#And the whole thing started because this guy wanted to exploit the victim of a freak accident for views

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

Uh… sorry about your boyfriend. He was bitten by a spider… yeah, we had to amputate his leg… But we also taught him how to swim and fight to the death; he’s a pro at it!

[neuronary]

concept: steddie florist/tattoo artist au with a side of no upside down

obviously eddie is the tattoo artist and steve is the florist. he and robin started working at the local florist after family video finally shut down (admittedly it made literally no money the entire time they worked there) and third time lucky, because it finally stuck. when the old lady that owned the florist died with no family to speak of, she left the two of them the shop and the apartment above it.

 robin never ended up going to college, despite having the equivelent of a linguistics degree in knowledge anyway, which was always a contentious issue between steve and robin. (she doesn't give a flying fuck how much he believed in her; she was barely scraping 'B's throughout her high school career and college was never in the cards for her.) so they stuck around in hawkins. they watched the kids graduate (and endured a ridiculous amount of teasing from said kids over the whole florist thing), they grew up into proper grown ups who did taxes, and they grew an enormous garden in the mean time.

and then 1993 rolls around and a tattoo parlour opens up down the street. which. huh. sure. not something either of them would have expected, but hawkins has gained a pretty significant goth tourist population given the whole 'cursed' thing ("it's not exploitative if the 'creepy' pressed flower frames are profiting off of our own trauma, dingus") so maybe it'll work out for the guy, who knows. and then steve bumps into said guy while doing the daily sandwich run and robin did not warn him that he was hot. which is because robin is a little bit preoccupied with the fact that her second (and least embarrassing) high school crush, chrissy cunningham, is back in town following the death of her mother, and has somehow become even more of a fucking smokeshow and did steve see that violets pin on her jacket does that mean what robin thinks it means holy shit steve holy shit. and cue them both being gay disasters.

chrissy hightailed it out of hawkins the second she graduated, which everyone assumed was because of the whole creel debacle. whilst she still keeps in contact with the other victims (patrick sends her letters from his apartment in chicago, max calls from california every so often, fred, may he rest in peace, occupies her nightmares), she avoids any mention of hawkins like the plague. people will stare no matter where she is, wondering about what could have happened to leave her looking the way she does. but chrissy has always been a smiler, and that goes a long way to making friends in a big city. new york started out lonely and expensive but she slowly, painstakingly found her people in the greenwich village. in 1993, after seven years of screening her calls and refusing to speak to her mother, the call finally comes. she’s dead. it’s really over. now she just has to plan a funeral and figure out how to feel about that. she always thought she’d have more time but the cards didn’t fall that way.

eddie needed to get out and start his own shop, after finally feeling like he actually knew what he was doing and, well. his uncle wayne is getting on in years, and disgraced queers have to stick together right? so eddie packs up his kit and his guitar and he moves back to hawkins. (he does not think fondly of his three year stint in high school there, fucking off to indy to start a band when he flunked senior year.) he sinks all his savings into a storefront on main street and sleeps in the back office because who’s gonna kick him out, exactly? and then it starts going... better than he expected, actually. there’s this gang of college twerps home for the summer that all want matching fucking demogorgons of all things, and the fiery redhead girl wants the hand and eye of vecna for god knows what reason. there is also, as he predicted, a steady flow of vacationing goths, conspiracy theorists, and true crime enthusiasts that want souvenirs inked into their skin. so eddie makes good money. at least that’s a balm for the undying shame and indignation he has over crushing on steve fucking harrington, king of the douchebags from hawkins high, now a stupid twunk-y florist with an easy smile and a thin, almost unnoticeable scar running across his stupid kissable lips.

it’s fine, eddie and steve both complain to their respective agony aunts. wayne grunts and goes back to sleep. robin invites chrissy up for some homegrown weed to take the edge off of the funeral prep.

[diaphin93]

Racial Allegory: The Quick guide on how to write The Whites as the true victims of racism

Okay, try to keep it quick here, I got this hitpiece shown to me and it dabbles into a topic I wanted to write about for a while: Racial Allegory

To make things super short, racial allegories can make for captivating and engaging narratives concerning bigotry and can often be a good narrative tool to subvert tropes and conventions in genres such as fantasy, sci-fi and horror, to analyze relations and depictions of fictional races under the lense of bigotry and marginalization.

The issue with the whole 'genre' of racial allegory is though, that it does very little to actually adress racial injustice and White Supremacy in real life, especially in the western world, as this would require a closer and more critical look into how our history, culture and social systems are shaped to benefit white people over people of color and how even to this moment, the western quality of life is entire build upon colonialism and the continuous exploitation of the global south.

More importantly and more problematically, racial allegory as a genre is highly centered around removing people of color, or in some cases also queer people, from stories about their own oppression project them on a cast of mostly whites and cisheterosexuals. Even in cases where racial allegory is utilized in a diverse cast, it is often used to defocus stories about oppression away from the people affected by them, by inserting liberal colorblindness onto human ethnicity. The X-Men started off as an allegory for the civil rights movement, yet its original cast was comprised of white mostly middle class teenagers, lead by a an upper class white man who owns his own private school. The very premise of the series takes inspiration from the struggle of the black community for equality and instead makes it a fantastical adventure about white kids. And lets not get started with the messy origins of Magneto as a character.

And don't get me wrong. I love the X-Men. They are my favorite Superhero series ever and I absolutely adored X-Men 97. They are great and they are capable of telling good stories about opression, marginalization and resistance. Magneto is my all time favorite Marvel Character and one of my favorite characters in fiction period. And potentially they can be a good starting point to teach younger people their first lesson in concepts such as bigotry and tolerance, but we are all adults here, and I think at some point there is something wrong with grown up people to whom the X-Men are still their first point of reference when it comes to making a point about bigotry.

Because the problem with the concept of the X-Men is exactly of what the original poster brought up here: They fall apart under any closer critical evaluation, because yeah, they are actual dangerous. We wouldn't want in our real lives people who are capable of copying in every detail, up to the intimate, who can cause rapidly changing climate conditions, mess around with he earths entire magnetic fields or infiltrate and manipulate our very mind at a whim running around without any accountability and oversight. You know with what butwhatifidothis surely would agree? That we don't want people to have the means of commiting mass murder at any public location without any regulations, control and oversight. I'm talking of course about gun control here. What we also don't want surely is people being able to change the climate around us for whatever personal benefit they deem fit, to invade our privacy and gain access to our most personal information, to incorperate our image in any context on very public plattforms or be able to kill any innocent civilian without any means to stop them.

These exist in real life of course. They're giants of industry, tech companies, people who creat deepfakes and any police officer, armed redneck standing his ground or white Karen calling the guy on a black guy in a park. And this is really where such racial allegories fall flat, because minorities in real life are not those who wield this form of unchecked power against their environment, but those who get targeted by it and protest to stop it, to creat checks and balances.

X-Men ultimately is build around never thinking too deeply about the implications and just accept the premise, to engage with the fantasy of superheroes who are the underdogs fighting against oppression and for social acceptance. They live off of ignoring the bad optics of, for example, a white girl lecturing a black man about oppression. Becoming too immersed on them on the other hand, to obsessed with their initial premise, too uncritical of it, leads to some fairly bad understanding of bigotry and marginalization, to the point where one basically becomes obsessed with contextualizing those who hold power as the oppressed against the weak, impotent masses. You start at X-Men and end at The Incredibles, of which the randian subtext has already been well enoug discussed.

Going back to Fire Emblem here, away from X-Men, there is already a fairly objectivist fantasy present in the people who make Nabateans their primary racial allegory. Lets not ignore the problematic aspect, that the game doesn't really do racial allegory. It does racism, targeted at people of color, with the most violent examples being commited by the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus and with Claude, a mixed race man, having already confirmed it to be the result of the churches doctrine of xenophobia. Instead of getting invested in this though, people like OP focus on the Nabateans as their primary racial allegory. A group of immortal dragons with power beyond any human, who are the offspring of an alien dragon goddess and who used to rule humanity as deities. And who are, of course, depicted as whiter than white, their differenciating traits being elvish ears and mostly light green hair which, lets be honest, would be understood analogous to blonde hair if it wasn't explicitely shown to us to be special, considering the presence of colors such as blue and pink as regular hair colors in the setting. Ignatz and Linhardt even have green hair without being ever framed as looking anything out of the ordinary, lol.

And I think it becomes fairly self-explaining here. There is something deeply randian about hyperfocussing on a race of superhuman immortals who frame themselves as superior and with the duty of leading the weaker, dumber, mundane masses as someones primary racial allegory. Because it becomes immediately muddy. Rheas entire outlook on humanity and her role in relation to it is never one of equal co-existance, it is practically her claiming the white dragons burden, as horrible as it sounds. And many of her defenders among the Edelcrit community take exactly this stance as a moral good, which is inheritly problematic. I'm talking about people such as butwhatifidothis, gascon, randomnameless and fantasyinvader, Boofire too if we want to include youtubers.

There edgy "humanity can't be trusted and is inheritly incapable of controlling itself" position is not progressive. Its deeply elitist. It is ultimately a reflection of contempt towards the common masses. It is the act of primarily immersing oneself with those who stand above those supposedly unenlightened masses and taking the position, that they are incapable of governing oneself. And the act of hyperfocussing on constructing a racial allegory around it, it also means to immerse oneself into the idea that those born with powerful are the most victimized and marginalized group in society by the inferior, who want to take away their rightful positions of leadership and power. It is also sadly one I feel like is highly encouraged by the Blue Lions route in general, by its decission to focus mostly on the way those born with crests into nobility are mistreated and envied by those without them, probably by accident encouraging those kinds of randian implications.

And as a disclaimer, I'm not saying here that one can't chose the Nabateans as ones favorite and feel deeply sympathetic and empathetic around their plight, because this is one is real real as well. They were victims of a genocide orchestrated by Agarthans in their attempt of getting vengeance against the Goddess Sothis for their own destruction, they had their blood stolen and their bodies defiled by bandits who wanted to claim their power for themselves and uplift themselves to the status of rulers. They are deeply human and their depth comes from the fact, that they deal with trauma in very flawed, very human ways. The issue comes from viewing the Nabateans as both sympathetic victims but also inheritly superior beings with Rhea being framed as justified in the oppressive systems that are the root cause of the majority of issues inside of Fodlan. Something the games text supports. Their Crimson Flower ending describes Byleth as ending the Tyranny of a Godlike being. In comparison, the Azure Moon Version speaks about crushing the Ambitions of the Empire. Rheas own S-Support has her admit her guild and be remorseful for it, the ending card speaks about her rehabilitating the church.

So in the end, yeah, hyperfocussing on racial allegory over actual depictions of racism centering people of color can be problematic, they often have messed up implications and require just accepting the premise and alot of people are really into imagining themselves to be both the superior elite but also the underdog.

[bananamarshmallowz]

Where else would I rant?

This is my rant/review for Baby Reindeer. I binged it all today. (It's currently like 1 and I'm running on dr. pepper and skittles. I didn't edit this, don't came at me lmao)

It goes without saying that spoilers, SA (sexual abuse), stalking, and more are mentioned in the series and here as well.

Viewer discretion is advised.

Being based off a true story and being dark, I had to see what I was missing. It's autobiographical and that's part of why I think it's so well done. I definitely recommend watching some interviews afterwards. This one is the first I saw. And this was the second. It's all so surreal.

This is hands down, one of the best shows of all time. 

First off, it's not here to exploit money or more seasons out of anyone, unlike endless series today.  It's to share their stories. Yup, I said their stories. If it were all about him, it wouldn't show other people, would it? Second, it's a series that took ten years of his life to put together. He's a brilliant guy and one quote that's stuck with me, "I think my fear of making disingenuous art is greater than people judging me."

I've read some of the one-star reviews, and full offense; It's gone over heads. Some people go so far as to say he deserved it...  I don't have a response for them other than, did you watch the same show I did?

There are countless people who have been groomed and raped and abused by their partners and strangers alike. And some people still say "they deserved it." They revolt me.

He didn't make it for him to be the victim. He made it to be honest. (This is where some of the rant comes in) Think of it like this: you find comfort and solace in this person. They help you in your dream job, dream everything, they're a dream. They give you all you want and more, who are you to say no. You want to pay them back in anyway you can, but it isn't questioned until abuse or something similar happens. That's the only way you can pay them back, you hate yourself and your very skin and you want to clean every inch of you but you can't scrub that deep. So you keep going back to them because they give you comfort and everything you want. Until, in most cases, you've been broken. That's what being groomed is.

Bullshit to all the one star reviewers, "Gross I hated the fourth episode" That's the fucking point you single-celled-organism. You're not supposed to like it. It's supposed to be gross and filthy because it is. Grooming and raping another being is disgusting and abhorrent. It's not supposed to be enjoyable. It's supposed to show how nauseated and how confused he felt.

It deals with hard-to-talk-about topics and carries you through them like a rollercoaster. Because that's what SA is. It just happens and you can't control it. How it portrayed a bunch of feelings and things that don't get talked about enough is phenomenal. It's dark in the way that life is. Aggressive and passive, his feelings of struggling to cope with being a victim of rape, grooming, and stalking. It all crumples together. He never said it out loud until that moment on stage.

The acting, the script, and the filming are amazing! 

I will be honest, the first episode started so slowly, and I was wondering if that was going to be the whole series; I've seen a few that have been exactly that. It was a bit cringey and bite the lip embarrassing, but it was an honest to god hook.

I got hooked on the second episode. And things started falling into place; the story and how it was done were amazing. 

Third episode, you understand just how out of hand it could get and the weight of it.

Until episode 4. It takes us through before he was being stalked and I was not at all prepared for this episode. There is a warning on it, not on any other episodes and that stood out to me, when it's dark and only one episode has a warning on it, it's going to be DARK.

He is mentally struggling with all of it sitting in his head. He can't even describe it to others until he breaks down and it all spills out. We don't get to see any of the past yet until it is all revealed at the end.

That's why it's so beautiful in filming. It shows hardships and things people can't talk about.

It's beyond words for me; it was gorgeous. 

It all felt so real and that we were truly there with him. We were the audience, listening to his story, it took my breath away a few times.

After his breakdown, he goes and gets his dream gigs and people actually want to listen to his stuff.

Then when everything feels just right, he gets a call from his stalker, "how fucking dare you" "you're a fucking pig" a bunch of other insults and we sit in how scary it is, after months(?) of not being stalked to everything in under hours is overwhelming. She says something that really strikes him and he can't stand the thought of her going to his parents and telling them his deepest secrets.

He then goes and sits down with his parents, and he needs to tell them before anyone else does. The way Gadd portrays the feelings and raw emotion. Holy shit.

"-I didn't want you to think of me as less of me. you know, as a man-" "I just feel less of one, having let something like that happen to me."

"But you didn't let it happen. You weren't to blame."

His father's expression is still and his voice soft, "Would you see me as less of one?"

Made me sob violently.

The conflicting feelings it ended on describes life perfectly. We're all fucked up.

This is art. And Richard Gadd is a genius.

[lutawolf]

TharnType Episode 2

I received a lot of feedback asking me to not stop these reviews. I'm not shying away from the ugly or the toxic guys. I'm facing them head on and recognizing them, but that doesn't mean I can't still love the characters and their story. To quote @idlebeks "Toxic characters have an important place in fiction. They can act as vehicles of catharsis and self-examination" And there is nothing wrong with enjoying the show as you make these revelations. It's actually what makes these self revelations easier to take in.

So we left off with Tharn having crossed the line, but we cheered, cause revenge. And who hasn't wanted revenge? In the cold light of morning, we laugh because Type squeezes the shoulder as if it's a boob, but we have to admit this feels awkward. Not gonna lie, the first time I saw this, I laughed. But the look of horror and remembering he is an SA had me throw up. How conflicting is that! As an SA, I'm programmed to want revenge, but seeing the revenge on an SA has me pausing and stepping back.

Type pulls the blanket over his head and there is this need to laugh. Because a grown boy is hiding. But that grown boy has reverted back to the past when he was a boy with no way to fight and could only hide. Tharn calls him a coward. This is why Type is hypermasculine because anytime weakness is show it's used against him. Remember how Techno said that he was made fun of and asked if he'd been molested. Any time Type shows weakness, it's used. It's just like earlier this week, I was told anon that I wasn't really a survivor, they were trying to exploit what they perceived as a weakness. But I'm a survivor, not a victim, so I'm hella harder to hurt. Type is still a victim and his weaknesses are being exploited.

Tharn asks Type if he is crying, and Type says no and gets aggressive. He's putting that armor on. You can see that Tharn is feeling bad about what he did. We get some humor to combat all these emotions, and it really does help us to kind of take a break and breath. It's the humor of his butt hurting from falling off the bed to finding the hickeys.

I love the conversation between Techno and Type. Type is pissed because Techno left him, and honestly, I think that's valid. But Techno says, and I quote, "Stop right there! This whole thing is your fault. You got yourself drunk when you knew exactly who you were with." but I've never heard this part brought up and talked about. Most likely because Type is a male and not female. In Techno's book, he gets drunk, and he has sex with Kla, Kla being completely sober and taking advantage of Techno's drunken state. Afterward, Techno feels responsible and later Type will say, "How did this happen. I made sure you were safe and in your house." Type is with Tharn when Techno's book is written, but that moment had a significance to Type. He made sure to try and keep Techno from having the same experience as him.

But when he finds out that in Techno's drunken state, he crawled into the wrong bed. He repeats Techno's words back to him. Are you seeing the multifaucet of the author? This lets us know a few things, that this is likely a common thought process in Thailand. But she switched the script, making the person male, and few people caught and noticed. Then she went on to take revenge on the person who said this, and everyone was mad because they love Techno and things like this shouldn't happen. But they didn't originally feel that way when it was Type. I fucking love how deep MAME takes her books.

Type suddenly doesn't want to switch rooms. He has unfinished business with his roommate. Is it true, or is he feeling a draw? There is a thin line between love and hate sometimes. And we have another victim, and we see how differently two SA survivors can be. One putting on an armor of hate and the other hiding from the world, afraid.

Tharn starting to feel guilty. We see it in his long puppy dog face. Then Type eats his snacks. "I ate it. So what." We see Tharn bitch about this but then smile at the sticky note and keep it. This indicates that he intended for Type to eat the snacks. Was it to help with his guilt, or because he too is feeling a pull that he'd much rather deny?

The whole porn group chat was hilarious. I also like how all the girls were like ew, like girls don't like porn. To be fair, I hate porn, for very personal reasons, but I do like the porn from these shows. It's the romance, romance changes the whole dialect. Anyway, he's got his tissue box and is ready to go to town. And then the getting caught. Legendary. It's like that horrifying moment when you lose your bikini bottoms in the water and come up mooning everybody.

The next part literally had me leaning over and being sick, but let's talk about it. Type pushed too far and pushed Tharn into an anger that he couldn't come back from. Remember how I said hate can push people to do ugly acts. Type is strong, but right now his brain has him in two places at once and is telling him that he has the strength of that kid. You know why elephants can be held tied by just one rope on the foot? Because as a baby they tried and tried to break that rope and couldn't. Their spirit was broken, and now the grown adult elephant believes himself weak. Type can be brutal when faced with verbal attacks, but physical attacks take him back to being a boy and weak. It freezes him, and it's very hard to break free from. Are you guys starting to see why I say that MAME knows too much about victims and survivors. How many of you who aren't survivors understood any of this prior to my review?

Now that, I've been sick about three times. So Type is about to spiral into self-hate. "Why am I so weak, how could I let this happen again, why didn't I fight harder, why am I weak. Did this happen because I deserved it." Yeah, pretty nasty verbiage that goes on in our heads. This is why therapy is a fucking must. I also want to talk about if you were unbothered by that scene, and you are a survivor. It doesn't matter how you reacted to that scene, we all handle our survival differently. You don't go around hurting people. Let yourself off the hook for how your brain chooses to cope.

Tharn is finally starting to think. Flashing back and putting some things together. Notice he doesn't talk to his bestie the way Type talks to his. That suggest that on some level, Tharn knew not to trust him. After the flashback, Tharn decides not to stay to eat. We then see Type tossing and turning in bed. He's having PTSD nightmares. Actually, nightmares are one of the primary symptoms that help to achieve the diagnosis of PTSD, because they aren't just regular nightmares. They lock you into place. When it comes to PTSD nightmares, what you dream can be just as terrifying as the original event.

Tharn walks in on the nightmare. He is very lucky he was not hurt. In a dream state, we will fight back. I have punched my husband. I'm not kidding, I've really hurt my husband when I've been in the throes of a PTSD nightmare. Comfort is a necessity and something that Tharn freely gives. I'm gonna be honest. The slap was expected for me. Imagine waking up from a living nightmare and seeing the person responsible for you going back to that. "What the hell was that for? I helped wake you up!" Why do people incite a riot and then get mad when you riot? Neither one of them are guiltless. Which is why they are actually very perfect for each other.

See how hard Tharn verbally hits, "I was kind enough to help a grown man who is afraid of nightmares." He let his anger take over and allows him to say ugly things. That's the point, neither person is fully good or fully bad, but they are controlled by their extreme emotions. It's leading them to be people that neither one wants to be. "I'm not afraid of nightmares. Back off if you don't know anything." Tharn softly asks, "then what are you afraid of?" but Type is hurt, and he'll put on his armor of anger. "Nothing! I'm not afraid of anything." That hypermasculinity to hide that he has any weaknesses. Tharn once again soft but then his voice raises in the end with his frustration, "do you expect me to believe that when you are trembling and crying. Stop being cocky." Completely unaware that he couldn't have said anything worse. They've both vicious cycle hurt each other with words, not yet willing to look at the other person's pain.

Fuck me guys! Do you really not see the beauty in this show? Type begins crying and holding himself. Doing self soothing gestures as he says, "I didn't ask for help." I'm not weak, I didn't ask for help. Therapy, people, therapy is the only way through this. We all wish there was a magical dick or pussy that can cure us. That's in part why we love this show, but it really can't.

We see Tharn looking into the mirror and the mix of emotions. A lot of times mirrors in art are used to reflect truths because mirrors can't tell a lie. The idea is that mirrors reflect a hidden truth, perhaps a window, a more realistic version of ourselves. The image that appears in a mirror can be thought of as being more revealing than surface appearance.

The stress has caused Type to become sick. Which happens, you have an anxiety attack with PTSD, it's like having a heart attack and can cause your body to overload. So yes, it is a real thing to stress yourself into being sick.

Techno calls a moody and sad puppy, Tharn, over to ask if Type is badly sick. Tharn offers to check on Type and steals the porridge from Techno. At this point, I think we can all safely assume that Tharn is gone on Type. Type is an asshole sure but before the whole gay reveal, they got along, they matched well. Then add in the fact that there are all these strong emotions flying around. Attractions were bound to happen, but Tharn is also a caretaker and Type is in need of caring. There are people who are naturally drawn to co-dependency.

Tharn takes care of Type as he has a fever and seeing the puppy dog Type does him in. You can see it happening. He started to feel the attraction at the soft and vulnerable Type, even if he doesn't want to admit it, and seeing it while he is sick is making the attraction stronger. Here is the thing. Type needs this. Type left the Island and his parents to get away. Whose really taken care of him? He clearly hasn't had therapy. He is starved for real love and affection, but he is too afraid of being called weak. They honestly are brilliantly imperfectly perfect for each other. And that's all us survivors want, we want someone to get past our walls and love us despite the ever present thorns.

Techno says it best when he agrees to not tell Type about Tharn nursing. "You two are equally weird." Type keeps questioning who cared for him because he is extremely smart. In the book this is brought up a lot, he is book and street smart. He knows it wasn't Techno that took care of him. Type pretends to be asleep when Tharn checks him for a fever, and Tharn calls him on it. Again, we get that comic relief. When things are too tense, we get something to help us take a moment.

Did you happen to notice them talk about Kla in the part where Techno and Type are playing video games. Techno's brother comes in with snacks from Kla who got them in Japan, and he hands the whole bag to Techno. Now if your best friend gave you snack from Japan, you just gonna give them away to your brother? Well yes, if your said best friend tells you to because he has a massive crush on your said brother. You guys think Type is bad, Kla is bad. Kla don't give a shit about nobody but Techno. He will use and abuse for Techno's attention. The only thing that keeps him in check is Type and his fear of him.

Techno is not as innocent as you guys think. He purposely lets slip that Tharn took care of him to Type. Remember me saying that Techno is the neutralizer here. That you get the truth from him. Three sides to everything, well Techno is the third as the truth. He tells Type, "Why didn't you realize it was the person you hate, your enemy, that cared for you because you know that's not me." Basically telling Type how great Tharn his and that he was well aware that it was Tharn that took care of him, but he didn't want to admit it. "If it had been me, you would have ended up in the hospital. Tharn is the right guy for this kind of stuff." He is telling us that Tharn is a caretaker.

One act of kindness did what anger could not do. It got through. Is Type a completely changed or better person. Not yet, but that true act of kindness created a crack. Where anger and hatred just created more divide. There are reasons why you can't match hatred with hatred. Story time. I grew up with someone who would later be an infamous killer, I won't say who, otherwise it will lead you right to where I live. Suffice it to say when I found out he had been executed, I cried like a fucking baby. And guys, I don't cry. But this person who had hurt, so many, was one of the few people to treat me with incredible kindness when I was harassed in school. Maybe if more people had shown him kindness, like he had shown me. Then maybe we both could have been saved. When the urge to hate happens. I think of that. I don't know what someone else is going through or what burden they are carrying, and could my one act of kindness to their hate be the ripple effect.

I sometimes debate on if I get to person. I do it because for me this is part live journal and writing. When I write a review, I'm honestly not trying to write for the audience as much as I'm trying to just convey my feelings. Which is why this got so freaking long. I'm kind of horrified at how long this got. Think I might go hide myself in music. So sorry about that, but hopefully you guys enjoy some of it. Thank You 💜💜💜

[sapybara]

I've been a huge q fan in the past so I know all his history. I am not even surprised, how long has it been since we found his server management to be sketchy, not even talking about his merch compagnie. 

In no fandom have I ever truly called anyone a BITCH and a cunt . But he is one. Hey, I never expected anything from him about Shelby/ or Wilbur and forever, we know who he is and he does not give a fuck, but to lie so blatantly about how much involvement he has in the qsmp management, that a scrum!! Dude, how could anyone believe him?? It makes NO sense!

Exploiting workers, literally putting anti unions mesures , stealing people ideas (fans on twitter) then blocking them (probably not him who did it but he still got credited for the ideas and said nothing)

That's to ONE thing I will get entertainment CC crucified for. It's not difficult to not be a greedy corporate snake, especially when you are already so rich! 

Fuck QUACKITY

Also, people who say that he is just shocked because Wilbur was one of his bff so he doesn't want to go into (any) detail about that: Q and Wilbur haven't been close for half a year and Shelby posted her video a long time ago. Even Tommy said something for fuck sake!

You are literally talking with dtblr last quackity main™ believe me I know what you're talking about, I'm not surprised either.

His stans are being all "they were close friends! Give him some time!! You're all being cruel" well first of all they were not. Second of all, I do not want a statement, a simple kicking him out and asking people to support victims would've been enough. But no, he talked about it for the grand total of THRITY SECONDS, didn't mention Shelby or any victims, didn't mention he's an abuser, and made it all about him. How this is hard for HIM and how sad HE is, etc etc.

He goes on saying he "didn't know the volunteers weren't being paid" and that he thought it was a process were they would eventually (!!!) get paid. Excuse me? How do you not know? One thing is asking the admis not to spoil you what will be tomorrow's event and another radically different thing is saying you don't know what's going on in YOU OWN TEAM of YOUR SERVER. Especially not when it's your money ffs, do you not know where's that going? Do you not know who do you work with? You can't just brush it off as "not knowing" when it's your fucking enterprise. And im not even mentioning the whole NDA thing and how no one could even speak to CCs or other admis off stream, how they were requested to censor themselves in their personal accounts because "controversies" (real life crimes) could stain the server's name. Be for fucking real.

He doesn't even talk about all the merch problems, the fake giveaways and how ridiculously sketchy his merch company (that he/his family owns!) is.

Look I'm not trying to be a hypocrite here, I don't wanna apply dranti logic and demand a perfect apology and explanation the second all exploded. I'm not gonna ask him to know about every little conversation that goes on inside his server or discord. I'm not gonna say he doesn't have the right to mourn whatever friendship he may have had. But that doesn't mean I'm not fucking pissed and none of that excuse him for not knowing what's going on with his employees, his merch and reducing the actions of TWO abusers to "controversies". He needs to be held accountable, but, funnily enough, his fans are too parasocial to realize they're babying him and telling everyone who listens how he's not responsible for anything and it's the higher ups fault. His name is literally everywhere, he prides himself of being the owner and sole inventor of the server, how much higher can you go from there?

I'm upset about the poor guys who are being exploited and actually pity the fans that truly can't see what's before they eyes. Hope those people have it better from now on, but Quackity? He can go cry about it on stream if he wants, this entire thing has been a mess since before it started and I'm happy to see it crashing down. Deserved!

[sams-venting]

I need to get this off my chest before I blow up at somebody 

But I know I did not just fucking watch someone try to say a fictional incest ship is worse than several real-life people getting groomed. Are you fucking serious. You are so lucky your ass was on anon motherfucker I would've hard blocked and reported your snide ass

I don't give a shit which 'side' you're on. I don't care what you think about whatever drama of the week is going on. I know my ass, who has actively had to report CSEM photos to National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Cyber Tipline, did not just fucking watch you compare a disgusting ship, to actual teens being sexually coerced

I can't fucking believe you. We out here really prioritizing fictional characters over real breathing human beings

Get this, I am completely against pro shipping. I am just as repulsed by people looking at siblings or parents and deciding they should fuck for the silly dynamics of it as the next guy, it's fucking despicable. But I know I did not just your ass saying it's more harmful and creepy than your friend over there diddling real people almost half his age. Are you fcuking kidding me. 

And, before you start assuming shit, I again am on 'no side'. I don't give a fuck about the entire situation outside of people once again, conveniently dragging the victims of the gore anons into more bullshit. 

I am not blind to the fact none of this would've went down had a stalker not went digging for shit. No one would've known about the original doc a year ago had a suspected gore anon not stirred the pot after the callout post that got sent to the VAs. That was purposeful manipulation. No doubt about it. They wanted to pull up anything and everything on one of the few people that was trying to defend those that were getting harassed because of the big blogs. You'd have to be either really young, or really stupid to not've seen that bigger picture 

I also don't fucking trust ANYONE that makes a callout / awareness post for ANY REASON. I don't care who you are. As a quotev veteran of 7 years, someone who watched their friend get dogpiled on by big blogs 3 years ago in the Sonic fandom bc how dare a minor be uncomfortable with public porn of minor characters on tumblr, seen kids purposely catfish adults in the MHA quotev fandom so they could frame them for pedophilia any time their advances were put to a stop, the entire Revie and Jasper situation in the FNF vs Sonic.exe corner of twitter where one adult was partially framed once again by a kid that couldn't handle being told no, meanwhile the other had legit CP on their computer come to find out and was the Actual danger in the fandom 

So imagine my reaction of trying to escape to the fnafsb fandom and to tsams. Here 👏 we 👏 fucking 👏 go 👏 again. It's like everyone was born yesterday and baby spanking new to the Internet. How has No One learned the consequences of their actions. Adults included btw, just as childish if not worse than the teens that haven't learn basic internet etiquette. What the fuck is your excuse you're in your 20s, how is your media literacy This low mf. Smh 

All I can say is thank God I've decided to grow and mature as a person. And by that, coming to the conclusion that everything is ultimately ✨none of my fucking business✨ 

Bc guess what, it ain't. Just bc people airing out the dirty laundry does not mean I need to get involved and throw myself to the drama wolves. Sometimes, I don't need to have an opinion. Sometimes, if I do have an opinion, I know to keep it to myself unless I'm asked for it by my therapist or friends (and not anons guys I am begging you to not get baited by trolls please for the love of all things holy. Assume good faith in strangers, but never in anons. They use innocent questions all the time to pull a gotcha) 

Ultimately? All sides are guilty of some level of shit, end of discussion. 1) I already had beef with with the whole 'ur pd is showing' on a personal level. I will never forgive for that. In no scenario with strangers is that ever fucking okay. 2) I ain't gonna let the little fibs slide. I've seen the screenshots in the newest doc, I've compared the posts. A liar is a liar. 3) I personally don't like nor trust em. Didn't originally, definitely don't now. But again I acknowledge that's a personal decision. 4) I did not fucking like seeing people stalk the gore anon victims once again just so they can dig up scraps to support their persecution of their past abuser. 5) I am in no way denying the abuse they did infact go through. It was horrible to see, and I can only empathize with my own trauma from abusive relationships. 6) I am also however acknowledging that trying to drive them off of social media is not a realistic solution and is infact anti-recovery. So some of you are infact a hypocrite for wanting to abolish prisons and then pulling This kind of shit. Revenge is not justice. 7) if you wanna cut someone out of your life, you have to stop talking about them and 'looking out for their potential victims' or you're just going to feed the flames of drama. Be the bigger person and put down the stick if you're tired of the burn. This goes for everyone btw. 8) for the record I would not be Nearly as on the fence as I am rn if it weren't for [redacted] having learned this behavior from also being a victim of somebody else. It is incredibly common for those that have been groomed and/or abused in the past to then continue to seek out those same types of relationships. Especially if they never learned the why or how said relationships were fucked up in the first place. 

9) it is no one's place to decide if other people are allowed to give someone a second or third chance to be a better person. Idgaf if they're a victim or not. You do not have the right to dictate who talks to who. That is red flag toxic yaoi shit my dear friend. I, do not agree with a few of my mutuals chosing to befriend or forgive them. But I also know it is not my fucking place to tell them to do different. It is not my place to control who is with who for whatever reason. I don't like it, I don't agree with it, but I ain't gonna start shit talking left and right, throwing my opinions all about, and force them to do as I do. 

This is where the maturity clarity thing comes in btw. I don't like it. I have a bad feeling about it. I don't agree with these decisions my mutuals have made. But you know what? ✨It's none of my fucking business✨ and I mean it. That means, after I'm done venting here I'm dropping the topic. That means, just bc I don't like them that I'm gonna start bad mouthing to my mutuals about their friend. You don't go to your bestie and shit talk about their boyfriend right to them, that's messed up af. And this is no different 

Also, sidenote, fuck all y'all for using stranger's posts on the internet to drag someone else's name through the mud and reposting them to a doc without consent. Which Did happen to me with the big blogs vs confessions btw. I am still, very much not okay about that and I can't believe that's happening to other ppl too but for a different call-out. 

but fucking, trying to compare a fictional ship and saying it's worse than people who got groomed?

You are on razor thin fucking ice. Pull your head out of your ass, shut up, and sit the hell down before you spout any more stupid shit for the love of God. That about pisses me off more than anything right now I'm so livid. And I've been silently seething with rage since August so that's not to be taken lightly

----

[P.S. thank you to mod for being a place ppl can go to, idk what I would've done since I don't have therapy till next week. Sorry if I don't make any sense whatsoever btw, I am tired, it is 1 am, and my bpd ass is extremely emotional rn with no viable outlet except here. I am aware that reality is not what it seems past midnight as I am prone to delusion, so I'm genuinely not allowed to *talk* talk to ppl this late at night for everyone's well being, including myself. So again: thank you. Hope you're doing well, in spite of everything going on. Drinking water, petting cats, monching bread, etc, and letting the small things in life into your heart to spread wonder. Have a good night]

.

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

I have a feeling that a theme of Vacuo is ultimately going to be about there being no such thing as an ideal solution to any problem, that life is ultimately always going to be a work in progress. That there is no point where an absolute "happily ever after" can ever truly and permanently exist, because the world is flawed and filled with people who will end up at cross-purposes even after the immediate problem is dealt with. That blindly chasing after the happily ever after without recognizing what is happening now in the present, and finding joy in what you have right now ultimately leads to misery and pain.

Vacuo's fixation with constantly trying to drown out their past perception of being "weak and exploited" by treating social darwinism as an ideal thing to be, vs the Crown (book bad guys) constantly fixating on an idealized past via forcefully turning them into a monarchy.

Ozpin's fixation on the idea that he can make the world perfectly united and beg the gods for forgiveness while ignoring the reality that this is impossible, and that the gods themselves are jackasses who pretty much never likely ever expected him to succeed, period.

Tyrian probably wants to destroy the world because he thinks it's more ideal than bothering with the world and its many many flaws, given the little details we can extrapolate about his character.

Conversely, Mercury would be examining how he refuses to even attempt to find a happily ever after because being miserable but safe in his assassin past is more comfortable for him.

And given this is occurring in the location where all of the major nations of the world is gathering, I can see the past tensions and misery they've all inflicted on each other coming to the surface if things go pear-shaped, and the above theme will be addressed because it's the only way to actually begin the process of fixing and healing the past mistakes they've made.

Oh, and the Sword of Destruction is definitely going to tie into this, because I can see people like Atlesian Elites disgruntled about the whole situation trying to force a "happily ever after" by using the Sword to try to eliminate the "problem" and thus allowing them to get their power and comfort back.

Honestly I don't see Ozpin trying to take back control of the narrative in any way. I think he's let it go. And the Atlesian Elites problem is probably going to be a lot more complex than a simple group of rich people we can hate. Remember it wasn't Atlas that destroyed Vacuo, but Mantle. Mantle was oppressed by Atlas, but they also oppressed the people of the crater and the Faunus. And a lot of rank and file Atlesians aren't super wealthy people but just middle class lucky enough to live in the city. It's not going to be as simple as the Atlesian Elites forming into a Voltron we can shoot.

Especially since, as you've noticed about their social darwinism and disdain for the "weak", as well as their recent attempt to return to revanchist monarchy out of nationalistic spite, Vacuo is far from a perfect victim either.

But besides that, yes. The challenging of the happily ever after might as well start now.

[tyrannuspitch]

👻

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

oh god. okay. so. last year i learnt the term ergi, which for the uninitiated is defined as follows: unmanly dishonour in an old norse (*inspired) context, especially being penetrated during sex (but also other things like cowardice, servility, and practicing women's magic.)

and i started trying to Extrapolate a whole hypothetical culture from this.

like, it's easy to say that that's straightforwardly "it's okay if you're on top". but if the predominate attitude is that it's always acceptable to be the top and never acceptable to be the bottom, AND honourable = masc = strong while dishonourable = fem = weak, AND m/m sex is frequently framed in terms of domination, conquest, or even punishment... then you're probably going to end up with a society with an absolutely awful attitude towards consent. a society with basically no distinction, in the common understanding, between gay sex and rape.

so. i take this framing. i take mcu thor, who embodies a lot of his society's worst ideas but always in the most noble, well-intentioned way... and we end up with a guy who thinks gay sex is wrong because it's always homophobic rape.

like. the ambient cultural attitude is. topping a guy is an act of violence, but it's fine, because if you "let" it happen you, you must deserve it.

while thor's personal attitude is. topping a guy is an act of violence, so no-one can possibly genuinely want it to happen to him, so it's always just about taking advantage of someone weaker than you, so it's always wrong.

and, vitally, the category of weakness in thor's mind includes queerness. (and he doesn't think of tops as queer!) so if anyone says some queer guys DO want it, he dismisses that as a mocking / victim-blaming myth. and if a queer guy looks him in the eye and says no i promise you i really do want it, his brain short circuits and then he goes. oh no this man is full of self-loathing or perhaps insanity :( and it would still be terribly wrong of anyone to exploit that :(

(what does he think queer guys do want? idfk. non-penetrative sex, probably, but also, being queer is a tragic misfortune and not necessarily functional, so maybe they are just all self-destructive and crazy. also don't ask his opinion on grey areas of penetrative-ness because he just has not thought that hard about it.)

(also, thor's definition of queerness-as-identity being less tied to penetration means it's more tied to generalised femininity. which also means he is not allowed to desire men, because he's not fem, so obviously he wouldn't be The Victim, so that would be evil of him. (does he like men? idfk. but if he did he'd be having a truly awful time with it!))

basically: thor is deranged <3

to be clear, i don't think thor's attitude necessarily stays here. i think this is his attitude as quite a young adult (up to ~18-20?) but eventually one way or another he is confronted with the real world and it has to crumble. but. god it's fun in its bizarre way. what's wrong with that man <3

also. not a historian. no idea if this is how anyone in the real world has ever actually thought. but i'm dealing with a hypothetical society here so their attitudes can be literally anything i find interesting.

fanfic writer ask game 💕

[onisiondrama]

"Onision Documentary (Blackmailed, Slandered, Framed, Cancelled, Robbed & Falsely Persecuted)" Onision, October 2, 2023

Onision was blackmailed, slandered, framed, canceled, robbed & falsely persecuted... and now it appears the same people who wrongfully hurt Onision, are committing perjury & fraud to simultaneously con Google/YouTube out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sarah & Regina's victims have real, measurable/verifiable/proven wrongful damages as proven in this video. "Money is the root of all evil." For legal reasons all content within this video and associated with the publisher of this video is to be considered a perspective &/or alleged. Decide for yourself what to think based on the facts/evidence.

"Onision DESTROYS Documentary Fraud: "Onision In Real Life" by Discovery + (confessions & receipts)" Onision, November 6, 2023

Onision was framed and socially executed - they got away with destroying an innocent man's life... but unfortunately for them, crimes tend to have trails, and they left a big, painfully obvious one. #fyp #onision #discoveryplus #chrishansen #scam #fraud #liar #lawsuit #conman #max #hbo #netflix #hulu #movie #documentary #appleplus #amazonprime #wtf #fubar The Onision: In Real Life documentary was originally launched, in big part, by Chris Hansen. He had been recovering from getting fired over cheating on his wife, the mugshot thing involving a bounced check, the whole scamming his fans thing, the whole being associated with a dude's suicide that lead to losing a wrongful death lawsuit... you know... tons of dirtbag crap --- so the guy neeeded a refresh on his career. What did he do? He molded three women to create a narrative that could help him generate profit - destroying innocent peoples lives? Exploiting/abusing/defrauding #MeToo? No problem for Chris Hansen considering his past - If you can sleep with another wom... TWO other women behind your family's back - of course you don't mind screwing over total strangers. So! Introduce Shiloh, dumped by Onision, and Sarah, a woman who forced Onision into a relationship with her via self-admitted sexual extortion who... that's right, Onision also rejected. Oh yeah, and Regina... a literal stranger to Onision who I guess just wanted to promote her sex worker sites. Not even joking. What happens when Chris Hansen goes after you? Everyone immediately calls you a "pedophile" regardless of what the context is. You would think Hansen would get sued a lot as a result, but apparently, if you search his history, he's a broke man. The context here? Onision slept with an adult who blackmailed him into sleeping with them. That's the boring facts. Her own admission, she blackmailed him with threat of destroying his life. A quote along the lines of "I could destroy you guys" --- which coincidentally is what Shiloh also said on camera, only it was in reference to just Onision after he dumped her (she was hauled away by police shortly after) - things starting to make sense? Two psychotic criminal peas on a pod? So two crazy human beings (Shiloh and Sarah) who are crazy evil and... their little weird irrelevant minion Regina - Join forces to, yes, make money, and yes, get tons of attention, to get back at the people who rejected Sarah/Shiloh - or in Regina's case, she's pissed because when she was a homeless minor, Onision's spouse refused to fly her up and just said something along the lines of "that sucks" in response to this random person online complaining about being homeless... and expecting Onision's spouse, to just be like "Sure danger creep, I'll fly you up!" - nope - and now Regina is mad! But of course Regina claims she was sex trafficked on legal documents to defraud Google/YouTube now... WEIRD STRETCH BUT OK. "They didn't fly me up because I was a stranger to Onision and his spouse was creeped out by me/had no interest in flying some random person up, so... pay me!" Long story short Regina and Sarah are now part of a plot to get Google to settle (pay them tons of undeserved money) over their horribly concocted shit agenda against Onision/his awesome spouse. They're evil, vile and disgusting human beings, as is proven in this video, and the other video posted weeks ago on the Onision channel. What's awesome is it's actually mostly THEIR OWN ACTIONS, WORDS & VIDEOS that destroy their narrative. Much of it isn't Onision destroying their arguments - IT'S THEM! THAT'S WHY YOU DON'T LIE, IDIOTS!

Wanted to document the descriptions and info on these videos. Haven't watched the 2nd one yet.

[deliriumsdelight7]

1, 7, 16

1.) the character everyone gets wrong

Nancy Wheeler. So many times I see people writing non-Vecna AUs that have Nancy as this well-liked, fashionable girl who’s outspoken and stands up for her friends. And sure, that’s who she is… now. AFTER her best friend died a horrible death because she, Nancy, made a half dozen terrible decisions that put Barb in that position. But in a world without Vecna, Nancy never goes through that. She’s quiet. She gives in to peer pressure, and pressures her friend in turn. She doesn’t speak up when her best friend is picked on right in front of her, and she prioritizes sex with a guy she’s not even officially dating over that friend’s safety and comfort.

Note: I’m not a Nancy hater. I think she’s a great character who made some innocent bad choices that led to Barb’s death and her own trauma. I just would love to see that pre-transformation Nancy explored more in non-Vecna AUs.

7.) what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

My love for Eddie has waned significantly because of how lots of the fandom treats him. The cognitive dissonance in this fandom is astounding. Fans of Eddie “the Freak” Munson will refer to people they don’t like as freaks (derogative), and start up witch hunts in his name. They condemn people for having “problematic” tastes in fiction when they lust over a character who built his entire persona around being as problematic as 1980s Indiana would allow. A character who canonically consumes porn with incest, non-con, and tentacles. There are public call-outs, Doxxing attempts, revenge porn leaks, harassment of an actress whose only crime was shipping her character with his… I could go on. For people who claim to love Eddie so much, they sure as hell do emulate Jason to a worrying degree.

16.) you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Hopping back to OUAT fandom to say “fics that characterize Mr. Gold as a misunderstood landlord who charges fair rates and is constantly screwed over by his tenants.” Sorry, but I hate it. The whole POINT of Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin is that he exploited everyone around him to get what he wanted. As Rumpelstiltskin, it was to get his son back. But under the curse, it was for nothing more than MONEY. He was willing to evict nuns for being late on a single rent payment. And check out Granny’s body language when she gives him the rent. She’s AFRAID of him.

Like, I get it. Sometimes you need to write a Storybrooke Rumbelle fic where you don’t want to have to deal with the knowledge that Gold is just like the asshole landlords we all have to deal with. But erasing his flaws, or explaining them away as the fault of his tenants/victims? Neuters everything that makes him interesting. And it cheapens the unique softness he has for Belle, his son, and his grandson.

[talenlee]

Story Pile: The Sopranos

Back in the 90s, a TV show dared to ask: What if a bad guy?

But the main character?

And oh we were off to the races.

The Sopranos is a long-running crime drama series that started in 1999, and concluded in 2007. It focuses on the story, centrally, of the character Tony Soprano, an important then leading character in the Sopranos crime ‘family’ and I’m not going to get into a fight with you about the organisation here. Sure. Whatever, you win. Anyway, the hook of the series, if you can call it that, is that it’s about this mobster guy, right, a real interesting criminal dude in charge of a criminal enterprise, and yet, sometimes, get this, he has to go talk to his therapist. And that, that, you see, the hook works, because this guy, this mobster, turns out that he’s like, conflicted and tormented and all like, fucked up in the head, you see? Like, there’s this whole ongoing narrative about the way this guy just sucks so bad and sucks at getting better and sucks at learning the lessons. Like get a load of this, all these events and these, these circumstances, they go about doin’ things and transpiring all about him and yet through it all he learns the important lesson that he should continue doing everything pretty much exactly the way he does.

You know the way that Scrubs is all about watching JD just vacillate between the same two lessons back and forth? It’s like that, but you’ll hear more slurs.

I feel like this story is a sort of fabulous universe, not supernatural, but like it’s built around a fable, where all of reality stops and starts in the wake of Tony Soprano. Whatever happens happens in relationship to him and whatever relationship it has only matters inasmuch as it matters to him. This shows in how the characters seem to treat him as fearsome and powerful, but most of the way that power is expressed, he’s only ever threatening someone smaller than him, weaker than him, or, within the crime family, someone who cannot reasonably fight back or stop him. There is one fight he engages with where his opponent is any kind of an equal with him, where he doesn’t get an immense drop on someone smaller than him while he’s armed, and in that fight, Tony not only gets absolutely clobbered, but also spends the rest of the episode whining about how it doesn’t count and how oh those four years make a big difference.

Tony Soprano is a really embarrassing main character. The hook is that he goes to therapy and the story that comes out of that is he doesn’t change and still sucks. And people loved this show, and it ran for so long. In the first episode it was a big deal that they had DVD Players, that’s how long it ran for!

I don’t want to sound like I’m dismissing this very important, very well made series, because it’s very compelling and so many of the … characters? are so very interesting? Wait, are they? Is it that the characters are interesting, or — look, you have a huge variety of actors, with a lot of different delivery methods who are all playing story roles that distinguish themselves from one another and helps immensely with the challenge of telling a story about a group of guys who are all essentially, the same guy, and every single one of them completely sucks shit.

It’s this wild kind of story that’s just about the relentless weakness of these men; they inflict themselves on people around them because they can’t tolerate anything that distresses them emotionally, because they don’t know how to connect to people, and how they don’t know how to learn anything or teach anything. It’s not just limited to the mob though – they’re surrounded by their victims who they exploit for money who mostly just get hurt and then accept it, and the authorities that are striving to contain them, and they fail to do it, and the women around them that they chew up and spit out. They’re all just these weak, miserable, pathetic men who can’t hold a conversation with anyone, who never apologise to anyone for anything, who get families so they have an excuse for all the neglect and abuse they inflict on them and spend the rest of their time doing things they like to do for the people they resent supporting.

I don’t hate these characters, though, overwhelmingly, I don’t care about their pain. Watching Christufah wail about his suffering and his struggles with drugs and alcohol aren’t quite so impressive when you remember this guy killed a dog and beats women. Tony’s constant abuse of his wife and children makes it hard for me to care about seeing him struggling to connect to his Uncle Junior. And oh, he had a tragic backstory, that sucks. Lots of us have tragic backstories and somehow don’t turn out to be awful dudes who suck and we don’t even get to be millionaires as well.

There are two characters I found reasonably enjoyable, like I was happy when they showed up and did stuff, which were Silvio and Patsy. Silvio, largely keeps his abominable acts off screen, so we’re not confronted with the way he sexually abuses the sex workers under his care, and, yeah, saying that doesn’t help with the fact I remember liking the guy, and Patsy doesn’t seem to actively abuse women for his own satisfaction anywhere. They’re both just dudes who like being gangsters and are there to do a job. They’re workers, they’re reliable, and Patsy delivers probably my favourite line in the show.

Annnd he pisses in Tony’s pool, which to be fair, he definitely deserves worse.

Now with all of that said, sure, I liked watching The Sopranos, I watched all of it, and once I got to the famous end, I felt very satisfied and happy. It’s a great ending! What a banger! Anyway, there I’m done, show is over, show made its points, show is enjoyable and cool even if it’s overwhelmingly about dudes who just do nothing but suck shit all the time and now I’m glad I don’t have to watch it any more. I have done my The Sopranos homework!

Imagine then what it must feel like to me to hear people advertising their full The Sopranos Rewatch Podcasts, where they boast about watching the series multiple times and how they’re going to dig deep on every part of this series.

Imagine.

There’s a stereotype of a kind of guy who just rewatches Scarface a lot. I think ‘rewatches The Sopranos‘ or ‘compares himself to Tony Soprano’ is the same genre of guy, just slower and more boring. That’s a guy who doesn’t want to reference one ninety minute movie of profanity and violence and horrible things to say, but rather a whole television series’ worth of it.

Hey, if you’re that guy, or if you know that guy, it’s important you understand: You’re just doing what people you hate do with The Office.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[just-another-blog-of-fluff]

Refuse to Lose

Word count: 12,800

Pairings: Loki x reader (pre-dating romantic), Wanda x Vision (romantic)

Warnings: HOLY HELL the sexual tension 🚨🚨🔥🔥 (but still nothing explicit)

OK, OK - this is my first time incorporating FOUR prompts (I think) in one fic, and it was a TON of fun to write this one!! And I'm super excited there was so much hype for this - I hope it lives up to your expectations 😊

I kind of took the prompts and ran with them... like... sprinted is more like it 😂😂 I hope this isn't too far off from what you lovely anons were looking for! The main difference versus the prompts is there's not a current secret relationship going on between reader and Loki (although there may as well be...) but I think I'll use that in another fic at some point because I love the idea! Pre-dating just felt right for this one!

A reminder of the prompts included:

Prompt - Loki knows he can fluster the reader with ease, and frequently exploits it. Reader is determined to get him back

Prompt - reader likes to fluster Loki with pick up lines in front of the others. He won’t be having that.

prompt where Loki notices reader can’t figure out what to do when others are talking about tickling

prompt with Vision and Wanda

And as promised, tagging @quillsandtypos 😊 (And also @writingfics-passingtime for helping me work through intermittent writer's block 💚)

"Ooh, hang on- stop channel surfing, I want to watch that!" Wanda grabbed hold of your outstretched wrist where you were holding the remote pointed at the television, snagging the device from your hand.

"Hey!"

"Oh, stop. It's not like you were going to pick anything to watch in the next ten minutes anyway," she tutted, flipping the channel back to her favorite show.

"Wanda, this is a rerun," you groaned.

"I don't care! It's such a good show!"

"No it's not!"

She shot you an appalled look. "What makes you think it's so terrible?!"

"It's completely overdramatized!" You gesticulated to the screen where one of the lead female characters was stammering like a fool while talking to some guy. "I mean, honestly!"

"Wh- no it isn't!"

You scoffed. "Wanda, honestly. You can watch this and tell me it's realistic? I mean, look at this girl! She's completely lost the ability to form a coherent thought, and the guy literally just said hi to her!"

"Pshh. You can't tell me that you've never gotten flustered over someone like that."

"Have you?" you retorted.

"Uh, yeah. Before Vision and I started dating." Her expression softened as she reminisced. "God, he was just so adorable."

"Well, maybe you have fallen victim to that sort of thing, but I haven't."

"Not once?" she asked skeptically.

"Not once."

"Oh, I seriously doubt that."

The baritone voice could only belong to a certain God of Mischief. Sure enough, you turned your head toward the sound to see a smirking Loki standing behind the sofa.

"Do you make it a habit to eavesdrop on other people's conversations?" you chastised.

"Not usually. But the pair of you aren't exactly quiet." You narrowed your eyes at his comment. "In any case - I don't believe you when you say you're immune to something that is engrained within your mortal nature."

"Is not!"

Loki chuckled. "Alright. Whatever you say." Without another word, he turned and left the room. Rolling your eyes, you turned to Wanda.

"He thinks he's a gift from the gods, I swear," you muttered. She smirked.

"Does he think that? Or do you?"

"Excuse me??"

Wanda shrugged, returning her attention to the television. "I'm just saying - he didn't say a word to suggest that you might get that way around him. You jumped to that conclusion."

"Oh-ho, I don't think so." Huffing, you stood from the sofa and left the room, leaving Wanda to watch the awful show she had insisted on.

The whole interaction did have you a bit rattled, though you'd never admit it to your friend. If anyone were capable of getting you worked up over nothing like that woman in the show - not that you were saying it was possible, but if it were - it was Loki. You weren't sure what to call your relationship with him, in all honesty. It seemed to vary based on the situation. You seemed to kind of flirt the line between friends and... well, more than friends. And the tension had really started to build over the last few months, like a shaken bottle of soda just waiting to explode the moment the cap untwisted.

You were on your guard for a couple weeks after that, expecting that at any moment Loki might try to do or say something to make you stutter. But when those weeks went by without so much as an attempt from the trickster, you started to think that maybe he'd just forgotten the whole conversation had ever happened. Or, maybe Wanda was right, and you were projecting your own feelings onto his reaction.

But you should have known better. Loki didn't forget, he only bided his time. And he loved an excuse to cause mischief.

The day you first fell into the crosshairs of his chaotic ways started fairly uneventfully. It was a Saturday morning, and you were making groggy conversation with Nat, Steve, and Bucky as the four of you lazily drank coffee at the small table in the kitchen. Eventually, the growling in your stomach was audible even to your friends over the sound of your idle chatter, and so you shuffled over to the fridge and began to prepare yourself some breakfast.

"Wait - are you making pancakes?" Bucky asked, a glazed look in his eyes as he observed you hopefully. You laughed at his lack of subtlety.

"Are you asking me to make some for you too?"

"Ooh, hang on, if he's getting some then I want some," Steve interjected. Rolling your eyes, you couldn't help but grin at their obvious love of your pancake prowess.

"Oh... alright. Nat, you want some too?" you asked.

"Hey - if you're offering, I'm not saying no," she replied.

"Fine, but you guys have to keep me company while I cook."

You busied yourself mixing the pancake batter and getting the pan heated on the stovetop. The three hungry Avengers waiting for you to finish at least kept their word and made conversation with you while you cooked. As you finished the first stack of pancakes, Bucky snuck up to the counter and snagged the plate, swapping it for an empty one and bringing the fresh pancakes to the table to eat them while they were still warm. The moment you noticed, you turned around and scolded the soldier, wagging the spatula at him threateningly.

"Bucky! You could at least wait until I'm finished making the pancakes before scarfing them down like some animal!"

"Did you say you're making pancakes?"

Thor's booming voice echoed from the doorway, drawing your attention. The first thing you noticed when you glanced over was not Thor, but his younger brother, who was standing beside him with his eyes fixed on you. It made your heart rate tick up ever so slightly to feel his gaze, as it often did. You never allowed your nervousness to show on your face, despite the fact that your crush on the tall, dark, and handsome Asgardian god only grew with the passage of time. Because unlike the woman in that show, you had some self control over your reactions.

You shot him a half grin, which he returned with one of his own, his eyes flashing in the way they always did when he smiled at you.

"Are you gonna ask me to make more for you?" you groaned at Thor, glancing at the dwindling bowl of pancake batter and trying to eyeball whether you had enough left to satiate the hulking God of Thunder's appetite. Unlikely, you thought.

"That would be wonderful!" Thor strode over to join Bucky, Steve and Nat, scooping up a fork from the table and stabbing the top pancake to steal for himself.

With a heaving sigh, you moved to the fridge to pull out more ingredients for another batch of pancake batter. Loki strolled over to you, a poorly disguised pleading look in his eyes. You narrowed yours, fighting the amused grin threatening to spread across your face in favor of trying to look annoyed.

"Do you want me to make you some too, Loki?" you groaned, pulling the carton of eggs out of the fridge.

"Would you? That would be wonderful, pet."

The egg carton slipped from your grasp and dropped to the floor with a crunch.

Loki 's eyebrows shot up his forehead, a smug smirk suddenly tugging at the corners of his mouth as your cheeks slowly began to grow warm. What had he just called you? And in front of four other people, no less?

The thought of the others led you to the realization that there was no longer casual chatter sounding from the table. Your gaze flitted over to the four hungry Avengers awaiting their breakfast, who were now staring at you in confusion having witnessed you drop half a dozen eggs on the floor. Clearing your throat awkwardly, you collected the fragments of your composure as you reached for the roll of paper towels.

"Sorry, slipped," you mumbled, turning your gaze to the floor as you stooped to wipe up the egg mess. You felt a slight breeze as Loki knelt down beside you, holding his hand out expectantly for the paper towels so he could assist.

"What was that?" he whispered, the tone of amusement evident even in his hushed voice. You glanced swiftly at the table, confirming the others had returned to their own conversation before whipping your head back to glare at the mischievous and maddeningly pleased-looking god.

"Loki! You can't do that in front of everyone!" you hissed.

"Do what?"

"You know what. Calling me that."

"Calling you my pet?"

You had to fight to withhold a flustered squeak. "YES."

"Why not?"

You knew based on the self-satisfied expression gracing his features that he knew exactly why not - he simply wanted to make you say it.

"It's... ugh just... just..."

"You're quite flustered." His smirk grew impossibly wider. You turned your gaze away from him because you simply couldn't keep looking at the damned smug look on his face anymore.

"I hate you." You wiped up the last of the egg yolk from the floor, tossing the paper towels into the messy egg carton.

"So if I can't do it 'in front of everyone,' does that mean I can call you that behind closed doors?"

You weren't sure your face could get any hotter.

"I'm done having this conversation." You scooped the egg carton off the floor, rising to your feet and ducking your head to hide your flushed face as you tossed the mess in the trash and returned to the fridge in search of more eggs.

You couldn't look at Loki the rest of the morning without thinking about the little nickname he'd chosen for you. And you knew without a doubt he'd be continuing to hold this ability to fluster you with a word over your head. You simply had to mentally prepare yourself before he tried again. Block it out of your mind.

It was only hours later when he tried again.

You were in the training room getting some target practice in with the throwing knives you'd been training with for the past couple of months. Loki had been the one to show you how to hold the hilt properly and how to release at the right time to send the blade sailing toward the target. It had only been an added bonus that he had to hold your hand and place his hands on your waist to help you position yourself correctly the first few times. It certainly wasn't the reason you'd decided to practice with the knives in the first place.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Loki hovering a few feet away as you prepared your stance to throw the first blade. With a steadying breath, you blocked out the buzz of the other Avengers completing their own workouts around the room, honing your focus on the target. With a skilled flick of your wrist, you sent the blade across the room, sinking it into the third ring from the center of the target.

"Very good, pet," Loki hummed, drawing your attention. Having noticed him observing you, you'd mentally prepared yourself this time for the nickname. With a smirk, you folded your arms haughtily across your chest.

"Thanks. One of these days I'll give you a run for your money."

Loki looked slightly disappointed at your lack of reaction, but you could see the gears turning in his head. He wasn't going to let it drop that easily.

As you continued to practice, Wanda came over to join you. Despite the fact that she vehemently denied it, you were convinced she used magic when she practiced with the throwing knives. Hers nearly always hit the dead center of the target.

"Why can't I ever get a bullseye?" you groaned in frustration after your last blade hit the second ring from the center. In all honesty, you'd forgotten Loki had been intermittently watching you practice, and so you were startled by the proximity of his voice in your ear.

"You'll just need to keep practicing, princess."

You were glad you didn't have any more knives in your hand because they'd have surely clattered to the floor. Perhaps that's why he waited until you'd thrown the last one to say it.

In any case, you were caught so off-guard by this even more flustering pet name that you felt your face catch fire. You whipped your head around to stare wide-eyed at Loki, trying to ignore the confused but entertained look on Wanda's face beside you. With a huff, you strode off to collect your knives from the target, mostly to give yourself an excuse to walk away.

"What's got you so flustered, princess?" Loki teased, following you toward the targets.

"Nope!" you called back to him, refusing to turn around.

"How am I to understand if you won't tell me?"

You grasped the hilt of one of your blades, tugging it free from the wooden target and shooting Loki a silent glare. Everything in you wanted to wipe that smug smirk off his face. He merely shrugged at you, leaning close and reaching over your shoulder to pull one of your other blades free from the target, holding it out toward you.

"Thank you, my prince," you sang with a grin. Loki chuckled, shaking his head.

"You'll have to try harder than that, princess."

With that, he sauntered on his way, leaving you standing there with two of your blades in your hands and your jaw hanging slightly agape. Oh, he was infuriating. But you were bound and determined to get him back. No way was he immune to blushing. You just had to tease out what flustered the God of Mischief.

Clearly it didn't bother him in the slightest when you called him a pet name with a sassy bite to your voice. You supposed that was understandable. Perhaps the key was in how you said it. It was certainly worth a try.

Your opportunity came that evening when you happened across Loki and Thor seated on the sofa playing some sort of card game you didn't recognize. From the surfaces of the few cards you could see from the doorway, it appeared it was a game from Asgard - they were adorned with a completely foreign language to you. In any case, the two of them seemed heavily invested in the game - so much so that you actually might stand a chance at sneaking up on the trickster, who prided himself on being impervious to surprises.

Silently, you crept up behind the sofa, hovering over the two brothers as they played cards from their hands, interlaced with shouts and gripes at one another. With the tiniest of smirks, you leaned close to Loki, gently brushing his hair away from his ear as you growled seductively.

"What are you up to, my prince?"

The effect was immediate. He stiffened, his mouth falling slightly open with his eyes wide. There was a dusting of pink coating his usually pale complexion that you doubted you'd ever seen there before. Regaining his composure slightly, Loki turned his head gradually to glower at you.

Meanwhile, Thor - who had clearly heard what you said - looked positively delighted and amused at his brother's reaction. His blue eyes lifted to meet yours, a huge grin on his face.

"Have I missed something? Are the two of you romantic partners?"

"Oh, no. I just discovered how very flustered our dear prince becomes when I call him such," you explained, winking at Loki before turning on your heel and waltzing proudly out of the room. The bewildered trickster god was left to come up with some further form of an explanation to his brother for what in Valhalla was going on between the two of you.

Take that, God of Mischief, you thought.

* * *

Loki had to admit - he was taken aback by the ease with which you managed to find a way to make him blush. He certainly expected you would try. Perhaps he had underestimated the degree of power you held over him.

But, if there was one thing he'd learned in this little game the two of you had unknowingly entered into, it was that he, too, held a significant advantage over you. And the God of Mischief does not back down from a challenge. He simply had to up his game a bit - find something that wiped the smirk right off your face and replaced it with a heated blush.

He began to do what he did best - observing you perceptively to determine what it was that could get under your skin. Those little nicknames he used on you still worked well enough if he caught you off guard, but he suspected he could do better. Not to mention, every time he managed to get you flustered with a cutesy name, you turned around and got your revenge within hours. You and your damned sultry voice in his ear, calling him your prince. Oh, if you knew what you were doing to him.

A week later he stumbled upon his answer.

The team had been drinking socially and hanging out in the tower lounge during a night of down time. Tony, of course, had reached a pleasant state of tipsiness that had him reminiscing about the past, back when ‘everything was simpler’ and ‘there were no boogey men coming to destroy the world.’ Loki rolled his eyes at that, remaining seated in his corner away from the others lest Tony decide to bring up his run in with the chitauri years ago.

Engrossed in his book, Loki missed a solid portion of the conversation going on amongst the slightly inebriated heroes. He did sneak a glance at you from time to time, not certain if he was more proud or disappointed that you had switched to drinking water after only a couple glasses. The part of him that cared for you respected that you were being the responsible one - after all, someone had to take care of Tony if he got completely sloshed, and given the fact that Thor had just begun passing around Asgardian mead to the more alcohol tolerant superhuman beings of the group, the possible candidates for the job were becoming limited. But his mischievous nature told him a tipsier you might have been easier to pull a blush out of.

Loki missed whatever sequence of events led up to what happened next, but suddenly Stark was setting up some sort of audio device with microphones and a holographic screen.

“Man, I haven’t done karaoke in years,” Stark lamented. He pointed over at Steve and Bucky. “You guys are gonna love it, just watch.”

Nat snorted at the idea. “I’m not so sure about that.”

“What, you don’t think I can sing?” Steve retorted. Nat held her hands up in defense.

“Hey, you’re welcome to prove me wrong.”

Steve snatched the microphone from Tony, grabbing Bucky by the arm and dragging the protesting super soldier to his feet. “Oh, we will. Don’t worry.”

If it weren’t for the infernal Midgardian music, the singing wouldn’t have been all that bad. The super soldiers were certainly not crooners, but they could at least hold a tune pretty well. Wanda and Vision admittedly sounded great together during a duet, and even Bruce, fueled by a bit of liquid courage, was a decent singer. Loki was disappointed to see you politely decline when Tony held the microphone out to you. He would have been quite curious to hear your singing voice.

“Brother!” Thor shouted, stomping over to where Loki sat. “Come! Sing with me!”

Loki rolled his eyes. “Why would I-”

“Oh come on, Thor. Loki can’t sing.”

It was your voice he heard, cutting him off mid sentence. His eyes darted to you, where you stood leaning against the back of one of the sofas looking somewhat amused by the idea. He was going to decline, tell Thor he wouldn’t be caught dead singing that Midgardian trash they call music, but now he wasn’t about to back down. You challenged him, and he was stepping up to it.

He rose to his feet, his eyes fixated on you as he slowly paced over to the group.

“Oh, can’t I?” he asked, smirking at you.

“I doubt it.”

Loki cleared his throat once, and then he began to sing an Asgardian hymn. It had a melody that was languid and melancholy, the lyrics alluding to a scorned lover pining for his beloved. Not that you could ever know that - you didn't speak a word of his native tongue.

When he'd begun to sing, his intention was to prove to you he could, given you seemed so convinced that he couldn't (or perhaps that he wouldn't). He kept his gaze firmly affixed on you as he sang the lyrics in his usual velvety rich baritone timbre. After only a moment, your expression began to twist before his eyes, color blossoming in your cheeks.

Interesting.

He'd never considered this before. Mortals had such an aversion to singing in front of others, which was not a sentiment shared by Asgardians. It had never occurred to him that you might become pleasantly flustered if he were to sing to you. For you. And yet, the nervous energy quelling in your chest was plainly evident on your face. Quite frankly, it was adorable.

When he'd finished his song, he shot you a knowing smirk while the others began chattering amongst themselves. He was pleased to see that the glare you shot him had much less malice behind it than usual, buried beneath the shy smile pulling at the corners of your mouth. He said nothing - merely winked before returning to his own seat.

Clearly he'd taken the lead once again.

It only fueled the fire in your belly to get back at him. Loki was deadly curious to know what lengths you would go to next to up the ante. Of course, he had his doubts that you'd find another way to get under his skin, but it was intriguing to see you try at the very least.

The only problem was, your method of revenge came completely by accident.

He hadn't even known you were still in the room, honestly. He was seated in his usual spot in the common room, reading and tolerating the company of the others just long enough so that Thor would get off his case about his lack of desire to socialize. Loki might not be actively participating in whatever discussion was going on, but he was physically present, and that was his method of compromise with his overzealous brother.

Someone suddenly tugged gently on the hair at the back of Loki's head where it hung close to his shoulders. His gaze whipped up from his novel the moment he felt it, turning in surprise to find you standing behind him with a piece of lint pinched between your thumb and forefinger. A seemingly benign gesture, and yet you had a startled look on your face.

"Loki - holy hell, how is your hair that soft??" you exclaimed, loudly enough to turn heads in your direction. Before he could consider responding, you had begun running your fingers through his hair, your fingers brushing against the back of his neck.

It had been literal centuries since anyone had touched Loki's hair. So long, in fact, that he couldn't remember the last person who had. Likely his mother, he suspected. But the simple, gentle threading of your fingers through his dark locks sent a wave of chills down his spine. He was trapped between the complete shell shock that you would even consider touching his hair and the innate desire to melt back into his chair in contented bliss.

And you - you damned perceptive mortal - you noticed.

"I've gotta say, Loki - I'm actually kind of jealous," you continued, a sudden teasing edge to your tone as you continued to twirl his hair around your fingers. "Maybe one of these days you'll need to share your hair care regimen with me. Or is that a well-kept secret?"

"Hmmph." Gods you had him unfathomably flustered, his silver tongue tied in a knot weighing heavy in his throat while he tried desperately to come up with a coherent thought. The moment he managed to collect a sentence-worth of words in his mind, they were completely scattered as your fingers brushed against the hair just behind his ear, eliciting a visible shiver.

"Wow. She managed to silence him," Barton observed in shock from across the room.

"If I'd known that was all it took, I'd have tried it myself," Stark quipped.

With that, Loki finally snapped out of the hypnotic trance you'd had him under, rising swiftly to his feet and whirling around to look at you. The grin on your face appeared so innocent, and yet your eyes told a different story. They sparkled with the amusement of seeing that dusting of color that was surely adorning his heated cheeks at that moment. Holding up one finger, he opened his mouth to say something, quickly closing it again when he realized he had no words queued up in his throat. Instead, he swiped his book up off the arm of the chair, striding regally out of the room in a failed attempt to try to appear less flustered than he actually was.

Oh... she may have won the battle, but she's yet to win the war, he thought to himself, as he sought refuge in his own room.

* * *

Loki left you alone for days after that incident.

You weren't daft enough to believe he'd given up. If there was one thing you'd learned about your mischievous friend, it was that he refused to lose. It was more likely that he was, yet again, biding his time until he could come up with something that would completely set your face on fire.

Meanwhile, you continued brainstorming, yourself. The only way to beat Loki was going to be to find something that absolutely floored him. It had to be something so overwhelmingly flustering that he wouldn't dare to try to fight back for fear of a repeat incident. You were probably just as stubborn as he was. No way were you losing this little game without a fight.

What happened next made you reconsider your resiliency.

You'd woken up a couple hours earlier than usual that morning. Bucky had been hounding you for weeks about going for an early morning run with him, and you'd finally promised the night before that you'd go the next day, just to get him to stop asking. You knew he meant well - he was just trying to be a good mentor, getting you to step out of your comfort zone and work at things you weren't good at. And running... well, that was definitely not your strong suit. It made sense for you to train with him - you just wished it weren't so damned early in the morning.

Groggily, you threw on a tank top and a set of jogging pants, draping your sweatshirt over your shoulder and lacing up your sneakers. You threw your hair up in a messy pony tail high on your head just to keep it off your neck when you inevitably began to sweat bullets. Slipping in your headphones, you began sleepily scrolling through the music on your phone as you exited your bedroom and shut the door behind you, gazing at the screen as you began to pace down the hallway.

You didn't make it very far.

Barely one step, and you collided with something... someone... very solid. Your eyes flitted up from your phone screen as slurred apologies started to spill from your lips, until you realized who was standing in front of you.

Of course it was Loki. Normally you'd have started making a snide comment about the fact that he should watch where he was going, but your grumblings were cut off by your own flustered squeak of surprise as the sight of Loki wearing nothing but a towel around his hips registered in your sleep-deprived brain.

"Loki!" you squealed, throwing your hands up to cover your eyes.

"Yes?" His tone was even, calm, as though this were a totally normal thing for you to be seeing.

"W-why... what..." You couldn't help but peer at him through your fingers, your curiosity beating out your mortified embarrassment.

Gods, have mercy.

You weren't certain you'd even seen him wearing short sleeves before. It was only natural that the sight of his toned bare chest set alarm bells off in your brain. He wasn't the brawniest of beings, but it suited you just fine - those rippling abdominal muscles were more than enough.

"You're staring."

The teasing tone of his voice brought back your flustered agitation. Your hands dropped from your face, a scowl forming on your features as you took the slightest step backward.

"You... you... ugh. Loki, this is low even for you!" you hissed, glancing around frantically to make sure no one else was wandering about this early in the morning. His eyebrows shot up his forehead.

"You think I ran into you like this on purpose?"

"Oh, don't you try to tell me otherwise, you liar! Gods, Loki..." You slid your fingers over your hair to try to calm yourself, unable to avert your eyes from the scene in front of you. "Don't you think standing outside my door nearly nude is a bit too much?"

"I wasn't trying to get back at you," he insisted. "My shower is broken, Stark told me it would be three days before he could get it fixed, and I decided to use Thor's."

"So you wander around almost naked in the hallway afterward??"

"I wasn't aware anyone else would be up at this hour." A smirk crossed his lips. "And you seem to be quite focused on the amount of clothing I have on."

"Ugh! Loki, you ass!" you hissed, swatting at him and realizing too late that you were striking his bare chest. You pulled your hand back to your body as if you'd burned it, blazing heat rising in your cheeks. This only served to fuel Loki's mischievous mood.

"You appear flustered, princess." He took a step toward you, and you took a matching step backward toward your room. "Why might that be?"

"Loki..."

"Are you simply not accustomed to seeing this much of a god?" he continued, gesturing to his bare torso as he stepped even closer. You'd forgotten you shut your bedroom door until your back met the wood, heart beating rapidly in your chest as Loki trapped you against the door. He placed one palm against the wall beside the doorframe on one side, leaning in closer while his other hand held tight to the towel to keep it from falling from his hips.

"I..."

"I understand, darling. It can be overwhelming."

He stepped back, removing his hand from the wall and shooting you a seductive wink before heading on his way to his room. You stood motionless against the door for a moment, waiting for the buzzing in your ears to vanish.

And you most definitely didn't watch his bare, muscle-clad back as he retreated down the hallway.

“Did you do a warmup workout or something?” Bucky asked as you arrived in the lobby of the tower to meet him ten minutes late. “You look sweaty already.”

“Shut up and let’s go,” you mumbled, striding past him to walk out the door. You were not about to explain to him what just happened.

The image of Loki half-nude was hot-ironed in your brain for the entire run. Luckily, Bucky wasn’t much of a talker while he exercised, so you didn’t have to fumble through idle small talk while trying to rid yourself of the image. The one benefit, you supposed, was that you weren’t focused on the burning in your lungs as you ran through the city.

When you returned home, you had finally managed to quell the intense embarrassment in your mind. You headed to the kitchen with Bucky to grab a bite of breakfast, stopping short in the doorway when your gaze met Loki’s where he sat at the table drinking tea. Fully clothed, at least.

“Good morning,” he hummed, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips as the internal turmoil in your brain began to manifest on your face. That image that you’d worked so hard to file away in the back of your mind (because lord knew you weren’t going to forget it completely anytime soon) popped right back up in your head as Loki shot you a wink across the room.

Without thinking much about what Bucky might think, you spun on your heel and walked right back out without a word. You needed a cold shower more than you needed breakfast right now.

It was a solid week before you could be in the same room as the trickster god without completely losing your cool. He reveled in the fact that he could make your face burn and your heart race with just a look from across the room. There was no need to say anything - he knew you were thinking about exactly what he wanted you to think.

This whole back-and-forth between you and the God of Mischief was starting to become rather heated. Granted, a part of you deep down felt privileged to have seen his impressive physique that he normally kept hidden under layers of leather armor. But damn him for making a scene out of teasing you for your obvious appreciation for the view.

No question about it - you simply had to step up your game.

Which is how you found yourself willingly watching that cursed show Wanda loved so much, pretending to be giving it a shot but in reality simply seeking pointers for how you might be able to fluster your impish opponent into oblivion.

As much as you hated this show, you had to admit it was giving you an excuse to ask Wanda for advice without actually asking her. You just had to complain about the show enough to argue her points with you. For example, in this particular episode, Maria, the lead female character, was flirting shamelessly with Daniel ("hot guy," as Wanda referred to him) in the break room of the office they worked in together. It was no secret they had a thing for each other, but Daniel was unwilling to admit it and Maria was sick of waiting. So, she took it upon herself to try to force his hand.

"Honestly, Wanda - do you think someone could get a guy that nervous just by touching the side of their head?" you groaned.

"You say it like she's just patting his head like a dog," she retorted. "In my experience, the placement is key. Vis is a sucker for when I brush my fingers along the skin behind his ear."

You glanced at her in surprise. "Really? I didn't realize he could even feel it."

"He's a very sophisticated android," she boasted with a grin. "Anyway, if you're trying to prove your theory that this show is overdramatic, you're going to have to keep trying. I could easily drag Vision in here and prove it to you."

"No way! He'll do whatever you tell him to do. That's basically cheating."

As if on cue, Loki suddenly appeared in the common room, seemingly planning to cut through to the opposite hallway. You made a split second decision and leapt to your feet.

"Loki! Come here for a second." Your fingers closed around his forearm as he walked past, startling him.

"What-"

"Wanda and I need to settle something, and we need your help."

Loki's head tilted in bewildered confusion at your sudden willingness - and not only that, but your sudden desire - to get his attention. You'd spent the last week and a half avoiding him almost entirely, waiting for him to become bored with shooting you subtle winks across the room in an effort to remind you of the hallway incident. Surely he would deduce quickly that you had a trick planned for him. You had to act fast.

You reached out and grasped his other forearm, positioning him directly in front of you with a gentle twisting motion.

“Wanda thinks guys get worked up about this, but I disagree.”

His brows lifted from his eyes. “About what, exactly?”

“This.” You lifted your hand and slid it up along the side of his neck, fingers tangling in his hair, thumb resting just along the tip of his ear. For good measure, you stepped closer so your body was only inches from his, tilting your chin upward to gaze into his eyes.

Oh, it worked like a charm.

You heard Loki’s breath hitch in his chest, his eyes widening almost imperceptibly. For a moment, his gaze flitted down to your lips. That lovely rosy shade graced his pale cheekbones as his own lips parted slightly. Possibly trying to come up with something to say. Or, perhaps he was considering the real possibility of actually kissing you.

In any case, you smirked up at him and pulled away, your eyes still locked on his as you took a step back.

"Alright, I'll give you that one, Wanda. It works."

The range of emotions that passed over Loki's face in a matter of seconds was astounding. His mouth curled into a somewhat disappointed-looking frown, his brow furrowed. Quickly, that dark brow of his became heavier as a scowl clouded his features. Almost as swiftly as it had appeared, it was replaced once again by a sly, cunning smirk that made your stomach flip.

"Perhaps," he hummed. "But, I would argue there are better ways to drive someone mad with desire."

"I-"

"Quite simple, really." He stepped closer, closing the distance you'd put between the pair of you, as his hand raised to brush along the skin under your jaw, coming to rest just below your ear. "To touch a lover with one hand along the jaw, around the ear, behind the neck, is innocent. But, add a second point of control..." His free hand suddenly gripped your waist, fingers wrapping around to the small of your back to tug your hips closer to himself, nearly making you squeak in surprise. "... and you'll find that you can assert a sense of power over them."

You could slice the tension between you with a knife as he leaned his head down closer, pausing just inches away from your own face. Your tongue slid out subconsciously to wet your lips, and you found yourself transfixed on the kaleidoscopic blue-green eyes in front of you. Those soft-looking lips of his curled up into a self-assured smirk, and he suddenly ducked down so his mouth was directly beside your ear.

"Two can play at this game, princess."

Leaning back, his hands fell from your waist and your jaw to his sides before backing away from you. The sense of loss you felt without his touch was both startling and devastating. And, worst of all, you knew he knew what he'd done to you. Not just because you could light a match right now if you touched it to your cheek, but because his eyes danced with mischievous pride.

"What are your thoughts, Maximoff?" he asked, adding insult to injury by engaging your friend in this tête-à-tête.

"I mean, both seemed pretty effective... either way, I feel like I win," she responded with a grin. Loki rolled his eyes.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I was in the middle of something before you so rudely interrupted." He turned and continued on his way, leaving you standing there like a statue etched in marble, unmoving.

"I still think it's you that believes he's a gift from the gods," she teased, nudging you with her elbow as she returned to her seat on the sofa. "You still gonna watch the show with me?"

Grunting in frustration, you plunked yourself down on the sofa beside Wanda. There was no trying to pay attention to the terrible show now that your mind had wandered elsewhere.

* * *

Despite the fact that Loki had gotten the last laugh, he was still irked by your most recent ploy to get under his skin.

No mortal had succeeded in making him feel the way you did. Making him freeze up like that, and in front of another mortal, no less. You were getting dangerously close to realizing the degree of power you held over him, and he couldn’t allow it.

He had to find a way to claim victory in this little blushing war once and for all.

Loki observed you closely over the following days, seeking out any sort of behavior that might lead him to discover your weakness. Surely there was something that he could tease out about you that would suffice as leverage to end this little charade. He just had to determine what it was.

It was a few nights later that he learned of your ultimate weakness.

That evening, there were no specific plans to gather together as a team, but many of the tower inhabitants were lazing in the common room involved in various conversations or activities. Loki, as usual, kept to himself with a novel spread open in his hands, although he wasn’t really paying much attention to it. It was merely a ruse, a decoy to make himself look busy while he observed you making casual conversation with Clint and Vision.

A heavy sigh drew the attention of the room as Wanda entered. The witch looked exhausted as she shuffled in and sat down on the sofa next to Vision, leaning on his shoulder. He slid his arm around her, pulling her gently into his side.

"What's the matter, dear?" he asked gently.

"I made the mistake of asking Nat to train with me today," she groaned. A chorus of 'ah' and 'ouch' filled the room after that. The team was well acquainted with Nat's training style. Lacking superhuman powers, she more than made up for it with her dedication and hard work. Even some of the guys on the team had trouble keeping up with her during her workouts.

"See, now, I stopped making that mistake years ago," Clint noted, grimacing at the memory. "It was well worth the months of teasing after I told her no more workouts together."

"Might be a little more spry if you stuck with it though, Legolas," Tony quipped, earning a glare from the archer.

"No, I can see where he's coming from after today... My back is already aching, and it's only been an hour since we finished." Wanda reached behind her and grasped what must have been a sore spot on her back.

"Would it help if I gave you a massage, darling?" Vision asked. Her eyes lit up.

"Would you? That would be amazing."

Most of the others in the room had gone back to their own conversations by this point. Loki had ultimately returned to reading when he realized he wasn’t getting anything of use from your interactions, though he had the ability to observe and listen while he simultaneously skimmed the pages of his book. He noted that your attention was divided between watching Thor, Peter, Tony, and Bruce playing some video game on the television (rather rambunctiously, of course) and glancing at Wanda and Vision as he kneaded the tension from her shoulders. He couldn't be certain, but he thought maybe he detected a hint of jealousy in your expression. It had been quite some time since he'd seen you interact with anyone physically in such a manner... come to think of it, he'd never actually seen you allowing someone to rub your back like Vision was doing for Wanda at this moment. Perhaps that would be the key to getting you back, but he would need to observe a bit longer first.

Vision's hands slid lower down to massage the muscles in Wanda's lower back. She suddenly made an odd squeaking sound, arching forward away from his touch.

"Did I hurt you, darling?"

"No..." Wanda suddenly appeared sheepish. "You just tickled me, is all."

"I see. Are you feeling better?" Vision asked.

"Much better, thank you."

"I'm glad to hear it." A small smirk formed on Vision's face, just before he started kneading his fingers into Wanda's sides where his hands rested. Wanda burst into giggles, squirming as he tickled her more intentionally.

"Vis! Wh-whahat are you dohoing?"

"As I understand it, the appropriate response when someone tells you they are ticklish is to try to tickle them," he explained casually.

"Who-haha-whoho told you thahat??"

"Mr. Stark, of course."

Wanda shot Tony a look, which he only barely acknowledged as he briefly glanced up from his game and shrugged.

"You can't tell me I'm wrong," Tony called from his seat across the room. Wanda groaned.

"I quite enjoy listening to you laugh," Vision stated, his hands crawling up her ribs as her giggles increased in volume. "I suppose I should have tried this sooner."

"Noho, I don't thihink so - VIS dohon't you dahare!!" Wanda moved to stand as Vision attempted to slip his fingers under her arms, but he caught her around the waist and pulled her back down onto the sofa beside him, trapping her against his chest.

"Now I have to, Wanda dear - I'm far too curious." There was a teasing air to his tone, which was quite unusual coming from the usually serious android. Holding her close, he slotted his hands up under her arms quite easily and wriggled his fingers into the spaces, throwing her into hysterics.

At this point, Loki finally glanced up from the pages of his book, hearing the sudden loud burst of laughter from across the room. His eyes strayed from Vision and Wanda over to where you sat in a nearby armchair. He was more than a bit surprised to see that your face had changed color completely, and you appeared to be fidgeting in your seat as you stared at the scene unfolding in front of you. Notably, your arms were stiff and pressed tightly to your sides, and you were somewhat curled into yourself as though trying to protect your own vulnerable areas.

What an interesting observation this was.

Wanda had stopped protesting, having succumbed to her own laughter. Vision must have recognized she was tiring, as he eased up and eventually stopped tickling her in favor of holding her close while she caught her breath.

"You... I... ugh. Damn you for being so innocent," she groaned, leaning her head back against Vision's shoulder. He leaned forward so he could catch her attention, pressing his lips to hers when she turned to look at him.

"Now, it's not really fair that you're an android and she's a human - clearly she's never going to be able to get you back," Clint griped in Wanda's defense. "Last I checked, robots aren't ticklish."

"Yes, this is true. However, Wanda does tease me quite often about other things. I am still learning quite a bit about everyday human life," he countered logically.

"Yeah, it doesn't have to go both ways, Katniss Everdeen," Tony called, having finished the current round of their game. "Just because she can't tickle him doesn't mean he can't tickle her."

"How is that fair??" Peter demanded.

"Oh, you're only on her side because you're ticklish too, kid," Tony argued, poking Peter's side.

"Hehey! Mr. Stark!"

As the team continued to banter about the subject, Loki kept subtly glancing at you to assess your reaction. It seemed that even conversing about tickling was making you squirm in your seat, the corner of your mouth twitching upward every so often as you obviously fought back a grin. Notably, you were silent throughout the entirety of the conversation. Normally, you would interject frequently in these team arguments, but it seemed you were biting your tongue in this case.

Oh, this was absolute gold.

Eventually, the conversation progressed to another topic, and you visibly relaxed in your seat. Suddenly, Loki noted you were much more willing to participate in the discussion. That confirmed his suspicions: you were exceedingly flustered by even the mention of tickling. He could only imagine how flustered you'd be if he threatened to tickle you in front of the others.

He left you alone that evening, mulling over the best method of approach. It would be best if he caught you unawares - you didn’t seem to have noticed his watching you, and so you likely had no idea that he had come to this conclusion. Perhaps he would file this fantastic little piece of information about you into the back of his mind, ready to pull it out the next time you attempted to fluster him. It was only a matter of time, after all.

The opportunity fell into his lap - quite literally - a few days later.

Stark had just recently renovated the recreation room to add a fancy table and plush chairs for board games or card games. He was hoping to play a game of poker, but Peter asked to join and Stark insisted the kid was too young to be gambling despite his protests. So instead, he allowed Peter to choose a game. By this point, Thor had already roped Loki into playing, and so he had no opportunity to back out when Peter decided to play Monopoly, of all things.

This was going to be a long evening.

Seven people joined in, but only six chairs were present. Wanda simply took a seat in Vision’s lap, offering to play as a team. Peter began laying out the board and passing out the money to get ready to start the game.

“Room for one more?”

Loki turned to find you standing in the doorway. Stark responded to you before anyone else could.

“Good luck finding a seat.”

“Tony! Why would you only get six chairs? There’s more than double that many people living in the tower.”

“Hey! It’s a work in progress, alright? Besides, I didn’t anticipate playing team Monopoly in here with more than six players,” he retorted, rolling his eyes.

Your eyes fell on Wanda, seated comfortably in Vision’s lap, then skimmed along the table until your gaze rested on Loki. A flash of mischief sparked in your eyes, which normally would make him proud to see he was succeeding in corrupting you with his ways, but he was well aware that mischievous smirk was directed at him.

Sure enough, you strode into the room, heading directly to where Loki sat and parking yourself unceremoniously in his lap.

“It’s alright. I’ll just play on Loki’s team.”

Eyebrows raised around the table, but no one said a word. Despite that Loki had anticipated this the moment you walked in, he couldn’t help but feel a bit sheepish with you seated on top of him. You damned, cunning mortal, knowing exactly how to get to him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he muttered in your ear. You turned your head to look at him, your face unnervingly close to his.

“I needed a seat. This was the best I could do.”

He didn’t bother with a retort, as Thor started the game with a roll of the dice. Participants chattered animatedly between their turns as they sipped their adult beverages (except Peter, of course, who was perfectly content with his soda). Even you participated casually in conversation with the others, as if it was having absolutely no effect on you whatsoever that you were seated on the God of Mischief's thighs. He had no idea what to do with his hands, so they rested beside his legs against the seat of the chair in the narrow space available on each side. Each time he thought he was getting past the flustering feeling of having you seated in his lap, you shifted your weight a bit, or turned and shot him a sly look out of the corner of your eye, and a fresh wave of heat rose in his face.

"Vis!"

Suddenly, across the table, Wanda had begun giggling and squirming in Vision's arms as he skittered his fingers along her sides. It was unclear what provoked the android - perhaps he simply wanted to hear her laugh - but in any case there she was, half-heartedly shoving at his hands as they crawled up her ribs.

And you immediately stiffened.

What wonderful timing this is, Loki thought to himself. He had you trapped, and it was all your own doing. You had nowhere else to sit unless you wanted to perch yourself on someone else's lap, and you had declared that you were on Loki's 'team' from the start of the game anyhow. If you got up now, you'd cause a scene.

He was definitely going to have his fun with this.

Leaning forward slightly, he began to whisper in a low voice in your ear, quietly enough that no one else could hear him speak.

"What's the matter, darling?"

You said nothing, simply turning your head to glance at him with what you probably hoped was a casually curious look on your face, but instead appeared more like a grimace. He tilted his head, urging you silently to provide an explanation without context for his question.

"Yo - mischief and mayhem - you're up," Tony urged, prompting you to whip your head back around to look at him. Loki was silent as you took the dice and made your roll, landing on a property that Clint already owned and handing over your fee without saying much of anything. In the meantime, Vision had stopped tickling Wanda, but she continued to squeak at random intervals when he'd poke or pinch her side teasingly. One particular poke to her lower ribs made you actually squirm a bit, which you tried unsuccessfully to disguise as shifting yourself to become more comfortable as you passed off the dice to Thor on your left.

"Something seems to be bothering you," Loki continued in your ear, making you stiffen the moment you heard his voice. "I might even go as far as to say... flustering you."

You turned enough to look at him, your own voice in a low whisper. "I don't know what you're talking about."

At that same moment, Wanda began giggling once again for a brief moment, and you swiftly rotated your head back to witness Vision scribbling at her belly. Loki took advantage of your renewed flustered state to lean a bit closer to your ear.

"I'm not a fool, darling. I know exactly what's got you blushing."

Again, your head swiveled to look at the god you'd chosen as your seat, but this time your eyes were ever so slightly wider than they normally appeared. He allowed a devilish smirk to spread across his face, knowing it would only serve to unnerve you.

"You do not."

Loki shrugged. "Believe what you want, princess."

Slowly, your head turned back to face the rest of the table. The tension you were feeling was plainly obvious - you were sitting as though a metal rod had been threaded through your spine, and your shoulders were pinned back and squared stiffly below your ears. Chuckling to himself, he decided to drop the bomb on you at last.

"You're ticklish, aren't you?"

If it were even possible, your muscles became more rigid at his confirmation that he knew exactly what was getting to you. Subtly, your arms moved to rest closer to your sides protectively. Notably, you didn't turn around to look at him this time.

"It's obvious, really," he continued, undeterred by the fact that you were no longer responding to him. "I suspected it the other day, when Vision learned of Wanda's ticklishness and decided to exploit it." He wasn't even touching you, and yet each time he said the word, you shifted a bit in your seat atop his lap. "You were acting exactly like this. Stiff as a board, arms lowered to cover your vulnerable spots, unwilling smile tugging at your lips." Loki let out a low, ominous laugh from deep in his throat. "Based on all of this, I've deduced you must be devastatingly ticklish. And the thought of someone exploiting it is making you incredibly flustered, isn't it?"

You were pointedly ignoring him now, taking a long sip of your wine and refusing not to respond to his teasing. It only egged him on further, knowing he was getting to you. If he'd provoked you into giving him the silent treatment already, he'd have you a blushing mess by the end of the evening.

By this point, the dice had been passed back around, and you silently took your turn. A quick purchase of a railroad, and the dice were passed on to Thor. Still, you remained facing forward, carefully avoiding leaning back against his chest with your arms pinned at your sides.

"You can't ignore me forever, darling," he hummed, slipping his hand up underneath the loose hooded sweatshirt you had chosen to wear this evening and resting his hand against your side just above your hip. The moment his hand made contact with the thin T-shirt you wore beneath your sweatshirt, your own hand shot down and grabbed hold of his through the heavier fabric of your outerwear. "Now, now, darling. You wouldn't want to cause a scene, would you?"

"You're the one causing a scene," you hissed, your head pivoting to give him the side-eye.

"Might I remind you that you selected your own seat. Regretting it now, I'm certain."

Huffing through your nose, you turned to look at the others. He could sense what was going through your mind at this moment. You were weighing your options - trying to decide if creating a scene now about finding another chair to sit in (likely from another room in the tower at this point) was worth the avoidance of the inevitable torment Loki was about to inflict upon you. You were stuck between a rock and a hard place. No matter what choice you made, there would be a scene. Unless, of course, you managed to contain your reactions.

With a nearly inaudible sigh, you adjusted yourself to sit more comfortably, leaning back a bit against Loki's chest and resigning yourself to your fate. Chuckling, he lifted some of the weight from his hand at your waist, still hidden from view of the others under your sweatshirt.

"Let's test my theory then, shall we?"

The gasp that came from your chest when he pinched at your side ever so gently was, fortunately for you, buried by the annoyed groaning of Peter as he landed on Thor's property.

"It seems I was correct. Devastatingly ticklish."

The dice were passed on to Wanda, who rolled for her turn as Loki began gently kneading into the pliant skin of your side where his hand rested. It amused him, the way your muscles tensed under his ticklish touch almost immediately, and yet you refused to turn around and scold him for fear of the others figuring out what was going on. You couldn't squirm, you couldn't laugh... you couldn't even allow the sensation to affect your facial expression if you truly wanted to keep this a secret.

Loki gave you a reprieve when the dice were passed over to you for your turn. You nearly missed the fact that Tony was holding them out for you to take, despite the fact that you were staring straight at his hand. Loki laughed under his breath, and you reached down with your free hand and pinched a small spot on his knee to let him know you didn't appreciate his laughing at you. In retaliation, he slid his hand down just a bit to scratch at your hip as you shook the dice in your hand. You threw them down against the board with more force than necessary, arching the slightest bit sideways away from his tickling fingers.

"Wow. Not even losing and you're being a sore loser already?" Tony quipped.

"N-no, it's not th- ahem - it's not that." It was clearly straining you to withhold your laughter, one of your hands dropping down to squeeze his hand through your sweatshirt in a feeble attempt to make him stop while you quickly moved your piece the allotted number of spaces on the dice. Your sigh of relief was audible this time when you landed on your own property, handing the dice off to Thor.

"You seem twitchy, there, mayhem. You alright?"

"Yep! Just- er, trying to d-decide if I want to get up and get another drink."

Loki was finding this quite entertaining, keeping you guessing by allowing his fingers to still against your T-shirt before suddenly starting up again, squeezing his way agonizingly slowly up your side toward your lower ribs. The moment his fingers reached the solid bone at the bottom of your ribcage, you suddenly slid off his lap and announced that you were going to refill your wine glass, scurrying out of the room.

"Er... she forgot her glass," Peter observed with a puzzled look. Grinning, Loki picked it up off the table and rose to his feet.

"She's rather frazzled tonight, I'm afraid. I'll bring it to her." With that, he stepped out of the room and followed the path you'd taken down the hall to the lounge.

He found you standing there alone, your fingers laced through your hair atop your head as you released a slow breath, your brightly colored cheeks puffed out. The moment you became aware of his presence, you shot him a frantic, wide-eyed glare.

"Loki!" you hissed, slamming your hands down onto your hips in an attempt to look condescending. "You absolute scoundrel!! What the hell?!"

"What's the matter, princess? Can't handle being flustered like this?" With a smirk, he added, "By the way - you forgot this."

You scowled, stepping forward to swipe the wine glass from his hand. "I'm finding another place to sit when we go back in there."

"Oh, but that would be a poor decision. The others would wonder why you suddenly want your own seat. After all, you were quite content with stealing my lap without asking."

With a groan, you stepped over to the bar, ripping the cork out of the half-emptied wine bottle sitting on the countertop. "What is it going to take for me to get you to stop?"

"Admit to me that I've won this little game. That I've succeeded in flustering you more than you ever could dream of flustering me in return. And then cease your attempts."

"No way!" you exclaimed, tilting the wine bottle over your glass to fill it with the burgundy-colored liquid. "You haven't won this yet!"

"Then I'm afraid I can't promise you anything." His smirk broadened as he observed your face cloud over with frustration. "It would be simple to just admit defeat. Though, perhaps you're enjoying this more than you're letting on."

"Wh- what?? I- I don't-"

"Save it, darling. I won't believe a word anyway." With that, he turned and began walking back to the recreation room. Once he reached the doorway, he called over his shoulder to you, "Don't take too much longer. The others are already wondering what's gotten into you this evening."

He could feel the stinging burn of your glare as he left the room.

When you'd returned with your full glass a few moments later, you hesitantly stepped over to stand beside the table, placing your glass on the surface. You made no move to sit down in Loki's lap again. He looked up at you with a sickly sweet smile, holding out an arm to offer you space to sit down.

"I'm going to stand for a bit," you mumbled.

"No need to be shy, darling - you've been sitting on me this entire evening." Without waiting for you to move, he reached up and grasped your hips, tugging to bring you crashing down into his lap once again with a squeak.

"You ass," you whispered, reluctantly shifting to face forward as you had been before.

"I offered you an out. You chose not to take it." He grinned. "You must know there are consequences. Or, perhaps you were hoping there would be?”

You couldn’t respond without drawing the other’s attention, as it was your turn once again. As quickly as possible, you rolled and moved your piece before sliding the dice over to Thor, folding your arms across your belly and trying to appear nonchalant despite your obvious frantic desire to be done with your turn. With a snicker, Loki slipped his hand up beneath your sweatshirt once again, the contact making you flinch and then relax a bit when you realized he wasn't tickling you yet. He allowed his hand to slide slowly up toward your ribs, reveling in the obvious nervous energy radiating off of you as his palm glided up your side.

"Suppose I seek out your weakest spot and exploit it... right... here," he breathed in your ear, scratching lightly along your lowest rib with just two fingers. You folded sideways the slightest bit in reaction to his touch, stopping yourself with obvious difficulty and straightening your back. While Loki couldn't see your face, he could see the subtle twitch of your jaw as you grappled with your internal instinct to react. "I wonder how long it would take to break your resolve once I find it. I'm sure the others would find it quite entertaining, watching me tickle you senseless."

"You're up again, mayhem," Stark sang, passing you the dice. The startled jerk of your head told Loki you again weren't paying any attention to the game, taking the dice and rolling for your turn. Cautious not to lift your arm too far from your side, you picked up your piece to move around the board. Still, Loki took advantage of the sudden reduction in protection of your ribs, spidering his fingers up to the middle of your ribcage beneath your sweatshirt. He felt your ribs expand outward as you sucked in a sharp breath, quickly moving your piece to the designated space and lowering your arm to your side as casually as you could muster.

"You passed go! Aren't you going to grab your two hundred dollars?" Peter asked excitedly.

"Yes, darling - don't leave money on the table, now. Go on and take the two hundred dollars," Loki concurred, eyeing the bank money sitting across the table. Your hand wrapped around his knee and squeezed harshly, acutely aware of what he was plotting. A few rapid squeezes to your ribcage were enough to let you know he wasn't backing down on this.

And you, you clever little minx, you reached out with your other hand to grab the money, keeping the arm that was blocking his access to your upper ribs firmly pressed to your side.

Oh, he wasn't having that.

While the others were distracted with their own conversations and with watching Thor take his turn, Loki swiftly slid his other hand up beneath your sweatshirt on the other side, bracing his thumb against your shoulder blade while his four fingers tickled the soft skin beneath your arm just below the hem of your short sleeve. There was a clearly audible squeak this time as your arm clamped down to your side, your Monopoly money crumpled in your fist. The squirming you'd done so well to hide was beginning to overcome you as you reacted to his fingers still wriggling into your underarm.

"Ah... might I have found it?" Loki whispered teasingly. You were starting to actually tremble with the effort of withholding your laughter. The small part of your face that Loki could see was vivid, the corner of your mouth twitching upward of its own accord. "This must be unbearable, darling. I have you completely at my mercy, and there's nothing you can do but submit to it." He punctuated his taunt by sliding his other hand around to your belly, scratching firmly with all five fingers just above your waistline. Whether it was this spot or the combination of the two that broke you, he wasn't certain, but you suddenly broke out in a desperate stream of giggles.

"What's so funny?" Thor asked quizzically.

"H-he... ahah... he tohold me a johoke!" you fibbed, doubling over as he increased the pressure of his scratching at your belly.

"Mm, yes, it was hilarious," Loki stated sarcastically, pausing his tickling fingers under your arm in an attempt to determine whether he'd discovered a weaker spot on your belly.

"Really? What was it?" Thor asked enthusiastically, gazing expectantly at you. Loki allowed his fingers to rest, unmoving, against your belly, endlessly entertained by the fact that you now had to come up with a joke to maintain your lie.

"It... it was..."

"Go on, darling, tell them the joke," Loki urged, prodding his fingers into the soft spot below your navel.

"HA! I... Sorry, it's just... it's fuhuhunny!!" You burst into giggles once again as he clawed at the center of your belly for just a moment.

"Are you sure you're ok? You're acting really weird," Clint observed, frowning with his brow furrowed in confusion. You nodded rapidly, your hands shifting to grasp what would look like your belly to the others, but really was Loki's hand in an attempt to keep it still for just a minute so you could think straight.

"Too much wine, I suspect," Loki tutted, shifting a bit so he could sneak his other hand down from under your arm to tickle the taut skin directly below your ribcage.

"I-hi dihid NOHOT have too muhuch wine!!" you scolded through louder laughter. Smirking, he started up again with his other hand. And finally, he broke you. "PSHH-AH-HA-HE'S TICKLING MEHEHE!!"

"I knew it!!" Wanda exclaimed triumphantly.

Now that you weren't attempting to hide it anymore, you were suddenly writhing in Loki's arms to try to evade his fingers. The abrupt change in your effort to fight for freedom allowed you to slip out of his grasp, sliding off his lap and stumbling to put distance between the pair of you. There was a bright, ticklish grin spread wide across your face that made his heart skip unexpectedly.

"You think I'm finished with you just because you've told them the truth?" he asked ominously, rising to his feet. With a squeak, you held your hands out in front of you protectively, taking a step backward.

"Loki - that's not... how is this fahair??"

"Darling, you can drop the act. You and I both know you don't mind this as much as you pretend you do."

"Shut up," you grumbled.

"That's cute," Tony teased, earning a sharp glare. Your attention quickly snapped back to Loki as he took a powerful stride toward you.

"Are you going to run? Or shall we do this here?" he queried. With a whine, you pivoted on your heel and sprinted out of the room. Sighing, Loki began pacing after you at a non-urgent speed.

"Brother! Don't kill the poor mortal," Thor called after him.

It didn't take Loki very much time to catch up to you. Predictably, you'd sprinted back to the lounge, glancing around wildly for a place to hide. Without a word, Loki wrapped his arms around your waist from behind, eliciting a startled squeak that was rapidly replaced by hysterical laughter when his fingers dug into your ribs.

"LOHOKI I SWEHEAR TO ALL YOHOUR GOHODS..."

"Preparing to threaten me, now? That would be unwise," he warned, his fingers working their way up toward your underarms. You clamped your arms down hard to your sides, stumbling forward as your struggle for freedom tipped you off-balance. Loki followed along with you, gradually marching you toward the wall on one side of the room. When he'd walked you close enough, he relented in his attack on your ribs in favor of grappling for your wrists, managing to catch hold of one of them and roughly spinning you around with a hand on your opposite shoulder. His other hand closed on your free wrist, jerking your arms above your head and slamming your wrists against the wall, one overlapping the other.

"L-Loki..." Your eyes were wide as saucers as you met his gaze, his face only inches from yours as he pinned your arms over your head.

"Tell me, darling - do I make you nervous?" he asked, passing one wrist to his other hand to pin them both in one of his larger hands, freeing the other to wriggle his fingers in your field of vision. You giggled anxiously, shutting your eyes tight.

"I-hi hate yohou, you know thahat?" you groaned, the color in your cheeks intensifying.

"Mm, but you don't mean it."

As your mouth flew open to retort, his free hand slipped up beneath your sweatshirt and shot up to the now taut skin under your arms. A shrill shriek escaped your lips before you began to let out desperate laughter, twisting and thrashing to try to free your wrists from the wall, from his grasp. Loki was far stronger than you, and so it was simple for him to maintain his grip, even as his tickling fingers lightened to a barely-there touch against the bare skin just above the hem of your t-shirt sleeve that drove you into silent laughter. Only then did he let his fingers still against your skin, pausing a moment to simply gaze at you as you came down from your state of ticklish euphoria.

"You're quite ticklish, even for a mortal," Loki teased, feeling a sense of endearment as your giggles gradually faded.

"Y-you can let go now," you breathed, glaring through your impossibly wide smile.

"Suppose I don't want to?" he asked, leaning into his hold on your wrists. "Suppose I like you this way?"

"Oh-ho-ho is that right?" you giggled. His free hand slid firmly down your side, enough weight to avoid tickling you, before landing on your waist just above your hip. His grip on your wrists finally loosened in favor of sliding his hand around the back of your neck, tugging you away from the wall. "L-eheh-Loki, there's no one around for you to be trying to fluster me in front of," you observed, your voice suddenly quieter, as though becoming uncertain of yourself. That beautiful smile still hadn't left your lips.

"I think..." he breathed, leaning his head down to close the distance between your faces. "... I think it's time we end this little charade, once and for all, hmm?"

"What are you-"

"I'm tired of the games, darling." He was so close now that he could feel your soft breath on his lips. "We both know there's something more to us than just this little game of ours."

You remained silent for a moment, your lips slightly parted as your tongue slipped out to wet them, your eyes glazed. Then, you surged forward, capturing Loki's lips with yours.

Your lips were soft, a hint of wine on your tongue as you kissed him hungrily. Loki growled low in his throat when your fingers slid up into his hair, tugging gently at the nape of his neck. Your other arm wrapped tight around his waist, and he pulled you closer with a powerful tug at your hip to feel your body against his. It was frantic and passionate, and it was everything he hadn't realized he wanted so badly these past few months.

As he pulled away, he drew your bottom lip between his teeth gently before separating his mouth from yours. There was a hazy look in your eyes that made his heart swell, knowing he was the cause. They flitted down to gaze at the floor for a moment, an almost shy expression on your face.

"That... that thing you do? The, the... 'two points of control?' Yeah, that's pretty damn effective," you breathed, drawing a laugh from Loki's chest.

"I'm certain I can come up with a number of ways to fluster you, if you'll allow it," he growled, pressing his lips to yours once again for just a moment. You grinned at him, a sly look in your eyes.

"Do your worst, my prince."

[pillsarchive]

A few random head cannons I have for Edward Nashton <<33

His favorite book is house of leaves you cannot change my mind - its filled with mysteries and he loves that he can re-read it and find more little puzzles to solve every time.

He watches documentaries like a crazy man. He has a lot of unhealthy tendencies and behaviors, one of them is wallowing. Watching documentaries that make him sad or angry gives him an almost perverse sense of pleasure - its confirmation. Yes, the world is as terrible as you think it is. If he's not using them as a depressant he's watching them to learn. Understanding more about niche topics helps him write better riddles.

He's a punk. The music was one of the things that got him through his time at the orphanage, even as an adult one of the only times he feels sort of good is when he's at shows. Thrashing around and taking out his aggression via moshing. He's never felt the need to dress loud (probably due to self confidence issues, I have a feeling once he breaks out of arkham and he has no reason to hide his identity anymore he'll come into his own and put himself together better) but he does admire people who are alternative in some way a whole lot.

He has graphomania (an impulsive desire to write or draw). It started as a nervous habit as a child, writing down riddles or thoughts or bible quotes to get anxiety out, then it spiraled into writing anything - one word over and over again, nonsense, it doesn't even have to be legible.

He has always wanted to go back to college and get more degrees. He has a bachelors in accounting of course, but he wants so many more. He loves learning, he is sort of a humanitarian at heart (even though his rage stifles that sometimes - revenge is a hard thing for him not to want) so he greatly enjoys the atmosphere of college campuses too. When he went, even though he was still mostly shunned for being neurotic and strange, people were nicer to him than normal. In the classroom he felt at home - he's sort of a genius and other students had a hard time keeping up with him. His professors pushed him to pursue a more advanced degree but he couldn't afford it (and the arkham programs for getting the cash he needed were lacking, to say the least).

He's trans and on the spectrum.

He's a true crime nerd. He likes to read books on it more than watch podcasts or docs - he finds that reading about cases is more informative and less exploitative (as much as he maintains you should care about the victims more than the killers, it is kind of just talk. He has a huge fixation with murder. ) This mf is an encyclopedia when it comes to the zodiac killer - has he spent months trying to solve the ciphers? Yes.

GRAVITY FALLS GUYS. He loves - LOVES gravity falls. He is a children's cartoons enjoyer.

He burned down the orphanage.

He's a cryptid mystery girly. He loves ghost hunting tv shows and he's super into random mystery junk. He has solved kryptos. He does brag about this accomplishment to his fans. He does reveal what it means to spite the CIA.

Collects something weird and small like buttons or bottle caps or stamps.

Bilingual! He can speak the King's and latin.

Loves rats. In the orphanage they were scary, they stole stockpiled food which could mean starvation, they chewed on you and gave some kids infections, they were horrible. Now that he's out and living in his own place he finds a lot of catharsis in taming them and befriending them.

In my universe he was in a mook adjacent band that broke up because he couldn't work well with the other bandmates.

He did NOT FLOOD THE CITY. I feel like in the movie this was completely off the wall, imu he doesnt ever make a plan to flood the whole city. What he does imu for the finale is a surprise >:].

[sunshowerr]

Catra + Shadow weaver P1

About villainism for dummies

Catra

is for a majority of the show the antagonist. However she doesn't start off as one, her descend into villainy is gradual. The show rather treats her as a deuteragonist.and that's interesting about this character there's a gray area to her. But because she's such a very complex character people will write off as inherently evil when the narrative doesn't treat her that but it doesn't absolve her of anything either. Catra in her descend starts off very young she's said to be around seventeen, eighteen in season 1 At the end of the show she's still a very young adolescent.

Shadow weaver is an antagonist along side (Catra, H*rdak)

Even during her days as a teacher in Mystacor. She displayed manipulative behavior over and over on Micah. The spell of obtaintment curses her but grants her a new power, the power of shadows. Which allows her to sap magic from all over the world would explain why she was able to gain power of the black garnet and drain Glimmer. She retains most of her personality as shown when she recognizes and spares Micah. Shadow weaver is the Horde's second in command she takes Adora in as a baby and takes Catra in as a child . Troughout the show we see the unfair treatment she puts them trough.Shadow weaver abuses Adora and Catra. And is responsible for their trauma. Note that the writers didn't write the episode light spinner as some kind of backstory to sympathize with ,it's to show that she has always been the same.

Shadow weaver pits Adora and Catra against themselves troughout their entire lives. Which not even the show is subtle about.

S1- Shadows of Mystacor.

Shadow spy impersonating Catra: What do you think, shadow weaver controls us both. She always has

Really puts the emphasis on how strong Shadow weaver's grip is over these two girls. Even Glimmer and Bow come to learn this and witness Adora's meltdown "seems like this shadow weaver person did a number on you"

Adora after defeating Shadow Blight G-I mean shadow weaver: "This is what Shadow weaver does, she manipulates people, she pushes them apart"

S3

Angella : No, you've put this girl trough enough already

Told from the good guy's perspective. The narrative is meant to tell you Adora good! Shadow weaver bad. And the narrative treats Catra with this same courtesy .So why don't we apply this to her? , the same victim of abuse sharing that same abuser for her whole life. Because Catra is a bad guy on paper and isn't a meak victim ? Therefore she isn't deserving of the same sympathy? Which is even more weird to me since Catra's abuse is shown trough text more often than Adora's I'm not comparing their abuse, Adora had it just as bad. but one thing is Adora leaves, gets a good support system while Catra remains behind in a toxic environment with Shadow weaver and we get to spend more time between those two. We see the hold shadow weaver has over Catra . i want to talk about the body languages in these interactions between them Catra's stiff shoulders, self hugging .When Shadow weaver asks her to come closer she scoots over with dread . Catra decides to show some vulnerability and it's exploited she helps shadow weaver and is deceived by her. i find it funny to say that Catra dubs Adora as naive,easy to manipulate when she perfectly plays into the hands of her abuser .

Catra isn't entirely selfish as people make her out to be, she is also loyal .

When Adora defects she's send to retrieve her back, to which Catra refuses. It isn't until Shadow weaver threatens her and paralyzes her that she complies. Catra after Adora's defection even considered her to be right in leaving and thought of doing the same, (she wasn't exactly safe in the Horde and was left alone with her abuser and without Adora there's not much for her.) Catra : Adora is gone, she defected, and I'm starting to think she had the right idea. Before she was presented with an opportunity, a sliver of recognition that got her reeled back in for validation. Which ended up with H*rdak pitting Catra against Adora. And even after Adora's defection Catra still got her back in the shadows.She refuses to give away her whereabouts her identity as She-Ra, refusing to sell her Ex-Bestfriend out despite being deeply hurt.

Shadow weaver: You are going to bring her back

Catra: I don't think so

Shadow weaver: For the last time ,where is Adora ?

Catra: For the last time i don't know

Shadow weaver : pathetic you're still trying to protect her.

Which then follows by a Catra, reluctantly going to seaworthy to bring her back. Under the command of Shadow weaver.

She even does this with Shadow weaver Catra doesn't owe her a single thing. Yet she still shows concern over her even when Shadow weaver was about to mentally screw her before she hunches over in pain. She tries to bargain with Hordak so she can stay longer before being transported she is empathetic of Shadow weaver and returns her old sorcerers badge only for that kindness to be exploited.

When Scorpia tries to bust her out of the cell she lashes out at her In a very Catra manner . But she does it for Scorpia's own sake, as she doesn't want to drag her into her own mess.

Motives and motivation

We all know Shadow weaver goes where Power is. Back in her days as light spinner she was a manipulative woman and knew exactly how to get around the gifted Micah and get him to perform the spell of obtaintment with her while framing it as a good cause. But the head master/sorcerer Norwyn stops her and outright says that's she's always been after power. This proves that even before light spinner becomes shadow weaver that she's always been power hungry. She kills? absorbs him with her new found power and it's like all her morals are off the table. With Micah as exception since some part did care for him. It's funny how it's followed with her swiftly taking out a horde soldier.

Catra is layered she has various motivations for her actions and often vocalizes these. We can tell her prime motives are survival, validation and a need to prove her self-worth.

Before she orcestates Princess prom she states that if she doesn't capture Adora shadow weaver will demote her. And if H*rdak finds about Shadow weaver disobeying him he will get rid of them both. .Her safety becomes endangered this way and this leads to her possibly endangering others for self preservation ,this is entirely selfish but motivated trough ensuring that safety. Not malice. "I'm after something bigger and no one will stop me" a.k.a ensure her spot as the new shadow weaver and get free of her clutches and abuse.

In Promise Light hope in order for Adora to "let go" and become a She-Ra free of attachments. She throws the two girls into simulations based of their memories and Catra gets reminded of her cause before she betrays Adora. She sees her younger self crying under a blanket, the child looks up to her and her gaze stays on the child her face hardens with a new resolve.As she stands over the cliff the tides have turned from this point on they're enemies and Catra is no longer acting out as one. Before that she did have moments of good as well she and Adora remain mostly civil. Catra doesn't attack her, she even catches her falling from the cliff and brushes her tail over her hand and the two share playful silly banter momentarily.

Moment of truth

It's a controversial thought maybe but I don't blame Catra fully for the portal activation actually ,from hindsight she definitely is complicit for Angella. Blaming her for something she was driven into a corner for doesn't feel ethical to me personally. Not with the way that whole scene was presented. And let me remind you what set of the chains of events

Who was it that deceived her by taking advantage of her vulnerability and desperate need for validation, which ended up with her being choked, publicly humiliated, before being send off to a mission which her survival wasn't guaranteed off and then who's name set her over the edge sending her into a panic attack leaving her with tunnel vision. She couldn't hear the cacophony of cheers or even hear Scorpia anymore. Shadow weaver according to her from what Adora tells her, has joined the good guys, she thinks their abuser joined the good guys. those same people infiltrate what she knows as her only home, tortures her with magic to the point I mask my emotions Catra breaks down crying in front of her enemies, and these particular lines always get me "So what? You're on the side of good now? You made me this way and you get to be the good guy? " Catra being rightfully angry spits back with just as much venom ofcourse which follows with anguish screams of her being tormented. It's so extremely hypocritical after the things she's done, ruining Adora and her, messing them up ? She out of all people has the audacity to mockingly ask Catra to join them?

Also what would've happened if Bow didn't step in and stop her. For taking too much instead of saying "That's taking it too far" Shadow weaver part of good guys now could've simply knocked her out but seemed to be taking her sweet time in hurting Catra as she stated before "Don't make me destroy you too" (she nearly drains Glimmer ,using up so much limited power just to hurt her or worse).The person who said this didn't care what would've overcome Catra after she escaped and left her for the wolves. The narrative stays sympathetic over Catra during these scenes it's clear who holds the power here and who's the victim, the victim in question an 18 years teenager, being abused by her abuser. who sides with the good guys that allow it to happen.

I think that's also, why she becomes so obsessed in beating the rebellion with no regard of her own health . While she experiences terrible guilt over pulling the switch. Because that's where she and shadow weaver again differentiate . Catra after zapping Entrapta looks at shock at her own hand, at what she did, Entrapta's face haunts her dreams,the mention of her name or the portal triggers her, because unlike Shadow weaver Catra shows remorse, and feels guilt over her actions. she does feel safe on the top with all the authority and power that comes with it.

But it doesn't bring her happiness because Catra did all of that in order for survival at first, to prove her worth, to prove someone else's narrative wrong the narrative bestowed on her by shadow weaver.She's reactive as ND describes but doesn't stop her to think about what she really wants.Just like with Adora it tells me she has a destiny complex just as much. Catra is instilled with the idea of being interior being told her entire life she won't amount to anything, due to the abuse, which is realistic.children that have trauma tend to feel this way,it leaves you with an inferiority complex. She fights these idea's imposed to her by shadow weaver who's called her an nuisance, insolent, worthless creature, who controlled and made her feel weak for her entire life .And the one enforcing this idea is to which not her fault is Adora. Adora is related to her trauma, she was the one she was pitted against since they were kids, which created this power Imbalance between and after gaining the power of She-Ra that gap of the power Imbalance gets bigger which is why she's someone that she needs to beat, to win against, her entire worth had been defined around her, by Shadow weaver , Catra fights to prove her independence , to prove herself . But this takes the blame off of the actual puppeteer who was responsible for this unhealthy dynamic .This is also why Adora calling finally Shadow weaver out in fail-safe was so cathartic "You ruin people, you take any chance they could ever be be happy" Adora seeing her best friend's, Glimmer's change under Shadow weaver's bad influence. Hears from Scorpia how Catra's been acting the way she has and finds out it's related to shadow weaver and seeing again how the sorceress causes a rift between them. She knows exactly who to turn against and she doesn't hold back.

Double trouble

The actor themselves completely exposes Catra and calls her out on her villainy act.

"You try so hard playing the big bad villain, but your heart's been never in it has it?" Catra's initial reaction to the horde squadrons being obliterated by the rebellion isn't her being upset by the loss she suffered but by the realization that she had been betrayed by whom she thought to be a friend, we've already seen that conquering Salineas didn't make her happy. Her being in the operation room and watching the horde gaining territory over over didn't make her happy, DT transforms into all of these people that hurt her then into the people she has hurt. "people have hurt you? Haven't they" "they didn't believe in you, didn't trust you"

"didn't need you, left you" "you drive them away wild cat"

Trough Scorpia leaving she could slowly come to terms that this time maybe she had been the problem she can't blame anyone but herself for Scorpia's defection. And so she learns about accountability for her own actions. And DT makes sure she gets the message.

It's for your own good darling, we both know this was never what you really wanted

Melog

Melog is a creature that comes from Abuse like Catra and Adora. Prime invaded their planet leaving them as the sole survivor .They hadn't known Catra's past or force captain Catra, commander Catra, but still trusted her enough to form a connection with her Catra connecting with them trough the compassion she showed them was very significant.

[darlington-v]

I know different interpretations of a work are generally enriching and cool... but c!dream villan interpretations is like how to tell me you only watch Tommy without saying you only watch tommy.... which would be fine but its not a great place to be making statements about the whole nature of the dsmp lol

Wild speculation, but sometimes I wonder if like, because the dsmp didn't really start as a narrative, and a lot of fans don't nessecarily enter it expecting a narrative, but then there is one and the fandom is really discourse heavy and everyone is sort of excpeted to have an opinion while maybe not expecting to form one from the begining or not having a ton of experience with narrative in a way that would "expect" them to have an opinion or not take things at face value??, I don't know if I explained that well at all... and I don't really even think thats right nessecarily... but like wow sometimes some of the takes about power and government and villany...

Honestly, it makes sense!!!

I think something interesting is like.... looking at how animatics have shaped the like tone and culture of the fandom essentially. Like, an interesting fact that I didn't really fully grasp until SUPER recently is like...

c!Wilbur out the gate admits he is manipulating c!Tommy. Like his first youtube video on the Dream SMP he admits his goal is to manipulate c!Tommy and people like c!Tommy into helping him achieve a potion ("drug") empire to monopolize on potions because there were a lot of people on the server who like to min-max, which is to put all of your effort into this one specific skill essentially. so like... i know minecraft doesnt have a skill tree but if it did, it would be putting all your points into that one specific branch of a skill tree. So he wanted to exploit the labor of all the TommyInnits to.... maintain a Potion Empire.

THIS IS A LONG POST BC I GOT CARRIED AWAY SO BUCKLE UP

And I don't think a lot of the fandom who joined later on knows this. I certainly didn't until like a week or so ago? Like... I knew c!Wilbur had been manipulative from the start because I'm a mod of (shameless self promo incoming) @dsmpanalysis and we have a lot of different POVs in that mod team and discord and we talk about it really frequently. I joined the fandom as someone who was really big on L'manburg ESPECIALLY crimeboys, and have turned into.... *gestures vaguely to my blog*

And ngl I owe a lot of it to @1-michibiki-1 in terms of c!Dream "Apologism" but all of the mods there have expanded my thoughts and views on the storylines of this narrative.

My application consisted of like largely essays about like... how I think Dream was the villain but he was meant to be the villain because you don't get any insight into his character WHICH.... IS A FAIR ASSUMPTION AT FIRST GLANCE. People are easily villainized when you cannot get a glimpse into their thought process. It's easy to dwindle someone down into this flat character and starting out I knew Dream didn't stream the SMP on purpose.

And I personally came to the conclusion of "Oh! So Dream is supposed to be the villain." However as the story continued and I learned more about what Dream went through I began to realize that... it's more than likely a form of a red herring. My opinions on this were immediately solidified when I watched Ranboo's 2 MIL stream because both Ranboo AND Dream agree on enjoying red herrings.

There have been MANY times were Dream has said that c!Dream is a complex character and he's not a wholly evil guy and there have been times where the narrative has honestly just proved that.

Anyways, what's important though was that... I learned most of this from other people who were more focused on c!Dream rather than myself. Eventually I shifted from c!Tommy to c!Ranboo and c!Techno after c!Tommy betrayed c!Techno and I began to realize.... everything I learned before hopping in wasn't exactly what it seemed.

Part of this is because I'm older, I heavily identify with c!Techno's sense of loyalty and philosophies on government, but I especially identify with the anguish c!Techno voiced in... a lot of lore but especially the lore around Doomsday.

I'm not 16 anymore. I don't always feel wronged by adults, or older people in my case, whenever they absolutely have done something wrong by me, but I do feel wronged by my close friends. I also felt like c!Tommy's sense of loyalty didn't line up with mine after what felt like him constantly flip-flopping and refusing to understand c!Techno's morals on government didn't line up with his.

In short, it was easier to identify with Tommy in these animatics versus in the actual stream content because c!Tommy is played by a 16 year old. I'm not a teenager and my line of thinking doesn't entirely line up with people that age anymore. It's harder to place myself in the same shoes of someone's OC who is played closer to their actual age, because I'm not that age.

Regardless, I was still on the c!Dream is a villain train. I wasn't ever like... c!Dream is repulsive I hate him, but I was like omg hot villain lad go brrr.

Even when the first like... mellohi, panic room, Ranboo lore stream popped up I thought "Oh! c!Ranboo corruption arc?"

And I was excited because I really wanted this shy, nervous character to turn into villain buddies with his good pal c!Dream. I'm a total sucker for villains and corruption arcs and all that good shit.

SO I STARTED GETTING REALLY INTERESTED IN ENDERSMILE. I'VE BEEN ON ENDERSMILE SQUAD OUT THE GATE. NOT THE SAME WAY I AM NOW, BUT I'VE ALWAYS WANTED THEM TO TEAM UP.

So... upon not really keeping up with c!Dream and being relatively??? indifferent? I don't think I started arguments on c!Dream back then, but I might have. But I remember like... starting to participate more whenever c!Dream came up and looking more into Dream's character BUT ESPECIALLY TALKING WITH OUR SERVER'S C!DREAM SPECIALIST MICHI ABOUT DREAM A LOT MORE.

And because Michi has been a watcher since day one and was a DTeam fan rather than a SBI fan, she was able to provide me with more information on how the server worked pre-Tommy but especially pre-Wilbur.

Now, you could definitely argue well Michi probably has clear bias but it made sense to me when I looked back on how the storyline had been constructed and was going along, and everyone in the server talks a lot about our own biases and how we want people to maybe not lean so hard on them. Michi would also provide like anecdotes on what had happened and I'm sure links were probably provided at one point but the point was I felt like Michi had no reason to lie or manipulate how the story was told and if she did, eventually someone would have pointed it out because... Group of like... right now it's around 20 or more analysts but I don't remember how many at the time there were. POINT BEING, WE'VE ALL GOT POINTS TO PROVE AND IN MY EXPERIENCE NOT MANY OF US HAVE BEEN SHY TO PROVE THEM.

So if anyone ever had any differing opinions they would be talked about and we literally had and still have discussions.

REGARDLESS.... I DIDN'T FACT CHECK IN DEPTH BECAUSE I THOUGHT PEER REVIEW WAS ENOUGH WHEN YOU HAVE LIKE HOURS UPON HOURS OF STREAMS TO WATCH.

Anyways. Eventually I started paying closer attention and looking more into c!Dream lore but only recently have I started to triple check before speaking about c!Wilbur lore because I know everyone has biases and while I did trust everyone's thoughts and analysis in the discord, whenever I make essays I typically like it to be largely air tight and if theres a mistake, I want it to be because I forgot not because I just trusted what was said. Plus, I wanted to get down to the specifics of how Wilbur had always started with manipulation on the mind.

SO I WATCHED HIS FIRST VIDEO ON THE DREAM SMP.

AND WHAT I WAS NOT BY ANY MEANS EXPECTING WAS WILBUR TO SAY WORD FOR WORD, VERBATIM,

"SO WHY DON'T I START AN INDUSTRY WHERE I USE THE TOMMYINNITS OF THE WORLD TO WORK FOR ME, TO CREATE THINGS THAT THE MIN-MAXERS OF THE WORLD WILL WANT."

Like... this is in no way an attempt to like hardcore villainize c!Wilbur like everyone does Dream, it's just more so to like REALLY outline how far off a lot of fandom interpretation of c!Wilbur is....

Because of SBI focused animatics.

Now, when I joined I watched A LOT of animatics that really highlighted like... Wilbur being this self-loathing JD-esque, "I destroyed it because I had to because the world was against me because no one loved us, Tommy" type of character. At least... that's what it came across as.

And it definitely highlighted the fact that Tommy was a victim, which he is. He is undoubtedly a victim and no not even any dream apologist can change my mind otherwise. Tommy, despite being an instigator sometimes, didn't deserve the abuse he received.

But these animatics never shown the fact that c!Wilbur started L'manburg as a shady ploy to exploit people like c!Tommy and vilify c!Dream so he could have power.

And that was easy because Dream and Tommy had wars before. They had spars and pranks and here's the plan to take back my disks and here's the plan to out smart the thieving little child etc etc.

And all of the animatics I watched never mentioned this. Neither did the recaps though. The recaps gave the events flat out, there didn't sound like there was bias, and honestly I don't really know if there was rather than like... a lack of nuance. And it's hard to provide a recap with that much nuance in a short period of time for a youtube video, to be perfectly fair.

However, this creates a perfect formula for entirely rewriting the history of a server. c!Wilbur quite literally fucking succeeded TO A META LEVEL. He slandered and ran smear campaigns against Dream and like he even does that with Sapnap in the beginning. But what's crazy is that it transferred over into the meta! Most of this fandom understands Wilbur as a victim of mental illness, and yeah maybe? He definitely wasn't mentally well by the end of pogtopia, but he never started out with honorable intentions. L'manburg was never a victim, only its citizens. The TommyInnits of the world.

I just think it's like... such an interesting case study. Because this is like... an opinion like shared by at least half of the fandom, but the vilifying of c!Dream is shared by MOST of the fandom I would argue. Which is like even more crazy for me because that was c!Wilbur's goal!!!

LIKE I GO INSANE WHEN I THINK OF THIS BECAUSE HIS REACH IS JUST TOO POWERFUL. HE'S NOT EVEN ENTIRELY REAL, JUST A MANIPULATIVE PERSONA OF SOME BRITISH GUY.

And I mean... maybe people who have watched Wilbur's video on the SMP still maintain this idea that Wilbur wasn't always the bad guy, but honestly... I wouldn't be surprised if their introduction was still an animatic. Like bias is hard to check and I'm not going to lie I could have sworn I watched both Wilbur's AND Tommy's video on the SMP in the beginning and yet I STILL was a ride or die for tragic yet on some level still honorable Wilbur and a resilient Tommy.

Like... upon watching Wilbur's first video... possibly again I was surprised because I thought I did watch it like right before I even started watching the streams and yet I was still so invested in c!Wilbur as this tortured anti-hero.

It took 6 months of... not being in an echo chamber, full of multiple different people of different ages, different stream POVS, and people who joined the fandom at different points in time.

IDK IF THIS WAS EVEN ENTIRELY RELEVANT IT JUST FELT TANGENTIALLY RELEVANT AND THIS WAS SOMETHING I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT FOR A HOT MINUTE AFTER LIKE WATCHING WILBUR'S FIRST VIDEO AGAIN.

TLDR;

SBI CENTRIC ANIMATICS HAD A LASTING AFFECT ON THIS FANDOM AS IT'S HARD TO GO BACK AND ACTUALLY CHECK THE NARRATIVE FOR SOLID FACTS FOR YOUR OWN INTERPRETATION BASED ON THE FACT THAT THIS NARRATIVE SPANS OVER HUNDREDS OF HOURS WORTH OF TWITCH STREAMS.