BlueDancer9000

like. ok. imagine you are captain jerico soberanis. you rescue a beautiful woman from the depths of the sea. wow, you think. wouldn't it be crazy if i fell in love with her? but you don't, which is probably for the best because she clearly has something going on with the mass murderer you found her with. but also she feels like your problem now (and you have good banter even if you're not in love) so you stick around.

despite her insistance that he isn't a mass murderer, you do all you can to keep news about him away from her. she has better things to think about. she has the chance here to save the world, you think. that's what people keep saying, anyway. you die for her on a rooftop and come back and when she offers you a year of certain life (again) you say no (again). all her friends - that you're not sure were actually her friends, or just using her to save the world - are dead. you quit your job.

she leads you to a load of caves housing a bunch of crazy cultists who actually don't seem that crazy anymore. also there is their religious leader, a random guy who is younger than you (?) and the only one who doesn't even believe in the religion. (except for his socially sanctioned killer, who keeps making wide eyes at your socially sanctioned killer. but he seems harmless.) you have a conversation with said random guy, except it's not really a conversation with you because he's also relaying everything back to his familial-figure-of-some-description ai, who keeps offering opinions on your life choices. somebody is third wheeling. you're not sure who. you say hello to him and he looks like you just shot him in the chest - you later discover this is because you sound like the ai (who raised him) (who has been helping cultivate a mythos around him, as though he's worth worshipping) (who you've been telling to shut up all your life). he asks you how you identify and you genuinely don't know, but the next day he seems to have worked it out. probably the ai told him, like it tells him everything else. it's a miracle he can think for himself, but somehow he can. if anybody had to be what he is, you're glad that it's him.

you end up on a ship that you're not allowed to captain because the ai is doing it, which means you're not needed, but you're here anyway because 1) sea woman and 2) not-religious guy. (the order of priority feels hazy.) (you keep spending more time with him than her.) (are those dead people in your cargo???) greyson (his name is greyson) asks if you're in love with sea woman and you're not. neither is he. you're both a bit in awe of her though. feels like she's more of a religious figure than he is.

one day you wake up in greyson's arms with a weird dream and also the feeling that you might have just contributed to something greater than yourself. you don't want to contribute to something greater than yourself, not like that. there's leftover joy running through your veins but it's not your joy, and greyson's holding you because you fell over but it wasn't really you who fell over, was it? who is he holding? you don't know. you don't know if he knows. the ai keeps steering the ship and you wish you could forget what it felt like to be a part of everything.

you reach your destination. you'd been forced to trust the ai to know where it was taking you and just like always, it followed through. tomorrow you have to make the biggest decision of your life, and greyson wants to be alone. except he's not alone because, as your child (?) (you kind of have a child now) (with greyson) (and the ai) (it's a duplicate of the ai) (you didn't ask for this) tells you, he wants to talk to the ai. you understand.

the child ai apologises on its parent's behalf for what it did to you, but it doesn't mean anything because you know it now better than anyone (including greyson) and you know it doesn't regret it. you aren't sure if it should. you don't want to think about the greater good as much as you are doing now.

(sea woman and her mass murderer are back together again.) (you're happy for her.) (you think.)

(sea woman also seems to have regained a parental figure.) (all her problems are solved.) (she doesn't need you anymore.)

things happen. everyone almost dies. you have no idea whether you saved that beautiful woman from the depths all those months ago only for her to perish again on an island in the middle of nowhere, probably in the mass murderer's arms again. you assume greyson is leaving. greyson assumes you're leaving.

neither of you are leaving.

he's not wearing his earpiece. the ai is silent here. the rockets would drown it out anyway.

YouTube video essays titled "A Deep Dive into TonistTok" or "The Horrors of UnsavoryTok"

Tiktoks like "Pov: That one girl who's sibling just became a scythe" or "That one aunt who just turned her 102397428th corner"

Entire subreddits dedicated to individual scythes and fandoms that go wild everytime a new journal of their fave is added to the Library of Alexandria

YouTube channels dedicated to recording and uploading every mass gleaning by Goddard and his gang

Professional partiers advertising their services on Instagram

Loads and loads of memes complaining about unsavories or bashing tonists

Are there famous YouTubers who collab with scythes? "Today's interview with the Grande Dame of Death" (she would not agree to that)

Maybe there's a small fandom out there dedicated to figuring out as many details about the "seven years" with Curaday as possible

Does the Thunderhead get involved with social media? It definitely sees everything (which is both a blessing and a curse)

Are scythes allowed social media accounts? Are there scythes out there posting GRWMs on TikTok or making YouTube videos explaining Scythedom rules to non-scythes? Maybe a scythe has a secret Tumblr blog where she reblogs cat pictures and complains about scythe life- I'd pay money to see that

disclaimer, I have NOT read "Gleanings" yet so no spoilers for that please

idk if this is a hot take but I was honestly not that invested in the Citra/Rowan romance. there were so many more interesting love stories being told in the background

Scythe Faraday is an icon. dude fakes his death to retire by the beach and goes into a depressive spiral after finding out his situationship is dead (rip Marie. I'll get to you in a minute, queen) in all seriousness, I adored him and I wish we got more of him overall. I think he was in Scythe the right amount but the other two books needed more Michael

Goddard can die in a hole.

Rand can join him.

I don't care about her whole "feeling guilty about killing Tyger" thing. you know how you could have avoided feeling so awful? by not KILLING THE BOY YOU'VE BEEN GROOMING, AYN. disgusting woman and I despised the scene at the end of Toll where she brings Tyger back. she better have let him leave and live his life far away from her after she did that

I changed my mind, I have a better fate for Goddard. he can be full-body paralyzed, put in a one person tube and shot into space where he can drift for eternity with nothing to do but to stare out at the stars he tried to keep humanity from reaching

CITRA DESERVES MORE RECOGNITION!!

this girl was a CHILD and she did more for humanity than every single adult in the series. she was more than "hope" for people, she was the future. I've yet to engage with the fandom much yet but she better not be an under-appreciated heroine or I will lose it

Rowan deserved better, too. poor guy was so used to being rendered deadish and waking up in jail/somebody's custody. so glad that he got to escape all of that

GREYSON. TOLLIVER. I LOVED this character. I like his whole journey SO much. his parents suck, the Thunderhead is a great parent (though ngl I was very uncomfortable in some scenes between Greyson and the Thunderhead-), and he literally became JESUS? slay. he slayd.

speaking of characters that absolutely slayed, SCYTHE MARIE CURIE. BOW DOWN TO A QUEEN. I could sense her death was coming in book two, I just really didn't want to be right. as soon as she made a comment about maybe turning a corner in a few years, I knew my icon's fate was sealed. her romance with Scythe Faraday? unmatched. her badass silver-hair driving all of her antique cars to her mansion in a waterfall? IMMACULATE vibes. I adore her and I really really hope we get some of her in "Gleanings"

if anyone knows any good Faraday/Curie fics please send them my way-

I loved Jerico too! at first I was a little irritated reading their pov but I think that's because I just really wanted to get back to Faraday's pov on the atoll. I really liked Jeri and the way they express their gender fluidity. "I feel like a woman beneath the sun and the stars. I feel like a man under the cover of clouds"? POETRY!! the scene where Jeri was in the cave and got uncomfortable because she couldn't see the sky? the cave scene in general? oh I was living- Jeri and Greyson are really cute, I'm glad they ended up together presumably

I really really hated the Thunderhead's more "romantic" moments with Greyson. I'm sorry, I really felt so uncomfortable and grossed out by that. The Thunderhead basically raised him, it feels so icky. I'm so glad Greyson cut the Thunderhead off at the end for what it did to Jeri. that was definitely a "no contact" worthy offense

I'm still processing how I felt about the ending. I hate that Citra and Rowan never got to say goodbye to Michael. and that Murina and Loriana got separated. I liked the potential those two had. sorry Morrison! should've been Murina on that ship with Loriana. I think I'm only dissatisfied with the ending because of how real the story feels today. living in America, Goddard definitely reminds me of particular people in power. FTD and Robert Goddard, too.

and that's where I'll leave things for now! I have many many thoughts so if anyone's interested, let me know and I'll make a part 2 just infodumping straight from my brain.

Anon asked:

Do you have some prompts for a maternal / big sister-like caretaker and a teenaged whumpee who lived on the streets before. I'm writing a story containing both and i would love some inspiration for some drabbles 🩵

Sure!

Maybe the sister has to steal supplies such as medicine/bandages.

She's always in fight-or-flight mode, even when safe. She's always prepared to leave with her sibling should anything go south. It takes almost a year for her to stop keeping a 'go bag' and hoarding food.

Maybe she always makes sure the siblings needs are met before her own; maybe the sibling secretly goes without/pretends they're fine to make sure their sister is okay first.

Even after they're off the streets, they have to sleep in the same room. She often can't sleep until the sibling is asleep first.

How do they handle nightmares? Do they try not to wake the other up? Does the sibling/sister seek comfort from each other after the fact?

Maybe after becoming severely ill when living on the streets, the sister becomes incredibly protective over the sibling when they become ill after the fact.

Speaking of which, do they have any underlying illnesses/past illnesses/past-injuries that still affect them if they were unable to be treated properly at the time?

Maybe she still babies the sibling, believing that they're still naive, but the sibling gets frustrated at this, as they've matured far faster than kids their age should. This leads to a lot of arguments - maybe going so far as to saying things they don't really mean.

Part 1 |

when your dad calls you by your full government name

the absolute worst thing to ever ever EVER happen to a disordered person, especially those of us with anxiety based disorders (or disorders with a side effect of anxiety) is for our fears and/or unhealthy coping mechanisms to be validated. and in most media where a disordered character takes the focus, writers try to show them Not being validated, to show that the Disorder is Lying and you can get better!! the disorder is lying to you and you need to know that!

but alastor? oh hell no. every fear and maladaptive habit he has is validated over and over, and it just pushes him further into his poor coping mechanisms and one day it's gonna get him. oh it's gonna. analysis posted per the request of my honorable mutual @alastor-insanity, who got to hear all this first. when the dm reply reads "you should post this actually," who am i to refuse the call?

BackUp AU | Drawing

However, lets not pretend that the characters that often are more broadly headcanoned as ace are not also characters that are broadly viewed by their fandoms as childish, innocent, naive etc. etc. The asexuality isn't what is infantilizing, it is the "omg this character is so sweet and innocent! They *have* to be ace!" whether that is being explicitly said, or present more implicitly in the general conversation surrounding the character.

That is, intentionally or not, making the connection between asexuality and childishness. The implication then being that the character doesn't have sex because they, despite being old enough to definitely know what sex is, somehow do not. And often times, these characters aren't even childish/immature, or even innocent. They are just happier, more optimistic than the other characters that surround them. But even if they were, plenty of immature, childish people have sex. Just look at the average college student, for gods sake.

I would be far less put off by this if the badass grizzled action hero was more commonly headcanoned as ace. (Yes, I know that people do this, I am one of them, but broader fandom in general does not - from what I have noticed at least) Yes, he has been hardened by the world he lives in. He has lived through the horrors. He spends hours brooding in a bar with a glass of whiskey in one hand, a cigarette in the other. And no, he does not want to fuck you, or anyone for that matter, he wants to blast zombies heads off with his big fuck-off gun. But often times this character is portrayed as the sexually confident dom. Why? Because he is more serious and brooding? How does that translate to wanting to be sexually dominant in bed? Answer is that it doesn't.

Personality does not dictate whether or not a person has sex or not, or the way in which they want to have sex. So when we assign certain personality traits to specific sexualities - often unconsciously - we create false narratives, like that all aces are sweet and innocent and would never hurt a fly. Which is. Not how that works. And I don't even mean this in the "ace people actually make the most raunchy jokes, write the best smut etc." way (which is just stereotyping in the opposite direction). I mean it in the, asexual adults are still adults. And them not having sex is simply because they don't experience sexual attraction to some degree. That's it, that is the only requirement. So it becomes deeply weird when the majority of characters that are broadly viewed as ace by the fandom, are also the same characters that are viewed as "childish."

(I could also get in to how adults liking more "childish" things does not equate to being actually *like* a child, and how hobbies also cannot dictate sexuality, but that is another conversation that I do not want to get into right now.)

And of course this isn't to say no one should headcanon a character that is more "innocent/childish" (however that is being defined) as ace, or the serious, world weary badass as being a dom. It's fandom, people can do whatever the fuck they want at the end of the day. This is more about recognizing patterns, and learning to question those patterns.