#“stop liking this character when you should like these other more likeable characters instead” have you considered that

[xx-slug-xx]

For the choose violence ask game 1, 7, 12, 17, 18, and 21 (Some of these are like blank part of canon ones so feel free to choose any media you enjoy for them)

Using Homestuck once again for this :D

1: The character everyone gets wrong

Equius, full stop. You are not a true Equius fan unless you accept his character flaw and don’t try to defend him at every turn. Or, if you hate him and only see his flaws. Yes he’s a creep, yes he deeply cares about his friends, yes he’s classist, yes he’s great moirails with an Olive, yes he sweats when he gets worked up over anything at all, yes he’s hypersexual, yes he’s autistic, yes he built Tavros legs when he really didn’t have to, yes he chose his kinks and ingrained submissiveness to highbloods over his own life and got his moirail killed too, yes he said he’d deal with Gamzee and it ended in nothing (wow, heir of void moment). What about it?

7: What character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how the fandom acts about them

I love all the characters for their own reasons, so I can’t really say I hate any outright (or for any reason). However, I really get annoyed with peoples’ interpretation of all the Dancestors. It’s ether “uwu they are perfect” or “they are horrible and suck and if you like them, you are awful”. Very few people are normal about them and it makes me not like as much content that depicts them since it feels like nobody gets them

12: The unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

The entire Midnight Crew. Everyone focuses on the trolls and humans and I feel like they get forgotten about. Carapacians are really interesting and all the Midnight Crew members are really likeable characters. They are fun, violent, and cool as hell. My fav is Clubs Duce! But their alternate counterparts are also cool and I feel like people forget about the versions from other sessions besides Jack Noir (Save me Draconian Dignitary, Courtyard Drool, and Hegemonic Brute!)

17: there should be more of this type of fic/art

Unironically nsfw and smut. Since a large part of the HS fandom is made of antis who think if you sexualize any of the characters, regardless of aging them up, then you are a pedophile, it really makes the kinky alien sex smut fics/art lacking in terms of amount. The Alternian trolls having underaged sex is integral to their survival, that’s part of the canon anyway. Like, hs smut and nsfw is so fun to explore since it’s alien emotions and cultural views on sex! It’s my absolute favorite! But so many people are called pedophiles, even if you use the characters who are IN Beyond Canon and are old as shit (they aren’t old as shit, but it’s funny to say it like that lol). Shit makes me upset

18: It’s absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on

Already answers this one, but I can add on to what I previously said :)

Classpecting based on personality instead of just “what class/aspect would thematically look nice”. This is for Classpecting other fictional characters aswell as one’s self. ESPECIALLY one’s self! It’s about personality traits and patterns more than anything else! Players with the same Classes and/or Aspects always have similarities in their personal being! No matter what! Also though, there’s too many knights, princes, and heart players out there and it’s mostly because people kin or have fictives of the Striders imo. Fictive are cool, and are not necessarily included in this. However, I don’t give a fuck if you kin the Striders. There are not this many Knights, Princes, or Heart players! Do your research and find what suit you best! Don’t use the class/aspect quizzes online as you 100% this is what you are! Use them as a base line and for inspiration!

21: Part of canon you think is overhyped

This is hard because if anything, I think of the parts that are underhyped more lol

Probably Dirkjake. Not the ship itself, just their canon interactions. I love the ship since it’s tragic and toxic as hell. But based on the way fandom mostly seemed to treat it when I read HS, I thought it was going to be so much more tbh. It was minuscule and you never saw them together, but the majority of the fandom at the time treated their relationship like it was some perfect yaoi and I was tragically misinformed. Thankfully, the Epilogues gave me more substance to work with lmao

Also Aranea as a villain. People make her out to have played a major role in Game Over. No, she died almost immediately. She’s a great character, but she’s not as great of a villain as I’ve seen people try to make her out to be. She made things worse, but everyone probably would have died anyway even without her influence since Vriska wasn’t there to change things

[aeirithgainsborough]

I haven't played the game but I've read spoilers for tlou2. Will the next season of tlou HBO even be worth it? I know Joel dies but are there any other characters that become lovable or is this Abby person at least a little likable? Asking you because I agree with all your takes on the show. Ty!

abby is a tumblr darling even tho she is a fascist and her section of the game is 12 hours of fetching things in a way that’s completely pointless to the plot, she barely shows remorse ever for her actions, she thinks ellie should b grateful to her she let her live after destroying her life, she’s the top soldier for her militia and is sad when she doesn’t have time to torture more ppl after she’s done with joel, she sleeps with her pregnant friends bf, doesn’t blink after slaughtering so many of the people in her militia she was loyal to the day before bcus of a kid who is meant to provide some sort of parallel to ellie/joel for her but is actually just rushed and can’t hit the same emotional beats whatsoever cus it’s been like… a day lmao… the narrative falls foul of telling us instead of showing us having abby say ‘you’re my people now’ which is hard 2 believe when a day previous she was making plans 2 destroy their home and loved 2 kill them. but she has muscles so a lot of ppl love her lol even tho she’s extremely bland, her gameplay is boring in the context of the plot and adds nothing to it (might have been more fun as its own game rather than coming after we’ve already played 12 hours and built up to a massive climax before suddenly being dropped back down to find ppl we know are dead and collect things… it’s a serious structural failure), and she’s barely remorseful and doesn’t really earn the redemption arc she’s given, especially not when the narrative tells us joel was too doomed to be redeemed when he’s been minding his business making guitars and wood whittling for five years in jackson and she at the end of 3 days with her when she’s meant to have evolved and realised violence is bad and her revenge didn’t achieve anything (except it does for her lol just not villain ellie!) and is meant 2 teach us all these lessons still just straight up murders ppl with glee, bonus points if they’re pregnant, beats the shit out of ellie without a slither of sympathy that she had ellie held down and heard her screaming and screaming for abby to stop hurting joel but carried on anyway even tho just finding her dad’s body is traumatising for her. ‘we let you live and you wasted it’ god i wanted to fucking shoot her myself cus she destroyed ellie’s life, took the person she loves the most brutally away in front of her, and it wasn’t a waste of abby’s life when she travelled 14 believable days across a dangerous post apocalyptic country for her revenge, and we are supposed to find empathy for her whilst she can’t find any of it for ellie lmao. the narrative props her up any chance it can whilst demonising joel and ellie, the characters we already love, trying to force you to like her in the most heavy handed and ham fisted way possible. oh she plays with dogs whilst ellie kills them!! good she’s still a torture loving fascist. but apparently she can be redeemed in 3 utterly unremorseful days and joel can go through the journey he does but is completely Hopeless and ellie is now the terrible villain of the tale. there’s a whole section that parallels the diner fight with david, this time positing ellie as the david villain to abby which is gross enough cus he was her tormenter and assaulter when she was 14, but also abby can kill who she likes and act like she likes and do torturing and murdering and the narrative never gives her this treatment or condemns her actions at all. anyway that’s a long way to say no she’s not likeable. yeah yeah the muscles, but again, she’s a fucking fascist.

honestly the other characters are fine, but they suffer in a plot in which the plot drives the characters rather than the characters driving the plot. they aren’t there for any other purpose than to move the plot and they can be a little bland for it. yeah dina is fine but she’s lumbered with this pregnancy plot so there can be some weird parallel to mel and largely doesn’t do much once you get to seattle and thus is very underdeveloped. jessie is also fine but underdeveloped too for the same reasons and he falls victim to neil ‘watch be me so diverse but poc are gonna die more than anyone else’ druckmann. all of them, new characters and old ones, continually make decisions that make you scratch your head and want to throw the controller away, again bcus plot > characters. it’s a poor way to tell a story. the characters should always drive the plot, never the other way around. it gets to the point when none of it justifies itself at all. but neil was so determined to tell his grimdark violent murderous hatred is as universal as love story that he was going to make it all fit no matter what and his characters and their motivations and characterisations fall to the wayside for it. it’s hard to find the ellie we fell in love with in part 1, let alone muster up enough energy to care about the side characters.

(as an aside neil is wrong about hatred being that universal and he thinks he’s right bcus he is a west bank settler and that alone should make you wary about season 2… the conflict in seattle is a mirror of the palestinian/israeli one and the narrative pushes on you this idea neil has that there are no wrong sides… but there is (half get to go home after a fight to a wealth of resources and land which they are trying to get more of and the other half has much less and can’t travel around the city unless they use secret bridges… idk if that sounds familiar to you) and you should all question why neil is pushing that. makes it even more hideous that he spent 25 hours propping up his wlf top soldier fascist and so many ppl lapped it up…)

maybe craig can fix some of these issues but im not holding out for it lol. some of the ways he’s talked about joel and ellie and the changes he made to the show are incredibly iffy. some of the ideas he has show he shouldn’t be allowed to talk about girls and their trauma ever again and he also thinks love can be as bad as it can be good which is such an ugly and stupid idea, especially when the whole point of part 1 is that love is what we have to hold onto when everything else is terrible. and no one come at me abt them being neil’s characters and his story cus BRUCE was there he co-created it and was the lead for the game lol.

anyway this got long im sorry no i don’t think it will be worth it.

[spider-jaysart]

3, 4, 24

DC Comics Asks

@paladin-of-nerd-fandom65

3. First comic read?

The 1st paperback edition of the New 52 Harley Quinn comic book

4. What introduced you to the DC universe? Was it a show, comic, or movie?

I'm not so sure since I was so young, but I think the Teen Titans 2003 cartoon was what got me way more invested in the DC world as a kid since I loved watching it so much and still do

24. If you had total control, what you change?

1. Deage Jon back to being a kid, because he should've been allowed to grow up naturally and honestly deserves the character development that he should've gotten before in the past, and also because it was terrible that he just got ripped away from his original fans like that just because Bendis wanted to make him date Saturn girl (instead of finding someone else who was actually her age, since Jon was STILL JUST 10 years old at the time when he had thought of this ship for her, which is very EW!!) and didn't want a kid character getting in the way of his Superman stories because "it's not that fun to include them", which makes no sense, because he was literally so much more likeable and way more interesting as a kid than he is now, because as an adult, now he just feels like a completely different person and a boring character that many old fans just can't see as the real Jon anymore, even if they tried to, since he's more like a stranger now. He's just a plain, younger clone of Clark now with no real personality of his own in him (he doesn't even have his own style!!!)

2. Make Dickkory happen again and leave Dickbabs behind, because that relationship is just a forced one that DC only wants to happen just so that things can only stay in the Batfamily. But Dickkory is the one that actually has real love in it and a much deeper connection in it between the two. Plus those two are always crazy about eachother, way more than Barbara and Dick could ever be for one another. And I would also make baby Mar'i and Jake happen later on in the future too. Also, the trope that always happens with either Dick or Kory abandoning the other and the kids or dying everytime they finally have a family of their own needs to just stop, because they deserve to be happy together already after such a long time and I would make sure that it stays that way too

3. Make Bruce an actual good father, because #1 it is not cool at all and I do not ever enjoy seeing him treat any of his kids horribly, it just only makes me really irritated to see everytime and #2 it does not make sense for who he is actually meant to be as a character. It doesn't matter how many times writers will make it happen in canon, because that just means that they don't actually know him at all and only think he would do it just because "Oh, he's a dark, edgy man who gets angry at everything, so he must be such a horrible Father too.", which is not how he should be. There should never be anything so wrong about letting him be good Dad to his kids. There's always other ways to create a bunch of drama for Batfamily stories, but him being an abusive parent definitely shouldn't be one of them and if some DC writer thinks it is, than that just means they can't really think outside of the box

4. Stop the "Talia is an evil person who loves killing and is also a terrible Mother who tortures her kid with no mercy if they don't do what she wants" trope, because she originally doesn't actually agree with her Fathers ways at all and has always felt uncomfortable with having to be an assassin who takes lives, and another thing about her original character is that she's also a very loving person at heart and would never want to hurt the ones that she loves, so it doesn't make any sense for her to be a cruel and hateful parent who hurts and uses her Son for only whatever she wants

5. Keep the name "Kon". I heard that Conner is getting a new official name change for himself soon in his series, so he's ditching "Kon" now for something else just because "Clark was the one who gave it to him, but he didn't actually choose it himself, so it's not his", but like... HELLO????!! The writer definitely did not read any of his older books at all, because Kon was literally so happy when Clark offered it to him, because he finally felt accepted into the Superfamily that way and even cried tears of joy from it too if I remember correctly, so what the heck are they changing it for if he actually loves it and originally has no problems with it????

6. Revive Alfred, because to me, he is an iconic character that shouldn't be killed, because then nothing ever really feels the same again without him

7. Batgirl was cool for Barbara back then, especially because she was still young at that time, but I would make her Oracle again because it's just a definitely more fitting role for her nowadays

8. Keep more awesome Supersons stories happening again, because they're always a joy to read and also because I really miss them a lot

Idk if I have anymore ideas in mind for anything else😅 but this is everything for now that I would definitely change if I could

Thanks for the ask, Pal!!

[elequinoa-world]

Saw The LA Little Mermaid tonight and here are my thoughts:

non spoilery tldr; scenes under the sea bad, above the sea really great, halle bailey is freaking amazing and relationship with prince eric top tier chef’s kiss

overall had a fun time especially in second half when she’s human

Full uncohesive thoughts under the cut:

Cons

the underwater scenes were so dark and lacked severe colors, fun, life. all the underwater world looked too realistic and bare compared to the cartoon version, especially showed during the under the sea segment, it was so lackluster compared to the original... they could have made a real world with lots of colors and fun patterns but no, they went realistic and it’s very meh i hated all of it

the original songs are so much better than the LA ones BUT i saw the movie in french dub because my mom doesnt speak english so i’m pretty sure the english versions are at least better than that (but in french they lacked so much soul and RYTHM omg sebastian where is your groove?? and ariel’s VA was so bad i didnt like it, and Eric’s new song was so freaking weird because Jonah was out here pouring his soul into the acting and the french VA did not match that energy lol it was very cringe, same for the eureka rap son wtf was that)(i wanna point out that french dubs are usually very good so im very disapointed with this one, they did not get the right tones accross)

ursula’s introduction. W.T.F. you know how the basic of writing is show don’t tell? well they went the exact opposite direction with her and she gets not one but TWO monologues where she explains her villainous thoughts so you know exactly why she’s the vilain and how she’s gonna villain in her next course of villainous actions BRRR so bad

ariel’s sisters were underused they barely had like one line each, why even put them in the movie?? simone ashley you were robbed she didn’t even get one closeup in the final scene smh they should have done more with at least ONE of them (indira cough cough) so we could explore more of ariel’s connection to the underwater world? one of the sister could have helped instead of sebstian/eureka? idk the sisters are important characters in the original tale, they could have done something with that...

Vanessa was also less of an impact compared to the cartoon but I don’t know if that’s bad or good... It makes the ending a bit rushed imo, less heart-breaking than I remember, but it also removed the dumb idea that Eric would genuinely marry her lol so idk

Ariel only got ONE dress i’m so mad (no, the last one doesnt count it’s just a RECOLOR im so pissed)  THEY DIDNT EVEN SHOW THE SCENE WHERE SHE WALKS OUT OF THE WATER WITH HER REAL LEGS I WAS SO WAITING FOR IT i need to calm down but i’m definitely mourning the silver dress, the pink dress, the blue dress, the pajamas, the wedding dress.... GIVE ME BETTER COSTUMING FFS

they cut the cook’s song to add others and i’m not sure i agree with that decision. You know which scene would have used a song? The one where Ariel and Eric dance in the market. This should have been a fun song. *shrugs*

they need to stop with the bad CGI. they could have gone with practical effects on so many things and it would have improved the movie so much more. Ariel’s hair was the worst, it moved so unnaturally at times it really took me off. (while when she’s on land it’s so cute)

Pros

Halle Bailey.

She’s amazing and even if the french VA didn’t do so good Halle’s performance still shone and she was really really great i really mean it. She’s gorgeous, has the right emotions, she made Ariel much more likeable. I always thought of cartoon Ariel as a bit of an unlikeable brat with teenage angst, but Halle turned her into a real character and it felt more genuine that Ariel really wanted to be part of that world (wink wink) She felt more in power, with an actual personality, like the movie was really hers. They did change the final scene and have Ariel kill Ursula alone which makes more sense and satisfying BUT i’ve always liked about the cartoon that Eric and Ariel defeated her together so I would have liked him to be a bit more present during the final fight, making it longer and have more impact too. Cause it was really short. Plus they have amazing chemsitry so it would have been good.

Eric. Their relationship. They fleshed him out more and they did it well. I love that they’re kindred spirits, the way they talked all night was so good, you really felt the connection and it was so cute. Really well done. I was really sold on their relationship. All their scenes together, I wanted more more more <3

The kiss the girl scene was so so nice, the way she made him find out her name??? the cutest shit ever, felt so genuine and cute, and you could feel the tension and L O V E blooming YESSSS

Ariel’s new song when she’s on land was a nice addition (better in english i’m guessing)

Eric’s kingdom, all the land scenes, the colorful market, it felt so alive and fleshed out compared to the underwater!! I loved the castle, the palm trees, Eric’s room, loved it.

The Queen was a nice addition to balance Eric. Grimsby was the best wingman. Good doggo Max, loved that Ariel saved him too.

I don’t care much for Triton, he was as he was in the cartoon I guess. Not less, not more. I don’t understand why they made Ursula his sister if they did nothing with it. Meh. Also they did not use the weird worm thingy transformation so when he “died” and came back it was a bit lackluster too. With the “soul corruption” of the wormies we had a better visual outlet for what was happening I believe. Here it felt too hollywoodian to have him come back like that. Or at least have Ariel bring him back if you’re gonna use the trident to do so??

Ursula, once her BAD introduction scenes passed was nice, her song was the best I thought... (remember, in french) good performance if not as good as the cartoon one that is immaculate so hard to top that

Ursula’s lair was MUCH better than the rest of the underwater. They had moe fun with it and it showed. Lights, danger, spooky, some creativeness finnally!!!

I liked the use of a scale from her fishtail to seal the deal, a nice change. Made more sense. Liked also how they emphasized why she stole her voice (siren’s powers, but also metaphorically, a nice touch)

Flounder was cute don’t listen to the haters

Eureka was also fun and less annoying than cartoon version

Sebastian was... Sebastian but without the original flair. (rip Henri Salvador) though i’ll admit he’s probably the one that made me laugh the most

overall, when they tried to replicate the original cartoons scenes it felt lackluster compared to it, but when they went off-book with the new land scenes it was amazing, they should have gone more off-script, this movie would have benefitted from it, they had the right actors to do so. (and i really wanted more scenes on land, and i want to know the lore of this kingdom and who are Eric’s parents??, more of the queen, the king, how is the relationship between the two worlds going to evolve?? this is a huge freaking deal, expand on it please!!)

so long story short, right actors, wrong creative decisions, fun movie overall, adds more character, but could have done. SO. MUCH. more. Disney has the budget for it, be bold ffs and bring back the COSTUMES o m g they gave their all with cinderella and gave up after that smh i blame you emma watson we could have it all

[getmemymicroscope]

There are a couple of very real problems with this movie. First, having Vidya Balan play a role that feels, right from the beginning, very similar to her role in like Kahaani. Not the character itself, which they clearly try and make different, but just the whole thing overall. I mean, I don't mind the 'detective'/'investigating' thing (I mean, she did that in Bobby Jasoos too), but just from the beginnings, I was getting Kahaani vibes. Which is only really problematic because when you're getting that feeling, the twist in the end is very much of a letdown because, well, of course it would end like that. Second, god why does everyone keep saying 'AK' when talking to him? Clearly they're talking to him - this almost feels like when Alia Bhatt's character wouldn't stop saying Ranbir's character's name in Brahmastra. And worse, even, because this 'AK' thing is so tacky.

I think it's very telling that all of these stories/whodunnits feature a bunch of rich people who we come to realize not only have intense secrets, but also absolutely hate each other while pretending to be friends. Also, they all just really suck as people.

The Poirot-like "everyone gathers in the room" bit was interesting - on the one hand, I like how it ended; on the other hand, wow that was a lot of secrets to spill out at once. And that's after we'd already gotten the secret about fatherdom, and before we got the final couple of reveals. I feel like the tagline for this movie should read 'One Murder. Many Secrets' - I'm not so sure about the many "mysteries". Of course, the 'one" is also incorrect, so who knows. Maybe it is all just misleading.

I get why Vidya's character did what she did, and I did enjoy the very brief Shefali Shah cameo. But like, aside from them, I don't think any of these people are even partially likeable. Or, at least, once the motives are all on the table, it is... Well, maybe Gigi you walk away okay with, name aside. And Vidya's character isn't above this either; good motivations, questionable decisions. And heavens, she gets konked out like 3-4 times. In one night. She's gotta be more careful, for sure. I also thought for a brief second that Kay was cool, when she was like "I want to help investigate" - but then she essentially disappears for the rest of the movie. Also, she ends up being as not-cool as the rest of them.

That twist with Rahul Bose's character - the one that is suddenly revealed, not the one that he admits to everyone and they're just like "we already knew this" - feels like a pretty random twist that is just an attempt to Bollywoodize this and be like "yeah, everyone is connected." It's very dumb, and I get what they wanted to do, but I'm not sure using his character instead of just some other random, non-present person was really necessary. It just feels like a unbelievable twist, for many reasons, and then gets immediately dropped as soon as the scene is over too.

But hey, it's a whodunnit, and in a year full of 'meh' or worse Bollywood movies, we have yet another one that is probably firmly a 'meh.'

Too bad they can't make movies like this with, you know, likeable characters - but then, I guess if they were likeable, you wouldn't end up with a story like this anyways.

I know it's a storm outside, but how the fuck is it so cold inside that Vidya's character is perpetually wearing gloves and a winter coat while the other ladies are all fancily dressed in like gowns - and why is she dressed that way. It's never explained. I figured they would reveal some reason later (though, man, that would really have gone all-in on the Kahaani thing), but no, she's just always wearing it.

I would love to see a cat-and-mouse thriller between her character and Shefali Shah's character though. That would be hella exciting!

[agentnico]

The Greatest Beer Run Ever (2022) Review

I always thought the greatest beer run ever was when five friends led by Gary King came back to their hometown of Newton Haven to retackle a crawl of 12 pubs in one night and reach that final destination stop of “The World’s End”, all whilst surviving an alien invasion. That’s just my humble opinion though.

Plot: In 1967, John "Chickie" Donohue leaves New York to track down his army buddies in Vietnam and share a few beers with them, but instead is confronted with the horrors of the war.

This is the type of true story that is mad in that it happened in real life. Like there is an element of fantasy to how this guy from New York managed to successfully make a ‘there and back again’ journey hobbit-style to Vietnam without getting into any real trouble all just so that he could bring his war-buddies some cans of beer. At one point one of the soldiers even says “Don’t worry about him. Everyone once in a while you run into a guy who’s too dumb to get himself killed.” And that is a pretty accurate sum-up of the character of Chickie, played by Zac Efron, and his miraculous way of surviving things where others wouldn’t. He’s a complete and utter doofus, who’s completely unaware of real dangers of the world, and also is blinded by the propaganda of 60′s America in terms of believing that they are on the right side of the Vietnam war. Efron really delivers on bringing out the stupidity and recklessness of Chickie (at numerous points acting like he’s a member of CIA to much comedic effect), yet still keeping him charming and likeable, especially since even though his motivations are ridiculous, there is an element of endearing innocence to them in that by bringing his war-buds some beer is his way of bringing them a bit of home. Basically yes he’s an imbecile for getting himself into a war torn country where you could die every second step, but he’s a nice imbecile.

This movie is brought to us by Peter Farrely, who used to primarily make crude silly comedies the likes of Dumb & Dumber, however in recent years he turned a a new leaf by tackling more serious subject matters, whilst still keeping that comedic tone making the topics more mainstream approachable. And I’m aware that Farrely and his team got some criticism when they won the Academy Award for Best Picture with their movie Green Book, when a lot of people assumed Spike Lee’s BlackKklansman should have had it instead due to tackling the same subject of racism but in a more powerful, shocking and urgent manner. And yes, an argument can be made that Spike should have gotten the win, however awards scrutiny aside, what I’ve enjoyed about Farrely movie with his last two films is how he approaches difficult subject matters in a light way that makes for an easy watch, yet still delivers the necessary messages and thought provoking questions that one should have when dealing with racism or in this case the war. So nothing that Farrely is saying is ever ground-breaking or new, however it always comes from a good place. The Greatest Beer Run Ever is in no way reinventing the war film genre, nor it ever strives to do so. It’s a wholesome wacky story that eventually turns into a dark and sombre representation of the horrors of war, yet at it’s heart is all about the beauty of friendship and human connection. Again, this is no Apocalypse Now. This is very much seeing war from the outlook of a common bystander, so we only really see snippets of the bad, but again, that works for this movie. 

The cast all do great here. Efron I already mentioned plays up well the silliness of Chickie, yet provides with his expressions the necessary emotion when the daunting times come. All his war buddy pals played by Jack Picking, Kyle Allen and Archie Renaux all show the different types of characters one would find at war, yet all of them share that collective sense of dread in knowing what terrible situation they are stuck in. Russell Crowe and Bill Murray, though both are absolutely great, only appear briefly and as such are quite inconsequential to most of the movie. In fact I am confused why Crowe is receiving top billing on the posters with Efron. Then again, one has to sell a movie and Crowe is always a great sell. 

The Greatest Beer Run Ever is a highly enjoyable war film. It’s funny when it needs to be, eye-opening when it gets into the grittiness of war, wholesome and delightful when beer and friendship are involved. Again, it is in no way innovative. We’ve seen war depicted much more terrifying and horribly on screen before. But this movie is not set out for that. As Chickie puts it - “I’m going to Vietnam, and I’m bringing ‘em beer!!” And that is exactly what he does. 

Overall score: 6/10

[razieltwelve]

The Little Things

One of the biggest mistakes people make, I think, is believing that they should only write about their characters doing awesome and heroic things. Sure, heroes do heroic things, but they also have lives outside of their heroic derring-do… and what takes places outside of their heroism can tell us a lot about who they are as a character.

Take someone like Timmy from The Unconventional Heroes Series. Sure, he’s necromancer, but he’s not just a necromancer. When he’s not saving the world, he has hobbies and more mundane concerns. He needs to find the money to maintain and upgrade his castle. He has to watch over his various business interests and scout for new opportunities. He has to educate his apprentice and a young dragon. And he likes to tinker with runes, seals, and all sorts of other things.

Showing the reader what Timmy gets up to when he’s not locked in mortal combat helps flesh him out as a character. It also makes him more likeable since he’s not just some invincible hero who walks in, gets the job done without a scratch, and then disappears until he is needed again. He’s a person with hobbies, friends, and all sorts of mundane concerns. Moreover, when Timmy does come up with some obscure piece of information or some crazy strategy that can work, the reader doesn’t feel like it’s coming from nowhere. Timmy’s background – what he does in his spare time – goes a long way toward explaining why he has such a bizarrely broad knowledge base and why he makes the decisions he does.

Knowing what your characters do when they’re not out on adventures is also important because if you can’t imagine them outside of the context of an adventure, how well do you really know them? Ask yourself, if your characters walked into a fast food restaurant, how would that go? I can already tell you how that would go with Timmy and the others.

Timmy probably knows exactly what he wants because he has been to the restaurant before. It’s also entirely possible that the franchise is owned by a former Grand Necromancer looking for a more lucrative but less dangerous occupation.

Katie has her eyes on the kid’s meal that comes with a plush toy, but she doesn’t want to order it in case people think she is childish. She orders a burger meal instead, and Timmy just gets her the kids’ meal anyway, saying that he likes the plush toy it comes with. He doesn’t care what anyone thinks, and she’s totally getting it afterward anyway.

Gerald orders what looks like the least greasy thing on the menu. The problem is that everything is greasy. Oh well. He also ends up getting a kid’s meal, so he can give the toy to his youngest nephew.

Avraniel orders a burger meal. She doesn’t care that it’s greasy. It tastes good.

Old Man thinks about ordering a salad before realising the futility of it, much like Gerald. He decides to get a burger of some kind, albeit with the healthiest toppings he can get, which isn’t saying much.

Spot wants to order ten of everything. They talk him into ordering enough for five people with the promise that he can have more later. He doesn’t want a plush toy. It’s of a dragon, but he thinks it looks lame, and it’s way too small. A dragon plush toy should be huge and awesome. He changes his mind when he sees that the plush toy is of a black dragon… he can have someone add the white spot on the snout later.

Amanda points out that junk food is actually an ancient vampire delicacy since most of them are massive hedonists. She’s never been particular fond of it, but eating it does remind her of some old friends who she hasn’t seen in a while. She orders fries and a cola.

Daerin orders enough for two people and devours it hungrily, all the while arguing that dwarves could have made it better. That doesn’t stop him from ordering another burger, though.

Characters don’t just exist when they’re out on crazy adventures. They exist as regular people doing regular things. Giving your characters insight into those can really help them appreciate and like your characters more.

Incidentally, I’m getting used to typing with a bandaid on my finger. I cut my other finger while using scissors. I don’t even understand how that could happen, but the pain doesn’t lie.

If you’re interested in my thoughts on writing and other topics, you can find those here.

I also write original fiction, which you can find on Amazon here or on Audible here. I’ve also just released a new story, Cosmic Delivery Boy!

Also, Cosmic Delivery Boy is now available on Audible! You can get it here.

[loungenahas]

Banner saga 2 best team

It’s a story about the courage of regular people when put to the test. It’s not just the fantasy setting and mythology though, The Banner Saga is a human story at its core. Please just trust me when I tell you it is easily one of the greatest video game stories ever told. Or is it? The story that lives across The Banner Saga and The Banner Saga 2 is best experienced rather than listened to or read about. A giant serpent has come to destroy the world and it seems all hope is lost. The world feels as though it’s ending to the people who live in it and they���re right. At the same time, the ancient enemy of man and Varl, the Dredge, have returned. The world has been stuck in an infinite day since the sun stopped moving across the sky. What exactly is this amazing story? Well, that’s a little harder to explain. It’s an incredible narrative achievement for video games and one that I think should be looked at as an aspirational goal. I want them to suffer and I want to be there to make sure they never harm anyone again.Ĭlearly, The Banner Saga 2 had a profound emotional effect on me, but I don’t think it’s possible to play it without feeling something. And the reverse is true of the less likeable characters. I truly want to see these characters victorious and happy, because they deserve it. It’s not just about the end game result anymore. They’re my family and after hours of striving to protect them, to help them survive and working to make the right choices, I want to do right by them. I’d even go so far as to say that I care more about my characters in The Banner Saga 2 than I do in any other game. The Banner Saga 2 hits the perfect balance between show and tell and manages to make you care about your ragtag collection of characters. Rarely is the storytelling in games this good and what’s more impressive is that it’s largely told through dialogue and action, not large swathes of text. Instead, it has an epic story to tell and one that would be worthy of the best of Robert Jordan, Tolkien and George R.R. You see, The Banner Saga 2, isn’t just a typical RPG. However, it’s outside battle that most of the action occurs. The majority of gameplay is spent doing battle with various enemies on a grid. Like its predecessor, The Banner Saga 2 is a tactical turn-based RPG. And just like the first game’s release on Switch, The Banner Saga 2 on Switch, is a perfect port. There are a wealth of improvements and new features that make The Banner Saga 2 stand head and shoulders above the first game. Everything great about The Banner Saga is improved in The Banner Saga 2. However, The Banner Saga 2 isn’t content to just rest on its laurels. The Banner Saga 2 continues the story we left in the first game and acts as the darker, second Act. Set within a Norse mythology inspired universe, The Banner Saga features men, the large and almost invincible Varl, the Dredge and, in The Banner Saga 2, the Horseborn. I was late to the party with The Banner Saga, having only played the first game when it was released on Switch.

[amaya-writes]

May I respectfully ask for some more flirty Bakugou stuff? Especially the competitive flirting, that sounds incredible omg. Seems like there’d be so much potential there. 🥺

I just cannot get enough of the concept I-

Notes: I actually really love how excited everyone collectively got for flirty Bakugo. I decided to write a drabble this time but let me know if you were looking for hcs so I'll do that too. This is lowkey just the written version of this post except I changed it up a bit

Warnings: slightly suggestive if you squint hard enough, flirting, he calls you doll

Characters involved: Bakugo, mentions of the other 1-A students

"You know, maybe if you learned to keep your mouth shut you wouldn't be such a fuckin' extra."

The UA dorms seemed to quieten down at his words, or maybe it was just your mind playing tricks on you that made you feel like all of the building's inhabitants collectively decided to tune into your conversation.

Either way, you found yourself almost automatically replying to Bakugo's taunts.

"Maybe if you knew how to properly use yours you would be more likeable."

Your eyes and hands never left the pot in front of you even as you hit back, making Bakugo's annoyance heighten tenfold, just as you knew it would.

The consistent tapping of his knife hitting the cutting board came to a stop at your words, but even as you felt Bakugo approach you from the other side of the kitchen you never let your gaze up from the pot before you.

It hadn't been long since your little game of sorts had started, but somehow you and Bakugo had automatically gone from just classmates to something more the second you retaliated to his usual round of insults.

Maybe if he hadn't been so persistent on throwing special insults at you and calling you doll in that mocking way the two of you wouldn't constantly be at each other's necks ready to fire another round of flirts and see who gave in.

Or maybe if you had kept your mouth shut and head down like most did when confronted with his attitude, maybe if you had just given in at the start, you wouldn't be subjected to Bakugo's peculiar games.

You should have known he wasn't the type to give in easily, but as you felt him come close enough for his breath to ghost over the back of your neck just to slide the cut vegetables into the pot, you couldn't help but feel a sense of annoyance take over.

"Oh, I could show you just how experienced I am."

He was doing it again. Lowering his voice in that suggestive way that drove you crazy while he moved away from you and let one of his hands mindlessly fiddled with anything that would draw your attention to him.

But this time you didn't give in like the others, already knowing your mind would run blank the second you allowed yourself to pay attention to him and his stupid smirks and chuckles that you had no business being attracted to.

Instead, you laughed.

You laughed even as you felt yourself squirm and fiddle with the spoon in your hand in an attempt to distract yourself.

You laughed as if what Bakugo said was the craziest thing you had ever heard, because even if his words affected in you ways you would never admit, you wouldn't be giving in any time soon.

"As if."

It was clear that your words had got to him with the way Bakugo once again moved away from the counter to stand beside you, however, nothing would have prepared you for what came next.

"Let me kiss you and you'll find out."

You weren't going to say yes.

You were supposed to turn and meet his gaze head-on and shut him down completely, watching as the fire in his red eyes roared to a point that required Kirishima's interventions.

You were supposed to say no, but how could you when the allegedly apathetic Bakugo Katsuki was finally making a move and trampling all over the unspoken rules of your game?

Thus, even if it was against your better judgement, you felt yourself nodding before you could change your mind. And you were glad you did, because the way Bakugo's lips all but crashed against yours was certainly worth it.

He wasn't an amazing kisser but the way his lips moved against yours a little too roughly and carried an urgency made you smile where others would frown.

It wasn't drawn-out or slow, soft and romantic, but it was Bakugo Katsuki, and that was enough to have you kiss back and finally abandon your spoon in favour of carding your fingers through his hair.

The two of you remained like that for a while, with his arm wrapped around your waist making you forget about everything else around you, but then the stinging need for oxygen returned, and you felt yourself pulling away faster than you would have liked.

"Stop pretending you don't like me as much as I like you."

You couldn't help but smile at the annoyance in Bakugo's voice, noticing how a light blush coated his cheeks as he spoke.

"Stop pretending to be a chicken and ask me out already."

It was his turn to smile at your words, with the sight making your heart do backflips as you waited for a response.

"Want to go somewhere tomorrow?"

"Like a date?"

The scoff that echoed around the two of you made you giggle, but unlike the last time, Bakugo seemed content with the sound of your laughter.

"Obviously idiot."

You took a moment to lean forward and plant a kiss of your own on his lips before agreeing to his plans and returning to the pot on the stove, too busy trying to stop your heart from racing to notice the way his blush deepened.

Bakugo hadn't thought he would have actually made a move. After all, he wasn't one to accept defeat easily, but a tie would suffice for now. For he might have not won your little game, but who was he to complain when he finally had you instead?

[musclesandhammering]

Supernatural Opinions That’ll Have Me Burned At The Stake Pt 1.

• John Winchester is more sympathetic than Dean.

• Literally every single angel in the series (except maybe Ishim) had 100% justifiable and understandable motives, and none of them were genuinely evil.

• The demons deserved 97% more sympathy than they got (yes, all of them) because they were literally tortured into being the way they are.

• The hunters on the show are the real villains. The supernatural creatures were just existing as they instinctually should have.

• There was absolutely no reason to bring Mary back at all, and they 100% only did it to provide Dean specifically with more personal Angst. Because everything’s about Dean.

• They did Bela so so dirty and there was no reason at all that 432 other boring ass characters got storyline after storyline and resurrection after resurrection when she didn’t even get mentioned post-death #1.

• Anything to do with Ben/Lisa/Dean was legit just the most boring thing I’ve ever seen, like I literally skipped past those parts cause I cared 0% about any of that.

• Claire was cool at first but they put everything into making her a mini-Dean and she ended up being a whiny annoying rude trying-too-hard-to-look-badass mess (surprise surprise).

• Alex was way more likeable and interesting than Claire, she should’ve gotten the lead storyline in that arc.

• The whole Claire/Kaia thing was nice from a representation standpoint I guess but there was zero chemistry and only like 2 scenes of lead-up and the entire time I was just thinking “what in the hell are they supposedly falling in love for, this feels so forced” lmao.

• Metatron was my fav even before his big redemptive scene, I stanned one petty weirdo full-stop all the way through his dicking around with Cas and everything, y’all simply do not have Taste.

• Same with Amara. Loved her even when she wanted to destroy the known universe. Stanned her. Supported her, even. And also she had an incredibly heartbreaking and sympathetic and dynamic storyline, but some of y’all couldn’t see the substance in her cause you were too busy being pissed that she flirted with your trash monster (Dean).

• I’m very sorry, but Charlie was annoying as all shit.

• Not only did Dean abuse Cas, but Dean abused Sam literally throughout the entire show, from the very first scene.

• Speaking of Sam, he’s probably the most caring, kind, empathetic, genuinely good person on the entire show. He’s an actual cinnamon roll, and every single person that holds him even 1% accountable for the leaving for college thing, or the demon blood thing, or the not looking for Dean in purgatory thing… y’all can eat my shorts.

• Cas was better friends with Sam than he ever was with Dean. They have more of a profound bond too. He was ordered to rescue Dean from Hell and had an army of other angels with him, but he chose to rescue Sam and went in completely alone. If that’s not more profound idk what is.

• I like Balthazar better than Gabriel, fight me on it.

• Hannah and Cas were actually hella cute together. And so were Cas and Meg.

• The Winchesters did not deserve Crowley. They also didn’t deserve Rowena.

• Sam and Dean aren’t actually heroes at all tbh because 75% of all the major apocalyptic problems that have happened on the show was literally their fault. And they almost never solved said problems themselves. They coerced supernatural beings into doing it for them.

• I liked the angels way better in season 4, when they were terrifying mythical beings of eldritch proportions that even the demons were scared of. Held more gravity, I think.

• After Bobby was killed off, the whole vibe of the show kinda fell apart. Like the team/family feeling was just never quite there after that, and it sorta killed it for me tbh.

• Chuck being a mega douche wasn’t the mind blowing plot twist they thought it was. Like that was predictable. It would’ve been more meta and more unsettling and more profound if, instead of being a raging narcissist, he had been portrayed as they described him in season 4/5- an actual father/creator that was jaded with his creation. He still could’ve been absent and all, just not a total heartless jerk.

• I didn’t even watch half of seasons 7-8 like wow that was not interesting in the slightest.

• Season 2 was also dull as hell, but it gets bonus points for the gritty midwestern horror aesthetic. 10/10 immaculate vibes.

• Anything past season 10 I just picked out the Cas episodes to watch and I didn’t even really love those :/.

• I don’t like how the storylines started getting too big for their britches around season 11 or so. Like purgatory and heaven and hell and the apocalypse, ok sure. But alternate dimensions? Heavenly extinction? God’s literal sister? Babe you’re just a cute lil country show from the CW go back to drunks killing vampires.

• This whole series actually started being trash less than halfway through, and the only reason it stayed on so long was because die-hard fans were invested enough to subject themselves to mental and emotional torture week after week just to stay loyal to their old favourite show.

[autolenaphilia]

Dirty Harry (1971)

(Spoilers and discussions of police brutality, torture and copaganda)

Dirty Harry from 1971 is probably one of the most influential crime films ever made. The title character police Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan is the model for the cop who doesn’t play by the rules and uses a lot of violence to stop crime. Clint Eastwood was mainly know for westerns when he was cast, and the character does have shades of his cowboy roles, but put in a modern urban environment, 1970s San Francisco to be exact.

The film was very controversial when it was released in december 1971. Showings were picketed by feminists, and many film critics called the film fascist. The reason is that the protagonist doesn’t give a fuck about the legal restrictions put on police. Harry does not just fire back at criminals with a magnum revolver, but does thing like break in and search a suspect’s home without a warrant and torture them for information. The film explicitly points out how his actions break at least amendments 4, 5 and 6 of the US constitution. If the methods of Dirty Harry are taken as a model for how police work should be done, the end result would be a police state, where cops can just do whatever if they say you are a criminal.

There is grounds for the accusation. The film can certainly be read as defending and glamorizing Harry and his actions. Clint Eastwood was never a great actor, but Dirty Harry is a great role for him, as he uses his handsome face and charisma to charm the audience and make us like Harry. So at least emotionally we are led to condone his actions.

The film’s villain is in comparison portrayed as so utterly vile that Harry methods can be justified. The serial killer Scorpio is utterly detestable. Loosely based on the contemporary Zodiac killer, he murders men, women and children, for his own personal sadistic enjoyment. Although he is not above demanding huge sums of money as ransoms, deals he always reneges on. His personality switches between bullying people with sadistic glee when he has the upper hand, and pathetically begging for mercy when he doesn’t. Actor Andrew Robinson plays him with theatrical flamboyance, but the character lacks any sense of honour or dignity that make other flamboyant villains often surprisingly likeable. No one can deny how the writing and acting is excellent at making the audience hate Scorpio. No one will mourn him when Harry blows him away with his revolver in the film’s climax.

Scorpio’s actions are so serious and he so detestable that Harry’s actions seem justified. The legal system seems unable to deal with him. Due to Harry throwing out the constitution in catching Scorpio, Scorpio is set free on the legal irregularities, and the film’s climax is Harry having to stop him while he hijacks a school bus.

So that is one valid reading of the film. In that case the film’s argument can be summed up as: Legal restrictions makes it too hard for cops to catch criminals, the law respects the rights of criminals more than those of victims. So we need cops to be set loose and do whatever it takes to stop criminals. That kind of argument is definitely fascist or at least very authoritarian. A call for a police state, where suspects have no legal or even constitutional rights and cops can do whatever they want.

Of course the film can also be read as ambiguous. Harry’s actions are not entirely justified and instead morally dubious.

Are Harry’s actions entirely motivated by a desire to stop the bad guys? For the film hints that there is a streak of sadism in him. The famous “Do I feel lucky?” scene is mostly famous for Harry’s memetic monologue about his magnum revolver. He performs a bluff to disarm a bank robber. But directly afterwards he decides to toy with the man he already disarmed for his own amusement. He smiles at how he makes a man think he is going to die. Harry might come across as badass, but that’s because he is genuinely menacing.

This smile reminds me of the Joker

The torture scene where Harry jams his foot into Scorpio’s knife wound to get information out of him is also ambiguous. The justification for it is a ticking time-bomb scenario. Scorpio has kidnapped a teenage girl and buried her alive and if he doesn’t reveal where she is, she is going to suffocate. He uses this kidnapping to get ransom money. Scorpio does reveal where the girl is due to the torture, but she is already dead when the cops find her.

And Harry had already deduced that would be the case. When he is told about Scorpio’s demand, he says that he knows the girl is already dead and they shouldn’t pay. He uses her to justify his actions later, but he contradicts himself in doing so. So the ticking time-bomb was never a real thing, he never had a valid reason to torture.

It’s also filmed in a way that doesn’t come across as heroic. Eastwood distorts his face into an ugly angry gargoyle-like grimace, the discordant music by Lalo Schifrin would fit a horror movie scene, and the film pans out to a wideshot of the stadium as if the camera finds the events too horrible to record in too much close-up detail.

And while the DA and judge that criticize Harry later might come across as liberal strawmen to some, their arguments strike me as reasonable. They point out that their objections are based in the fact that Harry’s action did violate important parts of the US constitution. From their perspective, it’s Harry’s actions that explicitly ignored existing constitutional limits on police actions that set Scorpio free, not the laws themselves.

Harry might be argued to be just as motivated as a sadistic glee in violence similar to that of Scorpio. There are like two sides of a coin.

Take for example, Scorpio’s peace sign belt buckle and compare it with Harry’s badge. The peace sign is obviously ironic, because he is a serial killer. The peace sign and his longish hair makes him look like a hippie, but he doesn’t seem progressive at all. He calls black people the n-word in one of his letters and targets them, and literally has a gay couple in his gun sights at one point. You might read that as an accusation against the hippie movement, that they were all hypocrites. But it introduces the theme of sadistic killers hiding underneath symbols of a greater ideal, when they are actually doing violence because they enjoy it.

And you can read Harry’s badge as the same thing. He certainly doesn’t uphold the laws and the US constitution that the badge is meant to symbolize. His actions might prevent worse criminals, but they still are crimes in themselves. The film actually ends with Harry coming to some kind of realization about this, as he throws his badge into the river. It doesn’t represent him or his actions anymore. It’s not his killing Scorpio that we end with, but with this very ambiguous action. Of course the sequels have Harry continue to be a police inspector, but the original ending suggest he abandons policing.

This might just be me reading something more agreeable into the film than a fascistoid argument for a police state. But I’m not alone in this reading, this fine essay by Andy Andersen comes to a similar viewpoint. And there are definite indications that this was part of the filmmakers intentions. Director Don Siegel seems to have been a liberal, and reading about the making of suggests an intended ambiguity that has been often lost in the film’s reception, both positive and negative. The original trailer for the film interestingly calls it “a movie about a couple of killers”. Wikipedia has some interesting material about the making of the film, with citations. Harry Julian Fink’s and Rita Fink’s original script had a theme of “blurring the distinction between criminal and cop“. The famously right-wing John Milius did uncredited writing for the film, but even he said in a 1976 interview that one of his ideas was “The cop being the same as the killer except he has a badge.

Before watching Dirty Harry,I expected it to be straightforward copaganda, but there is actually ambiguity in the story it tells. Of course you can still argue that the film takes Harry’s side and justifies his actions, there is evidence for such a reading. But even taken as such, it’s still an interesting and entertaining watch. It’s a well-made and entertaining action film, Don Siegel’s direction, the music by Lalo Schifrin, the performances by Eastwood and Robinson all make it a fine aesthetic experience. But it’s also interesting because it provides such opportunities for critical analysis. But I’m a weirdo that finds ideological analysis of the themes of a piece of media fun in itself, that’s why I spend so much time writing these reviews. I knew Dirty Harry mainly from its massive influence on later police fiction, much of which is unambiguous copaganda, and I was actually surprised to find that there are these ambiguities in it, providing room for a critical reading of Harry Callahan. And if you want to truly understand the history of copaganda and how it has changed over the years, seeing Dirty Harry is a must. Even if the film itself is far more ambiguous than most of its imitators, that influence can’t be denied.

[viscountessevie]

Justice for Shelley Conn!!! The writers did her and Mary so dirty and even so she was so so good. I know that every one has a grieving time but it would be so much more realistic to have Kate's father dying like a year prior, it would explain better Mary's emotional absence and why Kate had to take charge. Also I think Edwina should have known about the deal with the Sheffields since the begging, it would have made her character more likeable if she was willing to marry someone to take care of Kate and Mary and would explain the urgency of her wanting to get married so fast, the feeling that she failed her family when Anthony didn't propose and the fear she was not going to be seen as marrying material anymore after he didn't. She could have said to kate that she wanted to marry anthony and be his viscountess because she knew for what she saw that he was going take care her family if the Sheffields backed down and Kate could have understood her distress was because Edwina was in love with him. In the wedding scene her mortification would have been because she almost married a man who was in love with her sister and who loved him back all because sometimes people who love us try to proctect us instead of seeing us as adults who can handle the truth, then she would reveal to kate she knew about the deal with the sheffields and the rest of the season would be pretty much the same since it would be a big scandal for anthony to marry one sister after the other ran away from their wedding. Hire me netflix i fixed season 2

Anyways I’m done with my anti-Polio triade and we’re back to doing S2 Asks!

Also there’s a point/complaint I’ll be making in this post about post-S2 fics that came up again as a discourse on my dash last night - I really thought we put Edwina discourse to bed yall, why are yall like this T.T

Anon first off I am SO sorry to keep you waiting - this is a VERY old ask from like months ago?? I think it was prompted by my posts appreciating Book Mary and Edwina after the show butchered their characters? 

JUSTICE FOR SHELLEY CONN INDEED!! God she was SO robbed of scenes and while I love my moots who dislike the Sharmas in the show because of the writing I get very annoyed when they get anons that put it all on Mary, calling her neglectful and emotionally abusive like literally it’s not that deep yall, the writers just ignored her!! But yeah I do hate that they made her Violet 2.0 just so Kate can be more like Anthony which is such a tired take. 

Kathony in the books worked because while they were very similar, they did have differences that made them their own people! 

As for your fixed version of S2: It’s an interesting take and definitely better writing than S2 - then again ANYTHING is a step up from S2 (well other than the weirdos writing S2 fics they’re either fetishising Kate or making The Sharmas out to be as abusive as the Penwoods and making Anthony Kate’s white knight which ew please fucking stop) 

More Under The Cut [The Viscountess Essay Things]: 

I do love that the first part is essentially what happened in the books. I’m not sure if you have read the book but for those of my anons/moots/followers who are show only fans here’s some context: So in The Viscount Who Loved Me the Sharmas (well Sheffields in the books not to be confused with Mary’s parents in the show because they don’t exist in the book thank god so HC that Mary’s REAL parents were fucking angels) were all aware of their financial status, including Eddie and knew they had to have Edwina marry well to secure a better future for her. I’m sure Mary and Eddie wanted that for Kate too but it was a mix of her being overlooked/intimidated by the men and her not really wanting to be married either that they just focus on giving Edwina the full season treatment. So Edwina herself is well aware of the responsibility she has to her family. 

This is what made the sisters SO compelling in the books, they both had their burdens to bear and different responsibilities. Edwina wasn’t this ‘never been scarred by life and clueless’ naive deb the show made her out to be. In the books yes she is naive about marriage and what comes with it so in a way the full weight of her responsibility doesn’t really quite hit her. And who can blame her, she was 17. And it was a really good move of JQ to use their ‘courtship’ to illustrate how fucked up society was back then with the age gaps and essentially child brides. I especially loved that scene where Anthony sees El and Eddie together and Eddie is being a cheeky little sister and it hits him how young she is and how close he came to basically marrying someone like his sister.

I just loved how everyone was aware of who they are and where they stood in the books. The only clowning that happened was when Kate and Anthony were around each other - it’s like all their brain cells got yeeted from the horniness. It was funny af.

That being said, the book arc Edwina got about being the perfect deb and feeling the pressure and responsibility to marry well for her family was what I thought they were going to do after the coconut oil scene in Ep 3 but they just had to FUCK IT UP with having Eddie have a crush on him. 

I do see how you fixed the mess of a plot after Ep 4 but personally I would have just YEETED the engagement and Edwina’s romantic feelings all together because come onnn Edwina and Anthony’s utter lack of connection and chemistry before they became in laws WAS FUNNY AF. Look at this shit: 

I’m not sure if you want my rewrite of the season but here’s what I would have done: 

- Adapted the book more close lmao but keep the horse riding motif; would have still loved for a funner version of Colin - well I guess that’s Ben in the show to have introduced them and they pretend to not know each other from the horse ride and we still get their book intro just with more layers 

- Keep the new bee scene and maybe have them be caught by one of their parents - listen I just want these clowns together in an official capacity before the halfway mark of the season because WE DESERVED MORE MARRIED KATHONY IN THEIR OWN SEASON

- But instead of getting married right away, they have a longer engagement instead so we have one ep dedicated to them still struggling to accept their feelings so they use the engagement time to figure shit out. Then after a montage of hate fucking fuck buddies Kathony - we get the confession scene after the new accident scene which was just a normal riding accident she wasn’t running away but like the accident puts shit in perspective for both of them. 

- Maybe not a week long coma but like a couple days and Anthony is losing his shit, Kate wakes up and is like Life is too fucking short I love you, you fucking idiot. The confession a mix of the one from the book and the show WITHOUT KATHANI. HER NAME IS KATHARINE. [Before anyone sends me asks about this bit please read my Kate Name Discourse tag on this I have talked about it to death]

- In this version just like in the books, Edwina feels n o t h i n g and their ‘courtship’ conversations are boring af. She quickly sees through him presenting the performative version of himself for her. She gleans this from how he is with Kate and also after her convo with Daphne going “Anthony, even tempered???” She’s like Something isn’t right here?? And calls him out for it and he sheepishly admits he wasn’t being himself (actually the “Let’s stop playing our roles” speech could be directed at Anthony here instead tbh) and they start to get along more as friends/future siblings in law. 

- Also what pushes Eddie to call him out and stop their courting is her falling for Dorset who is a mix of Bagwell and Dorset in this. We’re yeeting his “I went to India once and made it my whole personality” trait. He can still have visited and not always bring it up in convos. So replace that Edwina and Anthony scene talking the drawing room with Dorset. Basically they have the Edwell romance that was in the books. 

Spicy Alternative that could have avoided the Straight Mess™ that was The Engagement Plot and stupid fucking triangle: Edwina is a lesbian. Girlie has read definitely Sappho she knows what’s up. But because of her own burden and responsibility to the family, there’s a bit of hetcomp at play. That’s also why Eddie feels nothing for him lmao. I can also see her being bi to be honest. But yeah Lesbian!Edwina would have been fun to see with El, replacing Theo (love him but YEET the man teaching a woman about feminism) and this way there’s no stupid rebels plot that the Queen can threaten El with and Pen can go off and ruin someone else’s life (Cressida maybe who actually deserves it??) 

- I don’t care if this picks apart the other plots cos fuck all the Featherflops and LW storylines, Cousin Hack doesn’t exist in this season, all his screentime goes to developing the Sharmas and giving Kate the backstory SHE ALWAYS DESERVED! GIMME ALL THE SHARMA SCENES FROM THE BOOKS. WE NEEDED THE MILK SCENE. MARY TELLING KATE SHE VISITS HER MOTHER'S GRAVE TO UPDATE HER ABOUT KATE. A L L THE KATE/EDWINA/MARY BONDING SCENES

So many fucking good book scenes and lines and we got n o t h i n g.

- Also!!! Anthony should have had sex dreams. Like if they didn't want to have them having sex until after the engagement plot, fine - could have offset it with more scenes pre-confession with his sex dreams dammit.

Anyways that's my take, hope yall enjoyed it and thanks for reading this all the way through if you did!

[ Ik yall can tell how much I hate S2 sometimes it honestly makes me tear up at times I feel stupid]

[characteroulette]

well all rightie then, it’s time to analyse how DGS1 handles grief really well in my opinion

(once again, spoilers for all of DGS1)

(also some spoilers for the original trilogy games) (and a little of DGS2)

okay So my thesis statement here is that Asougi’s character in DGS1 is the vessel through which Ryuunosuke and Susato’s grief is explained. Everything about how they relate to Asougi is their dealing with their grief in a simple message: Loss hits hard, but you have to continue to live and love. Life Goes On, shaping that grief into yourself if you allow it.

We start off with Case 1 as our baseline. The set-up. It’s a routine to show what life is like for Ryuunosuke before tragedy. (Fitting for an AA protagonist to have their baseline of normal being accused of murder.) This case does a really, really good job of setting up Asougi as our friend, our partner, whom we might spend the rest of the game with.

(I mean, the death flag’s kinda obvious if you’re genre-savvy; the mentor must die so that the student may grow into their own. But Asougi’s so likeable! He’s confident, genuine with Ryuunosuke, comfortably teasing, and looks at you with the same eyes as Klavier. What’s not to love? Also that small hint of something deeper is so tantalising that for it to go unresolved is pretty unthinkable.)

It’s important for us to see how much Asougi means to Ryuunosuke, how much the two really are best friends. This set-up is pivotal to what happens next in Case 2: the drop.

The way Ryuunosuke reacts to learning about Asougi’s death is real. He tries to deny it at first, can’t bring himself to believe it. Especially since he’s been accused of the crime! But the moment he sees that photo of Asougi that Sherlock took, that’s where the truth of it hits and he can’t run from it anymore. All he can do is try to push past that biting grief to at least solve his friend’s murder and set things right.

Susato’s own grief is portrayed really well here, too. She’s so angered and clouded by it that she totally ignores the fact that Asougi and Ryuunosuke are best friends and believes Ryuunosuke to be the murderer. Really, she just blames Ryuunosuke because it’s easier that way, since the wound cuts just as deep for her.

What really strikes me, though, is how the whole case isn’t just a one-note misery. Like real life, the two slip into sadness when they remember their dear friend, but they’re still able to joke around. They still get upset or sarcastic or excited. Because, though their grief affects them immensely, the message is that life continues. It can’t just stop for them like it did for their friend; life goes on. Not out of malice, but out of necessity.

Also, the way Sherlock acknowledges their grief is pretty great. That felt hugely validating to me, how he tells them that their mourning is important and how his jovial, joking tone was never properly taking that into account. The way he continues breaking in at the end to lighten the mood, too, is his own genuine way of trying to help, exhausting though he may be. It’s appreciated, at the least, to keep us the players from breaking down into tears as the conclusion rolls with no real satisfaction at the mystery being solved.

That final conversation between Susato and Ryuunosuke, at least, is hugely cathartic to make up for that. It sounds like it should feel rushed, honestly, dealing with the majority of the grieving process in just Case 2, but it doesn’t at all. It seems properly healthy, like the two are doing their best by confiding and taking comfort in one another in order to celebrate Asougi’s goals, to keep going where he can’t. Ryuunosuke and Susato both form their resolve here to continue to live, not just for Asougi, but for themselves as well. For life’s sake.

Because, again, life goes on.

(A brief tangent: Seeing the contrast of this story versus the original trilogy is also a really neat sort of view into Shu Takumi’s growth as a writer. Or the AA series’ growth as a whole. How Edgeworth handled his grief by never really acknowledging it in AA1, how he basically ran away from it by refusing to live as a sort of punishment against himself, is really sad. Then Phoenix handling his grief in JFA by turning to anger and resentment is just as heartbreaking. Phoenix disavows himself from it, trying to spare himself the pain by denying it, which only hurt him more and he had to have everyone around him break him out of that awful mindset. Then in T&T it’s Godot’s grief which drives the plot, as he turns his anger on Phoenix unjustly. He blames Phoenix for Mia’s death and lashes out at everyone instead of allowing himself the time to properly grieve.

And then DGS1 comes along to say that maybe the answer is just that life goes on and we have healthier ways to reconcile with our grief and it’s just real neat to see!)

In Case 3 and 4, we can see through Ryuunosuke’s discussion with Lord Vortex (/Stronghart) the continuation of his handling this grief. It’s a burden, one Ryuunosuke doesn’t fully understand, but he fervently takes upon himself because we want to live for those we’ve lost. (It is the Wright way, the Naruhodou way, to take on the aspirations of the friends you’ve lost. To mimic their mannerisms, their ambitions, in order to keep them close to your heart.)

(That’s a whole other can of worms I could dive into, honestly, how their decision to give Ryuunosuke all of Phoenix’s poses for the whole ancestor vibe while ALSO making it clear that Ryuunosuke took them from Asougi to begin with, it’s just. It’s good, it’s perfect, it’s the same brand of gay the series is known for and I’m love it.)

You also see, as the trial of Case 3 progresses, how Ryuunosuke is basically just living off of ‘what would Asougi do?’ as Susato coaches him along and it’s fun and bittersweet all the way through. Case 4 is where he gains more confidence in himself, but he still defaults to thinking of Asougi’s unwavering trust in him to help him and every time it’s handled with tenderness and shows just how much Ryuunosuke loved his friend.

And, if you’re like me and take every opportunity to examine Asougi’s badge and present it to Susato (/others), you see how they continue to grow with their grief. It starts off with both of them being unable to say much, still weighed down heavily by Asougi’s loss. Though they are continuing and life goes on, it’s still a wound too fresh to approach and hard for them to properly explain.

By Case 5, though, the two of them are more conversational. They’ve found their words, they’ve mended that wound as much as possible so that life won’t leave without them. It still hurts, of course, but it’s easier to think about. It’s easier to reconcile when they’ve been working hard and making friends and continuing to live. It’s small, but the progression is there and I really appreciate it.

Speaking of Case 5, though, everything about this one, in regards to Asougi, is pure catharsis. It really is like they’re looking their grief right in the face and accepting it as a part of themselves. Ryuunosuke looks back on his friend not just with fondness, but with gratefulness that Asougi could make such a big impact on his life.

(This is similar to the whole Phoenix and Mia thing, I feel, since Phoenix often thought of his mentor with the same sort of tone. At least, I think so. Remarkable how Phoenix’s grief can mirror the finalised version of Ryuunosuke’s with the help of spirit channeling! /joke)

Ryuunosuke and Susato have etched Asougi into their hearts and their persons and it’s just really, very good I like it a lot.

(okay time for a few paragraphs on DGS2 and Asougi)

Case 1 one DGS2 is a neat look into Susato’s mind and thought process. You can definitely tell she’s still just a 16-year-old with the mistakes she makes and how she tries to handle her own arguments, which is very cute. We also get to see her actually talking to Asougi’s grave and then see how her own relationship with Asougi has influenced her style (/poses) and aspirations. (Ryuunosuke, too. It’s cute to see how she’s ended up a mixture of both of them.) And it’s a great rug pull moment for the player, since the way that the grief is handled in DGS1 is so good and (almost) final that hearing Asougi might not actually be dead is a bit like digging up old wounds. I mean, we went the entirety of the first game coming to terms with his death, what do you mean his body went missing??

(Case 2 serves as a reminder. Like haha remember how Susato and Ryuunosuke both love Asougi and are sad about his death? Here’s the baseline again, get ready to have it wrecked!)

And Case 3 is phenomenal, too. The way Van Zieks is so understanding in his response to showing him Asougi’s badge is just. It’s perfect, he’s so gentle and empathetic that it shocks Ryuunosuke (even though Ryuunosuke did the same understanding and concern for Van Ziek’s situation Ryuunosuke please). Then the way that Ryuunosuke sees Asougi, disguised in a cloak and mask, and immediately recognises him. To me, that really shows how much he loved his friend. He knew Asougi for about a year and it’s been about nine months since Asougi’s death, yet Ryuunosuke recognises him just by the way he carries himself.

But, to him, Asougi is dead. He’s made peace with that. So, even if it plays on his mind, he can’t allow himself to think that. He puts it out of his mind completely and doesn’t think on it again.

At least, until Susato (who reacted very realistically by shutting down the possibility that Asougi might still be alive because that means Sherlock lied and she couldn’t take having that hope break her worse than before) sees the exact same thing just as immediately and shouts after him. The fact that they both see this disguised man and know it can be no one besides Asougi is insane. It’s love. It makes me cry, I wish they could’ve hugged him during the big reveal (though I know Japanese culture’s just not like that).

Anyway, DGS2 diatribe over. Back to the conclusion.

The whole of DGS1 is just a masterful example of how grief doesn’t have to destroy you, of how life can go on and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing, and how channeling that grief into motivation to keep their memories alive can be powerful. That it’s okay to still feel grief even as you heal, that it’s okay to have fun and keep living even as you mourn. Life is a mixture of levity and tragedy and, to me, DGS1 nails that mixture with perfection.

Absolutely legendary. Join me next time when I dive into the main theme of DGS2, which is literally ‘the dead will come back to life to haunt you’ thanks for coming to my essay talk

[msookyspooky]

All eddie depression aside, his smile when he was in the caravan saying 'Harringtons got her' was the cutest thing ever. (:

Frfr I can't stop watching that scene! His smile is adorable! ☺️

And this....THIS.... yhwrkoyesfhkgaz!!!

I was blushing at the way he said it and I'm not even He/Him or Steve. If he gave that smile to me and leaned in to say something to me in that playful tone? I'd die. 💘

💔 Sad and PISSED OFF girl hours ahead:

What got me was him play fighting with Dustin 🥺 and being a big brother to him. Like...I knew but I also lowkey hoped Robin was talking about someone else. I'm sorry, revoke my bi girl card but I would not have been nearly as upset if it was Robin...Not every gay character is my favorite, sue me. And would I be upset with Steve or Nancy? Not as much as Eddie! This back and forth romantic tension as their only plot just bc we KNOW they're gonna get together is getting old. The plot armor for the four older teen main characters in general is OLD. Other than Nancy being badass, Jonathan being a good brother which okay bare minimum brownie points and Steve being Mr. Mom; their personalities are bland compared to Eddie.

They turned Robin's character from the intelligent sarcastic girl that had so many tricks up her sleeve we saw at chips ahoy to a bumbling neurotic mess that offered hardly nothing this volume 2. Third Season Robin I'd be upset over, fourth season Robin? Doesn't even feel like the same character so no. And outside of when there's danger in Hawkins...Are Nancy or Jonathan or Steve REALLY that interesting or good of ppl? Bc Eddie was a good guy WAY before he realized there was danger. Jonathan is so avoidant of controversy or emotional responsibility he's being manipulative by NOT telling Nancy. Nancy is so ready to be an ambitious woman she doesn't even ask others or think of what's happening around her vs what she wants to do. Steve has zero presence other than 'protect the kids!'...What hobbies does Steve have? If there were no kids, what would he do? What other traits does he have other than 'brave, protective, himbo'? Truly. I want to know. Dewey may be those things in Scream but at least he's not a nag like Steve is. I like these characters but compared to Eddie? Not as much!

I'M SICK OF THE BORING FAVORITE CHARACTERS OF THE DUFFERS HAVING PLOT ARMOR. PERIOD.

Eddie is naturally charismatic, weird, playful, fair minded, tries to be a tough ass when he's a huge softie, funny, high energy, rebellious, he likes D&D and Metal, he has a world view that gets rocked by Chrissy and Steve and Nancy and everytime he seems to grow and realize putting labels on the popular kids is no different than ppl labeling him. He had more growth and likeable traits in THE FIRST EPISODE than the main four older kids have all season.

There was no reason for them to kill him off. The 'warding off the bats' thing did nothing. 'They'd go after Robin, Steve and Nancy' it would have taken them awhile to get there and who's to say they wouldn't have been released in time? He died in vain just for the Duffer Brothers to have a stupid point. You're telling ME...You couldn't have written Dustin doing this instead of Eddie and Eddie leaping in to help him? (And being able to get to him faster being taller and more athletically built) and even though they'll probably be injured, Eddie could have been the hero, saved Dustin and still had his 'I didn't run away' moment....It's cheap shock factor writing to kill him off. I may kill off characters but it's necessary for the plot, YN's development and realistic bc ANYONE can die in my fics. It's not realistic that every single main character has plot armor in ST but not Eddie or other side characters.

I would be less upset if other characters died bc at least it wouldn't feel like a cheap ass cop out to get rid of a side character that SHOULD have been the main.

I get he'd be a criminal in Hawkins but they could have easily written him saving everyone with an audience against Vecna or Demagorgons or something in 5 to show he's not the bad guy to Hawkins. EASILY.

AND HOW THEY HANDLED HIS DEATH??? Probably leaving his body in the upside down, not even upset other than Dustin and his Uncle, not honoring the fact he SAVED YOUR UNGRATEFUL ASSES? Idc Steve, Nancy, Robin I could care less about after this. I probably would have never even watched this series if I knew they were gonna kill off THE REASON for me picking up this show. I deadass only watched this to see Eddie in 4. FUCK.

[slightlymore]

no, thank you

part of the Pride Universe

jaemin x fem reader

others: haechan (mentioned in jaemin's thoughts but not present in the real plot)

genre: smut with plot, roommates au, mentions of university (jaemin is a med student), angst, fluff, very +18 tho

warnings: very! rough! smut! (brat taming, oral, masturbation, multiple orgasms, overstimulation, denial, slight degradation, restriction, manhandling, bath tub is one of the locations), short mentions of mlm (jaemin x haechan fwb in the past), yn comes off rude in the beginning but it's necessary for character development, yn has an anxiety attack, angsty 

words: 11.3K

this is kinda good if I say so myself, yall have to read 👁️ if you don't like mlm or memberxmember I promise it's just a short bit of fluff/angst connecting it to Cute~ and that's all lol, the plot is very jaeminxreader centered 

Jaemin has been told that he can't say no to people. Yes, he will come to the party. Yes, he can help with the moving out. Yes, he can help you with Anatomy. Yes, that kind of anatomy as well. 

The only time Jaemin would say no is when people would ask if he’s busy or tired. No, I’m fine. No, everything is alright. 

"Do you ever sleep, Jaemin?" Haechan asked once. 

His soft and sleepy voice made Jaemin smile. He wrapped the boy’s waist even tighter, tugging Haechan’s body against his. 

“Of course I do.” Haechan chuckled. “When?” “When you’re not here”, the other whispered. “Lies. You’re studying when I’m not here. Look at what kind of service I’m doing. Fucking you so that you can just lie in bed and fall asleep.” Jaemin smiled again and ghosted Haechan’s forehead with his lips ready to place a kiss on the other’s warm skin. He stopped himself before doing so. “Yeah, thank you for your service.”

But since Haechan started to date some guy, there was no one to force him into bed and make Jaemin rest. 

The boy would drift off to unconsciousness for a little while every night, head pressed into his med school books, mind full of notions and caffeine. He would stay like that for an indefinite amount of time, not enough to fully fall asleep but enough to being shaken to the core when he would wake up, batting his eyelashes as his unfocused gaze tried to make sense of his surroundings. Then he would get up slowly from his uncomfortable chair and drag his feet to the kitchen to make his nth cup of coffee for the night.

Jaemin has never had a roommate and it was probably because of Haechan. Said boy wouldn’t have cared less if someone was in the other room, listening to their moans, but Jaemin didn’t like that. Instead, he loved it when Haechan would pull up to his doorstep unannounced, eyes either wide with tears or tight with lust. Because the choice was Jaemin. It was always Jaemin. Haechan needed him and Jaemin loved it. He couldn’t have other distractions. No flatmates knocking on the door and complaining. Just him and Haechan, on his bed, on the couch, on the kitchen counters, against the entrance door, on the floor, in the shower. Jaemin didn’t know, but it wasn’t just him doing Haechan a favour, maybe quite the opposite. Because Jaemin has been also told that he doesn’t ask for help. He doesn’t let people know about his needs, or whatever. But Haechan was aware of that. It took Jaemin a little while to notice it, especially since the other was already gone, but more often than not, Haechan would just show up for no apparent reason. “Nothing happened,” he would say, “I was just horny.” But Haechan would come for him. Because that’s how Haechan was. He could see people very well and he could see Jaemin when he needed something, or when he was exhausted and needed a simple hug, or when he didn’t sleep in days or having eaten nothing more than a single cup of instant noodles. They were friends with benefits but the benefits sometimes were just lying beside each other and talk, or order in some food while watching a movie. Sometimes they would just kiss for a long time, during nights where Haechan felt weaker, and those were Jaemin’s favourite nights. “You should sleep now,” the older would whisper against his lips and Jaemin would reply with a short-breathed yeah, in a second, before letting his tongue inside the other’s mouth slowly for another hour or so. Some people might have said that Jaemin was in love, but the boy had no idea himself whether that was the case or not and he didn’t want to think about that. Jaemin didn’t like thinking at all. But he loved it when others did and he loved to think about their thoughts instead of his own. He wanted to know people’s reasons and why they behaved in a certain manner so that he could understand himself without actively trying to.

“So, what do you think?” Jaemin was standing proud in the middle of his spot-free living room, hands on his hips, like a housewife expecting compliments from her housewive friends. 

“Could be better,” you mumbled, biting your nails, barely looking around.

When you found Jaemin’s pretty written paper renting a room on the university notice board, you did assume he was a girl. 

“What could be better?” he smiled at you. 

You stared back, sensing sarcasm but upon seeing the boy’s genuine expression you realized how naive he was. 

“I don’t know. The roommate maybe?” you rolled your eyes and walked towards your assigned room, dragging your suitcase carelessly on the nice wooden floor. “I’m staying, by the way,” you yelled after closing your door with your foot with a loud bang.

____

You have been told a lot of stuff during your life. Selfish, rude, uncaring, insensitive. 

It would make you angry. 

You would yell back that it’s not true making people step back and add some more adjectives that you wouldn’t want to use while describing yourself in class. 

You fought that back a lot, crying secretly under your covers, terrorized of being alone by yourself, afraid of being alone with such a bad person. 

You fought and fought until one day you just stared back at those people. 

So what? you found yourself thinking. Perhaps I am. Yeah. I am selfish and I don’t give a shit. So what about that? What are you all going to do? 

And when you ignored people, they started to ignore you as well. 

And slowly, everyone knew that no, you would not help them with their homework, no, you didn’t want to go to their stupid party, no, you didn’t give a shit about their new college charity event. 

And you didn’t give a single fuck about Jaemin’s rules.

“So, you can actually do whatever you want, really. The only things I ask of you is-,” he tried to speak to you the first morning of you living together.

You turned your music loudly on purpose the previous night as you settled in. You wanted to see the boy come knocking on your door and finally throw away his polite mask as everyone does around you after a few minutes of knowing you. Because you’re rude and it’s better for them to just know that from the start. 

The thing you hated the most was people giving you a little hope, that maybe you’re likeable and they wouldn’t turn their backs on you. Yet, you’ve quickly realized that it is impossible. Not with you. Not since you’re such a horrible person.

“Yeah, I don’t care,” you replied, one of Jaemin’s red apples between your teeth, a little juice glistening on your lips after you bit down. They were prettily on display in the middle of the kitchen island with a little vase of fresh flowers kept them company on the right.

The boy looked at your mouth for a second before locking eyes with you. “Okay,” he simply replied grabbing an apple himself. “I’m glad you like apples. I was afraid they would go to waste-,” but he didn’t complete the sentence, one hand suspended in the air, eyes wide as you let the piece of apple you were munching on fall on the ground as well as the fruit you were holding. 

“These apples are actually disgusting,” you commented then you both listened to the sound the apple made as it rolled into the living room and stopped as it met the soft rug.

That was it. 

It wasn’t your fault that this boy had more patience than your previous flatmates and you had to go stronger on him. 

Kick me out? Are you going to kick me out now? Come on. Kick me out.

But Jaemin didn’t look mad. 

After the initial confusion, he just put his apple back on top of the others and grabbed a paper towel. He knelt in front of you as you stood there with crossed arms and picked up your half munched bite of fruit and threw it away. Then he walked the few steps separating the kitchen island to the living room and picked up the apple as well, giving it the same journey towards the trash. 

You scoffed. 

Jaemin still didn’t say anything and grabbed a pan out of the cabinets. “I’m making pancakes,” he announced calmly. “I don’t like pancakes,” you acted like a kid but the feeling gripping at your throat was something new and you didn’t know how to behave. 

This Jaemin guy made you angrier than other people. 

Jaemin turned around to face you. “What do you like, Y/N?” 

You stared back for a few seconds at his neutral and unbothered face, then shoulder bumped him as you walked away. Grabbing your backpack from the ground you just slammed the entrance door on your way out.

You knew you were annoying. You also hated yourself just like everyone hated you. But you couldn’t help it. It has happened before. You let yourself believe that maybe you were kind and sweet, that you had a caring heart, that people would like you.  Yet, soon after, they would finally realize that you weren’t like that at all. That you were a monster trying to put on an act. So you liked the idea of people seeing the worst you could be first, so they could just leave if they couldn’t handle it. 

And no one could. Yet this Jaemin dude didn't budge.

You came home late that day and you noticed the way Jaemin turned off his music as he heard you enter your room. 

God, you hated him. 

And the morning after he was already in the kitchen, hair wet on his forehead, a white towel around his neck. 

He smiled like an angel. 

"Eggs and bacon?" 

You ignored him. 

And the morning after again. "Fruit?" Door slam. 

And another morning again. "Maybe cappuccino and croissants?" he wondered. Again. 

"Porridge?" "Okay! Okay. Fuck. Okay", you finally replied. 

It was the weekend and you had no excuse to dramatically leave the apartment as you did the previous days when you had to go to class. You were standing in the same spot in front of the kitchen island as the first day when you made a fool out of yourself by spitting out a piece of an apple. 

"I'm fine with whatever,” you added quietly. "Toast?" Jaemin raised his eyes from underneath his fringe before his hand could throw the locks back revealing the forehead. 

You shrugged. 

He smiled excitedly and got busy around the cabinets, the scent of his aftershave intimidating you. 

Walking around him silently you sat up on the kitchen stools, placing your hands on the marble and looked down, uneasy. It was alright if Jaemin was kind now then would start hate you afterwards. You could rest for a little bit, right? You could just put down your shield and breathe. It’s not like you would become friends if the made you breakfast. 

"How did the week go? You guys have many exams?" Jaemin's voice slightly startled you. 

Looking up you saw that he was already looking at you, two white plates in front of him with two pieces of hot toast. You stared back for a second then looked at the way his hands spread jam on the bread. 

"It was alright," you found yourself speaking. 

How was yours? You probably should have asked. But you didn't care and you were afraid to randomly engage in more than a few words long conversations. 

"Here," Jaemin placed the food in front of you then he licked his thumb. Thank you, you should have said. But Jaemin didn't look bothered. 

After a few moments of silence during which you couldn't bring yourself to start eating, Jaemin sighed like a British person would while slapping their knees when announcing they should go. 

"Alright. I'll eat in my room. I have a lot of stuff to do,” he announced and left with the plate. You stared at his back as he lazily dragged his feet towards the corridor and when you heard his door close you finally tasted the toast.

_____

A scared cat. An angry and scared cat.

This was the first thing Jaemin thought when he saw you. 

Honestly, he almost lost it on the first day but kept it in together when he saw the way your hands trembled while being confronted. Then all of his anger died. 

No, I don't care, you told him yet you didn't turn up your music loudly again after the first night and you never bothered him. It was almost as if you weren't even there. 

What a nicely crafted facade, Jaemin would think, hands behind his head, a pencil between his lips, an open manual on his chest, eyes directed towards an indefinite point on his ceiling. 

It was very late at night. His phone buzzed once and the boy stared at the "apartment empty, wanna come?" text. 

Yeah, he could use some of that. 

And he would have been at his friend's place by now if a weird noise wouldn't have stopped him from putting on his shoes. 

It was coming from your room, a small choked sound, barely audible that Jaemin wouldn't have heard it in other circumstances. He walked the corridor slowly until gently stopping in front of you door, a slight blush covering his cheeks. Could it be-? 

But no. 

Jaemin heard a fair share of whimpering girls before and you definitely weren't enjoying yourself. So he knocked, suddenly worried. "Y/N?" You didn't reply, only a little whimper being caught by Jaemin's ears. "Y/N, is everything alright?" He waited, face almost pressed on the cool wood. Another choking sound and "I'm coming in, now,” he announced and you couldn't stop him. 

Sat on your bed, wet cheeks from crying and irregular breaths, you looked up like a scared deer, sliding back when Jaemin walked towards you. "Shh, it's alright," he whispered with a calm voice, hands in front of himself as he sat down in front of you. 

"Don't touch me. Go away," you flinched, hiding your face from his gaze. 

Jaemin had a reassuring face when he spoke again. "I won't touch you if you don’t want me to."

"Go away. Leave me alone," you repeated with a feeble voice, arms pulling your knees to your chest. 

Jaemin looked at you for a few moments, your baby blue pyjama and irregular breath, then he gently sat down on the bed in front of you and crossed his legs. 

"Do you take medicine?" he asked softly. You shook your head. "Okay. Then, will you look at me?" You sobbed and furtively raised your eyes to meet his for a short moment before looking away. "It's alright. You're doing great." Jaemin's voice was low, articulating every word slowly and he didn't move. "It's scary, I know. But there's no danger now. I'm protecting you." His eyes were trained on your face and you finally let yourself stare back fully. 

"Imitate me," he spoke again, breathing in and out slowly. A little sob escaped your lips before you could do the same. 

"Good. You're doing amazing. Slowly," he cooed and you did just that for an indeterminate amount of times, the silence engulfig you both until you looked down and saw your fingers wrapped around Jaemin's hands. 

You let them go surprised but your palms liked how soothing touching another human’s skin felt. 

His was soft and warm, and you concentrated on the way the heat spread to your cold hands, holding them again timidly. 

Then you let yourself fall on the pillows, eyes looking up at the ceiling, the sobs getting more time between each other. 

Jaemin remained still for a moment, as if unsure what to do, then he slowly moved to the side, walking on all fours until resting on the bed beside you. 

A little stronger whine shook your frame again though and he slightly rolled over, rising on his elbow the other hand above your body. 

"I'm-- going to touch your diaphragm. Is this alright?" 

You bit your lower lip then nodded. 

"Okay, breathe in again, keep it for one second, then release slowly."

You inhaled, staring at Jaemin's big eyes as if looking for approval. His hand ghosted your stomach until finally resting on your body right underneath your bust. 

"That's right," he spoke softly. "Now, again.” 

You repeated the exercise, feeling Jaemin's warm palm through the clothes every time your rib cage expanded. 

"Again," he breathed in with you, keeping it, then releasing it. 

After a while your mind felt like white, blood fully oxygenated, Jaemin’s non-invading and calming presence actually making you feel better.

Yet your heartbeat couldn't stop beating and Jaemin could feel it. 

"Again," his low voice made your arms skin shiver with goosebumps, your breathing getting irregular instead of steady. 

"Focus on my hand and your breath," he said but his gaze falling on your slightly open lips wasn't helping you focus at all. 

He blinked and looked up into your eyes again. 

It was even worse. "Jaemin, I'm fine now.” 

The boy blinked a few times and retrieved his hand slowly. 

Your breath calmed down and Jaemin took it for a good sign since he returned to his side of the bed. 

It became silent so suddenly that you could hear Jaemin swallow. 

Thank you? Thank you for being here? Or, thank you for helping me out. Sorry for slapping your hand away? Is this what you should have said, right?

“Then, I’ll be going now,” his soft voice disrupted the silence and your bed creaked in the darkness as he presumably got up. 

No, wait, wait. 

"Why do I become like this at night?" you whispered instead. 

Jaemin’s silhouette against your dark blue windows moved around and lied on the bed again, this time on his stomach, bust raised on his elbows, eyes probably on the shadows of your face. 

"It's because the front part of your brain gets quieter and gives space to the other parts of your brain where feelings are."

"Why do you always have a good answer to everything?" 

You heard Jaemin's breath form a light chuckle. 

"Many people told me that before."

"Okay, right."

"No, wait, I meant that- I'm not bragging, sorry--it came out very weirdly." 

You smiled, the dark and sudden sleepiness making you care less about keeping up your cold image. 

"You want to be a psychiatrist?" "I don't know."

You turned on your side, hands pressed under your face, knees buckled until almost touching his hips. "Why is that?" 

Jaemin sighed. "I don't know if I'm good at helping people." 

The laugh you let out took both of you by surprise. "Are you joking?" 

The boy exhumed perplexed energy even if you couldn’t see him properly. 

"You're a human matt with weird gigantic patience. You'll help people alright." "A human mat?" Jaemin raised his eyebrow at you but you still noticed the amused twinkle in his eyes. "Yeah, you have no self-esteem,” you went on. "I have self-esteem," the other protested. "If you did, you wouldn’t let people treat you like that."

Jaemin let the clock on your wall fill the silence with its ticks for a little while. 

"Like what?" he whispered. 

You rolled on your back, unable to look at him anymore. "Like how I treat you." 

"So you're aware of that." 

"So you're aware of that as well but choose to ignore it instead of fighting back?" 

Jaemin rolled on his back as well, hand rising to his forehead and ruffling his fringe. 

You stared at the way the strands fell back exposing his forehead then you looked at his furrowed eyebrows and finally at his lips when he opened them to speak. "What's the point in fighting back?" 

A car roared outside your open window, giving you more time to collect your thoughts. 

"What's the point in being stupidly kind like that?" you finally spoke up. Your voice was a little whisper as if you secretly wanted Jaemin to not hear you. But he did. 

"So I can live by my principles." "And are you happy?" 

Ah. 

Shit. 

Jaemin was at a loss of words. 

"Isn't it better to just be yourself and do whatever the fuck you want?" you went on. "Like you?" he finally spoke up. "Yeah." "But you're not doing what you want.”

It was your turn to have no words to choose from. 

"You're not yourself, are you?" he asked. "I am," but your voice didn't seem convincing even to your ears. "People are not going to like you more if you behave as you do," you added. "And what should I do to make people like me?" Jaemin inquired. "Nothing. Just be yourself."

Jaemin sat up slowly and briefly looked out of the window. 

"Then you should follow this advice as well. Stop putting on this act."

You didn't sleep the whole night after Jaemin slowly exited your room.

_____

The next day you already left when Jaemin got up and walked to the kitchen. 

He heard you leave actually. He couldn't sleep the whole night either. 

Are you happy? Are you yourself?

No. After turning and rolling on his bed Jaemin got to the conclusion that he wasn't happy or himself at all. 

Not all the time at least. 

Because most of the times he did care about people, but he could also point out times when he did too much for no reason, getting back nothing but a bittersweet taste on his tongue. 

When he came back home after class, an intense sweet fragrance welcomed him first as he stepped inside. With the back turned at him and wearing his black apron, you were frantically looking for something in the kitchen cabinets. 

Jaemin indulged in looking at you for a little while, a fizzy feeling inside his chest, small happiness created by moments like finding money in an old jacket, a little surprise you didn’t need but that made your day better. 

How would it feel to behave like you? Would Jaemin be able to do it? 

At first, Jaemin wondered why you were like that, but after the previous night, he hit his head with an imaginary palm, feeling stupid for not realizing it earlier. 

You were just like him. 

Hiding something in front of people. 

He cleared his throat and smiled when you jolted with a little scream. “For fuck’s sake.” 

Yeah, you were hiding the little girl he saw crying on her bed and he was hiding the needy little boy that so desperately wanted to be loved. 

“I’m sorry for startling you,” he let his bag fall on the floor as he sat on the kitchen stools in front of you. “Are those cookies?” he indicated the oven with his chin. 

You adjusted your clothes as if suddenly realizing how embarrassing it was to wear an apron. 

“Why ask obvious questions?” 

Jaemin’s smile widened until showing his teeth and you felt like either fight him or run away from his eyes. What a weirdo, you thought. It was almost as if he was enjoying your moodiness. 

“Are you looking for something?” he asked again. You crossed your arms on your chest and Jaemin thought that seizing you in the act of being domestic was something that highly embarrassed you. 

He loved it. 

“No.” The boy rested his head on one arm, tilting his head to the side, already knowing what you were trying to do before. “Shall we decorate the cookies together? I can make the icing. The colouring is in the other cabinet.” 

You turned around and stared at the only place you didn’t look before. “I wasn’t trying to decorate them,” you lied. 

Jaemin lifted his hands as if innocent. “Never said that,” then smiled as you rolled your eyes. 

“Do you have plans tonight?” he walked around you to retrieve the decorations and you felt your breath hitch when he had to press himself on your back. “Because the cookies have to cool down first,” Jaemin explained. 

You didn’t reply and untied your apron, suddenly regretting your decision to remain in the kitchen instead of hiding in your room. 

“Watch a movie with me, please?” 

The “no” was already on the tip of your tongue but then you heard the “please” and your eyes moved to Jaemin’s face by themselves. His hands were pressing into the isle, shoulders raised as if he was trying to lift himself, the evident nervousness in his expression making you feel at a loss of words. 

You didn’t expect Jaemin to be shy. Why was he shy? To ask you to watch a movie with him? That made him shy? 

“Okay.” 

His eyes widened. “Okay?”

You almost laughed at how surprised he was and you had to admit that seeing him run around the kitchen to get to the living room was pretty adorable. 

A little sigh, as if a warning, left your lungs when you walked towards the couch. You were probably doing a mistake, but Jaemin - God - Jaemin was so kind. 

Watching his back as he was sat down on his knees in front of the tv, so eager to spend some time with you, even if it was fake, even if he didn’t really care, made your heart swell up. No one has behaved like that before. Maybe it was alright. 

“Okay, but I choose the movie,” you extended the hand and Jaemin got up, placing the remote controller on your palm. His smile never left his lips as you shuffled the options. “What about this?” Jaemin read the description with squinty eyes. "Oh, I don't like happy endings." You looked at him. "Why is that?" 

The boy remained quiet for a moment. 

"I think it's because you relate a lot to a sad story and it describes your life so well that you get mesmerized in it. You finally feel understood. Others are going through the same struggles. But then they get a happy ending and- you don't.”

Jaemin’s fingers played with one of the threads of his shorts and you blinked at his unexpected words. 

“It becomes a reminder of how your life could go if you were lucky like them. But you're not. That's when you can't relate anymore and it becomes even sadder. Instead of being a sort of relief, the happy ending is another punch in the gut, since I'll never be able to experience something like that,” he smiled after the last phrase as if he had just said that the best colour to decorate the cookies was blue. 

Suddenly it felt as if the reality was altered. 

Jaemin's face was a concentrated mask, trying to read other movies descriptions and you desperately wanted to touch it with your fingertips. 

But you touched the back of his hand instead and Jaemin looked down at his thigh before looking up. 

You didn’t know what expression you had on but the boy was so good at understanding people that you could have had a blank face and he would have known what you were feeling. 

He smiled warmly at you and held your hand, squeezing it a little bit. 

“I’m fine.” “It’s alright to be weak,” you almost talked on top of him. “Or to have desires.” 

Jaemin opened his mouth and closed it a few times like a fish and you both jolted when the ding of the oven told that the cookies were baked. 

The boy reluctantly let your hand go when you got up and walked towards the kitchen. 

The smell was incredible and despite the weird saddened energy of the room, you both smiled at each other when locking eyes.

_____

Jaemin got used to your love language very quickly. 

After cookies, came breakfast, and after that, it was the turn of a small gadget you found at the flea market. 

“It’s so ugly that the first person I thought of was you.”

You still kept the insulting wall but Jaemin loved that part of you as well. 

He ate your gratitude made of sweets and desserts, and looked at it in bed, rolling the little bald man made of wood on his palm. 

A night Jaemin would think a lot about, was when you were hammered, bodies spread on the living room floor, eyes closed, soft music in the background to make the ambience less awkward. But you didn’t care about awkwardness as soon enough, the only thing your dizzy heads could think of was nothing at all. 

With a wavering hand, Jaemin felt around him, searching for the bottle of “you’ve never tasted such good cognac before, I’m sure” cognac that Haechan sent him.

 And the “Oh, perhaps I’m getting engaged :P”.

Jaemin stared at the note for a long time then stared at the bottle of amber liquid, his hands gripping it hard. 

You took it from his hands before he could unreasonably smash it on the ground. 

“Are you okay?”

The bottle was put down on the kitchen counter and Jaemin looked at it first then at your concerned eyes, as you’ve started to do more often lately. 

Jaemin didn’t know what expression he had on but whatever it was, it made you take a few steps towards him when he didn’t reply. 

“Yeah,” he breathed out after a little while, trying to put on his normal smile. But when you wrapped his waist with your arms he didn’t stop the tears falling silently on his cheeks. 

He did not sob, nor wail. Jaemin just stood there, arms unable to hug you back. And when you dragged him by the hand, the bottle under your arm, making him sit down on the floor, he just obliged. 

“Let’s drink to that.” 

And Jaemin didn’t know if you meant his broken heart or Haechan’s happiness but he nodded and took a sip of the sweet drink. The bottle travelled back and forth between you until you couldn’t sit up anymore. 

Lying down, the sun setting, the same few songs playing on a loop since no one had the energy to change the playlist, Jaemin couldn’t find the bottle anymore so he just grabbed your hand instead. 

You didn’t say anything and intertwined your fingers with his, mind circling the spot Jaemin’s thumb was circling on your skin. 

"I feel like people love me for how I make them feel.”

The boy’s voice was hoarse and it made your chest tingle. 

You listened, squeezing his hand as to invite him to go on. 

“I know everything about them. I know how to make them feel good. I listen and I love. I love a lot.” 

“You do.”

Jaemin swallowed hard. 

You didn’t have to look to know that his cheeks were wet again. 

“I tried to be perfect. So I could be loved back.”

“You don’t have to do that. You just got an example of that not working very well anyway.”

A sniff. 

“I know. But the little amount I still get now, would it be there if I didn’t try as hard as I’m trying right now? Would people care about me if I wasn't perfect? Would they love me if I didn't do what they need me to? Honestly, I'm terrified to find out.” 

You sighed and let his hand go, rolling on your stomach and lifting your bust on our forearms to be able to look at Jaemin. 

The boy opened his reddened eyes and tilted his head to the side to meet your gaze. 

“If you try so hard and still get so little, you don’t need that love.” 

Jaemin blinked once, listening to your soothing voice, the evening breeze lightly swooshing his hair spread around his head. 

“As you said, they probably still love you for how you make them feel and not for how you are,” and Jaemin visibly flinched at the hard truth. “But,” you grabbed his hand again, not wanting to let him despair, “there are also people that love you because of who you are, even if you confuse them with those that love you for what you do. And I’m sure Haechan is one of them, it just didn’t go well.” “It didn’t have to go well. It has never been something that could go. It’s just my fault that-” but you shushed him pulling at his hand as to make him stop talking. “You can still admit that he hurt you. He didn’t do it on purpose but it’s not your fault either. And it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care about you. Sometimes you can try very hard and people would still not care in the same way that you do, and it’s alright. It’s not you. It’s them.” 

Jaemin kept his eyes closed as you talked, his chest rising with deep breaths and you placed a hand on it just like he did to you before. 

“Do you like me?” 

His question took you by surprise. 

“You can say no. I’m sorry, I’m putting a lot of pressure on you right now-” “I do.” 

The boy opened his eyes, staring at you from underneath his long lashes. “Why?” 

You stared down at your intertwined fingers. The truth was that you also liked him for how he made you feel. He never snapped, he accepted you, he tried hard to get to you and it was something that you’ve never experienced before. But what does that also mean about him? 

“Because you’re a beautiful human being.” 

Jaemin’s eyes widened imperceptibly. 

“You’re kind and patient and so sweet. And I know that it looks as if I’m saying only the stuff that has to do with me, like, you’re kind with me, and patient with me and sweet with me. But honestly, I would have liked you even if you were like that with other people and not with me.”

You looked up at his face and bit your lower lip. “Also, would you not like me if I understood you the way you understand others? Would that be only loving the way I make you feel? Would that be a bad thing?” “It’s a bad thing only if you were kind to me only to be loved back when in reality you’re not.” “Yeah. And you’re not doing that, are you? You think you’re not deserving of love without trying to be kind but you’re naturally like that, Jaemin. You’re just unhealthily pushing yourself sometimes. It’s not like you’d stop being kind if you stopped trying. Because you’re already kind. And people will love you the same.”  

The boy didn’t add anything to that. 

He pulled you by the hand until you softly landed on his chest and wrapped your body with his arms. 

You could feel his quick heartbeat under your chest and he probably could feel yours. His warm breath caressed your forehead until you fell asleep. 

_____

The day after, Jaemin was the usual boy. 

His teeth were the first thing you saw when you woke up with a groan.  “Good morning.” 

You furrowed your eyebrows when your eyes focus on the background. “What the hell am I doing in your bed?” 

Jaemin giggled and tugged your body against his, making you realize that he has been hugging you the whole time. 

“Let me go!” you tried to escape but Jaemin didn’t budge. 

“We’re just cuddling,” his muffled voice on the sweatshirt you were wearing sounded whiny and sleepy. 

“Why are we cuddling? What the fuck happened last night?” 

Your body stiffened when Jaemin threw a leg on your hips like a koala. 

“Nothing. We got drunk and cried, then we fell asleep on the floor.” 

You waited. 

“And then I woke up and took ourselves on my bed where we cuddled some more until falling asleep again.” 

You waited some more. 

“There’s something you’re not telling me, Jaemin.” The boy raised his face from your shoulder to show you his innocent puppy eyes. “Like what?” “Like why I have nothing on besides your hoodie.” 

Jaemin’s face lit up in a bright smile and he hid his face into you again as if shy. 

“You were thirsty and drank water from the tap.” 

“And?” you were losing all of your patience while your cheeks heated up. 

“And your clothes got all wet.”

“Jaemin, for fuck’s sake, talk normally. Did you undress me?” 

The boy shook his head. “You took them off by yourself,” he paused. “While trying to give me a lap dance.” 

You choked on air and tried to cover your face with your hands, but Jaemin’s koala arms prevented you from doing so. 

What the fuck. What the actual fuck. 

“But you just took your clothes off and fell on me. Nothing happened. I forced you to wear my hoodie. Then you wanted to cuddle and we fell asleep as you kept saying how pretty my eyelashes are.” 

Oh my God. 

“And that’s it?” you asked with a little voice. 

Jaemin looked at you again and his face was so close that you felt as if on fire, the thought of being naked in front of him and doing stuff you couldn’t remember at all. 

“Yeah, unfortunately.” 

You hit him on the forehead and as he giggled, hands pressing on the spot, you could free yourself and run away in your room.

It was something you would have never imagined, the feeling between your legs.

 You breathed in and out, trying to calm yourself, but your skin still remembered where Jaemin’s hands were placed just seconds ago. And his breath on your neck. And your eyes couldn’t get rid of his sunlit chocolate eyes. 

Oh, fuck. 

This shouldn’t have happened. 

You didn’t predict this happening at all and it made you go crazy just like the heat spreading through your body as your hand slipped down your stomach. You didn’t think. Your mind was blank and your fingers moved on their own, teeth biting your lower lip, knees buckling until your frame slipped on the door and meeting the floor. Legs open and back pressed onto the hard wood, you closed your eyes and gasped, hoping that Jaemin’s hangover ears could not hear you.

_____

Jaemin loved how things started to go between you. Bad mannered and moody, you still snapped at him but didn’t run away when he would laugh and pull you into his arms. 

Perhaps Jaemin was making a mistake. The same mistake all over again. 

Perhaps he was giving and giving, thinking the other party felt the same, but he didn’t care anymore. That’s how he was. He wasn’t trying. He felt like hugging you and kissing your forehead just to hear your scream, loving the little smile blooming on your lips when you thought he wasn’t looking. 

He bathed into your silent affection and soon your affection became something else he wouldn’t have expected. 

“I think you should stay at home.” 

Jaemin adjusted his raincoat with furrowed eyebrows. You were standing near the wall of the corridor and watched him about to go out in the pouring rain. 

“Jaemin. There’s a storm outside. Your friend can just call a tow truck or something.” 

The boy has been in a rare bad mood for a little while that day and when he heard that his friend got a flat tire his mood didn’t get any better. And now, with you looking at him as if he was doing something wrong when his conscience was telling him it was the right choice made him unreasonable angry. Because he knew that he should probably listen to you. 

“I know.” 

You huffed. “Then tell him to go fuck himself and stay home.” Jaemin let his shoe fall down on the floor annoyed. “Why do you care so much suddenly?” and while saying it he was already regretting it but was unable to stop. “You’ve hated me since day one and now you care about my well-being?” 

You tightened your lips. “I don’t hate you. I thought-- you understood.” 

Your vulnerability made Jaemin close his eyes for a second. “Fuck, I do. I always do. I understand everyone and I hate it.” 

Sudden lighting made his face spectral and you took a step back. 

“Just stop being a human mat and stop doing stuff you don’t want to do. We’ve talked about this before, haven’t we?” 

If the boy was cooling down, that phrase took it all out of the window. 

“You think it’s easy? Why don’t you stop saying no to everything and start being kinder then? We’ve talked about that as well. You can’t do it either.” 

“I bet I can go one day with saying yes to everything but you can’t go a day by saying no or doing what you want instead of what other people want,” you dared him. 

Jaemin scoffed. “Yeah, sure. I would want to see that.” 

You crossed your arms on your chest determined. “Okay. Starting from this moment I’m going to say yes. What about you? Are you going to refuse people and do what you want? I don’t think so.” 

Jaemin stared at you for a split second and his expression became one you’ve never seen him wear before. With a fluid movement, he filled the space between you until your faces were a breath away from each other. “I want to fuck you. How about that?” 

You almost gasped as you stared at his dark eyes, the storm outside the window giving him an even more dangerous aura. 

Gulping down, your mind started to run and search for an appropriate answer, but it wasn’t necessary as your lips betrayed you by forming a quiet “okay, deal.”

Jaemin’s pupils trembled as if he was surprised himself, yet his hands were quick, stripping him of his raincoat, letting it fall to his feet. 

“The safe word is,” he whispered slowly, “forest.”

You swallowed again, feeling your throat suddenly dry, then you chuckled trying to mask your nervousness. 

“Okay, but forest? Really? That’s very stupid-,” but you couldn't complete your shaky sentence as you found yourself dragged towards the bedroom and knocked on the bed in a second, ass up in the air with Jaemin’s hands on it. “Stupid?” he asked irritated. “Start fucking counting.”   You shivered even though your blood felt like boiling. Not in a thousand years, you would have expected Jaemin to manhandle you like that. 

Spank. 

A little yelp, more because of the surprise than the actual pain since your thick jeans didn’t really allow for much friction, escaped your lips. “One.” Your voice was trembling. “Good girl,” Jaemin’s voice was almost a deep whisper. 

Spank. 

“T-two,” you stuttered as Jaemin increased the force. 

Spank. 

You whined. “Three.” “God, I’ve wanted to do this the first time you left your dirty stuff in the sink and refused to clean up.”

Spank. 

“F-four. So you’re actually able to feel human emotions such as anger, huh?” you chuckled breathlessly. 

Spank. You moaned and your panties started to get too wet and hot for your liking. 

No five could come out of your lips as Jaemin grabbed your arms and rolled you over on your back. His eyes were full of fire and you felt your core tingle as he got on the bed as well, kneeling between your open legs, resting his weight on his hands pressed on each side of your head. “I’m going to stuff you up so hard. Let’s see if you’ll be able to talk back again, princess.” You were about to chuckle, pretending that his words didn’t affect you, but you lost it at the pet name. A little gasp left your lips in the form of a single breath and Jaemin got even closer as if catching it. “Oh, you like it? You want to be called like that?” he teased you. You gulped nervously and nodded. “Then I won’t do it,” he whispered, mouths almost touching. You raised your head to connect his lips with yours but Jaemin pulled away with a laugh until you couldn’t reach him anymore. Then he got closer again when you rested your head down. “Wanna kiss me?” his voice caressed your ears just the way one of his hands started to draw little circles down your neck. You turned your head to the side, giving him more space. “Hm?” he asked while the tip of his tongue traced the outline of your ear. You shivered at the sensation. “Yeah, wanna kiss you,” you replied, remembering the dare, even though, you realized with deep shame, you would have answered positively anyways. Jaemin’s soft chuckle added to the sensation growing between your legs and you would have rubbed them together if Jaemin’s bust weren’t there, so close to your core yet so far away. “Ask me nicely,” he ordered. You bit your lower lip and looked up at him, trying to flirt back, maybe making Jaemin weak the way he was making you feel. But the boy’s smile never flattered. “Do you not want to kiss me?” you fluttered your eyelashes. Jaemin shook his head. “No.” “I want to kiss you so badly though,” you tried again. “Sounds like a you problem.” “Okay, so you’re not actually able to feel human emotions,” you dropped the sugary tone. “This is pretty human in my book,” he lowered his hips grinding on you, his hard cock making you jolt even through the layers of clothes. “I have to do what I want right? Then I want to fuck you until there’s no trace of that attitude left, but on my terms,” and you would have replied if Jaemin didn’t rise on his knees again, looking at you sprawled in front of him like a full meal and if his hands didn’t go to your waistband, unbuttoning your pants and roughly dragging them down. Your legs fell on the bed like dead weight after the jeans were thrown somewhere in the room. Jaemin got between them again but not to do what you hoped he would. Instead, he reached on the shelves behind you and you recognized the sound before seeing the object: a pair of shiny metal handcuffs. Your eyes widened at the sight and Jaemin chuckled. “You want me to tie you up?” you tried to joke, knowing damn well that they weren’t for his wrists. Jaemin ignored your useless question and handcuffed you, tugging at the chain connecting your hands, making you whine as he hooked it to a nail above your head. You looked up, blaming yourself for not noticing it sooner and shivered at the sudden realization that Jaemin had probably done it very often. A little fear of what he might do to you crept in the back of your mind but instead of spreading panic through your body, it spread a wave of pleasure, collecting itself in a single pulsating point between your legs. “Tell me the truth. It’s the first time you’re not the one tied to the bed, right?” you teased him. “No, but it does look like it’s your first time, isn’t it, love?” his eyes were sweet and kind, the usual look Jaemin would give you in the morning or before going to bed, yet it changed in a second as he calmly slipped his fingers on your hips, getting under your panties and dragging them down your thighs. He twirled them around his finger a few times, the tip of his tongue moisturizing his dry lips as he drank in the view of your spread legs. “You’re not taking off this?” you tried to drift his attention to your face instead, shimming your bust as to indicate what you were talking about, suddenly very shy of you being so exposed to him and definitely not used to the look on his face. But Jaemin didn’t budge. He still stared where he wanted, as if almost caressing you with his gaze as he replied. “It would be a shame. That’s my hoodie, isn’t it? Tell me,” he got closer, hovering over you, finally looking at you in the eyes, making you regret that he wasn’t looking away as before, “does it still have my perfume on? Were you thinking about me today just as you touched yourself that time while wearing it?” he purred and chuckled at your shocked expression. “This apartment has very thin walls, angel. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll tell you my little secret as well, yeah?” You nodded breathlessly. “I was fucking my fist to your pretty moans as well, thinking about your sweet lips wrapped around my cock,” he rubbed his thumb on your lower lip, making you open your mouth as if about to kiss you, then smirked. “What about you? Were you thinking about this-” he let his hand fall from your face down your body until reaching between your legs, touching your wet core with two fingers, dragging them up and down slowly. You jolted, inhaling sharply at the feeling, eyes unable to stay open. “-or maybe this?” his voice was a whisper as his fingertips circled your clit, snapping a whine out of you. His shiny necklace was dangling in front of your face, then it laid on your chest as he got closer and pressed his lips on your neck, sucking your skin in, playing with it with his tongue. “Was it perhaps this?” he spoke again as he easily slipped his middle finger inside of you. The wet sounds of him pumping your pussy made you even more aroused and it probably had the same effect on Jaemin since a little low growl roared in his chest. He slipped another finger in. “Do you hear it? So wet and all for me,” his hot breath ghosted your ear. “Jaemin, please,” you mumbled, the building up sensation keeping you on the edge but not enough to grow to what your gut needed. Jaemin raised his bust and sat down on his heels with a cocky smile, looking at the way his fingers disappeared inside you, glistening with your juices. “You’re in no position to ask for anything, angel,” he reminded you calmly. “But I appreciate the please. Now, let’s learn to say thank you as well, shall we?” You whined, rocking your hips against his hand, urging him to go faster. The boy raised an eyebrow at your eagerness and let himself down on his elbows between your legs. “Do you want to feel my tongue?” “Yes, yes, please,” you replied, all of your pride out of the window. “Like this?” he licked your inner thigh. You protested and it only made Jaemin more amused. “Sorry, like this?” he drew a line on one of your lips, so close yet so far. “Jaemin, I’ll fucking make you pay,” you spoke through your teeth and Jaemin clicked his tongue as if disappointed, retrieving his fingers from you and leaving you all empty. “No, no, no,” you wailed, eyes wide staring at him. “What was that? Did I hear some-” he cupped his ear with one hand in a playful act, “-attitude?” “Shit, Jaemin, you said you’re going to fuck the attitude out of me, yet here you are, not doing anything to me.” Jaemin’s smile disappeared in a second leaving space for a dark expression. Usually, he would have continued to smile, but this Jaemin was a different person. “Oh, be careful what you wish for, angel,” he whispered and dove into your core, not leaving you a single second to breathe in properly. You moaned hard feeling his quick tongue, curling your toes and tugging at the handcuffs keeping your arms painfully above your head. “Oh oh- fuck me,” and he did it, lapping at your wetness, fingers shoved back inside of you, quick to find your sweet spot thanks to your increasing moans guiding his movements. His name on your whiny lips probably made him insane since he started to move even quicker, so quick to make you arch your back, not stopping even when you started to uncontrollably shake, coming all over his tongue. Your legs tried to get together but Jaemin didn’t agree with that, slapping your thighs away his with free hand and diving back in, sucking on your clit as if nothing happened. You cried out and mumbled something about stopping but Jaemin didn’t accept anything besides the safe word. Deaf to your protests, he ravaged you until hearing your loud whimpers again, this time shaking so hard that the bed frame moved with you, your wrists hurting as you tugged at the handcuffs again. Only then Jaemin lifted himself on his knees again, breathless, your juices wetting his lips and chin, a thin layer of sweat matting his fringe to the forehead. “How are we feeling, baby?” he grabbed the collar of his t-shirt and undressed himself, revealing one of the best bodies you’ve seen in real life. Unable to speak, still coming down from your high, you just stared at him, fucked numb, and he still didn’t even put his cock to good use yet. “Good,” Jaemin seemed satisfied as he caressed his abs, going down to the waistband of his grey sweats with a slow movement. He teased you like that for a second, loving the way your eyes were trained on his hard one. “You want it?” he asked with a smirk, palming it and outlining its form. “Yes,” you managed to say. Jaemin clicked his tongue. “You’re back to speaking now. Better do something about it,” he commented and took off his bottoms alongside his boxers. In a single movement, your legs were around his waist and the tip of his cock was tasting your entrance. Jaemin moved it up and down with his hand, spreading your abundant juices on it, making you almost whimper with expectation before finally filling you up slowly with a deep grunt. And you felt every centimetre of it, stretching you out, making the air leave your lungs in the same moment until you felt it hit far inside where no cock has possibly touched before. “Shit-” Jaemin whispered as you moaned, slowly making more space inside your tight walls by swiftly rolling his hips. He didn’t need to keep the pace low for a long time though as you quickly adjusted to his girth, high pitched pleasure whimpers leaving your rough throat instead of pained ones. Jaemin swore again, thrusting every time faster, grabbing your legs and putting them on his shoulders, hitting it from a better angle. "Louder, baby. I want to hear your moans." You bit your lower lip, the remnants of your brattiness lingering on your tongue. "Then make me moan, Jaemin-," and in that second you realized that you've fucked up. Jaemin descended in a breath, making your thighs touch your chest, one of his hands deeply pressed into the pillow, the other tightened around your throat. He was quick. Oh, he was so quick you felt like you were about to go blind. "Like this? Huh?" the creak of the bed and the slapping of the skin almost covering his teeth spoken questions. When you came you felt your eyes roll back and Jaemin finally let you inhale, oxygenating your fucked out brain. Little pleas slipped your trembling lips, imitating your shaking muscles. But Jaemin didn't stop until you felt his hot cum spurting deep inside of you, making you clench hard around him, finally hearing his choked moans as well. His hips moved and moved until you begged. “Jaemin, Jaem- I can’t, I can’t take this anymore." “You know what to say, angel. A single word and I’ll stop,” he reminded you. You bit your lower lip, staring at him in the eyes. “Oh, so you like it that much, huh? Like - a - little - slut," he accompanied each of his last four words with a deep thrust. "Your tight little pussy can’t take it anymore but you still want it, isn’t that right, princess? You like to be used like this, just as I please. You’re filled up so much that it’s dripping out, baby. Would you let me use your other pretty holes as well?” “Fuck, Jaemin, you’re driving me crazy,” you whined, a few warm tears collecting to the sides of your eyes. “Oh, my baby is crying because it’s that good? Do you love it? You want more of my cock, right?” he cooed sweetly. “Yes, yes, please,” you squirmed underneath him. “No,” he shook his head amused slipping out of your hot pussy, slapping your clit with his tip. You jolted and tugged at the handcuffs. Jaemin smiled and jerked his cock between your legs. "Oh, fuck," his voice darkened as his fingers wrapped his glistening cock, fucking himself while looking at your abused pussy. He was so hot, with strands of wet hair to hide his eyes, open red lips to let out deep grunts and his abs flinching when his thumb would press into the tip of his cock that a little whine escaped your lips. "Give it to me." Jaemin looked up at your begging face with a smirk, hand not slowing down at all. "Where do you want it?" You let your tongue out and you could visibly see the moment during which Jaemin forced a moan down his throat. In a second your arms were down and you sighed relieved as he silently unlocked the handcuffs. But you didn't live that pleasurable moment for long that your bruised wrists were grabbed again to make you stand up on your knees in front of him. Jaemin looked at your face for a short while, almost tenderly, eyes darting from your eyes to your lips, before he gripped your head and forced your on all fours, his other hand keeping his cock aligned to your face. You whimpered at the sudden movement but opened your mouth, looking up at Jaemin, waiting for him to do whatever he wanted to you. And he did just that. A choked moan vibrated up his length as he thrust on your tongue, making you taste yourself and his cum at once. Jaemin hummed once then whined, stopping the air inside his nose as if choking before releasing it with through his open mouth and it was so sexy that you desired to listen to his sounds forever. And they got louder as you bobbed your head, his hands loosely gripping your face before palming your shoulders and back, going further until reaching your ass and grabbing it, kneading your soft flesh, shoving himself even further inside your throat. Overstimulated, it took him less time to cum the second time and you loved it how briefly at your mercy he was when you let his cock out, a little string of saliva connecting your tongue to his tip, jerking him off until feeling his seed paint your face. "So fucking hot, fuck-," he groaned, staring down at your expression until you milked him all up. 

Both breathless you just looked at each other until a little smile broke on your lips. He followed suit and chuckled, one trembling hand searching for his t-shirt to clean you up. 

"Wait," he said when you sat up,  putting one finger to your cheek and sucking it clean. 

"Delicious," you raised one eyebrow. "Yeah, I bet," Jaemin replied sarcastic one hand sliding on your jaw while the other cleaned up your cheeks. You closed your eyes with a smile and waited for him to be done, not expecting the little peck he places on your lips. 

When you opened your eyes surprised, Jaemin continued to pat your skin as if nothing happened. 

"What was that?" you inquired. 

The boy blinked at you innocently. "You had something on your lips."

Your smile grew. "And it's all off now? I think there's some left. Wanna check?" 

Jaemin let the t-shirt go on the side in that instant and kissed you deeply, almost making you fall on your back. It was soft and careful, yet so intense that if you wouldn't have felt so spent it would have turned you on again. And maybe you still could go on for a while because when Jaemin tilted your head to the side and circled your tongue with his, you could have sworn that the heat between your legs came back stronger than ever. 

"Wait here," he whispered on your skin and got up, letting you admire the back view until he disappeared outside the room. 

With a deep sigh, you let yourself fall on the bed again, stretching your sore muscles, the realization that you've just had some mad sex slowly creeping in. 

When Jaemin came back you were almost drifting to sleep, lulled by the sound of the rain. 

"Come." A little whine rolled out of your lips as you opened your eyes again. Jaemin smiled looking at you for a few moments before sliding his arms under your knees and waist. 

"Jaemin, wait, no-," you jolted awake but not being able to do anything besides wrapping your arms around his neck. "You can't carry me-," but he shushed you and in a few moments you were already in the bathroom, the hot water still filling the bathtub. 

He put you down and held your waist when you realized your legs were still wobbly and helped you step inside the soapy water. When he followed suit, placing himself behind you and pulling you towards him, you felt your cheeks on fire. 

"You alright?" he whispered, hands already trained on your body, massaging your body softly. 

You nodded and inhaled sharply as he traced your bust with two fingers, going down between your legs. "Jaemin-," your thighs closed around his wrist while your face pressed on his bicep to your left. 

His soft chuckle brushed against your temple. "I'm not doing anything. Just cleaning you out," he had the courage to say. When you arched your back he retrieved his hand and grabbed a soft loofah. With gentle and careful strokes, he passed it on your skin starting from the chest and shoulders then going down on your torso, giving a little bit too much attention to your breasts. Too turned on but also embarrassed about him washing you up, you could just stare at the way the bubbly water dripped on your skin and when he ordered you to turn around, you couldn't bear to look at him in the eyes. Hands on our ankles, as you rested your back to the other side of the tub, he worked your legs up slowly, enjoying the view and your shy expression maybe too much. 

"You're so beautiful," he commented in a low, playful tone and you felt like asking him to get you off for the nth time that night. 

Perhaps it showed on your face or maybe he could read minds, but when he reached your inner thighs, he let he loofah float and touched you with his fingers, pulling you towards him until you straddled his lap. 

"The bet is off now. You can insult me just like before," he smirked while his fingers made their way between your aching folds. 

The breath you inhaled was shaky and you had to press your forehead against his, your hands restless on his wet shoulders. 

"I wasn't like that because of the bet," you confessed and Jaemin's pupils visibly trembled while his lips curved in a little smile. "And I'm not like this now because of it either."

A low sound vibrated in Jaemin's chest before he whispered against your open mouth. 

"So you saying that you're actually a good girl?" 

You nodded, unable to speak as the boy's fingers picked up the pace on your clit. 

"I know," he placed a peck on the corner of your mouth, "you're such a good girl," a peck on your jaw, "especially for me" a peck on your neck. 

You exhaled with a whine and let your head fall back, digging your nails into his skin, finally being able to touch him as you've wanted to do before. Jaemin took the opportunity to let his lips descend to your nipples, sucking them inside the warmth of his mouth, twirling the buds with his wet tongue until it was unbearable for you to not moan his name uncontrollably. 

Your body was all mush when you came again with an almost scream, pulling his head against your chest until his fingertips left your throbbing clit and traced your thigh, going around it and palming your ass. When you finally unclenched your arms from around his neck, he looked up from between the swell of your breasts with a soft giggle. 

"Sorry," you mumbled but he shook his head, a kind of adoration in his eyes that you've never seen before. 

"I loved it-," he started but stopped abruptly afterwards, as if not wanting to let the words aching on his tongue to roll freely. 

You sat down deeper on his thighs until your eyes were at the same level. 

"And?" you touched his chest slowly, fingers still trembling from the high. 

He swallowed, mind running at an incredibly high speed reflected in his suddenly troubled eyes. 

"And I think that-- fuck, I might love you as well." 

Oh. 

It made your whole body shake again. 

Jaemin noticed and you wondered what kind of expression you had on to make him look so worried all of a sudden. 

"Is it too much? Too soon?" he cupped your face with one hand.  

You couldn't look him in the eyes. "I don't know-- I just-" 

Jaemin shushed you. "It's alright. You don't have to do or say anything."

You shook your head and raised your gaze. "I just- I really want to let myself go and believe it."

The boy stayed silent for a moment as if wondering what his next words should be and you hated it. Nights and nights of talking freely with him made you understand how refreshing it was to be yourself and not walk on eggshells around people. And you knew that Jaemin felt the same. Seeing him now, delicate fingers on your skin as if afraid to break you, made your heart ache.  

"You care too much, Jaemin. Don't worry about me like this. We've talked about it."

Jaemin briefly licked his lower lip. "How can I not care about you when no one has cared about you before?" 

And you choked on the amount of tears that suddenly made your vision blurry.  

The boy pulled you towards him and you rested your forehead on his shoulder. "I know," he talked with a shaky voice, "I know I'm too kind and all that stuff and everything you've said is true, I need to change for my own sake, but-," his arms held you even more tightly, "not when it comes to you. I want to be like that with you. And I'm going to change, yes, I'll say no and refuse to do things people ask of me if this is what you want."

His words didn't make your sobs slow down but you raised your face and touched his cheeks. 

"Then I want you to care about yourself the way you care about me, Jaemin." 

"I care about myself now, because you care about me." 

You chuckled. "That's still doing stuff for other people." Jaemin smiled and stroked your under eye with his thumbs. "It's not for other people. It's for you. Because I love you, Y/N." 

You bit your lower lip as a new tide of tears announced their way. 

“I never said I care about you though,” your lower lip trembled after you let it go. “You don’t have to say it.” “I hate you.” “Yeah,” he kissed your lips. “And I don’t like cuddles and I don’t like breakfast.” “Yeah,” he kissed you again. 

And again. 

Until you didn’t let him go anymore and he was sure of being loved back. 

[sladewilsonisanantihero]

The Original Intent of Terra and how Deathstroke got the bad end of the stick for it

Okay, Deathstroke Children (Idk what to call you guys because fellow Deathstrokers would end this conversation immediately), I found the time to do this, so let's get to it!

(Note: My original laptop broke with my comics, so I have no images to spare, so it will be sourced. Another note: Many words will be in bold. Partly so that for those reading will not lose track.)

But if tl;dr:

Cold Hard Truth: Everyone from Terra fans to Deathstroke fans needs to stop seeing these characters as real people.

Original Terra wasn't human trafficked or whatever sob story people want to label her with. The CREATORS intended her to be written as Evil without the mental illness and to die for the shock value. They had Raven, The Literal Empath, spell this out in Judas Contract. As for Deathstroke's involvement, he was shoved into her creation story, and Marv Wolfman himself recognized his mistake in doing that.

And for those calling Deathstroke a nazi, Original Terra had nazi-like beliefs where common people should fear and serve them or be killed off just because they're 'special'. Again, BLUNTLY stated in the Judas Contract. So if you're going to call Deathstroke a Pedophile, we'll call OG Terra a Neo-Nazi. (But I highly advice for Deathstroke Fans to not start that kind of war, but I had to say what I had to say.)

Don't get me wrong. (Hopefully all) Deathstroke fans know that their relationship was wrong just like Marv Wolfman, and we do not support pedophiles! But Slade isn't a pedophile! He was never intended to be written as one! It was a mistake made on many levels and should be rewritten like OG Terra's Evil Neo-Nazi-like personality, instead of being thrown into cancel culture.

Also for Deathstroke fans, don't get upset over their content and begin any argument emotionally. Just enjoy whatever good content we can get and support it if you can. Hopefully we'll get our Deathstroke movies and so on!

So I've briefly chatted with one of you over the matter with Terra/Tara Markov and how upsetting it is about how people refer to Slade Wilson as a Pedophile. That is a serious accusation that would make it very uncomfortable to argue about since it can easily make it seem like we justify the actions of pedophiles, and that we are part of pedophile culture that does exist in social media space.

AND WE SHOULDN'T, AND FOR ANTIS READING THIS WE WON'T.

But there was a time when I used to have a blog called friendlyremindersofsladewilson, where I defended Slade and put the blame all on Terra. I was 14 at the time, and looking back at it, I am not proud of it because I realized now as an adult how I defended it for most of the wrong reasons, but still stand with the fact that SLADE IS NOT A PEDOPHILE.

And since this took place when I was so young, it compelled me to write this post because I fear some of you are really young, too, and may end up in this regretful position.

So to make it clear, what Slade had been written to do is a crime, and we should acknowledge it, but not in the way as if it was a crime acted out in real life.

What I mean by that is that there's a clear separation between fiction and reality where one isn't real (Duh!). In this case, it's about the mistakes made between fiction and reality. In reality, mistakes made by the person responsible is on the person. In fiction, mistakes made is dependent on the creator's intent, and sometimes the creators can make mistakes themselves.

Most notably Terra's:

Tara Markov/Terra was created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez.

In Marv Wolfman's literal website, he stated in his online "What the-?" column:

"Which leads to Terra. That was easy. George and I wanted a Titan who betrayed the others. we also wanted to play against every reader conception of who characters are. George and I knew her whole story before we began and we knew she would die. We set the story up with her trying to destroy the Statue of Liberty to show she was the bad girl, but we knew if George drew her as a cute kid everyone would simply assume she would be ‘turned’ from the dark side because that’s the way it was always done which is why that wouldn’t be the way we did it. Tara was insane an stayed that way right until the moment she died. By the way, she IS dead. I don’t know what other writers will do with her – if anything – but if they want to honor the original series they will leave her dead. The Terra from Team Titans was – as stated – some kid the villain kidnapped and physically and mentally altered her into looking and acting like the original. But she was NEVER the real Terra."

And it should also be noted that he stated before this statement that:

"...Only mistake I think I made with him is having him have a physical relationship with the 16 year old Tara Markov. That was wrong."

So Marv Wolfman himself recognizes that what he did was a mistake, but his intent on Terra was never to write a victim.

And quick note: Insanity isn't written as a mental illness here. It's written like how many villains are labeled as insane for having skewed beliefs that deviates from the common good.

Terra truly had some nazi-like beliefs where she BELIEVED that everyone who wasn't 'special' like her and the Teen Titans deserved to be treated like shit because they weren't 'special' like them. She bluntly said it herself in the Judas Contract.

As for George Perez's comment in an interview I found in this website:

"GEORGE: Tara was just a cute little girl, although I based a little bit of that on my wife Carol’s sister, Barbara. A little upturned nose… Barbara does not have the teeth that Tara had. I wanted Tara to be a girl who looked normal. Which also means her death caught everyone even more offguard.

Tara, she was made to be killed; she served her purpose. That was it.

ANDY: You didn ‘t get any attachment to Tara?

GEORGE: No, because I knew we were going to kill her. So I deliberately used all the things to make her as likeable and cute as possible, so people would never believe we were going to kill a sixteen-year-old. And she was a sixteen-year-old sociopath. She was one of our cleverest gimmicks; we deliberately created her in order to lead everyone astray. So we couldn’t build any fondness for her, ’cause we knew full well what her whole motive for existence was. Her existence was basically to keep the stories interesting; we were tossing a curve that no one would have expected.

ANDY: You didn ‘t even love to hate her, huh?

GEORGE: No. I loved handling her, because she was such a good idea. But she was an idea. Not as much a person. She was there to show exactly how much their humanity can be one thing they have to be careful about, the Teen Titans have to be careful about. . . they can be too trusting, or their own weaknesses can be used against them."

Terra was supposed to be a representation of An Evil Betrayal of Trust and That Not All Cute Girls Are Good.

But they took it too far by making her sleep with Deathstroke because they wanted to truly make her look evil by literally sleeping with the enemy. Y'know because this was the 80s, and women having sex was an evil act back then, and that point of view has somewhat or barely improved 40 years later.

Deathstroke was just shoved into this idea, and Marv tried and perhaps failed at trying to undo this mistake with his talk with Beastboy (Tales of the Teen Titans issue #55) and before his confrontation from Wintergreen (Deathstroke (1991); Chapter 35).

So just as I had stated at the top in the tl;dr, it was a mistake made on many levels and should have been rewritten out just as many had done with OG Terra's true personality, and be done with it.

Random person: "He still slept with a 16-year-old."

And it's not that hard to make other heroes and villains do this mistake. Because again, it's all fiction. Deathstroke's fictional. As in Not Real, so we could literally undo the damage by rewriting this mistake. Or make it worse by making Terra the rapist by her using her Earth powers to bind Slade down and force him, and you can't deny that it's plausible. Because she's fictional. Anything can happen. So why didn't Slade tell Beastboy whether he slept with her or not, maybe it was because he really didn't want to but he was forced into it. And that's just something you can't dump on a very emotional man who was trying to kill you a moment ago.

ALL THE POSSIBILITIES BECAUSE IT'S FICITIONAL!

But ANYWAY, I went way too dark there.

Ending on a brighter note: Personally to all Deathstroke fans, please value your mental health, please don't start any arguments that'll compromise it, and continue supporting Deathstroke in whatever way you can!