#I view their relationships to their respective Little Guys in a similar way I think. their dynamics seem very similar to me!

[archersartcorner]

Felt like there were more similarities between why I enjoyed these two and Pib&Skip… and then I realized LMAO

[ssadumba55]

Disney Princes Ideal Partners (Pt. 2)

Request: Hi I loved the Headcanon you made of A Relationship with the Princesses, so I could make a Headcanon of a relationship with the Princes. please it would be great

NOTE: I do not write for Pocahontas and I'm not a huge fan of Smith but in the interest of keeping this even and mirroring it with the princess one, he has been included

Aladdin

First and foremost, Aladdin wants a partner who accepts all parts of him. Sure, he can be cunning and sweet talking but he's also rough around the edges from living on the streets for so long

Someone who has a similar situation or who is always up for a good time would also be welcome

If you can provide (money or food) he will also be hooked, he's not a gold digger but the idea of stability and knowing where his next meal is coming from will definitely have him interested

John Smith

An ideal partner for John would challenge his way of thinking

He's a lone wolf, married to adventure so in order to have him falling for you, you'd need to be someone new, someone he wants to learn from

He wants a partner who will inspire him to think and see the world in a new way and likewise, he wants to share his own views and life with you

Li Shang

General Li Shang's first and foremost thought always is pleasing/making his father proud, so a partner who his father approves of is always a good start

He doesn't want a traditional partner who stays at home, he wants someone he can see as his equal, who will challenge him and who he can challenge

His ideal partner would be someone who respects him, but who he can also respect. Bonus points if you know how to fight

Naveen

Naveen is a fun loving guy, so his ideal partner would balance him out. They would appreciate and know how to have a good time, but when it comes down to it be able to be hardworking and serious when he struggles to be

He doesn't know a lot of the basic skills required to function, so he would appreciate someone who could either do that or teach him how. Someone he could also teach things he knows to, how to let loose, music, that kind of stuff

Someone who understands he's more than just a prince, someone who wants to be with him not because of his good looks or money but because he has a good heart and cares about them

Flynn/Eugene

Flynn wants someone who knows how to have a little bit of fun

His ideal partner understands where he's come from and wants to build a future together that means something, he wants them to truly know him

He also wouldn't mind if his partner is struggling in their own way, he wants to help them just as much as they help him. He wants the chance to prove that he's more than everyone sees him as and that he has a lot to offer

[waltzingwithyourenemyattheball]

PICK A CARD: LOVE NOTES FROM YOUR FUTURE SPOUSE

Top Left: Pile 1 Top Right: Pile 2 Bottom: Pile 3

Disclaimer: This is a general reading, so take what resonates and leave the rest.

You are not allowed to copy my work under any circumstances.

All personal tarot readings are PAID.

Thank you for all letting me read for you, please provide feedback.

Pile 1

‘We would be a wonderful us’  ‘Workplace romance’ ‘I’ll follow you till the end’ ‘I’m always gonna be in love with you’

You might get text like this: 1. Them: You are beautiful, more than you realise. 2. Them: I’ll make you breakfast. 

Your future spouse and you share a similar sense of humour, you both will be teasing and joking a lot. I see they are into philosophy for some of you, definitely a deep thinker either way, their view of life might intrigue you. This person an you will have many conversations, they will be mentally stimulating to you and get you thinking. Definitely some air sign presence (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius). I see rain is significant, maybe you’ll meet that time but it is coming in strong. Either one of you loves to style hair. I am seeing a man braiding a girl’s hair. It’s the little things about your relationship, spending quality time whenever you can, through thick and thin. They only like you and want you to be verbal in expressing your feelings. They really want to get married to you have an unbreakable bond. 

COMMENT 111 TO CLAIM!

🌙To know more about your future spouse in detail, DM me for a personal tarot reading🌙

Pile 2

‘Hopeless romantic with high standards’  ‘Star-crossed lovers’  ‘You look at each other like the two of you have your own language’ ‘One in simping, the other is oblivious’ - literally everyone else sees it. ‘Are we friends? Or are we more?’

They might say these things to you:

1. I am not supposed to be thinking about you.  3. Why won’t you leave my mind?  4. Wherever I look you are there. 5. Them: fight me for the rest of our lives.

Their heart flutters when you are in close proximity to them. Romantic tension and some awkward moments, with stealing glances and shy smiles. You guys will also have a lot of healthy debates where you disagree and argue, but overtime know how to work things through and are respectful. The transition period from friends to lovers is really being given emphasis here, it’s like everyone else sees it, when you two are together, you forget other people exist. Some of you might even know each other since college or some educational institution. Your love is very pure, only wanting the best for them. It is a slow-burn romance, with hands almost touching but didn’t. You guys are each others safe space, giving a sense of security. 

🌙To know more about your future spouse in detail, DM me for a personal tarot reading🌙

PILE 3

There are many different messages for this group, take it as it resonates. ‘Enemies to lovers’ ‘Friends to lovers’ ‘Workplace romance’ ‘SO THIS IS LOVE’  ‘Cute nicknames’ - even if you find them cringey right now, with the right person I see you turning into a puddle. ‘I feel lovable when you take care of me’ ‘Talk like best friends’ ‘Power couple’  ‘Someday when I say I am going home, it’ll mean I get to see you and that will make all of everything worth it’ Things they might say to you/text you: 1. You are so cute. 2. Do you wanna go driving? Just me and you. 3. We fix it together, because that’s what a relationship is about, going through life together as a team 4. You are so physically and mentally attractive at the same time, that’s why I am so crazy about you. 5. I only pretend I don’t like you. 6. [ angry whisper ] do you even know how cute you are.  One thing is settled, that they definitely find you attractive. It might start out as dislike which will morph into a friendship of sorts leading to a love connection. You guys love to banter. I see a lot of banter. If you read ‘the hating game’ I get those vibes. They find excuses to spend time with you until they are like I am gonna be honest and be more upfront rather than relying on some external factor. One of you is unconventional and the other finds them interesting and the constant need to be in touch, might also be a therapist of some sort, or just have healing energy. 🌙To know more about your future spouse in detail, DM me for a personal tarot reading🌙

-

EL TAROT

[lestappenforever]

My ask is maybe a bit silly, and would probably go in 'sanity check' category. It is about Max, and how he is perceived. If I understand correctly, it is said he is mad max, bad guy, aggressive… and similar. Now, I know teenagers are sometimes a bit crazy, and from what I read he was actually very badly treated by freaking adults, fellow drivers, when he first joined F1, so maybe then he was a bit aggressive, and it would be even understandable… but still it is difficult to even imagine that. Because Max I see (I am only following racing since last year) is nice, soft, funny, polite guy, still more looking like an innocent kid than an adult, even appearing naïve (unlike the sweet, adorable devil that is Charles!), and obviously so nice towards rookies (Oliver and Liam-who himself said it). So am I delusional and see what is not there or for some reason he is so vilified (I guess most coming probably from jealousy and Netflix crap…). Oh and one additional observation, he always looks so much softer and somehow cuddlier and cuter on photos from his streaming at home… What do you think? One final observation, then I will shut up  Sometimes it seems to me that all the Lestappen moments and specila connection maybe come from the fact that when Charles came to F1 Max finally had kinda his person there. Because he went form father abuse to fellow drivers abuse, but when Charles came to F1, he had someone he could have a real relationship with, even if they fought and were a bit sulky almost teenagers still in the beginning, they got over it as they grow up. But Charles is his genuinely healthy, good, fun, friendly relationship. Having spent time as kids growing up of course also deepens the bond and friendship, but also mutual respect and understanding each other’s qualities. I don’t know if explained it well enough… P.S. I LOVE your fics!!!!

Hi anon, and thank you so much for this ask! I don't think it's a silly ask at all.

All these "Mad Max", being too aggressive, being mean claims etc. stem from two things:

1. When Max made it into F1 almost 10(!) years ago, he was 17(!!) years old. He was a kid — a literal child. And he was a cocky, arrogant little shit at that, as any kid would be making their debut in such a prestigious sport at such a young age.

2. Max haters who will hate him forever, no matter what, no matter why. They don't even need a reason; they're just determined to hate him and will do so forever.

But the thing is, and his haters especially seem to love to ignore this fact, Max was seventeen years old when he made his F1 debut. He was, for all intents and purposes, a child. I watched Max make his F1 debut, and I watched and read the way he was viewed and the reception he received from his fellow drivers, the media, and fans alike. And I watched these grown-ass men already on the grid when Max joined welcome him by treating him like shit. These adults were so threatened by this kid who came into the sport without having to go through the same ranks almost every other F1 driver has to go through to get there, such as several years in F3 and F2 (Max only spent a year in F3 and skipped F2 altogether), that they did virtually nothing to make him feel welcome. Quite the opposite, in fact. It was so fucking sad and infuriating, and I lost a lot of respect for many drivers because of it. And if I'm being honest, anon, that's what made me decide Max would be my favorite driver. I can be incredibly spiteful when I want to be, and watching Max get slammed and slandered from so many directions from the very beginning made me want to be very spiteful. That's what made me decide that I was going to support that kid like hell. And I haven’t looked back or regretted it since.

I cannot stress this enough, and I know I've said it so many times before already, but: Max Verstappen was a child when he made it into the world of F1. But he's not a child anymore, which a concerning amount of people seem to be blissfully and willfully ignorant to. Max has grown and matured so much in the years he's been in F1. And, like most other people, Max Verstappen the adult is not the same person as Max Verstappen the teenager, or Max Verstappen the child. And he hasn’t been anything like his 17-year old self in a long, long time. But this, of course, is something his haters will never accept or acknowledge.

I truly believe, from the very bottom of my heart, that Max is always so nice and welcoming towards rookies, always willing to lend a hand or giving them advice, always going out of his way to praise and support them, because practically no one ever did that for him when he was a rookie. And that speaks volumes about his character and the kind of man he has grown into since making his debut.

You're not delusional at all, anon, and having only followed F1 since last year means it's not surprising that you don't see the very outdated and frankly incredibly incorrect persona the people who dislike Max will always keep trying to convince themselves and others is still him. Because it isn’t — not even close. Practically every single person who has worked with or been around Max in the past few years all say the same thing: that he's funny, easy-going, and one of the genuinely kindest people on the grid. And that means a hell of a lot more than the opinions of people who have never and will never know him, and have made it their personal, sad mission to hate him. So you keep holding on to the impression you have of him, anon, because that is a far more accurate representation than the image some people are so hellbent of painting of him. (He’s definitely not naïve, though, not even close.)

And I absolutely agree: he looks even softer and cuddlier when he's streaming at home! I love streamer!Max so much.

"When Charles came to F1 Max finally had kinda his person there". <- You are spot on with this, anon! I've talked about the special bond I think these two share in the past, like in this post, and so have many others. (@tsarinablogs @valyrfia @thearchercore to name a few - highly recommend checking out their blogs if you haven’t already!) It truly seems like they have never, and will never, see any other driver as a big a rival as the other, and the numerous accounts of their karting days from people who got to watch them battle first-hand from such a young age definitely backs up that claim. And I think that's so beautiful, and it's one of the many, many reasons why these two are so dear to me, and why other F1 ships will never be able to come close.

P.S. That makes me so happy to hear, anon, thank you so, so much. 🥹❤️

[el-255]

I’m not sure if this has been said before but I find it very interesting how differently the writers of persona handled Junpei’s character in comparison to Ryuji’s. With the role of the mc’s best friend and mostly comic relief, I find the two of them to be the most similar personality wise compared to either of them with Yosuke so this analysis will only be discussing the parallels and differences in the way the story handles Junpei and Ryuji respectively.

To me, Junpei is handled pretty sensitively by the writers (not as much as he could be or should be, but still a lot more than most would expect given his trope); he’s given a lot of character with the introduction of Chidori and we see how he grows to like her as he gets to know her. I’ll admit it’s been a while since I played 3 so take this with a grain of salt but from what I recall, his and Chidori’s relationship gets quite a bit of screen time and development in the main story in a way that gives us a different perspective of how Junpei normally operates around the other members of SEES. With Chidori, he isn’t the class clown or the idiot of SEES, he’s simply a teenage boy who falls for a teenage girl. To me, there’s not much more humanising than that. After her presumed death, Junpei loses it and sinks into a depression, and when he finds out she’s alive, albeit her memory lost, he does his best to help her recover and grapples with the moral implications of her regaining her memory. (I think at least one can’t really remember).

This relationship is important to the story and gives us another, much more sympathetic view of Junpei’s character who, up to this point in the game, had mostly been kept in a box marked “comic relief pervert”. You root for Junpei and Chidori’s relationship because it is clearly shown how much Junpei adores her and not once after he meets her does he stray from this love for her.

It’s not only Chidori’s character that makes Junpei’s character more sensitive either, I find that his general personality and relationships with other characters to be handled better as well.

We have his friendship with Yukari (aka Yuka-tan) which I’ll begin by saying also isn’t perfect, Junpei oftentimes falls into the perverted trope so many of the male characters fall into (such is life with Atlus) and he definitely makes comments towards her that most friends wouldn’t and yeah that isn’t good, but I think Yukari gives it back just as much as Junpei dishes it out and never takes him too seriously. I get the impression that that’s just how their friendship works, it’s a constant push and pull, a give and take between them, they both take every opportunity they get to tease each other mercilessly and it works. It doesn’t feel one sided in the way that Ryuji’s interactions with other members of the phantom thieves tend to feel but I’ll get more into that later. His friendship with Yukari may not be the most noteworthy part of his character, but it’s something I think deserves a bit of credit all things considered.

He matures so much over the game and generally becomes more serious and methodical as the story progresses but in a way that is still undeniably Junpei. That’s a difficult feat to accomplish when dealing with certain characters and I think Atlus does well to make these changes happen in a pretty organic way.

Junpei isn’t a perfect character, he has his flaws and shortcomings, but out of all the bro characters from 3-5, I think that the writers of 3 deserve more merit for handling Junpei’s character arc in a way that actually feels like he’s grown by the end of the game.

I could not say the same for Ryuji.

I will preface this by saying that I love Ryuji, I think he’s a neat little guy and I think the writers did him so dirty in 5 when they clearly had the capacity to do so much more as we’ve seen already with Junpei.

Ryuji is filled to the brim of wasted potential as a character, his backstory is only barely brushed on with a few throwaway comments about his dad being abusive towards him and his mother, his abuse by Kamoshida who literally breaks his leg is barely brought up after Kamoshida’s arc, and the trauma he suffers from is never the focus of the story compared to how other characters like Yusuke, Futaba, and Ann’s are. Of course, trauma isn’t a competition and all the party members in 5 have dealt with awful shit but the point is that all of them rightfully get the opportunity to be angry about it at some point in the main story or in their social links, Ryuji doesn’t. Ryuji instead gets beat up by pretty much the entire cast of 5, is constantly belittled by the party members, and is basically treated like shit and the butt of the joke throughout the entire game.

I don’t think I even need to bring up that scene because I know everyone feels the same way about it, but I will because it’s a necessary part of this analysis. That scene haunts me, not only is it the unfunniest thing that’s played for jokes I’ve ever seen in a game, but it’s quite possibly the biggest controversy I know of in the persona fandom.

The implications of a teenage boy who was abused by his father and his teacher thinking he’s found a safe haven in the phantom thieves because they all know how shitty adults can be and yeah they insult him but they’d never actually purposefully try and hurt him, right? Only to find that they would hurt him and pretty severely after he risked his life to save theirs because they’re his best friends and he loves them is horrendous and incredibly insensitive to everyone out there who has dealt with similar circumstances. The joke he plays isn’t funny, but I take it as Ryuji trying to lighten the mood the only way he knows how and even if he was insensitive to Ann and the rest of the team who are mourning him, he does not deserve to get beaten to a pulp by the very people he almost killed himself to rescue. They don’t even fucking apologise to him, it’s all just brushed under the rug and never so much as brought up again !!!

The scene didn’t need to make the cut at all, especially with the rerelease in royal, but it did and it’s honestly astonishing that with all the backlash it received, that they didn’t just cut it entirely. And if they really had to keep the scene in the game, let him be angry about it. Let Ryuji go off at the team for beating him up after he saves all of their lives. Let Ryuji tell Joker that he expected more from him as his best friend. Let the team have to jump through hoops to gain Ryuji’s forgiveness because it’s what he deserves.

Not only this, but in comparison to Junpei, Ryuji doesn’t get as much growth in his character arc. Throughout the game, Ryuji largely stays the same which honestly isn’t really an issue, not everyone has to change dramatically and drastically to be a compelling character, but he doesn’t change at all. Honestly, from the start to the end of 5, I could barely tell you a difference between the Ryuji we see. Like I said, I don’t need a drastic change, it doesn’t suit some characters, but Ryuji isn’t given any sort of growth by the writers and any he is given feels forced because he genuinely isn’t given any of the spotlight outside of Kamoshida’s arc unlike with Junpei.

It makes me angry because like I said, the writing was already there with Junpei, they had the capacity to write Ryuji in the same sympathetic way they did with him but they chose not to !! They chose to leave Ryuji as a character who you have no choice but to take at face value because he’s not given any more than that.

In conclusion: the writers dropped the ball with Ryuji and I’m mad about it, Junpei is a good character and I’ll fight anyone who disagrees, and Yosuke is Yosuke and I mourn his cut romance route every day.

[blood-orange-juice]

ok so ive never properly played genshin and don’t plan to but i know a bit about it’s lore and characters and i think it’s really neat. however i have thousands of hours on ffxiv. on that note please explain why graha and childe are similar. i only have very basic knowledge on childe and i gotta know

Fellow ffxiv enjoyer. <3

(anyone asking me about G'raha has a 100% chance of getting a wall of text and I'm not apologising for that. enjoy your wall of text)

I'm not entirely sure I'm not a case of a person with a hammer to whom everything resembles a nail, but I do think they are the same archetype.

Sweet characters who could have been perfect sidekicks (who still are perfect sidekicks) but listened to too many epic tales as kids and found themselves in a wrong place at a wrong time and now have to play a key role in some universe-changing story.

Both are defined mostly by their stubborness, they are not very suitable for the roles they've chosen and fail over and over again until they do it somewhat right (barely).

No matter how badass they look, their power is not their own, G'raha is a glorified technician of someone else's miracle and little else than a living key, Childe wields an art of old Khaenri'ah without fully understanding it. It's all borrowed from someone else who needed them to achieve a goal.

They do look badass, but mostly because they larp. I'm honestly not sure which one enjoys theatrics more.

Civilisations that created the magic they use specialised in perversion of the natural order of things. They try to use it in relatively noble ways and mostly hurt themselves but the flavour is there.

Both are unbelievably tragic and both somehow make their stories seem almost lighthearted. Complete absense of self-pity. I think that's what makes them both so charming, it's a rare trait.

Both have an incredible capacity for loyalty and love and an incredibly twisted view of what relationships look like. "I'll cross time and space for you, I'll die for you, I'll build a city for you, I'll live for you but please don't ask me to share my plans." "I'll sacrfice my own health and respect of my subordinates to keep my brother's happyness, probably my humanity too, but don't expect me to actually interact with him."

Both have something that looks like self-sacrificial tendencies bordering on suicidality while being, if we are honest, a self-serving trait (partially born out of low self-esteem but still self-serving). They want to live in an old myth and sacrificing oneself is a perfectly reasonable price for that.

Huge egos. And I mean Huge Egos. It's a bit less obvious in Graha's case but I know the type, you see guys like that in PhD programs a lot.

Huge dorks. Both of them.

Both are stuck somewhere between human and non-human and, hmm... their ability to remain human is the most astonishing quality of both. By all accounts, neither should have. They somehow did.

Both are incapable of lying to the point where a third of each fandom headcanons them as autistic. Both are somewhat all right with tricking people without technically lying (although Childe had more practice).

Both are secretive because no one would understand anyway.

FF XIV is a kinder story, so it's easy to overlook, but technically G'raha is a case of body horror, accepts the role of a villain for a while and hides from the player way too much. Hmmm... Where else have I seen it. Hmm. Oh right. That ginger guy from Genshin.

Minor things:

Both are little shits and enjoy annoying the hell out of people they dislike.

Abysmally bad fashion sense. There should be a name for this particular type and level of bad. I don't think I've seen this anywhere else.

And then there's the colour scheme. Red+black+white+blue and red+black+light grey+blue (it's an "anime magician" color profile, I think. black-red-white as alchemy colours + blue as pure magic/something elemental). Childe doesn't quite fit but still the combination is rare.

They way they talk. Dear gods. Who the hell talks like that.

Here's where the similarities end.

One is morally grey but ultimately a good guy (technically. I think the point of ShB was that Emet and G'raha are almost the same), another is a morally grey but still (kind of) a bad buy.

At every step of his story Graha is surrounded by people who love or at least appreciate him, Childe is pretty much on his own and surrounded by people who are either shitty or clueless.

G'raha is kind. Truly and astonishingly kind, in a doomed world he chooses to love everything he touches. Silly little priest of hope. Of all the things he has done this is the most wondrous, I think. Not the time travel, not the city he founded, just being able to remain kind after everything that happened to him.

Childe is... well, Childe. I think he is a deeply decent person (to the point of having a visceral distaste for any kind of unfairness) and he's idealistic but he's indifferent more than he is kind. Empathy usually develops only when someone has shown the person empathy first and, as far as we know, he didn't have much of that in his life.

Also G'raha builds things. Childe breaks things. Childe breaks pretty much everything he touches.

One is an archeologist and a mage and another is a warrior.

I think these differences are caused mostly by the settings they were put into. Childe raised in Sharlayan would have been a very different person. G'raha trained by a voidsent and shipped off to Garlean military would look very much like Childe.

G'raha also has a beautiful character development arc. I love his ShB role. He has this huge ego in the raids and is insufferable and then we see an older and wiser him with a bunch of actual achievements and a bad case of impostor syndrome (trying to do anything real always humbles a person, we all know that real world is held together by sticks and scotch tape. honestly, this change alone is beautiful). And he gets to be an actual hero when he abandons all hope to be Important and resigns to die as a nameless villain if it saves everyone and spares his loved ones from heartbreak.

Childe's character development is yet to happen and I'm not hoping for much but we'll see.

The only difference that definitely isn't created by setting is that G'raha is naturally manipulative. In a kind-hearted way and mostly for the sake of better larp but he isn't that straightforward. Childe is spectacularly blunt for all his mysteriousness.

As a bonus, they both compare main characters to stars, but in completely different ways.

"No doubt your heroism will be the star by which I chart my course," says G'raha to the WoL.

Childe mentions the morning star, which is, of course, pretty and a good companion to a lonely traveler, but also it's not a celestial body you can chart your course by.

It's a guy whose signature weapon is called "Polar Star" and his first artifact set was full of nautical themes, so I think he fully understands what he's saying. "You are my friend but I won't change anything in my life for you."

So I don't think his story will be anything like G'raha's, his life took a different turn very long ago. I do think they used to be similar as kids, bookish boys who dreamed of adventure and being special. So it's fun to compare.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. <3

[disregardcanon]

why would thalia want to join the hunters? before unhappy tree times, i think that it was about the idea of family and safety. she and annabeth could have found somewhere to belong where they weren't chased by monsters the whole time, because being part of artemis's chosen would have made hades stop sending his monsters after them. they would have been safe and free and had fun and sisterhood! but thalia cared way too much about luke to leave him out to dry, and with zoe's original Men Are the Worst stance, thalia was going to stay out of it on principal.

with the combination of her "dead" baby brother and her current best friend, thalia wasn't going to swear off the company of men at that time, even if she thought luke was going to be safe because it felt cowardly and like a betrayal of not just her friend, but her family. so she was going to fight and get her friends back to camp, which was supposed to be this haven for kids like them.

then she dies, becomes a tree, and wakes up in a world where everything is just... different. a little too far to the left. her best friend's betrayed this place where she's never going to fit in, her little sister's almost the same age as her, and now there's this... guy. who's so similar to her! he's strong too! he's dear to annabeth! he's a big three kid who thinks he knows best about everything and they clash-get along- clash- get along. and he's already spread his roots all throughout this place and all over her little sister's heart.

there's not really ROOM for her here. she should be eighteen. she SHOULD be one of the oldest members of this camp with all these roots and relationships and ways to make it work.. but she's not. she was a tree. and even with a camp full of demigods... that's really weird. that's a hard thing to explain and get people to understand. on top of that, she's a forbidden daughter of zeus, she knows things that none of them could or would and annabeth chase looks at her with sad starry eyes but she's still just.. fifteen? and no one really knows her and no one really wants to, because that's weird and freaky and hard to adjust to, especially when she can go toe to toe with percy but doesn't have his Super Chill Guy Aura.

so that's isolating, but what else can she do? she's now got this well established grudge against the hunters because she and zoe had a fight when thalia turned down the offer that first time. zoe nightshade, who's thousands of years old. these few years that thalia's been a tree? that's nothing for her. the old argument is as fresh for her as it is for thalia. and that's GREAT for thalia! someone who hasn't moved on from everything the way that it was before she got tree-d. she and zoe fight, but it's in a way that works well for her and they grow through these relationships that they have with the others... and we don't get to see a lot of it since it's percy's point of view, but you can still feel it. the way that they're working through things, the way that thalia's thoughts are changing as she watches zoe's change too, and then she's ready to take on this wonderful, confusing immortality with a group of girls who will welcome and understand her!

they're used to weird, confusing time stuff. they're used to difficult relationships with people outside of the hunters. and they might be surprised and a little put off by how friendly thalia still is with boys outside the group, but she just swore off the COMPANY of men. she's not going to date them or hang out with them all the time. she can still like and respect some of them. (that's what her issue was the first time, really. feeling like she had to accept zoe's EVERY SINGLE MAN WILL HURT YOU AND IS NOT WORTH IT!) but now that thalia's got her own system worked out for how to deal with it... she's gonna really belong with the hunters, and it's going to be a good thing for her: not just a plot device.

[duskyashe]

CAMP NANO DAY 5

[First] [Previous] [Next] [AO3]

=============‹«⟨·•★•·⟩»›=============

Phantom gestured her and Jason closer as he stood up from his spot midair. "First things first, I need to ask you both a few clarifying questions, and please answer as truthfully as possible without risking your alternate identities, I'm trying to figure out your species, not your names," he said, voice echoing slightly just like the last time she'd heard him.

"I thought you already knew what we were," she snarked before she could think better about it, her mask's modulator making her voice sound darker and more raspy while she ditched most of her natural Bowery accent, instead speaking with an accent more reminiscent of Bristol natives than anything else. She'd blame her friendship with Tim for that, but honestly, she got a kick out of learning and mimicking all the various Gotham accents, then throwing them at her victims after she got the drop on them.

Phantom just shook his head with a small smile. "I'm only about ninety-seven percent sure I'm correct about the two of you, which is a lot, but I want to be at least ninety-nine percent sure before we go any further. This is for both your safety and for my reputation. It can be really dangerous to treat one being like someone from a species not their own, dangerous for everyone involved, and it doesn't reflect well on me if I don't do my due diligence in making sure I'm teaching you the things that will actually help you grow and improve as the beings and entities you are. It also doesn't reflect well on the beings that taught me if I don't do my due diligence, and I really respect my tutors, and I really respect you guys, so I'm going to do my due diligence. Does that make sense?"

She and Jason shared a quick look, exchanging rapid quick signs just out of Phantom's view, before Jay responded. "Yes, that seems acceptable. Who would you like to question first?"

Steph had to admit, every time she heard Jay's Condor voice, she snickered slightly in her head. He'd very carefully designed Condor's vocal patterns and responses, as well as the voice modulator that he'd installed in his own mask, so that Condor was as audibly distinct from Jason's normal speech as possible without sounding outlandish, but hearing such highbrow vocabulary from Jason outside of dramatic readings of his favorite books would never not be funny to her. She did applaud his use of vocal layering technology, though, the effect was intense.

"I figured I'd start with Starling, if you don't mind?"

=============‹«⟨·•★•·⟩»›=============

"— and then he started asking his questions. Have I ever gotten a really horrible migraine that started dying down after I screamed? Have I ever screamed while working on a case and suddenly all the information clicked together? Have I ever met someone whose vibes just did not mesh with what I was expecting? Stuff like that. After a bunch of questions along that vein, Phantom just nodded thoughtfully before grinning and saying, I kid you not, "Congratulations, it's a banshee!" The kid is hilarious, I'm telling you," she finished with a grin.

Jay nodded and added his own two cents. "He then turned to me and started a similar Q&A, though the questions were very different. Have I ever died and mysteriously come back to life? Has my relationship with fire been different since I came back to life? Different how? Have I ever felt the urge to vocalize my emotions, and if so, did anyone within hearing range start to exhibit similar emotions? He concluded that with a triumphant smile and declared me a phoenix."

They were all sitting around the debrief table in the Batcave after everyone had returned for the night. B had started the nightly debrief like always, starting with Dick and working his way down the ages, but tonight he'd saved hers and Jason's reports for last. While her brain was feeling more than a little stuffed full with everything she'd learned by the rooftop shrine, both about herself and about Jason, she couldn't deny she was excited to share it all with her family, her clan.

Tim let out a small noise before leaning forward to rest his arms on the table. He looked back and forth between her and Jay for a quick moment before settling his gaze on their older brother. "Phoenixes in mythology are said to be immortal birds made of fire, is that true? How does that affect you?"

Jay nodded with a smirk. "Oh, that's actually kinda cool, so phoenixes have regular burning days that basically reset them back to their prime. Each Phoenix has a different burning day interval, some have five year intervals while others have ten, twelve, or even fifteen year intervals, but until they have their first burning day after their initial revival, most orphan phoenixes actually think they're something else, like maybe a hell hound, or even the apparently notorious phoenix mimics known simply as firebirds. If a phoenix gets injured severely enough between burning days, they can force an early burning day, though apparently those are more intense and take longer to physically recover from than the regular burning days. Any injuries, up to and including scars, that a phoenix acquires between burning days will be gone after the next burning day, too, so that's pretty awesome, too."

"Okay wait," Duke said, waving a hand slightly. "Hold on. One of the questions Phantom asked you was about your relationship with fire, could you explain more about that, please?"

Steph and Jay shared grins. "Fire doesn't burn me anymore. I technically have pyrokinesis, and eventually I'll be able to pull my little "appearing out of a fireball" shtick for real," he said.

"Yeah, and he can express and share his emotions through specific sounds that apparently sound like bird songs and calls. Apparently it's a key form of communication for phoenixes, and it can be damaging to their mental health to go for too long without doing so, so Phantom said to let everyone know to expect some random fluctuations in emotions while Jay gets used to actually following his instinctual need to connect with us in that way," Steph added, bumping shoulders with Jay in a show of support.

B nodded in thought before gazing knowingly at the two of them. "I notice a lot of emphasis has been placed on Jason's phoenix status, but what about your banshee status, Stephanie? What can you tell us about that?"

She grinned as Jason trilled in excitement. "Oh, can I explain this bit?" He asked her, and she waved him on. "Turns out a lot of myths and folklore about the fae, the Seelie and Unseelie courts, are wildly out of date. There's been peace between both courts for centuries now, their governing systems are both complex and extremely easy to understand, and they have agreements on how to deal with humans and others who have offended them in one way or another. Banshees, who have pretty much always been associated with the Unseelie court, are basically fae PIs. They have an instinctual knowledge of the beings and entities around them and can tell if someone is human or not based on their aura, or vibes as Phantom put it. They use their screams to magically obtain information on a person of interest, usually someone who's been declared wanted for questioning by one of the fae courts but sometimes it's someone wanted by human courts, from beyond the veil of morality, which they can then use to either track the person of interest down or to officially convict them."

"I thought a banshee's scream signaled someone's eminent death," Dick mused.

Steph shook her head. "In olden times, sure, but the death penalty isn't exactly used much anymore, so a banshee's scream doesn't immediately mean death. I don't even have to scream in front of the person I'm screaming about, I just have to know some kind of basic information about them. I also don't have to scream when I first get the urge to, I can hold it in so I can get to a more appropriate place to let it out." She shrugged. "Apparently, though, the longer I choke it back, the more painful it will become, until I just have to scream, which I'm sure none of us want to test too thoroughly."

Babs cringed and shook her head. "Definitely not, that sounds extremely unpleasant and almost entirely impractical. We'll have to do some testing for future reference, but not to the point you potentially injure yourself," the redhead said before changing the topic. "So are we in agreement? We're going to continue these tutoring sessions with Phantom?"

Steph watched B as he looked at each of them in turn, getting various forms of confirmation from them all, before turning back to Babs. "Yes, I think we will. Steph, Jaylad, if Phantom gave either of you homework, I ask that you keep up with it. Just one session with him has settled the two of you in a way I hadn't noticed you weren't until you got back. I don't want that progress lost, and I'm sure neither of you do, either."

She looked at Jason, who was looking at her, and she knew Bruce was more right than he could possibly know.

=============‹«⟨·•★•·⟩»›=============

Jazz looked up from her textbook when she felt Danny phase into their apartment at almost midnight. He popped into view with a beaming smile that caused some of the tension in her shoulders to relax. "I take it things went well?" Jazz asked as she set her pencil down and turned her whole attention to her little brother.

"Did it ever! Oh my ghost, Jazz, despite not having had his first burning day since reviving, Condor is already really in tune with his instincts. He's been struggling with explaining them to the others, he didn't have the vocabulary to explain them at the time, but he soaked up everything I taught him like a sponge! He took to vocalized emotional expression like a fish to water, and has already been dabbling with his pyrokinesis on his own!" Danny exclaimed, running a hand through his hair with a slightly hysterical laugh. "And Starling, Jazz, she's already had the five initial screams all banshees go through. She's been using her screams unintentionally for the past six months without even realizing it, she honestly thought she'd just been screaming in frustration and then having lightbulb moments of everything clicking together. Pandora said most banshees struggle with assimilating the information they gain from their screams that quickly until they've been screaming for years, but Starling's been doing it instinctually for months without problem!" Suddenly, he clenched his hair in both hands and tugged slightly. "Gah , I can't believe they've been left floundering like this for so long! Just from this first meeting, I can see the potential in all of them. If they're this good at what they do without knowing what they are and what they can do, I can't even begin to imagine how much more effective they'll be with that knowledge. But the kicker is, they could have been that good from the start if only they'd known sooner!"

"Hey," Jazz said as she got up and walked over to her little brother, gently grabbing his hands and working them free from his hair. "It'll be okay. They have you in their corner now. Sure, they should have known sooner, and it really sucks that they didn't, but they do now. Can you imagine how much worse it'd be if they never knew? I can, and honestly, it's kind of scary. You're doing the right thing, baby brother. Don't ever forget that, okay?"

Danny drew her into a tight hug. "Thank you for being here, for helping me keep my head on straight," he said into her shoulder.

Jazz smiled sadly into his hair. "I'll always be here for you, Danny. You don't need to worry about that," she replied as she tightened the hug. No matter what happens, I will never leave you, she thought fiercely.

=============‹«⟨·•★•·⟩»›=============

FIRST STEPH POV! AND FIRST JAZZ POV! PLUS LORE! ✧⁠\⁠(⁠>⁠o⁠<⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠✧ I hope y'all enjoyed lol I had a lot of fun with this one. I legit couldn't wait to write it and had to orally take notes via audio recording while I was driving around running errands ಡ⁠ ͜⁠ ⁠ʖ⁠ ⁠ಡ good news is I now have concrete plans for chapter three!

I would also like to say that my takes on all beings, creatures, and entities based on real myths and folklore are exactly that, my takes. I have cherry picked myths, folklore, and canon for the bits and pieces I find cool or interesting, and threw out the rest. If that offends you in any way, I apologize but respectfully ask that you just don't continue to read this series. I write primarily for mine and my mother's enjoyment, and what we enjoy is taking apart and piecing together things that realistically don't go together. I understand that my writing isn't for everyone, but I sincerely enjoy reading the comments of those who also enjoy my writing.

Also, I've finally figured out how to do the "keep reading" thing on mobile! Let me know if you guys like it or not, and if I should keep doing it or not, please? 乁⁠|⁠ ⁠･⁠ ⁠〰⁠ ⁠･⁠ ⁠|⁠ㄏ

Also also, I've decided that, since I'm modding the Patrol Partners event as well as doing Camp NaNoWriMo this month, I'm taking Sundays off from writing. I'll post fics on AO3 that haven't been posted yet, I'll answer replies, asks, and DMs, but I won't be doing any writing on Sundays. Therefore, there's no day 2 fic that y'all missed, I just didn't write one (⁠^⁠～⁠^⁠;⁠)⁠ゞ (I'm going to post this at the end of my author's note tomorrow as well so more of my readers see it, but I wanted to put it here now while I'm thinking about it)

[quidfree]

i love the old married couple portion of your follow up to sober ii (melodrama)! outsider povs just tickle the brain, especially in tsh where the characters are so just disconnected from normal society. out of curiosity, have you thought any more about how students/peers/other people view francis and richard throughout that au?

i love that portion too i think the idea of them as this long established couple (for all intents and purposes, altho they may have deviated from certain aspects of a nuclear family monogamous relationship) is so funny & interesting. like sober ii already does so much legwork from canon and then the followup even further so by the time we hit middle age it’s a free country for what is allowed.

you’re right in that the tsh cast are deep weirdos to anyone normal interacting w them. i think they have naturally changed somewhat by the time we reach them in that portion bc for francis he’s now (gag) middle class and sort of domesticated / for richard he’s like.. in a long term relationship w a man (it’s funny they have reverse things to get used to) & plus yk there’s the whole thing where they’re both deeply troubled individuals with abusive childhood drama and bad relationship history so probably sticking it out together has done some healing / good down the line. so in some ways they’re a little more Normal mentally. but that said they are still weirdo murderers with terrible personalities who would both annoy and enable each other so not that normal.

talking abt how they go from sober ii to where we see them in their 40s is a separate post so in terms of outsider pov specifically i’d say they do kind of stick to themselves (codependent freaks) but like in the neighbourhood / on campus / in montreal classics circles they def have relationships and certain uhh reputations that go with them.

richard’s students are a fairly niche group so i think as a whole they tend to like him- if nothing else he’s genuine in his love of the material and he’s attractive and kind of reserved so he’s probably at his least annoying / cringe / questionable when teaching despite his inner monologue. he probs has bad timekeeping (cf his flop job at hampden) and pretentious grading but generally okay. we know he comes across much more sane and sound to people who don’t know him well (very tartt, we love). and then they don’t know francis at all apart from Maybe as f. abernathy the classics translator guy. so realistically to the students they’re actually quite a cool addition to the student rumour mill. i think over the years there have been random glimpses of them but never anything interesting until the fic incident, or similar ones that make it obvious professor papen has what seems to be a boyfriend. then everyone is ‘literally obsessed’. i don’t know if anyone ever IDs them as witnesses to the hampden murder-suicides on a true crime podcast and then gets excited about their tragic backstory and inspiring romance, but that would be fun.

professional peers see more of them obviously, but they do still keep to themselves a lot. richard’s colleagues’ opinions vary depending on how much interaction they’ve had with him and in what context, bc he definitely has beef with administration and some colleagues whose courses he doesn’t respect. he’s professionally respectable though. francis is a fairly lowkey presence in translation- he got initial buzz from the julian student clout but he only sporadically networks. he definitely has culture friends who gossip amongst themselves about him vanishing from boston so close to the wedding and no one hearing from him until his book got published. alex from NY wants to fuck both of them but finds them annoying as talents and good in small doses as friends. most of that author circle is at least a little jealous of them as a couple, maybe because they flourish when amongst people they can close ranks on.

in terms of other canon charas… some of that feels like its own post too. judy does not particularly get why richard is into francis but she thinks they’re a hot item and she overall likes them and their weird little bohemian* lifestyle (*misrepresented). she thinks they’re a good match. charles would not have very nice things to say. i think he’d think richard ‘fell for it’ with francis. his own complicated relationship with francis would predispose him to think they weren’t a genuine item. if he saw them down the line as an established couple he would probably just find it funny. and camilla… she’s sort of like “good for you crazy kids”. like it’s completely random to her but it tickles her nihilistic brain. later esp if she’s around them in person for some reason she’s just completely on board with it and has a strong fondness for their relationship bc it’s like, this one weird positive thing to have come out of the whole hampden disaster, AND it’s taken a lot of the strain out of richard’s relationship to her even though he never especially lets go of his camilla-shrine. richard’s naturally Very Embarrassed about being in any way datey with francis around her but it tapers off with age/habit despite his best efforts. francis on the other hand perversely enjoys making richard uncomfortable around camilla. guess which one she enables.

[sarcastic-sketches]

I think the thing I like about Anakin Skywalker so much is the relationships he has with other people - because they’re all different. They all have their own little niches. Character interaction and the dialogue they share is my favourite part of a character.

Obi-Wan is his brother/dad figure he can have banter with and who is trying to balance the line between mentor and friend, but is still looking out for him (even if he doesn’t appreciate it half the time!), while Anakin has this desparate want to be closer but fear also doing so because then Obi-Wan will know too much and leave. Plus, there’s the banter, my god these two chucklefucks.

Anakin: Everything I learned, Master, I learned from you Obi-Wan: Oh, if only that were true

Obi-Wan, where else would he have gotten that much audacity.

Ahsoka is his sister/daughter, similar to Obi-Wan he can relax with her but he has to at least try to reign himself in on his more bullshit antics to set a good example (if she doesn’t enable him first). He obviously cares for her, it’s just that his way of expressing he cares is a bit more intense than what other people are used to. Especially other Jedi.

Padme is obviously w i f e who is just as insane commitment wise as he is (literally, I will help you hide the body(ies)) and they are a source of escapism for each other. It’s juxtaposed by Anakin obvious awe of her whilst having a very jaded view of the Galaxy (for good reason admittedly).

Rex is his bro, his main man, his good time boy (this guy knew about Anakin’s marraige ffs, he was actively in on the secret) and you can tell that trust goes both ways. Don’t even get me started on Rex still carrying that torch well into Rebels, he clearly respected Anakin a lot. They probably raced each other to see who could enter a skirmish first. Unfortunately, it’s all undercut by the fact that Rex is a clone and Anakin is his superior.

Then there’s Palpatine, who for Anakin is the older mentor/grandfather role, someone with an ‘outside perspective’ he can go to for advice or just someone impartial who won’t reprimand him for venting/bitching about his current grievance... and it makes me want to scream. Anakin, you dumb fuck. Palps is literally telling him everything he wants to hear, he is enabling all of his worst traits, actively encouraging them and making them worse. Not to mention the casual dismissal of everyone else around him (who would have been able to protect him from Palpatine’s manipulations) playing on his insecurities - including the doubts he has about himself so that his own judgement can be skewed - only to play the ‘woe is me, I am but a humble old man, not a threat at all’ card. It’s a horrendously abusive relationship and the reason it works as well as it does is because Palpatine has gotten Anakin to defend it, to defend him. Anakin won’t hear a bad word about the man so no-one can make him realise just how vulnerable he is. You sick fuck, A+, game well played.

[icejinlov3r]

My headcanons on DBZ characters sexualities

Why am I sharing this? No idea, just kinda felt like it, and am curious if people agree with me. If not, that’s totally cool, fans can headcanon however they want, I don’t judge. These are simply what I headcanon:

Goku - Bisexual (preference to women). He’s a pretty innocent man who just likes everybody, more or less open to everybody. It’s possible he’s also asexual, but it’s not entirely impossible for him to have some sort of sex drive.

(This could count as pansexual, but since there are several races in the DBZ universe, I kinda feel like EVERYBODY is most likely pansexual. Moving on)

Vegeta - Bisexual (preference to women). Being the prideful man he is, I feel like he’d be hesitant to be romantic/intimate with another man. But no matter who his partner is, he’s likely the “dominant” one.

Frieza - Bisexual (preference to men). In the past, I could see Frieza being gay, especially since there’s no doubt he has a feminine side. But I still imagine he fancies women as well - specifically, he likes to “dominate” over women and more submissive men. However depending on the male partner, he might also enjoy being submissive. Also, I imagine his whole species being hermaphrodites, or intersex. This *could* count as him being transgender, and I see the logic of that, but I personally believe the term “trans” isn’t necessarily recognized or needed in his race’s culture (but I’m also not opposed to the idea).

Cooler - Bisexual (preference to men). Honestly, most of my insight on this is based of how Anonymous_h writes his character. But I mostly believe he just prefers being with male partners, specifically ones with a more feminine side, though females aren’t out of the question either. And yeah, he’s almost always the dominant one, though he’s very respectful of his partners comfort.

Cell - Bisexual. Not gonna lie, I see Cell as the most pansexual of pansexual characters. He’s into just about everyone and everything, and is almost always the one on top.

Zamasu - Gay. Overall, Zamasu always sees others as inferior to him, so I actually wouldn’t doubt if he was asexual, and/or aromantic. But! If he did want a partner, I can’t imagine women would catch his interest. He’d rather have a partner of the same gender, so they may understand him in a way women can’t. He’d be hesitant towards sex, but if convinced, he’d probably prefer a submissive role so as not to have the pressure on him.

Hit - Gay. Again, I believe it’s also possible he could be aromantic/asexual, if only because the idea of a relationship never crosses his mind. But if he was interested, I feel he’d prefer to have a male partner -specifically, someone he feels can protect, as opposed to being the killer he’s used to being. And no question, he’s ALWAYS on top.

Frost - Gay. I absolutely imagine Frost strictly being into men and their usually strong builds. However, I feel he usually feels too nervous or untrusting to try and form a bond with anyone. It’d take a lot of patience to help him open up. I also believe he’d always be the submissive role, which would only add on to his fear of being vulnerable to others.

Yamcha - Bisexual. Similar to Goku, I believe Yamcha is generally into everyone as long as they’re attractive, liking both women and men equally. However, I DO think he has a special interest in ice-jin specifically. And he’s likely almost always the top in the relationship, but he always keeps his partner’s comfort into consideration first.

Zarbon - Gay. It’s no surprise that lots of people headcanon this guy as gay, or even trans. And I guiltily admit I also see him as gay, though he’s not nearly as feminine as he’s made out to be. In fact, similar to Vegeta, I believe he’d want to keep his attraction towards males hidden so he can viewed as the strong warrior he is. He could be either dominant or submissive, depending on the partner. Though when it comes to sex itself, he feels a little uneasy, if only because such vulnerability is foreign to him, especially in a submissive role.

That’s about it! Who agrees with me? Who doesn’t?

[nakianshuri]

I keep seeing well-meaning posts about wanting Steve and Jonathan to be friends, and I might have felt that way at the end of season 1. But since then it’s been a no for me.

I think Argyle is a great friend for Jonathan to have. However, Jonathan has only ever been interesting to me in his family relationships, which the show has neglected since that first season. Would have been interested to see his reaction to Bob’s death and confront his biases about people since he seemed to have dismissed Bob as being too normal or whatever in S2. He probably also resented him for dating Joyce and perhaps inserting himself in their family dynamics.

Would in theory be interesting to see his reaction to Jopper, which I assume would also be met with hostility for similar reasons, or how he interacted with El being around.

So there are interactions that I think could be enlightening to see that center Jonathan.

Jonathan and Steve, however, feels like it could be repetitive? Every season, Steve has to redeem himself to someone or show that he’s not at heart an asshole. It would have been great if in a very different season 2, Steve’s redemption arc started with Jonathan and if the show established some kind of basis for mutual respect and perhaps friendship between them that would have been an nice wrinkle to the love triangle at that point.

That’s not what happened, and instead we see Steve grow through Dustin and being the “babysitter,” and with Robin and learning to deal with rejection while becoming a good friend to her. We even seen this a little with Eddie, who explicitly says Steve’s a better guy than he thought, and with Steve learning to get along with Eddie after thinking he’s a freak. We’ve seen this arc 3 times in really compelling ways imo.

Some people say Stancy is character regression, which I disagree with because both characters were in a way reintroduced to each other after being apart and changing.

However exploring Steve and Jonathan after 4 seasons of no interaction feels like regression to me bc I don’t think Jonathan has changed, nor has his point of view of the world. It potentially leaves Steve in an atoning position we’ve already seen him in, and although he loves Nancy, he hasn’t exhibited any hostility toward Jonathan for season 2. So potentially any animosity that arises might be from Jonathan’s side, and I’m just not interested in that at this point. I’m not interested in him realizing Steve’s changed either because we’ve done that already three times already with other characters, too. So it’s St*nathan not Stancy to me that feels regressive.

I hope I’m wrong and there’ll actually be some great interactions between the two (bc the actors might have some great on screen chemistry) or that they mostly stay in their corners as usual and engage with other storylines.

[outsidereveries]

— zerobaseone: bunch of requested readings

all of the readings are done between 12th and 13th june (2023).

the requested readings are:

how zb1 views ricky

hanbin sees ricky as someone who (for hanbin) completes hum fully and even though they probably have different energy, hanbin feels that ricky is the missing but needed to him piece for his life.

jiwoong thinks that ricky has changed his life fast and completely. to jiwoong ricky is exciting, refreshing but also might be introverted in some way. i’m certain jiwoong would love to know ricky more.

zhang hao respects ricky and wants to protect him till the end. honestly, hao also feels complete with ricky, so he might think ricky is like his little brother or something like that?

matthew also sees ricky as great person. matthew thinks ricky is someone who wants to help out (and matthew would do the same), as happy, optimistic guy.. basically, positive things.

taerae on the other hand sees ricky as someone who wants to know him better, however taerae has something in mind that ricky might not be trustworthy at all, so i think taerae might have trust issues..

gyuvin thinks ricky is naive and easy to manipulate. gyuvin might thinks ricky is boring, so i wouldn’t expect them to have any moments on shows. but also gyuvin would defend ricky no matter what. honestly, there is love-hate relationship from gyuvin’s side🤷🏻‍♀️

gunwook might find their relationship hard to maintain as of current time, so whatever his thoughts are, they’re definitely confusing and without any specific words.

yujin and ricky might be too different, especially character-wise, so.. i’d say nothing after that🤷🏻‍♀️

how zb1 views yujin

hanbin sees yujin as someone who has changed his life in some way: however, i do feel these feelings hanbin has can change. the leader currently views positively yujin with the impact the maknae has over the leader. (i didn’t fet anything else, i am sorry)

jiwoong likes yujin a lot. he sees the maknae as balanced and stable person who thinks before acting and when he acts, he’s just doing it straight away. jiwoong appreciate these qualities of yujin.

zhang hao also sees yujin as someone who changed his life in some way. hao is for the change that’s needed, and he’s embracing it. hao sees yujin like a little brother - the energy is similar to how hao sees ricky.

matthew and yujin might’ve not liked each other at first. they might’ve not understood each other, but it seems that they’re ready for new start of their acquaintanceship at least. also, matthew sees yujin as a survivor? did yujin get through something that matthew saw? matthew’s thoughts of the maknae is definitely interesting, so the theories here are many.

taerae doesn’t like yujin. he thinks yujin is overwhelming person who doesn’t have trust to. yujin might even think he is secretive, who keeps his actual intentions to himself and doesn’t share them. taerae is fine with sharing this

ricky LOVES yujin but apparently they also didn’t liked each other at first? perhaps, ricky might’ve done sth yujin doesn’t like? but nonetheless ricky still loves loves yujin. (as a friend)

gyuvin thinks yujin is too attached to him, obsessed even. their friendship might be karmic, toxic even, and although the maknae brings excitement in some way, it’s too much to gyuvin.

gunwook sees yujin as really happy and optimistic person who is emotional and would give anything to help (and gunwook will help back).

how zb1 views zhang hao (how hanbin sees hao is uploaded separately weeks ago)

he’s apparently fine with me sharing jiwoong might see hao as someone introverted (who has hard time with sharing) and because of it jiwoong might have trust issues.

matthew sees hao as someone who loves to help (basically give-take person?, in positive way of course, no bad feelings).. and seok thinks his opinion is fair 😐

taerae sees hao as someone who is very special to him. like, to taerae hao is his soulmate? taerae just feels complete with hao and i think he’s adorable

ricky might have trust issues, to be honest. ricky sees how hao appreciates him but apparently ricky might be too afraid to be honest with hao and he even might have insecurities that stop ricky to be closer with hao in the way they will have healthy friendship. ricky might be even jealous of hao and maybe he tries to hide it with his attachment towards zhang hao in some form.

gyuvin sees hao as someone who’s “a breath of fresh air”. gyuvin wants and is excited to know zhang hao better. gyuvin feels hao is their light, their newfound clarity even..

gunwook loves hao. he also sees him as someone who’s willing to help (and will return the help). gunwook just likes hao a lot, i feel the appreciation and the love.

yujin sees hao in the same way hao sees yujin.

how zhang hao views matthew

hao on the other side feels matthew as really comfortable person. warm, precious even. hao sees matthew as someone who’s helping him a lot with his traumatic experiences in life.

ricky, career reading in zb1 (till august 2023)

as a member of zb1, ricky might have a opportunity that he wants to try! i see he will work with someone else: it might be collaboration as well as him getting closer with one of the older zb1 members. the work can change his perspective of idol life, so i feel ricky will be even more motivated for his idol opportunity. some sort of pr zb1 ship is also possible, but i am not certain if it’s that or another individual activity in some way.

how ricky is treated by wakeone

ricky is treated by the company.. um, not the worse but not the best either. there are challenges between him and wakeone. i think wakeone is purposely sabotaging some of his individual opportunities he currently has, and ricky is still taking responsibility (for him being an idol in the future). i think ricky is clueless of this, but wakeone will offer something that will mark ricky’s new start.

this might be about line disturbition mistreatment if he won’t have solo activities in the upcoming months.

zb1’s debut:

how it will be perceived (by fans/critics/etc.)

i see quite mixed opinions.. some of then might not care, others will be hurt.. do you expect something different? that’s what i see..

will they shine when they debut?

unfortunately, i think their debut somehow will be ignored and something else will be looked instead.

what’s their popularity potential?

to me quite in the middle. it depends how they’ll play the dramatic moment that will turn the tables for zb1’s relevance.

will they be successful with the time?

- south korea:

it looks like they’re already reached the needed success? unfortunately, if their audience isn’t loyal.. well.. it looks like zb1 won’t gain that much fans in south korea?

- everywhere else:

they definitely have the potential for the global popularity every other k-pop group is looking for.

success check (2023-2026)

- 2023: they’ll start to build their popularity, but i don’t think they’ll do something significant to rise their relevance up.

- 2024: might receive a opportunity that will “serve then right”? the energy to me is similar to this year’s but if this shows that they’ll be viral, let it be? i have no idea..

- 2025: they’ll establish their loyal fanbase, but the thoughts of them disbanding are appearing to me. i don’t see they’ll hit the “viral moment”, but the thoughts for individual paths are there.

- 2026: yeah, it looks like then they’ll apart as zb1. one or some of them might switch the industries.

career reading, 2023

- july/august:

unfortunately, there will be something that will be delayed or missed on purpose. there might be lack of activities for some reason if zb1 actually debut in july. they might have also a scandal which won’t affect their career’s relevance.

- september/october:

it looks more beneficial for the group, so if their debut gets actually delayed, these months will be more beneficial to the boys. (i don’t have anything to type)

- november/december:

unfortunately, i see they’ll have less activities in some way. they might be not that packed with work, but it looks like that doesn’t matter, because the boys will be happy for that?

how their debut will go:

weeks 1/2: there’s potential for mistreatment from wakeone (possibly there might be lack of activities for real). i can see they’ll do well on the charts despite the hardships.

weeks 3/4: uncertain

weeks 5/6: now i understand why the 3rd and 4th week are uncertain… so, there will be scandal, right? i see some possibilities:

wakeone might manipulate their sales in order to have their first win

someone might be caught in money-related scandal

i don’t think it will be dating one (saw the pictures of gyuvin with his alleged either ex or current girlfriend).

weeks 7/8: better compared to the rest of the weeks. might receive some offers

zhang hao’s solo song (type of song/perception): expectations vs reality

expectations: getting over someone type of song? being adventurous? / hao might expect to deep dive into the song and feel the nostalgia?

reality: yeah, i see the type of song hao tried to do.. i don’t feel the popularity that much. there’s some potential but .. it might not do that well.

ps. by typing that someone is fine with me sharing of anything i mean their guides

[latibvles]

Poet i am obsessed with the Mouse Hole crew and have been rereading some of your fics about them! Just wondering if you had any hcs for the more (imo) underrated gals of the group like Lorraine, Lena, Harriet, Fern and Carrie? Keep up the great work, love your writing!!

Hi friend!!! Glad you’re rereading and enjoying them!!! It feels like a good start just to know people read them, let alone go back and reread. I definitely do because all 10 of them rattle around in my brain like ping-pong balls. For the sake of the fact that I’m a yapper I’ll throw them all under the cut and break them up by character: I have a lot to say!

LORRAINE IVANOVA

So I think I’ve said this to friends but Lorraine’s older sister Vera is the one who writes their stories down after the war. Which says a lot because I think Lorraine’s relationship with her older sister is… strange, a little strained because they’re so different. But the love is there.

She’s bilingual! She speaks Russian and English. She and June are the ones who were raised by immigrants who didn’t have English as a first language.

She’s the second tallest out of the girls at a whopping 5’9”

She has a lot of respect for Jack Kidd and I think that, if they had spent more time around each other, they could’ve been very good friends.

I wrote about Lorraine being the one to get into some trouble in this fic for the prompt list. Of which to say I definitely think she and June are a bit of a tandem when it comes to fights. Lorraine is a woman of action and very few words at the end of the day.

LENA CONNOLLY

No siblings and apart of the only child club. I always imagined that she’d work with cars or something after the war because Lena is still a very hands-on person.

Out of all the guys in the 100th she and Crank get along great, but predictably Curt is the one she jives with first as two New York Irishfolk.

I’ve always wondered if she gets with anybody after the war / if it would be a OC or an opportunity for a crossover moment with BOB or TP. She has a very “brothers I never had” view of the guys she served with so she isn’t exactly going home with a wartime sweetheart.

Most often Fern’s co-swindling conspirator. And the one scrutiny June by the neck to keep her from getting them kicked out of a pub with her short fuse.

Very good at baseball, and a big fan of the sport. It’s something she and Major Egan bond over in the POW Camp.

HARRIET MORGAN

I’ve said this before: biiiiiig crush on Helen when they first meet. She’s all heart eyes over her for a little while like a schoolgirl until things start getting Real for Harrie in terms of the war itself.

I went “how neat would it be to crossover her and Malarkey and make them friends” because of their extremely similar circumstances (losing their best friends since training, cold trauma, etc). So I think they end up in a similar circle after the War.

Harrie has a way of worming herself into everyone’s hearts but if I HAD to pick a 100th Bestie™ for her, it’s a toss-up between Blakely and Dougie. She and Blakely have a brother/sister dynamic in my head

Rainy days are her least favorite. So we can imagine that she’s struggling a little in England. Good at persuading officers into giving her free bike rides.

I think out of everyone, her shift in personality from the start or the war to the end is the one that’s most noticeable for better or for worse. My sweet girl.

FERN CARMINE

If she didn’t make it in the USAAF she was going to become a USO Girl for the obvious reason: she has the voice and the charisma for it.

Went to boarding school for most of her life & her first kiss was with a girl. And has been the first kiss / awakening for many girls since.

Has always been close to her father and her dark secret is that she still wrote him even when he initially wasn’t writing her back. Eventually he starts though.

Gets interviewed a lot at the beginning because she’s apart of an Old Money Family. This tapers off just slightly when they get to England, but she was photographed with Viv for a TIME cover (which she enjoyed quite a bit, to be fair).

She and Curt would dance together quite a bit at Thorpe Abbotts. His is the death that hit her the hardest.

CARRIE HUGHES

As nervous as she gets, she really hates the days when the 349th flies a practice mission while the others go on a bomb run. The waiting aspect of it makes it considerably worse for her.

Her dad is a cop and her mom is a school teacher! Carrie is very girl-next-door-like in nature, the type to hide behind her mother’s skirts as a kid.

She painted sets for school musicals when she was in high school! I think she’s very creative but is also humble to a fault about it. Always a little nervous when asked to talk about herself.

A fairly decent darts partner though, mostly taught by friends in her neighborhood.

Her favorite part of the flight is being over the channel because she has a very romanticized idea of the ocean & the beach. She really loved the flight from Greenland to England guys

Hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing those!

[sunshinechay]

If we keep with the Pride and Prejudice parallels, this episode really cemented for that Put is the closest thing we’re going to get to Mr Wickham. I’m not here to say he’s as awful as Wickham or an irredeemable a-hole or anything like that. Ultimately, Put is a much more sympathetic character…at least so far and I’m hoping it stays that way as I really don’t think the show needs that kind of angsts and drama when it has enough already.

What I mean by this is that, in the original Pride and Prejudice, Darcy and Wickham served partly as parallels and partly as foils. They are both men with similar backgrounds that come from respectable families (Wickham’s family wasn’t gentry but it is still made obvious that Mr Wickham senior was a good man who worked well and honourably, much like Mr Darcy senior). However, they went on wildly different paths due to their very different personalities.

Darcy is awkward and quiet but underneath that is a man who treats his people well, is honourable about all things and above all, learns from what Lizzie has to tell him. While Wickham is charming and friendly, he is ultimately a man who is completely out for himself with very little regard for anyone who might be hurt or suffer in the pursuit of him getting what he wants.

Most importantly, both feed into the narrative that being prejudice for or against someone can be very bad. Again, Wickham is presented as charming and friendly, someone Lizzie gets on well with almost immediately, while Darcy is almost the exact opposite. He and Lizze butt heads almost immediately due to their differences in lived experience and world view. Wickham’s charm hide his insidious nature, while Darcy’s awkwardness hinders his ability to relate to other people and often renders him as that guy at a party that others tolerate because he is rich and they don’t want to be on the outs with the rich guy.

How does all this connect to Step by Step…well, Jeng and Put basically are these two archetypes. Jeng is that awkward guy that people tolerate because he’s rich (the son of the company president, the one you don’t want to piss off if you want to have success) who is ultimately a good person, who wants to continue learning how to be a better person while Put is the charming and friendly guy that everyone loves but isn’t all that he appears to be.

To reiterate, I’m not saying Put is a bad person, or a bad character. He is a much better person than Wickham, that much has already been shown. He genuinely cares about Pat, but ultimately he is not going to win the battle for Pat’s heart, because while he loves Pat and wants to be with him, he doesn’t want to be with Pat at the same time. He wants Pat, but he wants the idealized version of Pat that he spend the years since their breakup pining over. But that isn’t the Pat that exists today. I find it very interesting that much of flashbacks we’ve seen of their relationship, have been on Put’s end. They’ve been obviously rose tinted from the beginning and present a version of Put to the audience that looks like he is just a guy who loves Pat and wants to get back with him and who is sorry for what he has done in the past to cause their break up (you know, the part where he ghosted Pat).

One only needs to look at his initial interacts with Pat after Pat comes back to Thailand and they meet again. He is so focused on Pat and their past that he can’t seem to see that he is making Pat uncomfortable. Or at least, if he does notice, he doesn’t care. He shows up at Pat’s apartment, possibly drunk and proceeds to ask questions that are definitely not his business (asking who Pat got a ride home with and seems upset that Pat would accept a ride from another man). He ignores Pat’s feelings at almost every possible turn until Pat has to almost yell at him to stop because it’s making him uncomfortable and he’s trying to do his job…and then once again asks him on a date.

This episode just kind of made it all worse. Even if we didn’t have the scene with Jeng to parallel, his reaction to Pat making him dinner is lacklustre to say the least. He almost completely ignores Pat for most of the evening, too concerned with his job (I’m not saying his being concerned about his job is a bad thing, it’s not). I get the feeling that his being so concerned with his job was a major issue in their relationship in past. One that Pat never had the confidence to bring up, and probably still doesn’t. Pat seems like he has just accepted that this comes with a relationship with Put. He is always going to have to put his job before Pat.

The longer time goes on, the less likeable he becomes. He clearly cares for Pat and isn’t a bad person, but it’s becoming more and more obvious that he also clearly hasn’t thought about all of the ways their relationship likely wasn’t working before. Pat’s first impression of him before ended up not working out for him. His first impression this time seems to be working out even worse. Has Put changed? Yes. Has he changed for the better? I’m not so sure about that.

This is all made even more interesting when I think about it in the context of the broader message the show is trying to make about the BL industry as a whole. So often, actors have to act a certain way in public. They have to be a nice, more charismatic, open and personable version of themselves. They have to hide their flaws and only showcase the good things about them. Any time Put is shown to be around people who are not in his private life, Put acts exactly like that. He is more friendly, more open, more charming, more everything. In private, it is not like he isn’t still those things, but he has also been shown to be selfish, manipulative, smug and even uncaring (or at the very least, unobservate about the feelings of others, especially Pat). None of these traits make him a bad person, not even all of them together. But they do make for a person who is very different from the way he acts on a stage, so to speak. It also speaks to his emotionally immaturity. Self admittedly Put broke up with Pat because he needed to come to terms with a lot of things about who he was as it related to job and how some part of him are incompatible with his chosen profession. The part I don’t think he spent nearly as much on, is the emotional maturity required order to have the kind of relationship that Pat wanted to have with him.

One of this shows central thesis’s seems to be (to me at least) that the way a person presents themselves in public is not the full story, especially for a BL actor (I mean, most of them are straight guys who are being paid to pretend to be with their screen partner, both on and off screen in some cases). In Pride and Prejudice, besides Darcy, Wickham is the most obvious example of this. His first impression is fantastic and his initial relationship with Lizzie one of ease and that of two people of a similar mind getting to know each other, even if Lizzie never truly considers him a suitor. As the novel goes on, this impression gets worse and worse until it is ruined beyond repair, when Wickham convinces Lydia to run away with him. The same looks like it’s happening with Put. While his initial impression to the audience isn’t a great one, through the tiny POVs we get from him, we see that he is not a bad person. He is sad and heart broken and utterly aware that he has no one but himself to blame for feeling that way. He is overall, a sympathetic character that the audience can root for, as any good second lead love interest should be. As time as gone on, we are seeing more and more of the unflattering character traits that he has. We are seeing more and more the reasons why him and Pat wouldn’t have worked in the long run, even if they hadn’t broken up before.

In fairness to Put though, the show clearly doesn’t want anyone to be overly invested in his relationship with Pat, since it tells us from the get go (the pilot trailer) that this show is, at it’s core, the love story of Pat and Jeng. One can only hope they don’t have Put completely crash and burn and become utterly irredeemable like Wickham is by the end of Pride and Prejudice. If they did that, I definitely feel like it would be a disservice to both the character and the message the show is trying to send.

[witchybitchybisexual]

My Modern Day Perspective Of Motherhood and Blanche Devereaux:

(Will also post this on A03 since this is a secret Sapphic Tumblr for Rue, our girls and fashion)

Hello my darlings! I have decided to write some little essays on my views on the girls and motherhood, which I don’t think is discussed enough in great detail. I’m starting off with my favourite and one I see myself the most in, Darling Blanche Elizabeth-Marie Devereaux. Blanche is a complex and spontaneous woman who is deeply insecure, which in turn affected the way she raised (or rather, didn’t raise) her children. Some say 5, some say 6; I personally believe it’s 6 so that’s the numbers we’ll be working with today, golden guys and girls!

I think if she hadn’t had kids in her youth, and had the baby around the curse period, she would’ve been much better (especially with the right support!)

I don’t believe Blanche was a bad mother, but I think her idea of motherhood is different to most. She said herself that as a child, the only place she’d ever felt loved was her grandmother’s house… that can’t do any good for a little girl’s development. Blanche was also bought up by a nanny until the age of 10 and then had to practically raise herself, running around the whole of the US (and Europe) from the moment she hit her teens. She says she was really close to Big Daddy, but the only one who chased after her was her big sister Charmaine, when they didn’t even get along. Her mother openly called her a slut - I know her friends and Blanche even calls herself a slut, but when it’s your own mother… poor taste in my opinion -

It was only natural she wouldn’t know how to parent her own children, especially with 6 of them! A nanny was how she was raised, so she went with what she knew and felt safe doing. Raising her own at that point would’ve felt daunting and made Blanche even more vulnerable than she already was. Blanche doesn’t seem to recognise her childhood/teen abandonment - both emotionally and physically - (apart from the Mammy Watkins episode) as the can of worms it would open would be too great for Blanche to comprehend without extensive therapy; which I think she subconsciously understands and that’s why she plays it all off for laughs (what kind of parents would let their 10 year old date a senior, for instance? Or run off to get married at 15 with a slew of older, predatory men?)

Also, given the time and the vastness of their familIes respective estates, it would’ve been abnormal for her to raise them herself (especially since George most likely wouldn’t have shared out care duties anyway) it was the norm for their cultural capital and social standing. Sophia, Dorothy and Rose all did not have the financial means to possess this luxury and had to raise their children themselves, whether they wanted to or not! This led to them having normal, consistent attachments to their children, something which would’ve been harder for both Devereauxs to do, I imagine.

I think if it was up to Blanche these days, she’d have waited and then become one-and-done. Many people believe she would’ve been childfree (which would also be a very likely possibility) but I think she’d be so anxious about becoming a mother - as in, craving any form of familiar attachment and seeing what she’d miss out on - that she’d end up having one. Possibly two, but that’d be the absolute limit for her, I think. I think if she got frustrated with one she’d pawn it off to the other, but in my opinion Blanche would prefer to dedicate herself to her child while still being able to have hours of personal time, both individually and with any partners. Especially if that child was similar to her (she’d like a boy because she’s always felt more comfortable around her brothers, or a girl because she’d be able to heal her childhood self and the fraught relationship with her own Momma.)

She was great with her older children because they were adults, and Blanche Devereaux could understand and help adults. That’s why she was good with helping Becky see when she was in an emotionally (possibly physically) abusive relationship because it was an adult situation that she could guide her through. Yes, she didn’t recognise it with Rex, but its obviously different when you’re in it yourself and can’t see the warning signs flashing in front of your rose-tinted (yes, pun intended) glasses. As well as this, Blanche also didn’t judge Becky when she’d gained weight and was just happy to have her baby girl back - something you wouldn’t expect from the vain and boastful Blanche Devereaux, showing her true adoration for her daughter in her own way. Yes, she was judgemental about her having a child by herself, but that’s because she didn’t understand it. She eventually came around and supported Rebecca through the birth!

Blanche Devereaux uses confidence as her protection, but it certainly isn’t her true self! As little girls many played with dolls (at least I did) dreaming of a world where we were rich, beautiful, confident ladies about town, which I personally think is one of the small but many aspects of her childhood she refused to let go of. Dorothy herself said that Blanche in childhood was no looker, and while she may have been exaggerating slightly, it was clear from Blanche’s face that she didn’t believe so. I relate to that a lot, I’m proud of my looks now, I was always an active, healthy child, however, sometimes I look back at that ‘awkward little girl phase’ as Blanche accurately describes it (usually right before puberty, as you look cute before and after it haha) and honestly, just feel shy and embarrassed. So, because Blanche always wanted to portray herself as some gorgeous little thing, instead of admitting that this awkward phase was just that, a phase, she constantly sees herself as that little girl and that’s why she always strives to look better than the day before.

In short, I think she’s an aged up version of Lucy, her niece. However, because Blanche never had a solid female adult in her life (bar her grandmother, of course) or any adult looking out for her really, she couldn’t have someone telling her the things she desperately needed to hear and that’s part of the reason she’s the way she is.

I believe Big Daddy never paid as much attention to Blanche as she deserved (being smack bang in the middle of 5 and the 2nd of the 3 girls, it probably meant she was constantly trying to out-do her siblings; particularly her sisters. Big Daddy clearly adored and looked out for her in his own way, but I doubt he made any active attempt to be an involved part of her life until she was much older.. or to protect her, either. She possibly married wealthiest and had the most children out of her siblings in order to stand out to her parents as being the most successful, carrying on the family line… but became too overwhelmed by her large family as she was underprepared, leading to the distance that did more harm than good between them all.

People judge her too harshly, she’s an older woman now who doesn’t often interact with children anymore, but when she does, although hesitantly at first, she really embraces her maternal instinct - see David, Jackie, Aurora, Francis and of course, perhaps the most obvious example, Baby Emily. My heart broke for her in that episode, she really wanted to raise that baby and seemed really dedicated to her well-being. Horrible as it was to be abandoned, I really wanted to see the girls raise that child (especially, as you know, Blanche).

In Season 1, when Blanche realised her grandson David’s mental well-being was being neglected by her son in law and daughter Janet, she had clearly learned from and recognised her shortcomings, and was fully prepared to give motherhood another chance and step up to give David a steady, stable home life, even if it would do a 180 on the lifestyle she had become accustomed to. That takes guts, but she was ready to take on the challenge for the sake of his development. I wish we had seen more of him, even if it was for a couple of days or even just an overnight visit; because one of the most unrealistic things about that episode was that Blanche and Dorothy wouldn’t put up more of a fight when he had literally pleaded to come and live in Miami with them permanently. Maybe it was so that she could remedy the mistakes made with her own kids… or maybe it’s because Blanche wanted to be for David what she never had as a broken teenager, who knows?

When she thought she was pregnant in the end of the curse, all the girls were ready and willing to support her with raising her child. I fully believe that with the right help she would’ve been an excellent mother to one child.