#Everyone has differing opinions and tastes in such. A real friend would be more willing to respect that

[xenoshadow13]

you really should take the matter over fictional content more seriously because one day you could actually really someone out there over what you think is just harmless fun

you might laugh right now but you won't find it so funny when you're dropped by a former friend over it :/

As I've once said to another anon, I rather not be pulled into this nonsense over fucking fiction. It's nothing but a very stupid shitstorm that should have NEVER gotten this bad in the first place.

And because I know there will be folks out there who will get on my case for this, no, just kindly fuck off and leave me alone. I refuse to be dragged into a shitstorm all because some folks out there want to throw a hissy fit at others enjoying ANY sort of fictional content that THEY find uncomfortable.

I said these before in another post and I shall say it again because I feel it's needed. Putting this under readmore tho cuz post getting rather long here.

It's okay to feel upset over certain fictional content & interests, but that does not mean it's okay for you to act as if those who enjoy said stuff are horrible people. You're allowed to feel however you want over certain content, but for fuck's sake please just use that block/mute/whatever and move on with your fucking life. No need to announce to the world how much this or that makes you uncomfortable okay.

It's YOUR job to curate your own internet experience, NOT US STRANGERS. Most of us will do our best to tag certain shit to make it easier for others to avoid content but the system here isn't perfect so stuff is bound to slip by regardless. But even then, it's still YOUR job to curate your own internet experience. Again, a lot of us fellow online folks will do our best to tag certain content to make this a little easier for you, but that doesn't mean it's our job to cater to you.

News flash people, everyone has trauma and everyone deals with it differently. You're allowed to feel however you want over with anything regarding your trauma but that does not give you the fucking right to act as if only YOUR experiences and how YOU deal with YOUR trauma is "right". What's that? Do you find how this or that person deals with their trauma to be really weird? Alright. That's okay. You think so-and-so doesn't count and that gives you the right to treat them however you want for it? Yeah no. You can fuck off with that mindset there.

Everyone is bound to unwittingly do something that will make you and others uncomfortable but that doesn't make them some horrible person. So please take a chill pill and not jump the gun so soon on others solely because of that. Not to say that you're not allowed to feel however you do but for fuck's sake 1) a lot of us are socially awkward folks who struggle with recognizing social cues and such and 2) it's not easy to read tone and such over text. :|

Alrighty. This is getting long enough as it is and uhm starting to get a bit tough to not go off completely here so just gonna stop.

But yeah. If you have a problem with any of this then go right ahead and hit that unfollow button there. You will not be missed. :)

[tumblingxelian]

Wednesday Fanfic Concept - Rivals and Roommates to Lovers

Summary: With her parents fast approaching for a string of "Family Therapy Sessions" and with the looming promise of their intervention in her nonexistent love life, Wednesday is forced to take drastic action.

"Enid, Barclay, I have need of one or both of your assistance in a little deception for the duration of my parents extended visit."

Concept: Wednesday's parents are coming weeks before parents day for multiple family therapy sessions at Kinbotts suggestion. They also insinuated they would use this chance to introduce Wednesday to some 'respectable suitors', much to her chagrin.

Wanting an excuse to bail on them at a whim, use others to distract them & something to obscure their interests in playing match maker she corners Enid & Bianca after fencing (With Yoko & Divina watching) to request one or both of them play the role of paramour.

Flabbergasted shock and intrigued amusement reign but discussions do happen; though be it not all at once as the topic brings up... Revelations.

Enid is willing to go along with things cos she's a friend but does expected some repayment in girls nights. She is also insistent the fake relationship be healthier than her parents decades long marriage and is very committed to it.

Bianca is more put off at first, but a blend of anger at Xavier, competitiveness, and the desire to extract Wednesday's promise to help them win the fencing tournament is enough to get her to go along with it.

There are revelations however that come fast and quick:

Outcasts of high standing do practice arranged marriages, but it is possible to cancel them as they are more a ceremonial idea to maintain alliances.

However the process to do so without creating huge problems or looking stupid requires several steps to be met for everyone's pride.

Wednesday is furious she was not told she had fiancé's (Her parents never intended to force the issue they just didn't want to bring it up until they felt she'd not actively cause a political incident out of spite)

Bianca is furious Xavier lied to her about having no prior commitments or relationships as it has become evident he never intended to stay with her in the first place.

Enid was the one who actually figured out there would be arranged marriages due to culturual osmosic and snooping.

Yoko is roped into assisting with the cancellation process, & Divina into helping helping stage semi real dates.

Thing was assigned to spy on Weems so he's missing all this.

Said fake dates and manufactured confessions of interest primarily exist to give the relationship legitimacy for the romantic Addams:

Wednesday: My parents are romantics at heart, they can readily accept mny things if it fits a narrative they would like to see spun.

Bianca: Oh do tell, what made us so perfect for the role of your paramours?

Wednesday:... With yourself Barclay, they would hardly question the simmering tensions that can emerge between rivals of the blade and intellect. Though your penchant for social climbing would perhaps raise eyebrows given my tastes otherwise.

Bianca: Oh how charming.

Enid: So what about me, they seemed kind of put off by my pastels.

Wednesday: Surprise would certainly echo in their otherwise empty heads. However it is not unprecedent given my uncle Festers tastes in women and for all our differences... You are very careful with my eccentricities.

Yoko: Rivals to lovers, oh my god they were room mates; fake relationship 400K slow burn, another win for the gays! (cackling)

Romantic inspiration moments discussed include:

Wednesday forcefully revaluating her opinion of Enid after she threatened Wednesday on the first night and revaluating her opinion of Bianca after her loss in their first duel. (Her parents find both the roommate romance and rivals to lovers very inspired)

She confessed to Enid recently, after seeing her maul the schools bus in a rage & Bianca a few days later after a roof top duel in the rain that ended in a draw. (There was wine drinking from each others glasses before & after, cos while this is all staged, Wednesday is not a some uncivilized boor who won't treat her dates well)

Enid romantic moments are Wednesday helping with the Poe Cup & she says she used to crush on Bianca before she dated Xavier. When Xavier is pissy about Wednesday "Breaking things off" and her refusing to sit near him in class, Enid goads him by kissing Wednesday's cheek and then mocking him at fencing.

Xavier loses it, but throws his sword at Bianca rather than Enid thinking its her scheme and Enid attacks him. So violently that they Yoko, Divina, & Coach Vlad just to hold her back. (The former two actually know Enid's temper)

For Bianca the moments would be Wednesday's words to her before the Poe Cup forcing her to take a look at her truly and parse her feelings regarding the matter of Xavier, followed by the roof top duel.

While for Enid it would be seeing her efforts to maul Xavier and them having a "Talk" after the fact. Her & Enid's relationship is framed as "Seeing where it goes" while their interest in Wednesday and hers in them is more direct.

Naturally real feelings start to or are already developing. They also time it all before the dance so they can make their dramatic debut.

Also thanks to his spying Thing learns that Weems is in talks with the Mayor regarding the monster and seems to know something, so they get confirmation of it from that angle rather than Xavier's art and the cave.

This also means Thing is flabbergasted when returning to the room & seeing Bianca there, putting herself right in the middle of the room, to mildly intrude on Wednesday's space but not go overboard. This is to be in contrast to Enid who is more careful with Wednesday's boundaries but sometimes to the point of inaction.

Xavier's inability to respect Wednesday's boundaries or words & Wednesday hating Galpin's dad and finding Tyler confusing (Cos of his rambling about signals) is why she didn't go to them. Meanwhile Eugene makes her think of her brother which squicks her out so he was off the table.

Also parents day likely ends up hella more dramatic and Bianca and Enid get some big development from their mutual mom situation. Plus Wednesday realizing she's growing… protective.

[northwest-cryptid]

I will openly admit that to this day my biggest disappointment in indie vtubers and being an indie vtuber was that vtuber teams were not nearly as cool as they could have been because no one knew what made a team good in the first place.

If you don't know, a Vtuber team is essentially a small collective of streamers (roughly 3 - 5) who would work as a sort of "team" or group. They'd collab and promote one another and often had their own discord servers or ways to keep in touch with the various different members.

Now, lets say you're a sane everyday person, who is actually friends with your fellow team members. You wouldn't say; go around bad mouthing them for clout, backstabbing them and trying to assimilate their audience into your own after they prove to be more successful. You likely wouldn't plan "mandatory" meetings and then get mad at them when they refuse to show up because they've not had a day off from their actual paying job in over 5 months and they're literally so sick they can't get up the stairs to their computer and would rather spend their time with their significant other. You certainly wouldn't tell them they should voice their concerns about a big group change to everyone and then immediately double back on what you said when the rest of the group decides to ostracize them for having a bad opinion even though you just told them their thoughts are more in line with the goal of the team.

Right?

If you can't tell, as someone who has been in a handful of teams I've become somewhat jaded by them. They're a great model for actually promoting one another, having constant collabs so you don't need to constantly stream alone, and generally having some kind of group atmosphere which helps raise popularity since I can promote you even when you're not streaming, and you can promote me when I'm not streaming. However this doesn't work in reality because too many people are too focused on their own personal ambitions and are far too willing to jump into the fire of drama and throwing-each-other-under-the-bus bullshittery.

If it wasn't extremely clear, everything I mentioned above is shit that ACTUALLY has happened to me. I've never in my life had to say, verbally, aloud; in a call with other adults "I am going to hang up, because I am sick; I have not had a day off in months, and you call me here to yell at me over shit that doesn't even matter. Grow up, and learn that you do not hold power over others; if you want to make mandatory meetings, control my voice and my content, and tell me what I can and cannot do; you can pay me. I will leave my paypal in the general chat." Until I was in a team.

So what goes wrong? It can't just be that people get a taste of being popular and suddenly throw it all away, right?

... I mean. Yea. It sorta can be.

I'm not going to say this is exclusively what always happens all the time, but I will say it was what I saw happen the MAJORITY of the time. Essentially, it becomes fandom bullshit levels of cliche-y real quick.

You will inevitably have some members of the team who are more popular than others, and some who are by proxy less popular. Some might be better at holding a more dedicated and consistent audience while others, despite having more numbers on twitter; can't actually get numbers on their streams.

If you've made it this far, buckle up because I'm going all in here.

To properly explain this whole ordeal I'm going to walk you, yes you; through what it might be like to be part of a Twitter Indie Vtuber Team and you will see exactly why it never worked.

So if we're going to join a Vtuber team we need to be a Vtuber, the fun part here is that it literally doesn't matter who or what you are. You might be someone who cares deeply about lore, plot, and character; you might be more like me and not really think that matters so much as putting on a show for your audience. You might be somewhere in the middle. Maybe you're a sci fi character, maybe you're high fantasy, maybe you're some really generic anime character; guess what? None of that matters because Twitter Indie Vtubers teams fail to understand one huge guiding principle behind Vtuber teams, Classification.

See, I think the biggest issue I saw in the way Twitter's Indie vtuber teams (god that's getting exhausting to type, is it getting exhausting to read yet) ran things, was that they HATED Corporate Vtubers. Like, they HATED them. You couldn't bring up any of them, it doesn't matter how humble or how popular or whatever. Mention Vshojo? You're the devil. Mention Hololive? You're worse than the devil.

So what's so bad about that?

Let me put it like this, what do Vshojo and Hololive have in common that the majority of Indie Vtubers on Twitter do not?

They're successful at earning a living by streaming. Simple as that, they're doing something right. What are they doing right exactly? Well I'd love to find out but I can't discuss it with anyone because if I bring up corporate vtubers it's seen as a horrible very bad no good thing to talk about. We HATE Corporate Vtubers here and if you talk about them at all you're out buster, that's that.

But wait, going back to what I was saying about Classification, why is that important? Well simply put it makes things easier to understand for the audience. It keeps things coherent and it all just makes sense.

Here's a quick example, let's look at some Vtubers and you tell me if you think you know which ones are in a team together;

One of the Vtubers is a Lion. One of the Vtubers is a Crow. One of the Vtubers is an Isekai Protagonist (Generic, no definition) One of the Vtubers is a Harem Anime Protagonist (again, generic) One of the Vtubers is a Demon. One of the Vtubers is an Angel. One of the Vtubers is a Robot. One of the Vtubers is a Starship Captain. Lastly, one of the Vtubers is a Bear.

Now if you look at these Vtubers, and you had to group them into teams; how would you do it?

Logically you might group the Isekai and Harem protagonists together, they could have a Vtuber group for generic anime protagonists and they could actually make a joke out of putting a spin on their respective tropes.

Then you could pair off the Demon and Angel, the Robot and the Captain since they're both sci fi, and lastly you could group the Lion, Crow, and Bear since they're all animals right?

Well to put it super bluntly and not try to dox myself with how much I've said in this already, none of those examples were made up. All of those are actual Vtubers I've met during my time on twitter. Fun fact: they were all in the same team. Yes, all of them. Then they split off into smaller teams because they learned the team was too big and the audience split too thin.

But why does that Classification actually matter? Well it matters for the same reason being a Vtuber in the first place matters.

You see, if you're going to be a Vtuber you need to ask yourself why you're wanting to be a Vtuber over any other type of streamer.

Seriously, give that a thought for a second.

For me it was pretty simple, it started with not wanting to put my face out there. I got generally tired of how many people would comment on how I was dressed or how my hair was that day, or the fact I have a big nose; or just... whatever they felt like saying about ME that day. I'd play a ton of games I wanted to show people, things I actually enjoyed and wanted to bring to others. Yet no one cared about what I was streaming, they were all too caught up on how I look, and how do I look? Well, extremely everyday normal person-looking.

No seriously. I am not really someone who's like, "cool" or "handsome" or whatever. I don't look striking in any noticeable way. This isn't some fishing for compliments attempt either I'm being real, there's nothing about me on a GOOD day that says "I'm worth looking at" and yet people would always comment on SOMETHING and it normally wasn't about me looking good.

However if you turn off your webcam you DO get less engagement. This is just a sort of proven thing, so you need SOMETHING to represent yourself right? For me that was an easy fix, I could use a Vtuber avatar and in doing so I figured maybe I could rep some of my Native culture while I'm at it.

Later down the line I met some cool people who were more character focused, they enjoy the idea of playing a character and ultimately growing and changing that character as they streamed. It was something I felt forced into by the Twitter community at large so I always tried to come up with SOMETHING for the character, but everything felt forced (because it was) and bad (because it was) so I would often quickly drop any characterization before it even hit the stream.

Okay so let's say you personally have the ambition of playing a character, you want something closer to Hololive or Holostars, where your character comes from a place, has an occupation; a goal, a reason for streaming beyond just "I stream because I want to make money as a streamer for whatever reason." Alright cool let's see where that goes right?

Now remember, as Twitter Indie Vtubers we HATE Corporations and we will not be looking at how Hololive does this right at all. Instead we will constantly remind people about our character without ever really doing anything with it.

Yes. This is how it was done.

Say you meet someone who was an Angel. Maybe they were an Angel who was kicked out of heaven because lol they play too many video games XD (please excuse my cringe I'm doing my best to emulate shit I actually ran into here). So okay cool I'm not going to say that's NOT a valid character I guess. Alright so they're streaming because they like playing video games, what does being an Angel have to do with anything exactly? Well they'll tell you their entire lore dump of a backstory, they'll remind you they're an Angel, and they'll likely have some kind of definition of the difference between them as an Angel who got kicked out of heaven and fallen angels who... you know, basically the same thing BUT IT'S NOT.

You might ask again, what does this have to do with ANYTHING. Why does it matter? Why does them having a backstory, having this persona; why does it matter? What are they doing with it? Is it worth all the investment in a backstory and lore; or would it simply be enough to just explain "yea I'm an Angel and that's why I look like this" or whatever?

And Again they'll remind you of their backstory, they'll explain all their lore; and you'll find that this literally DOESN'T MATTER.

But then all the big corporate vtubers have backstories and lore, so we should too right?

Well... about that.

Can we, and now listen; I know... we HATE corpo vtubers here... but can we take just a second to look at WHY they have those backstories and lore and such?

Okay so here's the thing, if we look at the Hololive English branches we can see some specific things, first off Classification is a big one.

HoloMYTH? Grim Reaper, Phoenix, Cthulhu; etc (I'm not going to explain how a Shark or literally just Watson who is somehow a time traveler fit in here ask COVER man.)

HoloCOUNCIL? Warden of Time, Basically Mother Nature, The Embodiment of Chaos; again we have characters who are the COUNCIL of things like Space, Time, Civilization, Nature, Chaos; etc.

Council would later become PROMISE but I digress.

Now I'm not honestly too sure about Advent? But that's mostly because I haven't really looked into them much admittedly they're very hit or miss with me personally, but I got nothing against them and wish them the best.

What I'm saying here is, Classification matters! Everything from theme to color schemes and names comes into play. The one in charge of Nature? Ceres (a planet) Fauna (...yea I don't need to explain how that one ties in). The Warden of Time? Literally named Kronii (obviously meant to be similar to the word Chronos and such).

A lot of this is pretty self explanatory but my point here is everyone is designed to fit together like a D&D party. Everyone feels like they belong in the team. It's not just a random Cyborg, an Angel, some random Bear, and an Isekai Protagonist all bumming out in a discord call going "oh man I have no idea what to do today so we're just chatting lol"

So if you're an Indie Vtuber who understands Classification you're likely going to look for other people who fit your general theme and identity. But this can be difficult because of either one of two reasons.

One being that no one seems to fit your general classification. If you're too unique or too specific to a setting, time period, or general genre it can be hard to find others who fit into that with any level of similarity.

The other being that TOO MANY people seem to fit your classification EXACTLY. If you're a random God of such and such, and you find other god Vtubers, you likely find other people who are literally the same thing you are. Same goes for Angels, Demons, Anything Anime, Most forms of Object Heads or Robots or Cyborgs.

The biggest problem I see with the second is that no one wants to be anything short of "the best" at what they are. You're not just an assassin, you're the best assassin to ever live; well shit now you can't be in the same team as the OTHER best assassin to ever live.

But what if you were?

See this is where I think Indie Vtubers don't have the ability to laugh at themselves nearly as much as they should.

Because I personally think it would be really funny to have two people in a vtuber team who are the same thing, but from different backgrounds. Give us Spy x Family but as a Vtuber Team and I think it would be fucking hilarious.

No seriously, imagine for a moment that there was a 5 person vtuber team, 2 of the members of the team were from different backgrounds, they could be anything; for the sake of generic bullshit let's say one is like the top Angel from heaven, the other is the top Demon from hell. Except they both seek to keep this information secret, "only their chat knows" except the other 3 people in the team are VERY much aware, for literally ANY reason it doesn't matter how they know, it just matters that these two are such stupid idiots that they're constantly showing their hand in such specific ways that the other wouldn't see.

If you have the improv skills necessary, and the ability to laugh at yourself; you suddenly have a very VERY potentially funny team on your hands.

Imagine them playing Phasmophobia, one of them (doesn't matter who) points out the ghost must be a demon, they know all this information about demons, clearly this is a demon; they wouldn't be wrong about this. The other, also knowing this information (either because they're well researched on demons, or because they ARE one) is suspicious of how they know all this and doesn't know how to call them out so they try to one up them by providing MORE information in an attempt to see how much they ACTUALLY know, only now the first person is starting to question how THEY know so much. Meanwhile everyone else in the collab is dying and neither of them acknowledge this until it's brought up as a last ditch effort out by one of the two when asked a particularly difficult to answer question and they just respond with "OH SHIT THEY'RE DYING!" Before running off to save their team members. THAT'S GOOD BANTER BAY-BEE!

But see, this requires classification, an understanding of everyone's characters; and enough similarity to play off each other's characters.

So what about if you can't find anyone? You join into a random Vtuber Team and hope for the best.

Alright so you join into a group with 4 other people, so far things seem fine, everyone is nice enough; you likely sit in a discord call and talk about life; become closer friends, discuss what kind of games you like to play. You know, general normal people stuff.

Then a few days later you get a message about doing a collab, you don't have many viewers at this point; maybe 4 - 5 regulars who show up and actively chat. Good people, you are excited to sort of introduce your audience to your new team, and get to meet their audience. You might even be a little stressed because you only have about 100 followers on twitter and they have well over 1,000 so you expect a much bigger turnout on their end.

The stream collab starts, you notice there's maybe 3 people watching them, you are one; they are another. Which means they only really have 1 viewer. You tell yourself this is because the stream just started.

Then a half hour goes by, the only viewers showing up in their chat are from your team. Mutual friends, other streamers you know; they trickle in now and then but you notice neither of you are particularly popular. That big four digit follower count seems to all be just for show. Likely coming from a basis of follow for follow vtubers and the like. Looking at their twitter you notice they don't get much interaction outside of the team there either.

This sort of puts your mind at ease, it feels more comfortable knowing you're not somehow accidentally jumping ahead to having an audience of hundreds to entertain.

That is until you begin to notice a shift in the way you're treated by your team. It's very likely you'll be asked to do more collabs, they'll absolutely swing this as it being a matter of keeping the team together; or because you're fun to be around. However during streams you'll often be put on the back burner, you'll be brought into collabs but never really engaged with. You'll never be raided by your fellow team members. This is because you have a small, but real following.

You'll find that when you're unavailable it's suddenly a big deal, you'll see words like "mandatory" or "regularly scheduled" popping up to make it seem like you SHOULD be there, it's part of being in a team. You'll be told to "act professional" if you have a disagreement with someone, whether this is over something like gender, sexuality, or even other basic respect issues. You'll be asked to stream with people you don't like.

When it comes down to it, if you show opposition; you'll be told that the majority of the team disagrees with you, but they won't want you gone. They won't oust you from the team, because they know your audience will still most likely follow you out. They don't want that.

So they'll keep you around as long as possible, until you make too much noise; or say something they don't agree with a little too loudly. Once they believe they've done enough collabs, and gotten enough of your followers to follow them; they'll kick you aside and find someone else to do this to.

They will even turn on each other; I've gotten messages from people, months and even sometimes years after leaving a team. These messages all say similar things; they always start with an apology; and then go into talking about how they were either too naive, too scared, or just too confused to understand the manipulation and crowd mentality they were being indoctrinated to.

The key reason behind all of this is because you are never actually a valued friend, you're an additional audience member; you're a viewer, who has more viewers to bring to the table.

But clearly that was just a bad team, they're not all like that; that's true; that's genuine. So you go back to the drawing board and put it out there that you're in the market for another team, probably a bit more picky this time than you were last time to be fair. I couldn't blame anyone for being such after going through something like that.

You'll find another small group of people who don't know each other, who don't have anything in common other than a want to be successful; and likely who are willing to throw the weakest link under the bus to replace them with a fresh set of eyes and a new audience to grow their follower count.

But what happens if it DOES work out? What about when it's made by friends? What about when the people streaming don't actually hate each other?

Well then you still have to contend with burnout, with setting up times to stream together; with the sheer amount of work it is to work as a singular unit rather than as a "stream whenever you want" solo vtuber.

This can be difficult for some people. I remember having times when we'd plan group collabs and then my chronic pain would act up and I couldn't make it. Some would make it out to be a big deal, others would be understanding; either way it was a bit of a let down. Then you'd have the issue of not just everyone having the same games but the same interest in playing them at the same time. Then you'd have issues with if someone is getting more popular, or if there's a difference in ideas for how the group should be handling things.

At what point is it a team and not just a group of friends?

So alright, what do I think? Personally?

I think if you want to have a success vtuber team you should find some method of Classification; even if it's really weird and out there. Give us something to unify you all to the same group. Then you should decide on whether or not as a whole you're a character driven group or a streamer driven group:

Character Driven = investing in the characterization of your avatars, the in character interactions they may have; the "story" or "plot" that exists around them being a key feature of the streams.

Streamer Driven = investing in the streamer behind the characters, the connections of the individuals, their audiences; and the games they play.

Think Hololive vs Jerma.

Jerma doesn't have an anime he uses to explain his more characteristic properties of himself, because he doesn't really need that in order to come out on a stream and go "hey guys it's me, Jerma; the funny white dude on the internet." He can just do that and you already kinda get it because he's invested a lot in you knowing who JERMA is.

Meanwhile every Hololive stream opens with a catch phrase or a sort of characterized opening. Some more elaborate than others; and some even going so far as to call out their generation/team. They DO have an anime, and various other productions that run alongside the streams that serve to amplify them as characters, and even their inside jokes and developments within streams will loop back around to becoming elements of their anime counterparts.

So, once you've figured that out it's not really too difficult.

As long as you're willing to grow as a unit and pick each other up when someone gets ahead, without feeling a need to stab each other in the back or throw each other under the bus; you're solid.

If you're character focused, I strongly recommend you focus on your extended universe, explain to me who your characters are not by taking time out of the stream to stare me in the eyes and say "my character is blah blah blah" but by SHOWING ME through bumpers, skits, or other media. Make comics, make short video bumpers and tiktoks or something I don't care. Just don't sit there on stream EXPLAINING shit at me, because trust me I will tune out I do not care it is not an interesting way to convey who and what you are.

If you're character focused I need you to prioritize SHOW don't TELL.

If you're Streamer focused then I think you have it a lot easier, because you can prioritize getting to better know your audience, their preferences for streams/collabs, and you can get to know each other and use the information above to best sort out who should be pairing off for the best experiences for both you as a streamer and your audience as viewers.

I do believe these two things can mix well.

If you want a really solid example of EXACTLY what I mean, look no further than my (streamer focused) interaction with Nea (character focused)

A lot of the time our interactions work just fine because she understands that I am a streamer before I'm a character, and meanwhile I'll comment on her being an Ice Cream Lion before ever bringing up who she is outside of streams (at least while on streams, we're good friends outside of streams and I know her as her obviously). We're not in a team together but we collab plenty and consider each other to be good friends. We do our best to help one another get ahead in very casual ways and don't seek to bring each other down because we don't hold jealousy or envy towards one another's followings.

And yes, it REALLY is that simple to get along.

The core problem with Twitter's Indie Vtuber scene is that drama and bullshit gets attention and they crave attention over long-term proper collaboration and friendship. I don't doubt for a second that if Nea ever hit it big time and became a full time streamer she wouldn't hesitate or shy away from streaming with me and collabing with me all the same and you better believe that I'd be the exact same.

I used to often talk about applying to corporate vtuber agencies and I always said that if I was to ever get accepted I'd fight tooth and nail to be able to collab with my friends in hopes of getting them in front of the audience they deserve to have.

But yea that's it, that's the big keys to successful Vtuber team right there;

Classification helps a TON.

Be good to one another, don't allow yourself to succumb to the jealousy and envy of seeing one of your friends and team members gaining popularity faster than you.

Actually being good friends does help a lot too.

Actively support one another.

[newvision]

can you also recommend books about friendship breakups?

Hi there!! I can definitely recommend you some books with friendship tropes I enjoyed, though not all of them are mainly focused on the breakup of said friend group. Hope you’ll still find a couple of books that you’ll enjoy!

A book that probably everyone who follows me on here has read is the secret history. It follows the story of a young man who joins a cult-like clique of university students who study Ancient Greek and get more and more intense about it. They end up killing someone etc. (not a spoiler, you find out about this on the first page!!). I loved the friendship dynamics in this book, because it explored so many different ones: being friends with someone and simultaneously hating them to the point where you’re willing to do them great harm. Sibling dynamics within a friend group. Leadership in friend groups. Being the “newcomer”. It’s not so much a breakup that happens within that friend group but the focus is definitely on strained relationships among friends as well as other themes!

Another book that follows a very similar plot line is If We We’re Villains! It’s also about a friend group in an academic setting only they’re studying Shakespeare. Not as good as tsh in my opinion, but definitely worth a read!

Now, these were the “dark academic” books that I would recommend you. There are other authors with completely different “vibes” who write about friendship very well, though, too! One of my favourites is Stephen King. I know he isn’t for everyone, but they way he writes about kids, how they see the world and their relationships with other people is astonishingly real to me. The first book that pops into my mind would have to be It. Everyone knows the killer clown pennywise, sure, but that book has so much more to offer. It’s split into two timelines, the friends as young children, how they end up meeting and these same people as adults, going back to their hometown and meeting again under similar circumstances. These two timelines are interwoven and while in themselves chronological, they put the focus on the change in the protagonists’ relationships. One chapter will be about how two of the kids meet and in the next they’re adults seeing each other again. This is such a clever way of story telling that I feel the movies (split into part one: the kids and part two: the adults) butchered the entire point of this book. It’s about growing up, the importance of friendship and how a friend will in a way always be a friend, even after years of silence. This book isn’t heavily focused on the breakup of the friend group, rather than the getting together again after falling apart. Be aware though that this is a very graphic book and if you don’t like to read scary books or horror in general you might not enjoy this very much! It’s one of King’s best though, in my opinion. (King also wrote a short story called The Body, which was later made into the wonderful movie Stand By Me. It’s about four friends who want to find the body of a missing boy in the woods. In the face of death they sort of come to terms with the harsh truths of growing up and its inherent loneliness. This is not focused on the breakup of a friend group but a wonderful read.)

The only book I’ve read and truly feel is centered around platonic breakups is We We’re Liars. It was definitely not one of my favourite books, but it’s loved by so many that I would still like to recommend it. The majority of readers seem to enjoy it, so I’m guessing it’s just a question of taste. It’s about four friends who spend their summers together on a private island, but their friendship turns destructive. I don’t really want to say more than that because not much is revealed about the rest of the plot and the entire book is about trying to find out what truly happened that made that friend group fall apart. I think it’s not a very deep book, so if you expect it to reveal the secrets of the universe you’ll be disappointed. I suggest reading it when you’re looking for something suspenseful, summer-y and somewhat light!

I hope this somehow helped <3 if you read any of these id be delighted to hear what you thought of them!

[discotechque]

till my hand shook with the way I fear

pairing: abed nadir/nby! reader word count: 1.6k rating: T

me and abed have neurodivergent solidarity and for that, we would be besties. also the mc in this is specifically non-binary so whatever.

There's clear haze that settles over the bar, that's the first thing Abed realizes once he settles into the space. It's dim, like most bars are and he assumes that's the charm of places like these. Jeff and Britta are adults ( he is too but he's overlooked and therefore his opinion is mute ) so he follows their guidance. Watching from afar, observing their inebriated choices while downing another shot.

He doesn’t get the point of alcohol, much less bars, and it seems the whole point is to get pleasure after an initial sting. A sharp weight that lays in the back of one's throat before elation rips through you. Bourbon burns through him with too much consequence, gin coats his mouth with a bitter tang, and wine falls flat on his tongue.

Maybe it's his upbringing, he's never witnessed his father take a sip to this day, or the pressure that rushes to his frame when he's offered a drink. Abed understands the appeal of bars, it does not mean he shares the same sentiments to them. They're noisy little backend places where melancholic characters come to waste away their sorrows, typically finding pathetic people who drool over glass rims.

However, he is not pathetic ( even if his oldest friend is rounding his seventies and community college all seemed like a folly ) and he had never been overtly dripping with melancholy. So he stood by the small arcade game in the corner, unbothered and safe, until someone offered kindness.

And he takes miles of that even if all they've given was an inch because even if he isn't pathetic or melancholic, he is greedy. He likes eyes being on him because he has so many thought he wants to share with one mouth that can only do so much. Abed is not dumb, he knows what the man wants and how his friendly touches are slowly rising above his knee.

He knows what the man wants and isn't surprise at his outburst once learning that the feelings isn't reciprocated. There's streams of Mint Julep dripping from his jaw and lashes, softly mumbling about his love for Farscape before having it degraded. Abed knows he deserves it and was warned by Annie that people are sensitive ( but he is not held by the bounds of common decency or empathy no matter how hard he tries to keep his mouth shut. )

Then, he remembers the man's proposition ( the only reason someone would be interested in him ). He isn't familiar with being viewed as a sexual object and men weren't unwelcome in his eyes. Gay? Is he gay? Maybe something that exists within the unorthodox box that is sexual realization? The questions sound so foreign even within the echo chamber of his mind.

He's in a dingy bar celebrating his best friend's birthday, this is not a time for the sexual exploration of his subconscious ( although he saves the thought because he considers if not now then when ). The drink is seeping within his clothes, it's going to stick if he doesn't move. He needs to fucking move.

And he does, swiftly pulling himself away from the chair and heading towards the bathroom. Wherever that is, Shirley said it was in the far back and Annie said fair left. Yet, she meticulous as ever so what if she always assume her left is everyone's true left and Shirley is vague with her directions but it doesn't even seem to be enjoying her time here at all.

He's not enjoying it either if he's honest. His loose shit now sticks to his chest and he knows it would make sopping sounds if the man's glass was any larger. Jeff brought them here to celebrate because they're all adults and Troy deserves to have a birthday party in style but if all Jeff and Britta do it bicker, doesn't that make them children themselves? And if he shares his companionship with them, does that make him and all the others children by association?

He's going nowhere with this train of though, this he knows but it can't ever seem to stop. His brain becomes a leaky faucet that can never be screwed back just right so it drips and drips just like the alcohol does along his jaw and lashes. Abed wants to go home but he's with his friends and it's his best friend's party and it'd be so rude of him to leave so soon. At least, that's what Annie tells him.

( Parties were far and few between when he was younger and even then, he cannot replace family functions for beings that truly care for him. )

But then he remembers you, nursing an iced tea in the corner because you are not interested in bestowing wisdom onto Troy that you do not have or participating in anybody's shenanigans. Bars are where people come to hook up or fuck up, you proclaimed on the car ride here, there's no in between.

Then he hears it, bursting against his ears as a smile splits across your face, a discotheque pop song that might be pleasant if it wasn't so overwhelming. His hand involuntarily taps against his thigh in tune with the rhythm. It helps sort out the sensations, the noise is different than the bland flavoring of water, and he knows what's what but it all feels the same in his mind.

Abed's eyelids shut, another involuntary tick he can never seem to shake, and his hand has created it's own beat. Rapid and rushed with no real rhyme or reason except for the fact that it's something that will tug his mind away from everything. ( It's the same thing he does when he's at the edge of a rollercoaster, it makes him safe. ) If everyone else can sway to a rhythm, why can't he?

"Hey," an unexpected voice softly call out to him ( tenderness within this group almost borders on unnatural ). Abed slowly opens his eyes to see you, you call out to him. He feels his hands move away from his pants, tangled within your fingers instead as you gaze at him with earnest. "five things you can see?"

Your hands feel polished, no—plush. He's afraid that if his thumbs press too hard, he'll begin to meld into your being. That's a great idea for a movie, he thinks and he knows you've been his muse from time to time. Maybe it means something, he's not willing to deep any deeper.

His eyes scan the room for a brief second before he rattles off, "The wooden floors, the bartender, the door, the chair behind you, and Annie still trying to be a Texan."

Her accent still lingers within her mind, poor acting for someone so involved a role they've assigned for themselves. The though nearly amuses him but he's getting off track, he needs to focus on you. On the way your hands gently rub over his knuckles and needs to ignore this growing pit within his stomach on whatever that insinuates.

"Four things you can feel?"

"My feet against my shoes, my jeans against my legs, how hot my ears are, your hands."

You don't let go even after he's mentioned it, instead he receives a squeeze that sounds throughout his body. A continuous cycle the runs on until you ask him for something he can taste, he doesn't know what lingers within the crevices of his mouth. ( He'd want it to be you and licks his lips without a second thought. ) Yet, settles on the answer Mint Julep.

Something about thinking this way must be wrong, he shouldn't want to keep holding your fingers or gaze into your fervent irises. He shouldn't be attracted to someone like you and shouldn't be searching for so many reason on why he has to tear himself away from your presence. Still, shouldn't doesn't stop him from doing so.

Maybe his hands have melted into yours, it'd be a good excuse on why he can't bring himself to let go. The song changes again, how long has he been in this small little world with you?

"Hey, it's Mazzy Star, this fucks so hard." he's heard of this before, maybe you've shared it with him. It's less grating on his ears, smooth melodies being shifted on strings, and he watches you sway from the corner of his eye.

( He likes to be watched but something about you commands all his attention. )

Still shifting from foot to foot, you turn to him with a far more lax expression. Both shifting into familiarity as you ask, "You wanna sit down?"

"Not really," he shoots back suddenly but you're not perturbed at his fast response reflex. However, his heart sinks as the next words tumble from his lips. "but we can stand here and sway?"

You don't pull your hand away from his, instead, pressing into his fingers as you ponder a reply. Perhaps you think this isn't real as much as he presumes you'll humiliate him for even asking. But you don't and another smile splits down your features, large than the last one he saw from across the room.

"Of course, Abed Nadir has a genius idea. Let's do it."

You don't move him from this space you've cultivated with him. Instead, wrapping arms around his neck as he places them on your waist ( he never went to prom but this is better than any teenage fantasy ). Moving side to side, never shifting around in a circle but rather awkwardly figuring out a steady pace while his stares becoming fonder while the night grows.

Abed still doesn't get the point of bars but he can figure it out the next time he's here with you.

[descendants-brat]

How I feel about Mal Bertha and her character PART 1

 This is not a Mal bertha Biography and it is biased in the sense that I don’t like her at all. Read with caution.

Descendants 2 was actually the first movie of the trilogy that I had watched. My little sister was watching it and I happened to be passing by and sat to watch it with her when it caught my eye. 2017 me had a completely different opinion of Mal bertha than today not because I was younger but simply because D3 hadn’t come out yet and I hadn’t watched the first movie or even knew there was books. I can’t stand Mal bertha, not even the D1 version of her and that’s the one even Mal antis love. I didn’t like her in the first movie but it was more of a “I wouldn’t be friends with her.” I didn’t think that she was unforgiveable and that it was impossible to give her a second chance. She made her own bad choices but she expressed genuine regret for them and was only 16. Despite me, loathing Mal’s existence I related to her in sense that it’s scary wanting to change but you don’t know whether or not your actions have caused too much damage. 

In D2 watching it as a stand alone I saw a girl wanting something other than the ‘happily ever after’ and deciding she would go for what would make her happy when she went back to isle. I was desperately hoping that after the ‘It’s going down’ scene that she would go back to the isle and not choose to stay somewhere she wanted to leave. But we know how that went and the ending left me bitter and sad not for her, but for Uma. She began to leave a bitter taste in my mouth when she broke up with Ben and came back and just expected him to get back together with her. I’m going to go around every version of her character.

PRE D1

She was a dick. That’s the simplest way I can put it. I don’t like even acknowledging pre d1 Mal because it leaves me with this very negative view of her character that I don’t think was necessary. I feel like this is a big fuck up, wanting to have Mal be her ‘evilest’ before coming to Auradon. I understand the reason why they wanted to show her growth and change throughout the series. But after looking at some real life scenarios with a similar Mal situation it made me look at it differently. Imagine this: someone who severely bullied you and harassed you and everyone around getting to go to a new place and get the best treatment there, then she’s congratulated with becoming queen of that land and not only that she then decides she’s going to be queen of the place she was bullying and harassing people at without ever properly apologizing. This happens in real life and these people get exposed which is why I don’t like it. It would be different if Mal actual grew throughout the series but it was real just her gaining more power and the scenery changing from Pre D1-D3. She also continued to make the same type of ‘mistakes’ with no actual direct consequences all she had to do was cry and they forgave her. She would be okay if it Descendants was a stand alone movie. But knowing the type of life she would get to live after all of this behavior puts me off from reading it. It would also be different if Mal lived a simple life in Auradon (Aka not trying to take control by dating the king and then stepping all over said king) She got more than what she deserved to have. In my opinion she did deserve the chance at all better life just like all the other kids who didn’t commit any crimes to be locked up. But in the eyes of people she victimized she wouldn’t deserve to be Queen become royalty, live in castles and get gifted with limos and bikes. 

D1

 D1 is the version of Mal everyone generally likes however, like I stated before I didn’t like her even then. At the start we see someone who is clearly trying to please her mother so if her mother wants bad behavior she gives her that. Throughout the main plot she did things of her own accord that she can’t use her mom as an excuse for. There’s a couple different things but a lot of them had to do with Ben and I’m making a whole post on how Ben was treated like shit throughout the franchise so that will be addressed then and not in this post. However for a reference she drugged him with a spelled cookie into falling in love with her for the wand. He wasn’t even willing to eat the cookie at first but she guilt tripped him into eating it. We could brush this off as her doing whatever she needed to do to get to the crown but to me she took advantage of the situation by actually going on dates with him. He was already spelled and willing to listen to whatever she wanted so besides for her own personal interest why would she go on the dates? (Granted a 16 year old wanting to get cute and have a nice date with a nice boy is not a fault or wrong in any way the fault here is all of this was happening when Ben was not in his right state of mind until the spell washed off.) Her taking advantage of Jane’s insecurities was not cool either and I’m interested in what ways she would’ve tried to use Jane if it was easier to get to the wand through her. Since her main crime in my opinion was Ben and since he’ll have his own essay post I’ll focus on Audrey here.

Her disrespect to Audrey

It was unnecessary, she had no reason to have had Audrey’s name in her mouth as much as she did D1. It would make more sense for Mal to like Audrey’s sassy boldness to me not shit talk her every chance she got. At the start they had a small passive aggressive conversation that could’ve just been left at that because technically they burred the hatchet between the two families. It was a “hey I don’t fuck with you, you don’t fuck with me” type of a situation that could’ve grown civil. However, throughout the movie in comparison to Audrey who really just had a problem with Mal’s mother until she spelled ben then it became direct problems with each other. Mal was continuously talking shit about Audrey as if Audrey was the one who fucked with her family. This time her upbringing can be referenced, on the Isle she most likely was allowed to openly hate things and Audrey was most likely raised to at least pretend to be polite. But from the Audrey we’ve seen she clearly doesn’t care about holding her tongue she’s straightforward with how she feels and she didn’t have a problem with Mal she had a problem with her mother. The only time she talked about Mal directly was about the hair spells which she ended up being right about (Mal’s addictive reliance on magic in D2 and Jane at the end of D1).  After completely ignoring Audrey’s feelings and literally stole her boyfriend (not even on the the you can’t steal a loyal man type of shit she literally stole him he wasn’t even allowed to consent to it.) She later in Audrey’s Diary multiple times tries to reason this with she never meant to directly hurt Audrey and that she didn’t really want Ben she just wanted the wand etc etc. The evidence doesn’t back this up Mal, you’ve made your disdain for Audrey clear and talked shit about her to Evie right after you spelled Ben the did I mention bs claiming “Chad will see her horrible personally” as if you knew her personally and that Chad didn’t grow up with her. Mal can say she didn’t mean to hurt Audrey but she clearly didn’t mind that she did.

 I’m going to make a whole separate on Audrey and how I do think she gets a lot of slack because people can relate to her, but also how her treatment in comparison to Mal’s is unfair. 

 I did think she deserved a chance to show remorse for her behavior (spoiler: she didnt) Again, I like to look at things from the pov of other characters for things like this. If I was an Auradon kid who was friends with Mal and ended up finding out she was using me and plotting to take over and destroy the place I lived with/for her mother but changed her mind last minute. I would see her as forgivable I just wouldn’t want her around me. In other words I would expect her to start her own new life, not continue trying to live the one where she was plotting without even actually apologizing to people. AU: After descendants instead of continuing to date Ben she breaks it off and goes to an Art school frequently coming back to visit Auradon and after high school she goes on a quest (with the C4 of course) exploring all kinds of different kingdoms and countries because she was locked up on the isle her whole life. In the future she possibly returns to Auardon and even could get back together with Ben with a proper start.

D2

The first Descendants Movie I ever saw so it holds a special place with me and I actually rooted for Mal the first time I watched it. I sat in to watch at the argument scene and knowing all of the plots now and after rewatching  it my opinion has change greatly. We see a blonde and very stressed Mal who’s dealing with the pressures of becoming a royal in order to secure her place with Ben. I do feel bad for Mal when she was talking to Evie, she was trying to reach out to her friend about her situation and was basically told to stop talking about it. I understand Evie’s feelings of wanting to leave the past behind but I can also understand Mal feeling like she’s cornered and can’t even talk to her best friend. I can also understand her feelings of ending up overwhelmed with her decisions from going to somebody who did whatever whenever to becoming a royal with duties I get the pressure. If Mal decided that wasn’t the life she wanted to live and went back to the isle where she felt more comfortable I don’t see anything wrong with that. She wasn’t required to stay in Auradon if she felt like she was unhappy there. That says a little something about Auradon to me if somebody would rather live where they ate rotten food than live there.  My sympathy for Mal stops there because everything else was a result of her own actions and things she brought onto herself.

1. The royal situation

Let’s get one thing clear nobody was forcing Mal to hand sign up for the prime and proper royal life. She did that herself.

Nobody told her that she had to dye her hair blonde and have a complete wardrobe change, she did.

Nobody said she even had to continue the terrible relationship she had with Ben and go straight into being a royal in order to basically become Ben’s wifey, she did.

She’s saying all of these people are expecting things of her when 6 months ago she was stealing candy from babies when she was the one who let people have these expectations. She decided to take up the role herself because that was what she wanted. Let’s be honest with how it happened Mal would not live in Auradon if she had to be a regular citizen she wanted to be in control of everybody and to have power because that how she always lived. However once she realized that nobody was just about to hand her this power just for being with Ben unlike with her Mom  (getting to rule the isle just because she was her daughter and not because she actually worked her way up there) and that she actually had duties and work to fulfill if she wanted to be the boss. She let her pride get in the way by feeling she had to prove she could last with Ben and become an Auradon girl and ended up miserable and blaming Ben for  something she decided to do herself.

She then had the responsibility to fulfill all of those duties and she was struggling unlike anybody else who would’ve had to abide by the “don’t use magic” quote on quote rule she decided to use Magic after claiming she’d give it up and was still a hot ass mess. She can’t even use the excuse that was to help her with her lady in training because she was using it to not be late to class and later to try and manipulate Ben.  @ishiphumasohard made a good response on why it was unfair for Mal to use magic as her ‘right’ because at what point would it be unfair to other kids? While all the other kids have to show up on time to school Mal gets to use magic to turn back time instead of just being on time. If other kids studied all night for a test Mal can use a speed reading spell. If there was a cooking contest Mal can spell her way into a feast while the others would have to the actual labor. You get the point, because magic is not universally used by everyone in Auradon and it’s an unspoken rule that it’s not to be used then she should have followed this rule.

I will say the girl was stressed and was feeling alone, I already gave my sympathies for that.

The magic situation really hit the fan when she felt comfortable enough to spell the boyfriend who had already put enough trust in her to continue their relationship that started with her drugging him for her own benefit. Compared to her Ben did seem to be taking it easy but maybe like her, he didn’t want to show it. It seems Ben and Mal had a sort of pack to work hard together to become ‘the king and queen’ of Auradon they were supposed to be in it together. In my opinion it would make more sense for Ben to be hiding things from Mal than the other way around due to the nature of their shitty relationship. But that’s just not how it went down and after Mal tries to spell Ben into not finding her spellbook he gets RIGHTFULLY ANGRY. That entire scene was her fault, she could’ve explained herself and why she was using magic and that she was having a hard time but she once again decides to take advantage of Ben’s trust. Then proceeds to make sure she ends the  fight with her being the victim. So much so that the entire fact that she spelled Ben was never brought up again.

Going back to the isle 

She then decides to go back to the isle, if this was really her decision I wouldn’t mind it. There’s nothing wrong with her liking the isle better than Auradon if that’s where she felt at home. The problem was she was clearly emotional and let’s be honest, if she had called all of her friends together and actually broke up with Ben and told them this was her decision to go back to the isle before leaving they MIGHT (hard might) not have ran after her like they did. Not only that the duties that we were speaking of earlier, she didn’t formally pull out of anything which is why it irked me when she was so irritated that they came back for her.

Some people actually didn’t like her attitude as soon as she got back on the isle because she expected to run it. That wasn’t surprising to me honestly, because for her whole life that’s how it was, only person she was scared of was her mother. She quickly realized however now that her mom isn’t around and in lizard form nobody was scared of her. Most unrealistic part of D2 was how Mal didn’t get jumped as soon as people realized she got back. Like I said Isle Mal was a straight dickhead and had too many enemies to be walking around like she was. 

Another point was when she got her hair dyed by dizzy, the shop wasn’t open, she saw this, ignored it and went in anyway. Not even because her and Dizzy were tight like that she just expected her to do what she wanted (get the pattern with Mal here?)

 Skipping her scene with harry because it did nothing to the plot.

The rest of the C4 and Ben come to get Mal back as expected and she acts all surprised and angry. Ben apologizes to her and instead of apologizing for what she did and then explaining that she doesn’t want to go back to Auradon and be a lady of the court. She continues the narrative that Ben wanted her to change and that she’s not good for Auradon so she’s going to stay on the isle. What’s the difference between the two? The first one is her taking responsibility of her actions and deciding for herself that that’s not the life she wants. While the other is acknowledging none of the blame and deciding to run away not because that’s not what she really wants but because everyone will turn on her so she has to run first. It painted a narrative that nothing of this was her own doing while at the same time making it seem like she is doing the right thing by backing away which in hindsight probably was the better decision. Mal’s feelings weren’t the problem I understand them, she thinks she won’t be accepted as herself so she wants to leave before they can kick her out but that’s not what caused her to leave and she knows it. You got caught doing something shitty and instead of apologizing you ran away.

After Ben gets kidnapped she lectures the C4, again she does have some blame in this. With the way the fight ended it made it look like Ben was in the wrong so he was going to try and apologize regardless if they brought him or not. The rest of them came to keep him safe and as her gang members come back for her. Was this not something she considered after she calmed herself down? Ben honestly had no reason to be directly on the isle unprotected besides to sneak and apologize to you so are you really going to just blame the C4 for bringing him there and getting him captured?

Then when Uma, who has him captured plans a meeting she antagonizes her like that’s what is best for Ben at the time. Even in the mist of Ben being in danger she thought it was a good idea to try and piss off the person holding him captive. If you don’t remember what she did she called her shrimpy, insulted the smell of the restaurant and said she never thought of Uma while implying that Uma always had her on her mind for no reason. None of that was necessary to ask what Uma’s conditions were to give Ben back she just couldn’t help herself. 

She didn’t care about Dizzy

Who had just performed a task for her and right after she paid her got robbed and had the place trashed just for Mal to say she’ll be alright. This should’ve been foreshadowing at the very least that she wasn’t ready to be making decisions for other people’s lives because besides her own and her friends she didn’t care for many especially those on the isle.

It’s going down

Even though it was in the song and not directly her words again antagonizing the person who has Ben held captive and threatening his life, insulting them is stupid. This entire scene is messy and they shouldn’t even had been able to win a fight against pirates outnumbered. When has Mal ever picked up a sword???

Car ride Back

She gets mad when Ben has sympathy/ shows understanding for Uma. She somehow realizes that it’s wrong Uma kidnapped him but was comfortable spelling him without a second thought. In my opinion she thought she had some type of ownership over Ben she could do what she wanted to him and if somebody else did it was wrong. (Even though this can be applied to what she did in D1, I’m only talking about D2 because most people agree she showed regret for her actions in D1) When he calls her out on her hypocrisy she goes mute and does that thing, of letting her mouth hang opened whenever she gets called out on her shit.

END OF PART 1

I was going to make this one long post but I’ve been putting this off long enough so here is part 1, no idea when part 2 will be up. I do hope to have the Ben posts up before that.

[laughing-with-god]

In the alternate Victor QQ timeline, what are the Bts Victor's opinions of the other? Have they also ever met Victor Y/N in that timeline as well before the game?

Jin:

Jin doesn’t really like Namjoon.  He found his traps and schemes a bit pretentious and sometimes makes digs during mentor interviews that Namjoon didn’t really deserve to win his games.  People suspect that he’s just upset because he was the mentor of the kids from One during Namjoon’s game and was personally offended that someone outside the career alliance won, and even outsmarted them.  

Jin doesn’t have much of an opinion of Yoongi.  He is kind of impressed that Yoongi managed to win at fourteen but doesn’t fully get the hype over a victor who just hid during most of his games.  He also doesn’t understand why Yoongi keeps snapping during interviews and finds it pathetic, he always wonders why the Capitol hasn’t killed him off yet.  He knows if he had an episode like that, he’d be six feet under.  

Jin felt bad for Hoseok, but doesn’t quite forgive his stupidity.  In Jin’s opinion, Hoseok should’ve known that the girl from 10 wasn’t going to live and he shouldn’t have tried allying with her.  He should’ve saved himself the trouble. 

Jin doesn’t mind Taehying.  He often forget he exists and sometimes does a double take when all the mentors get together like “oh yeah, you’re a victor, forgot about that.”  Taehyung is silent and never approaches any of the mentors that aren’t from District 11, so Jin doesn’t know much about him.  He watched a few scenes from his games and had to admit that for a kid from 11, Taehyung did pretty well. 

Out of all of them, Jin likes Jimin the most.  They both are noted for their good looks and charming personality, were both careers who backstabbed their allies, and are frequently at the Capitol with female sponsors by their side.  A natural friendship sparked between the two and when they are mentoring at the same time, they both push their tributes to form an alliance.  

Namjoon

Namjoon acts cordial with all victors but finds it ironic that he isn’t liked by Jin when he secretly hates the guy just as much.  Namjoon finds him very loud-mouthed and hungry for screen time.  Furthermore, Namjoon doesn’t respect the manner in which he won his games.  Sure, Namjoon knowingly lured tributes into his traps but he never went so far as to promise them his loyalty or protection.  

Yoongi and Namjoon actually got along for a while.  Namjoon was one of the few victors that Yoongi didn’t snap at and would actually have a civil conversation with.  When at the Capitol and mentoring, they both could be seen getting drinks together and having late night conversations.  But this stopped when Yoongi found out that Namjoon was going to go so far as help gamemakers design arenas for future games.  

Namjoon likes Hoseok and Taehyung well enough, he has respect for their game plays but doesn’t go out of his way to talk to them unless a tribute from 3 becomes allies with someone from 11 or 8.  They are quiet and don’t frequent the Capitol often so he doesn’t really get a chance to have a relationship with either of them.  He does get a sense that Hoseok and Taehyung rather work with him than any of the career mentors though.

Jimin....he’s an enigma to Namjoon.  A puzzle that Namjoon can’t quite figure out.  He’s tried multiple time to find out why Jimin volunteered and why there’s such odd rumors about him floating around the Capitol, but Jimin never answers directly and avoids Namjoon at all costs.  Namjoon thinks it’s because Jimin knows he will find out something eventually.  

Yoongi

To no one’s surprise, Yoongi despises Jin.  However, he is quiet about this one-sided hatred and doesn’t say anything when they cross paths.  Somewhere deep inside, Yoongi is self-aware that it’s not really Jin he hates, but what he represents.  Jin was a tribute turned celebrity and thus, in Yoongi’s eyes, a brain-washed Capitol slave.  There’s a fundamental difference between them.  While Yoongi runs away from the spotlight and regrets what he did to earn it, Jin seems to relish in it.  

Yoongi used to like Namjoon.  He appreciated his smarts and title of an underdog, and Namjoon had a calming effect of Yoongi.  But when Yoongi discovered that he was going to be helping Gamemakers with Arenas, Yoongi cut the friendship off.  He would never be friends with someone who lowered themselves to the level of helping them.  

Out of all the Victors, Yoongi gets along most with Hoseok and Taehyung.  Taehyung a bit more than Hoseok, because at least Taehyung doesn’t have a habit of overstepping his boundaries and telling Yoongi he should lay off the morphling.  But the two are quiet enough and seem to share the same sadness every year when the Games start up again, something Yoongi can relate to.  

Yoongi has heard things about Jimin and doesn’t like the bastard.  Yoongi has gone on a drunken rampage on the former career before, and Peacekeepers had to get involved.  Whenever they’re in the same room, he has a habit of muttering insults under his breath like ‘sell out’ or ‘whore’.  

Hoseok

Hoseok knows he shouldn’t judge people for what they did in the games, that the need to survive is overwhelming, that all tributes have their hands tied and are willing to do anything to make it back home.  But Hoseok still can’t understand why Jin did some of the things he did back in his games.  After watching Jin burn his allies alive, Hoseok almost threw up in sheer disgust.  Hoseok places a lot of importance on allies and can’t understand how someone could kill theirs so brutally and unnecessarily.  Hoseok has never said a word to Jin and intends to keep it that way.  

Namjoon is someone Hoseok has heard of before but never really met.  When the games start back up and mentors start scrambling to make alliances, everyone rushes to Namjoon.  He never has really gotten the chance to have a real conversation with him but his reputation proceeds him.  

Yoongi is a fine man under all his trauma, but all attempts Hoseok has made to get him to stop drinking/taking drugs during mentoring has fallen on deaf ears.  He routinely feels bad for the tributes from Six because he knows that Yoongi is no help to them when it comes to earning sponsors or getting allies. Yoongi is too lost in himself and refuses to “kiss ass” to see the situation at hand.  

Taehyung is boderline mute but Hoseok doesn’t mind his presence.  He and Taehyung both relate to using their Victor winnings to help people in their District and both can hardly stomach the games that play every year.  They are decent friends but it’s more out of relatability and tolerance than actual compatibility for Hoseok.  The other victors are too crazy for them, so they often feel like the only sane ones.  

Hoseok has heard things about Jimin, much like everyone else, but was determined to not let rumors get in the way of a potential friendship.  but when Hoseok introduced himself to Jimin, Jimin scoffed at his humble attire and made a comment about his fashion.  Hoseok wasn’t too keen on that and now agrees that Jimin might be the bimbo everyone else says he is.  

Taehyung

Taehyung has only had one interaction with Jin and it left a bad taste in his mouth.  It happened when both were mentoring and the girls from Eleven and One formed an alliance later in the game.  Jin approached him and told him that he hoped there would be no hard feelings when his tribute would without a doubt slit Taehyung’s tribute’s throat while they slept.  Taehyung avoids being in the same room as him now.

Taehyung likes Namjoon, but like Yoongi, he can’t understand why he is helping the Gamemakers now.  In his opinion, Namjoon might as well be a gamemaker if it continues and Taehyung can’t say he respects that all too much.  

Hoseok is the closest thing Taehyung has to a friend.  He understands that he’s not that conversational or even emotional but wherever Hoseok goes, Taehyung follows.  Besides, when they both are alone Hoseok talks enough for the both of them.  He despises going to the Capitol every year but finds the silver lining in the reminder that he can see Hoseok again.  

Yoongi is alright and Taehyung understands his pain even though he can’t really relate to the method Yoongi goes about solving that pain.  Secretly though, he finds his tantrums on TV rather funny and relishes in the shocked looks on the Capitol peoples’ faces.  

Taehyung didn’t have an opinion on Jimin.  But after Hoseok’s run-in with him he now dislikes the former career and can be seen glaring at him whenever they’re in the same room.  Although it’s rare anyone from 11 gets asked into a career alliance, Taehyung always warns his tributes about 4, stating that they’re back-stabbing eye candy.

Jimin

There was a Capitol lady who had employed the services of both Jin and Jimin, and that’s how they met.  They got to talking and realized they have a lot on common.  Both were Capitol favorites, both were former careers who turned on the pack and killed them, both are attractive and enjoy the spotlight of the Capitol.  Jimin likes Jin a lot and he sticks to his side whenever they both mentor.  In his mind, they have to stick together because most of the other victors like to blame the career mentors for every tribute death in the games.  Only Jin understands what it’s like.  

Namjoon creeps Jimin out.  He’s too smart for his own good and Jimin doesn’t trust someone from the Districts who managed to work his way into the gamemaker table.  He steers clear of him.  

Yoongi is a disgrace in Jimin’s eyes.  What happened, happened.  What is the use of flipping out every time there’s a camera in the room?  Might as well enjoy the Victor’s winnings while you can, right?  And if he really hated the games so much, why doesn’t he bother trying harder to mentor his tributes?  Shameful, really.  

Jimin didn’t even know who Hoseok was until he came up to him at the victor lounge and introduced himself as the mentor for District Eight.  All Jimin knew about District Eight was that they were in charge of textiles and clothing, and without thinking he made a comment while looking him up and down, “Isn’t Eight supposed to be really good with fashion?” Hoseok excused himself after that but Jimin secretly felt bad about it, since he was pretty drunk that night.  He’s tried to approach him again but the tall bastard from 11 is always glaring at him to stay put.  

Taehyung doesn’t like Jimin, and that’s enough for Jimin to not like him in return.  Even on the rare occasions when Jimin’s tributes ask him to approach 11, he refuses because it would mean talking to Taehyung.  He’s secretly very intimidated by him. 

[ptersparkers]

the tap of your fingertips

summary: all of jj’s internal thoughts. 

warnings: none, i think and typos, probably. 

notes: i tried to write differently and use inly a stream of consciousness. i hope you like it!

You think he doesn’t look. He does.

He feels every tap of your fingertips, hum of your voice, and breath when you enter the Chateau every morning with a blue water bottle. He thinks you’re beautiful without even trying. Five years of friendship never prepared him for seeing you in another light and it’s no secret that his feelings for you have switched. It’s not a secret to everyone but you.

JJ tries to keep his cool. He really does. It’s subtle movements that he cherishes in his mind when he falls asleep on John B’s couch every night. He replays the time he held your hand to help you into the boat that morning. Your hands were soft, unlike his callous ones. He could grow to like holding your hand.

He sleeps in comfort when you’re his last thought. JJ was never one to believe in lucid dreaming, but when the time is right, he could dream up a fantasy where he wasn’t afraid to proclaim his love for you. It was a distant wish that he wanted to come true. He wished for it when his eyes opened to the moment his eyes closed.

But delicate glances weren’t satisfying him anymore. He wanted to grab your exposed hip and hold you flush against him. Every time you placed the shiny lip gloss that smelled like sweet apples, JJ felt like the universe was torturing him with a sweet slow burn. You always smelled like sweet apples.

You decided to cut your hair short out of sheer boredom and you looked more mature, more refined. You were not what a Pogue looked like with that haircut. JJ liked that. He knew his opinion on your appearance didn’t matter but he wanted to say it anyway. So he did. You smiled and reached for an apple that Kiara had brought that morning. You and those damn apples.

There is a shift in the mood whenever JJ isn’t distracted by the other Pogues. He can feel his heart begin to beat faster when the mood has calmed down. It was almost always sparked by the sun beginning to set. He knew the night sky and the darkness of the calamity would force him to be alone with his own thoughts, unable to escape the impending doom of what he should do about his feelings. But he always put it off until the second he was about to sleep. That‘s his trick if he wanted to dream about you.

He often dreams about a big city where nobody cared about him. He dreams of a small apartment with you laying in your shared bed, the smell of fresh parsley cooking in the pan as he prepared two omelets with cheese and other ingredients laying around in your pantry. He dreams of a fresh pot of black coffee and a ceramic mug you had brought home the week you moved into the space. Your shared space. JJ dreams of waking you up with a tender kiss, feeling your warm breath on his chin as his lips touch the soft skin of your forehead. JJ will never admit it, but he craves the domesticity of relationships in which he was able to feel completely and utterly calm.

JJ likes it best when you wear his shirts after a swimming session. You were almost always too stubborn to wear your own and preferred the bigger size that he sported, not that he would ever complain. It was a cliche, that much he knew. But he never failed to smile when you stole the semi-dirty shirt from the boat when you emerged from the water, letting yourself air dry before slipping on the soft fabric. He was almost positive his entire wardrobe smelled like you.

Just when he thinks he has no real aspirations and dreams to fight for, you are the first to ease his mind about the future. The Outer Banks is a small island compared to the rest of the world. Getting out doesn’t just mean leaving the island physically. It means being mentally prepared to handle whatever life decides to throw at you once you step off of the land you grew to know so well. JJ’s always trying to think positively. He’s always trying to think of what you would say when he felt like the biggest failure on the island.

He didn’t know when he let you consume his mind but he wasn’t going to complain about it. The hot summer morning and cool summer nights were enough to spark imagination from him, one that would make it on his bucket list of things he wanted to accomplish before he left this godforsaken island. One of them was tell you he likes you. But he had time for that. He always tries to reason with himself.

JJ masks his anger and frustration with humor and comedy as a coping mechanism that helps him deal with the trauma he endures. His love for his friends outshines his own aspirations and he’s afraid that one day, he’ll find himself all alone after giving his all to the people he loved to much. He’s afraid of finding himself alone on the island while the Pogues have a grand time on different corners of the same planet. JJ thinks about his capacity for emotion and wonders when his next break down will be. He just hopes you’re not there to witness it.

It’s funny. He always thought about the classist society that exists between the Kooks and the Pogues. JJ is aware that this problem exists way beyond the small North Carolinian island, but he pretends it’s only his problem because it’s easier than dealing with the fact that leaving the island might be the worst decision he could make. If the world outside was like this then he won’t be able to protect himself. Here, at least, he knew how to fight stupid Kooks.

He’s scared that you’re not going to be there with him when he’s ready to leave. He says he is ready, and he’s hot headed with the tendency to act before thinking, but this is the only thing he wants to think through. Leaving the island with no money and nowhere to go means being stuck in square one. It means living as a Pogue in the world beyond the Outer Banks. It would be the same experience on a different playing field. But you always remind him that the opportunities beyond the gates of a small town are greater than his fears.

JJ’s starting to think he began to like you because you gave him hope. Not the kind of hope that resembles an empty promise, but the kind of hope that lifts his spirits and motivates him to get up every morning and seize the day. You are the sun in his dimly lit world and he’s afraid he will lose your sunshine.

The cheesiness of romantic comedies and John B. teasing him all day for being “soft” (whatever that means) is a combination of how JJ feels inside. He no longer feels to strengthen the hard exterior he spent years building when he was with you. JJ let his armor fall. It was always you and him in an isolated room with twin fire signs. He couldn’t hear loud ocean waves or thundering lightening. It was always calm with you.

With you, his slate was clean. He could build himself up without knocking himself down. The building blocks he needed were in your hands and all he had to do was grab them from you. JJ knew you were willing to give that to him. You were willing to share a piece of your soul so that his could be fixed. But he would never want you to break a piece of yourself in order for him to make himself whole.

JJ was pining after you like a little boy on the playground. He wanted to hold you, kiss you, touch you. He wanted you to pull him aside and admit these same feelings but never voiced this out loud. His armor had fallen around you but his walls were sturdy and high in front of everyone else.

He wasn’t sure if you knew. JJ was hyper aware of the times you’d choose to sit next to him or accompany him to fix the keg before parties. He was always aware of your head resting on his shoulder and when you would play with his rings absentmindedly. His hands always felt like they were on fire. But he welcomed that warmth.

And so he stood by the sidelines most afternoons and watched as you and John B. grew closer and closer. There were no romantics feelings involved, just the sheer fact that you two had known each other longer than he had known you. But that didn’t stop the blond boy from overthinking. Before he discovered his romantic feelings for you, every move felt like a provoking gesture. He never paid any mind to John B. pressing a quick kiss to your temple when you left the house. But now he did. Now it was personal. It was irrational. John B. was dating Sarah and you were like a sister to him. He knew that. It still felt weird.

But one evening changed everything. It was just the first of you in the Chateau and you were beyond tired. JJ could see the tiredness in your eyes due to the high-packed day the group had. He asked you to change into comfortable PJ’s before you slept in sweaty clothes and you obliged without a word.

He was used to seeing you without any makeup on and not as put together as when you were. But there was something about you that night.

JJ stepped forward.

You stepped closer.

He put his hands on your hips.

You looked up at him. He could smell the apple scented shampoo from your hair. The one you kept in John B’s bathroom.

There were no fireworks, nor music nor cheerful friends in the window.

There was just you two.

He slowly dipped his head and touched your lips with his, but just barely.

One. Two. Three.

That was the number of seconds it took for you to kiss him back.

You pressed your chest against his.

He dug his fingertips into your hipbone.

You felt his soft lips. He felt yours.

It was slow. Subtle. Sweet.

All JJ could think about was you and your apple flavored lip gloss, and how he wanted to taste it. But by the looks of it, he’d be tasting your apple flavored lip gloss more often.

***

taglist: 

@princessdolan @ashyramblings-ficrecs @fanficscuziranout  @simonsbluee @caswinchester2000 @jellyfishbeansontoast @karleeluv @briannarto @pogue-h @hyluas @angelic-ashleyaileen @mfmaddyperez @sspidermanss​ @outerbankslove​. 

aLSO WHY IS TUMBLR NOT TAGGING PEOPLE 

[sunsetcarnation264]

So, uh, that DT17 finale huh?

I would've made this right after I watched the finale, but I wanted to give it a bit of time to sink in fully and made sure I thought everything through before giving my thoughts on it. Not the worst finale there is, but it definitely could've been way better in my opinion. I've heard about the finale from my friends who've seen it, which from the sounds of it I already wasn't liking it, but since I've seen the finale now, how I feel about it is now concrete and set in stone and I feel the same as before. Maybe how I feel about it is in the minority side, or maybe a majority side, I dunno but I don't care. It's not the best it could've been and I'll explain why below. If you like it, good for you I guess because everyone's tastes are different, but I personally don't and I feel like the show deserves a much better finale than this. HEAVY DUTY DISCLAIMER: Just because I'm criticizing the finale doesn't mean I don't love the series, in fact it's because I love the show that I'm giving criticism and give what I would’ve done instead, and if you're anything like me and you're hella late to the party then there'll be spoilers for the finale. If you haven't caught up on the last episode, then you're not missing much honestly, but if you don't like spoilers regardless then watch that first then come back

The first part of the finale starts off like any other DuckTales 2017 episode. It's Webby's birthday, everyone's keeping their eyes out for F.O.W.L. shit, and Webby's enjoying herself. After a bit everyone goes below Funso's and they end up in F.O.W.L.'s territory. F.O.W.L. sets everything up to be on self-destruct, so they gotta find them and stop the self-destruction. They did happen to do the latter, but the F.O.W.L. members already escaped with almost everything. Just almost. The gang end up finding May and June, who're clones and they presume they're clones of Webby. Now this is where I'm starting to not like the finale. Yeah, you can do clones as like a plot twist, but at the same time it feels a bit outta nowhere. Had they foreshadowed it in another episode or have it lead up to the whole "oh shit there's clones of a character we know and love" thing then I wouldn't have a problem, but this came outta nowhere and I kept an eye on possible foreshadowing during season 3 and the rest of season 2 post The Duck Knight Returns too so I would've picked something up. The only thing that could count as foreshadowing was when Beakley promised Webby that she won't keep anymore secrets from her and the harp was saying "fibbing fibbing fibbing", but that's just it. Part two of the finale, Gyro does tests on them to see who they might've been clones of. He tries to tell everyone what the results are but when Scrooge asks him, he said it didn't come up with anything for him to answer the question. Beakley thinks they're both dangerous and locks them up in a closet. Webby, being a naive little girl, wants to talk to them because they're essentially her 'sisters' and she wants to know them more even though Beakley straight up tells her not to interact with them. Webby disregards what Beakley says anyways and she frees them, talks to them, and tries to show them her family tree so they can figure out where May and June came from. May and June are basically like "ehhhh this is your family tree? Who tf are you related to besides Beakley?" yeah, as if extended family or found family still ain't family you jerks. In the meantime, Louie just wants to watch his Ottoman Empire finale which ends up being shitty foreshadowing for the last part of this finale. You'll see why I mentioned this later. They even see Lena and Violet on there and are like "okay but who're those" which Webby responds with how they're her best friends and guess what one of the two clones goes to do? One of them grabs scissors and tries to cut it. When she does cut it, Lena's like "aw hell no bitch" and uses magic on her. Webby being Webby, is completely upset about this because "that was my sister how could you do that" and runs off like how one of the clones ran off. Bitch you only knew her for like five seconds, just because y'all be related don't mean you automatically THIS close to each other like how you are with Lena, Violet, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and anybody else in the McDuck family. I personally believe that love, trust, and respect is what makes people family, not blood/DNA, adoption, or they were married into the family or a step sib/kid/etc. If they're a harmful dick (i.e. a bigot who's queerphobic and/or racist or if they're an abuser, murderer, etc.) then you don't gotta treat them like family or say that they're your family. But anyways we're probs getting off topic, point is that she should trust those who she's known forever instead of clones she knew for a few minutes. Everybody tries to find Webby and one of the clones that ran off. Webby bumped into Beakley as she was tryna find May or June (I think May tho, don't recall) and she tries to lie her way outta it but Beakley knows what's up lol. She says that Webby wants to see the clones, Webby goes with it, and the younger duck wants to know who her parents were. Beakley tells her who her parents were (which might've either been a lie or she was describing herself and a late significant other that we've seen in Webby's picture of her parents) and Webby accepts it. Cut to later when she catches May and June trying to steal the ancient artifacts that Scrooge and co. retrieved during the entirety of season 3. She's shocked that they're even doing this, they all fight each other, and May escaped while June got knocked out. Webby disguises herself as June while she takes her outside where F.O.W.L. awaited them with an aircraft, most importantly Bradford. We only find out Webby was disguising herself as June when everyone got on. Huey notices what's going on and he goes after them, somewhat hiding in the aircraft before everyone leaves for the F.O.W.L. hideout. Not gonna lie, that was a pretty smart plan by Webby. Considering they all look identical and Webby's good at imitation, she can actually get away with this pretty well. This I actually really like and I wouldn't change too much about this. When Huey reveals himself to the three, Webby reveals herself to him but tells him to play along so they ain't fucked over. Somewhat worked. Webby keeps making little slips here and there which makes May hella suspicious of her. They land at the hideout, Webby tries to get what info she can while Huey's taken away. Thanks to the help of Pepper (who I love btw and I think deserves the best ;____;), Webby ends up finding the document room where there's documents on May, June, and a third person with the codename of April. She watches it and oh, shit, it turns out Bentina Beakley actually snatched her ass from F.O.W.L. when she was a baby! What a shocker! She couldn't believe what she was seeing! This is actually fine to me, her possibly being a clone actually makes sense because she could've been a clone of Beakley. Plus it's also a huge reference to how Webby was created to be a combination of Daisy's nieces April, May, and June back in the original series, though I dunno how many people would catch that, especially younger fans who might not have done the research to getting all of the references and easter eggs here. When Beakley was brought in (essentially she knocked Scrooge out without hurting him, went to here alone to take care of F.O.W.L. once and for all just for Webby, but got defeated along with some of the McDucks), everyone leaves Beakley, Webby, and the Harp alone and Webby somewhat confronts Beakley about her past. Needless to say, Webby ain't excited about this and she gets captured and tied up. She's actually pretty depressed, which I mean in a way I don't blame her since she wanted to know if that shit was real or if F.O.W.L. was fabricating it. Cut to Huey being brought to Bradford. Apparently he was a fellow Woodchuck too, though he wasn't the best despite being the very first Woodchuck by his grandmother Isabella Finch, in fact he was the worst which hahaha yeah I can actually believe that. It does explain why he hates adventures and all of that shit, one of the only things I'm willing to accept from the finale. He talks about how he wants to complete the collection "for the better" because Scrooge and everyone else in the family were the only ones to have Isabella's lost journal. Huey believes this at first. He stops believing it once he ends up finding Gyro and everyone else who're locked up. In the meantime, Bradford drags Webby out to a sort of box along with May and June. She doesn't know why she's brought up here. When she gets close to the box, the papyrus appears because... She's the descendant of... Of Scrooge McDuck. Okay no, JUST NAH MAN. This is where my biggest issue in the finale lies, the fact that she's a clone/made from Scrooge's DNA and is technically his "daughter". Not everybody has to be related to Scrooge McDuck to be great, in fact doing this to her actually ruins Webby's character. Her trope is "found family," not "I'm secretly part of the family this whole time and not even I knew it" and this fucks with it so badly. This show is about family, and all different kinds of it. Being taken care of by your uncles/aunts instead of your parents but still having a good relationship, some kids don't have parents and they're gone for whatever reason, being loved and accepted by other family members, some families are awful and abusive, hell some families have two same sex/gendered parents with a kid who's def adopted and one might've been adopted or been from a previous relationship, and it's also how sometimes we find people to call family because we found them and they found us. Webby was the one to fill in the finding those to find family alongside her grandma, but I feel like they're disregarding that just to have a huge plot twist. Again aside from Beakley keeping secrets from Webby, there was no foreshadowing and it makes a previous episode from season two (Nightmare on Killmotor Hill) seem kinda creepy in hindsight since she's over here wanting to be Scrooge himself, and creepy overall due to how obsessive she was over the whole McDuck family in general. You could say it's foreshadowing this whole time, since some people might actually be like this before realizing that "oh hey I'm actually related to this person" due to someone being adopted, given to someone else to take care of, divorce and each parent keeps one of the kids and they don't meet again until way later in life, which in a way is a fair point but at the same time not everyone's gonna notice this even when they look back at the previous episodes. If you're gonna do foreshadowing and a plot twist, you have to do it where looking back everyone can notice little details, not just a certain group of people, and you gotta make sure it's good. Every plot twist has it's foreshadowings, and every good one has a good amount for people to take a guess. Every bad plot twist, however, is either forced in just to shock the viewers or has shitty foreshadowing that's either extremely little or none. I will make a comparison between this and Steven Universe (which if you're still watching or haven't touched yet but haven't gotten up to season five, please skip this part to avoid spoilers for the show) because in Steven Universe, there were PLENTY of hints and foreshadowing that Rose Quartz was actually Pink Diamond and it was even a theory too that Rose was actually Pink, alongside a theory that Pearl was actually the one to shatter Pink Diamond and not Rose which ended up being true in a way that both fits. This was a good plot twist that everyone can watch the show from start to end once again and notice every little bits of details that led up to that plot twist reveal. (End of SU spoilers) This, however, isn't a good plot twist. It's a terrible one and, again, forced in, messy, and there's not enough foreshadowing that can be used to be like "oh I kinda saw that coming" or "oh shit!" and think it's a genuinely good twist. Also the fact that Webby called Scrooge "Dad" T W I C E in the finale, it doesn't sound right, I even voiced out loud that OH EW THAT DOESN'T FEEL RIGHT WHY ARE YOU CALLING HIM DAD THIS IS GROSS STOP IT LIKE JUST CALL HIM UNCLE SCROOGE LIKE YOU'VE ALWAYS DONE- Oh and this is meant to be a throwback to that Ottoman Empire finale foreshadowing thing from earlier btw lol The last few things I can note about this is the fight between Scrooge and Bradford, where the latter reveals that he was the one to tell Della about the Spear of Selene (which pisses Scrooge off so damn BADLY and it's the other thing I can accept from the finale, it seems like Bradford to do that shit), and the fact that Donald almost died for fucking good due to Bradford pushing his ass into a machine that can erase anything and everything from existence when put in there. He did so with his minions, so he has no qualms about doing so to Scrooge's family unless he signed the papyrus as a contract. Not that it worked anyways, since "family is the greatest adventure of all" which Bradford didn't understand one bit lol But the finale? Not good, the show deserved so much better and Huey deserved way better because this was his season. What I would've done differently is mainly how Webby is a "clone" or whatever you want to call her. It makes no sense for all of her DNA to be from Scrooge McDuck, which raises way too many questions. Why not Beakley? Why not a warrior from F.O.W.L. with a mix of McDuck DNA? Why is Webby a girl while Scrooge isn't? You could argue that oh he might be a trans guy, which while I absolutely LOVE trans and nonbinary headcanons (due to the fact I'm a nonbinary woman myself), it just feels like a cheap escape goat of an excuse to explain that and Scrooge being trans because of that? Ehhhhhhhhhhhhh it doesn't feel right to me. If it was a combination of him and Beakley, then okay I'd get why she's like that, but it still has the problem of her being related to the family DNA-wise. Same with the clones honestly. Now what I would do differently is make it where she's a clone of someone (def not Scrooge) and make it where she has an identity-existential crisis. Who is she really? Is she this "April" character, or if she Webby like she's always known herself as her whole life? In the end, she accepts that she's herself, Webby Vanderquack, granddaughter of Bentina Beakley and an ally of Scrooge McDuck. May and June, on the other hand, are possibly failed attempts to recreate Webby, the perfect clone, in order to get the papyrus to appear which in of itself never stated it had to be a DIRECT heir to Scrooge McDuck (it just states that it requires an heir of Scrooge McDuck) like a daughter/son or whatever. You can go back to the episode "The First Adventure" to look at the papyrus if you want, but he wrote that it was to an HEIR not a descendant. It heavily supports how they changed a shit ton of things before the last season being this year instead of idk, try to make it better because they finished voicing the lines in January this year when they started doing season three around the time we got season two. Bradford gets frustrated, wondering how it couldn't have worked because HE HAS WEBBY RIGHT HERE. What he didn't realize was that it could've been someone within the family itself, one who's considered the smart one out of the bunch that wasn't Scrooge McDuck himself, someone who's also a fellow Junior Woodchuck. And that would be Hubert Duck, in which season three is meant to be his season. When he gets close, the papyrus appears but Bradford snatches it and runs off with it so he can finish up that contract he's spent FOREVER to make and force Scrooge to write his name there. As with May and June, I dunno what I would do with them, but if I rewrite the finale at some point (which I would be doing now with my mom, who watched the finale with me because we tend to watch stuff a lot, but I can't at the moment because I have a list of stuff to make and I can't afford to make it longer than it already is along with my WIP list) I'll figure out what to do with them. Overall, the finale is a 4 out of 10 for me. Not horrible enough for it to be the worst finale ever in the history of shows/series, but it's definitely got a lot of things that bothered me too much to genuinely enjoy it without getting stuck on something for too long. Again if you like it, good for you, but personally? It should've been much better and the series deserves a proper finale. If there's no surprise movie to make it better, then I'ma just pretend this finale doesn't exist like nah bye bitch dunno you lmao Besides with how messy this finale is, I hope you guys enjoyed reading my thoughts on it and I hope you guys have a great day

[thesedangeroustemptations]

Decided to post one of my OC’s on here, so I hope y’all like her

(        the devil's match        )          ┊     ❛  ya know, being a dick will not make yours any bigger, so can we skip that step and get to the part where I break your neck? ❜

   character name   . .  kyomi tausa'afia ka'uhane.

   title / ring name   . .  ms. ka'uhane / 'the goddess of volcanoes and destruction, pele!'

   meaning of names   . .   

kyomi:  "pure and beautiful, to cleanse." named after her paternal grandmother, it was one handed down every few generations to those who seemed to shine bright with purity from birth, which was exactly what she appeared to have done. as she grew, she always had a shining glint in her eye, though many would say it's one of mischief while others see differently.

tausa'afia:  " pleasant, lovable " in the first few days of her life, she didn't have a middle name as their family reserved it for when their personality began to shine through, that way they had a name that fit them that emerged later on. kyomi was a sweet and adorable baby, capturing the hearts of anyone who held or even looked at her, hence why her middle names meaning reflects just that. 

ka'uhane : " soul, spirit " the surname is from her father's family line, having been derived 1500 years ago to distinguish his family's martial arts as users of spirit and soul, versus just muscle and occasional mind.

  nicknames   . .  

" i can't believe you'd put yourself in danger like this, kyo, do you thrive on getting your head kicked in that badly? "  —  wakatsuki takeshi, seething, after winning her battle against saw paing but sustaining major injuries.

" pele, you'd better not fucking lose, fuck him up!  "  —  adam dudley and cosmo imai yelling at her from the stands during her match.

" the strength of your spirit never ceases to amaze me, tausa, but remember, even the strong need to rest sometimes, and you need to realize that doesn't make you weak. rest now, get your revenge when you're healed. "  — sawada keizaburo, attempting to comfort his best friend after being unsure of whether her unborn child will survive due to being forced to fight in the kengan annihilation matches despite her condition.

" you still haven't figured it out yet, 'omi? you cannot love both of us and act like it's fine and dandy. fucking pick or i'll kill him right now.  "  —  ohma tokita confronting kyomi after finding out that she's been sharing a bed with Ichiro Nakata as well as him, ready to kill the supposed 'superman'.

   age   . .   kyomi is is twenty years of age

   gender   . .   she was born of the female gender.

   height/weight   . .   she stands at 5'2'' while weighing 155lbs of pure muscle.

   appearance   . .    " oh, but that's the irony, broken people like her are not fragile. "

                                                         

  

   kengan match records   . .   46 wins, 0 loses.

   physical scent   . .   kyomi's natural scent is one of the saltwater and sandalwood, with hints of plumeria flower.

   sexual orientation   . .  she is bisexual, biromantic.

   marital status   . .   currently not married.

   

 

  " i can't believe your sweet-tempered father was reincarnated into that girl. she's tough as nails. "

   occupation   . .   kengan fighter, personal body guard / assassin, head of the ka'uhane clan with the inherited abilities of her ancestors. *

   personality type   . .   enfj-t  —  the protagonist.

   [   positive   ]

‣  motivational, inspirational; bring out the best in others

‣  very perceptive about people's thoughts and motives 

‣  fun to be with - lively sense of humor, dramatic, energetic, optimistic

‣  strive for "win-win" situation  

‣  loyal and committed

‣  warmly affectionate and affirming

   [   negative   ]

‣  tendency to be smothering and over-protective/manipulative and controlling

‣  doesn't pay enough attention to her own needs 

‣  critical of opinions and attitudes which don't match her own/sometimes unaware of social appropriateness or protocol

‣  extremely sensitive to conflict, with a tendency to sweep things under the rug as an avoidance tactic/blames herself when things go wrong, and not give themselves credit when things go right  

‣  her sharply defined value systems make her unbending in some areas/she may be so attuned to what is socially accepted or expected that she's unable to assess whether something is "right" or "wrong" outside of what her social circle expects

   personality description   . .   ❛   part of her mystery is how she is calm in the storm and anxious in the quiet.  ❜

         ‣  kyomi is a typically bright, energetic and friendly individual, radiating warmth and acceptance to all those who come in contact with her. her kindness is talked of in abundance with her people, as well as her humor that can at times have the entire tribe rolling about with laughter. exceptionally considerate of others feelings, she will often force hers down to where she no longer has to deal with them so she can focus on the tasks/needs of others at hand. despite all of this, she is a skilled warrior who’s talents outshine those who are double her age and trained every moment of the time, leading to her confidence in her abilities to border on cocky. with these abilities however, she is able to defend her tribe and grow an ever expanding bodyguard service from those she’s trained, hiring them out to the highest bidder with these skills. her intelligence is what helped her launch the idea, her mistrust and misjudgement will end up being her downfall; getting her into situations where she’s forced to be the compeditor for Omni Air International, who threatened to level her village if she didn’t comply. over her family and fellow villagers she is fiercely protective and thoughtful, willing to lay down her life if need be for them so they could continue to live in peace. aside from that, she at times can be extremely angry and resentful of the hand she had been dealt, knowing that it was beyond her control and that was what bothered her the most. in competition, she is a blood thirsty and calculating competitor, who would rather break necks than ask or answer any questions directed at her. when pushed to it, she will shut down the side that everyone knows and loves entirely, revealing a murdeous monster who would tear down anyone in her path. 

   likes   . .   relaxing in the sun, training, eating exotic and new foods, spending time with her twin children. 

  dislikes   . .   being told what to do/forced into situations where she has no control, arrogant people, disloyalty, early mornings.

   skills   . .   healing by meditation, knive throwing, rock/ice climbing, cooking, drawing/painting, ballet, hula dance. 

   any flaws   . .  she can be very critical of others with no real cause, her jealousy is out of control, she’s got a large scar on her back, left hip and left thigh from when she was attacked by a shark at the age of 12.

  personal phobias   . . deep bodies of water, dark spaces, being alone, 

  habits   . .  nail biting, smoking, constantly triple checking her surroundings, self isolation when feeling vulnerable.

   weapons   . .  seismic senescing through her hands and feet, pressure point and medical knowledge, garrote, knive throwing, judo, kenpo, jujitsu, grappling, wrestling.

   family or blood relatives   . .   —   akela ka’uhane  |  father, 39 years old  |  alive  |  intermediate chief along side his wife in his daughters absence/guardian of his grandchildren.

                                                 —   makani ka’uhane |  mother, 37 years old  |  alive  |   intermediate chieftess alongside her husband in her daughters absence/guardian of her granddaughter/healer

                                                 —   noe olina ka’uhane  |  daughter, 3 years old  |  alive  |  living with her grandparents while her mother is away, training in meditation and energy control with her grandfather.

                                                —-   kanoa haikili ka’uhane | son, 3 years old | alive | living with his grandparents while his mother is away, training in meditation and energy control with his grandfather. 

   affiliated company / empoleeyer   . .    omni air international 

    friends   . .  —  miyuki dotokayashi |  best friend | alive | daughter of naga dotokayashi, ceo of Omni air international  

                      — sawada keizaburo | best friend/unofficial bodyguard & uncle to her children | alive | kengan fighter/employed                             by murder music.

                      — wakatsuki takashi | best friend/father figure | alive | kengan fighter/empoyed by furumi pharmaceuticals.

                      — saw paing yoroizuka  | close friend | alive | kengan fighter/employed by village of the dawn.

                      — adam dudley | close friend | alive | kengan fighter/employed by boss burger.

                      — imai cosmo | close friend/brother figure | alive | kengan fighter / employed by nishihonji security services.

                      — okubo naoya | close friend/ex-lover | alive | kengan fighter.

                      — himuro ryo | close friend | alive | kengan fighter. 

                     —  kaneda suekichi | close friend | alive | kengan fighter.

                     —  gaolang wongsawat | close friend | alive | kengan fighter.

   romantic interest(s)   . .  ohma tokita & ichiro 'lihito' nakata  —  ❛  you’re selfish, is what you are. making us both love you and then refusing to choose, what the fuck is your game? ❜

        

          —  ohma 'the ashura' tokita : my, oh my. the relationship between ohma and kyomi began when they first encountered each other during her first trip to japan 2 years prior, representing Omni Air International and winning 27 consecutive matches before the annihilation tournament took place. they met in a coffee shop, he decided to stop in and devour whatever pastries they had on display for the day, and due to his large, intimidating frame, most people were afraid of him and kept his distance; not kyomi. she found his seemingly brooding and potentially aggressive nature comical in contrast to the sweet treats he was eating, so she being the outgoing individual she was, went up to him and asked him how the desserts tasted now that he'd robbed everyone else of the chance. her boldness and confidence in the way she carried herself was enough to catch his attention and intrigue, so he invited her to sit with him and try the remains of what he hadn't inhaled just yet. it was in that sit down, taste testing the different assortments that laid in front of them, that a bond was formed and only grew with the more time they spent together, finding more commonalities than initially suspected. as close as they got, there was still a wall put up between the two of them, set up unintentionally by both parties to refrain from either getting hurt. this didn't stop jealousy and possessiveness to overwhelm the 'relationship' that they had developed, resulting in it's momentary end in an explosive way. now, two months later, they met once again at the kengan annihilation tournament representing their respective companies, which was a shock to them both, especially on her end. the greatest shock for ohma was when the new 'superhuman' he had been introduced to a little while prior to this, was now following around his woman like a puppy, only sparking the killer instinct within him that lie just beneath the surface. that, and the hickies and love marks that covered her body in the most obvious and infuriating places. now aggressive and hostile toward the woman who somehow held a vice grip on his heart, he couldn't help but blame himself at the same time for allowing her to slip through his fingers, however he will be damned if he lets 'lihito' steal what's his. with kyomi seeming to decide that she was fine with loving the both of them, fucking the both of the, that was when he snapped and would become a much more outwardly angry person than his usual calm demeanor, lashing out at any person who happened to make the wrong comment in his presence. despite his feelings of rage and hostility toward the situation, he couldn't help the fact that he loved her, and he would continue to love her even if he hated the choices that she was making, and the fact that even though he knew her for two years time now, it still felt as though she was hiding a part of herself from him, which was frustrating for the fighter, because in their long nights together, he had spilled his guts to her, given her every part of him, and he was met with this. 

         —  ichiro ‘lihito’ nakata : meeting this goddess was a complete accident, one that ichiro was more grateful for than he cared to admit out loud- scratch that, he'd happily yell it from whatever roof top she requested. having met after he was observing his competition for the next few matches, he quickly took notice of the seemingly unbeatable 'pele', swiftly deciding two things: that she would soon be his, and he did not want to fight her in any upcoming matches, because he knew he would get his ass handed to him, and that wasn't something the self proclaimed superhuman could afford to his ego or image. after she mopped the floor with her opponent, he approached her and asked if she would like to get something to eat, explaining he knew just how strenuous and appetite increasing these matches could be, it didn't take much pressure to get her to agree. the two went to an authentic japanese ramen shop, as she had never been before and had only been in japan for a few days, which was mostly spent fighting or training, this being the first time she actually had a moment to herself to breath. they ate bowl after bowl, stacking the piles high as they could go before ichiro realized that this woman had not only stolen his heart, but emptied his wallet as well, not that he minded. her smile and full belly was all he cared about at that moment. over the next few months, the two became closer and closer, though there was weeks where she would pull away and disappear, for reasons he did not know of; come to find out much later, she was spending the other parts of her time with the infamous ohma tokita, his self decided rival in the kengan matches. this discovery once they had arrived at the tournament only fueled ichiro's rage and desire to win, to prove that he was the better man, the stronger man, the one for her. though the two decided amongst themselves that they would compete for her heart, they were infuriated to see that she decided that it was fine to simply love them both, which wouldn't have been too terrible for him if it wasn't for the fact that ohma made it abundantly clear that he wasn't okay with that, and would repeatedly threaten ichiro's life, which was met with the response of 'try it' every single time. the relationship that they have is a rather lax and easy going one, though at times he can be a bit smothering and over-protective, that's only because he doesn't want to lose out on what he sees as his one chance at happiness. 

   backstory   . .   kyomi was born the only child to a long line of renowned martial artists, one that had developed it's own style that included many aspects that weren't included in the traditional way of teaching. over 1500 years ago, her ancestors figured out how to manipulate matter and atoms, giving them partial manipulation over their surroundings as well as a physical power up. they also figured out the ability to heal themselves faster through the power of meditation, which came in handy for those who chose to be warriors, such as kyo.  the longer the line, the more ancestors that could be called upon for assistance in a fight, using their knowledge and own distinct styles of fighting, the stronger the power up, making kyomi at the time, the strongest ever of her line, surpassing that of her past life and previous tribal chief by what seemed like miles. from a young age, she displayed strong discipline and technique, mastering things thrown at her within a few days time and leaving her teachers in absolute awe, as well as her parents, though they also beamed with happiness. the ancestral spirit didn't manifest in every generation, it only happened when the current host dies, so it can be passed to the new one, which so happened to be a feisty, strong-willed and opinionated young woman who was more than willing to kill for her goals and those she cares for. at the age of 16, she made the mistake of getting too attached to a tourist visiting one of the vacation spots on the main parts of her island, resulting in her losing her virginity and discovering she was pregnant a few months later. with the support of her family and village, she had her children and would not have been able to handle it without the backing that she had. as chieftess in training, her father and mother handled most things for her while she focused on her own children, but also growing up still given she had them so young. it was during this time that it became apparent that she was suffering from post-partum-rage, which was honed and harnessed into a deadly weapon to add precision and greater force behind her strikes. at the age of 18, she was brought to omni air international headquarters by her best friend, being told that her father wanted someone strong to represent his company in what was known as the kengan matches in japan. this didn't appeal to her too much, initially she refused, but when her home and tribe were threatened with extinction, her own children who were innocent, she had no choice but to comply. her best friend had no knowledge of this, and was unable to stop her father from forcing her companions hand, but it was no use, he would not budge on his decision. she was the strongest by far that he had come across, and he wouldn't let her slip through his fingers when he had the power to bend her to his will, no matter the rage and resentment he was building within his fighter. after saying her goodbyes to her one and a half year olds, her parents and her village, she set off to japan, where she found it hard to adjust to the culture and the language, resulting in many fights and brawls due to misunderstandings. it was during this time that she met several people who would become close friends and mentors to her, the relationships forming due to their close proximity from the kengan matches, as they were all participants in some way or another. the romantic relationships she did not plan for, and being the privileged person that she was, assumed that she would just be able to have both of the people who had captured her heart, not taking their feelings into consideration whatsoever. this was a result of no one taking hers into consideration for bringing her there in the first place, forcing her to fight for the lives of her people and not being allowed to lose no matter what. she cared very little for what people viewed as 'fair', even if she did love them.  

extra   . .       —  kyomi is ambidextrous, though the punches from her left hand hurt far more than the ones from her right, she believes most of her past lives were prodominantly left handed, which she finds awesome as hell.

—  even after two years, the people closest to her, aside from sawada and wakatsuki, known nothing about her life back in hawaii, which is something that she prefers to keep due to her not knowing who she can truly trust anymore.  

—  though both ohma tokita and ichiro nakata have perminent places in her heart, if she was forced to choose, she would have to drop them both because she couldn't bear hurting one by choosing the other

—  sawada interestingly enough knew kyomi before she came to japan, having met her a few times when he and his employer made trips to hawaii to open new stores there for murder music, as he was her body guard as well as fighter. the two clicked while she was pregnant, he was very kind and thoughtful when interacting with her, never once judged her and was there when her twins were born. he's a brother that she never had, acting as her protector and best friend all at the same time; the relationship she has with lihito makes him sick to his stomach but it's her life, and he refuses to say anything for fear of getting his face kicked in.

—  she and raian have an unspoken rivalry, due to them both having destructive power, and her being referred to as 'the devil's match'. kyomi finds his blood lust entertaining and would love to fight him, him feeling the same with her, but having a bordering obsession with her as well, having to keep constant tabs on her and be aware of where she is at all times, something he does his best to keep hidden from everyone, including those in the kure clan. If anyone is going to beat her for good it would be him.

[red-hood-redemption]

SO I know I’m like, super late to the party, but I finally got my hands on Robin 2021 and there is literally no one for me to talk to about it so now I’m just screaming my thoughts into the void ✌

First off, before i even bought the first two issues, I read through a lot of other people’s opinions on it to kinda get an idea of where it was going characterization-wise for Damian, and because of all the mixed reactions, I figured I should just read it myself and find out. Now I am the FURTHEST thing from a comic book authority, so like, this is truly just an opinion piece but if it convinces anyone to give the run a chance, then yay!!! Honestly, I’m really glad I gave it a shot because I’m genuinely hooked! I’m actually excited about this series (and it scares me lol)!!!

I'm gonna separate my thoughts into two sections: characters, and story, mainly for my own ease, but also if anyone cares more about one thing or the other it's easier to distinguish. But,  the line is a little blurry so if I end up getting a little too much into the characterization in the story section, just bear with me lmao. OH and I'm going to try and keep this as un-spoilery as possible but we'll just have to see. SOOOOOOOO

Characters

I think it goes without saying that Melnikov's art is absolutely gorgeous, and really does show how much Damian has grown up. It makes me want to sob its so beautiful, everyone is so pretty, even the guy that looks like a washed up, high as fuck Tony Stark lmao. But moving on to the actual characters,

Rose Wilson

I honestly don't know too much about Rose, I haven't read enough about her to say anything about her characterization and how it compares to her other appearances, or whether or not she is OOC, but so far, I'm enjoying her taking up the "big sis" role, like, immediately lmao.

I don't know how much I trust her yet, but I definitely get the vibe that even if she does betray Dami in any way, she's probably gonna stick her neck out for Dami again and he's probably gonna do the same.

I'm really intrigued about her motivations for being here. Obviously, Respawn has something to do with it, but I want to know what's up with that. I've seen a lot of theories and I'm so excited. Also side note, that Black Swan chick is hot, and I can't wait to see more of her in action!!!

I feel like Ravager knows a WHOLE lot more than Dami does about the interesting things going on on the island, mainly because she's been doing a lot more sitting and waiting than he has as of yet, but I'm hoping to see more of the two of them doing detective-y sleuthing together. We love a mysteryyyy

Flatline

Okay but real talk, why does she look like a character straight out of Monster High

Honestly tho, I dig it. It's cute! She's cute! She isn't annoying (yet) but I don't know if I care too much about her other than she would make a cute friend for Dami.

I think the problem with DC is that they know people LOVE Harley Quinn and they try so hard to make characters just like her but it always falls short, so honestly I am a little wary of her character development in this run, but I'm willing to give her a shot since her little coffin purse on the cover of the second issue is so damn cute. I'm a slut for character design, okay?

Oh speaking of Flatline and Dami, I don't ship it and I don't want them to force a romantic relationship into Damian's "coming of age"/"soul-searching" moment okay? Because that's what this run is about, at least to me! More on that in the story section!

They're literally 13/14 years old. That's 8th-9th grade, babes lets think about that for a minute

Also let's stop the whole "lets introduce a female character just to make her a love interest!" bullshit okay?

Basically, Flatline is interesting, or at least has the potential to be, but I don't want to get my hopes up because DC is notorious for disservicing their female characters 😕

I think the mixed reaction to her is valid, I don't think she's had much time to make a solid impression yet, so I guess you'd have to read it for yourself. Personally, I don't understand why people immediately hate her, especially because she's like, 14, and what kid that age isn't annoying? like at least a little bit lmao! But, yeah. I don't trust her either but literally everyone on this island is sketchy at least and a murderer at best, so hey 🤷‍♀️

Damian

His new outfit lmaoooo at first I was like "WHaT is this child wearing? You'd think Dick would have rubbed off on him and taught him what good taste looks like" but then I saw the later outfit, with the gold patterning and those sleeeevessssss ugh and I take it all back. A Fashion Icon TM. Truly stunning. A sight to behold. So proud, look at him go 😪

I think there's a lot of different opinions on Damian's characterization in this run, and I can definitely see where its coming from, but I disagree with the notion that Damian has been done dirty and reverted to a blood-thirsty, feral child.  And I have a LOT of opinions on the whole "feral" thing regarding Damian period (but that's for another time).

I don't think of Dami's rampage as a regression for his character. He's letting of emotions right then and I think its very similar to him venting. Its just not verbal, its physical and he knows he's not going to have to grapple with the consequences of his actions on the first kill. He knows he's technically not doing anything wrong.

He is clearly upset at Bruce and his failure to protect Alfred, and while Dami and Bruce are really often described as being very similar personality-wise, they are still distinctly different individuals who came to their current moral codes in vastly different ways. Bruce came to his "no killing" rule on his own; he made that decision for himself. It wasn't taught to him, it was a moment-of-truth kind of situation. Damian, on the other hand is in a vastly different situation.

Dami is, I think, at the beginning of the climb to his own moment-of-truth. He is in his rebellious phase like Dick, where he's gone off to spread his wings. It's not his conscious intention (at least that's not the vibe I got from reading the first two issues), but its directly underlying his "mission".

Damian is growing out of the expectations of his parents and into his own person. We all know he's been thrown from one moral code to another, both drastically different from each other. I don't think its a regression for him to lose his way a little, because realistically, he's going to have to in order to find it, specifically a moral compass that he forged on his own. He's just what? 14? Like hell a kid his age wants to listen to any form of authority. He's as stubborn as it comes. Damian needs to come to his decision regarding the path he takes in life on his own. It can't be made for him. He's seen and lived both sides of the coin, and I don't think he should be forced just yet to choose a side or pave a middle ground, but I do think that he should get the opportunity to see and experience all the gray areas on his own.

I think I'll transition from characterization to story here, because let's face it, this story is about Damian dealing with his confused emotions right now, in the wake of losing Alfred, a man that kind of acted like a grounding presence, a voice of reason, or a moral compass for him (and honestly Bruce and the rest of the bat crew if we're honest).

Story

So there's a lottttt going on in the story that is really enticing and exciting, and I'm really interested to see how it all plays out.

All the rules to the tournament are so, sketchy? Like they don't sound like they are meant to be sketchy, its basic safety and guidelines or whatever but with all the glowy green shit and the stakes of the tournament? Yeah, you can bet your ass its the "no fighting at night" and other shit is gonna be broken, and that's likely when the fun begins *insert evil laughter*😈

I was slightly put off by the whole "let me teach you to have fun" thing with Rose, because it's not like Dick, Steph, Jon, and like the Titans haven't done that with him too, but eh, not something I'm too concerned about. It's definitely just a segway to get us introduced to more characters that might become Damian's friends which will be interesting considering what Mother Soul said about fraternizing.

And that's another thing! I want Damian to make some friends! I know he already has some, but here's the thing: I think he's already been struggling with belonging, and he's definitely been feeling the disconnect between his life and other kids', whether they're supers/vigilantes or not. I think it'd be nice to see Dami have the experience of meeting people who he at first thinks are just like him!! and then realizing that maybe he doesn't really fit in here either, and that it's okay to feel like you don't belong, as isolating as it may feel at times. It just means you have a set of values. I want him to realize that its not always a bad thing, and you learn more about yourself and your own heart this way.

And from there,,, lets talk about the thing that stuck out to me the most in these two issues! GUILT!! It's mentioned SOO many times already, and I think its going to be a really fun, heartbreaking, and interesting aspect to explore about Damian. Is it guilt about his actions? Leaving behind family? Not being able to save Alfred? Not being a perfect example of Robin? He may call himself Robin but he doesn't sport the OG look or symbol like before. I love that his guilt takes on the form of Alfred though, or at least his conscious. I think it'd be really interesting to see this conscious disappear when Dami strays too far from his center, and when he finds it again, it reappears.

I really think that seeing Damian's actions in this run as a failure of character development is an unfair assessment, though. You can't do everything right in order to grow! You have to screw up, lose your way, experiment with life to find your fit, right?

Something tells me he doesn’t care for the tournament itself, but the end result, and the people behind it and more about WHY it was hidden from him. I mean he finds out the tournament TRULY begins once everyone has died once and tHEN he kill everyone? Felt to me less like a “killing spree” as everyone put it to a calculated decision to get the tournament going. He literally cuts Mother Soul off in the middle of her speaking to start fighting at the beginning

Anyway, just my thoughts lol. I do have some issues with the past two issues, and I might make a separate post about that, but honestly not enough for me to dislike Robin 2021 so far. I mean, besides the very obvious white-washing in the second issue, because DC can absolutely do better. And they should. It’s like they thought we wouldn’t notice???? But besides that, story and characterization-wise I’m looking forward to more. Here’s to hoping it stays that way, just with a better colorist!

[scoundrels-in-love]

Almost 300 years a week later, here are some of my thoughts on Dan Ah and her actions through ep 11 and 12. I will try not to repeat too much of the points I made here, or elsewhere in my rambles, but if it happens, it happens. + I won’t operate on mindset that you’ve read it.

First, I think her saying ‘apologies are meaningless, I can’t take back things I said, only make up for it’ is incredibly telling of her as person and the kind of environment she grew up in - the high society and family where apologies are dished out hollowly and never followed through with intention of changing something for the better or your behavior. Time and how you spend it is very important to her. She even says as much in her confession and I think it only outlines how much her time is the one thing she tries to have control of, and exert it (over herself as well). Considering the concept of possibly terminal illness that she suffers from, it makes sense. She doesn’t have time to be patient, no one will wait for her, including her own health. Yeong Hwa is the one immovable object that forces her to slow down and readjust her whole approach to life and it’s been... Not comfortable, necessarily, but it’s been functional, so she struggles to redefine it, especially without real example.

Second, there’s lot of parallels to be drawn between her and Mi Joo. And I ended up writing this all backwards, so I am not sure if I’ll manage to include it, but in some ways, Mi Joo’s line about ‘I value myself more than anyone else’ both in the sense that she’s the most important to herself and that no one else values her truly highly is very reminiscent of Dan Ah’s attitude and the way she admitted she isn’t in control of her life entirely o Mi Joo.

And there’s. of course, that moment when Mi Joo responded sarcastically to Seun Gyeom, later to apologize for it, which he took in a stride (much as he had said that he had never felt Dan Ah walked over him unjustly), because he does understand where they come from and how they work, on a certain level (even if he underestimated just how his father would strike and manage to hurt Mi Joo). I think Dan Ah isn’t at place where she cay say that yet, but I do believe sentiment is within her.

If someone asked what motivates Dan Ah, her answer could be similar to Mi Joo’s - fear and obsession, rather than Seun Gyeom’s regret. Fear of being controlled, of being weak and sick, obsession of having and exerting certain power and keeping yourself safe. Now, this point altogether is purely speculation on my part, of course, but that’s my read on the character, but also her anxiety has been mentioned several times and anxiety is basically that - fear, especially of things going wrong/being out of control, if we wish to trivialize it.

And although Dan Ah merely adds that whatever she had, got taken away from her, she basically used same method as Mi Joo - set her goals and opted for the best ‘fake’ that she could get, in this case her company, rather than being football player or the gallery. Both, in the same way, would rather put up walls to not lose what little they have but the men in their lives just... Bypassed them.

It’s interesting to note that similarly as Mi Joo is currently trying to sort ouf what is real and to go for, instead of relying on having a ‘fake’, so does Dan Ah - it’s likely she is planning to expose the illegitimate status of both her brothers to gain what is technically rightfully hers (hence asking her younger brother to side with her even when it will not be comfortable for him).

Third, I think the way she’s seeking out Mi Joo and her opinion is very interesting. And it does loop back to Yeong Hwa as well!

From the very start, we see that Dan Ah actually cares to listen to other people to an extent (she asks her secretary what she did wrong to upset Seun Gyeom, even if she ends the conversation how much simpler it’d be if all of us thought were similar, which is strongly undermined by all of her interactions with Mi Joo and even Yeong Hwa essentially). She is interested in experiencing being opposed and challenged in a way that is not downright demeaning as she does in her family. She finds their view on world interesting, if somewhat incomprehensible, and listens to it, processes it inwardly, even if her initial reaction might be defensive. (Also, it shows from start she’s willing to admit she doesn’t have all answers, same as she does with Yeong Hwa telling him that she doesn’t know what answer he wants - as she would need to know in business deal which is what most of her world consists of.)

But in some ways, I also think she is interested in what Seun Gyeom and Mi Joo have created and how. She basically instantly could tell Seun Gyeom is interested in Mi Joo which is implied as rare occurrence (or perhaps even the only time since she says she’s the last woman he liked and he debunks the theory), she asks several times what Mi Joo sees in Seun Gyeom that makes her so protective of him (which I think is both a way to see how deeply Mi Joo cares for him and to see more of Seun Gyeom). But also in some way, although it is her own act to let Seun Gyeom, she “loses” him to his own path and Mi Joo both. Because I do think she cares for him as a friend, perhaps only one she has.

Although she puts Seun Gyeom’s picture by the trash, it’s actually not taken out for several days and it’s definitely not because the secretary or the cleaner are neglecting their duties. Rather, same way as he didn’t throw away the honey but handed it back to Yeong Hwa, the secretary is aware she’s not really emotionally throwing him away. Because once she likes something, she never really stops, as per her own admission.

So there’s this certain feeling of loss that she can’t quite admit to herself and want to know both what Mi Joo saw and supported in Seun Gyeom and how and a yearning for something similar, because this is basically the first friendship/not work based relationship of the kind that she sees. (The same way she marvels is this how full-blood siblings are supposed to be when Eun Bi is upset about Seun Gyeom’s picture and how she defends her brother and then, Dan Ah actually ‘tattles’ on her so he can protect her, which can be covered up with excuse it was over the schedule, but was it really?)

In fact, she seems to be somewhat envious of relationship her brother has with her secretary, saying he still cares for her brother more and also the way she wanted to be included in the whole cat talk. She is upset when he doesn’t say he’s her person, but employed by the company, she protects him the way she knows how to (regarding revenge kick) and generally cares for him. She just wants someone truly and personally on her side, even though she probably has a hard time admitting it to herself which results in these odd and halfway there and nowhere attempts, especially paired with  the fact she doesn’t really know how to establish not-work-related connection on a deeper level.

I will add point fourth here, although it’s still technically third. It’s safer, far more practical and logical to stay detached. But the heart wants what it wants and it’s friendship, connection, being liked for who she is and being challenged but not seen as lesser, with someone who won’t smile because she’s his boss, although that sort of control is precious and hard fought to be had in part of her life.

Caring for something or someone is relinquishing this control, basically inviting the same result Seun Gyeom got taste of at ep of 12, the result she already experienced with her dreams of being football player crushed. Except if it involves another person, it increases the chances of being hurt by them exponentially. And it’s also worth considering that if her relationship with mother was close, she’s also already experienced abandonment and grief of losing someone dear and close. (Which, of the leads, only Mi Joo knows and even then it’s more the absence of reflection what other people around her have which hurts, but in a different way, as per my experience.)

Concept of Mi Joo’s friendship, and Yeong Hwa as a whole, become very images of these unsaid wish fulfillment because they’re not trying to be.

They’re themselves, argumentative and challenging, and teasing, despite her being ‘above them’ in power hierarchy, leveling the field by merely ignoring it, and, initially, she doesn’t even try to get Yeong Hwa sign a contract, it’s only when her own yearning for his work (and for him), and him denying her any of it becomes a problem that she ‘admits’ it was her own fault for not drawing the sort of lines she’s used to with everyone else, and even then she’s not really thrilled about him agreeing to it, because it’s not really what she wants from him, although it’s what would be the safest and make the most actual sense within her world.

Even then, as her employee, he refuses to follow her orders and tells her plainly - if she wants something, she is to be vulnerable and invest herself into it (she actually tries, by smiling because he had said it was cute) and she has to admit to herself and to him, that he has grown onto her, not as a ‘vending machine’ or ‘employee’, but person whose opinion and feelings toward her are very important to her.

Also, it’s very telling how she tells him she belongs to herself, of course, and that he, too, can still belong to himself. She wants him as individual separate from herself, but the thought that he is firmly on her side obviously makes her very happy. In some ways, it’s also upgrade from ‘my person’ claim she makes toward her secretary, a learning curve.

Fifth, I suppose. While I rewatched some scenes to make sure I wasn’t actually misremembering, I started to think of another motif that repeats through her conversations.

Dan Ah repeatedly tells him not to have expectations, sentiments, disappointments toward her. From one side, it’s to draw a clear line of employee/employer and view each other in a detached way (that she tries again and again herself, but fails to), but from other, is it that simple?

She is almost crying when she asks him if he’s really stopped liking her and from preview, we learn that no one has asked her out before, seemingly? Probably because she was too much of a boss ass bitch, but still possibly left with a certain sense of inadequacy and that ‘when I am being apologetically me and I will always be that, I am not likeable although I do not entirely understand why’, as per her wondering why people always think she’s mean when by most of her society’s standards, she is rather thoughtful.

Her want of gallery has been brought up several times, her older half brother often says her pick of artist will never be good enough, her father still sees her as a tool to marry off. She as person with her goals and dreams and what she has achieved, just isn’t good enough for people around her at large.

The moment he cares for her, the moment she inherently becomes capable of disappointing him. The moment she cares for him, the moment she becomes capable of disappointing him. And that thought, of doing that and not enough to Yeong Hwa who has sneakily smiled his way into her heart, the growing awareness she truly doesn’t know how to be in some aspects, is overwhelming and painful and she tries to shut the door to it.

Also, he tells her he likes her no matter what he does, but he hates it, which I imagine is double the punch and she tries to find a solution that would make him happy and stop hating it - the perfect answer, as she would in a business deal, but she can’t, until she commits to the truly mortifying ordeal of being known (as suggested by Mi Joo).

Sixth, I really liked that she (or the narrative) didn’t make fun of Yeong Hwa crying. In fact, she’s eyerolled about her younger brother’s temper, but not really in the present made fun of him for apparently being a ‘crybaby’ in the past. I think that in a sense shows her actual streak of empathy and maybe the fact that she’s familiar with need to cry herself and doesn’t find it ‘weak’ as most ‘tougher’ characters would. Also perhaps that she cares for her younger brother more than she has admitted to herself, similarly as she kept denying she cared for Yeong Hwa and went rather far to hurt him.

[convenientalias]

The shipping question- Any ship from MCTNA that involves Seon Ho.

Let’s do a couple because I’m indecisive and actually ship Seon-ho with everyone!

Seon-ho/Hwi

Do I ship it? Yes!

What made you ship it? I maybe started with that first fight scene with the ppl signing ppl up for the military exam. Fight duo ships are good! It's not always their dynamic but it was a good place to start.

What are your favorite things about the ship? Sometimes two guys are enemies and have opposing goals but also would be willing to risk their lives for each other and ruin their own plans and I think that’s beautiful. Just, the tension of all the times Seon-ho and Hwi go against each other while you know, you know that it’s tearing them up. They have their own convictions and important goals and deliberately don’t put each other as the most important thing in their lives--except that at the end of the day, they still care about each other so much that they end up dying in each other’s arms and are honestly okay with that. Also they just have good chemistry, what can I say.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? Idk I think fandom consensus for MCTNA is pretty similar to my thoughts. Uhh it would be less spicy if Seon-ho and Hwi didn’t betray each other all the time so I think their lack of communication and general assholery is a Good Thing Actually, in that it caters to my tastes. I would be more frustrated if the show portrayed their relationship as a rivalry (whether in terms of martial skill or in romance or whatever) bc then the conflict would feel kind of petty. As-is, they both have good reasons for the way they act. Well. “Good” reasons...

Seon-ho/Bang-won

Do I ship it? But of course!

What made you ship it? I really liked both actors and thought they acted well together. Their first meeting is fun, too, the snarking back and forth and then the dead horse. (...usually a dead horse would turn me off a ship. idk why that isn't the case here.)

What are your favorite things about the ship? They have similar tragic backstories (well, more like tragic presents as their parental issues and murdering and Hwi issues are ongoing). They’re nemeses but it’s very unequal--you get the sense that Seon-ho sees Bang-won as his biggest threat, while Bang-won definitely has more to fear from Nam Jeon. (To be fair, Seon-ho’s biggest enemy is also Nam Jeon, but that’s different. What I mean is, he certainly opposes Bang-won, not Seung-gye.) Bang-won even sort of pities Seon-ho. That scene where he almost kills Seon-ho while saying Seon-ho can rest now is very good bc it shows both sides of the attitude--it’s merciless mercy. Also, the two opposing sides of a love triangle are always a good dynamic, and what are Seon-ho and Bang-won if not that?

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? Is this ship common enough that I can have an unpopular opinion? Do ppl have opinions on it? Umm how about: Bang-won respects Seon-ho more than Seon-ho respects Bang-won, despite what I said above about him pitying him. Seon-ho barely sees Bang-won as human and despises his politics; Bang-won sees Seon-ho as a threat but does in fact also see him as human. (There are a lot of ppl who Seon-ho doesn’t really see as ppl, more as the show goes on, and that’s largely bc of his need to constantly be on the offensive and his weird class position. People who are higher class than him or theoretically his equals are a threat; people of a lower class he has to act better than if he wants to maintain his dignity as a noble. His father has specifically trained him to be ruthless not to connect with anyone, and the lack of connection leads him to a position where he has a decent sense of theoretical morality--equality, loyalty, etc--but little compassion, and even that theoretical morality he often fails to put into practice. In this essay I will)

Seon-ho/Sung-rok

Do I ship it? Yeah!

What made you ship it? Burning buildings... Also Sung-rok attacking Hwi out of what seemed to be mostly jealousy after the second timeskip lols. I was like "Sung-rok, are you having feelings??"

What are your favorite things about the ship? Two people who originally were so snappish towards each other and almost killed each other because partners, friends.... one might even say ~coworkers~.... lols but Seon-ho actually trusts Sung-rok and the two are a rare duo in MCTNA that, once they agree to work together, never fight against each other again. And you get the sense that for a long time, Sung-rok is Seon-ho’s only real support in a world where there’s no one he can trust. You may say, “okay but that’s all on Seon-ho’s side. what is Sung-rok getting out of this?”, and honestly all I can tell you is that if I could hang out being BFFs with a murderous Woo Do-hwan, trying to help him advance a doomed political agenda, I would do so as well. Anyways Sung-rok’s death fucked me up. I’m never okay.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? Not really tbh. I’d have to think about it.

I could come up with more ships but I think 3 is probably enough for one day. Thanks for the ask <3

[violetwolfraven]

“Oh my gosh, Flynn! Don’t bother coming!”

Part 2 of that flarrie angst I wrote earlier. This should be fun.

Tw: abandonment, denial of feelings, a little internalized homophobia.

...

“Oh my gosh, Flynn! Don’t bother coming!”

Of course Carrie doesn’t want Flynn and Julie to come to her performance. Why would she? It’s not like they’re friends anymore. They’re not. They haven’t been for a while.

Carrie does not miss Flynn and Julie.

She doesn’t. She doesn’t need them. They were good friends while it lasted, sure, but that’s over and dead and it’s never coming back so Carrie isn’t stuck in the past missing them.

She’s got Dirty Candi now. And the others are talented, but not enough to be competition like Julie is, and they have a healthy fear of the girl who can kick them out of the band if she wants, so they don’t challenge her like Flynn does. They do what they’re told. Carrie doesn’t have to care about their opinions beyond making sure they know they can tell her if any choreography or costumes make them uncomfortable. Considering she’s had to alter a grand total of two dance moves since they got together, that’s not even that big of a concern.

It is not lonely, being a bubblegum pop princess ruling alone over her little kingdom by fear. It’s... different from how things were with Julie and Flynn, but it’s better. The other girls know that their talents lie mostly in dance and these days, that alone isn’t enough to get them the fame they want so badly. They need Carrie to get any real fame. Hopefully, that means they can’t just leave at the drop of a hat.

Sure, maybe Kayla never used to look at her with that caution before their dance class became their band, but it’s fine. It’s fine. It’s probably better, because if she’s afraid of Carrie, she can’t hurt her.

None of them can. No one can.

Carrie’s finally as invincible as she always wished she was and she is not lonely.

She doesn’t miss having Julie to bounce music ideas off of and Flynn to...

Flynn. Talking about everything from things that don’t actually matter to things that really, really do. Watching Pirates of the Caribbean and chugging soda to stay awake and braiding each other’s hair.

Flynn, who is as sarcastic as she is compassionate, level-headed as they are ready to throw hands with anyone who hurts one of her friends. Fiercely protective yet would probably sell you to Satan for one corn chip.

Carrie can still remember the process to help when there’s something bothering them. Turn on her favorite movie trilogy, mess around with her hair a bit, talk about nothing important until they’re ready to talk about whatever is important. Give Flynn her full attention, making sure they feel seen and her feelings are validated. Carrie got it down to a science years ago, and it always felt nice to help when they were upset. It made this warm feeling flush through her chest, seeing that lovely smile of hers creep out, and...

And okay, maybe Carrie can’t watch Pirates of the Caribbean anymore because it feels wrong to watch it without them, but that doesn’t mean anything! It doesn’t mean she misses her!

Carrie doesn’t miss people. Missing someone doesn’t bring them back, so why bother? And besides, Flynn and Julie are hardly the first people to leave her behind.

Honestly, though, she doesn’t expect Nick to leave until he does.

She knows about his crush on Julie (and on at least one of his lacrosse teammates at any given time). She’s not blind. Of course she knows. And she doesn’t particularly care, because she knows Nick, and she knows he wouldn’t cheat.

And she knows that they’ve been together since the beginning of 8th grade—over 2 years—and most teen relationships don’t last 2 months, so it’s not exactly a surprise that he doesn’t like her that way anymore. He did in the beginning, but lately they’ve been drifting apart not so much physically as emotionally. They’re not the same people they were in 8th grade.

Nick has known Julie for as long as he’s known Carrie, so of course he knew Rose, too (another person in Carrie’s life that left.) and for him, with the Molinas’ tendency to provide family figures to anyone who needs them, her death was probably a ripping open of old wounds, considering how his own mother died when he was little. Rose’s death affected him almost as much as it did a girl who’s known the Molinas since she was in diapers.

Carrie just... tried really hard not to think about it. She’s still trying really hard not to think about it. Because Rose was... well, she was around for more of Carrie’s childhood than her deadbeat of a blood mother was.

That woman is another thing Carrie tries really hard not to think about.

She who only stuck around for the first 7 years of Carrie’s life, and then left because... because she cried too much or needed too much attention or just got to be too much effort? Because she wasn’t a part of the future her mother wanted?

Because Carrie was never wanted in the first place?

It’s not like her dad ever told her, but Carrie’s not stupid. She knows that her parents were never married, and her dad had been tripping hard on the consequences of teenage fame around the time she would have been conceived. He’d cleaned up his act for her and her mom hadn’t because why would she put in the effort for the product of what was probably a one night stand?

Carrie’s not stupid. No one told her, but she knows she was an accident. And she doesn’t care. She doesn’t let how she came to be affect how she lives her life. She doesn’t be bright and flashy and talented to prove that she deserves her space in the world. She doesn’t let it affect her perception of herself or her relationships.

Flynn is always so effortlessly confident in themself, no matter if she’s feeling conflicted about her mom having a girlfriend or angry about their dad ignoring them or sad about her best friend’s mom who was as good as another mother to them dying. It’s one of the things Carrie loves hates the most about her. That she could be that confident (so confident she could almost make Carrie feel confident in herself).

Flynn always acts like they’re right. It’s infuriating because she almost always is she’s wrong when it comes to Carrie.

Okay, maybe Carrie doesn’t like Nick that way. Maybe Flynn’s right about that. But he bops to her songs. He doesn’t challenge her. And he’s hiding from acting on any of his actual crushes just like her.

They’re together because... because Carrie does like being around him. Nick’s easy to like. He’s friendly with practically everyone and has pretty flexible music taste. He’s popular, like her. They make sense together.

And Carrie knows he’s been hiding behind her to avoid confronting his crush on Julie for the last several months, so it honestly doesn’t make sense why he’d want to stop. What they’re doing now is safe. It’s easy. Effortless, really.

And it’s apparently not enough. Carrie is apparently not enough for him anymore.

Whatever. She doesn’t think him and Julie are going to get together, be it because of Julie’s new crush on her guitarist or Nick’s already-established inability to make a damn move on a real crush. Honestly, she’s expecting him to chicken out and run back to her like the last couple times.

Or at least... she is until he accuses her of the same thing Flynn did years ago.

When Flynn who is always right insisted she’s...

Carrie remembers back when they first came out, when Triple Threat was they were maybe... 11? 10? As a lesbian with she/they pronouns. She remembers how everyone was supportive, but Rose did pull Julie and Carrie aside later to say that they need to look out for Flynn because people can be hateful and though it’s getting better, things will be harder for her because of who they are.

And Rose was right. In the spotlight, it’s harder to be anything but straight. Her dad told her once about a friend he had when he was younger who faced so much shit because he was gay. She saw the stickynote some idiot stuck in Flynn’s locker in 7th grade. She’s seen producers and choreographers willing to work with Dirty Candi—until they look at Courtney’s Instagram and find that she’s out and proud and therefore not as marketable to a mainstream audience.

It’s not easy to be anyone trying to get your big break. But if you’re straight your sexuality is never one of the things that gets in the way, so Carrie is straight.

She’s fine with Courtney being out. She’s not their front woman and the group’s reputation can survive that. And Julie and Flynn’s sexualities are never one of the things Carrie mocks about them, but she knows from stalking the comments on Edge of Great and seeing some assholes saying shit about Julie being bisexual that others aren’t so kind.

Another reason Carrie liked being with Nick was because she had an excuse not to think about any of this.

Not to replay Flynn’s voice in her mind from when they were 13, confessing feelings Carrie had never even considered and asking her out.

She’d run away from that—run to Nick—because... because she felt bad, breaking Flynn’s heart. Not because there was any kind of realization and consequential panic about feelings for her that Carrie might, hypothetically return.

It’s easier to be straight. Being straight doesn’t hurt her career, and she needs her career because she’s got to prove to everyone who ever left her that they should’ve stayed that she’s just as talented as her dad.

So when the feelings and heartbreak and complications ruin their friendship because Flynn is right can’t accept being wrong, she doesn’t miss Flynn. She doesn’t miss Flynn. She doesn’t miss Flynn.

Pirates of the Caribbean isn’t even that good of a franchise anyway, so what does Carrie care if Flynn hates her guts and calls her a demon and growls that you don’t even like him and you can lie to the world and yourself about who you are but we can be friends again when you’re ready to stop lying to me.

Carrie doesn’t miss them. She doesn’t miss Julie, either. She doesn’t need either of them. She doesn’t want them around. She doesn’t enjoy the (grudgingly) impressed look on Flynn’s face on the rare occasion she shows up to a Dirty Candi show and watches Carrie shine without them.

But with how weird Nick’s been acting lately... maybe she does need Julie and Flynn’s help to find out what’s wrong, because the normal Nick left her clearly doesn’t trust her anymore and she won’t be able to help him by herself.

So after over a year of pushing them away, telling them not to bother coming to her performances, being angry that Julie is so successful, Carrie sucks it up, takes a deep breath, and walks over to Julie’s locker for a civil conversation.

The murderous look that Flynn gives her doesn’t matter. It’s fine.

Carrie hasn’t missed her, or... desperately wanted her around even when they were fighting or anything.

...

I’m pretty sure I saw someone call the blue one Courtney once. I don’t think it’s a canon name but that’s who that is if anyone was wondering.

I kinda rushed finishing this because jatp won an mtv award and I wanted to contribute to (maybe) making it trend so sorry if it kinda sucks! If you do like it, comments are love so please comment!

Also let me know if you want a part 3 cause I’m undecided on writing more to this.

[alatismeni-theitsa]

anti LO anon opinions:

1) I pointed out the same opinion about thanatos on why he should care and a fan responded that he shouldnt have a say on hades and persephones relationship because he was making out with minthe while they were still dating...

2) I’m just so annoyed LO Persephone’s visual maturity is all in terms of hades. It’s via how he wants her to dress, how he wants her to act, via what he wants her to enjoy and do. He’s never once gone out of his comfort zone for her or branched out to see what she wants and enjoys or even really ask, meanwhile she does everything he wants at the drop of a hat. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This isn’t a couple of balance and compromise, its not even one of real respect, it’s just the woman making herself whatever she wants her future husband to be while he does nothing but throw money at her as “affection”. It’s essentially her having to do whatever Demeter wants, which was framed as bad, but this time it’s whatever Hades wants, so now it’s good? She still isn’t really given the choice, now is she?

3) i really have to question why LO keeps framing "dark" persephone as the queen and wife of hades because that side is framed as basically a different character who has popped out before and very purposely has said it doesnt like hades and sees him as weak and not worth their time. it also has it that persephone doesnt like or even control this side of her so its like??? is the endgame the real persephone being trapped inside herself by this evil persona and hades is married to someone who doesnt love him/outright hates him? this wouldnt be an issue if they just let Persephone be a complex character who had light and darkness in her instead of insisting at every turn she stay a “precious cinnamon roll” at all times that you need to create an out there alt-personality to explain everything away 🤔

4) LO has the regressive idea that women are all innocent victims unless stated otherwise (such as having a sex life outside Hades (Minthe, Aphrodite) or not falling at his feet (Hestia, Demeter)). The thing is, women, no matter how "precious" they are, are capable of being bad people. It'd make sense Persephone the "dread queen" would actually be cruel and not nice and even the scarier of the two of them, but the comic wont commit to it, so everyone else has to be wrong instead

5) I would be more willing to hate LO Thanatos if it weren’t for the fact Persephone is a mega rich heiress who has everyone coming to her defense for merely existing including his mega rich CEO boss meanwhile the comic seems to imply Nyx (and by extension her family like Thanatos) lost their status and power once the Big Three like Hades came to power, reducing them to subordinates and powerless to his wants and desires. It’d like an Amazon warehouse worker calling out how unfair their working conditions are only to be told “yeah well Bezos got divorced last year and he’s really sad about it, feel bad for him instead and forget your problems.”    Why should I feel bad for a bunch of rich jerks who won’t face an real consequences and demean the ones who can’t stand up to them?

6) Regarding the recent LO chapter with Thanatos and Daphne talking about Persephone and Hades's relationship. I can kinda understand from both the perspectives: 1) Thanatos is a long-term employee for Hades so he has a better viewpoint of seeing the special treatment between Hades and Persephone up close. His feelings are partially influenced by his negative peers (Thetis and Minthe) who outright dislikes Persephone. But in his perspective: He is a longtime employee at a company who worked their way to a high position, and then one day your employer starts to hire someone younger and gives said younger colleague special treatment and attention (along with a big paycheck that most interns shouldn't be paid for). Part of the reason can also be that the said younger colleague is both their family background (being the child of one of the Six Traitors) and being very youthful and attractive2) Daphne only sees the relationship from an outsiders perspective and is partially defensive for her longtime friend. She is aware of Hades and Persephone's unusual relationship but also means well at knowing not to pry into others personal lives. 

7) I think that in lo to protect "our precious cinammon roll" Daphne could said that maybe that is Hades fault not hers bc he give her special treatment and his bad boss. This would at least show that there is unfairness at his job, that he is rightfuly angry just maybe at wrong person. It would be at least better than "dont care about this lol"

8) Persephone in lo only work 1 actual day of work. Her first day is only a tour, on her second day she work, on third day she isnt working bc she learn how to use computer and now she sometimes try to do something with work while flirting with hades, so maybe she worked 1,5 day of work in total. It isnt surprise thst she didnt work a lot since its been 13 days in comic

[loser-writings]

A 7 Deadly sin based quirk

A/N: I only did a few of these and I am willing to make a part 2 with other characters with new quirks. I only did these ones since it was all I could think of at the time!

Characters: Dabi, Kirishima, Endeavor, Midoriya

Dabi || Lust-This quirk allows the user to heighten the senses of their target, easily overstimulating them. Overuse of their quirk results in the user becoming overheated as well as blurs their own senses.

You had always wanted to be a hero, but after being branded a “Sin” by your mother for the quirk you developed, you ended up losing sight of your dream. Your mother had adored you before your quirk had developed but once it had finally showed itself, your mothers’ opinion of you had changed. 

She would refuse to let you touch her, causing you to become severely touch starved. Your father was unknown and your mother wasn’t willing to let you know anything more. When you finally had enough of it, you ran away from home in hope that you could find someplace better.

You did. You ended up in the arms of the League of Villains, but to you they were family. You specifically gravitated towards Dabi due to your similar homelife situations, but you also found yourself clinging to him at night when you had nightmares about your mother. His natural warmth always managed to help you relax. 

Toga was the other one you were around quite a bit. Due to her clingy and obsessive nature, she was one you always found giving you affection and attention. It originally made you uncomfortable, but you grew used to it quickly and even found comfort in her clinginess.

You huffed softly as Toga snuggled into your side, watching as Shigaraki mumbled to Kurogiri while playing his video game. You look down at the blonde under your arm before moving to pull her a little closer. She simply hummed since she seemed tired before she snuggled closer, dozing off slowly..

Dabi walked into the room moments later, huffing at how quiet it was, but then again it was past midnight and everyone had been awake for a while. He wasn’t that tired, but he could tell you were resisting sleep since your eyes would slowly shut before your head fell against Togas. 

He slowly moved to separate you from Toga, little resistance coming from her since she had fallen into a deeper sleep. Shigaraki had turned his attention to Dabi for a moment, smirking slightly as an idea came to his mind. 

“Dabi, Why don’t you take them to their room. I bet they would be oh so uncomfortable sleeping in their clothes~” He cooed just to irritate the man. Dabi simply glared before moving to pick you up in his arms. “Shut it. Why are you always so annoying?” Dabi bickered before carrying you to your room, abandoning Toga on the couch to rest. Despite Shigarakis words, He had a point. Sleeping in your clothes must be uncomfortable. 

He ends up undressing you after grabbing your pajamas, but he forgot about something. The second his bare hand brushed against your leg to pull your pants over your body, he felt himself growing much more aware.

Aware of how your chest seemed to rise and fall calmly. How your scent seemed to linger on everything in the room. How soft the fabric of your pants were and how the taste in his mouth went sour as he realized that your quirk was affecting him.

He couldn’t help but shiver as his eyes focused on your body. He couldn’t lie and say that he wasn’t attracted to you, but god did your quirk make it harder to resist his urges. His hand moved back over to caress your leg once more, a soft hum escaping you which forced him to look up at your small smile. For once you looked at peace, and it made him wish that your lives were different.

He found himself daydreaming as your touch became intoxicating. His burned hand laced with your own and he stared at it as he imagined what it would’ve been like if you had achieved your dream of becoming a hero. Him seeing you so happy and content with your life, unlike now. Now you live in fear.

He felt a sudden heat rush through him which forced him to pull away in order to shed the jacket he was wearing. Your scent just got stronger and he swore that was what was making his head fuzzy. He looked down at you again, seeing you roll onto your back. It was a position he couldn’t resist. He moved to crawl on the bed, biting his lip as he fought the urges to kiss you until you were whining, but he managed to hold himself back. Instead, he laid carefully on your chest, face buried in your neck so he could get as much of your scent as possible. His hand moved to slip into yours, focusing on how your hands contrasted his own. They were so soft and comforting, yet his were rough and caused so much destruction. He sighed softly and shut his eyes as he let himself become a victim of your quirk.

He felt you slowly shifting and knew you were waking up, but he couldn’t pull himself away from you. He heard the soft yawn and felt you stretch, but he pretended to be asleep in hopes that you wouldn’t kick him off. He was shocked when you didn’t react, but instead your hand found itself in his hair. He had to bite his lip to hold back any noises since the feeling of your hand massaging his scalp turned him to mush. He felt safe, content and happy in your arms. It wasn’t until you giggled when he finally pulled away to give you a questioning look. You just smiled and kissed his head before pulling him close once more. 

“Dabi, if you wanted to get in my bed, you could’ve just asked me.” Your giggle sounded like heaven to him. For once, he didn’t have it in him to tease or fight back. He just nodded and moved to kiss your neck softly. “Sorry Doll…” He mumbled a soft apology only to feel you grab his hand and squeeze it. “You’re fine baby. I’m just glad I woke up to your handsome face.” His cheeks burned and you felt him bury deeper in your neck. It was precious to see him so weak since he was normally the one to do all of the firting.

He let out a soft whine as you continued to tease him before he just pulled away, moving to shut you up by kissing you softly. You couldn’t stop the giggle as you kissed him back, laying down again as he sighed. You were used to this sort of reaction when it came to your quirk. Tons of affection, the desire to hide in a quiet room since it was overwhelming, but also the clinginess. Your hand tangled in his hair while he clutched the fabric of your pajama shirt. He whispered your name and it made you grin, not expecting him to move to hold your hand a bit tighter. 

“I love you so much…” He whispered, confessing while under your power. It made your heart ache terribly since your feelings for the burned boy were so real, yet his were most likely caused by your quirk. “Go to sleep Dabi...Those feelings will go away soon.” You mumbled, feeling him clutch you more after hearing your words. “No...I’m serious…” He mumbled against your skin. You shut your eyes and shook your head, denying his feelings since he had touched you. “I love you too Darling...but you should really sleep. We can talk about this later...when you’re in the right mind.” Your voice forced his eyelids to grow heavier, earning a soft huff as he let go, falling asleep in your arms. 

He might have feelings for you, but your quirk would never let you believe them. After all, you are a sin and it would be too good to be true if his feelings were real. He would have to confess at a better time, but for now you just enjoyed having the normally tough man in your arms.

Eijiro Kirishima || Sloth-This quirk has the user steal energy from other people via skin contact. If the user doesn’t touch anybody and gain energy, they become exhausted and sluggish. The user can only recover if they sleep or steal other peoples’ energy.

You couldn’t help your drowsiness. As your head bobbed down slightly, a soft whine came from your lips. You weren’t able to sleep much thanks to some gaming you decided to do last night with your friends but unlike them, you didn’t manage to recover like they did.

Kirishima had watched you out of the corner of his eye, your head slowly bobbing down before shooting back up in a weak attempt to stay awake. He looked up as Present Mic continued on with his lesson, sighing softly since he knew it was only a matter of time before you ended up passing out.

He turned back to you before seeing your head dip down once more. This time though, You didn’t catch yourself and sit back up. Kiri held his breath as his eyes widened, moving quickly to have you land on his arms instead of slamming your head on your desk.

He bit his lip and moved to carefully lay your head on the desk, moving back to his own to continue listening to Mic. He took notes for you since he knew you would be irritated over falling asleep. He debated on holding your hand so you would wake up, but what good would you both be if he was sleepy too?

He let you rest as Mic finished his lecture for the day, letting everybody pack up and get ready to leave. Kirishima knew that you wouldn’t be waking up, so he carefully moved your things to pack your bag up for you. When Mic dismissed the class, Kirishima sighed and moved to ask Denki for a hand. 

It was simple. Denki would take the bags and Kiri would take you. Denki watched as Kirishima moved to slide his hands under your legs before picking you up. He knew he had maybe 3 minutes til he passed out completely from you taking his energy, so he ran quickly to the dorms, Denki trailing behind with a cheeky grin.

By the time Kirishima hit his destination, roughly a minute had passed. He already could feel himself growing sluggish as you absorbed his energy, but he knew he didn’t have to go much farther. Denki took the lead and opened the doors for you, even helping Kirishima into your dorm which sat on the second floor. Kirishima carefully laid you on your bed, sighing as he sat on the edge as Denki sat the stuff down by the door. 

“You good?” “Yeah man...I just forgot how strong their powers are.” Kiri chuckled and moved to rub the back of his neck as Denki just nodded. “Well, good thing we have the rest of the day off.” Kirishima nodded at that before turning to look at you. “Dude...You know that you could just take a nap in here. We both know that they won’t mind.” 

Kirishima sighed before just nodding. Denki chuckled and waved back before moving to shut the door as he left. Once he was gone, Kiri just looked over at you and huffed softly. He moved to move some hair out of your face before yawning softly. “Shit…” He mumbled to himself, feeling his body grow heavy.

He moved to carefully lay beside you, carefully reaching over and grabbing your hand. If he was going to sleep, he might as well do it quickly. He moved to watch how you reacted only to see that you just smiled a little. His eyes grew heavier with each passing second, but that didn’t stop him from lacing his fingers up with yours. He felt himself yawn before he moved to carefully roll on his side so he could hold your hand comfortably. Within another minute, he fell fast asleep.

When you woke up, you stretched slightly before noticing how somebody was holding your hand. You gasped softly and looked over to see who was clinging to your hand only to find your strong best friend lying beside you. Your cheeks blushed as you put two and two together, figuring out quickly that he had carried you to bed so you didn’t sleep in the classroom. You couldn’t help but grin a little, carefully letting go of his hand to lean over and kiss his forehead. You could definitely get used to waking up to his face.

Enji Todoroki || Wrath-This quirk allows the user to see a persons’ weaknesses and flaws. Words will float to the side and injured areas will glow red.

You had taken notes over the hero’s for as long as you could possibly remember. Drawings of the top 10 with red ink splashed about the pages is what made the League of Villains believe you were so important. You had revealed physical weaknesses of heros, like All Might had a weak spot on his left side or Aizawas’ eyes, but you had also revealed the mental weaknesses of heros as well. When you thought of a hero that you could manipulate easily, the one you instantly thought of was the flame hero, Endeavor.

Endeavor had very few physical limitations, the only one that had appeared to you was in the center of his body. His core. You naturally assumed, thanks to some help from Dabi, that he must overheat if he uses his quirk too often which could result in some burns as well as internal damage. When you see him using his quirk, the words “Blood Boil”  would appear. 

When you told the League about this, they expected that to be his only downfall, yet when they opened your notebook, they were shocked by the amount of red on the page. “Mental weaknesses are much more valuable when fighting him compared to his physical weaknesses. Yet you can’t just insult his hair like you could Best Jeanist and believe that he will react. You have to manipulate him.”

Luckily, you were the Leagues little puppeteer. You moved out on the streets since you didn’t have to worry about getting arrested. To the public eye, you had a clean record. You followed the laws, were kind to most, and even earned money by working at your job. Despite your “Violent” quirk, you worked at a small flower shop that your family had owned for years. You honestly adored your job, especially because it allowed you access to something that could easily be overlooked. 

“Family” was the first thing that appeared on Endeavors list of weakness. You had grown close to the Todoroki family since all of the kids would come in to buy flowers for their mother. Natsuo was a bit of a flirt yet a really sweet kid. Fuyumi was a bit quiet yet seemed like a sweetheart as well, very oriented around her job as a teacher as well as her family. And of course, Shoto. He was maybe the quietest of the Todoroki family yet definitely your favorite. It seemed like the years of coming to you had rubbed off on him and you found him occasionally walking in your shop just as a place of comfort. You never cared much since he was a good kid. A hero, yes, but a good kid who deserved that sanctuary that he never seemed to have.

It was one of the days you had expected Shoto to come in, having a small bouquet ready for him that consisted of white roses as well as a variety of other white flowers. When the bell rang, you naturally assumed it was Shoto. You grabbed the vase of flowers and walked in the front room, smiling as you spoke before looking at who it was.

“Shoto! You seem to be here early-” You cut yourself off when you notice the tall, muscular man staring back at you. The silence made your ears ring til the other man sighed, moving to rub the back of his neck. “You must know who I am, and I must apologize about what you hear about me.” You instantly glared as you saw his flaws.

“Violent,Uncooperative,Family,Jealousy, Pride” You sighed softly and moved to sit the flowers down, knowing that Shoto would want them later. “What is it you want Enji?” You ask as you examine his body, not seeing any part of him glowing red. 

“I would like a bouquet of orchids. Preferably white ones, but any will do” You raise an eyebrow. “Apologizing? I assume you know the meaning of those flowers, and you want to seem sincere so you chose...white orchids?” He nodded and sighed. “Natsuo was right, you are observant.” You just hummed and rolled your eyes, moving to start on the bouquet. “I assume you have no price range? You Todorokis tend to go all out when it comes to your flowers.” He huffed and rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed by your small talk. “Just make them appealing. I don’t care about price.” You simply obeyed, making the bouquet without questions.

When you were finished, about half an hour had passed and you had made a beautiful bouquet of white orchids. You moved to finish them up by adding a red ribbon around the vase before turning to Enji. “I assume these are for Rei?” You walked over and sat down the bouquet for his approval. He hummed and just gave a curt not before reaching in his pocket to throw a few hundreds on the counter, not really counting. You sure as hell weren’t either since this meant food for the League as well as maybe a gift or two. 

“You know, My family may never forgive me, but that won’t stop me from attempting to make things right.” You raised an eyebrow before putting the money in the register. “Well, I won't lie. You will need more than one bouquet and a half assed apology.” You huffed and He just rolled his eyes, being surprisingly patient with you. 

“Enji, I won’t lie.” You stated honestly before turning to him once more. “I don’t really care for you. I can actually see right through you, but I can also tell you aren’t the same hero as before. You are the number one now and your vision is starting to clear up since it isn’t blinded by jealousy.” You crossed your arms as he just listened. “But that won’t make up for the fact you sent your wife to a hospital because of your abuse. In my mind, any abusive man is worse than a villain. Especially when he is praised for being the opposite.”

He listened to you and simply sighed before grabbing the vase. “Since you were honest, I will be too. You have every right to dislike me. Especially with that viewpoint. I will admit I was a horrible husband, and I know that my marriage broke years ago. I will not try to fix it, but I will apologize. Same with my children. I will not force them to have a relationship with me, but I will apologize.” You simply hummed and rolled your eyes before sitting on your stool. “I will believe that when Shoto tells me. Until then, you are no better than a villain.” He simply hummed before heading out to leave before stopping at the door.

“If I am truly worse than any villain, then why don’t you get to know me personally before saying that so boldly.” Your eyes widened before glaring. “That sounds like a proposition for a date.” You huffed before a small smirk appeared on his face. “It is because that is what it is.” He stated before backing to open the door. “Do not worry, you don’t have to answer now. I will be back next week. You can tell me if you accept it.” He spoke before leaving. Your eyes were wide with shock before you quickly grabbed your phone to let Toga in on what had happened. Sure, you may not like him much...but the chance to get on his good side was too good to be true.

Izuku Midoriya || Gluttony-This quirk has been around for centuries. This quirk doesn’t really benefit the user, The most it does is heighten their senses as well as make them a little stronger, but if they do not drink blood or eat any meat, an overwhelming hunger comes over them. This results in becoming “Feral” which causes them to go hunt on any living creature. This includes humans and animals.

To many, you seemed quirkless. Your appearance was comparable to a normal person and you didn’t have any special features at a first glance, yet over time Izuku had managed to notice many things as well as take notes on them. 

His eyes glanced over his page about you one more time. Your diet consisted of red meats that are usually cooked rare, the bloodier the better. You would only eat vegetables or fruits if there was no other option. He couldn’t confirm any theories as to why your diet consisted of this, but he assumed it had something to do with the blood. Maybe the blood helped your quirk.

He looked over at the scribbles on his notebook, sighing softly. Your senses seemed to be better than the average person as well as your memory. You also seemed to have a slight sensitivity to the sun, but you blame that on genetics since your whole family were hermits due to a supposed allergy to sunlight. He stopped for a moment before going to his computer. Did your lack of vitamin D cause you to base your diet in such a way?

He didn’t know this but outside of the dorms, you sat clutching your stomach. The moonlight only made your skin shine as your stomach cried out, your hunger growing stronger with each passing moment. 

AB positive. You were AB positive, unlike your parents who were A and O respectively. You grew up hunting for yourself as well as for your mother, so the strong craving for Type O blood wasn’t really unusual. Your brain ran a thousand miles a minute, trying to think if you could break into a nearby blood bank or if you could remember recovery girl having any blood bags. 

Your teachers of course knew about your dangerous quirk, and most had bags of blood on standby just in case something were to happen, but it was too late at night to just go ask one of them. Your mind suddenly flashed with different people who had O blood. 

“Aoyama, Ojiro,Denki or Kiri, Sato and Todoroki..” You could feel your fangs starting to grow out as another wave of pain shot through you. “N-No...God they’re all so gross..” Just the idea of feasting from their body disgusted you. You groaned out one more time in pain before slamming your hand against the ground. “Fuck!” You yelled out, catching the attention of the boy who kept his window open. 

Izuku looked out only to see you clutching your stomach. “Hey! You okay?!” He called out before moving to lean over the window. He was only on the second floor so he could easily hop down and help you if you needed it. You sat up to try to reply back only for the scent to hit you stronger than before. 

Izuku Midoriya also had type O blood, and your body reacted to it before you could even warn him. You clutched your stomach and cried out once more which only caused the boy to jump down from his window and start running over. 

“M-Midoriya run Away!” You yelled as one hand gripped the grass under you. You had bitten your lip so hard that it busted, teasing your stomach with the taste of your blood. AB Positive was Not what you wanted.

Izuku had always been a bit clueless, so he ignored your request at the chance to help you out. The closer he got, the more feral you felt yourself becoming. “Izuku-” “Don’t worry! I’m here to help you!” he chirped before dropping to his knees and carefully wrapping his arms around you. Curse him for trying to be helpful all of the damn time. 

When he finally saw you, he noticed how your nails seemingly grew out into claws. How  your teeth had fangs and how the look you gave him was so Hungry. He felt himself gulp and as he realized his mistake, you jumped on him to pin him to the ground. 

He gasped loudly and struggled for a moment, not using all of his strength since he was curious about your quirk and what it would do. He watched as you would lower yourself but hesitate. You were fighting yourself and your instincts and he saw right through it. For a moment, you seemed to break free from your own grasp and looked up at him, pushing yourself away. “Fucking run away Midoriya.” You said as your mind cleared up slightly. 

“N-No! What’s wrong? What can I do?” He asked before sitting up which only made you groan in annoyance. “For fucks sake! If you d-dont…” you groaned and clutched your stomach again. He put two and two together and his eyes widened. “Y-You’re like a vampire…” You scoffed. If you had a quarter for every time you heard that, you’d be able to pay for groceries for over a month. 

Your eyes shot open and glared at him once more. He was clearly in thought yet on his toes. His eyes were fixated on your trembling form before he moved foreward and moved to pull on his shirt collar. It was an offering and your body knew it, yet you had to keep control.

“Y-You…” “You can feed off of me. Just...Don’t take too much.” He chuckled and moved closer to you. Even know, he trusted you. You didn’t realize that you had zoned out on the exposed flesh, carefully moving closer as if worried that there was a catch. “ ‘Zuku…” You mumbled and moved your hand to caress his neck, eyes staring hungrily. “When you get dizzy…squeeze my arm. I’ll try to stop.” You said before shoving your nose in his neck, sniffing the area to find the best spot. 

He giggled a little since it tickled but he quickly stopped when he felt you sink your teeth in his neck. A soft groan came from the other, but your hands held Izukus’ waist. A hum of your own escaped your lips as you fed off of the other boy, his blood dribbling down your chin and making a mess on your pants.

He couldn’t describe the feeling if he tried. It wasn’t as painful as he thought it would be, but at the same time you managed to keep yourself from losing control. A soft sigh came from him as he felt himself getting a bit tired. He leaned back a bit in your grasp so you made sure he leaned against you instead. He realized that if you kept this up, he was going to ass out so he weakly squeezed your arm which made you instantly detach from his neck before moving to cover the small wounds with your hand.

You honestly felt so much better, but you knew you would have to run to Midnight in the morning to get more. You examined Izuku to make sure he was okay before carefully standing up, bending down to carefully put your arms under his legs before walking back into the dorm rooms. You stopped to grab a bandage and some snacks as well as a bottle of water before going back to Izuku’s room. 

You laid him down on his bed before sitting on the edge, handing him the snacks and the water before sighing softly. “Thanks for that…” “It was no problem. I wish I woulda known you were hungry. I would’ve grabbed steak for you at the market.” He joked as you cleaned the bite before placing the bandage on top. “I thought I’d be able to make it to morning...guess I was wrong.” You sighed before looking at your hands, noticing how your nails had went down. 

Izuku knew that you were beating yourself up over it. “Hey...Don’t worry. You’re okay now and if you’re worried about me, how about you stay in my room for the night to make sure?” You felt your cheeks burn but you just nodded. “Fair enough. I don’t see why not.” You moved to stand and turn off the light before moving back to the bed, seeing Izuku crawling under his covers. He rolled on his side before smiling at you. “Oh...And if you wanna cuddle, I won’t stop you. I love being held and I guess it helps me sleep.” He knew the last bit would get you and he quickly found your arms around him with his head on your chest. You huffed, knowing that this was what he wanted, but it didn’t stop you from moving to kiss his head. “Goodnight Izuku. Please rest well.” He wrapped an arm around your waist before grinning. “Goodnight. You sleep soon too.”