the band break up? And did they break up on decent terms? Do they still talk to each other sometime?

It has been asked before, I just never answered jshfbdjcbh I'm still piecing everything together and stuff is changing or getting tweaked all the time, so I'm always super hesitant about answering these types of questions, afraid that people will take whatever I say as the final answer. So basically what I'm going to answer now will already contradict what I told some people already. And maybe in the future the story might go a little differently too (although I'm pretty satisfied with the current events)

Uhhh, get ready for a long info dump. I didn't expect I'd write this much...

Floyd basically stayed with the band for 8 years (from 14 till 22) and got pretty messed up in the process. The rest of the guys are all quite older than him so I guess I could say they were more responsible, or at least had a better understanding of their own limits (also they grew up in this kind of environment or grew up aware of it, while Floyd was oblivious and naive about all of it) and while they do get drunk and do drugs often, none of them are really dependent on them. They are also pretty good judges of character and know how to avoid trouble. Floyd on the other hand drove in with no breaks and constantly got himself in trouble that the rest (mostly Les) had to drag him out of. He also developed bipolar during this time (in my story Floyd constantly fluctuates between being saturated and being desaturated because of this) and his manic and depressive episodes started getting out of hand after his teenage years. (None of them are aware it's a mental disorder that's making him act so out of character.)

Floyd was becoming miserable because of this and all of his problems pilling up, and started blaming Les for the way he was. Les never argued this which only fueled Floyd to blame him more. In the end he was getting so frustrated and irritable that Floyd constantly tried starting arguments with him, even putting him down and getting aggressive at times because Les gets very unresponsive and closed off during personal conversations (guy is a giant onion of suppressed trauma that Floyd is hellbent on peeling open).

Eventually there was one fight too many, terrible things were said, some objects flew through the air, and Floyd walked out (or Hed kicked him out, I haven't decided yet) with the promise of going home and never seeing them again.

So, yeah, it was very messy and Floyd was the primary asshole, even though he's not really to blame either...

But Floyd didn't make it home (was too scared to sneak through Bergen Town to get to the tree (i don't think i can judge him for that either)) and he just returned to the reckless lifestyle, this time without anyone being there to keep him safe. So if he was messed up before, this is the time period where he got absolutely fucked up. This is also when he got heavily addicted to sour worms. And when he chronically slept around (half the time just to get offered free worms or have somewhere to sleep, other times because he was having manic episodes and was feeling hypersexual). (This is also potentially the period when he had the two eggs with that techno troll, but I'm still thinking if I want that to be canon to the story or not.) During this time he also grew to become very anxious and his self-confidence went to shit when he was being himself.

Then after about three years of that, he bumped into Les at some party. He wanted to dodge him out of shame but Les grabbed his arm and manhandled him outside to talk. Floyd felt like shit about the way they had split up and tried apologizing for all the stuff he had said and done to Les, but Les wasn't having any of that because he wasn't angry at Floyd, he was just worried about him. Les is also insanely empathetic like Floyd, and he knew that Floyd never really meant any of it, and that he was just looking for an outlet when he was hurting. Also he does think he is to blame for the way Floyd ended up.

Les wanted to know why he didn't go home like he had said (because that was the only reason Les had even let him walk out in the first place). A few exchanged words later and Floyd broke down telling him all the awful things he'd done, and Les promised to help him, feeling insanely guilty. Floyd wondered if he was allowed back in the band but Les made it clear that the band wasn't good for him and that he was never taking him back. Instead Les helped him go though rehab. I don't think trolls have those institutions (or at least not many are aware of them or how they work (I'm sorry but I refuse to believe the Trolls world has internet and cellphones, Mountrageons can keep that for themselves lol)), so it was more or less just Les finding Floyd a job and his own place to stay in the middle of bumfuck nowhere where he had no option but to detox, and constantly checking up on him to make sure he was doing okay. During this time they grew pretty close again. Or maybe the better term would be that Les slowly started putting his walls down again.

Hed needed a while to warm up to Floyd again. He's almost as protective of Les as Les is of him, and he resented Floyd for the way he had treated him.

Flea is pretty phlegmatic when it comes to any sort of arguing or drama. He was casual about seeing Floyd again, they were never super close anyway.

And Liv, she left the band when she and Hed broke up (haven't decided if that happened before or after Floyd left), so Floyd didn't get to see her again after bumping into Les at the party. And I haven't thought yet if they'd ever meet again somewhere later in life. But if they did, I think they'd both be happy to see each other.

Anyway...

Floyd managed to detox and successfully kept the job for about a year, but then he became manic again and messed it all up. After that he returned to his nomadic lifestyle, but he never fell as hard as those three years again. In my story Floyd's life is a constant cycle of getting his life together and fucking it up and booking to the next place. And he and Les are trapped in a never-ending cat and mouse game where they're both trying to fix each other.

So, uh, Les and Floyd are still very close and see each other somewhat often...

(sometimes monthly, sometimes yearly)

Yeah...

I am so fucking obsessed with them I'm gonna hurl. Please take this song before I combust:

#btw the status of Floyd's and Les's relationship is forever set on 'complicated' #but they are as obsessed with each other as i am obsessed with them #the song is too soft and vulnerable to be something les would sing out loud but inside he does feel it #papa roach is nu metal btw. tho idk where this song stands exactly #trolls #dreamworks trolls #ex bandmates #trolls floyd #trolls oc #les #answered #my art #btw I am only self educated on the bipolar disorder from what i've read and watched on the internet so have that in mind #my intention is to be respectful but i might not understand all of it. especially not the personal experience of those who have it #i'm just some random nerd #so in a way you could say floyd was diagnosed by a nonprofessional lol #i stayed up until 3am last night writing this #today i made the sketch that is no longer a sketch #should i put this post under a cut? it is pretty long #long post

[jksprincess10]

Are we out of the woods 2. Passenger side

Summary : Your father is a dangerous man who has a lot of enemies. One day, you’re taken from your home by force to go to a safe cabin in the woods to be protected from an unknown danger by three of his men: Ironhead, Pope and Catfish. You’re not really a nature enjoyer, but in your boredom, you discover a new love for nature. You also get to know the men working for your dad and interest sparks between you and the mysterious and silent Francisco.

CW: canon-like violence, explicit smut, reader is kind of a princess at first, talks of divorce, drugs & alcohol, talks of addiction, slight age gap (reader in her mid 20s, frankie in his late 30s), jealousy, tension, frankie is a mess.

Fic masterlist

Notification blog

“You’re not going, it’s not safe.” Santiago settles, while Frankie and Will are silent beside him, arms crossed.

You feel like you have three different versions of your dad scolding you.

“Well I’m not trusting any of you to go grocery shopping. What will you get? Beer and chips?” You argue with your fists against your hips.

“Of course we can get the basics…” Will starts.

“Yeah? Like what?” You wait and your only answer is silence. “Exactly. I’m cooking and I’m not letting you starve, even though it’s very tempting right now.”

“I’ll go with her.” Frankie says after clearing his throat. The boys turn to him with knives in their eyes, but they sigh and agree.

You’re so excited that you could burst from joy. Well… it doesn’t seem like much, but in your current situation, it still is a victory.

The scenery is so repetitive, you could fall asleep. The falls colors all blend together, creating a vibrant painting.

The fact that Frankie is as silent as a tomb doesn’t help. You don’t know how far the nearest shop is, but you guess it’s very far and you would have to buy groceries for a while.

The radio had been on low volume, but suddenly Frankie cranks it up way too loud when he hears the start of a song he likes. You hear him humming and drumming against the wheel and you try to hide your amusement.

“Don’t tell me you listen to Nickelback?” You ask as you camouflage your giggles behind your hand. Frankie looks at you from the side and you can tell he’s annoyed.

“There’s nothing wrong with Nickelback.”

“There’s a lot wrong with Nickelback. What is this, Frankie? Dad rock station?”

“I’m a dad, you know.” He doesn’t say it like he’s proud of it. You can feel a hint of sadness in his tone, veiled by a faint annoyance.

He’s a…dad? You have a hard time determining how old he is. His face is young with little signs of age except the dark circles under his eyes. He has the start of a dad bod. There isn’t much grey in his hair, well as far as you can see from the curls hanging out of his cap. There are a few grey hairs mixed in his brown beard, though.

And you’re probably staring… because you hear Frankie clearing his throat.

“Is it that surprising?” Frankie inquires.

“I mean, yeah, with that kind of job.” You think out loud. “But it’s none of my business.”

There’s no ring on his finger. You don’t know why, but the thought pleases you.

“You’re right, just let me do my job.”

“I’m sorry.” You respond awkwardly as you look out of the window.

Eventually, the scenery changes. Civilization. The houses are still far apart though and besides a gas station, you don’t see much until Frankie parks near a grocery store. The parking lot is empty besides a few cars. It’s still early for grocery shopping, you guess.

“Put your hood up.” Frankie orders.

The strict tone he uses unlocks something in you that you try to ignore. You shouldn’t like when a man orders you around. Still, you choose to obey and put the hood of your dark coat over your head.

“Who would attack me? It’s 10 fucking AM.” You finally say as you get out of the car.

“Better safe than sorry.”

You go through the automatic doors first, with Frankie following you closely. You grab the nearest cart. You greet the clerk with a polite nod, and you go through the first aisles. You’re overwhelmed with all your options and the quantity of things you must buy to survive the next weeks. Frankie is stressing you out, acting like a guard dog.

“You look suspicious when you keep looking around like that. Relax.” You mumble.

“Can’t you be quicker about it?”

“Go get stuff for the boys and quit stressing me out.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“Fine, then wait.”

You can’t believe you’re fighting with Francisco like you’re an old couple. You do your best to ignore him as you fill the cart with essentials, and him with dumb things that you don’t need: like enough beer for an army.

“You have a drinking problem.”

“Yeah, well maybe you should drink too so you’d be more fun to be around with.”

You roll your eyes and head to the cashier. You pay for the food – and Frankie’s beer, with the money your dad gave you.

When you get home, Santi and Will are outside, probably admiring nature. They look relieved when they see you coming out of the car intact.

“Relax, no one would have hurt me. Well… maybe except Catfish’s dad rock music that hurt my ears.”

He gets the bags for you. “What do you even listen to anyway?” Catfish scoffs.

“Not dad rock.”

“I see you two are getting along well.” Santi says with a tinge of teasing.

Days pass and the lack of intimacy you have is starting to get to you. The boys are always around to watch over you. You think they’re probably listening when you’re in your room, which makes it awkward to fulfill your… needs.

Let’s say with that much free time, your mind started to wander. You can’t deny that the men hired by your father are attractive. And Frankie, even though he’s getting on your nerves, is your kind of man. Older, with a beard and pretty eyes. You can’t help thinking about him giving you orders but in other situations.

Fuck it. You can’t hold it back any longer. It’s late, the boys should be in their room anyway. You make sure the door is locked and take out your phone. It’s useless since this place is very much off the grid. But… you saved a few special videos for lonely times.

You select your favorite, thinking your air pods are connected. But there’s a loud, unmistakable tune that’s at the start of videos from that website. You curse and you reconnect your airpods, hoping no one heard. You eventually relax as you watch the amateur video of man fucking a woman roughly.  You imagine yourself and Frankie in the situation as you circle and tease your clit until you come in a silent moan.

When you come out of your room to get a glass of water, you find Santi and Frankie in the middle of a conversation, a beer in hand.

“Were you watching porn or was that from Will?” Santiago asks without any discomfort. Like it’s a normal thing to talk about.

You feel your cheeks heating up. “T-That was probably Will.”

“Don’t worry, we all have needs. Except we make sure no one hears it.” Frankie teases. He’s smiling at you, and you want to slap the smile off that pretty face. Even though it’s nice to see another expression than the pouty lips he wears constantly.

Santiago adds something in Spanish that you don’t hear. You grab yourself a glass of water as Frankie responds in the same language.

“It’s not fair to keep secrets from your boss.” You snap.

“We were just saying that you were cute when you were embarrassed and mad.” Frankie translates. “And technically, you’re not our boss. Your dad is.”

And for once, that shuts you up.

#awootw #frankie morales #frankie catfish morales #frankie morales x reader #frankie morales x you #frankie morales x yn #frankie morales x y/n #frankie morales smut #frankie morales fluff #frankie catfish morales x you

[star-centric]

I'm glad to hear you liked the older Nakahara prompt I sent! Hope you don't mind if I send another, I really like this idea as well. I was thinking of the aftermath of Chuuya learning about his siblings' amnesia and thought what if: Dazai got attached to Chuuya's sibling during the time they were together the same way he started to care for Oda and Ango in the future, basically genuinely seeing them as an older sibling. So now, he's constantly bickering back and forth with Chuuya (not that it's any different from Canon) like brothers and arguing over who's the favorite little brother. I say this because Chuuya's sibling would probably start to see him as a younger brother again, but in a sort of "I already have one baby brother, what's one more?" Type of way. They don't remember that he's their actual brother and think he's mistaken them for his actual sibling. They still think Dazai is their brother. I mean this in a funny way. They complain to Kouyou all the time about their "Little brothers who are constantly fighting"

CHARACTERS: Chuuya Nakahara and Older Sibling!Reader

NOTE: I guess this would count as a “sequel” (?) to this post, but that part doesn’t need to be read to understand this!

CW: strictly platonic/familial relationship, fluff, a teeny tiny bit of angst if you squint but it’s barely noticeable, mild language

“What am I going to do Kouyou?”

“I don’t think there is anything you could do.”

You sighed, already tempted to let your head fall on the table. You felt annoyed, confused, and more importantly- tired. Even when they weren’t around, you could still hear their arguments in your head.

You knew that Dazai and Chuuya had…friction between them. It wasn’t weird that they argue- you just didn’t think it would happen so much. It was tolerable at first, but now it’s getting to the point that you’re wondering what you did to deserve this. They may be two of the deadliest assets to the Port Mafia, but they’re still kids- and your little brothers.

“I mean, their fights don’t even make sense half of the time!” You whined. “I know that they’re teens and it’s bound to happen, but every single day? Don’t I deserve a break from this madness too?”

All Kouyou could do is chuckle and sip on her tea. You wish you could be relaxed like she was, even if she was being entertained by your pain at the moment.

“Of course you do- but I don’t think there’s any way for them to get along willingly outside of missions.”

“They can’t even get along during missions.” Which was true. The mission would be complete and you would come back with what was needed, but Dazai and Chuuya would still bump heads. Sometimes you wondered if your targets were grateful that they would be unconscious if it meant not having to listen to literal teens argue about whatever- you were a little jealous.

“They don’t realize how similar they are to each other- same with their goals revolving around you.”

“Which would be what?”

Kouyou was about to answer when you both heard a smash. Then yelling that was indiscernible at first until-

“See? That’s why I’m the favorite brother!”

“Like hell you are- you’re not even their brother!”

“That’s not what they think.”

You groaned while Kouyou watched on Dazai and Chuuya walked in, glaring at one another.

“Seems like that’s my cue to leave.”

“Wait Kouyou please-“

“I’ll stop by another time when you won’t be so…preoccupied. Have fun!” And with that, she walked off, heels clicking down the hall even with the growing yelling nearing your ears.

Dazai and Chuuya were already at each others throat, ready to hurl out more insults when you finally had enough.

You placed a hand on top of their hands, instantly silencing them.

If you didn’t care for them, you would probably both have them on the floor writhing in pain, showing the same mercy that you showed your enemies- which was none.

But you really did care for them- both of them.

“Hey, didn’t I say you two need to start being nicer to each other?”

“You can’t expect me to be nice to that dog-“

“And you can’t expect me to be nice to that bastard!”

You sighed- don’t know why you expected a different outcome.

“You’re both my favorites- so can you please stop now?”

You ruffled their locks, hearing them grumble under their breaths. You rolled your eyes- they can be so dramatic.

“You’re both my brothers, and nothing is going to change that.”

Chuuya snuck away from your touch, keeping his eyes glued to the floor. You’ve both come a long way from your initial meeting, and while there were some rockiness in the beginning, your relationship had gotten significantly better.

You really did see Chuuya as a brother.

But every time you said that, he would always look so…sad. So defeated, so bitter.

“I’m going to report to the boss.”

He sucked his teeth and walked away, not giving you a chance to stop him.

You thought you messed up any chance of a bond at first, but he gravitated towards you like nothing- so what was the issue? Even with Dazai trying to grab your attention, you couldn’t shake off your worriness.

You would try to get him to tell you what’s wrong, but he would just play it off like it’s nothing. The way his eyes looked just now told you a different story.

It bothered you that you couldn’t decipher what was eating at him. Your head would throb in frustration the harder you tried to dived into it. It was like an itch that you couldn’t scratch, the one thing that would linger on your mind each day.

It was like you were forgetting something.

#writings.txts #bsd.txts #messages.txts #bsd x you #bsd x gender neutral reader #bsd x reader #bsd chuuya x reader #platonic x reader #platonic chuuya x reader #chuuya nakahara x reader #bungo stray dogs x reader #bungo stray dogs reader insert #chuuya x reader #chuuya nakahara and reader #familial relationship #platonic relationship #platonic reader #chuuya and reader #dazai and reader

[sapphicdib]

"i could gush about my sig headcanons all day but auuughvjgghh". You know what, do it. I dare you. After that sleepy iterators post I'm itching for more headcanons to ponder.

SORRY THIS IS RLLY LATE, IVE BEEN WORKING A LOT

THANK YOU FOR LETTING ME HAVE AN EXCUSE TO HAVE A CATEGORY 10 AUTISM MOMENT ON THE DASH. this is legit about to be a better essay than anything ive ever turned in for university so strap in, obv everything is gonna be under the cut bc this is prolly gonna be long as fuck

Okay! My main headcanons for Sig are:

He uses he/she/it pronouns, but mainly he/she!

He's a bioengineering dork.

She's a specialized medical facility!

She doesn't really care much about the great problem, and thus has a lot of hobbies. He knitted her own scarf!

She has a lot of friends, even outside of the local group. He's incredibly close with Chasing Wind.

He's a mid-gen iterator, (Ages being: LTTM, SRS, SOS, CW, NSH, UI, FP), so his emotional AI is a lot more advanced than Suns' (there's quite a gap between the two, Suns is closer to Moon in terms of age).

She considers Hunter to be her daughter, Hunter calls him her dadmom and Moon her mom.

He tends to bury these emotions down for the sake of others, which leads to...bad situations.

She's terrified of being alone :)

Sig just gives me gender fucky-wucky vibes. Her pronouns are the/bit and he's committed to it. There's not really a basis for this in canon but it just fits his personality of being pretty laid back and goofy when not in um. emotional distress. Also the accessorizing to his puppet (ie the scarf) makes me think he likes to experiment with her appearance and presentation. To add on to this in the streamer au she goes by any pronouns and is pretty androgynous, so none of his followers can tell his AGAB, and its funny to him to watch the chat argue about it. (He's AFAB, tbh I can't see her as anything else). No one can guess his sexuality either, the only "confirmed" thing seems to be polyamourous, but other than that it's "whatever makes it gay", or "whatever pisses you off most".

Sig obviously has a knack for bioengineering, as he was the one who started investigating the idea of using purposed messengers to stay in contact with others once the comms degraded, not to mention the creation of the slag reset keys. Yes this is my incoming rant of "Sig is not bad at making slugcats", since sometimes people tend to act like "Sig didn't follow Suns' instructions" or something like that, and that's why Hunter is sick. There are MULTIPLE points in their conversations where it's outright stated that Sig was the one who did it first:

Sig was the one who showed Suns the process:

SRS: I purposed a messenger, and sent the information by land via a data pearl. NSH: How original of you. SRS: I learned from the best.

Sig clearly has experiences with messengers, and Spearmaster happens before Sig begins working on Hunter:

NSH: I feel like I need to be simplifying my speech patterns. Is that something you do when conversing with your messenger?

SUNS SAYS "ANOTHER" MESSENGER, AND THEN LATER SIG SAYS "ANOTHER MESSENGER" AS WELL. SIG HAS MADE MESSENGERS BEFORE:

SRS: Do you suppose you'll ever raise another messenger?

NSH: I'm tempted to start work on raising another messenger as a last ditch effort, but to be honest I don't think there is any point.

And then, in her reply, she says, "*I* started investigating the method".

NSH: If the need arises, I certainly would. After all, I started investigating the method out of the inevitability of our situation.

And just to nail it down that Sig was the one who purposed them first, the gossip between Wandering Omen and Pleading Intellect:

PI: You haven't heard about what No Significant Harassment did? WO: All I heard was the complaining. Didn't he send an iterator something distasteful? PI: Well, yes, but more importantly, he trained a purposed organism to deliver it!

WO: How do you even get a dull creature such as that to follow orders? I may consider asking him to teach me his ways.

So yes, Sig was the one to purpose the messengers first. She had already made at least one in the past, to send the "distasteful message" to someone. I'd honestly say he probably made more between that/before, to test the efficacy and also just to mess around with the process.

This leads into my next headcanon: Sig was a specialized medical facility! Five Pebbles mentions to Hunter that "I was not a medical facility even when the equipment was functioning," so I believe that there were some more specialized iterators built. Sig's knowledge of bioengineering could be an indication of this specialization, not to mention it fits with him not really caring about the great problem to the same degree as everyone else. Purely headcanon after this point, but when Sig was first built, Moon was very nervous about getting a new model of "specialized" iterator that she wouldn't be able to help train as well! Moon was a more generalized iterator as she was older, so she does have knowledge about medicine and bioengineering, as all iterators did for the health and growth of her city, but nothing to the degree Sig would need. Thankfully, iterators are fucking supercomputers, so its not like Sig needed much "training" in the way of that, but still. Moon wanted to be a good mentor to her! And she very much was, considering how Sig turned out. That's why they ended up so close.

After the mass ascension, he became the resident "doctor" of the local group. Pointing back to the slag reset keys, Sig seems to have shoved as many as he could into that thing, since Pebbles reacts to the amount of them with surprise, so he knows his way around iterator biology. In pure headcanon mode now, when they develop my tangible projections thing (which Sig and Moon were heavily involved in), it meant that she could actually help others by preforming repairs on their puppets, and even their structures by sending her overseer into them. Moon's inspectors enjoy head pats from her whenever he's passing by.

Her being a medical facility also means she doesn't give as much thought to finding the Triple Affirmative as others. His processing power was delegated more towards finding cures, aiding the sick, and engineering better production techniques for medical equipment and such. His city is also highly accessible and optimized for the disabled and elderly. When you're a medical facility, your goal is more to keep people alive than perma-kill them! I mostly get this headcanon from the fact that when Suns is faced with "what to do" other than solve the great problem, they respond with "What else CAN we do? You're stuck in your can, and at any moment you have no more than two alternatives: Do nothing, or work like you're supposed to.". Meanwhile, Sig responds to Suns' question about purposing another messenger with "There's nothing better for me to do with my time, though.". Not to mention, he was already purposing messengers before this, so she certainly wasn't dedicating all of her time to iterating the great problem! Of course, he probably did iterate on it, just not to the degree his peers did. He also jokes about it in that broadcast where Wind is telling everyone about erratic pulse, saying "Haha with the slimers, lizards and etceteras? Surely the answer was in a lizard skull all along!" so it really seems like he doesn't take it very seriously.

Her disinterest in solving the problem led to her developing a wide range of hobbies. He's an iterator after all, they probably get horrifically bored if they're not doing something! She taught herself to knit (telling his citizens it helped her focus so they would provide her with needles and yarn), and eventually learns to make garments as well. I headcanon he plays video games too, especially with Chasing Wind, mostly just because she probably wanted to see if an iterator could run Doom for the lolz. Probably also trolls in the group chats sometimes, considering the "distasteful pearl", and I think her being being NGI ("No Great Ideas") would be funny as hell. This also makes it pretty obvious why I made the streamer au, Sig's a top level player for multiple FPS games and has won some pretty prestigious awards in esports tournaments. And then she goes home and plays Hollow Knight randomizers with Pebbles in a maid outfit.

Sig's personality also lent itself to having a lot of friends. Her and Chasing Wind were built less than 50 cycles apart (Wind is older), so they're practically attached at the hip. Wind isn't in her local group (He's in Sliver's), but they're still very close. It's not really explored much in canon since we really only see her interact with Suns for the most part, but given her personality, I don't think it'd be a far off assumption for him to have lots of friends. Because she's younger, she also has a more sophisticated emotional AI...which can be detrimental at times, but is helpful when it comes to maintaining friendships!

AHAH So here comes the um. SAD portion of the rant lol. I feel like Sig buries her emotions down a lot, for the sake of others. In her conversations with Suns, we do see him get snappy with him, but for the most part he remains either calm or sympathetic, at the most a bit pessimistic towards the end. When she finally does call Suns out for their bullshit, he (presumably) stops replying to Suns for a short time before apologizing and continuing to talk to them.

SRS: I'm in noticing you are becoming more defensive. This obviously wasn't the end result I was aiming for, you know. SRS: Please respond to my messages. I don't want to leave it like this. I need someone to talk to. NSH: I don't mean to be cold, I'm just very worried.

After this interaction, Sig seems to either just reply with facts/possibly explanations for Moon/Pebbles' actions, or completely changing the subject to Suns' messenger, which then leads to the broadcast where Suns is telling her all the ways they modified their messenger to sneak past Sig's overseers, by not giving them the mark and hiding the pearl, we see Sig's replies become very short, single sentence answers.

This to me reads as slightly passive aggressive, but Suns doesn't seem to pick up on it. To be honest I in my head I hear this as Sig hissing this shit through clenched teeth if he could, but it's just text so I suppose we'll never know.

Additionally, he still does let his emotions overwhelm her at points, (such as during the "Your plan was a complete failure" broadcast), but the most blatant is probably in the messages she sends to Moon and Pebbles.

Starting with the Pebbles one:

NSH: Five Pebbles, I will say once again. You need to stop. Immediately. NSH: I know you are going to trash this message like the rest, but... NSH: I hope eventually when you are out of this state of mind you will look back at these. NSH: Look back and reflect on all the regrets you've set yourself up to have.

Sig is angry. Like he shows no sympathy for him, and just hopes he wallows in regret for the rest of his life. She does express his dislike of Pebbles while talking to Suns as well, but manages to still be nice by saying "I think a lot of us were like that in the beginning.", and such, and then drops the subject by the next broadcast by talking about Suns' messenger. He only ever talks about Moon's condition, likely to keep himself from being a dick about Pebbles in front of Suns because talking directly about him is obviously pretty touchy. But this broadcast is straight up mean. She doesn't manage to hold back her emotions but to be honest? I don't think he actually cares, if he burns that bridge with Pebbles then fine, because Pebbles burned it first.

Pebbles took away one of the few friends he still had in this dying world.

I really and truly believe that Sig's biggest fear is being alone. She makes the slugcats as a way to keep in contact with others after the comms arrays degrade. After being snappy with Suns, she immediately backtracks, apologizes, and keeps talking to them, even if it hurts. His messages to Moon also emphasize this:

NSH: Moon? Moon, are you able to communicate?

NSH: Moon? It's me again.

NSH: I need to talk to you. I need to know you're okay.

The fact that we are provided two of these broadcasts and not just one seems to point to the idea that these are not the only two Sig sent. "It's me again." There is more desperation in her tone compared to the messages he shares with Suns, possibly because he's more comfortable expressing his profound distress with Moon because they're closer. A part of me headcanons she...never stopped sending messages. He needs to know she's okay. You can even find a green overseer in outer expanse and subterranean, locked out of the facility but still searching, still looking for any sign of Moon...or Hunter.

When Sig sends Hunter to Moon, the pearl he sends is goofy and lighthearted. He doesn't want to bring her down when she's already suffering enough. It's short, and sweet, because anything longer would probably devolve into something unpleasant. She's holding the words on that pearl together with tape and glue. Once again, hiding the pure grief he feels for the sake of others.

I also think that's why Hunter is sick. Once again, pure headcanon, but Sig mentions this on the pearl:

Excuse the unorthodox delivery method, equipment eroding etc etc.

I kinda interpret this as Sig pushing herself too hard to make Hunter in time to save Moon, and in turn, irreversibly damaging himself in the process. An emergency shutdown occurred after he ignores the 50th pressure warning his systems desperately tried to get her to pay attention to, causing Hunter to become sick thanks to the sudden disruption in his concentration, much like Pebbles and the rot. This is also why no other messengers were sent after this, Sig simply couldn't make any more that were healthy. She loved Hunter, and I fully believe that, as Hunter's last vision in the void sea was to return to his arms. Continuing the pure headcanons now, but he treats Hunter like a daughter and knits her a scarf for her journey. She tells Hunter that Moon is her mom. She gives Hunter a name, which were held in very high regard in ancient culture, a gift so she can at least be remembered for her sacrifice: "Hunting the Stars, Moon's Savior."

All and all, Sig is desperately trying to delay the inevitable, watching the walls of loneliness close in as she loses contact with friends, slowly encroaching on her until he's locked up in a box. Alone.

HOWEVER!

I for one, absolutely adore the goofy, flirty personality the fandom gives Sig. I really do believe when he isn't in extreme emotional distress, she is like that. The motherfucker uses tildes in his texts and teases Suns and makes jokes about slimers and lizards. I just like peeling apart the little snippets we see of him, which are mostly at pretty low moments unfortunately, and just seeing what I can extrapolate from that. Even if some of my headcanons are far-fetched and shit, I do at least try to keep most of them at least slightly in character with some explanation.

I hope you enjoyed my unhinged rant about my favorite guy!!!! I put this in google docs and its literally like, 2.4k words, I could genuinely have turned this in to one of my fucking college courses LMFAO. It's probably better than some of the garbage I DID turn in tbh. If you want more I am totally happy to provide, cuz I could make a whole OTHER ramble about Hunter that's just as long LMAOOOO

(Oh also none of this applies to rot au Sig. that freak deserves her own post bc at this point he's 50% oc and 50% No Significant Harassment Rain World LOL)

#rain world #rain world downpour #no significant harassment #NSH RW #rw no significant harassment #rain world lore #letters #GIANT ESSAY INCOMING #IVE BEEN ALLOWED TO RANT ABOUT MY BLORBO #CATEGORY 10 AUTISM MOMENT #rw

[madwomansapologist]

Scoring Points (In their hearts)

Masterlist | Rules | Taglist | Library | More Kyuma | AO3

synopsis: Led by your brother, your crew decided to play the King of Clubs game. Arisu might be certain that the best he can do is understand this land, but you are determined to make sure he will survive. Whatever it takes.

warnings: Niragi is his own warning, but the things I gonna make him suffer also deserves some warnings. Hands will be lost. Nudity. Its a aib oneshot, we gonna talk about death and blood and violence and all those bad things. One person will die, only one, try to guess who. Power of friendship. Karube and Chota will be mentioned. Eldest sister worried about younger brother. Younger brother worried about eldest sister. Canon divergent. I love Goken, and I like to represent him as a excited puppy. Happy ending, I promisse. This was supossed to be about Kyuma, but I love the whole team so...

It was a silent trip. Half of you wanted to say something, but the other wouldn’t endure to listen to someone pretending to have a response. So you kept your mouth shut. It was enough to deal with your conscience already.

You thought that nothing would ever be harder than the Ten of Hearts, but the only reason for you to be alive now is luck. None of you knew what to expect now. That game simply started. No names, no rules, no cell phones. If it wasn’t for Ann having a car, or for Kuina to find a safe building y’all could hide in, you would have been shot by the King of Spades. Not even Arisu can save you from a bullet.

Arise led your crew to a new game arguing that it was the only way to finally discover what was happening on this hell land. You told him that you think this is some kind of country, but he said that Hatter ideas clung into your mind. Usagi didn’t believe that knowing what's happening would make that big of a difference, but the majority won. 

After all, no one really had a choice. This sick world is ruled by a simple statement: or you play, or you die.

“This is…” Tatta stumbled over the words. “Giant.”

It was the biggest arena you saw since you started playing. It was a harbor filled with shipping containers stacked on top of each other until they were tall enough to block the view of what was inside of it. You could smell the salty aroma, but you couldn’t see the ocean.

“It says we need six players” Kuina read the board on the table with electronic bracelets.

Usagi was quick to add: “But there’s only five.”

And with just a second to imagine what was happening, all questions were answered by two coarse words. “Six, actually.”

And suddenly all the fear of the future turned into anger. 

The world really isn’t fair. If it was, Karube and Chota would be with you both, laughing and drinking and gossiping about anything that moves. It it was, anyone who ever thought about touching a woman without her permission would be fucking dead. If the world was fair, Niragi wouldn’t be standing there.

Just like Kuina, your first action was to go to another place. Just get back in the car and let him rot. That was your brain talking, because your true will was to punch him until he couldn’t even open his eyes. Punish him for what he did to Usagi. For what he did to your brother. For what he did to you.

When you three were used by Chishiya, Niragi made sure that y’all would suffer. He beat your brother, and almost… He said he would have his way with Usagi and take you next. You think it's kind of ironic that what saved you both were the warning of a new game.

But when Usagi took the bracelet, you knew that you had no choice but to play with him. She saved you and your brother after the death of your friends, you could never abandon her.

“Don’t look at me like that”, Niragi said as he got closer to you. “I know you missed me.”

You took a step forward. Tatta held your hand. You broke free from him and kept walking until you were facing Nigari. You could smell the rotten flesh. Good. Now he is as rotten on the outside as he is on the inside.

“If you don’t play right, if you don’t help us win”, you smirk. “I kill you myself.”

Niragi licked his upper lip. “You're not the first to say that.”

“But I will be the last.”

With your bracelet on, the gates opened. “Registration is now closed. The game will now commence.”

Walking inside, you realized how big that arena was. It took a full minute to walk past the corridor. And now, able to look inside it, you knew it was some kind of a labyrinth. A giant labyrinth, made with shipping containers. 

“What is this place?” Tatta asked.

“The King of Club’s team is now entering the field”, said the announcer, almost like she heard Tatta. And the voice was replaced with rock.

Each from a different side of the labyrinth, four people paraded to the center. And, well, they were cool as fuck. And because of that, you knew it would be harder than you can imagine. Every single calm and centered person that you meet on this land showed you what hell looks like.

“Welcome to our game field”, looking at those four people, you didn’t see the man talking. Until you did. “I am the King of Clubs, Kyuma.”

And he was fucking naked.

Looking at a dead body was less embarrassing than that. You and Kuina looked at one another, trying to make sure that you both didn’t go crazy and started imagining naked people. But if you were to go crazy, it would have happened sooner.

“Okay, let me introduce everyone”, said the naked man. “First we have Shitara.” A hairy man raised his arm.

“Uta.” And she was the coolest woman you have ever seen. In your old life, someone like her would make you blush.

“Maki.”’ He was just a normal average man. Meh.

“Goken.” And he was, for sure, the crazy one. A naked man was right in front of you, but that guy… you could sense the craziness.

“Pleasure.” Silence. “That's all the reaction I get?”

“I think you are weirding them out.” Uta seemed annoyed.

Shitara rested his hands on his thin waist. You were sure it wasn’t the first time they had this conversation. “Put some damn pants on.”

“What? Not a chance! Nudism is an upstanding practice. A social movement with hundreds of years of history! Clothing is a social construct. No biological necessity. Humans should be bare and raw. After all, it's only natural.”

He wasn’t shy. And, well, he didn’t have a reason to be. His body… Don’t get distracted. Don’t look down. Don’t look down.

“Listen, we don’t care about that” Arisu started, annoyance clear in his voice. You hold his hand, trying to stop him from pissing someone off. “Just tell us who you are.”

“Who are we?” The naked men glared at your brother. “We are the citizens of this country.”

You couldn’t help yourself from laughing. You tried to cover your face, but it didn’t make a difference.

“What's so funny?” Goken asked.

“Nothing.” You responded to him, running your fingers through your hair. Looking at Arisu, your smile went bigger. “I told you so.”

Goken and Uta made eye contact. She nodded with her head, and Goken got excited by that. They agreed: you have potential. Maybe your team can finally give them what they are looking for.

Looking at you, not that you have noticed that, Kyuma explained that his team created that game. Shitara was the brain of the project. Six against five. It still looked like your team was at a disadvantage. There were a lot of rules, but they weren't that complicated.

The game lasts two hours;

Both teams try to collect points;

The team with the highest total at the end of the games wins;

Each team begins with 10,000 points;

Players divide these points among themselves before the game begin;

The minimum amount is 100 points;

You can score points by battle, items and base;

You can pair up with a teammate;

Wristbands can give you an electric shock;

Point below zero: game over;

A tie is a win for the King of Club's team.

“So… it's a huge gamble.” You said to yourself. You started to stretch in the way Usagi taught you. How you wish it was a game where you could sit all the time. You are the best in Diamonds, your weakness is those games that demands a lot of physicality. “In a huge arena.”

“You now know all the rules”, Kyuma said. You used all your energy to look at his eyes. “Let the game begin.”

Arisu asked about coming back to the real world, but Kyuma clearly disagreed with the definition of real. “We want the truth”, you said. “Real or not, the truth.”

“You want the truth?” Kyuma repeated. “Face me with everything you have.”

“All right, then.” You caressed Arisu’s shoulder and gave Kyuma your brightest smile. “We’ll play your game.”

“What are you doing?” Arisu whispered when the other team was gone. “Why are you so confident?”

“All will be determined by how we chose to distribute our points.” You whispered back. Nigari was the last person you wanted to hear your strategies. “This is a math game. Play it right, be fast, and we can win. We faced harder games, didn’t we?”

“We didn’t. We literally didn’t. That's the whole point.”

A discussion about how your team should split the points started. Split in equal ways is fucking dumb, no one with working brains would do that, but how else should it be done? Of course Arisu knew what to do.

The faster runners get fewer points. Usagi and Kuina have 300 each. Slower runners get more. Arisu, Niragi and you have 3100 each. And the guard gets the least points possible. Tatta has only 100, but he can touch the base anytime he wants to get infinite points.

“You like me that much, uh?” Nigari asked to Usagi. Running in the labyrinth, you imagined how amazing your life would be if Nigari was mute. “You chose to pair up with me.”

“It's because I won’t care if you die in front of me.”

Laughing, he looked at you. “And you?”

“It’s because of her."

And almost without noticing, you three faced Maki. Together, you three have 6500. No way he can have more than that. With Niragi between you two, Maki did what anyone would do: he ran. 

Kuina and Arisu were trying to find items. 

“Okay, what's happening between you and Usagi? Or between you and your sister? Why did you let them pair with Nigari?”

“Nothing.” Arisu answered, but he wasn’t convincing. “Strategy. Usagi asked to pair her with him, and my sister… Well, she didn’t ask anything, she just did it. I don’t know. I think she is trying to protect Usagi.”

“Or to kill Niragi.” Kuina completed.

“She never killed anyone.” Arisu opened a shipping container. “She was always the kinder of us. My older brother is the brain, I am the useless, and she is the heart. She would never kill anyone.”

“A item!” Kuina screamed. “We did it”

With another 2000 points, they closed the shipping container. And Kyuma was there to congrat them. “I couldn’t help but overhear. Sounds like there is an issue. You are fighting with two of your teammates.”

As Kyuma stepped forward, Arisu and Kuina stepped back. “I learned something about being a leader. You can’t push people into following you for no reason. You have to be ready to listen to them. Wait for them to come to you.” Arisu couldn’t understand why Kyuma was advising him. “Now, let's go. Let’s not end our lives with regret.”

So they battle. And Kyuma lost.

Of course you couldn’t just find an item. Trying to put up with Niragi, even a second lasted more than a year. But when Usagi saw Goken, a guy that totally looked like someone that should be in a band and probably would be the first to be kick-out because of drug abuse, every second started to matter.

Usagi attracted him, running towards the corner where you and Niragi were hidden. You almost touched him, but he was really fast. Here's the first thing you learned about Usagi: no one is faster than her.

“I was expecting more from you”, you said after receiving his points.

Goken got closer to you. You could even sense his breath. He looked at you from head to toe, a smirk appeared on his face. “You are definitely reaching my expectations.”

"What do you mean by that?" You took a step forward. You didn't touch him, a eletric shock is not on your wishlist, but got your face close enough.

“You two gonna flirt?” Usagi stared at you, hands on her waist. “Now? Really?”

The screen announced more points to your team. Kuina just touched Maki on the other side of the arena. You glared at Goken. “We don’t have time for that.”

Goken was already running. "Maybe later!"

Gathered at the base, your team had a lot of motives to celebrate. But the other team… Well, you know what they say about people that lose everything: now they have nothing to lose.

“What do you think about them?” Uta asked. After all, she was the one that didn’t have a chance to interact with the players.

“They have potential”, said Maki. “Most of them.”

“I will keep my eyes on Arisu’s sister”, Goken couldn’t stop moving. “Gonna do it for the gang, obviously.”

“Oh, shut up already!” Shitara rolled his eyes. “We have to go now.”

Tatta was alone when they came. And he touched the base when he had to make a decision. And when he felt his hand against someone's chest, Tatta wished he would wake up from a nightmare. He would be on his bed, alone, safe and sound.

But he wasn't.

“You picked me?” Shitara stepped back. “You better use this to win. If I die in vain, I’m… I’m gonna beat the shit out of you in the afterlife, man.”

Tatta was staring at the man, looking in the eyes of the man he just killed, unable to move. He killed him. Tatta killed him. Tatta killed someone.

“You were my good friend." Kyuma always sound so happy, but now... "I’ll never forget what you did for us.”

Shitara roamed to one of the exits of the labyrinth. He was confused, barely capable of walking. "Let me at least die with some privacy." After he turned into a corner, hidden from everyones gaze, Tatta saw a laser.

Any sign of faith, any hope, dissapeared now. Dead. The crew was fucking dead. By the end of the game, if they don't find a way to save themselfs, they would be dead. 30,000 points. Thats not something easy to beat.

"Couldn't even guard one pole, right?" Nigari spat. He slapped Tatta's head. "Fucking useless. Trash is always gonna be trash. You piece of shit."

"Lay off of him!" Usagi demanded. "He did the best he could."

"We underestimated them." Arisu said. Tatta noticed how he didn't defended him. But he didn't deserve to be defended. He is the reason why his team will die. "They are prepared to die."

"So what do we do now?" Kuina were sitting beside Tatta. He didn't say a word for quite some time, she was starting to get worried about him. "We just have one hour."

"I think that", you interfered. "We should attack their base."

"They gonna be defending it."

"Nigari is right." Arisu made his choice. "Lets split up again. Items are key"

"I really think we should..." But no one listened to you. They were already running. If four people attack their base they won't be able to defend themselfs, but clearly Arisu didn't think that. You don't blame the others. Arisu usually is the one that knows how to win. You looked at Tatta. He was so quiet, it was like he wasn't even there. "It's not your fault."

"It is." He finally said something. "I am the one to blame."

You knelt down in front of him. Holding his hands in yours, stroking the scars he gained as a mechanic, you smiled. "Is it a Diamonds game?"

"What?"

"Or a Hearts game? Spades? You ain't gonna tell me they added one cart suit when I was distracted? God, I hope they didn't. I don't have time for that."

"What are you even talking about?" Tatta couldn't help but laugh. "You sound crazy."

"This is a Clubs game, right?" Tatta agreed. "So you can't be the one to blame. This is a team game. We should work together, win together, lose together. The last time I checked you didn't have five arms so you could kill anyone that comes near while touching the base. You did your best. We, as a team, failed to understand how far they can go. Now we have to fight back. Will you fight with me?"

Tatta tried to stop it, but a tear fell. He closed his eyes, nodding in agreement, and was surprised to feel you thumb brush his cheek. "Then lets fight with our lives. I will go now, but I will come back."

Shitara felt a shiver go up his spine. On top of one of the containers, hidden and forbidden to interfere in the game, he watched your team discuss and decide on a strategy. He also saw how they treated the boy who 'killed' him. He almost felt sorry. And he saw when you knelt next to Tatta, your confused words soon turned into something that completely changed how the boy behaved. You saw him, you realized he wasn't well, and you decided to help him.

He was starting to see what Goken saw on you. Maybe, just maybe, this is their last game. Shitara hope he is right.

But your pretty words couldn't change reality: your team was losing. Kuina lose to Maki. Arisu lose to Kyuma. Someone from your team found a item, and you found one after a few minutes, but it wasn't enough.

Running in the labyrinth, already lost, a scream got your ears. You stopped, but then you realized. You heard that before. "Usagi."

You ran in the direction of the sound, only to find Niragi on top of Usagi.

All you could see was black. It was like when you wake you from a dream you can't really remember. From a deep nightmare that eat you whole. When the colors finally came back, it was all red.

"Stop!" Usagi kept screaming. But she wasn't mad. You know her for a long time. She is worried. She is scared. She is hurt. But she isn't mad. "He is done! He is done."

You were on top of Niragi. He wasn't awake. Your hands... You started crying when you saw all that blood. Niragi was already done after the fire, but now you can't even see his face. His chest was moving, but he wasn't awake. Nigari finally shut his fucking mouth.

You look at her. Her head was bleeding. "Are you..." Your tears fought with your words, and they win. Usagi hugged you, and you could feel your body melting against her warm skin. "Are you okay?"

Usagi used all of her forces to give you a smile. Carressing your hands, getting blood into hers, she keep on nodding with her head. Her body was so warm you could fell sleep on her. "I am fine. I am safe."

Looking at you hands, glaring at the blood, something change. Usagi know that face. She saw it on your brother once a day. Its the face of someone hopeless finding a reason to fight. You had an idea.

Fifteen minutes later, you finally found someone. Watching the ocean, Kyuma didn't bother to look at you. "You'll lose." He warned you.

You nodded with your heard. "I know."

"Then go."

"That's the first game I know I won't win." Looking at the ocean, you realized why the game was happening there. It was beautiful. What a landscape. In another situation that place would be a paradise on Earth. "Even the King of Spades wasn't so difficult."

"Thank you. It took us a lot of effort."

"I didn't knew you were a liar."

Kyuma finally looked at you. "What did you call me?"

"A liar." You took a step forward, Kyuma didn't move. "You told us to fight with everything we have. You told us to not have regrets. Here am I, fighting with everything I have, and you refuse to take me seriously. Liar."

Within a seconds, Kyuma hold your hand into his. "As you wish."

But he lose. And the look on his face... you would never be able to make enough money to pay for it.

"How can you..." Kyuma couldn't look away from his hand. "Did you cheat? How did you...?"

You took your left hand out of your pocket, and between your fingers was the bracelet that once belong to Nigari. And it was covered in blood.

"Are you..." Kyuma couldn't look away from the bracelet. "You are insane."

Still holding his hand, you pulled him closer. "You said that we should use everything we got. Thank you, Kyuma. You offered me suck a pleasurable game. None could compare." You were serious, but needed to laugh. "I got this whole 'clothes are a social construction', but you don't know how pockets work?"

Before he could say anything, you ran away. You only have more 30 minutes. You loved the look on his face, but you needed to find your crew.

"You did what?" Arisu yelled. He was holding you on his arms, trying to clean the blood on your wrist with his shirt.

"You heard her", Usagi replied. "She won a battle. And we both found a item. We can win."

"We just need to touch their base", you said, hopping this time he would hear you. "If three people touch it, we won. Thats all we need."

"Lets do it." Kuina was ready to run.

"No."

"Arisu, we need to..."

"I won't sacrifice anyone here. We won't just run into their base and let someone die. Everyone will survive."

"Then do something!" You yelled at him. "If we do nothing all of us will die! We can't just sit down and shut up!"

"I don't know!", Arisu felt like his head was about to explode. When he touched the base, he realized something. "Someone didn't touch the pole?"

"I didn't", you moved to touch it, but he hold your hand. "Did I broke a rule?"

"I know what we have to do! But... I don't know if it will work. We just need a distraction. Something that would be impossible to look away. They are four but if it work..."

"Stop whispering to yourself!", Tatta yelled. You never saw him screaming to anyone. "We have 15 minutes left. Just explain your plan!"

When Arisu explained, everything was clear as day to you. "Am I the only one who didn't touch the base?"

"You were so excited to talk about your battle with Kyuma that you forgot", Usagi told you. "That means you gonna be the distraction, right?"

"Exactly." Arisu wasn't sure if it would work, but he wouldn't die with regrets. "You think you can do that?"

"I think I know exactly what I have to do."

At the other teams base, they couldn't stop talking about how you broke someones arm to took the bracelet out of it.

"Thats weird for her." Uta was standing against the pole. "She never harmed someone on her other games."

"I said that before but no one believed me", Goken said while running around. "She have so much rage inside her. She just needed a reason to explode."

Maki agreed with him. "But I bet Niragi is alive still."

"I think he is dead."

"No way! He is bleeding somewhere."

"Its a bet."

"Why are you so quiet?" Goken poked Kyuma. "Are you scared?"

Kyuma seen almost lost. "She surprised me."

"Thank you for that." Your voice gave away your location. Leaning against one of the containers, all eyes turned to you. "To be honest, I was surprised too."

And you were naked.

"Fuck", Goken shouted.

"Fuck indeed", Uta pinched herself to see if she was imagining something.

Maki looked to the sky. Suddenly it was so interesting.

"I want to battle again but I knew that no one would believe that I wasn't using his bracelet."

"I'm sorry. I am so sorry." Kyuma was looking at your eyes. Well, he was trying to look at your eyes only. "I'm sorry."

"You will battle me or not?"

When Kyuma did nothing, you got closer to him. Blinking your eyes, with a little smile on your face, you watched his eyes fighting to look at the sky. "You such a nice person", you purred. "You don't need to be sorry because you look at me. Clothes are just a social construction, aren't they?"

"I'm not sorry!" Goken shouted. You guess that's the only way he knows to comunicate with others.

"I've noticed", you smiled to him, but your focous was Kyuma. "Don't be so shy. Look at me." When Kyuma did obey, looking deeply into your eyes, you carressed his chest. And the eletric shock made you fall to the ground.

Then they ran. The surprise made the other team slow, they weren't ready to fight back. Dodging them, running towards the base, the three were like lightning. Trembling on the ground, you watched as Arisu touched the base. Then Usagi. But when Kuina was about to touch it, Maki kicked her away

"Really?" Somehow Kyuma was able to shout.

Squirming, you tried hard to answer. "You should know it was a trap."

"Oh my god", Goken laughed. "That was a booby trap!"

"It's a tie", Kuina cried on the floor. "Usagi, run to our base and come back here!"

"You can try" Uta said. She pointed at the big screen. "But can you run to your base and come back here in 3 minutes?"

"Really?" Kyuma shouted again. How could he be so fine? He wasn't even shivering.

"Oh, get over it! It's not my fault you saw a pair of boobs and got distracted." With a lot of effort, you sat down. Arisu run to you, one hand covering his eyes, and took you his shirt. Buttoning it, you stared at him. "I'm going to die and you are mad because I tried to win?"

"Are you covered?" Arisu asked.

"It don't matter", you answered him. "We are going to die. In 3 minutes we are done. I just killed Niragi and what did it change for us? Nothing. Worse: it made us believe we could win. This is it. I gonna die. We gonna die."

"We..." Kuina couldn't move. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't... I should have fought better. I didn't mean to... I'm so sorry."

"I know. We know", Usagi kneeled beside her. "It's not your fault. You tried."

"And now you are going to die!" Holding Arisu in your arms, you were the one crying. "I did everything to protect you and it wasn't enough."

Insteat of crying, Arisu hugged you back. Carressing your head, he was at peace. Arisu knows he did everything he could. That he tried to win with his whole being. And if this is how he is going to die, hugging his sister with the knowlegde that they would die without pain, than so be it.

"You protected me." Arisu whispered. "Since I was a kid. You did everything you could and it was enough. I had a good life. Not a perfect one, but a good one. If I could chose to live this very same life again and again, I would do it."

"We gonna have to deal with them for how long?" Maki asked. "This is embarrassing."

"What about being kind once in your life?" Uta closed her eyes. "Let them cry. One more minute and the game is over."

"Don't be so cruel", Usagi said to her.

"Why aren't you crying?" Kyuma got closer to her.

"I guess I'm just tired" Usagi hold Kuina closer. Whispering to her friend, Usagi felt something hard on her heart. "Tatta will die alone. He must be so scared."

"It's Game Clear to the King of Club's team." The female voice said when the two hours finally ended. "It's Game Over to the players team."

They waited for their death. Your eyes, before wide open, now were closed. Arisu hold you closer to him. Kuina and Usagi shivered against one another. And on the the other side of the labyrinth, Tatta were crying alone. But it never came.

"Do we agree?" Kyuma looked at his team. His hand was up in the air. "In three, two, one..."

All of them raised their hands on the air, and said at the same time: "I vote for the player team."

You opened your eyes. "We died?"

"I don't know", Arisu whispered.

"Congratulations!" Kyuma was so excited that everyone looked at him. And by doing that, everyone saw that Shitara was standing on a corner of the labyrinth. Alive. "Your team was chosen."

"For what?" Usagi feel like throwing up.

"To be trained by us." Kyuma was looking at you. "Welcome home, new citizens."

GENERAL TAGLIST: @suakemi @notanalienindisguiseblink

if you enjoyed, please reblog! i promise it makes a difference ♡

@ madwomansapologist.tumblr.

#madwomansapologist #alice in borderland x reader #alice in borderland x you #alice in borderland x y/n #alice in borderland #alice in borderland imagine #aib #aib x reader #aib x y/n #aib x you #aib imagine #kyuma #kyuma x reader #kyuma x you #kyuma x y/n #ginji kyuma #kyuma imagine #ginji kyuma imagine #arisu #ryohei arisu #kuina #hikari kuina #usagi #yuzuha usagi #niragi #suguru niragi #tatta #kodai tatta #goken kanzaki #uta kisaragi

[soullessjack]

I’ve been on TikTok a lot because my FYP has been infiltrated by SPN and most people on there think he has the mental mind of a 3 y/o or a baby. How is this possible to think with his storylines? It doesn’t make sense to me. I wasn’t in the fandom, just an avid show watcher, and I saw him similar to Amara and how she’s an adult that grew up fast except he was just born grown but naive because the world is complex. So how do people get to him having a baby mind? It feels ableist to me but I can’t figure out how to articulate why (like when someone has developmental disabilities and someone says, “They have the mind of a _y/o,” when that person’s needs/skills/etc are more complex) and I was wondering if you could shine some light on why you think this happens. I don’t think people understand why other people have uncomfortable feelings surrounding baby/toddler/kid!Jack but I can’t remove it from accidental ableism. I’ve tried talking to people about it on TikTok but they either double down or say that it’s my opinion. However, I don’t feel like canon supports theirs. Thank you. I love you your posts about Jack and your insight. Good work.

hi, thanks :3

genuinely I don’t know, and I ask myself that every single time I go through spn tiktok lmao. the best I can figure is, for one, TikTok is the app where media literacy and nuance go to die like dogs. there’s no arguing with anybody there unless you get lucky (source: I’ve argued).

two, I think genuinely it comes from the over-saturation of baby!jack content in the fandom, both in and out of tumblr, and the extremely minimal amount of content where he’s actually treated with nuance and complexity. like, it exists, but only in very small circles that the majority of the fandom clearly ignores. from what I’ve seen most of spn-tok is focused on TFW or Dean or Destiel and don’t generally care about Jack that much, so it kinda makes sense that they’d just run with the most prevalent idea of jack and not really think about it in the long run, or when they watch the show.

a lot of the arguments I’ve seen literally boil down to “he wears Velcro sneakers” and “he doesn’t know [insert thing]” or just his general social awkwardness/unawareness (which Cas displayed all the time in the early seasons but never got outright infantilized for). like look at this:

and there’s millions more comments like this, unfortunately. I don’t mean to speak for everyone, but at least for me, the body language and specific mannerisms Alex put into his portrayal of Jack is what resonated the most as an autistic thing, naïveté and poor social skills aside of course. Like, he fidgets/stims constantly—

and none of this is scripted for him to do, either! Alex just decided it worked, and he was right!!

—and to see these very blatant autistic traits be reduced down to “portrayal of a child/toddler” is downright sickening, especially when plenty of other autistic fans have pointed it out and expressed to Alex that they relate to Jack and even asked if he had done it on purpose because it was so well done.

what I’m personally confused on is how many people will double down on jack being a child like it’s driftwood in the ocean. like, going back to my argument, I gave the other person multiple points in the show that make it obvious jack is intended to be an adult. Harper, the beer, any of the trauma he’s endured; the works. and all they had to say to that was “you do you I guess.” and it’s like what do you mean, ‘you do you’? I’m giving you actual examples that happen in the show, and I’m asking you to think ‘hey, maybe if jack flirted with a girl and talked nonstop about what it’s like to fall in love and have sex for an entire episode and had his dad offer to go to a dive bar for bucket-list hookups in the episode after, maybe he isn’t a child.’

but again, this is TikTok, so asking for any kind of self examination is asking for too much.

it just strikes me as odd. it’s odd and confusing and horribly frustrating that people are dying on this hill like it’s some kind of civic duty. like, why does it matter to you so much to see Jack as a child? why is it so important for you to think of him that way, that you just ignore canon evidence and autistic voices to make yourself feel right? what was even weirder was they were autistic themselves, and said they wouldn’t dream of infantilizing him, but here we are. their reasoning was “he’s literally 3 by the end of the show,” and that was it. And of course they weren’t wrong, but if you look at every time Jack or anyone else acknowledges his age:

D: “how old do you think you are?”

J: “3 days, 17 hours and 42 minutes”

Dean shrugs and lets him drink beer.

M: “You should be six months old.”

J: “I am…sort of.”

Mary shrugs and treats Jack like a teenager from there on out

M: “Do you ever hang out? I mean, with kids your own age?”

J: “Well, I’m two…enty. I’m twenty…two. I’m twenty-two.”

While the show acknowledges Jack’s actual age, it’s arguably on the same level of acknowledgment of Cas being literally older than time, because what people strangely fail to remember is that Jack is not completely human and doesn’t have the natural aging or developmental process that humans do. He’s three in the same way Vision is three, and Vision is already married with children. Beyond that, there are plenty of times when Jack is referred to as a teenager or treated like one, like Dean’s “he’s a millennial” joke in Last Holiday (wrongly termed but the intent is still there). Hell, even in the scripts they’ll directly say things like:

“Jack is spiraling out, a teenage powder keg,” (13x06 Tombstone, deleted writer’s draft)

“Kelly can’t help but smile, so impressed by the man he’s become, but not about to let him out of her sight,” (14x08 Byzantium, prod. draft)

that make it pretty clear Jack is functionally an adult despite his unnatural age, just like Cas or Amara or even Emma (also the added bonus that Jack explicitly hates being called a child or treated like one, but people literally reacted to that like “oh silly baby wants to be in charge like a grownup” so, like, I don’t even know what to do with that) (and banking off of that, every other time Jack is explicitly put into an adult situation, like flirting with Harper and literally asking Dean how to have sex, sooo many notes on that gif set were the same parroted “nooo baby boy don’t corrupt your innocent mind!! dean is such a bad influence 😂😂😂😂”, so the obtuseness is very intentional). I try not to be accusatory when I talk about the way Jack is treated in the fandom, as a general for online discussion and because I know it’s largely unintentional, but I really do think Destiel (and Sastiel) have some hand in it.

If you look at the majority of Baby!Jack content, it all centers around how domestic either ship is with baby!jack, how good Dean is with kids (baby jack) and how much of a sweet older sister Claire would be, etc. It’s all for the sake of domesticity. It’s the white picket fence family dream that canon TFW2.0 doesn’t really quite have. It’s to make Dean and Cas and Sam and Cas and Claire and Rowena and whoever else, a softer version of themselves. It’s never actually about Jack. He’s just the cannon fodder; the prop; the dress setting; the accessory. He’s there to make everyone else look better and to fuel them forward. No matter how much people want to argue that it’s “giving Jack the childhood he should’ve had,” we both know it’s not actually about him, because canon coming in with the steel chair again: Jack literally chose to be an adult. He hates being considered a child and has never expressed anything more than wanting to be a regular teenager. And like I said, people on spn-tok are naturally Destiel centered, so it’s honestly not very surprising that they just can’t let go of this content cow because it’s just too cute and wholesome and precious of course, despite it being rampant ableism and just generally annoying to people who actually do care about Jack in a deeper sense. Gag me. So maybe that explains the doubling down, but then what gets even more confusing to me is, like, you can have a domestic family AU that doesn’t rely on erasing a character to fit a specific image. You can have a domestic family AU without being ableist about it. You don’t have to do any of the things you keep consistently doing. You even fucking already it in the show! Canon TFW2.0 is dysfunctional on various levels, but so was TFW, and so were just Sam and Dean. It’s simply their dynamic, and it’s what adds to their family bond being what it is to begin with. Nothing you’re doing is something you need to.

I wanna stop before this gets longer than it has to be, but for one final thought I think the general lack of care for autistic people in any space is part of it, too. It’s why half of our representation is painfully inaccurate or egregiously offensive; it’s why fandoms of media with autistic/autistic-coded characters almost always rampantly infantilize them (cough cough SheRa). And like with Alex’s mannerism choices, it’s the distinct yet subconscious connection between autistic behaviors and childlike behaviors, because autistic people are so largely treated as incapable innocent children and cannon fodder for their autism warrior parents; both of which reflect like direct sunlight in Baby!Jack tropes. And it’s why people just don’t care enough to do anything about it, to heed any criticisms about the harm they’re doing, because to them it’s not harmful. It’s not a problem that’s doing any perceivably “real” damage because they haven’t been personally hurt by it (except when it comes to unfair Dean criticism or Sam or Cas criticism, because that’s clearly more important than ableist rhetoric and representation erasure), and probably because they already hold those views to autistic people in the real world.

The world at large does not care for autistic people, or disabled people in general. Nothing that hurts us is considered anything serious. Nothing that matters to us is considered valuable or worth respecting. And because of that, we already struggle in the real world day by day, so we turn to online spaces for connection and sharing our interests safely. We turn here for community, only to be met with the same indifference and rejection as the real world, because the same people we’re trying to avoid are here too, and then we have nowhere else.

•••

**im probably going to make this a separate post but I also want to talk about the weird cognitive dissonance that the fandom has with babyjack and how it’s pretty much considered “acceptable infantilization,” and how so many people in the fandom have said they want more complex jack but still engage with content that actively erases Jack’s complexity and relies on that erasure to make him what he is).

***edit: tags 4 reach, absolutely feel free to ask for removal! ik it’s out of the blue but you guys have had some of the better takes on jack lol @angelsdean @hauntedpearl @uh-ohspaghettio @queermania

#sorry this took for fucking ever to write out #holdthypeace.txt #spn #jack kline #autistic jack kline #spn tiktok #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #team free will #team free will 2.0 #spn fandom #supernatural fandom #spn family #destiel #deancas #sastiel #samcas #domestic destiel #babyjack #baby jack #toddler jack kline #baby au #fandom critical #fandom criticism #spn critical #ship critical? I guess?? #fandom ableism #ableism in fandom #tw infantilization

[hell-raven]

absurdly long tangent/analysis

EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: this isn't to dissuade anyone from interpreting the canon as they want i just wanted to share my personal opinions based on the preexisting canon that may or may not be very passionate, please just have fun do whatever you want none of this is fact

i really hate how utsuho is flanderized to death and constantly boiled down to "the dumb bird girl" because if you actually sit down and Read her dialogue instead of relying on secondhand information you learn quite a few things about her (when i say this is absurdly long i mean it so keep reading at your own risk)

extrapolating from her own dialogue:

she actually wanted to blow everything up in th11 for real and it wasnt just a "hehe whoops" kind of thing. she was bestowed an extremely powerful ability and deliberately wanted to use it to cause destruction/take over gensokyo

she is extremely knowledgeable about her ability and job (anything related to nuclear power and regulating the flames of blazing hell, or just things about former hell itself)

she takes her job very seriously and supposedly does it very well

but there are a few things that get people: she has poor memory, other characters refer to her as "birdbrained" or "empty-headed, and there are a select few instances of dialogue from hisouten/gouyoku ibun that catch peoples attention. its one of those things where because other characters (and people) say shes stupid, it influences everyone else! in my opinion, i think her own actions straight from the source are much more indicative of who she is rather than the quick judgements of other characters.

=======================

the first major point before i get into the specific dialogue in the fighting games: "kanako needed an empty-headed hell raven, and utsuho fit the bill"

what exactly is meant by "empty-headed"? this is going to be more of an abstraction, so definitely take it with a grain of salt. we dont know much about utsuho before she gained her powers, just that she worked as a lowly hell raven that helped around the palace of the earth spirits/hell. to me, it sounds like an incredibly mind-numbing job that really doesnt require much thinking to begin with, so of course you wouldn't expect some kind of supergenius from it. im also going to go out on a limb and say that utsuho was a candidate for kanako's plan because she's also considered a pet. many unfortunately conclude that pets can't be intelligent, and even the title of "pet" carries the connotation of inferiority. even if she was truly empty-headed as previously suggested, this doesn't mean that she stayed as such with no change at all. when i first played th11, i would have never guessed that she would be "the stupid one".

small note: ZUN's comment on her theme ("even a fool that possesses great power can't cause too much harm")

the problem i have with this is that she really would have caused a lot of harm if the protagonists hadn't stopped her. you could say shes a fool for letting the power get to her head, but objectively i cant exactly point to anything in th11's dialogue/scenarios that suggests she's foolish unless you really want to count bad memory-retention as such. not gonna argue this too hard, but it seems like "fool" is a word thrown around very freely with little thought to how you can actually apply it to a situation.

=======================

IN HISOUTEN: sanae beats her up and afterwards says "youre trying to help me, actually" to which utsuho is like "Oh Ok". you could argue this is probably her dumbest moment, but would you really not follow or listen to the person who defeated you in battle? its not the most defensible point, but she didnt even seem completely oblivious either when she was asking sanae about the incident. my personal interpretation is that she has a bit of a short temper related to how important her job is. there are plenty of other 2hus who are generally sillier than this, it doesnt make much sense why utsuho is the only one who gets this treatment.

IN GOUYOKU IBUN: utsuho doesnt notice reimu before she starts blasting her to bits, which to be fair reimu wears all red in Hell (her fault honestly) + correct me if im wrong but is the power of nuclear fusion not extremely blinding? supporting this, in the events of GI its also implied that shes being overworked due to the oil incident, and we already established that she takes her job very seriously, so to me it makes sense that her first thought is to "remove the contaminant" and to use a lot of her energy in the process. a lot of people in general sometimes get wrapped up in their own work to the point of hyperfocusing, i say the bird can do it too

i also havent brought up the fact that we dont exactly know wtf eating a god does to your brain, whos to say it didnt fuck with you a little bit?

past all of this though i still think utsuho is funny as hell with her particularly bold and uncaring personality, its just that people seem to think that a couple of goofy moments make up her whole character and its just mildly annoying to me.. subterranean animism will probably be my favorite portrayal of utsuho because of how seriously they all treat her (mostly) but overall i wish more touhou fans would actually indulge in the source material and think a bit deeper about this neat little piece of fiction that i am WAY too passionate about (also its just way more fun to look at characters from a complex perspective)

#raven.txt #touhou #long post sorry #i realize how funny this looks from tumblr user Hell Raven i promise im not mad i just have many thoughts

[artist-issues]

It occurs to me that some people have a warped view of Shadow the Hedgehog.

There’s like two versions of him. 

There’s the impression people (including some SEGA creators) have of Shadow the Hedgehog, which started somewhere on or after 2005, which I will be referring to as

1. Shadow’s shadow

He’s dark but it’s cringey because he’s trying so hard to be dark, and you get the impression that only 10 year old boys and 14 year old girls think he’s actually dark. He has a gun, just to prove to monkey-brain children used to fun Sonic ring-collecting that he’s bad. He cusses because cussing is edgy. He never does anything good unless it’s to prove he’s a better hero than Sonic. He’s over-the-top cruel or emo because that’s all he represents, and picks fights to defend his own pride like a bad version of Season 1 Zuko.

The problem with this version of the character is that somewhere down the line, even SEGA thought that Shadow’s shadow was all the Shadow the Hedgehog that everyone wanted to see. Or they just forgot that none of the above character traits have anything to do with the original character, at all. And so they started putting him in the new games like that.  But that’s not the real Shadow. That’s just Shadow’s Shadow, a lame guess at who the character is based on his black and red design and snippets of things which people who never played SA2 heard about the character.

The real version of the character, which sparked the original popularity, is

 2. Shadow the Hedgehog

The original Shadow the Hedgehog was popular because he was the new character in a game that brought emotional Lore to the Sonic games. He debuted in Sonic Adventure 2, and he wasn’t even the only new character in that game, which is kind of one of the things that was awesome about him: he wasn’t supposed to be The Cool One™ in the franchise. 

He was supposed to be a one-off character. Think about that: not a character that just hit every out-of-proportion-fanservice trait, not a character that they kept bringing back over and over to entice weary fans. 

He was just a new story element, presenting interesting themes that worked as a great foil for Sonic himself, then dying in an emotionally impactful way, making the SA2 game interesting and memorable for it’s story.

That is what was originally so popular about Shadow. Yes, he was really cool, and he did check all the “Dark Version of Your Beloved Main Character Trope” boxes, but he was ALSO a really well-rounded character that didn’t feel like he was just a hook to get fans interested. He had depth.

In fact, it could be argued that he brought depth of story to the series in a way that hadn’t been done since...well, Knuckles the Echidna. Sonic’s first-ever “rival” (who was not a robot.) 

And Shadow brought depth of story MORE than Knuckles, because Shadow came around in the era of Cutscenes and Dialogue which provided a medium for this little thing called Flashbacks. Yeah, Knuckles’ first, pixel-y appearance brought in story elements like The Master Emerald and visuals that hinted at lore, like a Shrine.

But Shadow? 

Shadow the Hedgehog appeared and was instantly the audience’s window to look through and see things that had never been seen before, which fleshed out Sonic’s whole canon and world. Things like:

The Government (woah, the Sonic world has a President and a unique military organization?)

Eggman’s family (woah, they’re actually going to tell us something about where Eggman came from?)

Chaos Powers (woah, the Chaos Emeralds actually do something besides just turning characters “super?”)

A story structure like this, where a new character also served as a way to examine deeper parts of Sonic Lore, had been used in the game’s predecessor, Sonic Adventure 1. But that new character, Chaos, was just presented as a mindless, silent villain with a blank face who turned out to have feelings right before he disappeared forever. Shadow is not like that at all in his first appearance.

He starts the game acting kind of like a genie who’s been let out of the bottle, offering to grant Eggman wishes. He offers Eggman a mysterious bargain. He seems totally evil and in possession of power over the Chaos Emeralds that allow him to rival Sonic. But during the story, there start to be hints at something underneath it all. 

He keeps flashing back to a scary/sad combo of scenes involving a little girl. He mentions that he’s after revenge. He talks like a Shakespeare character when he villainously monologues, but he also ends most of his levels with “I’m the coolest!” and smugly talks smack with Sonic during their fight scenes. He seems totally focused on his mission one minute, then, any time he encounters Sonic, appears to get completely distracted and eager to compete, like a 18 year-old athlete.

All this contrast between a lofty, broody villain personality with a hidden fun, competitive showboating personality made the audience DESPERATE to know where this Shadow guy came from and what made him tick. It helped that other characters, like the government spy and Eggman himself, were teasing at a mystery in his past, too.

Then when you DO find out the why behind everything Shadow does, there’s been such a buildup that it’s satisfying. 

I mean, it sounds really weird to hear that Shadow the Hedgehog is an artificial creature created by Eggman’s genius grandfather on a space station to bring hope to the Earth below, but was warped by a desire for revenge when the Government tried to kill him and wound up shooting the little girl who was his only friend and sealing him away for 50 years, instead. But it ONLY sounds that weird if you didn’t play the SA2 game and get to know Shadow as he was intended, bit by bit, reveal by reveal.

 Because SA2 Shadow had reasons for being broody and angsty. 

And he wasn’t ALWAYS broody and angsty. In fact, he was a master manipulator! When he was around Eggman, he was confident, smooth, and articulate, like a Shakespearean villain. When he was around Rouge, whom he did not trust, he was silent, firm, and to-the-point. Only by himself was he angsty--and it never lasted long. 

And when he was around Sonic? 

Oh boy. That is my FAVORITE thing about Shadow. Because when he was around Sonic, it’s like I said. He would stop being focused on his revenge-mission and stop being focused on whatever he was doing with Eggman and he would just turn into this competitive, flashy guy. I mean, yes, it would’ve been hard for him to stay focused on the mission because Sonic was actively trying to get in his way--but the thing is

Shadow starts to be his real SELF around Sonic. Even while they’re fighting. Because you get the sense, as the player/audience, that if this big trauma had not happened in Shadow’s past, he would have been Sonic. In personality. Sonic and Shadow are both highly competitive, love thrills, and love a challenge. They are also both heroic. Even while Shadow is a villain, he winds up saving Rouge the Bat from death by explosion, just because it seems like he can’t help himself. And remember, he was created to be a savior of the world anyway.

So combine Heroism with Competitiveness and you have someone who is very close to our fun-loving, cool blue hedgehog protagonist. But then the human race he was sworn to protect destroyed his home, murdered his best friend right in front of him, and locked him away as a dangerous weapon for 50 years. 

Shadow is not what you get if you take Hot Topic and throw it on top of Sonic the Hedgehog. 

Shadow is what you get if you took a bunch of Flickies murdering Tails the Fox right in front of Sonic while Green Hill Zone burned in the background. 

And then, at the very end of Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow realizes that he didn’t promise Maria (his best friend who was murdered) revenge. He promised her that he would protect everyone on Earth. So very much like Ben Solo (RIP) you get a quick snippet of who Shadow the Hedgehog really is when he’s not burdened by all the Baggage. 

In a handful of cutscenes and well-performed in-game dialogue, you hear that his voice is a little lighter. He physically transforms from black to white.

He’s focused on destroying the evil threatening the planet, but he also says kind little things like, “Sonic, you need rest! Let me give it a try!” and “How are you doing, Sonic?” and

AND

in one in-game clip of dialogue, he even says that he thinks SONIC might be the Ultimate Life Form. 

Shadow’s Shadow, the lame ironic tropey interpretation of Shadow, would never say something like that. He’d cuss in a low-voiced rasp and dramatically try to blow the head off of anyone who even joked about it. But the thing is, at this point in the story, you are seeing Shadow as he is: a lab-created being who’s probably only lived around a year, consciously, and was still figuring out what he even is before going under. The only reason he was ever anything but a good-natured, gold-hearted hero was because of the trauma and revenge-induced worldview. When all of that is stripped away and he starts seeing his purpose and his whole history clearly, he is this slightly naive, open-hearted, mission-driven, contemplative foil to Sonic.

Then he sacrifices his life and dies. And the end of the game is all of the characters, good and bad, united for a scene where they each contemplate who they are and what is right and wrong.

And that’s the effect he had on players, too. He was such a deep, interesting character who was not edgy (even though his backstory was more violent and dark than any other character’s) that they loved him desperately. And SEGA brought him back.

Of course, they brought him back with amnesia, and that probably would’ve been fine, except it spiraled into the Shadow’s Shadow version of the character that got his own video game and worsened everything.

But that’s besides the point.

The original Shadow the Hedgehog, the true, real version of the character, was absolutely the best part of the franchise at the time. And basically, in conclusion, SA2 Shadow is the BEST Shadow.

#I could say more #but who even wants that #he is not edgy the hedgy #shadow the hedgehog #shadow #sth #sonic fandom #sonic the hedgehog #yujinaka #Fuji naka #character analysis #sega #sega sonic #sonic #sanic #meta #analysis #sa2 #sonic adventure 2 #sonic adventure #chaos #tikal #tails #Maria robotnik #fandom #video game story #story #writing #character #shads

[mandos-mind-trick]

Here’s To The Future - Part 2: Cut and Run

Summary: The war’s over. That should be cause for celebration, except the wrong side won. Things begin to change quickly, and it doesn’t take long for Midnight to realize something’s not right among the clone army. She should be glad the war is over, but the threat of her losing her boys is all too real. She did swear she would do everything she could to keep them from being separated when the war ended.

She’s not going to give up on that promise. Even if it kills her.

Pairing: The Bad Batch x reader (no clonecest)

Warnings: Lots of emotions in this one, some PTSD, canon-typical violence, arguing, grief and mourning, injuries, a little bit of medical stuff. 

A/N: This one took me longer than expected, but it’s a pretty emotionally heavy chapter. Midnight really goes through the wringer in this one. No smut, just lots of pain. 

Sorry my Hunter girlies, I promise it won’t last forever. 

Also I am still looking for a beta reader for this one, so if you’re interested…

< Previous | Next > | SERIES MASTERLIST | MAIN MASTERLIST

Midnight stares out the viewport, watching the stars pass. Tech had put the ship on autopilot before heading back to check on Wrecker. He had also been shot, and was being a big baby about being treated. It was likely none of them even knew she’d been shot. She’s okay with that for the moment. She needs to collect herself. 

She can’t fall apart. 

Not yet. 

Midnight turns her head as she hears quiet footsteps, Omega entering the cockpit. She steps up towards the viewport, looking out at the stars as well. Midnight watches her quietly, knowing exactly what she’s thinking. 

“Your first time in space?” Hunter asks, entering the cockpit as well. He pauses next to her seat, leaning his arm against it. He’d notice soon. He always notices. 

“First time anywhere.” Omega says. 

Midnight feels something stir in her chest. She knew what that was like. She remembered her first time seeing the sky, her first time seeing space. The first planet she’d visited. 

“Impressive shot back there.” Hunter says. “Where’d you learn to do that?” 

“I don’t know.” Omega shakes her head. “I never fired a blaster before. I guess I got lucky.” 

“She’s not the only one.” Tech says, walking back into the cockpit. 

“I’m fine.” Wrecker says, being helped in by Echo. “It’ll take more than a blaster shot to take me down.” 

“You were down.” Echo says. 

“Well not for long!” Wrecker laughs, squeezing Echo’s shoulder but quickly groans in pain as it strains his own injured shoulder. 

“What’s the plan, Hunter?” Tech asks from the pilot’s seat. 

“I thought we could go off on our own. Lay low.” Hunter answers. “But with Crosshair gunning for us, I’m not so sure.” 

“What about your friends? Could any of them help us?” Omega asks. 

“That would be a short list.” Tech says. 

“I can think of one.” Hunter says. “Plot a course for J-19.” 

“J-19?” Echo asks, obviously as confused as her. 

“We know a guy.” Hunter says. 

“Yeah!” Wrecker cheers excitedly. 

“Strap in kid,” He says to Omega. “You’re not gonna want to miss this view.” 

Omega takes a seat in the co-pilot’s chair as Tech begins their jump into hyperspace. Midnight rests her head in her hand, taking deep breaths. She’s glad no one’s noticed anything yet, Hunter preoccupied with Omega, and the others with Wrecker. She wishes she could go to her room, lock herself inside for a while, but her obvious limp would give her away. 

She lets out a long breath, the tears pooling in her eyes again. Crosshair would have noticed. He would have known just by looking at her. Not that the others wouldn’t notice eventually, but Crosshair always noticed. He always saw. He would have been calling her names, telling her she was stupid for getting shot. 

If Crosshair were here, she wouldn’t have gotten shot in the first place. 

Midnight squeezes her eyes shut, holding her breath to keep her sobs in. 

****

“Easy.” 

Midnight jumps as hands touch her. She hadn’t even realized she’d fallen asleep. She hasn’t been out long, her face still wet with tears and her leg is throbbing. She hisses as fingers press against the blaster wound, her body being shifted to the side in the chair. 

“Echo, we’re gonna need another shot.” Hunter says, holding her leg still. 

“Hunter-” Her voice cuts off in a whimper as he tugs her boot off.

“That doesn’t look too good.” Omega says. 

Midnight winces as Hunter presses against the wound again. “It wouldn’t be so bad if someone stopped touching it.” 

“Just making sure it’s not worse than it looks.” Hunter says, releasing her leg. 

Another hand takes it, this one just as rough as Hunter’s had been. Midnight winces as a shot is injected, fingers prodding again. The pain quickly begins to numb, Midnight letting out a sigh of relief. 

“Omega, why don’t you and Wrecker start searching the ship. Look for any tracking device or any sort of recording device. Make sure they didn’t plant anything.” Hunter says. 

“Sir, yes sir.” Omega says, heading off with Wrecker to search through the rest of the ship. 

Midnight yelps as something jabs into the bottom of her foot, yanking it out of the hands of whoever was holding it. “What was that?” 

“Just checking you can still feel your foot.” Tech says. 

“Yes, I can feel it, thank you.” She says, pulling her leg up to her chest. 

“I need to be sure there’s no serious internal damage.” Tech argues, grabbing for her leg again. 

He pulls it a little too hard, nearly sending her from the chair. She barely manages to catch herself, fingers holding tightly onto the side of the chair. 

“Would you quit manhandling me?” She demands, yanking her leg free of his hold. 

“Midnight.” Hunter says sternly, causing more tears to brim in her eyes. 

She’s so tired of crying already. She sobs, righting herself in the chair. “He told them.” She turns on Hunter, unable to stop everything from spilling over. “He told them about us. He told them everything. He betrayed us. Tarkin tried to use it against me.” 

“Hey,” He kneels down beside the chair, pulling her into his chest. “I know. This isn’t easy for any of us. He was our brother, and I know how much you loved him.” His arms tighten around her just a bit more at her quiet whimper. “The best we can do is try to find somewhere safe so we can make a plan right now.” 

“Your leg will be fine, once it heals.” Tech says as Hunter pulls away from her. “Your irritable mood is likely due to your extreme exhaustion. We were designed to go long periods without rest.” He pushes her back into the chair, running a thumb under one of her eyes. “You need as much rest as you can get right now.” 

She scoffs. “It would help if I could sleep.” 

“Right.” Tech says, tilting her head slightly. “You can yell at me later.” 

Something sharp pierces her neck, and the sound of an injector hissing reaches her ears.  She frowns at Tech, anger bubbling inside her once more. “What did you just-” 

“A mild sedative. Just enough to get you to sleep for a couple hours.” 

Midnight can already feel herself beginning to drift off, the world around her starting to move in slow motion. “I’m gonna hit you,” She slurs, fighting her drooping eyes. “When I can move my hands again.” 

Tech smiling softly is the last thing she sees before she drifts off. 

***

Midnight startles awake as a hand shakes her. She hastily wipes the drool from her face, blinking the bleariness away. “Huh? What?” 

“We’ve landed.” Echo says. 

“Where?” She asks, rubbing her eyes. 

“Saleucami.” Echo says. “Apparently they know someone here that might be able to help us.” 

Right. She remembers that conversation. They must have come to know this contact before her time, and also before Echo’s. 

She accepts his offered hand, letting him pull her up. She puts weight on her injured leg, testing it. 

“How does it feel?” Echo asks. 

“Sore.” She says, putting more of her weight on it. “Better than it did.” 

“You’re lucky.” He says as they make their way into the hull. “Any lower and you might have lost a foot.” 

Midnight stays quiet, thinking over Echo’s words. It was lucky, she won’t deny that, but it’s also a bit suspicious. 

Midnight blinks against the bright sun as she makes her way down the ramp. She pauses for a moment, taking in the dirt under her feet, and the sun on her skin. It feels nice after so long in space, and the aggressive sterile bleakness of Kamino. 

She begins following the others, pausing when Hunter turns back. Midnight turns too, spotting Omega on the steps of the Marauder. The girl pauses, taking a big breath in before making her way off the steps. She drops to her knees in the dirt, taking a handful of it. 

“Whoa. What is this?” She asks, looking at the dirt in fascination. 

“That would be dirt.” Tech says simply. 

“It’s amazing.” She stands up, dragging her foot through the dirt and kicking it, laughing happily. 

Midnight feels a tightening in her chest watching Omega. She knows what that’s like. She remembers her first time on a planet that had actual dirt and plants. She had been equally amazed by it, after spending her entire life on an ecumenopolis where the only dirt you saw was either toxic or particles falling from the many stories above. Oh to be able to be amazed by the simplest things again. 

War had ruined that for her. 

“Come on. Let’s get moving.” Hunter says as thunder rumbles in the distance. 

They make their way through a field of strange, tall fruit. Midnight feels on edge, like she’s expecting something to pop out at her. Droids, or maybe other troopers. She clenches her fists at her sides, ready to draw her blaster if she needs it. She’s got Echo in front of her and Wrecker at her back, but that doesn’t make her feel any more comforted. She blames it on the sedative Tech had snuck her still wearing off. 

That, and her sore ankle. 

“So this friend of yours, what’s he doing all the way out here?” Echo asks. 

“Hiding.” Tech answers simply. “That’s what deserters do.” 

“Staying off the radar’s not our specialty, but he’s been doing it for years.” Hunter says. 

“And you trust a deserter?” Echo asks carefully. 

“Why not? We’re all deserters now.” Tech says.

Echo stays silent, obviously not having thought of that yet. They’re all deserters. They’re all on the run now. Midnight knows it won’t just be Crosshair after them. After all, she had signed a contract and then immediately broken it. She hadn’t had much of a choice, though. She couldn’t have broken the guys out of the brig if she’d been in there too. It would have only complicated things if she’d refused to sign that contract. 

At least that’s what she tells herself. 

Hunter motions for them to stop, looking down at a tripwire. Omega continues forward, unfamiliar with Hunter’s silent signals. He puts a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from setting the booby trap off. 

“What are we looking at?” She asks curiously. 

“A booby trap.” Hunter answers simply. 

“Single trip wire.” Wrecker says, stepping over it, obviously not seeing the second laser trap further ahead. “That’s cute.” 

Several dummy droids pop up as Wrecker springs the trap, and he begins shooting at them. 

“Easy, Wrecker.” Hunter commands. 

“Was that me?” Wrecker asks, confused. 

Their attention is drawn away from Wrecker as two figures approach, blasters drawn. It’s a female Twi’lek and a...clone? 

“What do we have here?” The Twi’lek asks. “More clones who have lost their way.” 

“It’s been a while, fellas.” The clone says, both of them lowering their weapons. 

***

Midnight finds herself in a farmhouse, leaning against the wall. It’s run down and patched together, but it’s sweet, she thinks. There was once a time she had dreamed of a life like this, in a farmhouse on some secluded planet with no worries and no war. The five boys all working on the farm, building them a life. 

She swallows the emotions, steeling herself. She won’t cry again. She’s not going to. 

“I see a few new faces.” The female Twi’lek says as she places a couple bowls of food on the table. Midnight is hungry, but she doesn’t have much of an appetite. 

“Midnight, Echo, and Omega,” Hunter motions to each of them as he introduces them, Omega exploring the small farmhouse. “Cut and Suu.” 

“Hello.” Midnight nods, giving her best smile. 

“Pleased to meet you.” Suu says. 

“Ma’am.” Echo nods in greeting. 

“Where’s Crosshair?” Cut asks. 

Midnight’s stomach clenches painfully at the mention of his name. She hates it, that she has to feel this way. There’s nothing she can do, though. She had tried her best, and it wasn’t enough. 

“It’s complicated.” Hunter sighs, his shoulders sinking just a bit. 

“Sounds familiar.” Cut says. “Rex told us about the clone troopers turning against the Jedi.” 

“You talked to Rex? When?” Echo asks. 

“Well, he passed through yesterday.” 

“Where’d he go?” 

“Didn’t ask.” Cut shrugs. “He was going on about some behavioral implant.” 

“He must mean the inhibitor chip.” Omega says, stepping up to the table next to Hunter. 

“The what?” Hunter asks.

“Inhibitor chips. The Kaminoans implanted them in the clones to modify their behavior.” Omega explains. 

“Tech, you said the regs were programmed but you never mentioned a chip.” Hunter says, drawing Tech from whatever he was doing on his datapad. 

“How else did you think it worked?” Tech asks. 

The door flies open, two Twi’lek children running in. 

“Mom, Dad! There’s a ship outside!” 

“Shaeeah, Jek! Remember me?” Wrecker says excitedly. 

“Uncle Wrecker!” They both exclaim, running up to greet him. 

“Who are you?” The oldest of the two asks, spotting Omega. 

“Omega.” She says nervously, stepping around Hunter’s chair. 

“We never see kids around here. Come with us.” They lead Omega out of the house, Hunter giving his nod of approval as Omega looks back for permission. 

Midnight watches the exchange, letting her gaze drift back to Cut and Suu as Omega disappears out the door. They both have fond, knowing looks on their faces as they stare at Hunter. 

As squad leader, it was Hunter’s natural instinct to lead, to worry about the wellbeing of everyone on his team, even non clones. Midnight remembers when she first joined the team, how unnerving it had been. It was almost like some switch flipped in Hunter’s mind, some automatic update to his hardware that included her on his team. How easily he had adjusted to her there, how easily he had included her, thought about her. Worried about her. 

She knows it’s happening again. It’s not quite the same now, given they’re not fighting a war anymore, and Omega is a child. 

Midnight can’t help but wonder if it’s becoming more this time too. 

****

“How is your leg?” Tech asks, adjusting his goggles. 

Midnight glances up from the table. She’d been staring at it, lost in thought. She’d stolen Hunter’s seat after he’d gotten up, and helped herself to some of the food Suu had set out. She hadn’t felt like eating, but she knew she had to eat eventually. 

“Fine,” She answers, leaning back in the chair. “A little sore, but nothing like it was.” 

“You can hit me now.” He says, going back to his data pad. 

Midnight blinks at him. “What?” 

“When I sedated you, you said you would ‘hit me when you can move your hands again.’” 

Midnight shakes her head. “I’m not gonna hit you. I know you were just trying to help me.” 

“Yes, your nap had a drastic improvement on your mood, as I said it would.” 

Midnight gives him a look. “Now you’re just tempting me.” 

Suu steps up to them, a bundle of clothes in her arms. “I thought you might want to change.” 

Midnight stares at the clothes for a moment. “Actually, that would be great.” She stands, taking the clothes. “Thank you.” 

Suu directs her to the fresher, and she shuts herself inside. Suu’s a bit taller than she is, but the clothes fit, and they feel better than her armor. It’s been a while since she’s worn civilian clothes. She can’t help but wonder if there will ever come a time she’ll be able to retire the armor for good.

She stares at herself in the mirror for a moment. There’s still dark circles under her eyes, and she looks absolutely miserable. At least the outside matches what she’s feeling inside.

She splashes some water on her face, patting her cheeks to try and make herself seem more alive. She leaves the fresher, heading outside where the others are. 

Hunter has changed his clothes, obviously having borrowed some of Cut’s. It’s odd to see him wearing something that isn’t his armor. Midnight doesn’t think she’s seen any of them in anything but their armor, or their blacks, or nothing at all. Wrecker’s ditched at least the top half of his armor, donning a hat and poncho. It’s a good look for him too, Midnight’s brain doing all sorts of somersaults. 

“Here,” Hunter holds out a hand. “I’ll drop that off at the ship.” 

“Thanks.” She murmurs, handing off the pile of armor to him. 

“You, uh, look good.” He says, giving her a once over. “I forget how good you look in civvies.” 

Midnight forces a smile, nodding. “It feels good to wear them again.” 

Hunter’s face drops into a serious look, Midnight already dreading what’s coming next. “Are you...alright?” 

Midnight grimaces. “You don’t want to go there. Not right now.” 

She turns to leave, but he puts a hand on her shoulder. “Night, you should have said something.” 

Midnight clenches her jaw, fists clenching at her sides for a moment. “We had bigger things to worry about.” She shrugs his hand off. “Save the lecture for later.” 

She walks away, heading back into the house. 

****

“Can I help?” Midnight asks, approaching Suu who was working on packing. “I-I need to do something with my hands.” 

Suu nods knowingly. “Sure. You can finish packing those in that bag.” She nods at a stack of clothes.

Midnight starts placing the clothes in the bag, glad to be doing something. She feels bad for how she acted towards Hunter, but the last thing she wants is to dredge up her feelings right now. 

“So, how long have you been in love with them?” Suu asks, breaking the silence. 

Midnight freezes, looking up at her with wide eyes. “What?” 

Suu chuckles. “I can tell just by looking at you.” 

Midnight stares down at the clothes in her hands. If anyone would understand, it would be Suu. “I’m not sure when it became love.” She shrugs. “The whole...arrangement started about three months after I joined their squad. Hunter and I had too much to drink and...made some impulsive decisions. It just...evolved from there. When I fell in love with them...” Midnight shakes her head. “I’m not convinced I haven’t always been.” 

“And Crosshair?” Suu asks. 

Midnight tenses, letting out a shaky breath before nodding. “And him. He was...resistant at first. Then he had to...out of necessity. I was in love with him before that, but he’s...guarded.” She feels tears brim her eyes. “I knew the risks. I told myself after the war ended, I wouldn’t let anything separate us. I’d do everything I could to keep us together.” Midnight hastily wipes a tear. “I feel like I failed.” 

Suu puts a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently. “You still have four men who clearly love you. I know it’s not easy losing someone you love, but don’t forget about them too. As one of the few in this galaxy that can understand, you need to consider what’s best for all of you. Take advantage of the time you do have. If Crosshair truly does love you, he will realize it. There’s no amount of mind control that can wipe away emotions like that forever.” 

Suu is right. Midnight had failed in keeping the six of them together, but she hadn’t failed in keeping most of them together. With their accelerated aging, she can’t even begin to guess how much time she’ll have with them. She’ll outlive them by a long shot. 

The thought only makes losing Crosshair hurt more. 

***

“It appears all public transport is now restricted without chain codes.” Tech says, looking at his datapad. 

“Which Cut can’t sign up for.” Suu says. “He’ll be arrested when they discover he’s a deserter.” 

They were all gathered in the house once more, Cut and Hunter having returned from town with some disparaging news. Apparently the new Galactic Empire was requiring citizens to get chain codes in order to travel. 

“The next shuttle leaves in a few hours.” Cut says. “Codes or no codes, we need to be on it.” 

“Mom!” A panicked cry from outside draws their attention. “Mom, it’s Omega!” Shaeeah runs into the house, pointing outside. “She went out past the fence!” 

Suu is the first out the door, grabbing the slug thrower leaning against the wall on her way out. Cut and Hunter are quick on her heels, hurrying towards the fence. Omega is right on the edge of the farm, a rather nasty looking creature stalking towards her. 

Hunter ducks under the fence, running towards Omega. She turns and runs, the creature lunging after her, but it’s slowed by a shot from Suu on the roof of the farmhouse. Omega ducks behind Hunter, Hunter slicing at the creature with his knife. 

Suu shoots it a second time, deterring it from attacking again as it turns and runs. Hunter guides Omega back through the fence, the poor girl looking upset and guilty. 

“What were you doing out there? Do you realize you could've been killed?” Hunter asks, his tone sharp and biting. 

Midnight winces, having been on the receiving end of that tone more than once. It’s not fair to Omega, though. She is just a kid. 

“Easy.” Cut says, putting a hand on his shoulder. “She’s not a soldier.” Cut squats down beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder, looking her over for any injuries. “Are you hurt? Now, let’s take a look here.” 

“I’m sorry. I was just trying to get the ball.” Omega says, tucking her face into Cut’s shoulder. “I didn’t know.” 

“You’re safe.” Cut says, patting her shoulder. “That’s all that matters.” Cut stands, picking her up. “Come on.” They start towards the house. 

“Hey, kid. You all right?” Wrecker asks. 

“She’ll be fine.” Cut says, walking back into the house. 

The five of them stand there, watching them go. 

Midnight replays the entire thing in her head once more. Omega’s lucky. Whatever that creature is, it’s fierce and would have torn her to shreds easily. Midnight doesn’t really know Omega, and she’s still adjusting to the thought of having a child around, but that’s what she is. She’s a child who has never seen the galaxy, never experienced the danger, the fear, the unknown. 

Midnight remembers when she was in the same position, leaving Coruscant for the first time, experiencing things so different from what she’d been raised in. Midnight had the advantage of knowing the dangers, though. She was an adult, well adjusted to living in danger. 

“All in all, I would say that could’ve gone much worse.” Tech says. 

Midnight rolls her eyes, shaking her head. Of course he’s right, but this didn’t feel like the time to say something like that. 

“Tech, you think you could forge some chain codes?” Hunter asks. 

“I only learned of them moments ago, but yes.” 

“Do it. We’re getting Cut, Suu and the kids on that shuttle.” 

****

Midnight sits on the porch of the farmhouse, swinging her legs back and forth. She had offered to stand watch, to make sure the Nexu didn’t return or try any bright ideas. It probably wasn’t that necessary, but she’s glad for the fresh air, and the chance to think. Tech and Echo had returned to the ship to try and learn as much as they could about chain codes and how to make them. Cut and Omega have gone on a walk as well, Omega still upset about the whole incident. 

Midnight can’t blame her. She remembers how upset she’d been the first time Hunter had reprimanded her like that. Of course, they’d been in the middle of war and he was reprimanding her stupid decision on the battlefield. She had deserved it. Omega hadn’t. 

She knows Hunter can’t discern the difference, though. None of them can. They’d been designed for war, for fighting battles. Not for things like child rearing and domestic life. 

They could learn it, though. Cut was proof of that. 

He had chosen to desert though. The rest of them hadn’t had a choice. 

The door of the farmhouse opens. Midnight doesn’t need to look to know who it is. He walks down the steps, approaching her slowly. She keeps her gaze facing forward, even as he moves to stand next to her. 

“It’s uh...beautiful here.” Hunter says, crossing his arms. 

Midnight nods. “It is.” 

He’s quiet for a moment, the tension beginning to rise between them. She knows it's her fault, but she can’t help it. She feels like she needs to fight. Maybe she should have accepted Tech’s willing invitation earlier.  

“I’m...going to send Omega with Cut and Suu.”

Midnight nods. He sounds unsure, but she knows that might be the best option. “It’s a good idea.” 

“They won’t let us go that easily. Things are going to be dangerous.” Hunter is staring at her. She can feel his gaze burning into the side of her face. “Would you-” 

“Don’t.” She cuts him off, hands curling around the edge of the porch. “Don’t even ask me that.” 

“You need to consider-” 

Midnight jumps down from the porch, facing him. “I made a promise when we made this whole arrangement that I wasn’t going to let anything separate us. Not the Republic, not the end of the war. I told myself no matter what, I was going to keep us together. I’ve already failed that, and now you want me to leave?” 

“That’s not what I want.” He says, eyes narrowing at her. She knows she’s pushing into dangerous territory, but she can’t stop. 

“That’s what you were going to ask me.” Her hands are starting to shake, adrenaline coursing through her. 

“I don’t want you to leave, but I think some distance for a while is a good idea for your own safety.” 

The door to the house opens, but neither of them pay it any mind. “What are you going to do, force me? The war’s over, Hunter. You’re not my Sergeant anymore.” She turns on her heel, walking away from him. 

Hunter moves to follow, but Suu puts a hand on his shoulder, keeping him in place. “Don’t. Give her some space.” She says. 

“I don’t know what’s gotten into her.” He says, staring at Midnight’s back where she’s standing close to the fence. 

Suu glances in that direction as well. “You shouldn’t take it personally. She’s grieving.” 

Hunter looks down at Suu, his brows furrowing. He hadn’t even thought of that. He had felt the sting of Crosshair’s betrayal, but he had moved past it in order to ensure the rest of his squad was safe and taken care of. It wasn’t fair of him to expect the same of Midnight. That’s why he had thought sending her away might be the best idea. 

“People do and say strange things when they’re grieving. I know it’s your nature to look out for your squad, but you have to let her do what she needs.” Suu gives him a smile. “She doesn’t need a squad leader right now, or her team. She needs the men she loves.” 

***

Hunter, Wrecker and Midnight escort Cut, Suu and the kids to the spaceport. Midnight can tell Hunter is still seething a bit after Tech’s brilliant idea backfired a bit. 

They had been enjoying what was likely to be one of their last good meals for a while, while helping Cut, Suu, and the kids pack when Tech had commed in, saying he had a brilliant plan. Naturally, he had decided to enact it without waiting for any permission, or even telling anyone else besides Echo. 

The brilliant plan? 

Get the ship impounded so they can sneak into the spaceport and steal the disks to make the chain codes. 

The only problem? 

Omega was on the ship. 

Midnight knows they wouldn’t let anything happen to Omega, but it doesn’t make this situation any less stressful, nor their jobs any easier. 

Midnight walks beside Wrecker, at the back of their group, holding his hand. It was partly to steady her nerves, and also to try and seem more inconspicuous. Hunter is leading the group, at the front where she knows he’s most comfortable. 

“Tech, we’re in the spaceport. What is your status?” Hunter says through his comm. 

“In progress. The encryption shouldn’t be a problem.” Tech answers. 

They walk towards the shuttles, keeping their heads down. There’s troopers crawling the area. There’s far more troopers than she thought there’d be. Midnight hasn’t been this nervous since she’d broken the boys out of the brig on Kamino. She holds Wrecker’s hand just a little tighter, moving closer to him. She knows it’s more dangerous for them. If a trooper looked too long at one of the boys’ faces, it would be a dead giveaway. 

“Hurry up. We need those chain codes to get them on the shuttle, or we’re going to have to blast our way out of here.” Hunter says. 

“Don’t worry. I can slip through security unnoticed and deliver the disks to you momentarily.” 

They get into the line at the shuttle, all anxiously awaiting Tech’s arrival. 

“Have your chain codes out and ready for inspection.” A trooper says as he passes them, thankfully not looking too hard as they turn their faces to avoid detection. 

“The chain codes are in route...with Omega.” Tech says. 

“By herself? You let her go by herself?” Hunter hisses into the comm. 

“Well, we didn’t let her go.” Tech tries to defend himself. 

“I’m on it.” Wrecker says, handing off the crate he was holding to Cut before running off towards the impound lot. She knows this is going to end in a firefight, most likely. She’s glad she kept her blaster in the back of her pants. 

She passes the bag she was carrying off to Suu, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Good luck.” 

She follows behind Wrecker, slipping into the impound lot. Thankfully most of them have been drawn to Wrecker, giving her ample space to slip towards the Marauder unnoticed. 

She slides up to Tech behind a stack of crates, drawing her blaster. “Kriffing hell,” She says, ducking from blaster fire. “Just once I’d like to end a mission without getting fired at.” 

“Then perhaps you should consider joining another squad.” Tech quips. 

Midnight rolls her eyes, firing at the troopers. They’re coming in waves, and she knows even more will be coming following. 

“Hunter, we have worn out our welcome. We need to go right now.” Tech says through the comms. 

“On my way.” Hunter replies. 

Hunter arrives quickly, easily taking out three of the troopers before ducking behind the crates. 

“Glad you could make it.” Tech says. 

“What are we waiting for?” Hunter asks. 

“The clamp’s still magnetized. The system’s not responding.” Echo says, still working on getting the Marauder free. 

Wrecker runs over, using brute force to get the clamps to release. 

“Let’s go.” Hunter says, Midnight running for the ramp of the ship, following Tech up inside. 

“Wait for me!” Omega’s voice calls through the spaceport, drawing the attention of some troopers. 

Hunter tries to keep them at bay as she runs over, but one of the troopers grabs her leg. Hunter makes quick work of him, getting Omega to the ship safely. Tech takes off as they continue to fire on the ship, successfully flying their way out of the spaceport and away from Saleucami.

***

Midnight sits in the fresher with her head in her hands. She feels sick to her stomach. Her hands are shaking despite them being balled into fists so tight it hurts. The motion of the ship doesn’t help any, only stirring her nausea more. 

She doesn't know what’s wrong with her. She’s felt like this the last two missions they’d had before the war had ended. She’d felt like this on Kamino, and she’d felt like this after their narrow escape. She knows it’s not just her roiling emotions. It’s like every time she has a blaster in her hands, it makes her sick. She can’t take much more of it. 

She forces herself to stand, splashing cold water on her face until her legs stop shaking. She looks like death, more so than she had on Saleucami. She’d love nothing more than to crawl into bed and hide, but she knows she can’t. 

She exits the fresher, stepping out into the hallway. 

“Well, where is Omega gonna sleep?” Wrecker asks. 

“She can have my bunk.” Midnight says, drawing all eyes to her. “For now. I-I’ll sleep in Crosshair’s bunk.” 

“Night-” Hunter starts but Midnight cuts him off. 

“It’s fine.” She moves forward, putting a hand on Omega’s shoulder. “Come on. I’ll give you the tour.” 

She leads Omega to her room, opening the door. It’s still a bit messy from their search of the ship not too long ago. Midnight’s glad she changed the sheets, though. 

“Make yourself at home.” She says, shoving clothes back into their crates. Hunter had at least been decent enough to place her armor in its spot. 

“Are you sure I’m not taking your bed?” Omega asks as she sits on the edge. 

“Truth is,” Midnight says, squatting down so they’re the same height. “I don’t think I’ll be doing much sleeping in here. I don’t think I’ll be doing much sleeping at all, actually. I’d rather you be comfortable, at least until we can get something more permanent set up.” 

Midnight gets up to leave, but Omega’s next words stop her. “You were close with him, weren’t you. Crosshair, I mean.” 

Midnight sighs, her shoulders drooping a bit. “Yeah. I was.” 

“I’m really sorry about what happened.” She says. “I know what it’s like. To feel lonely even with people around you.” 

Midnight hastily blinks the tears away, turning to face Omega. “I’ll be okay. Get some sleep. It’s been a long day.” 

Midnight leaves her room, the door hissing shut behind her. She makes her way to the bunks, pausing in front of Tech and Crosshair’s. They’re all empty, Tech in the cockpit with Echo and Hunter. Wrecker was in the hull, probably benching Gonky or something. 

She pulls the privacy curtain back, half expecting to be met with a scowl, but of course it’s empty. She climbs up, tucking herself into the bunk. The hooks are still on the wall where he’d hang the firepuncher. Midnight lays her head on the pillow, squeezing her eyes shut. 

It still smells like him.

Taglist: 

@amyroswell, @dangraccoon, @hunnythebee​, @lokigirlszendaya, @kriffingmeshla, @storm-breaker7  

#star wars #star wars fic #the bad batch #the bad batch fic #the bad batch x reader #tbb x reader #hunter x reader #crosshair x reader #tech x reader #echo x reader #wrecker x reader #series

[darkfictionjude]

I was thinking about the probabilities of the Crown family to be latino. And it's an interesting route of thought.

On one hand, the original surname is Croun, and it would make sense that Spanish speakers would write "Crown" as "Croun", given how Spanish orthography works. However, this is not really conclusive. Other romance languages would probably do the same, and it's possible to argue, as well, that the family could be from Spain instead of Latin America. So, it's not really conclusive, but rather, a very open thing. I could add, too, that other languages (non romance) use the Latin Alphabet in a similar way.

There is also the point that such a change could prove a non anglosaxon origin, either out of shame or for a desire to fit in better. And while this is common among the Latino population living outside of Latam, it's not exclusive to us.

There is also the thing about names. It's clear that none are truly of Spanish origin. Salvatore is Italian (and it would be Salvador in Spanish); Percy's name actually could be written the same in both English and Spanish, and therefore does not help at all; and Orla's name, arguably, could be used in Spanish, but it would be uncommon, and so it's also inconclusive. Victor's name is also ambiguous, but even more so than Percival (or was it Perceval?) and Orla. Prudence is a very Anglo name. MC's name varies by player, so it cannot be taken into consideration except if we accept any Latino origin of the family as only possible if the player so wishes. But that's no fun to theorize about, so I'll ignore it.

Then, it becomes clear that Spanish is not really a language the Crowns speak, or, at least, they don't feel an inclination to speak it among themselves. Which can mean two things:

1) The Latino origin of the family is so far back on the past that any cultural and language inheritance has been forgotten or has become irrelevant for the current generation.

2) There wasn't any Latino roots to begin with.

So, what is left? If I go with option 1, there is a chance: The character creator allows the player (and the family, by extension) to be of any ethnicity. And that's an argument in favour, even if ambiguous. Because the thing about Latin America, is that there always were multiples ethnicities living together. This is not unique to us, of course. Is a very weak argument, and very ambiguous. After all, both the US and Canada also have multiple ethnicities among their population. It's just the proportions are, often, more balanced on Latam than they are in those northern countries.

So, in conclusion, it's ambiguous, and obviously purposely open. Which, was an obvious thing to realize and didn't require as much rambling as I have written. But, it was also fun to think about.

I really loved how investigative this got tbh. It’s so fun to read long messages like this in my inbox.

Yeah the ethnicity is entirely dependent on player head canon. But I do think if they have Latino ancestry it would be far back and those ancestors would have for lack of a better term “Americanized” themselves (kind of weird there isn’t really a Canadian equivalent to that word). It’s really only relatively recently that minorities like celebrities would make themselves look white in order to fit in so really a case can be made that they have non Anglo-Saxon blood but that generation after generation have not been taught to be accepting of any other culture that isn’t conforming to an Anglo-Saxon ideal. It would fall in line with who Victor and Prudence are and one can only guess that they were raised the same way

#I know the etymology nonnie when I see them #love your rambles I hope they never end 💜 #the crowns #family lore #we wretched creatures

[anti-dazai-blog]

opinions on Atsushi and Fukuchi ? BTW feel free to ignore this ask, since ik you're primarily a Dazai analysis blog. Idk, I feel like the concept of Atsushi as a character had AMAZING potential, but somehow he's given (imo) less fleshing - out than Dazai and the others. The other characters get interesting little quirks and opinions, Atsushi gets none. I just wish BSD would develop its protagonist better. I really wanna like Atsushi but he's just written so MEH at times.

Oh and, why do you think Atsushi was chosen as the protagonist? No, I'm not saying any other character would make a better one. But I'm curious about Atsushi's significance to the story's themes. For example, do you think Sigma, Ango, Akutagawa or Yosano could have been the protag instead ? They tend to fit the common protag archetypes more I guess.

Also I see a lot of fandom gate for Fukuchi, which I think is dumb because a former nationalist getting PTSD from the atrocities he committed for his country, and then vowing to destroy the concept of national boundaries, is awesome and metal as fuck. Yeah of course Asagiri gives him that dumb flatulence schtick and some loony OP gimmicks cuz burnout / anime idiosyncrasies, but he's a character who deserves much more appreciation cuz he's so INTERESTING. I'm not saying he's a poor meow meow. He's morally grey but he makes some valid points, and he's a great exploration of fascism, guilt and the dark side of man - made boundaries.

As far as I could tell, Atsushi is actually the standard protagonist archetype for his genre. He’s a filled-in blueprint of what a fantasy protagonist usually is. 

The basic formula for a fantasy genre protagonist is, first and foremost; somebody who’s an outsider. Someone who’s unfamiliar with how the magic system works, so that the story has an excuse to explain it to them—and through that, explain it to the audience, who are outsiders to the magical system as well. 

The second step to the make-a-protagonist formula is to make them bland—or at least bland relative to the characters they’re surrounded by. You want the audience to be able to project themselves onto the protagonist, so making them overly-gimmicky or with too much of a unique personality may turn people away. You want them to be someone the audience could picture themselves as. You want them to have the highest possible relatability. Atsushi’s the guy with the fewest gimmicks, so. He’d be the LOP of the show. Least Objectionable Protagonist. (yeah I do think I’m funny and I’m hoping all media students find me funny as well) (I’m leaving this joke in for the one person who gets it and finds it funny)

Step three is to make them overpowered. It doesn’t have to be overpowered by that world’s power standards, but they have to have a surefire way to succeed often, and to be potentially seen as a threat by others (<-that’s the thing that usually makes conflict happen). They often start out rather weak so that they have room to learn and grow, but it becomes apparent quickly that they could potentially be the strongest once they learn how to use their abilities properly.

Atsushi checks all these boxes perfectly.

All other BSD characters don’t fit into that mold. Atsushi didn’t know about abilities and didn’t know about the agency/mafia/guild, and so it all had to be explain to him (and simultaneously, to us). All characters listed other than Sigma would be disqualified from the start, for being within these systems from a much younger age and therefore unable to learn about them for the first time during the course of the show (and age is a pretty common factor in the Blueprint for Fantasy Protagonists too). 

As for Sigma, I’m not saying he’s designed to be similar to Atsushi, but. If the mangaka decided to explicitly have characters in canon say “hey you remind me of my coworker,” then who am I to argue with that. Sigma was designed to resemble Atsushi (in personality, at least). He was designed to have a convenient ability to be used when needed. I have no doubt that he’ll be returning to the story, on the basis that his ability is too convenient to lose. But a guy designed to resemble the story’s protagonist is not the most likely candidate for the protagonist role. 

Funnily enough, we do get to see what other BSD characters would be like in the role of protagonist thanks to the light novels. Ranpo/Fukuzawa, Chuuya, Dazai, etc. etc. have all had their chance to be in the spotlight. But notice how their quirks from the main series have been toned down through rationalizing them via a first person POV—in 15, we don’t view Chuuya as short tempered or easily annoyable because we see what’s really going on—he’s working towards his own goal on the side. So when Dazai goads him into a stupid bet, we don’t see him as easily-provokable for accepting, but rather someone who’s trying to figure out how much this mafia guy really knows about the case they’re working on—the one where, as we later find out, he has a personal connection to. 

And with this added insight into the thought behind his actions, we can see him as a rational and cautious person—cancelling out his seemingly impulsive actions, and taking away his primary “gimmick.” 

Removing a gimmick turns a character from a caricature to a human, and as audience members, we’d love to see humanized versions of all the characters—but for the writer, the gimmicks make them stand out and differentiate them from each other. Now that we’re so much farther into the story, both us and Asagiri know all the characters much better now, and there’s definitely a higher chance of characters becoming more humanized in the future (note how a few characters have lost their gimmicks as the story progressed—Dazai became less focused on suicide, Ranpo became more competent and willing to do his job..). So I have high hopes that, while we probably will continue BSD with Atsushi getting meh character development, we will most likely see a few more light novels with other fan-favorites in the protagonist role.

NOW onto Fukuchi.

Fukuchi doesn’t deserve the hate he gets. His entire character is very Fullmetal Alchemist-esque. And we all love Fullmetal Alchemist. I truly don’t understand why we love the cast of FMAB and understand the story it’s trying to tell, but cannot understand Fukuchi. Yes, sometimes people go to war. And sometimes people to awful, horrible things. And then come to regret it. And want to make a change, and want to fix things, no matter what the cost may be. Why can we all root for Roy Mustang but draw the line at Fukuchi. Is the primary difference that Fukuchi is more powerful and therefore capable of and the cause of more destruction? Is it because Roy is a 20-something year old attractive guy and Fukuchi is an old man? Who knows, I think Roy with Fukuchi’s level of power might have been about the same as him.  

But why fandom circles choose to hate specific characters will always be a mystery to me. (even I, a professional hater, am baffled by a lot of what I see here)

Regardless, this is longer than I intended it to be. I hope I covered the topics properly, thanks for the ask!!

#Not proofreading this no way not gonna happen I’m gonna go eat food instead #Gonna eat supper #Anti dazai asks #Atsushi #fukuchi #bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs

[adobe-outdesign]

Design review for the corphish line?

Corphish is fine, but I'm not gonna line I always kind of foget it exists. I think I tend to get it mixed up with the Krabby line in my mind; obvious crayfish and crabs aren't even remotely the same thing, but the orange colors with a cream underbelly and tiny-pupiled eyes really do make the two look similar.

I think one easy way to fix this would've been to make Corphish the same red color as Crawdaunt. Not only is it more distinctive, but it's a higher-contrast color and much more striking all around. I also wouldn't mind it working some of the blue into it's design; maybe just on the tips of the feet or the tail.

That aside, Corphish is still well-designed. The oval body is complimented by the oval claws, and the shape of the orange really helps accent the body nicely. Likewise, the use of cream helps to break up the body and keeps it from getting too busy. It's nothing fancy, but it's still a good crayfish none-the-less.

Crawdaunt is quite a bit more distinctive than Corphish due to the addition of a yellow star and blue stripes. Not going to lie, I have no idea why these are there; I've heard people argue it's mimicking Sharpedo, which is an awesome idea, but it's just a fan theory—nothing in canon suggests this was the intent by the designers. I guess it could be going for a military theme with the dark-typing and invasive species thing, but that's vague at best.

At any rate, the star and stripes feel like they're competing with each other due to them both being distinct colors; the eye isn't sure exactly where it wants to rest other than somewhere in the head region. I think you could've dropped the star entirely and made the stripes on the tail blue, which would've fixed the problem without really loosing anything. Alternatively, you could also drop the stripes and make the resulting area black to resemble a gaping mouth, which could've been a neat concept.

All that aside though, I do really like the rest of the design. That sunken-in eye is perfect and matches its dark-typing nicely, while the legs and slightly upright stance give it a unique monster-y look that's still very crayfish-esq. If it wasn't for those extra face elements, it would be a dang-near perfect little beast.

(Side note: I wouldn't mind seeing this line get a mega or regional in the future. I had it in my brain that it had a mega, but apparently I just hallucinated that.)

So overall: This a pretty decent line. Corphish is very nice looking, and only suffers from being a smidge too similar to Krabby. Crawdaunt has an awesome dark look to it and a neat body shape, but is a little over-cluttered with a few mismatched elements that don't really go anywhere. Still, the overall designs are solid enough.

#corphish #crawdaunt #pokemon #pokemon reviews #my computer randomly froze in the middle of this and I had to retype it all??

[hawkinsglasscloset]

Practice Run (OC X Canon Kiss Week 2024)

Word count: 2k

Warning: none

A/n: My second collab with the most amazing @mrprettywhenhecries for @theocxcanonweek day 6: An Intimate Moment. This is part of our Stranger Timeline Verse with Stranger Things characters. Hope you all enjoy it <3

[Masterlist]

"If you had to pick a boy from school to date... who would you pick?" Blossom asked, not sure if she'd wanna know the answer. She was lying on her stomach, flipping through a magazine in Robin's bedroom where they held one of many slumber parties.

"Uh..." Robin hesitated, not knowing what to say. She was so tired of lying to her best friend about her feelings, but what was she supposed to say? That she was in love with her?

"I don't think I'd pick anyone. They're all either ugly or boring, the only nice and sorta good-looking one is Dustin but he's too young for me," Blossom murmured. Truth was she never liked a girl before, but when Robin was there she felt... something different.

"Yeah, me either. They're all too... immature," she exclaimed, glad that Blossom had answered the way she had, not only to find out she didn't like anyone else, but so she could latch onto her answer as well.

Blossom sat up to face Robin with a little smirk. "But have you ever dated anyone?" The question definitely had ulterior motives, she desperately wanted to know if her friend liked someone and if so, what her type was.

"Not... exactly. Okay, no, I haven't," Robin exclaimed, making a face. "Have you?" She wondered reluctantly.

"I've dated one guy but it didn't last too long..." Blossom murmured. "It was just a little weird with him, you know? Like that's not how it's meant to be."

“Oh?” Robin asked, perking up before quickly clearing her throat. “I mean, why was it weird?” She asked, crossing her legs under her.

"He didn't treat me like I wanted to be treated, I felt attracted to him, but... it's like boys have a few nice bits and are attached to the rest, which is trash." 

Robin couldn’t help but laugh. “I won’t disagree with you there,” she snorted.

"But um... does that mean you never kissed a boy before?" Blossom asked, feeling a little flutter in her stomach, even though she didn't fully understand it.

“I’ve… never kissed anyone,” she admitted, her face flaring brightly and suddenly feeling very hot, her palms starting to sweat.

A little gasp left Blossom's lips when she noticed how flushed (and absolutely adorable) her friend was.  

"That's okay, everyone has their moment, nothing wrong with that," she assured. "But I don't get it. You're so beautiful, you're like... waking up in the morning and seeing the most wonderful day out the window. Your smile is like the sun, your freckles are so cute, and your eyes are gorgeous! Who wouldn't wanna kiss you?"

“I—“ Robin’s voice faltered and she only felt more flustered. “I’m none of those things!” She exclaimed, bleating an awkward laugh.

"You are though, you're also intelligent and funny and kind. You're like the whole package, anyone who doesn't ask you out is stupid."  

Oh my God, it's me... I'm stupid, was all Blossom could think.

“You’re biased cause you’re my friend,” Robin argued, trying to calm her racing heart. Why did it feel like her friend meant all those things she’d said… in more than a friendly way? 

"If you were ugly and uninteresting, I could've just kept my mouth shut so I wouldn't hurt your feelings," Blossom pointed out. "I'm not the most experienced kisser ever, but I mean... I know a few things if you ever want tips."

"Oh, uh, what kind of tips?" Robin asked, intrigued, but a little nervous.

"I don't know, like what to do with your tongue and your hands... stuff I wish I knew before," Blossom shrugged.

"Okay, I guess I could use all the help I can get, though I really doubt I'll be kissing anyone soon..." she mumbled.

"You never know. I'd tell you to let the other person take the lead. Your tongue shouldn't be too present, but also not stiff. Try to caress the neck or the hair with your hands so it adds to the sensation."

"Wait, how do you mean, your tongue shouldn't be stiff?" Robin chuckled, a little confused by her explanation.

"If can't be stiff, like hard. It needs to be relaxed, but not relaxed like a thirsty dog just... soft."

"I think I get what you mean, but it's hard to really understand without doing it, I guess," Robin mumbled, looking down at her legs when she realized how that sounded -- like she wanted Blossom to show her.

"Why don't you try it? I can show you... just for practice," the other girl suggested, trying to sound extra casual, as if she wouldn't jump at the first chance to kiss her best friend.

Robin's face flared bright red. "Wait, what?" she exclaimed, swallowing thickly, hastily trying to work moisture back into her mouth.

"Sorry, that was a stupid idea. I'm so sorry, I just thought... it would be easier to show you with practice," Blossom had to resist the urge to hide under a pillow, she felt like such a creep. 

"N-no! No, it's okay! It just took me by surprise is all," Robin exclaimed quickly, not wanting her friend to feel bad. However, she also didn't want her to know how eager she was to kiss her. "We can do that," she said, having to take a steadying breath.

"You don't have to if you think it would be gross or something," Blossom murmured, moving closer to her and taking her hand.

"I don't think it would be gross," Robin assured her, a little too insistently. "So... how do we...?" She murmured, barely able to breathe as they shifted closer.

"Just relax and give it a try like this," Blossom whispered slowly approaching her until their lips touched softly. The kiss was slow and delicate, almost as if they moved in slow motion. 

Robin didn't think her face could get any hotter, she nearly felt as if she were about to faint. Blossom's lips were softer than she could imagine, and she had imagined.

Slowly, Blossom parted her lips and her tongue found Robin's. She didn't mind her inexperience, it didn't take away from the moment and how amazing it felt. That was definitely what a kiss was meant to feel like.

“Oh—“ Robin gasped as her friend's tongue brushed softly against hers, but she didn’t pull away, her hands balling in the blanket beneath her, fighting the urge to kiss her deeper and make a fool of herself by shoving her tongue down her throat.

"That was pretty good," Blossom finally pulled away, looking quite red in the face. "But you can use more of your tongue, that was a little shy. Let's try one more time."

“I was just afraid of-of using too much,” Robin replied shakily, wetting her lips before leaning back in.

"It's okay, if it's too much, I'll let you know," Blossom murmured, burying her fingers into the other girl's hair. This kiss felt more passionate, more heated. Even though it was just for practice... of course.

Robin's breath hitched as she leaned into the kiss, feeling a little more confident this time, her hands grasping at the other girl's waist, losing herself for a moment in the kiss.

And just like that, nothing else mattered, it felt like they were meant to be, two princesses in a romance novel. Nothing had ever felt more right. "Yeah, I think you got it," Blossom breathed. "That was perfect."

"Oh, right," Robin breathed, coming back to her senses as they parted, remembering that this was just practice and that it wasn't supposed to mean anything. "You really think so?" she asked, trying to steady her voice, not wanting her friend to catch the hint of disappointment behind her words.

"I do, I think anyone would be very lucky to kiss you," Blossom said, fighting tears as she realized Robin would probably never want to kiss her again. Maybe she should've lied and said it wasn't good enough... just to get a few more practice runs.

"Wait, B, are you okay?" Robin exclaimed, noticing the tears caught in her lashes. "What's wrong?" She asked, her chest suddenly tight with worry, afraid she'd upset her.

"I'm fine, really, I'm okay," Blossom nodded, wiping her eyes quickly and looking the other way. "I'm sorry, I don't know what got into me. So silly."

"Hey, you're not silly," Robin insisted, gently turning the other girl's face back to her and instinctively reaching out to brush the tears from her cheek. "Please tell me?" She whispered.

"I can't," she murmured, more tears rolling down her cheeks. "If I tell you, you might never wanna see me again or be my friend and I can't do that."

"Nothing you could tell me would make me not wanna be your friend anymore," Robin assured her, nearly choking on her words, her hands still cupping her friend's face. "Even if you killed someone. I'd help you hide the body," she joked though her voice wavered.

"I never felt like this before," Blossom started, taking a deep breath to gather the courage to admit what had been in her mind for months. "But when I'm with you it's like the rest of the world doesn't matter and everything is perfect. You fix what I never knew was broken... I like you."

Robin blinked. She suddenly felt like she'd been dunked in an ice bath. She had to be dreaming. All the times she'd imagined Blossom saying those words, she'd never really thought it would happen. 

"You... do?" She breathed, almost afraid to speak, afraid if she did the bubble would pop and the dream would end.

"I do, I think you're the coolest, most amazing, prettiest girl in the world. Not an army of Daryl Hannahs and Sissy Spaceks could change my mind. Your laugh and your voice are the first things I wanna hear in the morning and the last I wanna hear before bed."

Robin's eyes fluttered, a tear rolling down her cheek and when she opened her mouth to speak a sob came out instead. "I like you too, Blossom," she finally whispered, her voice cracking. "I've liked you for so long, but I was afraid--"

"I was afraid! I thought you liked that boy from Canada you told me about. I didn't know exactly what was going on, I've liked boys before, but I like you. I don't know if that means I'm a lesbian... a half lesbian? Is there such thing as a half lesbian?"

"I only made him up because I didn't want you to think I was pathetic. This whole time, I only liked you," Robin exclaimed, letting out a wet laugh. "I think that means you're bisexual," she said, pressing an overjoyed kiss to Blossom's mouth, kissing her urgently.

The other girl, in turn, kissed her back with the same enthusiasm, almost getting on top of her as she caressed the back of her neck and her dirty blonde hair.  

"You could never be pathetic, you're like... like a gorgeous mermaid goddess that I can't get enough of," she giggled.

Robin let out a full-bodied laugh. "You're the gorgeous mermaid goddess!" she exclaimed, kissing all over Blossom's face giddily. "Fuck, I can't believe this is really happening!" she cried, holding tightly to the other girl.

"Me neither, you're like a dream," Blossom leaned against her shoulder. "I wanna keep you all to myself and never share with anyone ever again."

"I'm okay with that," Robin laughed. "Does that mean... we're girlfriends?" she wondered, falling to the bed with the other girl in her arms.

"I think it does... we're girlfriends!" Blossom shrieked in excitement. "You're all mine now! This is perfect."

Robin couldn't stop the giddy laughter that filled her chest and she pressed her forehead to her girlfriend's, her cheeks hurting from how much she was smiling. "You know... I think I might need some more practice at this kissing thing. Think you could help me some more?" She teased, tracing the line of Blossom's jaw with her finger.

"What sort of teacher would I be if I refused?" She winked, pulling her closer again.

#stranger things #stranger things fanfic #robin buckley #robin buckley fanfic #robin buckley x oc #oc: Blossom Bellamy #otp: Beluckley #fanfic #one shot #fic collab #oc x canon week #ocxcanonweek

[walnutcookie]

i love morally gray langue de chat okay hear me out. (ramble incoming)

ive been talking about how contradictory this event was FOREVER and like at first i was just like Man this is bad writing but now im . I still think the same thing i doubt they were trying to make langue this way but i think they should be a little fucked up as a treat

remember how they used some of rogueforts earlier crimes to prove they hadnt stolen the statue?

but then they said this?

i dont know Perhaps im just an idiot and my only knowledge of law is ace attorney but that doesnt add up to me. How were they going to prove roguefort innocent of every crime they were being charged for when they presented some of their crimes as evidence??? also how was that morally correct, arguing someone you know is a criminal is innocent? and like. This wasnt them just them saying theyd lower rogueforts sentence. if they were to prove roguefort innocent of a SINGLE crime (the statue) how would that do anything to their 200 million year sentence??? theyd still be in jail for the rest of their life lol. it didnt really matter in the end because roguefort just up and dipped but that doesnt change how odd it all was

so no. langue de chat didnt just want to defend roguefort for the statue incident - they were planning on defending everything.

and as i mentioned before, they already used some of rogueforts crimes AS EVIDENCE. theyd probably have to do a bit of silly word tricks (lying) to make that seem possible !!!

mwa i love you langue de chat please keep defending criminals and lying in court i love you.

this one scene where they say theyre not gonna resort to bribes and say theyre gonna be righteous and shit kind of Fucks everything up but. yknow. i like to imagine they just want to rely on their argument skills - they dont want to bribe people, thats cheating. Lying though? Thats a skill. thats impressive. anyone can bribe, but only a skilled lawyer would be able to lie in court and get away with it . a very not-so-righteous lawyer.

in my brain they simply take cases that would make them the most popular. Like

and then devsister fucks up my headcanon again. Sigh . i guess they just draw the line somewhere idk. Look again they were trying to say that rogue was completely innocent so they DO defend criminals

This is the only line even HINTING at them actually caring about if their clients are truly innocent or not though. all they talk about is wanting to be Popular and wanting to be The Best (which would come with being popular). they want to be famous thats their whole motive i love you you little motherfucker im gonna shove them down an elevator shaft (affectionate). By contrast there are so many lines from cappuccino talking about justice (though to be fair his morals are also clearly a little fucked. that sentence she gave roguefort????)

i also like how this hc contrasts with cappuccino,,, cappu will put Anyone in jail (probably. we've only ever seen her with roguefort) meanwhile langue will keep anyone out of jail if they think itll boost their reputation

of course none of this is canon, i doubt devsisters intentionally wrote them like this (esp since theyre supposed to be righteous) and also this could all be explained with The cookie run legal system is Super Duper Fucked Up. which is still true because of the ridiculous sentence cappu gave and how he was just allowed to add to it for something that wasnt even morally wrong let alone illegal of roguefort but . i just think its neat. morally gray langue is real To Me

#langue de chat cookie #cookie run #crob #🎉 rambles

[ct-hardcase]

In terms of Inquisitor stories I'm hoping that we potentially get someday, I'm looking forward to seeing how the Seventh Sister and Fifth Brother's dynamic got established. While we don't know much about them as a duo before rebels, it's been established that if they're in the same room, they're near each other (be it fighting or just in each other's presence), and they also hate the other's guts. We also know, based on their sparring together in Vader (2017) and their appearance in Rise of the Red Blade (also sparring together and/or Seventh heckling Fifth while around Iskat) that they've been at it since 19BBY and kept it up until 3BBY, which, especially considering the backstabby nature of the inquisitorius, is a long time!

I do ship them, so clearly my questions about/view of them has a bit of a romantic and/or sexual tinge to it, but even completely in the context of a platonic relationship, the question of why those two gravitate to each other fascinates me, given everything else we know about them as characters and how they interact with the other inquisitors.

There's quite a bit of evidence for this on Fifth's end—he doesn't take shit from Reva or Iskat, and the only inquisitor he shows true fealty/respect to is the Grand Inquisitor. Seventh, whether or not you take stock in the numerical rank system, doesn't outrank him, and she'll also openly confront him, so there are similarities among her, Reva, and Iskat in that none of the three of them are doormats. Notably, one could also assume Fifth's attitude skews a bit misogynistic, as he doesn't seem to have the same issues with Eighth or Tualon based on what little we get of those dynamics, but that's a different post.

We've gotten less of Seventh's dynamic with a variety of inquisitors given her comparative lack of content compared to him (not that I'm bitter), but she's clearly headstrong, smart, cruel, and isn't afraid to push others under the bus in order to gain the upper hand in a situation for revenge. Given all this, it's notable that despite their arguing, she consistently works with Fifth and spars with him (which, even Iskat notes that sparring with Seventh is sort of terrifying). Clearly, Seventh's willing to put up with him as much as he's willing to put up with her. Since she isn't that different from Reva and Iskat, all things considered, what was The Thing that did makes Seventh and Fifth tolerate, and even gravitate toward, each other?

Obviously, I have my own ideas for why (up to and including "they want to jump each other's bones about it"), but in terms of guessing what canon may do? I'd estimate that when the two first meet (and they're probably among the earliest to do so/the earlier initiates), Seventh takes Fifth's surliness less personally than the other inquisitors and makes it more into banter, keeps pushing him back. This pisses him off, but the fact that she doesn't back down draws him in, both as a rival and otherwise. Given the fact that he's dyed-in-the-wool committed to the inquisitor cause and less fazed about evildoing, her propensity for cruel and unusual violence may not bother him as much as it would the others. The two of them coming as a set may be process of elimination as much as it is being drawn to the other, honestly.

This bit also didn't really fit anywhere else, but what cements their dynamic as different to me is something I noticed while watching Rebels, where despite the fact that Seventh almost always takes point on missions (and in notable contrast to owk, he usually lets her), the two have what seems to be an unspoken agreement that Fifth is the one interacting with imperial leadership and Vader. By the end, they clearly know each other, even through pointed barbs.

#star dorks #inquisitorius tag #r: always two #idk their dynamic is so good and despite evolving canon and more characters always rings as one of the most interesting #and honestly I was wondering to myself that if Iskat and Tualon are an item does that diminish them? #but honestly I love pitting Seventh and Fifth in contrast to them #each couple works as a foil in multiple directions #(fifth and tualon loving their dangerous women and being led by them #seventh and iskat taking power in knowing this is true #fifth and iskat being power-hungry volunteers and driven but with the loyalty to the cause being their fracture. #fifth SEEING iskat and knowing what she has with tualon and thinking they're so unbearably stupid but envying it so much it aches #tualon and seventh both having been irrevocably fucked up by the process on nur/HQ but being good inquisitors despite it all) #and iskat and tualon could eventually put love to their words #I think fifth and seventh did keep an ember of hate generally stoked #they never loved as deeply and it's what kept them alive #something something the opposite of love isn't hate it's apathy #crossposted from twitter but this has director's commentary due to lack of character limit #the fact that they were included in rotrb is a relief bc I was genuinely wondering if dlf was going to leave their dynamic in the dust #sw headcanons

[dottoreparadox]

Ok, I actually have more I want to say about Dottore's segments, but this stuff didn't fit into the 'how they were built' post.

So here we go. I'm not done with my bullshit yet.

So I think that we've seen four or five segments so far, assuming the ones we see in the manga are not the same ones we see in the game. (And that is an assumption. We could easily argue that the second one we see in the manga somewhat fits Omega in personality so they could be the same segment.)

I think I've probably lost a few of you by saying that, as the fandom tends to lump Webttore into a single segment. I am here to say that I think this is wrong. Webttore is the first segment we see and the one with the most screen time. He's the fucker with the pink bowtie who then turns Krupp into a robot.

(here we see my favorite panel of him. i too wish to zone the fuck out when i am placed in a meeting. major mood)

The other segment is the one we see at the end. This guy is much grumpier and less energetic. He also dresses in a somewhat darker color palette from what little we can see under his coat.

My main reason for thinking these are two separate segments (besides the slight differences in personality we see) is that they seem to hold different interests in research topics. Let me emphasize that part. One of the few canon pieces of info we have about the segments is that Dottore made them and then put each of them up to different tasks.

According to Childe: "I heard that he took segments of himself at different ages, made prostheses out of them, and assigned different tasks to each one."

Now, this is phrased like it's just gossip so it could very well be nonsense, but I think it's more likely to mean that he just got this info from a Harbinger other than Dottore. Which still makes it gossip, I guess, but gossip can be factual.

Anyways.

Webttore is very interested in Visions and is likely the segment responsible for the development of Delusions.

Webttore 2.0: Grumpy Boogaloo does not give a flying fuck about the remains of the Delusion Diluc mails him. One could argue that this is because it's broken and now useless, which was my initial take as well. But coming back to it with additional information on Dottore makes this feel less likely. We aren't given an area of research he is interested in (god remains maybe? since this guy had the racist caricature as a subordinate and he was experimenting with god remains and eleazar), but it does not seem to be Delusions.

(side note: while you can argue that webttore also seems really interested in robots since he turned krupp into one, i would argue back that any version of dottore will be interested in that. it's a key feature of being dottore. man loves robots and turning people into robots. that doesn't mean this isn't the segment assigned to the creation of delusions and continually looking to improve them even after their completion. it might even be a broader category than just delusions and instead be a more generalized topic of elemental energy manipulation, which could tie in to making robot people. idk. they gotta power them somehow)

The manga does have some discrepancies with the game and they might not have finished developing Dottore's character when they made this. I think they probably had the main characters and antagonists mostly fleshed out before they started making the game though. We did start seeing references to the different Harbingers all the way back in 1.0 (Capitano and Pantalone I believe are mentioned by NPCs? That was a long time ago. We def had the Crimson Witch lore though), so I think they likely had outlines of at least some of the Harbingers done by then. Since they featured Dottore in the manga, I would imagine he was one of the more complete ones, but I could be completely off base though and giving them credit where none is due. Tl;dr: take manga information with a grain of salt and always put info from the game first.

As for the Segments seen in the game, we definitely saw two (and possibly a third if the one in Winter Night's Lazzo was neither of the two in Sumeru).

Boat guy (who seemed cheerier than...I was about to say Omega but actually, we don't know which segment was Omega? Did Omega delete the others or was he boat guy? I'm gonna say he's the one who deleted the others cause narratively it makes the most sense.)

And the one negotiating with Nahida were definitely different segments. Yet I don't see any differences.

I think it's really interesting to note that the Segments were identical. We didn't see enough segments to make any definite statements, but if we consider how close the manga segments looked to each other and how close the game segments looks, it is possible that Dottore purposefully makes all his segments look the same despite them representing different points in his life.

If you think about it, it actually makes a lot of sense for all the segments to be identical despite being different ages mentally. Dottore clearly employs their identical appearance as a tool in order to lower the guard of people he is manipulating by making them think he is somewhere else. And it's true, he is somewhere else. He just is also in multiple places at once. He's a headache like that. But it's true that no one expects there to be multiple Dottore and he is very willing to use that to his advantage. So making each of his segments look individual could actually be a draw back. He clearly doesn't respect them as individual people (see: him deleting all his segments and calling them surplus), so why would he make them look the age they're supposed to be?

But I don't think it's that simple either. If the manga and the video game are both true depictions, then it's equally possible that Dottore makes each of his segments in sets of two or maybe three. This would account for Columbina telling him he looked "very young today" and then asking about "the segment in the prime of his life." He could then pair them up in different regions. One would be out and being "seen," at least on occasion, while the other would be operating behind the scenes. It's honestly a pretty clever scheme, imo. How better to lower someone's guard than to make them confidant that you are one hundred percent gone? He could even go a step further and disguise one the way he did Escher while the other continues to look normal. (how the fuck did he do that, by the way? does he have cloaking technology? shapeshifting? unimportant)

Actually, wait, Columbina's words deserve a bit of a deeper dive. Because that part was actually really strange looking back on it. She said he looked young, but then, when we cut to the one in the "prime of his life," he looked identical. That's fucking weird. Look:

(bonus little guy)

Their outfits are different, but I don't actually see any differences in their physical appearance. Maybe their hair has some small differences?

This could be a reference to their mental ages rather than physical appearance then? Maybe? Columbina might not be human (our first non-withered/dead seelie, anyone?) and might not be viewing the segments based on their physical appearance. Especially since she walks around with her eyes bound closed. Sus. How's she seeing anything like that? Anyways, this could be evidence that they're all physically identical, or it might mean something else that we don't have the context to interpret yet.

Or it might just be the limits of making all the characters bishounen and beholden to one playable character model. Aging doesn't exist, right? Or it might have been Hoyo not wanting to develop another Dottore design. Who knows. Trying to figure out what's intentional, what's limited by it being a game, and what's just time crunch is difficult. It is weird though.

Alright. That was a good bit of rambling there. I think we can cut it here. I'm sure I'll be back to scream about the segments some more later. They absolutely fascinate me and I desperately want to blabber about how (i think) they work.

#dottore #dottore segments #genshin theories #genshin impact #anyways thats more detail than i think anyone cares to hear #esp since theyre all gone now #shows up fifteen minutes late with theories