#I feel like it's kind of the... bare minimum respect I can show to people who take the time for my work is to leave them satisfied

[threewaysdivided]

for the based on your fanfics ask game: organized, dedicated to your passions, and lover of research

That is an incredibly generous and flattering way to put it. 😅

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Send me asks with your assumptions about me based on my fanfics.

[holylulusworld]

Indecent Proposal (1)

Summary: Your boyfriend wants to be part of their empire. You are the pawn he’s willing to sacrifice.

Rating: Mature

Square filled for @stuckybingo Round 5: free space - mafia au

Square filled for @anyfandomgoesbingo: Free Space

Pairing: Mobster!Stucky x fem!Reader

Warnings: angst, language, mentions of illegal activities/mafia business/murder, strong reader, mentions of breeding/surrogate, wish for children, shady deals, shitty boyfriend, reader doesn't take shit from no one, tension, sexy mobsters

Words: 1,5k

Indecent Proposal masterlist

“Babe, how do I look?” Your boyfriend asks, almost stumbling over his words as the men he was hoping to meet at the fancy party walk inside the room. 

Well, they don’t walk like normal people. They are stepping inside the room, stopping in their tracks to look at the people in the room. It looks like the crowd parts like the Red Sea to form a path only for them.

Steven Grant Rogers. James Buchanan Barnes. – Two names you must know if you ever heard of New York City and its mob.

They are as good-looking as they are dangerous. A deadly combination of beauty and the beast hidden behind blue eyes.

If you don’t want to end up six feet under, you don’t mess with them. Or even look their way too long.

“Did you put on the underwear I told you to?” 

“What has this to do with the party?” You sigh, as you still don’t know why Scott brought you here.

You’ve been dating for a few months, and you had hoped that tonight, he’d do more than the bare minimum. He’s not a bad guy, but an awful partner.

A criminal too. Not a criminal mastermind, but you already figured out that the small business he runs is far from legal.

“It’s important, babe,” you roll your eyes at the awful pet name. You hate it and told him so before. “Okay, don’t say anything stupid. Or, just look pretty and don’t say anything at all.”

“What?” Now you square your jaw. You don’t understand what has gotten into Scott until you lift your eyes off him to meet two pairs of blue ones. “Oh…”

“Mr. Rogers, Mr. Barnes,” Scott looks pathetic when he bows for the heads of the mob in town. “I’m honored to meet you again. Thank you for having me.”

The men ignore Scott and his offered hand. Instead, they look at you. Steve almost shoves your boyfriend aside as he holds out his hand to take yours.

“I see you followed our invitation,” he lowers himself to press a kiss to the back of your hand. You shiver. He seems so polite, and kind. But behind his blue eyes, you can see the beast wanting to break free.

“Stevie don’t scare her off right away,” you are a little overwhelmed when James Barnes turns his attention toward you. He takes your other hand and kisses your knuckles, glancing at your ring finger. “No ring, doll? He didn’t ask you to be his forever?”

“No-“ You’re usually not shy, or meek. But these men crowd you like prey and have their hands on you. You know they are in a relationship, but right now, they look at you as if you are their latest meal. “We’re only dating for a few months.”

“A shame,” Steve cups your chin, making you whimper. You never felt like this before. Confused and aroused at the same time. These men are strangers, but oddly you feel safe in their presence. “What do you say? Shall we lead this to a more private area?”

You don’t know why they are interested in leading you and your boyfriend to a private area, but this can’t be good. People like them never have good intentions, and you assume Steve and Bucky are no exception.

“I’m good here…I mean. You should enjoy your party. Don’t you have to greet all the people you invited?” You nervously babble. 

“Doll, they don’t care if we greet them or not. They are only here to show respect to us,” Bucky runs his index finger up your arm. He smirks as you involuntarily shudder at his touch. “Let’s lead this to our office.”

“Scott,” you dip your head to glance at your boyfriend. He looks up at Steve as if the man is carrying a halo on top of his head. “Scott!”

“Babe don’t be rude. We should follow them to the office,” your boyfriend is no help. He’s wringing his hands while staring at Steve Rogers. God, he’s such a pathetic little boy. You just see it now when you watch him interact with two real men.

“Fine,” you snap at Scott if only to end his pathetic act. “Mr. Rogers, Mr. Barnes, please lead the way.” 

“Do you want a drink or a canapé doll? We can ask the maid to get you something you’ll like,” Bucky sits next to you on the couch, one hand running up and down his thigh, the other creeping toward your thigh. He brushes his metal finger over your exposed skin, barely listening to what his partner has to say.

“Buck, did you listen?”

“Seal the deal,” the brunette clicks his tongue, “I’ll take care of the main act in the meantime. You know I don’t care about the conditions. We already negotiated them. You can take care of the details.”

“I want to take over more important tasks,” Scott suddenly says. He glances at you, and then he looks at Steve. “Sir, I agree on the terms. I’ll do anything to prove that you can trust me.”

“Does she agree on our terms too?” Steve dips his head to watch you stop Bucky’s hand from stroking your thigh. “Buck, we are talking here.”

“I know,” Bucky huffs. “All you do is talk to that slimy little bastard. Give him what he wants so we can get what we want.”

“Mr. Lang, you know that if we seal the deal, that you cannot break it. We have rules for a reason.”

“She will agree,” Scott hastily says. You snap your head toward your boyfriend, wondering what he’s talking about. “Right, Y/N? You’ll help me with the deal.”

“I told you that I’m not going to do anything illegal,” you hiss at Scott. “I looked the other way when you sold stolen phones to my colleagues, but I won’t actively help you. I’m not a criminal.”

“You didn’t talk about the deal with her?” Bucky suddenly jumps up to fist Scott’s jacket. “You dare to come to our house and lie to us?”

“I didn’t lie, Sir…Mr. Barnes. Y/N said she finds you hot, and all. She even talked about ending up between the two of you to her friend.”

“You sick fuck spied on me and Maria?” You growl at Scott. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Mr. Rogers, Mr. Barnes…I’m sure she’ll help you have a baby and all…”

“Baby what?” You furrow your brows. “Okay. This is getting ridiculous. What is going on here?”

“Well, we want you to become our surrogate. Bucky and I love each other dearly, but I cannot give him what he needs, nor can he give me what I want. A baby…an heir. We were looking for the perfect woman, with the perfect bloodline.”

“I-what?” The room suddenly caves in. You feel dizzy and grab the edge of the couch. “You want me to be your breeder?”

“No, doll,” Steve walks toward the couch to crouch down in front of you. “We want you to spend time with us…or rather between us.” He grins. “I want you to have my baby. And then you’ll have Bucky’s. We haven’t figured out whose allowed to breed you first.”

“Breed me?” Oh. God. Your pussy just clenched around nothing. If not for the anger taking over, you’d gladly jump Steve’s bones to have all the babies he wants. “Are you fucking insane? I’m not a piece of meat you can just buy!”

“We believed he talked about the deal with you, doll. Please, don’t be mad at us,” Steve purrs, and runs his hand over your cheek. “We only wanted what we deserve. The perfect woman having our babies.”

“She will agree…” Scott nervously says. He looks at you, hoping you’ll agree to whatever the two men holding his fate in their hands want. “Right babe?”

“I hate it when you call me that,” you jump up, and push Steve aside. “What did you believe will happen when you bring me here to offer my uterus and pussy to these two? Huh? That I’ll just bend over the desk and let them have their way with me!”

“I-uh…kinda…yes…”

“Pathetic,” you click your tongue as you glance at Bucky. He cracks his knuckles, ready to rough Scott up a little for messing with them. “I knew you were no good. I should’ve listened to my gut instinct.”

You dip your head to watch Steve walk toward his partner. They are looking at you, like lions ready to pounce. Those two men set their eyes on you, and you are not foolish enough to believe that they’ll leave you alone.

If you end up in their clutches, you’ll make sure they only get their hands on you to your conditions. “You want me and my womb?”

“More than anything,” Bucky purrs. He steps behind you to place both of his hands on your belly. “And I can tell, Stevie, and will love filling you up.”

Scott hopefully looks at you. This is the moment he was waiting for. He’ll be a made man soon, and his ex will see, he's more than the loser she sees in him. 

You look at Steve, holding his gaze, “I’ll be yours if you get rid of him…”

Part 2

[spywhitney]

Why I'm Not Buying New Tickets for the Sydcarmy Train (For Now Anyway)

So yesterday I re-watched S3 (aside from EP10. I didn't feel like watching Sydney having a panic attack again) so I can write this with a fresher perspective.

For a little context, S3 dropped at 2am Thursday for where I was and I couldn't get to sleep because A) I was so excited to watch it and B) It was more hot than usual so that kept me awake so I watched it all immediately.

My main stance is not that I don't necessarily doubt sydcarmy will happen, but rather I don't like the idea of it as much as I did before S3. Now, to my points:

Season 4 May Be the Last Season I believe it will be, or if we're lucky (???), an extra season. With how the story has gone thus far, and how the actors are being catapulted into the spotlight, I doubt there will be time for a satisfying sydcarmy ending.

Carmen Is No Longer Attractive as a Male Lead

The bear is a show of flawed characters that we can all connect, sympathise and root for in one way or another.

I had a hard time finding the Carmy from the previous seasons, or enough of the good traits that made him sympathetic enough for me to overlook his unsavoury ones. The yelling, ignoring, the disrespect, the arrogance, the abandonment, the neglect (and whatever else I haven't said) directed at Sydney (and everyone else, but she gets the worst of him the most often) doesn't make me want to see them kiss.

The first word that came to mind is gross. Could you imagine if a friend explained what Sydney has went through with Carmen then revealed they're getting into a romantic relationship with him? There's a certain ick factor that can't be undone completely by longing stares, chemistry and hundreds of analysis posts for me.

If being around your "soulmate" is leading to deteriorating health, it's not worth it. Smells too much like struggle love to me, and I'm not fond of the implications of that.

Dwindling Faith in the Execution of Sydney’s Character I held an expectation that S3 will be heavily focused on Sydney, but she was side-lined once again, and not for characters or arcs that I and a lot of viewers wanted to see. (Not to mention how this season was in general).

This season was mostly rising action and conflict, and with that we've seen Sydney at her lowest and have to wait to see if she will be victorious before the end (the word victory was first said by Sydney and one other person so far in the show, so I hope that's a good sign).

I don't want to sit through watching a black woman be a workhorse/emotional support/"work wife" to a white guy, or just anyone really. There was microscopic if non-existent reciprocity or at the bare minimum acknowledgement of what Sydney has done for everyone and the restaurant (and not just from Carmen).

Carmen Has to Change More Than Sydney Does His flaws far out weigh the severity of Sydney's. With S3, him not being okay is making Sydney not be okay, this is something I was concerned about in S2 with all the parallels, while some are sweet/romantic, others like the throwing up, the ticket machine and now the panic attacks, are too largely negative to be overlooked.

Saying that Sydney is becoming Carmen is not a stance I agree with (or want to believe), but for the show so far he's been giving her more problems, more stress and not enough care, respect, love to make up for it. Sydney has a flaw of not being vulnerable and expressing herself. It affects herself and her relationships with others, but not to the point where they're worse of. Carmen's flaws are negatively affecting Sydney's health, while despite her flaws, Sydney's strengths positively affect Carmen without fail. See where the problem is? Sydney has nothing to gain (and so far, has gained nothing substantial) from being around Carmen in any capacity, while Carmen has continued to benefit from her presence.

Again, it's kind of hard to root for them when romance involves people who compliment each other, make each other better. "You make me better at this." This is certainly true for Carmen, but Sydney? I don't see how this has been illustrated, or at most to a significant extend to where the negative aspects of their dynamic are out trumped. (Sidenote: At least Claire was getting lovingly touched and getting fucked by Carmen while Sydney was building up their dream restaurant alone. That's some nasty work.)

Sydney Deserves a Changed Carmen, Not a Struggling One Or a different love interest altogether. (Luca, where are you at? My condolences to the sydmarcus crowd, they really burned your ship in S2 then let it sink in S3.)

This connects to my very first point, but I don't think there will be enough time for Carmen to improve to be the man Sydney deserves. He also has yet to suffer the consequences for how he's treating Sydney. So far he has suffered at his own mind and trauma, but that's not enough for me. He has yet to pay his dues when it comes to Sydney, so the the idea that she will stay with him and The Bear and wait around for him to be and do better when she's been doing that three seasons straight doesn't sit right with me.

Like Sydney's gone through all that she's gone through (mostly due to Carmen) only for Carmen to be what she gets at the end? Eh, no thanks. (Especially if Sydney doesn't get loved up and taken care of by someone deserving, succeed professionally and win in general.)

Subtext, Glorious Subtext Last one. Whoop whoop! Being a sydcarmy has made watching this show so much better.

However, I can't be the only one who at times is getting tired of hyperfixating on subtext only for it to amount to nothing.

But, I have a few observations myself. I don't want Sydney to stay with Carmen/at the bear, I want her to leave. I have a feeling she won't but:

-In S3 EP5, when Sydney asked Carmen if he knew if Ever was special when he was there and I think he said he didn't, but Sydney said it was good he got to experience it.

-The only noteworthy Claire scene where she talks about the girl who fell into a glass table and laughed after the surgery, and Claire said she thinks the wounds didn't hurt yet. (And the scar on Carmen's hand. Is that from the pilot S1 episode when he grabbed the pan?)

-When it's revealed Terry is closing Ever, Richie presumes the reason is because she's depressed, but it's revealed she just didn't want to do it any more.

-The ever chef told Sydney if it wasn't for Terry closing he'd probably be there forever.

With these moments I like to think Sydney's arc is learning to move on, to not make "everything the thing". Carmen is the one who needs to stay at the bear, in one place and work on becoming himself with where he's at.

I may add onto this later, if you've read this far thank you, and I hope it was interesting. Links below are my rants on S3 and sydcarmy. Pretty sure you could decode the five stages of grief in them- I'm so dramatic lol.

This This And this

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Referring to how Leona is an actually good leader, it's still very funny to think about how annoyed Vil must be when Epel idolized Leona while fighting for his life struggling under Vil's tutelage. Like "how could you prefer that good-for-nothing-except-his-face over ME?" kinda thing. (Yes I love all of them but I love to see them suffer more <3)

[Referencing this post!]

Leona definitely projects very different images depending on the circumstances! His club and dorm members all look up to him because, to them, he come off as a role model. He's strong, cunning, and exudes confidence. To everyone else (people he doesn't actively lead, or people he stands on par with in terms of power and influence), he's seen as lazy and rude because Leona does not care for putting on airs and finds social grace tiring to deal with.

Nowhere is this dichotomy better exemplified than in Epel's Birthday Jacket vignettes. In them, Epel, a first year and a Magift Club member, describes Leona as someone who is good at looking out for others like him. This confuses his interviewer, Floyd, who responds that it "doesn't sound like" the Sea Lion-senpai he's familiar with. Epel then confesses to not really seeing Leona much outside of club, so he doesn't actually know about what Leona is like most of the time. This just goes to show that Leona naturally shines and is at his best when he's in a scenario where he has to lead others.

Now, regarding Vil and his feelings on Leona... 🤔 It's true that Vil dislikes Leona (and, more specifically, his attitude) and may be disapproving of Epel idolizing the guy, but I get the sense that those feelings stem in part from disappointment, not just blind hatred or not liking how Leona dresses/speaks. Vil's someone who has exceedingly high standards for himself and for the people he surrounds himself with. He despises it when people don't give a task their all, or don't live up to their full potential. That is exactly the case with Leona. Vil has a VERY keen and discerning eye; I suspect that he noticed a long time ago that Leona's not putting forth all of his effort and just doing the bare minimum to scrape by, and that's what further stokes Vil's frustrations with him. An example of this is the very superficial aspect of Leona's looks. Vil admits that Leona has a handsome face, but doesn't dress the part at all. The same goes for his other traits and abilities, and even his grades (which are low due to poor attendance even though Leona himself is insanely smart). That's the thing: Leona could be great, but instead he's wasting it all and choosing to not be "his best" at all times--an ideology which exists in blatant opposition to Vil. Here we have two powerful, intelligent, talented individuals who worked hard to get to where they are now (even though they were already born into affluent families). They didn't choose to just coast by life on their family's names alone. One of them literally makes a living off of showing the world how perfect he is, and all the effort he puts in to achieving that perfection. But the other has gone the other route, not willing to put forth that effort to anything that he doesn't find useful or interesting. They've both become disillusioned with the world, which has provided them nothing in spite of all the times they tried to prove themselves. They weren't rewarded with a heroic role, nor the coveted crown., but they've got the charisma that inspires others to follow them and to show them respect. They can recognize others' strengths and are in positions where they can guide others towards those strengths. They're so alike, and I think that only feeds their dislike of one another. To Leona, Vil's a try-hard that always changes his personality to look good for the public. To Vil, Leona's callous and carelessly tossing away his own potential. It makes them a worthy rival of the other.

DBKHILdsbiDIvqfosd1436g17b Okay, I kind of strayed a bit from the initial ask, but yeah!! Vil would probably be annoyed with Epel looking up to Leona because Leona isn't at 100% all of the time (whereas Vil tries to be). The two have very different ideas of how their energy is best spent, and with Vil being Epel's dorm leader and all, he feels like it's his responsibility to lead Epel the "Pomefiore" way, not Leona's way.

[kitkats-and-kittens]

Still on my Hunger games grind, so can we talk about the relationships I legit never see discussed?

I’m talking about the other victors and their relationships with each other. Like from the way they interact and what we hear about them in catching fire they are all clearly friendly, or as a bare minimum, tolerable with each other.

And although they seem to stick with making friends primarily within their own circle we have evidence that they do establish personal connections with each other’s outside of their district.

People like Haymitch and Chaff or Finnick and Johanna. Honestly it makes sense since the victors all have shared trauma and can understand what they’re all going through, but I need to know how and when this begins?!?!?

Like in Catching Fire Katniss clearly doesn’t like them, at least at the beginning, and of course it makes sense since she doesn’t know them and never gets the chance too because of the quarter quell, but knowing what they’ve all gone through I honestly felt so upset when her and Peeta were making fun of them.

Still, I wonder what their relationships with the victors would have been like had the quarter quell had been different. I don’t think Katniss and Peeta would have trauma bonded with them in quite the same way as other victors had, but I’m so sad they never got to see the other victors behind the persona the Captiol crafted for them.

Also speaking of newer tributes relationships with other victors, what I really want to see is Finnicks relationship with them. I mean he was the youngest presumably for a good few years since the way I’ve always seen it is 18/17 year olds win the most often for obvious reasons and every couple of years you might get a 16 year old with 15 year olds being extremely rare.

But like if they’re used to 16, 17 and 18 year olds who age into adults only a few years after their games then what was it like having a full on child running around the Capital with them for like 3 years?!?

Like okay maybe I’m reaching, but I feel like in mockingjay Finnick had a really close relationship with Beetee and Haymitch. I don’t want to say it was parental, but since they were both quite a bit older than Finnick when he won his games I think it would’ve been them, as well as Mags who kinda showed Finnick how to be a Victor and maybe even helped protect him since the Captiol was being so, well…Captiol.

Honestly the idea of the older victors all helping to mentor the younger ones on how to be victors is so sad but in like a bittersweet kind of way.

And Beetee making Finnick the trident to distract him from Annie while Haymitch tried to convince him not to do the propo has my whole heart.

If you couldn’t tell by this post the victors and their respective endings make me so sad.

[chaifootsteps]

was it me or did it feel kind of odd going from the rest of season 2 where Moxxie and Millie seem to actively care about Stolas despite having never exchanged a word with him (they're super concerned with saving his life and getting him to hospital even though they're risking their own necks doing it, grudgematch with Striker aside, Moxxie constantly refers to him as 'Your Highness' with actual respect, it doesn't seem like he just does it for formality)

to Full Moon where they all openly discuss and are totally aware of all of their livelihoods are hanging on the thread of whether their boss can fuck Stolas good enough?

and all of them know that Blitz is so indifferent about doing it that he takes months off the minute Stolas offers? and then they stalk Blitz around town to check he doesn't mess it up?

it makes sense they want to protect their jobs but it'd have been nice if one of them took a single second to say something like 'oh, guess it's that time of month again, huh? do you at least have fun with him sometimes though?'

and use that as a lead in to Blitz being like 'actually he hasn't wanted to see me'

just something to indicate they have a bare minimum of care for their colleague and the person who's keeping a roof over all their heads

God, that conversation in Full Moon was so fucked up and I'm glad you brought it up because I wish people talked about it more. They actively push Blitzo to make sure Stolas is happy, because if he isn't they're all screwed, and remind him that business is at an all time high and that all of that goes away if Stolas decides it does.

If you wanted to show that these characters care about each other and that the full moon deal isn't completely horrifying, Viv, you've failed on both counts.

[kdinjenzen]

i know you probably want to put it all behind you but the fact that your last workplace kept misgendering you when you look Like That is, objectively, kind of hilarious. like my brother in christ do you also he/him all curvy redheads like mrs jessica rabbit? and the reason you give is because she is taller then her husband with a deeper voice? do you have nothing but a single lonely piece of salad for a brain? transphobia gives you brain worms via spontaneous generation i swear.

It’s frustrating, honestly. It shows that people, especially in professional industries, really still have no idea how to act around a trans person. And when they make a mistake they make it about THEM instead of just being self reflective about it or the company having some kind of “hey we should have a professional come talk to everyone about how to not be an asshole to trans people.”

There’s so many things companies CAN do to better help their cis and trans employees so that things like this don’t happen. Which will make cis people less “cis shame-ful” about everything, where they use so many excuses for wrongful treatment, and will help make trans people feel actually safe.

The BARE MINIMUM is that if someone says “these are my pronouns” you respect that. It’s that simple. It’s not even hard to do. And YET…

Urgh… yeah, I’m still very upset about it, and the way it was handled by HR was even WORSE.

Is it really that much to ask for a job that will let me, gasp, do my job properly without someone misgendering me and making the workplace hostile? I WANT TO WORK! I actually LIKE the feeling of working in groups and putting in effort to craft and creat with people. I like JOB. My brain feels happy when I have “JOB TO DO.” Work is, or can be, very fun and validating.

But if the workplace is hostile and you are constantly being lied to and mistreated, especially after you JUST joined the team, it’s very obvious that it can only get worse.

(Again, for everyone out there, physical presentation of “societal gender norms” don’t matter. Trans men can have boobs, non binary people don’t own androgyny, trans women can have facial hair, cis women can have very deep voices, cis men can have very high voices, etc etc etc. You don’t gotta look like anything to expect the smallest bit of respect from people. ESPECIALLY in the work place.)

[infiniteetcetera]

MORE RAPID FIRE ACTOAR HOT TAKES BUT THIS TIME THEYRE 🔥HOT🔥 TAKES

🔥Most people who claim to hate Nesta for what she did to Feyre actually just hate her personality and don’t want to admit it. If she were more like Elain or just generally more kind, open, reserved (✨demure✨ if you will) than she wouldn’t get half as much hate, people just like to hide behind the hunting excuse even when it doesn’t make sense as an expectation. even the characters do this themselves (why Rhys/Cassian/Mor have issues with Nesta but not Elain) because Nesta is strong willed and presents as “strong” on the surface there’s this expectation she should have put her life in danger and been able to hunt while Elain as viewed as “fragile” and therefore it’s not a big deal but the reality is personality does not equal hunting ability and this expectation should have been on none of them.

🔥Cassian is NOT and never has been a himbo/golden retriever guy. Like is he a little dense and theoretically attractive? sure, but one of the big components of both those archetypes is respecting women which he NEVER has. He constantly makes sexist jokes, has treated his LI terribly, and the only woman he shows real respect to is Feyre who is an extension of Rhysand in his mind. he definitely wasn’t as bad in the earlier books as recently but he has never been who his fans characterize him as.

🔥Eris has somehow become massively overhyped😭 I see so many people praise him and cheer him on over/as better than the bat boys and I don’t think they realize they have made up a character for him entirely. At best, Eris falls somewhere in the realm of Rhys in morality. He may be “faking” a lot of the bad things he’s done but he has done them (your boy was utm supporting amarantha just like Rhys & may have tried to stop Lucien from literally getting killed but that’s the bare minimum). I do think he’d have been a better/more interesting love interest for Nesta but that’s just because Cassian set the bar SO low. Most of this man’s interactions with women is calling them derogatory terms he is not perfect and has not shown himself to be above any of the other male characters in his actions.

🔥Of all the mated pairs we’ve been shown in this universe the only two who I think genuinely love/wanted each other is Feyre and Rhys. They are FAR from perfect but the mating bond feels almost inconsequential to the start of their relationship. Feyre doesn’t really know/care about it bc of her human roots and Rhys never wants it to influence her decision and admits more than once it makes him worried she feels like she has to be with him (even after they’re together). Cassian’s opposition to that when Rhys brings it up and the entire way he treats Nesta makes it obvious he just wants a mate (or more precisely, he wants what Rhys has) and Lucien obviously would not have given AF about Elain without the bond. I am not a huge fan of mating bonds in this world in general but Feysand is the only ship where it feels like it’s being done right and more just one aspect of their relationship rather than the reason behind it.

🔥The Valkyries winning the blood rite is not that weird when you spend five minutes actually thinking about it, especially with the fact the bat boys are some of the only other people to do it. Like hmmmm what do these two groups of people have in common that the other Illyrians don’t?

1) Weren’t malnourished, sleeping out in the cold, and probably rife with injuries and sickness for YEARS before the rite

2) Have actual people they can trust with them for at least most of the rite

3) Not dealing with the whole wings being bound thing?? like seriously if they’re so sensitive that’s probably incredibly painful or at least annoying. The girls don’t have to deal with this at all and for the boys Rhys probably didn’t, Az is probably used to it (sobs), so it was just a factor for Cassian

4) Were well looked after, had access to education and information on the rite beyond word of mouth in the camps

My point overall is people tend to forget the Illyrian training camps are literally building child soldiers amongst terrible conditions. You are not fighting 100% or even like 50% of the blood rite, things like being well fed, physically able, and even just having someone who can watch your back while you sleep are so important so it is not surprising at all to me the girls made it while most Illyrians don’t, especially when theyre trained to belive it’s all about going in their to kill and be violent/a warrior (and this all doesn’t even touch on the weapons thing). It’s annoying and borderline sexist so many people complain about this, like just let these girls and their friendship bracelets be winners🤧

🔥Rhys’ trauma is so massively overlooked when people talk about his character/decisions. Not only was he essentially a sex slave for fifty years but Amarantha was also constantly psychologically torturing him all the while being the woman who literally tortured him and killed his friends years prior. To top it off, before Feyre there was literally no end in sight for him??? He couldn’t even hope to die because that would mean his magic couldn’t protect Velaris and his friends??? Even once he escapes the mountain he kind of just has to…move on? ) He doesn’t get any break or trauma therapy, he’s dumped right into it all and he literally doesn’t even tell anyone what happened?? The first time he brings it up to the IC in ACOWAR they’re all stunned to hear him say the words and then he breaks down to Feyre afterwards (literally probably the only person he talks to about what happened). It’s known to everyone including his people what he’s been through and it’s weaponized against him constantly. If he weren’t making bad choices, hurting people around him, and just overall struggling to be a good leader his character wouldn’t be realistic. This isn’t an excuse for every bad thing he’s done, but it’s a reality that most people in his situation wouldn’t do any better and couldn’t even handle being in his spot in the first place. There was a Rhys that existed before this series started and it makes much more sense to believe that guy was the decent male that shines through in some of his scenes with Feyre then to belive he’s always been cruel and evil and all his moments of kindness are just a bit (the evil!Rhys theories will never not be laughable to me, this man bawls in the crowded streets of his city just bc he loves his wife so much, he ain’t plotting evil in his spare time)

🔥The ship wars surrounding next book have gotten so over dramatic😭 most of these couples have barely even interacted on page. I get having preferences and seeing a vision for a pair, I do it too, but people fighting tooth and nail against these ships and swearing they won’t read next book if it’s not what they want are doing the most. Especially when these characters/ships actually…arent that different?? There’s so many similarities between Azriel/Lucien and even Gwyn/Elain, and the only character we know anything about thought/motivation wise is Azriel and even that is barely. I could see any of the pairings working perfectly well or also being written terribly, I think we should all care more about how next love story is written rather than who it’s with because the romance in the last few SJM books have been majorly slacking (Quinlar and Nessian are two of my least favorite ships she’s ever written like she must do better) and no matter who ends up together we probably will see some of the these ships (Elriel/Elucien at least) in a romantic sense before any sort of endgame is decided

[reallypleasanttree]

Hey there I’m a huge fan of your works and stories ☺️💯. And I was wondering, what inspired you to write such a beautiful,tragic, and heartwarming story about Kanroji and Obanai?

First off, thank you so much! ☺️ I adore tragic romances, so when I finished reading Demon Slayer I was torn to shreds by Obanai and Mitsuri’s story. Their type of love is my ideal where they simply accept each other as they are. It’s simple and sweet.

They were stripped of their happy ending. If they just had the courage to express their feelings before the end, they could have been happy together. It hurt so much. Especially with the way Obanai viewed Mitsuri and believing he needed to be reborn just to be with her? Heartbreaking. Mitsuri would have loved him no matter what his upbringing was. They both viewed each other in a positive light, but the way they viewed themselves was negative. Obanai thought he was a corrupt, vile creature while Mitsuri was insecure and wanted acceptance. If they had been able to see themselves the way the other viewed them, they could have confessed before the final battle. It devastates me every time and I have to remedy it.

Anyway, I read a ton of fanfics for Obamitsu. “Nights” by Rottorex, Peppermint Tea” by prettyshimmie, and “to die nobly, to cleanse his filthy blood” by Clemsmelody helped inspire it. I started daydreaming and plotting out my own fic.

After a few days of thinking through plot points, I decided to go for it. “Wedding Plans” was supposed to be three chapters. 🙃 however, I kept writing more and more about Obanai’s backstory and deep dived into his psychology. I couldn’t just make him suddenly be better in two months and not explain how he got better. I wanted to show a realistic recovery for someone with depression, anxiety, and childhood abuse. It doesn't happen over night and it takes a lot of effort.

As someone with depression and anxiety, I drew from my own experiences. The part where Obanai didn’t know how to tie his shoes? My parents never taught me, so I taught myself. When you realize your parents didn’t teach you the bare minimum to dress yourself, it hits you like a brick. You explain away their actions and accept it as the norm because that’s what was expected of you.

With Mitsuri, I admire her personality. I love people who are exceptionally kind, always wear a smile, and genuinely care about you as person, not just for show. She’s a normal girl with insecurities and wishes to be accepted. Everyone can relate, I’m sure. Also, I love writing her awkward moments. I wanted to show a relationship gradually develop from a place of admiration and respect. Also, it was fun coming up with different scenarios and how to apply their past lives to the modern era.

To be honest, the parts I write in the Demon Slayer canon universe are primarily inspired by fan art. I wanted to highlight little actions and moments that lead to Mitsuri and Obanai falling for each other. I’m so excited to share the next flashback scene, but I don’t want to spoil it.

When it comes to writing, I love angst, but I have to even it out with lighthearted moments. Like Mitsuri making Obanai food for the first time and then he has a panic attack. My partner calls it "dark cotton candy fluff", which cracks me up. Plus with the cast of characters in Demon Slayer, it makes it easy to keep it heart warming. Kyojuro and Gyomei especially. 🥰

To sum it up, I was inspired to write Obanai and Mitsuri’s story in the modern era because I wanted to explore the beginnings of a relationship, Obanai’s past and family, and ultimately give them the happy ending they deserved.

As for my other Obamitsu fics, I write them on a whim and let my steam of conscious take over ("To my love", "Positive, Positive, Positive", "I want to live this life with you", and "Mrs. Iguro") Or they are discarded scenes from "Wedding Plans" (See "Bitter Torment").

[lovelykhaleesiii]

I have been going back and forth in posting this, but want to have a clean slate and a clear mind going forward.

this fandom if I am being honest (and from experience in many others) has been the most roller coaster ride. it has been wonderful and blossoming, yet also, toxic and disheartening…

my current state right now, I feel as though I have been shunned from the community from all corners. stranded alone, with only a few friends (I could count them on one hand) to talk to and to trust.

I have been incredibly disappointed in this fandom by people I had considered friends, people that I believed to be sincere and kind, but over time showed a very different and ugly side.

I am not going to sugar coat this topic anymore… and be warned, I will call you out if need be, from this point on. I always had hopes that as a community mostly dominated by adults, we would act more like it, but it seems not. then accountability is necessary, because this school yard behaviour is not it.

I work most of the time, I barely even have time for a social life on top of personal things… tumblr is not my priority. but when I log in on here, I do wish and intend for this to be a space where I can relax and enjoy myself, to be creative and write and share my ideas and stories. to interact with people, to bond over characters and stories that I don’t ever get the chance to in real life, because I barely meet people with similar interests.

this is meant to be my safe haven.

recently it has been quite the opposite…

I have been gaslit, bullied & ghosted/neglected. as someone who genuinely struggles to put herself out there, I have made attempts that I am thankful for yet hurt by the experiences. putting myself in discord chats only to leave in the matter of a few days…

I have said this before and I will say it again. If I ever say anything to you directly or indirectly, and it doesn’t sit right with you. I am open to talk privately about it. I am not perfect, in fact far from it. I have flaws as do we all. I can make mistakes, I am human. if the matter can be resolved, amazing, if not: I don’t expect to get along with EVERYONE on this hellsite. the block and unfollow options are there for a reason!!!

regardless, I understand everyone has their own personal lives and issues… believe me, I DO! I am a huge advocate for life > tumblr. you need a break, take the break. you want to go on hiatus, go on hiatus. you do not owe anyone in this fandom shit, as I have reminded myself as of late. In saying that, showing people common courtesy and decency is not by any means a stretch, it should be the bare minimum.

showing support to your fanfic authors/gif makers and creators is valid and ideal.

I have taken multiple breaks because the stress and exhaustion from my work and personal life has been a lot, that I am able to remove myself from a situation, to not allow anyone else to suffer my ordeal. your actions have repercussions, and you will be held accountable.

to wrap it all up, I will continue to write my little, silly stories, I will continue to read fics. However, I have of recent been so turned off by some of the people in this community, that if I’m being honest (which I also strongly advocate for, and believe I owe whoever read this that), I have no energy to interact with people that have crossed me and made me feel less of the person I am at this point in time. my friends who I respect and admire dearly, know who they are, I don’t need to tell them twice.

when I feel comfortable with this fandom, my interactions may change, but for now. I very much enjoy my small number of friends.

thank you to those who read this entire mouthful, I genuinely appreciate the small things and taking the time out of YOUR day to read and listen to little old me, says a lot.

please take care of yourselves, and I hope that we can create a better more wholesome fandom space.

love always, Hel 🤍

[hollyhomburg]

in order to distract myself from the depate i'm gonna share my kpop hot take.

I think one of the big things that kpop groups are missing is just people that genuinely like each other- like friendship between members. That's so so much more important than like being good looking or having original content for groups longevity. I think it pushes some fans from being casual listeners to getting the kind of fandom that groups like bts and skz and txt and twice have. because people can project their fantasies of not only of the perfect partner but the perfect friend group too- like that's equally as profitable- and i think even more profitable of a fantasy for some groups.

idk why tik tok showed me it but i saw a compilation of Ive interacting with each other and it's so clear how much disdain wonyoung has for the other members... from blatantly calling them out during interviews to stepping in front of them during concerts/taking their props, and it does not reflect well or make me want to be a fan of them. You can't be in a group and like- try to sabotage your members like that without it being icky and feeling like there's a disconnect. Comparing them to twice or EVEN bp is so stark.

I think it will speak to their long term popularity- and speaks to all groups long term popularity- you just can't survive in a group these days if it's all business- there has to be a good amount of friendship or at the bare minimum respect and you can really tell when it's lacking- like i think if we're being honest- there is some disconnect in groups like NCT and ofc Bigbang, and even sometimes for me- new jeans.

[martianbugsbunny]

Not the gospel not the blanket statement but I don't like the way the Loki series, at least thus far, has treated either of Loki's queer identities. because guess what!! I happen to also be bisexual and genderfluid.

(also, this post has been in my drafts for enough days that I do not remember if I wrote before or after season 2 started, but I do know that 1: I wrote it before I watched that episode, and 2: I wouldn't made a damn lick of difference anyway.)

Okay so right off the bat, the bisexuality within the show is actually pretty decent. It's not a big deal, Loki isn't throwing himself at every character onscreen, that's pretty respectful. But I feel that (and this is simply my weary, jaded-at-the-MCU opinion) the writers decided to finally commit to him being canonically bisexual because it can be made more palatable for homophobic straight audiences. If you decide to say, okay, Character X is gay, they will then be shown in same-sex relationships or in a conspicuous absence of any relationship at all despite chemistry and history with same-sex characters, one of which pisses of the straights and one of which pisses of people like me. Now, I don't think Marvel minds hurting us, but it's still not a good look to say here's a canonically gay character but wait! we're not actually going to show a gay relationship onscreen. It feels like going for the cheapest of sucking-up options and ain't nobody buying. Therefore, the number of canonically gay characters in the MCU is low.

If you have a bisexual character, however, they can be in an opposite-sex relationship and the straights can pretend the character is also straight or going through a phase or some bullshit, and we can't say hey this feels like a cop-out because well we gave you what you wanted, the character is bisexual, and also because the biphobia card can be played against us immediately.

To avoid that, I'm saying right here and now I love opposite-sex bisexual relationships as a rule, whether it's bi4bi or one of the characters in the couple is straight. I'm bisexual and while the gender situation is complicated (we'll get to that in a minute) I'm AFAB and my only relationship ever has been with a cishet man, and I would throw hands with anybody who suggested that I'm not a real bisexual just because I haven't made that kind of a connection with a woman yet. (Trust me, I would love to date a woman.) Now, a wee bit of a caveat, the complicated gender also complicates that, because I am not female, so technically my relationship with that one man was not a straight relationship, but I also hadn't realized it at the time so it's difficult to parse what it was, and frankly I don't care.

The point is, it's the context, not the relationship, that really bothers me. The context is the MCU, which has proven itself pretty damn against having queer characters or queer relationships, particularly visibly same-sex ones, for the sake of the box office. Taking that into consideration Loki and Sylvie's relationship feels like a way to cop out of having to show a same-sex relationship with a queer character while also making queer people look bad if we say that it feels like a feeble attempt to score progressive brownie points. It also gives the straights in the room a reason to point and us and say why can't you be grateful, you've been thrown a bone, what more could you possibly want, you're so demanding. The MCU does the bare minimum, doesn't have to show a same-sex relationship, and we look like the badguys if we say what I'm saying right now.

But you know what I don't want? I don't want my identity weaponized against me, against other bisexual people who feel like we're being used as a not-really-queer statement for a character because not queer enough is something that I think is directed against bi people way too often. I don't want the MCU to use that logic in having a bi4bi couple, which I personally think is probably what at least part of their motivation was. I don't want to be accused of biphobia simply because I don't think an identity that I share with the character, and therefore have some experience with, is being used properly. Bisexuality is not a tool to say queer-not-queer about fictional characters, because using it that way I would go so far as to say can actually be detrimental to bisexual people in real life.

The gender fluid claim I hate with every ounce of my own gender. It's canon because what, it's showed on a file in the end-credits sequence? Lazy. Bullshit. I don't want it. Sylvie is treated like some kind of exception for being a woman and ostensibly a Loki; if Loki was actually genderfluid nobody would give a rat's ass. Our Loki could qualify as a woman and a Loki every now and then. Sylvie wouldn't be anything special...oh, wait. That would defeat the purpose of having her on the nice little pedestal the writers built for her. So they shoved in some quarter-assed claim (I say quarter-assed because it wasn't even enough effort to be half-assed) that's blink and you miss it, in fact don't specifically look for it and you miss it, to gender fluidity because...I don't even know. Because they want to bring MCU Loki closer to the comics version of Loki, who has been slaying gender fluidity for a darn while? Well, if that's why, they failed. Because they were looking for some more of those no-effort brownie points? If that's why, they've once again failed, because I am giving them none. There are no feathers for the MCU to preen here. Our Loki is a man and Sylvie is a woman, that's all there is to it, and putting that Loki is genderfluid in that stupid end-credits sequence doesn't change that. What would change that it actually depicting both of them as alternately male, female, nonbinary, etc., because that once again avoids the exceptionalism complex for one of them that would make gender fluidity look like a deviation for Loki when really it should be the norm. They tried to claim my gender identity for Loki and I'm not even sorry, I'm not having it. They failed. Of course it's not to say I'm the Almighty Keeper of the Gender Fluid. I'm not. But am I allowed to take full offense when someone majorly screws up at what they're barely even attempting to depict and it's my identity? YES. I am.

So the thing is, I'm probably overreacting a little bit. And as a member of a mistreated and marginalized part of society, and as a member of a fandom for something that feels sort of actively hostile towards people like me pretty often, I think I have the right to be. And as a person who actually lives with the identities that Loki is trying to claim, I also think I have the right to hold my opinion about it.

Now I'm not saying all genderfluid people or all bisexual people who watch the show will have the same reaction I did. That would be ridiculous. In fact, if not for the context of the MCU existing around it, I would be ecstatic about Loki being bisexual myself. But I am saying that these are the reactions I did have to it, and if you disagree, that's fine, but please do it as civilly as I am doing with people with whom I disagree. Queer representation is a complicated, messy thing, as is queerness itself a lot of the time, and different people will see different things in it.

Slay on.

[to-dance-beneath-the-diamond-sky]

I’m so fucking sick of all my friends and all the non-organizer people in my life not fucking showing up for Palestine. Like Jesus Christ it’s like pulling teeth trying to get them to do anything. Sure a few of them will send the email and call tools but they almost never do anything more than that. It’s always “I already have plans” “I’m feeling drained today” “I needed to stop at McDonald’s because it was convenient” and I’m just so fucking sick of it. Like it’s one thing if it’s one time. But it’s such a fucking pattern. Sometimes you actually can cancel or change your plans to go to something more important. You can go to an action or an event even though you’re tired and drained and not feeling great. You can actually choose to be hungry for 30 minutes longer because you don’t want to support an actual BDS target. Stop fucking prioritizing your own comfort over fighting to end a genocide we're all complicit in whether we want to be or not every single fucking day.

Im so fucking sick of all the excuses from everyone all the time as to why they can’t or don’t show up for Palestine. I go to shit all the fucking time even when I’m exhausted even when I feel like shit and when I’m tired and burned out and in pain. Because that’s what it means to be in solidarity. I cancel my other plans and I prioritize working to help stop a genocide. I'm so fucking sick of people in my life barely even doing the bare fucking minimum. And I’m so fucking sick of not calling them out on it. Especially the people that I’m not that close with because I don’t want to burn the bridge purely because I know they might at some point do something useful to the fight. If it weren’t for the potential that they might sometimes occasionally do something small to contribute to the fight, I would just cut them out completely because it’s not like they’re even good friends to me (some of them are actually pretty shitty) and I don’t respect people who don’t want to fight against injustice and oppression and a fucking genocide.

I’m so fucking sick of having to extensively thank everyone every time they actually fo show up to something or bother to do something for Palestine. Like I have to fucking praise them and thank them for being an ally and actually taking action for once. Because I feel like if I don’t then they won’t ever do anything ever again.

I’m so fucking sick of people not showing up for Palestine. I’m so fucking sick of all the constant excuses. At some point excuses add up to a pattern, and the pattern is people don’t care enough about Palestine to endure any kind of discomfort or make any kind of sacrifice

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

How do you feel about the representation ( or lack thereof) in TOH?

I'm not sure to which representation you're referring to but I will try to be comprehensive. Just a note: representation in media is highly subjective; one person may feel seen by a show's representation, another may not. For example, as an ace person, I don't feel like Lilith is good ace rep because it is never even mentioned in the show. It's only in supplemental materials. If your show is going to tout itself as being diverse then the bare minimum you should do is put that diversity front and center so that even the most casual fan can see it.

If you like Lilith's representation or any other character from the show, then I will not take that from you.

The rest will be under the cut.

The biggest draw the show has is its queer representation; we've come a long way from Korrasami, now we have our main character in a sapphic romance that forms a key part of both characters. We have pride flags as a casual part of the background, non-binary characters, and no one angsts over being queer, it's just a normal state of being. I feel like this is the strongest aspect of the show in terms of representation and I'm glad people are feeling seen as a result of it.

Where I feel the show needed more work on was racial/ethnic diversity. TOH is a rather white show; despite Luz being biracial and having poc friends, most other significant characters are white-coded. Eda, Lilith, Amity, Belos, and Hunter are all white or white-coded characters and they take up significant portions of the overall story while Gus, Willow, Raine, and Darius are in supporting roles. This is especially egregious with Gus and Willow since they're the first witches that Luz befriends but they don't have as much focus in the later seasons, especially once Hunter is introduced. It's also worth noting that any kind of character development the non-white characters have is nearly always in relation to white characters: Willow and Amity, Gus and Hunter, Raine and Eda, and Darius and Hunter/the previous Golden Guard.

Another thing that others have pointed out is that despite the number of poc in key roles, the overall aesthetic of the Boiling Isles is very Euro-centric, even in the Deadwardian Era (its name a pun on an English monarch). It's such a missed opportunity to not play around with the overall aesthetic of your show and have it be more unique looking, maybe take influence from real world cultures and apply that to how magic is used based on a character's background.

The show is also touted for its disability representation and neurodivergent characters; however the former is more of a metaphor and the latter wasn't intentional. Fans noticed that Luz displays signs of ADHD and Dana admitted that she wasn't written that way but approves of the interpretation. It's great that fans can project their own head canons and for the creator to be fine with it, but it would have been even better if she was written that way from the start; really show how people perceive her as different because of how she is. We got some of this with how she struggled in school and how she loves learning but not about what the boring topics in school but by then, it's rather late. I feel like the show had a missed opportunity showing how isolated Luz was in the human realm; we got her high jinks and school pranks but nothing really that would make her an outcast and thus want to leave Earth.

Eda's curse as a metaphor for disability has been well-received but it makes me wonder what a disabled witch would look like in the show? Someone who was born with weak magic (Willow doesn't count she was in the wrong track). How would they navigate the track system? What aid would they need to perform basic magic? What prejudice would they face?

We get that in the form of Hunter, who while technically not a witch, functions as a disabled witch. And we get how he had to work twice as hard to earn any decent respect but it's not really because he lacks magic, it's more due to the fact that the coven heads perceive favoritism as the emperor's nephew.

We get some more challenges a disabled witch would face when Eda loses her magic but it doesn't really go anywhere and she utilizes her harpy form and seems to get along fine.

When I think about how disabilities are usually represented as just metaphors in popular media, I think of Toph. In Avatar, Toph is literally blind, there's no metaphor here. But the show is extremely clever depicting how she navigates the world using earth bending and justifies why she is the master of her craft because she was taught by the original earth benders and uses it ALL the time.

TOH could have done something similar by having a character with a real world disability and think of a creative way to show how they utilize the magic in their universe.

Basically, the show is very good at depicting queerness, but could have been better in its disability representation, and definitely dropped the ball on its poc characters.

[gottaterrify]

ok look i know im not saying anything that anyone hasn't heard before but i wanna take a second to talk about Deidara's relationship with art, and his relationship with himself.

A lot of people like to call Deidara one of the more normal Akatsuki members, given that art is just one of his silly quirks, and his more monstrous features are kept to a minimum design wise.

I just feel like in comparison to someone like political terrorist puppet man sasori or “cultist loves the taste of blood” hidan, he seems a little more “normal” but lets not forget Deidara blew himself up because. *checks notes.* Itachi put him in a genjutsu once. I mean that’s really all it is at it’s base.

Art is his obsession and we know this but it really is what makes Deidara a frightening, and unstable person.

Sasori said that Deidara seemed like the type to die young, and I doubt that was because he thought that Deidara wasn’t skilled. I mean I don’t think anyone thought that considering he was being recruited into the akatsuki but still lol.

But he literally spends the first few minutes of their interaction showing his whole hand. Clearly, he’s proud of his art, but a more experienced Shinobi may not show/ramble about his personal mantras and show clay sculptures that explode right off the bat. To explain his jutsu, even under the guise of describing his artistic vision, is just bad practice. Deidara doesn’t see that, and when Itachi cuts things short, Deidara is eager to prove his worth to total strangers, even when he doesn’t have to.

Deidara is incredible for his age, but I think (Sasuke? lol)kurotsuchi said it best when his weakness is his obsession with art. The fact that it consumes everything he does gives him tunnel vision. He doesn’t see the forest for the trees. Take Sasuke for example. Sasuke asked where Itachi was, they fought, and sasuke barely gave him 15 words the whole exchange before Deidara decided he was looking down at him. Interaction that other Shinobi wouldn’t give another thought to, Deidara sees as a personal slight.

I really just feel like Deidara is just a really lonely person, and art is the solace that he clings to. Sasori is more well adjusted(relatively speaking) because he has more to him than just his art, and connections with other people(negative or positive). He had Chiyo in his childhood, and in his adulthood, while no one was close to him, he'd earned the respect of many shinobi.

Deidara had no one in the village, and he has no one now, and the only thing that keeps him "relevant" so to speak is, again, his art. it's directly related to his place in this world, and Deidara clings to that philosophy because he genuinely feels like his life depends on it.

To Deidara, Sasori was the only person who understood what it was like to have art as his life, and we can see that in the way Deidara acts around Sasori vs the way his personality changes when he's gone.

When Sasori is alive, Deidara is calm, confident, and self assured.

When Sasori dies, and his partner changes to Tobi, whose backhanded comments and foolish nature seem to mock him, we can see Deidara become desperate, eager for some kind of control. Clinging to the role of Senpai between him and Tobi, Deidara doesn't have anything else but his art.

It's just no wonder that a mindset like this set him up for failure. he's struggling so hard for recognition from someone that it's basically a sport for him.

symbolism wise, the way that his ultimate art spreads though his body like a virus and consumes him when he finally does do himself in is just the icing on the cake.

tldr. make deidara more crazy about art in ur fics and other works. its literally the only thing he has and he's very mentally unstable about it.

[wannaeatramyeon]

Honey I've seen how you write for taehoon and I must say that you're really good at doing his characterization.

I personally think that, because he's someone who has quite a hard time expressing himself and with relationships, he would actually not put that much efforts in his relationship with reader. Like not trying to respect others' boundaries and working for the relationship to work, because for him of reader knows he like them and they like him why do anything else ? It'd be a waste of time. That is until reader is fed up because he's doing the bare minimum and wants to break up. As soon as reader says this, he feels something beating and throbbing in his chest. He's scared. In a way he didn't feel since a while. He can't lose them right ? He can do better! He just got to show them! So when reader let him a second and last chance, he becomes the best partner. So much that it's not easy to believe he didn't put any works at first. But it's weird because it actually doesn't really bother him. When he see how reader smile when he just sit next to same and enjoy each other's presence. Did they always smile so brightly ? Now that he've seen how a relationship work he's gonna do his best to not let reader down again.

Hey anon, thanks for reading! It's always pretty fun to see people's differing opinion of the characters so ty for a chance to discuss! I think everyone's Taehoon HC varies a little and my Taehoon probably is a bit more mature and a little less wild.

Some more Seong Taehoon x Reader hc below...

I build a lot of his maturity based on the trauma of losing Dowoon. In my hc, I cannot overstate the impact this has had on him. He's healed somewhat, but it's an ongoing journey and he has learnt a lot from it.

With Taehoon losing someone so close to him (and seems like the only friend he had), he makes the effort to be a little bit kinder to you if you manage to get close.

Kinder is subjective though.

But he's had the experience of pushing someone away, and then it resulting in the worst possible outcome so he's not likely going to repeat that mistake again.

Of course he is an asshole to everyone, you included but he tries.

He's not a complete robot. He's smart and perceptive af. Taehoon knows how other people sees him, the effect he has on people, he just doesn't care.

In a relationship though, he would show he cares. In his own way. He gives you a little bit more leeway, does a bit more for you, tries to make himself a better partner for you.

Note - partner, not person. He's not going to fundamentally change who he is, but he will learn to read you a bit better and if there's something he does that genuinely upsets you and doesn't clash with his morals/principles then he will give it a go.

Honestly, I think if he's doing the bare minimum with you then your relationship is on the way out. He's not going to put in the effort if he doesn't want to be with you.

Then again, Taehoon imo is the kind of person that would just straight up tell you that. He doesn't mince his words.