#the way her upbringing and issues kick in to support him...

[stromuprisahat]

You came here for Ravka. I came here to chain you to my stove.

Siege and Storm- Chapter 18

Skip your duties (that can help feed the country) to watch me be cool doing stuff! Anyone less important would do it for me!

This could've been sweetly melancholic if:

a.) The country they live off weren't collapsing and a few of Alina's lightballs could grant them at least a drop of much needed resources.

b.) Grisha don't get sick... and what has Alina's childhood, adolescence and life in Cofton been like? Malyen truly isn't bothered by it, is he? Either he's an idiot, who didn't connect the dots, and doesn't see it as weird, that Alina HAD been sick for such a long time, or he simply doesn't give a shit.

c.) Other Grisha... if he can't have her as ordinary otkazat'sya, he's willing to settle for ordinary Grisha. As long as she's NOT special, and has plenty of time to focus on him.

d.) As stupid as their party date was, it could've been something to distract Alina from her duties and the pressure put on her. This wouldn't be even spending time WITH Mal, just watching him be the skilled cool guy.

e.) Of course he hates the place that made Alina MORE than him. If it weren't for her time in Little Palace, she wouldn't even think about wanting more than to follow him around like a lost puppy.

Perhaps put some effort in it?

If Mal can so miraculously fit in everywhere, what's stopping him from taking his duties seriously? Not just mope around near Alina, but try to truly become captain of her guards? Learn about strategies and best ways to protect her, exercise and train action with the twins, look for more guards, train them and WITH them, consult Botkin...

Do more than just go where he's invited, act as if he WANTED to PROFESSIONALLY protect Alina instead of playing hero, when others can see it?!

Not to mention he can make himself useful even at those parties. If he does notice nobles hate Grisha, he can at least make a list. They're careless around him, why not listen? Why not consult with Nikolai to learn who they might need?!

He isn't there for Alina, he's there to drag her back into obscurity as soon as an opportunity arises.

Now, that he's doing something FOR Alina, he misses their period of stagnation, when she was slowly killing herself.

He admits it, while caressing her self-mutilation scar aptly representing their relationship.

And here Alina should pull: Never deign to deny. Instead her puritan shame kicks in.

I know Malyen isn't friends with anyone in Os Alta, but if he weren't such a jerk, he could've catch Nikolai for a moment and discuss a strategy. It's not like Kolya doesn't have an interrest in this too. ...and knows how to deal with Court gossip.

I think "We need to discuss what to do about everyone thinking you're a whore." could be added to post-strategy discussions with Alina too. If Malyen can sit in Alina's council AND act like her captain of guard, they deffinitely DO have to spend time together.

If only he'd become interested in reality and its requirements, quit seeing himself as a knight in shining armour, destined to save feeble helpless Alina, and acted according to her actual needs and requirements.

Perhaps sort his priorities differently and instead of bringing up his one-night-stand with Zoya and inviting Alina to make fun of Suli focus on your damn fucking job!

And you didn't read my mind!

And Alina accepts all the blame.

This could be Malyen spiralling. Or simply jumping to another reproach as soon as Alina attempts to address the previous one.

valid concern

digging into Alina's fear of corruption

reminding her right after she chose it (so the stress is really her own doing)

Yup! This is the crux of the matter.

Alina might operate under faulty assumptions, she had to be physically dragged back to Ravka, but eventually she's attempting to DO something.

Malyen saw what the system does to people like him, to his friends... so he decided to pack his gf and bail on it all. And when he finds himself back in the middle of it all, he's simply waiting to drag her away from it again, no matter what SHE wants.

The Collar is temporary, her position of Saint is temporary, her leadership of Second Army too.

They reacted to life-changing events in a way that made them two diametrically opposite people, but Mal's sticking around in hope for Alina's regression. And eventually he gets exactly that for all his trouble.

I'll keep the rest for an extra post since some extra shady bitch is chiming in.

[fafodill]

I don’t vibe with the golddigger!Lily headcanon because (unlike Severus or even Petunia) she doesn’t ever need to proactively, well, dig. She lives a charmed life for like 18 years! There’s a war going on where her people are the target of an evil murdercult that a decent 25% of her school supports and Severus snapping at her seems to be the first and only time she’s even remotely targeted for her blood status! Everyone loves her! Voldemort himself is willing to let her walk away! 

… so no, I don’t think she ever thought about whether she was doing the same thing as Severus before she died, because she died at 21 and that is well before any your-experiences-aren’t-universal brain development tends to kick in. Maybe in an AU where she lives to actual adulthood and has to come to terms with how lucky she’s been? But I think her “sin” here, such as it were, is naivety, not hypocrisy or some sort of secret hidden cruelty tbh. She’s just a kid and her life is wonderful until it’s horrible and then she’s murdered.

Which is to say, I do think she’s exactly as nice as she presents herself to be! It’s not a lack of love or compassion that’s the issue, she has love and compassion and willingness to forgive and believe in people’s better natures in spades! It’s a complete lack of context and understanding that makes her a both a fairly realistic teenager and a godawful friend to poor Severus, who needs a functional adult on his side rather than a 16 year old who’s engaging with his life-or-death situation through the lens of petty schoolyard disagreements because that’s all she’s ever known. Harry does similar things in the opposite direction when he interprets relatively normal interactions as preludes to violence due to his abusive upbringing, right, this is the kid who reacts to “Professor Flitwick, can I borrow Wood?” with the sincere belief he is going to be beaten with a cane.

(I also think Lily died without knowing the truth about the prank, and that’s part of the reason why the Marauders ditched Remus after graduation. And I think she never wondered about it even for a moment, even though she would be absolutely horrified if she found out.)

she has love and compassion and willingness to forgive and believe in people’s better natures in spades.

Well she clearly doesn't tho, does the? If she did, she would have surely been able to forgive Severus or at least take half a step back, get her head out of her ass and realize he was being horribly manhandled at that moment. For heavens's sake, he had been restrained, choked with soap and hung upside down, 4 vs 1! She was entitled to feeling hurt but if she so self-centered as to think that what he had told her compared to what he had just been subjected to, then it says a lot about 1) how normalized it was to see him being hurt and 2) how entitled and sensitive she is.

She smiled.

To me it clearly indicated that they had grown apart in a significant way already because if she considered him her friend still, she would have hexed James, she would have tried way harder to help Severus and she would certainly not have smiled. The smile AND the insult she hits him back with afterwards aren't things that occurred in her mind for the first time. Had she not smiled, I would be willing to think that calling her Snivellus (AND insulting his underpants - which she's aware - VERY AWARE - that he's poor as fuck) was just her being a hurt teen and wanting to hurt him back in the same way that he had just done. But she had to suppress a SMILE beforehand, and that's just vile and revealing. I would be horrified if a friend of mine was treated this way, I would yell and ask for a teacher and attack the bullies. And she was popular! She had some leverage AND James was in love with her (and she knew that). She was a good witch, she could have done something, ANYTHING!

But no, she suppressed and smile and then insulted him and I firmly believe that it means that she had started laughing at him behind his back for a little while already. Maybe reluctantly. Maybe to fit in, but also because she did find him kinda lame. And that maybe she was already planning to cut ties with him but didn't have a good enough reason. The insult was the perfect excuse.

She is Petunia's sister.

They both married super young an older guy who was of higher status and both became mothers right away. They still had the same background and education and it shows. And they are both capable of cruelty, this scene is the proof of it.

In your next sentence you say she lacks 'context and understanding' which explains her attitude towards Severus but what do you even mean here, lack of context? What context? She was aware that he has been bullied for 5 years already. Even if Severus had tried to hide some from her because he was ashamed, James and Sirius still were definitely not hiding it and she was in the same House as them.

I'm willing to admit that she was 16 and self-centered. But it's not because you're 16 that you're necessarily an asshole. But you're right here: she did not have remotely as much problems as Severus. But I think she didn't want to be associated with him anymore. She was a rising little star compared to him (socially) and she must have been quite happy about it - that's fair.

But coming from a modest background and turning your back on your dirt-poor friend - while sadly understandable because as a teen she just wanted to fit in and let her old life behind - is still extremely shitty.

I think her “sin” here, such as it were, is naivety, not hypocrisy or some sort of secret hidden cruelty tbh. She’s just a kid and her life is wonderful until it’s horrible and then she’s murdered.

She's not naive. She choose to look the other way. She gaslit him by calling him obsessed with his bullies - that he wanted gone from the school for very valid reasons - because she herself liked them and appreciated the attention she got from James. To her, Severus must have felt like a sourpuss looser who wasn't making any efforts. She didn't want to admit that he was struggling against things way bigger than them (blood and social status and also lookism). It's not naivety, it IS hypocrite. How convenient for her to judge him when she got into the 'good House' and is pretty and not as poor as him?

Look, to me, taking away from Lily the fact that she did turn her back on Severus even before SWM is taking away from her character. She's not an angel. She's not the devil either but I do think it says a lot that she's Petunia's sister and that she married James Fleamont Potter of all people.

She was young. They all were. But you can be young and still feel compassion towards others and acknowledged their difficulties - even if you don't plan on remaining friends with them.

[mrstedeteach]

It's time for Mike's side of my main headcannon for season 5!!!

Okay, so this might be strange, but I believe Mike's storyarc conclusion will be mostly "solo." Kinda... let me explain.

(Spoilers for Season 5!)

(I'm a lot better at visual descriptions than verbal descriptions, so I apologise if this isn't very clear/straightforward. I'll try my best!)

What I mean by "solo" is that Mike needs to figure out who he is and who he wants to be with no outside prospective or influence. Throughout all the seasons so far, there's always some kind of influence or others' perspectives that steers Mike to certain points in his life. The earliest view of this is season 1, with Lucas and Dustin teasing Mike over "loving" or crushing on Jane/El without him ever stating if he does or not.

I guess I just really want him to solve his delema, which is his relationship with both El and Will. To figure out the difference between the love he has for both of them.

I want him to come to the conclusion that he loves Will, maybe at the halfway point of the story. Maybe a little earlier than that. But it's this accepting of his love for Will that will drive the story forward. It's his love that will make him brave enough to charge into this war to fight for and with Will.

Mike is a leader, and Will needs him to take the lead here. Because from the end of S4, Will has given up and is trying to move on from the love he has for Mike. It's Mike that needs to make the move here, but he can't do that unless he figures it out on his own first.

So many fans here have speculated that he's staring at Will's painting here, and I do too. I hope that this scene is when Mike either starts to really question everything, or he's starting to figure things out. With Mike's outfit here, it's definitely early in the season.

Mike is smart, and I know we've all joked about him being an idiot when it comes to his relationship with both El and Will, but Mike is intelligent. He's the party's leader for a reason. Mike's only issue is simply his upbringing. He's an 80s kid with conservative parents in a backwards town with similar views. The LGBTQ+ were villified on TV at the time, and Mike, like what Finn says in a BTS, is just trying to be "normal." Which Mike believes is the stereotypical boy dates girl teenager.

Of course, he knows gay people exist. The poor kid had to defend and protect his best friend from the homophobia thrown at Will's way on a daily basis. Without a doubt, Mike wouldn't care in the slightest that Will's gay. But to Mike, being gay himself isn't an option. The idea of being gay in a conservative family is terrifying. To a lot of people in the 80s, that was a death sentence. You were either kicked out of the family/disowned or worse. It's why he pushed so hard to be a "typical man" in a heterosexual relationship in the 80s. To Mike, that was his only option.

Though I am certain that Karen will support her son and let Mike know that she loves him no matter what. Back in Season 1, it always felt like she had a hunch that Mike and Wills' relationship wasn't the typical friendship boys had. She knew just how much Mike cherished Will, I mean, that boy kept every single drawing Will ever did for him, even the unfinished ones. I doubt he did the same with Dustin or Lucas, not to that extent. I am certain that there's going to be a parallel, where Mike and Karen are going to have a one on one talk, just like she had with Nancy back on S3. Though timeline wise, I'm not sure when it'll be.

Now, it could go either way. Whether this talk happens while Mike knows who he is or when he's still trying to find the answers. But I know for sure that It's important to his storyline that he knows that he has a parent who loves him no matter what.

Ted in all this, I really don't know. (I'm a "Ted will die in S5" believer, as he's not a very big side character in the show, but his death would still impact our characters in such a big way.) But having his mom on his side would definitely give Mike courage to confront who he is.

Mike's Season 5 storyline

Let me go back to the photo of Mike above. My Season 5 theory for Mike starts off with him finding out that Will lied about the painting. I imagine Mike and Jane/El are talking, and the painting comes up. Jane/El's response would probably be to ask Mike what a commission is, which would lead to Mike realising that Will, his best friend, lied to him. Mike is going to be super upset, BUT I don't think he'll confront Will about it just yet.

Will has been off lately, has been more distant, and of course, Mike notices it. So he probably believes that confronting Will about the painting would just push him further away. Mike will probably still be the clingy/protective person he is with Will, all while trying to figure out the painting. Mike would also be stuck on why the painting meant so much to him. (I mean, they wouldn't have made a Funko Pop of Mike holding the painting if it wasn't such an important object to Mike.)

When it comes to Mike and Els relationship in S5, I believe it'll start in this turbulent state of not really being together but still are? If you get what I mean. As if they're both afraid to say we're done, especially with what is happening around them. For me, I want their breakup to be bittersweet, for the both of them to come to the same realisation that they love each other but just not that kind of love. They would probably finally have an honest conversation about everything. Where at the end, I can see them both saying I love you's to each other in a friend/family way and giving each other a big hug. They'd talk about how they didn't want to officially break up for so long because they didn't want to lose each other, but they would make a promise that they'd always be friends no matter what.

Once that relationship between Mike and Jane/El has concluded. There's going to be a breakthrough with his own feelings towards Will. Not right away, of course, but gradual. While Will has metaphorical ripped the bandaid off and is trying to move on from Mike. It's Mike who's going to put that bandaid back on, Mike is going to be the one glueing himself to Will's side.

Mike's going to notice that Will is trying to push him away and how Will stopped going to him for support. Of course, Mike is going to ask and probe Will for why, but Will won't say anything. It's why I believe Mike will go to Lucas asking for help.

I can imagine that Will went out on his own late at night. Once Mike noticed Will gone, he'd drag Lucas out to track Will down. Maybe Lucas would make a comment about Mike's own behaviour here. Maybe Lucas would tease Mike on how he wouldn't be acting this crazy if it was Dustin or Lucas leaving at night. They'd probably find Will in the middle of the woods or somewhere. And that relief Mike would feel at seeing Will would hit him like a truck. I believe this moment would be the turning point to Mike realising his feelings.

Of course, he isn't going to do anything about it yet. Since he wouldn't be sure about how Will feels about him. I LOVE the idea of Mike confining in Lucas about the feelings he has for Will. In which Lucas would be shocked, but then say "wait no, that makes complete sense." But I'm not 100% certain that would happen.

The painting comes back into the picture at this point. Maybe Mike is staring at it. Studying the details, and maybe the camera would focus on the heart on the shield. As he remembers the conversation they had in the van. Maybe he'd remember Will calling Mike the heart. And it's this scene that gives Mike the courage to say something to Will. Maybe we would see Mile write down and plan what he wants to say to Will. Cause he'd want it to be perfect.

But oh no! Something happens. Vecna/mindflayer is trying to possess Will again! They're at the radio station, and Will yells at everyone to leave, that he can't keep him back, but Mike refuses to leave Will. Big action scene here! I imagine that maybe Vecna is taunting Will in his mindscape, making him watch his body attack his loved ones. But Mike manages to help break Will free, maybe by recounting the memory from when they were 8.

Afterwards, I imagine Will being wrecked with so much guilt for hurting his loved ones. That he decided enough is enough. He plans on sacrificing himself to save everyone. Mike finds out and can't let that happen. Maybe Will goes off to the upside down alone to confront Vecna or to give himself to Vecna like a trade in order to save his friends and family. But Mike runs after him.

Mike is completely terrified over the idea of losing Will. He won't let it happen. Here's where I tend to branch off since there's so many possibilities. But my favourite one is this!

Mike catches up to Will, and they have a verbal fight at the church in the upside down, with similar colourscheme to the rain fight in season 3. Will would say how they're out of time, that if he doesn't do this, then more people would die. That Vecna would burn the world to the ground. But Mike, oooooh, he would tell Will he'd rather let the world burn than not have Will in this world. How he can't function without Will, how important Will is to him. I can see Will, tearfully begging Mike to stop, to don't say that. But Mike won't stop until Will understands just how much he means to him. Completely forgoing the speech he wrote, and just speaking from the heart. In the end, Mike goes for it and kisses Will.

Imagine the lighting and music, ahhhh, it would be so perfect.

.

Of course, if you read my Will theory, you know that I'm certain that Will still makes a sacrifice to stop Vecna but survives. One of my ideas is with how connected he is to the hivemind. I believe once that's ripped apart for good, Will would suffer from having some kind of amnesia, like maybe he gets amnesia episodes, where he forgets everything for a bit, and Mike has a book he wrote of all the memories they had together, to help Will remember things. (Or worse, Will forgets everything, which would be so sad, but at least it would still be hopeful because you know Mike would still be there for him and Will of course would fall for Mike all over again. But oooooh, the Mike angst would hurt so bad)

(My original draft was all over the place, so I had to re-write it, lol)

[sparklepoint]

hey i saw stuff about ur asau (hermit!yusuke is perfect and kitteh ann is the fluffiest little baby and i love her) and i just wanted to ask if you have the other arcanas planned? is it a direct one to one swap or is it different?

omg. ty for giving us a chance to introduce

 ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ card shuffle ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ

@floodbender’s and mine roleswap au in which the story roles are remixed based on randomly reassigned arcanas + canon backgrounds

it’s kind of a work in progress so this is not q definitive & some arcs are less developed than others, but we do in fact have something planned for everyone :3c let's meet the cast!!

starting with <3 bitter bitch besties <3

○ the fool – akechi

he has pretty much the same backstory as canon, but without Metaverse access; therefore his only outlet has been trying to prove himself academically etc. to show them all

it isn’t really working. even with all the effort, he still gets written off automatically most of the time

there is no arrest/probation/anything out of the ordinary that brings him to staying with Sojiro and going to Shujin, just a last minute arrangement by his previous foster placement 

Akechi POV: you’ve been booted from a family who didn’t want you there for the n-th time in your life and are now moving to stay with some rando who doesn’t want you there either. and everyone at the new school immediately labels you a troublemaker with a problematic background

(of course Shujin is going to make up rumors regardless)

personality-wise, it is as you might expect from a no powers AU Akechi - at the start he’s a bitter, cynical bastard masking behind his Pleasant Boy mode

would have eventually snapped in some self-destructive way if he didn’t meet someone who gets it

rest of the story is spent rehabilitating this man with the power of friendship, mutual understanding, and insane romance. and flufy kity

akechi and makoto: the world is a cruel and unjust place. *minutes later* omg lady ann!!!

i. the magician – ann

flufy kity

backstory inherent to the arcana role

she does not have hang ups about not being human specifically and embraces cathood quite well

instead her issues stem from feelings of comparative inadequacy and not knowing what her role in life and on the team is supposed to be, especially after the PTs get a dedicated navigator

similar to her canon arc, she does mostly handle these feelings by focusing on trying harder & with more purpose rather than growing resentful

when Morgana coined the ‘Lady Ann’ nickname it stuck and now everyone calls her that

still has a widdle crush on Shiho

the only reason Akechi has any side confidants

vii. the chariot – makoto

Makoto handles pressure from Sae far worse in this one

attempted to investigate and expose Kamoshida’s behavior on her own last year and got kicked off the student council for her trouble

grades are suddenly hard to keep up even though she’s putting in the same amount of effort if not more. keeps being left ‘accidentally’ out of the loop about important info. school just kind of making it clear it doesn’t like her anymore

entire social circle crumbled and no support from Sae who at this point is simply mad at her for ‘sabotaging herself for childish reasons’ 

would have eventually snapped in some self-destructive way if she didn’t meet someone who gets it

disillusioned, desperately lonely, and stewing in a lot of suppressed rage

in light of this it’s not surprising that she and Akechi end up bonding pretty much right away in spite of his typically raised hackles

used to be friends with Haru in middle school

vi. the lovers – haru

while Okumura still has a Palace, his behaviour towards Haru is more distant and less outright abusive, and she does not have an engagement hanging over her

instead Kamoshida creeps on her, fixated on adding a demure chaebol princess to his conquests 

Haru’s having trouble rebuffing him as she has issues setting down boundaries with men in general due to her proper upbringing, and is of course scared of his position of authority

in particular, the rooftop garden becomes a hazard for being cornered instead of a sanctuary; 

(fortunately it is also a prime place to be overheard by anyone who's heading up there for definitely not a teen vigilante meeting)

Kamoshida lets out that Haru is the Okumura Foods heiress, which makes her seem like a stuck-up rich princess to the Shujin rumor mill and leaves her ostracized

with regards to Makoto: in Shujin Kamoshida Issues forced them to drift apart, and now, even though both of them want to reignite the middle school friendship, each is reluctant to involve the other in her own respective mess via association

(pictured: childhood friend matching bwacelets)

after that is sorted, they reconnect and begin a prolonged awkward romance dance

(meanwhile the rumor mill is busy debating which one of them is dating Akechi)

iv. the emperor – joker ren akira

legal name, under which he is mildly famous, is Ren Amamiya, actual name he goes by is Akira

for these claiming your chosen identity reasons, his codename is Daybreak :)

his parents are both in the entertainment industry, and the second Palace belongs to his father

Dad Amamiya is a formerly acclaimed, currently washed-up movie director. a nightmare to work with who uses his old connections to run people he doesn’t like out of the industry and ruin their careers

his wife is aware of his transgressions but is too attached to the lifestyle to care 

to Akira’s parents, he is more or less a prop in their public performance as a happy picture-perfect celebrity couple; in his father’s Palace, his cognition is played by an actor

he had long since learned that going against his parents achieves nothing, and has been going through the motions keeping his head down until he meets the team

the meeting is a chance encounter prompted by Emperor-typical  overwhelming fascination with Ann, which in his case is because he’s That Much Of A Cat Person 

rest of his arc is about separating himself from his parents’ legacy as somebody who still wishes to pursue a career in entertainment

ii. the high priestess – morgana

he has Ann’s parents and last name since she doesn’t need them anymore

unlike her, he doesn’t handle their constant absence well and is therefore desperate for the Thieves’ companionship (while being just as tsundere about it in human form as he is in canon)

he kickstarts the Kaneshiro plot despite not being on the student council: since he is a very special smart boy, he can absolutely solve Shujin’s mafia crisis all by himself!

(it is probably rather obvious how well this goes)

his arc is a more mundane version of his canon one about recalibrating the self-worth issues and loneliness until he can be comfortable with himself and his place in the group

his awkward crush here is converted into being an even bigger Ann Stan than the rest of them

still besties with Akira. also perpetual ninth wheel

ix. the hermit – yusuke

Madarame does not have a Palace

without the international recognition from stealing Kitagawa-san’s masterwork he has to subsist on smaller-time forgery and predatory contracts and the like

his main victim is Yusuke’s mom, who lived long enough to start actually raising her son, but her poor health made her the perfect exploitable dependant 

after she succumbs to her illness, Madarame proceeds to take his frustrations over losing the convenient setup out on Yusuke in his typical insidious way

over the subsequent years trapped in an abusive living situation you’re told to be grateful for, the comments about how she would have lived longer and created masterpieces if she didn’t have to take care of you accumulate to create the most depressed teenage boy in the world

as far as Madarame’s concerned, if Yusuke’s too miserable to keep up with his schoolwork, it’s just another instance of him being a drain on everyone in his life. Madarame’s not going to cater to him and pay for his scholarship – he can just stay in and keep house, if that’s all he’s good for

that leaves Yusuke just listlessly haunting the place, convinced that all he can really do with his life is wait to die and go to hell for the sin of being himself: he sees his life with Madarame as perpetual penitence for his mother’s death, his work as almost ritual sacrifices to appease him, and the shack as his purgatory [--beginning navigation]

his Palace is stylistically themed after the Shinto Yomi with more general underworld theming as well; cognitive Madarame is of course the final boss, although he only drops the benevolent underworld guide pretence once thoroughly provoked

the gang finds out about All This after a series of Mementos requests from Madarame’s latest underpaid helper

post change of heart we’re getting Yusuke the fuuuck out of there

Sojiro ends up taking him in, first temporarily and then permanently

neither of us has the vocabulary to concisely explain the respective holes in their heads this Yusuke and this Akechi have about each other

team navigator. please take a moment to imagine yusukespeak navigator lines

iii. the empress – sumire

the Okumura setup is still happening (sorry Haru), but the PTs recognize it as bait and stay away, instead ending up doing a different palace entirely

the Palace Ruler for this arc is the Yoshizawas’ abusive coach (not the one from Sumire’s confidant)

a classic unethical teen sports situation with disproportionate pressure and a concerning disregard of their physical and mental wellbeing as long as they Get Results tm

neither of the sisters is good at standing up for herself, which in Kasumi’s case spirals into continuous self-denial for the sake of The Sport and in Sumire’s exacerbates her feelings of inadequacy

at the moment Kasumi is being pushed to compete despite an injury which would put her out of commission, which is the deadline/reasoning to deal with this ASAP

the palace theme is Colosseum/gladiatorial arena, with the implication of entertainment of the masses at the expense of the athletes’ lives

(pictured gladiator!cogsumi)

xi. justice – ryuji

Ryuji is the one to get slapped with the arrest record courtesy of Shido in this one

the consequences for a 14yo on scholarship and with no support system outside of his mom (except he just feels guilty about creating problems for her) are predictably devastating 

he winds up at Shido’s Palace afterwards by accident while loitering around the Diet building, which is where his awakening happens

he’s spotted entering or exiting the Metaverse, which leads to Shido making him the job offer he cannot refuse

initially framed as “help with secret research” in exchange for erasing his record and bankrolling opportunities for a sports career, but it’s not like there are any easy ways out once the requests starts getting seedier

he’s just the Metaverse assassin/errand boy for the conspiracy, no astroturfed public persona

to an extent Ryuji convinces himself this is for the best since many of his targets do very much have it coming and it’s AN outlet for letting out some steam over the bleak as shit view of society he now has, but ultimately this arrangement and all the murder involved make him utterly miserable, and on a level he understands this is not going to end well for him

gives himself away to the Phantom Thieves early and in the dumbest way possible

for all the above reasons, he’s not at all hard to persuade to switch sides and start double-agenting

did you guess who’s faith no you didn’t

○ faith – hifumi

we just really like hifumi so she’s included

at first her deal is a toned down version of her canon arc, with her mom pushing her towards an idol-like career based off of shogi. then her father actually dies

mom’s grief response is to lean in further into building her career, thinking that this is what her dad would have wanted; Hifumi’s own grief response is to start crumbling under that pressure until “I wish I could just be the person my mother wants to see” is the prevailing sentiment

this is where Maruki’s unethical therapy comes in and actualizes her into the perfect teenage celebrity personality

thirdsem Hifumi is terrified she will never be enough as herself and it takes the team effort to get her to let go of the idol persona, but conveniently there are SO many people with parent issues here to talk to her about it .

bonus: xvii. the star – futaba

Wakaba survives the assassination attempt, but is left unable to continue her scientific work, igniting Futaba’s interest in researching the topic herself

her confidant’s Mementos quest block is still her uncle, who is not as horrifically abusive, but treats them poorly and demands Futaba reimburses him for taking care of them financially

Sojiro is still a pseudo-parental figure in her life, but his role is limited since he cannot insert himself into the situation without permission and Futaba conceals the extent of it from him

she becomes available as a confidant during Yusuke’s arc, which still overlaps with the Medjed crisis

her fixation with cognitive pscience leads to digging into the Phantom Thieves leads to offering to deal with Medjed for them – but only if they prove themselves to her by sorting out a specific request that hit a little close to home. cue Yusuke arc

from then on she’s their tech guy

and that's everyone ✧∘* thank you so much for expressing interest and thank you @floodbender for cowriting this post with me ♡

[nabi-unveiled]

Make Up With Mud (Ep 4)

Ep 1 Ep 2 Ep 3

It's been a while since I checked in on Meek Mouse Miku and the Fabulous Eve. I have to be in the right mood to watch this show since there is no attempt at subtlety. Everything is either over-the-top or on-the nose. The messages are in your face. It also hits on a lot of things that are too close to home at times. But on a week when I had no energy to spare, not having to think AT ALL was very inviting. Plus, a dose of my favorite crossdresser was bound to give me an energy boost.

When I left off, Miku had decided to eschew her Meek Mouse ways and move out of the house leaving Paper-Thin Villain spiraling into craziness while creating a villain laugh track. I'm REALLY hoping Miku decides to keep going in this direction and doesn't revert to her doormat days.

We kick off with Miku having a meal with her mother. Typically I would be all about a shared meal, except Miku's mom is obviously the one that brainwashed her into be a doormat in the first place. She berates Miku for ignoring Paper-Thin Villain's needs.

But Miku knows Villain isn't treating her right, and she's seriously considering her next step.

Apparently, low self esteem runs rampant in this family as Miku's brother says it'd be weird for someone like him to use skincare products. Because men don't have skin I guess?

At least Miku has developed enough backbone to talk to her brother. She offers to share her toner and tells him that she thinks it's wonderful for guys to do skincare and wear makeup.

Miku's bro goes "That's easy for you to say!"

Miku tries to encourage him.

But just like previous episodes, Miku's bro calls her out. "You don't sound convincing when you say that, Nee-chan." Because, we know this is really the SAME struggle that Miku has currently. She's not certain at all.

AHH! I forget about the jump-scare where every episode title makes a big SPLAT! sound.

Miku is looking at properties and places to stay. YES! You need to go live on your own! And Eve enters the episode looking fab as always. He says he's on his way to meet a friend. There was a screenshot, but I hit the limit and there's several of this outfit later on.

Eve compliments her curls and Miku is now glowing. We learn that Paper-Thin Villain not only has a problem with lipstick. He ALSO has issues with curls 🙄.

On it's surface, this statement may not seem that controlling. But he's really only being nice about it since she's compliant. I'll be honest, I have to fight my upbringing all the time with these types of statements. I hear/feel them as commands.

Thanks to her family's brainwashing, Miku saw nothing wrong with Paper Thin Villain expressing his opinions on her appearance. "Even now, I don't think it's all that bad to wear something that my boyfriend likes." And I feel that one too. I immediately hear my mother's voice going "he's the one that has to look at you".

But Miku's made a VERY important realization.

And once you have that realization, there's no going back. You can't unsee it. You can't unfeel it. No matter how much chaos it causes. And it does cause chaos.

Eve with his asymmetrical earrings has been quiet this whole time providing steady, silent support as Miku pours out her heart. You can tell he's troubled to hear Miku talk like this which prompts him to ask the important question:

That's a negative. Miku moved out, but she's really only taken baby steps to freedom. Because this relationship with Paper Thin Villain...it's all she's ever known. He's the only person she ever dated, and she has been with him for six years.

"If I break up with him, I'll probably be alone for the rest of my life."

I'd guarantee Miku can thank her mom YET AGAIN for that insecurity. She doesn't like being tied down, but she's afraid of a future where he's not in control. After all, she's never really been on her own. She went straight from what was a controlling home to a controlling relationship. There has always been a man in charge. Can she run her own life?

Eve proves once again why he's the best person in the show. "I've never had a relationship last six years, so I probably can't understand how you feel."

If Miku's listening, she should realize that she won't be alone. You don't have to be "alone" in life even if you're not in a relationship.

Looks like Eve was meeting up with Lil Bro. Eve's initially shocked, but then is like...that tracks. You are both very similar 🤣.

Brother's worried that Eve may not be aware of his sister's situation and makes sure Eve knows that Miku is engaged. I still wonder if bro isn't just crushing on Eve.

Eve notices Lil Bro's skin is bothering him and actually recommends he go to a dermatologist. Everything in this show is right on the surface, but I do kinda love how much it shocks me every time Eve talks the way that responsible, thoughtful adults SHOULD talk. Lil Bro tries to give the same BS answer he gave to Miku. But just like with Miku, Eve is having none of it. Eve really should be getting paid for all of this counseling/therapy.

We have another poor attempt at a reflection shot that's probably supposed to be Lil Bro thinking about his own value.

Eve "borrows" Lil Bro's face for a bit to put on some makeup so he can see the effect. Eve tells Lil Bro to be kinder to himself.

Which prompts this request out of nowhere...

Oh right. I had forgot. Lil Bro wants to be an artist. He wants to draw a portrait of Eve as a way of convincing his parents to let him go to art school. I'm sorry, Titanic references are bouncing off my brain. But Eve agrees. He's okay with being one of the French girls.

Paper-Thin Villain is angrily typing on his computer with the loudest clacking sounds known to mankind. His secretary comments on it.

Cue villain music.

Eve has bought lipstick for Miku, but is it ok to give to her? Especially if he is really doing it just to encourage her to break up with her boyfriend?

Boss immediately knows something is up.

Eve thinks Miku's special. He says she's open and honest with her feelings, and that she lets herself be vulnerable. I guess that's one way to perceive "let me unload all of my issues onto you". I might argue that she's a bit simple-minded. But...we all see things differently.

That said - Eve doesn't like it, because her smile disappears when she talks about her boyfriend. He obviously has deep issues with the boyfriend, but he's afraid those feelings will get in the way.

I'm really just focused on his nails. He definitely wasn't wearing them in the last scene, and he's had other nails on before. Apparently, he changes nail style just as frequently as he changes the other parts of his style.

Luckily, Boss is here to be Eve's counselor. She also recognizes that Eve loves Miku. She commends him on finally finding a decent love but berates him. He can't decide how Miku will feel about him giving her the lipstick.

And speak of the mouse, Miku enters. She came to thank Boss and Eve for taking care of her when she got kicked out of the house. Boss accepts the gift with gratitude, but she makes herself scarce quick.

Eve loves his present while Miku fawns over Eve's glitter eyeshadow.

Miku obviously knows why I watch this show at all.

However, I feel like we've been saying similar things for FOUR episodes now. Have we made any progress? It sure doesn't feel like it at the moment.

Apparently not. When she's alone, she's second guessing herself.

Eve's tearing up, and I feel him. This is painful. And not in the good way.

The good news - seeing Eve in his makeup makes her forget everything Paper Thin Villain says. And she recalls how she felt about that damn lipstick that we're still talking about 4 episodes in. But whew...I thought we were backtracking there for a moment.

Eve once again asks the real question - ARE you going to break up with him? He admits this is a difficult topic. Her boyfriend is going to struggle if she doesn't comply to his wishes.

We're now getting Eve's backstory. Yay! Something else to focus on.

We learn that Eve has ALWAYS loved makeup.

He also lived overseas until his junior high in a community that was obviously okay with it.

Once he moved to Japan though, he learned quickly that others didn't view his love of makeup in that same open-minded way. A girl came to his house and saw his lipstick collection.

And the rumors spread. Bullying ensued. He realized not everyone would accept him.

Miku appreciates hearing his story, but she realizes she didn't really know what words to say to comfort him. Eve says it fine. She's awkward, but she's always honest. He hopes she'll ignore the limits Villain puts on her and embrace her passions.

"I get that you love your boyfriend and only see me as a girlfriend. I get it all."

"So break up with him and choose me instead." Eve, I love you. But that feels a little premature.

And Miku starts flashbacks through all of the moments that made ME love Eve. She realizes she has never considered his feelings and that she's never seen him as a young man. Oof. He's been pretty clear about that this WHOLE time.

She should feel ashamed. She tells Eve that she appreciates his feelings, but she says she's unable to reciprocate.

Eve gives her the lipstick as encouragement from a friend. My hurt hurts for him at this moment.

I'm also panicking internally. I know there was at least one more guy in the show's header. Was Eve only a temporary character? One that was meant for this arc. It feels final the way this is framed. But then I calm myself down, he's going to be Bro's model right? He better stay a central part of this story. If he's out, I'm out.

Miku decides to use the lipstick.

The villain symphony is back. He's replaced the lipstick tainted mug that he threw away. He plans on pampering Miku when she returns.

Miku decides to give villain a call and tell him that she hopes he can accept the new her, but lil bro interrupts to say she has a package that she must personally accept. It's from Villain's office.

🤣There's psycho shower music as she opens the letter. 🤣

He's legally accusing her of infidelity and demanding three million yen ($20,000). Apparently, this is his "love letter".

The music is so over the top though that I can't take this seriously at all.

The only thing I'm considering seriously at this moment is whether I should sneak a peak at episode nine to make sure Eve is still in the finale episode.

[croissantlover24]

Ah then I'd love to know more!! When I was seeing things was when I couldn't interact with TSAMS stuff so I'm not familiar with information but I'd love to know more! Love supporting original stuff! Feel free to use this as just a big info dump

Thank you for being interested!! This is going to be… long XD

So the main antagonist is named Hemic. She wasn’t always this way, but one day, she was experimenting with a dark energy she shouldn’t have touched, and it consumed her, possessed her, and controlled her. It gave her an insatiable desire to kill. And kill she did. She murdered her parents, destroyed dimensions, and severed the ties between her and her childhood best friend, Horatia.

Hemic used to be named Valerie. Horatia gave her a new name when she realized Hemic didn’t remember anything about her past. “Hemic” just stuck.

Horatia faked her death when Valerie changed to Hemic and dedicated her life to tracking down her former friend. She wanted to save as many lives as possible, no matter the cost. She used to be a very powerful being, but used all of her magic to build something called the Archive, an inter-dimensional log that lists every dimension that exists and gives a way to go there. All one person needs is a key and they have access to everything inside. However, Horatia did give the Archive a limit. No person could take too much.

Horatia, on her journey, first meets Runa, who will be her future partner. Runa is a part of a group of protectors of the universe who intervene when dimensional anomalies cause irreparable damage to the multiverse, like Hemic. Runa is very dry and stiff in certain aspects of her personality because of her upbringing. She was taught to obey and protect. The story follows her growing her individuality as well.

Then there’s Karma, who agreed to become a messenger through the multiverse for her dimension’s maniacal king, the Fate Keeper. When he wiped her home dimension clean, she bargained her life to stay alive. He agreed. Hatred for him festers deep within her, though she’d never admit that. She’d do anything the Fate Keeper asks of her—including murder.

And when he’s not watching, she’d accept any deal to get rid of him permanently.

Horatia and Runa then meet Vi, Ember (also known as Miss Phoenix), and Pandora.

Vi is an optimistic scientist who had a bright future… until she took too much from the Archive and it took back. She lost her eyes. She wears glasses now that provide vision and contain practically a super computer within their mechanisms. She was originally supposed to graduate from the institute and become a Guardian, a person who protects the universe from dimensional anomalies like Hemic when it’s too early for people like Runa to interfere. Because of the incident, she missed her final test and had to take it again.

Her project? Kill a dimensional anomaly, specifically one who hadn’t even done much wrong. She refused, and was kicked out of the institute to never become a Guardian.

Miss Phoenix (Ember) is her sister. Unlike Vi, she successfully became a guardian. Her problem, however, is her magic. She can summon flames from her palms and become a magma creature when needed. Her magic, though, activates when her emotions flare, causing her to accidentally burn herself and others on occasion.

Finally, there’s Pandora. When dimensions collapse, sometimes, people survive. There’s a group in the multiverse that kills these survivors as keeping them alive would cause many issues. Pandora’s dimension collapsed, and, before she died as a young child, the group decided to save her and keep her as one of their own.

Because of her childhood being full of death, she is very desensitized to it, and will gladly choose it as a first-resort solution to her problems. She and Vi eventually become partners.

[goldeneyedgirl]

Hi Lexie! So Hybrid Babyverse: so well written and well built, I love this version of hybrid a lot, mostly because is so unexpected to see Jalice being parents (and GOOD parents). I've been reading a lot of angst lately thanks to flowerslut and babyverse has been like a cozy day in a warm cabin to me (even if you already said it's not exactly a comfy story). So if you have more of this universe I'd love to read. Also, one of the most interesting things about this fic, for me, is how protective and loving Alice is as a mother. If I'd picture her as a momma, I'd do it exactly the way you did, responsible and put together even when the world is ending above her head (and probably a bit too liberal as well). I just want to emphasize how amazing you are doing with the characterization of Alice and Jasper in a universe we don't see much at all.

Aww, anon, thank you so much. At some point I'm going to have to get into the actual plot of the fic, but I have a very good time just writing little slice-of-life scenes that are low stakes. I'm really glad that you are enjoying it because I know the scenario is really out there, but it's just the right level of dramatic to appeal to me. 

And yeah, Alice is super liberal and a teenager, which makes her so much fun to write - she has her convictions, and sometimes she's just trolling everyone for shits and giggles. Some of her nonsense definitely gives Bella a little more confidence not to feel like she has to be as 'perfect' as the Cullens; it's okay to be messy and human. 

Alice does clash with some of the Cullens' more old fashioned and conservative beliefs at times. Jasper and Alice definitely discuss a lot of things privately, but when it comes to a lot of the discourse in the household, Jasper's response is something along the lines of 'I was a Confederate soldier in the 1800s, I trust Alice's judgement in this issue.' Or 'As Alice is the one possessing the uterus, I'm pretty sure her thoughts on the matter of abortion are far more relevant than mine.' 

(I, for one, am fixating on the idea that the one thing that Jasper puts his foot down about is the family wealth during Oliver's upbringing. No luxury cars or designer clothing, no outrageous toys, no luxury prep schools, and Oliver has to get into college on his own merit. Alice, from a foster care background, hates the idea at first but warms up - a kid doesn't need a battery-powered BMW to drive around the house or a private jet to go to Disneyland, they need loving and supportive parents, and a secure home. And the houses they live in are insanely nice places, and Oliver still has nice stuff. Just very much more of a middle-class image, than a 1% image. Oliver getting into a good college with a partial scholarship is one of Jasper's proudest moments.) 

(Is that a dig at the upbringing Renesmee gets? You betcha.) 

I could sit here spewing headcanons for Oliver and Alice and Jasper all day, but here's a scene I wrote for purposes that remain mysterious. Still toying with Alice being angrier at Jasper when he returns, and how their reconciliation looks. 

---

It’s not hard to find Jasper after dark these days. The Brandon house is helpfully tucked away from the road, so no one can see anyone who happens to be sitting on the roof. It takes no effort to join his brother, Emmett landing nearly silently next to him. “Long night? Alice kick you out?” He tries to make it a joke, but he knows that their tentative reunion is a sore spot for Jasper.

“No longer than normal,” Jasper shrugs, ignoring the joke but Emmett knows he’s hit a sore spot.

There’s a book next to Jasper; some heavy thing with the words ‘Child Psychology’ buried in the title, and Emmett nearly feels sorry for Oliver.

“She doing okay?” Jasper hasn’t been home much since they got back. He’s trying to get back into the Brandons’ good graces, and get to know his son. Jasper’s son. Those words are a mind-fuck - of all the Cullens to have an accidental kid, Jasper was bottom of the list; Emmett’s been trying to wrap his mind around the idea for the last few weeks. And counsel Rosalie through a lot of different emotions. 

It’s been a weird summer. 

“Tired, stressed, frustrated…” Jasper recites emotions like a catalogue, and Emmett can hear the frustration of his own in Jasper’s voice. “We’re talking, she knows I’m staying at night. Her fathers aren’t happy, and Cynthia’s still leaning towards violence but it’s something.”

“How’s Oliver?” Emmett can hear the disappointment in Jasper’s voice, and talking about the baby always cheers him up. If nothing else, he’s watching Jasper change. Kind of reminds him of when Jasper joined the family and was so bewildered and curious about how they all seemed to like and trust each other. The rare times that Jasper has been home lately, Oliver is one topic he will freely talk about - his relationship with Alice is almost entirely off-limits, as was whatever the Brandons had said to him. But he would almost always give this small smile and update them on Oliver.

And like clockwork, Jasper looks over and smiles. “He’s finally doing better in his own room. He took a while to settle, but he's sleeping now.”

Ah, the bedroom project. It had started two weeks ago - a freshly decorated bedroom of Oliver’s own in the Brandon house that everyone had heard about in great detail, mostly because Esme had been hanging on every word.

Things were … pleasant but cool between Alice and the rest of the family. There was a guest room ready and waiting for Alice and Oliver if - when - they finally stayed over, but Esme was absolutely bursting to get to work on two personalized rooms - a bedroom for Alice (and Jasper) and a nursery for Ollie. But for now, Esme was living vicariously through Simon and Alice’s nursery decorating and trying to gently encourage Alice to spend more time at the Cullens.

But after the bedroom was finished, it had been a struggle to get Oliver to sleep alone in there; he didn’t seem to want or need twelve hours of sleep at night, had disliked being left on his own, and had made that everyone in the house’s problem. Alice had been very short-tempered for the last two weeks. 

Jasper was perched in between Alice and Oliver’s bedrooms, with the soft glow of a nightlight filtering through the bedroom on the left. It was nearly certain that both windows were unlocked, and that Jasper had probably timed himself getting in and out of both of them, in case of emergency.

“D’you ever wonder…” Emmett begins before stopping. It’s a dumb question, he knows the answer.

“Wonder what?” Jasper pauses for a second; from his crib, Oliver lets out a grizzle and a gurgle, but resumes sleep quickly. 

“…what it would have been like if we’d stayed?”

Jasper lets out a bark of laughter; Emmett can hear the regret. 

“I think about that every day,” Jasper says, rubbing his hand over his face. 

And he does.

He imagines Alice telling him, nervous and afraid and desperate. He pictures her flat stomach curving. Getting to feel their baby kicking, looking at the sonograms. Planning for this bizarre future they had found themselves in. Getting to see and to hold his son within hours of his birth, and not months.

And being there for all the ugly stuff that the Brandons alluded to - Alice being unable to get out of bed, complaining of aches and pains, unending vomiting and fainting and seizures… he wanted to be there, to comfort her, to make sure she wasn’t alone. 

He wanted to be down in that bedroom right now, tucked up beside her with her arm thrown over his chest. Her face pressed against his shoulder. To kiss her cheek and read as she slept. 

He wanted it all so badly. 

Instead, he had this - sitting on the roof, watching over them in silence.

And he deserved it, for leaving her the way he did. She was being more forgiving than he expected, really - he had prepared himself for Alice to tell him to fuck off and never contact her again, when they returned. But for some insane reason, she had been willing to talk, willing to let him know their baby.

He just had to earn the love and trust back. 

“Every fucking day,” he echoes. 

“Sorry man,” Emmett shook his head. “It was a stupid question. But… you missed what, less than a year all up? Ollie’s not even one yet. He’s never going to remember a time without you here, being his dad. Alice will forgive you; she’s always been crazy about you, and she’s hardly going to let you sit on the roof if she was planning on kicking you to the curb. In ten years we’re going to turn around and it’ll be crazy that you and Alice weren’t always together.”

“I hope so.” Jasper looks both much older and so very young in that moment. “I… it was stupid to leave.”

Emmett let out a bark of laughter. “Yeah, I think you made that clear. Edward’s still fixing his CDs.”

A light flicked on in the right window, and both of them could hear movement as Alice climbed out of bed and left the room. She returned a few moments later, the light going out.

“It’s gonna be okay, man. I bet you fifty that you’ll be dancing at your wedding before your kid hits middle school,” Emmett stood up, ready to head home to Rose.

“Middle school?” Jasper half-chuckled, half sounded horrified.

“I said before - and Alice didn’t look impressed when Edward and Bella announced their engagement. I think she’s more of the ‘live-in-sin’ kind of girl, myself,” Emmett shrugged.

“Go home before you wake someone up,” Jasper said, picking up his book. “Alice won’t care much unless you wake up the baby, but Cynthia will cuss you out from the bathroom window.”

[wambsgraham-archive]

See the thing about Shiv and Tom is that they love each other in opposite ways, which makes them fundamentally incompatible, and it also means they have to have opposite betrayals. 

Tom loves in the traditional way—in the affectionate, physical, emotional way. Tom’s a social climber and is shooting for CEO, but he also really genuinely loved Shiv in that romantic sense before it all fell apart, and the thing that mattered most to him was that she do the same. Yeah, he was hurt when she pulled the switchup and said she wanted to be CEO instead of him, and he’s bitter that she keeps leaving him in the sidelines of her plans for the future, but none of that will ever compare to the ultimate betrayal he felt on their wedding night. She cheated on him, and she doesn’t love him, and she pushed him into an open relationship he didn’t want, and that is the worst possible thing she could have done.

Meanwhile, Shiv is a Roy, and the way she loves has been twisted by her upbringing—by a father that kicks the things he loves just to see them come back. In her relationship with Tom, she can’t or won’t offer him much affection in the traditional sense, and certainly no emotional support, but what matters most to her is the preservation of them as a team. She can insult him, cheat on him, and throw him under the bus, but she would never ever have actually tossed him aside. She flips the script in season 2 when she says that she wants to be CEO, but in her mind, so long as they’re still intact as a team pushing forward together, it’s not an issue. Not a betrayal. She can endorse throwing Tom to the DOJ while they talk on the yacht, because it makes her look like she’s thinking business, which she can use to work things through with Logan later. She can send Tom to jail because it’s his own smart idea, and it wouldn’t be for all that long anyway. What’s a year apart to a team like them?

The one thing Shiv has never done, the one thing she would never do, is directly undermine Tom’s position with Logan, because in a Roy child’s mind, one’s relationship to Logan is the most important thing in the world. By selling her out, Tom has destroyed her in the worst possible way, and he’s ripped apart “the plan” and their team in the process, seemingly out of nowhere.

Because the thing is, I don’t think Shiv has ever understood just how badly she hurt Tom by cheating on him. I don’t she can comprehend how the constant flow of insults and refusal of affection must wear down a man like him. She knows Tom’s unhappy, and she knows their marriage is in a bad place, but Shiv Roy is nothing if she loses the ability to tell herself she’s not the villain, which means she can never let herself understand just how badly she’s hurt her husband. And all that means that, even if some part of her knows it, she can never ever acknowledge that cheating on Tom, lying to his face, and denying him “love” on their wedding night was the worst thing she could have done to him.

So in Tom’s mind, he has spent almost his entire relationship with Shiv being beaten down. In Tom’s mind, this is him finally leveling the field—finally lashing back out and hitting Shiv with a betrayal as good as he got, because he’s fucking fed up and she deserves it.

In Shiv’s mind, though, what Tom just did to her is worse than anything that she has ever done to him. In Shiv’s mind her husband that she has always tried her best to love in her own way just slapped her in the face with the worst possible sleight, and she has no idea where it came from.

TomShiv as a team is finally dead, and the tragedy of it all is that neither of them can even understand how the other is feeling about it. Shiv can’t see that for Tom, their relationship has been floundering and dying since their wedding night, and Tom can’t see how much Shiv really did rely on their alliance as a given despite everything, and how she could never let herself understand how she was hurting him.

[3wisellamas]

SCC Family / Pre-Band Backstory Headcanons?

(May or may not have gone a LITTLE overboard on these.  Because I’m just a sucker for Found Family.  ;v; )

Sweet:

-Sweet has a ridiculously huge family -- tons of siblings, cousins, aunts/uncles, etc.  All of whom are professional musicians, and in fact used to serve as Queen's personal orchestra!  Needless to say, they're ridiculously wealthy, too. -He's also got huge family problems, though.  For starters, his parents were emotionally distant, and EXTREMELY strict, enforcing discipline and demanding perfection of their kids since they were all semi-public figures, and controlling their schedules to the minute -- Sweet had several different music lessons per day!   -He was also pretty heavily restricted on what kinds of music he was allowed to listen to, however he did have one Cool Uncle who would occasionally sneak him rock or pop albums to listen to in secret.  He got caught and had them all confiscated more than once, and definitely got the chip on his shoulder about authority and holding music back from his upbringing. -Eventually he just got sick of it all, openly rebelling against his parents, and teaching himself to play his own style of music rather than his family's, pretty much becoming the black sheep, but it wasn't until he dropped out right in the middle of his first year of music college in order to be a DJ instead that he was officially disowned and kicked out of his home. -That Cool Uncle took pity on him, though, letting him move into an old closed-down junk shop the family still owned and teaching him how to tinker with machines -- if Sweet couldn't get his DJ-ing career off the ground, at least he could have a job and support himself.  And for a long time, that was indeed his main source of income, since his initial plan of being a street musician didn't really pay the bills, though he still kept at it anyway. -After SCC was formed and actually became a moderate success, but before Queen banned music and they went underground, Sweet's parents reached out to him again to try and reconnect.  It...didn't go well, with them being extremely overbearing about every single element of their meeting down to the dress code, and Sweet having a massive panic attack the instant he stepped into his old home.  Thankfully Cap'n and K_K tagged along, though, and were able to get him out of there, get some milk in him, and calm him down.  They still run interference and keep Sweet's family away from him, which he's always grateful for -- while he still occasionally calls the Cool Uncle maybe once a year, the rest of them make Sweet EXTREMELY anxious and uncomfortable. Cap’n:

-Cap'n, ironically enough, has the most loving, supportive, normal family of the trio. -He was an only child, grew up in a suburb of Cyber City on the other side of the Cyber Fields from the junk shop, and though his parents loved him (to the degree it embarrassed the crap out of him!) he was bullied pretty mercilessly as a kid, about everything from wearing glasses to his extra fingers to his height to his (lack of) magical power, meaning he grew up with a bunch of self-esteem issues that he still hides behind his Cool Guy exterior. -He actually ran away from home as a teenager after flirting with the wrong girl, and her boyfriend, one of those bullies, came for Cap'n in a REALLY bad way -- he ended up all the way in the middle of the city, with nothing but the clothes on his back and the CD in his tray, initially too afraid to go home because he thought his life was still in danger, but after a while it became more of a pride thing, too afraid to go home and admit he had failed to make it on his own. -He basically spent the next few years homeless, learning to fend for himself (and having a LOT of close calls along the way!), but for a few months he had no choice but to try and join a gang of other music equipment-based street punks in order to survive, which is where he met and quickly befriended K_K.  The two of them ended up getting sent out on a bunch of less-than-legal jobs, with K_K having to save Cap'n's ass more than once when he got in trouble, and eventually he agreed to leave with them and go back to the streets. -The CD bagels were initially his idea, with K_K making them and Cap'n selling them, and he also just learned to scam people a LOT.  The two of them may have slept in their boxes in an alley every night, but they did always have money for food and new CDs thanks to him. -Eventually they decided to move their bagel-selling operation to one of the busiest streetcorners in Cyber City, which happened to also be claimed by a certain speaker-shaped part-time street musician... -Amazingly, Cap'n successfully reconnected with his family later on, after his parents surprised him at one of their shows -- even grown up and going by a different name, they recognized him immediately, and became SCC's biggest fans, always in the front row cheering for their son and holding up posters with different messages for him, though they still keep a respectful distance otherwise, since they know better than anyone how fragile Cap'n's ego is.  Every now and then they invite the whole band over for some homemade spaghetti code, and let them hide at their house a couple of times when Queen put a little too much pressure on their rebellion.   -They've basically adopted Sweet and K_K as well, and though they still embarrass the crap out of Cap'n he loves them back. K_K:

-K_K, shockingly, has...probably the saddest backstory of all.   -He literally has NO family, and doesn't even remember them, being orphaned at a young age and raised in the system, and was unceremoniously tossed out onto the streets the day he turned 18.  Meeting/hearing about the others' families bothers him a little, even though he tries not to show it -- positivity is just how K_K deals with all the shit he's been through. -After only a couple weeks of trying and failing to find a place for themself, and getting very, very lonely, they ended up with the musical robot gang just...because.  Showed up one day and started sitting the the back of the hideout playing music, and refused to leave.  The gang didn't really mind, since K_K is BIG and scary even if he's always smiling, and even if he wasn't too good at actual Crime they'd drag him along just for intimidation purposes. -When Cap'n joined up, though, the gang got the idea to pair up the scrawny, overconfident new kid with the Thing That Would Not Leave, sending them both out onto the most dangerous missions as a way of either getting rid of both of them, or making them quit.  After bonding very quickly with their first ever Real Friend, as well as having to defend Cap'n in fights and even saving his life a couple of times, they actually proposed the latter:  "You know we're doing illegal stuff, right?  You wanna just go?"  Cap'n agreed, and neither of them ever set foot on the gang's turf again, never having to deal with any retaliation because, hey, K_K's finally gone! -They were the one who actually fought against Sweet when he challenged them for stealing his streetcorner (since Cap'n cowered behind them), and accepted Sweet into their group afterward, and even came up with the name Sweet Cap'n Cakes!   -K_K 100% considers Cap'n and Sweet the only family they've ever really had, and would do anything for them.

[sapphicmess93]

I wish ppl could at least be honest and say that they only care about mental health in fiction when it’s their fav and also only when said character behaves the way they want it to. Like u know addiction is a mental health issue right ? And u hate on a teenager with alcohol addiction cause first of all u don’t like him on principle and then cause he doesn’t act like u want him to. Like do u understand how real like works ? Do u understand how addiction works? Especially in a teenager ? Like u want him to always be supportive always having the right answers to never be angry or emotional in a negative way. Which just tells me u don’t understand sht. Addiction or any other mental health problems suck and make u act different in a way u clearly can’t grasp.

Like his bf mom was a homophobic bitch to him and her son but still u wanted him to never be angry at that to always be understanding and supportive which he tried to be cause idk if u remember but it’s been 6 months almost before he exploded rightfully. Then u got angry at him for losing it after his mom outed him as sober to his boyfriend while said bf made his addiction about himself instead of asking how he’s doing with this which then obviously both were angry at each other which is normal but again a concept u can’t grasp cause u were angry at benji. Then after he want and apologized which btw vic should’ve also done so for making this about himself instead focusing on his bf also vic asked why didn’t u tell me earlier??? Seriously vic? U were only focused on your mom and nothing else so obviously he waited for that to cool but whatever teenagers right? (See how easy that is) not hating but trying to understand? Whatever after that vic tries to have sex with benji while knowing that Adrian was there then when mom saw them he only cared about the part that could set his mom off again while benji finally showed balls by defending them but again u got angry at benji and not the homophobic mom. Like a kid with mental health issues who just got outed by his mom to his bf as an alcoholic plus the constant homophobia by his bf mom for 6 months obviously at some point everyone would explode especially as a teen. And then instead of actually defending benji and realizing that this hasn’t only been hard on victor but also on benji he instead kicks him out. And the worst part he never apologizes for that. But yea sure let’s all be angry at benji cause he showed emotions I no a way that u don’t like and cause he was angry at precious victor 🙄. The next time instead of tryi bf to communicate with benji he tells him that his opinion doesn’t matter and apparently that’s fine. Then the sentence happened which made everyone hate benji more which was „ what does being white have to do with that“ which ppl immediately jumped on and called him a racist which I have no words for that leap honestly. And even black ppl and other poc ppl have said that Vic’s bullsht didn’t make sense in this context at all so benji being confused made sense cause no vic that wasn’t the topic at hand and your moms upbringing culture or religion doesn’t excuse her homophobia and benji also doesn’t have to take it from her or u constantly defending her cause she’s your mom. Also vic saying that benji doesn’t get it cause he has liberal parents is so disgusting after knowing how much he struggled with his coming out so much that he drank to numb that feeling and knowing his dad took him to a strip club to make him straight again like ???? That’s not an easy coming out victor. Whatever. Then the worst thing happened another thing vic never apologized for really. He told a stranger to benji at least about benji’s addiction while knowing he shouldn’t also him saying he doesn’t know why benji isn’t talking to him like ??? Cause u said his opinion doesn’t matter maybe and only focused on your mom plus kicked gim out and never apologized? Just an idea. And instead of apologizing for breaking benjis trust he just tells him that he can trust rahim ??? A guy he doesn’t even know. And also this isn’t about that vic. It’s about breaking his trust. Then vic is surprised that he wants a break ? at this point I would’ve needed one too especially as an addict who just talked to his sponser that day and then realizing my bf broke my trust. But for victor apparently that wasn’t reason enough and instead goes on an outing with rahim to forget for s while which again Teenager so I guess it makes sense. But then later on he says about the wedding thing that benji wanted a break so he doesn’t get to have an opinion on it if it’s ok that he goes with someone else to the wedding after benj canceled on him which first of all yes he does get to have an opinion cause he’s still your bf and second u fcked up that’s why the break happened on the first place.

I’ll make more parts 😅

[wri0thesley]

May I request some La Squadra childhood headcanons (upbringing/family/habits/demeanor) :)) Maybe Mista and Abbacchio too if it’s not too much trouble since we already saw a bit of baby Bruno and it made me so curious about the other two! I always imagined Abbacchio to be a bit of a teacher’s pet as a kid lol. Your writing brings me life tysm!!!!

warnings for abusive family, human experimentation, misogyny, illness, hospitals, death, etc! 

Risotto’s family did not care much about him. He’s the middle child of five - they grew up in a rural part of Sicily, in a house that used to be a farmhouse but was merely a house by the time Risotto came along (aside from a flock of chickens constantly in the gardens). He had a traditional Italian family full of people - various aunts, uncles and cousins - but his cousin was his favourite, seeing in Risotto’s quiet nature something similar to his own. Risotto was uncomfortable with there being too many people around and found his home life cramped and uncomfortable and loud. At the local village school he was often hunted out for games of sport (his height and muscle growing in at an early age), but he shied away from making friends, not sure how to handle himself around people who shouted and laughed, envying his siblings for everything seeming so natural. He often stayed with the cousin, and it’s through them he discovered metal music and his now signature look. His parents didn’t have time for him, but his cousin always did, becoming a makeshift father figure where Risotto’s failed. He grew very attached, and as we know, his cousins death hit him hard. 

Formaggio grew up with a single father; his mother simply disappeared in the middle of the night and he never heard from her again. He was always loud, brash and cocky - his father was much the same way. They moved around from place to place, his father taking odd jobs to sustain them and never really getting the hang of them. His father was fairly young and a perpetual teenager, and Formaggio was much the same way. Despite living in occasional poverty, he always had a smile and he and his father were close to one another. He did not really make friends - other children were aware of his unwashed clothes, the fact his lunch was not made as neatly as theirs, the fact that his address was a one-bedroom apartment on the bad side of town - so he turned to acting out and violence, gaining a reputation as a Badly Behaved Child. His father fell into Passione in the need to support his son, and like father like son, Formaggio followed in his footsteps at fourteen (finding a camaraderie and sense of responsibility he never had at school and subsequently just stopping going there). 

Illuso got into Passione for the money and the power. He was an only child and he had a nice upbringing, honestly - he just found himself not special at anything, and he desperately wanted to be. He flitted from hobby to hobby and interest to interest; he was clever and he noticed things, and neither of his parents really knew how to deal with their sharp-tongued child. He was a bit of a bully at school, but not the kind that is ever found out - Illuso’s bullying was quieter than that, whispered words and rumours that never seemed to find their way back to him. He was well-acquainted with blackmail before he turned sixteen. He knew how to sniff out weaknesses in other people - he was always surrounded by people, but it was a lottery as to whether they liked Illuso or whether they just didn’t want to be on his wrong side. Always willing to volunteer for things, too confident for his own good - eventually, he stopped caring about being ‘special’ at something, and just worked on being the ‘best around him’. 

Melone’s backstory can be found here. Both of his parents were academics and lecturers in genetic science, and he’s the eldest child by eight years. His family moved around rather a lot. He has two younger sets of twins as siblings; one set of boys, and one set of girls. Growing up, his parents considered him less interesting and a little slow - he turned to science and genetics as a way to get their attention and praise; despite the fact he showed a natural affinity for it, by this time, they were far more interested in experimenting on their younger children and Melone was ignored. His nature is curious and insistent - he learnt to insist or to be ignored. He had to look after his younger siblings a lot growing up; they were home-schooled where he was not, and the strange separation of them and him and all of the children at school (Melone not quite fitting into either group) meant that he always seemed just a little off. 

Prosciutto is a mafia man through and through. His family are entrenched in old bloodlines and uninvestigated deaths - unfortunately, though, they are a family that had somewhat fallen from grace by Prosciutto’s birth. The definition of faded glamour and keeping up appearances; rooms in a big, drafty old house that have an old bed and a falling apart dressing table. His father always talked to him about how it was his and his brothers’ job to keep the bloodline going - a traditional chauvinist of a man. His mother was very quiet and pretty; she encouraged him to small interests like old music and fashion, but was always silent around her husband. He grew up knowing his life was expendable. Youngest son of two; his elder brother died within months of finally being given his assignment within Passione and honestly, Prosciutto knows his father would rather he have died. A quiet little boy who did not make friends (he had a tutor) and had too much of the weight of the world on his shoulders in the knowledge of how many of his mother’s jewels were pasteboard, where the guns were kept, and just how many people he saw regularly were murderers. At his assignment at sixteen, Prosciutto had to learn exactly how to blend in, because many of the mafiosos he was suddenly surrounded by did not appreciate what they saw as his superiority. 

Pesci was an only child of a single mother; his father passed away when he was young. He was rather sickly growing up, and it made his mother indulgent - despite growing up fairly middle class, he never wanted for anything, and they lived well beyond their means. His mother fussed over him, always afraid that he was going to have a relapse into his childhood illness - very much a child wrapped in cotton wool. It gave him his own complex about taking risks; he didn’t want to get hurt. He didn’t want to be rejected by other children. He was slow at his schoolwork but devoted to his mother, and other children saw him as a prime target to bully. He was kicked around a lot at school and it eventually made him too easy to subdue when he suddenly filled out and shot up and became a threat; found himself, too often, a henchman to more articulate, meaner children. Grateful to be accepted, he went along with the flow, despite feeling in the very core of his gut that he was disgusted by them. He ended up in Passione because his mother needed medical treatment and in trying to sort it out realised just how much debt they were in.

Ghiaccio just had a normal run-of-the-mill described as ‘average’ by everyone upbringing - both of his parents, an only child, a mother with a professional job, middle-class. His father was partially deaf - in my experience, people with deaf parents either speak very loudly or very quietly, and Ghiaccio has gone for the former. He learnt LIS at a very early age, and it’s part of the reason he can be so anal about pronunciation and language as a whole - he’s utterly fascinated by it, and that fascination started in early childhood. His parents were also indulgent of him, but having a younger brother meant that he didn’t get the full brunt of that indulgence - his brother was a little more of a ‘rough and tumble’ boy. He liked football and weights, and when he took up a sport Ghiaccio’s parents decided Ghiaccio should learn to do something too and asked him what he thought - they were surprised when he said ice skating, but figured he would go into ice hockey or something. He didn’t. For a while, he was fairly well-known in the competitive figure skating under eighteens circuit. It gave him two things; one, a competitive need to win and be good at things (and a propensity to tantrum when he lost) and two, a taste for flashy, expensive things (have you seen this man’s car). His parents eventually didn’t know how to deal with his arrogance, and he fell into Passione based on a ‘sponsor’ he ended up embroiled with at nineteen when his parents didn’t want to fund his ‘hobby’ anymore (they kept pouring resources into his younger brother, of course - Ghiaccio always felt a bit like they didn’t take him seriously). He left ice skating competitively behind, but he couldn’t leave behind the nice things or the anger issues he accrued. 

I’ve written about Sorbet and Gelato’s childhood/backstory here! But a brief, shorter version:

Gelato had a loving family and a privileged upbringing. Always enough money, always enough to eat - an only child, who perhaps was a little rowdy at school but whomst his parents were very proud of. Both of them were traditional types; thinks a man should be strong, should be the real driving force of all relationships - they were extremely proud of him going into the army. Cleverer than people tend to give him credit for, sharp-eyed, a constant humming need to be doing something with his hands. 

Sorbet was orphaned at a young age in a house fire and taken in by a church orphanage. He’s quiet but equally clever; his cleverness tends to be a little less in your face. He was a comforting presence to other people and took care of the younger boys (even now, he feels a sense of duty to some of La Squadra) - being low-voiced, soothing and commanding. He spent a lot of time reading. The church orphanage was poor; Sorbet has learnt to appreciate luxury where Gelato takes it for granted and it’s part of the reason he’s so concerned with finances even in his forties. 

Abbacchio grew up in a houseful of women. His father left when he was still young; he was . . . not a nice man, and Abbacchio has vague memories of his mother carefully applying concealer over black eyes. It’s part of the reason Abbacchio became a police officer - knowing that he was still out there, not paying for what he’d done . . . Abbacchio wanted to ensure other people did not go through it. He had a little sister (by six years) who adored him, and his grandmother (who had once been an opera singer and still had a touch of that old-time glamour). He was fairly well off; at least, after he and his mother went to live with her mother again. His grandmother was EXTREMELY indulgent of her serious pretty-eyed grandson (his affinity for opera comes from her) who wanted so hard to be a Good Man. He was made fun of as a child for being a teacher’s pet and a nerd, you’re right - he adopted being a goth and dressing like that fairly early in his life. Nobody was going to threaten to punch him in leather and black lipstick, he thought - and nobody, too, needed to know that his CD player was blasting Monteverdi and not heavy metal. 

Mista was the only child of an unreliable mother and a father who left when he was four (he kept very vaguely in touch; Mista has three little sisters who he sees occasionally but keeps quiet about his employ to. After the events of VA, he’s established a fund for each of them, but he wasn’t really permitted to see them much growing up). Even after his parents leaving and his neighbour’s loss of an eye (and the subsequent setting in of his fear of the number four), he was an easy-going child who made friends easily and smiled at all and sundry; he was never particularly book-clever, but he was good-natured and had many friends. His mother’s lack of reliability meant that he became very fond of simple things other people took for granted - when she died, he was sad, but his life did not change much. He’d already learnt to fend for himself when it came to food and the like; often coming home to an empty house and simply making do. (The lack of food in the house is part of the reason he gained such an affinity for things he saw as luxuries like wines and cheeses). He learnt to use his dark eyes and charming smile and warm nature to win sleepovers with schoolfriends and evening meals with their parents. Always a little bit behind his peers in having cool gadgets or interesting stories, Mista was content just to have a simple life and good health. 

[facepalming-since-chernobyl]

Debunking lies haters spread about Mon-El – misogynist

Misogyny is a wide definitions and includes prejudice against women, social exclusion, sex discrimination, hostility, patriarchy, male privilege, belittling of women, violence against women, and sexual objectification – so it’s not “just” typical hate.

And yes, Mon-El said/did some questionable things. Aka about Eve “She wanted to please me. On Daxam, when a woman wishes to please a man...” and the fact he had no problems with moving the copying machine with her (Crossfire ep) and the line “things was easier on Daxam when I objectified women and didn’t care about anyone“ (the Mxy ep) and didn’t do what Kara said or how SCs like to say, he didn’t respect her.

But here we have few problems here.

First of all Mon-El is from a planet, where people behaved this way. And I write people, not men, because Daxam was a place when all of them where doing things like this. Do we have evidences that women were treated only like sexual objects and exist only to please men? No. Why? Because after all, Rhea - a woman, was the most powerful person on that planet and held true power, not Lar Gand, who was murdered by her and there were no consequences. No patriarchy here. No male privilege here.

But his haters love to forget the line: “on Daxam we drugged themselves to feel nothing“. We aka all people. That was the toxic culture that promoted the system where people were not dealing with feelings, but suppressing them with drugs. What caused not carrying about anything and objectifying was a part of the system.

“The more the merrier“ line, that some people say was lesbophobic and Mon-El wanted to have a threesome with Alex and Maggie is simply stupid. He was talking about having a PARTY, not having sex. Also in that bar scene he showed he was not  prejudiced against homosexuals. Daxam was a horrible place but every sexuality was seen as normal and accepted. Also, no sex discrimination.

Next, “On Daxam, when a woman wishes to please a man.” WISHES. When a woman doesn’t want to please a man, she doesn’t. SIMPLE AND OBVIOUS. What also means he never sexually harassed anyone and there are no evidences for that. I will write another piece about how some really gross people accuse him of rape and other things that didn’t happen, but that will appear in the future.

Also, friendly reminder that Eve WANTED to hook up with him. She was a woman who knew  what she wanted and did what she wanted. Making her some a clueless victim is a disrespectful for HER.

Secondly, when haters talk about his relationship with Kara is how he disrespected her as a woman.

The problem is they both clashed not because of their sexes but because of their races. They clashed because she was a Kryptonian and he was a Daxamite. They clashed because of their absolutely different upbringing.

 He didn’t listen to her?

Kara Danvers : I am trying to help you fit in and you keep messing it up.

Mon-El : Okay, I'm trying very hard to be Mike, okay? But it is not as easy as you make it sound, Kara. I'm used to doing my own thing.

Kara Danvers : Well, you don't do your own thing here. You do my thing.

Mon-El : Um, okay. And if I don't want to do your thing?

Kara Danvers : Then find another mentor.

We talk about an alien who was on Earth like for two weeks and was brought to a CatCo to start a job. I repeat, an alien from totally different culture was brought to a totally new environment to behave like a human and work. Ever heard about cultural shock? And he TRIED. But was not ready. And Kara admitted it herself, later in the ep:

“When I was younger, I had no idea what I wanted to be here on Earth. And I had a family to help me and guide me, but... ultimately I had to make my own choices. And I was trying to impose those choices on you because when you landed, I was-I was just so excited to have someone to take under my wing. To look after. I never got to do that with my cousin. But you are your own man. And your life here on Earth is going to be very different from mine, and that's fine. That's great.”

Because guess what, he was not a dog and not doing what someone else asked is not always disrespectful. It’s you know, not being a slave and having your own mind :) Also, saying someone should do what you want is not mentoring or teaching and Kara explained that herself.

When they clashed after he beat Brian, once again, it was not about her being a woman, it was about how they were using their powers and how they both seen it differently. And it once again, in the end, was about the differences between a Daxam and Krypton.

So what, he was misogynist because he was jealous of Mxy? Because he didn’t do what she asked him to? Because he was arguing with her? Because he was overprotective? Yep, we can all agree it was a shitty behavior. Once again, I understand why he behaved like that – his upbringing in Daxamite culture, ignoring the feelings and getting drugged instead of dealing with them – but his behavior was NOT PORTRAYED AS SOMETHING GOOD. And Kara CALLED HIS SHIT OUT. And after some thinking HE ADMITTED and what is more important, UNDERSTOOD HE WAS WRONG.EXPLAINED himself in a way that made sense. APOLOGIZED. And didn’t repeat this mistake.

Because you know, this was his character arc from being a problematic frat boy of the universe, to finally understanding his character issues and fixing them. That was his story. And I’m kinda surprised how people can admit the tv shows are full of macho idiotic males and how out culture is teaching them how to act wrongly and mistreat women and then when they have an actual arc of man who grasped his shit and become better, they hate on him like no tomorrow. I guess males should stay shitty for their whole lives???

And lastly - look how many times he praised her, how many times he said how awesome she was when she kicked Mxy and other idiots’ asses and how proud he was, how he has learnt to respect her decisions, how he tried to please her, how he walked away when she asked him without a word, how he was able to say how worthless he was, how he played the role of a housewife when she was dealing with criminals, how many times he gave her emotional support and simply was there when she needed it, how he took her side and could admit he was wrong - like, misogynists do stuff like that? Since when?

Yes, he was a jerk and he didn’t have any idea how to treat women, but he has learnt. Keeping things he has done in the past and ignoring his development is like depriving humans of the ability of making mistakes and learning on them. And this is a base of whole damned humanity.

[erazonpo3]

WOWM

so What Once Was Mine came out and I read it.

My General Thoughts are that this book was something of a rollercoaster but in like a pop up carnival with dubious safety regulations and diseases in the DIY log flume water kind of way. I had some fun reading it but I also feel like I picked up a rash.

If you're like me and you enjoy picking a book apart for morsels of interesting concepts then you might enjoy it, if you think holy shit why the fuck is a literal real historical serial killer in this book I need to see this then you might enjoy it, if you care about engaging plots and character beats then you probably won't.

If you want to ask me anything specific go ahead, but otherwise for more in depth thoughts: spoilers ahead

Basic Summary of the Plot

Okay so here's the deal. The story has the framing device of two siblings in a cancer ward, where one tells the other a story. I'll get into that later, but that's how it starts. Our actual story starts with a pretty long prologue: We learn that the King & Queen got the Moonflower thinking it was the Sunflower, Rapunzel was born with silver hair, and then baby Rapunzel kills a maid who accidentally hurt her when brushing her hair.

Oh, by the way, Max is a human man named Justin Tregsburg. Yeah.

Anyway, the royal family puts out feelers for legit witches who can safely take care of Rapunzel because the baby is too dangerous, and Gothel shows up to take her away. Queen Arianna visits Rapunzel once (but is only allowed to watch through a peephole) and decides watching another woman raise her child is too painful and throws herself into restoring the kingdom's orphanages instead.

Now we're in the present. Rapunzel is nineteen and she wants to go and see the lanterns (a mourning tradition of the Dead princess in this story). She tries to argue with Gothel but gets shut down, and Gothel makes her kill a chicken to prove the point that she can't go outside because she's too dangerous. However we as the audience already know Gothel plans to sell Rapunzel off as a bride or a servant or a weapon to some other nobles, because she's evil.

Also by the way Gothel still has access to our Sundrop Flower and is using it to live forever that's just a thing that happens in the background.

When Gothel is gone Rapunzel watches as a man (Flynn) stores a satchel in a tree outside of her tower, and that motivates her to leave the tower for the first time. Then she goes back inside the tower with her prize of a crown, and a skink she found and named Pascal. Rapunezl and Gothel have another spat, and Rapunzel decides she will run off to see the lanterns and she will find Flynn and make him her guide.

She ends up at the Snuggly Duckling and she doesn't find Flynn but she does find Gina, a young career criminal girl looking to break the glass ceiling. Gina agrees to help her find Flynn. They find Flynn, and he agrees to help guide Rapunzel to see the floating lanterns for a split reward of the crown with Gina.

The Snuggly Duckling gets burned down by Countess Bathory (yes that Elizabeth Bathory) and the Pub Thugs are pissed about it and also they're helping Rapunzel even though she didn't sing the I've Got A Dream song don't worry about it. We learn that the nobles that wanted to buy Rapunzel are now hunting her down so she can go to auction.

Gina takes them to her adopted mother's cottage. Gina's mother is a white witch, who goes by the name of Goodwife. She doesn't get an actual name she's just The Goodwife. Anyhow, the cottage is a magic safe space (for now) and Goodwife teaches Rapunzel that her hair isn't inherently evil and may not even be all that deadly! Rapunzel learns that her hair has other powers too, like the ability to turn skink Pascal into a sentient Chameleon. Yeah.

Also Goodwife tells Rapunzel she's the dead princess but this isn't like, an immediate call to action. Not a lot happens until we get this story's version of the Mother Knows Best Reprise where Gothel finds Rapunzel again but has to flee, but this Rapunzel has a bigger support network and isn't buying it. Flynn and Gina decide the safest course of action is to bring Rapunzel to the castle, but along the way she gets kidnapped by the Countess.

Gothel is pissed because she still wants the money for Rapunzel, so she rallies the armies of all the opposing bidders. Flynn and Gina convince Max the Man to send for his troops, and he joins them in going to the enemy castle. Flynn tries to sneak in, gets caught, and meanwhile there's a bloody battle out the front between the noble armies. Max jumps into the fray, Gina turns around and rallies the Pub Thugs.

Rapunzel uses her shrinking magic (!) to disappear half the castle and escape with Eugene, and the Pub Thugs arrive and basically end the battle. The Captain is dying but it's okay! Rapunzel turns him into a horse :) Also Rapunzel sees Gothel and tells her to fuck off.

The story ends with a tearful reunion between Rapunzel and her parents, Eugene and Gina are implied to be biological siblings, and things are good but of course in direct parallel to Cass Gina leaves at the end to become an adventurer. The end.

(There are a few other smaller plot beats, but you get the idea.)

MY THOTS

So here are my thoughts™.

Framing Device

I'll just state that I didn't like that the story was told via the vehicle of an older brother telling his 16 year old sister a different version of the Tangled Movie in a cancer ward. From what I've heard it also isn't normal for the Twisted Tales series to use a framing device for the AUs either.

I sympathise with the author's personal story, of course I do. That doesn't mean I'm stirred with compassion every time the flow of the story is interrupted to remind you to be sad because this is a story being told to a girl sick with cancer. It feels more than a little tragedy-porny rather than emotionally touching, and maybe that's because I'm too burnt out on real life tragedy to waste emotional energy on fictional cancer patients but we don't need to do Fault In Our Stars discourse again.

Real World References

This story goes heavy with Real World references. And another issue with the framing device as above is that you do feel like this is a story being told by someone namedropping every historical figure they know which makes it harder to get into the story.

There's like... a lot of references to Christianity, particularly in the prologue. There's a priest that thinks Rapunzel's hair is the work of the Devil or whatever. It's a lot. The Patriarchy is a thing. And that's not even getting into the Countess. I put it very succinctly in my notes so I'll paste it here:

I wish she’d just been an OC who could exist to chew scenery because the fact that she was a literal historical serial killer is super. Off putting. Like, she could have been an obvious reference to Bathory, but it feels like Miku Binder Hamilton levels of uncomfortable to me.

I miss Lady D.

Which basically sums up my problem with trying to take the setting of Tangled and put it somewhere in the Real World and somewhere on the Timeline. Who thought this was a good idea.

Misc. Thoughts

So, I used the five highlighter colours my ipad allows to organise my thoughts and organised them accordingly: Yellow for out of place IRL references, Blue for worldbuilding/character points that aren't plot relevant but still interesting, Pink for when something I find personally amusing happens, Purple for when the story feels like it's trying to 1-up the movie in some kind of way and Green for Heterosexual Nonsense. I'll touch on those last two in the Character sections but be prepared.

Also: for a book about giving Rapunzel killer hair, her hair isn't very dangerous. I wanted to see Rapunzel kill someone, and I'm disappointed that I didn't.

Characters

I'll do a deep dive into my thoughts about the characters before wrapping it up. I'm starting with Gina because she's honestly the easiest to get through.

Gina

Gina is a new character introduced for the story. She's a young woman trying to make it as a career criminal but keeps hitting that glass ceiling. So here's the down low, for all those who want to know: Gina is basically Cass, only not really. She's implied to be Eugene's biological sister, as previously mentioned, but you can imagine she's Cass the entire way through without breaking your immersion because if you imagined Cass if she were adopted by a Goodwitch rather than the Captain and had a looser, more wilderness survivor than trainee guard upbringing then you get Gina.

I liked Gina! I think she's fun as her own character too, and her best moments are when she's interacting with her mother Goody Goodwife, and she of course picks up a natural sibling rivalry with Eugene, but I was disappointed with how little she really bonded with Rapunzel because she needed to make room for Eugene and Rapunzel's romance.

Rapunzel

Okay, here's our protagonist. There's a notable effort to make Rapunzel more active in her destiny and whatever, and sometimes it works but sometimes it doesn't. I was worried they'd try to go full butt-kicking girlboss with her but I was pleasantly surprised that Rapunzel was pretty useless in most scenes, genuinely love to see it.

With a more intimate look into Rapunzel's psyche through the medium of prose, we see Rapunzel really questioning Gothel's behaviour even before she leaves the tower, and while I appreciate that she can develop her own cynicism I feel it starts unnecessarily early. This is my purple colour; the movie needs to be "fixed" by showing the readers that this Rapunzel is quicker to distrust Gothel. She's also quicker to hatch a plan to go outside of the tower on her own, and she makes a plan to make Flynn her guide for the lanterns even though he never stumbles upon her in the tower- and even though she has a perfectly rational reason not to trust him which is that he is a stranger and a Wanted Thief.

In the moments where it does work is when Rapunzel is surrounded by her new support network: Flynn, Goodwife and Gina, who encourage her to question Gothel's sincerity, and Rapunzel comes up with her own defences for Gothel so that she can poke through them herself.

I have some other thoughts about Rapunzel's hair and her powers, like how the story provides the interesting concept that her hair gets different powers with the different phases of the moon, but a lot of the powers are uhhh stupid and also I feel like it really robs the story of the whole gripping conflict of "Yes I'm Rapunzel Yes my hair kills people what of it".

In as far as just Rapunzel herself though, she still felt pretty in character nonetheless, and maybe that's all I can ask.

Flynn Rider / Eugene Fitzherbert

My boy I am so sorry. They neutered my boy.

Long story short: Eugene in this story is the sexy lamp. He contributes nothing to the plot except to be there for Rapunzel to drool over. And of course because he won't get any character development, he starts from the very beginning as a sweet soft boi with none of the Flynn Rider characterisation from the movie because we don't have time for that, he needs to be husband material stat.

His whole character is the colour green for Heterosexual Nonsense.

So, here's the problem. In the movie, there's not a lot of time for ~friendship~ between Rapunzel and Eugene because they kind of immediately see each other as a romantic prospect. And whatever, it's a movie and there's only so much time. But this book had the opportunity to take things a bit slower and instead chooses to make Rapunzel get jealous whenever Eugene and Gina interact and for her to be constantly wishing he was holding her hand.

Say what you will about Lost Lagoon, but it tells a good romance story just by virtue of not intending to be a romance story, because the author is trying to convey a strong bond between Rapunzel and Cassandra without using "and they kiss" as a cheatcode. What Once Was Mine says "he was a boy, she was a girl, could it be any more obvious?" and leaves it at that.

Now as for how this all pertains to Eugene's character? Well, it just robs him of any flavour. In the movie there's a clear distinction between Flynn and Eugene, when we learn Eugene's real name about halfway through. We see a clear difference between the Flynn we knew- kind of an asshole, wanated to drop Rapunzel off at the Snuggly Duckling and get rid of her- and Eugene, who is sincere and chooses Rapunzel as his New Dream in opposition to his Old Dream of living alone on an island with a bunch of money.

This version of Eugene is basically Eugene all the way through, because the plot doesn't really need Eugene there but he has to be there because it's a Tangled AU so there's no Rapunzel rescuing Flynn from the guards and healing his hand scene, he just loves her immediately and that's that. They have a little spat at one point but it's cleared up later and not because they actually communicate but because they kiss.

Rapunzel only learns Eugene's real name at the very end of the story, and gives a speech about how Eugene is the real him, but it's just so flat because 'Flynn' has been sincere this whole time? Anyway he does nothing of value for the entire story except be there for Rapunzel to lust after. Eugene I'm so sorry.

Gothel

Gothel's sort of the Big Bad and is characterised as an abusive asshole, the usual. I wish there were a bit more nuance to her character but then again in this story she's not just being passively evil- taking care of Rapunzel for selfish reasons but nevertheless maintaining the status quo- she's being actively evil in trying to sell Rapunzel off.

It's notably funny that Gothel sees the Countess Bathory and is like "what the fuck".

Anyway Gothel in this story also feels very weak in part because this Rapunzel is more critical and in part because this Rapunzel has a new support network. It's for that reason the Mother Knows Best Reprise scene doesn't really work, because the original has Gothel pit Rapunzel against Eugene, whereas she can't do that here so it remains a Gothel vs Rapunzel thing.

She gets a boring death as an epilogue addendum that someone rips out the Sundrop flower, which tbh? lame. It would be a lot more fun if it were open ended but I am also preferential to Rapunzel actually using her killer hair to kill someone. Please

Captain Justin Tregsburg

It's Max. He was a human but then he got turned into a horse. what the fuck you guys

[gallavictorious]

love your metas, so can i get your thoughts? i've always felt that personality wise, fiona/ lip are alike, and then ian/ debbie are alike. fiona/ lip are smart but often lost in what they want out of life/ what path to take. they both self sabotage and spiral in response to that. s4/ s9 fiona and s6/ s7 lip had similar arcs. they seem to need to receive romantic "love"/ validation, more than to give it, and can be selfish in that. but they are very giving when it comes to their family. [1/2]

[2/2] so anyways, whereas ian/ debbie very much want to give "love" as much as they want to get it, to the point that they always let any awful person who demands it, have it. kash/ ned/ caleb/ trevor/ matt/ derek/ the s10 2 ladies/ etc were all like that. (mickey being the 1 exception ofc!) they can be manipulated and therefore taken advantage of. but they work hard and take pride in that and know what they want (rotc/ emt and babysitting/ welding). but debs is selfish obviously, and ian isn't

Hiya nonnie! That's some very interesting thoughts right there, and a few I hadn't considered before! Let’s see...

I think you make a great point about Fiona and Lip both being smart but lacking a clear idea of how to translate that into a sustainable lifestyle, and they certainly do have a tendency to self-sabotage. In fairness, fairly often it's things outside of their control that derail them – which I think is a very good illustration of how much harder it is to ”make it” when you come from that sort of background. Even when they aregiven opportunities and try to capitalize on them, there's so very little margain for error; everything is always just one small step from collapsing, there's always something going on with their family that they need to deal with, and when things do go wrong, they mostly lack the resources (mental and financial) to respond in a good way. Their coping mechanisms are maladaptive as all hell, that's for sure, courtesy of their fucked-up upbringing. But yeah, quite apart from all that, I think Lip and Fiona have a habit to fuck things up for themselves by not doing great with stability in general. Rob's an asshole but not entirely wrong when he calls Fiona a chaos junkie, and Lip's issues with authority and alcohol don't exactly make things easier for him.

Additionally, I think that while Lip and Fiona are both capable of hard work – and for a long time they certainly work their assess off to take care of their younger siblings – they also have a tendency to look for quick fixes and easy outs? They're problem solvers and quick thinkers, and they had to be, to deal with the mess Frank and Monica have made of their lives, but I'd argue that this survival tactic has developed into a somewhat problematic predispotion to eschew slowly, steadily working their way towards a goal in favour of leaping on ”smart” deals and opportunities. Which isn't always bad, of course, but it has caused them a fair share of problems; consider, for instance, Fiona and her real estate escapades in season 9 and Lip's highly questionable choices in season 11. (I just watched 11x07 again and GOD do I want kick him in the nuts. I love Lip, but grow the fuck up, man. Tami is a bloody saint for being as patient with him as she is.)

In contrast, Ian and Debbie have a crazy strong work-ethic and are highly goal-oriented. They fix their eyes on the prize and they fucking go for it, putting in the hours and the work without hesitation or complaint. They are far less likely to look for short-cuts or screw themselves over because they get bored with the monotomy. That doesn't mean their path to success is a straight one, of course; Ian's bipolar has wreaked some proper havoc for him, and though she's succeed in both having a kid and a job she trained for, Debbie's narcissm is keeping her from developing the strong bonds (familial and romantic) that she so desperately craves. I think the difference between Ian and Debbie here is that Ian is genuinely looking for a partnership and a real connection (to such a degree that it sometimes leads him into highly unfortunate relationships) whereas Debbie thinks she wants that but isn't prepared to actually be vulnerable and perceptive to the other person's needs to such a degree that a real partnership becomes possible. She never, I feel, actually sees and knows her partners for who they are; she projects onto them her idea of what they should be like, and responds to that, not to them. It hasn't ended well, so far.

And I have to say that while Trevor (of whom I'm fond in spite of his flaws, so you'll find no hate for him on this blog) and (especially) Caleb have their issue I don't think it's fair to compare them to Kash and Ned. As for Matt and Derek, they may not be perfect, but I'd argue that Debbie treated them far worse than they did her. I mean, she did rape both of them. (Out of youthful ignorance, sure: it's still sexual assault. I do find it very interesting and quite encouraging that she obviously recognizes her own guilt in season 11.) By and large, Debbie has treated her partners worse than they have treated her, which is certainly not true of Ian. (Which doesn't mean Ian's a saint. Boy's got plenty of flaws, and he doesn't always treat his lovers perfectly – the cheating comes to mind – but in general he doesn't treat them badly at all; as you say, he is more likely to allow himself to be treated badly by them.)

Circling back to Lip and Fiona, I think you have a point in them craving the way their partners make them feel, but being less interested in having a partner to build a life with, if that makes sense? They aren't really looking for someone to share their lives and struggles with (which might be the resulf of them being used to having no one but each other to rely on for most of their lives); they want that high of being in love and in lust, and when things get a bit too steady and boring, they get restless. Jimmy was, admittedly, a big support for Fiona for a while, but it was quite one-sided: always on her terms. Lip might be coming around on that with Tami, though – possibly because she's assertive enough to push back against him and not let him get bored. Also, Lip (and Fiona) has shown himself to be far more devoted to kids in his care than to his partners, so I'm sure Freddie's existence is a major factor in him sticking it out with Tami even when things are hard. (Not to suggest he doesn't love Tami; I think that she's by far the best match for him on the show.) At the end of the day, I think that Lip and Fiona would enjoy someone properly at their side and in their corner – they just need to understand that that's something they can have, and that for it to work, they need to be in their partner's corner too. As I said, Lip might be on the way, though his unwillingness to solve problems together with Tami is worrisome; who knows what Fiona's up to in Florida; Ian's already got it, and as for Debbie... she knows she wants it, but not how to achieve it. For her, I think, the answer might be to reassess how important having a partner really is to her; does she truly want it, with all the compromises it inevitably entails? Then again, she's young yet; we were, I think, none of us very good at relationships at 20, and Debbie (and her siblings) has had a rougher go of it than most. She has time to learn.

This took... forever, nonnie, so I do hope you see this!. :o Can't say I expect my scattered and tentative musings to have been worth the wait, but I ended up having a lot of fun thinking about this, so here's to you finding something of value in there. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me! <3 And as always, if anyone else wants to chime in you're more than welcome to; my ideas on this aren't very fixed, so I'd love to hear other or additional perspectives.

[mobscene-london]

BASIC INFORMATION:

NAME: Mateo Herrera. AGE: 47. PLACE OF BIRTH: London, United Kingdom. AFFILIATION: The Rutherford Family. OCCUPATION: Soldier. Owner of Puerto Escondido.  FACE CLAIM: Danny Pino. AVAILABILITY: OPEN.

BIOGRAPHY:

Witnessing first-hand the way some of the kids around him lived, Mateo Herrera knew he was fortunate to have had the upbringing he did. When his parents had first moved to the city from Cuba—a small amount of money and his older sister the only things of worth to their name—they hadn’t been sure their gamble would pay off. London was not an easy place to live, particularly somewhere that could be as rough as Lambeth, and yet, their positivity and drive had pushed them forward, against all odds. They would not fail Ana, nor would they fail the son they brought into the world just over two years after settling into their new lives. 

Whilst they weren’t poor when he was growing up (relative to some of the people he knew, at least) his parents had invested absolutely everything they had into a Cuban restaurant that’d quickly become his father’s pride and joy. There was so much pressure to make it work, but Mateo never viewed the place as a chore, even as a kid when he’d be roped into helping out after school. It was hard work, but with a family as tight-knit as his, for them, it was another thing to bring them closer together. An experience to share. Perhaps most importantly to his parents, however, it was a traditional slice of home in a city that was a world away from Santa Clara. 

Mateo hadn’t had many friends growing up. With his head usually in the books, or his spare hours outside of school spent assisting his parents, meeting others was rarely a priority. For the most part, he kept to himself. A quiet kind of boy; though certainly not averse to defending himself from those who would take advantage of that. Francisco Vidal, however, had wormed his way into his life despite it all. School had introduced them, but their brotherly relationship blossomed naturally. The man was the charismatic, confident partner to his quiet, careful self. It worked. Even Mateo’s parents welcomed his best friend into their home as if he was family—good old Cuban hospitality at its finest. 

It was hard to imagine what he would’ve done without him when his father passed. 

Mateo had been fourteen. 

Though the battle with illness had been long enough that it didn’t come as a complete surprise, for a family as close as theirs, nothing could prepare any of them for losing the man that mattered most. Mateo had adored him; appreciated, above all else, the respect with which he treated his mother. He had been a great man. Warm, generous. The kind that he aspired to be more like every day. To lose him left a massive void, but Mateo knew that with a mother and sister to look after in his absence, there was no time for him to wallow in his own grief. He was the man of the house now, and he had to step up and act like it. 

So, life went on. Relatively unchanged after the loss, until things in Brixton started to spiral out of control.  

Vidal had always taken issue with the petty gangs that ran the place as if they owned it. They got the kids hooked on drugs, and didn’t care about the innocent people dragged into their bloodied street fights. Given his tendency to keep his head down, Mateo had never had any issues personally, but when that eventually changed, it changed in a way that those fuckers would regret for an eternity.  

Four years after his father’s death, assuming his mother a vulnerable old widow, gangsters had approached her with the intention of extortion. They seemed to be doing the rounds in the area. Evidently, they thought if they threatened her business enough, she would cough up the cash required to protect it. But she was braver than they gave her credit for, especially when she knew she had her son to lean on for support. When Mateo had kicked them out of the place—angry enough at their audacity to offer a then-rare display of violence—neither had expected they would return to make good on their threats. 

They did, though. An attempt to burn the place to the ground had left it damaged beyond what they had the means to repair. His father’s legacy, his mother’s comfort, a burnt-out shell.  

To say he’d been livid was an understatement. 

Though he had little to his own name, and his sister wasn’t doing much better, both offered all they could to their mother in an attempt to get the place back on its feet. It wasn’t enough, though. The restaurant was her livelihood, and the situation was urgent; enough so that for the first time, instead of supporting his friend’s crusades against the gangs from the side-lines, he actively chose to take part. Even if Mateo couldn’t find the people responsible for what had happened, he enjoyed taking anything and everything from the ones he could get his hands on. They would learn how it felt the hard way. 

The two boys—eventually joined by the final third of their infamous trio, Emilio—would beat the shit out of anybody who dared threaten the peace they sought for their borough. It might’ve seemed counter-productive to those unaware of how they conducted themselves, but they were doing the place a favour. If they found drug dealers, Mateo would either relieve them of their money, or take whatever product Vidal didn’t force them to ingest, and sell it on for a profit. They’d rob anything of value; turned into the ones who would extort whatever they could out of men who had no right to be better off than people like his mother. It was messy, difficult, and unlike the other two, Mateo’s conscience was a little more gnawing in the wake of their violence, but giving back to the community helped that.  

It didn’t take long to earn enough to repair the restaurant. His mother was so grateful, she didn’t care to ask where he’d found the money so long as he was doing good with it. 

And they did. It went toward looking after the people who needed it most. 

Unlike his two best friends, when they’d eventually attracted the attention of the Rutherford family for their efforts, Mateo had been less keen to get into bed with them. They might’ve had the power to keep things in Lambeth under control in a way they never could, but he disliked the idea of an unknown power lording over them. The Rutherfords wouldn’t have spared a second thought for Brixton if they didn’t think it’d make them a profit, and that rubbed him the wrong way. It took a few years after the family’s initial move into the borough for them to offer the three genuine memberships, but unlike Vidal and Emilio, Mateo declined. Whilst he would continue his work as normal, he would not do so under the banner of a family like theirs. 

It was a set up that worked well for them over the next twenty years.   

In fact, very little changed at all—even between the friends—until the Rutherford family upped their presence in the city, courtesy of what he understood to be a threat from the French.  

None of them had expected Vidal to make Lieutenant. Not because he didn’t deserve it, but because the Rutherfords weren’t like them. Loyal or not, the three were still Brixton scum that plenty of the higher ups looked down on by default. Maybe that was why eventually, his stubbornness gave way. If his best friend had to put together a crew of his own now—one that he gave the orders to, one that he was responsible for—how could Mateo not be there to have his back? Whether he approved of the family or not, they had treated his brothers well, and Mateo could appreciate that much. It was then, twenty years after his friends, that he finally took up his own membership within the gang. 

The relationship he had with the Rutherford family was further complicated by the arrival of Jordana. When she’d walked into the restaurant that he ran for his aging mother—the default hang-out for Vidal’s crew—the woman's attitude had immediately grated on him unlike any other. Though she was one of the lieutenants brought over from Porto Velho, her new arrival certainly didn’t stop her from acting like she owned the fucking place. Like they owed her something. Mateo hadn’t held back on the subtle digs at her ignorance. When she eventually called him out—she was ballsy, he’d give her that—their heated argument had ended in an even more heated night at her place. 

The last thing he’d expected was to fall for the girl. 

With both his best friend and girlfriend as ranking members of the Rutherford family, and Emilio one of their most valued assets, it was becoming more and more difficult to keep himself at a healthy distance. Still, as he learns more about the French Organization (and even more so, the Russians) it’s becoming very clear to him that hesitant or not about his loyalty to them, with a war now consuming his home, better the devil you know has never seemed a more apt outlook... 

SOCIAL CONNECTIONS:

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Jordana Velásquez (girlfriend) FAMILY: None playable. CONNECTIONS:

Francisco Vidal: Best friend. One of few people he would truly go to the ends of the earth to protect. Mateo (along with his mother and sister) have pretty much adopted Vidal into their family at this point, and when he refers to him as a brother, he means it literally. Just as they were there for each other through the pain of losing people they cared about, no matter what life throws their way now, Mateo will always be at his side. If the Rutherford family does him wrong after everything he’s given them, Mateo will make sure they suffer for it by his own fucking hands.

Emilio Morelli: Best friend. Though the man’s dedication to the Rutherfords, and gradual distancing from his roots in Brixton, concern Mateo slightly, he’s hoping he can get the man back on track. Despite the fact he came into their lives after Mateo and Vidal had already become friends, he soon seemed as much a part of their lives as if he’d been there from the very start. Emilio might be a little shit, and the two men often butt heads on Rutherford issues, but he wouldn’t be without him. 

Jordana Velásquez: Girlfriend. Whilst things between them had definitely started out as love-to-hate, it descended solely into the former quicker than either of them had anticipated. Two years later, and they’re still going strong. Jordana definitely put up a front in the beginning, and it didn’t take him long to see through the harsh attitude. But she’s smart as a whip, loyal to a fault, and a damn sight more than he ever deserved. If becoming involved with the Rutherfords eventually ends up biting him in the ass, Mateo is at least grateful that he got to meet her because of it. 

Johnathan Parsons: Boss. Wary of. Given that his reputation as a Walthamstow boy is very much a part of the reason people fear him so much, Mateo wonders if initially, he was looked at like a fucking peasant, too. If that’s the case, maybe he’d be more understanding about his feelings toward the Rutherfords than most. Though is interaction with the man has been limited, there’s something about him that he isn’t quite sure he trusts, though. Johnathan seems like a loose cannon. If Vidal will vouch for him, though, then he can keep his mouth shut for now.