#and i really hate leaning into the us vs them thing but there is a huge problem in the tg fandom that continues to go unchecked

[theweirwoodfiles]

HOTD Fandom Behavior

This is going to be a little long winded but this has been on my mind for awhile.

Why does it seem like it's only team black that gets put in the hot seat for fan behavior? I understand that team black makes up the majority of the fandom, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't address the rampant misogyny that has been present in the team green fandom since day one that has gone unchecked. The show amplified the voices of misogynists who feel drawn to the story of the dance because they enjoy Rhaenyra's suffering and tragedy. Not to mention the other, actual fans, who still just hate her for whatever reason and can't do so without being misogynistic just helping normalize that kind of behavior.

And I'm not talking about "well I just like Aegon more than Rhaenyra", but the fixation on Rhaenyra's sex life and weight, the ai slop photos or wojaks where she's a misogynistic caricature, the fact that there is genuinely a huge portion of team green fans that cannot admit to their dislike of Rhaenyra without falling into misogyny. Those people are not outliers, and they've made themselves very comfortable in that part of the fandom. They feel no shame and sometimes even get viral posts.

"I'm not team black because the fans ruined it for me" but the team green fans calling Rhaenyra a fat ho or saying she deserves everything she gets for daring to have sexual agency didn't turn you off from being team green?

[lamentationsofalonelypotato]

What Is This Feeling?

Pairing: Din Djarin x f!reader, Din Djarin/The Mandalorian POV

Summary: Din can't seem to stop running in to you, and he can't figure out why he likes it. Takes place after Season 3 when Din and Grogu have been living in their cabin on Nevarro. This is the second fic in my Sugar, Spice, and Starlight Series!

Tropes: Fluff, Bakery AU, Grumpy vs. Sunshine

Word Count: 2.7K

Warnings: I don't think there's really any? The reader is really soft and likes to bake? Din being a little bit self-deprecating to himself? Din kinda simping and not understanding that he's simping? Din might be a little bit OOC. It's mostly just fluff.

Note: This is told from Reader's perspective. Any references to the reader is made using you or your. There is no use of y/n! I tried my best to proofread, but nobody's perfect. If you don’t like, don’t read, but if you do like, you’re my favorite! This is my second time writing for Din, so please be gentle.

Internal monologue is in italics and is in first person.

Main Masterlist

Series Masterlist

A/N: I really just wanted to write a little fluffy thing from Din's perspective because I can't stop apparently. 🤣

The Mandalorian/Din Djarin POV

"Mando, I don't know why you always seem so upset whenever I ask you to do a small favor for me." Greef Karga says with a chuckle. "I thought you liked being busy."

"Maybe it's because you never bother to return any of the favors I do for you." Din sighs, leaning back against the cool solid wall of the building behind him masked in shadow.

The sounds of the city rattle outside his armor: the vendors who line the crowded streets calling out to the people who walk along the dirt road, the low hum of speeders as they muscle down the street and split the masses of pedestrian, and up ahead Din can hear the happy giggles of children scream and giggle while avoiding the chilling spray of the new fountains in the town square.

Din supposed that Karga put them in to make Navarro more "family friendly," an odd concept given it's colorful history, but Din admitted to himself that it did seem to have a more "comforting" effect on the small city. Every time Din came to town he'd see a new shop, new face, or new addition being added on to the growing sprawl of buildings.

"Oh don't-" Karga begins to reply, but Din hears a laugh ring above the cacophony of sounds and the rest of Karga's statement is lost to the wind.

Din's eyes search for the source, the sound of the laugh vibrating through his bones, familiar, until he finds you. You're sitting on a stone bench just outside where children are weaving through the clear streams of water erupting from the ground in crystal blue arches while parents watch.

There's a book perched on your knee and the sunlight drags across your skin in luminous wave, while the breeze teases through your hair, but you're smiling down at the pages. Today you're wearing a teal-colored dress that reaches your ankles and your arms are covered by a small floral shrug that drifts with each gentle gust of wind from the East. A laugh escapes your parted lips as you turn the page, eyes following the text, each soft exhale of your breath moving your shoulders, oblivious to the world around you, and oblivious to Din's watchful eye.

Din's throat tightens, the sound of your laugh sending a warm feeling he couldn't name swirling in his chest. It was an odd feeling, something that makes his heart thud an extra beat, and something that makes a smile twitch on the end of his lips in the dark beneath his helmet.

Meeting you had been unexpected and although Din hated when Grogu would sneak away from him, he couldn't be upset with Grogu over wandering into your shop, not when it meant that Din got to meet you.

Truthfully, Din would have never set foot in it. He liked living outside of town, liked the quiet it brought, the peace he thought he'd never have after years of fighting and years of looking at his blood stained hands and wondering if there would be rest, if there could be for someone like him.

Of course with that peace came an emptiness that Din had felt before in the years before he'd taken in Grogu, that somehow found him in the cold reaches of space when all was silent, but Din never expected it to return. Not when he was spending his time living with Grogu in the small cabin on the outskirts of town and felt closest to happiness than he ever had.

You laugh again, lips arching in a smile as you read the book in your lap, the sound of it floating through the air above all the other noises in the town square.

Din forgets how to breathe.

It had been a week since he'd met you. Din didn't need to go into town often and didn't like to, but as the days stretched longer and longer he found himself wanting to return.

He didn’t know why that was. He had spent most of his life being self-sufficient and distancing himself from other people, but today when he'd woken up, he'd been unable to stop himself from making the trek back to Nevarro City.

Odd given that fact that Din knew no one wanted him here.

He knew what the residents whispered about him when they thought he couldn't hear, saw the way mothers clutched their children tighter against their chests and walked in a different direction or crossed to the other side of the street when they saw him approach, and felt the stares of people who shrank back into darkened corners to avoid the flash of silver from his Beskar as he walked the streets. Din never used to care about that sort of thing, in fact he was used to it. As both a Mandalorian and a bounty hunter, Din was acutely aware of how people responded to him…

But not you.

Instead of the fear other shown him, you smiled, gave him free pastry, made him feel… seen. It was one thing for someone to gush over Grogu and give him pastry, but you’d done it for Din. The Mandalorian who lived outside of town and who Din was sure you'd heard all about through the gossiping inhabitants of Nevarro.

Din had only met one other who treated him with such kindness, Omera. But Din hadn't felt this when he'd been around her.

He hesitated on the thought, watching you turn another page, and smile at what you found.

You were different than her. You were unlike anyone else that Din had ever met.

You were soft, hands rubbed smooth from kneading pastry and smelling of fresh baked bread. You reminded him of the warmth of the morning rays from the twin suns of Tatooine before they kissed the sands that shifted like an invisible ocean.

Looking at you made the rest of the world feel like it was holding it's breath. Din didn't want to look away. He wanted to study the subtle quirk of your lips, trace the smile lines on your cheeks, and watch the subtle rise and fall of your chest as you read.

Din didn't think people like you existed, let alone to find one on Nevarro of all places. He didn't understand why you'd chosen here to open a bakery, on a planet made of sand and rock, and populated with people Din wouldn't trust for a milli-second.

Well… he didn't really trust anyone anyway.

Din thought he'd imagined you, that's why he'd come back the second time to your shop when Grogu was asleep. He needed to see if you really existed, if the woman he remembered was real flesh and blood and not some figment of his imagination.

But you were there, cleaning, and then when you'd noticed him, you'd smiled at him again as if he wasn't who he was, as if he was your… friend.

He could count the number of friends he had on one hand and none of them made him feel the way you did whenever you smiled at him.

"Mando?"

Din doesn't look away from you, still reveling in these few moments. It was the first time that he'd seen you since he'd visited your bakery a week ago, and Din had been wrestling internally with himself thinking of a reason to stop by. Instead he'd bumped into Greef Karga. 

"Mando!" Karga says again and this time Din turns to look at him.

"What?" He gruffs in the buzzing monotone of his helmet, annoyed that he'd had to look away.

"Did you hear anything I said?" Karga raises an eyebrow with a dubious look.

Din thought about lying. "No."

"What am I going to do with you Mando? You always-"

Din lost whatever Karga was saying again as the memory of you saying his real name washes over him in a soothing wave. He'd been hesitant to tell you, he didn't like telling anyone. He let everyone call him Mando and he didn't mind.

But the moment you'd spoken his name, let the syllables roll from your mouth like running water in a cool pool, Din could feel his body underneath his Beskar relax.

What is wrong with me? She's just someone I met. She probably doesn't even remember-

"Din!"

He'd know your voice anywhere, but he wasn't expecting his body to respond to you the same way it had the moment he met you.

Din looks up over Karga's shoulder again to watch your approach. The book you'd been reading is clasped in your right hand, and you're smiling at him in a way that makes him want to forget everything he'd done.

Forget the work worn hands from years of bounty hunting, forget the scars that covered his body, and forget that he's him.

Your face is crinkled with your smile, eyes bright while the sunlight catches along your skin and hair to make you seem as if you'd floated down from above for just this moment. The teal dress you have hugs your body as if it were made for you and in a way that makes Din's throat tight and makes all other thoughts evaporate from his mind.

You wave with your free-hand while you get closer to where he and Greef Karga are standing as if the smile isn't enough and as if you want him to know that it is him he's talking to. Again, Din is struck with the melancholic feeling of something he can't name pricking in his chest.

"Hey stranger." Your smile wider up at him. "Haven't seen you in a few days. Thought maybe you were sleeping off a sugar coma somewhere."

Din's mouth is dry, he can't think of a way to respond, his hands suddenly sweaty beneath his thick leather gloves-

Din didn't understand why that talking to you made him feel more anxious than when he was facing down Moff Gideon or why whenever you laughed Din felt the same way as when he bit into one of the sweet and tangy squares of Uj'alayi that you'd made.

A warm, melancholic feeling of something that he knew before and something that he thought he'd never have again.

Your eyes shift to where Greef Karga stands, stunned at your friendly words and casual joke towards Din. "Mr. Karga." You nod in greeting. "It's wonderful to see you again. I was hoping you would stop by for your usual Ansionian tea this morning?"

"The day is still young." Greef Karga says, recovering from his shock. "I didn't know you'd met our resident Mandalorian."

"I have." Din watches your eyes drop to where Grogu wriggles in the bag at his side while squealing happily. "And I couldn't forget about my favorite customer."

Grogu wraps his hand around your outstretched fingertip and earns another smile from you. Din feels something inside of him break open. Seeing you with the kid, treating him as if he were your own, made Din feel almost uncomfortably hot.

Din is happy that he's wearing the helmet because there's something akin to a blush on his cheeks that he's not sure where it came from.

"Hey buddy." You giggle softly, before raising your gaze to Din's once more. And even though Din knows he's wearing the helmet there's a part of him that believes you can see through the forged metal and where his face rests within. Your gaze seemed to lay him bare in front of you, and Din didn't understand why he liked it.

Grogu releases your finger and your hand drifts to Din's left forearm laying just over the gauntlet.

As soon as your hand touches his arm, Din feels his cheeks flush while electricity pops and tingles over his skin starting where your hand is laying on his arm. You're not even touching his skin and Din feels like every nerve ending in his body has activated somehow.

You give him another encouraging smile. "You guys should stop by later. I felt like adding a few savory things to the menu and made some Corellian Meat Pies. I'll put together a package so y'all can take some home if you want." You squeeze his gauntlet once so quickly that he thinks he missed it, before dropping your hand to your side.

Din watches your cheeks darken slightly, embarrassed by what you did, but he's not upset that you touched him. It's quite the opposite. He's acutely aware of the part of him you touched, could still feel the pressure of your gentle squeeze through the metal and leather covering on his forearm.

His tongue feels like a wet rag in his mouth, lifeless. He can't think of anything to say or how to find his voice.

You wait a minute for Din's response, but when it doesn't come you give the child a pat on the head stepping closer to Din in the process, so close that the smell of vanilla, fresh bread, and brown sugar comes in through the filters in the bottom of his helmet. "It was nice to see you Mr. Karga." Your eyes flick upwards to where Din suspects you believe his eyes are. "Good to see you too Din."

He can't help, but notice what almost looks like disappointment in your eyes as you turn to go.

Din hates it, but at the same time he's confused as to where it came from.

As you begin to float away from them, Din realizes that he hasn't said a single word since you walked over, he hadn't even waved in your direction when you waved at him, he was too busy feeling like his tongue wasn't more than dead weight in his mouth and surprise at how friendly you were to him again.

"Wait-" Din shouts your name above all the noise, finding his voice at last.

You turn to look at him, eyes wide in surprise. The wind picks up, flickering through your hair and sending the strands forward into your face, while your dress and shawl billows around your body, the sunlight behind you imprinting your figure in Din's mind. He was sure that if he shut his eyes right now, he'd see you on the inside of his eyelids.

"We'll-" Din clears his throat. It was harder for him to find his words when you were looking at him like that. "We'll come by later." Even through the buzzing monotone of the helmet it comes out hesitant.

What is wrong with me?

The smile you have when he says that to you, makes Din forget where he's standing. Everything else on the street fades away, all other sounds rising from the crowds ebbs away, all he can see is you, smiling at him like he wasn't who he was.

Your cheeks darken just a smidge with a blush, both of your arms tightening on the book clasped to your chest. "I’ll look forward to it."

Din watches you walk away through the crowd, his eyes automatically scanning the outskirts of the streets for potential threats. It was a habit of his, but now he didn't do it for himself or for the kid, he did it for you.

There was some primal part of his mind registering that you shouldn’t be left alone in a universe like this, that someone as kind and soft as you needed to be protected.

Protected from people like me.

The thought comes through before he can stop it. Memories of his life before he met the kid playing through his head on a sickening reel. His time with Ran and Xi'an, the early years of his life when he took jobs no matter the cost to keep his belly full and all he had were the clothes on his back. The faces of the people who stood in his way flashing through his mind when he closed his eyes at night.

Din knew he wasn't a good person, not after all the things he'd done. He didn't deserve your kindness or your care. He didn't deserve you.

"Well, well, well." Greef Karga chuckles under his breath. "Mando, didn't know you-" Greef Karga begins to say.

"Shut up." Din clips, his body still turned in the direction of your shop, eyes flicking through the crowds trying to see one final glimpse of you before you vanish into the multitude of people going about their day. "I should go."

He knows he should. He should turn around and go back to his little cabin on the outskirts of the city, go back to the quiet, and to the empty feeling that comes with it. The same feeling he didn't feel when he spoke to you.

But instead of turning back to go where he believes he should, Din begins to walk in the direction of your shop with Grogu cooing in the bag at his side, and Greef Karga watching Din go with a knowing smile on his lips.

Thank you so much for reading! Likes, Reblogs, and Comments are not required, but are always appreciated! If you'd liked to be added to my taglist for fics in this universe please let me know!

Taglist:

@jollyhunter @scoliobean @pressedwater @littlebear423 @bookloverkat

[willowsnook]

Right Place, Right Time (LN pt. 2)

pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3, pt. 4

@seasonswinter @drdbnkl2008

It'd been a couple of months since the Dutch Grand Prix and your life went back to normal. Work, hanging out with friends, watching sports, walking your dog, the usual. The weather was starting to get nicer in Austin so you were in a good mental spot.

You and Lily had checked in every couple of weeks to chat and you had grown to really like her. About a month ago you had gotten a text from an unknown number.

L: Hey, this is Lando. Lily gave me your number I hope that's okay

Y/N: Lando who?

L: 🙄 very funny

Y/n: How do I even know this isn't spam???

L: [video attachement]

"Hey y/n, it's Lando Norris. You know the driver for McLaren that you met in August. Just wanted to say hi, okay bye."

Since then you had been casually texting, nothing crazy just pretty much sending memes back and forth. The Austin GP was coming up and your whole team was going much to Lando's delight.

The Monday of race week, you were in your office working when you looked down to see Lando calling.

Y/n: What's up?

LN: Nothing much just packing. I'm flying in on Wednesday.

Y/n: Coolio, I hate to do this but I have a meeting in 5 minutes. Can I call you later?

LN: No no it's okay. I was calling to see if maybe you could give me a little tour of Austin when I get in?

Y/N: Hmmm I am pretty packed this week hanging with Lily.

LN: Yeah but you can hang out with her when Osc and I are doing stuff.

Y/n: Fine, text me when you land and i'll figure something out.

LN: Cool, I'll see you then.

You said goodbye and hung up, leaning back in your chair. This whole situation was very strange to you considering you and Lando had spoken one time in person. But maybe he just needed a friend.

You were at happy hour later than day with two of your friends when the subject came up.

"So yeah, I'm picking him up from his hotel and going sight seeing and eating I guess," you said nonchalantly as you finished the story to your two best friends, Maggie and Jaelen.

"Oh yeah so casual," Jaelen said. "Just hanging out with a famous F1 driver. Nothing odd about that." You rolled her eyes and Maggie snickered.

"Did you like put a spell on him when you were there and now he's in love with you?" She asked and you flipped her off.

"I literally didn't do anything!" You exclaimed. "We just talked for a bit and I was being nice."

"You're just not like other girls," Jaelen mocked and you groaned. This whole thing was getting out of hand.

"I am excited for you guys to meet Lily though," you said. "She's cool."

"Sounds like it," Maggie said. "Girls night on Thursday right?" You nodded. You had planned a little girls night slumber party with them and Lily to just hang and watch movies and gossip. The usual activities.

------wednesday---------

The day had flown by at work and before you knew it you were heading out the door to pick up Lando. Your hair sat in waves down your back and you decided on a casual cute vibe wearing a cropped knit brown tank top paired with light baggy jeans. It wasn't that far of a drive to his hotel and you texted him when you got there.

Glued to your phone, you didn't see him walk up and jumped a little when the passenger door opened. He gave you a big smile as your eyes raked over him in a big gray t-shirt and black jeans.

"You are totally checking me out," he said and you huffed.

"I am not," you replied and he laughed.

"It's good to see you," he said sweetly and you smiled.

"You too, are you hungry?"

"Starving."

You pulled out and headed towards the restaurant, the two of you casually chatting about his travel and your work day. You found parking at the place and you both jumped out and headed in.

"Tex mex," Lando said looking at the menu with his face scrunched. "Isn't it just like Mexican food?"

"Yes and no," you said. "It's like American Mexican food so it uses more beef and yellow cheese vs. what you would get in an authentic mexican restaurant."

"What do they mean by a bowl of queso?" He asked and your eyes snapped up to him.

"It's just like a bowl of cheese that you eat with chips," you said slowly.

"And that's good?" he asked innocently.

"You are going to make me cry in public right now," you warned. When your waiter came over it was the first thing you ordered for the two of you.

"How long have you lived here?" Lando asked after you put in your orders.

"A couple of years actually," you said. "I grew up a couple of states north of here, went to college up there, and then moved down when I got the job at Monster."

"Do you have family here?"

"A couple of second cousins but my parents still live where I grew up," you replied. "You live in Monaco now right?" He smirked.

"Looking me up online now are you?" He teased and you blushed.

"I had to make sure you weren't crazy if I was going to show you around my city," you defended and he laughed.

"Yeah I'm in Monaco, I grew up in Glastonbury though," he said and you nodded.

"Is it hard being away from your family?" You asked and he shrugged.

"Yes and no. I miss them a lot but a lot of people involved in F1 live in Monaco so I'm not totally alone. It can be lonely though." You smiled sympathetically.

When your food arrived you waited patiently for Lando to try the infamous queso.

"Well?" You asked nervously. This was very important to you.

"It's pretty good," he said taking another bite.

"Just pretty good?" You questioned.

"It's like exotic," he said and you choked on the sip of water you had just taken a drink of.

"Exotic?? It's melted cheese buddy." Lando blushed and you laughed.

"Are you like a picky eater?" You asked and he nodded.

"Yeah I get a lot of shit for it," he admitted.

"I can't imagine why."

Conversation flowed over the next half hour while you ate, trading childhood stories and hobbies. Lando picked up the bill much to your protest and you headed out to your next stop.

"Mini golf? You really did stalk me online," Lando said as you pulled up to your favorite mini golf course that was peter pan themed.

"Yeah yeah, I wanted to make sure you had fun," you said.

"I would have fun with you even if we did nothing but stare at each other for two hours," he said cheekily.

"Yeah because I'm hot," you replied with a wink and he laughed.

Lando quickly realized that you were a pretty competitive mini golfer so there wasn't much conversation even though he tried. You complained about him distracting you multiple times which made him giggle.

In the end it did not pay off as he beat you by 5 strokes causing you to pout in the car.

"You realize I play golf like all the time," he said looking at you with amusement.

"Yeah whatever," you muttered and he laughed. As you pulled up to his hotel he turned to you.

"Come have a drink to end the night," he said pleading.

"I don't want to pay for parking," you countered and he waved his hand.

"I'll pay for valet come on," he said and got out of the car. You waited while he talked to the valet guy and then followed him in and towards the bar. You got a vodka soda and you found some comfy chairs to sit in. Right when Lando started to say something, someone sunk into the third chair by you guys.

"Mind if I join you guys?" You looked to see Max Verstappen with a drink in his hand casually sitting back.

"Not at all," you said.

"Max, this is Y/n, y/n this is Max," Lando introduced and Max nodded.

"Ahh the mysterious y/n," he said smirking and you turned to Lando who was looking anywhere else but you. The three of you chatted as you got to know Max a little more and the conversation naturally turned to the upcoming race.

"Are you ready for the race this week?" You asked and Max nodded.

"Yeah, don't have really any expectations so we will just see what happens," he said nonchalantly.

"Why not?" You asked.

"The car sucks so who cares," he said and you snorted.

"What?" He asked with an eyebrow raise.

"You've won the championship how many times now? And you expect me to believe that you really just don't care?" You asked incredulously. Lando leaned up about to say something but Max beat him to it.

"Tell me what you really think then," he challenged.

"I think it's so easy for you to fall into this nonchalant attitude because you're Max Verstappen," you said and he raised his eyebrows. "You've painted yourself as this self-assured confident guy so of course you wouldn't be worked up. But how did you get to where you are? By not caring? By not having passion? I don't believe it for one second."

He sat thoughtfully for a moment before speaking again.

"You know my dad used to always tell me that if I'm not winning, then what's the point," he said.

"I think the point is that you are doing what you love and trying to get better everytime because you love the sport," you said sadly. "Winning is just a bonus. And it's you in the car not him."

Max looked at you for a second before turning his attention to Lando.

"I can see why you like her," he said before turning again to you. He reached out and grabbed your hand, caressing his thumb over the back. "It was nice meeting you and thank you."

You bid him farewell before turning back to Lando who was lost in thought.

"I think I'm going to head home," you told him and he nodded. His hand rested on the bottom of your back as you walked back towards the entrance. Lando paid the valet guy and the two of you waited for your car.

"When can I see you again?" He asked.

"I'll probably be there Saturday for qualifying," you said and he frowned.

"That's a long time from now," he said and you smirked looking away.

"I'm hanging out with Lily buddy, she's my main priority not you," you teased and he huffed.

"I want to see you sooner," he complained.

"We'll see," you replied. Your car came back into your vision and you wrapped your arms around Lando's neck pulling him in for a hug. HIs arms wrapped around your waist and he kissed your cheek before letting go.

"I had fun tonight," he said.

"Me too," you replied. "See you Saturday."

"See you Friday," he said waving and you rolled your eyes but smiled as you got in your car.

[jinxfixeseverything]

11/26 Sleepover (Chapter 11)

Notes and disclaimers: Story is JINX/FEMALE READER. Most chapters contain SMUT and or FLUFF, there is LIGHT ANGST in a few.

Important notes: Reader refers to Jinx often as Pj, for a term of endearment and rare but occasional reference to Jinx as Powder, by the people closest to her, as this is set after her redemption arc she does not mind it used in context!! But still prefers and continues to go by Jinx. She is mainly referred to as Jinx in the story and by the characters in it, don’t worry! Jinx is canonically bisexual in this story. I do not own any of these characters, I just play with them. 

Warning: Story will contain VERY graphic depictions of WLW, main coupling will consist of two switches to keep everyone happy. I’ll shut up now and I really hope you enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You, Jinx, Vi and Cait had a great night. You stayed at the bar playing pool, darts, air hockey, laughing and joking. Jinx often brings her hand up to her lips, feigning deep thought for her next move as she runs her fingers across her lips. Making sure to catch your eye, smelling you on her fingers. You clench your jaw, widening your eyes and shaking your head lightly in an attempt to get her to stop. Worried Cait and Violet would catch on. Jinx smirks as your paranoid discomfort. 

Teaming up as couples, then sisters Vs girlfriends, at Cait’s request. You figured in an attempt to smooth things over between the sisters and keep them from bickering. It worked and eventually, the sisters almost got into a bar brawl with a group of burly guys after one of them started rudely complaining about how loudly they were laughing together. You and Cait pulled them away before the punches started flying. It was time to call it a night.

You’d all planned to take Jinx back to the arcade, then Vi and Cait said they wanted to walk you back to the inn just in case the guys came out looking for trouble. After walking Jinx home, you all stop outside the arcade. You wave Vi and Cait on a little so you could say goodnight to Jinx in private. They say their goodbyes to Jinx and agree to walk on a head and wait for you a little further away. Jinx leans back against the wall, her foot against it, it was becoming a familiar pose. You place your hands on her hips, stepping forward. “Goodnight, Beautiful.” You tell her as you kiss her softly

She kisses you back but her arms drop by her sides. When you pull away she looks at you sadly. “Don’t go.” She says. You laugh softly, she did this every time. “They’re waiting for me.” You gesture down the street. “Tell them to go.” Jinx said trailing a little doodle over your chest with her finger.

“I should get back to the inn. I like having a hot shower in the morning sometimes.” You reason, frowning sadly.

“My water is hot.” She grumbles.

“Yours is tepid at best.” You counter. She sighs and pulls you into a hug. “I hate it when you go, I miss you.” She pouts into your neck, gently kissing it. “I want you to stay, just one more night?” She pleads, kissing your neck so softly your eyes fall closed. Her hands snake down to your butt, pulling you to her hips and squeezing.

“I wanna cuddle.” She says, her voice quiet and seductive, before kissing you a little, then turning her attention back to your neck again. You know that tone well and cuddling is the last thing she wants to do. You sigh deeply and give her more of your neck. “Let me go tell them to head off.” You say caving in and kissing her lips softly. Her hand travels up your back, one still on you butt and she pulls you closer in. You place your hands on her shoulders, pulling away but she doesn’t let go and continues to kiss your neck. You laugh and squirm out of her grasp, Jinx bites her lip smiling when you get free. “Go up and I’ll be there in a few minutes.” You tell her before jogging down the lane to find Cait and Vi.

“Hey guys, sorry. You don’t have to walk me back to the inn.” You inform them sheepishly.

“We’re not gonna leave you to walk back alone.” Vi says, adamantly.

“No I mean, I’m gonna stay at the arcade tonight.”

A grin creeps across Cait’s face. “You owe me a back rub, Darling.” Cait said triumphantly, looking at Vi. “Damn it, I wanted that bubble bath! Alright.” Vi complained, her tone dejected. “You guys bet on us?” You asked them. “What happened to not leaving a buddy behind?” Vi said wrapping an arm around your shoulders as you started to walk back with them.

“You want me to walk you guys to the bridge?” You ask passing the arcade.

“No it ok. Go spend time with your girl, we’ll be more than fine.” Cait says. You pause a moment, wanting to do the right thing.

“Go!” Vi says pushing you lightly towards the arcade.

“Thanks, guys.” You smile and jog back to the arcade.

Entering, you close the door behind you, pulling the bolt across and rushing to the elevator. Loosening your clothes on the way up.

The room was dark when you got up to Jinx’s room. The lights were off. Jinx lay in the bed, asleep.

“Balls!” You complained to yourself. You’d been looking forward to ’cuddling’, you didn’t have time get her back behind the bar and figured if you stayed tonight you could. Well, you’d have to owe her one.

You undress as quietly as possible, throwing on some boxers and a t shirt to sleep in, you slide into the bed slowly, trying not to wake her, or disturb her in any way. You lay on your back, staring at the ceiling, puffing out a small breath of disappointment, closing your eyes you decide to try to sleep.

Your heart leaps out of your chest as you feel Jinx’s light body weight pounce on you.

“Boo!!” She yells loudly in your face as she lays on top of you.

“Fuck!” You yelp in surprise. “Pj! You almost scared me to death!”

“I thought you were gonna see me giggling the whole time you were creeping around.” She laughs. She drops her voice low and mocks you. “Oh, balls!” She impersonates you. “Were you disappointed when you thought I was asleep?” She asks. “Shut up.” You reply, kind of grumpy she startled you so bad then was making fun of you.

“Aww and you were being so cute trying not to wake me up, I’d have just jumped all over you if you fell asleep on me like that.” Jinx said.

“Yeah, no shit!” You chastise her.

“Don’t be moody.” she says. “I was waiting for you. See?” Jinx is laying on you naked and you only just realise in the darkness when she grabs your hand and places it on her boob, then runs it down her body, then between her legs, she was wet as hell. “You kept me waiting so long I almost started without you.” She says, her voice a sexy purr.

She brings your hand up to her mouth and sucks your fingers with a loud smack of her lips, then kisses you. She puts her tongue on yours and you can taste her pussy. It stoked the fire in you like a switch being flipped and instinctively you reached to grab her close.

Almost as if she knew, she moved back quickly to straddle you, catching your wrists to stop you, a streak of pink motion coming from her glowing eyes.

“You gotta stop doing that.” You warn her in almost a growl. “Don’t. Touch.” She commands you slowly. “Now, take your shirt off.” She said authoritatively.

Your eyes are adjusting to the dark, you can see her looking down at you, her eyes gleaming a dark pinkish purple. As Jinx lets go of your wrists you pull off the shirt and drop it off of the bed. “Put the lamp on. I wanna see you.” You tell her. “Aww, you wanna see me?” She mocks. Then leans forward and puts her hand over your eyes. Using her other hands to touch your body all over. You pull her hand off your eyes and lean across to hit the lamp switch. Jinx is straddling you, her hair loose of braids and tucked behind her ears, apart for that one piece of hair that always seems to stay put.

“Stop being a little brat.” You tell her, she was being so annoying tonight. “I should have stayed at the inn.” You laugh lightly.

Jinx clutches her heart, in mock pain. Giving you sad puppy dog eye, then quickly turning to a dirty smirk.

“But if you did that…” she said leaning over you, reaching around under the pillow. “You wouldn’t be getting your cock wet, would you?” She finally pulled out the strapon from underneath.

Your mouth fell open, but no words came out. You could feel her starting to pool on you through the material of your underwear. “Take this shit off, I want you wearing this.” She said in a bossy tone, tugging at the boxers and dropping the strap on to your abdomen, with a dull slap.

Jinx shuffles back a little to let you get everything in place and adjusted. Her arms folded, drumming her fingers against her lean bicep impatiently. “You are in a weird mood tonight.” You tell her.

She ignores you but pushes you back when you’re done, straddling your cock. “No touching.” She reminds you.

“What bullshit…” you begin to protest.

“No. Touching.” She repeats, trying to keep the smile from her face and failing.

“I’ll just fucking twiddle my thumbs then.” You sulk. “Mm hmm.” Jinx’s says nodding at you sarcastically, holding the cock and lowering herself onto it.

You watch her take the length inch by inch, until it disappears inside her. She lets out a deep breath then she lifts herself and slowly lowers down on it again. You grab for the curtain draping the bed, just behind the pillows. Feeling the pressure rubbing against you. You make small thrusts up each time the cock fills her.

“Still thinking of going to Bilgewater?” She asks. Rocking her hips forward when the cock is fully inside her. “Huh?” You blink, watching her riding the cock. Jinx starts to moan as she takes the length and works it in a circle with her hips.

“Your little trip to Bilgewater, are you gonna miss this?” She says trying to keep her voice steady, her eyes falling closed as her head drops down, putting her hands on your stomach to steady herself, concentrating on her movement.

“You wanna talk about this now?!” You say flabbergasted.

“Will you miss it?” She asks again, looking into your eyes intensely. “Fucking me every night.”

“Uh huh.” You manage to strangle out, the way she was moving on you was the ultimate distraction.

“You gonna miss making me cum?” She asks.

“Yeah.” You say trying to grab for her hips, she stops you by pushing your hands away.

“Get used to not touching me then.” She says pinning your arms by your sides as she rides.

“Fuck sake… Brat.” You call her jerking your hips hard, making her moan loud at the unexpected force, almost toppling her forward.

“You little prick!” She berates you, only earning her another forceful jerk of your hips.

“Uh, fuck!” She moans loudly again with the force of the thrust. “You’re not going.” she tells you, lifting herself with her thighs, biting her lip and sliding down the length of the cock. “I am… I know what you’re tryna do.” You manage to say in between ragged breathes.

“What am I doing?” She purrs, rising up the cock, just leaving the tip inside and making circles with her hips. “What am I doing?” She asks again, lowering on the cock painfully slow, watching you as you watch her pussy swallow it. “Fuck!” You cry out to the ceiling, frustrated you can’t hold her. She grins devilishly wide and repeats her movements. “You can’t… you can’t do that.” You choke out, dying to touch her. Jinx watches you with lust and amusement as she slides up and down the length of the cock. “Say you won’t go and you can touch me.” She bargains wickedly.

“Fuck off!” You laugh with frustration. “That’s blackmail.”

“It’s your choice.” She replies with shaky breath, enjoying tormenting you.

You swallow hard refusing to answer. Jinx’s eyes flash angry pink for just a second, then back to lustful dark purple as she rides the cock. “You’re a dick… Promise you’ll come back.” She says continuing the motions with her hips, letting go of your arms. “Say it while it’s inside me, so you can’t lie.”

“I will.” You say trying to concentrate on speaking. Reaching for her hips.

“Say ‘I swear to you Powder.’ Right now.” She asks, stopping in your lap. You sit up wrapping her in your arms. “I promise.” You say trying to reassure her. Hoisting her up as you cross your legs below her. She closes her eye tightly as the movement pushes the cock around inside her.

“Say it.” She persists placing her hands on your shoulders, starting to move on the cock again.

“I… I swear Powder, I’m coming back.” You promise trying to focus on what she was saying, not just the feeling of her riding the cock in your lap. Jinx lets out a small whimper and wraps her arms around your shoulders, holding you tight. Making a small sob into the crook of your neck as she rides quicker in your lap.

“Pj, stop, stop.” You tell her, putting a hand on Her hip to slow her. She picks up the pace and rides your cock harder.

“I don’t wanna stop, I don’t wanna stop.” she whispers. Before capturing your mouth in a searing kiss.

She rides the cock wildly, while you hold her against you, until you hear her breathing hitch, she close to cumming. You hungrily run your hands everywhere you can on her body, getting closer yourself as she tugs on the cock with her pussy on each thrust. You cum first, tipping Jinx over the edge. Breathing heavily but both cumming quieter than normal, small moans and whimpers coming from you both.

You keep holding her against you and stroking her back for a while with her head buried between your neck and shoulder. She clutches your neck and shoulders tightly, until she starts to stir. You cup her cheek in your hand and search her eyes. “You ok?” You ask her with tender concern. “I just needed to hear you say it. I’ll be fine. I’m gonna miss you, you know?” Jinx says, unable to meet your eyes for a moment. Then forcing herself to. 

You smile at her reassuringly, saying “I’m gonna miss you like crazy too, but I gotta do this. For us. I want you to be ok with it. Can you understand why I need to do this?” You ask.

“I guess.” Jinx’s says lifting herself off your lap and dropping down onto the bed, in a foetal position. You pull off the strapon, discarding it onto the floor. And move behind Jinx to spoon her. Pulling the blankets over for comfort and wrapping your arm around her waist, protectively pulling her back to you. 

“I… get scared.” She finally said after laying there a while. “What are you scared of, Pj?” You ask gently, stroking her hair.

After a moment of silence she confesses, “Us... You, deciding you wanna leave, for good or you might like being away and not come back.”

You pull yourself up onto your elbow and turn her over on to her back to face you. She looks sad and scared as she looks up at you. You smooth her frown with your fingers. “I want the coins so I can stay. For you. You are everything to me.” You tell her, looking into her eyes, stroking her cheek with your thumb. “Powder, I lo…”

Jinx raises two fingers to your lips to stop you. “Don’t jinx it.” She says hurriedly in a quiet voice. “Anything you have to tell me, say it when you get back, or I can’t do it. It will be too hard.” She smiles faintly.

You lean down to kiss her. She laces her fingers into your hair, sighing into the kiss. When you break apart she asks you. “Can I fall asleep on you?”

“You never have to ask me, Sweetheart.” You tell her. “I’m yours to sleep on whenever you want.”

“Unless you’re in Bilgewater.” She joked weakly.

“Quit it. You’ll sleep on me whenever you want ‘til I go and when I’m back.” You tell her.

You turn off the lamp and Jinx settles on your chest. She yawns before sleepily saying “I like listening to your heartbeat.”

[uponawhitehorse13]

For Saber, Caster, and Rider from FSN; how do you think they feel about their True Names vs their Class Names, especially once in a relationship??? Do they prefer for their lover to use one over the other??? Assuming this is either post Grail War or in an intimate setting where they are alone and there is no risk of their True Name being overheard by an enemy.

Ok so first and foremost we need to lay a lot of things down because this isn't as simple as it may seem. The reason servants are called by their class in the first place is that their identity could give away their powers and the element of surprise is important in a battle royale. Due to this there's also really no way to know you're not being watched at any point in the war. If we're talking about any post HGW relationship the usage of their class name would come about simply as a force of habit.

Second due to Fate being a japanese franchise a lot of the way characters use names and surnames is dependant on that culture with first name usage being seen as intimate or used to show a character's inexperience with societal customs or their different cultural background.

Saber wouldn't care about you continuing to use her class name and feels no shame towards her name or surname and would not mind being called by them. However neither really roll of the tongue so that would probably lead to some sort of nickname being used which would end up probably being Saber again with her real name being used in intimate moments.

Caster similarly wouldn't mind either her class or true name. I do feel she would have a leaning toward sappy couple stuff like "honey" and "dear". She does very much hate being called a witch.

Rider has a lot of self image problems so she might have a dislike for her true name due to what it's associated with. You could try to work with her through her issues getting her comfortable with it or maybe using a shortened version like "Dusa".

The most interesting would actually be Archer. Both Shirou and Kiritsugu are simply called EMIYA when they become counter guardians. I think this is because while they are their own people the Emiya name symbolises the self-destructive dream and sense of duty they both end up following (which they fucked up with Kiritsugu's dad but that's a whole new can of worms). So him getting called Shirou would be a really emotional moment with him remembering how much he has lost himself.

Sidenote but this is also why Saber x Archer is one of my favorite ships ever. Because Saber getting saved by Shirou and then seeing him after he ended up worse than her and having to "return the favor" in a way. Because while she almost destroyed herself for her ideal Archer basically ended up in a personal hell. So her calling him Shirou reminding him that even after everything he's still the boy she fell in love with. It's peak.

[applepie2523]

"[RANT] The problem with Rhaenyra

Show Discussion

It's clear that *House of the Dragon* and *Fire & Blood* are two different beasts with two different goals. HOTD understandably cuts the historical ambiguity and focuses on a more digestible narrative, leaning in hard on the ASOIAF-esque themes of war, monarchy and gender. Doubling down on and expanding the book's diametric framing of Alicent & Rhaenyra is an understandable direction, as is the latter's role as the indisputable protagonist.

This direction of a traditional hero archetype makes sense for her character, just as a traditional tragic backstory does for Alicent's. I do, however, find the application of this and the aforementioned thematic goals to have all but suffocated any interesting facets of Rhaenyra Targaryen's character.

To me, Alicent's writing is muddled and confused; the goal is unclear and the portrayal of the many possible readings is inconsistent.

Conversely, when it comes to Rhaenyra I can see exactly what I believe they are trying to accomplish; it's successful, simple and to the point. I just hate what that thing is.

The Princess and the Queen

Book Rhaenyra is a complicated topic, but for the purposes of this post it's not that complicated. She is fraught with misinformation due to the biased nature of F&B, and so some of the things she does may not have even happened; nonetheless, what appears in the book is inevitably the audience's impression of her character, the information the writers have to work with, and the general situation through which the Alicent vs Rhaenyra feud is filtered. There was a lot to work with, but ultimately the writers had a blank canvas. Rhaenyra's motivations and even actions were up for grabs, and it was up to them to pick and choose, and create altogether, depending on the kind of story they wanted to tell.

I'll get to the point: Rhaenyra starts out strong then falters. As a child (The princess) she is compassionate and fiery, but with clear flaws: headstrong, rude, rebellious, insecure and, most fascinatingly, a rejection of motherhood; as an adult (The queen -- see what I did there?) she is graceful, motherly, patient, merciful, brave, determined, humble, peaceful, perfect and any other virtuous trait you can imagine.

Unfortunately, even Young Rhaenyra's flaws are not really presented as such. Her decision to hire Criston Cole as a Kingsguard is presented and confirmed by the writers as intelligent, her trash-talking Lady Redwyne for criticizing Daemon's war-mongering is presented as a deserved moment of sass, and her publicly mocking multiple men vying for her hand is presented as humorously relatable.

In fact, the only genuine flawed action she exhibits in all her episodes is making a comment diminishing the wants of the smallfolk when hearing they may not accept her as queen -- yet, we get no development on this front, and Rhaenyra no longer thinks this way come adulthood.

The writing elects to sacrifice novelty for likeability, effectively so: She shows compassion to the white hart, because we don't like seeing animals get hurt; she has a night out with her uncle in Flea Bottom, because we think Daemon is cool; she recklessly rides on her dragon to save the day, because it's exactly what we would do if we had a dragon.

This approach continues as Rhaenyra's insecurities are tugged on each episode to evoke pity. Episodes 1-4 I would criticize for depicting the same arc to varying degrees: **She feels undervalued, unwanted and alienated from her father, finally they reconcile near the end of the episode; however, the final moments leave us with an ambiguous feeling of doubt.** This is repeated in all but one episode of Young Rhaenyra, with she and Viserys finally on the same page in Episode 5. I'm not claiming her motivations to be nearly as inconsistent as Alicent's, but it's something to observe nonetheless.

And that's where the nice things I have to say about Rhaenyra sadly end. Because once we get to Episode 6 of S1 and onwards, it becomes increasingly clear what the writers' intentions were for her.

The motherhood problem: A tangent

I feel that the most interesting aspect of Young Rhaenyra by far was her aversion to motherhood and the innate prison she felt it placed upon her. The seeds of her contempt for these feminine confines -- the Arya to Alicent's Sansa -- grow upon her mother's death and hang over her interactions with Viserys, Alicent, Daemon, even Rhaenys.

This is a trait which the second half of the season completely abandons and skips over, instead dealing with an adult Rhaenyra having given birth five times and being pregnant with a sixth. Having spent girlhood in fear of being a woman defined by her womb, Rhaenyra's identity now heavily revolves around being a mother, something that continues into the second season.

It's a jarring change, character development in the most crudest of technicalities; fit for a twitter post but not necessarily for a narrative. Point A to Point B is not a story if there is no bridge in between. Like Alicent, Rhaenyra changes so jarringly off-screen, and her very different actor's performance exaggerates these changes, however unlike Alicent this discrepancy is not giving an on-screen cause.

Rather than exploring how Rhaenyra grapples with these complex feelings, all of her children are perfect and so is she. Instead "motherhood" is once again a way to either summon cheap "aww"-bait or to hand-wave female character dynamics: Rhaenys didn't kill the Greens because of Alicent being a mother, despite killing numerous mothers moments previously; Alicent has a change of heart about Rhaenyra because of her being a mother, despite using her newborn to be vindictive and borderline sadistic.

One of the most egregious examples of the shallow use of Rhaenyra's motherhood is a scene where Luke bemoans, without a shred of insincerity, that he cannot live up to Rhaenyra because she is too "perfect". On a small scale... has any fourteen year-old boy ever called his mom perfect? This is also followed up by one of my least favorite tropes, Rhaenyra perfectly responding to the accusation with "I am anything but perfect", the icing on top of this sickeningly sweet cake. I don't know, this is the only scene I cannot articulate my issue with. It does on a larger scale, however, broadly highlight my main issue with Rhaenyra's characterization: She is too perfect.

I understand Fire & Blood is intentionally written to be biased against Rhaenyra, and perhaps in reality she is a perfect person. But in that case the biased medium surely makes a more engaging story. In transitioning to a medium with one clear narrative, you need complexity that goes beyond miscommunication drama, and you need tension that comes from things other than the protagonist being a perfect human in an imperfect realm.

The protagonist that was promised

There is no scarcity of flaws when it comes to the biased depiction of Rhaenyra in the books. She beheaded Vaemond Velaryon and fed him to her dragon for calling her children bastards and she called for a little boy to be tortured upon him insulting those bastards.

I understand these biased accounts are biased... but is it unreasonable to want Rhaenyra to be responsible for a single questionable act or at least embody some flaws?

The only actions of hers that could be considered morally wrong in the show are so casually swept under the rug that I wonder if they were meant to be wrongs in the first place. She orders the murder of an innocent serving man at the behest of her goal to marry Daemon and intentionally traumatizes Laenor's now-childless parents. Like with Young Rhaenyra's many "flaws", is this truly depicted as a flaw? Does anybody watching this episode treat this with the severity it deserves? I saw more people blaming Alicent for the murder of Harwin and Lyonel Strong. Any moral consideration gets deflated by the reveal that Laenor is alive. The same can be said of Rhaenyra calling for the torture of Aemond. Despite this clear contextual meaning in the book, and the exact words being adapted, this can only be interpreted as a literal "sharp questioning" following Viserys doing just that.

Why not write a situation where Rhaenyra is extremely protective of her children's claims to the point that she is involved in Vaemond's death? Why must Daemon bear all her sins? I understand her feeding a human corpse to a dragon could be viewed as one of many F&B embellishments, but it's actually from a more trustworthy source than stories used to malign Aegon's character, such as Mushroom's account of the child-fighting ring we end up seeing in Episode 9. Why not do something interesting and shocking with Rhaenyra for once?

Not to mention, Alicent not only continues to demand Lucerys' eye in the show, but grabs a knife and makes to do the job herself. Alicent's violence is dialled up while Rhaenyra's is obfuscated.

The nail in the coffin for me is the existence of The Song of Ice and Fire. It's probably one of the most contentious plot points in HOTD, and for good reason, though not nearly enough for its weakening of Rhaenyra's character. She now has prophetic justification and her motivations are infallibly pure. To admit to a sole redeeming aspect of this point and her character, the idea of Rhaenyra resembling and following in Daemon's footsteps as a child, but resembling and following in Viserys' footsteps as an adult is a interesting and realistic concept. It's played well by Emma D'Arcy and creates great conflict between Rhaenyra and Daemon.

However, it also purifies Rhaenyra the same way the motherhood aspect does, undermining ASOIAF themes. Unlike the tragic failure and admonishing of Viserys' prophecy as he took immoral actions for his own dreams, Rhaenyra is completely justified every step of the way, up until and including her decision to go to war. (The prophecy being contradicted by GoT holds as much relevance as the context of "questioned sharply" in this show. What matters is presentation, and we are led to believe Rhaenyra acted perfectly with the information she was given.)

I feel that so many scenes would be more compelling if Rhaenyra simply wanted the throne out of ambition and an expressed confidence in herself. Had she rejected Criston Cole without divine purpose lingering in the background, it would be one of many ambiguous scenes where the audience is left to parse the authenticity of her stated goals: how selfless is she, really? Instead there is no question: the story is saying Rhaenyra on the throne is the ideal outcome for society.

The power paradox: Passive or Pacifist?

The show is consistently forced to undermine Rhaenyra due to reconciling its themes and goals.

How do you write powerful women who still struggle under patriarchy? How do you write realistic female characters not defined by their femaleness?

These are questions the show appears to struggle with, and it often takes the easy way out. The female protagonists, forced to strike the balance of the show's themes, end up having confused and ill-informed motivations, making them rightfully appear incompetent to the men around them. Despite this, the women of the show are the moral voices and the most innocent: Rhaenyra, Rhaenys, Alicent, Helaena and Mysaria. There is a clear dichotomy, and the significant non-flawed male characters I can think of are Jace and Luke, Rhaenyra's sons.

Because the themes demand that Rhaenyra wants peace, but the narrative demands war, it therefore also demands her failure to avoid it. The anti-war and anti-patriarchy message necessitates that Rhaenyra's judgement be superior to the men around her, however. Therefore, we're at an impasse and the plot must bend around Rhaenyra's motivations to fit these jigsaw pieces together.

This peace-seeking goal of Rhaenyra ends not with a bang, but a whimper. The justification is already tenuous -- the information that initially holds her conviction for peace gets reaffirmed, but this time pushes her to war? -- but the worst offender is how underwhelming it is. Despite Luke's death in the S1 finale being the expected and implied beat that spurs the long-anticipated Black Queen, Rhaenyra has one episode to showcase her grief (which is more than can be said for Alicent and Blood & Cheese) and is then promptly unaffected by the death of her son. Instead, she meanders for three more episodes around the idea of peace, before arriving at the Sept and awkwardly deciding it is now time to fight. Her character is not changed from the long string of tragedies -- her father dies, she finds out he was usurped, she has a miscarriage and then finds out Luke was murdered -- and is not even changed when she finally decides to embrace war. Why involve an arc for peace in the first place, if the plot is just going to get impatient? The plot is utterly irrational, evidenced by Rhaenys immediately being on the same page as Rhaenyra, despite being the one to guide her away from war in the first place and not having access to this new information that changed her mind.

Rhaenyra is necessarily both a victim to patriarchal expectations and a victor of them. The show's thematic interpretations demand this. She is consequently framed as the center of all Black decisions, unlike Aegon who is a useless puppet, but she does not actually make decisions, instead passively accepting when they are thrust upon her. I do not think this was intentional:

The choice to finally send dragons after many days of pressure via the councilmen, is voiced by Jace before she can discuss her change of heart; she accepts this. Her idea of going on dragonback herself is shut down; she accepts this. Rhaenys volunteers on account of Meleys' strength; she accepts this (and with wordless confirmation, no less). All three ideas: sending dragons, not going herself and sending Rhaenys, are said by other characters and Rhaenyra simply relents to them, allowing it all to happen. This notably follows a trip to King's Landing that caused her council to be thrown into chaos, a trip which she was also told by another character to take.

"Some have mistaken my caution for weakness" Mistaken? in the scene-hushing words of a hurried Hightower, "There's been no mistake. It's too late, Rhaenyra". Too late indeed, as Rhaenyra's strength continues to be undermined.

While Alicent's flip-flopping on her goals in the Dance was inevitable from the writers painting themselves into a corner, that dissonance does not exist with Rhaenyra as the plot, narrative and characters bend to her will to make her justified. Her goals are perfectly aligned with the narrative's morals. War should be cautioned against until Rhaenyra is ready, and then it's justified.

If the excuse for Alicent's agonizing perpetual passivity is telling the story of the failures of self-imposed submissive feminine roles, what is Rhaenyra's excuse for also being so passive?

The Dany problem: A tangent

This is a theory, but I think the issues stem from a motivation to do "Daenerys done right". In parts I agreed with this idea at first, in parts I didn't. However, although I expected the show to explore the patriarchal themes of the Dance, I wasn't a fan of Rhaenyra herself being given motives of political advocacy.

What makes Rhaenyra as a concept interesting to me is actually her remarkable ordinariness. She is simply a woman claiming her birthright, just as the men who came before her did, only her existence is unfairly scrutinized.

The problem is Show Rhaenyra is unrealistically virtuous. I understand the motivation to make her patient and graceful in the face of a reputation littered with misogynistic nicknames such as "The bitch/whore of Dragonstone". But I don't want her to be Daenerys, to want to free the world from slavery or patriarchy. I like that Rhaenyra is simply fighting for the throne because she's the heir, with no noble goals.

It's true: Rhaenyra in F&B could, for all we know, have some Cersei-esque lamentations on the male privilege she misses out on, but like Cersei I feel that these should be confined to Rhaenyra's own selfish interests and not trying to meaningfully fight the patriarchy. If GRRM wanted to write a story where she is advocating for egalitarianism and not simply claiming her birthright, then Rhaenyra would have likely given birth to daughters to make the stakes for her victory higher. Instead they are sons, and Rhaenyra is fighting for her own interests -- the patriarchy is simply in the way.

This legacy of Daenerys nonetheless hangs over Rhaenyra, much like Game of Thrones understandably hangs over House of the Dragon. Indeed, they are both dragonriding women aiming to be the first queen whose claim to the throne resides in succeeding their father. But I think the writers are trying too hide to fill the void left by GoT's disappointing conclusion and projecting this heroic Targaryen "girlboss" energy onto a character that would truly thrive without it.

She witnesses cosmic signs of her importance, such as the white hart in S1. defying the idea of Aegon as a king even so early on. Syrax is also made to be the mother of Dany's dragons, instead of Dreamfyre. In case it wasn't obvious enough.

Missing the mark: Misogyny and Monarchy

The sexism of the Dance is because Rhaenyra, as a woman, is existing in a way that puts her at odds with a patriarchal society. Her character is picked apart more than if she were a man: a merciful queen is weak and soft; a merciless queen is hysterical and insane. The soul-eating nature of this double standard and the lose-lose situation it puts women under is the type of sexism GRRM is commenting on. He understands this nuance. It seems that the showrunners do not.

Rhaenyra in the show is instead the most objectively deserving of the throne. Her lack of flaws and her persistent positive traits are one thing, but being divinely justified thanks to the prophecy and intentionally wanting to unite the realm is what demonstrates the show writers were unable to meld critiques of patriarchy and monarchy in the same story.

The idea that she would make a good ruler if only the men would give her a shot completely misses the point that under monarchy there is no "good ruler". This is a bad feudal system that goes against the will of the people and prioritizes rich families holding onto power so they can continue to be rich.

Rhaenyra does not need to be a vastly superior ruler to communicate this; the point is that women should actually get to be mediocre or even bad rulers (just as men can be) without their leadership being tied to their womanhood. Neither Aegon nor Rhaenyra should be exceptionally bad or exceptionally good, but average rulers who get pushed into doing horrible things because of the succession crisis that tears the realm apart.

And this is what makes the Dance compelling to me. It's two spoiled brats clawing for power and destroying their family because of it.

The show meanwhile beats us over the head, episode by episode, with how screwed the realm would be if Aegon were king, and how much of a utopian paradise we would get if Rhaenyra were queen. In all likelihood they would both probably listen to their counsels and maybe make a bad decision here or there, like most kings. The stakes are the war itself, not who ends up on it, which would be negligible. The show has made an error in essentially justifying this wry from Rhaenyra's perspective by in every moment instilling it into the audience that it will all be worth it if Rhaenyra one day rules.

Monarchy is thematically bad in ASOIAF and F&B. If the two claimants are bad rulers, it's not because they are bad people unfit to be monarchs, it's because there are no good rulers under monarchies. The bigger picture is that nepo baby dictators, including Rhaenyra, are not a good thing.

It should be a bloody fight between two vindictive privileged children of the king who feel they are entitled to the throne no matter who it harms, rather than a one-sided tale about our hero being punished again and again for trying to save the world.

I think in navigating strong female characters, as long as we see Rhaenyra struggling with these gendered issues, then it really only comes down to one thing: What makes for a more interesting character? To flawlessly push for the right decision, or to have surprising traits that make us think about and question her character?

This is why, ultimately, I am disappointed in Rhaenyra Targaryen's character. Thank you for reading."

[deadite-central]

SPOILERS FOR WANO ACT THREE!

Yeah I got nothing to say this time let’s get started

Like I said in the previous post, I adore everything about Yamato’s and Kaido’s fight. The idea of how much Yamato was inspired by Oden, and how his father did everything to take that away from him is displayed here fully. Kaido treated him with nothing but cruelty for most of his life, and for what? Because his child admired someone he himself believed to be incredibly strong and honourable? Yamato rightfully calls out his father on everything he’s done to ruin his life, and it feels so earned, and even if he knows he can’t win, he’ll make sure Luffy has the chance to defeat him

Okay I don’t know if this is a well known fact but I adore Hawkins. He’s genuinely one of my favorite characters in the entire series, and his fight with Killer gives him so much time to shine. He’s incredibly smart, not allowing himself to be attacked head on due to using Kidd’s life as one of his straw dolls, and he seems to be in control of the fight up until Killer also decides to pull a trick and slashes his arm off, the one arm Kidd didn’t have. The true icing on the cake for this fight is when Hawkins pulls out the Tower card, which if you know anything about Tarot is the last negative aspect you’d want to pull out in a situation like this

Continuing the pattern from before, about the fact everyone gets their time to shine, I lean FINALLY talk about Sanji’s struggle that stemmed from his relying on the Germa raid suit, he worries he’s turning into someone like his family, as he can feel the changes he’s going through. He wonders what Luffy would want from him, which ultimately leads to the death pact between him and Zoro. He defeats Queen, and goes back to being his usual kind self (with a neat callback to his flashback in whole cake with the mouse), but the looming threat of the death pact still lingers. Zoro himself goes through my favorite fight of his against King, with the two paralleling each other, displaying utter dedication to their respective captains. It’s thematically important for Zoro, especially since he pushes himself to save his friends so much he MEETS DEATH after the fight, which leads to a bunch of stuff in the later arcs (at least from what I’ve seen so far). Lastly, I hate when people say Usopp didn’t do anything in Wano, as if this scene of his doesn’t exist. He shows the samurai that a honourable death in battle is stupid, because at the end of the day, it’s living another day that allows us to grow, to experience new things and to keep fighting, it takes a part of his character that would usually be seen as a flaw and flips it on its head, showing that sometimes you run, so you can keep fighting

I haven’t really talked about CP0 during Onigashima, but once they decide to put their plans into motion to make Wano WG territory, we get one of the coolest panels in Wano, along with the reveal that maybe, Luffy’s fruit isn’t what we thought, which I’ll get more into later

Kidd and Law vs Big Mom is a masterclass in using the abilities of everyone involved to their full extent, with the ending of the fight not only letting Law make a homage to the man who saved him, but also giving Big Mom a moment to think as she falls to her doom, on what Roger wanted to achieve. It’s profound, and I truly hope she’s coming back in Elbaph, as she’s such a good character and I miss her so much. I’m not the only one to miss her, as getting to see the version of Linlin that Kaido knew during his time with the Rocks pirates but their relationship into a new perspective, as sure they butt heads, fight, and both want the title of pirate king, but she was the one to take him under her wing, and the two clearly cared about each other, I genuinely felt for them here, despite the evils they’ve done, and that just shows to me how complex both of them are

Before we get to a thing I’ve been meaning to talk about this whole goddamn arc, when Kaido gives the news of Luffy’s defeat, Nami once again shows unwavering faith in her captain. Luffy has defeated foes thought to be undefeatable, and this scene in particular brings me back into Alabasta, with everyone proclaiming that Luffy would never die

And oh boy were they right about that

[kooksvspogues]

Good Outcomes Maybe?

Part 1

JJMaybank x BlakelyRoutledge

Authors note: Feedback is always greatly appreciated! Thanks to each and every one of you for all your support you’ve given me. Love you guys! 💗

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Since John B and JJ have been inseparable since third grade, I basically grew up having two brothers that gave me a hard time any chance they got but gave hell to anybody else that tried. Having both of them around was both a blessing and a curse at times, but they did keep life interesting to say the least.

The whole gang was currently sitting around the porch of the chateau talking about the plan for the night. I had my legs swung over JJ’s lap while my head was in Kie’s.

“I don’t understand why we don’t just go to the beach party tonight” I say

“Because not all of them like us like they like you, remind me again, how did you pull that off?” John B asked

“I don’t know, I just don’t give in to the whole pogues vs kooks thing. We’re all people, have respect” I defend

“It’s cause your sisters hot, bro” JJ says taking a chug from his beer as John B sends him a death glare making all of us laugh

“And I’m not?” John B asks trying to pose sexy

“Oh yeah, the sexiest mother fucker on the island” JJ sarcastically agrees

“J, that’s you, remember?” I tease sarcastically sitting up and placing my hand on his arm sweetly, winking at him, as he places his hand on my leg looking at me in a sarcastic awe

“I hate when y’all do that” John B says acting like he’s gonna puke

“And that’s exactly why we do it” I tease as he rolls his eyes

“I hate you” John B says

“So beach party?” I ask looking around the group

“I’m always down for some pogue vs kook action” JJ says as I swat at his arm giving him a warning glare

“One hint of something sketchy, we’re leaving” John B says

“Where’s Sarah anyways?” Kie asks

“Should be here any minute” He says smiling at us

“Can you remind me again why I can’t date a kook since you are?” I ask cocking an eyebrow at John B

“Um because you have me first off” JJ cuts in

“Shut up J, and because, I don’t need you dating somebody like Rafe, Topper, Kelce, or any of those scumbags, find a decent one and we’ll talk” John B says

“Rafe is temping, not gonna lie” I admit

“Blakely, what the fuck, I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say that, that dude is fucking insane” Kie asks looking at me

“I’m jokinnnn, but you know he’s gotta be kinky” I joke making everyone groan

“I got all the kinkiness you need, right here” JJ jokes reaching over and squeezing my thigh making John B’s eyes bug out

“On that note, I’m out” Pope says walking into the house

“Dude, chill, that’s my sister” John B threatens coming over to slap his hand away making me and JJ laugh

“He hates us” I say laughing leaning my head on JJ’s shoulder

“So much” he chuckles taking another sip

That’s the relationship JJ and I have had for a few years now, I guess we found out we could flirt and be lovey dovey enough with each other to get by and not need a hookup, that we just ran with it. Plus, it’s great when trying to aggravate John B, cause he knows it’s all jokes regardless. Don’t get me wrong, JJ is amazing, would totally go for him but I don’t think that would go over too well. Sometimes I wonder if all the joking is completely jokes or if there is some seriousness on both ends. No line is ever really crossed cause we just laugh it all off, I mean cause obviously it wouldn’t work, especially with the no pogue on pogue macking rule, except for a few games we’ve played, and the fact that it would be John B’s sister and best friend.

“Hey guys” Sarah says walking up the steps

“Hey babe” John B says walking over to her giving her a kiss

“So what are we doing tonight?” She asks

“Beaaaach party!” I yell reaching over to pull the joint away from JJ’s lips and in between mine, keeping eye contact with him as he breaths out. “Dont look at me like that Maybank” I warn

“Or what princess?” he says sitting up and leaning closer to me

“Jay, what the fuck” John B says making me and JJ laugh and John B reaches over and pulls me off the couch and pushes me towards the door, “go!” He tells me making me laugh but JJ starts to stand up, “you sit!” John B tells him

“Johnny, she’s got my joint, that shit wasn’t cheap” JJ says as I turn around, sticking my tongue out at him, running inside when he starts coming after me before John B stops him as I laugh behind the screen door.

~~~~~~ beach party ~~~~~~

When we get to the party, I immediately make my ways towards the free booze, and of course bumping into the kook king along the way.

“Hey, there’s my favorite little pogue princess” Rafe says pulling me into his arms

“Hey Rafe” I say pulling away, “how are you?”

“I’ve been good, taking over the family business, how are you, your little gang here?” He ask taking a sip of his drink looking around.

“Yeah, they’re somewhere, and I’m good, just wanting to get a drink” I inform him

“Come here, I’ll give ya the good shit” he says pulling me over to a fire where Barry was sitting with a few other people.

“Country club and pogue princess, what a mix” Barry says giving me a wink

“Fix her up man, on me” Rafe tells him keeping his hand on my back, “what ya want?”

“I thought we were getting alcohol” I laugh

“He’s got some heavier alcohol with him, but he’s got the normal too” Rafe smiles

“I’ll take some weed annnd ya got some tequila and whiskey?” I ask Barry

“Ice cold” Barry smiles at me pulling the bottle out of his ice chest along with a little baggy of weed.

“Thanks Barry” I smile up at him

“Welcome princess” he says as me and Rafe walk back towards a tree that had fell, sitting on it.

“You know, I really don’t understand why you still hang out with all of the pogues, we all love having you on this side of the island” Rafe says

“We’ve talked about this” I tell him pulling the cap off the bottle of whiskey taking a swig

“I know, but I’m serious, you fit in here, your the only pogue I actually care about” Rafe admits

“Well thanks but, the cut will always be home. Maybe one day, you’ll decide to be patient with all of us and not just me” I say

“I wouldn’t count on it princess” he says

“Yeah yeah” I laugh, “do I owe you anything for this?” I ask

“I’ll take a kiss as payment” he smirks, looking up at me.

“You’re ridiculous” I laugh

“You like it” he winks

“You wish, come here asshole” I laugh pulling him towards me, kissing his lips. Rafe placed his hand on the side of my neck to not only keep me in place, but to make the kiss deeper as I felt his tongue run across my bottom lip asking for entrance. I pat his chest and pull away.

“When you wanna give one of us men a chance, let me know” he winks as I playfully push his chest

“One of us men as in what? A kook?” I ask

“Well yes ma’am, let somebody spoil you” he smiles

“Awe” I say walking over to stand between his legs, running my hand over his buzzed head, “maybe if you weren’t a killer, I would, but like you said, I wouldn’t count on it” I say tapping his cheek walking away backwards watching as his eyes darkened on me

“Sometimes I really hate you” he yells over at me

“Hey, this is progress, you’re not running after me, I’m proud!” I say loud enough only he can hear me.

“Go on you little shit head” he says laughing making me laugh

“Hope to see you never, country club” I smile raising the two bottles of alcohol towards him before turning around and trying to find the pogues.

When I found everybody, I handed them the bottles, trying to find JJ, “wheres Jay?” I ask Kie

“Last I seen, he went over that way” she says pointing towards the trees, that were close by where me and Rafe were.

I eased my way over there and went to looking for him, I heard a quiet moan before I finally seen him. Pushing some blonde girl up against the tree, kissing her.

I felt my heart drop and shatter into a million pieces.. why do I feel like this? We’re just friends so why do I feel like I need to throw up right now. I feel my heart pound against my chest and everything just felt numb besides the pounding and the nausea. I turn around and run towards the ocean, immediately throwing up.

“You good princess?” I look up to see Barry walking over

“Yeah” I claim, mainly for myself than him.

“Cmon, I got some water” he says urging me to john him at his little fire which I quickly agree, going to sit on the log he was previously sitting on, waiting as he pulled the bottled water out of the ice chest handing it to me.

“Thank you” I mumble

“No problem” Barry says, “need me to grab country club?” He asks

“Can you find Kie or Sarah?” I plead and he nods standing up and walking off. I eventually see Sarah and Kie walking towards me quickly.

“You okay babe?” Sarah asks

“Yeah, I just think I’m ready to go home” I say

“You sure? You’re the main reason we came” Kie says

“Yea, I’m sorry”

“No no it’s okay, I just wanna make sure nothing happened, not like you to leave a party early” She said rubbing my back.

“First time for everything I guess” I chuckle glancing up, seeing JJ and the blonde girl coming back to the party.

“You want us to go with you?” Sarah asks

“No, y’all stay, have fun, I see a few people heading out, I’ll catch a ride with them” I say knowing I just planned on walking

“You sure?” They ask and I smile up at them nodding

“Positive, I’ll text you when I get home” I assure them as we all stand up, them walking back towards where the boys were and me heading towards the street. As I get closer to where all the cars are parked, I come to a stop when I hear my name being yelled. I turn around and find Rafe walking towards me

“You okay? Barry said he seen you throwing up” he says

“Yeah, just ready to go home” I answer

“The pogues not going with you?” He asks

“No, I told them to stay” I say

“How are you getting home?” He asks

“My feet” I answer

“Alright smartass” he laughs, “I was about to head out anyways, just let me take you home” he says

“I couldn’t ask you to do that” I say

“You’re not asking, I’m offering, I’d much rather know you were home safe and not still on the road” he says urging me forward to walk towards his truck

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” I ask

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to” he says as I roll my eyes

“Okay, but no funny business Cameron” I say pointing at him walking towards his truck.

“Yes ma’am, no funny business” he says going to open the passenger door for me waiting for me to climb in. When I look up, I can faintly make out JJ looking our way, when Rafe gets in the driver seat, I watch JJ shake his head and look down.

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[frostbitemutt]

May I interest you in a writing request? Yandere Kaz and Ocelot fighting over the same darling. :)

That's all. No pressure or anything.

Yandere! Kazuhira Miller VS Yandere! Revolver Ocelot (MGSV)

Warnings: Gender neutral darling, spoilers for mgsv, Obsession, stalking, murder, military propaganda/cult, cult tactics and behaviors, abuse of power, power imbalance, brainwashing, sadism, torture, stealing, perverted behavior, mature themes, manipulation, non-consensual photo and video taking, boundary pushing, unwanted touching and advances

❆ Oh boy. Anyone in this franchise is a handful. These two pitted each other? You're not in for a fun time buddy. Better hope you can deflect before things come to ahead in the final chapter.

❆ I mean the obvious way to go here is that you're more than likely a diamond dog. Hell ya could be a higher up/leaders like them if ya been around long enough. Say if you knew the big man since the 60s or back during peacewalker with Kaz. Although for now to keep things simple we'll say you're a lower ranking dog. Easier for them to prey on.

❆ Ocelot the Tactical instructor, Kaz the Co-Exectuive of diamond dogs. Despite Kaz's seemingly higher position, only one of them is let in on the phony big boss. Ocelot. Ocelots a big ol yes men and boot-licker to John. Kaz isn't too much different, but he'll say no and disagree. So he's not not let into the plan at first.. until Ocelot tells him. He knows Kaz would figure out the quickest something was wrong.

❆ They have a mutual respect for one another. If not a love-hate situation-ship in their little evil polycule. They'll agree on some things about the dearest soilder. Not wanting to deflect, escape, get maimed, or die. Otherwise they're clawing at each like cats n dogs on who gets to be on your metaphorical (or literal) lap.

❆ The try to sway you to either of their sides. Ocelot tries to convince Venom to put you in his Unit that he commands. Kaz insists you'd be more helpful on the support or base development units that he is heavily involved in. Especially depending on your stats. Despite where you may end up at, the other constantly attempting to pull you away from the other via orders.

❆ Ocelot hovers around you. Monitoring, watching, stalking like the very cat he's named himself after. He invades your space just enough to be uncomfortable.. but able to be excused. Correcting the way you hold a gun, coming up behind you to ask you something, or just needing to reach over to you grab something while getting awfully close. He likes seeing you jump. Not to mention trying to test how receptive you are to his presence. If he's gonna be your lover you should get used to him touching you right?

❆ Kaz on the otherhand is a bit more respectful about your space. He's mellowed out from being the manwhore he was during Peacwalker to say the least. He'll try to lean on you a lot, just slightly, or akwardly put his leg up against yours. It's just his vision. It's bright out. He promises. A hand on your shoulder or arm if he can. If you look uncomfortable he'll lay off. He believes that'll be an advantage against Ocelot.

❆ Camreas are no doubt planted in your room. Sorry. Along with photos being taken. No they don't cut out when you're changing. Ocelot and Kaz are both gonna keep that footage for their own.. "reasons" although Ocelot is a bit less inclined to do so than Kaz. Ocelot dosen't mind having such resources incase the rare blue moon when he feels like it though.

❆ Ocelot is more for discipline and control. Kaz is more for swaying you with bonding and a nice appearance. Although in reality neither is really a good option. Ocelot collects every bit of information he can, likes, dislikes, reactions, mindset. Kaz collects more of the same, although he may get access to medical documents. For the most part they will share this information if they believe if will benefit your health. Yet they're still selfish. Keeping some bits to themselves.

❆ Ocelot also likes to watch you as you snooze. It's not invasive if you don't know right? It is. He may even be bold enough to cuddle up against you if you're heavy enough sleeper or if he sedated you beforehand. Kaz might peek his head into your room while you sleep and rummage through your things, but he ain't gonna sit there and watch. Much as he may adore you he has other things to do.

❆ They're constantly using their power to pull you one way or another. To push the envelope. They're your higher-ups. You should listen to your higher ups should you? What are you, a dissenter? A spy? Is your faith wavering? Or will you heel to their calls like a good diamond dog? Ocelot espically likes to use this card. Not to mention the wavering threat that comes with it. He'd hate to put you in the brig. But he won't have to do that, right?

❆ Ocelot will not doubt relish if he gets a reason to torture or interagate you. He's a sadist. He'll be oh so sickening nice too. Gently prodding you with the needle of truth serum. Talking quietly just for you to hear just how much he cares about you. He dosen't want to do this to you! His ass is lying he does. If you give in now it'll be easier for both of you. Then he won't have to play bad cop anymore, yeah? All while his hand lightly wanders over your body. Caresses that feel almost like a ghost.

❆ Kaz is there to scoop you up as soon as Ocelot is done. Cooing sweet words. Prying for the same information as him. Just with a nice tone. Despite this his nails still dig into you just a bit too tight. His voice a certain seething tone to it. Even if you were being defiant.. Ocelot was simply too cruel. If you were defying Ocelot specifically and not them as a whole.. he encourages it in a way.

❆ Kaz in the case of defiance will use guilt tripping. He's just asking you to do this little thing. He's met eye to eye on you with so many things when he dosen't need to. Would you prefer Ocelots company? Do you want him to turn you over to Ocelot to punish you as he sees fit? He's your higher up. You should still listen to him to an extent. Yet he still tries to play it as if you two are equal all the other times.

❆ He also dosen't like others tending to you medically absolutely needed. If you're sick mildly Injured he'll throw a fit if someone besides him or venom cares for you. He's the one with the most medical experience! What if the others messed it up? Trying to use your state of vulnerability to "bond". To instill trust. You better so much quicker when he takes care of you don't you? Not to mention giving you food he cooked up especially for you.

❆ Now, if another soilder tries to shoot their shot with you. The two will stop bickering, shake hands, and get their ass. They hate the idea of some random soilder having your heart rather than one of them. Even if they don't want it to be the other.

❆ Kaz is snapping at them for any slight infraction. Citing any reason he can for the brig. If not betrayal. Ocelot will happily drag that said soilder while they're kicking and screaming to one of his integration rooms. Far from others. Kaz joining soon after. Bones are broken, cuts are given, and a point is made loud and clear. A brain entirely altered. If that dosen't work and the soilder persists or tries to snitch. Well.. that soilder was "sent out on a mission" they never came back from.

❆ When things come to ahead and things start going to shit. You're now stuck in the middle of a very rickety and unstable bridge. Kaz or Ocelot. Do you stay Ocelot and Outer Heaven? Or do you leave with Kaz. Each beckoning to you desperately. Whispering dirty lies and truths about the other.

❆ Isn't Kaz pushy? He's just using you as a replacement for John. Don't you know his history of sleeping around? You think he'll stay loyal to you? What about his yucky temper? You want to deal with that?.. But Ocelot has hurt you hasn't he? Bossed you around? Threatened you with the brig? He just wants power.

❆ Ultimately its up to you to pick your poison soilder.

[cavegirlpoems]

So we all hate DnD, but I am kinda curious what are the actually bad ttrpgs?

I know that 3,5e and pf got bloated even more than 5e did, FATAL is a meme, but what else?

I think Chronicles of Darkness tell you the system's gonna be a sleek, streamlined narrative system and then immediately bukakke's pointless fiddly complexity all over everything, to an extent that I never see most STs actually use half the subsystems (does anybody actually like the Doors mechanic?) but also you can utterly break the game if you combine the right merits and powers in a way that I really hope isn't intentional. WoD games all have slightly clunky, lame mechanics but at least in OWoD the mechanics take an extremely simulationist approach of simply modeling the fiction, balance be damned; CoD throws out the simulationism in favour of abstraction and narrativism, but perversely only makes the mechanics more complex, and deploys more weird dice tricks so eyeballing probabilities gets much harder. Everything is fiddly, everything has specific exceptions, and everything good is gated behind weird prerequisites and builds as if the devs thought they were making pathfinder. If you're some sort of weirdo who actually prefers the CoD settings, run them using OWoD mechanics for the love of god.

Shadowrun 6e's character generation is so complex that people have created third party apps that are basically mandatory in order to wrangle it into shape. It's notoriously complex in play with basically every action requiring multiple steps of calculation, to the extent that 'you need to do calculus if you set off a grenade next to a wall' is a meme; when I played we simply never used grenades because we were all to scared of trying to make sense of the mechanics. However, in play a slightly minmaxed mage can make every other party member obsolete by simply summoning an extremely powerful spirit to solve every task. I hated every minute of it.

Pokemon Tabletop Adventures uses d20-based mechanics for trainers, where you roll a d20 vs armour class to hit, and then roll some damage. It also recreates the mechanics of the pokemon video games largely verbatim. Its expected that trainers and pokemon can and will interact despite using totally different systems, and trainers can even learn pokemon moves. Some classes are good at things like 'capturing and training pokemons' while others are good at 'fighting pokemons themselves with martial arts' or 'winning contests' or 'being a film noir detective', but you only get XP or mechanical support for the first ones. Some classes get abilities like 'perfect mind-control, no save' while others get abilities like 'you're better at growing berries'. You are expected to calculate the stats of every pokemon individually, from scratch, for every encounter. Encounters typically feature 5-10 wild pokemons often of multiple species and levels, alongside 3-5 player characters and up to six pokemons per PC. Its a fractal spreadsheet nightmare. Unlike shadowrun, the app to make this insanity playable doesn't exist. Good god. Send help.

On the other end of the spectrum from stupid fiddly crunch, Ten Candles is responsible for the single most miserable ttrpg experience of my life. It claims to be a narrative game which gives players the ability to define the fiction as they go, but fails at this because the GM has secret knowledge that other players aren't privy to, meaning that it invites players to be creatively vulnerable when they have narrative authority, with a chance that they might get their contributions unilaterally overruled due to information they had no way of knowing. Since the game ends with everybody dying automatically, the game inherently leans on the GM to railroad in what's meant to be a colaberative narrative experience. And finally, on a purely practical level, the clever conciet of playing by candlelight and extinguishing candles as the game progresses means that by half-way in you can't read your fucking character sheets or dice, which is less spooky and more irritating. God I hate ten candles.

[julianne124]

I’m only me when I’m with you

James Potter x fem!slytherin!reggietwin!reader

Warnings: bleeding, passing out at the sight of blood, quidditch game, kissing I think that’s it lmk if you find anymore

First person

It was the biggest Quidditch game of the season, Slytherin vs Gryffindor. I’m captain this year and James Potter is the captain of the other team, as he’s my brothers best friend that took my brother away from me, I have a bit of a grudge against him. As we walk on the field I see Sirius and James walking out with the most smug smirks on their faces, I hate them and I want to wipe those looks off their faces.

My twin brother, Regulus, feels the same way but he’s more calm about it. Me and Potter shake hands and start the game. It was a very rough and painful game, after about 15 minutes three of my players were lightly injured, but not enough to go to the hospital wing but enough to not play for a couple minutes. Then, I hear lots and lots a screaming of my name I look around and see a bludger flying right toward my face I’m out, I feel myself falling, someone breaks my fall but then leaves and gets back to the game.

I come back to consciousness and touch my forehead feeling something wet, it’s blood. I faint again. The next thing I know I’m in the hospital wing and watching Madam Pomfrey take care of me and I see a mop of light brown hair leaning on my arm on the bed. I tried to reach my arm over to wake this mysterious person up, and I find it in a cast and sling. I shake the arm this person is lying on.

The mop rises and I see the familiar eyes of James Potter. “How long have I been here?” I croak out to him. He must still be waking up. “You’ve been out for about half a day. It’s 7 am, after the game. Which I’m sorry about my player did that on purpose. I kicked him off.” He explained quickly, I thought it was quite cute.

Don’t get me wrong, I find James Potter attractive as much as the next person. But I feel like if I really got to know him, we could be more than friends. Madam Pomfrey comes over to my bed. “Hello darling, now i know you don’t want to stay here for as long as you have to but i have to keep you here for about 2 more days…” she says sadly. I nod understanding.

She walks away. “Did we win?” I ask James, he smiles softly and nods a ‘yes’. I do a small, not-so-embarrassing, victory dance in my seat. He laughs and looks down. “You know, Sirius wouldn’t approve of me saying this to you, or regulus but I wanted to tell you, I’ve had my eyes on you since my third year” he tells me slightly embarrassed.

My smile is just continuing to grow wider and wider. “Me too- well I’ve had my eyes on you-“ he cuts me off with a kiss. It was soft and smooth and comforting. We hear the doors burst open and two familiar voices talking loudly to Madam Pomfrey. “Madam! Where’s my baby sister?” I hear Sirius asked the older woman. Then we hear two sets of feet running towards us.

Regulus and Sirius come into the curtain. “Oh thank goodness you’re okay!” My older brother comes to hug me, pushing James out of the way. Always a drama queen. Then I look over his shoulder to see my twin brother standing there awkwardly. Then Sirius lets go, and it’s Regulus’ turn. A tight hug is received and done quickly.

“Wait a minute. Why are you here?” Sirius asks furrowing his eyes brows at his best friend. James eyes widen and he looks at me, like I would know what to say. “Uh well you know that thing you told me not to say to your sister?” He says with a small smile on his face. Sirius hums a little confirmation. “Well I told her.” James says running out.

Sirius’s jaw drops and runs after him. Regulus’ eyes widen and his eyebrows shoot up. After they leave, he comes and takes James’ seat. “So my sister has a boyfriend now?” He teases me. “Well maybe. All we did was kiss” I say like it’s no big deal. He gets up and runs after James too.

[firewrkpawz]

Me vs anyone who hates her,,

Little ! Jessica Riley headcanons.

- The babiest of all babies ever, actually. Give this girl a blankie she’s so stressed the whole game,, poor thing :(

- Very narrow age range after the mountain incident, used to be very wide like 2-10/11 but it became more like 2-5 when coming back.

- Absolutely loves animals, any kind of animal– birds, cats, dogs- The whole nine yards! Often visits Sam’s house to play with her animals while Emily and Sam chat about whatever whatever,, she’s too little understand nyway

- Used to love playing with snow or in the snow in general, but gets really triggered by it now and tends to become an inside gal, trying to rub her eyes so she doesn’t cry ‘nd work herself up again.

- Slight fear of the dark, along with a small fear of elevators,, Holding onto Emily’s hand very tight whenever they step into one or any lights flicker around them,, habit built by fear that only gets amplified when she’s regressed.

- Deals with dizzy spells and headaches from just how badly she got hurt that night, ending with a lot of head trauma – Leans into Emily or Matt whenever she gets up nd tries to block out lights that make her upset,, very sniffly and very whiny sometimes because what else can the girl do?

- Her main caregiver is Emily!! A headcanon I might have stolen from @cordeliya but still! Even with their cat fights I like to believe they have soft spots for each other and even more so after everything that’s happened,, Jess is attached at the hip when she’s feeling little n Emily doesn’t mind at allll

- Matt is her babysitter! Especially during the mine sequence where you have to keep Matt safe as well as Jess,, She got very attached to him for the moments they’re together out of fear and he just kind of.. ran with it? Until Emily explained a bit and he softened up to her!!!

- Can be so so so hyper and full of energy at times,, practically bouncing off the walls and dragging everyone to play with her because she feels extra comfortable with more than one person around and she wants to show off her toys or whatever,,

- slightly craves that positive reinforcement or response from people, Emily is always ready to deal it out in the most exaaaagerated manner ever,, very very silly and Jess almost always giggles at it n gets the biggest biggest smile on her face.

- When she was actually little she used to collect dolls, stuffed them somewhere in her closet as she grew up and now often digs them out to play with them,, spending hours brushing n changing their clothes and making up some stories for her and Emily or Matt to play out!! (Jess makes Matt do a girly voice if he has like a Barbie in his hands, very silly tbh)

[mint-in-the-moonlight]

my take on revivalism (and eclecticism)

the topic of reconstructionism vs. revivalism is a popular and important one in pagan spaces - i even contributed to it with my own post some time ago. lately, i have been spending a lot of time in pagan spaces, specifically Hellenic leaning discords, reddits and here on tumblr. i have been noticing and engaging more actively with the wide variety of different approaches and practices within those spaces.

to me, part of my practice is also figuring out my theology and philosophy, why i want to incorporate certain elements and how, and why my practice is the way it is, so this is the kind of thing that i like to look for when engaging with other practitioners. i've been long identifying as an eclectic revivalist, due to the fact that i incorporate multiple traditions in a quite freeform way and sometimes try to adapt them to a modern world.

however, lately, i've realised that the terms i use and how i use them is different from how the wider pagan community seems to interact with them. this is not a big deal, as at the end of the day these are just labels but i find it difficult to use them if we don't really have a standardised definition for either "eclectic" and "revivalist"/revivalism". so, i would like to take a short look at it in this post.

revivalism vs eclecticism

sometimes i get the feeling that the terms "revivalist" and "eclectic" are used interchangeably. i often see strict reconstructionists label different practices outside of reconstruction as "revivalist" or "eclectic" without much distinction between the two (no hate to recons btw, just an observation).

what is the difference between the two then? well, revivalism is an approach to (neo)paganism that strongly considers how our world has changed from ancient times and how we can incorporate that into our practices. now, that doesn't mean that, for example, reconstructionists can't do that to some degree too, but in general they are more focused on reconstructing as much as they can how the religion looked in ancient times.

on the other side, a revivalist would, for example, reinterpret the domains of the gods through a modern lens (like i did in this post), adapt it for a solitary and urban practice etc. revivalism is concerned with reviving, reinterpreting, and renewing a practice based on ancient sources and ways of worship.

eclecticism on the other hand is about incorporating elements from different sources. i've always used it in the sense of keeping the sources within different branches of paganism, but there are also many other places that people draw from. this is where i would class practices that are completely outside of paganism, such as using tarot.

so, the two can look quite similar, they both introduce stuff that is beyond a strict reconstructionist approach but where they come from and how is different.

conclusion/TLDR

i think there is a little bit of an ongoing online war between reconstructionist pagans/polytheists and other kinds of practitioners and while i'm not interested in participating in that, i think we should define what "the other ways of worship" are. there are many, many different kinds of things that people do, and we can understand each other better if we come to some sort of distinction and definition.

if you incorporate elements from other pantheons, religions, spiritualities, traditions etc., i would call that eclecticism. if you're looking at ancient sources from one tradition and making those ideas work for you and your particular life in a modern world, i would say that is revivalism.

now, this is obviously just my opinion and i would love for people to chime in with their opinions and perspectives if they want to. despite how diverse we are, we are still a community and i want to foster more discussion and understanding in it. thank you for reading!

[lilies-n-slander]

just my unstructured thoughts on “complicated and sad”

I’m not huge on radiostatic and haven’t thought about the dynamic as much as other people so probably I’ll be retreading common ground

radiostatic friendship had to have broken up for smth more ideological, it would honestly be a bit boring/disappointing if it was just over the unrequited romance aspect (but it was likely a contributing factor)

the fact that vox asked alastor to join his team gives a few clues

I think atp vox still thought positively of alastor while alastor’s opinion of vox was starting to deteriorate. Vox respected alastor enough to *ask* him to join, rather than manipulate or try to force him

if that’s the case, then whatever vox did that alastor hated likely wasn’t malicious (but knowing vox, it was still a bad/harmful thing)

it seems like the kind of situation where alastor showed discomfort and vox refused to change and didn’t understand what he was so mad about

what could vox have done that alastor disliked so much that it ruined a previously good friendship?

using people? Alastor does that

owning souls? Alastor does that

killing people? Alastor does that

associating with and enabling ppl like val? Maybe? It seems like an arbitrary line to draw, altho one of the comics shows alastor killing an attempted rapist

influencing people’s perception of them through media? Alastor does that, but maybe it was the difference of method that he didn’t like (hypnosis vs charisma)

being fake? Alastor does that but is better at it than vox (smiling to hide weakness)

being weak*? (*not just physically) Now we’re talking. Alastor hates weakness, both in other people and himself. He hates when people let their composure slip and tries to exploit any weakness he sees. Maybe it disgusted him to see someone he thought was strong actually prove to be weak, insecure, and pathetic

a combination of the last three seems the most plausible to me (especially considering what things alastor disses vox for in stayed gone), but I’m still struggling to come up with something that has the right amount of “oomph” to it

I’m curious what alastor initially liked about vox in the first place?

did he only like him bc he thought vox was stronger than he actually was?

has vox just changed so much over the years that the vox alastor formed a friendship with was basically a different person? That would make me curious about what sparked that change in vox—was it a particular incident or gradual corruption?

does alastor hate modernity because of vox or does he hate vox because of his modernity?

leaning twds the former, the way alastor speaks abt tech has a personal tinge to it

most of vox’s hostility twds alastor is prob due to what alastor did as rejection

supported by vox not having much variety of his insults in stayed gone

yes he’s pathetic and might be salty that he doesn’t return his feelings, but I feel like that’s not the whole explanation

does “I thought he was gone *for good* too” imply that alastor has previously disappeared or been shooed away by the vees and came back soon after?

“he owes us a lot more than money” + “things have changed a lot since he left town… …I gotta send a message of who’s really in charge of things now” = before he disappeared, alastor was previously in control, possibly by sabotaging the vees and overthrowing them?

I didn’t rlly mention “still pissed he almost beat you that time?” bc that had to have been after the fallout, so not as much to dig into there (this isn’t to say that I don’t desperately want a flashback of it lol)

hmmmmmmmnfgh… so many questions

I really hope their backstory has already been mostly planned out, bc it seems like something that would go poorly if you just made it up on the fly

[lunarspiral1127]

X-Men 97 episode 8 *SPOILERS*

Bastion

Not gonna lie, I busted out laughing when I watched his origin story. This is the second time an antagonist had to wait for a couple to make a child and use said child for their plans. Nimrod was lucky that the guy he infected was in a relationship. Plus, I thought it was gonna make Bastion sympathetic due to his childhood flashbacks, but nope.

So, he made a Utopia for humans, but the mutants are enslaved. Saw old Polaris and the Phoenix. But, what bugs me is that he claims that many of the humans consented to be turned into Prime Sentinels without knowing all the details and won't have any memory of being turned. I find it hard to believe that every single one of them would've consented, especially his elderly mother. Dude omitted many details and I'm pretty sure he turned some of them without them knowing. Plus, I'm still mad at him for killing Gambit.

Cameos of Dr. Doom and Zemo (hydra n@zi Zemo, not the MCU version). Wasn't expecting to see them being members of OZT.

Mr. Sinister's just in it for the mutant experimentation.....y'know what? I shouldn't be surprised with that reason why he "teamed up" with Bastion. More test subjects.

Summers Family

Not gonna lie, I was really annoyed with the drama between Cable and Scott. If this was comics Scott, I can understand why Cable's giving him the cold shoulder. But, this Scott didn't wanna abandon Nathan like his dad did to him! It was Madelyn that gave him to Bishop. So, if Scott was there with her, things would've been cool?! God, I'm so sick of this drama. Thank goodness that it didn't last long and that Jean stopped them from escalating it further.

Summers family vs. Prime Sentinels was pretty cool. I like that father/son fistbump, which means things will get better between the two.

It's funny that Jean's being the mom at Cable who's like this big man in his 50s.

Also, Jean and Scott's relationship is getting better which is a relief.

Nightcrawler

Once again, precious boy and MVP. What he said to Jean was really nice. He's always been there as someone's shoulder to lean and cry on. When he talked about Mystique, I felt so bad for him. Honestly, I hated what she did to him just because he was born that way. In the 90s show, she did feel guilt for what she did when Nightcrawler talked to her. But, I still didn't like her for what she did to him. However, with all the words and hugs he's given to others, I hope he has someone who'd give him words and hugs too. He also needs a shoulder to lean and cry on too.

SWASHBUCKLING NIGHTCRAWLER HELL YEAH!!! I've been waiting to see him use swords and it was worth the wait. Him teaming up with Wolverine was really cool. Plus, seeing how his teleporting works was cool too. Love that he was protecting his sister, and I'm glad that we got something with him and Logan cause we haven't had anything like that since he first appeared.

Beast

Why the hell would he let the reporter stay in?! Even if she's not doing her job, she's shouldn't be involved! It has nothing to do with her, plus, I'm pretty sure he revealed a lot of classified information that only the X-Men should be allowed to hear and see. Dammit, Beast. And, dammit Morph for letting her in too.

*sigh* Anyone else think, he's been done dirty in this episode? Cause having her stay in there got his butt kicked. Sure, he didn't know that she was a Prime Sentinel, but they do know the possibility that any human could be one, right? Now, Beast is knocked out along with Rogue, who hasn't woken up still.

Jubilee and Roberto

Okay, so they are gonna be part of the main plot, good. I was worried that they were gonna be sidelined, especially Jubilee.

His mom is a beech. She sold her son out to the Prime Sentinels and didn't believe him and for what? Her reputation?! Man, f**k this beech, she sucks. Poor Roberto though.

Finally using his powers more than once! I counted four times in this whole series so far of when he used them. It's also something that annoys me about the character. He said that he was training in the Danger Room to surprise Jubilee, but why couldn't we have seen that?! Why couldn't we have Roberto training with one of the X-Men's help and see him develop his abilities?! Hell, have Jubilee be there to train him! That way we could've seen more of his abilities and see him grow more and have him interact with other characters, bonding with them. Not just Jubilee. Maybe have him open up to when he first awakened his powers and why he wants to hide them, instead of just telling us.

On the plus side, they should be okay thanks to Magneto's magnetic EMP ability. Speaking of which....

Magneto

I'm glad he didn't get turned into a Prime Sentinel, but I still don't understand how Bastion and Mr. Sinister got his hands on him from Genosha. That blast should've killed him along with the Morlocks. I don't even think it's gonna be explained how they captured him.

His prisoner numbers....yeesh. 😬

The one good thing that Cooper did. Letting him go and realizing that he was right. Aside from that, f**k her. Seriously, was the only good human (regular human, not enhanced) shown in this was Moira?! Cause that's what it feels like.

Now, I was confused at first with what Magneto did, but I think he went to the North or South Poles and used the Earth's magnetic field which is strongest there to cause a worldwide blackout, disabling all the Prime Sentinels. Not killing them, mind you. All while in his underwear, too.

Honestly, I wouldn't blame him if he wages war. He tried to be good. He tried to respect Xavier's dream. But, look what happened. So, I wouldn't blame him if he did this.

HOWEVER! I like that Magneto was good. Part of me doesn't want him to go back to his old ways cause that's gonna be more conflict between him and Xavier. Plus, only Logan claimed that Magneto waged war. If he did, he would've killed the Prime Sentinels, but he didn't. If anything, he'd be waging war on Bastion since he's the one responsible. But, yeah, I'm sorry Xavier. You're cool and all, but Magneto was right.

Cameos

I mentioned Zemo, Doctor Doom, Future Polaris and Future Phoenix. But there were much more.

Omega Red and the Silver Samurai, but one that made me so excited to see......SPIDER-MAN!!! I was so happy to see 90s Spider-Man. I know many would want a sequel to the animated series, but we'll have to wait and see.

The rest I wanna talk/rant about

Professor X shows up finally, but I got miffed when he said "I hope I'm not too late". CHARLES! YOU ARE VERY VERY LATE!!! I know space travel takes time, but COME ON! He better do something real quick to help stop all this crap that's been happening. Dunno how, but it better be something good.

By the way, I'm still annoyed with that black hole excuse. Why couldn't he just contact Scott and the others and stay in touch with them right when he was fully recovered or was well enough?

WHERE THE HELL IS STORM?!?!?! I know she's with Forge, but you'd think the moment she heard about Genosha, she'd head back home flying. She'll probably show up next week, but it's been like two episodes since she got her powers back. Is her not being there sooner a choice the writers made cause if she was there, the fight with the Prime Sentinels would've been over quicker? *sigh* I just wanna see one of my favorites come back and kick some butt like she used too.

I dunno if Forge is gonna come back with Storm, but I hope he does. I want him to help with this Bastion mess. Plus, he did take a photo with him, which has me worried that he was connected somehow but I hope not. It also would be cool, if he contacted the rest of X-Factor and meet up with the X-Men and team up. But, I don't think that's gonna happen.

So, Bishop is definitely out of the picture for the rest of this season, which is bullcrap. It would've been cool to have him and Cable work together again like before along with the X-Men. But, instead, the excuse was they got separated from the time stream. So, we don't even know if he's okay or if he's lost again, or if he actually made it back home. God, I feel like his character's purpose of the show was to help create another characters origin.

Okay, I think that's pretty much it. It was a good episode, even though I did rant on a lot of stuff. We'll see how parts 2 and 3 play out in the next two weeks and hope that the finale will stick the landing.

[curufiin]

hello Curufiin! I love your Curufin posts! <3 I was wondering if you had any thoughts (headcanons, meta, anything) about that version where Orodreth, Aegnor, and Angrod sail on the ships because of their friendship with C&C (or just about their friendship in general). I’d love to read anything on your mind (if that’s okay of course!)

Hi hi sorry for the late response <3

ok so i will admit i don’t think about angrod + aegnor + orodreth (or any character really. sorry i am just so c&c pilled) a lot but you should def ask @incendiak about their hcs since they are the a&a + orodreth expert

but some things that are canon in my head (mostly cutesy fun stuff bc all my drama gets allocated to the shitlord bros):

Celegorm is the main angrod and aegnor friend. Curufin is just there. He kind of tolerates them since his brother likes them (he has trouble making friends and cel + a&a are a bit too much for his more low-key personality)

There are LOTS of baby brimbor vs baby orodreth moments because both Curufin and Angrod think their baby is the best baby. You can vote on who is right

Curufin hates Galadriel. That’s it that’s the hc

I know you asked about them going on the ships with C&C but. Idk whatever LOL but I think A&A stopped talking to them after the boat thing in the published silm. They’re pissed about the boats and the kinslayings, Curufin was pissed that Angrod told Thingol about the first kinslaying, and Celegorm was just kinda progressively losing his mind in general.

And then they died :)

Actually I do like to toy with the idea that Curufin asked to Feanor to take Finrod with them on the swan ships but alas to no avail

Again ik you asked about their friendship but I hc that Curufin had a totally one sided enemyship with Orodreth specifically because of the line “And then he leaned and whispered low / that Orodreth was a dullard slow” is just so fucking funny. He has beef with his first cousin once removed. Why. Curvo.

I think Celegorm being basically a second brother to Angrod and Aegnor growing up would be so fucking cute actually. I think Celegorm actually quite enjoyed visiting his uncles (whether or not they liked him was a different story) and any time Fëanor was being Fëanor Celegorm would just fuck off to his uncle and aunts’ place for a bit. Specifically he loved going to Finarfin’s place because when he was young Finarfin didn’t even have kids and (in elf terms) wasn’t that much older than him, aka lots and lots of attention for him

There was probably even rumors around that Celegorm is Finarfin’s kid because of his hair color lmfao

So anyway point is. He was pretty close with that side of the family. Probably saw Finrod’s birth and bullied him as a kid. And then when Angrod was born and grew up Celegorm impressed Angrod by bullying Finrod some more. He was basically the cool older cousin that gets you into trouble but is super fun to hang out with

And then he disappeared for like 5 years over personal angst and to go hang out with Oromë but :) that’s ok.

That’s it i have no more thoughts i’m sorry this isn’t super detailed or anything :(( but here are some miscellaneous Curvo headcanons to make up for it:

Curufin likes getting petted because I said so.

Curufin would love weighted blankets. He uses Celegorm as a weighted blanket sometimes.

You’d think being the world’s fussiest most annoying person would mean Curufin cannot stand sleeping with Celegorm since Celegorm snores. But in actuality he doesn’t mind it. The snoring keeps his mind off worse things like The Fucked Up Tendrils Of Lies He Tells Himself And Everyone Else Wrapped Around His Mind And Trapping Him Eternally In Their Web And He Can’t Escape And He Doesn’t Know What Is Real Anymore

Curufin can’t cook.

Actually he can’t do a lot of things. He would probably die in Himlad if he didn’t have 1. Followers 2. Celegorm

Curufin visits Maedhros quite a lot for various reasons. Whether or not Maedhros likes this is unknown. Probably not though. I don’t think he really likes Curufin. But who likes Curufin

Curufin hates Huan.

Curufin has prophetic visions about Huan betraying them.

Just kidding he doesn’t he just irrationally hates the dog and had the best I told you so moment after Huan left Celegorm

(Celegorm nearly killed him for it of course and it was nowhere as fun to I Told You So his brother in real life compared to in his head)

Curufin wakes up daily with at worst “artfully tousled hair” (thank u @maironsbigboobs for this phrase in my heart it’s true)

Curufin is a mediocre pianist. Pling pling plong!

Actually aside from all the things he can’t do he is quite the jack of several trades because he had phases where he thought every single brother was cool and wanted to be like all of them for various periods of time and none of it worked out so now he’s lost and angry and has no idea who or what he is

Maybe he’s Maedhros. He takes on kingly responsibilities often. Maybe he’s Maglor. The forge is his stage, his hammer his instrument. Maybe he’s Celegorm, and the Silmarils his prey. Every day it grows harder and harder to resist the call of violence. Maybe he’s Caranthir. He seeks isolation, and he wishes he could get away from it all.

Maybe he is his father, every part of him moulded in perfect likeness.

Or maybe he is wrong. But if he is his father, he cannot be wrong, because Fëanor could never be wrong. He is not wrong. Father was never wrong.

Or maybe he is nothing.