#I think it's also just fun to go back to the very earliest publications of a system and see the vibe

[outeremissary]

"Play other games" yes absolutely but I'd like to propose a corollary of "play older games" where everyone has to engage at least once with a game that's at least twenty years old (specifically a publication at least twenty years old. no cheating.) and find one web resource that's at least ten years old or print resource at least fifteen years old discussing it.

[ask-nyc-boroughs]

Early Appalachian frontiersman Alfred in buckskin circa 1790- 1810s. I’m trying to figure out how to paint like NC Wyeth digitally (so lol the background is Wyeth’s).

Gonna ramble a bit about my nor’easter au and Alfred below the cut

Following the American Revolution, Alfred is immediately sent out to squash any rebellions (like whiskey rebellion) and to partake in wars against Indigenous nations like the Cherokee. I’ll save a discussion about the Cherokee wars for another time because that’ll take a long time to explain + I’m still working on my Cherokee oc and I need to understand Cherokee history and perspective more before I go forward with talking about this topic.

Now the many of the east coast states are older than Alfred, and they mostly supported him during the revolution because they thought he’d be easy to control given at the time of the revolution he wasn’t tied down as any colony or city. However, he was a New Englander and very obviously so

He was once Plymouth colony and he grew up alongside his cousin Henry/Massachusetts, but by the time the revolution occurred, his status was unclear and he was simply living with his cousin (who’s his earliest and most fierce supporter) .

These states operated like countries and part of why the had the revolution was to continue to self-govern and maintain their regional cultures. It’s also part of why the federal government initially was rather weak. Given Alfred’s closeness to his cousin, and his very staunch New England identity, I think the states would be hesitant over a strong New England national control. And so I think they especially Jennie/NY & Rich/Virginia encouraged Alfred to leave his cousin for a while, and partake in military campaigns (+ he was good at battle).

Also Alfred was like 14, and I don’t think he’s ever been the type to sit down and do paperwork. Honestly he was always a bad student, who was far more interested in the outdoors, horses, sailing and hunting. While he won the war, and he was fine with being head of state, he still didn’t 1) have confidence in himself to make non-military related decisions 2) he just wasn’t mentally ready to take on the responsibilities and was fine deferring it to his states like Jennie, Rich, or Henry to figure out matters that weren’t military related. He was irresponsible and it would come back to bite him in the ass during the Civil War.

Alfred on a personal level it was probably good for him to get away from his overly critical cousin who can be overbearing, but also so he would get more experience to deeply get to know his states.

Also Alfred, growing up in New England, he was a little ball of rage as a kid and he has a difficult time managing his emotions. He wasn’t exactly the personable seemingly fun loving Alfred of the present. Not that he couldn’t crack a joke, but ok I’m not from New England, but in the northeast I find we’re rather cynical, un-filtered and sarcastic and tbh kind of asssholes in the way we have fun and in our humor. That’s how he was, which is like fine unless you’re trying to appeal to the rest of the nation lol which he would have to

I think his time spent in Appalachia and the south did help him learn more about his other states especially Maisie/ North Carolina. But also helped him learn more how to let go some of this intense New England rage, and how to better control his emotions. But also let loose in a way that isn’t so dark and cynical. Also I think this helped him slowly learn how to speak with less of a New England specific accent

He was also able to observe states like Rich and Carl/ South Carolina and gain an understanding of how being able to control your emotions, can help control your image and how others perceive you. So these are the origins of how he slowly began to shape and become at least in public this overly friendly happy go lucky Alfred.

I’ll save a discussion about his interactions with the Appalachian states more explicitly another time I’m just tired😴 fr rn

[anghraine]

I follow few enough people that sometimes the fastest way to get to a mutual's blog, esp if I've forgotten their current username, is to go to "Following" and find them that way. But sometimes it's fun to go allllll the way back to see my very earliest follows in terms of people who are still at least vaguely active here and whom I've never had cause to unfollow:

@venndaai - first person I followed on Tumblr! We already knew each other from livejournal Star Wars fandom and iirc their migration to Tumblr was one of the original reasons I drifted from "ugh Tumblr" to taking it seriously as a fandom platform at all.

@duncatra - not many people in SW fandom have such consistently good takes and I was a Club Jade fan long before I had a Tumblr account.

@lantur - eventually I remembered that I could follow more people after B1 of Legend of Korra wrapped up. I started following other people with similar Tarrlok or Noatak feelings, and complicated reactions to the finale that didn't just slide into "labyrinthine social justice argument that's transparently about why my ship should be canon." Lantur in particular seemed cool even before she wrote my favorite between-seasons LOK fic ("Chiaroscuro").

@nanyoky - I am pretty sure we met via the Henriad's brief day in the Tumblr sun due to The Hollow Crown casting Tom Hiddleston as Henry V. His was the first performance of Henry V that I much liked, even though Hal is one of my favorite Shakespeare characters, so I was mildly active in the fandom and we hit it off.

@steinbecks - we met through LOK also, but on the Noatak side of my bloodbender feelings, and ended up talking a ton over the entire course of the show over the next few years and afterwards, especially about creative writing and editing. She's the only one on this list that I've met in person, I think—we went out to dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant when I happened to be in town (and she enabled my fascination with the bougiest cheeseburger of my life that for some reason was on the menu).

@grumpyfaceurn - we met through livejournal, also through Star Wars! She was the illustrator of my Lucy Skywalker fics from very early (we were partners in the au_bigbang that produced The Imperial Menace), and even when our interests diverged drastically over the years, we've stayed mutuals out of general accord.

@heckofabecca - I think we met through a random Jane Austen rant of mine about women's statistically average ages at first marriage in Austen's lifetime. At least, it's the first time I remember interacting with her! We discovered a wealth of other common interests, including sharing some extremely strong opinions on Tolkien matters important to us (like Elwing discourse), so it's a very long friendship these days. We even know each other's public-facing names.

@sqbr - Sean and I go way back (P&P fandom on livejournal and various forums, though we mostly got to know each other really well on Dreamwidth). By the time I followed them on Tumblr we'd been close friends and fellow endurers of the Austen fandom cisheteronormativity trenches for years.

[aerinmoriarty]

Need to know your opinions on Selena Gomez new music vids.

Sunset blvd big Selena little benny!! Public v private etc

Younger and hotter than me she’s stuck on the lot not a real person?? Performance artlor themes abound!!

Ok so there is a LOT going on IMO, so this is not an exhaustive breakdown just the first points that come to mind. (And just gonna focus on the video for now, not the song or lyrics)

So I think the film set imagery is intended to be taken both literally and metaphorically. Literally, it’s an examination of how she feels in the industry as a woman in her 30s and as someone whose social life (and breakup) has been very public.

Metaphorically, I think it’s meant to stand in for a psych ward or similar institution, especially during the earliest stages of recovery from a major psychiatric incident.

Let’s go through it scene by scene:

Selena wakes up alone in what initially looks like a perfectly lovely bed. But as the camera pans back, the illusion quickly shatters. She’s dressed in something more appropriate for a funeral than bed. Then you realize everything is covered in cloth and you think maybe it’s a house that’s been prepared to be left unoccupied for a while. It can also be seen as a “padded room,” or similar. The camera keeps moving and it’s finally revealed as a darkened film set. But clearly an old, forgotten, abandoned set that has been packed up, and all but forgotten.

Selena walks past a crowd of people that looks at her and there’s even flickers of recognition, but none of them aknowledge her, or ask her what’s wrong or anything , and her expression seems downtrodden. It gives the impression of isolation despite being among others but also it feels as tho she’s something of a pariah.

She’s wearing a golden B necklace, which…. Is not only her fiancé‘s initials, but also her ex’s initial. She could have forced the viewer to associate it with Benny by having two B’s, so I think the choice to go with the single B and leave ambiguity was fun.

She goes into the bathroom and brushes her teeth. Which… I’m not saying that everyone who brushes their teeth in a public bathroom lives in a set, but… you don’t expect someone of her stature to be brushing their teeth in the same bathroom everyone else uses, you assume they have their own trailer. I think it’s a little detail designed to stress the point that she’s treating a set as a home. But also, i think many people think it’s a bit weird or gross to brush your teeth in a public restroom.

And clearly the young girl dressed like a princess thinks so, based on the judgey look she gives Selena. This whole scene gave me “Nothing New,” vibes. I think this girl is supposed to represent both the newest “pop princess,” and also her younger self. There is a feeling of shame about the whole thing, and Selena smiles weakly before departing to Craft Services for a donut.

She looks over at the young kids dancing, very Disney channelesque. It’s clear that the most obvious level of symbolism is supposed to be that there are huge elements of Selena that were stuck in the past and were living in a version of reality that wasn’t current. Many people who get famous while very young state that they feel like they’re in a state of arrested development at the age they were when they really got big initially. And I believe Selena was one of them until she really committed to trying to heal.

Selena goes back to the bedroom set and we have a montage of her pacing, journaling, talking on the phone, reading, all things that many people do while they’re trying to heal, trying to work through their past and do inner child work.

And it seems to be working, as light streams in over the set. She’s out of funeral clothes and into a lounge set that appears dark blue in the dim lighting of the set. Lighter and looser. A visual representation of her mental health status.

She walks hand-in-hand with Benny around the set. The background is calming pastels. She’s wearing a medium blue hoodie and black pants. I would call this a psych ward fit because there are no obvious drawstrings or shoe laces. At first, I thought I was reading into that but the camera spends a rather long time on her hoodie, showing no string, and we see her feet enough to see it’s some sort of slipper type shoe.

When we first see the hoodie, the impression I had of it was that it was stained, but when we see it in close up later on there are drawings on it like a cow and a devil. The images are kind of childlike, I need to think about them a bit more cause I’m still deciding the symbolism there…

Benny has a white shirt and blue jeans on. He’s carrying something with him that is revealed to be food and they talk and share food. In general, the impression given is that he is a benevolent figure who is the only one who really acknowledges her, tries to build her up, nurtures her. But since we have the earlier montage, we know she has done the work to begin healing. He has not healed her, he has supported her.

Benny departing during the day, and Selena being stuck on the set, unwilling or unable to leave, both give me vibes of psych ward visiting hours. It was also interesting that Sunset was on the other side of the yellow gate; it’s as tho both sunset and Benny are only accessible once she has healed.

After Benny departs, Selena walks into the darkness, down an alley that seems narrower than before. She walks past the sets, and past the trailers, which I think is meant to illustrate the fact that her staying on the abandoned set is by choice, not because they don’t have trailers.

In the end she’s back at the set because she hasn’t done enough work to heal, she hasn’t overcome her demons enough to be able to move on, leave the set, etc.

But I also think one of the reasons it’s a set is because of the fact that so much of her life has involved putting on performances, and the fact that… when you spend all your time pretending to be someone else, you cannot devote that time to actually growing the real person you are inside.

Buuuutttt that’s enough yammering for now lol

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

ok seven weeks down, eight to go! eight is basically nothing! especially since the public school administration of the SHSAT is this week so i’m down to 11 students and have had my last bay ridge friday!!! i also got two days tutoring-free this week which was great timing because (1) the scratchy throat i kept telling myself was allergies for three days was definitely a cold and (2) now it’s only four weeks till thanksgiving, which is halfway till the end… all very doable.

this week came in at just about 40 hours. the most annoying work thing happening rn is that i was soooo close to being prepped through like friday and then my ipad freaked out and killed the pdf of the test i was almost done with and apparently this is a known issue and i almost wanted to cry or murder someone… but whatever it’s another 2-3 hours of work at most. luckily the kid i really wanted to sign up for this one stupidly pricey prep platform did, which is going to cut down on so much work in the future… unclear when i’m gonna get those last development sets done but Probably Not This Week. also two of my thursday students cancelled or rescheduled for halloween and my earliest one said she could if i needed to but she was fine & i said it was fine but i’m kind of thinking of emailing back and saying something came up because it would be nice to have one (1) full day off this week, especially the day that nick also has off…

both of my fun things got cancelled this week but one of our neighbors/volunteers brought her TEENY TINY LESS THAN A MONTH OLD BABY to free store this week! i missed my step goal for the first time in a while but whatever i had a cold lol. i did work out 5 times because it’s the mildest cold in the world and i am aggravated by the concept of putting my life on hold (i did move my rest days around to take it easy on a day or two i felt sleepier and then get back to it when i felt energized again). room and kitchen mostly a disaster but mild progress has been made on dish mountain. this week i have halloween movie plans and ummm would honestly love to pick up my floor but like we’ll see. two months left! onward!

[margridarnauds]

🍓 🥐 🍬

  🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

I mean, my very earliest "fanfiction" was like. My Barbie horses (Arwen and Elessar) going all over the realms, defeating threats like Preminger from Barbie: Princess and the Pauper, Sauron, and Imhotep. (The Axis of Evil, truly.)

It was just...always a part of me. It came naturally. I learned about fanfiction as a formal Thing when I was about 12, via ff.net, and I read fanfic about like. Balto and Harry Potter teaming up to defeat Voldemort, or the Warrior Cats going on game shows and having sleepovers where they got high on sugar.

I didn't write for a while after that, mainly because....well. Even though it was a time of uninhibited freedom in some ways, it was also a time when fics considered to be "bad" were often subjected to "sporkings" aka "being made fun of, openly, online." And I always bring this up because I think it's a part of online fandom culture that's been mostly forgotten over the years and seems like a really surreal things, but I remember very well how scary it was for me, as a teenager coming of age in fandom. I always thought my writing would never be good enough, so I hid it away -- on the few occasions where I DID write fic, I kept it stuffed away.

...then,I stayed up the night before my GRE and decided that I was FINALLY scared of something MORE than public humiliation, published my first fic on AO3, and the rest was history.

🥐 ⇢ name one internet reference that will always make you laugh 

Pull the Trigger, Piglet.

  🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

Honestly I'm so cut off from conventional "fandom" conversations, for the most part, that I don't even know what's popular or unpopular, and some of what I *know* to be unpopular opinions (wrt BG3 for example) are things I've already discussed on here so I don't want to beat a dead horse, especially since one look at the BG3 fandom bitching account is enough to make me shut up about my own fandom quibbles.

Mina isn't a "New Woman" character.

Dracula isn't Vlad the Impaler; Bela Lugosi was actually the most accurate Dracula, nationality-wise. (As a Hungarian, which Stoker seemed to imply that Dracula was meant to be.)

Adam from Hazbin Hotel isn't a misunderstood woobie who needs the power of true love to save him (as opposed to the Evil Bitch Lilith) -- he's. He's a dick. And if they GO for his redemption at the cost of Lilith's characterization next season, I will not be happy. (I want him to stay dead.) (I would also not be surprised though) (I would not say I'm a fan of Hazbin Hotel as opposed to a cautiously intrigued observer.)

People are mean to Judith in Duke Bluebeard's Castle :(

I prefer Princess Toadstool > Princess Peach -- and back in my day, she gave me power ups that allowed me to turn into a raccoon (okay, not really, but understood in English localizations to be a raccoon).

[elizabethrobertajones]

8 and 12 for the Frogicule! :3

Do they have any favorite activities to do together?

I don't think Zero's even met G'raha, let alone the busiest man in Ishgard :( The Frogzero dynamic has very much been "weird girls going into the woods and doing Rituals And Making Potions And Spells" except magic actually exists and Frog recruited Zero on a personal side mission to track down and talk face to face with Francie, her reaper avatar. It's all happened so suddenly that this adventure lead to smoochin that Frog's still reeling and hasn't managed to arrange any fun Frogicule activities. (How could she know that as soon as I set eyes on Zero I said "oh Frog has to kiss her"? it's all so sudden!)

Anyway this is exactly the sort of thing Y'shtola would enjoy too, I'm saying for no particular reason :) :)

Obviously Frog has taken G'raha to Ishgard to hang out and do High Culture stuff with Aymeric. Aymeric likes taking them to fancy dinners with important people to show off the Warrior of Light and talk up G'raha's achievements to make him blush. G'raha and Frog act all couple-y and Aymeric gets a kick out of secretly holding Frog's hand under the table as well. And of course he has to dance with her at the ball, it's just polite. And if he has a private seat at the theatre, they can all sit together up there -

Basically they're really improving the quality of his enforced public appearances and Lucia has tasked Frog with making sure these new political Head of State social duties don't get so onerous that Aymeric doesn't snap and leap out of a window and disappear into the wilds never to be seen again...

Frog KNOWS G'raha has a ridiculous crush on Aymeric because she only asked the Lord Commander out officially after G'raha wouldn't stop going on about how attractive he was and Frog would be so lucky if she could date him as well and she was like, bet? ... She also can see Aymeric is quite taken with G'raha but has decided to neutrally sit back and see how many dates the three of them can go on before Aymeric and G'raha figure it out for themselves, because that's far more entertaining to her than anything else going on.

G'raha is just happy to be there :D

*sound of all this whooshing over his head*

Who gets up the earliest? Who has the worst sleep schedule? Who is the sleepiest?

Well all three of those apply to Aymeric. If you stay over with him, he's up at first light, doing some stretches while reading paperwork. And then any time after lunch he falls right asleep as soon as you sit him down somewhere comfy?

I think Zero probably has the actual worst sleep schedule in terms of waking up at 3am and looking over at a shadow in the corner and jumping and screaming because she's sitting like a gargoyle in the corner just staring into the distance while gnawing on a whole orange skin and all. Circadian rhythms happen to people who can see the sky and enjoy the blessing of the sun. Introducing her to the sun just made her weirder, I'm afraid.

(G'raha is weird about sleep too but he just politely lies still and disassociates while pretending to be asleep and then micro-naps during the day like a champ so I am not sure Frog has noticed that he's got Slept For Three Years trauma...)

[mischief-lies-and-stories]

Episode 6 Coherent(?) Thoughts

Okay my brain is fried from that episode, and I have things to do today so a rewatch is probably not in the foreseeable future (it is 12:55PM when I'm starting to write this queued post, and I haven't eaten yet today, if that tells you anything about what this episode has done to my brain and also what I have to get done today that I'm not doing right now and also a variety of other things that are out of my control so the anxiety's having lots of fun today okay moving on). I may do a Part 2 to the coherent thoughts for this episode, but also I'm planning a season 2 wrap-up post later this week so that might cover anything I don't talk about here. Spoilers for Loki season 2.

Okay but does he have to be there? Real talk though but does he have to be there? Does he have to be constantly watching the timelines, or is it like a knot where if he moves it all comes apart? Or once things get moving can he come and go as he pleases? Because I need him to NOT BE THE LOKI WHO REMAINS. MOBIUS, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU DOOMED HIM TO THIS FATE IN EPISODE ONE.

(Oookay, starting off very sane and coherent. Clearly.)

So far I've written two poems (queued up and coming) and started two fic ideas (which might become one fic, we'll see). And I'm sure I'll be coming up with more because like fucking hell am I leaving him there alone. The fic ideas are lengthy, though, so I would not expect them before the end of the week at the absolute earliest (and I'm finally starting my new job on Monday, so that might not happen either), and are probably too long for Tumblr so I'll likely just post to AO3 and promote the link on here once it's published.

(Side note: If you want those two poems early, and they're...okay, so maybe you do, I just put all (four) of my season 2 poems in one publication on AO3. The work is called To Stay (and other poems inspired by season 2) if you're interested. Or wait for the queued posts on Monday.)

I'm obsessed with the new outfit. The horns are too funny to me but the cloak is the shit. I wish it was The Coat, but it'll do excellently. My main criticism though is what the fuck are those shoes?! Just lose the shoes, bud! Post-ego death Loki comes back barefoot; he doesn't need shoes.

Loki did not technically create Yggdrasil. Not the concept of it, at least. It's been part of Asgardian vocabulary about the realms since before he was born (I'm pretty sure it's on the mosaic in Ragnarok). What he did was take the timelines and create a literal manifestation of the World Tree in the cosmos. Whether it already existed on the sacred timeline somehow as a literal and cosmological structure holding the nine (ten) realms together in the MCU, I don't know, but since we haven't seen it up to this point I think it's safe to say that it didn't. The real question is, if Loki took all of the branches and passed through the rift and his friends could no longer see him or the timelines from the TVA, how do they know it looks like a tree now, enough to put it on their new posters?

I said this already, but he's been a tree before and CANONICALLY HE DOESN'T ENJOY IT (to be fair he usually doesn't choose to become a tree). This fate is making me distraught, and brings me back to point one, in my own personal time loop.

[ambriel-angstwitch]

No Kit was younger than Kore or at least that’s what I understood. (Fun fact Kit’s birthday is actually a month earlier than when I made her, I learned that when I looked at her original post.) If you want her to be older I can totally change her birthday. Earliest I’m going is March 15th, Kits always bring a spring/summer baby in my mind. Don’t ask me why I can’t give a solid reason, but she just is.

Yeah they’d have to make so many explanation videos, all the time. Like “no I don’t use my normal phone for villian team related activities. I’m more responsible than that”. There’s a constant age debate running around since Kit made a reference that she was a teenager when they started. There’s some people who say the was must mean shes in her twenties now, and others arguing that that is not necessarily true. Either way there was definitely at least one video post candy salad that went “Who was gonna tell me the villians are babies? They’ve only been at this for 2 years which means at the oldest possible option they’re 21! They most likely can’t even drink.”

They make all kind of silly content. I imagine after the bleeding out question she answers that it does happen all the time. And then she’d make a Top 5 worst injuries video. Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly) the TikTok creates a whole bunch of people who hate Gunntech.

I also think an unfortunate side effect of the TikTok is an increase in edits of them and also people tagging the account whenever they come across a hear me out cake that puts one of them on it. Because let’s be real there would be both of those.

There were probably some edits of Kore before the TikTok but Kit was shocked when she started seeing edits of herself.

I think Kit would leave the Medic’s gender entirely up to speculation. Like someone would ask “Are you a man or a woman?” and she’d be like “I’m a doctor, next question”

Yes she does need a name. I looked it up and Foxglove is a rather interesting option because it connects to her powers in the other universe (she doesn’t know that) but also could be a reference to her name, Kit. But it does have a reason that they could tell the public since it can be medicinal but is also dangerous.

But there’s definitely interesting options for mythology as well. Like you could do Eir from Norse, or you could do Asclepius or Apollo from Greek. There’s a lot of options from Gaulish myth, like Alaunus, Airme, Dian Cecht, etc. Ragana from Baltic myth is interesting as well because besides being a master healer she’s also a goddess of death which ties back to Kore.

An angel name would be kind of funny because it would just be Raphael, since he’s considered the Angel of healing. Like she’d just have a normal name as her code name. I mean you do have the option to just have her be the Angel of Life (kind of a ying yang duo). Or naming her a type of Angel but I don’t think any of them really fit.

The question to also consider is whether shes named by the people or picks the name herself. Or alternatively the funny third option where she hears people start talking about how they should call her something other than the medic or the doctor (second one especially because of doctor who). So then she first posts a video asking people for what they think she should be called/name suggestions. And then makes a poll with ones she likes.

Also I’m now thinking of the fact that it’s the World Wide Web and while we do know that there’s a possibility of a Chinese branch of Gunntech there’s not any other ones that we know of so I imagine a good amount of countries having very little knowledge about Gunntech. So I bet there’s some people like “What is going on in America?” or “America’s a Marvel movie now?”. I find it especially comedic to think that somebody used that one meme to say “Was anyone going to tell me that supervillains are real? Or was I just supposed to find out from an edit on TikTok?”

Also with the potential of some people calling Kit the doctor before she has an official name I love the idea of people going “What episode of Doctor Who did I miss?” Ans then being even more confused when someone explains that they’re actually talking about a real person.

Speaking of it being an American thing given the amount of experiments we’re making Gunntech have, I feel like not all of the reps would just patrol the one town. Even if Tarabiscoville is the biggest country in America in GT universes you’d feel like they’d have people at least patrol the surrounding areas as well if it’s not the case that they have other outposts or something elsewhere. But idk.

Angel of Death strikes again(Villain Kore)

*the main cast fighting Romeo* *cars fly or something* *his bots manage to knock them away and out* *his phone/communicator rings* <<Hey there Rom-com>> ”Kore?”

<<in the flesh, or I guess not since we’re not face to face, you know, one really shouldn’t leave their home unattended>>

*his face falls* *he does some clicking**shocked face as he realises the system is down*

“Youre in my base? what are you doing there?”

*scenery change, Romeo’s base, The Angel of Death stands there*

“Well I came to visit but you weren’t home, the awful host that you are”

<<what did you do!?>>

“Oh nothing much, just dismantled your security system, broke in, made your bots break each other and now… I’m downloading all your data!”

<<WHAT!?>>

*there’s a moment of silence as Romeo considers his options, he is distracted*

<<why are you even telling me this?>> ”To distract you from the fight” :D

*a series of crashes is heard from the comms, scenery changes, fight scene* *owlette managed to get the rubble off of herself and attacked him*

Sorry for the wait everyone, got a little too invested in this random ass au(and also school)

anyways, here’s prompt 13: As a villain/gone rogue

I’ve been thinking, what could possibly have happened that Kore “I can’t leave cause my family would be in danger and everyone at GT would have to endure more pain” Faulkner went rogue, and I think it’s a mix of things

first, her family. Dunno if they would die or just get out of GT’s area of influence but they would need to be at least safe(or, well, dead)

secondly, something would have to force her out. Probably a big stunt that would push into motion the “you don’t leave GT in anything other than a coffin” rule. Also As I am currently obsessed w/ the Apothecary diaries maybe she faked her death( I will keep the way they’d do it secret cause spoilers) but then made it very known that she’s alive? I don’t know

anyways, now known as The Angel of Death(courtesy of my Philza Minecraft fixation) she puts her brain 100% into use, mostly acting as a hacker menace for GT and Romeo and stuff, working on Elodie Protocol- a programme meant to destroy all GT data at once, every experiment, every report, everything that makes it possible to run GT, and sometimes making appearances in person. Her implant is cracked because of whatever happened that made her leave, but I don’t know what that does to them.

anyways, thanks for your patience, if you made it this far, here is a potato 🥔

[mrmrswales]

Exclusive: the ‘profoundly powerful’ moments that shaped Duchess of Cambridge’s children’s charity work by Camilla Tominey

It all started with secret visits the public never got to see. Newly married, and with the world’s press chronicling her every move – down to the details of her designer dresses – the Duchess of Cambridge resolved to go "below radar".

Acting as Prince William’s "plus one", rather than a fully fledged solo royal in those early days, the newest addition to the Royal family knew that she wanted to find a cause she could champion as impactfully as Diana, the Princess of Wales’s landmine campaign; it was simply a question of where to find it.

Having already announced her first patronage of Action on Addiction, a charity working with people with drug and alcohol problems, Hope House, a women-only rehabilitation centre in Clapham, south London, seemed as good a place as any to start.

It was October 2011 when the then 29-year-old Duchess paid the first of several, incognito visits in a bid to find out what had sent its clients on a downward spiral of self-destruction.

According to Rebecca Priestley, who accompanied the Duchess on the visit and would go on to spend five years as her private secretary, it played a pivotal role in her decision to put childhood at the heart of her philanthropic endeavours.

Speaking on the record for the first time, Mrs Priestley, who is now an executive coach, recalled:  "I remember going up to Anglesey, where they were living after the wedding, to have a conversation with the Duchess about her royal life."

At that point, she had the philanthropic world at her feet. She could have done anything she wanted in the charitable arena. Typically, she had put a lot of thought into it already. Addiction was an issue she was instinctively thinking about – but she was also genuinely interested in understanding what support was there and what role that played in the bigger picture of mainstream societal issues."

With the Duke having flown to the Falklands for a six–week tour of duty with his RAF search and rescue squadron, Mrs Priestley put a programme together to support the Duchess’s desire to "listen and learn"."A lot of it was behind the scenes, just talking to people and hearing where it was that they needed more help.  The one thing that united all of the women at Hope House was that the derailing had started so early on. They could trace the problems in their adult lives back to childhood."

A subsequent private visit in February 2012 to Clouds House, a treatment centre in East Knoyle in Wiltshire, served as further confirmation that the early years should be a key area of focus. But it was during a later meeting with female inmates at a detox unit at Send Prison in Woking when the penny well and truly dropped.

"It was a profoundly powerful moment,” recalled Mrs Priestley. "You go in there with this preconceived idea that these women have done things wrong, that it was their fault. Then one woman started speaking to the Duchess about her earliest memories of seeing needles on the floor of her home."

She had always thought addiction was a misunderstood issue, but after this, she became concerned that there was a pre-destiny about those affected – an inevitability about it. These women were born into it and there was very little chance of escape."

The experience set in train a sequence of events that will next week culminate in the Duchess, 39, stepping up her ambition in driving awareness and action on the impact that early childhood can have on society at large.

She will launch a new initiative through the couple’s Royal Foundation to further explore the science around early childhood, raise awareness of the issue and foster collaboration and partnerships across relevant groups.

According to Lord Hague, who became chairman of the Royal Foundation last September, the "ambitious" new project will be equal in stature to William’s £50 million Earthshot Prize, launched last year with Sir David Attenborough to find workable solutions to climate change and environmental problems.

"The Duchess truly believes this is one of the great issues of our time," said the former Tory leader. "This is the central plank of her work in the way conservation issues are for the Duke. It’s a hugely significant moment."

While politicians are often in a rush to make a difference during the comparatively short time they have in office, royals are there for life, which perhaps explains why Kate has taken 10 years to get to this point.Having been instrumental in launching the Heads Together campaign with William and Prince Harry in 2016, designed at tackling the stigma and changing the conversation on mental health, it was not until 2018 that she convened a steering group of experts to look at how cross-sector collaboration could bring about lasting change.

In January, she delivered a landmark speech after her Five Big Questions on the Under Fives survey garnered over 500,000 responses.

"People often ask why I care so passionately about the early years," the mother-of-three said.

"Many mistakenly believe that my interest stems from having children of my own. While of course I care hugely about their start in life, this ultimately sells the issue short. If we only expect people to take an interest in the early years when they have children, we are not only too late for them, we are underestimating the huge role others can play in shaping our most formative years, too."

Pointing out that the social cost of late intervention has been estimated to be over £17 billion a year, she added: "The early years are therefore not simply just about how we raise our children. They are in fact about how we raise the next generation of adults. They are about the society we will become."

According to Eamon McCrory, Professor of Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology at University College London, the Duchess "has a vision of how she can help transform how we as a society view and invest in the early years for the benefit of society".

Describing her interest in "the role the brain shapes our early experiences and how that sets us on a path to adult life", he explained: "When you look at very young babies and infants, on the surface they don’t appear to be engaging in complex emotions so there's a tendency to underestimate the millions of synapses that are being formed every minute. But science is telling us we have to look under the bonnet.

"There’s no question that for the Duchess, this is a lifetime piece of work. The last five years laid the foundations, now we are entering a more proactive phase.” Described by one source as “thoughtful, professional and determined to do a good job,” there is a sense that Kate has never been in it for the early wins, but the long haul.

As one well-placed insider put it: "She took the job very seriously right from the very beginning. She continues to want to get it right and do her very best - for the institution, for William and the importance of the work she’s doing.

"She doesn't just want to rock up for a picture opportunity, which is why she used to get quite frustrated with all the early focus on what she was wearing. She really cares about this stuff."

Another source said she was "much more fun" than people give her credit for, pointing out how she has grown in confidence having found a cause that she is not only passionate about - but also well informed.

As Lord Hague put it: "She’s been reading the books and had trustees reading the books. People assume her interest in the early years is because she has children – actually it comes from all the adults she’s met." The other key influence has been Kate’s own idyllic childhood.

Brought up in leafy Bucklebury in West Berkshire by her entrepreneur parents Michael and Carole Middleton, pictured below with the royal family, the Duchess has never made any secret of how fortunate she has been to be brought up in a loving and supportive family.

"She always recognised that she benefited from such a great start in life," added Mrs Priestley.

"That’s why sport and the outdoors has always been a key theme for her. She was always asking how those sorts of experiences could be made accessible to others."

For Dame Benny Refson, president of the children’s mental health charity Place2Be, where the Duchess has been patron since 2013, Kate’s grounded upbringing has proved an asset.

“The Duchess listens and people feel heard and valued. It’s nothing to do with privilege. The groups she meets in challenging areas in London don't look at what she's wearing. What makes a difference is that an important person has shown a genuine interest in them. She can relate without passing judgement, which is so important."

Having started out as a reticent public speaker, the Duchess has finally found her voice – and next week she will have a lot more to say.

[semperintrepida]

For that writer meme...

2, 5, 6, 8, 13, 18 aaaaaand 20!

Please and thank you :D

Howdy, Anon!

2. Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

I'm excited to resume working on a book I have in progress called Irredeemable, which is going to be my apology to deimos!Kassandra for what I did to her in Breaking. 🤣 It's a redemption story with a side of slowburn and I am very excited to be writing from deimos!Kassandra's head after writing about her from an oblique angle for the past three years.

5. What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

I can't say I identify with the fictional characters I write about, but there's definitely a part of me in every POV character I've ever written. Perhaps I latch on to characters who can provide some aspirational wish fulfillment. Kassandra has the physicality and unshakeable confidence. Kyra has the exceptional memory and ability to adapt to the moment. These are not qualities that I have in great amounts, but I sure as heck would like to!

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

Right now? Kyra. She's so fucking complicated, and writing her dialogue has brought me joy—as well as a fierce challenge. Everything she says holds at least two layers of meaning.

deimos!Kassandra in Irredeemable is a close second. She's Kassandra coming back from the dark side and channeling her lets me play with some emotions that aren't so nice. 😈

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

Yes. I write the stories I want to read, and all too often those don't exist so I have to conjure them myself.

13. Do you share your writing online? (Drop a link!) Do you have projects you’ve kept just for yourself?

This page is the gateway to the writing I've posted online, both fanfic and original work. I'm mostly writing fanfic these days so that gets posted for public enjoyment. (That said, I originally wrote "The Breaking" just for myself, and was only later persuaded to share it in public.)

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

"The Breaking" got an amusing AU just a few weeks ago: What if Kyra had managed to kill Deimos early in the story, what then? That story probably had the most faffing about in its earliest stages, when I was writing my way into the plot. There's a version of that story that doesn't skip the five months between chapter 1 and 2. 😬 There's also a version with an Isu component that became a darling that I absolutely had to kill.

I think Breaking is an outlier due to its complexity. Prior to that book, my stories have tended to align with a strong central vision, appearing a bit like Athena, fully formed from my forehead.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

Gonna stick this answer under a cut to save your dashboards...

Let's talk about the snake imagery in "The Breaking." If you've played the game, you know that the Cult of Kosmos's sigil is one of twined vipers, and though I've written a story where Deimos has broken free of the Cult's control, she's kept the viper sigil as her own.

Snakes are strongly associated with Deimos, so it's telling when such imagery begins to be used around Kyra:

An eagle would batter its wings against the bars until they broke. But flying's not for me anymore. I'm closer to the ground, slithering, shedding my skin, trying to make myself small enough to squeeze between the bars and escape.

And:

My arm moves, the blade slides and hisses for a long while, but then a quiet sigh from the bed pulls me out of rhythm. Your head turns, slowly, in time to watch me test the blade's edge against my thumbnail. Sharp enough to cut to the bone if I need it to.

Let's just say I'm hinting some things about Kyra's character progression. 😅

[Fun meta asks for writers]

[bigskydreaming]

Hello, hello, tis I, your friendly neighborhood ‘dude who is obsessed with people making jokes and insults out of Dick’s name’ back with another episode of Why No But Seriously Why!

In today’s episode, we’re going to focus on the fanon of the swear jar. That thing ordained by Alfred that makes many an appearance in fics and headcanons....including ones that also show Jason and/or others calling Dick a Dickhead and other things all willy nilly and suchlike and forthwith.

How does this track, asketh I? Does Alfred provide exemption clauses for making fun of your brother, to the others? Does Alfred not consider making crude insults out of the name Dick to be a swear? Does Alfred, a born Brit, hailing from the land of the “We’ve Been Calling Richards ‘Dicks’ For Longer Than The Rest Of You Have Been Calling Them Rich’s,” not consider the fascination with making penis jokes out of the name of a child he’s helped raised from the age of EIGHT to be uncultured, crass and frankly unacceptable in any house he resides in?

I’m just saying, does it really make sense, and is the risk of pulling readers out of your story if they’re NOT amused by the jokes made of his name really worth whatever it is you feel is added to a story BY making the same old jokes about Dick’s name?

As I’ve said many times before....Dick Grayson? Fictional character. Has no feelings that actually need protecting....OUTSIDE of fiction. Making jokes about his name from beyond the fourth wall, just people commenting on a fictional character’s name? Go wild, go crazy, have a freaking Bacchanalia. Truly does not matter, if you ask me.

But IN universe? IN fiction? Totally different story, because look what those jokes require or make assumptions out of:

1) That Dick truly has no protective or defensive feelings whatsoever about his childhood nickname, and genuinely feels nothing about people habitually taking his choice to keep it as an invitation to insult or mock him.

1b) That Dick doesn’t in any way ever perceive peoples’ insistence on associating his name MORE with the insults and penis jokes than they do with it just being a name, to in any way be a slight against his beloved parents, of the “well they should have known better than to call him that” variety.

1c) That Dick has no negative feelings whatsoever about the fact that even his close friends and family regard his name as being no more worthy of respect or being ‘offlimits’ than the average Gothammite or public citizen might regard it, despite the fact that his close friends and family are perfectly aware of the public’s history of looking down on Dick for his origins and thus you’d think would WANT to appear different than them in Dick’s eyes.

1d) That Dick has never at any point expressed anger, frustration or bitterness that he can’t even have his name respected without even loved ones superimposing their own associations on top of it, no matter what it means to HIM.

2) That Alfred truly has no opinions whatsoever of the other charges in his care disrespecting Dick’s name and its origins stemming from his first parents.

2b) That Alfred has never expressed this opinion to any of them or made his displeasure about such jokes known.

2c) That Alfred doesn’t find it disappointing that the rest of the family and associated friends and allies seem disinclined to separate themselves from the general public’s opinions of Dick’s name by regarding it with a little more respect as at least a sign that they regard Dick himself with a little more respect than the general public.

3) That Jason or none of Dick’s other friends or family have never taken the initiative to wonder for themselves how Dick might actually feel about the frequent jokes or insults, and if shockingly, he might not actually be fond of them.

3b) That Jason or Dick’s other friends or family have chosen not to care or respect the opinions of Dick and/or Alfred or anyone else who states or suggests that these jokes or insults aren’t welcome.

4) That none of Dick’s other friends, be they Titans, or Uncle Clark, or siblings like Cass or Damian or frankly anyone, ever speak up in defense of Dick’s name and suggest that there’s a significant lack of respect around it and thus around him, that they personally take a very dim view of. (Even when Jason’s best friends include Dick’s former fianceé and own longtime BFF).

5) That nobody has ever bothered to think that only EVER being addressed by some form of insult by even his own siblings might possibly have a slightly demoralizing effect on someone’s self-esteem over time.

5b) That nobody has ever bothered to think that making sexual jokes about his name and thus innately sexualizing Dick from even his earliest days in Gotham, when coupled with the hyper-sexualized stereotypes people often apply to Romani individuals and further coupled with the suggestive rumors surrounding Bruce’s reasons for taking in a young boy, might possibly have contributed over time to Dick having an extremely skewed view of himself as an innately sexualized being no matter what he actually did in terms of sexual behavior.

I mean.....there’s more. If I felt like it.

But the point is......there’s a LOT of implicit assumptions that creep in alongside the seemingly harmless jokes and insults surrounding Dick’s name, the second you start to really focus in on how it might appear from his POV....IF you include even just the possibility that he DOESN’T like it.

EDIT: Also, lots of people have pointed out that its just sibling culture to make fun of a sibling in ways that you wouldn’t be okay with someone outside the family making the same jokes. And this is absolutely true! BUT. My issue here and why I don’t think the Dickhead jokes fall under this umbrella, is because I can say in my experience being from a blended family, and from what I’ve discussed in the past with other kids from blended families....there are ‘rules’ about this sort of thing, when you have adopted siblings, and the one near-universal truth that I’ve always found is that anything that stems from an adopted sibling’s first family, the one you do NOT share with them, is absolutely off limits. You mock them for something that originated outside your family, you’re the asshole, because at that point, you’re literally no different from outsiders to your current family making fun of that sibling. That ‘joke’ is not YOURS to make or share in, if you do not have the history with the thing you’re basing the joke on, that your sibling has with it. Shared history is the entire basis of siblings being able to mock each other while still citing solidarity against outsiders, and in adopted families, there absolutely are elements of each others’ lives that YOU are the outsider to, and it absolutely falls on you to respect that just as you’d want your sibling to respect the same of you in turn. If Jason absolutely would not be okay with Dick or anyone else making jokes about Catherine or his life with her, he should not be okay with making jokes about Dick’s name, circus origins, or other aspects of his life that stem from or call back to his time with his first family. The same holds true of all the others as well.

The other aspect of this name-calling not falling under the excuse-umbrella of just being typical sibling culture is its entirely one-sided. Show me the tendency where Dick responds to these everpresent jokes or insults by even light-heartedly calling Jason and the others insults like Hey Asshole, or Dumbass or anything like that. When things are entirely one-way, the impression given is not that of a camaraderie of back-and-forth. It becomes just one person or multiple people punching down in a way they feel confident from experience the other person will NOT respond in kind, which gives them an outlet for venting frustration, resentment or aggravation which risks them nothing, because they KNOW Dick won’t retaliate, and at that point that exchange becomes something very different from a general sibling back-and-forth....because there’s no ‘back.’ What you end up with at that point is literally just hostility, no matter if more mild than other cases, and a situation where one sibling is simply taking ADVANTAGE of the opportunity afforded by another sibling’s good nature and refusal to engage in hurt feelings even while you feel free to cause those feelings in them. And that’s just not a good look. Its just not. And even if you find those exchanges humorous yourself as a writer or a reader, you might want to keep in mind that to plenty of other readers, its making even the characters you like and INTEND to be liked, just....come across as kinda not cool assholes instead.

END OF EDIT.

And here’s the other point:

Its not really about his name, and never has been.

His name is simply emblematic of how EASY it is for people to fall into the trap of just....choosing to overlook Dick’s POV entirely, the second its pitted against other characters and what they might gain from their POV....even if that ‘gain’ is as simple and basic as the slight moment of humor Jason gets from making a joke or mocking insult out of Dick’s name.

Here, let me present this another way:

Every single person alive has SOMETHING they get defensive or protective about. SOMETHING that they’re like no, this is offlimits to people, this is not for their consumption, their entertainment, its not for THEM to take and twist into something other than what it is for ME, because its MINE. This is basic human nature. EVERYONE has this feeling about SOMETHING that’s particular to them.

And with Dick, most of the things that we’re generally given to view him being protective or defensive about are either almost more about other people than him - such as being protective of his family members - or else, they’re things that he’s not ALLOWED to be purely defensive or say, territorial about.

Like for instance, the name Robin.

Think about how Robin is pretty much one of the ONLY things Dick is largely deemed to be defensive or proprietary about.....BUT how that’s also largely used NOT to have him wholly in the right for feeling that way.....but to put him in conflict with the other Robins, given that they also have strong feelings about the name regardless of its origins, and its not solely Dick’s anymore.

Now here’s my question:

If for example, you go with the take that Robin was Dick’s mother’s name for him, and that’s why Dick is so protective and defensive of that name.....why would he be any LESS protective or defensive about his mother AND father’s OTHER name for him....given that the only possible reason for him TO stick with the name Dick all throughout adulthood, is that its the form of his name they referred to him by, and thus, clearly, it DOES carry emotional significance for him?

See what I’m saying?

Why is it, that the only time so many people see Dick laying a claim to something, being defensive or protective of something that’s HIS, standing up for HIMSELF.....is when the waters are murky, when its not a clear cut case of him being wholly in the right, when it pits Dick against someone else and says both are at least somewhat valid?

Why is it so RARE to see people imagine Dick putting his foot down in defense of himself, in defense of something that’s HIS.....where its 100% crystal clear that he has every right and reason in the world to feel this way, where there’s no doubt whatsoever that he’s on the correct side of thinking “this is mine and I get to say this”?

Even about something as simple and basic as his own name?

And why is it the only time we seem to see people sticking up for Dick or weighing in on his behalf, its in the case of extreme actions like him having been raped or abused? Why are there hardly any stories of people looking at alleged family and friends bitching about Dick or heaping insults on him or his capabilities and saying hey, he’s been doing this while most of us were sitting in middle school detention, you could show him some respect? Why do none of the people who value and respect Dick so highly ever seem to weigh in like THAT in stories?

My challenge, should you choose to accept it, is just to look at the above list of possible reasons why Dick might not be thrilled about how people use his name....and just IMAGINE what it would look like, if Dick just said to another character....”Hey. Could you cut that out. I would appreciate it if you didn’t do that.” Even just “I really don’t like that.”

How does a scene like that go? One where Dick is wholly and completely justified in putting his foot down, in feeling that someone is overstepping or paying him an insult or a disservice?

We hear all the time in fandom about how in the name of ‘humanizing’ Dick and ‘making him more relatable’ some people focus overly much on emphasizing his flaws, his alleged temper, his secretiveness, etc.

I’d like to argue that flaws are not actually the only staple of humanity. Risking making a character more dislikable is not actually the only way to make them feel more human or relatable. THIS is another way to do that. Make them defensive, proprietary, territorial, even prickly.....but with REASON. With CAUSE. With JUSTIFICATION. Because people are ALLOWED to be, when people are being a - all irony intended - total dick to them.

And there is a long, LONG history in fanfics, of people being exactly that to Dick, and him just....smiling.

EXCEPT for when his choice NOT to smile, and to actually take offense and push back......pits him against another character but with the other character usually being granted just as much right and reason to not give way.

So? I’m saying you have right here a perfect example of how to flip the script on that. To make it abundantly clear that Dick has just as much right to put his foot down with even people who love and care about him and say hey, you’re doing something I don’t like, that in fact even hurts me, and I want you to stop.

Why not use it? Why does there always seem to need to be an ARGUMENT about whether or not Dick is in the right to feel wronged in some way.....when its so abundantly clear that he’s given no shortage of reasons for that in practically every other fic?

And consider.....if you’ve never previously entertained the idea that Dick might take offense to how people treat his name, or feel defensive about it......what else might you be overlooking that he could feel that way about, and is there any reason why you think you tend not to view Dick as being defensive of HIMSELF and things that are uniquely his?

*Shrugs* Just food for thought, mayhaps.

[tswiftisgay]

I just think it’s funny how Taylor told Ellen her first kiss was her boyfriend Drew age 15 except that drew and her never dated and he didn’t know about her feelings until years laterwhen Teardrops came out

ooooo anon that is a spicy fun little tidbit.

At the time, I remember questioning whether she had ever said she dated Drew before, but not thinking too hard about it. But your ask made me go digging.

What I found does not support the narrative that they dated!!

From the way way old TaylorSwift.com as saved on internet archive:

"I used to have a huge crush on this guy, who would sit there every day talking to me about...another girl: how beautiful she was, how nice and smart and perfect she was. And I sat there and listened, never meaning it any of the times I said 'Oh, I'm so happy for you.' I guess this is a good example of how I let my feelings out in songs, and sometimes no other way. And I've never been afraid of using names. I love this song because of its honesty and vulnerability. To this day, they are still together and he has no idea about this song."

From a 2007 Seventeen article:

Turns out, she draws everything from her own experiences -- and she isn't afraid to share! On her hit single, "Teardrops on My Guitar," she talks about a former crush. When asked if she'd heard from the crush since the song debuted, she told us he had been leaving her voicemails ever since -- but that she felt too awkward to call him back!

From this fan wiki about past relationships. Looks like this exact little blurb is used on several fan sites circa 2013 at the earliest, but I can't find an original source.

Drew Hardwick “Teardrops on My Guitar” was written about a boy she liked, whom she never actually dated. "Drew was a real person!" she tells. Drew was surprised when he heard his name in the song. "I never knew she liked me," Drew says. Taylor stated that two years after the song came out Drew showed up at her house and asked her on a date. She declined. "It was the perfect fairytale ending but a little too late."

This 2008 Washington Post interview talks about Drew showing up on her driveway.

There's also an old Great American Country Music article from 2008 which seems to say Drew is the inspiration for Our Song and Tim McGraw as well? Or maybe it confuses him with another ex--saying one showed up on her driveway and one left her voicemails--even though other sources seem to say that's the same person. I would trust the other sources over this one since it's the only one saying that.

I'm sitting here wondering a lot of things right now.

What songs did she write first for self-titled? Wouldn't it make sense for her first kiss to be a different guy she dated like the Tim McGraw song guy? (Or, you know, a girl that she didn't want to talk about.)

That's a weird lie to tell since Drew had very well-publicized child abuse charges in late 2015. You would think she would want to distance herself from him.

Is it possible that the real lie is that she never dated or kissed him? Maybe it was a bit messier than that, but she didn't want to mention it at the time because he was still with the other girl?

A reminder: I always come from the mindset that Taylor probably did date guys in highschool because most girls do until they can sort out their sexuality (heteronormativity, performative heterosexuality, etc.) Plus she may indeed be bisexual/pansexual/not just into ladies!

I'm super intrigued to hear what others know or think about this!

Nonsense gossip / humor below the cut if you're invested

One reddit commenter said there are two different highschool Drews! Drew Dunlap and Drew Hardwick. I don't know what to think because all of the evidence is bad. This sorta reachy old post says Drew Dunlap was the first kiss/boyfriend. Other shitty media outlets (x x x) have picked that up and used it.

But there are other sources that say the boyfriend she wrote those nice songs about who had to leave for college was actually Brandon Borello, which cbsnew.com and Insider backs up. Here is a supposed photo of them.

If I had to take a guess, I would say Brandon is the real inspo and boyfriend.

I ran out of Vulture credits so you tell me what this one says about what happens to guys Taylor writes songs about.

AND last but not least, Answers.com says:

You're welcome.

[pl-panda]

The vines that bind us - Chapter 9

Chapter 1 || Previous || Next

------

She opened the window and picked a pencil. With deadly precision she tossed it. The wooden tool sailed through the air until it hit the binoculars and broke one side of them. She huffed and closed the window before pulling the curtains closed. How rude.

Jason cursed under his breath. Any other day he would probably avoid the projectile, but it caught him completely by surprise. By all accounts, it was physically impossible to use a pencil with such precision and force to destroy military-grade night-vision binoculars. At least the memory card was safe so he could give it to replacement later on for analysis.

Still in bad mood after having his gear ruined, Jason zipped to Dupain-Cheng’s window and gave a light knock. No response. Another knock. Still no response. Finally, after the third knock, the blinders opened and the window itself followed, revealing a very angry girl. Jason finally had a chance to get a better look at her. She did, in fact, have blue hair and now that he’d seen it close, he would bet half his paycheque that it was somehow a natural color. The purple too. She must have had her hair dyed for the first day of work. Her eyes were another part that he memorized. They were blue and iridescent green at the same time, giving a slight unnatural aura. Or maybe it was just that she looked ready to murder him.

“Are you done staring?” She asked, clearly annoyed. “You are not my type and much too old. And the stalker routine is plain creepy. Get lost old guy.”

She was about to close the window when he started speaking.

“I actually came to apologize. I did not ‘stalk’ you, thank you very much. I was just checking on you, miss. You do realize that you single-handedly kicked Riddler’s ass and got quite a bit of publicity.”

“Suuure. You do that for every brave citizen?” She asked with a raised eyebrow and a small grin. “You would be really short-staffed. I hope that overgrown furry does pay you for the overtime.” Any traces of amusement disappeared from her face. “Now get lost before I sic Chloe on you. She recently started dating Damian Wayne and the two seem to bond over ruining people. I’m sure you would make a decent target.” Without further ado, Mari closed the window and put the blinders back in place, completely cutting him off. 

Jason didn’t protest. He was too busy processing the fact that Demon Spawn apparently started dating someone. Oh, he would have so much fun teasing the little menace. 

----------------

When the motorbike entered the Batcave, Jason expected to meet perhaps the Replacement or Demon Spawn. He definitely did not expect to see the entire family sans B and Alfred. 

“Do you want to perhaps explain why dad received an angry call about ‘some idiot in red bucket’ stalking her through the window?” Barbara asked. frowning deeply. 

“Or at least why were you stalking her?” Dick added.

“Or where you hid my coffee?” Tim joined.

“Timothy!” Several of them shouted.

“What? It’s important!”

“Back to the matter at hand.” Dick turned back to Jason. “What exactly were you thinking?!” He screamed.

“Geez. You thought about joining some opera?”

“Tt. Answer the question.” Damian interrupted.

“That reminds me. Did you know Demon Spawn got himself a girlfriend?” Jason asked, trying to deflect. He really did not like how they jumped at him.

“Not… important.” Cass stared daggers at him. “Talk.”

“Fine!” he threw hands in the air. “I followed a hunch. And I was right. She is a meta!” He procured his destroyed binoculars. “There is no human way to destroy military-grade equipment like that with just a pencil.”

Tim picked it up and quickly tossed it onto the table nearby. A blue light scanned the products and the bat-computer started to display the scan plus introductory analysis.

“Well, he is right. There is no way that a simple pencil could destroy it.” He pressed some buttons and recording from the last seconds of the item’s life played. They could clearly see her throw a pencil at it and then everything went black. “Or I was wrong.” Tim started to do a series of calculations. 

“Bucket-head might be onto something. With her muscle mass, it would be impossible to throw a pen with enough force. Actually, it’s almost impossible to make that throw. Not with human muscle density…”

Barbara rolled over to him and the two started to work side by side. “But that’s also not probable since the body is not…” 

“She would probably…” 

“Plant fibers have a similar structure, but she would…” 

“Maybe… Unless she is not strong and instead…”

“Um… earth to nerd corner. Can you explain?”

“Jason might have hit the bullseye.” Tim grinned and several groans could’ve been heard. “She is definitely a meta. It still doesn’t explain why you stalked her.”

“Is that not reason enough?” Red Hood asked. He immediately regretted it when Duke stared daggers at him. 

“You do realize, that metahumans are not as rare as it was believed at the beginning?” Tim asked.

“What?”

“Roughly ten percent of humans are born with dormant meta-gene and the number is increasing each year. And about one in twenty people have an active meta-gene. They just don’t go around wrecking everything or don a cape and run around beating people.” Tim spoke in a matter-of-factly tone. 

“What?”

“Yeah. Eidetic memory, or perfect recall for our uneducated bucket-head,” Tim snickered while Jason grumbled.

“I hate that name.”

“I think it will stay for a while.” Stephanie was smiling. “She does have a way with nicknames. First an overgrown furry, then red Buckethead…” She was on the verge of laughing. “I wonder what she does next?”

“As I was saying,” Tim regained the control of the conversation, “eidetic memory is actually one of the earliest forms of registered active meta-ability.”

“What?”

“The gene tends to activate under extreme duress, but, as we learned, the definition of extreme duress varies from person to person.”

“So what? A guy afraid of failing an exam might accidentally unlock super memory?” Jason dismissed it.

“More like if someone lived in years under pressure and is about to crack.” Dick pointed. “I mean there was even this large awareness campaign about four years ago led by Beast Boy. Where were you?”

“Dead.” Jason deadpanned. “I was dead.”

“Oh… I guess you didn’t see Garfield’s movies then?” Steph asked, being the first to break through the heavy atmosphere.

“She is still a meta.” Jason tried to fight, but his arguments were wavering. 

“Which changes nothing. You will go to her tomorrow and apologize.” Tim said categorically. 

“Ugh! Fine. But I got one more interesting fact: Demon Spawn got himself a girlfriend.” He grinned and turned to Damian. Everyone followed his gaze.

“Tt. I have no idea what you are talking about Todd.” 

“That blonde! Charlie saw you two sitting and eating pastries together! She is the new intern!” Dick had a big fat smile on his face and his eyes were almost glittering. “Who is she? How did you two meet?”

“Blonde?” Tim suddenly paled considerably. “There is only one blonde intern. Please tell me you aren’t dating Chloe Bourgeoise of all people!” He squeaked.

Damian wanted to deny it further, but seeing the Replacement’s reaction he changed his mind. The grin that formed on his face was borderline malicious before turning back to the emotionless mask he wore every day. “Yes. She finally admitted that I was not at fault for the cake incident. She is actually tolerable now.” 

“What cake incident?” Steph asked, smelling some juicy story about her ex. That kind of story was the best.

“Tt. When we were at this gala in Paris two years ago, Replacement attacked me and we fell into the birthday cake.”

“It doesn’t sound…” Dick started, but Damian interrupted him.

“The cake had six levels and was about as tall as I am now. Mayor Bourgeoise was not happy that we ruined his precious princess’s birthday.”

“So that’s why we no longer go to Paris?”

“Tt. No. That’s because Jason almost trashed the Louvre.” 

“Right…” Tim mumbled while his eyes closed. In just a moment, he was snoring away on the chair.

“Damn. I thought it would work faster.” Barbara complained while peeling the near-invisible sticker away from his neck. 

-----

Thursday actually passed without any trouble for Marinette. The class finally got it through their collective single brain cell that she had the power to end their trip with two words. She was slowly getting the grip on the work and after some talk with Penny, where the woman practically forced Mari to listen to some additional advice. She was actually offended that the girl didn’t call her immediately. 

She did have to practically drag her barely conscious boss to a meeting in the afternoon, but he didn’t put up much of a fight after she gave him a Tikki Special Coffee. The small goddess giggled inside her pocket the entire time as the boy begged on his knees.

After work, she and Chloe went to the Gotham Zoological Garden. At first, she wanted to go to the Botanic Garden first, but their class was supposed to visit there after work, so the girls went to Zoo instead. Gotham had a much broader collection of birds than Paris did. And the less chance of running into their classmates, the better.

“...He did what?” Chloe asked louder than necessary, but nobody paid the two girls in smart outfits any attention.

“Yeah. But don’t worry. I gave him a piece of my mind.” Mari dismissed it.

“It’s still creepy.”

“I know. That’s why I sicced the police at him.”

“That’s my girl!” 

“Well, I threatened to send you and Damian after him, but I decided it would be too cruel.” She smiled. “Besides, I’ve seen that Red Buckethead is trending already.” She pulled out her phone and showed a post there was a picture of Red Hood next to a reversed red bucket.

FashionMari @QueenGoldie Someone in a red bucket was stalking me. I was torn between calling the police and criticizing their fashion choice. In the end, I did both. 

“Only you Goldie. Only you…”

--------

Friday was press conference day. For once, Mari woke up earlier and got dressed in record time. Chloe watched from the side-lines as the girl moved around like a tornado, preparing everything and triple-checking all arrangements. She changed outfits four times before finally the blonde grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to sit down. 

“Goldie! You know I love you and I would kill for you,” She started, “but if you don’t calm down I will tie you up and leave you here for the day.”

“But…!” Bluenette tried to protest, but Chloe cut her off.

“No buts. We are only sixteen. I for one came here to learn a bit and maybe meet someone. You are supposed to be learning. Nobody said anything about getting a full-time job.”

“The deal…”

“So what if they fire you?” Chloe raised her hands over her head. “Ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous! You have Gabriel Agreste and Audrey Bourgeoise fighting over who will get you while Jagged Stone is willing to fly over half the world just to give your references in person. You run a very successful flower shop and even more successful boutique.”

“But…” She tried to muster a weak protest, but Chloe’s angry gaze made her wither. 

“I will not let you run yourself dry!” The blonde stated firmly. “So either you take a step back and breathe or I will call your uncle.”

“Not uncle Jagged! he already banned me from drinking coffee!”

“So you will behave?” Chloe asked with a smirk. 

“Fiiiinneee!” Mari couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks, Queenie. I needed this. I’m glad I have you as my friend. And sister.” 

“Well of course you needed me! Everyone needs me!” She huffed before her expression became more gentle and she pulled Mari into a hug. 

Downstairs the class was waiting for them. Probably they finally gathered the courage to confront her about Alya’s fate. The girl shouldn’t have lied while filing for promotion. Mari and Chloe stormed past them not even sparing them a glance. Outside, Adrien was already waiting inside the limousine with Gerard at the driver’s seat. 

“I’m glad your driver is finally here.”

“Me too!” The blond boy was practically beaming. “I’m free from Lila’s clutches.”

“Could you drop us at… No. 2 Twine Street?” Mari asked the gorilla, who only grunted in response.

“Um… We should be going to Wayne Tower.”

“Nope.” Mari popped the ‘p’. “You,” she pointed at Adrien, “are an intern in PR. I asked for you to be present at the press conference to help move stuff around and so on.” 

“And me?” Chloe asked. “If you expect me to…” 

“You’re there to support your boyfriend. He was the one that practically demanded that I get you there. He hates publicity.”

“Oh… Good then. Let’s go.”

“Boyfriend?” Adrien asked curiously. “You mean Wayne?”

“Yeah. Apparently Chloe found herself a partner in scheming.”

“I bet that their dates are filled with planning to take over the world.”

“We could’ve taken the world over by lunch if we wanted.” Chloe looked almost offended. “The question is what way would be the most suitable one.” 

All three of them broke into laughter as the car rode through the city of crime.

----

About fifteen minutes before the press conference was scheduled to start, Tim Drake was still not there. None of the Waynes were there in fact. She sent about fifteen angry messages to Mr. Drake and he was still not here, which only fueled her stress and anger. 

The press had no idea so far and they were eagerly awaiting whatever news the company wanted to present. She bit her lower lips. Chloe was on the phone, trying to reach her boyfriend.

“If that idiot doesn’t get here in the next ten minutes, I’m going to consider stabbing him.” 

“Damian?!” Chloe shouted into her phone. 

“Tt. What do you want?”

“First of all, that’s not how you talk to your girlfriend. Second of all, where in the world is your excuse of a brother?! Mari is an inch from going ballistic!”

“Tt. He’s asleep.” Damian answered in an impassionate tone.

Mari leaped over and wrestled the phone from Chloe. “You go to him right this moment or I swear to all that’s holy and…”

“I get it.” He interrupted her, showing signs of irritation. There were some static and the camera blurred for a moment from the fast motion. When it returned, she saw barely awake Tim Drake wearing blue onesies. 

“wah…”

“Get yourself cleaned up and into a suit in the next three minutes!” She shouted. God bless the soundproof backstage.

“Um… But I will never make…”

“I’m certain you have a great webcam somewhere in this big mansion of yours. Set it in the library and call me in the next few minutes. I so hope you were not supposed to be the model because gods help me…” She took a look at his terrified face. “Of course you were…” 

“In my defense…”

“Shut up. Get going!” She hanged up and turned to Adrien and Chloe, who were looking at her with a mixture of fear and awe. “What are you waiting for?!” She tossed a package to the boy. “You get dressed in the new product.” She pushed him outside and into the janitor’s closet on the other side. “And you’re coming with me!” She dragged Chloe toward the main room. The blonde was sent to the technics room to get the feed started while Mari stepped on the scene. The chatter died quickly and all reporters turned to her.

“Hi. Please forgive us for the slight delay. We have minor technical difficulties that are being solved as we speak. In the meantime, you are free to take the seats. The conference is about to start.” 

Behind her, a screen slowly descended. She saw Adrien leaning from the doors leading backstage and smiling at her. 

“Without further ado, I present you Tim Drake, CEO of Wayne Enterprises.”

The image of the teen with black hair appeared on the screen and he waved everyone. He was holding a red cup of coffee with black polka dots, the same Tikki summoned for him the first time. 

Satisfied with herself, Marinette allowed herself a moment of rest. The conference was going well and after a minute of silence for the dead in the recent attack, the presentation began. Adrien was a natural model so it all went great. Wayne Tech in co-operation with Gabriel brand was introducing a new line of ‘smart’ fabric that could withstand medium stress and was almost impossible to dirty or stain. She had to admit it was quite amazing. Apparently, it was partially how Mr. Agreste got her class internship. Granted, Adrien was not supposed to be the model but you don’t look a gifted horse in the mouth. 

Everything was going great until the doors to the room were kicked open and several goons barged in, followed by none other than Two-face. Everyone immediately fell onto the floor. Mari couldn’t help but sigh exasperatedly. Why did it have to go wrong at every turn?

Ignoring the terrified stares, she stormed toward the intruders. “Excuse me, sir?” She asked with an emotionless face.

“What?” The man looked clearly irritated.

“I don’t see your name on the guest list. Did you remember to call in advance?”

“Of course not! Do I look like…” The criminal was clearly angry. 

“Then I apologize, but I must ask you to leave now.” 

“Do you have any idea who I am?” Two-face pulled his gun.

“I’m sorry, sir, but if you are not on on the list, I can’t let you stay.” She said in an emotionless voice. Mari was honestly too tired to care at this point. Maybe at least the evening would be better.

“I’m not sure you get the situation, miss. I’m not here for the interviews. Everyone pull out your wallets and drop them in the sacks!” He shouted while his men started to walk around.

“Hm… That won’t do.” She said. After muttering something under her breath, Mari tossed her clipboard. The spinning board hit one of the mooks in the head, knocking him cold, before bouncing and hitting the next one. After that, it returned to her hand. 

That was enough for Two-Face. He aimed his gun at her, but she moved faster than he anticipated. Within seconds, she grabbed his wrist and pushed it up so he was aiming at the ceiling. She squeezed it hard enough to make him drop the gun right into her other waiting hand. The girl let go of his wrist and disassembled the gun into pieces in what could become record time. 

Now irritated, Mari grabbed Two-face by his tie and pulled him down until they were at the same eye-level. 

“I was trying to do it peacefully sir. I am now ordering you to leave. Otherwise, I will actually have to hurt you.” She leaned closer until she was able to whisper. “And don’t make mistakes, Dent. I can and will hurt you.” For a moment her eyes lost the blue coloring and became entirely iridescent green, glowing slightly. 

Harvey Dent rarely felt fear. His life was more often than not guided by the toss of a coin. Now though, he stared in the eyes of Poison Ivy, except ten times scarier. He was already afraid of that woman after she almost fed him to her ‘precious’.

“I… I am deeply sorry madame.” He spoke carefully. “Men! We are moving out. Leave the bags!” And with that, they were all gone. 

Most of the reporters gave Mari big applause. There was only one angry old man that stared daggers at the girl. 

“You let that scum go away!” He shouted. “He was a criminal.”

“Sir. You are free to go after him if that’s your wish. I’m at work and my job description never included chasing after criminals.”

“But… But…” 

“Anyway, we were in the middle of the press conference if I’m not mistaken.”

-------

NEXT

[velvetcoves]

some V3 relationship HCs :) (boys)

(f/n)= first name <3

-mod velv

K1-B0 (KIIBO)

★ I LOVE HIM-

★ anyway

★ Kiibo has a basic understanding of human nature, but there are things that he just.. doesn’t get

★ like.. why do you have so many cups?? don’t you need only a couple?

★ and yes, he supposes that rock shines, but why do you need it?

★ you’ll have to explain to him some of your nature, and most humans as well. he’s very interested in learning as much as he can :)

★ after he gets some of it, (which took a while), he’ll start collecting little things that remind him of you. like a crow

★ your reactions mean everything to him

★ if you have any games that require timing, i have one word for you.

★ Kiibo.

★ he can literally pass any levels you’re stuck on

★ did i mention he heats up?

★ even though he’s.. made of metal, he’s surprisingly very comfortable! however, there are times where some parts of him dig into you uncomfortably, but there are solutions :)

★ like sweaters!! and blankets

★ speaking of, i feel like Kiibo would have a love-hate relationship with winter

★ on one hand, he gets to see you in the snow, help you make a snowman, and keep you warm during the cold nights

★ but.. his body gets stuck more often.

★ and the metal gets cold quickly, and he doesn’t want you cold :(

★ but you just remind him of the sweaters and you’ve got a happy robot :)

KOREKIYO SHINGUJI

★ whenever you two go out, he always has to be touching you in someway

★ it’s never something big, and most times you don’t even notice him until later

★ more often than not, his hand finds its way to your back

★ it’s now a habit of his, to kind of lead you with that

★ if his hand isn’t at your back, i feel like it would be somewhere on your arm. like a linked arm, or he’s holding your hand so he doesn’t lose you in a crowd.

★ ok but his h a i r?

★ can i be a simp for hair

★ he definitely would let you, and only you play with his hair. like braiding it, brushing, etc.

★ i feel like he would rarely call you by your actual name, because he uses so. many. pet names.

★ “angel, could you grab that for me?”

★ “dearest, come here for a second.”

★ stuff like that smh oh to be called dearest by Kiyo

★ he’d tease you sometimes as well

★ if you’re shorter than him, he’d definitely hold things above his head so you couldn’t grab them. and if you’re taller than him, then oh boy. he’d hide stuff from you. not important things, but stuff you’d need only in that specific moment.

★ he also really likes to play with your fingers lol it helps him concentrate

★ ok but just imagine.. Kiyo in the middle of a conversation, you’re not really paying attention as you’re screwing around on your phone. suddenly, Kiyo’s soft fingers interlace between yours, giving your hand a squeeze before he begins to play with your index finger as he continues to talk. tracing the shape of it into his mind. almost like he wanted to make a copy of you.

★ he could never try to replicate you, though. you’re so perfect to him.

RANTARO AMAMI

★ TEASE KING. STEP ASIDE KOKICHI

★ Rantaro is definitely that dude that if you’re wearing a hat, he’ll pull it down over your eyes or he’ll just straight up steal it.

★ play with his hair plEASE-

★ his hair is soft, threads through your fingers rather easily, and smells like lime

★ y’all are that couple that has one’s head in their lap as they read or somethin, playing with the other’s hair.

★ he is also that dude that comes up behind you, covering your eyes with his hands as he whispers, “guess who?~”

★ Rantaro actually has pretty small hands, and they’re actually cold most of the time.

★ beware of him and his goddamn hands smh

★ he will definitely stick his hands under your shirt for “warmth” as he so says. you know that he just wants to see your reactions

★ he’s actually god at eyeliner, so if you need to wear some, he’s your guy. hey, the dude has sisters.

★ speaking of, his sisters absolutely ADORE you. usually when you go over to his house they just.. immediately snatch you for 99% of the time and Rantaro is just “😀”

★ he leaves you little doodles everywhere. like he’ll bring you a book you asked for, and like on the 120th page there’s a crow with heels and it's the funniest thing you’ve seen all day

★ he starts laughing when you bring it up, and eventually you both are just laughing so hard at it you can't breathe

★ he has so much fun when he’s with you. he can never repay you

SHUICHI SAIHARA

★ steal his hat steal his hat steal his-

★ Shuichi is flustered rather easily when it comes to you, so use that information to your advantage hehe

★ expect lots of cuddles from him, especially those back hugs. like the ones where he’ll come up behind you and wrap his arms around you, leaning his head on top of yours if you're shorter, or against your back if you’re taller.

★ he’ll let out a small sigh of content as he nuzzles into your form, trying to keep his face hidden.

★ he finds your voice so soothing, especially when you read to him? like watch this:

★ you two are working on one of his cases together. your job is reading out his notes from the scene, your voice a low murmur as he works away. you haven’t noticed that he’s just.. stopped writing, staring at his pen as he begins to play with it. scratchy handwriting is what his eyes rake over, an adoring smile plastered to his face as he just listens. eventually you notice he’s stopped. “..Shuichi?” your soft voice asks, and he jolts a bit, grasped from his daydream. “a-ah.. sorry (f/n).. continue?”

★ more often than not it's your murmurs that causes the sleep deprivation to slap him in the face and just be knocked tf out.

★ helping him with cases is one of your favorite things?? like Shuichi you’re so smart give yourself some credit?????

★ every morning he greets you with a small smile. even though he’s still really tired, he makes an effort for you :)

★ i love funky detective man smh

GONTA GOKUHARA

★ b,, baby man,,

★ if you’re terrified of bugs, he’ll try to keep his little friends away from you, he doesn’t want to scare you at all :(

★ if you don’t mind bugs/you like them, he’ll be overjoyed!!

★ he probably has a bug named after you

★ more often than not, you’ll find them in your room or on your things. usually they’re really gorgeous, he says they remind you of him that day :)

★ he tries to switch up the bugs you find each day, so it’s always a little surprise when you enter your own room

★ ask him to carry you

★ he wants to carry you.

★ pl e a se

★ Gonta is also really warm, and his hands are HUGE

★ expect so many head pats from him. he loves how small you are compared to him

★ boops from Gonta? boops from Gonta.

★ this man straight up craves your cuddles.

★ because of his body temperature and scent of pine, it’s not hard at all to fall asleep in his embrace

★ i feel like he wakes up rather early, so he gets the pleasure of watching you sleep

★ not in a creepy way! he thinks you look so.. peaceful. angelic, is more of the word.

★ he absolutely LOVES seeing you in his clothes. just the way the cloth envelopes your tiny frame, you with your adorable smile and sweater paws?

★ god he loves you sm

RYOMA HOSHI

★ when you two first got into a relationship, he rarely touched you.

★ he literally had no idea what to do

★ he lived all of his life on eggshells, scared of every coming day

★ and then you, his ray of sunshine, just came to him?

★ he’s just so lost

★ however, you knew what to do.

★ you basically taught him that no, you’re not going to disappear from his life at any given moment. you promise.

★ it took some convincing, but you got there.

★ anyway, he doesn’t show too much PDA, but he’s taken up the habit of grasping your sleeve when you two walk together

★ given the fact that you’re likely taller than him, this boy l o v e s your hugs.

★ the way you just envelope him in your loving embrace.. he feels like he doesn’t deserve it.

★ he might tell you so, but you quickly shut him up with a kiss or something :)

★ spooning spooning spooning-

★ he’s usually little spoon, but he’ll be big spoon if you want :)

★ Ryoma really likes being held by you. he feels like time stops, like all that matters is you in that moment.

★ he just feels so safe when he’s around you. he’s gotta get used to it

★ one time when you both went on a date, you accidentally found the main base of the stray cats in your town

★ they LOVED him and now you go there frequently to visit the cats

★ ya’ll definitely have a cat from there too smh you’re so cute

KOKICHI OUMA

★ at the earliest stages of your relationship, i have two words for you.

★ good luck.

★ you are not safe from Kokichi.

★ you are targeted by him.

★ anyway, i definitely feel like he would be so clingy with you.

★ he doesn’t care that you’re in public, he will latch onto you and be a nuisance.

★ holding onto your sleeve, holding your hand, latching onto your leg so you have to drag him around, full on trying to tackle you, etc.

★ p i g g y b a c k r i d e s

★ if you don’t want him to completely annoy you, just hoist him up onto your back for a ride

★ he LOVES it

★ i also feel like he wouldn’t really know what he’s doing at first.. you make him feel so many things, emotions that he thought were buried a long time ago. it’s a bit too much for him

★ patience is key with Kokichi. please just wait for him. he’ll catch up when he’s ready.

★ but when he does? and when you’ve convinced him you’re not leaving anytime soon?

★ you have the most caring and lovable man right at your side.

★ he’s.. so soft with you.

★ Kokichi absolutely adores being held by you. probably the most out of the V3 crew. he feels so secure, so sure of your relationship in those moments. he sleeps best when you’re around, which he desperately needs due the insomnia that plagues him most nights.

★ quiet cuddles are such a treasure to you. he’s usually silent during your cuddle sessions, his head either in the crook of your neck or buried in your chest, inhaling your scent so he can imprint it to his mind. it makes you more in love with him.

★ also DICE adores you-

KAITO MOMOTA

★ he is,, the biggest simp for you,,,

★ literally every single day, Kaito looks at you with the biggest grin on his face because every time he looks at you, he notices a new thing that makes him love you even more.

★ stargazing da te s✨

★ ^ these dates often end up with him going on a rant about the constellations and their movements, star types, etc. and you love him for it

★ his coat is so warm?? you wonder how he wears it 24/7

★ he absolutely LOVES it when you tackle hug him. he doesn’t even care if he was in the middle of a conversation, just feeling the sudden embrace of his s/o makes him melt.

★ those tackle hugs usually end up in him turning around and scooping you up, spinning you around before planting you back down and giving you a sweet kiss

★ PDA? he loves it

★ he NEVER would do anything that makes you uncomfortable though.

★ your PDA mostly consists of hand holding, hugs, all that soft stuff :)

★ he would definitely have to do a double take if you ever wore his jacket.

★ “hey (f/n)? where-“ and he’d just s t a r e at you, his face going ablaze in red

★ he’s like that Tamaki gif

★ yeah that one ^

★ more often than not, you get piggyback rides from him

★ the gentle rock of his body as he walks, his overall warmth, his scent of lavender.. it’s perfect to lull you asleep.

★ he wouldn’t have it any other way :)

[qqueenofhades]

how do you manage to craft a story and connect it and also find ways back to a story that feel authentic and then also write dialogue basically what i’m asking is how are you so amazing at writing and how can a garbage fire person (such as myself) begin to write one so beautiful as one of yours

Aww. That is very kind of you.

As for me, I've been writing for 25 years, I write a lot, I read a lot, and after a while, you just get a sense of how things work, how narrative pieces go together, what style you like, whether an author is good or bad at what they're doing, and how a given piece of work makes you feel and why. I write fic, original fiction, and scholarly/academic stuff, so I have a lot of practice at different genres and just the sheer amount that I do (which is to say... a lot... probably too much) is obviously helpful in being able to hammer out something that is relatively decent on first go. But obviously it is not rocket science or a major secret, and anyone can do the same thing if they practice enough and are willing to go through the learning curve.

I do think it's a little harder to feel confident about your own abilities now that there's a culture of constant exposure/posting your stuff from all phases/abilities of your life. I definitely wrote tons of not-great-to-pretty-crappy stuff back when I was younger, but (and yes, I am indeed an Old) that was before the internet/social media/dedicated fandom spaces were common. Once again, I'm hideously dating myself here, but I first got a FanFiction.Net account in.... 2003. 18 years is a long time to be writing fic. I've gotten in some practice. I definitely could not reread my earliest stuff, and even my oldest stuff on AO3 (which I got in 2012) is edging into cringe factor by now. If I had to reread my stuff from when I was like, 14, and know that it was posted for the entirety of the internet public, I'd probably leap off a bridge. So for me, just by the time I had a tumblr and an AO3 and whatever else, I was a good enough writer that I could surreptitiously kick my early stuff under the bed where nobody had to see it.

Nonetheless, 14-year-old qqueenofhades also wrote some genuinely good stuff, she worked hard, and it probably wasn't even as bad as I remember it, since we are always our own worst critics. Plus, in my experience, most people are happy to consume content from writers of all different skill levels, and understand that we're all ordinary people doing this for free in our spare time just because we love some fictional idiots and want them to bang and/or suffer (and sometimes both). Yes, obviously you always do get some dicks and mean people and entitled assholes and That One Rude Commenter that every author has and which makes their eye twitch, but they do tend to be a minority, and with AO3, you can, for example, moderate comments or delete mean ones or whatever. It can really kick you in the gut when you're starting out, so while I've been through the fic wars (like I said, I was on FF.net in the Dark Days, so I've Seen Some Shit), and that's easy for me to say as a grizzled veteran, I know that it really sucks to get something like that. But it's still only one stranger on the internet who you will never meet in real life and who has no impact on you, and you can be entirely justified in deleting it and ignoring it.

Anyway. That was a long-winded way of saying: you are definitely not a garbage fire person, writing is dumb but also very fun, if you work at it you will get better just like you do with anything, and I am Old.