#which would be a logical conclusion to draw from the fact that I put them specifically in the ellipses and nowhere else

[flower-boi16]

”you want everything to be spelt out to you!” “The show doesn’t need to explicitly spell it out for you!” “You can just infer it!”

This is the exact same defense I always get whenever I argue with Viv fans when I criticize Viv’s piss-poor writing. And the thing is this IS true; shows don't need to explicitly spell things out to the audience, as there are conclusions that the viewer can draw on their own without having to be explicitly told by the text, usually by the text giving direct hints to that explanation.

The problem is that Viv fans' definition of inferring isn't "drawing conclusions on our own with direct explicit hints given from the text that is the canon explanation the story wants you to come to" it's "making shit up to try and explain and/or justify Viv's terrible writing".

There are three times where I got this defense when arguing with HH/HB fans all three times I lost several brain cells in the process.

The first time was in a discord server where I posted an HB episode tier list and put Truth Seekers in C tier (the mediocre one). One of users commented on this and I explained my reasoning why I thought the episode was meh. One of these reasons was the plot hole of why the Dhorks didn't send the footage they already had to the government.

The user then countered that with "how do you know didn't send that old footage?". Well, the reason why I know that is because the episode gives no actual indication that they sent it, and when I said that the user countered that with "because there was also no indication that they didn't send the footage". And then after that the argument spiraled into both of us repeating the same counterarguments over and over again.

The user says that it's logical for the audience to assume they sent the footage because it's the logical thing to do cuz why would they keep it. Which, ok, you can assume that they did send the footage but there's no indication of that within the story. This does not change the fact that this is an unanswered question that the story itself didn't answer, did they or did they not send the footage?

That's a pretty important question to answer and the show can't just leave it there. And then the user tells me "you don't need to be told, Its in your face how they act". There is no way to infer if they did send the footage because the story gives a SINGLE hint that they do, and the story DOES need to say if it they sent it or not.

This is not inferring. This is making shit up to explain Viv's writing for her. Did they or did they not send the footage? This is a big question that the episode does not answer even though this is a major plot hole and it can't just leave it hanging there for fans to just guess. The episode gave no indication that they sent the footage, so I have no reason to believe that they did. You can't infer ANYTHING from this.

This explanation is simply something made up, not a conclusion that's given direct hints from the show. If the next never said it happened, it did not fucking happen. This assumption is literally just headcanon.

The next argument was from an ask I got calling me media literate for my point about how fans shouldn't have to create fan theories to explain Viv's writing for her and Viv should explain her world-building herself. It stated that the explanation for why sinners are confined to the pride ring (making the exterminations more efficient/easier) is the clear explanation that the show doesn't have to spell out because 1) The show says that there are annual exterminations which aren't viable without the confinement and 2) Lucifer gets control over which ring his subjects go to.

Both of these explanations suck, here's why.

The exterminations simply being there does not explain the confinement. Also, this explanation doesn't work to begin with as I've talked about before

Lucifer having control over where he sends his subjects to doesn't inherently explain why he sends them to the pride ring specifically.

The "sinners are confined to the pride ring to make exterminations easier" was a fan theory created by the fans to explain this because the show itself didn't bother giving an answer. That's bad world-building.

The show itself needs to explain these things rather than having fans create explanations for it. There isn't any way to infer that because the show never once gives any hints that this is the reason. And, like I said before, the explanation doesn't even work anyway.

There is no way to infer why the sinners are confined to the pride ring at all, this explanation is once again a headcanon. But when I pointed this out, the anon said that I just want everything spelled out for me.

The third and final instance of this is with our good ol friend truffhollowell. Ya know, the person who's been going around on Hazbin critical posts spouting nothing but complete bullshit.

This argument was under this post about why Vaggie's turn around made 0 sense. In the post truff tried countering my argument with "uuuuh, actually, not all murderers are heartless monsters!" even though that is explicitly what the exorcists are shown to be.

They then go around and say that Vaggie could've been thinking "how could a child end up in hell" and she realizes Heaven's corrupt systems and develops her own identity (at least that's what I remember them saying since they deleted all of their replies once they lost the argument lmao)....even though there is NO indication within the show that this is what's happening.

This is not inferring. This is just a headcanon. But truff says that you CAN infer it because...child murder is bad...

...umm...WHY TF WOULD THE EXORCISTS GIVE A SHIT IF CHILD MURDER WAS BAD IF THAT CHILD IS A FUCKING SINNER????? And THEN they hit me with that same fucking claim of "oh, you want shows to spell things out for you!".

Ya, well, guess what, I can't infer any of this because that's not what's happening. This is not what's happening in the scene, this is just a headcanon truff made up.

There's more to their arguments than just that but that was the general point they were making.

I'm so sick of always getting this stupid-ass defense because NO, I DON'T want everything spelled out for me, I want things to actually make sense. I'm looking at specifically what the text itself is saying, the information that it gives out and what's happening within the show.

Not your headcanon you made up to explain Viv's terrible writing. None of these explanations are people infering things based on direct evidence from the show. They are just headcanons/theories with nothing in the text hinting towards it.

So, to anyone who is going to give me the "you can just infer it yourself!" excuse to defend these shows whenever I criticize them...

Shut the fuck up.

#vivziepop critical #hazbin hotel critical #helluva boss critical #vivziepop criticism #helluva boss criticism #hazbin hotel criticism #arguing with viv fans is a headache inducing nightmare #sorry #I just wanted to vent about this #because it's SO FUCKING ANNOYING getting this same argument over and over again whenever I complain about Viv's shit writting

[daisywords]

they are being very nice and also rational (just explain everything rather than guess what I do and don't know—makes sense!) but I wish my coworkers would give me the benefit of the doubt sometimes instead of assuming that I am just a little baby randomly pressing keys when I do something "wrong"

#like! for example! #I fixed an ellipses added two nonbreaking spaces between the three dots like I was Literally Trained To Do at a previous job #and then he's like. ''oops looks like a couple of these spaces were nonbreaking spaces which we shouldn't use. #''there's a feature you can turn on in word that will show you what kind of break/spaces the document has! you can google it #but lmk if you need help setting up!'' #Hey. hey. I do in fact know how to click the little paragraph symbol I wasn't born yesterday. #You can just tell me Hey for future we don't use nonbreaking spaces at all even in ellipses #and I woulda been like 'cool' bc I know how to differentiate #which would be a logical conclusion to draw from the fact that I put them specifically in the ellipses and nowhere else

[kujakumai]

Personally, I agree that TKB has every right to feel anger and take action to prevent the tragedy of Kul Elna from happening ever again. But the second he says "I'm going to work with a demon to destroy the entire world" is when I put my foot down, because that makes him no better than what the ruling class did to him; it makes him worse because he's inflicting that to other innocent people. Neither Atem and TKB are completely correct or wrong, but the story siding with only Atem is morally iffy

-TKB isn't a real person independently arriving at moral actions, he is a character in a narrative whose structure and characters are consciously designed by human beings to tell a particular story

-Saying "Well, TKB was still evil because he wanted to destroy the world" is accepting the premise of the narrative and TKB's motivation as if it sprung forth from the ether, ever-extant in its present form and incapable of being written any other way

-The narrative of MW paints a portrait of a world that is visibly and systematically unjust and whose domestic and military power is derived from the literal death and exploitation of the poor; it then has a character, TKB, make very deliberate criticisms of this system, and puts them in direct contrast with Priest Set and Akenhadin's own ongoing corruption.

-Since again, this is a story being crafted with intent, this contrast directly leads audiences to conclude that TKB's criticism is valid, and the author intends us to reach this conclusion and has deliberately set up his commentary. Determining that TKB is right about the monarchy is the logical conclusion of the facts and narrative tools we as the audience are given.

-However, instead of leading us to a satisfying conclusion based on this setup, the story instead tacks on "...but he wants to destroy the world, so we can kill him!" and never meaningfully addresses the questions about good and evil or the nature of the throne, nor does Atem ever have to really face them. It disposes of TKB and quickly sets about putting a heroic coat of paint on a mostly unchanged Set and reducing everything to a quick and tidy good vs. evil shonen fight scene, contradictions be damned.

-The problem with this plot twist isn't fantasy-monarchism. It's that it is actively disorientating. We as readers have been told in loud, bold letters for over two dozen chapters what this story is about and what message it's trying to communicate (a very powerful one, based on how passionate people become about it!) and the story simply...dumps it all, and starts pretending to be a totally different story. Like none of that earlier stuff mattered and we should suddenly be content with power-of-friendshipping the bad guy into dust.

-Tongue-in-cheek declarations that "TKB was right!" aren't moral statements about TKB or Atem's actions, because Thief King and Atem aren't people, they are characters--a narrative tool the author is using to tell a story. And again: the narrative is telling us that TKB is right and the monarchy is troubled and unjust. Vocal declarations that Thief King was right are really an expression of disgust for a clumsy narrative betrayal. "MW told me this excellent story, got me invested, very deliberately set me up to draw these conclusions about the story it was telling and the message it wanted me to get...and then tacked on the ending for a completely different story that had nothing to do with any of that! This is bullshit!"

-If TKB were a mere generic evil, who intended to destroy the world for his own gain and had no compelling criticisms of the hero's world or complex tragedy, he wouldn't be anywhere near as interesting (see: the anime, which did almost exactly this), but I don't think people would be half as worked up about it. It would be neat, at least, because if everything is a fantasy good vs. fantasy evil from the start, then at very least the story would match its ending. No one would feel misled or disorientated.

-But the story did ask moral questions of our characters, and it did so carefully, deliberately, and with fireworks; it is therefore culpable for failing to even attempt to have them answer them.

-At the same time, the trope of the "rebel turned murderous extremist" is well-worn and troublesome. There are ten thousand examples. A villain who challenges the status quo, who takes issue with real problems, revolutionaries and rabble-rousers with righteous fury...but they want to, uh, kill innocent people also! for some reason! which is why our heroes (defenders of the status quo) need to get rid of them and we don't need to listen to what they are saying!

-Why does fiction so frequently depict people angry about real societal problems, and who act to change them, as people whose legitimate complaints are inexorably tainted by tacked-on inexplicable violence?

-Who benefits when fiction frequently conflates righteous criticism of injustice with supervillainy? When fiction conflates heroism with stalwart defense of the current system? How do we carry these narratives with us into the real world?

-You are criticizing Thief King as if he were a person. I'm not, and I'm not interested in doing that. I am criticizing the poor formulation of a story.

-anyway. TKB did nothing wrong

#long post #meta

[pandoa]

rook hunt is ripped with muscles and here's why

because some of you guys don't give him enough credit and my brain is rotting; let me live

i'll get straight to the point, i've tried out archery to see what it's like in the past—learned the basics and such—and for those who have never held a bow in their life, let me tell you it gets extremely tiring after shooting for more than an hour or so. so imagine how strong you must be to be shooting bows and arrows since you were a child. that is Rook Hunt, who was practically born from the womb with an archery set in his hand /j

bows have different draw weights that affect the speed, force, and distance that is needed to shoot an arrow. typically, children use bows with a 10-pound draw weight, as young adults and adults use bows with 20 pounds or more. to put this into some sort of perspective, i remember my stamina with the 20-pound bow lasted me about half an hour until my arms began to weaken and shake with how out-of-shape i am but anyways 💀

i've heard that the typical draw weight for hunting is about 40 pounds. and assuming with how long Rook has been an archer, i can imagine that he is physically well-fit enough to exceed the 20-pound draw weight and move onto more efficient bows for hunting like the 40-pound.

think about how developed your muscles must be if you began shooting with 10-pound bows since you were just a kid, moving onto 20 pounds as you get older, and eventually using the 40-pound draw weight as you gain more strength and hunting skills. knowing with how much Rook uses his bows and arrows, it's safe to assume that he most likely hones these skills by practicing archery quite often (i can see him going out to practice at least once a day; don't quote me on that though, this is just a thought i have considering that other hobbies also require daily practice to maintain a person's skill).

there are so many muscles involved in a human body's shoulders, back, chest, and arms that you must use when drawing a bow. exercises focusing on the muscles needed for archery are often done to strengthen an archer. this is where Rook's very toned figure comes in lol.

with the numerous muscles needed to carry out his hobby on a constant basis, Rook would need a strong set of biceps and shoulder muscles to keep up with the bow's general weight and stamina for however long he goes out hunting for. bro has built up muscles, man. built up muscles.

in game, though, i will admit his body does look on the more slim and slender side. i can see why some people in the fandom don't see him as a character with buff arms, but i would like to respectfully disagree. Rook Hunt has scrumptious arm and back muscles i'd shamelessly stare at as his magic hands do whatever wonderous things they do with his bow OH AND GUYS HIS LEGS I MEAN-

ahem. anyways.

i know many in the fandom tend to bully this observant hunter—with his questionable haircut and uh huntsman habits of his—however, these targets for harmless memes cannot overshadow the fact that Rook Hunt is ripped. from head to toe, this man is most likely relatively high among the list of twst characters that are incredibly strong (with Jack trumping them all) and is probably covered in toned muscles, which he maintains with his hunting.

this isn't even me simping anymore; it's just simple logic if we all go by what we know about the Pomefiore vice housewarden. i'll defend this man with my life—and that includes writing a useless essay on why Rook is more muscular and buff than we may think lmao

so in conclusion, Rook has beefy arms that the world is not prepared to talk about just yet. the end.

#twisted wonderland #twst #rook hunt #twst rook #rook twst #rook twisted wonderland #disney twst #HELP ME MY FACE IS BLUSHING WHILE WRITING THIS HAFHAUKDHJNADA #DOWN BAD #i just want to defend my lil french he-man <3 #fr wrote a whole ass essay on why rook belongs on the beefy arms club #why am i such a nerd #how many of u will actually read this nonsense anyway?? no idea lmao #pando's braincell

[i-heart-hxh]

Hey! Hope you’re doing well, I’m sorry I haven’t responded to that last question of mine you answered but I absolutely loved it! Your answers are always super insightful. Today though I want to ask about another scene that I believe has big Killugon implications, but I have yet to see a single person really cover so far. I noticed it as I was re-reading the manga and instantly I knew something was up (oh and apologies in advance for the image quality but I had to take them off of my physical manga copies with my phone lol):

Now for context this scene takes place in the direct lead up to the palace invasion, which each character having a short inner monologue about how they feel in the lead up to the fight. In the case of Shoot he chooses to focus on Killua and how he has changed since they’re fight, noting how Killua look very sad every “once in a while”.

Now when I first got to this panel I was a little caught off guard as I feel most readers would be, the reason being that prior to this scene we haven’t had any indication that Killua was sad at all. After all this is post-needle Killua after his big emotional fight with a Rammot, he hadn’t shown any signs of further sadness since then and, as Shoot says, was a lot more confident in himself and his abilities. So why would Togashi deliberately choose to draw attention to Killua’s feelings this way, and why now when there was no prior indication that he was feeling bad at all?

Well, I think the reason lies in a pair of scenes that happen prior to this revelation by Shoot, the first of which is this:

Again, this is in the lead up to the palace invasion where the gang is working out their final plan of attack, while Palm is already enacting her part of the plan in the palace by herself.

Now this scene is interesting to me for a few reasons:

1. Togashi is using all this space (almost two and a half pages of it) to convey to make it clear to us how worried Gon obviously is about Palm since there’s a high chance she could die or already has at this point.

2. Togashi chose Killua specifically to be the one to explain this part of the plan to Gon, even when the more obvious choice would have been Knuckle or Shoot since they were with Morel and Knov when the plan was first made.

3. Killua is very clearly annoyed/dismissive/generally just put off by Gon’s worry about Palm, and is so harsh to Gon in the way he handles it that BOTH Knuckle and Meleoron call him out on it. Clearly there’s something more going on with Killua that Togashi wishes to highlight here, to the point where a scene about Gon’s feelings and worries about Palm quickly turns into a scene about KILLUA’S feelings about Gon’s feelings and worries about Palm!

But that’s not all! There’s also this science which takes place directly before we get Shoot’s reflection on Killua’s feelings:

Again we see Gon ask about Palm the second he has the opportunity and is once more clearly upset by the fact that there is still no word from her.

So why do I bring these two scenes up? Well because when Shoot says that “once in a while” he sees Killua get very sad, we as readers have to then ask the question of when he would have the opportunity to be around Killua enough to gauge his emotions this way, as prior to this the gang has been very much speedster from one another for awhile.

In fact, some of the only scenes we see Killua and Shoot even in the same location are both instances where Gon asks about Palm, which would logically imply that it was some point during those interactions where Shoot came to this conclusion about Killua’s feelings. And considering how Killua’s reaction to Gon’s worries about Palm, it only makes sense that this is what Shoot saw. Killua getting visibly sad when Gon shows concern for Palm.

So essentially, I believe that what Togashi was trying to get the reader to understand in this scene was something like this: shoot comments on how sad Killua is. “Sad? Why would he be sad?” The reader thinks, “he didn’t seem sad at all prior to this, what is he sad about?” They then think back to how annoyed Killua was when Gon was talking about Palm and think “well he must be sad about that then, but he’s never liked Palm, why would he be sad that Gon cares about… OH, maybe he’s just jealous!”

And THAT I think is the point of this scene, or at the very least to keep Killua’s sadness in the back of the reader’s mind for later where it’ll come to fruition.

Now, obviously anyone who knows the story knows that Killua has his big emotional scene with Palm where he confesses that he thinks Gon cares more about her than him, and how heartbreaking that is for him to feel. When you first read that though it may seem to come a little bit out of nowhere and a bit delusional on Killua’s part if you take it on it’s own. However, in the context of this scene with shoot and Gon’s earlier vocal worry about Palm, it all starts to make sense. Killua sees this play out and gets jealous because he thinks Gon cares more about Palm, whom Killua still would think is Gon’s romantic partner because Gon never showed interest to him in stopping his date with her and they never officially called off their “relationship”. So to Killua Palm means more to Gon because she’s romantically involved with him (in his eyes) and he gets sad and… well… jealous honestly whenever he’s reminded of that fact. I don’t really see any other way to explain why Killua would think Palm is more important to Gon than him keeping the context of these scenes in mind.

It also doesn’t help that Gon basically confirmed it by pushing Killua away after he expressed so much outward worry for Palm so yeah. Oof. It makes sense why Killua thinks the way he does and this whole scene is Togashi hinting at that early on. That’s why he orders these scenes the way he does and why he brings Killua’s feelings to light there for the reader to notice.

But honestly what REALLY got to me about this scene, and what inspired me to write this whole long ass ramble on the first place, was one key detail. Togashi chose an objective character like Shoot (who’s about as objective as objective can be in this situation) to clearly highlight Killua’s deeper feelings for the reader in a way Killua himself can’t.

Sound familiar? Well it should because there is one other VERY important scene where Togashi does the exact same thing, and it happens a bit later on:

(I had to cut out the first page for the sake of image number limits, but we both know what scene this is lol)

Isn’t it funny that Togashi would parallel Shoot’s revelations about Killua’s feelings here in the most romantically coded scene in the entire manga, with an equally objective character in Meleoron pointing out the same thing?

It’s hard to articulate this part but I hope you see what I’m getting at here.

It’s a very curious choice by Togashi indeed, to frame those hidden feelings that Meleoron sees explicitly around romantically love, and parallel that with Shoot’s earlier revelation about Killua being very sad even prior to Gon pushing him away… very curious indeed.

Anyway, wow this went on for longer than I thought but I needed to get this out of my head. If you have any insight I’d love to hear about it because I haven’t heard anyone talk about this scene and I need to know I’m not just crazy with what I see lol. To me, it’s just another case of that subtle, genius storytelling g by Togashi, but let me know what you think. Thanks!

Wow, this is a wonderful piece of meta, thank you so much for writing it all up and submitting it to me!! I had noticed/considered how snappy Killua gets to Gon when Gon is worrying over Palm, but this is a very carefully considered argument that the jealousy over Palm is an important part of Killua's sadness and uncertainty about his place in Gon's life going into the palace invasion. I had mostly read Killua's sadness here as Gon being distant prior and Killua picking up on that, Killua just generally being worried about the outcome, plus being hurt that Gon wants to fight Pitou on his own. I think those are all factors, too, but it's true that Killua is very focused and worried specifically about whether Gon considers him just a teammate or a friend.

I've always thought this whole dilemma comes off as "odd" in the sense that it wasn't long ago that Gon openly stated that Killua is his best friend in the whole world, under no uncertain terms. Why would Killua doubt his friendship with Gon? Plus there's the whole theme of not having to "qualify" to be a friend (an attitude towards friendship that Killua later passes on to Ikalgo). It's worth noting he's worrying about this prior to Gon's breakdown in front of Pitou and the "It's none of your business" (essentially) line that breaks Killua's heart. This happens just a bit before they confront Pitou.

I'm having a hard time explaining this because it's more of a feeling I have about this scene than something I can concretely prove, but I feel like from a purely friendship standpoint, it's strange for Killua to be so fixated on whether they're friends or not when Gon has stated his friendship with Killua over and over again. Even if Gon has been more distant and insists on fighting Pitou alone (which is definitely part of the problem here), it's not as though there's some clear reason presented that shows Killua has been demoted and Gon no longer considers him a friend.

EXCEPT...Killua is so devoted to Gon that he has it in his mind that he and Gon might do a lovers' suicide if worst comes to worst. If Gon cares more about Palm than him, where does that put him? This whole struggle Killua is having of friendship vs teammates makes so much more sense when you consider Killua having romantic feelings for Gon, whether or not he's aware that that's what they are. And it especially makes sense tying in with the argument you're making, that the whole situation with Palm is a big piece of what's bothering and hurting Killua and causing him to doubt his standing with Gon. It is also a logical build up between the date with Palm and the ultimate climax of this subplot, where Palm assures Killua that he's the one means the most to Gon, and the only one who has any hope of saving him.

I think this whole friendship vs teammate thing is Togashi code for what Killua is really struggling with, which is the strong romantic feelings he has for Gon and his concern that they're not requited. Of course it's improbable Jump would allow Togashi to state this outright so of course he has to frame it differently, but as usual he makes it clear what he's really saying in a number of ways for those of us who look into it deeply, while also not alienating readers who aren't interested in viewing it in that light.

What you're pointing out here makes this whole subplot more clear and understandable, and also further cements the romantic reading of Killua in Chimera Ant Arc--bravo for pointing it out! I think you're totally right on your reading of this, it ties so much together, and it seems like carefully laid puzzle pieces all arranged in a meaningful order.

This is why I love discussing HxH with people--even after all the times I've watched and read the series, all the meta I've read through the years, there's always some new way to see things or something I hadn't considered yet. Togashi is truly a genius storyteller, and it's an absolute blast pulling apart his writing because it's so rich and filled with intention. Even tiny scenes and little snippets of dialogue that don't seem that important in the big picture can have so much meaning once you make connections like this.

Thanks again for sending this in, it was enlightening to me and I'm sure it will be for lots of other people as well! Feel free to send more observations any time!

#hxh #hunter x hunter #killugon #gonkillu #gon #killua #meta #long post #asks #tjlnn22 #my posts

[the-coffeeaddict-tim-drake]

Just a Kid Next Door - Chapter 1

Bruce is finally back from being stuck in the time stream. Tim managed to save Batman and his loved ones. Now it is time for Tim to go home and rest. But the problem is that, Tim has no home. Or that's what he thinks so.

This will be a multichapter fic on how did Tim reconcile with his family. It will be full of angst, family feels and family shenanigans.

Masterlist

Here is the link to read the story in ao3.

-------------------------------CHAPTER 1---------------------------------

He figured it out. Holy shit, he actually managed to figure out the way to bring back Bruce from being stuck in the time stream. And the Justice league used his plan to save Batman.

 Sure, the last six months had been hard on him – Death of his father and not-so death of Kon, Bart, Steph and Bruce – has definitely taken a toll on him. But on the bright side, he managed to save Bruce and all of his loved ones, right?

He figured it out, right? Then why does Tim still feel empty. Why does he still have the urge to cry until he has no more tears left, shout until his throat burns and pull his hair out until he has no more left. Why does he still feel the needles pricking his skin which makes him want to puke even though he hasn’t eaten anything in a while? Well, three days isn’t just ‘a while’, but he knows for a fact that it’s not a lot too.

These six months had not only been painful but had helped him draw a lot of conclusions. See, Tim is a detective and hence he rely on logic and proofs to believe almost everything. Even though he don’t like what he has to believe sometimes, but truth is the ultimatum.

His string of thoughts is interrupted by Superman who shakes the teen.

“Uh?”

“I was saying that J’onn and Diana managed to put Bruce in the med bay. We ran all of the tests and now are waiting for him to gain consciousness.” Clark says tiredly with an expression of relief on his face.

“Oh”

“Rest, kiddo. You look like you could really use some. I’ll let you know when he wakes up.”

“I don’t wa-“

“I’m afraid Superman is right, Red Robin. We will alert you once Batman gains Consciousness” Wonder Woman interrupted him.

“I’m fine” Tim hissed.

Why did suddenly everyone care about him. Didn’t they consider him crazy a while ago? They didn’t care about him when he repeatedly tried to prove Bruce was alive, and now they want him rest when he finally proved them all wrong.

The Kryptonian and the Amazonian shared a worried look.

“Look child, you have worked tirelessly these few months to bring back Batman. You are just a human. Your body needs rest.” Diana said, her voice laced with concern.

‘They’re faking it, they don’t really care about you’ Tim’s brain chimed. He shuts it down. He doesn’t really have the energy to argue back, so he lies.

“Okay, but I want to see Bruce before I go to take some rest.”

“Of course Kiddo.” Superman added.

Tim dragged himself to the med bay. He didn’t realise until now how much his body ached. He really want to take a long shower to wipe off the grim and dirt from his body and drink at least two cups of coffee to feel better.

‘Later’ he reminded himself. ‘Maybe Alfred would have made something delicious for dinn-‘

‘Oh’

He doesn’t live in manor anymore. All the bitter memories from six months before floods his brain. How can he forget any of those? He’s alone.

Wait

He is lonely. He’s been lonely his entire life. He had no one even when he was in the Drake manor, not even his own fucking parents cared about him. Then what’s so new about this.

Maybe, he is just unlovable. Well, that would explain why his parents left him in that cold Manor every time they chose work over their son. And the reason why Dick chose Damian over him and took from him the only thing he had and valued more than his life and gave it to Damian. And why Alfred did nothing when he moved out of the manor. And why no one did anything when he legally emancipated himself from the family.

And would explain why he and Bruce never shared the bond he had with the previous robins. ‘It’s because they were his sons, and you were just the kid next door who forced himself into the mantle of Robin’ his brain chimed again.

A tiny part of him don’t want to believe any of this. But it’s the truth. And truth is the Ultimatum.

He let out a long sigh. He doubts the bats even noticed he went missing these few months. Well, he can’t really blame them. It is the fate of Tim Drake to be unlovable. The least good he can do is leave the family. It wasn’t really like they considered him one anyways in the first place, but they mean everything to him.

They were the very few people who cared if he ate or slept, treated his injuries, listened to his opinion and made him feel like he was important too. Maybe that’s what Tim thought they did. Maybe he read all the signs wrong. Maybe they were just being nice to him. Maybe they were Pretending.

Gosh, Tim feels like slapping himself. Why hadn’t he realised this soon enough.

Tim took too much advantage and space. Forcing himself into the mantle of Robin is one thing but forcing himself into the family is entirely another. He became Robin to save Batman from destroying himself and people around him.

Then why did he crave for his love and attention. Why did he think that he at least  meant something to them. It’s all his fault. He was digging his own grave all this time. He had too much fucking expectations even though he knew the truth all along. Yelp, now he has to face the consequences.

But no matter what, he loves them. Loves them so fucking much that it hurts. He still remember what he had said to Ra’s before the old man pushed him from the WE building.

“Bruce might not consider me his son, but he is still a father to me.”

His spiralling thoughts came to an end when he reached the door to the med bay.

Gosh he missed Bruce. Missed him so much. All he wanted to do was hug him and never leave. But he knows he cannot do so. Bruce might want to meet his family first. Six months of being stuck in the time stream would make him want to spend a lot of quality time with his family first, not some random kid.

A quiet sob escaped from his mouth. He touched his tear stained cheeks and realised he was crying.

‘Stop crying, stop being so weak. Accept the reality and move on’ he told himself.

 ‘It’s not the time or the place to have a fucking panic attack’ he told himself again.

Wiping his tear stained cheeks, he opened the door to the Med bay to be greeted by the sight of his sleeping mentor/not-so father figure.

He let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding until then.

He smiled for the first time in many many days. Bruce is safe. He is no longer stuck in the time stream. Tim felt a wave of relief wash over him.

He might not mean anything to them, but they are everything to him.

#tim drake #red robin #tim drake angst #tim drake needs a hug #angst angst baby #bruce wyane is batman #damian wayne is robin #dick grayson is nightwing #superman #wonder woman #justice league #league of assassins #ra's al ghul

[enchantedmirage]

Tears of Themis x Enstars word vomit, GO.

(more on, what do you wanna say if that ever happens lol)

HI HELLO? This is such a surprising concept since I'm already working on another Enstars AU, but anywho!

The core of Tears of Themis is that it has FOUR love interests, which plays hand in hand with our four agencies, well if that matters since we'll focus more on the personalities.. We'll forgo the dynamics the original four have (like marius being vyn's student, vyn and artem having worked with each other before, luke being part of the group the three are also in)

Now.. speaking of those four though, it's time to draw different parallels with them and a character from Enstars. It'll take a while for me to remember what they're exactly like since it's been about two or so years since I last played it..

Okay, starting off with a guy who works in the same field as you, he is your boss basically and would fuss about you not taking care of yourself- ding ding ding, who do I draw Artem parallel to? Ibara Saegusa.

so THIS stood out "Artem's favorite movie genres are art films and war films." and??? Okay, let's roll from that.

"Put himself to an unimaginable standard" Hmm..

Just a headcanon but they probably enjoy black coffee

Also fun fact he shares a va with Nagisa

(anyway I spent like a good ten minutes scrolling his card gallery)

And then soon after, we're introduced to a childhood friend.. yeah okay.. who works a dangerous job.. mhm.. that's will lie to you for your safety... Mama? Like he wasn't completely Anzu's childhood friend but.

"When he was a child, Luke dreamed of becoming a hero, making a charming appearance in times of need and beating all the bad guys. As he grew up, though, he realized heroes aren't always charming and glamorous and are often a mess instead."

UM?? HELLO???????????? (in shock at this guesstimation)

They're both also really reliable

He shares a VA with Mao!

So then, moving onto Vyn, because my friend's favorite was Vyn and she would always talk to me about how Marius steals her pulls and like?? He's something.. is he a manipulator? Is he a yandere? I don't know but when he said "Destruction precedes creation" it reminded me of the genshin fanart with Albedo as Vyn. ... AND okay, so Albedo, right? He's voiced by Nojima Kenji and the person is DING DING DING, the parallel goes to!

"Vyn is able to face anything with ease and skill, giving those around him a sense of peace, resulting in people involuntarily opening their hearts to display their truest self before him. If one's heart has secrets, they will most definitely be discovered by him."

Natsume, natsume??? I can't think of anyone else who would have this kind of description to fit.

Vyn has a very gentle temperament, but he is not what one may imagine as a weak scholar. He is very reliable in critical moments, and with his ability to maintain a perfect disposition, any weakness he might have is unknown. <- what Natsume wishes he could be/j

Oh, and the two of them have really influential parents, go figure.

However, he is sometimes derisive of common human flaws, such as the tendency to prioritize selfish short-sighted personal gain while still rationalizing those same choices as logical and intelligent <- BAHSHAJKA they're both hypocrites

Yeah okay, so last but not the least! jsldkjfsl this is super funny because Marius shares a va with TSUMUGI, TSUMUGI AOBA!! Him and Luke were my favorites actually, oh look.. me falling for the childhood friend trope and a character with purple eyes.. ah...

"It is difficult to understand this second young master. " <- Okay, Hiyori. I'm calling it now. Rich kid that gets on people's nerves sometimes? Hmmm

Good at art, though the only person that comes to mind is Hajime.. who is the opposite of rich.

YEP HIYORI WE GOOO

So conclusion? Yeahhh, four agencies? Nope, we have two cospro and two newdi idols sjdkfjsklj --- This does make for a good idea though! Thanks for the ask :3

#asks #anonymous #tears of themis #enstars

[transcriptasareversa]

@littlesilentrebel

Well I guess I have to now, there's no other choice, my hand has been forced. (btw this is going to make zero sense cause is been a while since I watched the episode and I'm too lazy to watch it again).

Alright, so the thing is that there's a key difference in how Donnie reacts to Mrs. Cuddles vs. how everyone else reacts to her. The moment she proves to be sentient she produces a sense of fear in almost everyone; April, Leo, Mikey and Raph all scream the moment she talks. This makes sense, despite their interactions with The Hidden City and the mystic (which, all things considered, have been minimal at this point; they have interacted with mutants in NY far more than they have interacted with yokais in the Hidden City), they still have a sense of normalcy strong enough that a talking puppet comes across as strange and unnatural, enough to instill fear. Ergo they didn't expect her to be alive ergo they get scared when she proves to be. Again, makes sense, if a talking puppet where to appear in front of you this very moment, that would be a disruption of what you consider possible and natural, which would translate in terror.

There's two exceptions to this: Splinter, who is not scared, logical when you consider he has a far stronger connection to the yokai than the boys do at this point; and Donnie, to whom this is not a strong enough reason to be scared. Again, is been a while since I watched the episode, but I recall (and I recall it because it caught my attention) that while Donnie gets startled by Mrs. Cuddles, he doesn't get outright scared right away.

The way Mrs. Cuddles interactions with everyone else go is like this: she appears and startles them, as she catches them unaware, before getting bigger as they start to scream, the fact that she IS sentient finally fully registering. This is how is goes with Donnie: she startles him, as she catches him unaware, and as the fact that this puppet is sentient registers in his mind she ask him to scream, to which he denies. Why? Cause she's cute. Let me make this clear, Mrs. Cuddles is a sentient talking puppet, but she's still a cute puppet that stars in a children's show, and therefore there's no reason to get scared of her to the point of screaming. All that I said before about the 'disruption of the natural'? Not a good enough reason. When does Donnie starts screaming? When she activates the chainsaw.

To put all of this into perspective: all of the brothers plus April scream the moment Mrs. Cuddles speaks, Donnie requires for her to be an active threat. What conclusion can we draw from this? That Donnie requires a tangible, concrete reason to feel scared to the point of screaming, her very nature as (in that moment) an unnatural being doesn't cut it. Or, a ghost wouldn't scare Donnie but a ghost with a gun would, cause that would be an active, concrete threat. The thing about this is how logical that fear is, anything that is an active threat to your live is something that's logical to fear, while the fear of the 'unknown' or 'unnatural' is more rooted on instint. This minor detail therefore reinforces Donnie very logical approach to things.

And that's it, that was the unnecesary analisis that nobody but one ask for. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #donatello hamato

[joylinda-hawks]

A treasure that can make a man invincible? Only a redneck would fall for the nonsense you're talking about. WOH, episode 3, part 3. WKX, seeing ZZS's lack of reaction, waits for GX to ask him about the second part of the rhyme. GX asks the question WKX is waiting for, asks what the words are. WKX recites another part of the nursery rhyme. When ZZS hears this, he just smiles. ZZS asks what is so sad about the ghosts of Qingya Mountain, adding that each of them is wicked and ended up in the Ghost Valley because they had nowhere to escape. WKX agrees with him, but points out that the words "ghosts of Qingya Mountain" do not refer to a group of ghosts, as he says this he approaches the standing ZZS, but to Rong Xuan, a great demon killed on Qingya Mountain twenty years ago. ZZS listens carefully to what WKX says. ZCL is also listening closely to WKX's comments. WKX continues that it is said that a demon named Rong left behind a treasure called the Arsenal. GX also listens to WKX stories while eating cake. WKX explains that the arsenal includes techniques from various sects that have long since disappeared from this world. It can make an ordinary person invincible. The key to the arsenal is Glazed Armor. ZZS claims that a treasure that can make a man invincible, only a peasant will fall for the nonsense told by WKX. ZZS asks WKX if he believes what he says. WKX responds by asking if ZZS doesn't believe it. ZZS is very patient and responds by walking around and saying that treasures, divine weapons, scrolls about secret martial arts, miracle cures, every few years someone comes up with an item that the people of Jianghu want to fight for, which leads to countless deaths only then everyone is happy. ZZS considers this absurd. WKX becomes more and more intrigued by ZZS, so he asks why he thinks it's absurd. This time it is ZZS who responds, asking whether this is not absurd. ZZS explains that all these treasures have a name, it is called "harvest without sowing." In short, it's just greed. WKX laughs and says he's surprised ZZS has the same opinion as him. He argues that although there is peace, the ignorant create their own problems. GX stands up and states that she understood what both men were saying. She argues that it is difficult for humans to discover that they are weak warriors, so they try to reap "a harvest without sowing." She adds that they know they are weak, but they fight against others. So she asks if life is unpleasant for them. Eventually, GX turns to WKX, stating that there are many people dumber than her. ZZS turns to the girl and tells her that she is quite smart. This part of the scene is a test that WKX puts ZZS through. He turns the conversation to the spirits of the Ghost Valley, then Rong Xuan and the Arsenal. WKX wants to know what ZZS's attitude towards the Ghost Valley is, how to continue talks with him and how much ZZS can reveal. The second thing WKX wants to know is the Glazed Armor case, he wants to know if ZZS is interested in the Arsenal treasures. WKX doesn't know that his hatred of RX is baseless or that Arsenal isn't what people say. ZZS, hearing WKX's questions, probably does not even wonder that they have a deeper meaning. For peace of mind, she gives him simple, fact-based answers. ZZS is not interested in the Ghost Valley, he is not interested in Glazed Armor, much less the treasures of the Arsenal. ZZS is dying, every day brings him closer to death, and he is waiting for this death. He believes that what he has committed to will take him a short time, and then ZZS will go its own way. He doesn't know that WKX has plans for him and will gradually implement them. For now, ZZS doesn't want to be too rude and gives WKX factual answers, and WKX admires not only his beauty, but also his ability to think logically and draw constructive conclusions. I don't know, but I think it was one of my favorite scenes that ZZH and GJ shot. Their relationship with each other must have had a big impact on what they showed us in this scene.

#zhang zhehan #zhou zishu #word of honor #wenzhou #wen kexing #gong jun

[tokiro07]

Cipher Academy ch. 8 thoughts

[Just Dance, It’ll be Okay]

So somehow I missed the last page during last week’s review. It’s not a big deal, all I really missed out on was that, beyond just standing out for being a weirdo, Iroha is now in the sights of the entire class because he’s proven that he’s capable and a viable threat, and that Kogoe has issued a summons to Iroha

I’ve also realized that I’ve been getting really bogged down in the details of the puzzles, so going forward, I’m going to make an active effort to not dwell too much on them unless there’s something I think is really fun and clever I want to discuss or if it’s directly relevant to the story

So Iroha solves Q.10, another puzzle meant to convey a class number, and finds Kogoe in class 3-D, another uninhabited class. There, Kogoe is once again chowing down on corndogs, which are clearly her favorite food, or at least I hope so considering that she’s literally got four of them in her hands. I think I’d be sick halfway down the second one, especially with how much mayo she’s putting on them

Kogoe points out that Iroha figured this one out a lot quicker than before, and Iroha notes that he was inspired by “those two speed queens,” referring to Toshusai and Kasuri’s quick thinking and movement. He says it as if Kogoe would know what he’s talking about, but context clues suggest that he shouldn’t know that Kogoe is watching him through his glasses, so maybe he was just saying it offhand or figures that Kogoe is already familiar with the other members of his class?

Kogoe points out in a One-Point Lesson that despite being a 2-star question, Umitsubame probably would have a harder time figuring out the answer to Q.10 because she wouldn’t have the background information that she’d be looking for a specific classroom like Iroha had done previously. Because Iroha already knew the gist of the solution, Iroha only had to look for the logic that would be needed to draw that conclusion rather than needing to look for the answer wholesale. Not to say Umitsubame couldn’t have done it, just that Iroha was predisposed to do so. I wonder if that would have made this a 3-star question then?

To prove a point about Iroha’s growing skill, Kogoe gives the sticks from her corn dogs to Iroha with Q.11, prompting him to create five squares with four sticks. This is a take on a classic puzzle where one would take a set of squares made up of matchsticks and change the number of squares only by rearranging, not removing any of the sticks. As pointed out in the One-Point Lesson, the solution that Iroha presents isn’t the only solution, but rather one that points out Iroha’s sensibilities. That said, I don’t personally like the logic of this puzzle because it requires that one mentally fill in the blanks for the squares rather than literally making them. I’m not saying it’s wrong, but someone pedantic enough could definitely make the argument that it doesn’t work with the materials present

Now that 2-stars are so simple for Iroha, Kogoe decides that Iroha is ready for “actual combat,” which is to say solving real-world ciphers rather than simulated ones, not that Iroha is going to fight anyone. Iroha is grateful that Kogoe hasn’t given up on him, despite the fact that she had moved on to Oboro. This is actually a misunderstanding on Iroha’s part, though, as Kogoe didn’t jump to Oboro after being rejected by Iroha, but rather went to Iroha after Oboro and all of the other girls because she’s spreading her tech to as many students as possible to presumably hedge her bets. No wonder Toshusai called her a flirt. Iroha does realize he wasn’t the first, at least, but I wonder how he’ll respond when he learns Kogoe’s motivations. I doubt he’ll be as hurt as Toshusai, but I can definitely see a rift forming between them

Kogoe pulls out her handmade smartphone, revealing to us that the students of Cipher Academy aren’t allowed to have electronics. Ostensibly Kogoe is allowed to as long as she makes them herself as a stipulation of Class M, but they’re staying pretty vague. Nisio Isin is keeping a tight lid on Class M so far, just like he did with Class 13 in Medaka Box, so I’m waiting for the drop. For now I’m expecting it around chapter 20 like last time, but I also won’t claim to be able to predict Nisio’s mind. If I’m right though, you heard it here first

Kogoe shows Iroha what is clearly a tiktok of a soldier dancing, which she explains is a perfectly harmless video in and of itself save for the fact that the video itself is very heavily protected, implying that it carries information that would be dangerous to whatever nation it pertains to

To illustrate that the dance itself is the cipher, Kogoe compares it to the Sherlock Holmes story, The Dancing Men, to which Iroha replies the only work of Doyle’s he’s read is The Lost World, a non-Sherlock story. Kogoe notes that Doyle would be happy to hear that, which I immediately clocked as a clever nod to Doyle’s disdain for Sherlock Holmes. I was honestly disappointed to find that the One-Point Lesson explains that joke, as it meant it was less impressive for me to have known it on my own. Harumph. Funny that Kogoe calls Doyle a tsundere for Sherlock, though

Iroha decides that the best way to understand the code in the dance is to do the dance himself, comparing it to the methods of Kathryn Dance (not a dancer, but I’m willing to bet Nisio referenced her on purpose), which surprises Kogoe because it means that Iroha does in fact read mystery novels, just for some reason going with the much more obscure Jeffrey Deaver than the quintessential Arthur Conan Doyle. I am absolutely sure that Nisio Isin has read both and this whole thing is just a flex, but I love that he’s teasing his own characters for his tastes

We cut to Toshusai and her girls, and Toshusai has deduced that Kogoe is introducing Iroha to actual combat, a curriculum reserved for third-years. Interesting that she’d say that, considering that Kogoe brought Iroha to a third-year class, which implies that this is a deliberate choice on Kogoe’s part. I wonder if that was meant to be a hint in and of itself? It certainly would have made solving the puzzle easier for someone who didn’t have experience from a previous puzzle

Toshusai respects Iroha’s decision on the basis that she lost her code battle with Iroha and Omomuro only managed to tie against him. Omomuro objects, claiming that Iroha had cheated in their encounters, to which Toshusai replies “it would be nice if disqualification happened in real wars.” This is...a surprisingly chilling take. We have the concept of war crimes for a reason, to help limit the effects of war on civilians, but one country’s soldiers committing war crimes doesn’t make them “lose the war.” The ability to hold a country accountable for war crimes can only really be achieved once that country has lost a war and their ability to resist depleted. It’s a cruel and uncomfortable truth, and complaining that one side cheated won’t change the outcome of a real war, so Toshusai won’t waste time doing so here. Instead, she decides to sit back and see how it helps Iroha develop, confident that if things go poorly, she’ll be able to employ Yugata, who has thus far been built up as something of a secret weapon

Like I said before, the drop is coming, and I’m absolutely certain that Yugata is going to be involved. Whether she’ll be an inciting incident like Unzen, a major enemy like Kumagawa or something else entirely, I have no idea, but I’m staying wary of her

Also very cute that Toshusai calls her Tayu-tan. That’s gap moe, kind of like her saying butt instead of ass when referring to Iroha

We cut back to Iroha doing the various dances, dressing himself up for the appropriate sections, one of the moves apparently being a reference to the Indian film RRR, which is apparently about a revolution, so I’m willing to bet that’s going to be a relevant detail. Maybe I should try to watch it sometime...I think it’s on Netflix?

Apparently it’s surprising that Iroha saw it since, as a boarding school, students aren’t able to leave Cipher Academy without permission. Kogoe points out that this sort of thing, limitations on entertainment, is a strong reason to want to stop wars. It may seem childish, but honestly in terms of symbolism it makes sense: war robs people of their humanity, and what’s more human than being able to enjoy the arts? Removing one’s ability to have fun is a way to dehumanize them, so embracing and regaining that ability is the true mark that a war is over, or at least will likely be used as such in this story

Iroha asks Kogoe why she specifically says “stop” instead of “end” when referring to war, to which Kogoe responds that “ending” a war means causing someone to lose the war, resulting in countless deaths. Stopping a war, meanwhile, means bringing the combat to a halt where it stands, preventing further deaths. This distinction sounds very noble, but the exact wording is suspicious; if a war has been stopped and the soldiers are halted, then that means the war can be resumed as well and pick up right where it left off. This is almost definitely what Kogoe would want as a warmonger, since it would be more profitable to resume a stopped war than to end one war and start another one later

That said, Kogoe’s goal is ostensibly to be able to stop wars without fighting at all, having everything resolved through codes, so I wonder, is Kogoe’s methodology really that bad? If all wars are reduced to being fought with pen and paper rather than guns and bombs, won’t that mean that all war is inherently bloodless? Sure, the idea of one country losing and being subdued by another is just as tragic as it ever is, but it would definitely be preferable for a loss to be purely political rather than in terms of casualties. At the same time, though, that thinking of “less bad wars” is probably faulty, and likely an issue that will be presented later on

Kogoe suggests that Iroha use the glasses to solve the cipher, as while Iroha’s morality is an endearing trait, this is a real combat situation and people could die, so there’s no sense in worrying about winning shamefully. This surprisingly ties back to Toshusai’s statement about disqualification; if there’s nothing that can disqualify someone from a war, then in a literal sense there’s no such thing as cheating, but if there’s no such thing as cheating, then what’s stopping someone from justifying any underhanded method in battle? In this scenario, is the use of the glasses tantamount to a war crime, at least metaphorically speaking? While we the reader may be meant to think that Iroha is being silly not using his advantages, it’s entirely possible that this is a subtle hint that certain things shouldn’t be acceptable just because they’ll make things quicker or easier

Fortunately, Iroha realizes what he’s looking at quite quickly; the dance moves represent the subsections of the Japanese syllabary based on their Roman alphabet equivalents, as hinted by the international dance moves including two Japanese dances (being Para Para and Noh). Iroha realizes that, much like in previous puzzles, there is a connection between this and the one immediately preceding it, leading him to think that Kogoe already knows the answer. He looks pretty miffed about it, but Kogoe insists it was just a coincidence

While Kogoe had already noted earlier that Iroha had grown a lot so quickly, she’s actually taken aback by how much more he’s grown than she had initially realized. Still, she would like him to use her glasses, I imagine because there will be certain puzzles that just won’t be able to be solved without them, but also possibly because the glasses need to be used to improve as well, though that’s just a guess for now

Iroha says he’ll be happy to be able to stop a violent conflict, even if he can’t stop an entire war, and flashes just the cutest little smile, clearly charming Kogoe. I still haven’t decided whether I think they’d be a cute ship or anything, but I always enjoy watching someone pine, so I’m all in for Kogoe falling head over heels for Iroha

Iroha then reveals that the reason why he was able to recreate the dance moves is because he was a cheerleader in middle school with a knack for copying movements, which oddly reminds me of Akune from Medaka Box who could also copy techniques he witnessed. It seems like an odd detail to drop, I’m going to keep an eye out for how this kind of ability will aid him in the future

My favorite detail here, though, is that Kogoe notes that she picked this puzzle specifically for the fact that it might prompt Iroha to dance, in reference to the fact that she missed him dancing during the code battle with Omomuro because she could only see from his perspective

Finally, the chapter ends with the revelation that the dancer isn’t communicating some kind of military strategy, but instead is sending out an SOS. How Iroha came to that conclusion we won’t know until next chapter (tomorrow...sorry I took so long to do this one...), but man, what a cliffhanger! Who is this person? What country are they in? What do they need saving from? Undoubtedly this will prompt Iroha to stop another conflict, but how will Iroha be able to help?

More importantly, whatever this conflict is, could it perhaps introduce a major recurring faction who will be a key player going forward? Considering what we know so far, I’m willing to predict that Kick Attack Planning is heavily involved, whether they’re going to be overarching villains or a one-time obstacle

I recently stated in one of my Undead Unluck posts that Cipher Academy isn’t grabbing me in the same way as other series that I love, but honestly that’s why I’m doing these reviews: they’re giving me the opportunity to really dig deep into this series on the ground floor so that when things do develop further, I’ll be able to appreciate it that much better than I would if I was just passively absorbing it week to week, and it’s ideas like this that really get me excited between chapters

I guess that’s the advantage to not having time to do the review until the last minute: not only is there more space between me reading and rereading, now I don’t have to wait as long for the resolution! See y’all tomorrow (hopefully)!!!

#cipher academy #fouryearsandananime #4y1a reviews

[knowlesian]

since i haven’t seen anyone else bring it up and i think it’s a key piece of understanding the show as a whole, i wanted to do a quick spotlight on why olu and frenchie’s names themselves are part of the next level commentary on race and colonialism this show is making. 

okay: first, let’s take olu. oluwande boodhari, if you’re absolutely in love with him because the way he says cake sends you to another plane of existence. (i’m not going to get to make a lot of jokes this post without it being ghoulish at absolute fucking best, so that’s me shooting my one shot here because samson truly did do wonders, there.) both his first and last name are african (most modern day oluwandes seem to be from nigeria, unless google has led me astray), and he shares a last name with “a pioneer in the genre of somali love poems” named elmi boodhari from the 1900′s. 

(i’d never heard of him before i did some googling to solidify my facts and make sure i’m not talking out my ass in a few places here so i can’t say more than that, but i plan to immediately track down everything i can.)

we can draw a couple conclusions from this: if olu wasn’t born somewhere in africa himself (which seems likely, but i don’t want to claim it’s a slam dunk), he was abolutely born somewhere his people were still allowed to speak in their own language. 

i used allowed on purpose: one of the very first tricks in the colonizer’s and thus the enslaver’s toolkit is to go for the sacred things first. once the bloody slog of conquest is more or less done, and they’ve settled into the centers of power so they can get to work putting down anyone left alive who has the audacity to think they shouldn’t be grateful for these good works and the god they say demands these things. i don’t just mean replacing any indigenous religions with christianity, although that is a huge part of it. the more pertinent part of it here is that they went for language; names, places, the very structures of how the people they invaded defined their own realities. 

it’s practical, if you’re an absolute fucking demon: when you don’t allow and harshly punish if not just straight up murder people who attempt to speak in a language you don’t understand, it’s harder for them to do what is good and right and try to fucking kill you down to the last stupid asshole still left kicking around. it’s also a form of psychological warfare, and it was done on purpose. we have the receipts! this shit was planned. like izzy said: you don’t get fed when you get invaded, and you live at your invader’s pleasure. (“back to work, you useless fucking fuckers”, he said. this show is just... so fucking good. i’m genuinely blown away.)

which brings us to frenchie. like i said: colonizers and enslavers went for language right away. that meant a bunch of people needed names in a language that was in the process of being shoved down their throats. there were a lot of bible names, of course, because White Colonizer Jesus will have his due, and a lot of family names taken from enslavers, but also a lot of place names. port cities, but also countries.

so we have frenchie, who was “in service”, and in a blink and you miss it moment, tries to tell everybody exactly what the french call the misfortune that follows the demons who follow the crystals what are contained within women. whether or not that means frenchie has been in france himself, it makes it a pretty logical assumption his life (or one of his fairly recent ancestors’) was impacted by france’s involvement in the history/legacy of enslavement.

i’m far from an expert on that so i’ll leave it there at the “these are the history facts i know” angle, but i will say if you’ve never looked into this stuff you should. real fucked up, and real important to know about if you want to be a thoughtful member of the world.

i want to close on this: though this is not my lane, it feels like malpractice to not mention it alongside their names and the different histories they evoke. i would direct people to the many, many black writers out there right now talking about colorism because the fact that olu’s skin is darker than frenchie’s is also important to the commentary at work here. i don’t feel qualified to do more than acknowledge i think it’s necessary to know about if you want to really understand this show and say “the people who live that experience are the ones who should be explaining it, not me” but it’s absolutely there.

#our flag means death #ofmd spoilers #oluwande boodhari #frenchie #joke tags feel pretty tasteless here so instead i will just say: this show is really important #i'm so glad it exists #i really do urge everyone who doesn't know this stuff because they have to to look into it #my ofmd meta

[darkcircles4lyfe]

Death to All Might, Rebirth to Yagi Toshinori

So about All Might. I’ve been extremely wary of talking about what could happen to him because straight up saying “I don’t think he’s gonna die” is asking the universe to spite me. Plus it also feels like a room full of people turning to stare at me as if I said the Sun isn’t a star. Man has death flags everywhere, I know. 

But, okay, *Bill Nye voice* consider the following:

Mr. Yagi here, if he overheard everything, just received the final nail in the coffin on his career. His time as the symbol of peace is not only over, it was in fact partially responsible for the current state of things, since he once did so much on his own that his absence now makes heroes and civilians alike ill-prepared to cope. I think it was very apt for that one guy to be wearing an All Might shirt--he was acting as a mouthpiece for the latent societal problems embedded in All Might’s legacy. 

We know already that he’s been feeling useless. I love this scene and although I’m not gonna talk about it right this second, remember what Aizawa says about just “being here” being enough:

And we know from conversations with Inko that Toshinori is also reframed his purpose around looking after Izuku. But in the end, Izuku rejected his help, and it was his classmates instead who were able to save him. Now the very progress of humanity is rejecting him too. You may me wondering how on Earth I don’t see the logical conclusion of all this being his death. Hold on. It actually has a lot to do with the fact that we’re all expecting it. Nighteye himself saw it, and despite any contrary convictions anyone might have, the plot doesn’t seem to be veering away from that end. All Might Is Gonna Die, says absolutely everything. 

It’s occurring to me that I have previous experience with this kind of plotline that probably little to no one else in this fandom shares, being that I’ve read a certain book series in which the main character is told in no uncertain terms that he will die (no, I’m not talking about hp). The series in question is T*e Und*rland Chronicl*s (censoring so it doesn’t get put in their side of tumblr) and I’m sorry but I’m about to go on a shameless tangent about it and spoil the ending for you.

So in this series there is a prophecy in every book, each one having something to do with war and conflict, and so far all of them have been right. In the last book [mc] finds out that it’s prophesied that he will be killed. Lots of the things in the prophecies are convoluted and metaphorical, but no, this one literally says “when the [mc’s title] has been killed.” He spends the whole book coming to terms with this, and he gives into it, only to find himself waking up in the hospital instead. “Wow, plot twist. /s” you may be thinking, and yeah sure, the mc in a kids book survived, big shocker. But it doesn't end there. After the war, there are peace talks, but they escalate until the two sides are on the verge of declaring war again. And [mc], bless him, has just been caught in the middle of all of this the entire time. He’s sick as shit of fighting, of watching the suffering and death of people he cares about. He draws his sword against both of them angrily, gives a speech saying he won’t take a side, and then promptly breaks his sword across his knee: “There. [mc’s title in the prophecies] is dead. I killed him.” He’s giving a huge middle finger to everyone there, to the man who wrote the prophecies, to the entire fucked up culture of it all. And so something that was taken literally turns out to be metaphorical. That is, if you still believe in the prophecies at all.

Hopefully you’re catching my drift here. What I’m saying is, even though this other series has nothing to do with bnha, it goes to show sometimes it’s the most absolute certainties that are red herrings, and a “death” can consequently be a symbolic one. In All Might’s case, it could be the death of hero society and a rejection of his own past. In other words, character development for Toshinori himself that reflects on the way the world is changing, too. Also there’s the fact that the mc from that other series I’m trying not to name has an honorary title, and I’m imagining that role he occupied “dying” could correspond to something that amounts to, “All Might is dead. I (Yagi Toshinori) killed him.” 

And here’s another thing: we also have to ask ourselves what good a dead Toshinori is to Izuku, narratively speaking. Yes, Izuku has spent his whole life idolizing even the more toxic parts of All Might, and his idealized vision of his hero does need to “die.” But how about Toshinori as a father figure?  Izuku regretting that his last interaction with Toshinori was to reject his help may drive home the fact that he shouldn’t go off on his own, but at this point it’s kinda redundant. If anything it would negate some of the progress that was just made because it’d make him extra paranoid about losing other people too. To be honest, the whole “Uncle Ben” trope, the mentor/father figure who dies and gives the mc a reason to do better, is so tired. Experiencing the death of a loved one really doesn’t deserve to be romanticized like that. I might as well admit that I’m speaking from experience, and let me tell you, losing someone you love suddenly, when you weren’t around, and with unfinished business--it makes you paranoid as hell that it will happen again. It literally gives me nightmares. Y’all, I cannot stress enough that trauma does not equal character development. Granted, just because I know this doesn’t mean Horikoshi does, but in general he does seem to lead his characters toward healing.

Okay, back to the present. Toshinori is turning away from UA. He likely feels useless and rejected. We can infer that what happens next will involve Stain, and we have a couple of extra clues to go with it: Stain considers All Might a true hero, and has stated that he would let All Might kill him. And since Horikoshi loves his parallels, we also have this fight between Endeavor and this random villain who admires him so much that he wants to die by Endeavor’s hand:

This suggests a confrontation in which Stain challenges All Might to live up to himself as he once was, so that as a hero he can vanquish Stain and symbolically overcome society's perversion of that role. But based on what All Might has learned about the system he upheld, Stain is wrong. All Might is not a “true hero” in the sense that the societal issues Stain witnessed exist not in spite of All Might, but (in part) because of him, because he took too much of the responsibility for himself.

Stain probably had no idea about the personal cost of All Might’s lonely burden until after the fact. Maybe he’s seeing it now. So then perhaps the confrontation would be more about Stain claiming he’s just as fake as the rest. Either way, Toshinori has the opportunity to denounce himself and be rid of “All Might,”  to stop living in his own shadow. Nighteye’s vision has been defied before, and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the combination of society shifting + Toshinori’s own conviction is enough to do it again and work fate in his favor.

He is not All Might. He is Yagi Toshinori: quirkless, worn down, and directionless except for his dedication to Izuku. If he survives his interaction with Stain, he can resolve his imperfect mentorship by confessing about his shortcomings and simply supporting Izuku as a part of his family, not as his teacher (as Aizawa said, just “being there”). And that’s how you really get character development, for both of them. I mean, shit, imagine Toshinori straight up telling Izuku to stop calling him All Might.

#disclaimer: I have a lot of emotional investment in dadmight #so I am hella biased #but hopefully I also have some unique insight to share #all might #yagi toshinori #bnha #mha #bnha meta #bnha 325 #bnha 326 #lin speaks

[samuel-de-champagne-problems]

I Can’t Say Anything to Your Face

Summary: Lunchtime is Spencer Reid’s favorite time of day and not because of the crappy endless coffee, dry sandwiches, or the occasional chocolate donut. Spencer’s favorite time of day comes in the shape of a little post it notes and fits perfectly into his heart.

Pairing: Spencer x Female Reader

Content: Fluff (1 use of a$$)

Author’s Note: The idea of for this came from @shemarmooresfedora for giving Spencer compliment cards

Word Count: 2.6 K

I Can't Say Anything To Your Face

When Spencer checks his watch for the twelfth time that day, he can practically feel Derek’s eyes roll. He tries to cover up his action by picking at his sleeve, but that just seems to draw attention to the situation. Derek raises his eyebrows at Spencer, as if to tell him, I saw that.

When it comes to teasing Spencer, Derek doesn’t miss a beat.

The team, minus Derek and Spencer, continue to work diligently. JJ walks back and forth from her office to Hotch’s, constantly shuffling through piles and piles of paperwork. Emily seems to keep herself busy with the 33 tabs that she has open on her screen. Y/N, who’s tongue slips out of her teeth in concentration, doesn’t look up from her mound of case files. Spencer likes studying how each of the members of his team works, but he particularly likes to watch Y/N. She always sticks her tongue out when she’s deep in thought. Sometimes she’ll close her eyes and rub the butt of her palm against them. Other times she’ll push her glasses up on top of her head and her hair frames her face perfectly. Spencer couldn’t care less what she looked like or how she wore her hair, but watching her was his favorite part of the day.

In a totally platonic, non-creepy way.

A beep distracts Spencer from being distracted by Y/N. It’s an IM from Derek, telling him something to the effect of asking Y/N out. Instead of responding, Spencer decides to send Derek a more direct message. He shuts off his computer, which isn’t really used, besides for Y/N to send Spencer requests for online scrabble.

Spencer, ignoring Derek’s gloating, walks from the bullpen into the team’s lunch room. It’s a small kitchenette with a couple tables, a very old coffee machine, and an even older refrigerator. Peeking into the refrigerator, Spencer takes out two lunch boxes. One is light green with patterned purple and orange dinosaurs all over and the other is a light blue with green plants. Like clockwork, Y/N rounds the corner with a smile plastered to her face.

“What’s got you smiling like that?” Spencer asks, placing his lunch box down across from Y/N’s seat.

“It’s just my favorite time of day,” Y/N responds, unzipping her bag and taking out her banana, water bottle, granola, and turkey sandwich.

Spencer tries to hold back his smile at Y/N saying that lunch is her favorite time of day. He likes to believe that it’s because of him and not because of the top tier kitchen facility the government provides for them. But who’s he kidding, there’s no way that lunch is Y/N favorite part of the day because of Spencer when he’s up against a crappy coffee maker.

“Did you know that sandwiches were only called sandwiches because the Earl of Sandwich ate his meals with bread, meat and cheese like modern day sandwiches? However, there’s much debate if sandwiches existed prior to this. Researchers actually believe that sandwiches were simply referred to as bread and meat or bread cheese, depending on the ingredients. There’s hundreds of works of literature that help to determine this,” Spencer says, as he unwraps his leftovers from dinner the previous night.

Y/N, who takes a bite of her turkey sandwich, listens intently to Spencer’s oral history of sandwiches. She starts to respond to Spencer, but before she can even get the chance, Derek interjects into the conversation.

“Hold your horses, there Reid,” Derek says, his voice tainted with sarcasm and Spencer braces himself for a clipping comment, “you don’t want to scare away the newbie,”

Y/N, ever quick witted, rolls her eyes dramatically at Derek. She gets up and moves her seat closer to Spencer who’s heart rate, at the thought of her sitting even closer to him, speeds up. He knows that it's just an effort to tease Derek. That she'd rather suffer next to Spencer, than to have to entertain the idea of sitting next to Derek. But still, Spencer is a dreamer; he'd like to think she'd sit next to him even without the added bonus at avoiding Derek's playful teasing.

“Derek, leave Spencer alone, I happen to adore his facts. You know, I’ve seen I’ve been here I’ve been a Jeopardy beast. And when are you going to realize that I’m not a newbie, I’ve been here for what 2 years-”

“2 years, 4 months, and 4 days,” Spencer says, cursing himself silently for interrupting Y/N.

Derek grabs his lunch from the refrigerator, and sits down across from Spencer and Y/N.

“You remember the day I started?” Y/N asks, turning her attention from Derek to Spencer, whose face is twisted in what he can only assume is an extremely unattractive deer-in-head-lights look. He shrugs off Y/N’s comment, as if to say it’s just normal for him.

"Of course I do, I remember how long each of us has been here,"

"Oh, right. Eidetic Memory," Y/N mumbles, almost like she's slightly disappointed in something.

Suddenly Spencer’s mouth is quite dry; he reaches into his lunch bag to grab his water bottle, but his fingers brush across a small card taped to the outside. Forgetting that showing the card to Morgan would give him enough ammunition for the rest of day, Spencer quickly scans the card. It’s a small piece of paper, but it suddenly has become Spencer’s most treasured object. More than the set of Chaucer tales that his mother gave him, or Gideon’s watch, or his first microscope that his biology teacher in high school gave him at his graduation.

The one side of the card is decorated in small hearts and there’s a sketch of a dinosaur on the other side. In careful handwriting, the giver of the card wrote “Are you made of Nickel, Cerium, Arsenic, and Sulfur? Because you got a NiCe AsS!”

Spencer’s eyes grow a couple sizes once his brain registers the meaning of the card. Handling it less than gracefully, he chokes on his water, which catches Derek and Y/N’s attention.

“You okay there, Spence?’ Derek asks, questioning what sent Spencer coughing and choking on water like that.

Spencer, not wanting Y/N or Derek, especially Derek, to read the card, attempts to put it in the front pocket of his lunch box. Unfortunately, Derek catches sight of the card and snatches it out of Spencer’s hand.

“Derek!” Spencer whines.

He can feel his embarrassment deepen as Morgan’s smile grows. Spencer seriously thinks that this is how he’s going to die. His death, being in his line of work, is something that plagues his thoughts from time to time, but any gory hero’s death pales in comparison to Derek Morgan reading Spencer’s love notes about his ass.

“Nice ass? I’m not too sure about this, Reid, but looks like your secret lover likes your ass just as much as your brains,” Derek teases, handing back Spencer his card.

“Those are private,” Spencer says, grateful that Derek’s going to leave him alone, places the card back in it’s temporary resting spot near his driver’s license and photographs of him and Y/N at the arcade.

“Hey man, I was just going to put in that shoe box you have tucked under your desk, you must have hundreds of them by now,” Derek says, taking a bite of his ham and cheese wrap. His eyes dash between Spencer and Y/N, like the pair of them is the most entertaining reality show he could think of.

“I have 645, now,” Spencer says, unable to help himself much to Derek’s amusement. Spencer hears the chair next to him screech and Y/N rushes to pack up her half eaten lunch.

“I completely forgot, Anderson needs me to uh, help him with something,” Y/N says, stuffing her water bottle into her lunch box in a flustered state. Spencer watches as she rushes, her need to leave the kitchenette quite evident. Spencer is left wondering why she has to go see Anderson, of all people.

“Anderson? What does he want with you? I don’t remember Hotch saying anything about that,” Spencer says, his voice comes off a little more bitter than he indented.

“Maybe Anderson has some extracurriculars that he needs Y/N’s help with Spencer,” Derek says with a wink. Spencer’s brow tightens and his blush deepens as if he’s trying to decipher the way that Derek’s voice is laced with suggestion. The only logical conclusion is that Y/N is flustered because she’s sneaking off to see Anderson, because she likes him.

Y/N likes Anderson? Something about that doesn’t taste right in Spencer’s mouth.

Like the wind, Y/N is gone and all that remains is Derek’s sly chuckle.

“What!” Spencer says, much too loud for him to continue the coy and unassuming demeanor he usually produces when Y/N gets hit on at the bar or on case by local cops.

“Nothing, Reid. You're just clueless. Just think about how many of those little compliment cards you’ve gotten,” Derek says. He reaches into Spencer’s lunch box and takes his brownie. Usually, Spencer would have protested, but Derek’s words sent him into a confused spiral.

“645,” Spencer responds.

“Okay,” Derek continues, “645 days you’ve gotten those cute little cards in your lunch box or taped to your hotel room door on cases. Now, Reid think. How many years, months, and days, is 645 days”

“That’s 2 years, 4 months, and 3 days,” Spencer starts, “now given if it’s a Leap Year that could change it a little bit bit-”

“Think about it Reid,” Derek says, talking slowly to get the words sink in and hoping that he doesn’t have to spell it out for him.

“Y/N?” Spencer asks, kind of like he can’t believe it, but desperately wants to believe it at the same time.

“Y/N,” Derek repeats, “I’m surprised it’s taken you this long, Reid. She’s been making eyes at you the day she’s gotten here. It’s almost sickening to watch you to dance around each other,”

“Y/N,” Spencer says, it’s like he’s saying her name for the first time. It’s the most beautiful string of syllables to ever come from his lips.

Spencer pushes back the chair and swings the door open. As he walks to Y/N’s desk he gets distracted by the little brown shoe box that sticks out slightly from under his desk. He crouches down and picks it up, hoping that it can be helpful. He approaches Y/N’s desk, but JJ stops him before he can go closer.

“Stairwell,” Is all she says before she brushes past with an armful of case files. Spencer, heading JJ’s advice, practically runs to the stairwell. As he approaches he can hear quiet sobs, which he can only imagine are Y/N’s.

Spencer opens the door and Y/N, startled, stands up and tries to mop the tears away from her face.

“Spencer, oh god, I didn’t know you were here, I’m okay, it’s just me being a little silly,” she says, trying to laugh through what she can only assume is going to be rejection.

“I really hope you don’t think these are silly, well some are kind of silly, but others were very poetic,” Spencer says, taking a step forward and gesturing with the shoe box to make it obvious to Y/N that he’s talking about the compliment cards.

“What are you talking about, Spencer?” Y/N says, feigning ignorance.

“Don’t play dumb, Y/N. You're much too smart to play dumb,” Spencer says, moving closer to Y/N so he can wipe her tear-stricken face with the sleeve of his soft cardigan. He tries not to focus on the way that Y/N seems to melt into his touch. He knows that if he can get another touch of that, he’ll never want to touch another person ever again.

“I’m not playing dumb, Spence. I just never planned for you to find out,” Y/N mumbles. Spencer’s face resembles a mix between shock and confusion.

“Why would you not tell me, I don’t think I made it anything but obvious that I’m crazy about you,” Spencer says, deeply wondering why Y/N would ever hide something like this from him.

“God Spencer, have you ever looked in a mirror?” Y/N asks him, sitting down on the third step, “you’re so gorgeous, Spencer, I can’t say anything to your face. So the next best thing was to write down everything that I wanted to say to you,” Y/N finishes, a little embarrassed. She tries to hide that embarrassment by not making eye contact with Spencer, who sits down next to her.

“You think I’m gorgeous?” Spencer asks, not entirely sure that he heard her correctly.

Y/N peaks at him with teary eyes and a runny nose. Spencer thanks science and the universe for his Eidetic Memory. He knows that there won’t be a single day of his life that he won’t want to think back to this day and remember the way that Y/N looked when she first told him that she thinks he’s gorgeous.

“I think you’re the most beautiful person that I’ve ever seen,” Y/N says breathily, her voice laced with restraint. She’s terrified of rejection, terrified that Spencer will turn her down still.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard that,” Spencer says, equally as quiet and equally as terrified. He notices that Y/N’s hand creeps closer to his. Spencer is itching to intertwine it to his and never let go.

“You deserve to hear it more often, hence the cards,” Y/N explains, moving her hand even more closer to Spencer’s. He has no choice but to wrap his much larger one in Y/N’s smaller one.

“You meant it, right?” Spencer asks, bravely putting her heart out there on the line, “because if you did Y/N, that I’d really like to kiss you right now. But if you didn’t then that’s-”

Spencer tries to finish the sentence, to give Y/N an out, but somehow she doesn’t take it. Somehow she decides to kiss him.

Spencer has kissed a total of three people in his entire life, but none of them ever mattered again the second he feels Y/N’s lips against his and her hands in his hair. Spencer doesn’t complain when Y/N starts to set the pace. Her lips roam across his face. They venture across his jaw, up closer to his nose and then back down to his lips. Spencer had no clue Y/N can kiss like this. It's a little passionate for a first kiss, but maybe it's just the pent up tension and frustration 2 years in the making finally being let out. He's dreamt of the way that Y/N's pillowy lips would feel when they were finally pressed up against his. Spencer, from the fibers that make him up to the hormones that surge throughout his body, tries to be brave. He places his hands so they rest on Y/N’s neck. He’s not passive, but he’s happy to sit back and let Y/N have her way as she continues her feverish assault on his lips.

Her ministrations are interrupted, however, when the box of cards falls from Spencer’s lap. It seems to remind both of them that they are in the stairwell of the FBI making out like over zealous teenagers for the first time. Y/N lets out a small giggle. Spencer wishes he can write down the feeling it gives him and tuck it away safely in a shoe box.

“I hope you know that those compliments aren’t platonic, Spencer. I really do think you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met,” Y/N says, her fingers gravitating to the brown curls behind Spencer’s ears. He has the softest, silkiest hair she’s ever felt.

“That’s a good thing, Y/N, because you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met,”

Standing up, Y/N winks and pecks Spencer on the cheek, “I hate to break it to you, darling, but I think I win when it comes compliments,”

--Thank you for reading--

Taglist (Comment & I'll Happily Add You)

@shemarmooresfedora

@april-14-blog

@willowrose99

@calm-and-doctor

@spideygenius

@measure-in-pain

@nomajdetective

#spencer reid x reader #criminal minds #spencer reid #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x reader fluff #dr spencer reid #spencer reid x fem!reader #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid x you #criminal minds x reader #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid fanfiction #criminal minds fanfic #spencer reid x reader one shot #spencer reid one shot #spencer reid x reader happy ending #criminal minds fanfiction

[julemmaes]

Robyn

Rowaelin Month, Day Ten

A/N: I'd planned on posting them in order, but you get what you get. Idk when the other prompts will come tbf. I hope soon. Anyway, I managed to write over 6k words today and I'm pretty fucking proud.

This is just fluff over fluff, so yep enjoy!!

Word count: 3,047

Rowan was unbelievably late as he sped through the streets of Orynth.

So late that the school had called not only him, but also the front desk of the place where he worked when he hadn't answered the call on his personal phone. Sorscha, his assistant, had entered his office with an embarrassed smile on her lips, as if she didn't want to tell him that he had forgotten for the umpteenth time to pick up his daughter from school.

Lorcan had joined him, for some strange reason, but Rowan had stopped bothering when it came to his best friend. He'd been trying to figure out how he reasoned for years and had come to the conclusion that there was no logical sense in the actions of the man sitting next to him, who was currently singing at the top of his lungs to one of the songs on the Frozen CD - which much to the chagrin of both of them, had gotten stuck in his car radio months before, forcing them into hours of torture.

He would never deny that the songs were all quite catchy, but after the sixteenth time Rowan had had to listen to Let It Go at maximum volume, his positive opinion of the film had begun to waver.

As they pulled into the school parking lot, Rowan noticed with deep regret that the only cars still there were those of the teachers and school staff.

They both got out of the car, Rowan walking quickly towards the entrance while Lorcan dragged behind him.

He greeted the caretakers sitting at the entrance, who returned a big smile. A smile that grew even wider when his large, imposing friend entered a few moments later. He stopped to talk to the old ladies and Rowan walked down the corridor he knew led to Robyn's classroom.

He could hear muffled voices from inside the teachers' room on the left and the one he knew belonged to Miss Galathynius coming from the right. He looked out over the classroom, spotting the two people sitting at a desk.

As soon as his daughter saw him, her eyes widened and a huge smile flashed across her face.

No words. No "hello, daddy!" or "I missed you!" from the little girl.

Her teacher turned as she leapt out of her chair and ran towards him, hugging his legs and looking up at him. Rowan smiled at her in turn, running a hand over her hair that was shot in every direction.

"Hello, little bird," he murmured to her. The child's smile widened even more if that was possible.

The woman a few feet away from them pulled herself upright, crossing her arms over her chest and offering a sincere smile to the child, who hid behind his thighs.

Rowan was about to tell her that Robyn was shy with everyone like this, ready to defend his daughter's behaviour as he was used to doing in front of every adult, but he was beaten to the punch.

"It's good to see you, Mr Whitethorn," she said, extending a hand. Rowan shook it without hesitation. "Actually, I just wanted to write you a letter regarding Robyn," she continued, never taking her eyes off the little girl. "Nothing serious," she hastened to reassure him when Rowan grimaced, "quite the contrary. Robyn is remarkably good. One of the best in the class, though I shouldn't offer that information so bluntly."

Miss Galathynius winked at him, but he couldn't process what he'd just been told.

"Sorry, could you-"

The little hands clamped around his trousers tightened a fraction more and Rowan looked down, trying to figure out what was bothering his daughter, but then something happened that he hadn't even dared to dream about in recent times.

"You're here!"

The little girl broke off and ran away from him in less than the blink of an eye.

Rowan turned just in time to see Lorcan grab Robyn in mid-air, spinning her around as he brought her to his chest and showered her with kisses. The loud, incessant laughter that erupted from her seemed too much coming from that fragile little body, but he never tired of hearing it.

"Why hello baby!" said Lorcan laughing in turn, starting to tickle her until she begun to rebel and he was forced to let her slide to the floor. Robyn was still laughing at the top of her lungs and nearly fell to the ground as she squealed left and right, letting herself be pushed around by the closest thing to an uncle she had ever had.

When Rowan turned back to the woman, she was wide-eyed and her lips slightly parted as she watched the massive man dressed completely in black and the menacing face turn into a completely different person the second he had seen Robyn.

He chuckled, "I know, it's not every day you get to see a little girl be so comfortable with a brute like that."

Lorcan, who was listening to everything, looked him straight in the eye and without stopping smiling and playing with the little girl, mouthed to him to fuck off.

"Well, yeah. You caught me a little off guard." she confessed, still shocked to hear how Robyn was having a full conversation with Lorcan. They couldn't hear anything of what she was actually saying, but even just the fact she was talking to someone seemed to have Aelin unsettled.

She returned her attention to Rowan and let out a breath that sounded more like a giggle, "I've never heard her laugh before."

He nodded, blushing a little at the teacher's surprised but relieved tone.

"I'm sure the dean warned you about the problem she has," he said in a low voice. He grimaced at her poor choice of words, "I mean, not problem, but the difficulty she finds in interacting with people she doesn't know."

Liar, he told himself. Robyn hadn't spoken to anyone but him and Lorcan since the day Lyria had died. It wasn't a difficulty, but a response to the trauma that prevented her from speaking to anyone who wasn't part of her immediate family.

"I know, I know. We've been looking for solutions together." she informed him. "I give her a white board every morning. Come on, I'll show you." she turned to the desk they were sitting at earlier and raised the magnetic board, on which a few words were scribbled on. "I'll write here what she might need. Yes. No. I need to go to the bathroom. I'm thirsty. I'm hungry." she read, listing the various options. Rowan gaped. "We've only just started going over the alphabet for a second time, so she can't really read or write yet, as I imagine you know, but the little drawings next to each sentence help her."

She continued talking, but he couldn't quite follow.

The woman in front of him - aside from being breathtakingly beautiful - had done as much as she could to help her child with communication.

"Mr. Whitethorn-"

"Rowan. Please, call me Rowan." he said, clearing his throat once he realized how hoarse it sounded to his ears. Lorcan walked up to them at that point, still holding Robyn in his arms and positioned himself next to him, letting their shoulders touch in a comforting way.

"Call me Aelin, then," she smiled at them both. Then she made a small grimace, turning to Rowan, "I wanted to ask if it bothered you, that I sought a solution like that. Maybe I put her in distress, embarrassed her. I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I wanted to solve this on my own. I really wanted to discuss it with you, with your husband too, to avoid misunderstandings. Maybe we could arrange a meeting."

He was about to tell her that she had given him the exact opposite of annoyance, that he had been more than pleased that she had helped Robyn this way, when her words finally registered.

Lorcan, beside him, had opened his mouth wide and his lips were slowly bending into a mischievous smile.

Rowan furrowed his brow, "I'm sorry, what?"

Aelin's smile seemed to falter. "A meeting? With you? To talk about how to handle the situation," then she shifted her gaze to Lorcan, "You're more than welcome to join as well. I didn't know Robyn had two dads, I apologise for assuming Robyn had a mum and dad. That was very rude of me-"

"I love this," Lorcan whispered, laughing in shock. He turned to Rowan with eyes that sparkled with amusement, "I would definitely be the top."

Rowan looked at him with an expression of complete shock on his face, "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Robyn gasped, opening her eyes wide and bringing a hand to her mouth, pointing then to Rowan's.

"Yeah, sorry, love. I shouldn't have said the bad word." he apologised, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead. He turned back to Miss Galathynius, "I'm sorry to have to disappoint you, but we're not married."

"No need to lie, sweetie. I'm sure Aelin," he gave her a knowing look, "doesn't mind at all about our relationship status."

Aelin nodded, "Well, yes. That doesn't change anything. Mr..." she turned to Lorcan, searching for a name.

"Salvaterre."

"Mr. Salvaterre can still attend. The fact that you are not yet married is no reason why you cannot both be present at the meeting. You don't have to worry, we are a very tolerant school and if anyone bothers you, you can come directly to me."

A sound of sheer glee escaped Lorcan.

Aelin continued, "I mean it. I was pleased to see both of you today. I was also pleased to see Robyn smiling so much." she concluded, looking the little one in the face.

Rowan took a deep breath, bracing himself, "No, I meant, we're not a couple. We're not gay. He's her uncle."

The woman's blonde eyebrows shot up and a second later she turned almost as red as the dress Robyn was wearing as Lorcan shook his head muttering something very much like 'you're no fun', which made Robyn giggle.

"Why did you even get off the car?" he asked him exasperated.

Lorcan shrugged, "Because I missed my little bean, you monster." he replied, clutching Robyn to his chest. The little girl clutched Lorcan's shirt in her chubby little hands and Rowan huffed, shaking his head.

Aelin brought her hands to her face, leaning against the desk behind her. She shook her head, her face still hidden, "Oh, god. I'm so sorry."

Lorcan let out a dry laugh, "Don't worry about it. It was fun while it lasted." then he turned to Rowan again, who was still trying to recover from the idea of being involved in a relationship with his friend, "You're really no fun."

"Yeah, no fun dad." repeated Robyn.

Silence fell over the class. Rowan looked at her with wide eyes and blinked once, twice. Robyn was staring at him with a sweet scowl that mimicked so much that of the man who was still holding her, but Rowan couldn't get over the fact that his daughter had spoken while Aelin was still beside them.

He was about to talk, noticing how Robyn had started squirming in Lorcan's arms, when there was a knock at the door.

They both turned, Aelin peering over Rowan's shoulder, and saw the figure of a petite girl with black hair and eyes standing in the doorway, watching them with her head slightly bent to the side. She had a tag on her t-shirt that was too colourful to belong to someone who didn't work in a school with children, so he guessed she was a teacher herself. Besides, Rowan felt like he'd seen her elsewhere. Probably every day when he picked Robyn up from school, he said to himself.

"I know you're not supposed to eavesdrop but I stopped by earlier and heard you were a couple of dads," she said by way of introduction. "I just wanted to reassure you that the school is an extremely safe place. I'm the one who did most of the interviews with the parents," that's where they had met then, "and one of the questions that is asked is just about the tolerance of the people who will be attending the school."

Aelin watched her, remaining silent the whole time and putting on an amused smile, nodded, "That's what I was telling them. How tolerant the school is. They make such a cute couple, don't you think, Elide?"

Rowan turned to her, arching an eyebrow, silently asking her what she was doing. The woman, as if she could truly understand what he was trying to convey to her, nodded her head towards Lorcan, who Rowan only then noticed was standing weirdly, his eyes fixed on the woman in the doorway.

He grinned, deciding to take his revenge right away. "Oh, yes. Thank you so much for the reassurance," Rowan began to play along as well. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lorcan turn towards him, dropping Robyn to the floor, who made a disapproving noise at being dumped so suddenly. "We are happy to know that this school is a safe place for our daughter. And for us."

Elide offered him a blinding smile, "Good. I'm happy to hear that you are pleased so far. And I am happy that Aelin is the one who is taking your daughter's class. She's the best one here."

Rowan didn't know her yet, but he knew the thing Elide had just said could only be true.

"Well," she said again, giving them an apologetic smile, "I really must go now, but if you need anything, you can find all my contact details on the website. Have a nice day!"

Aelin and Rowan said their goodbyes, thanking her. Lorcan took a while to recover, but when he realised he was staring into empty space he ran towards the door, almost stepping on little Robyn, who was moved by Aelin.

"We are very much not gay, miss!" he shouted into the hallway. Aelin, now beside him and with a hand on Robyn's shoulder, cackled. With Lorcan's infinite luck, someone walked by just then and gave him a stern look. "Oh, shut up ma'am. I'm an ally. The best ally."

Rowan shook his head as Lorcan launched himself in pursuit of the poor teacher and burst out laughing when he heard him shout, "I'm not homophobic! I'm willing to suck someone's cock if I have to prove it to you!"

Aelin opened her mouth wide before bursting out laughing in turn.

Robyn, seeing both adults so happy, giggled too and Rowan bent down to pick her up. The little girl laid her full head of white-light hair on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

She was tired and Rowan really needed to get her home to sleep.

He glanced at Aelin and reduced his lips to a thin line, "I'm sorry about the commotion, I'll try not to bring him into the building again. Even if it means tying him to the seat."

The soft laugh she gave made something tighten in his chest. He frowned.

Aelin didn't seem to notice the effect she had on him, "Don't worry, Elide is crazy about fools like him. If he says the right things, we might start seeing each other outside of school too."

Rowan nodded, now too caught up in the thought of having to take Robyn home to focus on anything else.

They agreed on when to hold the parent-teacher meeting and then he grabbed Robyn's backpack, walking towards the exit.

He was thoughtless as he reached into his pocket for his keys and balanced everything else - including the girl - on his other arm, but when Robyn's hand brushed his cheek, he looked down and his eyes met their twins. Green against green.

"What is it?"

The little girl's voice never stopped making him smile. Each time was like the first time she had said dada.

"I really like her."

Rowan frowned, "Who?"

"Miss Aelin." she whispered, almost as if she was afraid they might hear her.

He smiled at her, "Yeah? You like her?"

"She's nice to me."

Rowan had to put her down as he opened the door and let her get into the back seats by herself.

"I'm glad she's treating you well, love," he let her know, buckling her in.

He hoped she'd tell him more about her new teacher, but like any kid her age, the topic of conversation couldn't last for more than four lines apiece, "Where's Uncle Lorcan?"

Rowan snorted, "No idea, little bird."

Robyn nodded, "Elide is pretty too."

And as if those words had summoned him, Lorcan appeared beside the car, making them both scream. He entered the car in a heartbeat and turned to his daughter, who was still settling into the seat. "Do you know Miss Lochan?"

But before she could answer him, Rowan had entered the car in turn and smacked the back of his head, which made the Robyn giggle, "You're not using my daughter as your wingman. Now stop it and buckle up."

Lorcan gave him a gentle push, before doing as he was told and for once he was happy he'd convinced him to do something.

Or at least, Rowan thought he had convinced him.

"What if I left you a note to deliver to Miss Lochan, Rob? Would you be up for it?"

Rowan knew, even without looking at her, that she was nodding emphatically.

Keeping his eyes on the road, he murmured, "Could you stop calling my daughter Rob, please? You'll give her an existential crisis."

Lorcan clicked his tongue against his palate, "Rowan, I'm not giving her a damn thing. We live in this new world, okay? Your daughter could be called Simon and still be a beautiful princess. Grow up and educate yourself before you talk shit."

"Aaaah!" shouted Robyn, "Bad word!"

Rowan sighed and shook his head, but still he was smiling.

This was his life. Had been for the past two years.

And he wouldn't change it for the world.

tog tag list (if you wanna be added or removed just dm me or send me an ask)

@maastrash @ireallyshouldsleeprn @sleeping-and-books @hellasblessed @thegoddessofyou @ghostlyrose2 @claralady @sayosdreams @perseusannabeth @letstakethedawn @terrible-and-proud @post-it-notes33 @booksstorm @nalgenewhore @queen-of-demons-and-hell @lanyjoy-13 @vasudharaghavan @cupcakey00 @bri-loves-sunflowers @queen-of-glass @thewayshedreamed @the-regal-warrior @fangirlprincess09 @januarystears @rowaelinismyotp @starbornsinger @bookstantrash @thegreyj @feysand-loml @autumnbabylon @a-court-of-milkandhoney @highqueenofelfhame @story-scribbler @mariamuses @rhysandswingspan @tanvee1231

#rowaelinmonth #rowaelin #rowan whitethorn #aelin galathynius #tog #throne of glass #rowaelin fic #fluff #rowaelin month day ten

[gold-kobold]

Stricklake Baggage Fic, Oh My

idk what to title this lol, but anyway, S O M E B O D Y had to go and make stricklake deep-dive content, so y'all can blame @theoldandnewfirm and that one anon for this random thing (i still don't take writing requests tho so pls don't ask)

(it's a bit clunky and probably doesn't go as in-depth as it should lol, but enjoy)

.

.

This wouldn’t be an easy topic to broach. Barbara knew this.

If she was being honest with herself, a big part of her didn’t want to raise the question at all. For weeks, she had been asking herself if it was really necessary, after everything that’s happened. But, with the Eternal Night finally well over with, her and Walter even having reunited some of the Changeling familiars with their old families, and everything around them being much calmer in general, she knew it was finally time to ask.

For her own peace of mind, she had to ask. Even if she was fairly sure she knew the answer already, Barbara wanted to hear it from him.

She tried to choose a day in which they both had ample time between work shifts. She found herself frequently glancing at the clock, as if staring it down would pressure it into moving faster.

He should be home very soon. School would just be letting out by now.

To occupy herself in the meantime, she took to doing small chores around the house, trying to distract her mind from the looming stress of the conversation to come.

By the time she heard Walter enter the house, she had been tending to some of the children upstairs. When she heard the front door shut, she took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself, made sure all the children were comfortable, and headed back downstairs.

“Afternoon, Barbara.” Walter greeted her as he heard her descend the stairs, completely oblivious to what she was about to blindside him with. “I hope the children haven’t given you much trouble today?”

“They’ve been fine.” Barbara said, slowly walking towards the front hall where he’d been putting down his things. “... Walt… Can we talk?”

“Uh-oh. Am I in trouble?” Walter had chuckled, putting his folders on the table. When he turned to meet Barbara’s stare, he dropped the joking demeanor upon seeing that look on her face. “Is everything alright, Barbara?” He asked, his voice quickly softening in concern.

That immediate shift in his tone again cast doubt on top of Barbara’s already-lingering doubts. Shouldn’t his worry for her be proof enough that he’s long changed from who he used to be?

Still. She already convinced herself that this conversation was going to happen one way or the other, so why try to prolong it any further?

Looking away, she debated for a moment on whether or not they should sit down for this. But, rather than move or voice that idea, her mouth just blurted out the question that’d been on her mind so long.

“You killed Principal Levitt. Didn’t you?”

Walter didn’t respond right away. When Barbara’s stare returned to him, she saw that he was looking away now, as if to choose his words carefully, despite it being a simple yes-or-no question.

“... Yes. I killed him.” He finally answered.

Barbara could feel every muscle in her body go tense. It was the answer she had expected, yes. She knew he had gone missing around the same time Strickler became the stand-in principal, it was a logical conclusion to draw after being presented with all the facts. But even though her brain knew all this, her body had an all-too-visceral reaction at hearing him say it. Whether that be from how his tone had so quickly gone to something distant, almost business-like in nature, or whether it was just from having her fear confirmed in general, Barbara wasn’t sure.

“... How many people have you…” The words seemed to catch in her throat, Barbara struggling far more than she thought she would, what with how much she’d mentally prepared herself for this topic. “... have you killed…?”

He averted his gaze, unmoving aside from the clench of his jaw. Something was going on behind those eyes, Barbara could see it. Whether he was considering lying to her, or just trying to figure out how to break this news gently, she again found herself unsure…

Eventually, Walter drew a slow, long breath in, and answered her. “I… didn’t bother keeping track after around the fifty mark.”

Fifty.

Over fifty people. Probably well over, from how he just said--

“Barbara?”

She didn’t even realize how hearing that had caused her to stagger backwards some until she heard that concern in his voice again. She tried to collect herself, and failed miserably.

Barbara knew this was a likely answer. She had been mentally preparing for it all day. She knew of his troubled past, with some of the most evil trolls one could imagine, she knew of his malicious nature needed to survive, and yet, his words still hit her like a truck.

Walter took a tentative step towards her, studying her carefully for any more negative physical reactions. “Are you sure you’re okay to talk about this…?”

“I-I thought I was, I just--” Unable to gather her thoughts, she shook her head, conflicted. “We need to talk about this, we do, I just-- I just need some time to--”

“Barbara. Please breathe.” Walter asked of her, his concern only growing upon seeing her like this. She was usually so calm and collected, even under pressure. (As a doctor would have to be…) “If you need space right now, I’ll give it to you. What do you need...?”

She took another step back, glancing towards the door. She had been so sure of herself that she was ready for this, but right now, she felt anything but. “I… I need some air.” Still, she was anxious to leave, glancing up the stairs. “The children…”

“I’ll look after them.” Walter assured her, lowering his head slightly as those oddly sympathetic eyes continued to study her. “Take all the time you need.”

Leaving so many children in the care of a mass murderer would’ve been a red flag to any normal person. But she knew him well enough to know he’d never hurt those kids. That’s something Barbara has never once doubted about him.

Without another word, as she was unable to think of anything more to even say at this point, she left the house. Almost as if by instinct, she just got in her car and started driving, no destination in mind.

.

She wasn’t sure how long she’d been moving for. She just drove aimlessly.

Her heart kept racing, and she felt as though it might burst out of her chest at any second. Over and over, her mind kept concocting all sorts of false images and theories in her head about Walter and the people he’s killed. God, he’s killed so many people.

When she started to get tunnel vision on the roads before her, she knew it was time to pull over. She shouldn’t be driving like this. She probably shouldn’t have gotten into a car in the first place.

Even though the car had stopped, everything around her still felt like it was in motion. Her world was basically spinning around her, making it all that much harder to process what she’d just heard. The more she thought about it, his words lingering in her head, the more she felt like she couldn’t breathe. Like someone was squeezing her lungs harder with every breath she tried to take.

So many people, dead by his hands. He’s killed somebody she knew, for God’s sake. What about Levitt’s family? Does he have siblings, parents, or God forbid, children? Were they to just live the rest of their days never knowing what happened to him? She knew from the missing persons articles that he lived alone, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have people that cared about him…

How many other lives has he destroyed? How many families broken apart by his actions? How many people did he leave to wonder what happened to their loved ones, without the mercy of any sort of closure?

Barbara took off her glasses, rubbing at her eyes as if to push back the tears of stress that were starting to form in them, all the while internally cursing her horrible taste in men.

She forced herself to take a deep breath in, counting to seven as she did, then repeated the count as she exhaled, repeating this a few more times until she felt like she wasn’t going to have a heart attack. When her heart rate started to go back down to a somewhat normal pace, Barbara tried to think about this as objectively as she could manage.

They come from a different culture. Troll culture--

No. Not even that. Gumm-Gumm culture.

Barbara knew of their history. She had been educated of Changeling roots. None of the Changelings could help where they came from… Shouldn’t she consider herself lucky that Walter was willing to change at all? They were created for the sole purpose of war. They were forced into a life of servitude to a horrible, horrible person. They never had a choice to be anything else. They were victims of an unimaginable cruelty, that much was absolutely true. The cycle of abuse was a dangerous thing already, but taking it to that extreme...

Logically, she knew it was unfair to apply regular human standards to such a group of people. But at the same time, how could she, a doctor of all things, look past all the lives he’s taken? All the people he thought nothing of disposing of? Did he truly not care for anybody before her and Jim? And if so, how much of himself over however many years past could she really believe has changed? For him especially, the time it took for him to completely switch sides was like the blink of an eye. Can he truly be ‘redeemed’ of such atrocities in such a short amount of time?

And even if so, would she ever be able to look past it?

She’s in the business of saving lives, and he was in the business of taking them.

… Business. Work. Oh god, she had work today, didn’t she?

She checked the time. How long she’d been out here, she hadn’t fully realized until her phone’s clock slapped her in the face with realization.

It was already only two hours before her shift. And the longer she stared at her phone in consideration, the shorter those hours got.

She sat on it for some time, weighing her options.

They haven’t been short-staffed in many days now, luckily. And Barbara was a dedicated worker who’s basically never missed a day without very good reason.

Plus, with the mental state she was currently spiralling in, she wasn’t even sure if she was fit to be working right now...

So, for the first time in only God knows how long, Barbara Lake called in sick to work.

.

Seeing Walter tend to the children had yet again made Barbara’s doubts in herself creep to the surface. She had been so quiet in coming back home, she wasn’t sure if the Changeling noticed her return. He definitely didn’t notice her in the doorway to the nursery, what with his back turned to her and all his focus on Nomura’s familiar. It would seem she had rather crankily woken from a nap, though by this point, she had mostly been soothed, Walter rocking her back to sleep while humming softly.

It was that caring side of him that Barbara kept seeing that kept drawing her back in. Despite the horrible things he’s done, she knows he’s very capable of love. But how capable is he of acknowledging the horrible flaws of his past?

That might be a different story.

Barbara’s weight shifted in the doorway, and Walt’s ears twitched at the creak of wood. He turned immediately. “Barbara,” He greeted her in surprise, “Don’t you have work?”

“I called in sick.” She said.

“You never call in sick.” The only recent time she used ‘sick days’ was after falling victim to troll magic, so did it even really count when her bosses basically had to harass her into staying home?

That was just another of many details he’s so easily picked up on. He knows her well enough at this point. He was intuitive enough to pick up on these little things and keep them in mind. Whether that was due to the side of him that cared about her, or an old habit carried over from his more malicious roots, she found herself unable to decide.

Strickler was so careful and delicate in how he handled the child, laying her back to sleep and tucking her in. When he had turned to Barbara again, it was with worry in his face. Barbara spoke before he could, though.

“Let’s go downstairs.” She said to him. “We should sit down for this one…”

.

The two of them had ended up on the living room sofa, both with empty tea mugs on the coffee table across from them. The tiny amount of small talk that they’d engaged in while they had a drink felt like nothing more than skirting the real issue. When they had finished their tea, both of them fell victim to a tense silence, knowing what was supposed to be discussed next.

“... I understand completely if my past is a dealbreaker for you.” Walter eventually spoke first. ‘If’ it was a dealbreaker… Who was he kidding? He was trying so hard to sound calm, level-headed, but his voice betrayed him with its subtle shaking. “My morals were so… different, and I… I know that might be too much to come back from.”

Barbara was quiet at first, listening carefully to his words. The time she had left him with had given him ample thinking room too, after all. He had obviously carefully considered how to approach this topic with her, even if there was still an air of uncertainty in his voice.

“Why did you do it?” She asked him.

“Levitt, or--?”

“Any of them.”

Walter looked away, falling silent in thought for some time. “... It was… generally for tactical reasons. Humans that found out about Bular, or Changelings in general, couldn’t be kept alive. Humans that came too close to discovering our plans were also too risky… Sometimes, like in Levitt’s case, to gain the advantage over an enemy. It would mostly be to do with keeping our operations running smoothly, or for our brethren’s safety.”

“... Mostly?” Barbara pried, an uneasy note to her voice.

Going quiet again, Strickler winced at her repeating his word. “... Some of the deaths could have been… easily avoided,” was all he said in response to that.

Barbara’s eyes narrowed just the tiniest bit in skepticism. Still, she looked away too, trying not to let her doubt show when Walter had obviously already been struggling to open up with this.

“I didn’t… care about humans, Barbara. I’ve never really cared about them, they were just…” Even just saying it, despite how little time has passed since he had originally thought that way, it still made him cringe. “... They were disposable. I saw them more as… tools to get ahead rather than proper, equal individuals.” A quiet chuckle came out of his throat, though it sounded rather forced. “Oh, the irony… That’s how Bular and Gunmar saw my people too, I suppose.”

Another tense moment of silence stretched over them. A pensive look played across the doctor’s face, thinking back on the circumstances that led to them coming together in the first place, and something about Walter’s words wasn’t adding up.

“... You cared enough about Jim to reach out to me in the first place.” Barbara pointed out.

With a touch of confusion, Walter stared at her once again. “That’s just what a teacher would do. I was playing my role.”

“That’s what a good teacher would do. You didn’t have to be a good teacher.” She countered. “Mediocrity is rampant in the education industry, after all... You could’ve easily gotten away with underachieving, but you did the opposite.” Raising an eyebrow, she leaned back against the couch, her body relaxing only slightly. “You didn’t have to go out of your way for a student’s sake. But you did that anyway.” She saw a familiar look of confliction cross Walt’s face, the Changeling unsure of how to explain himself. In an attempt to ease some of the tension just the tiniest bit, Barbara tried at a small smile. “Was that part of the Changeling manual, caring about human children?”

“A manual. Now there’s an idea.” Walter chuckled weakly in response. “Would’ve been easier to write one of those than to get Bular recording on that tutorial video…”

“There was a tutorial video?” Barbara blurted out in response, eyes widening a bit. “I was joking.”

“I wish I was joking. That old thing probably hasn’t aged well...” Walter laughed awkwardly, looking away again.

She was right, to an extent. Strickler never had to treat his students well, he just had to play the role of any average teacher. Still, wherever that small sliver of kindness ever stemmed from on his part, it couldn’t outbalance the wrongs he had done.

He shook his head, sighing under his breath. “I don’t know what to tell you. Perhaps I was growing lax in my position. I don’t know why I…”

He trailed off, that frown on his face growing deeper with every word.

“... Maybe you have a little more empathy than you give yourself credit for.” She proposed, her voice quiet. Walter gave her a most perplexed look, and Barbara could really understand it that time. Even she was a bit surprised saying it, what with all he’s just admitted in regards to thinking of humans as disposable. But, even with that in mind, what else could it be? He’s obviously not void of all emotion, or capability to bond. He’s always wanted to protect his own people. For that protectiveness to bleed into his human persona to some extent, especially for children under his care, was it really so hard to believe?

Walter wasn’t sure if he could believe it, himself.

Would she be saying that if she knew just how many lives he had destroyed? If she knew of the people he had led to their death, just to keep Bular’s hunger fed, to divert the troll’s anger away from himself even if only for a few moments? How he’d mocked his victims’ deaths at times, even right in front of her before?

Oh, how cruel he had been. Barbara didn’t deserve someone like him in her life, and he didn’t deserve to have even a shred of her kindness.

And yet, selfishly, he still wanted so badly to stay. He clung onto the hope that she would allow him the mercy of staying in her life, even if it was something so wrong for him to have.

Those yellow eyes of his, so cold and piercing to the average passerby, were filled with doubt and insecurity that Barbara could see plain as day. She bit her tongue, her own gaze slowly falling to the floor.

After a long moment of just staring at the Changeling’s tired form, Barbara placed a hand on top of his, startling Walter.

“I don’t like the things that you did.” She said to him plainly. “But I’m not blind to your reasons for it. I know you had a rough beginning. I can’t even imagine growing up like how you must have…” She broke eye contact again, but not for long at all. “... You know that you didn’t deserve what Morgana and Gunmar put you through… right? None of you deserved that...”

There was doubt, as always, and a lot of confusion in Walter’s eyes, again unsure of how to respond to her. He was confused as to what this other strange sensation welling up inside him was. He didn’t like how it felt both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

“Walt.” Barbara said, placing both of her hands on his now as she looked into his troubled eyes. “You didn’t deserve any of what they did to you. Please tell me you know that.” Again, for good measure, she repeated, “You didn’t deserve it.”

He wasn’t sure what it was about how she said that, let alone why she was even saying it at all, but something inside him just broke at her words.

Walter couldn’t remember the last person he cried in front of. He couldn’t remember if he’s ever cried in front of anyone, to be frank. But, in that moment, he couldn’t stop the tears that started coming out of him. Upon realizing what he was doing, he quickly looked away.

“Oh, goodness. That’s embarrassing…” Walter muttered as he turned away from her, wiping a sleeve over his face. “Please excuse me. I seem to have misplaced my savoir faire…”

“Oh no, your humanity is showing.” Barbara said, her tone a slightly teasing one, though still with sympathy. “How will I ever cope?”

That got a weak chuckle out of him, at least, but he still wouldn’t look at her.

Her wording had been very intentional, hadn’t it.

Humanity. After all he’s done, could that term truly be applied to the likes of him?

As if sensing the doubt that was pouring out of him, Barbara started to rub her thumb along the back of his hand, a small comfort in this mess of emotions.

He shook his head, cursing every sob that he couldn’t muffle.

“The worst part is that I’m not even sure if-- if it’s the lives I took that I’m sorry about, all I’m sure of is that I’m sorry for hurting you. For hurting Jim, I…” He had to stop himself, sensing his voice about to break, and taking a moment to regain the slightest bit of composure before continuing to speak. “... I know now that I was wrong. So, so wrong in so many things that I’ve done… I don’t…” He shook his head, trying so hard to fight back those blasted tears that kept trying to escape his eyes. “I don’t expect your forgiveness. I know I don’t deserve that from anybody. But I’m so sorry, Barbara. For everything I’ve done to you. You never deserved that...” He grit his teeth, frustrated only with himself now for not saying any of this sooner. His voice was quieter, more unsure of himself with each passing word. “If I could take back all the pain I’ve caused, I’d do it in a heartbeat.” He muttered, looking down in shame as he repeated, “I’m so sorry, Barbara…”

A deep frown set upon Barbara’s face as she watched him crumble. Seeing him like this was an entirely new experience to her. Seeing him so ashamed of the simple act of crying broke her heart even more.

“... Well, it’s a start…” Barbara eventually spoke up, her eyes tentatively lifting to meet his. “We can’t just change how we were wired at the drop of a hat… I get that. I know you still have a lot of work to do… but...” For the umpteenth time, she broke eye contact, pausing for a long moment to reassure herself of her stance before continuing. “... I’ve seen the type of person that you can be. I want to help you keep growing into that better person.” She reached for his cheek, cupping it in her hand and turning his face towards hers, offering a small smile. “You’re already on your way there, after all.”

There was hesitance in her eyes, but none in her words. Despite how he’d wanted to pull away, to hide his face again from her again, hide the weakness he’d convinced himself he was showing, something about her reassuring tone and the care in her face stopped him from looking away. Instead, Barbara ever so gently pulled him in closer, and in spite of her own conflicting feelings about his past, embraced him in a hug that was free of any hesitance. She just held him tightly, a silent reassurance that he wasn’t alone right now.

It was far from what Walter had expected. He froze, completely still at first, uncertain if it was right for him to return that embrace. Despite that, it didn’t take him long to succumb to her warmth either, clinging to Barbara with his wings curling around them, and he could no longer fight back the tears that poured out of him. For however long he needed, Barbara just held him close, and let the Changeling quietly cry against her.

However long they sat like that, neither of them knew. How they had gotten so lucky in that all the children had kept sleeping soundly through this too was another mystery.

Eventually, Walter’s crying had come to its natural stop, but neither of them felt the need or desire to move.

Barbara was still deep in thought, heavily considering everything about today.

Knowing that he at least felt shameful of the lives he took was a relief, to some extent. But that doesn’t change the damage done, obviously.

And then there was the concern of the very recent life he took.

“... Do you think you could find out if Mr. Levitt had any family?” She asked, Walter’s ears pricking at the question. “I know making yourself known as his killer is completely off the table, but I just wonder if… maybe anonymously, you could let them know he’s… you know. Not coming back…?” Barbara’s eyes flicked to the ground. “... They deserve to know, rather than being left to wonder what happened...”

“I understand.” Walter replied, his voice matching her softness. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you.” She said, relief flickering inside of her at that.

They continued to sit in silence for however long they could, just taking comfort in each other’s presence.

There was still a lot of work to do. A lot they should still discuss. They hadn’t even touched on him using her against Jim, him enslaving somebody...

But, tonight was a step in the right direction.

If she could get him to open up even just a little bit more each day, even if facing the weight of his actions was difficult to bear, Barbara would never stop trying.

#trollhunters #stricklake #strickler #barbara #trollhunters fanfiction #text post #goldie post #wowee zowe you can bet your ass i totally took a lot of inspiration from a future HTFAS scene lmaooo ilovethiskindaangstbereadyforMOREOFIT

[young-dumb-and-vaccinated]

The Cult Girl (Hannibal x Female!Reader) pt. 7

Sorry this took so long y'all. This chapter was difficult to write. Hannibal invites Theresa for dinner and y/n finally confronts her.

Trigger warning: mentions of suicide, child sex abuse; graphic descriptions of violence; confronting an abuser; body-shaming

The stitches in your cut hadn't even dissolved before Theresa intruded on your life again. Before you stormed out, Hannibal did in fact invite her to dinner. Polite society would rule the invitation null and void after that confrontation, but Theresa felt herself exempt from the laws of politeness. Like Evangelicals or craisins, Theresa loved to insert herself where she was clearly not wanted.

Of course, you were peeved at Hannibal for upholding the invitation when she called. But you could tell he had something planned. He was intrigued by her audacity and wanted to see how far it would take her. You couldn't begrudge him professional curiosity, as you too wondered what the fuck her problem was.

In truth, you saw what he did to your grandma, and you wanted to see him do it to Theresa. You wanted her subject to the same psychological torment that she put you through. And that, you realized, was why he honored that invitation. He wanted to vindicate you. And that was the sexiest damn thing you could possibly imagine.

Theresa showed up alone. That was her first mistake.

"Thank you for having me, Dr. Lecter." Theresa greeted, shedding her long coat and dropping it to the ground. "Will [F/N] be joining us?"

"[F/N] will most certainly be joining us." Hannibal said, his voice hardening. He noticed her coat in a pile on the floor and something in his head clicked.

"I hope I'm not overdressed." Theresa tossed her hair over her shoulders. 

She was. And you knew even before she showed up that she'd wear that green evening dress with the plunging neckline. It was the same one she wore to prom. She kept it as a memento all these years to memorialize the day she completely fucked you over. 

She was here to make history repeat itself. 

"Not all, Ms. [L/N]," Hannibal grinned, glancing at the staircase. "[F/N] is just touching up her makeup.”

“That sounds like [F/N].” Theresa laughed. “She always took the most time getting ready in the morning. And she was always the ugliest. It was quite sad, really.”  

Hannibal reminded himself what he had in store for Theresa before letting himself get angry. “If you could join me in the kitchen, I could use a little help with the appetizers.” 

Theresa took the bait and followed him through the threshold into the massive kitchen. 

“Could I trouble you for some psychological advice, Doctor Lecter?” She said, leaning against the island.

“That depends.” He answered, though the tone of his voice connoted a firm ‘no’. “Are you going to be honest with me?” 

Theresa mounted herself on top of the island and crossed her legs. “I’ve just been having quite a bit of trouble in my marriage.”

"Please get off my counter." Hannibal politely demanded. "I just sterilized it this morning."

“My husband just isn’t so excited by me anymore.” She pouted like a child. “He just doesn’t seem interested in... well, any of the things I have to offer him.” 

“Have you considered the possibility that you have nothing to offer?” You said. You approached them with purpose, the skirt of your purple dress fluttering behind you. Your favorite pair of strappy heels clacked against the tile and echoed through the room with every step. 

“[F/N] makes a valid point.” Hannibal agreed, taking you under his arm. “You’re an abusive narcissist, a serial adulterer, and you’re quite horrible at flirting. I certainly don’t understand what you could possibly have to offer.” 

“Nice to see you again, [F/N].” Theresa said, resigned to her defeat. “I didn’t want to say anything at the wedding, but you look like you’ve gained a few pounds.” 

You almost laughed. Growing up, Grandma had subjected you to every form of body-shaming known to man. Nothing Theresa could say would have any effect on you. 

“Really? Because I’ve never felt better in my life.” You smiled, knowing it to be true. “Hannibal is an amazing cook. You’d probably gain weight too if you were eating so well.” 

"Well, I have appearances to keep up." She refuted. "Gideon and I both have very busy schedules. Besides, he finds the kitchen more of a woman's domain."

"Unfortunate for you." Hannibal threw a dish towel over his shoulder and picked up a wine bottle by the neck. He kept his hands busy by pouring three glasses of wine. "That Gideon does not put in the time to keep you well-fed and fulfilled. Might I suggest not molesting children as a remedy?"

You snickered as he handed you a glass. You migrated to the dining table, where the trial was set to take place.

"Did you invite me here just to gang up on me?" Theresa leaned back in her chair. "Because if so, that's really mature."

"Of course not." You said, Hannibal pulling your chair out for you. You placed your napkin in your lap. "Well, maybe a little."

Theresa took a long sip of wine. "You're not going to get an apology if that's what you're after."

"Oh no." You shook your head. "I've stopped expecting basic human decency from you years ago."

"Good." Theresa huffed. "Since that's clearly what you want me to be, that's what I'll be."

"Don't give me that shit." You sighed. "I know what gaslighting is and you're not as good at it as you think."

"Y'know I never asked to be a parent figure to you and Anna." She crossed her arms.

"You may not have asked for it but you sure as hell enjoyed it." You countered, furrowing your brow. "Don't act like you weren't the dictator's right-hand man. You sucked up to grandma and always got preferential treatment."

"I was a kid." She shrugged. "You're really gonna blame me for the shit I did before my skull fully hardened?"

"Well, it exposes a way larger pattern of behavior." You explained. "You're a megalomaniac that wants power without responsibility. So you attach yourself to someone with power, probably another narcissist who's too self-involved to see what a leech you really are. It's what you did with grandma and it's what you're doing with Gideon."

Dressing Theresa down like that gave you a rush. It made you feel alive. But more importantly, it made her look small. It stripped her of her power.

"Well done, Sherlock." Theresa taunted. "But you're forgetting one thing. If I were a megalomaniac, why would I waste my time beating up on you? Some nobody with no power to speak of?"

"Because I'm a living reminder of your past." You narrowed your eyes. "I remind you that you can't just beat everyone into submission."

"Ladies," Hannibal interrupted, holding three bowls. He placed one in front of you, the savory broth enticing your nose. "This is pot-au-feu. It is a simple French stew made from beef, vegetables and potatoes. I added a marrow-bone for extra richness. It's the perfect combination of simplicity and substance."

You couldn't even wait for Hannibal to sit down. You'd been so hungry all day. Smelling the meat slowly braise over the course of the day was torturous. You went straight for the marrow, which was a recent favorite of yours.

Theresa picked the bone up between two fingers and dropped it onto the table, her face wrapped with disgust. "I think I'll pass. I'm not a dog."

"You are not." Hannibal said, spearing a piece of meat on his fork. "I find dogs much better company."

Theresa tented her fingers and glared at Hannibal. "So you're just going to let her rip into me? Aren't you supposed to be the professional here?"

"Don't discount [F/N]'s analysis just because she is a student." Hannibal glared back at her. "From what I know about you, she's dead on."

"Isn't this entire interaction a professional conflict of interest?" Theresa folded her arms. "I don't trust her to analyze me because she hates me."

Hannibal put his utensils down. Anger flashed across his face. "I don't think you quite understand what this interaction is. You are not owed an unbiased psychological profile, especially not from me. You are not my patient. You are [F/N]'s abuser."

Theresa narrowed her eyes and leaned over the table. "So if you understand that, why am I here?"

"You think very highly of your intelligence, Theresa." Hannibal glanced down at his dish. "Perhaps you can figure that one out yourself."

You coughed, narrowly avoiding choking on your food.

"Darling, please pace yourself." Hannibal instructed, though he seemed pleased with how enthusiastically you inhaled your meal. "You're going to make yourself sick if you eat too fast."

"I'm sorry." You said after taking a long sip of water. "I don't know why, I'm just so hungry today."

Hannibal dropped his eyebrows, looking worried. "Did you take your medicine this morning?"

"I think so." You nodded.

Theresa smiled and reached for her phone. The movement caught Hannibal's attention, and he could tell what she was up to right away.

"Theresa, it's very rude to text at the dinner table." He scolded, taking a sip of wine. "Surely, anything you're saying to your grandmother and Anna, you can say to us."

Theresa, too proud to back down, slipped her phone into her purse and met your eyes. "You're pregnant."

"Brilliant fucking deductive reasoning." You rolled your eyes. "A woman gains a little weight and has a healthy appetite? That's the only logical conclusion I would draw."

"Well, aren’t we defensive?" Theresa taunted. "Congratulations, by the way."

"Theresa, stop it." You gritted your teeth, trying not to convey how pissed you were.

"You're going to need to drop out of school to take care of the baby full time." Theresa sneered.

You knew exactly where she was taking this and you wanted more than anything to just disappear. You reached for the wine bottle and refilled your glass. "Shut up, Theresa. Shut the fuck up before you say something you'll regret."

Her face lit up from the satisfaction of finally making you angry. "And someday you'll blow your brains out just like your mother!"

This time, she would regret it. You chucked the empty wine bottle across the table. It hit her directly in the face with a deafening crunch before ricocheting off the table and shattering on the ground.

Theresa brought her finger to her nose, noticing the stream of blood trickling from her nostril. She stood up, stabilizing herself with the back of the chair.

"I didn't think you had it in you." She jabbed before collapsing to the ground.

You went silent, too afraid to look at Hannibal.

"For what it's worth, darling." Hannibal piped up. "I always knew that you did."

#hannibal x reader #hannibal nbc #hannibal lecter #hannibal x you #tw violence #tw blood #cult girl #tw csa mention #tw suidice