#standardized testing is awful and I hate it

[masteraqua]

funniest thing about my experience playing ff7 rebirth was that my friend and i kept complaining to each other that we'd rather be playing infinity nikki

[silvery-stars]

in what fucking world does it cost $14 to send your sat scores to a college.

[russetfoxfur]

had the worst idea ever

💫star-of-the-show reblogged badassplum . . .

🔮the-universe-leads Follow

hey guys can we talk about the way the starromantics are appropriating the moonromantic flag? ive seen way too many ppl be just. chill with it??? saying mistfog like """"oh well the moon and stars are basically the same things"""" like babes have yall never looked up at the sky. those two things are Very Much Not The Same!!!!!

🍤plates-to-heaven Follow

the flags literally aren't? anything the same??? are you still using the moonro flag by stagefright-stardust. that guy was outed as a dischanger you know

🔮the-universe-leads

Wow! a clueless entitled vaugardian who without any proof decides that any astros are dischangers! stars could we just stop with the bigotry. anyways you're blinding wrong Look At This Fog:

like literally the starro flag is just two less stripes than the moonro flag. could yall not stick a moon or star onto one of them to show the difference

🕺lordjose-fan-dre Follow

Good Change, astros are annoying. We get it! You're all hopelessly infatuated with the night sky! You know alllll the little lights up there because you studied soooooo hard to get an A+ on the test!!! Leave the rest of us alone!

🔮the-universe-leads

my brother in stardust This Is Basic Knowledge

🔮the-universe-leads

like if this were me trying to get you to name the stars in the sky then yea id see how thats absurd but like???? how do ppl live like this?????

starsaboveearthbelow-deactivated

op i feel your pain :[ EDIT I KNOW ITS ASTRONOMY STOP CORRECTING ME

😺joyofjouvente666 Follow

Whats the difference between an astromantic and an islander /genuine

starsaboveearthbelow-deactivated

islanders are people from that Unnamed Island (you know the one, don't think about it). because its an island. this is most people. now scholars speculate that the Unnamed Island was really weird about stars. astromantics are people who feel like their romantic life is tied up with the island/stars. honestly im just a tranny dyke so i cant tell you what thats like

🔮the-universe-leads

so firstly YEAH! yeah i wish astro trauma was more talked about in the astro community! like calling stagefright a dischanger or just hating on astros. anyway obviously stagefright's not a dischanger but apparently like most astros she was taking refuge in vaugarde. However due to recent circumstances relating to a certain monarch,

💎jewel8gem6 Follow

as a starro i think youre stupid. they literally have a difference of two stripes!!! i bet youre not even a real astro. to my starro followers: you all are so valid and dont allow petty infighters like op to divide us astros!

🍤plates-to-heaven

well actually while youre right about the infighting thing yall do need a better flag than the standard one stagefright made. i drew this in like less than a minute (forgive the messiness i edited this at 2AM my time)

💎jewel8gem6

that looks blinding awful. are you astrophobic or something thats such a joke. blocking you

🍤plates-to-heaven

these are crabbing sketches??? not the real thing??? i know this is piss-on-the-poor website but come on

💎 jewel8gem6

Haha. what a fool you are to think me poor of reading comprehension skills. I am far above a blinded fool like you. Do you know what its like, being astromantic? every day people send me asks on anon yelling at me about my ugly white NATURAL hair, and you're just as bad as them. this is a disgrace to the astromantic community. you say in your bio that you are supportive of all astros but are you really? when you can create such mistfog as pictured above??? if you do not delete those pictures off your blog i will sneak into your house and suck off all your teeth one by one so you cannot speak your awful opinions aloud. i will tell the universe to kill your family and curse you with immortality so you can watch and suffer as horribly as i did laying my eyes upon these """""flags""""". wither and waste in the agony of your own unfulfilling and insignificant life, worthless vaugardian. be blinded forever idiot >:/

🔮the-universe-leads

i feel like this post is kind of getting off track could we talk about the flags again. plates' flags looked kinda cool and weren't cheap copies of each other

💎jewel8gem6

you SUPPORT this fool? you SUPPORT plates, who ruins the delicate harmony of astromantic spaces through xyr tasteless insults and mockeries??? how dare you calm yourself an astro op. TRUE astros must walk through fire in order to find any happiness in their perpetual incompletion. for example, i have been persecuted by ka buan officials for my sexuality, nearly slain by vaugardian defenders, and then forced to flee to mwudu in order to survive the king. fools such as you are the reasons we haven't found the island yet. a kiddie like you needs to go back to potty training if you think plates has any credibility whatsoever. go burn up in the atmosphere and let not a soul tell where you lie

🦀crabbingcastle Follow

Anyone in this thread eat crab

🌟officialastroposts Follow

Official Astromantic Post!

🔮the-universe-leads

i made this two blinding months ago and forgot about it are you seriously like. a vaugardian

👩🏿‍❤️‍👨🏼 mirafrin4ever Follow

EW AN ASTRO!!! go back to the ocean you mooneyed crabs. don't you crabbing weirdos know not to infest holy everchanging sites like tumblr with your weird stupid sky obsession. lol

🔮the-universe-leads

Saviorshipper. blocked

🍤plates-of-heaven

savior shipper, bolcked

💎jewel8gem6

Ew, saviorshipper. blocked

🦜pioupiou-9377 Follow

wow i cant believe ive found the original! ive only seen this in screenshots! and its only four months old!!!

🔮the-universe-leads

someone wish me out of existence already

#wow only six months old lol? this post is a mess. thx for putting this on my dash mira #poor op #islander talk #moot talk #longpost #shitpost #< i hope

47,368 notes ↪️ 💬 🔁 🤍

💫 star-of-the-show-2 . . .

@.star-of-the-show tutorial for you stardust! i want you sososo bad

2 notes ↪️ 💬 🔁 ♥️

[lycandrophile]

it's silly but the biggest reason why im not into t yet is bc im so afraid of losing my hair. do you have any solutions/tips for it?

first of all, i don’t think it’s silly — it’s natural to be worried when hair loss is talked about by so many people as like…one of the worst results of aging for men. listening to my dad talk about how much he hates balding definitely did not make me feel particularly good about the knowledge that i may very well be joining him someday. i’m not saying the fear is right, because i don’t think hair loss is something awful that we should avoid at all costs, but it’s an understandable fear given the beauty standards we’re working with, and it’s one that a lot of us (myself included) feel.

one thing that’s helped me is just…paying more attention to the guys that i interact with on a daily basis. i’ve learned two things from it: 1) hair loss is super fucking common. i’d say it’s much harder to find an adult man who isn’t balding at all than it is to find one who’s completely bald. and 2) if you forget everything you’ve been told about how bad hair loss is, you’ll realize that quite frankly, every single one of those guys looks totally fucking fine. it doesn’t ruin their appearance and make them ugly, it looks totally natural and isn’t really even something you’d notice if you weren’t looking for it. we put so much weight on it but it’s really just not that big of a deal. i’ll hear my parents talk shit about men in my family who are losing their hair when i didn’t even notice a difference last time i saw them. it’s one of those things (like so many other appearance-related things) that you really only notice at all because you’ve been taught that you’re supposed to care about it.

this isn’t something i’ve done personally, but if you really want to desensitize yourself to the idea of it, embrace the time-honored queer tradition of just shaving your whole damn head! find out what you’d look like without hair, find out how you feel about it and what you can do that makes you feel good about your appearance without hair, test the waters while it’s still a temporary change and not something permanent. that way, it won’t feel like this big scary unknown, and you’ll actually have a frame of reference for your feelings about how you look without hair rather than accepting the societal assumption that you’ll inevitably hate it. if you don’t want to actually shave your head, you could also just fuck around with bald filters or photoshop and see what happens.

oh, and if you’re attracted to men, keep an eye out for guys who are bald or balding and also hot as fuck. in my experience, there’s no insecurity or potential future insecurity that being gay for other men hasn’t helped me with. just off the top of my head, i can think of a couple actors who i think are absolutely fucking gorgeous who have helped me get over my fears about losing my hair. despite what our anti-aging-obsessed world might want you to think, there is no such thing as a physical feature that automatically makes someone less attractive, and while making attractiveness less of a priority in your life is good, it can’t hurt to also give yourself some proof that actually, you might lose your hair and look hot as hell doing it.

basically, entertain the possibility that it won’t be a bad thing at all! whether that’s just because it turns out to be a neutral thing for you or because you end up actually liking it, it’s not an inherently bad thing. i’ve ended up liking a lot of things that were “supposed to” be bad effects of t — i love the weight i’ve gained and the new shape it gives my body, i get a lot of gender euphoria from the fact that my acne is now on parts of my face that i saw a lot of guys in high school get it and i’m not complaining about the scars i get from it either because i’ve always liked the added texture that acne scars give my skin, and so on. i think there’s a lot of joy to be had in the changes we’re taught to fear, once we look past that conditioning and actually explore how we feel about it.

but if it’s something you really don’t want and you just want to improve your chances of not having to deal with it, it’s not like there’s nothing you can do! products like finasteride (oral) and minoxidil (usually topical but i think there might also be oral versions) are pretty commonly used among trans guys, for the purpose of avoiding hair loss and for other reasons, and there are plenty of other anti-hair loss products out there (though i don’t know how effective any one of them might be). if it’s a big enough deal for you, you can just decide that you’ll go off of t if/when you start noticing signs of it, since no longer having higher t levels would stop the process in its tracks. and if you don’t find prevention options that work for you so it ends up happening, you can always explore different hair styles (judging by the pattern of hair loss i see in my family, i suspect that keeping my hair long would make it less obvious if i started losing mine), find your preferred method of covering it when you don’t feel good about it (personally i love a good beanie generally and would probably wear them a lot more if i didn’t have hair to worry about because my main complaint is the way they press my hair onto my neck), or just shave it all off if you don’t like the look of the partial balding but don’t mind a shaved head. the point being — you have options!

at the end of the day, whether you go on t or not, you’re going to see your body change as you age in ways that aren’t always going to be attractive to others or aesthetically pleasing to you. that’s just the reality of having a body. even if you never went on t, you’d get older and you might see your hair thin out even if you don’t bald, you’ll see your skin start to wrinkle and sag in places that used to be smooth, your metabolism might slow or your body fat might start to gather in new places; hell, you might lose your hair for a totally different reason and end up in the same place but without the benefits of having been on t that whole time. life is full of bodily changes like that. transphobes will fearmonger about the permanent changes of testosterone all day long but the truth is, there is no escaping permanent bodily changes. whether or not you go on t, your body now isn’t the same as it will be in 1 or 5 or 10 or 20 or 50 years, just like it isn’t the same as it was at any point in your life before now. our bodies are never supposed to stop growing and aging and changing throughout our lives. there’s no guaranteeing that we’ll love every single change our bodies go through, but that’s okay! there are so many things in life that are more important than the way our bodies look. even if you go on t and lose your hair and don’t like how it looks, your life won’t be ruined; plenty of other things will bring you joy and more than make up for the insecurities.

just think about the gender euphoria and relief from dysphoria that t could give you. would losing your hair be bad enough to outweigh all of that? or is it just the pressure of a society that decided balding is bad that’s making you fear one single change despite how much joy you could have if you let that fear go? only you can decide if going on t is worth the potential downsides for you, but i suspect that for most of us, the benefits of going on t far outweigh the possibility of side effects like hair loss happening down the line.

[caitchercatlady]

Sleeping Over at Ramshackle w/Jamil

*Note: I meant to start writing these when Jamil's new birthday card dropped, and I apologize for being late. I hope to get Ace's story done soon, so I can drop Jack's story for his birthday.

Kalim invited you over to Scarabia for a slumber party. What you failed to understand was that Scarabia slumber parties were not the usual slumber parties. There were no card games or spooky stories being told with the lights out. Every light in the dorm house was so bright that you would have thought it was four o’clock in the afternoon for eight hours of the day. Kalim thought it would be a nice gesture to let the other Scarabia students have a night off of training and studying. Per usual, he greenlit, organized, and commenced the party all without Jamil’s consent, and the poor Vice Housewarden was already preparing for an Astrology exam, which was going to take place the next afternoon.

Feeling awful for Jamil, you accepted Kalim's invitation to the party, but you also let Kalim know that you wouldn't be able to sleep the night over because you also had a test coming up tomorrow (You hated lying to Kalim, but you also owed Jamil a favor). At first, the Vice Housewarden was hesitant to leave Kalim alone with the rest of the house. (Knowing the naïve Housewarden’s reputation for taking charge while also accidentally forgetting safety and order, you didn’t blame Jamil.) You offered to spend your time at the party helping Jamil with organizing some security techniques around the dorm, and once those were in place, the Vice Housewarden could come over to Ramshackle and get the rest he needed for the test tomorrow. Though concerned, Jamil went along with your plan anyway, starting at six o’clock. When the clock struck nine, you said your goodbyes to your friends, and you snuck an already-packed Jamil through the Mirror to the school’s main campus, so you two could walk to Ramshackle together.

At the rickety, old dorm, once you convinced Jamil that the shower did indeed have running hot (and cool) water, you adjusted the guest bedroom once more, so that all of the sheets were rid of all of the wrinkles. You fluffed the pillows to their peak softness, hoping they met Jamil’s standards. As for blankets, you took the spare ones that Kalim gave you as a birthday present and set them at the foot of the bed in case Jamil needed them. In terms of temperature, Ramshackle was not the warmest.

Jamil finished his shower, and he was fully dressed in his comfortable athletic-looking pajamas when he was approaching the stairs. You heard his footsteps pass by your room, which was not what you expected.

“How was the shower?” you asked him.

He stopped in front of the open doorway. “Better than I expected. The silence was odd to get used to, but I spent the last two minutes with the water pounding on my face. I was so comfortable; I didn’t know I was doing it until I opened my eyes again.”

“You’re not getting into bed yet? It’s pretty late.”

“I want my hair to dry before I do. I was going to make myself some tea. Would you care for a cup?”

“I’ll make it for you. You are the guest here.”

“If you want to make it for me, I’ll teach you how to make tea the proper Scalding Sands way.”

You were not expecting Jamil Viper to bring his own tea to Ramshackle. Furthermore, you weren’t expecting to bring his own tea set. According to him, there was only one way he liked his tea, and no other teapot could do his drink justice. Jamil was correct for indulging in a cup before bed. The contents of it eased your body into a state of relaxation. He found you so cute when you yawned.

Jamil helped you back up the stairs and to your room. When he put you to bed, the chill of the room attacked each of your skins. Jamil looked at the circumstances of your bed, and said that you would be too cold if you didn’t have Kalim’s blanket presents for yourself. You tried to explain that it wouldn’t be fair to take them when Jamil’s room was also cold.

“Nonsense. You stay here. I’ll be back.” Jamil fetched the spare blankets from his guest room and began to arrange them on your bed.

“I don’t think I’ll ever understand your way of working even when you’re outside your own dorm.”

“I consider it as asking for forgiveness of putting myself in your dorm in the first place, Prefect.”

“I was the one who offered my dorm to you firstly, Jamil. I couldn’t let you suffer with all the noise, especially with that important test of yours coming up.”

“I don't believe you know how grateful I actually am,” Jamil confessed. “If you let me…” He cloaked your frame in the nest of blankets. Once the arrangement was to his satisfaction, Jamil broke a clean gap in the layers to join you under the covers. He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into his embrace. “How is that?” he asked.

Your response was a deep, cozy sigh into the fabric. Your head leaned back into Jamil’s shirt, and he sat his chin on top of your crown, breathing slowly and deeply. The both of you were sure that tomorrow was going to be the easiest test day of Jamil’s life, and he had you to thank the most.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Some Surprises

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

NOV 2024 Week 1

Ongoing Series - Thai

Fourever You (Thai Thurs YT) ep 5 of 16 - I love this show, but I absolutely hate the main couple's communication style. Or complete lack of communication style. I really hope the other couples are not gonna be this bad and it’s just because this one is leaning into the worst of BL archetypes. But I’m not confident. Poor Ter dating Hill put a big old target on his back. Earth being a dramatic stressed gay queen was peak comedy tho. Apparently the good kisses are only on WeTV (I am annoyed) so props to the giffers who keep me supplied. You're doing the BL gods work.

I suddenly realized, after the bullying sequence, that one of the reasons I’m liking this so much is it reminds me of early Japanese yaoi. There’s something about the dynamics of the characters and the way they're reacting to situations that’s not very Thai BL feeling. And if I think of this is more JBL, I forgive it. Or maybe that’s just why I’m liking it so much despite its flaws? Difficult to understand my own feels about this show.

Jack & Joker (Thai Mon IQIYI) ep 8 of 12 - I don’t like this new evil-bonkers rich kid character and whatever is going on with Jack and Rose and that whole story. It’s boring. And then my brain short circuited. No further thoughts... just War in a wife beater. 

Love Sick 2024 (Thai Sun iQIYI) ep 7 of 15 - Phun's bitch face really is epically wonderful. I kinda enjoy everybody ribbing the two of them because they have no idea what’s actually going on. I'm chronicling my experience with 2024 as compared to 2014 here.

Kidnap (Fri YT) ep 9 of 12 - Omg cutest boyfriends EVER. I don’t even mind how cheesy their bf era is. Does this lull jive with the rest of the story? Nope. But ya know that’s GMMTV’s thing these days, flailing during the final act.

Perfect 10 Liners (Thai Sun YouTube?) ep 1 of 24 - Pretty standard Thai BL university fair. I am hoping it’s better than ForceBook’s previous offering. Yet another sniff test. Is this the trope of the year? Meanwhile, they also deployed the crash into me trope in episode one. Who do they think they are? Taiwan?

New is directing this uni BL with a massive cast + massive run time. It's an endurance test ya'll - we will be watching this until APRIL of 2025! Su su na.

Every You Every Me (Thai Mon Gaga) ep 4 of 10 - I really like that they had the bandwidth to give us a little side couple with this installment. Fun crumbs. Meanwhile, the thing with the shirt in front of the mirror was extremely sexy. This installment was very sad though. And, of course, I’m not happy about it. To top it all off, next week is musical themed, so you know I’m disgruntled about it. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

See Your Love (Taiwan Weds Gaga) ep 3 of 13 - Aw spoiled neglected rich boy wants to be cared for and spoiled honestly. I do love them. Also tiny idiot syndrome is spreading. 

Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YT) ep 6 of ? - The side couple (teacher student, hyung romance but he’s using em) interesting. Not sure how I feel about them. The subs are so bad it’s largely incomprehensible but I’m still enjoying it for no defensible reason. 

My Damn Business (Korea Sat YT) eps 5 of 7 - I love that our uke can be such a little shit. I love it when a tsundere has some serious snark and attitude to back his petulance up. Also liquid courage. At least we got to the root of the tsundere. Also neck kisses and cuddles! 

Eccentric Romance (Korea Weds Viki) eps 7-8 of 12 - Oooo, cute kiss. Drunken but adorable. I do like it when they use older Korean actors in KBL, they actually know how to kiss. Has the kiss saved this show? Possibly. I’m shallow. 

Love is Like a Poison AKA Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Japan Tues Netflix?) 7 of 10 eps - Our con man is such a good little homemaker. And it’s sexy yukata time! Love this trope. 

Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan (Japan Sat Gaga) ep 1 of 10 - Same plot as the Thai original, only from Japan. Very similar so far. I hope Rei is a bit more smart and Arashi is a bit less of a sleaze. I still get too much secondhand embarrassment and my mame alert is blaring.  I'm wary.

Blue Canvas of Youthful Days (China Sun iQIYI) eps 1-2 - Triggers for child abuse, alcoholism. Two artists, one an abused rich kid and the other a tough scrappy poor kid, in the same art prep school. I of course adore the side couple of the much younger kid and the older teacher. Oh, I do like it. But it's CBL, I'm very scared as to where it might go.

Bad to Bed (Taiwan Sat YouTube) ep 1 of 10 - Influencer Wan Xiong suffers from insomnia, it’s a physical and mental battle. As he tried to find a solution, he encounters five boys along the way. I'm putting this on the list because it's airing and I just found out about it but I didn't have time to watch it yet. I hear it's v weird.

It's airing but...

The Hidden Moon (Sat WeTV) 10 eps - Supernatural romance (my ghost boyfriend trope) by Violet Rain (I Feel You Linger). A man is hired to write an article about an old mansion. He sees the ghosts of people who died at the mansion, falls in love with one of them. Was substantially recast. I loved IFYLITA except the ending so I think I'll let this one run it's course you can tell me if it's work tracking down... if they managed to land it. I have my doubts.

Bad Guy My Boss (Thai Sun Gaga) 10 eps - I DNF'd at ep 7, I couldn't make it. I am weak. Life is hard enough right now, this show is making it harder. It’s not what I want from my entertainment.

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo (Korea Thurs Gaga) eps 4 of 8 - I put this one on pause. It's too heavy for me right now. I'll wait to know if the ending is hard fought happy (and then watch) or not (and won't finish). Sorry all, rough times this side of the screen.

Random I watched it

Vending Machine Sabi Koi AKA Can I Buy Your Love From A Vending Machine AKA Sono Koi, Jihanki de Kaemasu ka? (Japan 2023) - This show is utterly adorable, impossibly awkward, and kinda old fashioned. About a cute nerdy little office worker (he's out!) who has a big'ol crush on the tall hulking vending machine guy. They fall in love. And that’s it. And it’s charming. There’s some first name eroticism, because Japan, and there's emphasis on communication, which is so not Japan, but turns this into an organically loving and talkative relationship. There’s a bit of an age gap, and our office cutie may or may not have a muscles fetish (the hot bod not the shellfish) because (if I’ve told you once I’ve told you 1 million times) Japan always goes kinky. And you know what, I loved it. 9/10

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

November BL:

11/4 Our Youth AKA Miseinen: Mijukuna Oretachi wa Bukiyo ni Shinkochu (Japan Mon Gaga?) 11 eps - Minase was an exemplary high school student who hates Hirukawa, head bully and top delinquent. But then Minase uncovers Hirukawa’s secret and the two get intimate.

11/15 Caged Again (Thai Fri WeTV) 10 eps - Penguin escapes zoo by turning into a human. Gets trapped again and a panther falls in love with him.

11/17 Your Sky (Thai iQIYI) 12 eps - Due to an unforeseen situation, a naive freshman and the campus’s popular senior agree to pretend to be a couple - but their fake deal begins to generate real feelings.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Honor the crumbs indeed. This pair is so much crumbs it's practically dust. (Love Sick 2014)

God he is so stupidly in love.

(lask week)

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in its infinite wisdom doesn't like too many at-ings.

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

"And read the files, which you said you would do this year," Hizashi said, their voice disappointed. "It's right there."

Imagine Shouta's surprise when he sees a small note on Bakugou's file from his former Homeroom Teacher explaining that Bakugou is to be kept away from Midoriya, due to his 'irrational hatred' of the other boy.

He frowns at the note. It's the only thing indicating a problem with the boy's behaviour. Favoritism towards Midoriya, or is the fact that this is the only note, evidence of favoritism towards Bakugou?

Then the Quirk Assessment Test. Where the little rabbit, Usagi, asks if she can participate. (Her sisters sit on his shoulders, neither of them being Combat oriented. He's strangely charmed by their commentary.) He watches the class be amused at her enthusiasm at participating in most of the tasks. All but one.

Bakugou. Who is openly hostile to her and Midoriya, the other boy ignoring him, while the PersoCom isn't afraid to glare back when she catches him glaring.

And then Midoriya does the ball toss. And Bakugou loses it.

(Shouta can see what Watanabe meant. Maybe he should contact the man to have a clearer image of what the situation actually is.)

"Thanks for meeting with me," Shouta said as he sat across from Watanabe Katashi.

"Course. Heard you go both kids in your class," the man winced, looking apologetic at Shouta who groaned.

"I was wondering if your note was favourtism to Bakugou or Midoriya until the first day," Shouta admitted.

"Yeah, I can see that," Watanabe said with a sigh. "I do favour Midoriya, but that's because, frankly, Bakugou is not emotionally capable of accepting he's at fault."

"How so?" Shouta asked.

"Midoriya can, and will, accept the fault of his actions without issue. He works hard, doesn't demand people see him as perfect, and knows his limits. Bakugou? The kid is a hard worker, and I won't deny he does earn some of his ego, but the rest of it?" Watanabe shook his head. "He thinks he's some sort of main character, and anyone getting any praise or being even a smidge better then him is an affront. That they're looking down on him, they're cheating, it's unfair."

"This was never corrected?" Shouta had to ask.

"I tried. Aldera wanted the fame of having a hero go to their school and the kickback from having someone attend for a year. They saw Midoriya as being unsuited, or that he'd stick to rescue." Watanabe snorted. "At first glance, the kid seems like such yeah, but you gotta talk to him first. Just ten minutes and you know the kid is a driven one. He'll work himself to the bone, then get up to help others till he's worn to the marrow."

Shouta felt the sting of shame he'd nearly walked away from the kid, that he had almost lost such a strong potential hero because of his own ego and bias.

Fuck, he really needed to go back to therapy.

"So Bakugou's issues with Midoriya are due to Midoriya being better then him?" Shouta asked.

"Midoriya is one of those kids who test awful, but Bakugou tests well," Watanabe said in reply. "At least here. Not sure how they do it at UA."

"We follow the standard testing principles for the first semester but introduce other testing criteria throughout, and then we switch to an alternative method," Shouta said.

"Huh, maybe it would switch..." Watanabe mused. "But anyway, it was more of how Midoriya got praise from others. Bakugou didn't like it, hated when anyone but HE was praised as a strong future hero."

"Great." Shouta sighed. He already knew the kids like Yaoyorozu and Iida would outperform Bakugou academically. They went to elite schools. Yaoyorozu's whole Quirk relied on her mind, and Iida was a hero legacy.

But now it sounded like Bakugou would flip out if anyone beat him or had his worldview shatter.

Shouta was going to need so much therapy.

[someinstant]

I cannot explain to you what hell the past week and a half have been at work. I've been battling the absolute worst cough for about two weeks, and if it weren't a week and a half before my students' AP exam, I should probably have taken a sick day or two to recover. And then there were endless meetings and two parent-teacher conferences, and my principal (who I like) got promoted to a job in the district, so now we'll have some newbie next year, and also I had to run the Beta Club induction ceremony basically alone this year, and-- friends, there is no tired like the end-of-year high school teacher tired.

Anyway. I swung by the doc on my way home (after staying after two hours so a kiddo could make up a test), got my chest x-rayed (no pneumonia, so that's good!), got some steroids and other drugs, and now--

Now we make a whole pot of tea, and settle in to rewatch the second episode of ANDOR, season 2: "Sagrona Teema!"

Okay, so first things first: this episode was the one where I realized—Nicholas Britell isn’t doing the music for this season, and I’m sad about it. I don’t think the new composer, Brandon Roberts, is bad—I just don’t think the score is as spare and unusual. I think this is more… conventional… scoring, and I think it’s therefore less surprising and effective. But it’s early days—maybe Roberts will impress me more as we go along.

Starting with that slow pan up to Luna’s delicately arched throat as he tilts his head back to catch individual drops of water in his open mouth while bound on the floor of a broken-down ship—jesus. Yeah, that’ll work. Y’all are crazy for that, Gilroy et al.

If we have to be trapped on Planet Dipshit, I dig that we get to see Cassian shot-calling even when in a shitty position. (“Hey, it’s not gonna rain forever. You might want to bank some water.”) He’s good at this, if “this” is negotiating and pushing people who are the dangerous kind of stupid.

Kleya HATES this fucking wedding. She hates these people so much. She just wants to be back with her comms where she can DO something. I need to know what her background is—like, why is she so in this? Why does she hate this all so much? She’s right to, of course, but—ho did she come to that position? I desperately need to know.

Mon and Perrin are amazing. Like, they are terrible together, but you can tell—they’ve been chained together so long that they have this awful rhythm and understanding. And sometimes they care about each other, or at least the echo of who they were at some point, and sometimes they’d happily kill each other. Mostly it’s somewhere in between. But there’s some warmth—maybe jealousy, maybe not—in Perrin warning Mon off Tay, and that little brush of her robe at the end. It’s not a good relationship, but it’s theirs, and they put in some damn work.

NO SMALL JOBS AT THE BUREAU OF STANDARDS. Syril, you obsessive middle manager. God, he’s such a dweeb. Someone shoved him in a locker and he never recovered. (I mean. Obviously that was his mom.)

Every single woman in the world has had this conversation with a fucking creep before. And you know exactly where it’s going. And how it could end. The second I saw that shot of the lieutenant coming around to the shed where Bix was, my hands balled themselves into fists, and I was like, “Get yourself out into daylight, girl. Get where someone might possibly be able to see you.”

But regarding the, “I’m not sure my husband would approve,” line—I’ve heard folks saying this is evidence that Cass and Bix are together-together again, and I don’t know? (This is not because I dislike the idea of Bix and Cass. I like them!) I’m just not sure if Cass goes from “kill me or take me in” to being in a relationship again that quickly. Especially given the awful circumstances Bix had just gone through, what with Dr. Gorst and the torture and all.

Chandrila-slash-Catalonia is gorgeous. I love the ritual hike—if you’re going to have to do some exposition dumping, do it on the way to Monserrat, where an elder will say a blessing and some children will chant, and then—poof!—purification.

Back on Planet Dipshit, the rebel factions have decided to pull the TIE into shooting range with ropes. But luckily, Cassian is good at math!

Sincerely, I need to know what his educational background is. Like, he does the calculation of how many centimeters per minute equals when the gun can hit the target in literally a few seconds. And in ROGUE ONE, he does the flight calculations in his head during the planetary destruction of Jedha. Like—that is some serious skill, and I think that it requires a little bit of training?

DEDRA AND SYRIL LIVE TOGETHER???

My brain literally blue screened when he walked in the door of that AMERICAN PSYCHO-ass looking apartment.

Tay. TAY. TAY. YOU KNOW MON IS SELLING HER DAUGHTER TO A SCUMBAG IN ORDER TO COVER THE MONEY LAUNDERING FOR THE REBELLION. THAT’S WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH THE WEDDING, REMEMBER??? YOU INTRODUCED HER TO THE SCUMBAG IN QUESTION. AND YOU’RE FEELING UNDER VALUED?!? Jesus christ, Tay, I’d hoped you were a good ‘un! But I should have known from the bronzer.

Kleya walking into the antiquities shop is like Batman going into the Batcave, I swear to god. She looks so at home.

Mon’s problem is that she persists in thinking of problems as negotiations and spreadsheets. Senator. Sometimes, problems are physical obstacles. And you are going to have to fucking knock them down to get rid of them.

Perrin’s really charming sometimes, isn’t he. That’s a good speech. Bad values, I think—just pure hedonism—but an effective piece of rhetoric. You can see why he’s a useful political spouse and why Mon wouldn’t just leave him at the first chance.

Back on Planet Dipshit, our two leaders of the rival factions come forth and agree to lay down arms—and play Space Rock-Paper-Scissors. While they’re busy making, I dunno, rancor claws with their hands, Cass kicks out a compartment on his old busted ship, neutralizes the guard, and runs for the TIE Advanced—all while some sort of Jungle Dino Hog charges the dipshits and allows Cassian to make his getaway.

And as he zooms off, we see two unmistakable ziggurats—this isn’t Planet Dipshit. This is fucking Yavin IV. And Cass is going to have to come back here, and you KNOW he’s going to be so annoyed about it.

[yesbutmakeitgay]

Lifelines Intertwined

Chapter 2

Valkyrie x Reader

Summary: Sword fighting that leads to intriguing conversation.

Word count: 1.2k

Soulmates, Slow burn, Fluff, Angst.

Beta'd by @cordeliasdarling <3

Masterlist | This Series Masterlist | AO3

Let The Flames Begin

After a couple of days of The King making sure you’re adjusting well to New Asgard, she offers to train with you as a bonding activity. The reality is that she wants to test your abilities, she has grown a liking towards you and you get along together, but all that means nothing if your skill in the battlefield isn’t up to her standards.

She takes you to an open field behind the palace and hands you a weapon. You haven't had a lot of experience with swords, but you must admit, you've always been kinda drawn to them.

Feeling a little out of your element, you take a defensive approach, fending off her attacks, hoping to find an opening to retaliate.

"Are you a sword fighter?" she asks, as you dodge a strike to your shoulder.

"Not really."

"You're quite good." You’re too focused on not getting hit to catch the impressed tone of her voice.  

"Thank you, and here I thought you were going easy on me."

"I would never insult you like that." This time, you hear her clear enough for her words to make you blush, but you quickly shake them off before taking a swing at her neck, which she only barely evades by leaning her body backwards, "Where'd you learn that move?" she pants, repositioning to start again.

"Uh, I've trained with the Widows a lot, although they're more of the knives and daggers kind."

She resumes the combat, "Daggers are fun, they're like tiny swords."

"Yeah, they hurt just as bad," you snark.

"Aw, are you in pain right now?"

"Of course I am, I’m an average human!"

She is really trying to push you to your limit now that she is satisfied with your performance, "You are anything but average," your heart skips a beat at her flattery, "you’re slightly shorter," she counters.

You scoff in disbelief at her taunting, "Oh sorry, I forgot my ten inch boots," you bite back as you attack her legs.

"I need them to seem more commanding."

"If you wanted to be taller, why not wear a crown?"

"Because crowns are stupid, if you must wear a crown to let people know you're The King, you're not doing your job right," she objects, "authority is not about clothing, it's about how you handle yourself."

You use your free hand to wave your cape as a distraction, "Then why did you put me in such a silly outfit?"

She almost falls for it, "It helps with presence."

"How come you don't have to wear one?"

"This King does paperwork." She emphasizes her sentence by pushing you onto the ground and pointing her sword to your chest.

You can’t help the smile that forms on your face, "I need a break." Valkyrie helps you up, and you both go get some water.

"Let’s change the subject, who's your favorite Avenger?"

You side eye her, "Really?"

"Yes, really." She would hate to admit it, but you definitely did a number on her surpassing even her greatest expectations.

"I mean, it's gotta be Danvers."

"Hmm, I agree."

"I thought you were gonna say Thor."

She chuckles, "Have you met the guy?"

"Haven’t had the pleasure."

"That’s why," she scrunches up her nose, "have you met any of the new recruits?"

"Not all of them, I met Kamala, she's very sweet."

"Isn’t she adorable?" you both sit on the ground to rest, "You know Bishop? She's got a pretty face on herself."

Your brows furl, "I didn't think archers were your type."

"I didn't say she was my type," she smirks as she chugs a water bottle.

You can’t help but pry, "Then, what is your type?"

She looks you in the eye as she swallows the last drops, "Sword fighters."

You go again for a few more rounds, and when you’re done, she congratulates you on your good work, dismissing you for the day.

You go to your quarters to take a shower and rest up. You weren’t aware you could do all that with a sword, and you can’t help but feel that Valkyrie had something to do with it. It all felt so natural, like you were meant to wield a sword your whole life.

Valkyrie goes back to her office to continue working, feeling beyond impressed with you. She had purposefully given you a sword to see how you would fend knowing it wasn’t your weapon of choice, but after your session, she is beginning to think Carol lied to her about that.

It’s been a little over a week since your arrival to New Asgard and you've been mostly running errands for The King. It's certainly the easiest job you've had to do since you joined S.H.I.E.L.D., but also the most boring. You spend most of your time sitting in Valkyrie's office watching her work.

You’ve been doing a good job of staying in your lane and sitting still, but today that seems nearly impossible for you. You feel your brain running a thousand miles per minute causing you to fidget and continuously bounce your leg at incredible speeds.

About halfway through the workday, you cannot take it anymore, so you stand up and wander around The King’s office for the very first time. You look around at all the decorations laid so carefully around the room, but refrain from getting too close to Valkyrie’s desk so as to not disturb her work. Instead, you walk to the wall lined with a collection of weapons on display.

"Are these all yours?" you ask without looking away from the wall.

Valkyrie quickly glances at you before going back to her desk, "Of course."

Your eyes land on the centerpiece of it all, and you gasp in disbelief, "Is that the Dragonfang?"

"Indeed."

"May I?"

She smirks, finally putting her work to the side, "Knock yourself out." You grab the sword carefully and give it a few swings feeling all the power within it.

"What do you need so many weapons for when you have this one?"

"I like to switch things up from time to time," she shrugs. It is only now that she realizes what’s going on, "Princess," she begins, "I know that the work you've been doing here has been less than amusing, and I’m glad because that means my people are safe. However, I can't really let you go yet as the threat hasn't been cleared." Leave it to The King to apologize for your job being boring.

"That's alright, King, I’m still getting paid the same," you reassure her as you place the Dragonfang back on the wall.

She turns her chair to face you directly and crosses her legs, "You’re getting paid?"

You freeze in place, "Was I not supposed to say that?"

"I thought you were here because you liked me."

Relief washes over you as you realize she is just teasing you, "Of course I like you, I would have already left if I didn’t."   "Is there anything you've left behind to be here?" she pries, looking at you intently, and making you tense up again.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you have family? Loved ones?"

"Not really, I’m quite the lone wolf, my life's too messy," you explain, retreating into yourself lightly.

"So, no partner?"

"No partner." It's not like you don't want one, but with a soulmark like yours, they've not been exactly easy to find.

Chapter 3

[darth-jess]

To the Anti-Jedi/Pro-Anakin Crowd

Pt. 3 of It's Okay to Love the Jedi and Anakin at the Same Time

(See my other posts –> It's Okay to Love Anakin and the Jedi at the Same Time, and To the Anti-Anakin/Pro-Jedi Crowd)

The Jedi Order (regardless of whether you ascribe to Canon or Legends) is an incredibly beautiful religious order that survived for thousands of years with a philosophy of compassion and understanding, as well as a dedication to preserving life and protecting those who could not protect themselves.

When you think about who Anakin is at his core– someone who very literally risks his own life to help others with no thought of reward as a nine year old boy– he easily embodies what it means to be a Jedi, and Qui-Gon recognizes this.

For me personally, it doesn't make sense to love Anakin and hate the Jedi Order, because Anakin truly loved being a Jedi. And the only thing more important to him than being a Jedi was being with Padmé.

We pro-Anakin people can discuss all we want about how the Jedi wronged Anakin, but it will never change the fact that being a Jedi was his calling and he loved it. It was his passion. He felt like he was truly doing good as a Jedi. Which is why Padmé never asked (and never would have asked) Anakin to leave. She knew how much it meant to him, she understood the purpose it gave him.

We also cannot ignore the fact that the Jedi Order is not perfectly represented by its members. Just as we cannot pick out one single person from any religion and say, "All people from that religion are like this" we also cannot pick out one (or even a few) Jedi and say the same.

I think a lot of people are overly critical of the Jedi Order because there were many Jedi who were not perfect Jedi. Yet this is a bit of a ridiculous standard to hold anyone to. Every single Jedi, Master Yoda included, was often tested by their circumstances and sometimes they failed.

Even the very best do not always succeed.

Yet, the failings of the Jedi Order in the Prequels are not due to a flawed core ideology, they are due to the mistakes of good people with good intentions, under the intense pressure of war and the manipulations of a Sith Lord.

What it means to be a Jedi is an ideal that no one will ever fully embody. Because ideals, while perfect in conception, are interpreted and played out by imperfect people– because everyone is flawed, no one is perfect, it's a fact of existence. Jedi like Yoda and Qui-Gon are a few of the (many) Jedi who do a wonderful (if imperfect) job of embodying the Jedi Ideal. But then you have Jedi like Ki-Adi Mundi (at least in Legends) who is so emotionally distant he seems less compassionate and more cold.

I firmly believe it is unfair to judge the entire philosophy of the Jedi Order by its members who do a poor job of embodying the Jedi Ideal, or even on the mistakes better Jedi make.

The Jedi Order is not some cult that forces people into it– parents can decide whether or not to give up their child to the Jedi, and that child can choose to leave at any time.

Even in the Revenge of the Sith novelization, Anakin decides he's going to leave the Jedi Order when he finds out Padmé is pregnant. He could have left the Jedi Order at any time before that, he could have lived happily with his rich wife. But when Anakin makes this decision, he is not running from the Jedi, he is running toward his family.

If he could have remained a Jedi and had a family with Padmé, he absolutely would have.

Anakin truly believed in being a Jedi. He made it a part of who he was as a person, and even though he broke the Jedi code of conduct on multiple occasions, he still believed in it. It's why in the Revenge of the Sith novelization he feels so awful about the way he killed Dooku– he understood it was wrong, and not the Jedi way, and he doesn't feel good about it.

Nearing the end of the Clone Wars, Anakin may have lost faith in (at least some of) the decisions of the Jedi Council, but Anakin doesn't ever lose faith in the Jedi as a whole– until he's given no other choice, when Mace Windu is about to kill Palpatine.

(See my post –> Was Mace Windu About to Defeat Sidious? and my post –> Anakin's Breaking Point where I use quotes from the ROTS novelization and the movie to discuss Palpatine's terrifying manipulation of Anakin and the battle in the Chancellor's Office.)

The only reason he betrays the Jedi is because he believes it is the only way to save Padmé, and this is made abundantly clear in the Revenge of the Sith novelization. He doesn't hate the Jedi, but he cannot imagine living without Padmé.

Even when Anakin says, "From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!" in Revenge of the Sith, it's more because the Jedi are standing in his way. The Jedi would not make him a Jedi Master– and he didn't really care about the rank, it was more that he wanted to read the secret texts in the Jedi Archives that only Jedi Masters could read to find a way to save Padmé. And then, Palpatine will not teach him how to save Padmé until the Jedi are destroyed.

In conclusion to this three post series, the Jedi Order wronged Anakin in so many ways, and we can't overlook that. But it was less due to Jedi philosophy, and more due to Jedi politics and the interpretations of certain Jedi at the time.

Also, Anakin wasn't brainwashed by the Jedi– he regularly disobeyed the Council and carved out his own path. And yet, being a Jedi was still very meaningful to Anakin and we can't overlook that either.

I realize I'm probably leaving stuff out, but this post was getting too long. If you have any problems or concerns, feel free to send me an ask about it!

[m1ssunderstanding]

first of all: love your blog. really insightful and interesting!

I've been kind of torn about something involving paul and i'd like to know what you think: the whole thing about illegitimate children and him being pretty awful to the mothers. more specifically, anita cochrane's story. paul apparently hooked up with her in 1963, she also hooked up with another guy 2 weeks after being with paul, and then got pregnant. the kid might not be his and I think there are even some biographers that say that the other dude ended up being the father, but the story still shocked me a bit because there was a big possibility of the kid being paul's and the way they dealt with it was awful. now I know that paul's not a saint and that for a rock star's standard he is pretty chill, but I wanted to check if you know anything about this story and if you have a take on it https://sentstarr.tripod.com/beatgirls/anita.html

Yeah I really wish I had some comfort for you, anon.

Here's my take.

The way Paul treated Anita before the pregnancy completely adds up and gells with what we know about him.

Timing-wise, the baby would've had to have been a bit late to have been Paul's, which is very possible given the fact that this was Anita's first, and she was so young, but which is unlikely (unless Anita was malnourished or something, which, maybe) given that Philip was born at only 5 pounds.

Let's say Philip isn't Paul's. Anita would've had many reasons to pretend he was. Maybe she thought somewhere in her desperate mind that now, if she was the mother of his child, he'd have to acknowledge her. She was a teen mother in the sixties. Life was going to be incredibly difficult for her and her son if she didn't get some financial assistance, and Paul seemed to be an oil well. She may also have been (RIGHTLY!) resentful of his treatment of her and saw this as a good way to punish him and force him to take accountability.

A lot of the actions taken by Paul and Brian do make me think Philip really was Paul's son. Just the fact that there were countless paternity suits "rolling in" according to Cynthia, targeting all the Beatles, according to NEMS. But this one was taken very seriously. Because he was so guilty over how he treated her? (He should've been but knowing him I doubt it) Because her family was just that much more persistent than the other girls families? (I doubt they could've been all that much more scary) Because Paul really did think that was his kid? (Maybe. Seems like it.) Why would he refuse a blood test? I think it makes sense that Brian would say we absolutely can't because then we'd have to do it for everyone. But I also think it makes sense for Paul to be terrified of the results. Then decades later, when the story came up again and Philip asked to have genetic testing done, it sounds like Paul agreed, but the results have been kept private, which to me is the biggest evidence that Paul really was Phillips dad. Philip hated him, for good reason, and really just wanted to prove he wasn't his dad. Paul obviously would want that too. So if the results had proven Paul was not his dad, you'd think they'd publish them, right? (Unless they didn't want to humiliate Anita with the story, which I could actually see from both of them)

I don't know what to think, really, anon. It is pretty out of character for Paul to just abandon his child like that, but it's not something I think he'd absolutely never do under the circumstances. To be clear, I don't think his despicable treatment of Anita is out of character, and I 110% believe her, and if she was lying (or maybe just hopefully and educatedly guessing) that Paul was Phillips father I do not blame her at all.

Anyway, sorry for the unhelpful and long-winded answer. Would love to know others thoughts.

[halfetirosie]

☁︎✴☁︎ KUYA IS THE WORST THERAPIST OF ALL TIME!!!!! ☁︎✴☁︎

(Elysium 10-11 React-os!)

Fair warning, I'mma be a bit of a hater in this one...🤦‍♀️

1) KUYA, WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!?!?!

First of all: kidnapping is fucking ILLEGAL!

Second: this is just too far. It's already bad enough that Olivine will have to answer embarrassing questions in front of an audience, but having to do so in front of the kids--????

I was rooting for you, Kuya! But then you go and be a dick again!!!!

😡

2) Damn, what an awful way to die....

I HATE bugs, they're so gross---

Plus, this situation is already ASTRONOMICALLY STRESSFUL; having a big, ugly, threatening bug crawling all over you will make it even worse!!!

3) My thoughts exactly, Eiden!!!!

Why is Eiden the only sane person here???

It seems like Kuya have set things up to be as agonizing as possible, and that just feels EVIL to me.

This is why I really hate that damn fox sometimes. He keeps causing genuine pain to people, hitting them right where it hurts, and it's [at least partially] only for his own entertainment.

4) (｡Ó ᗣ Ò｡)

Olivineeee, sweeetieeeee!!!! Come here and give me a hug!!!!

This is so depressingly relatable.... Amiright, fellow degenerates? 😅 Gotta laugh about it or else you'll cry...

Olivine is really GOING THRU IT. I can't imagine having to admit something like this to my family/friends!

I am so fucking stressed!!!!

5) FUCK!!!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!!

LISTEN. I GET THAT OLIVINE NEEDS TO FACE HIS FEELINGS PROPERLY INSTEAD OF AVOIDING THEM. Aside from the damn fox's entertainment, that is what "the point" of this trial is.

Accepting your feelings is necessary for healing.

But you know what doesn't have a point? FORCING OLIVINE TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION IN FRONT OF THE MOST FRAGILE AND INNOCENT PEOPLE IN HIS LIFE, WHOM HE REALLY CARES ABOUT!!!!!

I feel like I'm just repeating myself at this point, but seriously, this is so fucked up! If I were Eiden, I probably would've interrupted and tried to end this shitty trial, too...

6) Kuya, you are seriously such a dick....

I think Kuya is partially up to his Tsundere Bullshit™ again; I think he's pretending to be casually "observing" things when really, he's searching for some sort of answer. (After all, this is the same dude that has been alive for longer than we can imagine, and has struggled with suicidal thoughts in the past)

The reason he calls the trial participants "boring" is likely because they didn't give the answers Kuya wanted---I suspect that this trial has served as Kuya's fucked up way of searching for meaning in life.

But what really pisses me off is the demeaning way he talks about humans; even now, during a trial whose questions focus on one's true desires and personal values.

HE'S the one always prattling on about how humans shouldn't judge himself, a yokai, by human standards. And yet, he doesn't have the decency to do the same???

Humans live a much shorter time than him, after all. Of COURSE they'll put value in different things than him; especially if they're someone who frequently spends time in a red light district.

That might be why he assumes Olivine's morality is a "mask," but at the same time, he actually knows Olivine personally (at least, to some extent), unlike the strangers he's tested in this "trial."

I don't think I can give Kuya the benefit of the doubt anymore. This lack of empathy isn't "out of his control," IT'S A FUCKING CHOICE. AND THAT IS WHY I'M ANGRY!!!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Kuya shouldn't be allowed to conduct this "trial." This "trial" shouldn't even exist. What HE needs---what Olivine needs---what EVERYONE needs---IS SOME ACTUAL PROPER THERAPY!!!!

7) CONFIRMED: Eiden is me in this event

Is this hinting that this whole trial is an illusion, maybe?? As in, there isn't actually an audience here??

Honestly tho, at this point, that doesn't even matter to me. Kuya is still being a dick and putting Olivine through HELL, and it is so unnecessary!!! 😡😡😡

8) It just keeps getting worse and worse...

Watching this trial is giving me such intense second-hand fear/sadness, bro---I'm crying very real tears. It's literally hurting me.

This really didn't need to be done in front of an audience, dude... Shit like this is SUPER private. It shouldn't be made into a spectacle like this...

BITCH, KUYA MADE OLIVINE CRY!!!!!!!

(｡Ó ᗣ Ò｡)

WHY!!!!

THE FUCK!!!!!

DID HE HAVE TO DO THIS!!!!!

LIKE THIS?!?!?!?!

9) HELL YEAH, OLIVINE!!!! PREACH!!!

I can't believe we went through all of this just so Olivine could give the most obvious answer of all time---

⊹ ࣪ ˖♡ LOVE ♡⊹ ࣪ ˖

That's also the answer that our foxy bitch friend was really searching for...

10) OH FUCK, THANK GOD!!!!

I AM SO FUCKING RELIEVED, THE KIDS WERE JUST ILLUSIONS!!!!

I don't forgive Kuya for pulling that stunt, tho. I stand by my opinion that it was COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY.

11) TRUTH:

It's honestly kind of wild to see Olivine explaining the value of love to a mean old foxy grandpa, but hey, here we are!

It's Olivine's turn to be the therapist! The right way!

:D

12) You're a much more patient person than me, Olivine...

(ᵕ—ᴗ—)

I held on for as long as I could, but I can no longer be generous when his antics cross a certain line... I'm giving this fox the silent treatment for the next three weeks!!

13) *heavy sigh*

Yeah, that's true...

Olivine and Kuya actually have a fair bit in common, when you think about it; specifically, their history with Depressive Episodes and--as Olivine puts it here-- their "struggle to live."

I think the main difference is, because of Kuya's long-ass life, he's much more set in his ways; thus, it's harder for him to let go of his destructive tendencies.

He may not be as violent as he used to be, but he still has a terrible habit of emotionally harming others...

Do I think this excuses his behavior? No.

Do I think he deserves another chance; to be treated with compassion and helped? Yes.

But he ALSO deserves to see some actual consequences for his actions.

☁︎ End of report ☁︎

[edettethegreat]

You asked for Edmund asks and I'm here to deliver. Sorry if this really surface level or straight up wrong, I am but a normie when it comes to enjoying Shakespeare. So there's before the scene where Gloucester gets blinded, Edmund is sent away by Cornwall and it felt like a missed opportunity to make him prove his loyalty. Eventually, I assumed Cornwall didn't want him backpedaling and that got me wondering, would he? I mean, would it have changed anything if Edmund was in the room or tasked with blinding Gloucester? On one hand, Gloucester's situation is of Edmund's own design, it's not like he doesn't know how serious treason is. On the other hand, he may not like or respect him much but he still craves his approval and it makes me wonder what would change if he was holding the blade.

oh this is interesting

in short, I think bringing Edmund along for Gloucester's interrogation would be counterproductive on many levels.

For the most surface level explanation, at this point Gloucester didn't know that Edmund betrayed him. He still believes Edmund is a good and loyal son. If there's any chance of him surviving the interrogation and getting away (as he does), you would want to have someone who he trusts to keep him under control.

standard 'playing politics' move.

During the interrogation -- Regan, after Cornwall is stabbed and Gloucester's eyes are out, reveals that Edmund has betrayed him. It doesn't seem like this was part of the original plan, and this ultimately ends up costing Edmund his life.

On the topic of Cornwall potentially needing Edmund to prove his loyalty-- the only thing being involved in Gloucester's torture would prove is that Edmund hates Gloucester. Which he already knows, as he heavily implies he's aware that Edmund's intentionally destroying the Gloucester noble lineage to become earl. And he thinks that that's very cool of him :)

On top of all that, dragging Edmund into the interrogation is not the role he want to play here. Whatever he's got going on here-- "thou shalt find a dearer father in my love" -- again, this is another political move. He recognizes what Edmund is capable of, and most likely wants to use this new connection he has to him. Edmund turned to him to denounce Gloucester as a traitor, and Cornwall wants to play the role of Edmund's 'savior' who removes this 'awful evil traitor' Edmund was 'brave enough' to denounce.

Him sending Edmund away before the torture could be a way of saying 'don't worry, I've got this covered from here.' He's choosing to actively take a part in Edmund's ascent to the Earldom, proving allegiance to the brand new earl of gloucester.

in short. the torture functions more as Cornwall proving his loyalty to Edmund's cause than any potential loyalty test for Edmund.

and of course imma shout out @suits-of-woe's Cornwall analysis posts-- he understands Cornwall on a level deeper than I could ever hope to, and I feel like reading his Cornwall Analysis Saga should be required text for anyone playing Cornwall

[someonexsomeone]

Love to Keep Me Warm

Title: Love to Keep Me Warm

Author: SomeonexSomeone

Word Count: 1.8k

Pairing: Harry Potter x Slytherin!Reader

Summary: Harry has learned to keep secrets from his best friend, but it helps when his best friend is a dense as a pile of rocks.

Authors Note: Day 3!...Week...3? Anyway, this fic was kinda heavily inspired by Lily's Boy by SomewheresSword on ao3. I literally devoured it in like a week, it was so good. I hate JK with a passion, but her characters are so yummy. Shorter this time, but I hope you guys like it all the same!

Love him to death, but there was only so much Ronald Weasley Harry could put up with. His best friend, to be fair, was a teenage boy with about 8 times the usual amount of sibling jealousy coursing through his veins which made him act irrationally more times than not. And, no doubt being best friends with the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, the Savior of the World, the Boy With the Scar - you get the picture - made those jealous spikes just a tad worse, especially now that his Mum saw Harry as one of her own children. So, Harry being the good friend he was, something he said to himself to justify his action, tried his best to be on his good side, sometimes bending to his will more than a standard friend would. Hermione, for instance, never made him feel like he couldn’t spend his money on an expensive new pair of Quidditch gloves, or a Wireless to keep up with the news. A glare, maybe, if the purchase was a little reckless, but that was her just looking out for him. Ron on the other hand…

Harry knew it was selfish, to want to spend the money he had on anything he wanted, but having grown up with nothing to his name, objects found themselves being a nice, new addition to his wizarding life. He got into the habit of buying two of everything, just to make sure Ron felt included. Ron’s bashful smile was more often than not a nice reprieve from his unknowing jealous glare.

All this being said, there has been a lot Harry had learned to keep private. Yes, the big things are harder, he still remembers the outraged look on his face when Harry told him about making Seeker, but the smaller things, those have gotten easier to cover up. Spending more time with Hermione? Easy deflection towards Ron’s recent tutoring sessions. Got a high mark on an essay? Ron trusts his word enough that paper proof is not even needed. Getting along better with the twins? He volunteered to be their new test subject so Ron didn’t have to.

Harry does feel a little bad. Should it be this easy to lie to your friends?

If that wasn’t enough, Harry was starting to feel strangely proud about being able to navigate his way through Ron’s troubled attitude. After all, a year ago he couldn’t imagine being so cunning without the fear and shame of deceit. 

Peering across the Great Hall, he locked eyes with a certain green-tied classmate, blushing to the tips of his ears when he was met with a wink.

“Maybe if you followed the essay plan I made you, you wouldn’t be so far behind,” Hermione snarked, flicking her pen accusatorily at Ron across the table. Ron grumbled, waving the feathers away from his face.

“I can’t help it, ‘Mione! You have to admit that even you struggle to stay awake in History of Magic. It’s bloody awful,”

“Some of us actually like to learn, and any subject is interesting if you find something you like.” Harry could barely hear her, too preoccupied with the gentle smile he got in response to his goofy one.

“That’s not fair! You like to learn and you think everything is bloody interesting.” Ron huffed again, pushing away the heavily edited draft Hermione was passing over. “Let me get one minute of peace, at least while we eat. It’s nearly Christmas anyway, no one even cares about papers right now.” Harry subtly caught the flying kiss that was sent in his direction, mouthing ‘Seeker’ with a devilish  The responding giggle made his heart flutter.

“Yes, they do! There’s a reason we get work over the holiday, mind you, because they want us to learn as much as possible before exams.”

“You’re being ridiculous! Binns is just as excited for the break as we are, he’s not going to expect O level work.”

“He’s a ghost, Ronald! And he doesn’t even celebrate Christmas.”

“Harry!” This made Harry finally peel his eyes away, jumping out of his skin now that he realized that both of his friends were eyeing him. “...what are you doing?”

“What?”

“Were you looking at…the Slytherin table?” Ron’s face only looked so disgusted for two reasons - when he thinks about his time belching slugs, and when he thinks about Slytherins. Harry’s knee started to bounce involuntarily.

“Just trying to get a rise out of, uh, Malfoy, you know. Not important. What were you two saying?” Ron looked mildly skeptical, but there was a little twinkle in his look at the prospect of annoying Malfoy. He spared a single glance to the other table - crap! Malfoy wasn’t even looking in this direction, let alone pissed at all - before deciding it wasn’t worth the extra thought.

“Tell Hermione she’s crazy for wanting to work so close to Christmas.”

“No, tell Ronald that he is going to get a T if he continues to do work like this.” The two stared at him, both daring him to oppose them. Harry scratched the back of his neck, guilty pushing a breath between his teeth.

“Please don’t get me involved with this.” He was thankful that Ron’s betrayed look didn’t affect him as much as it used to, but Hermione’s glare still made his blood run cold. There was something, however, in his eyes that made him suspicious.

“Since you both insist on sacrificing your grades before the holidays, I’m going to the library alone. You can finish your paper on your own!” Ron’s eyes widened, scrambling to grab his things as Hermione stomped away.

“Bloody-” Harry narrowly dodged an elbow, though his lap did get a nice Yorkshire pudding companion in Ron’s haste, “I can’t believe you’re not coming with us to the Burrow. I’m going to be stuck with that all break!” Harry snickered, reaching across the table for a napkin.

“Just be thankful she always ends up helping you anyway.” Ron’s bag fell one more time before he was finally able to pull himself away from the bench, racing out the door to beg Hermione for her help. Merlin knows what will happen if he brings back another P to his Mother.

In the chaos, there were still distinctly Ron things scattered around the table and floor. A quill, for one, and his Transfiguration textbook that Harry knew Ron would need by this afternoon. Harry chuckled to himself, bending down to pick up a fallen piece of paper, pointedly ignoring the little doodle of Hermione’s name with a heart. When he righted himself, he nearly jumped out of his skin. Across from him, with equally devastating smirks, were the infamous Weasley twins. Harry gulped.

“Ah. What can I do for you gentlemen on his fine day?” Harry asked awkwardly, shufflings Ron’s stuff into a pile just to have something to do other than admit that he was just a little bit nervous. Especially when the twins have that look.

“It’s the strangest thing, you know?” Fred started, leaning towards Harry. They boy didn’t dare speak, but leaned forward too, not knowing if he wanted to hear what would be said next.

“What is, Forge?” George said, mirroring his twin. They all looked a little silly, butting heads over the great, big table, but Harry couldn’t find himself laughing at the moment.

“Well, Gred, I think my eyes are started to trick me.”

“Trick you?!” George said in mock surprise. “Whatever could you mean by that?”

“What else could it be, if not trickery? You see, I was just enjoying my breakfast-”

“What a lovely breakfast it was, too.”

“=when I looked over and saw our very own Harrykins with bright red cheeks!”

“Bright red, you say?”

“As red as a baby’s bum!”

“Oh, my!” Harry felt his face burning once again.

“So I looked over-”

“And what did you see?”

“-to see our very own hero fraternizing with the enemy!”

“Wait!” Harry whispered, yanking them in closer. The devil twins had equally large smiles on their faces. He thought of coming up with an excuse for a split moment, but, Harry realized with dread, that those smiles only meant one thing - the twins already knew the answer and were only waiting for confirmation. Whether that confirmation was verbal or not was of little issue for them. A rock formed in his stomach. Knowing the twins, if they didn’t get an answer now… “No one can know.” At this, their eyebrows raised.

“Am I hearing things correctly?” Fred mimed cleaning his ear, George staring at him with blazing eyes. Harry gulped, nodding his head, unable to meet their eyes. Dread for inevitable pranks turned into dread at rejection, a bubbling fear that the twins would do what he always feared Ron would do one day, turn their backs on him.

“Our little Harrykins is all grown up!” George whispered loudly, ruffling Harry’s already crazy hair. Harry’s head shot up, looking up to see equally smiling faces. Mischievous, as always, but there was a certain softness at the corners. Harry’s confusion quickly covered all his other bad feelings. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with us.”

“...what?”

“I knew you were the savior type, but I didn’t know you’d go as far as actively searching a snake pit.” Fred’s wiggling eyebrows made Harry smile sheepishly.

“It wasn’t on purpose…an accidental meeting, if you will, last Christmas.”

“Oh, ho! We finally have the real reason Mother’s beloved adopted child is not joining us this year.” Harry blushed again. “Now, do we have to go over all the safety procedures of a healthy relationship, Can’t have our special boy be defiled by evil, now can we.”

“No, we can’t, Gred.” Their smiles turned devious again. “Now, what was it Father-dearest said to us? Oh yes, the contraceptive charm is very useful in these types of situations-”

“And you can never be too safe, so remember to take a potion afterwards-”

“Okay!” Harry yelled, standing up. He hastily gathered his and Ron’s items, hurrying to the door. “Thank you very much!”

“We haven’t even told you about the dangers of teen pregnancy.” One of them, Harry couldn’t care anymore, yelled at his back, the other cackling loudly.

“Or the dangers of STDs-”

“That’s quite enough, you two! 10 points of Gryffindor for inappropriate language.”

Harry dared to look over his shoulder at the green table across the room as he exited the grand doors, blushing, something he seemed to be doing a lot recently, when he locked eyes with the one pair he desperately wished wouldn’t have noticed the frankly humiliating interaction. The mischievous twinkle in them made Harry dread the teasing that would come, once most of the school left for the holiday and they were finally able to do more than exchange glances across a sea of unsuspecting classmates. Sappy as it was, Harry thought, he couldn’t wait.

______________________________________________________________

masterlist  l What is Laufeyfest? l Laufeyfest masterlist

[spiralinghours]

“Personal Assistant” Pt 9

Fandom: Saw franchise

Characters/Pairing: Mark Hoffman x afab reader

Rating: R (18+)

Tags/Warnings: Descriptive, penetrative P in V intercourse; Belly kink; Fat fetishism (Mark is still chubby and his PA is into it, duh); Mild daddy kink; Pig/hog play (in terms of name calling only); Tight clothes; Consensual but inappropriate boss x secretary dynamic; Binding/tying up; Bratty behavior

Summary: “Let’s go in the back of your cop car, officer…” (Or also, that time Mark got so distracted he forgot he put someone in a trap.)

Author’s Notes: Thanks to my mutual on here for helping me with inspiration on this! I wrote it in such a hurry before that inspo died that there may be errors I don’t catch (what else is new). Just enjoy it!

“What’re you still doing here?” Hoffman grunted as he closed his office door for the evening, spotting you sitting rigid as a tree at your desk. You were incredibly posed, ankles crossed, bag in your lap. He knew something was up.

“Would you be so sweet as to give me a little ride home, please, Boss?” You pushed a glittering gaze across to him.

Hoffman scrambled his blunt fingers to inch his sleeve above his watch, intensely reading the numbers tick by like he had started timing something, or was running late. You could feel the hesitation, and yet you kept on, enjoying the sugary-sweet chokehold you had on him.

“Please? I had to take my car to the shop during lunch and they didn’t get it finished as soon as I thought.” Cue the batting of lashes, an overly-expected gesture.

Your boss pushed his straggling hair back with some exasperation (which you always found enticing, innocuous as it seemed). “Alright, darlin’,” he agreed, no “but’s” or anything.

——

Four walls draped in incomprehensible darkness felt disorienting and stuffy—air humid and dense as a velvet drape.

Gasping echoed throughout the seemingly empty but compact space. Someone had been blindfolded and attached to some contraption: metallic with a reinforced collar. An alarming click had indicated that the collar pulled some wire—some trigger—loose… Which should have set off a timer with a series of subsequent instructions and obstacles. But…

Whoever was supposed to play the tape, explain the procedure, set everything into motion… had been slacking, apparently.

“Hello?” the nameless test subject called out, words falling flat against dead air and no one to hear them.

At least they had a better chance of escaping.

——

“Alright, I hate to cut it short, sweetheart, but I’m a little behind on some things so, if you don’t mind.” Hoffman gestured to your front door as his standard issue cruiser idled.

“You’re looking awful handsome, sir,” you started up with an indiscreet bite of your lip. You reached a hand to cup his cheek. “Why such a hurry? If you were already behind then another little bit won’t matter…”

“Honey, what are you tryin’ here?”

You recoiled your hand, lacing it into the hair that fell over one of your shoulders, winding up a lock around your finger. “You ever fool around in your cop car, Detective.” You bit into the way his title sounded in your mouth. Even if your attempts at a sultry voice felt sometimes silly (and definitely no match to Hoffman’s), you played into it anyway, knowing it would wind him up or annoy the fuck out of him.

“That would be inappropriate, don’t you think, baby?” By the slant in his inflection, you could tell his frisky appetite was taking over. He was too easy.

Regardless of the lack of room, you hopped over the console as sleekly as possible, pleasantly finding just enough confined space to mount Hoffman’s lap. His belly had been delicately grazing the steering wheel during the drive, just one deep exhale away from being fully wedged in. And now you had squeezed into that delicious space: your nearly exposed rear rutting up against the wheel (skirt hiked high from all the movement), your pussy pressed up against Hoffman’s lower belly.

“Oh no, what if the police pull up?” you teased biting the tip of your tongue between bared teeth.

“They can stay and watch if they want to,” Hoffman mumbled, mind clearly drifting to one single track.

As he traced his palms from your shoulders down to your hips, you gave into the heat permeating from deep below and started grinding a little on the dense bulk of his stomach.

“Like that, huh?” His thick lips quirked up cockily to one corner. He began to shift around gently, bouncing you rhythmically against his gut.

“Do I like what?” You played dumb with a shit-eating smirk. “Big hogs like you?” You were making yourself burn up with your unfiltered thoughts becoming vocalized. “I think you know the answer… You big stupid pig.”

Hoffman clawed into your rear, instinctively jerking you against him, as if you weren’t already pressed so intoxicatingly close together.

“Do you like to fuck big, stupid pigs, babydoll?” He was nearly breathless from how low he was speaking, trying to stay below the hush, though it only made the rumble in his chest and throat resonate. You could feel it.

“I wanna hear you squeal,” you leaned in, whispering into his ear, cutting away immediately and clumsily scuttling to the backseat.

Hoffman gave each window a once over before begrudgingly making the move to follow you. It was a guilty delight watching the way he had to heave himself from the front seat and push his plush, wide frame through the two seats. You lengthened yourself along the stretch of the backseat, taking in the view of Hoffman’s chest pushing his gray shirt taut with every push and angle.

Finally, he had hunkered on top of you, broad thighs in that rough black suit material pinning you down. His gut dipped solidly over his belt buckle, obscuring it ever so slightly, hanging more heavily than it had before, you noted.

“This why you wear suspenders too? ‘Cause this belt is on its last leg,” you snickered, trying to work the leather away from the prong. “Actually, damn, did you poke this hole in here yourself?” Your giggling intensified at the realization that Hoffman had, indeed, crudely stabbed a new hole at the end of his worn belt.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t act so surprised, babydoll,” he grumbled.

“I thought you liked when I played cute.”

“You think this is being cute?” He shifted an eyebrow at that.

The sound of a forced—and weirdly relieved—pop emitted from the belt, meaning the buckle had finally come undone under all the jostling and the heavy pressure. Hoffman’s gut rolled forward towards your open legs, which you were already shamefully bucking towards.

“Where’s your patience, babydoll?” He mockingly tsked at you, motioning to shrug his blazer off, then work his suspenders down.

You disregarded him, digging your pretty little glittered nails into his sides, using his bulk to hoist yourself around and press yourself into him. Hurriedly, you inched your tight skirt up just high enough, silky, dark panties scootching down the opposite path on your thighs.

Hoffman made a deliberate, agitated pause, casting an incredulous blue gaze down at you. (It honestly only made you squirm more, writhing in the fact you had done something to piss him off. You felt yourself getting hotter.)

“Since you can’t seem to stay still for Daddy—” He made a demonstration of unclipping his suspenders fully off, bunching them into his fist.

“What’s that for?” you barbed. “It’s not like they were doing much suspending, barely holding your fatass in.” Your face burned and lips tightened, wondering if maybe your mouth was getting a little too bold for its own good.

In a startlingly quick motion, Hoffman leaned in, manhandling your arms over your head and securing them roughly with the suspenders.

“Oh, why thank you, Daddy,” you continued to tease (despite the disadvantage of being bound), snideness and cherry gloss threaded in your voice.

“You are so much trouble, huh?” he chastised again, retracing your figure with his bearish hands, settling at your thighs. “This what you want, sweetheart?” His expression shifted to momentary seriousness, eyes flicking down at you intently.

“Yes, Boss,” you hummed with a catty, satisfied smirk.

Your thighs clamped hard like a flytrap as soon as he plunged in fully, hitting you just in the right spot. The most of the action, for you anyway, was grinding all that sweet pressure from his firm lower belly right against your clit. You knew what it looked like—had to wonder what he made of that—and felt even more aroused by the slight embarrassment of it.

“That’s right, sweetheart, you just wanna—Fuck, that’s good…” He grasped for control, attempting to maintain the syrup in his tone, but he was beginning to break through grunts and strained inhalation. “Fuck this pig, baby…”

So much shame intermingling with the sweetness on your tongue, with the curling heat in the pit of your stomach, cast such a blinding light on just how much of the weirdness turned you on.

Your back arched to an almost violent degree, as romance novel as that seemed in your head. It couldn’t be helped—you jerked your hips, sweating, overstimulated by every little tactile factor around you sending you into overdrive. Between feeling Hoffman throb deep within you, feeling his big weight crush your spread, aching thighs, and the indulgent friction on your clit from his burdensome belly, you were beginning to see white, like a flash.

An embarrassing, strained sound came deep from in your chest, sending you to collapse like a doll against the seat.

Still no words from Hoffman, all mostly choked out from his hungry focus on your pussy. Steadily becoming a little noisier, he grunted with every labored breath.

“You even grunt like a pig,” you huffed out, laugh faint from the fatigue. But apparently that’s what did it for him.

He slipped out, finishing against the plump curve of his gut, which wobbled with every minute thrust.

“Well, since my car is still in the shop, I may need a ride to work tomorrow. And I guess because of that you can stay the night to make it more convenient. This time.” You felt silly with your proposal, given that your wrists were still bound, both of you still panting.

“Treating me like a little fly in your web?” he dryly scoffed, an edge of adoration nonetheless. “Fattening me up to eat me…”

“That’s your fault for being so tasty,” you shrugged, fully acknowledging how goofy you sounded.

“I am more than fine staying if I can shower and wash my clothes.”

You debated on jokingly telling him to sleep in the car, but instead wiggled your way up to awkwardly peck him on the cheek. His eyes widened in a blank, surprised way.

“Now, please untie me, sir? Before I change my mind…”

[bestworstcase]

Hi! Eh, do you think that Adam is more hated by the fandom than Cinder? And if so, why you think this happens?

i think it’s an apples to oranges comparison because while adam is meant to be, ultimately, pitiable (in that he suffered, every mentor he had failed him or exploited him instead of actually helping him, and he chose to go down fighting for petty vengeance to the bitter end), from a narrative standpoint it was always quite clear that his character arc would end that way; he systematically burned every bridge and every lifeline he had and then literally ran into blake’s knife.

so the narrative asks for pity, the understanding that what happened to him is a tragedy—that it didn’t have to end the way it did, if he hadn’t slapped away every hand held out to him and ignored every warning sign that his path was self-destructive and would lead him to ruin—but not really anything more than that. there’s a tendency among certain kinds of villain fans to misinterpret other fans acknowledging the villainous role or acts or ending as character hate in and of itself—which it isn’t.

e.g. by no means do i hate adam as a character, but i understand what the narrative did with him (once-heroic fallen extremist whose ideals are corrupted to the point he turns abusively and violently against his own people, personal foe to blake and yang) and i think the narrative arc was executed well (broader white fang arc fumbling aside).

are there people in the fandom who do hate adam? yeah of course but i don’t think the average person in this category is out of scope as far as the intended reaction—to me the litmus test is just, can so-and-so recognize the textually-stated tragedy underlying his character, that he had opportunities to stop and refused each one? most of the time the answer is ‘yes.’

on the other hand, cinder is one of the two main villains and the narrative has not been subtle since v6 about setting her up for a villain -> hero arc—especially in v8 this nascent trajectory becomes very, very obvious to anyone paying a modicum of attention. which i don’t think is a comparable situation to adam with regard to this question because character hate toward villains gets way more intense when the possibility of a turnaround is evident enough for there to be widespread speculation about it—bc fans who don’t like the villainous character tend to really hate the idea of them, to be blunt, not getting punished enough.

(you see the same basic phenomenon playing out with ship hate, in that the closer to being unambiguously textual a given ship is, the louder and more vicious other shippers who don’t like it tend become.)

anyway. people who just dislike adam because he does awful things to characters they do like generally feel similarly about cinder for the same reasons; there’s an (obnoxious) slice of adam stans who virulently hate cinder and likewise a slice of (also obnoxious) cinder stand who virulently hate adam; cinder being a female villain gets the usual fandom misogynistic double standard and is judged much more harshly and punitively than male characters who do the same; the small fraction of people in this fandom who rabidly hate all the male characters of course rabidly hate adam (<- these people irritate me because they’re the same ones who burble about remnant being a matriarchy – #feminism is when you hate men and also can’t recognize systemic sexism against women unless it’s presented to you in an afterschool special caricature 🤔). on balance the misogynistic double standard represents a much larger swath of the fandom than the handful of people who expressly hate adam because he’s a man.

so like. just applying my test of ‘do you, regardless of whether you personally dislike this character, understand what the narrative is doing with them and why’ i see way more of what i would consider to be character hate directed at cinder than adam (and both pale in comparison to salem) but honestly if adam had survived and was discernibly on a path toward turning around i think it would be a lot more even than it is. jax vs cinder will be the more interesting comparison, if v10 goes in the direction i expect with him.