#I did already say that this dynamic does exist but I always love to see more of it is all

[prowerprojects]

It's interesting to see that people think that Amy had given up on Sonic, or even stopped having such strong feelings for for Sonic at all, but I actually have a completely opposite view on this. (Especially since rewatching that Sonic Station Live bit with Amy and after seeing something that made me recontextualize her (Japanese) arc in Frontiers. And I have to stress that it's about the way her arc plays out, not the way she and Sonic interact)

I actually think nowadays Amy acts as if she and Sonic are already together. She's more chill not because she's given up, but because she's already got what she wanted, and now she's content. (Maybe what she wanted changed overtime though, I'll give that) There's always been this bit of mystery in Sonic and Amy's relationship – does Sonic like Amy back? It's always written deliberately in a way that Sonic doesn't give a straight answer when confronted with it outright, to keep this mystery going. And now it also has a bit of a "What are they already together or something?" on top of it.

I actually enjoy this kind of dynamic a lot. And I think it's especially interesting with Sonic and Amy being (in canon) a mlw couple. Because usually this type of dynamic I associate with same gender relationships that are only coded as romantic, and the writers wanted to write them this way (romantically, I mean), but couldn't due to censorship.

Though I will admit it's not like this dynamic doesn't exist in mlw relationships (and it's probably more prominent in shonen too), but it is more likely that they will eventually end up together and go full romo with all the kisses and dates and possible plans for a white picket fence, and lose their interesting dynamic to "well they're dating now". And even with a same gender relationship you know writers would make them outright romantic if they only could. (Which is great, it's always nice to have more open and undeniable representation) But also it lowkey makes me feel weird for enjoying this type of dynamic with those, because I know this is not the kind of relationship the writers wanted to portray, they just didn't have a lot of alternatives.

Which is why I really like the fact that Sonic and Amy's relationship is written this way deliberately, this tethering on the verge of romantic and non-romantic is very appealing to me.

[the-oblivious-writer]

Get Her Back!

Clarisse La Rue x Daughter of Athena!Reader

One-shot

Summary: You and Clarisse have always had a reputation for the rollercoaster you both called your relationship. While on another one of your "breaks," you decide you want to mess with her

Warning(s): Swearing, Clarisse & r are hella toxic, jealousy (on both ends but mostly jealous!Clarisse), making out (nothing more is hinted at, just Clarisse & r kissing like the problematic girlfriends they are), & arguing

Notes: Wooo this one got a bit heated before I knew it. Hope you enjoy

You and Clarisse La Rue… how does one sum up your relationship with the Ares kid? You and her were known for being on and off, arguing almost as much as you made out. You were both in a toxic, heated, yet passionate, relationship. 

Oh, how you loved each other. 

You met Clarisse the first summer you got to camp. It didn’t take long for you to discover what you had gotten yourself into. She argued with you about everything, she had an ego and a temper and a wandering eye; you couldn’t help but be attracted to her, even when she was so obviously lying about her height. 

The first time you left Clarisse was in the spring, that was when your current dynamic truly started. You lasted about a week before you were back in her arms, forgetting how you threw all her stolen clothes out your cabin’s window just a few nights before. 

You were currently going through another one of your breaks with Clarisse while you laid down on your bed, reading as you tried to ignore another little lecture from your friend. 

“All I’m saying is that I don’t understand why you stay with her, you know? The second my boyfriend did me wrong, I kicked his ass out the door. For good,” he said, sitting at the end of your bed.

“That’s because you didn’t have what me and Clarisse have,” you responded, looking up at him from your book. He shrugged, mumbling, “Whatever.” 

“Do you love or hate her? I honestly can’t tell anymore. One second, she’s the worst human being to ever exist but then the next, she’s the love of your life, the woman you’re gonna marry.”

“I guess it’s up and down,” you replied in a nonchalant tone before looking back at your book.

He lightly chuckled, shaking his head a bit as he said, “I need to learn when to give up trying to figure you out.”

—

Later that night was the bonfire. You didn’t really feel like attending but your friend had basically begged you to go. Just five minutes in, and he was already flirting with a girl from cabin ten. You were staring off into the fire, red solo cup in your hand, when you suddenly heard somebody sit next to you. You turned your head to see a dark haired boy, looking at you with a smile as he spoke.

“Hey gorgeous, I’m Steve. I think I’ve seen you around before. Athena cabin, right?” He asked, his eyes never pulling from you. You didn’t feel like entertaining him. You weren’t stupid, you knew he was flirting with you. But thoughts of not reciprocating his flirtatious attitude quickly disappear when you see Clarisse watching from the corner of your eyes. 

All night you had to watch Clarisse cuddle up with someone who wasn’t you. And all night you refused to give her the attention you knew she was hoping to get out of it, your pride and stubbornness wouldn’t allow you to. So when you finally get the chance for that sweet revenge, you don't hesitate.

You looked at the boy next to you, putting on a sweet smile and placing a hand on his knee. “Yeah, cabin six. What about you?” You slightly tilted your head, looking at him as if he was the most interesting person on earth.

“Hermes cabin,” he responded. He suddenly grew a bit shy under touch, but welcomed it nevertheless. “Hey do you uh… wanna get out of here? I know this cool spot I could show you.” You knew what that was code for; do you want to make out?

“Sure, sounds good,” you winked at him before getting up. He held his hand out for you, which you took as you both began to walk away from the fire. Clarisse's eyes were on you the whole time, clenching her jaw as she watched you walk with him hand in hand. She ignored her siblings’ confused looks as she walked over to you before you and Steve could go any further.

“I think she’s good here,” she said—not asked.

“Um, I think she can make her own decisions. She’s a big girl, if she wants to go, she can go,” he responded. 

“I don’t know who you think you are, but she’s not leaving with you.” She glared at the boy with storms in her eyes, her fists balled up. By now your hands were separated from the boy’s, watching the entertaining scene in front of you with a knowing look on your face.

“Excuse me–” Before he could get himself into any more trouble, you walked to Clarisse’s side—she instantly put her hand on your lower back.

“Listen it was nice meeting you Steve, but she’s right; I should really get going; it’s getting kinda late.” You gave him a fake apologetic look. “Maybe I’ll see you around some other time?” You managed to get out as Clarisse was practically dragging you away. 

“What’s your problem?” You said to her when you both finally made it to the cabin—her cabin. 

“My problem? What’s yours! You know Steve is a douchebag, we were literally laughing about it last week,” Clarisse let out with an aggravated tone. 

“Why do you care so much? Shouldn’t you be thrilled that somebody else is stuck with my high maintenance ass!” She only rolled eyes, shaking her head. “Yeah, you really think I wouldn’t bring that up!” You dryly laughed.

“Oh my Gods,” she mumbled before continuing. “You are the most frustrating woman I have ever met!”

“And you’re the most hot-tempered woman I have ever met!” You shouted back, throwing your hands up as you stepped closer to her. “You’re a hot-headed asshole!”

“Well it’s better than being a stubborn know-it-all!” She took a step towards you; your faces were now no more than inches apart. You both stole a glance at the other’s lip before a moment of silence. Suddenly, your lips connected. She was firmly gripping your waist while one of your hands found itself in her hair as the other held the back of her neck.

“I fucking hate you,” you mumbled breathless against her lips. She pushed you up against the cabin door; Gods, you didn’t even care that you were still outside and anybody could just walk by.

“I fucking hate you too.” Her kissing was hungry, passionate. Blood was rushing through veins, your cheeks were warm, and butterflies had erupted in your stomach. You could feel Clarisse feeling for the door's handle for a few seconds before you reached behind you to turn it.

You both went inside, Clarisse kicking the door shut. You could feel her warm touch as her hand grazed the skin of your lower back. She walked you backwards toward her bed, never daring to pull away. 

“Fuck, I love you,” you let out as Clarisse moved down to your neck.

“I love you too, don’t you forget it,” she murmurs against you. 

Clarisse La Rue may have been narcissistic, stubborn, hot-headed, and pretentious, but you were your mother’s daughter, so maybe you could fix her.

-----------

A/N: she could abuse me, beat the dog-shit outta me, cheat on me, hit me with her car

[cherryheairt]

Hi! ☺️

I just binge read Dragon Dreamer, and I love it! Part V just gave me many thoughts that I thought I'd like to share with you.

I love how Daenys' baby black kitten vibes bring out Cregan's 'lonely black wolf that just adopted said black kitty' vibes. The part where she stood up to Knott? I totally imagined her just lifting her chin up defiantly in all her small frame cuteness, but in my mind Cregan was actually standing behind her with menacing glare that said "I dare you to disagree with her. Go on." I just love how he finds her adorable - how he has found her adorable right from the start. 🥺

Also, I love how you described her dynamics with everyone around her. Her backstory is amazing, giving more depth to the already existent Rhaenicent conflict. There's this saying in my country that goes "If your house is made of glass, don't go throwing rocks at other people (because you don't want them throwing rocks back at you)." - it describes the fact that Alicent bullied a little girl for being a dreamer, because she thought she was odd, when her own little girl was also "odd" in similar ways. That little scene about how Daemon was talking about her, not wanting to respect her, though got me thinking that her and Daemon are in a way similar, because Daemon's only companion throughout his childhood was Caraxes, beside Viserys of course. Let's not forget how she has a matching saddle with her mother! That's absolutely adorable!

I did not miss that little fact that her dragon is called Lightbringer, and Azor Ahai has a sword called Lightbringer, or that she's a dreamer and her love interest is a warg. It's very wonderful how Cregan understands. I can't wait for them to bond over that part.

You have an enchanting way with words and how you describe her anxiety, how she dazes off after a dream and especially that part when she was just walking in the snow until she was being chased by the wolf.

Thinking about "A wolf does not care for blood", the meanings that came to mind were how Ned Stark's children were wolves, a dragon and a kraken. And the fact that Cregan's close kin betrayed him, and the fact that House Stark always cares for honor and actions, not meaningless words and simple names. He does not care that she can possibly be the heir to the throne nor the fact that she is a princess, but he cares about her for her. But I also wanted to ask you what you originally wanted it to hint at.

Looking forward to read more!

hehe yess, he's behind her all ready to cut him down at her command, but pauses and lets her find her own voice. Like a proud bf 🤭

Absolutely, Alicent only hated on Daenys because of Rhaenyra and her questionable partners. If Daenys had been her own child, she would be loved and adored by the courts as a prophet instead of a madwoman. Like hellooo the call is coming from inside the house, Helena speaks prophesies out loud very often.

I love that saying! Alicent was a child bride forced to marry an old man, and then hates on Rhaenyra for making the best of her situation and finding a man that she loves even in her forced marriage.

Daemon and Daenys are very similar, though neither realizes it because they cannot look past their base personality traits.

Daenys always thinks of Daemon to be some unstoppable warrior who protects their family without fear, and Daemon thinks of Daenys as his little girl who is not capable of anything but being in her own world yet.

They will see when they meet again, after both of their growth arcs, that they are not so different.

Haha yes, the name Lightbringer was carefully chosen for our girly Morningstar. 'Lightbringer' was the sword that brought an end to the Great Other, wielded by Azor Ahai.

It is stated a few times that Daenys does not follow any religions. Alicent shoved the Seven down everyone's throats, and they had never answered Daenys' prayers, so she detached herself from them early on. She has very little knowledge of the Old Gods, seeing as very few still follow them. The Lord of Light is not quite mentioned in the story, but I think it would be an interesting religion for Daenys to find out about and follow.

I have many plans for our warg Cregan, just need to figure out when to include them <3

I think Cregan understanding her dreams as gifts instead of curses is a vital part of their friendship before their romance. He is the only one who truly understands her from the beginning and does not judge or question her, only trying to keep her safe in the midst of her dreams.

I love your interpretation of 'a wolf does not care for blood'! Yes, Cregan has no use for titles and pleasantries, he only cares about a person for who they are. He's seen hundreds of 'good men' be sent to the wall for their vile crimes. He understands that even a good life and name do not breed good people. He cares little for the fact that she is a Princess that doesn't quite act like one, as long as she is a good person.

My original meaning was that Cregan does not care about her bastardry. His sister was loved and accepted within Winterfell, given a place as a Lady beside him until her marriage. When they eventually have that conversation, Cregan would not care like other vain lords would. Being a bastard is a great shame for Daenys, one that nags at her mind whenever she sits among other nobility. She feels like a fraud in her titles, I think he would help her accept herself.

You're going to love the next chapter I have in the works I hope 🤭🤭 ty for your feedback

[dirtytransmasc]

I cannot explain it, but Aegon and Aemond, are just Viserys and Daemon in a different font. so similar but so different.

Aegon and Viserys loving their brothers and their brothers not being able to see it, only being able to see the "hate" (Aegon's bullying) and the "fear" (Viserys's distrust).

Aemond and Daemon then destroying what remains of their relationships with their brothers, one's that we're already strained and messy cause Aegon and Viserys were far from perfect to begin with, out of the anger they felt for their brothers, because they were blind to the love they truly held.

the entire time Aemond was targeting Aegon, all I could hear was Rhaenyra yelling at Daemon;

"He did not fear you... He could not trust you!!!"

that's where Aegon and Admins are headed. Aegon will, even if it's deep down in his soul (in the case that he doesn't remember the events of rooks rest clearly), never trust Aemond again. he will never love Aemond the same as he had. Aemond will always be his brother and he could never truly fear him, as much as he should, but he will never trust him.

and now Aemond will be forced to realize that so much of what he hated in Aegon, his teasing and drunkenness and his goading, had been his love (much as Viserys's pity and placating and gifts, dismissing all of Daemon's wrongs but never letting him close) and now he will be without it. he will long for it, despite it being why he attempted to destroy him.

Edit: I worded myself poorly and now people are hella misunderstanding me. fuck. this is my bad but I feel like some of you failed to read between the lines a little. but let me try again.

I was never saying that Aegon was, in any capacity, a good brother. that was the difference between him and his father. but being a shit stain if a brother and a bully does not mean he can't also hold love for Aemond and hold a place for him in his heart.

I am also not saying that Aemond was unjustified in his beliefs and even his actions. Aegon was his bully, and because of that, he failed to see Aegon as his brother, as someone who, at the end of the day, did love him, in his own way.

and I acknowledge that, again, the exact dynamic between Aegon and Aemond is very different from their father and uncles had been. they are like. them but 30x worse and 10x more dysfunctional.

I'm just saying their dynamic is a messy parallel to their father and uncle.

I'm not justifying Aegon's actions. I'm not down playing them. I'm not shitting on Aemond. I'm not saying they were good brothers. I'm not an Aegon stan mindlessly supporting him. I'm just making connections between him and his father and their dynamic with their brothers.

Love is one of those connections, even if it's a fucked up disaster of bullying, and wanting to fight by his side, and knowing Aemond's and respecting him when it benefits Aegon and then tearing Aemond down when it doesn't, feeding his own self image issues, but also genuine love, feel down somewhere in that crooked thing that Aegon calls s heart, that an older brother holds for their little brother, cause it's in there.

they're siblings. shit is *fucked*. but they're siblings. and I feel like y'all do not want to see the complexity of that. yes Aegon sucks, yes Aemond deserves to be mad, yes Aemond also sucks. but it's the little things, the aspects that exist below surface level that make them so fascinating.

I think they parallel their forebears just like. 80x worse.

[lemotmo]

❤️

Q. What I'm truly confused by is why they want people to hate Ryan and Oliver so much. Like they aren't attacking Eddie and Buck nearly as much as they're attacking Ryan and Oliver. I'm so confused by that.

A. Everything we are seeing is because they know, in spite of everything they are saying, that Tommy's existence on this show relies entirely on his relationship with Buck. The minute that relationship runs it course story wise he is gone, and they know it. Because of that Eddie became their enemy. Oliver wants Buck with Eddie. A significant portion of their audience wants Buck with Eddie. In their minds they needed the audience to turn on Eddie to make the case for Tommy. But their campaign didn't accomplish anything so they shifted gears and decided to go after Ryan personally. Unfortunately for Ryan, and the rest of us, in the middle of their hate campaign towards Ryan, Lou said some things during his cameo videos, and his Twitter past came to light, and people's reaction to those two things caused his fans campaign against Ryan to become even uglier. What they are attempting to do to Ryan is disgusting. He was completely out of line when he said what he said a few years ago, but he owned it. He acknowledged that he needed to work on some things and better educate himself on things he really didn't seem to understand. And he did it. He went away and genuinely educated himself, and made changes in his life that allowed him to grow and better himself as a human being. Which is all we can ever ask of one another. I will never understand how he could have said it, but that's not the point. What I can see and understand is the work he has clearly put into growing and learning from his mistakes. They don't get to erase Ryan's personal growth because it hurts their already weak defense of Lou. And that's what they are trying to do. And they're trying to do it all in the name of a temporary plot device on a television show. And that's too immature and disgusting to be allowed to happen. So we aren't allowing it to happen. And that angers them.

Their entire problem with Oliver is that he doesn't appear to be friends with Lou, and he isn't promoting their preferred ship. He promotes and talks about his preferred ship, which is what Oliver has always done. Oliver isn't doing anything he hasn't always done. What he has with Ryan is what they're trying to demand he have with Lou. They are completely dependent on Buck, and Oliver is making it pretty clear they're fighting a losing battle. Somewhere along the way someone convinced them that even though there aren't that many of them if they are nasty enough, and loud enough they can bully Ryan, Oliver and Tim into submission. It was an absurd plan and is of course a complete failure, but they're going to be as horrible as possible on their way out. We're nearing their end though, and Oliver and Ryan completely ignoring them is causing them more anger than we ever could. Our boys will be just fine. 💗

Thank you Nonny! :) Again much appreciated!

I admit that my brain has been fried by that deleted Eddie and Christopher scene we just got. So you won't get anything interesting out of me at the moment. xD LOL!

I also don't have the same insight in fandom dynamics that Ali does, so I'm just going to let her do her thing and answer this question as only she can. :)

IMPORTANT! Please don't repost this ask and/or a link that leads straight to my Tumblr account on Twitter or any other social media. Thank you!

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[secretlilsis]

Big brother just functioned differently from her. She had often cut herself on that, emotionally, of course. But it was also what in her eyes, often made him years ahead of her - but what also endearingly made him completely blind on other areas, like he was fumbling in the dark.

No matter how often they talked, she felt there was a lot she didnt understand and possibly never would.

So when big brother told her that the obsession he felt to her, wasnt good for either of them, she played along - she played the role she was sure he wanted to see, she feigned a emotional maturity and logical understanding she did not posess. She agreed that it wasnt good, and admitted that maybe she was even a little bit uncomfortable with it.

But on the inside she felt confusion, why did he see it as something unhealthy for them? Why did he want to change how things were? When she thought about it, each time it had come up remotely, he had always been so apologetic about it, and that in spite of not truly being capable to feel any semblance of guilt

Sometimes she wondered whether that only was cause he assumed there was no way she could enjoy this or like it whatsoever, or whether like she knew - he had always shielded her of the darker aspects of this obsession, that she herself only enjoyed the throughly filtered, and consume-ready presented aspects of it he himself allowed her to see and experience.

She wondered if it was that she maybe really wouldnt enjoy it if his obsession became more overt, rather than the nicely, comfortingly filtered tailor-fitted version of it she knew, or whether maybe he was simply under the impression she could never like any aspect of it to start with and considered all of it a discomfort.

She bit down on her tongue, almost as an act of self-aggression. She didnt like the idea, that maybe - just maybe, if she told him the truth of how she felt - that she enjoyed it, that she loved how he looked at her - as if he wanted to own all of her, consume her entirely.. that she enjoyed it so much.. that maybe hed stop trying as hard?

She hated thinking and feeling it, because she felt maybe there was a great illoyality towards him within that, but she felt it anyways. If he stops thinking this is something to apologize for and understands how I truly feel, our dynamic will change once more, in a direction she could not control or foresee. She didnt like it.

She burried herself in his chest, his eyes mustering her steadily - then suddenly softening "What? Do you want something?" He teased. "You know what I want.." She whispered, their skin sticking to one another because of the heat around them. It was a hot summer day. She didnt want to think, she didnt want to feel confused, naive or guilty she mit feel - she wanted him all over her instead. "Of course I do, but it doesnt hurt to hear you say it, does it?" He grinned into her. He always looked so happy to know she wanted him back in that way. "I want you.. inside of me.. big brother.." She mumbled into his shoulder, half hiding her face from him. "Alright, ill give you what you want..." He started to play with her breasts, teasing her nipples and shed slowly let go of any doubt or unpleasant feeling she had - only feeling him, like he was the entire anchor point of the world, like without him shed simply slide off the world like gravity did not exist. His touch felt warm, known yet exciting. He always looked at her with that intensity when touching her, there was something so posessive about even the most gentle of sexual acts, as long as he was the one doing it. By the time his hands reached inside her panties she was already beyond wet, she could feel his grin widen. He loved knowing how much she enjoyed him. "Youre so good at this big brother.. It feels.. so.. so good." She whispered. "I love it so much.." her voice sounded mellow, lost in the heat of the moment. She felt that feeling all over her body, yet somehow still coming from that sunken place deep within her - this was good, this was what she needed, and yet it wasnt enough. She needed to feel him more. She wanted to make this moment last forever. Her voice echoing through the room, one moan after another. Until he finally put his member inside her, and she felt herself reaching even higher heights. She wondered what that was called, when you have everything you want right there, but you want it so badly, that you want it more than is possible. You feel so fullfilled, so good, so sexed out, so high on it - and yet its not enough. Never enough.

She wanted him like this more than anything, and she fully knew that whilst he could see the pleasure in her face, and he felt he was owning her in his own words - he didnt know, not even a tiny little bit how intense she herself felt. And she didnt understand why she couldnt tell him.

She loved him, she loved most of him in silence, most of it was never said out loud, even though they already were so close and shared so many secrets. "Fuck im close to cumming.." He whispered into her ear, her body tensed up in sheer arousal and anticipation.. "Me too.." She responded. He looked at her, all over her body - taking her in, and kissed her right then and there, "Of course you are, my perfect girl." They both climaxed, and their heavy, tired bodies hit the bed and seperated again after coming together so closely. He looked at her with vibrant and awake eyes, she looked at him too and wondered, why it was so much easier to do this over and over again, instead of expressing half of what she thought and felt.

His eyes were so full of affection in that moment, laced with a generous amount of posessiveness. She knew though that no matter how hard he looked at her, hed never be able to look into her just in that same way. Maybe it was better that way?

[acourtofthought]

Ok I just recently binge read the ACOTAR series and one thing I said to my best friend who peered pressured me to read it is that i love the brother sister banter and relationship that Lucien and Feyre have and they all were like what?!?! But then all of them stopped and was like omg they do have that banter and demeanor with one another. Plus Lucien and Feyre have similar family issues. They both are the younger sibling to same sex older siblings, their relationship to their older siblings is harsh and non-existent, and their connection to their father/parents is strained and fill with anger or resentment. I think this might be why I struggled with some of the later books with how Feyre was going along with the IC negative thoughts on Lucien. Because to me he is her found/adoptive brother in everything but blood. And truthfully I feel like Lucien being Elains mate was destined/fated because he will always have a family, a home, love within the Archeron family. Also I love the fact that out of all the sister mates only Lucien is the one to spend time with their dad and got to know the man after he decided to grow a backbone and be proactive in helping his daughters. Something I expect Lucien’s own mother will end up doing in a future book against Beron.

I agree that Feyre let certain factors cloud her judgement on Lucien though I do think Sarah has started mending those cracks. Lucien feels like the most organic friendship Feyre has had so far in that her friendship with him began developing before her relationship with Tamlin whereas Feyre's interactions with Rhys sort of took center stage and then she was introduced to Mor, Cassian, Az, Amren, etc. That's not to say that the IC aren't her friends, clearly they're the biggest relationships in her life at this point, I just think there's a big difference in the dynamic in how the relationships came about. Whereas Lucien and Feyre became friends after he was initially ready to throw her out the door (curse be damned) because she murdered his friend, the IC was sort of programmed into liking Feyre from the start because she clearly meant something to Rhys? Again, that doesn't lessen the friendship! My little brother has become extremely good friends with his girlfriends friends, they too would have been "programmed" to welcome him, but there is a special connection we share with the friends we make without influence. But Feyre let her own trauma interfere with what Lucien was going through, where she put her own issues first without considering that he was also struggling, that he also wasn't in a position to cater to only her needs because he was dealing with a lot too. She carried that anger over in ACOMAF and ACOWAR and we witness the change in her thoughts of him as the series progresses, which does kind of prove that it is her own anger that clouded her judgement at times, Lucien didn't really change - she did. Lucien was the same in ACOMAF as he was in ACOWAR as he was in ACOFAS as he is in ACOSF yet Feyre went to "we're friends" to "there was something wrong with the males in the Spring Court" to "he's my enemy and I'm going to use him as a pawn" to "he's not really my enemy" to "he's a good male" to "I'm going to keep inviting him to family holiday's and get upset when he spends them with others." I think like any relationship in Sarah's writing, she's playing the long game. I can see the Feyre and Lucien relationship already moving back in a positive direction but I don't think we'll see them have their heart to heart / hug it out moment until the Elucien book. But I agree, I think Sarah was always trying to find a way to keep Lucien in Feyre's life, first by thinking she'd mate him to Nesta then by mating him to Elain. And Lucien meeting their father really does seal the deal especially because Elain was the closest to him and she's now always going to have someone who can share in good memories of him.

[peak-dumbass]

I’m bored and procrastinating so let me spout my rid2015!smokebee propaganda at y’all please just hear me out

Now y’all maybe wondering “why are you specifying rid2015?? Smokescreen was only in TFP, bro doesn’t exist in rid2015–” EXACTLY! Smokescreen wasn’t in rid2015 so most of the stuff made for the ship is for them in TFP but that’s not what I’m trying to sell y’all on

I’m trying to sell y’all on the idea that — if Smokescreen was in rid2015, he would be in a relationship with Bee — hence the specification

Now what y’all are probably asking is “why????”

Well that’s what this post is for!! First off:

The Shenanigans

Idk if y’all remember but Smokey was the silliest bot on Team Prime, easily the most immature mf in the main cast (other than Miko) — now try to tell me without lying to my face that he wouldn’t fit in perfectly with the goofy goobers the make up Team Bee??

He would definitely see himself in Sideswipe and try to bond with him thru pranks and goofing off while also trying to guide him into avoiding the same mistakes he made (ex. Hard Knocks)

He probably makes Strongarm feel conflicted cuz his reckless personality clashes with her image of what an “Elite Guardsman” would act like, but I think Smokescreen would just try to get her to loosen up a bit while not bickering with her unlike what Sideswipe and her usually do

Upon seeing Grimlock he’d immediately go “HOLY SCRAP ARE YOU A DINOBOT!?!?!”, he thinks Grim is so cool and really wants to spar with him

He probably sees Arcee in the way Drift acts and respects him a lot just based on that alone, though he knows it’s gonna take time for him to earn that respect back from Drift (I LOVE HIS CHARACTER GROWTH IN PRIME AND I WILL KEEP THAT IN THIS SILLY LITTLE IDEA OF MINE, HE DID GET BETTER AND I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE IGNORE THAT JUST CUZ THEY FIND HIM ANNOYING)

He’s probably not met much minicons so he’s not used to them, but I can see him having a good friendship with Fixit and being very nice to Jetstorm and Slipstream

He takes one look at Russell, turns to Bee and says “do you have a thing for human kids with brown hair and names starting with R??” Other than that I think he vibes with Russell and Denny well

As for his dynamics with the Decepticons — he’d be making constant quips, he’d make fun of all of them immediately like a robot alien version of Spider-Man — after previously fighting against Megatron himself he cannot take any of the furries of rid2015 seriously

The Fluff

Look at me. Like seriously look at me. Look into my eyes and imagine with me for a sec.

Bee and Smokey learning how to work with each other in the field again, reminiscing about the rare good memories during the war

Bee infodumping about Earth culture to him while Smokey just listens while looking at him with borderline heart eyes

I think Bee really likes physical affection and words of affirmation so randomly Smokey will just hug Bee when they’re in the scrapyard and will compliment him when he does well at leading and mentoring the others cuz he knows that shit ain’t easy (again, he sees himself and Sideswipe and realizes “damn I really was annoying holy scrap I’m so sorry”)

I HC that Smokey can still move his doorwings like he and Bee did in TFP, so whenever he sees Bee and gets excited his flap up and down (I know this is purely self indulgent BUT IN MY DEFENSE THIS ENTIRE POST IS ME BEING SELF INDULGENT, THIS FANDOM IS ALREADY DEAD AS HELL I’D BE SURPRISED IF ANYONE EVEN READS THIS FAR INTO THIS POST, LET ME BE SELF INDULGENT IN PEACE)

When either of them get bad days where they just keep thinking about the war, they do their best to comfort each other thru it cuz, unlike the rest of the team, they were both there for most of the late-war-shit together on Earth — and for the stuff that Smokey wasn’t there for, he just listens and makes sure Bee knows that he’ll always be there for him

The shock of the team finding out that Bee has a partner is amazing and it could happen in so many ways (if y’all wanna see one of my interpretations on how this could go you could check out my fanfic: Old Recruit on AO3)

The team seeing their usually serious team leader be partners with this unserious constant-joker of a bot stores a lot of cute potential stories in it that no one is writing about — like come on guys I want Bee trying to be serious in the scrapyard but then Smokey just hugs him from behind out of nowhere and Bee just has to process it for a sec cuz touch starvation go brrrr while the rest of them is like :O

The Angst

While this section is mainly Smokey focused more than smokebee focused, I’m still adding it cuz this still falls under the “what if smokescreen was in rid2015” idea

Smokey definitely has claustrophobia and a hatred for being restrained in anyway from the TFP (waking up captive on a Decepticon ship after being knocked out, Knockout restraining him on his operating table while he tears the Omega Key from inside his body, being stuck with a dying Optimus in a cramped cave for a while panicking cuz holy shit Optimus, his #1 hero, is fucking dying) so any mission that requires going into a cave or dark & cramped area is gonna cause him to freak out — but of course he wouldn’t actually admit that until it’s too late and he’s having a breakdown in a cave cuz he didn’t want to let his “stupid irrational fear to ruin a mission”

Same goes with Bee and his fears — I touched on this a bit earlier, but Bee & Smokey definitely have some days where they’re gonna feel off and they can’t get the war out of their heads — and those days are gonna be the worst cuz most of the team outside of maybe Drift won’t really understand it

Smokey is gonna have some feelings about Optimus coming back and Bee not telling him immediately — while this isn’t the first time Optimus died and came back to him, last time it was for a few seconds, this was for THREE WHOLE YEARS — he’s still gonna be happy that he’s back, it’s just gonna take awhile longer for him to be ok with it than the others (the way that Ratchet is immediately ok with Optimus coming back out of nowhere in rid!2015 was weird to me so I’m fixing that with Smokey)

While he loves giving Bee physical affection, he hates unwarranted touching from anyone else, specifically stuff like pats or punches on the back (Alpha Trion when I get you Alpha Trion Alpha Trion when I get you Alpha Trion Alpha Trion when I get you Alpha Trion Alpha—)

For a potential angsty introduction to Smokey in rid2015: He doesn’t meet up with Team Bee until the finale episode on Cybertron, where he’s being mind controlled by The High Council to capture them (I’m a sucker for brainwashing/mind control/hypnotism plots so I need to understand how BADLY I WANTED THIS TO HAPPEN IN THE SHOW IT WOULD’VE BEEN SO COOL)

That’s all I can think of for now, I just love these funky big robos a lot and I’m currently smashing their faces together like a kid with 2 Barbie dolls in my mind, hope y’all enjoyed reading <3

[elvendorx]

Hii! Love all yuor metas! How do you think Remus took the fact that James and Sirius declared themself often as best friends, do you think he sometimes got hurt and felt a little jealous or he was just okay with that?

Hello and thank you, that's so nice of you to say! <3 Thank you for this question, I could talk about marauder dynamics forever and I mean that incredibly literally, because this response is so. long. But I felt like I had to explain the ins and outs of the dynamics of james, sirius and remus to justify why I think it wasn't exactly jealousy but that there was resentment and maybe judgement from remus re: their friendship. that’s what I’m telling myself anyway :)

Note: I mention some information directly from Pottermore/Wizarding World here as a lot of information about Remus’ early life is included there. My stance on Pottermore/WW information is that you can judge and accept it according to how well the additional info aligns with character presentations in the books and whether it’s consistent with the information there. Basically, whether it seems like something that was always intended for the character or whether it’s something fluffed up for attention post-series (it’s about 50/50 with this author imo). For me, the Pottermore/WW info on Remus generally does align with how I understand and read him in the series so I use it as part of my discussion here.

-

I think that jealousy is a pretty common human response when you see a mutual bond existing independently of you between two people you consider your close friends. Remus had an isolated childhood and we see that friendship and acceptance were incredibly important to him so on that basis, yes, I think that James and Sirius' closer friendship existing within the group would be difficult for him at times, when it was something that he wanted and valued so much. But on that same basis, I think that James and Sirius' closeness would be something he was at peace with, because he still had the friendship and acceptance that he wanted regardless of what level of exclusivity it operated at. 

Sirius and James seem to have hit it off immediately on the Hogwarts Express, so Remus would probably have recognised their closeness to each other from the start and maybe assumed that they had already known each other for many years, and it was something that he never questioned. Whilst I don’t think that James & Sirius' closeness was something that especially troubled Remus, I do think that James was his favourite friend, because he talks about him especially fondly and in a different way to how he talks about Sirius and Peter. Even so, it’s evidently incredibly meaningful to him that he had the three of them as a unit when he's explaining that he's a werewolf in the Shrieking Shack:

"For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends. Sirius Black… Peter Pettigrew… and, of course, your father, Harry -- James Potter."

Pottermore/WW states that Remus was happy to have friends at all, having never thought he could be part of a group, and I think he'd get swept up in the excitement and novelty too much to get strongly jealous, especially when they tell him their intentions to become Animagi for him because I don't think that Remus would ever have imagined that kind of friendship for himself.

In fact throughout the books we see that, as an adult, Remus participates in and perpetuates the view of James and Sirius as a closer, separate pair - “your father and Sirius here were the cleverest students in the school”, “your father and Sirius were the best in the school at whatever they did — everyone thought they were the height of cool” -  so I’m more inclined to think that any issues that Remus might have felt towards James & Sirius’ friendship would have come from the imbalance in how he comes to view them individually, rather than from any feelings of personal exclusion.

However, we see Remus’ negative self-judgement inform his relationships on several occasions throughout the series - he doesn't pull up James and Sirius in SWM on their treatment of Snape despite his visible disapproval, probably out of his closeness to them and fear of rejection, as we know he values and relies on the company of his friends to bear the difficulties of his condition (although he made them "feel ashamed of ourselves sometimes"). He thinks that Tonks doesn't see him as good enough because he doesn't feel good enough for her himself. He worries about not being worthy of the accommodations that Dumbledore has made for him so I can absolutely see him watching James and Sirius form their own unit within the group and feel that it's due to his own shortcomings rather than a natural kinship between them.

Again, I think that's a fairly common human response to seeing two people that you know so well, seemingly spend the same amount of time with, but they just click in a different way. I don’t think that it necessarily suggests anything untoward on Remus’ part and I think that any jealousy or annoyance about it would arise mainly in his worst moments of low self-esteem rather than being a consistent and underlying feeling. Remus is quite matter-of-fact and could probably see that James and Sirius have that same spirit and taste for trouble and be like, okay then, makes sense. Perhaps in the scenario of group activities (i.e. the map) where James and Sirius might get carried away and work on it without the others, he'd be a bit more sour about it because it's something that was intended as a group activity but he'd also probably enjoy the peace away from schemes that didn't involve him.

I said earlier that I think Remus consideredJames his personal best friend but I also think he'd be somewhat relieved to not have the pressure of being in an intensely close best-friendship like James and Sirius had and having to constantly uphold his side of it. I don’t think he could deal with the sense of pressure that would manifest for him in that scenario, and I think that he would also be aware of that and that would temper any sense of jealousy or woundedness. The intimacy of his relationship with Tonks seems like a very new or at least rare thing for Remus and he doesn’t deal well with the idea of being needed. James and Sirius have a lot of energy, so probably Remus would be grateful that James has Sirius to cause trouble with rather than getting drawn into it himself, particularly the side of James that gets a kick out of bullying Snape because Remus is clearly uncomfortable with that. Remus says in PoA that:

"Dumbledore's trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life"

so although they pushed the boundaries with the illegal Animagi transformations, I don't think that Remus would have done anything covert at school so James having Sirius to do the more ostentatious troublemaking with would be a blessing for Remus in many ways.

Ultimately, I think that James and Sirius being a twosome just becomes a given fact of the group dynamic, with Remus happy with being part of a group and being liked, grateful for James in particular and accepting of James’ separate friendship with Sirius, but I think it became more complex later on. Remus doesn't perceive James and Sirius equally and as he grew to trust Sirius less, James’ closeness to him might be something that Remus understood or accepted less too. We don’t know very much at all about his individual relationships with James and Sirius, or how his view of them changed between adolescence and adulthood but there are differences in the way he talks about them as individuals.

Remus talking about James vs Sirius

Remus has a very positive view of James and struggles to admit to his flaws with Harry in the post-SWM chapter, he tries hard to mitigate and justify them even when Harry has visibly seen Remus' discomfort in the memory:

“Look, Harry, what you’ve got to understand is that your father and Sirius were the best in the school at whatever they did — everyone thought they were the height of cool — if they sometimes got a bit carried away —”

whereas Sirius is like "yeah he was a bit of an idiot, we were all idiots" and admits that he's ‘not proud of it’ rather than trying to justify it. 

Remus actively makes allowances for James’ treatment of Snape:

“​​Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to curse James, so you couldn’t really expect James to take that lying down, could you?” 

but intervenes with Sirius' behaviour on several occasions, even when he's not doing much more than getting a bit heated in conversation (as in, not in circumstances such as the Shrieking Shack which I would argue are exceptional):

“Sirius, sit down” (even though Molly is goading Sirius: “The thing is, it’s been rather difficult for you to look after him while you’ve been locked up in Azkaban, hasn’t it?”)

This sets up a dichotomy of James as predictable and reasonable vs Sirius as rash and unreasonable in Remus’ judgement - he doesn’t keep an eye on Sirius in OotP because they’re close or he’s in love with him, it’s because he doesn’t trust him and expects him to react disproportionately, or he sees Sirius as a disruption to good spirits or peace. When Sirius mentions Voldemort:

“the atmosphere in the room changed with the rapidity Harry associated with the arrival of dementors…Lupin, who had been about to take a sip of wine, lowered his goblet slowly, looking wary”.

On the other hand, he's incredibly protective of James’ reputation as an overall Good Person because the most stable and sociable times of Remus' life are framed by the time that James was in his life. Sirius and Remus were less close to each other than they individually were to James in my opinion, so Remus doesn’t have the same struggle with seeing Sirius as flawed. Sirius on the other hand readily admits James’ flaws:

“Of course he was a bit of an idiot!” said Sirius bracingly

To Sirius, this is just who James was and loved him for his flaws and his good qualities equally. He also doesn’t need to deny James' imperfections to believe that he was a good person:

“Your father was the best friend I ever had, and he was a good person”.

So I think it’s interesting seeing the differences in how Sirius and Remus see both James and each other, and what it says about those various individual relationships. Remus’ default perspective of Sirius still seems to be of someone he can’t or doesn’t trust despite finding out that Sirius was never a traitor. 

Discord between Sirius and Remus

In my opinion, Remus and Sirius have a dynamic which has probably always run with some form of an undertone of discord and a couple of instances in SWM summarise this well (they actually run concurrently but I find it easier to dissect them seperately because there's a lot going on): 

“I’m bored,” said Sirius. “Wish it was full moon.” / “You might,” said Lupin darkly from behind his book.

and

“...if you’re bored you could test me...” / “I don’t need to look at that rubbish, I know it all.”

The intended meaning of both Remus and Sirius is pretty clear in each exchange: in the first, Remus is asking for Sirius to test him, not for Sirius to refresh his own knowledge. In the second, Sirius is talking about the activites after transformation, which Remus talks about enjoying himself. In fact he says that when the others could transform, it made:

"my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life"

Therefore, it seems as if he’s deliberately reading it as ignorance on Sirius’ part - or he interprets it as ignorance or selfishness because he sees those qualities in Sirius already (the prank happens before SWM, so I think that this is probable, even if only a recent development). To me, this signifies a fundamental sense of misunderstanding and miscommunication between them, or a lack of desire to try, which continues into their adulthood.  Their understanding of each other has limits and hurdles, whereas their discussion of James (both separately and together) is overwhelmingly positive and familiar (which could just be the dead friend glasses at work, but I do think they both just really loved James). 

Pottermore/WW suggests a further sense of bitterness and jealousy towards Sirius from Remus: "he always got the women", Remus supposedly said when he thought that Tonks is in love with Sirius. There’s a kind of self-pitying tone and almost a sense that Sirius didn't deserve it or something. I personally imagine that Remus’ assumption of Sirius’ love life here is inflated, but it’s hard to say as we have nothing else to go on except teenage Sirius’ pin-ups. Nevertheless, I can’t see Remus directing equal bitterness towards James - he sees James an example of normality and therefore deserving of the things that Remus himself wants or admires in him, which I think are stability, likeability and eventually his own family.

The lasting effects of "the prank"

In isolation, these could be seen as small or surmountable incompatibilities but I think that the prank could foster some resentfulness from Remus regarding James & Sirius' closer friendship. It's a murky incident, but I personally see the 'prank' as a (if not the) catalyst in Remus’ doubt of Sirius. I don’t really see how a close call instigated by a friend where you would be solely implicated in the case of any fatal consequences couldn’t affect you personally and affect your friendships, even if most of it was kept under the surface. In fact, the under-the-surface attitude towards the prank is probably exactly what intensified Sirius and Remus’ eventual distrust of each other, and some fraughtness is evident in SWM. Interestingly we never pre-prank Marauder interactions (except J&S), which is interesting when SWM essentially functions as the defining snapshot of MWPP dynamics.

As much as Remus brushes ‘the prank’ off as an adult, I think it’s important to note the context of him having spent the last 12 years alone and finding out that he doesn't have two dead friends and a murderer ex-friend, but instead a dead friend, a traitor ex-friend and a framed friend (a net +1 friends), making him more willing to overlook the incident given the circumstances and the time that has passed since. There are also three kids and the actual traitor present, so I think that Remus downplays the prank to recalibrate focus onto Pettigrew, who is the bigger antagonist at that moment in time.

Remus has a pattern of avoidance which would make it extremely easy for him to be like “oh that? yeah that wasn’t a big deal, that’s all over with” even when Sirius and Remus’ post-Azkaban dynamic still has an undercurrent of Remus’ distrust in Sirius’ self-control, as we see from the way he restrains Sirius in the Shrieking Shack and afterwards in Grimmauld Place also. Arguably, these are both exceptional circumstances and not examples of Sirius' habitual behaviour. Outside of the Shack (finally confronted with his best friend’s murderer) and Grimmauld Place (unhappy family home), we see that Sirius is lucid, sharp, in control, when he meets with Harry and advises him during the Triwizard Tournament. After Voldemort returns, Sirius is visibly affected but composed for Harry, so he doesn’t need Remus to keep him under control but Remus clearly feels the need to intervene.

In many of the incidents where Remus steps in, Sirius is just expressing emotions, perhaps in a big and alarming manner, but he’s not really at risk of any dangerous or threatening behaviour (not denying that Sirius doesn't have impulsive episodes, the incident with Snape for example). By getting out of his chair, what is Sirius really going to do? I hardly see him coming to blows with Molly Weasley in front of half the Order + their kids but the point is that Remus is anticipating that he will do something disruptive or aggressive. A key part of the disconnect and discomfort between Remus and Sirius in my opinion is Sirius’ freedom to express unpleasant emotions without real consequence and Remus’ habit of restraint due to the implications of losing control as a werewolf: externalisation vs internalisation. Again, Remus doesn’t hold a loss of control or freedom of expression against James - only against Sirius, because the potential consequences of Sirius' loss of control were bigger (and involved Remus directly).

All of this, in my opinion, stems from the prank. The prank is also where I think that Remus would start to feel a stronger resentment towards James & Sirius' friendship, because his admiration of James and distrust of Sirius are incompatible and I think he'd see Sirius as undeserving of James' complete trust and loyalty. I think that he would want James to be angrier and take his side over Sirius', I think he'd see it as a black and white situation where Sirius is completely in the wrong. I think he'd be a bit like "he does shit like this and you STILL think the sun shines out of his arse" but he'd also be conflicted by that logic because he'd be like "well I'm a werewolf and you tolerate me so maybe it's fair enough that you let him get away with things" or maybe he’d just be relieved that James wasn’t angry at him, because he expects negative responses to the actions of the wolf.

Maybe the incident would elevate James further in his eyes, he might see it as part of James' fierce loyalty, maybe he would find it reassuring that James stands by Sirius even after a fuck up and it’s still okay, or maybe he would be resentful, like “I can't fuck up, and if I did would you defend me as hard as you’re defending him?”. In all scenarios, I think that Remus would nurse that resentment and distrust privately - he doesn't speak up in Snape's Worst Memory and it doesn’t seem like he ever voiced his suspicions about Sirius to James, or anyone at all. This is probably because he didn't think that James would believe him or tolerate him voicing concerns over Sirius’ loyalty, so he clearly understands James and Sirius’ friendship for what it is. I imagine that James probably thought the group were all equally close, or loved each other as much as he loved them all, and would be hurt by Remus and Sirius’ fraught friendship. Or perhaps Remus didn’t see Sirius as a threat to James specifically because of how close they remained after school. 

Ultimately, I think Remus would have found his individual friendship with James and his place in a group of friends more fulfilling than he would have found the lack of a mutual best friend disheartening. Jealousy, with Remus' character, I think is a given at times as it feeds into his self-doubt and feelings of unworthiness but I don't think it would have been a constant or overriding feeling. If anything, I think that his frustration with Sirius’ impulsive or unreliable behaviour would show up in the way he viewed James and Sirius’ friendship, and in turn he’d see Sirius as undeserving of James’ fierce friendship and loyalty, out of love and protectiveness for James more than self-pity. TL;DR: some jealousy, but mainly resentfulness.

Thank you if you've read all of this! Now you know why it takes so long for me to answer asks, I promise I'm getting to all of them if you sent one and it hasn't been answered yet <3

[onesidedradiostatic]

So you know how I said something about writing a fic inspired by your existence. I've started a little, but I don't know, I fear that the way I write might be confusing in some parts. So I'd very much like to hear your thoughts, if you want to share them

___

“Indeed, I quite enjoy our commonalities. I’ve always found more fun in spending time with my radio and friends than looking for someone I haven’t met.”

What if you’ve met them now? Vox thought, discreetly, not at all looking into Alastor’s lovely red eyes. Shoot! Vox downed another drink, hopping Al didn’t think him weird. Still, can’t leave a friend hanging, say something.

“I love you.” WHAT!!? NO! NOT THAT! “I- I- I mean, there is someone I love.?” Yeah, sure, he’s totally gonna buy that.

“I- Good for you?” Alastor started unfiltered, surprised, before going back to his normal, lovely radio voice. “And who might that be, my good fellow?” Wait, he bought it? No, don’t be an idiot! He’s totally psyching us out! Well, I’ll play your game and I’ll win!

“You know, just a cool dude with the pretties’ eyes and loveliest smile.”

“A dude?” Alastor questioned. Wait. Why does he sound so confused over that? Did- he had actually bought it?! Wait. We just told him we like guys, right? Is that, bad? What if he hates us now? What if he thinks we’re weird? Awful? Repugnant? There’s no way he doesn’t know we love him now! Practically said it to his face twice! Twice! No! I can’t handle that! Please! I- we have to save this.

“Hey Al, just forget I said anything.” Please. You’re the best thing in my life. So, whatever happens, please, stay. I need you. ___

I feel I need to rework some of the above parts, but unsure off how. Regardless, I hope my characterisation so far is good, I'd imagine that the love Vox has is more an obsession that genuine care and Al is just living his best life having fun and not really picking up anything Vox is putting down. I especially like this little exchange:

___

“Vox.”

“Yeah?” He could see that once genuine smile turn sinister. Oh. Hot.

“This is hell, everyone here is a repugnant wrench, so if anyone ever tells you you’re wrong. Just relay that me, I’m sure we can make some use of their meeker existence. Everyone has a voice, after all, and if they want to use it so much, who are we to say no to helping them? Right dear friend?”

“Yeah.” Vox couldn’t help but join in on the sinister smile. This is exactly what makes Alastor, just so Alastor. He genuinely cares and will make any opponent of his friends another key in his piano of the dammed. A horror feared by all, but a few, and Vox is one of those few. ___

I just- their dynamic is so fun Alastor being all "Yay! Murder!" while Vox just thinks "OMG! He's doing all this for me?! There is no way he doesn't love me!" I think one exchange that exemplifies that is:

___

“Oh! I wouldn’t say I’m the best at giving advice when it concerns matters of the heart. Me being heartless and all that. Hah!”

Alastor’s little chuckle is one which Vox can’t help but adore. He’s probably heartless because he’s already put his heart in a box and is just waiting for the moment he can give it to me. I’m reserved, special, he’s waiting for me. He can only be mine and I only his.

“I’m pretty heartless too.” Vox respond, joining in Alastor’s play. He doesn’t mind being a puppet on a string, as long as he can play the most important part.

“Oh, I’m quite aware dear friend."

___

He's just can't think, there is only Alastor in his head. Plus Alastor not understanding that there is a misunderstanding is just making Vox believe in the delusion more. Bet his screensaver was Alastor themed before they had their falling out Also, sorry for this being quite long Hope you have a lovely day at least!

(reference to this ask)

hi sorry for responding to this late, hard to say much without a full story but I appreciate the thought of it being inspired by me 🫡🫡, but yes I do love vox being down bad for alastor, exploring some of the period-typical homophobia definitely is interesting, alastor could easily have not had that normalised for him and vox... depends on how much he ventured through his bisexuality in life or whether he only accepted it in death. his screensaver being alastor themed skjdfkglhl. very true

[theerurishipper]

Oh god finally. Someone who also hates season 5 Adrinette! Finale gaslighting of Adrien aside…. I found the romance boring? It was kind of hard to watch? The second hand embarrassment of certain scenes me me have to pause and take breaks lmao. The first 2 seasons of LadyNoir weren’t like this, so I know they can write romance if they wanted to! What makes you hate Adrinette in season 5? Because personally I think it has issues even if you erase the gaslighting of the finale

Anon, it's like you read my mind.

I'll just come out and say it. Pre-reveal Adrienette is literally the most boring and asinine way to get Marinette and Adrien together. It's not even about the ship. I like Adrienette. I enjoy reading fics focusing on it. But canonically, their relationship is not that developed and Ladynoir has the bulk of the development, which makes total sense since the show revolves around those sides of them. But they made Adrienette canon first, before the reveal, and I have things to say about that.

First of all, it's just so... lazy. Making Adrienette canon the way they did let them flake out on writing meaningful character development. The thing is, having Adrien do all the work is just bad. Marinette's whole arc that has been built up for four seasons is that she can't confess to Adrien. Part of her story is about gaining the courage and confidence to be able to tell him her feelings. But guess what? She didn't need to do shit, because that would mean the writers actually had to write character development, and that's too hard. So they had Adrien fall in love with Marinette and had him confess to her, which made it so much easier for them to get together. And it is just so lazy.

You know what else is lazy? How they wrote Marinette and Adrien's relationship in general. A part of Adrienette's relationship is that Marinette is under the impression that Adrien's life is perfect and that he has no problems at all. She just began to realize that that isn't the case in Risk. This was the perfect set up for some much-needed development in their relationship, because quite frankly Marinette and Adrien were not close at all before this. But now suddenly, Adrien is in love with her for seemingly no reason at all and she doesn't have to make the effort to get to know him, because he ends up pursuing her and just... lets her see the real him without any effort on her part. And it's like she just got handed the relationship without having to undergo any character development.

And it's so bad because Marinette was the one in any of their dynamics who had to learn to accept Adrien for who he was. She was the one who had to undergo the development of learning to love both sides of Adrien. She was the one who couldn't reconcile the idea that Adrien and Chat Noir were the same, and therefore couldn't love Adrien in his entirety. Adrien never had that problem. The moment he figured out Marinette was Ladybug, it just clicked for him. He already knew her and valued her. So, to have him be the one who has to give up on his feelings for Ladybug and fall for Marinette while Marinette doesn't have to start seeing him for who he is... it's just so bad. To have him do all the work and her not have to lift a finger and just get her dream boyfriend without truly knowing him... it's just bad writing!

And Adrien! I've always mentioned that he only exists to be Marinette's prop, and that is so visible here with the way he just... falls in love with her for no reason and does all the work to make Adrienette happen so that Marinette can just get what she wants handed to her without needing to grow as a person. And like, you're telling me he started to like her in Puppeteer 2? Fucking there? Don't make me laugh, show.

Apparently, all it took for him to fall in love with Marinette was her telling him that he should talk to his father. You mean, the same thing that Nino and Kagami and Plagg have been telling him throughout the series? Despite them knowing him better and being closer to him than Marinette? And apparently since that's all it took to make him fall in love with her, why didn't he fall in love with Nino or Kagami? Make it make sense!

And speaking of which, let's talk about the plot contrivances. Because Adrienette is the side of the square with the least development and least stakes, making it canon means they have nothing left to explore about it. So they introduce all these contrivances in order to try to make it interesting, and they do this at the expense of other plotlines. Marinette growing brave enough to confess? Forget that. Marinette realizing that she has a lot to learn about Adrien? Forget it. Ladybug and Chat Noir resolving their conflict from the previous season? Who's she?

Instead, we get episodes like Derision that deal with Marinette's supposed trauma that came outta nowhere. Now she's having trouble holding Adrien's hand and telling him she loves him. This was never a problem before. She held Adrien's hand just fine in episodes like Gorizilla and Chat Blanc and even as late as Risk. They made Marinette not being able to confess to Adrien about some retconned-in trauma instead of just about her not having the confidence to express herself. But no, we get this new trauma so that we can drag out the Adrienette drama for more episodes, because surely we have nothing else to deal with! Not like we have so many unresolved plot points and underdeveloped characters that could use some focus! The only reason Derision even exists is so that they can stretch this drama out for longer in an effort to pretend that it actually has something going on. Because now that Marinette knows that Adrien loves her, she shouldn't have any trouble telling him she loves him, and that would be the end of any relevance Adrienette has. So we get a bunch of episodes that go on and on about Marinette being unable to confess and Adrien being the Perfect Boyfriend™ who only exists to support her and help her with her trauma while asking nothing of her.

And speaking of Adrien, all he does throughout this season is talk about his relationship with Marinette. He isn't allowed to have any other emotions other than those that relate to her or Adrienette. Even his relationship with Gabriel is about how he's not letting him date Marinette. Him being a Sentimonster is only about how it affects Adrienette. And so, we get the scenes with Adrien blaming himself for Marinette's "suffering," and him being the one to change himself instead of her developing more confidence. The way they make it seem like Adrien has to change himself because of Marinette's reactions which are not his fault just so he can make her happy at his own expense is just... ugh. Like, I don't mind that he wants to help her be more confident, but the show puts the onus on him to be the one to do most of the work to make her feel comfortable and confident while she just sits back and doesn't grow or develop at all.

And this isn't a huge criticism compared to the actual problems I've laid out, but Adrienette is just so... bland. Like, it's the basic cookie cutter high school romance we've seen in hundreds of shows before this. I'll say it again, Ladynoir is what gives the square its flavor. Adrienette should have developed enough to be interesting in its own right and to compliment Ladynoir, but they chose to go the drama and contrivance route instead of developing their relationship. So, we have things like the whole sex metaphor thing, you know, because that's the most important thing in a season where Monarch is at his most powerful and Ladybug and Chat Noir should be more proactive.

I actually have more to say but I have no energy rn to say it. So I'll probably make a longer post about it sometime in the future.

Thank you for your ask!

[hikennosabo]

#tristampparty day 11, episode 11: to a new world

can you believe it's almost over already... @tristampparty let's go.

meryl and wolfwood's dynamic is so funny

two things: one, this is the first time we see present-day-him out of his blankie!! two, he can speak clearly, but vash is struggling to breathe... i wonder if on top of not needing to eat and sleep, knives also doesn't need to breathe... but i also wonder if vash actually needs to breathe himself. considering next episode they fly up into space and vash seems fine.

okay, i guess "100 years" from episode 9 was a number from conrad...

wow this is just like 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors for the Nintendo DS

he says it's his hypothesis so... is he lying or is his hypothesis just wrong? i... i don't know if he would be lying on purpose. or if he's actually right and this is genuine orange original lore (doubt). how did he come to this conclusion? how would he detect the presence or absence of a soul anyway? imagine if this plan actually succeeded in the end. what would have happened? how would conrad have reacted if he was proved wrong?

viewing knives's microexpressions again like a completely normal person. his face softens when he says this. he really does genuinely care about the plants. it's just that his way of "caring" is. um. Like That.

COME. LET US TAKE IBUPROFEN TOGETHER.

subtle storytelling techniques. also again sinners with the capital S. also hello knives, you're so pretty!

he's both a receiver and a transmitter, wow this is just like 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors for the Nintendo DS

not to keep overanalyzing knives's expressions, but... he looks a bit sad that vash will forget him. even though HE'S THE ONE MAKING HIM FORGET. ugh. knives, you're so. you're so. so frustrating.

waaaaiiit knives with the punisher tho... and the hand on the hip... he's serving

so much of this is vash's insecurities being made manifest, i wonder how much "work" knives actually has to do here. vash is full to the brim with guilt, it's not something knives would have to do much to bring out of him. well, most of that guilt is knives's fault to begin with...

this always gets me. this ALWAYS gets me... "love," he says... love, huh... love... i do think there is love. i do think love exists between them. it exists, but this is not an act of love. or, if you must call it love, if knives is telling himself he's doing this out of love, it's a love filtered through a thousand (or a million, haha, get it) layers of fear and trauma.

the "plant room" is where tesla is, right? we've only seen the one other geranium. also rem makes an "oh shit" face when nai says that...

thinking about this conversation. this... back and forth between vash and nai... about how humanlike vash is and how plantlike nai is. it's a sore spot for both of them... it clearly is for vash, but thinking about how nai feels... he's the one who's being asked to put on an act. he's the one being asked to suppress a part of himself. i know that's rem's way of trying to protect him, but... it must make him feel bad. even if he doesn't make it obvious. maybe that's why he keeps making digs at vash. :(

oh, it did, but if knives were to acknowledge that, his entire worldview would collapse, so...

vash tabs over to his own profile and then scrolls to tesla's profile. why is nai in a different tab than vash and tesla. for that matter, if vash and nai were supposed to be a secret, why do they have profiles in the database at all. did rem make those? did conrad?

maybe rem's biggest mistake was letting nai read the bible

the microexpressions again :')

he's saying this to manipulate vash but is that the only reason why he's saying it? is this what knives genuinely believes?

okay i don't care about this guy at all but the fact that he's still holding his noodles is funny. i'd do the same.

speak for yourself, knives.

WAIT HIS BLANKIE IS ON AGAIN FOR THIS? hmmm... his blankie. his cocoon, his shield. is it because he's killing rem? again? so he needs his blankie? as a form of comfort. he uses his blankie to hide, it covers his face.

i genuinely do not know what i should call it besides "blankie." sorry.

the way he words this... i thought maybe he was using cryosleep to extend his life like luida and brad, but no i think he just actually lived that long. he's got a few... attachments(?) so i guess those were part of the life-elongating process...?

hmm maybe he did use cryosleep though, since he said he's done 100 years of research even though it's been 150 years...? either way he's old as fuck though LOL so there is some fuckery going on

he's doing bad things right now. he's being bad. but his squinty face is so cute LOL

WHERE was that post that pointed out this looks like rem. bc it does. if you look closely, that's her hair.

ummm... it's after midnight again... i think i should be able to write and publish tomorrow's post in a more timely manner :'D

[shouldiusemyname]

Ep 4 of WHAT WAS MY AGENDA AGAIN? cos I know I had one when I went into the kitchen and now the boy I like is kissing me. WTH??

First of all I gotta say, this show should be called What's The Agenda? And the answer is Gay. Cos this is all the agenda these people have and we love it for them.

With that out of the way, let's talk about this ep. If I had my doubts before, this ep really shows me that this show is about Zo. This is Zo's journey to knowing himself and allowing himself to exist as himself in this world.

Ep 1-3 were set at the university, which now we see is clearly Joke's territory. It's not that Zo doesn't fit in there, because we know he's doing quite well. It's just that he feels that he should take on a certain persona in order to fit in (which I think will be further explained once we get to see his family dynamics).

This week, when we see Zo in his own territory, it becomes obvious that he is not being true to himself when he is at uni. True - he doesn't hide his goofiness or weird interests, but he does feel slightly like a fish out of water and like it's his responsibility to make everyone happy.

In regards to that, I have to say that I love that he is in the debate club because this boy is the ultimate diplomat. He aims to keep everyone pleased and calm. He is always neutral. He takes it all in, takes responsibility for whatever it is that happens and smiles through it in order to keep everybody happy. This is what he does with Joke's dates on ep 3, and on this ep we can see that he did the same with Nita's date and Pok's situation when he feels that he is the one making people uncomfortable.

So now, when he's in his own territory he feels relaxed, he is able to be himself and speak freely about how he feels. This is evident in every little detail from his clothes, to the way he walks, to his facial expression, to his voice. However, it becomes even more clear when we see how much Joke is out of his element. The tables have flipped and this ep Joke is relying on Zo's guidance.

I love this switch at this point in the story, because we've already seen that Zo is confused about his feelings but we were so preoccupied with Joke's agenda that the focus was all on him and what he was doing to Zo. Now, this change in environment and dynamics is forcing us to see a different side of Zo, pointing our attention towards Zo and his journey.

I also like that Joke is there to tell Zo what he needs to hear. Look, I know we joke a lot about Joke throwing around these rules and advice without following any of them. But this is his role in the story. He is there not for himself, but for Zo, because this is Zo's story. Joke functions as a mirror for Zo. Their connection allows Zo to say whatever he thinks and feels very honestly, and then Joke is there to reflect that back to him and give him perspective. It feels like it's the first time Zo is letting himself be this open and vulnerable and share his self-doubt with someone else.

I think that Dunk did an amazing job this ep. He could have played his typical whiny character and make it all about him in the most annoying way. But no. He has actually managed to give us the mature, self-doubting, I feel like it's all my fault but I realize it's not really about me Zo, without being a drama queen. I really got that Zo is basically confused and trying to make sense of all the changes that he's experiencing. Even with Pok - he's not upset about Pok not telling him, he's really just confused because (like with his attraction to Nita and Joke) he thought he had a clear read on the situation and now he's finding out that he was wrong. So he's really just trying to put the puzzle back together in a way that makes sense again.

And the kiss! I LOVED the buildup to the kiss. I LOVED that Zo was crying while listening to Joke's song because this really cements that Joke gets him. Joke knows Zo and knows what he needs to hear, so he gives him clarity and the safety of knowing that he can be himself and act on his feelings without it being the end of the world. Zo knows that he can test his feelings and try to kiss Joke because Joke has now made it clear that Zo and his feelings are safe with him.

*on a side note - these shows are coming right at me with a surgeon's knife. I swear the people making these shows know me and are doing this to me on purpose. Almost every show I've watched in the past 2 months has me going through my own baggage frantically looking for something I know I lost but can't remember what it was. I can't decide whether I like it or not. I guess I'll just have to wait and see...

So, this turned out a lot longer than I'd intended and I didn't even get to Jeng and Pok...

As usual, if you stuck with my ramblings, I seriously appreciate it 💜

[samobservessonic]

Here he is! I apologise if a lot of this post is some degree of me going “Wow, it’s Knuckles!” I’m just very excited that one of the main characters has joined the roster

Okay, so I did read up about this beforehand and it looks as if StC did this thing where the Floating Island had a separate set of Chaos Emeralds - I can only assume that at the time the creators didn’t realise they were all supposed to be the same set. I mean, even the games themselves could be quite inconsistent about the emeralds at the time It does eventually get retconned, so for now we’ll just smile and nod as the story tells us that Knuckles has his own Chaos Emeralds and that Robotnik has tricked him into thinking that Sonic wants to steal them

I love this. I love that Sonic is like “You’re probably nice when you’re not being tricked, but you’re still going to be my rival for life now”

I usually do skip over the fight scenes in these posts, even if Elson always makes them look so cool. But come on, this is Sonic vs Knuckles! The beginnings of this epic battle that we’ll still be watching a movie about almost three decades after this comic comes out! It’s just too cool to skip!

Just gonna throw this whole page in. Enjoy!

That third panel? Just kiss already!

But sadly, playing with Knuckles was just the distraction, as Sonic had sent Tails to catch Robotnik while he kept them busy 

As much as the Sonic & Tails dynamic is different in StC to a lot of other versions, we’re still seeing here that Sonic trusts Tails enough to say to him “You know what to do” in a situation neither of them had prepared for and Tails just does it. We’ll be seeing Tails become a more competent hero during the comic, but I feel like this is one of the first times Sonic has acknowledged that, even if it is subtly

Robotnik is in the net and Sonic is outta here!

As we wrap up this story, another detail I like is the direct call out of Sonic bluffing. He says to Knuckles that he doesn’t expect to see him again and to Tails that the match wasn’t even close, but he’s thinking the exact opposite on both fronts. This is a Sonic who puts on a cocky persona, but knows that there’s stuff he can’t handle and it'll be worse for him if people know he can't handle stuff, whether those people are friend or foe. That makes him interesting to me. And actually, Sonic Frontiers kinda did that as well? I'm glad that concepts that existed in StC are still being handled by the franchise years later, even when people often write-off StC Sonic as being "too different" to the regular Sonic

It surprises me a little to see this story wrap up in just two issues when the Sonic CD arc lasted much longer, but since the next issue will follow on from this story of having Robotnik captured, it feels more like this is a larger arc broken down into different stories than just a two-parter

Also, I must confess that I have read this particular story before. Many times. I can’t remember if it gets reprinted or if it was in a friend’s comic that I borrowed, but this art is all so familiar to me and it manages to be awesome every time I read it

[cornfields-td-nonsense]

cody n noah :3

alright, another two in one deal!

Sexuality headcanon:

I lowkey love the idea of Cody being aro and having a bad case of comphet. I see it.

Noah's gay. I genuinely forget this isn't canon sometimes. Lol

Gender headcanon:

I could see either of them being trans in any direction tbh

A ship I have with said character:

Cody, idk I don't ship him with anyone.

NOWEN NOWEN NOWEN NOWEN NOWEN IS LOVE NOWEN IS LIFE

A BROTP I have with said character:

The Drama bros should have been more established as a group dynamic I honestly think it would be so fun just to see them hanging out. also Sierra and Cody should have been obnoxious besties instead of Sierra being a stalker methinks

Noah and Eva are the duo ever (thanks @canonically47 for getting me hooked on them)

A NOTP I have with said character:

Coderra's too obvious. But yeah. Coderra. Platonically and after Sierra's got therapy I could get behind it, but in-show.... nope.

And I feel kind of bad saying this, I love Emma RR, but I really cannot stand Nemma. I have tried to get behind it, I've watched the clips, I've listened to people who ship it, it just... really does nothing for me. Noah felt weirdly out of character, esp. when they start acting all lovey dovey and shit. (though that ooc-ness goes for pretty much every moment I've seen of him in RR, like why is he such a dick to Owen the whole time? I know he's not exactly a nice dude but here it legit feels like Noah doesn't even LIKE him.) Also Emma can do better. I haven't seen much of her but I can already tell she can do way better.

wow did not expect to go on that long lmao

Random headcanon:

Cody always pranks people on his birthday due to it being April 1st. all his birthday parties were just him and his friends getting together to pull the wildest pranks.

Noah opens packets of crisps upside down because it annoys people. this is totally not something I do that I'm projecting on him

General opinion:

Cody sure does exist. yep. he's there alright.

Noah's really funny. especially in TDWT. and yeah, if you somehow couldn't tell, I love the dynamic he has with Owen and they're one of my favourite TD ships.

[archetypesanalysis]

I love all the analyses you've done. Especially Crosshair as I always found him to be a complex character.I would like to know your opinion of Crosshair in this third season and what did you think of him? Also his closeness to Hunter, since they've been talking they seem to be together all the time.

Now that I remember, I've seen fic where Hunter and Crosshair are described as lovers and it's funny because reading your analysis I remembered a story where Hunter gets drunk and gets involved with 2 Twi'leks and Crosshair upon seeing the mess on the boat angrily tells him he's not going to clean up his mess.And in other stories where they are together but are always fighting and arguing.Or in others where Tech and Crosshair do things on the sly and Hunter only tolerates Tech's because when it comes to Crosshair he reproaches them.I'm not saying they're canon or anything, but as written coincidences go, they're fun.

Thank you so much! Yes, Crosshair is a complex character, and I can't believe that I have written so much about him.

I am going to write an analysis of The Bad Batch season 3 after the series finale. Right now, I think Crosshair is on the right path as he is growing beyond his four main archetypes.

In "Shadows of Tantiss", once he takes a leap to escape Tantiss with Omega despite not knowing what's ahead clearly, he is starting to move beyond his Apollo archetype.

In "A Different Approach", Omega teaches Crosshair that violence does not always solve problems (something an Artemis person must learn, which is how to take down the Calydonian Boar). Of course, Crosshair does teach Omega to be more assertive and not let other people take advantage of her (a useful Artemis trait for a Persephone person like Omega).

As Crosshair reconciles with the Bad Batch, especially Hunter, he is "recycling" his Hera archetype, and this happens after "The Return" (winter has finally passed as Crosshair leaves the Outpost). Hunter defends Crosshair from Howzer, showing that he does care about Crosshair, which assures Crosshair's Hera archetype. When Crosshair talks about how loyalty should go two ways in "Extraction", it shows that he has grown beyond his Hera archetype - able to make wise decisions after getting out of an abusive relationship with the Empire.

In "Bad Territory", Crosshair learns meditation, which is a healthy method to deal with his emotional trauma. This helps him to move beyond his Poseidon archetype - channeling his destructive emotions through creative and calm methods.

Based on my analysis, Hunter has the Zeus archetype while Crosshair has the Hera archetype, which may explain why they are so close to each other (I do not do clone shipping). They support each other, yet they will argue with each other a lot. Those stories that you have mentioned do match this dynamic of theirs (and Tech with Hunter's favouritism).

They all may seem like "written coincidences", but I interpret it as archetypes existing in our collective unconscious. Carl Jung did travel to places in India and Africa where the people had never had western influences, and he found that many of their myths shared the same archetypal patterns as those western myths. He believed that archetypes are universal and they exist in our collective unconscious. Even though we may come from different places, have different cultures and have different experiences, the same patterns can be identified, taking on various forms, just as Joseph Campbell has stated in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

I do believe these archetypes already existed in the Bad Batch, be it obvious or subtle. These archetypes are later expanded by the fans through various interpretations in the forms of headcanons, fanarts and fanfictions. They may not all be canon, but it's certainly fun to see. Besides, it helps me to explore human psychology and reaffirm Carl Jung's theory of the collective unconscious. Sometimes, by looking into how a person interprets the Bad Batch (along with what they like and don't like about them), I can figure out some interesting things about their personality, which leads me back to the archetypal patterns.