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anon-rebel-writes · 3 years

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Late Night Talks

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful day!

So this is a new story (yay!), and I wrote this for my girlfriend! She asked me not to tag her for privacy reasons, but I hope she loves this because this is actually based on a real event!

A quick background, we confessed through the phone and this story is heavily based on that. A lot of the feelings Luka feels are things that I actually felt! The dialogue is pretty similar too (obviously some things are cut out or edited to fit Luka and Mari lol)

My “just-a-friend” got me into MLB and we both love Lukanette, so I thought it’d be fitting to write her a story about Lukanette, based on us, for one of her gifts! Happy birthday, my love! I hope you (and everyone else reading this XD) enjoy it!

The story begins under the cut! <3 Ao3 Link

Soft light from his phone covered his face, forcing his eyes to squint in order to see clearly. His thumb unconsciously moved across the screen, opening up random apps before quickly closing them just to open them again.

The boat was fairly quiet. During the day, he could hear the different movements and various noises from his mother and sister, but this late at night merely left the sounds of waves from the Seine below him. The natural creaking of the boat usually left him relaxed and helped him fall asleep.

Although lately his nights had been occupied by other things, especially one girl.

Luka shifted in his bed, trying to engulf himself in more warmth from his blankets. Did his mattress always feel this stiff and uncomfortable? He never paid it much attention before, it never mattered before. Maybe it was just his mind trying to find something to think about.

He glanced at the time near the top of his screen and saw it was ten after midnight. Well at least it’s not too late yet, or maybe it wasn’t too early yet? She never texted him extremely late (or extremely early). Was it late? When did he care about time so much?

The only reason he thought about the time lately was because of her.

Luka shifted again, pulling up the blanket to cover the blush creeping up his cheeks. He continued to open apps just to close them again. He sighed and turned off the phone, letting the room dim and his eyes rest. Why did this feel so desperate? He used to see himself as a ‘go with the flow’ guy, but she had found a way into his heart and made him question his entire life.

When had he ever checked his phone this much? If she decided to text him tonight (as she had been doing for the past couple of nights), would immediately replying make him seem obsessed? He didn’t want to come off as overbearing. Didn't girls like when guys text fast? She hasn’t seemed to mind it so far. Then again, his only source of reference was his sister, and getting her to reply to him took years off his life.

His phone beeped and the screen lit up, showing a new text message. Luka quickly sat up and hurried to read the message.

‘SOS Can’t sleep again :( Think I might need a ~Luka~ to help (^-^)’

He covered his mouth with his palm, trying to hide the smile consuming his face. When did his nights become like this? Maybe it was desperate to wait for a text, but when the text came from Marinette, he couldn’t find a reason to be upset.

This girl seemed to bring him a whole new type of happiness, even if he was too nervous to text her first. He wanted to give her space and be comfortable around him, so waiting until midnight for a text never bothered him.

While seeing her throughout the day was always amazing, there was a different feeling that came with their late night talks. The fact that she needed to sleep and came to him for help gave him a warmth in his chest he never knew before. Although sometimes it made him feel selfish, seeing as she tended to talk to him when she was tired.

‘Luckily this Luka is always able to help :)’

And he really was always able to help, at least he tried to be. Luka helped everyone. Whether it was his family, friends, strangers, co-workers, he always lended a hand. But when it came to Marinette, he’d drop everything to run to her.

‘Yesss! Call me! Mama needs some Luka time!’

He tried to stifle a laugh and rolled his eyes at his phone. His body was hunched over the edge of the bed, watching his phone with intense eyes, as if the messages would disappear if he looked away.

In the mornings, he always found himself worried about that, as if the night before only existed in his mind. He’d hurry back to his phone to re-read the messages, making sure that Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the girl who chased off his nightmares and reinvented his dreams, really spent her night with him. Even if it was through a screen, even if it was for an hour, the messages were there to remind him that for a moment, she was his and he was hers. He was always hers, if she wanted him to be.

Luka slowly leaned back onto his bed, trying to get into a comfortable position. He put one hand behind his head and took a deep breath. His calm personality wasn’t an act, Luka was definitely a level-headed person, but he was still human. And as a human, a pretty girl talking to him late at night gave him lots of nerves.

He quickly shook off any tension he felt and pressed the call button. The phone only rang once before the sweetest voice he’d ever heard took over. “Hi Luka! Sorry, I know it’s late and everything, but I couldn’t sleep and… Oh wait, you told me I shouldn’t apologize, sorry! Or- wait, I just said sorry. Wow, I’m sorry- Shoot! I said it again-”

She was rambling, rotating between apologizing to him and trying to explain why she called him. As much as he loved (was that too serious of a word?) her, he also knew that if he didn’t reel her in, she’d spiral out of control.

“Don’t worry, Mari, you’re fine. But I gotta be honest, I didn’t expect this. I mean, calling a boy so late at night… not once, but multiple times in a row? How scandalous of you, Mel’.”

He heard a scoff through the phone and a lot of rustling. “Oh Luka, you should know I am the most scandalous of girls. In case you haven’t heard, I call lots of boys and girls at night.” Her voice took on a fake sounding ‘tough guy’ accent. He rolled his eyes and let out a chuckle. “Wow boys andgirls? I didn’t know I was talking to a criminal.”

Honestly at this point he wouldn’t put it past her to be a criminal, she seemed to have a habit of stealing people’s hearts. He’d never tell her that though. One, she seemed to have a strange distaste for bad jokes, two, that meant he’d have to admit that he liked her (but the word ‘like’ didn’t seem strong enough).

“What?! I wouldn’t take it that far! I’m a total supporter of the law!”

Luka moved the phone from his ear to his chest. His face pinched tightly, trying to hold back any laughter that formed. His body tensed up from holding it in, as much as Juleka definitely deserved some payback for the loud laughing she tended to do so late at night, he really didn’t want to deal with a cranky sister. He quickly moved the phone back to his ear and took a deep breath.

“Yeah, that’s true. It’s kinda funny how different we are, not that I don’t support the law. It’s just when you have a mom like mine, it’s kinda hard to keep it in mind.” Marinette laughed through the phone and his chest felt like it was on fire.

Everything about her was so sweet, her laugh, her personality, she was amazing. Even when the mornings came and his head throbbed from the lack of sleep, he would never change these moments with her for anything in the world.

Sounds of fabric and movement came through the speaker along with a small hum of agreement. “Yeah I am pretty amazing at following the law. It’s kinda like a job at this point… Not that I have a job with the law! I don’t do that. That would be weird. Uh- anyways! Your job! Wait, that's not exciting. Oh man I’m so nervous tonight, I’m sorry.”

“Melody, it’s fine. My job isn’t very exciting, but I’m sure your day was, right? Mind telling me about it? You know I love listening to you.”

A gasp came through the other end of the phone and then a very thorough retelling of the events from the day. He slowly closed his eyes and imagined everything she told him. She left the bakery this morning to hang out with Alya, she probably wore that new beret she made, along with some cute, pink shoes to match.

He imagined her sitting under a tree at the park to draw, it was sunny and hot today, so she probably took her jacket off to get comfortable. She told him how she went out to get orange juice with Kagami, he could practically hear her smile through the phone as she told him about it.

Everything with Marinette was simple, by no means easy, but simple. He knew her well enough to understand how she felt, and she was the same way with him. They just got each other. She didn’t need to tell him the details because she knew he would already know. When he tried to explain a decision he made in a new song, she didn’t have to know what he was saying to understand him. Luka found it easy to just ignore the details, because Marinette was talented enough to fill them in herself.

Luka stayed quiet as he processed her words, filling in the details himself. He loved spending his nights like this, he didn’t mind messing with his sleeping schedule (or lack thereof). He loved to replay every moment of sincerity and kindness she showed throughout her day. He loved to hear about new projects she worked on, because her talent went beyond anything he’d ever seen.

She was miraculous.

“-But yeah, I guess that was my day! Not super exciting, but I think it was okay? I hope it was, at least.” Exciting? That was just one of the many adjectives he could use to describe her. Talented, exciting, clumsy, but so intelligent. Even on her dull days, he got excited just hearing her about random thoughts she had throughout the day. “Marinette… you’re extraordinary, honestly. Your day sounds wonderful. You’re wonderful. I don't know- You make me feel wonderful.”

Was he oversharing? Probably. He was definitely bad with words, but he wasn’t lying. His hands fisted his shirt as he waited for a response. The other end of the phone call went strangely silent. He could faintly hear the hum of the phone and the waves of the water outside his window. Why did the phone get quiet?

The last thing he’d ever want to do was make her uncomfortable, maybe he shouldn’t have said anything. What if he told her too much? A soft squeal pulled him out of his thoughts and he focused back on the phone. “Um-! That’s...really sweet, Luka! You’re wonderful too… Or- Extraordinary I mean! You make me feel extraordinary, all the time. So- I don’t know, thank you?” His chest tightened. How much longer could he keep up with this act?

Pretending to be ‘just a friend’ might be easier for some people, but it was torture for him. Did she have these late night talks with other people? Did she ever hold anyone else’s hands when hers feels cold? Did she ever kiss them on the cheek to say goodbye? Luka was never one to push his luck, despite protests from his sister and mom, but nights like tonight made it hard.

“Don’t thank me, it’s just the truth, Mari. I should be thanking you, for making my nights a lot better, y’know?”

It was the truth. But there was so much more he could say. All of her quirks and amazing qualities always left his head feeling dizzy. He could write symphonies merely based on the person she was, let alone his feelings for her.

Yet he always kept those melodies to himself, even if he wanted to share them with the world, or share them with her. Nights like these make him feel like he could take on anything life throws at him. For Marinette, he probably could.

Another squeal came through the phone and a loud thud. He quickly sat up in a panic and pressed the phone even closer to his ear. “Marinette? Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?” Loud thumping came through the receiver and more panicked sounds.

“S-sorry! That was just- I just- Ugh… I dropped my phone, sorry. You just- you should know that… This is gonna sound lame, but you make my nights better too… Heck, I even listen to your cover songs throughout the day, so I guess you make my days better too? Wait, that sounds weird, sorry! I don’t mean to say it in a weird way...”

Luka’s eyes widened and his heart felt as if it was trying to beat out of his chest. His hand unconsciously moved to his chest and grabbed tightly onto his shirt. The breath leaving him was shaky and weak. It felt like the world stopped spinning for a moment.

All at once, the feelings he tried to hide came boiling over and any sensible thought that told him to conceal his affections raced out of his mind. Before he could stop himself, Luka’s mouth moved on its own.

“Can we facetime? Or anything similar to that, please?”

Without getting an answer, his phone started ringing. He turned the phone to his face and saw himself staring back. As soon as Luka answered the call his eyes wandered across his screen, taking in Marinette’s face.

Her hair was still in pigtails, but different strands stuck out in an adorable way. The camera showed her snuggled into her bed as she laid on her side, with her pink comforter pulled over her lower face, covering her cheeks and nose. A large cat pillow rested just behind her head, unnervingly staring at him. Because most of her face was hidden, Luka noticed her eyes, and suddenly he felt very self aware of his position.

Quickly laying back down on his bed, Luka awkwardly raised one arm to lay behind his head, trying to feign an relaxed appearance. He tried to give her the closest thing to an easygoing smile as he could manage at the moment, which definitely felt a little forced seeing as how he was now (sort of) face to face with Marinette. Trying to hide any tension he was feeling, he cleared his throat, inwardly hoping she couldn’t read how nervous he was.

“Uh- Hey, Mar- Melody. Love the cat pillow. Totally don’t feel like it’s about to jump into your phone and attack me.”

She raised a hand to her mouth, attempting to cover her laughter. Her eyes scrunched, smile widened, and Luka’s heart soared. Marinette managed to roll onto her back letting the beautiful sound ring throughout the room. The blanket dropped and uncovered the entirety of her face.

After a moment of joy, she tried to quickly recollect herself. She turned her head back to the phone and stuck out her tongue. “Silly. Just so you know I’m banning you from making me laugh this late again. You’re gonna make my stomach hurt!”

Luka started laughing too, loosely covering his mouth, not caring about waking anyone up anymore. “That’s gonna be a problem, you should know that I’m kinda hilarious, so you should fully expect me to break that rule. Very quickly.”

They both joined in quiet giggling before Marinette covered her mouth with her hand again and gasped. “I just told you that you’re banned from making me laugh!”

“Hey, I warned you! You can’t be mad when I literally just warned you!”

The two teens burst into laughter once more. Luka calmed down quicker than Marinette did, so he saw her laughing face a second time. She was beautiful. Every time he saw her, he swore she wasn’t real. No real person could be as stunning as she was.

Whenever she worked on a new project and her hair flopped over her face, she was gorgeous. The times when she helps their friends out, her eyes are always so gentle, she’s divine. Even when she’s stressed out, the moments when she feels at her lowest, Luka can’t help but notice how angelic she looks.

She’s breathtaking without even trying.

Once Marinette collected herself, her eyes turned soft and precious as she looked back at the phone. Even through a screen, her stare set his soul on fire. His mind went blank for a second before he lost all sense of reason.

“Did you really mean it when you said I make your days and nights better?”

Her eyes widened slightly at his question, and he finally realized what just came out of his mouth. ‘Great job, Couffaine. You just made it weird!’Luka shook his head and moved the camera slightly away from his face, moving his gaze from the phone. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring it up again-”

“I mean it.”

His eyes shot back to her and saw how she snuggled back into her bed again. Her eyes were looking away, but the redness in her face showed him exactly where her mind was. “I meant what I said… Did- Well, did you mean it too? When you said I made your nights better?”

There it was again. The shaky breath, the longing look in his eyes, the fuzziness in his chest. With a simple answer, she turned him into putty and without even realizing it.

Luka moved his arm to rest on his eyes, attempting to hide any sign that would show how he felt, just in case she didn’t mean her words the way he wanted her to mean them. He’d never blame her for not being too clear, even if it hurt him. Any affection, whether friendly or romantic, should’ve been fine with him.

“This is gonna sound bad, but my phone is full of screenshots from our FaceTime calls.” Luka lifted his arm up slightly to gauge a reaction from her. But her eyes were glued on him, he couldn’t pick up on a clear response, so he covered his eyes again and continued.

“I… this is so creepy- sometimes I look at pictures of you and… it makes my day better too? That sounds so weird. It sounded a lot cuter in my head-” A loud cackle interrupted him and his arm shot away from his eyes. He saw Marinette digging herself even deeper into her massive blanket (and creepy cat pillow), trying to hide her laughter.

She must’ve noticed his silence because her eyes popped out of the blanket to look back at her screen. “Sorry, that’s just… that’s so cute! You take screenshots from our facetime calls?”

Her lopsided smile made his cheeks burn. He tried to gain back his level-headedness by rolling his eyes at her. He brought the phone closer to stick his tongue out at her. “I wouldn’t call me ‘cute’ if you don’t want me to call you ‘adorable’ for listening to those covers.”

Marinette stuck her tongue out at him in retaliation and hid her face back into the blanket. He took a quick, deep breath, silently thanking himself for being able to play his awkwardness off.

“I can’t believe I actually admitted that to you- That’s cold-blooded, Luka! Teasing a girl’s love is mean!”

They both paused for a second, taking in her words. The cabin suddenly felt a lot smaller than it was. His blood felt boiling hot yet icy cold all at once. His face slacked and yet tensed in different places. Looking at her and seeing her eyes expand let him know she was probably feeling the same way.

“Love?”

It sounded so easy. When she said it, it felt right. Full of affection without being overbearing. But then Marinette’s gaze moved off screen. She sunk into herself, yet not playfully like before. The energy of the call changed into something else, something new. “I… shouldn’t say anymore. I’m… sorry, Luka. I’m so sorry; I feel so selfish. I call you so late just to ruin your night by making things weird, and I’m so sorry.”

He watched as she shifted in her bed; he saw the edge of her thumb on the screen, hovering over it, as if she was about to end the call. “That’s not-! Marinette, that’s not true. If you’re selfish… If you’re selfish, then I must be the most greedy guy in the world.”

Marinette swiftly stared at the screen, her mouth opened as if she was going to rebuttal his statement. Before she could, he spoke first.

“I’ve been staying up every night, hoping and begging that you’d text me, or call me, or give me any attention at all. And I do it, knowing that you message me when you’re tired and need to rest. I know that spending time with me only takes away time you need to sleep. So yes, I’m selfish, and I’m greedy,”

Luka slowly sat up as he stared into the screen, clutching it as if it was the most important thing in the world, and at this moment, it was. Marinette moved the blanket off her face slightly and he saw her face flush with color. His voice felt raw as his throat tightened and his face burned. He couldn’t even register the tear that raced down his cheek. When did he get so emotional?

“But Melody, Mari, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I want your attention so bad. I want your affection and anything else you give me. I’ve been trying so hard to bite my tongue around you, to pretend like I think of you as my friend. But I love…”

He shut his mouth fast. What was he doing? He was destroying everything for these feelings. Why would she like him? She gives everyone affection. Marinette loved everyone, it was just who she was. What was he doing? He looked around his room and realized the situation he put himself in. He quickly put his phone on the bed next to him and pulled his knees to his chest.

Did he ruin their relationship? Would she stop having these late night talks with him? Would she still hold his hands when hers felt cold? Would she ever kiss his cheek to say goodbye again? What was he doing?

This wasn’t how tonight was supposed to go. It all happened so fast. He reached for his phone to apologize and to hopefully scavenge whatever was left of their friendship.

“I love you too, Luka.”

His hand stopped just above his phone and he waited. He listened to the small buzzing sound from his phone, the waves moving against the boat, gentle breathing coming from Marinette.

“I love you… and I wanna be selfish. I wanna be greedy and I wanna be with you.”

Luka found the courage to lift the phone to his face and stare back at her. Marinette now sat up, her face was bright red with tear stains down her cheeks. Her eyes were slightly puffy and he was sure his were too. The only light on her face was her phone and even with everything, she looked beautiful.

“I wanna be with you too, Marinette. Always, for as long as you’ll have me. Wake me up at three A.M. everynight for the rest of my life, I don’t care. I just wanna be with you too. I love you.”

It felt so right. It wasn’t too much when he said it. He meant it to be heavy and weighted. But it didn’t feel forced or extreme. It was just right. They stared at each other for a moment more. His eyes raced across every centimeter of the screen, taking in every aspect of her, her eyes doing the same. Smiles spread across her face as they both chuckled, their laughter laced with happy tears.

Luka wiped his eyes, trying to calm himself down (despite his teenage hormones telling him that he should continue to cry and sob from the utter euphoria he was feeling). Marinette tugged at her pigtails with one hand, seeking to find comfort.

“This wasn’t the way I thought we’d confess, y’know. I always thought you’d write me a song, or I’d make you a new jacket. Some big gesture instead of us sobbing,” she chuckled.

He stopped wiping his eyes to laugh again. His smile grew, even as he tasted his tears. “Yeah, sorry about that. I promise I have plenty of songs for you, and about you and everything. I can grab my guitar if you want, but you might hear Juleka complaining in the background.”

They shared one final laugh before the exhaustion of crying kicked in and they both laid back down. Marinette wrapped herself in blankets one final time, holding the dubious cat pillow tight against her. Luka found himself in a similar position, he laid on his side, his face squished against his pillow and the blanket pulled under his chin.

They stared at each other, making small conversation about their feelings. Luka could hardly remember all that happened after that, he felt such relief and happiness from everything that the rest of the night felt fuzzy.

He glanced at the time at the top of his screen and noticed it was now closer to three-thirty. Luka took a deep breath before sighing. He saw Marinette’s eyes getting smaller and smaller with each second.

He knew that they should hang up soon, but he really wanted to be selfish and keep her on the phone. “Luka…”

Marinette slowly opened an eye to look back at him. Their smiles grew once again. “Are you gonna take another screenshot of me?” Her smile turned sly and he rolled his eyes.

“That’s cold-blooded, Mel’. Teasing a guy’s love is mean,” he stuck out his tongue, just for good measure. But then he sneakily took one screenshot, to remind himself that tonight was real and not just a dream. Tonight, Marinette was his and he was hers, and hopefully it’ll stay like that for a long time.

Her eyes drifted back closed, but her smile never left. “...Love you… Luka….”

Warmth engulfed his chest, leaving him feeling light and airy. The mattress underneath him felt soft and perfect. The dryness on his cheeks from earlier tears didn’t bother him at all. He was content and full of love.

While the confession was unexpected, he wouldn’t change it for the world. As much as he loved her clothing and as many songs as he had for her, he knew nothing would’ve compared to tonight. As he looked back at her sleeping face, he had a feeling she felt the same.

“I love you too, Marinette.”

#pro lukamari #lukanette #luka couffaine #marinette dupain cheng #ao3 #fluff #love confessions #mlb #late night calls #late night #texting #calling #facetime

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ct-multifandom · 3 years

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MLB ideas/hopes/predictions/prompts

Bunnix using her umbrella to fly like Mary Poppins

Ladybug coming up with an overly convoluted Rube Goldberg machine type plan with her lucky charm, but not having some of the components, so she just sends Pegasus to the store in the middle of a battle

Characters who are close slowly finding out about each other’s superhero identities in funny ways

Pigella picking up something massive and like 10x heavier than her and chucking it

I really want one of these heroes’ tools to be a comically large anime-style weapon, but alas I don’t think they’d do it

Season finale boss fight featuring all the new heroes, which is totally gonna happen at some point, but it would look really busy on screen to have them all running around at once, so I’d split them into smaller teams based on their skills to carry out specific parts of Ladybug’s Epic 36-Step Plan™️. It would make for a satisfying “oh yeah, it’s all coming together” montage and also give us some unique character interactions.

Ladybug picking unique combo teams of new heroes based on their skills to fight specific strong villains

Alya starting a school paper and getting the whole team in on it. I love the episodes where the class does one big project together, they’re so cute.

Someone/a group getting akumatized on purpose to disobey Hawkmoth and take advantage of their akuma’s power for a noble goal

Episode from the POV of a boring background character detailing how the life of the average Parisian is affected by LB and CN. Unreliable scheduling, monster traffic jams, the sheer embarrassment of getting got by an akuma...

I want an animal to get akumatized. Someone’s dog who feels lonely when their favorite human gets a new, demanding job and turns into a terrifying Cerberus beast or something.

Mayor Bourgeois allocates some taxpayer dollars into a LB bank account to support her, and she has to make the very important decision on whether to save it for a real emergency or buy 17 hamburgers.

Okay part of me doesn’t want to make kwami/future hero predictions in case I accidentally come up with something way cooler than what will really happen and then be disappointed, but the other part of me is like hee hoo predikshun. So don’t expect these to actually happen lol.

I won’t talk about Multimouse because we kinda know everything about her, but she looks cute and it’s nice to see two heroes who aren’t super skinny.

The silhouette of Minotaurox in the intro doesn’t offer a lot of insight other than his epic horns. I have no idea what his tool might be. His costume looks to be pretty simple/practical, though, which is in line with Ivan’s character. I heard a theory that his power will be increasing in size, and it makes sense looking at Stoneheart and the pattern of flipping the characters’ flaws on their head, but that sounds kind of boring to me, especially compared to all the other creative abilities.

Tigresse’s silhouette makes me think her design will be awesome. Her tail looks like it might be her tool. It kind of resembles Amethyst’s whip from SU so maybe she can use it to grab things like Ladybug does with her yo-yo. I heard a theory that her power will be invisibility which I support because it takes the flaw that turned Juleka into Reflekta (wanting to be invisible out of insecurity) and makes it powerful like the stealth of a tiger.

From the silhouette, Caprikid looks a bit like a beginner’s Trollhunters cosplay, but I’m sure he’ll be cool. I’ve seen people argue whether he’s Nate or Marc and I’m positive he’s Marc (making Nate CC) so if anyone asks for an explanation I’ll make the comprehensive post on why. He’s holding his tool, and I’ve seen debate over which direction it’s in. If he’s holding it pointed up it looks like a giant calligraphy brush, but I think he’s holding it pointed down and the “brush” is just a decoration on the end. I’ve heard a theory that it’s a shepherd’s cane which is my favorite one. Personal idea here: I’d make his power telekinesis. Pretty basic, but I can imagine it being very useful for the type of scenarios we see in the show without it being OP. I like the idea of using a cane to “shepherd” something through the air. This could reflect Reverser’s desire for control, but flip it to be more collected and useful.

I fully support Coq Courage’s ninja pants, they are simply Correct. It’d be cool if his tool was a bow and arrow, and that seems like a pretty popular theory. The shape to the left of his torso looks like it might be a quiver but it’s probably just his other arm. Thumb rings are used in archery, but what little we’ve seen of the miraculous (disguised on Marinette and Chloe) shows a different type of ring. Still tho. Also get ready for my crazy never-gonna-happen idea: the bow can turn into a hang glider. Roosters can fly, but not super well/freely, which could translate to gliding. It’d add some versatility to the way the heroes move around since a lot of the temporary ones can only run, and it would let him reach places LB might not be able to. I’ve heard a theory that his power will be supersonic voice which could contrast how Nathaniel is bad at communicating and quiet until he gets mad and blows up.

Orikko might be the kwami of illumination. Roosters are associated with the sun and Evillustrator’s power was sourced from light. At first I thought his transformation words might be “sunrise” and “sunset” but someone said the activation code could be “rise and shine” which sounds awesome.

Traquemoiselle, believe it or not, is actually in the intro, she’s just hidden at the very top and only a snippet of the head is showing. All we know is that she has round dog ears. Barrk is surprisingly one of the more fleshed-out kwamis as of now, having a few solid lines of characterization in Furious Fu. Kwamis are usually yin-yang to their holder, so Barrk fits Sabrina perfectly, being loyal yet independent while Sabrina is loyal and an absolute doormat. No clue about her tool. Her power is kinda in the name: tracking. Maybe she can track down some one specific thing of her choice, but maybe she can sniff out akumas. As seen in Dark Owl and Gang of Secrets, Hawkmoth can be creative with akuma placement, so she can probably save the team from some close calls.

I have no theories for the transformation words of the other kwamis. Ziggy or Stompp could include “horns” or “charge” and Roaar “stripes” but I can’t think of any phrase including those words that isn’t too similar to an existing one. There are some phrases based on powers, though, not the animal. Or maybe they’ll just give up and give us another iteration of “Sass, scales slither”.

I think the theme for one of these remaining new heroes might be “assertion”. A lot of them struggle with that as their civilian selves, and the animals that are left can all be associated with independence/dominance, not that the animal traits always play into what the heroes are.

Ok last one, long one: in season 3, Luka’s main traits were “cool and nice” which doesn’t make for an interesting, complex major character, and at first he seemed like the perfect love interest, but from an outside perspective the extent of his kindness is kind of disturbing. I’m hoping they can flip this around and turn it into a character flaw where he has practically no boundaries, and it turns into a problem. Maybe he could agree to run random errands for the background characters for nothing in return, and at first it’s just him being nice, but later people start seeing his help as an obligation. They get peeved when he’s unavailable one day and get akumatized into a “boss rush” of classic akumas, effectively trapping and forcing him to help them. Then Tigresse Pourpe comes and helps save the day, expanding on Juleka and Luka’s relationship. The resolution can teach kids that putting yourself first isn’t necessarily selfish, and that sitting back and letting people take advantage of your kindness isn’t heroic.

There’s probably some stuff I forgot which I can put in a different post later, but lmk if you want a separate post about any of these things in more detail! This was just me rambling out all my new hyperfixation thoughts. Also if anyone uses any of the hypotheticals/scenarios as a prompt I’d love to see it.

#miraculous ladybug #mlb #miraculous spoilers #miraculous les aventures de ladybug et chat noir #miraculous season 4 #miraculous lb #too lazy to add all the character tags #long post #brain go brrrr

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pl-panda · 4 years

Text

Damienette arranged marriage part 4

Credits: Miraculous Ladybug team for the elements I take from MLB show. DC for their characters, @ozmav for the AU, @maribat-archive for giving me access to so many different stories to have take inspirations from, @thyladyanput for idea for Chat Damian and me for the plot.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

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"Oh god! Oh god! I got to meet MDC! Can I get your authograph?" He was suddenly next to her, holding a copy of the her first album cover she made for Jagged.

"Sure." She signed it and handed it back. It read: 'Good luck TD, MDC'

Tim Fainted.

Marinette was befuddled. She never saw anyone react like that. Sure Adrien once asked her for an autograph, but this was new.

"Forgive Drake. He first got into what he calls 'music' when he saw the new glasses Jagged Stone wore in Paris." Damian said, looking almost bored with his brother's antics.

"Really?"

"You should have seen him. He also wanted to figure out MDC identity. After three nights he had nothing. We had to cut the cord from coffee machine in the batcave and force him to go to bed." Dick was laughing at the unconscious brother. Tim was often such a nerd that it was miracle he got Steph to date him. But then again, Demon Spawn just got married.

"Tt. As much as I love to embarrass Drake, it's less fun when he is unconscious and we have other matters to discuss."

"Agreed" Bruce nodded. "Do you know what will you tell your parents miss?"

"Not really... They don't know about this." She gestured around. "If they knew I got married, they would ground me for life. Maman and Papa can get a bit overprotective. Last time I brought a boy home Papa got akumatized and placed me in giant prison of thorns."

"Brr... And I thought that having to duel Tamaranian general to be able to marry Kor'i was bad." Dick chuckled.

"Suckers!" Jason shouted before taking a large swing of the whiskey. "I never had such problems."

"Maybe because you never dated anyone, Flappy Bird" Dick grinned maliciously.

"That's enough! I am trying to have a civilized conversation with my daughter-in-law! If you two idiots don't shut up, I will ground you and give you the Watchtower duty at least until christmas!" Bruce was slowly getting done with this bickering.

"Fine/He started it!" Dick/Jason shouted.

"I don't care. Get out if you wish to continue." Bruce cut them off before they got into another argument and turned to Marinette. "No friends that would cover for you? Or a partner?"

"No..." Every member of the batfam (bar the unconscious Tim) immediately noticed the darker note behind this. "My identity is... was the best kept secret in the world. There were exactly two humans who knew. Me and Master Fu. But he lost all his memories." She hummed for a moment. "Well, now I guess you know too. And the League of Assassins. And Order of the Guardians. Oh Tikki I am an awful Ladybug..."

"You are great Ladybug Marinette. The best one out there." The Kwami reassured her. "Nobody in Paris would do a better job!"

Marinette smiled and calmed down a bit. She was still shaking. Jason gave her one look and tried to handle her a glass of whiskey, but one glare from Damian was enough to make him back away from this idea.

"I have a better question." Dick joined the discussion after he was done with Jason. "What about you and Damian."

"Nobody asked you Grayson." Damian huffed. If it was up to him, he would delay this questioning session to next year. Or decade.

"But he did make a very good point Demon Spawn." Jason supported his older brother.

"I... I don't know. That woman, Talia, said that if we broke this marriage, there would be another war. Who was she?"

"Talia Al Ghul, my mother. She is the current leader of the League of Assassins" Damian explained.

Tim, who nobody noticed woke up, was now sitting back in the computer chair. His face was still pretty much pure bliss, but he was typing like a madman. "There must be some way out of this. It would be easier if we knew the specifics of the marriage contract."

"That's not how it works with the League Drake." Damian scowled. "It's not paperwork. When the ceremony is done, the two people are bound. There is no marriage certificate, there is no marriage license, it's the act that counts." His face was in usual frown.

"So basically the marriage is as well as nonexistent. That's good." Tim grinned, but seeing Damian's face he sensed there was more to it.

"No. That's bad. There is no such thing as divorce in the league, except for killing the spouse."

This caused Marinette to let out a fearful yelp and cuddle to Tikki. But at the same time, Bats noticed that she tensed and prepared to fight. Damian internally cursed himself. He did not want to scarry this girl.

"Don't worry, Miss. Nobody would even consider this." Bruce tried to calm her down.

"We wouldn't, but if the League consider that we are not upholding the marriage, they might go after her." Damian wanted to go and butcher the League. He could do it. Well, everyone but his mother. The young Wayne was unsure if he would be able to do it. For all her faults, he still cared about her.

"Let them try!" Tikki shouted in her squeaky voice. "I will get Plagg to cataclysm this pathetic base of their! Nobody messes with my Marinette!" She protectively flew in front of Marinette, ready to fight anyone who threatened her chosen.

"Maybe let's try to refrain from genocide yet?" Dick asked, half amused, half scared about this. While he was leaning toward believing the threat, the idea that someone so small and cute could take on the whole league was just too damn funny. He then looked at Damian and noticed that the boy had same kind of murderous look. Oh this is too good. He is actually falling for her. He grinned, but decided to at least now don't tease him.

"So there is no way that the two of you just stayed on different continents and acted like this never happened?" Tim asked with resignation.

"It is expected of us to stay together." Damian answered shortly. Marinette felt air leave her lungs like someone just punched her. Her whole life was shattered in the span of a week. What will she tell her parents? And what about school? "I am sorry, Du... Marinette." Damian was tempted to walk to her and comfort her, but he stopped himself. She needed space.

The rest of the Wayne family was stunned. Damian rarely referred to anyone by their first name, much less to strangers. Yet, he was acting very protective and even some dare to say affectionate toward this girl. Tim was starting to think someone did drug him, but rest just smiled. Demon Spawn finally got a crush, and on his wife of all people.

"Wait! There might be a way to deal with it." Tim suddenly brightened. "Or at least delay this."

"Just spit it, Replacement." Damian tried to frown, but he couldn't deny the hope. At the same time, there was this small tingle where his heart should be. He was happy that maybe Marinette would have a chance at normality, but at the same time he wanted to stay with her. To get to know her. Just what in hell is going on with me?

"First of all, rude." Tim started. "And secondly, we could file for her to get a formal underage marriage."

"And how exactly does it help?" Marinette asked.

"The state of Gotham allows underage marriage from the age of fourteen with court permission, provided the certain age-gap is retained. The procedure is very lengthy though."

"So how does it help Drake. I am very curious what is going in this few brain cells of your." Damian was getting impatient.

"The League should respect that you try to validate the marriage in the eyes of law. So until the court proceeding is finished, you two could stay separate and go about your lives. And with a bit of work, it could last for up to two years before the judge agreed."

"To even file for this, we would need a solid basis." Dick spoke before anyone got hope. Tim pressed some buttons on the keyboard and displayed the copy of the underage marriage act.

"One of the listed reasons is cultural specifications. And most people know that Damian was raised by his mother outside of the States. With a bit of work, I can draft a betrothal deal signed when he and Marinette were still babies."

"So basically we put this in court and then delay this into oblivion?" Jason grinned. "I like this."

"I am impressed Drake. For once you've actually proven to be useful." Damian commented.

"So I would be able to stay here in peace?" Marinette asked shyly.

"For some time, yes. The League should not go against you then, because it's not your fault you can't legally live with Damian yet." Bruce assured her.

"But what about vultures in the media?" Dick asked.

"Simple: classified proceeding. Public won't know anything is even in motion." Drake was getting more and more confident in this plan.

"I would be able to finish my school here." Marinette smiled.

"Yes, you would. I will make sure there will be no complications." Bruce smiled. "But there are two more problems that still needs to be dealt with. Hawkmoth and your parents."

"I will deal with talking with my parents on my own." Marinette reassured them. "But I don't don't know about Hawkmoth. He went silent after the last stunt, but it won't be over until I take away his miraculous."

"Drake will stay here and help you solve this case. He is the most level-headed in this room, so the risk of him falling under Akuma is the smallest." Bruce declared and others nodded.

"Thank you! thank you! thank you!" Ladybug jumped from the chair and hugged Tikki, then Bruce, then Tim.

"It's no problem Miss. I am sorry League ignored your plea for help. It's the least I could do."

"For your daughter-in-law you mean?" Jason grinned. Oh he would not let this die so easily. Demon Spawn would get it this time.

"Nobody asked you, Todd." Damian scowled.

"Please don't fight because of me. I think it's time for me to go face my parents."

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Marinette arrived at her parent's bakery around 10 PM. The lights were still on. She stopped before walking in, taking one more breath to calm herself. She hated lying. She knew that there was no such thing as white lie, not really. Every lie hurt in some way, just not always instantly. She gathered all the courage she could muster and pushed the door, walking in.

"Maman! Papa! I am home!" She called them and there was instantly a commotion on the first floor. "Here we go Tikki. I hope my detention ends before I graduate..." She whispered to her Kwami and prepared to face her parents.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng!" Her mother barged into the room. "You better explain yourself this instant!" This surprised the girl. She expected her mother to be angry, but also to show some worry. An alarm bell rang in her head. Something was not right.

"How could you?!" Her father was also angry. She could only hope Hawkmoth was still licking his wounds.

"What's going on? Maman? Papa?" She asked in confusion.

"Don't play dumb with us young lady! Alya told us how you decided to run away and try to join Audrey Bourgeois in America!" Her father shouted at her.

"What!? I never did such thing. My mandarin teacher, Master Fu, had an accident. He lost his memory and I was escorting him to the train station for him to meet his friend who would take care of him. You remember master Fu?" She received a nod and continued to bombard her parents with information. It was an advice from Damian. The more she babble the less time they have to actually think this over. "So I handed him over to his friend and they walked into train station, but then I realized I was still holding his luggage and I tried to chase after them. Then, I thought I saw them enter the train, so I followed them, but it turned out this was the wrong train and then it left the station and I was still inside. I panicked and looked for the conductor to sort this out, but he said that they couldn't stop. So I tried to find Master Fu, but he was not there and I immediately got out on the next train station, but I left my purse in the train so I didn't have a phone on me and I had to somehow figure out where I was and then I entered another train, because they said it was going to Paris, but it was misunderstanding and it was coming from Paris and I got even further away, but then I finally got out in some different city, still carrying only Master Fu's luggage and I had to somehow get back to Paris and it took me so long to actually get there and I am sorry that I didn't call but I didn't have any money to pay for a stationary phone and I lost my purse and it would be wrong to go through Master's luggage to get money so I had to sort this out with the train station officials and they helped me get here and I even managed to send the luggage through mail, but only now I got here..." She took a deep breath. Her heart was beating super fast and she was sweating a little bit. Anyone proficient in lies detection could tell this was all bullshit, but luckily her parents wanted to believe her. "What I wanted to say is... I am sorry I didn't call you. I guess I panicked a little."

They hugged her tightly, all three crying a little (her father much). Once they broke apart, she smiled. "Can I go to my room and get some sleep now?"

"Yes. Our little grown up girl." Marinette smiled and was about to run, but she heard her mother continue speaking. "But you are still grounded for two weeks."

"Mom!" She shouted, but smiled and went back to her room.

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Taglist (sorry if I missed you)@pheonixashtree @sassakitty @unabashedbookworm @vixen-uchiha @maggiecc12 @actualdisasterwoman @tired-butterfly @shizukiryuu @floralfi @imanerddealwith @northernbluetongue @krispydefendorpolice @toodaloo-kangaroo @dast218 @bluesoulblueheart @theatreandcomicfreak @disneyfoxuniverse @mindfulmagics @alwaysnumberonetruth @nyaabinch @jardimazul @lenamau @rosep16 @dramatic-squirrel @sonif50 @daminett4life @lulutheawkwardess @weird-pale-blonde-person @mooshoon @jeminiikrystal @mochegato @moonlightstar64 @dragonflyswing @silverwhiteraven @shamefullove @magic-miraculous @valeks-princess @heaven428 @mlbchaosqueen @winter-gardenflower @spicybelladonna @emo-elaine13 @vetilora @karukofox21 @my-name-is-michell

#fanfiction #fanfic #damienette #crossover #marinette x damian #damian al ghul #damian wayne #maridami #maribat au #maribat #batman #mlb #miraculous lb #arranged marriage au

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miraculouscontent · 3 years

Text

Askplosion #12 4/4:

(I would like to state for future reference that, while I do not mind long/multi-part asks, if you’d like to engage in actual discussion with me over a non-Miraculous topic, my DMs - Tumblr Messenger - should be open; I lost pieces of three multi-part asks this time just due to Tumblr not sending the remaining part(s) so yeah, I just wanted to make that clear)

(like, this askplosion ended up being super long because of this section and that’s not really what I want to have going on since I’m supposed to be a primarily Miraculous blog; I don’t want to have to stop answering non-Miraculous related asks but I might have to if this keeps up:)

.:New non-Miraculous Asks:.

Anonymous said:

What are your experiences with some really rude anons?

It’s partly my fault when it happens. Like I’ve said before, I’m an aspie, and part of what that means is I struggle to understand situations emotionally. I can come off as insensitive or read the mood wrong which often leads to people misunderstanding my intentions or where I’m coming from.

More often than not, what I’m saying will make 100% sense to me but not the person/people reading it. I also stick a lot more firmly to my opinions than I should because people tell me I fold too easily, and I come off as more egotistical than I actually am to cover up my low self-esteem lol.

So yeah, can’t think of any experience in particular but sometimes it might be my fault? At least I suspect that it is?

Anonymous said:

“Killed by kindness” makes me think of an assassin who kills people by giving hugs and compliments to people and the occasion gift that isn’t tampered until thre target does like Conrad Birdie making women swoon into fainting by singing.

omg

yes

Anonymous said:

You're watching Yashahime right now? rip

MARINETTE TAKE 2 MOROHA DESERVES BETTER

SETSUNA HAS SO LITTLE REASON TO HANG OUT WITH THE OTHER TWO GIRLS

IF I SEE ANOTHER DEUS EX TOWA I’M GONNA KICK SOMETHING

(so yes, I’m watching Yashahime)

Anonymous said:

Since someone recommended Remarried Empress, I would like to recommend my own webcomic: Princess Love-Pon! It's about a young girl named Lia Sagamore who becomes the titular magical girl and purifies people's hearts when they're tainted by the Dark Queen! It's really cool due to its diversity, the main character is black and her best friend is Afro-Latina, the villain and her prince son are also black, and there's a Japanese girl, a black guy, and an Indian girl. Plus, loads of pink and frills!

Thank you very much, though I actually don’t take recommendations, even from close friends. The Remarried Empress anon wasn’t a recommendation; they were more pointing something out to me and then I went to confirm.

Anonymous said:

Unrelated to MLB: Which Pokémon are your favourites?

I used a “Favorite Pokemon Picker” because I prefer going by generations to pick favorites and that was the easiest way of going about it. I struggle picking super favorites so here’s what I got form each generation! (my only rule was “one Pokemon per evolution line” with an exception of the Eevee line since they’re different types, and also Alolan/Galarian forms)

(note: the blue-patterned Vivillon is my favorite and I honestly don’t like Charizard normally but the Y version actually slims him down and gives him the wings I feel he should have; it’s an improvement of the design so it gets my seal of approval, I don’t like the X version at all)

(lol I was looking through this after I was done and find it really funny how it’s like, 50% cute things and then the other 50% is just EDGY, there’s very little in-between with me I guess)

Anonymous said:

Bridgerton the Series: Yay or nay? Sorry if you haven’t seen it or it’s not your thing. I was just curious.

Never seen it, though when I brought up to someone, they didn’t recommend it to me at all ahaha.

Anonymous said:

I previously kept having this argument about The Bechdel Test with someone. She keeps insisting that the test is invalid because there's nothing wrong with talking about men and that it was created for lesbians only, and not for feminists, with the implication that being a lesbian somehow means that you dislike men or want them gone. And she also thinks the test is about NEVER talking about men, rather than merely occasionally talking about other things. I keep telling her otherwise, but...

jdfhkgdfhjgdfg “lesbians only”

now all I can imagine is “lesbians only” sections at restaurants and such

Anonymous said:

Have you ever played Akinator, with or without the Miraculous Ladybug characters? Because I played it with Ochaco from MHA and Marinette and he guessed them within a second(can your character control gravity? Is your character a protagonist?). I even played it with myself as the "character" and he guessed "your shadow" lol. How about you?

I’ve played Akinator before but I don’t specifically remember what I was searching for lol.

Anonymous said:

The cast for the newest Power Rangers series got revealed, and I hate that as soon as I saw the Pink Ranger's bio mentioned she was an internet journalist, I thought of Alya. I really hope she doesn't have the same problems as Alya in the series proper.

fhgdfkgd journalists have been ruined for us forever

Anonymous said:

Have you noticed that in many shows, especially shonen shows, people tend to hate the most "feminine" female character? Like, in Naruto it was Sakura, in Death Note it was Misa, in My Hero Academia it was Ochaco(although a lot of people like her so I'm not so sure about that last one?). The most hated character in one too many a shonen is almost always the "girliest" of the characters. They're always claimed to be useless or reliant on a man. And this is within the fandom who should know better!

It probably didn’t help with Sakura that she was decked out in pink hair; that’s an instant girl label for you (or lesbian label, depends on the person :P).

I don’t think I’ve been in enough fandoms to have such an experience but I definitely see where you’re coming from.

Anonymous said:

Rewatching Chat Blanc and Here To Help from Star vs. and hearing Adrien/Marco tell Marinette/Star that they always liked the girls from the beginning makes me so pissed. It's not that I don't ship Starco(I do! But I also like MarcoxJanna), although I don't ship the love square, but I'm so annoyed with writers finding the need to make the audience "know" that the main ship's characters "always" liked each other, as if that makes their love for each other more true, even if it's obvious they had other crushes? Like, what happened to Kagami Tsurugi? Jackie-Lynn Thomas?

News flash: Teenagers are allowed to have crushes on multiple other people before they find "the One". It doesn't mean their love for that "One" is any less valid. And if you still want to pull the "they always liked each other since they first met", at least make it actually TRUE!!! Don't have them have crushes on other people before moving on to the "official" crush and be all like "Oh, by the way, I liked you from the start," when it's dead obvious they didn't. You're doing a disservice to the romantic "false" leads.

I'm willing to forgive Star's crush on Oskar and Tom since she's not the one claiming she always liked Marco(even though she fell in love with him LONG before he fell in love with her, which is a nice turn of events), although her "love" for Oskar was merely an infatuation at most and I personally don't see why it was needed. Why don't they just say that their old crush didn't do it for them???

UGH, I remember watching that show and being so annoyed because I really liked Marco and Jackie and wanted them to be a thing but I knew that they’d pull Starco in the end because of course they would.

It also totally makes it seem as if love is the most powerful relationship there is (aros would like a word), which is so bizarre when there are so many “power of friendship” tropes. Like, a male and female lead have to get together because their relationship is the strongest.

The love square would hold so much more meaning to me without this love drama nonsense. It’s tiring.

Anonymous said:

Have you seen Yuki Yuna Is a Hero? If so, then what are your thoughts on it? I was thinking of watching it but it seems to be another "taking away the empowerment of the magical girl genre by making the girls suffer instead" type story. I read about it on TV Tropes and apparently it's a deconstruction that takes after Madoka Magica which already puts a bad taste in my mouth, but then I got to the examples and they're basically about how girls who get magical powers lose their body parts one by one and that the reason only girls can be heroes is because "young girls have always been sacrifices".

Not to mention it was written by a man and aimed towards a seinen(adult men ages 17-35) demographic, making it torture porn for adult men. Also, both the laconic page for Yuki Yuna and Madoka Magica say "Being a magical girl sucks."(though for Yuki Yuna it adds "Unless you have the power of friendship.") and to be honest that kills any desire in me to watch the show. Should I give it a chance?

Oof.

Yeah, after bringing it up to a friend of mine, it was instantly recommended of me not to watch it, so I’d say, “no.”

Anonymous said:

Let's make one thing perfectly clear. I, love, love, LOVE Sailor Moon. And I love the transformations, too. But if there's one thing I don't love, it's that their outfits all look pretty much the same but with different colors/different lengths of gloves and shoes and stuff like that, and that they all have the exact same body type save for the one fat girl who's made to look bad. I don't like Madoka Magica, but at least they all had unique/different costumes(but they still have similar bodies).

We’re not allowed diversity here. Take your different body types to a show that cares; we’re all about femininity here and how girls can be beautiful and powerful no matter wha--oh wait...

Yeah, I don’t care for the design in Sailor Moon, but that’s because skirts don’t interest me design-wise unless it’s really unique/interesting.

(note that there’s a lot of talk about tomboys, sexism, and TV tropes and such below, and then Madoka Magica after that; that’s basically the rest of this askplosion:)

Anonymous said:

I just saw the thumbnail for a video called "Why You Should Watch Princess Tutu(Yes, I Know The Name Is Stupid)". Umm, why is it stupid exactly? Because it's "girly"? What is with people thinking that in order for a girly show to be good they have to first separate the show from its girliness in order to enjoy it? It's like how men will say a show is good despite it being girly, or that since it's good it's no longer girly. Nobody does this for boy shows, because boy things are "never" stupid.

Princess = girly thing

Tutu = girly thing

girly things = bad

That’s the formula~ They should’ve called it something edgier and manly so that more people would be interested.

Anonymous said:

I'm wary of any woman or girl who says, "I'm a girl, but I'd rather read books about guys" or "I'm a female writer but I mostly write stories about male characters". I feel like those women are the "not like other girls/one of the guys" type who suffer from internalized misogyny and don't like female characters. I also feel like they're the type to not care about female representation, because in their minds, girls shouldn't care about female role models. We can enjoy males just as much! I do!

To be fair, they might also just be writing about shirtless men doing “handsome” things. ;P

But nah, I see your point. Me personally, I try to find a balance of writing both, but I do think there can be bias.

Anonymous said:

Do you think it's okay to like a ship but acknowledge that it wouldn't be safe or healthy or condonable in real life? Because I was just thinking of how a lot of people like some really "toxic" ships like Veronica/JD in Heathers, Yuno/Yukki in Future Diary, Madoka/Homura in Madoka Magica(although some people don't like it because of its toxicity/like it but don't realize it's toxic), almost any villain/hero ship, the list goes on. But they're aware of the fact that it's not a good standard for healthy relationships in real life.

An alternative I've seen is people having a crush on "dangerous" characters like JD and Yuno, or Karma from Assassination Classroom(there's not a single video on YouTube with him in it that DOESN'T have comments full of people saying they want Karma to father their children), but still being aware of the fact that the character is a) not real and b) wouldn't be a good partner if they were real(and that's assuming they even want to be with you. But sometimes there's a good reason for falling in love with a "toxic/dangerous" character.

Take Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club! She's obsessed with the player(not the player CHARACTER, the flesh and blood player themselves) to the point of killing off all the other girls and "trapping" you in a room with her where she talks endlessly about lots of things. But she's actually a lonely girl who's driven insane by the fact that nothing around her is real. She latches on to you because you're the only other person who's real and sapient and has got a mind of their own. You're literally her outlet to the outside world.

She's personally my favorite character in the game due to her actually being a more fleshed out, sympathetic(and not in the idealized "moemoe" way), and realistic take on the Yandere archetype(which, like many moe archetypes, is kinda misogynistic in nature in that it reinforces submissiveness; it's basically animes version of "woman scorned".). So it makes sense that people would sympathize with her and want her to become real, because all she's ever wanted was to be real and to talk to real people. Especially since she really did care about her friends and even returned them back to life because she saved their backup files, taking herself out of the picture.

I read a few "Monika becomes real and lives with you" fanfictions where she's really sweet and not at all crazy and cares for you a lot, and it's never felt the same as all those other "Yandere/psycho lives with you and is your girl/boyfriend" type stories precisely because those stories tend to just glorify possessive partners that kill your loved ones, drive your family members to commit suicide, and tear up your stuffed animals and dollies for the sake of it, rather than go into why they're so crazy for you, and often reinforce Stockholm Syndrome.

Plus, those "things" she talks about in the empty room? They're actually quite smart and make you think about the world for a bit. Not many "crazy" type characters actually get that. They're all about how "I'll slice your boyfriend open with an axe if you don't date me wa ha ha", and even if they're not, it's all the fandom will focus on, to the point of ignoring any and all other aspects to their character. Because that "crazy in love" aspect is the most appealing part of them. Maybe it's due to forbidden fruit/bad boy(or girl) appeal? Who knows? But I'm starting to wonder if it's still as bad if people recognize the problematic aspects of "crazy in love" characters or "dysfunctional" relationships.

Because if they recognize it's not real and don't really want it for themselves, then it's probably not much of a problem. But if they just go on wanting it to be real and never take a step back and go "wait a minute, this isn't real love; they're only together because he latches onto the first girl to show him any kindness and affection and she's a doormat who doesn't want something bad to happen if she leaves him", then that's bad.

Obviously it's not as bad as being in love with literal stalkers, killers, and rapists in real life(which is an actual thing, believe it or not, it's called hybristophilia), because fictional characters will never be real. Karma Akabane will never be real. Yuno Gasai will never be real. JD will never be real. But loving fictional characters who do those things and not realizing the problem with it may cause people to seek out real criminals, so it's best to separate fiction from reality.

I can’t help judging a little internally, but yeah, I think people can ship whatever as long as it has that “not in real life” scenario going for it. It’s ultimately fiction, so just because I don’t like it and/or think that it’s bad doesn’t mean other people can’t ship it.

Anonymous said:

I'm getting tired of all the racists on TV Tropes getting upset whenever a trope has a Japanese name. Whether it's Tsundere, Yandere, Meganekko, Genki Girl, Bokukko, or any Japanese anime name, people will complain that the trope exists beyond anime so it shouldn't have a "cute anime name", and that it should instead just be given a broader(read: English) name with the same meaning. Or that the site is too obsessed with anime. I'm just sick of people saying that anime names are bad.

The other thing is that we don’t actually have English words for certain things? I mean, the whole reason we say, “tsundere,” is because it says everything in one word. It’s easy.

(Also, people are aware the the English language isn’t some unique thing that takes no inspiration from other languages, right? It’s a mix of things, so accept that other languages exist because we literally wouldn’t have English without them.)

Anonymous said:

Have you seen the TV Tropes reviews for "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic"? Holy crap, they are all a perfect example of the "Real Women Don't Wear Dresses" phenomenon that I have mentioned earlier and is so fucking present on this site. While some reviews praise the show for showing that "it's okay to be strong AND girly"(such as Hadles' review, which was really splendid), and that girl shows are no less good, others either insult the show by calling it "girly, saccharine, and stupid" as if "girly" is synonymous with anything bad about a show, or feel the need to distance it from its girliness in order to praise it as if a show can't be good if it's also girly.

Some people were saying things like "the show might seem girly at first, but it's actually a good, brilliant show with intricate plot twists, well-developed characters, and even some scary moments" and "the characters aren't just shallow girly-girls, they have depth!" So what, girliness is mutually exclusive to anything of value? One person even said that the Girl-Show Ghetto was the reason they couldn't get into the show or respect it. Just...wow.

And one review even said "Rarity's pretty tough for a girly girl!" Excuse me? Tough FOR a girly girl? So being a girly girl somehow automatically disqualifies you from being tough? Like "yeah, she's tough despite being a girly girl! Because girly girls aren't supposed to be tough."

It reminds me of the phrase "you're pretty for a black girl", which, while it's never been said to ME, I have heard other people complain about. It's sick and it hurts, just like this. And the few people who didn't say things like that still said that they couldn't get into the show at first because it looked "girly and vapid", before changing their minds and thinking that the show either proved their biases about girly shows wrong, no longer think it's girly since girly shows "can't" be good, or like it "despite" it's girliness.

And there were 70 reviews in all. 70 reviews full of this misogynistic "girly is bad" shit. So in conclusion nearly all the reviews on TV Tropes for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic were along the lines of one of three things. 1) "This show is girly so I looked past it because girly shows are dumb." 2) "This show is good despite being girly/the characters are good despite being girly." and 3) "This show is not girly to me at all because it is well-written and captivating and girly shows aren't capable of such things."

Granted, some people there were able and willing to call out those who judged the show badly for being girly(or gave it the "not like other girls" treatment, but in show form), as well as people warning other potential viewers to get rid of any potential bias they may have against it due to it being girly. But there were still more people insulting its girliness as a reason they think it sucks or denying its girliness to justify their liking of it than the other way around.

I would've accepted it in the form of "If you think this show is bad because of its inherent girliness, then you are wrong!" or "This show is proof that a show being girly or aimed at girls doesn't and shouldn't take away from its value, as people seem to believe." or "A girl can be girly and be a strong female character.", but no, instead I got shit like this. It's especially insulting when TV Tropes is a site that devotes itself in part to critiquing sexist tropes found in media, only to turn right around and reinforce them.

I don’t read TV Tropes that frequently, so I fortunately missed out on all of these complete idiots who associate girly products with being bad.

(that “pretty for a black girl” comment makes me hate all aspects of “expectations of beauty” and it’s like--plz let these die)

I could maybe see an argument for criticizing a girls show for being “saccharine” if it were like, “girls’ shows written by men who clearly don’t know how to write girls are usually bad,” because then it’s not a criticism of girls’ shows exactly but rather who keeps being put in charge of writing them.

Anonymous said:

I get so annoyed when people get upset when confronted with the matter of female representation with "what's so wrong with one show having a male protagonist or mostly men and one/a few women? Why do we have to include women in everything?" These people clearly do not understand that one show doing it is one thing, but when multiple shows do it, it's an obvious problem. It's even worse when they turn around and diss shows with largely female casts for "not having enough men".

And as for people getting upset that "every show has to include women/come with a checkbox nowadays", as if it's bad to include women in your story...look around. Women make up 50% of the population. They're literally everywhere. What reason do you have to not include a substantial amount of women?

These people act like male is the default and women are a last resort. They see no problem with men dominating a cast because it's justified(despite that not reflecting real life), and yet having female characters, or, hell, a female-dominated cast(I know they also don't reflect real life, but there are still female-dominated spaces; most colleges are 2/3 female) is "unrealistic" trying to fulfill a quota, or a straw feminist agenda, as if characters can't be female for their own sake. You shouldn't have to be forced include women because their presence should be a given.

How many stories nowadays take place in the war front in Viking times or whatever? A lot of men just don't want to include female characters or see them represented(well) in media because those who are overrepresented tend to want to stay that way. They likely also have insecurities about their masculinity and are worried about female characters flooding their shows with estrogen and ruining the shows they love, because they can't relate to female characters or enjoy shows about them without negating their girliness(ie. This show seems girly, but it's actually good), since they're ashamed to associate themselves with anything feminine due to looking down on women or seeing them as bad.

Plus they want to be the center of everything so the second a show is about mostly women they get upset and claim it's "sexist against men" because it's not about them. Hence why bronies(bless their souls) are made fun of for the grave sin of enjoying a female-centric show with a female protagonist and largely female characters. Granted, there are some freaky fans, but there's still some sexism at play here.

This reminds me of a post I saw about a boy who actually looked up to female characters because you can pick a role model who doesn’t fit your gender. Crazy concept, I know. ;P

And yeah, that’s how it goes with equality. People who are best/most represented don’t want equality because they think it means less for them and they don’t want that, like a child who doesn’t want to share their cookies with everyone else.

Anonymous said:

I love TV Tropes, but if there's one problem I have with it, it's how often it associates femininity with weakness. The "Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy" trope is a good example of this, but the worst offender in my opinion is the Girly Girl With a Tomboy Streak, as most of the examples there are simply of girls who are strong-willed or fierce or can fight. Because you know, those traits are male. It's bad because there are ALREADY tropes for girly girls who can fight, Girly Bruiser and Lady of War (which TV Tropes even goes out of its way to SAY shouldn't be counted as a "Tomboy Streak" and yet does stuff like this), but it's also bad because ANY girly girl with these qualities, no matter how feminine they are otherwise, will be seen by TV Tropes as having to be at least somewhat tomboyish(read: masculine) in order to have those traits. Because regular girly girls are just weak and fragile and only want to be housewives.

It's even worse when you realize that much of these characters are created with the exact purpose of subverting the stereotype that girliness equals weak, and instead present a new and more empowering form of femininity: that femininity is strong and DOES NOT equal being a passive sex tool for men's pleasure. They're MEANT to show that being a tomboy is not the only way to be strong, and TV Tropes acknowledges that! But then they also go and claim these characters have "Tomboy Streaks" thus undermining the positive message by insinuating that you have to be tomboyish to be strong and that even girly girls have to have some level of masculinity to be deemed respectable and equal human beings, plus manipulating many impressionable folks into thinking strength and bravery is automatically tomboyish.

Worse yet, they often put a character here because "she's a big eater" or "she burps/farts a lot". Gee, I didn't know women had bodily functions? I didn't know women had digestive systems? So basically any time a girl shows that she is a human being and not a pretty, passive doll to be idealized, she is acting like a man. Because only men are fully-fledged human beings. Even outside of that, look at basically any masculinity-femininity contrast trope(Tomboy and Girly Girl, Sensitive Guy and Manly Man, Masculine Girl Feminine Boy, etc.). The "masculine" character will often be described as dominant, assertive, or outspoken, and the "feminine" character will often be called weak-willed, passive, emotional, and timid. It's fucking sickening.

The Tomboy With A Girly Streak trope is similar to its inverse in that a tomboyish girl will often be placed under this trope with their proclaimed "girly" streak being that she's tender or cries a lot or is soft spoken/a doormat. Because being girly is about not taking up too much space, not having any ambition or aspiration, and overall being a weak and shallow waste of space. For a site that claims to dismantle such sexist misconceptions, it sure does reinforce them just as much.

I almost want to stop using TV Tropes based on that and many other reasons, but it's a genuinely informative site that at least tries to avoid these stereotypes(plus it's edited by more than one person), it just doesn't do enough. For example, they made an awkward claim once that women can't fight while on their periods, and even have an Improbably Female Cast trope, as if it's abnormal that a cast could consist of mostly women and demands an explanation. To them, femininity=inferior.

And then in comes the “anti-girl tomboy” characters who basically do everything “girls don’t do;” glares at things like make-up and such, rolls eyes at the subject of “girl talk” or “romance,” drinks anything carbonated and spreads their legs wide open, etcetera.

Guys really don’t get the same version, at least not that I’m aware of? Like, at best, they don’t participate in “guy things” but that’s about it.

Having characters acknowledge it just makes everything more blatant, like if a woman comes by and the guys have to assure “DON’T WORRY, SHE’S LIKE ONE OF THE GUYS.”

It’s like a woman can only hang out and engage in “guy talk/time” (the concept of which I hate but that’s besides the point) if they can crush a beer can against their forehead.

Anonymous said:

OMG TV Tropes called Cirno the Ice Fairy from Touhou a "tomboy"? Why? Because she's boisterous and outspoken and not a "shy girly-girl" like Daiyousei! TV Tropes clearly believes that any girl or woman who is more than just a pretty face(which ALL women are, by the way), who takes up space, who has a dynamic personality and isn't just a weeping wallflower(which I'm not saying Daiyousei is) is a tomboy. Because she's acting like a man that way. Ugh, so over TV Tropes and their sexism.

And all the girls in Touhou(including Cirno) wear big frilly dresses anyway so it doesn't really make sense to see ANY of them as tomboys. But no, apparently any girl who is rowdy or tough or is active and not passive is a tomboy. You gotta be a tomboy to have attitude. You can tell they think so because they often say things like "strong, but still feminine" as if those things are opposites. They even described femininity as "weak and susceptible, vain and superficial". Like, ugh, kill me now.

I legitimately want to see a bullet point list here of what qualifies as a “tomboy.” Like, what, anyone who does one thing that isn’t “girly”?

Can we just throw out all of these terms; not even replace them, just throw them out?

(the below ask is incomplete - the first part is missing - but the asker clarified after I asked them, so clarification is below:)

Anonymous said:

Tropes is because I'm working on a story and I hope when it becomes famous that TV Tropes will write about it, but as it stands, I'm beginning to wonder that TV Tropes undermines most stories or plots to do with women one way or another. I mean, they constantly create tropes with the intent of calling out inherent biases, yet reinforce those biases themselves.

For example, they have a trope called Men Are Generic, Women Are Special, which points out the bias of male being the default, and yet on almost every other page on the wiki describing a trope, the default character will be a "he"(especially if it's a character trope), and whenever they mention "The Hero" or "The Big Bad" it's always a he unless it needs to be female(like if the heroine is in a romance story, or if the villain is a seductress). Female characters at best, can hope to be "The Heart" or "The Chick" of the group(which is often used in a demeaning way).

They even have a trope called "Improbably Female Cast" in which they point out all the instances of a story's setting having an "over-abundance" of women or girls with no men in sight, and claim that such stories have majority female characters when it is "unusual" "unlikely" or "lacks justification". Someone even suggested that the trope should be called "Where Are All The Men?" as if there's something inherently weird or wrong when a story is dominated by female characters, and like the story is in dire need of men, as if only men can be protagonists.

Even if the story has a justifiable reason for having mostly women, the fact that the writer made that choice at all is somehow deserving of mention. The mere fact that there's no "Improbably Male Cast" trope shows where the site's biases lay. They don't see anything wrong with a show being dominated by men with little to no female representation(ex. Death Note), and yet a show dominated by women(ex. MLPFIM) is somehow an anomaly and demands an explanation(even if the story does provide a reason for it, TV Tropes will still list it and presume it "improbable", as if to say "I mean, yeah, but there's no reason why you couldn't just make them mEn instead", as if writers who have mostly female characters are going out of their way to steer away from the "default" males.

In fact, they even admit that "Men Are Generic, Women Are Special" is their reason for having such a trope, but not the inverse. They even say that it's not the trope if the show revolves around a group of girlfriends with no indication of the gender ratio in the wider setting. So any time the females outnumber the males a story it's instantly labeled "improbable" because there's NO WAY any setting AT ALL could have more females than males. That's improbable! You see, this is why when women are 1/3 of the people in a given space men perceive it as "majority female" because they're uncomfortable with women having more of a presence than men.

We'll never have true equality if shows with majority female casts continue to be scrutinized under a microscope and assumed to be of inferior, lesser quality, just because there's no male characters around and it's women who are driving the plot. My problem isn't that they have a trope for majority female casts, it COULD be a testament to gender equality(ie., "there used to not be a lot of shows revolving around women, but now they're becoming increasingly common and well-known), but it's that they single out such stories as "unlikely" and thus discredit them.

And worse yet, they refuse to change the name, because they don't see a problem with it. So now every single show that doesn't have an equal number of males and females or more males than females is going to be called "improbable" by TV Tropes, because there's something(bad) to be said about shows that choose to make most of their characters women. Death Note and Naruto can slide by the radar of having loads of men, but Madoka Magica and Touhou are "improbable"? Because they have loads of women?

the clarification:

Anonymous said:

I started out complaining about how TV Tropes says that boys will watch Star Vs. The Forces of Evil only because of Marco(who's great, but it comes off like boys can only relate to boy characters) and that the show only looks girly but has a deep complex plot with scary moments(as if a show can't be dark and complex and still be girly; girly=shallow, watered down fluff), hence my complaint about TV Tropes undermining girly shows or anything "girly".

Yup, exactly like I said.

Good stuff in “girly” things is the exception. Good stuff in “manly” things is expected.

Which is funny when you consider stuff like “edgy” reboots of things. Like, Disney remakes their original movies and that usually means making them worse (like in Beauty and the Beast - god I hate that remake - where the objects are going to become complete objects when the last petal falls even though the enchantress is explicitly a good person and it comes off as super cruel and unnecessary), but that seems to just be its own breed of bad I guess.

Then there are terms like “chick flicks” and “soap operas” which are usually women-oriented and tend to be considered dumb/over-dramatic.

You know, not like MEN shows with their sexualization of women, guns and MEN things.

Anonymous said:

Remember what I said about TV Tropes being sexist? Well, they also have a trope called "Girly Run". Like, that's literally the name. Girly. Run. Thankfully the first example(which is under advertising due to the forms of media being in alphabetical order) is an aversion from the blessed Like A Girl campaign, but...just reading the page lets the casual-yet-bold-faced sexism speak for itself.

why can’t things just be like the Sims where characters can wear whatever the hell they want and have any personality without any judgment or criticism from other Sims?

(more Madoka Magica talk - and ONLY Madoka Magica talk - below because I’ve unleashed a monster apparently:)

Anonymous said:

I know you don't like Frozen but I saw a theory somewhere that Elsa's powers came from making a contract with Kyubey and her wish was to impress her sister and anyway I can't stop rolling my eyes. This isn't(just) because of my distaste for Madoka Magica compared to my love for Frozen, but if Elsa's a Puella Magi then why didn't she become a witch long ago? How did she make it to adulthood? How did she become emotionally stable? And why do her powers have to come from a negative source?

I think it might just be people looking for excuses to do their crossover fanfiction which--yeah, I’m not crazy about that.

Anonymous said:

Did you know that Cristina Vee voiced Homura Akemi in the English Dub? It's very noticeable, especially during the Cake Song, where I could've sworn she sounds exactly like Marinette. By the way, I'm still not sure what the hell was going on in that song. Could you please explain it to me(if you know)?

Nooooo don’t make me think of Homura when I think of Marinette!! fjkdgjnfdg

lol but seriously, I think the Cake Song is just meant to be one of those “weird but meant to be dEeP” things that shows do sometimes to be cool (not a criticism technically; depends on how it’s used).

I think the cake is the labyrinth and Homura saying that she’s the pumpkin makes her the odd one out since pumpkins are associated with scares and halloween, so it’s “foreshadowing” her being the witch. The things that they say they are... they’re like--ingredients for a meal, but not a cake, so the the cake is the labyrinth and they’re the things that would go inside it.

Homura and Madoka are the only ones who really get descriptions to go with them. Homura says that she’s “full of seeds” (despair?) and Madoka implies that it’ll bring sweet dreams once she’s sliced (which is either referring to the godly freedom given to magical girls before they turn into witches, or foreshadowing Madoka being “split” after Homura stops Madoka from purifying her, leading to Homura’s “sweet dream” of what it’s like when everything is “normal” after her reality twisting).

Anonymous said:

May I ask what you don't like about Kyoko's character? Is it because she was the stereotypical "jerk with a heart of gold"? Or because the writer made her flip from hating Sayaka and wanting her dead to suddenly dying for Sayaka even though she barely knows her compared to Madoka(because the writer doesn't understand how girls' relationships work)? For me it was a mixture of both(though I still don't mind KyoSaya!), but I still liked her enough, she just felt a tad stereotypical. Your thoughts?

It’s both. I just don’t like characters like her at all and the runtime of Madoka Magica can’t maintain all of these characters, “developing” them, and then killing them off. I don’t even have any time to get attached to them because they’re dead within a matter of a few episodes.

And it’s always like, “okay here’s this character’s backstory to make you feel emotionally attached--HA NOW THEY’RE DEAD. SEE??? WE TOTALLY GOT YOU.”

Like, no, you didn’t. I didn’t even have time to care about THEM, much less their actual death.

Anonymous said:

What about the girls in Madoka Magica? Do you think they're strong female characters? Now, obviously the show is not feminist, since it misses the whole point of Magical Girl, which is to empower girls and show them that girls can be powerful and feminine and can find strength in solidarity with each other by instead making them suffer and fight each other and have their power come from their emotions, which are exploited and turned against them because women can't be powerful, but still...

It’s the same way I feel about Marinette; there are some who I want to say are strong characters, but the writing is ready to just kill them off at any time and bully them for essentially having emotions.

Basically, imagine a male writer hands you a character sheet and is like, “AW YEAH CHECK OUT THIS sTrOng FEMALE CHARACTER I WROTE.”

Like, even if they were right, their ego and obnoxiousness about the whole thing, along with what they actually do to said character, makes you not want to give them any credit for it.

Anonymous said:

How do you think Puella Magi Madoka Magica would be different if they had magical boys as well(which can mean either gender-bending canon magical girls or introducing original magical boys)? Do you think the show would be better? Worse? Or would it be just about the same?

Personally I feel like having magical boys would be good and bad; good because there would be no more of the “teenage girls are hysterical” crap and it wouldn’t just be girls suffering because they can’t handle power, and bad because it would still be problematic(for stereotyping all teens as over emotional and deserving to be taken advantage of by the Incubators, and it would still be about kids suffering in a genre meant to empower girls, having some of them be boys wouldn’t help that much).

I also feel like Gen Urobuchi would still make the girls suffer more and have them be more emotionally and mentally unstable. Holy crap it feels like he read up on Aristotle’s views on women while making this show.

It would at least be more balanced I guess? Like, teenage years are a fragile time, so it would make sense for both girls and boys to be taken advantage of. I still wouldn’t like it but it would be nice to point out, “there are emotional boys as well as emotional girls.”

Anonymous said:

Literally all the problems with Treatment of Marinette, Chat's Entitlement(TM), and the sheer sexism in general(ex. all the teenage girls and even women villains being catty and bitchy, while the male villains are cool, suave, and calculating; female villains being irredeemable scum while male villains are "not as bad as they seem", etc.) could all be solved if the show just got some more female writers! You know a show isn't feminist like people claim if none of the writers are women.

That's what I love about Friendship is Magic; the show is written and directed by a woman and actually has a variety of both male and female writers! Plus, Lauren Faust explicitly identifies as a feminist and claims her works are meant to empower women and show them that there's no wrong way to be a girl. And the show reflects that! There's no "token girl" who checks all the boxes; the females have realistic flaws, diverse personalities, and let's not forget ARE THE HEROES!!! Not to mention that the cast is actually PREDOMINANTLY FEMALE. Do people have any idea how refreshing that is?!

And that's why whenever people claim that shows like Madoka Magica are feminist when it's written by men for men while also dismissing actually feminist shows written by women for women as "sexist" or "demeaning", I cringe inside. It's not just what the show looks like, it's what the people behind it say.

And Gen Urobuchi is not a feminist. At all. Just listen to the things he says about the girls, that they're terrorists who are full of hubris and destined to be alone, and that actual magical girl shows weren't his inspiration beyond the show's cosmetics, he just based it off of porn games. He only watched those shows after making Madoka Magica and admitted they were weird to him. Well, maybe they wouldn't be weird if you actually used them as inspiration! Why are you even making magical girl? So basically he admitted that all the suffering the girls go through is because it's his fetish.

I knew I wasn't imagining things when I saw all those weird shots and angles(ex. zooming in on Sayaka's thighs and breasts when she collapses to the floor, Madoka gripping the bed sheets between her legs when agitated, zooming in on Kyoko's ass when she takes her phone out of her shorts' back pocket, it's all for cheap titillation). And yet people keep saying the show is devoid of male gaze and sexism and why? Because apparently men know how to represent women better than women themselves.

you said “Madoka gripping the bed sheets between her thighs” and it gave me an immediate flashback, I hate it

I find that it’s a similar thing with gay anime/manga; I’m more likely to trust a F/F story if it’s written by a woman since they’re less likely to sexualize everything.

Anonymous said:

Homura in Puella Magi Madoka Magica: But Madoka, what's going to happen to you? You'll end up all alone here forever! You'll never be able to see your friends and family! Homura in Rebellion: Haha, screw Madoka's friends and family! Only I am worthy of Madoka's love! That girl belongs to me! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!(I'm sorry for the over exaggeration, but this is how it felt for me.)

Apparently, it was better for Madoka to just have all of her memories and powers yoinked away.

Sayaka is Madoka’s right hand girl so idk why Homura has this idea that she needs to sAvE Madoka. The fact that this whole thing comes out of a misunderstanding (because Madoka doesn’t have her memories) is so irritating.

Anonymous said:

I actually love Madoka Magica, but I completely agree with you on the hysterical women thing. Why couldn’t they just have... both magical girls and magical boys? Like, just mention that magical boys are a thing? They don’t even have to change anything but that, they don’t even really have to show it, just be like “yeah there’s magical boys too but that’s not really what this story is about, it’s about our characters we have here”. I don’t know, feels like that would have at least helped stuff.

Yeah, they don’t have to bother having the magical boys around. Just to know they exist would be enough. I mean, the fact that the focus is on them would still be bothersome (they’d probably do a thing where each girl represents a different emotion that is easily manipulated/easy to control), but it’d be something.

Anonymous said:

One thing that weirds me out when people are talking about Madoka Magica is when people refer to the characters as "little girls". Like, excuse me? They are not "little girls". They are teenagers! All of them are at least 14 years old! I hate when people call them "little", it's just so condescending and infantilizing, especially when the show does enough of that to them already. After all, no one makes that mistake with the heroines of Lucky Star and Hidamari Sketch(who are also drawn by Aoki)!

I feel like it’s the equivalent of when people call women “girls,” y’know? Sort of a “treating females as younger than they really are,” which is probably what gives guys the feeling that they have control.

For a gender that claims to be so dominant, certain ones sure have to delude themselves a lot to make themselves feel better.

Anonymous said:

I was thinking about what you said about Puella Magi Madoka Magica passing the Bechdel Test, and if it counts if there's barely any men to talk about. And while I do agree that it counts, I also feel that it doesn't really matter much in shows such as Madoka. This isn't even about feminism, this is about the fact that if a show has next to no men in it at all then it's pretty much a given that they won't talk about them since it would be impractical to talk about something that doesn't exist.

So because of that, I think there should either be an alternative test which only applies to shows that have a significant or equal number of male characters and yet the ladies still pass the test(making it feel more "real" since the option to talk about men is there), or the test should be rewritten entirely so that it only applies to shows in which the cast is either equally gender-split, or has a majority male cast/significant amount of males even if the females still outnumber them.

Reminds me of how, on TV Tropes, someone suggested that there should be a "Weak" and "Strong" Bechdel Test, where "Weak" refers to the women talking about something other than men because it is literally what's relevant at the moment(such as two female police officers discussing how to catch a female killer), thus applying the Bechdel Test there seems semi-void, while "Strong" is when they could talk about men but choose not to(ie. two female students talking about their grades during lunch).

And just to clarify about the "Strong" one, when I say they could talk about men but choose not to, this isn't to imply that female characters should talk about men, or that something's wrong with them for not talking about men, just that there's nothing stopping them from doing so, but they choose to talk about something unrelated to men. I think this strategy is much better than the test we have because it makes conversations between female characters seem more real since they're discussing things other than men of their own volition, rather than the non-male-centered talk being because they have to talk about it in-universe. I say that because The Bechdel Test serves to show that women's lives don't and shouldn't revolve around men, and they can talk about other things if they want to, but if the conversation is because they have to(like the example I gave), that gives sexists the opportunity to go "Yeah, well, they're only talking about it because it's their job!"

But if the female characters talk about things other than men of their own free will(as in, when the option is still there), then it shows that women really do have their own free will to talk about their own things and that there is NO REASON to not pass the Bechdel Test in today's day and age(I keep hearing people claim the test is stupid and doesn't matter, but then it should be easy to pass). "Oh, but if they had the choice, they would talk about men." No, because men don't sit around and talk about the women in their lives all day so why should women talk about the men in their lives all day? And to the people saying these types of tests are getting in the way of their "creativity", well, now that we know that you think female representation is stupid and something you have to be forced to do, we don't have to listen to a word you say. ;)

I like the idea of adjusting the Bechdel Test for other circumstances and expanding it as such!

You could also extend it to things like sexualization, because--I mean, having two female characters who talk to each other probably doesn’t mean much if they’re half-dressed or the writer wanted to make them bisexual for “The Fanservice.”

Anonymous said:

To be honest deconstructions of Magical Girl confuse me. There are some good ones out there(such as Princess Tutu and Revolutionary Girl Utena, so I know they're not all just torture porn, my only gripe with Utena is the implication that girls who take on the feminine "Princess" role are weak), but at its heart Magical Girl has always dealt with death, gore and pain just as much as female empowerment.

It makes me feel like the people who write these stories haven't seen magical girl and think it's all just sunshine and rainbows and that just because it's "girly" it's vapid and has no substance, and since the only way to have substance apparently is to be "dark", they go "screw it with all this princessy magical shit! Let's make our show dark instead!" When in reality if they had just sat down and watched a magical girl anime, they would understand that this is not the case.

Not to mention that many of them tend to have fanservice and the idea that magical girls have to suffer, so instead of empowering young girls, they end up misrepresenting the genre and turning it into fetish fuel torture porn for adult men(Madoka Magica and Yuki Yuna are very good examples of this; the writer of Madoka says that the girls are terrorists and full of hubris and that he was inspired by porn games). It's not that you can't deconstruct the genre at all, but it's almost never done tastefully and the magical girl themes are just a cover used to explain the suffering the girls go through. :(

Another thing about magical girl deconstructions is that they often reinforce patriarchal themes, like that girls shouldn't want things for themselves and that genuinely doing something for someone while also having ulterior motives that help yourself are a BAD BAD BAD thing, no matter how ultimately harmless they are, even if they help everybody involved. They also tend to reinforce Tall Poppy Syndrome and portray the powers as harmful or a bad thing, implying that girls shouldn't have power.

Honestly, I think there can totally be even more substance in magical girl anime that doesn’t have to resort to “make it eDgY” (which I feel like is a slippery slope that can easily come off as lazy); for example, I’d really enjoy seeing something deeper to magical girl powers than something like, “oh, this magical girl happens to have the power that fits their personality,” such as a magical girl who has a power she feels she doesn’t fit but it’s a matter of perspective/seeing herself differently, or a magical girl who does have the powers that “fit” her personality - like a “fiery” girl with fire powers - and the weaknesses in her powers correlate to the weaknesses in her personality, so she has to either iron out those issues or find workarounds, as true “perfection” isn’t possible nor practical, which is something all the girls have to accept despite whatever pressure they’re under.

.I dunno, I like lore and powers revolving around metaphors. It’s fun.

Anonymous said:

About what you said in regards to "no pueri magi because it doesn't hit the shock value threshold enough", I remember this interesting comment I saw on an article called "The Problem With The Dark Magical Girl Genre"(which I would totally recommend checking out, by the way!) which said that shojo magical girl and seinen magical girl both embrace a different philosophy regarding strong female fighters. In shojo, they tend to embrace femininity as a strength and show girls that they have the power to do whatever they want and undergo dangerous professions. But in seinen, which conveniently enough is more likely to "deconstruct" the genre(ugh), rather than admiring the girls and supporting them in their endeavors, the girls are meant to be pitied(often to the point of infantilization) when bad things happen to them, with the fact that they are girls serving to make everything worse. It operates under the idea that girls are fragile, in need of protection, and shouldn't be fighting at all.

That's why deconstructions like Madoka Magica and Yuki Yuna don't sit right with me, and also why I don't consider them feminist series. People can say whatever they want about Sailor Moon and Pretty Cure, but ultimately they also had dark and dangerous themes(to the point where some kids had nightmares), but ultimately allowed the girls to rise above the hell they went through and find the strength in them to save the day. We feel bad for them when they die, not because they're moe girls, but because we were actually given the time to form a connection with them and want to see them succeed, rather than just be expected to pity them because they're cute manipulated girls. That way, when they ultimately save the day, it's all the more satisfying. Princess Tutu was a deconstruction that actually went about it in the right way, because the girls eventually found the courage to defeat their enemies in a way that made sense. Why the hell is it a "good" thing to subvert that?

No clue, but I basically agree with everything there. I mean, Madoka Magica’s entire stick is basically that all the girls are like “uwu” in terms of the style (with Madoka being the “cutest” of them all) and then being put in this dark and edgy plot+setting; it’s for both the shock value and the “contrast” of having “moe” characters be thrust into these situations to essentially die.

And the conclusion doesn’t end up being satisfying (at least to me) because the villain doesn’t have emotions so he’s just like “owo” (seriously, I wouldn’t hate on Rebellion so much if Kyubey had been given emotions rather than going crazy; Homura can basically do whatever she wants and it was SUCH A MISSED OPPORTUNITY) so it ends up being more about the journey getting there like wow look at all the sUbvErSiOnS and dEaTh we had along the way!

Because at the end of the day, it’s still like, “the girls give into their ‘hysterical emotions’ in the end basically no matter what,” even if they get saved by Madoka in the end.

Anonymous said:

Do you remember, in Madoka Magica, when Kyubey said that humans would still be living in caves if not for the Incubators? First of all, keep in mind what Incubators do. Their entire purpose on this earth is to feed off the emotions of young teenage girls as they spiral into despair as a result of their delusions of power. Like wow, let that sink in. Apparently humanity's advancement relies on the exploitation of women. We are literally the punching bags of the universe. Isn't it lovely?

No! You see--we’re so important to the world! If we weren’t emotionally exploited, the world wouldn’t be the way it is now! :D

(kill me)

Anonymous said:

I once saw a tag on tumblr that read "The only good magical girl anime is Madoka Magica because it's gay, and even it has problems." Like, ugh. Really? Has this person not watched ANY other magical girl anime? Such ignorance. So many things wrong with that statement that I can't--and WON'T--even begin to unravel here.

MADOKA MAGICA IS NOT GAY AND I’M SO TIRED OF PEOPLE CLAIMING IT IS

s T O P

I DON’T EVEN CONSIDER YURI ON ICE TO BE GAY. MADOKA MAGICA? NAH MAN.

Anonymous said:

Do the girls in Madoka Magica even have transformation phrases? You know, like how Marinette says "Tikki, spots on!" or how Sailor Moon says "Moon Prism Power! Make-up!" or how Iris in LoliRock says "Iris! Princess of Ephedia!" etc. But in Madoka Magica, there doesn't seem to be any of that. At least in Yuki Yuna they pressed a button on their phones. But how do the Puellae Magi even transform? Just goes to show you how Gen Urobuchi knows next to nothing about the genre he claims to deconstruct.

Transformation phrases are magical and cool and you can’t take that away from me.

Anonymous said:

I had a shower thought about Madoka randomly in bed last night: If a Magical Girl's Soul Gem loses control over its user when 100 metres or further away from it, that meant that when Homura got Sayaka's Soul Gem back for her, Sayaka should've regained consciousness once Homura was less than 100 metres away, even if she didn't have her Soul Gem yet. I also love to ponder why on Earth Homura would even bother retrieving Sayaka's Soul Gem if she only cares about Madoka and Madoka's well-being.

I think it’s just a complicated process of Homura trying to make sure Madoka doesn’t fall into despair herself (in a non-witch way) and is convinced to make a wish.

Anonymous said:

The more I think about it, the more I realize that Sayaka really got the worst deal out of the whole thing. While her story may seem more "mundane" compared to the others(she just wanted the token Ill Boy osananajimi to like her back), she's the only one who somehow isn't brought back when Madoka recreates the universe, loses her Soul Gem on more than one account(and on the second, she starts decomposing and her crush sees her and calls her a monster because he thinks she's pretending to be the REAL Sayaka), is supposedly the weakest Magical Girl, getting swiftly taken out by both Kyoko AND Homura(the latter of which doesn't even make sense, if her body can heal why was she taken out so quickly?), takes a long while to show up in Magia Record, and Gen somehow finds it suiting to single her out as the one who is "destined to die" every time she makes a contract. Apparently the series director wanted Sayaka to live/be brought back, but Gen refused because it just had to be edgy.

Of course, MEN are allowed to have wish fulfillment power fantasies and dream like the sky's no limit and aspire to be all they want to be, but the second WOMEN try to be the strong ones, the powerful ones, or dream of something for themselves and others, they have to learn a lesson about how unrealistic their fantasies are and how they'll never live out their dreams. Hence why Sayaka puts the blame all on herself, saying that she's not a hero and was stupid and selfish the whole time.

"token Ill Boy osananajimi“ dfhbgjhfdgdfg

It was a real shame because I liked Sayaka somewhat (not saying much but still) and she was such a predictable one to go. Like, “oh wow, an angst-y anime all about shock value? so basically the best friend is dead then with no chance of survival.”

I think I do remember being told/reading somewhere (so don’t quote me) that Sayaka is the one that’s hardest to keep alive in the games, so you have to work hard for it. It just sucks.

Anonymous said:

Yet another thing that bothers me about Puella Magi is how the show frames the young ladies as if everything is their fault even though they have no idea what they're getting into because the person who makes the deal doesn't even bother explaining shit to them and all the show's attempts at deconstructing is just taking lighthearted elements meant to empower girls and show them that they can be brave and strong as well as feminine and make them dark and morbid.

Like, I get the whole "having young girls fight is a little unrealistic" aspect, but most magical girl shows actually do touch on that! Only difference is that over time, they become stronger and better at fighting(which is only to be expected, whether you're a teenage girl or not) and become more competent along the way because the whole genre is about FEMALE EMPOWERMENT.

Not to mention how the show seems to forget that the Incubators are villains and even seems to put them in the right and the girls in the wrong, what with the claim that they rationalize with the girls they make contracts with like sentient human beings(yeah, because emotionally manipulating young girls and literally taking their souls out of their bodies and making them liches without their consent is definitely treating them like sentient human beings), and that they always follow up on their end of the deal whereas it's the girls' faults their wishes go sour because they never wish for what they truly want(I'm sorry, but I simply DO NOT buy that. Homura and Mami outright wished for what they wanted. Their wishes went sour because the plot "decided" that they should have wished in a different way; plus, you're telling me that if Sayaka had outright said she wished "for Kyousuke to love her back" that the show wouldn't just "make" him mind-controlled or have Sayaka "outgrow" her feelings by the time he falls in love with her, all the while making it out to be "her" fault he's so heartbroken because she was some kind of tease or whatever, further demonizing girls' sexualities?).

Plus they explicitly claim that every woman in history was a magical girl and that without them, humanity would still be in caves(as in, humanity wouldn't be able to progress without the oppression and exploitation of women, and women can't gain power without going insane because female power is some unhealthy, inhuman, infernal thing.). Even if we take this all as a reflection of patriarchal society(which I highly doubt it was, if anything, it reinforces it), all it does is imply that the oppression of women is the natural order of things, required even.

As for the girls themselves, they routinely beat themselves up and the show makes no effort to tell them they're wrong(up until the massive cop-out of an ending), like how Sayaka's last words before becoming a witch are literally her "admitting" that she was "stupid, so stupid" for wanting a boy to love her and be healed of his infirmity. It just seems like we're supposed to think "you know, maybe the Incubators aren't that bad!" while ignoring that the girls are being treated like the disposable trash bags of the universe. This show already does the magical girl genre dirty but treating it like everything the Incubators did was necessary and like it's all the girls' faults these things happened to them in the first place is the icing on the stale, sour cake. Nothing like a giant heap of sexism to help get you through your day. :/

I’ve noticed this a lot in Miraculous, but Madoka Magica somehow does it worse; this “one (supposed) mistake leads to all of these consequences you never saw coming.”

Like Ladybug calling Lila out. We know that Lila’s pettiness in “Chameleon” shows that it wouldn’t matter whether Ladybug yelled at her or not; the simple fact that Marinette opposes a liar led to Marinette getting expelled, even if only for a while. Then there’s “Miracle Queen” and all that garbage that came with it.

These two shows put their teenage girls through hell for having emotions and there’s no way to undo it.

Anonymous said:

Honestly, the Madoka Magica fandom is basically the magical girl equivalent of "not like other girls" type women. I can't say I'd be surprised if they didn't watch a single magical girl show other than Madoka because they're all "stupid and girly but this one is edgy and dark" just because those shows are written by women to inspire other girls and show femininity as a strength while Madoka Magica is written by men for men who want to see young girls suffer without any actual feminism.

Like, let's go through their arguments one-by-one to prove that they don't hold up. They love to say that Madoka Magica is better than other Magical Girl shows because "it's dark and edgy and shows the downsides to being a Magical Girl unlike other shows where it's all sunshine and lollipops". First of all, other Magical girl shows also got very dark. Princess Tutu and Utena are also "darker" takes on the genre, but even more lighthearted shows like Sailor Moon and Precure had scary moments.

The only difference is, with them, they still managed to critique problematic aspects of the genre and actually provided ways to improve it, while STILL managing to keep their target audience(FEMALES) in mind, without condescending to them and infantilizing them. And they still showed the girls being empowered and overcoming the darkness.

In Madoka, there's none of that, there's no actual critique of the genre because Gen didn't have the respect for it to do his research, it's aimed at men so it doesn't keep female viewers in mind by definition(which is also another reason why it can't be a deconstruction; deconstructions should be done FOR its target audience), and the girls are constantly put down and treated like Moe crybabies by the narrative even when they're not(cause, you know, teenage girls are "emotional"!). And it doesn't offer ways the genre could improve, it just takes a female-empowering genre and twists it to be this system of oppression that the genre is meant to avoid.

Magical Girls tend to have a very strong focus on girls empowering girls and all that awesome stuff, and yet when Madoka and Mami form a special bond and Madoka encourages Mami by telling her she's not alone? It makes her big-headed and overconfident and she gets devoured by Charlotte. See what happens when girls rely on each other? Madoka is Sayaka's best friend, but gets pushed aside in favor of Kyoko, who later dies for Sayaka because girls who want to help each other had better be prepared to suffer and die for their beliefs. Sayaka loses everything, which happens to include her best friend, over a guy. And the whole witch process means that any female solidarity that could be found in the show is thrown out the window since the core concept of the show is girls being forced to brutalize and kill and exploit each other.

People act like Madoka is Yuri when it's not, Gen was asked if Homura really was in love with Madoka and if Kyoko really was in love with Sayaka, and what did he do? He beat around the bush. Naoko Takeuchi and Kunihiko Ikuhara(the latter of whom also worked on Sailor Moon R; woah, what a surprise) both admitted that there was gay love in their stories, yet people act like Madoka is super progressive regarding homosexuality when it's just implied and those shows were MUCH more open! Doesn't stop people from claiming the show is "honorary yuri" and saying that the meaning of "yuri" should be broadened to include any close bonds between two female characters, whether or not it's actually romantic, AND favoring the show(and HomuMado) above actual yuri shows that are made to appeal to women. If all this were actually valid, Sailor Moon would be yuri as hell.

I hate seeing people fap over this show and act like it's so revolutionary for recycling things that the genre was ALREADY DOING, because I know full well that the ONLY reason it gets this wide acclaim is because Magical Girl shows have traditionally been written for women and this show is aimed at men. That's literally it. Because nothing a woman writes is good enough, especially when it dares to go against patriarchal constructs of femininity as weak and docile by portraying it as cool and awesome. It doesn't matter how cool and dark and diverse and inclusive and complex Sailor Moon and Precure and Princess Tutu and Utena are, they're written by/for women with the intention of empowering them so they're automatically invalid, cheap, happy-go-lucky crap where nothing bad ever happens and anything those shows try to do ought to be discredited because they don't appeal to men like they should so what's the point?

But the second a MAN comes in and intrudes on a female-dominated space by doing all of those things but with a very shallow understanding of how they ought to be executed, people are all over it because a MAN did it and now it's interesting and respectable! I have seen so many people say that they don't like Magical Girl because it's girly and shallow and stupid, but then they praise Madoka for things that the girly and "shallow" shows have already done! Men are always taking away things meant for women and distorting it to fit their patriarchal views and yet when they do it it's somehow better and anyone who complains is simply a whiny straw feminist!

The fandom does it all the time, someone complains about the show and why they don't like it and find it sexist, and the response is always "you're just not smart enough to understand it; you have no idea what you just watched". Because obviously since it's made by a man it's sooo much smarter then the traditional sappy stuff made by women. That's why it's so annoying when others praise it at the expense of other works in the genre: they know their reasons for liking it are, more often than not, rooted in sexism against female-aimed and female-empowering works, so the only way they can praise it is at the expense of said works, hence them being just like girls who claim they're "not like other girls" when there's nothing wrong with girls being feminine and in fact many of those girls may like the same things you do!

So while I'm not saying there's anything inherently WRONG with liking Madoka, I DO have a problem with people who act like it's better or more serious than other shows in the genre and simply discard them on the grounds that they're "for girls", since they obviously didn't watch them.

me when I initially watched Madoka Magica: I don’t get why this exists.

me when I learned it was written by a man: ohhh, now I get it.

I also take issue with people comparing things that are made for different demographics. Like look, I don’t care if you enjoy your angst display over here, but also maybe don’t compare it to the stuff not even made for you unless you’re willing to get into a fight over it?

It comes off wrong, like they have to trash on stuff because it wasn’t made for them, y’know?

Anonymous said:

Honestly, I am so sick of people saying that Magical Girl shows are sexist or anti-feminist, when all they do is portray girls being awesome and powerful while also being feminine at the same time, because "Well in Japan it's actually gender conformity because it's telling girls they can only be strong if they're feminine! You're just projecting your Western values onto an Eastern work!".

First of all these shows are made by women for women and often have explicit feminine messages that you literally cannot miss unless you are simply blind or trying not to see them. And they also tend to have a very strong focus on women supporting or empowering other women. Just think of Sailor Moon, which constantly gets this "criticism", and yet there's an episode where the girls explicitly protest against a villain who claims women are all shallow and useless and can't do anything without men's help. Would Naoko Takeuchi put that in the show if she weren't a feminist?

And then there's the fact that she has said that one message she wanted the female leads to convey was to value their relationships between other girls because girls are strong and don't need to waste time depending on men. There's also the fact that most Magical Girl shows tend to treat the powers as something special and awesome that's unique to women and girls, paired with the coming-of-age themes present in the show, and you get a magical equivalent of female puberty, with magic mixed in.

But no, all of that gets thrown out the window because they dare to be "feminine" while doing all of that stuff and the Japanese are forcing their girls to be girly through Magical Girl propaganda. And I just HATE when people act like anything feminine must be societally forced onto girls, rather than girls just happening to like them. In addition, stating that they are simply reinforcing gender roles by being feminine is such bullshit because the whole purpose isn't about conforming to patriarchal femininity, it's about reclaiming femininity.

Too often, femininity is associated with being weak, powerless, helpless, submissive, docile, vapid, catty, bitchy, petty, vain, stupid, the list goes on. Magical Girl saves femininity from a bad reputation. It shows femininity in a new light, as something strong and powerful and, hell, even admirable! It's about telling girls "Hey, you can be strong and powerful and smart, but you don't have to be a tomboy or act like a man to do so". Girls are always told they have to act masculine to be taken seriously because the only way to be respected is to be like a man, which is an indirect way of saying that only men deserve respect.

Magical Girl does away with all that in favor of showing the feminine as something innately powerful, and yet naysayers MISS the point and say that it's just stereotyping girls instead. To see people claim that Magical Girl forces girls to fit a feminine ideal to be respected is just disappointing. It's supposed to be a female power fantasy for young girls that shows them as the ones being powerful and empowering each other.

Take how in Sailor Moon the heroine often says something along the lines of "I won't let you take advantage of girls", which Wedding Peach went on to imitate. The purpose of the genre is for girls. To empower girls. So why on earth would they show them fitting into a "male" mould of power? Do these people think that any time women are shown acting distinct from men that they are doing something wrong?

And the hypocritical part is that nobody pisses on male-oriented anime for reinforcing a harmful narrative to boys that they have to be masculine to be valued and respected. Of course they don't! Because being "masculine" is never seen as a bad thing to be. It's assumed that masculinity is always strong and good and awesome and there's nothing wrong with boys being forced to be masculine because you're supposed to want to be masculine. You're not supposed to want to be feminine.

So of course people will shit all over Magical Girl for embracing, empowering, and reclaiming femininity, because it's not supposed to be that way! You're not supposed to be feminine and also be strong. You're supposed to deny your identity as a woman and assimilate into the boys' club because only boy things are worthwhile! And they cover it up by saying that Magical Girl forces girls to be feminine, when in actuality the WORLD forces girls to be MASCULINE. Magical Girl doesn't force girls to be feminine, It ALLOWS them to. Do you see the difference there?

Another thing I'd like to bring to the table is that the claim is racist and here's why: The claim that "Magical Girl shows are seen as feminist in the US for portraying femininity as a source of strength but not in Japan because it's telling girls they have to be feminine"...what does that mean? Japanese people can't be feminist? All Japanese people are sexists and think girls have to fit in a certain role? Do Japanese feminists HAVE to be anti-femininity? Are there literally no Japanese people who think you can be feminine AND strong(who also obviously identify as feminists?) Because it seems hella sexist to insinuate that Magical Girl shows are sexist because they're made in Japan and they don't believe you can be feminine AND strong there.

While there is some credibility to it since Japan IS, by and large, much more strict with gender roles, hasn't it ever occurred to these people that these types of shows exist to counter that belief? Not only that, but it implies that people aren't allowed to have opinions on works that aren't made in their culture, and that anyone who sees those shows as feminist are just projecting their Western beliefs onto an Eastern work. And even worse, when people say that, they don't have the same opinion of Western Magical Girl works.

Just look at LoliRock, Miraculous Ladybug, Winx, W.I.T.C.H., Star vs the Forces of Evil, and countless other European/Western Magical Girl works. Where are the people saying "They get their power from femininity and that is sexist!"? Nowhere! They're silent! Even though those are very much like Magical Girl works from Japan(although I don't think the genre originated from there), while still being original.

It's because people think that any media exported from Japan is automatically sexist and demeaning and so anything they create, no matter how empowering their intentions, gets twisted into something that's somehow toxic or unsafe for girls to watch. But when Europeans do the exact same thing nobody complains. Because Japan is not allowed to do anything empowering whatsoever; something's always wrong with it, apparently.

So that's why I have a problem with people who say those things; it's so problematic because they think they're being all open-minded and aware/respectful of other people's cultures, but all they're doing is reinforcing negative stereotypes further. It's kinda like what I said earlier(in another ask) about how people love to praise Madoka Magica for being a unique, dark, and interesting take on the genre when all it did was rehash elements of the genre that already existed, strip away the female empowerment, and gear it towards grown men, which is why people like it more. How about instead of speaking for Japanese people you let them speak for themselves?!

I would also like to add that there’s even a limit to women acting masculine because that’s still “not enough” for those kinda of men who would promote those beliefs. Women need to act more masculine to “be taken seriously” but then you have men who’ll tell them to “dress less” or whatever.

I think what it comes down to is that they want women to not be “emotionally taxing” with all those dAmN eMoTioNs of theirs (unless it’s for the sake of their angsty magical girl anime where the girls suffer for having emotions), but they also need to look pretty and be sexualized.

We can’t win.

#other: ask and answer #other: non ml talk

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arsaem · 5 years

Text

So I’ve seen a lot of Daminette stuff in the wake of all this MLB salt, but I personally always had a different headcanon for how the world of DC and Miraculous Ladybug could interact.

You see, it all starts with the Flash. Ever since Jay Garrick, there’s been these “pit stops” all around the world that any speedster can go to and be welcomed and get food, ect, without having to worry about news of their appearance spreading around. They’re little restaurants or stores or even just random homes that one speedster or another has accidentally run into or helped or interacted in some way and now they’re always welcomed. In return, the speedsters always try to help them out and/or pay them back whenever they can. The Dupain-Cheng Bakery is one of these places. Barry found himself there after one too many runs around the world and kinda just collapsed on their balcony (this was when Marinette was still really young or maybe before she was born so it wasn’t her room yet). Tom and Sabine found him, fed him lots of food, and then sent him on his way while letting him know that he would always be welcome. He stops by every now and then, even if he doesn’t really need any food, just because he likes the place so much.

Cut to years later, Wally gets his powers, and Barry introduces him to these pit stops around the world. One of them is the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. And that’s how Marinette meets Kid Flash. He’s about two years older than her and they rarely see each other, but they become friends and Kid Flash sometimes visits her even without his uncle. He is the very first superhero to have ever visited her on her balcony.

One night, he brings his friend Robin along. And now Marinette is friends with two superheroes who visit her on her balcony.

Then Marinette becomes Ladybug. After Evillustrator, Chat Noir will occasionally visit her on her balcony too. One night, Kid Flash and Robin are there. It’s pretty hilarious. Chat Noir can’t decide if he’s jealous that someone else is getting his treats from his princess or excited that he’s meeting two such famous heroes. But that’s a fic for another day.

On to the salt.

Bruce Wayne has business in Paris. Dick goes with him and, for some reason, brings Wally along as well. It’s big news, so a lot of people at Dupoint are talking about it. Lila, being Lila, starts going on and on about how she’s personally met Bruce Wayne, and how Richard Grayson has this cute little crush on her, ect.

She does not account for the fact that, the minute they land, the first thing Dick and Wally do is get some fresh macaroons from the best bakery in Paris. There they meet Marinette, pretend like they don’t know her, manage to befriend her as civilians, and then decide to hang with her while they’re visiting. Marinette has no idea who Dick is, she just thinks that they’re tourists.

So anyway, Marinette introduces her new American friends to her classmates, and that’s where the fun begins.

Marinette can’t hold back an annoyed sigh when Lila starts talking about her time in the States, prompting Wally to ask her what’s wrong. Marinette tells them about all the lying, and how nobody in her class realizes it.

“Really,” Dick says, while the whole room is distracted by Lila’s story about the time she met Superman in Metropolis “What kinda stuff has she been saying?”

“Well, most recently, she’s been saying she knows Bruce Wayne,” Marinette replies. “Since he’s come to Paris and all.”

“Hm,” Dick muses while exchanging a look with Wally. “Give us five minutes,” he says, then strides over. “So, Lila,” he says once her story is finished. “Sounds like you really know America. You ever been to Gotham?”

“Oh, yes!” Lila answers instantly. “In fact, earlier I was just talking about the time Bruce Wayne gave me a personal tour around the city. He even let me stay in his mansion!”

“Really?” Dick puts on a charmingly fake smile. “I’m from Gotham, y’know. What did he show you?”

Que Lila sputtering through some nondescript B.S. because she’s never once even Googled Gotham in her life so she has no idea what it’s actually like there.

“I even saw Batman while I was there!” she adds, trying to steer the conversation away.

“Really.” Dick looks amused, Wally is trying very hard not to crack up.

“Yes! He saved my life after some awful criminals tried to kidnap me and Richard,” Lila explains, quite dramatically. “It was pretty scary, but Richard and I have been best friends ever since. I think that’s also when he started to have a crush on me.”

Now, Wally’s just offended. “You’re not his best friend!” he accuses. That’s a...surprisingly sore spot for him. Dick is quick to pat his shoulder and assure him that he’s his best friend.

“Play it cool,” he says under his breath. “Let her dig her own grave.”

“H-how could you say that?” Lila immediately starts to whimper. “It was a really traumatic experience, and it really brought us together!”

“Sorry Lila,” Wally quickly recovers. “It just sounds like you’re more a couple than just friends, is all.”

“Oh! Well, we did date a little for a while,” Lila says shyly, as if she was admitting something she wasn’t supposed to. “It didn’t last very long, though. It was just too hard to do the long distance thing. Richard and I still keep in touch, though.”

“Funny,” Wally says. “I thought he preferred gingers.”

Dick starts spluttering, everyone else is confused.

“Um...what?” Lila looks like she’s not sure how she should react to that.

“Oh, y’know.” Wally shrugs casually. “Some people like curly hair, some prefer freckles, but Dick Grayson? Now there’s a guy who can’t resist a good redhead. Why do you think he’s friends with me?”

Everyone freezes.

“You’re saying you’re friends with Richard Grayson?” Alya asks.

In answer, Wally turned to Dick and asks, “We’re friends, right?”

“Dude, I invited you to Paris. I’m worried people are gonna start thinking we’re more than friends,” Dick replies. “Gotta say, though, I’m kinda concerned that there’s this huge chunk of my life where I dated this random Italian girl that I don’t remember.” He makes eye contact with Lila and stares her down.

“Better not tell Barbara,” Wally adds helpfully.

Lila splutters a few times before growling, voice a little higher than normal, “Are seriously trying to pretend you’re Richard Grayson?”

“Well, I prefer to go by Dick,” he answers with a shrug. “And do really want me to prove my identity? ‘Cause I can show you my I.D. Or you can just look up a picture of me.”

Alya was already on it. “You are Richard Grayson!” she exclaims a few seconds later, quickly passing around her phone so that everyone could compare the pictures she found online.

“Yep. And, again, I prefer to go by Dick.” He turns back to Lila and says, “So you were saying?”

Everyone turns to stare at her. She can’t seem to find the right words before she starts on the waterworks. “I-I can’t believe you d-don’t r-remember me!” she wails. “I th-thought what we have was s-s-special!”

Like a ping-pong match, everyone's head whirls around to see his response.

“Wow,” Dick huffs. “I’m really not sure what you’re hoping to accomplish here. Hey Walls!” He turns to his friend and says, “Just to make sure we’re absolutely clear here, have I ever dated a girl named Lila?”

“Nope!” Wally replies gleefully. “You dated Zatanna for almost a year, then broke up and rebounded with Raquel after that for about a month. You flirt with Barbara a lot, but otherwise, that’s it.”

“Well, I guess that settles that,” Dick decides with a nod. He turns towards Marinette, who hasn’t said a word since the whole fiasco started, and says, “Now then! Would you please continue with your tour of Paris, Marinette?”

Stunned, all she can do is nod her head and lead them out. Behind them, the whole class is in an uproar.

There is now a...not a part 2, but a part 2: Here

#miraculous ladybug #mlb #mlb salt #miraculous ladybug salt #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #ladybug #dick grayson #robin #wally west #kid flash #flash #lila rossi #lila salt #dc #young justice #chat noir #this has nothing to do with the latest episode

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oldtimefamilybaseball · 4 years

Photo

In this space, I usually share a few jokes and link to some of the pieces I’ve worked on in other internet places.

But things aren’t so funny right now. And my voice is not one we need to be listening to.

Black lives have been treated as less than for the entire history of this country. We’ve seen that from the very first moment that the United States became a country. We’ve seen that in the cases of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, Stephon Clark, Philando Castile, and so many more, going on for far too long. We’ve seen that in our laws and our communities, in the redlining of suburbs and how, even now, black-owned businesses struggle to get approval for necessary payroll protection loans. There are two realities in this world, and your access and safety depend so heavily on the color of your skin.

So, rather than link to my work, I wanted to share the words of black players from the past few weeks. These are the voices that have been ignored or pushed aside to make people who look like me feel comfortable for far too long.

Gary Sheffield recently penned a piece in the Players Tribune about the racism and police brutality that he suffered first hand, and which -- during his playing career -- few wanted to hear about.

“So I ask you: Now do you believe me?

Because I stood alone then. But we stand together now – and that’s why I’m sharing my stories.For black people, these injustices are nothing new.

But for white people, people of privilege, this is revelatory. Their eyes have been forced open to view life through the same harsh lens as a person of color.”

The Mets’ Dominic Smith shared on Twitter how racism has impacted every day of his life, and that “Silence Kills.”

"As a black man in America you encounter racism on every level. Your parents prep you for it. They prep you for routine police stops. They prep you on how to talk to people with respect. When you have one strike against you [your skin color] you have to make the people you come across like you, and you do it with respect, with a smile, with love."

Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Jackie Bradley Jr, Andrew McCutchen, CC Sabathia and more black MLB players came together to release a video where the players shared in one very important message:

“We’ve been told that our peaceful pleas were not made at the right time, in the right place, in the right way. We’ve been told to wait, but we remember when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned us that the word wait has almost always meant never. We will wait no longer. We will make our voices louder. For all of us who can, and for all of those who could not.”

Braves Minor Leaguer Trey Harris joined the Effectively Wild podcast to talk about what it’s like to be black in America and in baseball, and the additional barriers players of color have to cross. Listen here.

Royals Minor Leaguer Nick Heath and Johns Hopkins third baseman Matt Ritchie went on the Baseball BBQ podcast to discuss the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, as well as how baseball can do a better job at being a more diverse and welcoming sport. Click here to listen.

Negro Leagues museum curator Ray Doswell recently gave an interview highlighting how far we’ve come, but also how far we still have to go.

“It's important to understand the history of it because none of these issues are new. These things have been happening for many, many decades. So you'll come here and you'll see some things that are mostly triumphant, but you'll see some things that you don't like, that should make you uncomfortable. Because it wasn't comfortable for those who had to go through it. And I hope that we're not overly romanticizing the story (of the Negro Leagues) too much. We're probably guilty of some of that. But there are folks who come in and get a sobering look at least at what that part of the story is, from roughly 1860 to 1960, and how that leads to the rest of the story.”

In The Athletic, retired baseball players including Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Dontrelle Willis, Doug Glanville, and Torii Hunter got together on a call to share their experiences. It’s a sobering look at just how different these worlds are, and it all comes down to if you’re black or white.

Jimmy Rollins said:

“Obviously, our white counterparts, they have a completely different view. They don’t have to grow up having that talk — and we all know what that talk is. They don’t have to get in a car, drive down the street knowing I didn’t do anything wrong, but this cop has been behind me for two blocks, something’s about to happen. They don’t have those fears. And every time something like this happens, as a player, you know exactly what is going on. When you get in the clubhouse, you do look at your counterparts, they’re going about their day as if nothing happened. And you’ve got three or four guys in the clubhouse looking at each other like, “Man. You see that? You know what that’s about. What can we do?” Then it’s four versus 21. It makes you a little uncomfortable.”

Negro Leagues President Bob Kendrick moderated a discussion on race in baseball with Josh Bell, Lorenzo Cain, Mychal Givens, Dwight Smith Jr., Taylor Hearn, and Delino DeShields Jr. Click here to view it. (I’ll also embed it at the bottom of the post.)

Jack Flaherty posted his thoughts on the ongoing police violence against black communities:

“The system continues to fail time and time again and nothing seems to change. Officers are not being held accountable for their actions. The badge and blue uniform are not a pedestal that puts a citizen of the United States of America above the law. The badge and blue uniform are there to distinguish those who are meant to PROTECT their communities, not terrorize and kill those that are meant to protect and serve. That being said, not all police officers are bad, but those who are not bad need to be speaking up about the injustices. Your voice needs to be heard. Your silence is speaking just as loud.“

If you’ve been out there protesting, stay safe. And if you haven’t, I hope you’ve done what you can, from reading, listening and supporting black voices to donating money.

Organizations that I’ve donated to include the Brooklyn Bail Fund, Black Lives Matter, and Black Visions Collective. But things have changed recently and there may be better places where your money can do more good at this moment. Here’s a piece from Vox that might help.

youtube

#baseball #sports #top bar #black lives matter

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alexannah · 4 years

Text

MLB: New Fic: The Gabenath Shipper Project

My entry for @wearemiraculous‘s Miraculous Valentines event! Fic will be 9 chapters and answer all 14 prompts. I can’t promise I will have the full thing finished by Valentine’s Day but I will do my best!

Although I’m posting the full first chapter here, I think for future chapters I will only be posting the archive links. Depends how much time I have. I suggest if you want to be notified, you either follow the tag “the gabenath shipper project alexannah” or use one of the archives, because it takes FOREVER for me to tag everyone who liked or reblogged.

AO3 Link ~ FFnet Link

The Gabenath Shipper Project by Alexannah

Summary: Gabriel and Nathalie are in love. Everyone can see it except the two of them. As Valentine’s Day approaches, Adrien rounds up some friends to try and get their ship sailing.

Chapter One: Recruitment (Chapter Prompts: Love/Crush)

“I’ve seen how close you and Nathalie have become …”

Gabriel resisted the urge to groan as Adrien’s words rang in his head for the thousandth time since that conversation.

He knew it was absolute nonsense. If Adrien knew about his secret project, he would understand how ridiculous it was. Gabriel had found himself wondering more about trying to tell him, now as much to get this absurd ideas about him and Nathalie out of his head as for the other reasons.

But every time he found a moment, Adrien would give him a knowing look and start babbling about Nathalie. Not outrightly addressing his ludicrous assessment of Gabriel and Nathalie’s relationship, but clearly trying to steer his father in that direction. It was all Gabriel could do to stop himself blurting out his secret; that was no way to break it to him. Instead he was forced to remove himself from the conversation. Which only seemed to reaffirm Adrien’s erroneous conclusion that the two of them were—were—

He couldn’t even bring himself to think it.

Every time Gabriel looked at Adrien, and saw that grin on his face, he remembered how this whole thing had started. Even right now, when they were standing in Adrien’s classroom surrounded by his peers.

He forcefully looked away from his son, and brought his mind back to the present. (Coming here in person had clearly been a mistake, despite his promise to Nathalie that he would make more of an effort to attend things for Adrien in person.)

Oh no, he thought as movement caught his eye. Adrien was raising his hand …

~*~

Nathalie finished her talk, and there was a slight pause before the applause. Did the students normally clap on Career Day?

Or maybe this was an expression of appreciation that, since Gabriel had missed the actual Career Day some months back, the two of them had come in to give a joint presentation on the fashion industry after Adrien, his teacher, at least two of his classmates and the school principal had between them made about a dozen requests.

“Does anyone have any questions for Mr Agreste or Ms Sancoeur?” Miss Bustier addressed the class.

Half of the class raised their hands, including Adrien, to Nathalie’s surprise.

The first few questions weren’t anything unexpected. Marinette Dupain-Cheng asked several, which Gabriel answered. A very quiet girl with purple hair mumbled a question so quietly her friend had to translate.

“Er … Adrien?” Gabriel finally relented when he was the only one with his hand still in the air.

“The question’s for Nathalie,” Adrien said, sounding suspiciously smug, and Nathalie suddenly had a very bad feeling. “What’s it like working for my father?”

“Adrien!” she and Gabriel both spluttered.

He didn’t look in the least bit cowed. “What?” he asked in far too innocent a voice. “What did I say?”

One of his classmates that Nathalie recognised from the Ladyblog also raised her hand. “I’d like to hear the answer as well,” she said.

All eyes turned to Nathalie, who felt her face heat up with alarm. Gabriel turned to look at her expectantly, and that only made it ten times worse.

“Er …”

The full honest answer was far too complicated, far too personal, and far too secret to relate in front of all these people. Or even Gabriel alone.

If she tried listing the things she enjoyed about the job, she was sure that she would end up giving away her feelings for him. Allowing Gabriel to know she had fallen in love with him would be bad enough, without doing so publicly.

Well … the best defence was a good offence. She mentally apologised to her boss for what she was about to do.

“Oh, he’s an absolute slave-driver,” she said lightly. Gabriel’s jaw dropped, and the class burst into giggles. “Toughest boss in the world. But I get to live in a mansion, and his son’s a real sweetheart.” She winked at Adrien, who blushed slightly, looking pleased.

Gabriel frowned at Nathalie. “Are you saying the only reasons you work for me are free board and Adrien?”

“Of course not. I was teasing. You have your qualities too.”

He quirked an eyebrow. “And they would be?”

“Er …” Oops, how did I get here? “Well … there’s … your passion, and dedication, and … er …”

His face was now as red as she was sure hers was. A very awkward silence fell.

“Any more questions?” Nathalie asked, turning away quickly.

She was greeted with a stunned silence.

“In that case, we should get going,” Gabriel said.

~*~

Adrien jumped to his feet as soon as the door had closed behind them, grinning manically. “You all saw that, right?”

“Dude,” Nino said, sounding impressed. “Your dad and his assistant are so totally crushing on each other.”

“Aww, it’s so beautiful,” Miss Bustier said, wiping her eyes. “Adrien, are they …”

“Not yet,” Adrien said.

“Why the heck not?” Alix demanded. “That romantic tension’s so thick you’d need an axe to cut it!”

“Because my father is at the bottom of the diving end of the denial pool,” Adrien said. “And he’s too stubborn to learn to swim.”

“Nice metaphor,” Alya said. Kim gave Adrien an approving thumbs up.

“Thanks. And I think Nathalie’s convinced he could never see her in that way, despite all the hints I’ve been dropping.”

“Sounds like you need some help,” Marinette suggested.

“Funny you should say that.” Adrien pulled a letter out of his pocket. “Because someone gave me an idea.”

“An idea?”

“Who?”

“Don’t know.” Adrien handed it to Nino, who read it before passing it around the class.

“Whoever it is, they really can’t spell,” Alya commented.

“It must be someone in your household, if it’s printed on Gabriel stationary,” Marinette pointed out.

“I asked my bodyguard if he had sent it, but he swears he didn’t. He likes the idea, though. I have no idea who else could have had access.”

“They wouldn’t have necessarily needed access to your dad’s printer,” Chloé pointed out. “My parents, for example, have had letters and stuff from Mr Agreste many times. He could have simply sent a spare page by accident once.”

“You’re saying it was your parents?” Sabrina asked.

“Of course not. I already asked them.”

Adrien nodded. “And I asked Kagami and her mother as well. It didn’t come from them.”

“But they’re all on board,” Chloé said.

“Wait a moment, Adrien,” Miss Bustier said. “What exactly is this idea?”

Adrien grinned. “Well, you know how Valentine’s Day is coming up …”

To Be Continued ...

#the gabenath shipper project alexannah #gabenath #mlb #miraculous ladybug #miraculous lb #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir #mlb fanfic #mlb fanfiction #miraculous fanfiction #miraculous fanfic #mlvalentines2k20 #nathalie sancoeur #gabriel agreste #adrien agreste #gabriel x nathalie #adrien and nathalie #adrien and gabriel

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mousemarner · 5 years

Note

for the musicals ask do DEH and BMC *AND* spring awakening 😈

HOOOO okay -

Dear Evan Hansen Have I seen the show?: thrice now! Plus several boots several times, and I’m seeing the Toronto production in the spring!

The first song from this show I heard: Oh I think it was probably Waving Through a Window!

Do I own the cast album?: (I think I pirated it shhhhh) its on my iPod yee

Favorite song: that SO depends on mood, right now I’d say Sincerely Me or So Big/So Small. Good For You is also always a top contender.

Favorite character: Zoe and Heidi. I just adore them. They’re so complex and funny and flawed and GOOD.

Cast members I’ve met: oh man…I’ve stage doored three times. First time I met Michael Park, JLT, and RBJ briefly said hi as well. Second time I met MLB (😍) and I think Michael and JLT were out again. Third time I got to meet Alex, Sky, Mallory, Phoenix, Michael Park, and Lisa. Outside of stage door, I met MLB on the sidewalk about two hours before curtain the first time I saw the show and he was out with Olivia, Colton, and Mike Faist so I didn’t meet them but I did see them. Then I went to Broadway Flea Market this year and saw like literally everyone basically, everyone mentioned above plus Roman and Garrett and Dan and Asa and Diamond. FINALLY, i went to MLB’s 54 Below concert and I met him obvi as well as Diamond, Mallory, Phoenix, Sky, Alex, Asa, Garrett, Dan, Roman, and there were probably others there but I can’t remember. Sorry this is super obnoxious I just happen to be really really fortunate in this regard ❤️

song I didn’t like at first but now do: ooh I used to hate If I Could Tell Her just because of what it represents but literally the first time I heard MLB Sing it I was like :O I Get it now. Now I love it! Also I have always like, felt Words Fail is a good song but I NEVER listen to it since it’s so upsetting, but recently I’ve started actually going out of my way to play it which is !!!

song I used to like but now don’t: none…only song I ever didn’t like is tbiag and I still hate it, so

Favorite non-sung line: oh god there’s so many…one that literally makes me sob just thinking about it is Zoe’s last line, “I wanted to make sure you saw this.” Idk why. It just gets me SO bad. Also Heidi’s “one day this will feel like a very long time ago” which I’m paraphrasing but has become my fucking MANTRA over the last year and a half as far as getting through bad mental health shit. I genuinely and sincerely credit that line with being a part of why I’m here right now typing this.

Favorite lyric: oh my god idek where to BEGIN. Basically ALL of so big/so small. Maybe specifically “and I knew I’d come up short a million different ways and I did/and I do/and I will” and then “your mom isn’t going anywhere/your mom is staying right here/no matter what.”

Overall rating out of 10: 9/10 ❤️❤️❤️

Be More Chill -

Have I seen the show?: YES I was lucky enough to catch one of the final performances of the Off-Broadway run

The first song from this show I heard: I think I listened to it in order, so More Than Survive

Do I own the cast album?: same as above lol it Is on my iPod

Favorite song: I think Guy That I’d Kinda Be Into is genuinely one of the better songs I’ve heard in ANY recent musical it’s just great. More Than Survive is a GENIUS opening number and Voices In My Head is a GORGEOUS and BRILLIANT closer that makes me SOB.

Favorite character: JEREMY HEERE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE

Cast members I’ve met: I stage doored after the show and met Will, George, Stephanie, Tiffany, Jason Tan, Katlyn, Lauren, and Jason Williams!

song I didn’t like at first but now do: oooh gosh hm. I still don’t really listen to Pitiful Children at all but in context watching the show I was shocked by how much I LOVED it. Also I always Liked the Pants Song but it has grown on me SO much that it’s probably in my top 5 songs in the show now. Phenomenal.

song I used to like but now don’t: I haven’t really Unliked a song. I guess I like Do You Wanna Hang less and less.

Favorite non-sung line: Like half the shit Michael says. Maybe Jeremy’s dad deadass asking “Do you love him?” Idk im struggling to pull in dialogue rn because I mostly just listen to the cast recording but I remember Jake having some lines that KILLLLLED me they were so funny.

Favorite lyric: the whole end of Voices In My Head 😭😭😭. Also “you know that you are my favorite person” of course

Overall rating out of 10: straight up I’m giving this a 9.8 and the .2 is because their costume design for Jenna in particular but also Christine needs to improve SIGNIFICANTLY, otherwise Uh. She’s Perfect.

Spring Awakening -

Have I seen the show?: I’ve seen two reallly good college productions and a ton of bootlegs of both Broadway runs and the tour!

The first song from this show I heard: ooooh that was a long time ago now so I’m not positive but I Think it would have been either Mama Who Bore Me or I Don’t Do Sadness/Blue Wind.

Do I own the cast album?: on my iPod yee

Favorite song: TOUCH ME!!!!! It’s my fave song in this musical and possibly ANY musical!!!!!

Favorite character: Wendla and Moritz but I adore literally ALL of the kids. They’re My kids now those parents aren’t allowed to have them.

Cast members I’ve met: well I’ve never seen SA professionally but I have met a few past tour cast members and stuff stage dooring other things!

song I didn’t like at first but now do: the biggest one is DEF Song of Purple Summer. I used to HATE it and insist the show should have ended after Those You’ve Known and skip it every time, but then I saw how Deaf West did it and. I GOT it. Now it’s one of my favorite numbers in the show. That’s the power of Michael Arden babey! To a lesser extent, the first word of your body and my junk have both grown on me a lot.

song I used to like but now don’t: idk I don’t really have many of these because I tend to have pretty solid opinions on things from the jump.

Favorite non-sung line: Moritz’s final monologue, and a lot of Melchior’s writing asides. Hanschen’s “tonight will seem unbelievably beautiful.”

Favorite lyric: just the entirety of Touch Me. Honestly. The whole thing. “Where the winds sigh” “I love your light” “only hymns upon your lips” I could go on forever. I also adore “a song so big in one so small” in song of purple summer.

Overall rating out of 10: a hard 11/10

#ask game for ts #coniello #alix #long post

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megaphonemonday · 7 years

Text

knock your socks off

for @monkshoodr who sent me this prompt forever and a half ago and has been very, very patient. (also, everyone go look at the All-Star Work Out socks)

prompt: Ginny decides to switch to the high socks/tighter pants version of the uniform and Mike can't concentrate catching/realizes he has a latent knee sock fetish. rating: mature

read on ao3

It started with the All-Star Game.

Not the massively inconvenient set of feelings that Mike’s developed for Ginny Baker. Those definitely predated the All-Star Game. He’s known he’s been in love—head over heels, hopelessly in love—with Ginny since before he even admitted it to himself. No, this was something new.

And it started at the All-Star Game.

Last year, if he was going to be honest. But where last year, Mike had noted the fact that Ginny looked pretty fucking amazing in her short pants and the Padres throw-back colors and skimmed right past that observation, today was different. Because today, Mike Lawson was going to spend an entire inning crouched sixty feet away with an unimpeded view of Ginny’s calves and the tall socks covering them. He’d never actually had to do that before.

So, it started with the All-Star Game and the ridiculous uniform MLB had designed for the occasion. He should’ve known it would become a thing from the first over-enthusiastic knock on his hotel room’s door.

Knowing only one person in Miami would demand his attention like that, he took his own sweet time in answering.

“Couldn’t get enough of me, Baker?” he’d asked with a smirk when he finally opened up for her. They’d caught a plane from their three game Philadelphia series together, landing in steamy Miami less than an hour ago. They’d even shared a car to the hotel, rode the same elevator to their floor, and only parted ways because their rooms were on opposite sides of the hall.

Ginny ignored him, demanding, “Have you seen the rest of the uniforms?” as she pushed her way inside.

“Uh, no?”

She whirled on him. “Why not?”

“Because I haven’t?”

She just stared at him, unimpressed. Mike sighed and nodded over to the official MLB-branded package waiting on the room’s desk. “Why don’t you just show me what it is you want me to see?"

Ginny jumped at the invitation, tearing into the package without further ado.

He’d already been acquainted with the bright orange orange jersey they’d wear for Work Out Day. Last week, one of the team photographers had herded him and Ginny into an impromptu photo shoot for the San Diego Padres All-Stars, thrusting the jersey into his hands and telling him to smile. Mike snorted. It wasn’t the worst thing he’d ever wear on the field, but it certainly wasn’t anything to smile over.

“Orange not your color, old man?” Ginny’d teased at his side. She held the jersey before her, Baker and 43 displayed proudly for the camera. At his sardonic glare, she grinned, a touch diabolical.

Of course, that was the picture they used. Ginny Baker’s sunny, mischievous grin alongside Mike Lawson’s grumpy exasperation.

The internet had a field day.

"You thought the orange was bad?” she asked in the present, her smile taking on that same wicked edge. Mike swallowed dryly and it had nothing to do with whatever clothes she wanted to show him. It maybe had something to do with the cutoffs she was currently wearing, though. “Just wait.”

Well, Ginny was sorely disappointed when Mike didn’t react to the floral under brim of the hat she produced from the box. Or the matching socks. They were pretty hideous—Jesus. Were those fish hiding among the flowers?—but he wasn’t going to satisfy her by registering an opinion.

He crossed his arms across his chest, the picture of bored indifference. But that was a hard facade to pull off when Ginny licked her lips and left Mike wondering if he’d imagined the way her eyes traced appreciatively over him. He cleared his throat and her gaze snapped back to his.

“Have you never seen what I had to wear during rookie pranks, Baker? This is nothing compared to that.”

She pouted, just a little, and Jesus Christ. She really needed to stop doing that when they were alone in hotel rooms if they weren’t gonna talk about this thing while they were teammates.

“I was, like, eight when you were a rookie, Lawson. I’m sure I would’ve been scarred for life, though.”

Yeah, he really didn’t need that reminder.

Just like he didn’t need a reminder of just how good Ginny’s legs could look.

But that was exactly what he got that All-Star break. Ginny was so delighted with the brightly patterned socks that she made sure to show them off with short pants during workout day and the Home Run Derby following it. Since lots of other players were doing the same, Mike couldn’t really complain.

He could, however, complain about the sheer volume of lingering gazes on her shapely legs and thin excuses everyone else made up to have a reason to come over and chat. They were supposed to be practicing. Not fucking flirting with his pitcher. At least most of them didn’t stick around too long, not when they caught sight of his judgmental glare.

Unfortunately, Mike also couldn’t complain about the fact that Ginny didn’t seem to mind at all, not when she’d been so uncertain about her place here last year.

It was nice to see her so settled. So happy.

Still, it was a good thing he hadn’t been asked to participate in the Home Run Derby this year. Undoubtedly, he would’ve asked Ginny to be his pitcher. Didn’t matter that he hardly ever hit off her, Mike couldn’t imagine wanting anyone else on the mound for him. If she were in her regular uniform, at least. As it stood now, Mike doing Either way, the sight of her on the mound in this get up probably wouldn’t do much for his ability to focus on the ball. He’d be laughed off the field.

Because as much as Mike admired her perfect figure, it was almost background noise at this point. Ginny was beautiful. It wasn’t fucking news. She was smart and talented and fucking funny, too; the way she looked was only part of what made her Ginny Baker.

(If he did get lost in his thoughts—and, sue him, he couldn’t help himself sometimes—he made sure to do it in private, never when they were on the field together. There were only so many more games for Mike Lawson behind the plate. Maybe no more All-Star Games. He wasn’t going to waste them ogling Ginny.

There’d be plenty of time for that later.)

In retrospect, it was that kind of cockiness that probably led to this.

This being Ginny taking the mound in her second All-Star Game and Mike finally getting to be there for it. For her.

He watched her jog in from the bullpen, listened to the roar of the crowd as she took a minute to bask in that sound, that adulation. Jesus, he was fucking proud of her.

But he also kind of wanted to strangle her.

Because rather than focusing on getting Ginny through her one inning against the greatest of the American League, hopefully without a repeat of that monster homer last year, all he could see was Ginny’s legs. Specifically, her calves sheathed in an awful turquoise, black, and orange sock that disappeared into the high cuff of what were absolutely not her usual pants.

Her usual pants didn’t fucking cling to her hips and thighs the way this pair did.

Mike knew Ginny’s uniform inside and out. Knew that she buckled her belt with the fourth hole and couldn’t borrow anyone’s hat because hers was so much smaller than anyone else’s. Knew that she hated the short sleeve undershirt and changed her shoelaces at least once a month. And, okay. He knew that her regular pants were a little baggy. Having once or twice felt Ginny’s ass—From a friendly slap, okay? Nothing weird—he knew the regular uniform pants didn’t do her justice. Honestly, most of the uniform didn’t do much for any of her.

Although, Mike could maybe admit that seeing his uniform on her instead might get him to change his tune.

Ginny draped in his jersey, a brilliant smile lighting up her face as her fingers worked open the buttons…

He shook himself. That was a dangerous fucking road when he wasn’t in the middle of a game.

Mike focused in on the fundamental rule of the game—Keep your eye on the ball!—and not the way Ginny’s ass and looked on her leg kick. But once he told himself not to think about it, it became practically impossible to think of anything else.

What the fuck? This had never been a problem before. Not like this. He’d always known exactly how beautiful Ginny is and been aware of her sculpted, toned curves just as long. He’d known about it compartmentalized. There was Ginny on the field and Ginny off it. His brain calling the shots and his— Well. Definitely not his brain.

So, what the fuck had changed now?

His eyes traced down her form and stuck on the new, glaring change.

The goddamn socks. He just couldn’t look away from them. Couldn’t stop imagining what it would be like for Ginny to wrap her legs around him, or throwing one sock-clad leg over his shoulder and driving—

Equally mortified and turned on, but struggling not to show it, Mike hunkered down and signed for another screwball. Ginny leaned in, staring right at his crotch, and it took every measure of self-control in his power not to do something stupid. At least he’d only have to catch an inning, tops, for her. Then she’d be out of the game and he could focus on what might be his last All-Star appearance and hit a few bombs while he was at it. Prove that he deserved to be here and wasn’t just some dirty old man leering at the beautiful woman on the field.

This didn’t need to be a problem.

(When Mike finally managed to wrestle himself and his sex drive into some semblance of control, he wandered over to where Ginny’d taken sat herself down in the dugout. She studied the field intently, but standing right next to her, Mike could see the dimples threatening to make an appearance. After her three outs, one strikeout looking even, Ginny deserved to be pleased with herself.

So, he nudged her side and waited until Ginny turned her attention to him. Mike lifted his chin and grinned down at her. Her lips twitched in response and she nudged him back before returning to watching the National League’s at bats.

Which was exactly what Mike should be doing. But, like magnets, his eyes didn’t turn to the field, but to something much closer. Those ridiculous socks. He must’ve stared longer and harder than he realized because before Mike knew it, Ginny’s leg was extended before her, almost like she was giving him a better view.

His focus darted back to her face.

Her head tipped to the side to better examine what were apparently palm trees silhouetted on a blue and orange background. What the hell ever happened to the days when stirrup stripes were as varied as a ballplayer’s sock choices got? Who was actually out there, designing socks?

When Ginny looked back at him, she grinned and shrugged. “How could I not show these bad boys off?”

How indeed.)

And it wasn’t.

Not, that is, until Ginny decided that she wouldn’t go back to the long pants when they reunited with the team. No, the high cuffs, tall socks, and unimpeded view of her strong, lean legs were here to stay.

Mike was in some deep shit.

Not least because he'd already gone on the record talking shit about this.

(To be fair, his opinions were formed long before Ginny Baker had been more than a faint blip on his radar, a name he’d started hearing more often lately, but not one he paid much attention to. How was he supposed to keep track of every pitcher in the Padres system? More importantly, how was he supposed to know how he’d react to them, well, one of them, in a pair of knee highs?

It’d been a long rain delay in Cincinnati, and the guys were going a little stir crazy. They’d already run through Kangaroo Court and doled out the appropriate fines. Conversation was getting a little raunchy, but Mike was wary of intervening when it wasn’t anything that offensive. Or dangerous.

So, he lolled in his chair and watched as Blip, finally settling into his place on the team, grinned at the whole clubhouse.

"It’s weird to wear socks in bed, right?"

"To sleep? Nah, my girl’s got super cold feet. She made my balls jump back in my body whenever she used to touch me with ‘em."

Blip squinted at Stubbs for a long moment before drawling, “… No. To have sex.”

“If you take off your shoes, you should take off your socks, too,” was Sonny’s hot take.

Mike frowned as he considered that. It seemed sound, but he didn’t want to come down on one side or the other yet.

“Well, tell that to Salvi,” Blip crowed triumphantly, throwing a loose batting glove at the first baseman.

“Dude, I told you that in confidence!” he hissed.

“You telling me you wore socks when you knocked up your wife?” Mike demanded, finally wading into this nonsense. He’d never really wanted to imagine any of his teammates’ sex lives, but now he couldn’t get the image of Salvi’s dirty socks sticking out from the bottom of a comforter.

He shuddered. A similar reaction ran through the clubhouse.

Salvamini hunkered down in his seat, arms crossed over his chest and practically pouting. “No,” he muttered, petulant. “Penny wears ‘em.”

“And you’re into that?"

“Well, she got pregnant, didn’t she?” laughed Dusty, all the way across the room.

The first baseman rolled his eyes, but where Mike would’ve kept his mouth shut and let the razzing die out on its own, Salvi felt the need to defend himself and his weird preferences.

“It’s not like she just wears regular old socks. She’s got these tall ones that go up, like, over her knees. Almost like thigh highs, right? And they’re really soft, especially when—”

And that was more than enough of the sexual escapades of Mr. and Mrs. Salvamini.

“Knee socks?” Mike interrupted incredulously. “Like that pair Butch here hasn’t washed for three weeks ‘cause he’s a superstitious wimp?”

“Yeah, but on a hot girl."

“Fuck you man,” shouted Butch good naturedly.

A round of laughter rang through the clubhouse. When it settled, Mike was shaking his head.

“If she’s got to put something on for you to get it up, you’re doing something wrong, man.”

Salvi sputtered, trying to deny, but it didn’t matter. The rest of the team was already ragging him, towels and insults flying through the room, and that was the end of that.

Until, of course, everything had to come back and bite Mike in the ass.)

God help him, if anyone figured him out—and he wasn’t exactly being subtle—he would never hear the end of it. Never mind he’d already made some decisive declarations on the subject, this would blow the lid off his pretty carefully constructed system of divulging just enough to seem interesting while keeping the most personal details private.

He didn’t mind, exactly, the fact that the guys knew which women he took out or went home with. That was fair enough when he’d picked up so many dates in their presence. What Mike did mind, though, was them knowing any other specifics. He liked his privacy, damn it, and if his nosy goddamn teammates sank their claws into this new preference of his, they wouldn’t stop until they’d drained him of every last detail.

And that was all without adding Ginny to the mix. Bad enough that he could now admit the appeal of the whole socks in bed thing. Could more than admit to it, in fact. If the guys found out that it was Ginny who’d inspired this turnabout, it would be the end of Mike Lawson as the world knew him.

Which was what he got for falling for someone with 23 built-in big brothers and all the baseball bats their over-protective asses could desire.

Well, Mike had managed to keep the rest of his feelings under his hat, he figured he’d be able to keep this under wraps, too. But where he’d at least had a little time to get used to his developing interest in his pitcher, this... thing with Ginny’s goddamn socks hit him out of nowhere.

And it hit him hard.

While basically every fantasy he had lately starred one Ginny Baker, now they all featured these ridiculous knee socks, too. It didn’t help that her taste ran a bit wild, favoring novelty designs and patterned stirrups far more than the classic Padres blue. (Not that picturing Ginny in a plain navy knee high was all that different from Ginny in stripes or tie dye or camouflage, not when she wasn’t wearing much else and Mike’s hands and lips got to wander freely.)

It wasn’t enough that they—and the woman wearing them—haunted his dreams.

No, this was a solidly real world problem. Each and every one of Ginny’s starts, Mike was faced with the uncomfortable prospect of either A) getting distracted behind the plate by the shift of her Achilles tendon under her socks as she wound up or B) trying to make out the lines of her sliding shorts beneath newly snug pants when he played first base and spent so much time watching her back.

Neither was ideal.

(Nor was getting a hard on while wearing a fucking cup, but Mike had long ago accepted that particular development in his life.)

He tried subtly pushing her back towards the long pants, though he was careful to mostly stay out of it himself outside of a few snarky comments early on. Mostly, he stirred up curiosity around the clubhouse. Sooner or later, someone was bound to ask why she’d changed in the first place. The media certainly hadn’t wasted any time in speculating about it.

Sure enough, not even two series into her newest fashion statement, during a round of drinks at some hole-in-the-wall in Denver, Sonny took the bait.

“So, Baker,” the other pitcher drawled after a long pull from his bottle, “when do you think SportsCenter is gonna stop talking about your style choices?”

“They’ll get over it,” she said, clearly underestimating the media’s fascination with her every move. After her break up with Noah Casey at the beginning of the season, it’d taken three nearly flawless starts for commentators to stop speculating about her supposed heartbreak. Like hell some dweeb like Noah Casey could break Ginny Baker’s heart. “I mean, I wore high cuffs in high school and no one gave a shit about it. Besides, it’s been helping my game.”

Sonny snorted and Dusty shook his head, but both were smiling fondly.

Ginny was taking none of that. At Mike’s side, she drew herself up and stared down her teammates, ticking reasons off on her fingers. “Defines the strike zone when I’m at the plate. Less fabric means less drag. Speeds up my delivery on the mound. Same for running the bases—”

“How often are you on base that it even matters?” Blip teased from across the table.

She wrinkled her nose. “My batting average this season is way better than it was last.”

“Baker, I could get a better batting average than you last season blindfolded,” Mike laughed, elbowing her but really wishing he could snake his arm around her shoulders and drag her into his side. She elbowed him back, but didn’t go for any of his really soft parts or shift away from him, so he figured they were fine.

The truth of the matter, though, was that Ginny really was doing better than she had last season. And she wasn’t the only one. The Padres tore up the back half of July and showed no signs of slowing down in August. Even Mike’s game had picked up, particularly at the plate. Sexual frustration was one hell of a motivator.

Nonetheless, Mike didn’t think most of the team’s turn around had anything to do with one pitcher’s sudden shift in fashion sense. Apparently, though, he was alone on that front.

Once Tony Gwynn, Jr., during a live broadcast, laughingly threw out the possibility that Ginny’s uniform change up was responsible for the Padres’ sudden offensive surge, any hope of her going back to the long, slouchy pants went out the window. The fact that Don Orsillo, as well as basically everyone in San Diego with a Twitter account, latched onto the suggestion with a vengeance only sealed the deal.

It didn’t matter that Ginny’s own batting average was still solidly below .200, baseball players loved a good superstition.

Even Blip, who could almost always be relied upon to be a calm voice of reason refused to take Mike’s side. Then again, the man was disgustingly superstitious what with the MC Flash shirt that always managed to make Mike’s locker smell like leftover pot roast.

In short, those fucking socks weren’t going anywhere.

(Mike’s mind certainly wasn’t crawling out of the gutter any time soon. His post-game ice baths had started serving a dual purpose: making sure he could walk through the clubhouse without wanting to down a whole bottle of painkillers and making sure he could walk through the clubhouse without treating everyone to a show from Little Lawson. Honestly, he wasn’t sure which was worse.)

After another three weeks of being distracted by Ginny and her collection of truly ridiculous knee highs—seriously, he was pretty sure people were sending her more every day—Mike was losing his mind. He’d started wondering if he could sweet talk or bribe the clubbies into leaving Ginny’s old, long pants in her locker again. Nothing else had worked. Pretty quickly, though, he realized it’d never work. Most of them liked her more than him. They’d never go along with it.

Maybe he could do it himself, though. Or sneak in and steal her socks? Even just one out of every pair...

This was getting ridiculous.

Mike huffed and slumped in his chair. Behind him, the clubhouse was in shambles, his teammates having celebrated their tenth straight win pretty hard. He’d joined in for a while, too, because today, the Padres had secured the number one spot in the NL West. Today, they were behind only the Cubs in the National League. Today, they could all practically smell the late October air. He was as pumped as everyone else.

Right up until Ginny’d come running at him, smile as bright as it’d been on the mound.

To be fair, she’d thrown a hell of a game, shutting out the Pirates in eight nearly perfect innings. She had every right to be pleased with herself.

But maybe she didn’t need to express it by throwing herself into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, in the middle of the clubhouse. Not least because his back wasn’t quite as sturdy as it’d once been.

Automatically, Mike’s hands went to Ginny’s thighs to support her. On its own, that was more than enough to send his brain into overload, but combined with an utter awareness of where her ankles and the awful tie dye socks covering them—the left was smudged with a bright grass stain from when she’d dived off the mound to field a bunt—crossed at the small of his back, he had no chance.

As many filthy fantasies as Mike had had about Ginny, he’d mostly managed to keep them off the field and out of the clubhouse. Until now.

That kind of self-restraint had disappeared because it was far too easy to imagine himself in this exact position. Holding Ginny as she clung to him tightly. Just with far fewer clothes. And far fewer spectators.

Ginny, though, just thrust a fist in the air and crowed, “Watch out, Cubs! Here we come!”

This was followed by a roar of agreement from the rest of the Padres. He assumed.

Honestly, Mike wasn’t aware of much more than the woman in his arms.

He could only stare up in reverence at Ginny, her face tipped back to the ceiling, looking utterly triumphant. Somehow, though every other sound had faded away, he could still hear her laugh. He could feel her fingers curling around the back of his neck. He could smell the tang of sweat and dirt still clinging to her skin. Almost in slow motion, Ginny’s face tilted back towards him and her wild, victorious grin turned softer, something just for Mike.

Awestruck, Mike finally admitted to himself it wasn’t really about the socks. Yeah, he liked them, but he liked the woman wearing them even more and he wasn’t going to deny it for one second longer. For whatever reason, they’d tipped him over the edge and out of stubborn denial, but Jesus H. Christ.

He was so fucking in love with this woman.

And there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

That funny little smile remained planted on her face the whole time Ginny unwrapped her legs from him and slid to the ground. She didn’t break eye contact once and Mike could feel his heart thundering away in his throat. It took him far too long to take a step back. All he wanted was to pick her up again and quite possibly never put her down.

Of course, the bubble had to burst, the real world had to catch up with them. The real world and the realization that this was the last place where he should be thinking about sex—and so much fucking more—with Ginny Baker.

So, he’d stepped away and hit the showers.

One very cold shower.

Now, at least, he was clean and his dick was no longer uncomfortably hard in his cup, but he was still trying not to lose his goddamn mind.

It seemed like a losing battle.

He’d made it through the last few months of the last season, the off season, and the first half of this one dealing with his attraction to Ginny if not well, then at least adequately. There’d only been that one moment outside Boardner’s where he’d almost let things unravel. Otherwise, he’d been so good.

Right up until the fucking All-Star Game and the fucking socks.

What the hell was it about those goddamn socks?

In a matter of days, they’d crumbled his self-restraint and denial, which had been the only armor he had against Ginny’s magnetic personality. Ginny’s perfect smile. Ginny’s goddamn legs in those goddamn socks.

He’d spent his career around dudes in those exact same socks, and even if Mike could admit that a lot of those guys had objectively great legs, he’d never been been so obsessive about them. The cursory porn search he’d conducted in his free time hit closer to the mark. Which wasn’t such a surprise. Who didn’t like videos of hot girls, no matter what they were wearing on their feet?

Honestly, though, nothing he found quite measured up to Ginny and her high cuffs.

Mike sighed and leaned forward, his back twinging. So much for carrying Ginny around for the rest of his natural life.

“Fuck,” he groaned, straightening with a grimace.

“Didn’t Kiki just work you over, old man?” came a low, musical voice to his right. “Do you need to go see him again?

Mike didn’t even jump at the interruption. He just turned and leveled Ginny with a squint. She grinned sunnily back at him.

“Maybe if I didn’t have teammates trying to climb me like a jungle gym, I’d spend less time on his table.”

Inexplicably, Ginny flushed and looked down. She was back in her street clothes, sneakers, leggings, and a lycra zip up. Things Mike had seen her in a million times before. Maybe that was part of it. He’d gotten used to Ginny in her immaculate work out gear, it was just another part of her. In spite of the fact that the high-performance spandex clung to her legs much more determinedly, gave a much better understanding of her every curve, Mike still found he preferred her in uniform.

She fidgeted for a moment, adjusting the straps of her backpack. It seemed like Ginny was right on the verge of saying something, but when she opened her mouth, all that came out was a rushed, “See you later?”

“You know where to find me,” he replied, waving her off and only watching her leave out of the corner of his eye.

What? The day Mike Lawson didn’t take a minute to appreciate the sight of Ginny Baker walking away was the day he should be put out of his misery.

Fortunately, if not for his sanity, that day wasn’t coming any time soon.

Mike was prepared to grit his teeth and get through the rest of the season. Now that denial was no longer an option, he’d have to. It’d be harder than it was last season, but it wasn’t as if this development changed things much. More importantly, Ginny’s decision to not talk about them hadn’t changed. Mike could keep it in his pants long enough to respect that.

At least, he thought he could.

When this was an issue that was confined to the field and the clubhouse, it was easier to maintain a professional facade. Not least because he was constantly surrounded by guys who’d gladly remind him if he ever forgot himself.

But when Ginny invited him over to her place, the newly furnished condo she’d leased after spring training, Mike had a sinking feeling that, given half a chance, professionalism was about to fly out the window.

As he rang the bell, he firmly reminded himself that this visit was purely business, never mind the fact it would take place in Ginny’s home. It was one thing to stop by her hotel room on the road to run through scouting reports, but this felt different. Far more intimate.

It wasn’t. It was game prep.

They’d run out of time to go over the Twins lineup in the clubhouse. Between meetings with his agent to talk contract negotiations and Ginny’s appointments with Nike, it was lucky they’d even made time for this. But since she hadn’t pitched during their away series earlier in the season and had never gone up against most of their batters, they agreed an after hours consult was necessary. The Padres’ hold on the top spot in the West wasn’t quite secure enough to write off this late interleague series.

This is work, he told himself. Work. Work. Work.

The mantra dropped abruptly into silence the minute the door swung open.

Mike closed his eyes for a moment and fought the urge to groan. “What the hell are you wearing?” he managed to ask, remarkably clear for the way his jaw was clenched tight.

Ginny actually looked down, like she needed to double check before answering. When she looked back up at Mike, she shrugged one shoulder and the hem of her oversize sweatshirt crept up her hip, exposing a wedge of skin.

The bagginess of her top did nothing to offset the scantness of her shorts or the long expanse of her leg they revealed. Well, thigh. The lower half of her legs were covered in a pair of knee socks.

The same socks she’d been so excited about back in Miami. The same socks that started him down this depraved path to begin with.

“I got cold,” she replied with a shrug, stepping back to allow him in.

“So put on some pants.”

“They’re all the way upstairs.”

Mike rolled his eyes and vowed not to let his eyes wander further south than Ginny’s neck tonight.

That resolution lasted until they settled on Ginny’s couch. He would’ve preferred the dining room table for the added formality—distance from Ginny and her ability to effortlessly send him spiraling—but it was currently covered in promotional gear from Nike and her other sponsors.

Ginny sprawled in one corner and Mike took a more upright post in the other. They flicked through their individual notes for a moment, which was how they always started these meetings. They’d collect their thoughts and then one of them would begin and the other would tell them how wrong they were. Before the arguing began, though, it was nice. Quiet. Usually. Today, only Mike was quiet. Ginny frowned and fidgeted, crossing her legs and uncrossing them. Letting one dangle to the floor and curling the other beneath her. Finally, she settled on stretching them out over the middle cushion, towards Mike.

That, of course, wasn’t enough.

No, Ginny had to slouch down against the arm rest as she frowned at her iPad, her toes insinuating themselves beneath his thigh. Mike kept his eyes firmly on the screen of his tablet and struggled not to do anything stupid.

Still, he couldn’t resist a dry, “You need some more room? Want me to sit on the floor so you can take over the rest of the couch?”

Her head tipped to the side in consideration, a funny little grin quirking up the corners of her lips. Finally, she replied, “You’re good. You can keep my feet warm.”

“Glad to be of service,” he snorted, and turned his attention back to his heat maps. “Now, let’s talk about Sanó.”

They settled into their regular rhythm after that, although Mike didn’t usually give into the tunnel vision of prepping Ginny for the upcoming game with such a single-minded intensity. He was so focused, in fact, that he didn’t even notice when her feet wiggled out from under his leg and landed squarely in his lap. He also didn’t notice when one hand dropped from his iPad to settle heavily on her ankle, thumb sweeping along the arch of her foot.

He didn’t notice until Ginny let out a low little hum, her toes wiggling. Practically against his inseam.

Mike didn’t quite drop her foot like a hot coal, but it was a close thing.

“Uh,” he stuttered, eyes darting to Ginny and away before he could really get a read on her expression, “sorry about that.”

From the corner of his eye, he saw her shoulder rise and fall. “It’s okay. Felt kinda nice.”

At that, his eyes landed on her face. She was looking down, but that did nothing to hide the flush staining her cheeks. The last time she’d been so pink, he’d just teased her for trying to climb him like a tree or something.

And. That was a thing, wasn’t it? Mike had a sudden and distinct memory of watching MLB Whip Around with Blip once and Evelyn passing by as footage of Trout knocking out a homer hit the screen.

“Mm,” she’d sighed, with real feeling, “I would climb that man like a tree.”

He’d laughed and Blip scowled and he hadn’t thought about it again. Until now.

Mike’s gaze turned more assessing as he considered this. Slowly, deliberately, he ran the pad of his thumb down the arch of Ginny’s foot again. Her toes curled and her head jerked up, wide eyes landing right on him.

“What’re you doing?” she rasped, though if she wanted him to stop, Mike couldn’t tell. Her foot remained firmly in his grasp.

“You said it felt nice.”

Ginny’s head tilted to the side once more. It was her turn to consider him. A complicated mix of emotions flickered across her face, too fast for Mike to catalogue fully. He knew there was uncertainty and anxiety and maybe even hope before her expression settled into that steely resolve he knew so well.

She leaned forward, her heels digging into his thigh. Reflexively, Mike’s fingers tightened, mostly to keep them planted well south of where his dick had begun to stir to life, but he didn’t take his eyes off her for a second.

“What if I said something else felt nice? Would you do that, too?”

Mike swallowed hard, his heart already thundering away. His mouth was drier than Death Valley, but he still managed to respond, “I guess it depends on what it is.”

A smile flickered to life. Ginny finally pulled her feet from his lap, but only so she could scoot from her end of the couch, boxing Mike into his. He’d never been so happy to be cornered.

“Depends on what?” she breathed, just the slightest sliver of space separating them.

Mike never answered. The thin thread binding up his self-control snapped. Before he could quite believe, it, he had Ginny’s face cradled in his hands, his lips pressed against hers. She was too close, too tempting for him to do anything else.

If she was surprised, it wore off quickly, her mouth moving against his in a hungry, insistent rhythm. She swung a leg over him and landed right in his lap, never once breaking off the kiss. Her mouth fell open against his and Mike wasted no time in sweeping his tongue inside, reveling in her taste. She’d been stealing his gum. A soft little sound of displeasure escaped her throat when he pulled away, but he needed to breathe. He’d been too focused on Ginny—her warmth, her weight on top of him, her tongue sliding against his—to do anything as mundane as breathe.

“God, I love you,” he sighed, once he had the oxygen.

That had her pulling away. Not far, since he still cupped her chin in his palms, but far enough.

His eyes fluttered open and he was greeted by the sight of Ginny Baker, flushed and staring at him in astonishment. Mike’s thumb swept across her cheekbone, and she blinked, shaking herself a little.

“You do?”

“I do,” he assured her gravely before lightening his tone. “Even when you insist on wearing these ridiculous socks, I love you.”

She huffed out a chuckle, but still leaned back in to murmur against his lips, “I love you, too. Even when you criticize my wardrobe.” And then she was kissing him again, this time taking control of the pace herself. Not that Mike was going to complain about that.

No, he let Ginny lead and focused on all the other things finally open to him. His hands fell away from her face, skimming down her body, a cursory exploration that he would enjoy fleshing out later. One worked its way under her sweatshirt while the other palmed her knee, fingers splayed down over the top of her socks. Somehow, they felt so much softer than the identical pair sitting abandoned in Mike’s closet. He stroked along the edge, fascinated by the contrast between her warm skin and the fabric.

Apparently, though, his appreciation didn’t quite come across.

Ginny broke away from him, though she couldn’t resist pressing a quick peck to his lips before pulling away fully. Mike chased her and she laughed, high and breathy. “Let me get these off,” she panted, rising a little to pull at the toes of her knee highs.

“What? Why?” he blurted, his grip on her tightening.

She stilled and looked down at him. A confused, but delighted, smile stole across her face. “I thought you hated the socks,” she said, settling more firmly into his lap. “You kept— You just said they’re ridiculous! I thought it’d be easier to keep our distance—”

He snorted. “The only thing I hate about them is having to see you in them every goddamn day. Do you know how good they make your legs look?”

“Maybe you should tell me,” she murmured through a bright, dimpled grin. Her fingers curled into his hair and Mike sighed happily.

“Maybe I could show you,” he countered, letting his hands run down the taut line of her calves.

“I think I’ve already got a pretty good idea,” she teased, rocking her hips pointedly.

He responded with a grind of his own. Ginny gasped and he didn’t bother concealing his filthy grin as he growled, “Not sure that ‘pretty good’ is good enough, Baker.”

“Then by all means, Lawson,” she replied, voice only a little unsteady, but undermined by her thighs squeezing firmly around him, “show me what you’ve got.”

Oh, he definitely would.

#Bawson #bawson fic #pitch #pitch fic #i wrote something #i'm sorry have you seen #the socks for workout day this year #??#they're amazing #and of course i'm all for #mike lawson #constantly being thrown for a loop #by the one and only #ginny baker #socks no longer seems like a real word

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