#One of the few arcs she goes through is realizing that it's his fault she's enmeshed in this scheme

[vampyrekatwrites]

From the time Anya blamed herself for Dmitry’s lies to the time she knew better.

[cinnamon-girl-writes]

re: . . . remember me? gojo x reader

when gojo satoru meets the new student at jujutsu high (and gets humbled)

fluff, gojo x reader, set during gojo's past arc, canon compliant request: gojo meeting the reader, a brazilian sorceress who went to Tokyo Jujutsu High, while she sings "Como Nosso Pais" by singer Elis Regina on the guitar in moments of rest a/n: brazilian coded reader but anyone can read!

by @cinnamon-girl-writes

His whole life, people had told Satoru Gojo he was arrogant.

To be fair, it's not his fault he was born into greatness. As the world's strongest sorcerer, of course he'd be a little gaudy. Everywhere he goes, he gets unparalleled affection and praise.

When he was little, he would always hear people say to his rambunctious cousins, "You'll settle down one day," or "You just need to find the right person."

But in all truthfullness, Satoru didn't believe in true love. Sure, he'd seen tons of cheesy romance movies throughout his life, but wasn't that all staged? Most of the 'love' he has seen in his life ended in heartbreak and suffering.

The morning air was warm and sunny. Satoru had already woken up, gotten ready for the day, and completed his morning training with Yaga. He strided through the halls of jujutsu high, looking for something to do or someone to annoy. Sadly, he realized everyone was currently out on a mission except him so he could get in some extra one-on-one training.

Eventually, he ended up in the kitchen of the common room. Digging through the pantry, he found some packet ramen to eat while he waited for his friends to return.

While he waited, he pondered his thoughts. He had an important clan meeting coming up in few days. Hopefully he could get out of that.

He remembered then that his sensei had told him about a new student transferring from Kyoto. He had described her cursed technique to him: Trajectory Manipulation. Yaga claimed that their cursed techniques would pair well in training and that he was curious to see how they'd work together.

Throwing his trash away, Satoru made his way to the dorms building. If he's not gonna do anything, he might as well rest in his room. He strided down the long hallway.

Suddenly, he heard a voice coming from one of the rooms. Did someone finally come back? Or maybe it was a TV that got left on.

He turned, making his way closer to the source of the voice. As he approached it, he realized the voice wasn't talking; it was singing.

He found the room the voice was coming from: a previously empty dorm with a freshly printed plate on it that read Y/n L/n.

"Você me pergunta pela minha paixão, digo que estou encantada."

The voice was beautiful, melodic and smooth as butter. Satoru found himself leaning in, straining to hear every word and each tone.

"Como uma nova invenção, eu vou ficar nesta cidade."

CRACK. Having leaned on the door too hard, Satoru now stood in the doorway, fully exposed to the girl in the room.

Satory mentally took in her image for a split second: h/c hair and a look of hope in her eyes.

She paused, startled. "I'm sorry, can I help you?"

Satoru stood at a loss for words. He realized his mouth was hanging open and closed it quickly. For the first time in his life, his charm with women didn't see to be working.

"I-"

"Get out of my room, you creep!" the girl shouted.

Satoru shoots back, "Well, I just wanted to tell you we'll be partners in training." A smug look appeared on his face, "So, you'd better get used to me, songbird."

Y/n fumed. Really? I have to work with this guy?

"Hey, don't worry about it. We'll have lots of fun together this year." And with that, the white-haired boy waltzed away happily back to his room.

This was going to be an interesting year.

[the-archetype-of-civilization]

Some ATSV things that I love.

-SPOILERS AHEAD-

Gwen's world is gorgeous and the fact that it helps to convey emotions so well is awesome.

I can't say for certain, but the part where Lizard Parker's hand is sticking out of the rubble is similar to Green Goblin's hand sticking out when he died in ITSV. Funnily enough, that's when both Peters died.

Spot goes through a similar arc as Miles: they both have these abilities that they awkwardly try to utilize, fail often, and end up hurting themselves in the process. The difference is that Miles had a mentor and friends to help him through his trauma and loneliness and channel his powers for good. Spot had no one and, although he had a much easier grasp of his abilities and was far quicker to adapt to them than Miles, he channels his powers with hatred.

Uncle Aaron caring for Rio and Miles in Earth 42 after Jeff's death says more about him than he thinks.

Miles is such a tragic character in some of the less obvious but still hurtful ways: he's actively giving up his pursuit of art in exchange for science just so he can see his friends, he has no IRL friends, his Spider friends were not allowed and/or chose not to see him when they had the ability to, he's outcasted by the Spider Society actively, they KNEW he was an anomaly and chose not to tell him, him becoming Spider-Man was by chance, he learned his dad was "fated" to die, and he inadvertently caused Spot's creation (though, that was mainly Spot's own fault to be fair). It sucks, but he still keeps going because he's gonna "do his own thing." Absolute chad. I love the Spider peeps, even Miles' friend squad, but, respectfully, fuck 'em (minus Hobie, for obvious punk reasons).

This prevailing theme of "you can't just ignore your problems, you need to face them" is so good, and it's apparent through Gwen. She flat out says "I don't know how to fix this" when she reveals herself to her dad and just goes on a whole separate adventure, escaping her world and her problems, just ignoring it. And she's finally forced to confront her problems and herself when she's kicked out of the Spider Society, saying the same exact thing when she finds her dad again.

Gwen didn't kill Peter and she says as much to her dad, but I'm sure she feels guilty about it and that's probably why she tries to ignore it and not talk about it, denying that part of herself and further adding to the "denying her problems" and, by extension, herself.

This may be a personal thing, but it's interesting that characters seem more expressive and open about their feelings when the mask is on, rather than when they're off. They're more comfortable when they're hiding behind a mask, and are more guarded and insecure about themselves when the mask is off. Again, this might just be pure personal speculation.

Another great theme I love is that not everyone knows what they're doing, and that's okay. Kids, teens, adults. "No one has a personal handbook." And that's awesome and something that everyone needs to hear. And even the people that think they know what they're doing, don't (Miguel, Jess).

Following that, I love that it leads into "trusting yourself" and why Miles rejecting what everyone is saying how his story should go and doing his own thing hits so hard. He doesn't know if what he's doing is right, but he wants to do the right thing and he's going to fight hard to do it. Gwen has trouble realizing this because of another point I'm gonna bring up after, but she starts to understand that at the end as well. Same for Peter when he doubts he'll be a good father for Mayday. Do right for yourself through others. And, in a way, that works for Miguel as well in trying to do right by the multiverse (needs of the many vs. needs of the few), but it became twisted from trauma to the point of zealotry and a bad habit.

Gwen's mentors (Miguel and Jess, most likely) twisted her view of what the right thing to do is. She's learning from them what THEY think is the right thing to do, rather than trusting herself. She fell into a crowd that, indirectly, used her at her most vulnerable moment when she was the most doubtful about herself to become their asset. It's cruel, but she learned from it after she was kicked out. And it also shows that Peter really WAS a good mentor to Miles in comparison.

Miles inherits the Spider-Man trait better than any other Spidey in the Society. "What's important is not standing by while allowing someone to suffer or die because you do nothing. If you don't get that, then you don't know the first thing about being Spider-Man." He does this without a second thought and INSTINCTUALLY. The fact that everyone CHOOSES to sacrifice is bonkers, a sacrifice is only viable when there's no other option when taking action. Miles LEARNED from his inaction in the first movie, now he's practically teaching everyone by example.

I don't agree with everyone saying that he needs to sacrifice to be a true Spider-Man, when this movie and ITSV before it is a critique of the Spider-Man mythos: that a Spider-Man is only a true hero until they have lost someone dear to them. Miles is an anomaly, and I feel like this only adds to him being the outlier if he goes BEYOND the curse and is able to save both his dad and the multiverse. If Raimi's Spider-Man could do it, so can he. And Gwen's dad is now alive and well, too! Not everything is set in stone, even Lyla said as much: "That's what the model says..."

Rio's speech to Miles is some of the most heartwarming, genuine, motherly writing I've seen in a long time and is a top highlight in the movie for me. And I think this is what kept Miles going through his escape from the Spider Society, standing firm against everyone saying he didn't belong and that he was going to get home safe and sound like she wanted.

"Meanwhile, the cakes take a ride..."

Also, the super long quiet moment after Gwen leaves and Rio is there to console him is such a nice breather. Allowing the film to soak and the characters to breathe is awesome, just seeing Miles react to seeing his friend leave with simple silence against the NY ambience is such under utilized filmmaking. LET FILMS BREATHE AND TAKE THEIR TIME.

Miguel's twisted view isn't without merit and I understand where he's coming from. He's taking these steps because he was forced to have this narrow-minded view of saving the world and what it means to be Spider-Man because of the trauma he experienced, that you NEED to sacrifice in order to save everyone else. His steps to do it are messed up and bordering antagonistic (especially when Miles is in the picture), but he's doing it for the right reasons (he watched an entire universe become erased because of his selfishness). But it's the wrong execution. He's a better written villain with understandable motives than Thanos, in my eyes.

And I really love that Miguel was willing to talk down Miles about what was at stake, to reason with him and empathize with him about the cost of his choices and where it lead him ("Trust me, I know") before he...jumped to an ultimatum.

The music fucking slaps, and I don't just mean in terms of melody and sound and all that. It tells a story as well without the movie, it has its themes perfectly interwoven (like a web heheh) together and creates a thematically rich soundtrack. Pemberton can create so many moods in one track effortlessly it's insane, all the way from heartwarming, to terrifying, to brutal, to epic, to heroic, to fun. Top marks.

"I'm gonna take everything from you, like you took everything from me. See you back home...Spider-Man" is terrifyingly delivered and a chilling line.

I don't need to say anything more about Hobie than anyone else has, but I severely misjudged him like Miles did and I love being proven wrong. Especially with the discussion about him being more brotherly towards him. I also liked that he saluted Mayday and knows how to handle a baby, looking out for the kids and all like he does.

Addendum, seeing Miguel being able to handle a baby as well is heartwarming and heartbreaking for obvious reasons.

The part where Hobie uses his legs to block Miles from going almost feels like he's trying to warn Miles not to go any further, that it's not gonna end well. Gotta love Hobie, man.

Peter's little speech to Miles is really nice, and something everyone needs a reminder of, too. "Bad things are gonna happen, but good things happen, too." It's short, simple, and sweet. Although, in the context of it basically being "yeah, your dad is gonna die, but something good will come from it, too," that's pretty messed up.

Seeing Miles' borderline evil smirk when he starts sapping Miguel's electricity is wild.

In relation to that, Miles has grown up so much. You can see that he's been able to calm himself down more and have better control of his abilities. You can especially see it when he's facing 42 Miles: his eyes relax, he steadies his breathing, and he has complete focus. That's when his powers come out. I love watching my boy work.

Side note to that last part about 42 Miles, our Miles clearly learned from Peter when he tore his gloved finger to use his powers: "Watch the hands, not the mouth."

Miles' "good bye" to Gwen is so sad, but you can hear he's grown from it. From them. He sounds so heavy hearted and disappointed. Again, I need to reiterate to his friend squad, really uncool, guys.

When they were going through every Spider person's captain death tally and there was Hobie's, his reply ("Yeah, what of it?") is heartbreaking.

In ITSV as well, but I love how they animate hugs in this movie. And I love how often it happens, too. They're quick and tight, but look and probably feel as warm as they look. It's a very affection heavy movie.

"The 'Spider Verse'...huh. That's...stupid" is such a dickhead thing to say, but it's so hilarious. It feels like something that would only be utterable in a comic book setting. It works.

That twist at the end is expertly crafted and I've talked about it in another post, and that cliffhanger (although painful to us viewers) is a perfect way to cap off that it's the beginning of the end and that all of the players are set, the pieces are in place. An Empire Strikes Back equivalent but in glorious comic book form, tone and all.

Anyway, movie good. I probably have more to say and maybe I'll make another post when I think more about this movie (I inevitably will). But yeah, I had to get this out of my head. Thanks.

Also, side note, Spider-Cat and Pter Ptarker should be named Peter Purrker and Petyrannosaurus Prex. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Edit: I'm sorry, I keep updating this post thinking that it's the last and then I think about something else that I love and have to put it in. This movie is brain rot.

Edit 2: I made another post because I can't help myself.

[11queensupreme11]

Hi!!! I have a few questions about Arsenic Blues! Love your work btw!

1) In regards to the Dead Dove tag, how much gore will there be?

Personally, I’m perfectly fine with the psychological triggers you mentioned, but for some reason blood and intestines makes me squeamish. Will there be a lot of in your face gore in your tic?

2) How much canon divergence can we expect, from canon compliant to mostly canon compliant, to full on divergence? And can we please have that in tag form on ao3?

3) Percy will be keeping the Achilles curse right? Because I feel like she will 100% die without it.

4) In regards to timeline, first ragnarok then Hoo right? How are you planning on implementing ragnarok when it’s not finished in canon?

I’m so scared about this one because I really really like the Einherjar, ESPECIALLY Adam and Sasaki. I’m so scared for them!!!!

5) Will the pjoverse be given some well deserved revenge? Because you mentioned that Percy will be brought back to Valhalla after HOO, which feels like: “Hurry up and save our world!” Then “Now that the world is saved we don’t need you anymore. Whether you’re killed, graped we don’t give a shit.”

6) I know that in Arc 4 ror!gods react to pjo!verse, but will there be a pjo!gods react to ror!gods?

All I know is the pjo!Hera and pjo!Dionysus/Bacchus may not be alive past arc 4…

7) What will ror!Apollo’s reaction be to his technical children? Had it been Kayla or Will that got sent to Valhalla instead of Percy, what would he have done? What would his reaction be to pjo!Apollo’s punishment in ToA?

8) Will there be other pjo characters that are (forcibly) moved from the pjo verse to ror verse?

Percy’s gonna need some form of emotional support.

With the empathy link between Grover and Percy, Poseidon will not allow Grover to die, even if he hates his existence, so him and maybe Juniper move to Valhalla?

A possible non-consensual mass adoption of the Camp Half-Blood children? I don’t know what Hermes ‘ reaction will be, Aphrodite would be disgusted by half-lings and Athena just straight up wouldn’t care… But as Halfs their ascension is guaranteed to succeed.

Hazel and Nico will most definitely be adopted, and maybe the Ares and Apollo cabin as well…

the dead dove tag isn't just for gore. it's basically a warning to take the other warning tags seriously. for example, i tagged it as incest. if you see incest + dead dove, that means the incest won't be subtle or implied, it's right in your face and in detail. the same goes for any warning tag that's also tagged with dead dove

i'll be planning to change A LOT of what happens during the ragnarok fights. i didn't realize i forgot to tag 'canon divergence' tho whoops

yes she'll have it when she's in ror, but it'll be removed in hoo

yeah it's ragnarok then hoo. i plan to just skim through some fights and just focus on the important ones. as for the ones that haven't been introduced in canon, i'll be skimming through those too 💀

that's not why percy is going back to ror verse (i'd explain, but spoilers)

nope!

apollo is one of the kinder yanderes, so he would accept the kids and naturally come to care for them after some time. as for the punishment, he'd think pjo!zeus was foolish. pjo!apollo was punished he encouraged octavian and "revealed the prophecy too soon" and thus "sped up the war". the first one was dumb, yeah, but the second isn't pjo!apollo's fault. he was MEANT to reveal the prophecy soon, that's how fate works! everything is already preordained by the fates, if the war was going to happen, it would happen. apollo wasn't at fault and i think a lot of ror!gods would agree with that

no i don't think so

[frankencanon]

I saw someone's modern AU fanart of some Naruto characters and when I saw Gaara it made me wonder...

How might we adapt Gaara's canon backstory into a modern no-powers AU so that he goes through a fairly similar character arc, with his relationships with his siblings and other characters being as faithful as possible to the original series...?

And I'm tentatively leaning towards untreated schizophrenia and subsequent insomnia to explain the lack of sleep and other characters' fear of him, followed later by his improved mental health and social relationships.

The insomnia would of course be caused by the schizophrenia (Shukaku won't stop screaming), and as for the schizophrenia...

In addition to the the obvious (talking to people who aren't there, etc)—I know television isn't the best source, but...

From what I remember of Fight Club and Mr Robot, from the outside the schizophrenia would sometimes appear like Dissociative Identity Disorder instead, where actions taken by the hallucination (Shukaku) would in reality be performed by the individual who is hallucinating (Gaara).

So Shukaku attacking people or saying creepy shit would manifest as little Gaara doing that instead—hence his siblings', father's, and the other townspeople's fear of him.

The only issue would be Gaara's Sand Defense...

Part of what made him so scary to everyone was that he was untouchable. Nothing you did would ever phase him; there was way for you to hurt him.

And for that, I am also tentatively considering giving him congenital insensitivity to pain—also known as CIP.

Something you've probably heard of before, CIP is when a person is unable to feel pain.

It's actually incredibly dangerous—imagine having appendicitis but not realizing until it's already too late because you're unable to feel it—but the reason I'm considering giving it to Gaara is because while it would not make him invincible—far from it, actually—it would instead give him the appearance of invulnerability.

Can you imagine seeing a kid get stabbed or break an arm or something, and he just stands there, completely unaffected, completely unfazed...

A little kid, just five years old or something, and he just looks down at the knife in his wherever and just...pulls it out. Without blinking.

An adult would find that creepy. But a kid, the same age as him? They would probably think him immortal or something. Invincible. Unkillable.

Little baby Gaara, unable to feel pain and suffering from untreated schizophrenia and subsequent insomnia... Why is it untreated? Because his father's an asshole, that's why.

Luckily when he's twelve his father gets murdered and him and his siblings are taken in by family friend Baki.

In the wake of the murder and subsequent scandel, Baki ends up deciding that it'd be a good idea for them to move—to get away from all of this.

They go to a new school where no one knows Gaara but they quickly become wary of him anyway because of his behavior...

Enter Naruto.

Naruto, who was put on medication for schizophrenia just a few months ago or so.

Naruto, who grew up hated by those around him because his similarly schizophrenic mother killed his father and herself after someone snuck into the hospital, into the private VIP section reserved for the president's wife (this is going a bit off the rails, whoops), and slipped some strong drugs into her IV which induced severe hallucinations and caused her paranoia to skyrocket—

(She was already at risk because she temporarily had to go off her meds since they would mess with the pregnancy and put both her and the baby at risk, but it should've never gotten to that point, it never should've gotten that bad, that out of hand—it was entirely That Man's fault, not that anyone acknowledged that afterwards...

Damnit, Obito.

No, they found out Kushina was schizophrenic and they all automatically blamed her, assumed that her being schizophrenic made her dangerous and unsafe to be around, and that her son would be just like her...)

Naruto, who grew up with the adults around him constantly expecting him to snap—their wariness causing a similar wariness (distrust, distaste, avoidance) in their children.

Naruto notices Gaara, and he gets him help—tells Kakashi-sensei who tells Baki who had up till now had been warily avoiding the child, taking notes from Gaara's shitty father, and not bothering to consider why Gaara behaved the way he did...

Gaara is taken to get help. He's prescribed medication and eventually starts to get better, bit by bit. Shukaku quiets and Gaara is finally able to sleep—which surprisingly (it really shouldn't be surprising) does wonders for his mental health.

And throughout all of this, Naruto is an invaluable presence—the wonder that is having a friend who understands, and who isn't afraid of him...

Anyway, yeah. That's how I think it could work—just replace jinchūriki with schizophrenia basically... Plus some other stuff.

—

※ Quick reminder: I do not have any of the disorders listed—schizophrenia, insomnia, or congenital insensitivity to pain.

My knowledge of these conditions mostly comes from television and the internet; please take it with a grain of salt.

I repeat:

I am not a reliable source of information for any of this.

Thank you for your time.

[st33le]

HALLO MASH PACRIM AU?????? im giving you free reign to infodump PLEASE tell me more

MEAHAHA! Thank you!!

I originally got the idea from @benevolenterrancy, thank you again for giving me this new obsession lmao.

I have so many ideas for the au in general, and my little story line especially.

I’m a CharlesHawk truther, so my story really revolves around them and their relationship, Bj and Trapper do exist in my storyline, but mainly in the background.

Trapper, I have unfortunately demoted to ✨ Element that drives the plot ✨. I’ve thought more on what I wanted the accident to be between him and hawk. Like there was the question of, oh well, does hawk visit him? No. Why? Guilt. Why is he guilty? That sort of thing.

So the accident, in more detail. Trapper and Hawkeye were deployed to deal with a large category 2, maybe a category 3. The Kaijus nickname right now is Sabermane, but I may change that in the future. Anyway, they’re deployed to deal with the Kaiju and through a series of mistakes, due to Hawkeye's pride and cockiness, they start losing the fight. The Kaiju gets the upper hand and throws Surgeon Resilient back (their jaeger is only a Mark 1, its pretty durable but it’s not as heavy as Cherno Alpha, the Russian jaeger from the movies) because of their jaeger being older there were a few key flaws in the design of the conn-pod. That being that the supports for the pilots can’t take sudden jolts and will release and drop the pilots.

So guess what happens! Hawkeye gets dropped and passes out. My favorite plot device. Leaving trapper to pilot alone, which as you know, people can not do. So later, hawkeye wakes up to a bunch of doctors and a bunch of press. He's confused and pretty out of it all still. hes not that hurt, but he's left a little scarred (i put a few scars on his face in one of my previous posts.)

Hawk is debriefed and finds out that he's been out for about a week. Surgeon Resilient was almost completely destroyed and both of them would have died if it wasn't for the quick actions of trapper. Trapper had piloted the jaeger alone for just long enough to get them a reasonable distance away from the kaiju to eject them both from the conn-pod. But it wasn't without its consequences, shortly after the military recovered trapper and hawk, trapper fell into a coma after all the adrenaline from the battle wore off.

Hawk after some rest was taken to see Trapper and the doctors/military explained that Trapper wouldn't be able to drive again as the Drift would be enough to kill him. Hawk immediately feels overwhelming guilt over this. Feeling that it was his fault that trapper ended up this way.

trapper does end up waking up later in the story and that's a whole angst arc for hawkeye to go through. (and Charles being there and being supportive) But yeah, after all that he goes back to being a civilian for a few years until he's called back for the trial runs for the new jaegers, sense the military wants experienced pilots to run them for the greatest chance at success. Anyway. BJ is also in the story but they meet later on. BJ and Peg are pilots but they were first deployed together after hawk retired, so they didn't really get to meet or know him until recently. I've given a little more personality to Peg, I want her to be a bit snarky and blunt. She knows her limits and strengths and tends to be the smarter out of the two.

Peg is respectful of Hawkeye, but I feel like if she found out why he retired from the service she would be a little more critical of him.

also, I realized I never really explained why Charles was so eager to jump into a jaeger to prove he was right. Charles does have drop experience from simulations. He works with Jaegers so, I would assume he had some.

Charles knows how jaegers work intricately so while Hawkeye handles the physical fighting bit, Charles handles the tactical fighting bit.

Also Ofc my storyline is an enemies-to-lovers sort of situation cause it's one of my favorite tropes. Especially when it comes to Pacific rim and drifting. Going from, I want nothing to do with you too We're so in sync we fight perfectly together,,, THE VIBES BRO.

also, I've come up with a name for my little story, I'm gonna call it Worn Metal. Idk if it's a little Cheesy but yeah, because the new Jaeger is made from bits of the old one and Hawkeye was a pilot before I thought it was fitting. I want it to be a little more on the ship side so I might change it in the future but oh well. i also may make posts about like little things within my story so yeah. Thank you for letting me info dump, i will do more in the future >:3

[annabethfiles]

a ramble on the dragon prince: characters and morals

(bear with me for this first paragraph I wrote it very poorly before getting into my thoughts.)

the reason I love the dragon prince so much is because they are characters who I resonate with and become everything ive tried to be- everything good ive tried to be and bad ive tried to fix. they set the example of learning from mistakes and redeeming relationships and choosing the right thing even when its hard. especially s2 callum was important to me bc the episodes and of his panic attack dream was everything I felt and a representation I needed in those moments. a character who felt he didnt belong in anything he tried, but against all odds found his place. and in the moment he had to abandon the one thing he found for himself in order to save others (smashing the primal stone), he did it in a heartbeat. he always puts others before himself even if it means he has to do the wrong thing, he is loyal to a fault. he loves and trusts unconditionally. he is 100% genuine with everything he says and he is always there to lift up his friends and especially his brother. everything he says is from the heart; I especially keep thinking about how he comforted rayla at the oasis and gave ezran the same speech about changes that harrow told him. and at the same time, despite acting as the voice of reason, reassurance, and rights, he has no idea where he fits in and so desperately wants to find it (at least in the beginning seasons). and that's where I find I connect to him the most. despite having no clue where I fit in the world or even with those around me, I know I want to be there to be a voice of comfort and genuineness.

and soren, he has one of my favorite character arcs in all tv/cinema. he begins cocky and pretentious, yet doesn't understand why he does everything he does. but it's to earn his father's approval. he would do anything for his father's approval. but by the end of s3, he does a full 180. when he's injured, he's relieved. that he can't do anything evil because he can't do anything at all. over my young life ive had many moments of realization that things ive said and done in the past were selfish and wrong. I look up to sorens ability to come out of his experiences and apologize for his poor behavior and does so through actions. he goes from seeking his father's approval to understanding his own values and worth and would go as far to kill his own father bc it's the morally right thing to do. few people have such good in their heart to put pure morals above any selfish desires.

in the dragon prince, the biggest conflict is family. everything viren does is for his family: to keep them safe, to give them what he never had. granted, many of virens actions are selfish and quite the opposite of helpful to his family, namely when he would continuously choose power (the egg) over his own son and lie about his loved ones' wishes to benefit himself. claudia too acts out of the love for her family: viren and soren. her first act into evil is to bring soren back to feeling and though not evil in nature, she goes beyond the natural and causes havoc in reversing natural events, giving her the first white streak of hair. the rest come from reviving her father. claudia acts entirely in love for her family and would cross the border of morals to keep them safe. up until season 4 (and maybe further), her acts can be justified by the trauma and conflicts of her childhood, constantly having to pick sides, beginning with her parents' divorce. she refuses to leave any of her remaining family behind and would do anything for them. she crosses the line into morally evil when terry points out how cruel it is that she tricked rayla with the gold coins, and it becomes clear that she does not carry any empathy for those outside of her immediate loved ones. this is where her actions can be compared to callum's in season 5. when faced with the danger that rayla will be fed to the ocean creatures, callum has no choice but to use dark magic to release himself from the chains and save her. in this situation, there really was no other option than for callum to release himself in order to save the others. dark magic has always been regarded as evil under any circumstance, yet this situation creates nuance between using dark magic for good, and what is considered "good." it could be argued that claudia is using her magic for good, to save the ones she loves, just as callum is saving the ones he loves. what makes one cause more justified than the other, and is there a situation where dark magic is considered good? it makes it difficult to understand where I stand on my opinions of claudia, especially after this recent season. this show makes me think about morals, my place in the world, and how these characters have guided me in my own philosophies. though it's become much darker in the recent seasons, one thing I do enjoy is how much it makes me think. when it comes to storytelling, the dragon prince is extremely open-world. even if unintentional, I'd like to think the vastness of the tdp world is supposed to make us question what is right and what is possible even moreso.

[low-budget-korra]

Comments on The Boys season 3

I should be able to do a comment for each episode but I just couldn't stop watching so here it's my thoughts on the characters this season and a few other things.

Before I start I just wanna say how much I like the fact that The Boys characters are complex and just feel real for the most part.

Butcher

He is a asshole since his first appearance, so watching him go even worse because of the V wasn't that surprising but watching him become that asshole in episode seven, hits different. We already knew what happened but watching it happening and the impact of Butcher realizing he basically became his father, that's heavy.

Hughie

I dislike him for like 90% of the season. What's the problem with Annie being the powerful one? He was insecure about this girlfriend power and influence. That's a red flag.

And just to compare. Frenchie never felt like that with Kimiko, he always wanted to protect her but he never go that far, and never had a problem with her saving his ass.

At least at the end he seemed happy seeing Annie all powerfull against Soldier Boy

Homelander

What I can say about Homelander? What a terrifying, crazy, deep and charismatic villain. It's so non fair that Anthony Starr didn't receive a nomination for his role this season.

That last scene was scary because we know damn well that, bring to our world, if some politician or celebs blows someone's head like that in front of his crow, he would be praise like that.

Frenchie and Kimiko

Their arc was more distant e from the main plot of the season but I really like because it actually develop both of their characters. By the end we saw Frenchie standing up against Butcher and Kimiko accepting her powers. And they are the sweetest, the care and mutual respect they have for each other are goals

Soldier Boy

I def wasn't expecting him to have the role he had. What a absolut asshole, he make Butcher look like the sweetest guy in the show.

One detail that I think adds a lot into his character is his PTSD, which means that he did felt all the experiments that the russians was doing on him which is awful. And in a way Homelander, his son, is a update of him because he is just as powerful but also can't feel pain (not that I remember at least)

Jensen Ackles did a amazing job. The guy spend 84years in Supernatural and not even for once I saw Dean Winchester in his Soldier Boy

MM and Annie

Those two, Frenchie and Kimiko are the nicest people in this show. Not much to say, both of them being the moral compass of the group.

Annie goes through hell this season, this "wherever it takes" bullshit always goes too far, I'm happy that she ended the season okay.

MM having his moment of justice and bring accepted by this daughter was so nice to see.

Honorable Mentions

- I didn't expect Noir to die.

-Newman is not a villain, she just wants to stay alive and keep her daughter safe. Just like most of the characters this season, she just wants to survive Homelander madness and evilness. Hope they don't murder her next season

-Poor Ryan. Butcher was a asshole with him, Homelander wasn't and now the kid has the worst role model by his side. Don't shit Ryan, what would you choose, a guy that blames you for the dead of your mother or the one that understand that was a accident?

Ryan siding with Homelander was Butcher's fault.

-I still in shock that The Boys give Maeve an (until now) happy ending with Elena. The fucking Boys. And the fact that she face Homelander as a equal match, what a queen

- A-Train and The Deep, two desperate for Homelander's attention even tho Homelander despise them. The only "win" moment for A-Train was when she murder that racist fuck.

-Im glad that Ashley did something human at the end, coving up for Maeve's death angle.

-Herogasm

[appalachianapologies]

I don't want whatever the threat is. I dont eanna live in fear

Your ocs. Hand em over

OKAY i know it has been. weeks. months, even. however, I considered how I wanted to say this because too many characters too little time. but here we go:

A Penchant for the Ordinary

Jamie Caldwell is everyone's favorite character and by that I mean she's chaotic as hell, makes knee jerk reactions, definitely unknowingly has ADHD, extremely low self control, and her stress relief is punching people who (probably) deserve it. She's a gay mess in every sense of the word and has seriously tried so hard to get her life together and it's just. it's not working out for her. so, after accepting that fact, Jamie begins to embrace the chaotic and darker sides of herself. if her life is going to hell, she may as well take a free trip down as well and see what it's all about

Chloe and Gus together, because they're so codependent we quite literally never see them apart except for a single scene near the end where Gus hangs around to say one last thing before following her. As mentioned: codependent as hell. Not romantically involved but they know every single in and out of each other- moreso than most couples. While Jamie feels regret for her sudden reactions, Chloe basks in them and has never once wished she made a different decision. Gus typically has the braincell, but usually not for long- he's as much of an adrenaline junkie as everyone else.

Madison did not sign up for any of this shit. When my dad read my book, one of the things he told me was that it was so not necessary to put her through everything that I did. And although I agree, it was sadly necessary for Jamie's questionable character arc. Sorry Madison- but trust me, you're better off with a different girlfriend

Kat absolutely signed up for everything she gets herself into, even if she claims that she didn't. She goes around saying "I'm not involved with any of these people :|" and then actively hangs out with them and invites them to her apartment. for multiple days. She's the type of person that would claim to want to have a relaxing life but she literally chose not to. girl what

Davy tried his best. kind of. he could've done a hell of a lot better, but he also genuinely tried to do well to fix his mistakes. He's the type of person who will feel genuine regret for what he's done and try to rectify his mistakes, even if it takes uhhhhh a lot of time :)

Evelyn is a bastard. absolutely mad woman and in not a fun sexy hot way. Power hungry, unfazed by hurting anyone else in the process of getting what she wants, and yet she still sees herself as benevolent (she's not). Believes she's the main character of the book (she is not).

James did not deserve any of that. I'm sorry dude. That being said, your coping mechanisms were a little subpar. Sorry we still don't know exactly how you died (it's not a spoiler okay it's happened like ten years ago).

Daniel and Edward are absolutely in love but neither of them realize it and it's not a standard love. think qpr. think: they've known each other since elementary school and have gone through all of life together. loyal to a fault but would change on a hat to keep the other safe.

Obligatory Did these characters interest you? Do you want to read a subpar book but support a young author? You can buy A Penchant for the Ordinary here! Thank you in advanced for your support :D

and now: Paradigm

Delilah's trying her best except she makes about a few wrong turns, which ends up shaping her life for the next decade. Surprisingly little self esteem for a person in her job market, though she acts the opposite. She doesn't have enough of a filter but manages to charm her way past a lot of things that should've ended badly. The queen at pushing things down and pretending it never happened. Is aware that she's pretty much trapped, but doesn't believe she can get out.

Charlotte is still Delilah, but she's determined to change into someone else. A new woman who's better, stronger, more confident than Delilah. She becomes the femme fetal that Marcus had wanted since day one, and embraces it. She likes being the bad guy, relishes the feeling of knowing she's in the wrong, and pretends that she doesn't have a nagging feeling that she is, in fact, in the wrong.

Taylor is still Delilah, and parts of Charlotte bleed through to her as well. A changed woman. Mature, who believes that she's seen so much of life that she's immune to anything else that could be thrown at her. Truly believes that she can't change and was created to be bad. Acts like she couldn't give a damn about other people when in fact the opposite is true and she's just afraid of having weaknesses. Aren't we all.

Marcus is pretty much the worst person you can imagine. Runs a cool home business called "assassins for hire :)" (paraphrased). Although he used to do the dirty work himself, he now has employees that he keeps on a tight leash to do everything. Always has multiple contingency plans in case something goes wrong and the authorities get wind of him. If any employee screws up, Marcus gives them zero chances to fix it, and will round up everyone who fucked up last quarter, shoot them, and give them a shallow grave in the Nevada desert. Has an insanely creepy infatuation with Delilah.

Sid is quite possibly the only employee of Marcus that is somewhat on the genuinely good spectrum. ...or at least the "not actively trying to do bad" one. Ex-military, classic "never really left [insert place of war]." Hates Delilah until he begrudgingly doesn't hate Delilah. He knows that everything Marcus is doing is screwed up, but Sid's just going through the motions of life at this point. What's one more life for one more paycheck?

Lainey's name is still pending, but it'll probably end up as Lainey. Smarter than anyone in the world gives her credit for, and is very calculating. She knows more than she lets on as well, and uses that to her advantage. She's probably more forgiving than she should be, but that makes Lainey who she is. Eventually, the only one who knows the most about Delilah (and that isn't just because she sleeps with her. oops)

Rebecca is the classic TV CIA agent except she's actually real. She has poorly controlled OCD but pretends like she has everything under control at all times. After spending over half of a decade attempting to track and take in Marcus, she's eventually promoted to a higher up position, where she gets to create her own team, to finally, once and for all, bring in Marcus. Is pretty much willing to sacrifice it all for the job with little hesitation.

Carter is somewhere between Rebecca's second hand man while also being the worst (affectionate) gay hopeless romantic there is. He thinks he can juggle a relationship and CIA work but let me tell you. He's never learned how to juggle. Keeps Rebecca sane in every way you can think of, and the two often spend nights at each others' places because that's just what they do. Like Rebecca, he's on thin fucking ice with every higher up in the CIA. However, unlike Rebecca, he's excellent at damage control with their supervisor.

Unnamed Classic Hacker Character is still unnamed because no name has truly suited or worked with her. Trusts literally no one, especially not Taylor. Hates her guts, actually. Probably the only one who's actually confident about things, though she knows the least at any given time because she's a junior agent. Rebecca immediately was like "I want her" despite the fact that she graduated worst in her class. Opinionated and full of spite, in the way that every person in a fandom would fucking hate. Absolutely, without a doubt, a character I would love to write an 11 book series spin-off with

finally: Lou is for Lavender

Lou, originally Louisa, is going through it. The book is a journey on her life- or rather, the three months after escaping somewhere between an abusive boyfriend and being trafficked. With little identity, she finds herself constantly trying to figure out who she is, who she should be, and if there even exists a woman beyond the girl she used to be. She's genuinely trying her best, but fuck if it isn't hard. I love her. I love her so much. She is so lost but she's trying so hard to find her way back on a path. I could write five more paragraphs about her at any given time.

Maria is a six year old with far too much energy for someone her size. Absolutely infatuated with her grandmother and the way she used to read to Maria every single day and night, Maria begged her grandmother and Dana to teach her how to read by herself, which quickly morphed into writing. She'll write pages of six year old nonsense for hours without getting bored, and is absolutely thrilled to have a new friend around the house! never mind that she's an adult- Maria sees Lou as a built-in summer friend.

Dana has been putting on the best face for nearly five years. Although it wasn't her intention, after her mom got sick, she moved back to her family's ranch along with her three kids- Maria and two older boys. After her mom passed, she stayed, unable to bear the idea of leaving once more for good, but she's great at hiding that fact. The youngest of seven, Dana is caught somewhere between constantly feeling the need to prove herself while also knowing that no one's waiting and watching for her to grow anymore. Six kids came before her, and Dana genuinely believes that she simply slipped under the attention of everyone.

The Flowers are how Lou refers to the other women she met along the way. The girls who all had an intimate understanding of what she was going through, and yet nothing at all. The flowers are constantly living inside of Lou, always on the edges of her thoughts, nearly controlling her at some points. They stay with Lou, sometimes causing guilt, sometimes causing pain, sometimes just to remind Lou of the dandelions that used to sprout up in between cracks in the sidewalk.

The Journal that Maria gives Lou (after declaring them best friends forever), isn't technically a living character, but it may as well be. It's where Lou's thoughts reside. Where her fears and regrets and memories live so they don't have to live in her head. The journal is an extension of Lou, and the scariest thing she could think of is losing it, but the journal was never meant to stay against her chest for the rest of its life.

Anyhow, if you'd like to support some of my original work, I have a Ko-Fi! Covers are expensive as h e c k - But also, reblogs support me as well :D a chaotic way to spread the chaotic characters 'round these parts

[twin-books]

About that Adrien takes, I think you have some interesting perspectives. He definitely has a greater lack of focus than in season 1. But I personally interpreted that as part of his self finding arc and also saw it as quite realistic, since real life people can change vastly between situations and moods (and hunger lol). Unlike Alya, whose personality changes with the role she has to provide for Mari, I've felt with Adrien those changes were more autonomous. When did Adrien verbally bully Felix?

I'm going to admit that I tend to exaggerate a few things for humor's sake and don't really think about how that may not come across very well in type. So I really should have used better wording than "goes out of his way to verbally bully Felix". I think I should have said, "He verbally bullied Felix" which is not untrue and would still get my point across without accidentally misrepresenting Adrien's character. I'm very sorry for that. I probably should have thought that one through. But it would be the episode "Felix" where he kind of picks on Felix saying something about how he doesn't have friends and is a bit passive aggressive the entire time. Which I had no issue with because Felix was an absolute asshole. It's just the contradiction of the fact he would be mean to Felix almost immediately as Chat when Lila has also gone out of her way to ruin his life and it took him a few episodes to finally stand up to her and that was only purely for Marinette's sake. You're definitely right. Alya's personality almost always changes to suit the narrative though her goals tend to stay the same at the very least so I have a better handle on her character as compared to Adrien. It's easier to identify the faults in her character than it is for Adrien simply because there is something to hold on to. Alya always has the goals to help Marinette get with Adrien. To be a hero. To care for her boyfriend. These are pretty clear throughout her character even if they aren't represented all that great. I think that idea is a good take where people can change drastically in real life. I think that's pretty fair. I suppose my issue with Adrien is just how much he changes and how it feels less like a gradual shift down or up and more like this squiggly line that goes here and there. Of course, I don't expect Adrien to immediately solve an issue. Like all of a sudden one day he realizes self-sacrificing so much is unhealthy and goes "I won't do that" and then just stops. Obviously that would be completely unrealistic and would also send the wrong message to children. That once you recognize a mistake you will never make that mistake again. That's not a healthy way of thinking because you absolutely will. Healing and growing is not immediate and takes time and we need to allow for that time. The issue I tend to take with how he does things is just the general fact a recognition will occur "I like Kagami" and then things get worse where he continues to fawn over Ladybug despite liking Kagami and trying to reciprocate her feelings. And things do get worse before they get better. Failure is to be expected and I would not expect him to just immediately drop his feelings for Ladybug and focus on Kagami. But I would expect he would at least try to do better when recognizing a fault or try and act on something he recognizes in general. I would expect him to feel guilt for harboring feelings for Ladybug while either leading on Kagami or being in a relationship with Kagami. Or I would at least expect him to feel some guilt for up and abandoning her even when he is direly needed somewhere else. I would also expect him to be trying to devote more of his attention to Kagami and less to Ladybug which actively seeks out and spends a good half of Lies trying to get her to show up when he has a devoted girlfriend waiting for him. Problem is that I don't see him feeling guilty at any point for how he's clearly hurting Kagami even though Adrien's character has previously been shown to be rather empathetic/sympathetic. He doesn't express any remorse for how his actions effected Kagami besides maybe a little bit when she ended the relationship. My issue with how he is written is that I am given this expectation of how he would act based on previous narratives only to have the rug pulled out from under me once I find my footing. He suddenly changes and morphs and now I have nothing to stand on once more. It's rather confusing in that sense.

However, this isn't to demonize Adrien. I just don't have the energy to demonize fictional children. I don't have anything to gain from it and I would much rather see the kids get some love. But the writing doesn't make me feel like they're very loved. It feels very careless and like they thought of the ship and jokes first and then the characters were an afterthought. It makes it hard to relate to any of them. This is also coming from somebody who used to have a huge bias for Adrien. I used to relate to him quite a bit as someone who couldn't find their own voice and opinions and was rather dependent on others. But I tried to change and I felt bad when I hurt others. I'm still trying to change and I still feel bad when I hurt others. I lost my ability to relate to Adrien when it came to those episodes where he just felt like he stopped caring about others. I'm fine with the boy being selfish every once a while, especially considering his circumstances but most of the time his selfish moments feel very... heartless, I guess, for lack of a better term. However, you're very right, they did feel very autonomous... But perhaps that's partially the issue. Sometimes it feels like he deliberately decides to not care for others which is most likely not true but that's what it feels like to me, anyway.

Also yes, hunger changes people man. Just look at Fu and Tikki. Those guys are the epitome of those Snickers' commercials. XD

Thank you for your lovely ask. <3 Sorry for the misunderstanding with Felix. I hope your having a nice day, afternoon, evening, or whatever time it is where you are. <3

[narabea06]

TW: Implied abuse, depression, and murder

Okay, but like i finally read into Emra and Zachary, and I now really want to write Puppeteer getting a redemption arc, but pls hear me out-

So Puppeteer needs negative energy in order to work properly

And the reason he kills is bc he needs that negative energy

But also, in the process of doing this and collecting proxies hes become hateful, abusive, and egotistical

So basically the catalyst for him wanting to change is that he meets Ann

Since Ann was a retired Zalgo proxy in my AU, if he tried to kill her, Zalgo would probably come and erase him from existence, so instead Puppeteer resorts to taunting her and messing with her

The thing with Ann tho is that she does not take anybody's sh*t, plus she doesn't ever hold back on telling somebody how she feels head-on

She calls Puppeteer an a**, tells her to stop harassing her and that he probably is a terrible human being

Along with other things that she picks up from his behavior

Puppeteer is a little taken aback but just rubs it off as she is just being a b*tch

As days go by, Puppeteer keeps going to go mess with Ann again and again

Each time, Ann gets more and more frustrated with him until she decides to do some research on him

She finds out Puppeteer is Jonathan Black, finds out his old life and stuff

Next time she confronts him, calling him Jonathan

He starts freaking tf out (canon fact: Puppeteer despises being called Jonathan and ends up straight disassociating himself from that name when he dies)

She then starts saying some stuff regarding his old life, specifically how he died, pointing out that other people don't deserve what he went through

Jonathan ends up leaving and is very startled from that for a few days

He finds it extremely difficult to kill but does it anyway for his strength but finds himself being slightly more gentle than usual

Emra and Zachary both notice but dont say a word

Finally, he goes back to Ann, saying something along the lines of "if you know me so much, then help me stop"

Ann went "bet b*tch, I can actually do that"

Puppeteer begins to go to therapy

It starts off very rocky and Puppeteer doesn't make progress for awhile and basically tells Ann that that was her fault, which she replies with that she cant help if he doesn't want help

That shuts him up

They start working through a number of things. At first, it starts with focusing on Puppeteer's depression as well as his ego

Puppeteer starts to slowly get more of an understanding of himself.

Ann also consistently calls him Jonathan, telling him to stop pretending that part of himself didnt exist

Things are going well, until Ann finds out he has proxies

Ann realizes how Puppeteer treats them and tells Puppeteer how much his actions affect them

Puppeteer just shrugs it off as "Im there boss, they're supposed to be scared", but Ann tells him to try something: Just stand in the same room as one of them and watch how they react to everything he does.

He does this with Emra, and realizes literally how terrified she is of him and how much he has hurt her. Then he asks her just how she truly feels about him

She finally lets it all out, since she's always had to keep up a mask to pretend that she was still in love with him and that she was completely loyal to him, bc she was scared he would hurt her if she over put down the mask before.

Afterwards, she ends up apologizing, bc its clear Puppeteer is upset, but he just says that he wasn't upset at her specifically and left

He tells Ann, and slowly she helps him start to act more and more kinder to them

The proxies honestly are just confused tho

Ann then tells Puppeteer to just let them go and apologize

Puppeteer objects saying that if he let them go, getting energy was going to be harder, and Ann nodded saying " It will but that's not important rn, whats important is what you've put them through and how much they deserve to be free.

So Puppeteer finally apologizes to Zachary and Emra before letting them go free. He gives Zachary a few materials he might need to fix Emra manually and uses little bits of his power to help Emra be able to move without his strings amd constant puppeting

Emra and Zachary dont forgive him but still leave, finally free

Puppeteer ends up abandoning the theater then and decides he wasn't going to kill more people for his own gain anymore

He meets back with Ann, pretty upset and tells her what he did and asks if she's happy. Ann pauses before nodding

Puppeteer explains that without negative energy, he wasn't going be alive for much longer, and he be alive for one more day. Thats when Ann says that he wouldn't have to worry about that anymore

Pup is confused but Ann tells him to stay at her place and to trust her. He does

Next day, Zalgo shows up unannounced and Puppeteer freaks out, especially Zalgo does some sort of magic/ability thing on him

Basically he made it where Puppeteer no longer needed to leech off energy. He no longer NEEDED to kill.

All his other weaknesses were still there, but now he no longer needed to worry about death

Apparently, Ann had a favor due with Zalgo and decided to use it to get Puppeteer help

Zalgo leaves

Puppeteer slowly starts trying to figure things out again, to figure out his new life

Ann tried to help him how he could, and through due time, they slowly became best friends

It took Puppeteer a year, but he finally got better

His personality changed more to mischievous dumba**, and while he still used his abilities for self defense, he stopped killing altogether

....AND THATS HOW TO WRITE A REDEMPTION ARC, WOOO-

[sweetingseva]

Not every love is meant to be .... BUUUUT 👀

(I meant to post this when the first Instagram post about this came out, but a lot of things kept popping in my head. Then she posted this story update below and I had to finish this post. Better late than ever!)

Not going to lie I didn't see the tagline as worrisome but rather a hopeful unfinished quote along the lines of:

"Not every love is meant to be... but if it's true then it'll come back."

Or something like that.

It reminded me a lot of two other quotes (below):

"Not all loves happened at first..."

"Not every love needs to make a great story..."

The tagline may sound negative because we know the nature of Jacks who is doomed for unrequited love, who is unpredictable in everything he does, and whose intentions are not always good.

It wasn't until I read the tagline again that I saw it that way. That Evangeline and Jacks weren't going to be endgame after all. I think it was the first time that I felt doubt.

But I think it's a trick!

There's promise in Jacks's story! A promise of a happy ending.

Stephanie Garber is one of the few authors that I know who loves villains through and through. Who looks at their mistakes and doesn't end their stories in death.

In a post she wrote for unitedbypop, she lists out five reasons one should fall in love with fictional villains. And the fifth reason sealed my hope for evajacks.

A romance with a villain is implausible, inadvisable, and nearly impossible. But if a villain romance can work out , then it makes it feel as if anything can succeed.

Despite all the evil, hurt, and dirtiness, a villain falling in love is hopeful like a fairytale. Jacks is the villain in Evangeline’s love story but so is he in his own story as he once told Tella in Finale.

Jacks craves love so much he’ll do anything to secure it. And I believe that Jacks and Evangeline falling in love with each other is a perfect happy ending to their fairytale.

Oh. And the "monster" she's referring to might not be Jacks. It might be Luc. But even if she was referring to Jacks, I haven't seen him do anything as terrifying as giving Tella a heart attack (which he later regretted). Or make that coldblooded deal with Chaos (which he might deeply regret too!). He may be a monster but he isn't a total monster 👀

And I can't help but think back to one of my creative writing classes that mentioned this sort of narrative pattern. I'll give an example:

The Hero is happy and good at the beginning of the book.

The Hero turns bad in the middle of the book/in the second book.

The Hero sees his faults and grows and turns good in the end/in the third book.

I see Jacks's love story happening like this.

Legendary/Finale: Jacks is in love, but his heart gets broken. (Love->Heartbroken)

Once Upon A Broken Heart: Jacks is heartbroken and manipulates Evangeline. (Heartbroken->Letting go)

The Ballad of Never After: Jacks's heart has started again... but may also realize his feelings at the end (Denial->Acceptance)

Possible Third Book: Jacks is making amends at this point???

I just don't see why Stephanie would mention Jacks's love story having hope of finding true love if he doesn't find love in the end.

Him not finding love and not having him do something sincere and out of the heart makes him a flat and static character. Which is a big no-no. And Jacks is such an interesting character to not go through a transformation.

And finding love and actually falling in love gives him a transformative arc where Jacks changes his way and goes all out for Evangeline.

Jacks is attracted to Evangeline. He's honestly so obvious with it that it makes me laugh!

He once told Tella that it takes a lot to make him feel something, but here's LaLa saying that all he needs is a hint.

Surprise can lead to attraction. And Evangeline has surprised him so many times.

Sparks are flying here! 💓🔥

Exhibit #1

When she saved her family and Luc by drinking the poison. He didn't expect her to take their place.

Exhibit #2

When she stepped up to him on the throne to break Apollo's obsession. It seemed like she wasn't scared to counter someone like him.

Exhibit #3

When she appeared in that gorgeous attire LaLa gave her. I mean, come on, she's heart eyes 😍. Jacks liked how good she looked in it 😏 but he quickly distracted himself by tossing Evangeline his apple.

Evangeline is brave (not to say Tella wasn't brave) and shows it with her selfless yet selfish actions. I think Jacks didn't expect her to be this strong or brave and when he realized it, it must have attracted him.

I mean, his heart started beating!!!!!

It doesn't beat for nothing.

And Jacks has made a choice. To let go of Tella and pursue Evangeline instead. I know I have mentioned this detail (Jacks wrapping Evangeline in her cloak) before but another detail drives me nuts! Like I'm screaming just thinking about it!!!!

Jacks recoiled from Evangeline when the sun came up. He was no longer under the drunken control of vampire venom. Their moment seemed like it was only an episode buuuuuuuuuuuut Jacks brushed Evangeline's neck. As if he didn't want to let her go. Or stop touching her.

Even Evangeline noticed this ephemeral touch. She wasn't even sure if Jacks realized that he did it. There's definitely attraction on Jacks's part.

He's only fooling himself because he probably doesn't want to get heartbroken. Or he thinks Evangeline being his True Love is too good to be true.

But I know Jacks will come around and choose love because he is what he is. The Prince of Hearts. And he's in search of his True Love who makes his heart beat again and not die from his kiss.

Evangeline already completed one of them.

She made Jacks's heart pitter-patter. 💓💘

Now it's time for the kiss 😘

[inhonoredglory]

another character based question - how do you feel about mikasa? a lot of fans dont like her, im curious about how you feel! - armin anon

Hellooooo Armin Anon. OMG it’s been forever since I had the time to sit down and do a proper meta, and I apologize.

First off, I finished the manga!!! (So, spoilers ahead for anyone else reading this.) I had to lie down after reading 139. It’s a tremendous story and I’m still taking it all in. The set pieces and personal/emotional stakes of everything that happens is just astounding. If it’s one thing Isayama does good, it’s the gut-wrenching personal anguish that underlies the action. I’m absolutely floored. My favorite bit was probably the timey-wimey stuff in Paths and Eren. That blew my freaking mind. But onto Mikasa!!

A Cruel Yet Beautiful World

I remember way back when I started the anime that I started liking Mikasa first out of the group. I liked how sullenly silent and no-nonsense she was, and I liked her loyalty to Eren. Her emotion, especially when Eren died in Trost, was palpable and terrifyingly beautiful. Her grief was incredibly realistic––rushing off with a death wish that even she couldn’t succumb to in the end, because of the drive to fight that she got from Eren. In a world like SNK, her relentlessness breaking through her grief was incredibly moving. And her philosophy is basically the driving theme of SNK: “This is a cruel world, and yet so beautiful.”

This is the same moral message she gives Eren when he can’t find the strength in him to fight Annie––and gives him that warm, understanding, inscrutable smile that allows him to finally accept his own monsters, fight Annie, and save her and Armin. (One of my favorite panels of her from the manga, actually.) Mikasa is basically the first character we meet who embodies this contradictory morality, which grows to engulf SNK and other characters as well (Levi, Reiner, and Armin especially come to mind). Which could be why I was drawn to her at the start, since the complex moral outlook of SNK was the primary reason I fell hard for this story.

(And gosh, it’s tragic to realize that it’s teaching moments like the scene above that made Eren into the person who could influence his own child self to murder, the person who could wipe out so much of humanity, the person who could take Ymir’s challenge to free her by destroying the love of the person who cared the most about him. I’m still processing yo.)

Acker-parallels

I started really analyzing Mikasa when I had to defend her from a friend of mine who accused her of resenting Levi (for beating up Eren) and that’s why she attacked him so violently in the RTS serumbowl. Because of my research into rebutting that, a lot of my affection for Mikasa now comes in seeing the little ways in which she cares and trusts other people, including Armin, Levi, Gabi, and Jean. And her quiet sensibility that goes beyond her love and protectiveness of Eren.

With Levi in particular, I find a lot I like about her. Because you can definitely see her annoyance at him, but she also trusts him more than anyone else in the Corps outside of Armin. After Levi’s violent encounter with Historia, she was the only one who implicitly trusted Levi’s judgement, backing up Armin’s more reasoned logic. She sees beyond her own emotions and even moral feelings and realizes the world is cruel enough that sometimes people have to do dark things to help others and survive.

This is very much the same statement Levi made to the 104th when he had asked them to follow Erwin’s orders when the commander’s plans were questionable on the surface: “Do you trust him? Those dumb enough to say yes… come with me.” These two understand each other on a moral level, and they ask for their comrades’ loyalty without demanding it, because they each know that everyone’s conscience is their own.

There’s a clear parallel between Mikasa and Levi, not only because of their Ackerman heritage and sensibilities (loyal to a fault to their chosen person, impossibly strong, quiet and grim), but their frustration when they cannot protect the people they are responsible for. They both know they are the strongest around, and if they cannot fulfill on that power, a lot of people will die.

There are many moments in which Mikasa puts aside her personal feelings to do her soldierly duty, from leaving Eren to help with the evacuation of Trost to leaving Eren and Armin to fight the Colossal Titan alone in Shigonshina.

And then there’s the fact that Levi’s the one who could break past Mikasa’s headspace and distraction so that she can do the right thing. He understands her strong emotion, he respects it, but he also knows when that has to be put aside for the greater good. But he doesn’t put her down for having those emotions, either.

Strength from Eren, Humanity from Armin

Mikasa’s love and loyalty to Eren challenges her tremendously after the timeskip and her sorrow at Eren’s change is what really stands out to me about her character in the Marley arc. The absolute grief in her eyes when she tells Eren what he’s done is devastating, and it shows just how much goodness and compassion she does have.

And yet she longs to understand Eren, to trust him, to believe there can be something redeeming, and not merely jaded and tired, in what he taught her so many years ago––to fight, to win, to live.

There’s such a difference between these same words said here by Mikasa, so many years later, after so much heartbreak, to the anger and flame that were in them when she first heard them, back when she realized that this was the way of the world. That death and killing happens in the natural world everyday and that’s how you survive. That the world is both cruel and beautiful.

And yet as the years wore on, as Mikasa grew closer to others, found purpose in protecting others, sought a life with Eren… as she wandered further into the forest of life and society and relationships, she lost some of that simple injunction... to live is to fight, to fight is to win. She, like so many of the 104th and the others on this journey, found that it’s not enough to just fight and live and be satisfied. We really want it all to mean something, to have our actions be redemptive. To allow ourselves to believe that we do what we’re doing because we’re not just saving ourselves, but saving others, “saving the world” like Yelena points out (in the forest therapy session pfff). And it’s that drive for something bigger in our actions that grieves her so much with Eren, because as she wants her own actions to be fundamentally good and selfless, she wants his actions to be moral as well.

So while Eren is the person that frustrates Mikasa and motivates her to become stronger and braver than she ever was, Armin is the person who humanizes Mikasa and allows her the space to be gentle and vulnerable. She comforts Armin, confides in him, puts her faith in him, and puts her life in his hands.

She trusts Armin with Eren, and she values Armin’s intellect and compassion, qualities she doesn’t have in nearly as much quantities as he does: “There are only so many lives I can value. And… I decided who those people were six years ago. So... you shouldn’t try to ask for my pity. Because right now, I don’t have time to spare or room in my heart.”

This bit from her confrontation with Ymir and Historia was a defining moment for me with Mikasa. It’s honest and realistic in a way that few of us care to admit about ourselves, and it’s just super chilling and badass coming from her, too. It also shows how much she fights for Armin and Eren both. They are the two people she loves the most in the world, and she never gave up on saving either of them––from death or from themselves.

I’m looking back on Trost now and finding so much irony with the ending to SNK. In Trost, she was the one to give up on Eren, telling Armin that it was hopeless to try to extract Eren’s personality from his Titan form. And yet, like in the end, it’s always been between Armin and Mikasa to try to salvage Eren’s humanity. In Trost, Armin tells Mikasa to leave––to go do what she’s good at (saving lives)––and to entrust Eren to him.

It’s a huge expression of both Mikasa’s trust in Armin, and her belief in Armin’s abilities and friendship for Eren. And in the end, it’s the two of them again debating on if there’s any humanity left in Eren. The bond they share is intimate and deep. With all the military doubting Eren and scheming to take away his Titan (with even Jean and Connie unavailable to them emotionally), it’s only Armin and Mikasa against the world––the only two people who can truly consider Eren’s actions and hold off on judging him. And you can feel their love for him even as they doubt him.

And like back then, it has always been Armin who understands Eren most, the one who recognizes his own evil and Eren’s and finds a redemption in having others stop you, because you cannot stop yourself.

And that’s the thing I really take away from SNK and from Mikasa’s journey, that we all have devils inside us, and yet there is still beauty to be found, within us and in the world––from the natural wonders that Armin dreams of, to the comfort of purpose and companionship that Mikasa has in Eren. Love and wonder is what redeems us of our devils. And yet love itself is complicated, and can turn ugly in its obsession. That giving up that love is what makes the love selfless and beautiful, what absolves us of the selfishness within us. That’s what Mikasa learned. And in the end, she was able to release that love for the good of the world.

So I guess to sum up, I really love Mikasa. I can see why her dogged loyalty to Eren might annoy some fans, but I think there’s a lot more to her than simply that, and in fact, her journey and growth is heart-rending and one of the most symbolic arcs of SNK and fundamental to its entire theme. She’s a badass with a lot of emotion and depth behind her cold mask.

[elia-de-silentio]

The overarching themes of Vanitas no Carte: Identity

The Case Study of Vanitas is a very good, too little known manga (I hope the anime changes something), with some central themes than are exposed in different ways through different characters. In this meta, I want to explore one that was brought to my attention pretty recently: here a little examination on the various ways to face one's own identity in The Case Study of Vanitas.

The Stable Identity( Noè)

Let's start off with the positives, shall we? Noè has probably the most secure personal identity of all the bunch.

And this is pretty amazing, considering everything he went through. He has no memory of his birth family, but gets adopted by some nice people - who die shortly afterwards. Right at their graves, he is kidnapped by slaves, in an accident that left him injured. Then he is bought by someone who actually treats him nicely and is a good mentor for him, he finds many friends his age - and then one of them, the one he was closest to, turns out to be a cursebearer, kills all of the others and then tries to kill him; he is saved by the mentor, who beheads the friend right in front of him. The most immediate emotion is relief for being alive, and he will always feel terrible for that. Then, he has to witness his surviving friend try to cope very badly with her mourning by repressing her identity and try to substitute it with that of her dead twin. That's a lot.

And Noé reacted to all of this by becoming a confident person, kind and attentive to others, but not to the point of being a pushover. I'm not saying he walked away unscathed from the events of his childhood: he regrets the way he handled things with Louis, the way he didn't understand him, and has developed quite the savior complex as a result.

What I'm saying is that he is probably one of the very few well-adjusted people in the psychiatric ward that is Vanitas no Carte. He is still questioning himself, but in a normal way for a nineteen-years-old that has just left a sheltered environment for the big wide world. He is aware of some of his strenghts (his naivete) and is realizing others (putting unfair expectations on other people, underestimating other people due to racial biases); but most importantly, when he realizes these mistakes, he doesn't run away from them or obsess over them believing they make him a horrible person: he recognizes them, apologizes to the wronged person if necessary, and works on improving them.

This isn't to say he's completely happy-go-lucky with no regrets; he feels guilty about being relieved that he lived while Louis died, and he has a lot of uncertainties regarding his identity as an Archiviste and the impact his powers can have on other people. But he managed not to tie his entire identity to that guilt; and as for the second point, Teacher helped him rationalise that and figure out a conduit that didn't undermine him and at the same time showed respect for others. Noè went through several traumas, but received one thing most of the cast didn't: guidance and support from his environment. Whatever Teacher's actual motives are, he shaped a well-balanced person.

The Group Identity (The dhamps, appearently 99% of vampirekind)

"Us dhams are only loyal to each other!" This is what Dante says in one of the first chapters, giving us the first clues to their status as outcasts.

The war between humans and vampires ended up with each deciding to keep to themselves, but dhampires are the living exception to that silent agreement. So, both societies decide to reject them, and they can't find a place in the world unless they stick to others of their own kind. This common history of traumatic experiences of abandonment and subsequent resentment of both human and vampire society for it goes on to create a very strong group identity: the only ones they give a damn about are those like them, everyone else is a potential enemy and is only good to be exploited.

Then, we have the vampire culture. I mean ... it might be because insofar we have met almost exclusively aristocrats obsessed with their respectability ... but they have a lot of prejudices.

You're born under a uncommon moon? You're a pariah. You're mixed race? You're a pariah. Your parents committed a crime? You're a pariah, and are used as a tool. You're born as part of a set of twins? Either you or your sibling are killed at birth, because of something that is SAID, not even a certified element of vampire biology. You're stuck with a curse? You're executed, no attempts to heal you.

Their society seems to run on an ideal model of person which depends on factors outside the individual's control, and whoever doesn't fit this description and deviates from the group in any shape or form gets ridiculously fierce punishment. They make the freaking Church look good by comparison, at least their repressive and racist side is composed of extremists instead of everymen.

The Clan Identity (Chloé, and partially Noé again)

Chloé identifies with a group of people too; but it's not a race, it's a family. The D'Apchier family, the nobles who are responsible for Gevaudan. Her father made sure she had this idea in her right from the start, and she interiorized it.

And this had mixed results: while on the one hand she was chained to self-loathing by the guilt of having accidentally caused the massacre of the family and was only saved by Jeanne and Jean-Jacques reclaiming her as part of theirs, on the other she was able to resist to Naenia because of the love and responsibility she felt towards the people of Gevaudan. Chloé is, at this point, the only curse-bearer who managed to trick and attempted to fight directly against Charlatan.

Then there is Noé in relation to his Archiviste identity. He seems to think of it mainly in negative terms, very conscious of the living invasion of privacy it turns him into ... and nothing else. We have never seen him wonder about who his birth parents were, ask himself why he doesn't remember anything, why was the clan exterminated, or how he feels about being a survivor, one of the only ones if not outright the only. He sees his heritage as a burden,and hasn't thought of it in any different term. I wonder how a change in perspective could impact the above 'stable identity'.

The Someone Else's Identity (Vanitas, Dominique)

I already dedicated a whole post to this trait they share, so I'll be short: both Vanitas and Dominique hate themselves and try to become something worthy by taking elements of people they admire: Louis for Dominique, a combination of his birth father and Luna for Vanitas.

The Object Identity (Jeanne)

The very first thing Jeanne was said in her whole life was that she was an object. A vessel for something (or someone?) else, who mustn't have feelings or desires of her own. Encouraging, isn't it?

Luckily, this wasn't all she got in life. Soon afterwards, she was adopted by Eric and Louise, who loved her a lot, received kindness by Ruthven, met Chloé who became an older sister to her. Unluckily, all of this was taken away from her in the most cruel way possible.

She couldn't make any sense of her parents's betrayal and death, and the way her life suddenly changed; she rationalised it by telling herself that it was her fault, if she had been just the good object everyone told her to be nothing would have happened. So she accepts the Object Identity: she is a tool, so she doesn't feel, she exists only to obey orders, and as long as she is nobody else will ever suffer. It gets even worse after she fails to kill Chloè: she couldn't fulfill her duties, and both her and her big sis suffered for it. This mindset traps her in a world of pain, but also prevents her from facing the fact that she is subject to a senseless injustice, one she has no control over.

Vanitas managed to help her with that. He validated her feelings, and showed her that nobody had to die if she had them, solving the situation with Chloé and Jean-Jacques. This gave her a nice confidence boost, returning her to the cheerful attitude she had as a young girl; the consequences of this change remain to be seen.

The Unknown Identity (Luna)

This one is interesting because Luna themselves is pretty explicit about it. They see themselves as something 'other', who is outside commonly used categorization; starting with 'male or female' (and here I am left wondering if they had specific sexual characteristics but didn't feel like they 'fit', or were intersex and nonbinary, or had an entirely different biology from both vampires and humans).

Luna doesn't like this condition: they said they tried to figure out what they were, to understand themselves, and they regret doing so now. Why? Maybe they didn't find any answer and were left perpetually unsatisfied, or they found an answer, and they found it to be awful?

Still, this indicates Luna has never been particularly happy with themselves, and this found no resolution. And then they died. Nice, uh?

Well, I think this was all. There are other characters I would like to know more about in regard to this, like Ruthven, Marquis Machina, and Mikhail, but there is still time.

All in all, I'd say Vanitas no Carte explores the theme of identity pretty throughly; many character arcs are still in progress, and I'm interested about how things will develope especially for Vanitas, Dominique and Jeanne.

Thanks to anyone who bothered to read my ramblings!

[dimonds456]

*sees your tags about being salty about suf spinel*

YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THAT AND NOT SHARE YOUR SALT /LH

Okay, but I'm warning you, you asked for it.

LONG POST WARNING.

LIKE A REALLY, REALLY LONG POST WARNING.

Dimonds456 Presents: How They Did My Baby Dirty: An SUTM and SUF Analysis on Steven and Spinel (Told by a Progressively More and More Angry Narrator)

THE CONTEXT: There was a post talking about how you think a character will fix everything, but then they wind up making it works. My tags were "#*looks at suf spinel* #I am still salty about that like the bitch I am fghdjskgfa"

Grab some water, guys.

Let's start by talking about Steven for a moment. In the original show, when we were following him as a 12-14-year-old, we watched as he built up trauma and then learned how to hide it expertly well, to the point that most of the audience didn't even realize he was struggling.

You can actually pinpoint the seconds he makes those decisions, too. The best example is in "The Test," when he's storming up to the gems. He's pissed. His fists are clenched, he's got that anime eye shadow overlay on his face, he's frowning, all that. the Crystal Gems are clapping for him and lying to his face, and he KNOWS they are because he overheard them talking about how it was "impossible for him to fail" that test (- Garnet).

And yet... he also overheard them saying that they're just trying their best. They don't know what he needs. They never really have. No one is sure. So, Steven realizes that by picking a fight, he would just be making it worse for them because they would know they messed up, and nothing gets solved, and everyone gets more depressed and Amethyst and Pearl go back to fighting each other and- well, you get the picture. He doesn't have a full understanding of what's going on, so his kid brain went "so I can either be angry at them and cause problems, or I can tell them I did a good job to make them happy."

"I can lie to make them happy."

He storms down there angry, still mulling this decision over. He drops to the floor, frowning and pissed, and says "I can't believe you guys." He is so close to yelling at them, and yet, when he looks up at them...

"That was so... INSANE!"

You never would have been able to tell. It was right there. That moment. And then he never stops. For the ENTIRE REST of the series, he NEVER STOPS. He puts the Crystal Gems above himself every time. Think Rose's Scabbard, The Message, The Return/Jailbreak. The Cluster. Peridot. Dealing with Jasper. The zoo arc (ESPECIALLY the zoo arc). Aquamarine. Then pretty much the entirety of Season 5.

(NOTE: I went back and rewatched that scene for the screenshot. There is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it lip tremble in there too! D,: )

He lives for the people around him, and not for himself. Almost never for himself.

Put a pin in that.

Now, let's look at his maturity. People thought that was just him being mature, right? That he grew up. No. That was not it at all. He was learning from his own behaviors as well as the people around him, and building up this idea that he had to "fight to be everything that everyone wants [him] to be when [he's] grown" (- Steven, the extended intro).

Yes, he matured, but not because of that. He started making various decisions to benefit the group that oftentimes he wasn't fully comfortable with, but something he believed would be better for everyone.

Put a pin in that.

Then, later in Future, we see it all manifest. He is selfless to a fault, to the point that he can't think of himself in a positive light in the sense that he's good. We see it a couple of times, but especially in "Prickly Pair," when he vents to Cactus Steven about everything that happened. He feels useless, which is taking a toll on his mental health.

"Why do I need to be needed?" He needs to be needed because that's everything he was as a kid. His entire IDENTITY rests on his ability to help other people, no matter what happens to him. He literally sacrificed himself for them countless times (the big one of course being the Aquamarine incident), and now as a teenager, his whole sense of self is wrapped up in this need to get up and do something to make the world better.

And when he can't make the world better, his world falls apart.

Put a pin in that.

Now, let's talk about Spinel, the moment we've all been waiting for.

Spinel, as a gem, was made specifically to be a friend. That is her niche, and her purpose. Her reason for existing. At first, she and Pink Diamond got along very well, as shown in the flashbacks right before Drift Away plays (I headcanon she has illusion powers and was literally projecting her trauma, but that's a completely different post).

She and Pink vibed together for who knows how long, until one day, Pink started to not like being around Spinel anymore, finding her annoying and childish. We don't know what really caused the switch, just that it did happen (but of course, I have headcanons for that, too). Spinel never realized until it was FAR too late.

Steven actually describes his younger self as annoying at one point during the Diamond Days arc, when he decides to throw the ball, so I'm legally allowed to make this comparison.

Steven and Spinel were the SAME. They were both young and dumb, and something that at least a few people found annoying. People put up with their BS though, since they cared about them. But, while Steven realized this and matured because of it (or bottled up his emotions, to each their own), Spinel never did. She never matured. She was never given a chance.

In the movie, we saw her as a child, and watched as she played with Pink and never tried to be or do anything else, to the point that Pink Diamond thought to realize she might be struggling (and maybe Spinel didn't, either!).

She lives for the people around him, and not for herself. Almost never for herself.

And when she can't be friends with this one person, her world falls apart.

Sound familiar? It should. I literally pulled from things I said earlier lol.

Spinel and Steven are mirror reflections of each other. Reset!Spinel is 14-year-old Steven, completely devoting her entire self to one idea. Steven's was helping others no matter what, Spinel's was serving Pink no matter what. Spinel is like a combination of 14 and 12-year-old Steven in this sense, honestly. Goofy, without a care in the world, except one thing: the people around her. She would do anything for Pink, just as Steven would do anything for his family.

Now, Pink Diamond left Spinel. We all know this story. She left Spins there in the garden for 6,000 years because she grew more mature and started a rebellion, effectively forgetting about this one gem she kinda stopped caring about standing there.

Personally, I don't think Pink had any malicious or even intentional intent in that, but this ain't about her. This is about how Spinel continued to sacrifice herself for Pink, even when Pink didn't need her to anymore. She wanted to please Pink 24/7, all day every day, to the point she self-sacrificed and stood perfectly still for her for millenia.

Now, back to Steven. The gems don't need him anymore in Future, right? They've all grown up and matured and headed off towards their own futures, effectively stranding him alone in terms of self-identity and self-worth. But he stays there, ready to assist at the drop of a hat, or- in Future's case- the call of a phone.

Episode 6 anyone? The one everyone says shouldn't be in Future? That it should have been cut to allow more focus on Steven himself? The fusion episode? YEAH. THAT. He is running himself RAGGED to try and help others, to give himself a purpose. He is self-sacrificing. (He's a professional, don't worry. /j)

Steven metaphorically planted his feet down and decided that he was going to devote himself to the people around him.

Spinel's feet were literally tied down soon after she made that very same decision.

Okay, enough with the backstory. Time for the salt.

In Future, Steven is at his lowest low. He is running to the Diamonds for help, to see if there is SOMETHING they can do to help him. And we first see Spinel.

Spinel has been through the ringer on a lot of the same mental problems Steven himself is facing. She self-isolated, watched as everyone grew up and left her, and then began to lash out because of it. She understands what he's going through. We even see her concerned as Steven starts to tell her why he's there.

Spinel takes him from Diamond to Diamond, until he's running out of White's room in a blind panic. Spinel is able to catch up with him, and Steven realizes the same. SHE GETS IT. He turns around and says "Hey, you used to have vengeful thoughts!"

Spinel replies "Ohhhhh yeah, but I don't have 'em anymore."

"How did you make them stop?"

She then goes on to sing Change to him, effectively cutting that conversation short.

On paper, that sounds very in-character for her. She's goofy! And that is what worked for her! But the problem is that they had to dumb her down in order to make that character decision work. In the movie, she was shown to be observant and able to put two and two together, even if she often jumps to conclusions (see her being the one to figure out that the gems needed to remember their "pieces," as she remembers the Garden, her re-realizing what Pink did, and her meltdown later when she reactivates the injector).

Spinel is smart. It should have been in character for her to realize that Steven was panicking just as she had been, and needed to be talked to gently. But no. Instead, she starts belting out Change, which given Steven's situation, would not work for him.

At the very least, she would have started doing little tricks or started trying to get him to join a game, which would have taken his mind off of it (to her anyways, that wouldn't have worked either), which then could have prompted further discussion.

Then, once they finally start talking, Spinel could have been able to share some legitimate advise. She was hurt and lashed out. What worked for her was opening up to others and letting them in, learning to trust again (which Steven also has problems with- he can't trust that the Gems won't break down the second he turns his back. Trust does NOT equal love, there is no doubt he loves them to no end), and allowing other people in.

That is what Steven needed, too. He needed to let his guard down and just talk to someone. Sure, Spinel was not going to be a fix-all, but she could have at least offered some insight on what to do.

She UNDERSTANDS him. They are a reflection of each other.

But instead of offering help, Spinel made it worse. She was dumbed down to allow the rest of Future to happen, to make Steven feel even worse. Because- and here's the kicker- because the one person who MIGHT understand him doesn't, that means there's no hope for him.

At least, that's how he sees it. And so, the denial- and "Everything's Fine"- begins.

Here's the thing, though; they DIDN'T NEED to make that decision. If the Crew wanted to have Spinel not understand Steven, then draw the line of her being a Gem from Era 1, used to the Diamonds shattering people.

Steven has killed Jasper and revived her at this point, so maybe Spinel offers that at least he's trying to get better, just like the other Diamonds! See, they're doing so great now! And then that makes him feel worse since he IS trying to do better, but is only failing, while the Diamonds- who were MADE to be nasty dictators- are doing better than him.

The Diamonds shattered a lot of people, and they're doing better than Steven, who has only shattered one person, and not even on purpose. How horrible is that?

Then boom. THERE'S your angst, with a much smarter, more helpful Spinel.

Look, I knew going in that Spinel wasn't going to be able to help. The finale had to happen somehow, and we hadn't seen Wormy Boi yet. I have always been a storng believer of the corrupted Steven theory, so I knew it was bound to happen. But I was hoping that Spinel would at least try. But she really didn't. She just brushed him off, offering really loose advise that didn't even fit his situation and thinking that would be enough.

No. It's not.

I can see where the Crew was coming from. I still love that episode, and I love seeing Spins in it (until that exact moment). This is probably the only thing in SU that genuinely gets me mad. Or, well, maybe not mad, but definitely annoyed and- you guessed it- salty.

I have an unfinished fic where I kinda delve into Spinel's head for that episode called "A New Start". If you really want my thoughts on where Spinel's head was at, there's a bit in there that really explains it. In the fic, Steven decides to rejuvenate himself and brings Spinel along with him, and that's all the context you need for this.

I cannot explain that moment in the climax of the episode, though. Maybe she thought it would make him feel better, or that maybe he really did just need to open his eyes and see the error of his ways (which doesn't make sense, he KNOWS what he did). Maybe she thought that being silly would help somehow.

But you'd think she'd learn from her time with Pink as she grew more annoyed with her, but apparently not. Or maybe she would realize for a second that being loud and annoying was bad. Or maybe she doesn't learn.

Either way, it- and she- was dumb. And they did my baby dirty.

*drops mic and walks away*

[shades-of-stony]

Post CA:CW Fix It Stony Fanfics

Making Amends by TheseStoriesAreWrittenOnMyHeart

Summary: Everything about them happened in seconds. Their first meeting was quick, with Tony landing next to the Captain, each man giving a curt nod and name in greeting. Their argument on the hellicarrier took mere seconds to escalate. Until Steve was goading Tony into putting on the suit and going a few rounds and Tony not so subtly reminding Steve that he wasn’t afraid to hit an old man. It was only seconds of staring at Tony on that New York City Street, his arc reactor dark, no rise and fall of his chest, for Steve to know that inside the tin can, was a good man. Then Ultron happened, and it took seconds for their world to change, seconds for Steve to throw his shield at Tony and for the billionaire to send a repulsor blast back. They went from laughing and relaxing to standing on an edge thousands of feet above solid ground. And now…now everything’s changed. And all it took was a combination of seconds; of decisions made, actions performed and words spoken that they couldn’t get back. Just a few ticks of the clock for their world to shatter.

It’ll take more than that to make things right.

Note: This one deals with amending the accords. It is about how the avengers pick up after the civil war and how they learn to be friends again. It is an incredibly detailed and well written piece! Also, NO TEAM CAP OR TEAM IRON MAN BASHING. I was only supposed to re-read a few chapters to recall the story and give a few-word review but I ended up re-reading the whole goddamn thing. It’s a masterpiece. 

maybe love is the reason why (we're seeing it eye to eye) by parkrstark

Summary: "I'm sorry. Repeat that again." Tony leaned forward in his seat from across the table. He even stuck a finger in his ear as if he was cleaning it out. "I don't think I heard you right."

Fury rolled his eyes-- or well, eye. "You and Rogers need to go undercover as a married couple in a community out on Long Island."

--

After Civil War, Tony and Steve are sent on an undercover mission as a couple to try and find Hydra informants. Somehow, they end up with Peter as their undercover son who decides to play matchmaker even if the two of them are doing their best to ignore their feelings after Siberia.

Note: My latest Fix It read! It just completed today. This fic is a phenomenal read, with its fake relationship, superfamily, undercover, and sexual tension elements! A definite 1000/10!

and this is the map of my heart by CydSA

Summary: The Avengers are splintered - spread out across the world.

There are many things to regret. The biggest one is what could have been.

Tony refuses to have any more regrets. Steve realizes that perhaps he made the wrong choice.

It starts from here....

Note: Here is some sweet, sweet, Civil War Fix It. It dwells deep into the Accords, how Tony fixes it, and the downfall of Ross. 

floating point exception by ooka

There is something, he knows, to see a man as mortal. To see his fault lines and jagged edges instead of the smooth surface they present. Most people don’t like the illusion, whether it be good or not. They don’t want people like him to be human.

But that’s what he is, under the suit and the smile and the sunglasses. Under the bravo and the quick grins. He’s just a man, trying to hide his broken pieces, the dents in his heart, the washed out color of his soul. He’s just a man, trying to solve problems and make the world better. That’s why he’s Ironman, just a man in a suit. Nothing extra.

The place where the arc reactor used to rest in his chest aches so fiercely for a moment that Tony can’t breathe.

He takes in a few breaths and does what Tony does best - pushes it down and goes to work.

(Tony, after the Civil War. Post CA:CW)

Note: A 150k+ fanfic that is centered on Tony, his issues, and his struggles. PREPARE TO CRY.

Not Enough Scotch for this Matchmaking Scheme by desolateice:

Summary:  After Civil War and a lot of healing the Avengers are fed up with the stubborn silence between Steve and Tony and try to take things in their own hands.

Note: A Fix It where the ‘kids’ play matchmaker to bring their fighting ‘parents’ back together! 

Never Eye To Eye by vorkosigan for mrsgingles

Summary: After the Civli War, the Avengers were back together.

How is everything going, Tony? Pepper had asked in her email. It's fine (Tony had written back). I'm fighting with Steve all the time. Everything is going to hell. I'm okay (you know I'm always okay).

(Or: How Tony and Steve learned to be a bit gentler with each other)

Note: A 26k+ fic where Steve and Tony learned how to be friends again, and more. It deals with the struggles and frustrations they had just to salvage their friendship.  

Fly One More Time (Alternately Titled--The Phoenix) by RavenLost2187

Summary: Steve couldn't see them before.

But then he woke up and there they were.

There's a small problem though.

One of his teammates doesn't have wings like he should.

And that's Tony Stark

Note: Some winged fics anyone? This has a bit of a Team as Family element and not to mention that glorious Civil War fix it theme! 

What it’s worth by masterlokisev159

Summary:  Tony's scent is off. Wanda realizes why.

Note: Here is a Hurt and Comfort fic for you with a dash ABO elements in it! 

Sunrise Over the End of the World by Sapphic_Futurist

Summary: When Dr. Strange arrives at an Accords Committee Meeting and warns of the coming of an alien megalomaniac set on destroying the world, the Rogues are pardoned and Tony finds himself exactly where he never wanted to be. Back at the Compound with Steve, who still can't take a hint and won't leave him alone.

--

In which Tony is broken and Steve finds redemption.

Note: A Bad case of Tony acting like nothing happened and doing his goddamn best to avoid Steve. It’ll work all out in the end. Well, it will get worst first before that though.. 

We stand together (or not at all) by Jana_C

Summary:  It’s so easy to hate this man, so painfully easy. He’s the embodiment of rich, white male privilege. He’s irritatingly arrogant, and he doesn’t always think before acting, and even when he does, he manages to twist his logic around and shape it into something that will always benefit him, and yet, here he is, building the guy who killed his parents an arm, without having been asked; working his way through diplomacy and politics, even though he hates it with every fiber of his being, just so he can correct the mistakes all of them made. She watches him go and sighs, small and tired, before texting a single line to Steve. Get ready to come home.

Note: Anyone up for some Tony Whump and Appreciation fanfic? 

You Don’t Only Get One Shot by janonny

Summary: In which Tony voluntarily carries a tracker around, and learns how to talk to Steve all over again in-between and during kidnapping attempts.

“Leave you alone for two months, and you have an operation all set up to track wayward Hydra cells and rescue innocent billionaires,” Tony said, his tone skating the line of annoyance and admiration.

Note: a dose of Stalkerish!Steve (but not in an entirely creepy way because he just wants to keep Tony safe dammit). 

You've Got A Sister Now by ZaraMelMercury

Summary: It's been a year since the events of the Avengers' Civil War. Tony Stark is trying to pick up the pieces of his life, while juggling his work, his remaining friendships, getting therapy sessions for Rhodey and dealing with government politics, as well as the Accords.

It is a bit rough, but he's got Pepper (always a steady rock by his side), Rhodey, Happy and the Kid- Peter Parker. Tony would never admit to it up front and center, but you could always catch a proud look on the man's face whenever the young Spiderling was mentioned!

Life seemed to be looking up...

Except for one, minor detail:

Steve Rogers.

The hope for one reconciliation, surprisingly, led to another!

A new bond that would form that Tony would ultimately always be thankful for.

"Oh, I wanna take it back!... " "No, no, no, you can't retract it!"

Who would've thought it?

Tony Stark has a sister looking out for him, after all.

Note: Here are some Tony and Nat friendship for you! This one isn’t exactly a solid fix it but one with a more of hopeful ending. 

The Bro Code by Sullen

Summary: In a world where the Winter Soldier is found years earlier and is named Tony’s godfather, Zemo plays a different R-rated video and Siberia goes a little differently.Or –Steve breaks the bro code.

Note: This is just too cute and wholesome not to include. 

WIP

Used to be Mine by Fangirlingmanaged

Tony can't even recognize himself nowadays.

Note: This one certainly deserves a place at the heavy angst category because that’s what it is. HEAVY ANGST AND HEARTBREAK.