#She has a temper but shes very much a girly girl

[idontliketomatoesleavemealone]

Since when tf is Trixi „boyish“

[planned-obsolescence]

god-tier sydcarmy fics

no one asked but i'm suddenly overcome with gratitude that fic writers just drop these gems for FREE. we are so lucky. these are the ones i constantly reread because they make me feel so much.

all of these are rated M or E because if they ain't fuckin, i ain't reading.

five times at a simmer; once boiling over by seh28 my kink? emotional intimacy. that's what these two need more than any bullshit stars. this fic serves it up like it's a floor donut and i'm carmy straight up eating that shit.

friends, partners, and intimates by sashafiercer i'm always here for it when syd gives carmy what he deserves. and i'm DEFINITELY here for it when the dialogue between the two is so on point it gives me whiplash. written by an all time 🐐.

forget about your house of cards by minecrafter42 i love reading about how carmy can't get it together in sydney's presence. this fic presents their dynamic so viscerally that the slow burn is more like a slow simmer. i needed a cigarette after i finished this one.

temper, temper by malariamonsters have you ever read anything so beautiful it made you cry? yeah, this fic. it's at the top of the tag for a reason because it captures carmy's consuming love for syd so perfectly. i want to live inside this fic.

child with a child pretending by emilybrontay sydney has a baby before she starts working at the beef, and carmy knows what bluey is. i'm done. i am very picky when it comes to stories set in sydney's POV (my girl is a complex masterpiece, you better get her right), and this is one of the greatest, most thoughtful.

Mise En Place by badcircuit love fics that present syd and carmy as partners in every sense of the word. beautifully written, hot as fuck. another one that gets syd right. again, i take portrayals of my girl so seriously and this one is gorg.

Take Care by oysterknife oh boy. this one literally came out last week but i already read it upwards of 10 times. i will read anything oysterknife writes but GODDAMN. this one changed my brain chemistry with the emotional intimacy between the two. i love longing and yearning and this one is like a masterclass in it. the literary references made me kick my feet and giggle. as a brooklyn girlie, THIS is the nyc i wanna see: flushing, crown heights, greenpoint minus the condos, shitting on the residents of murray hill, i want it all. also the ending made me sob. not joking.

[wisteria-lodge]

JK Rowling & the Color Pink

So I'm working on a thing about queer coding in the Harry Potter books... and first I needed to do a sidebar on how the color pink is used. I’ve made a list of every time a character either wears pink, or is heavily associated with a pink object. We actually get some pretty clear categories that are unintentionally very revealing, and say a lot about how JKR sees "girly" femininity.

Let’s start off with the obvious: 

PINK = VILLAIN (FEMME) 

Petunia Dursley: “salmon-pink cocktail dress," "neat salmon-colored coat." Also paints her walls "a sickly peach color."

Gilderoy Lockhart: “lurid pink robes to match the decorations” 

Pansy Parkinson: “very frilly robes of pale pink” 

Rita Skeeter: “long nails were painted shocking pink” 

Aunt Muriel: “feathery pink hat gave her the look of a bad-tempered flamingo.” 

(Aunt Muriel only shows up briefly at Bill and Fleur’s wedding, but then proceeds to insult pretty much every other character, and give Harry an existential crisis by spilling the tea on Dumbledore)

Dolores Umbridge: “a horrible pink Alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan.” 

(Also: has pink stationary, and her pamphlet MUDBLOODS and the Dangers They Pose to a Peaceful Pure-Blood Society has a pink cover) 

Cho Chang

(Okay. Not a villain per se, BUT. Cho is the reason the mole gets into the DA in the books (and just is the mole in the films.) And given that she is a sort of Umbridge-aligned sub villain in book 5, at least structurally... it IS interesting that the place she brings Harry for a date has this very pink, Umbridge-coded description. 

It was a cramped, steamy little place where everything seemed to have been decorated with frills or bows. Harry was reminded unpleasantly of Umbridge’s office. “Cute, isn’t it?” said Cho happily. “Er . . . yeah,” said Harry untruthfully. “Look, she’s decorated it for Valentine’s Day!” said Cho, indicating a number of golden cherubs that were hovering over each of the small, circular tables, occasionally throwing pink confetti over the occupants.

Fleur Delacour: “[her wand] emitted a number of pink and gold sparks.” 

(Also not quite a villain, and I adore Fleur BUT… she’s written hyper-femme in an intimidating, borderline threatening way. She’s very opinionated, bordering on rude. She’s “full of herself” as Ginny puts it. And when she gets engaged to Bill and becomes an unambiguously good guy, she has this interesting moment of ~Pink Rejection~)

“. . . Bill and I ’ave almost decided on only two bridesmaids, Ginny and Gabrielle will look very sweet togezzer. I am theenking of dressing zem in pale gold — pink would of course be ’orrible with Ginny’s ’air —”

Hermione Granger: “Wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown”

(Hermione wears pink exactly one time, and it is at her most villainous… during Book 1, when she tries to stop Harry and Ron leaving in the middle of the night to go duel Malfoy.)

A voice spoke from the chair nearest them, “I can’t believe you’re going to do this, Harry.” A lamp flickered on. It was Hermione Granger, wearing a pink bathrobe and a frown. “You!” said Ron furiously. “Go back to bed!” “I almost told your brother,” Hermione snapped, “Percy — he’s a prefect, he’d put a stop to this.” Harry couldn’t believe anyone could be so interfering.

(She literally does the sitting-in-the-dark, villain-lamp thing. Also, in case you were wondering, yes Hermione DOES get a moment of ~Pink Rejection~)

Near the window was an array of violently pink products around which a cluster of excited girls was giggling enthusiastically. Hermione and Ginny both hung back, looking wary.

Which brings us too: 

PINK = SILLY/FRIVOLOUS (FEMME) 

Sybill Trelawney: “after you’ve broken your first cup, would you be so kind as to select one of the blue-patterned ones? I’m rather attached to the pink.”

(She’s a fraud. Also hides empty bottles of sherry in the room of requirement. (I’m going to have to be uncharitable in this section, need to get in Rowling’s head a little, so am sorry.) 

Parvati Patil: “robes of shocking pink"

(Often described as “giggling,” thinks Professor Trelawney is amazing, the real deal.)

The Fat Lady: “a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.” 

(Often described as giggling. Drinks too much during the holidays. JRK is unfortunately well known for being fatphobic. Also the Fat Lady has a friend named Violet, and Parvati has a friend named Lavender. Not really going anywhere with that, just funny that they’re both shades of purple.)

Hepzibah Smith: “an immensely fat old lady wearing an elaborate ginger wig and a brilliant pink set of robes.” 

(So… almost identical description to the Fat Lady. And I think we should maybe talk about her more, maybe? Because the way she’s framed… I think she might be Tom Riddle’s sugar mamma?)

“I brought you flowers,” he said quietly, producing a bunch of roses from nowhere. “You naughty boy, you shouldn’t have!” squealed old Hepzibah, though Harry noticed that she had an empty vase standing ready on the nearest little table. “You do spoil this old lady, Tom. . . .” 

(Or maybe we… shouldn’t talk about that. Either way, Tom Riddle does kill her, steal her stuff, and frame her house elf so thats… not great.)

PINK = EMBARRASSING 

“Everyone take a pair of earmuffs,” said Professor Sprout. There was a scramble as everyone tried to seize a pair that wasn’t pink and fluffy.

(Pink fluffy earmuffs are adorable.)

“Wash out your mouth,” said James coldly. “Scourgify!” Pink soap bubbles streamed from Snape’s mouth at once; the froth was covering his lips, making him gag.

(The next two example are 'pranks' as well, I think the pink-colored soap is there to add a kind of insult to injury.)

Shocking-pink Catherine wheels five feet in diameter were whizzing lethally through the air like so many flying saucers. 

(This is a bit from Fred and George’s farewell firework show, it's funny that they’re specifically pink fireworks that Umbridge can’t get rid of.)

“Headless Hats!” shouted George, as Fred waved a pointed hat decorated with a fluffy pink feather at the watching students. “Two Galleons each — watch Fred, now!” Fred swept the hat onto his head, beaming. For a second he merely looked rather stupid, then both hat and head vanished.

(also just, pumping up an embarrassing moment)

PINK = OUTSIDER, WEIRDO

Hagrid

Hagrid’s flowered pink umbrella, which contains his broken wand, is brought up a lot. In this case I think we’re meant to see it as a joke. Hagrid’s so big, and so masc, but the pink umbrella makes him non-threatening. However… the pink umbrella, it’s not a totally positive thing, is it? It doesn’t match, it isn’t *him.* Hagrid wouldn't have chosen to carry this around, totally on his own, if he'd had any other choice. It sets him apart, both visually and socially (because it's a constant reminder that he doesn't have a wand.)

Dobby

Dobby, once he is freed, gets pink-and-orange striped socks, and they’re meant to communicate that he’s… kind of a lot. “Yeh get weirdos in every breed,” as Hagrid puts it. JKR has a very strange, honestly antagonistic relationship with Dobby. He’s the victim of book 2, but structurally kind of the villain? He describes the house-elves situation as “enslavement,” but Hermione’s treated as overdramatic for calling house-elves slaves two books later. And then everything is ret-conned and Dobby is… just kind of weird for liking freedom (and socks) as much as he does.

Tonks

Book!Tonks defaults to “bubblegum-pink” hair. Her hair is described as pink a lot. (Movie!Tonks defaults to purple hair, because they were worried that pink would visually align her with Umbridge.) And this is the oddest one on the list to me, because Tonks is such a universally beloved, fan favorite character. But I really do think that *as written*... we’re supposed to put her in a category with Dobby. The two of them leave (unintentional) destruction in their wake. They’re loud, they’re a lot, they take up too much space. Harry thinks they’re both kind of annoying. (and yeah, Harry 100% thinks  Tonks is “a little annoying at times.”)

[project-sekai-facts]

I've seen many people stating that Airi is implied as transfem, and many saying it's merely a headcanon, but I haven't been able to find evidence to support either side as I have no idea of where that notion comes from. Do you know about any event/card stories or symbolism that could imply that she's transgender? Thanks in advance.

oooh this is a really interesting one for me actually! so straight off the bat, no airi is not canonically or implied trans. that said, a queer (in her case, trans specifically) reading of her story is totally valid, much like Toya's backstory for an in-game example, and for out of game examples stuff like Rin in Love Live! School Idol Project or Gwen in the Spider-Verse movies (these two support a trans reading, whilst Toya's story supports a more general queer reading).

I think the main cause of the reading comes from her fes story! While her childhood is first talked about in the first chapter of RE:START From Here!, it's very brief and the specific parts about her personality and presentation aren't much of the focus, aside from an incredibly short interaction between Airi and her mother where Airi thinks the idol on TV is cute and her mother tells her that there's nothing stopping her from being like that, then a similar interaction with her younger sister where she decides that she wants to be an idol.

What we learn from this is that Airi used to be a tomboy when she was younger, and was short tempered and aggressive, and often got into fights with boys (though in the interaction we are shown she does this to defend her little sister). She also discovered idols and decided she wanted to be one too, just as cute as the one on TV, which is the total opposite to how she was then. In terms of Airi's backstory serving as a trans allegory? I think you could get something out of this, though the allegory (intentional or not) is far more pronounced in her fes story. You could definitely view this flashback as her starting to realise she's a trans girl, and that she wants to be more girly. Especially when her sister says that Airi's just like the idol on TV, and she has a moment of realisation that she wants to be one too.

Now onto her fes story. First I'll just mention a little fandom thing. So back in 2021 when Airi's fes card was initially released, a fan translation (pictured) was posted to youtube that mistranslated her as being transgender. It was a error made by the translator where instead of saying how the boys she fought with called her a "too cute for a monster", she said they called her a "too cute for a boy". The translation was deleted a long time ago, but for some reason people still bring it up, even now. I think this is where a lot of misinterpretation over her being canonically trans comes from.

Now onto the actual fes story. In the first part of the story, Airi looks back on the interactions with her sister that we saw in Re:start, thinks that she'd love to see the look on her younger self's face if she could see herself now, which creates her fragment sekai. In the second part, after talking with her younger self for a bit, she calls little Airi a tomboy, and she's visibly uncomfortable with this. Present-day Airi then realises this past version of her must be from around the time she started to be bothered by how people viewed her as "rambunctious" or a tomboy. She also mentions that when she decided to become an idol she started ignoring boys teasing her about it, confirming that her tomboy personality and presentation was a source of mockery.

The most interesting part is that Airi says when she started wearing cute and girly clothing to school, she was mocked for it. Although the text explicitly states that for Airi, she was a GNC girl who was uncomfortable with her presentation and wanted to be more girly, this is literally something that has happened with Mizuki, who is all-but-stated canonically transfem. The rest of the story is Airi explaining what being an idol is like and her experiences to her younger self, who then proudly proclaims that she's going to become an idol.

As I said, the text explicitly states that she's a tomboyish girl before she decided she wanted to become an idol and wear cute clothes, which strongly suggests that she's cisgender (of course, she could be a GNC trans girl who came out when she was very young, but this is not canon). However, the fes story overall, and particularly the 3 lines of dialogue pictured above, strongly support a trans reading.

Airi was teased for wearing cute clothes, and while the text doesn't state it outright, you shouldn't have to be told that these were typically girly or feminine clothes, especially given the tshirt and dungarees that Airi wears on her child L2D model. As stated earlier, this exact same thing has happened with Mizuki, although the reactions from classmates and the girls themselves were slightly different on the account of Mizuki being canonically transgender. Airi is annoyed that her classmates think the cute clothes clash with her personality and make fun of her for it, but in Mizuki's case she questions if it's okay for her to wear such clothes because people think it's weird for her to be wearing it (the reason for it being weird is left unstated, but it's presumably because her classmates knew her as a boy at this point in time). Nonetheless, this mirrors the experiences of so many trans people in real life, who are mocked by the general public due to not fitting into the box of gender norms dictated by society.

Airi affirming that she's a girl is definitely the standout line here, though. It shows us how insecure little Airi was with her presentation, and how she wanted people to think of her as a proper, cute girl, instead of a "monster". So while Airi is not canonically trans, the text strongly supports her being read as such. It doesn't take a genius to work out how you could apply Airi growing up as a more masculine tomboy, then realising she wants to be a cute idol, then being teased for dressing in a traditionally feminine way is an allegory for a trans experience, intended or not.

Also absolutely not solid evidence of anything at all, but I often see people point out that Airi's trained The Strongest Idol Smile! 4* has a trans flag color palette, something we've seen in Mizuki cards before. However this is very likely unintentional and just done for artistic effect, the pink ribbons on the card are actually red on the costume (and you can tell in some parts of this artwork too). Still think it's a neat end to this post though.

[johnnycakesswitch]

Evie hcs bc I’ve claimed her as my sweet girl and since there’s basically zero description of her that means I can make her whatever I want. These hcs are in a more canon compliant universe so her and Steve are together. If anyone wants I can do hcs abt wlw Evie in a Stevepop universe in which her and Steve are each other’s beards if anyone would be interested

• her full name is Evangeline but almost exclusively goes by Evie. Steve really likes to call her by her full name every now and then though

• I feel like she’d be such a girly girl like she loves wearing dresses and makeup and styling her hair, she’s just a complete princess

• but also- don’t fuck with her. She can and will fight people, especially if you hurt someone close to her

• she is definitely friends with Angela Shepard ❤️

• was friendly with Sandy and eventually got closer to her over time but it was only really because of Soda and Steve. She was devastated when she heard that Sandy cheated. At first she felt sorry for both her and Soda when she found out that Sandy was pregnant but once she found out that the baby wasn’t Soda’s, she felt so betrayed on Soda’s behalf

• can def be a little rebellious- her parents often don’t like the clothes she wears bc her skirts and dresses tend to be shorter than they’d like and she loves wearing heavy eye makeup but she rly dgaf and continues to do what she wants

• will sneak out her window at any time of the night

• has these gorgeous big brown doll eyes- part of why she loves doing heavy eyeliner and mascara, they make her eyes look huge

• very much an extrovert and loves going out and doing things- dancing, rodeos, drag races, you name it and she’ll be there

• I picture her as either SarahGrace Mariani from the outsiders musical who actually plays Marcia or Jackie from That 70s Show, so basically just tiny brunette with beautiful eyes. I picture her style to be similar to Jackie’s even though it’s not super time period accurate because 70s vs 60s yk

• definitely has a little temper, she can go from the most innocent looking sweetheart to an absolute devil in seconds. But also has the biggest heart- she is extremely loyal and loves so deeply

Specifically Stevie hcs

• her and Steve are definitely that couple that have been together since they were like 15 and will absolutely be together for the rest of their lives

• always use pet names for each other they like hardly use each other’s real names. The only exception for this is that Steve likes to add her name before the pet name if that makes sense- he’ll be like Evie baby, Evie honey, Evie doll, etc. She usually calls Steve things like honey, sweetheart, or handsome but there are other names in the mix as well

• they are that super romantic couple that do these super detailed romantic actions for each other. They write each other love letters, she’ll always decorate hers with very carefully placed lipstick stains. He writes his super neatly and always leaves them places for her to find like in her pocket. She brings out the sappy side of him

• are the couple that everyone knows they’re together because they don’t let anyone forget it. Super proud of being with each other also, at drag races Evie is always cheering so loud for Steve and is like “that’s my boyfriend Steve Randle is MY boyfriend!!!”

• literally can’t keep their hands off each other Steve’s arm is always around her waist and she loves holding onto his bicep

• Steve definitely has her name tattooed on him somewhere

• each other’s absolute biggest supporters. Evie encouraged Steve to one day open his own mechanic shop (with Soda ofc) bc he’s so good at cars and he always made sure that she had the option to do whatever she wanted, whether that be get her own job or be a stay at home wife/mother, Steve was alright with whatever as long as she was happy

• they get married young and have like 2 or 3 kids and live happily ever after

[hiwelcometothemonstersancturary]

hi I just wanted to say I love your AU!!! Like so much!!! Any Marie headcanons? (Please I am starved of mommy long legs content your au feeds me)

AAA THANK YOU SO MUCH, ANON! And yes, Marie/Mommy Long Legs headcanons ARE HERE:

Pre-Experiment:

Marie was a pretty tall kid for her age, and she used her size to intimdate other kids away from getting themselves into trouble. In a way, she always assumed the role of an older sister;

She got thrown into the foster care system thanks to a physically abusive father and a neglectful mother. Had to look out for her brother as well, always keeping him out of trouble, and learned how to do house chores so they wouldn't live in even worse conditions;

Her brother never ended up becoming an experiment, but she did, thanks to her "motherly nature" that was actually just a trauma response;

Already had temper problems, esp when a group of boys started picking up on her. She got angry, but never got physical with them;

Would often braid the hair of the younger girls as well;

Had a spider fascination since before arriving at Playcare;

LOVED dressing up in pink and girly outfits, mostly because she never had access to this kind of stuff before;

Helped the counselors a LOT with handling the younger kids. They loved her for it;

Was very close to Claire, and dreamed of being adopted by her some day. She was the mother she never had. Claire actually taught her how to sing, and showed her many cartoons she never had the opportunity to see before;

Was SUPER into video games! She loved those so, SO much!

Loved playing games with the other kids, but she was always looking out for what the adults were doing because she didn't exactly trust them to not start yelling at her without reason.

Post-Experiment:

She was forced to fit into the "Mommy" role, and modeled her behavior after Claire. PlayCo. told her to forget about that kind woman, and Mommy ended up believing Claire had abandoned her, or at least KNEW what her fate would be;

Doesn't trust any adults, and is protective of the kids. When they stopped showing up, Marie's childish mind concluded that they must have left her as well, as they didn't even say goodbye to her, not knowing that PlayCo. didn't even allow the kids to say their byes;

Actually hated babysitting Baby Long Legs, but it's not like she had many options. Had a neutral relationship with Daddy Long Legs, but resented him because PlayCo. allowed him to be goofy and more loose, while SHE had to be the responsible one;

She didn't see Claire during the Hour of Joy, but knows she was killed off. She feels bad about it;

Actually saw the Prototype as a cool guy until, post-HoJ, she was once again stuck mothering younger kids because otherwise they would literally starve. She fell lied to;

Hunted other toys to feed the ones at the Game Station, but started resenting their dependence on her as well;

HATES her body. Marie doesn't like how girly it is, how ultrafeminine it feels. She hates her hair being stuck in a ponytail, and her gloves, and how there's a dress modeled on her instead of it being an actual outfit. At least she could change it;

Likes singing, and would sing lullabies to put the toys to sleep;

Made her own room and filled it to the brim with all the documents she could find so the smaller toys wouldn't see them and feel even worse about the situation. She also found some weird posters and used them as decoration - it's mostly stuff the employers used to decorate their offices;

Had a single cassete tape with rock/punk music that she listened non-stop until it stopped working. Had a temper fit that day that ended up with her destroying some stuff;

Would often try cleaning up the Game Station because she hates dirty places;

Puts the Mommy act because it's the only way she knows how to have control over her own life, and sees the Game Station as a house.

After Rescue/General Headcanons:

SHE'S A BUTCH. LIKE. 100% SHE'S A BUTCH. DON'T @ ME, JUST TRUST ME ON THIS ONE;

Attempts dying her hair black after finding out that you CAN dye plastic. Ended up leaving only the tips as black because she got used to the vibrant pink;

Loves doing darker makeup and more gothic/rock accessories;

Opts for loose clothes, especially oversized shirts and sweaters that can cover both her torso and "hips";

I don't think she would wear an arm prosthetic. She gets used to only having one hand and rolls with it, plus she's super flexible so she can avoid asking for help from time to time;

Clean freak. Do not leave anything dirty next to her, she WILL clean it;

If she had been allowed to have a normal life, I hc that her body would have turned out to be chubby and muscular, and she covers one of her arms with tattoos! Unfortunately, she got turned into an experiment, and forever hates the fact she she won't develop muscles, much less fat;

Likes punk, rock and goth music, and 100% pirates DVDs if given the opportunity to do so;

Still likes video games! She's very good at FPS, but always comes back to playing The Sims and making elaborate storylines for her sims;

She's a toxic player sorry, if a guy is mean to her she would 100% doxx him or make him cry with the stuff she tells him, which happens all the time;

I feel like she would really like Halo and Mass Effect as well. And Fallout. And-

Please ask her about how to build things. She has been trying to learn because she found out she LIKES making things. Please ask her to do stuff.

[visxenyax]

-𝕯𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝖀𝖓𝖈𝖑𝖊

Synopsis: Aemond has been sent to find his granddaughter, in the middle of the night! Warning: Incest; possessive;(soft) brat kink; SMUT; NSFW ---------------------------------------------- It was the middle of the night and along the path that led to the village of Westrose, there was Aemond who with his black steed with thick hair, were traveling that road in search of his niece, who was no longer at the castle for just over a few hours. Finally the young prince wearing a robe with a hood came to the village, tethered his steed to the side of the village entrance warm, because of the illuminations and people dancing, getting drunk, gambling and you could even glimpse, of couples in the middle of a sexual act;

he wasted no time when the young man was harassed by two prostitutes, a male who promised him divine experiences and the woman who told him that if he went with her, she would take him to see the seven gods!

<<Let me pass!>> he said in a cold voice and his temper was also icy, on the other hand it was his nature to always be icy and cold! The prostitutes were embittered, but on the other hand they were used to having similar behaviors from people; without remorse Aemond resumed his search for his niece; she was renowned for being a fairly open person, not very disciplined, who loved the freedom of the world, and hated being a princess locked up 24/7 inside a luxurious palace. As he went further and further, the number of people increased; continuing at this pace, he arrived at the square where there was a large wooden slab where belly dancers danced on it

Bodies with abundant and not abundant curves, which with their movements could enchant anyone, those curves and sinuous and sensual movements, lust but also the joy in expressing oneself by dancing transpired from them, a dance full of sensuality but also of happiness and joy . In the middle of the slab it was possible to notice a mane with long white hair, so long that it reached up to his bottom, it seemed made of shiny silk, although it was visually splendid and soft. "There she is," thought Aemond.

In his rough way, Aemond waded into the fray and forcefully took his niece's arm and dragged her away from the slab; the girl didn't seem to react at first, but when she turned around and saw who it was and what was going on, she became furious and was trying to wriggle out of his grip in every way, looking like a wild young filly. <<Let me go, uncle! I told you to let go of this fucking grip!>>she yelled, but he paid no attention

"Do you know what the fuck time it is?! it's time to stop doing your usual little girly shit and act like a princess, and you can't come here at this hour!>>Aemond's head whipped around towards her, and his face was full of anger, his eyebrows were furrowed, while his one eye was wide open, you didn't need the other eye to cause concern, that alone was enough; only from that could his anger be seen, through his glacial eye <<You are angry?>> Visenya looked down, she was scared and sorry for his behavior, he didn't like it when his uncle scared him so, she always felt uncomfortable almost disappointed in his presence when he behaved like this… Aemond didn't answer and turned away, still yanking his niece towards the exit that wasn't very close to them. Visenya's arm started to ache... <<Aemond…let go, you're hurting me, I won't run away, I promise>> said Visenya Without doubting Aemond aware of the too much force he had put on the girl's arm, I immediately loosened my grip, but it was too loose that Visenya escaped from his clutches. ''Holy sh-'' With a skilful shot he chased his niece, it wasn't easy to catch her, the young woman was rather plump but had muscles in her legs, which allowed her to have a fairly fast run.

the race was slowly becoming more and more exhausting, Visenya was trudging so to the first barn she saw, she darted into it, hiding behind a giant accumulation of pairs; lying down on a bed also made of the same material as the accumulation of pairs.

exhausted by running, she lay dead weight on it, hoping not to be found by her uncle. Aemond couldn't find her anymore, for the first time a feeling of panic hid inside him; thinking about how many punishments he would have had if he hadn't found her. Or to the millions of problems that her mysterious disappearance would cause, the people loved her, and would like her to become the future queen, for this Aemond must find her at all costs, for the kingdom.

without thinking he entered the barn in which his niece had entered, the place gave off her perfume

<<I know you're here, Visenya, show yourself!>> He was calling her back, even though he was looking for her everywhere, inside that place. He finally reached the place where Visenya was hidden, and there he could see the candor and sensuality of his niece...

her green, almond-shaped eyes looking at him with that innocent look, her heart-shaped mouth, half open with surprise at having been found; her curvy body, her slender legs....

An intense heat slowly built inside Aemond

<<Visenya, get up...and come- let's go!>>

Visenya shook her head as she pulled back

The young man kneeling in front of her was surprised by her audacity and the sensation she was experiencing; enjoying the moment he threw his head back, while being caressed by the young woman, he gave out soft moans, he wanted to keep himself composed even in that intimate moment, he didn't want to sin of virilityAemond was more and more fascinated, his member felt it, he felt he was going crazy... the tissue that trapped him was becoming more and more tight and annoying.. ''Fuck..'' even her thoughts were reeling with lust Aemond closed his eyes inhaling all the air he could, letting it out two minutes later, he had to calm down, but he felt the young girl caressing the inside of his thigh "What are you doing, brat- Visenya's hands were climbing more and more, until they reached Aemond's covered linguine... <<If you don't stop, the fire will burn you>>Aemond said <<Eh..then burn me, under this pair, let's create hell inside this barn>> she answered longing for Aemond. Aemond quickly lowered himself joining his lips on those of the young woman, in a hungry kiss, he was in need of her attention, that attention he had craved since time immemorial, his member was bursting with the desire he had for his Visenya, always the defined as hers even if she was unaware, wherever she went, she had her icy shadow, watching her, longing for her, protecting her. the kiss grew more and more fierce, adding their tongues from both sides, a kiss that became red-hot; Aemond wanted her and without thinking twice, he took both sides of the corset she was holding and forcefully split the corset, ripping the dress underneath; revealing the curves of her young, soft curves, almost milky white skin; her body in Aemond's eyes was perfect, her small breasts were grabbed and licked by the young man; the small nipple of the left breast was meticulously licked by his long and wet tongue. Making the girl moan, her repeated moans were like choirs of angels to Aemond... Visenya's hands were helping her uncle strip off the clothes he was wearing, leaving him shortly thereafter naked; his body was lean and muscular, but not too much, he wasn't excessively full of scars, but these little accessories made a bad impression on him, made him a fascinating man in the eyes of the girl. The hands that were previously busy stripping him were now busy on the young man's modest member, caressing and giving him pleasure. The young man kneeling in front of her was surprised by her audacity and the sensation she was experiencing; enjoying the moment he threw his head back, while being caressed by the young woman, he gave out soft moans, he wanted to keep himself composed even in that intimate moment, he didn't want to sin of virility

Aemond's hips started moving towards the girl, he wanted to feel more pleasure.

<<I want to hear you, Aemond, come to me>>

The young man didn't have to repeat it, he grabbed the girl's legs and dragged her upwards, bringing her close to his virility, eager. He entered her with such slowness as to send her to the gallows, he wanted to make every inch of himself felt inside her; the young woman was moaning, her moans were driving Aemond crazy and from there the inferno lit up, Aemond began to give decisive and repeated jabs, the young woman's body was slammed back and forth, their pleasure was increasing greatly , Aemond's composure had become nothing, his soft moans were making themselves heard, a chorus of moans could be heard inside that barn. Movements of hips more and more animalistic was giving, the young man felt his heart explode from the pleasure that the girl's flesh gave him. More and more he wanted the girl, he loved the young man's member inside her, he loved how he was giving it to her Aemond and Visenya were almost at their climax, the two mouths that had parted, reunited, as his hands returned to her small breasts, squeezing and releasing, moving it from side to side, as the movements of boy they became less and less until the last jab she gave him was so decisive and dry that it made the young girl's eyes widen, making her gasp.... Aemond's orgasm poured out onto the pair that was next to her body; while Visenya's climax was heard by a scream of pleasure… ----------------------------------------- The bodies lay side by side, sleeping, and weary from the sexual intercourse they've just had.

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

for requests, please write!! I hope you liked it!

[shiorimia]

Team Star's Bullying: Reimagined

So I finished SV and while I LOVE Team Star, their backstories were lacking IMO. Bullying playing a huge role in how they became friends was a great idea, because it’s so relatable! But the game’s reasons for them being targeted basically amounted to “they were bullied because THEY WERE TOO COOL 😎” which was hard to take seriously...

SO I wrote my own ideas for why each Team Star member was targeted at the academy! Enjoy-

(CW for mentioned bullying and homophobia)

Canonically, Mela was bullied for…being too cute? I’ll expand on that. 

Mela is a very pretty girl, even without any makeup. Her natural beauty and (at the time) soft demeanor caught the negative attention of a clique of girls, and they pretended to be her friends. 

Mela eventually told them that she was actually bisexual (having a preference for girls), thinking she was in safe company. The clique IMMEDIATELY spread this private info around in a negative light, claiming that Mela pushed herself on one of the girls. Mela got in trouble and she felt complete betrayal and heartbreak over the actions of her so-called “friends”, who had just wanted dirt on her. 

The bullying and gossip that resulted from this situation caused Mela to completely close down, steel her heart, and keep others at arms-length with fiery threats and emotional glares. She underwent a complete transformation in order to protect herself from being hurt again.

Giacomo actually used to be somewhat of a bully himself, in an attempt to fit in with the other students. He would taunt and goad others to impress his shitty ex-friends. 

He ended up becoming the scapegoat when one of the bullying victims had a breakdown, and all of his friends pinned the blame on him when the teachers interrogated them. After this, he was quickly shunned at the academy and was surrounded by rumors and gossip. 

Experiencing the effects of bullying firsthand made Giacomo realize what an asshole he'd been, and that his old 'friends' weren't so cool after all. He still feels immense guilt for the things he did in the past, and works to make up for it by being overly protective of Team Star. 

Seriously, he will NOT hesitate to throw fists. He will beat someone up in a denny's parking lot just for them.

Ortega is, obviously, on the feminine side and very short. (which is apparently a huge deal for men…) He quickly became a target for being "girly", short, not masculine enough, and rumors that he was gay spread like wildfire. Ortega's love of fancy outfits only added fuel to the fire. 

This made him extremely self-conscious about his identity and his appearance, and caused him to develop a short temper around others. Despite his fuse and tendency to lash out verbally, Ortega doesn’t actually like initiating physical fights; they make him anxious and scared from past experiences. He relies on his silver tongue to shut down jerks.

Ortega often bottles up his emotions and puts on a smug facade, because he believes he has no right to complain or feel upset, considering his wealthy upbringing. While Ortega still has a bratty attitude with the rest of Team Star, he's much softer around them and cares about them….though he’s too embarrassed to admit it.

Eri's bullying involved her body. Society is incredibly harsh on girls who don't fit the "mold", so to speak. Girls are expected to be short, soft and skinny, otherwise you're immediately outcast. Eri, being big-boned and much taller and more muscular than most girls, was the target of many vulgar and gross comments.

Eri, despite what others thought, DID take these insults to heart. She had always been a caring, motherly person, and was sad to see that this is what others thought of her behind her back. She dealt with these feelings through Pokemon battling and training herself until she was too tired to think.

Despite her intimidating aura/stature, Eri does not like to participate in violence unless absolutely necessary. She knows her own strength, and doesn’t like hurting others. She will not be taunted into a fistfight by some random student, as she KNOWS they’re goading her. However, if someone lays a hand on one of her friends, she will not hesitate to fling them into a wall.

Atticus was always an odd person who stood out. His interests were unique, even as a child. Being neurodivergent, the way he expressed himself and communicated was different. Having a love for art and fashion, Atticus was drawn to the more unique and unsettling themes in the industry. He loved to wear makeup considered "creepy" and wear outlandish, fantasy-like outfits. 

He was immediately known as "the weirdo/freak" and was avoided, amongst rumors that he acted creepy towards other students and claims that he followed people around like a stalker. None of which was true, but still resulted in Atticus being alone. He didn't particularly mind…really.

Much like Ortega, Atticus dislikes physical fights. He knows his limits and capabilities. Why bother punching someone when you could recite poems on how pathetic and slimy they are? Or point out how ugly their haircut is?

[mysticstarlightduck]

OC Interaction Tag

Thanks for the tag, @illarian-rambling (here)!!!

Katie/Illarian's OC: Mashal Darezsho is an amnesiac 25-year-old man who was born human, but currently inhabits a robotic body. He's not very happy about this and has had significant trouble adjusting due to new limits and dysmorphia. He stands at about 6'10", has a face that can sort of move, and is generally pretty intimidating-looking. As a person, he's kind to a fault - the sort that would quite literally give someone the shirt off his back - and always strives to protect people. He has a strong sense of honor and is certain in his sense of right and wrong. However, he has a tendency to apply these morals to other people, sometimes making decisions for them because he thinks he knows what's best. He means well, but this tendency has ended in dangerous situations. He also has a deep fear of magic, owing to some horrors in his past he doesn't quite recall. Mages make him paranoid, which occasionally escalates into startling violence. This makes him feel terribly guilt and afraid of himself. Along with all that, he's a decent artist, gets easily flustered, and has a deep appreciation for the beauty of the world.

My OC (from my WIP Supernova Initiative): Gabi Ophyria is a 19/20-year-old girl, who was raised by a former (now retired) assassin, who adopted her as his daughter when she was a 6-year-old child due to... complicated spoilery reasons. She has a fiery temper, a big heart, a strong sense of justice, and is unafraid to get into fights/brawls when the need arises - overall, she's very much her adoptive father's daughter. Gabi is around 5,4ft to 5,5ft and is actually rather muscular. She has brown hair, which she occasionally streaks red or bright pink - but never fully. Her eyes are also brown, and she has a round face - she also usually carries some form of goggles to protect her eyes while racing around in her hoverbike. She usually wears practical clothes in a style similar to our Earth's 'grunge', with a futuristic/cyberpunk twist - but she also often has bright, girly accessories that she is very proud of. (I showed an idea of her usual outfit in this post!). She is good friends with her adoptive older sister, even though the girl is quite the polar opposite of her personality - being a shy, soft-hearted girl who prefers to help others through science than out on the frontlines where there's conflict. She's also brash, proud, and oftentimes painfully stubborn. She is also a decent artist and often uses her art as a form of rebellion.

How Mashal and Gabi would interact: I think that they would be good friends - Mashal would probably remind Gabi of her older adoptive sister, Morgan. (A robotic, more intimidating version of her, but still similar selfless personality as Morgan). She would probably relate to his strong sense of honor and protective nature, as those are pretty big personality traits Gabi has as well. However, I do think she would be a bit - if not a lot - irritated with his tendency to apply his morals to others especially if he tried to make decisions for her, which would DEFINITELY piss her off. Gabi has a very strong, fiery personality, and her stubborn/hard-headed nature, means she doesn't take orders being given to her or choices made for her well, she is naturally inclined to resist authority, especially when someone claims to "know what's best for her" - as she was raised to have a strong sense of self and strong opinions. I can definitely imagine that would be a point of tension in Mashal and Gabi's interaction, though I think they would be able to eventually move past that and would probably become really good friends. They also have a shared interest in art, which I can definitely see being a factor they would agree upon.

Tagging (gently): @sleepy-night-child, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @smol-feralgremlin, @oh-no-another-idea, @littleladymab,

@winterandwords, @cowboybrunch, @eccaiia, @sarahlizziewrites, @illarian-rambling

@agirlandherquill, @anoelleart

@leave-her-a-tome, @writernopal, @anyablackwood, @unstablewifiaccess, @forthesanityofstorytellers

@i-can-even-burn-salad, @cakeinthevoid

@lassiesandiego, @thepeculiarbird, @clairelsonao3, @memento-morri-writes, @starlit-hopes-and-dreams and OPEN TAG

[doodle-do-wop]

I am asking abt the other cabins, I totally have not been hypnotized to ask

OKAY OKAY OKAY

so this is gonna be one long ass post (possibly) and it's going to be formatted weird because I rambled about this on discord ages ago

Sophie Foster: Daughter of Zeus

girly can fly, shoot lightning, and is mega powerful with enough low self esteem to match

as stated in a different channel she's picture perfect to be a demigod with her origin story

fatal flaw: ambition (reasoning being she tends to do things on a whim a lot and that can also be chalked up to hubris but let's not forget Sophie is a genius by all definition of the word. She was going to go to college based off of pure intelligence alone but there's a certain type of bite that comes with power and it's the realization you can do more)

Keefe Sencen: Son of Aphrodite

literally the goddess of love and beauty, emotions are her forte and thus the best godly parent for Keefe's powers to fit into

he can still be the funny sarcasm guy, kids can have more than one personality trait

also beauty and love don't just apply outwardly and only romantically. Aphrodite is the goddess of love, self love and platonic included

fatal flaw: low self esteem (literally look at that sad wet noodle of a boy and tell me he thinks he's worthy of anything)

Biana Vacker: Daughter of Athena

vanisher fits Athena to a T and yet even with a cool ability she's overshadowed by Fitz still

smart girl, was a brat in the beginning but grows into one of the most capable fighters around while keeping a caring side to her

once again, kids can have more than one trait and girls in STEM can like make-up and sparkles. It's usually the girls that have a cute blouse and know what they're doing that are the most lethal (mostly because the blouse might have a knife)

fatal flaw: Loyalty (sure she kinda abandoned Maruca but this is a new universe and look at how much she's gone through with Sophie and been a consistent and stable rock for her best friend. Girly has tackled multiple murders for her friends, she is insane)

Fitz Vacker: Son of Athena

while not a total perfect fit Athena has always focus on the mind, strategy, and being ahead of the game. What better way to do that than to make a son with the power of the mind itself, a telepath

a shining rebound ability that gives him enough pizzazz to overshadow Biana (not on purpose) but also keep him from being super socially gracious (because he ain't)

smart boy but can get a little too ahead of himself in things and send focus in the wrong direction

fatal flaw: Wrath (the boy's got a fighting temper and it's caused rifts in his relationships and even extreme pain for himself. If anything would take him down it would be his own anger)

Dex Dizznee: Son of Hermes

"doodle he's the technopath" Dex is also expecting things often only to get something else completely out of left field

the trickster god of travelers and roads ain't limited to putting a bucket over a cracked door, technological pranks work in his domain and let's not forget Dex did spike Stina's drink and make bombs

what better way to set your expectations high and get them destroyed than to expect Hephaestus or some minor god only to get the dude with wing shoes

fatal flaw: Grudges (we've seen I in action before, Dex can let a grudge like jealousy or his general dislike of the Vackers blind him out of many things including being a good friend at times, sure this was more prominent when he was younger but he still has a lot to hold against Stina even after she's shown herself to be a friend)

Marella Redek: Daughter of Ares

"but Leo is a fire powers" Marella? A daughter of Hephaestus??? Besides I doubt someone with Ares' rep can't spawn a child with fire powers

Marella's whole main goal, the very core of her motivation is her mom, she'd do anything for her and even if it meant being claimed by Aphrodite or Athena (evidence her father was unfaithful to her mother) Marella would've given anything to do something to help her mom

just to be claimed by the one god she never wanted to be claimed by, war and bloodshed, fear and hate are all Ares' domain, his kingdom of stacked skulls and crushed souls

fire is not easy to control and the path of 'easy' is almost never on the Ares' agenda

Fatal flaw: Loyalty (her relationship with her mom is a good point but also the fact that Marella was abandoned, essentially betrayed by someone she considered a friend and immediately turned cold and bitter for quite some time. She only came around because she knew she could do something to help the greater good)

Linh Song Wildwood: Daughter of Poseidon

hydrokinetic=ocean man

personally I have no idea where else she fits

the sea is a powerful thing that can't always be contained and controlled perfectly down to the last atom and Linh could've definitely had some trouble controlling the pull of the water causing the Songs to abound their demigod children once and for all leaving the twins to fight for themselves before a saytr could find them

fatal flaw: Ambition (the girl flooded Atlantis, the pull of the water is often too much for her to handle and that's the call of the sea challenging her and Linh giving into the temptation of more)

Tam Song Wildwood: Son of Poseidon

"dont you mean Hades" guys that's not how twins work

Poseidon isn't just about water and he's had kids that don't even possess his power over the ocean (ex. Chrysoar)

the ocean has depths, depths so dark and deep there are parts unexplored and uncharted due to the crush and pull of the water, a single sea current could blast you from here to another continent if you're not careful

the sea is dark but there's also light, balance, calm waves gently blanketing over sandy beaches, the moon waving between high and low tide. There is more to it than what's bobbing on the surface

fatal flaw: Loyalty (Tam is the most normal dude in a group of weirdos but those are his weirdos. Tam had always put Linh before himself and has even held an escape plan in his boot in case things got so bad he had to go back home. If Linh got kicked out Tam was going with her and staying by her side no matter what)

Wylie Endal, Son of Iris, goddess of the rainbow

he's a flasher this is quite literally his entire power scheme

each color of the rainbow possesses a slightly different kind of magic inside of it so Red might have a different affect than Blue or Green and its difficult to master the entire rainbow like Iris can

fatal flaw: Grudges

[skull001]

Something I find funny when people talk about Amy Rose's character, is how they akways follow a very predictable pattern:

"Amy back then was a stalker and useless"

"Her character is soo much better now"

"She now has a personality"

And so on.

These are just of the same phrases parroted by THOSE western fans who think that characters should be outstanding role models and not fictional people with virtues, but also flaws.

Frankly, I never understood WHY Amy in the 2000's was seen as "annoying". Either I'm very patient or those people are easily offended as they are spineless.

Or maybe it's the cultural clash between how western media sees girly girls like Amy VS how the Japanese see the same type of character.

In Japan, they aren't afraid of having feminine characters, let alone of allowing said feminine characters to do things that clash with western ideas of "that is not very lady like" or "girls shouldn't fight" and the such.

For the last years, something I never liked was seeing my favorite character be sanitized in her characterization for the sake of people who can't appreciate a good character since what they want is a safe, idealized, non-offensive take that saddly, results in Amy losing so much of what made her character fun. This approach is, if anything, the exact opposite of being "progressive", as it calls for Amy's feminine traits to be suppressed. Even Tyson Hesse has expressed in the Sonic Retro forums how writers are afraid of letting Amy express her affection for Sonic, something she used to do very openly (though understandibly childish in how she handled things, as a very young girl like her would) because of this silly fear that the western audience might be annoyed… the hell with that.

Only very recently has games like the one where the gang celebrates Amy's birthday and Sonic is "killed" or Sonic Dream Team have displayed the sassy, energic and even feisty sides of Amy's character… a character who deserves better characterizations that allows for her to be herself without writers acting like they're walking on thin ice due to a spoiled, entitled and over-sensitive western audience that hates fun.

"But we want Amy to mature…"

First, most people don't even understand what that word truly means.

Second, Amy doesn't need that. Why does she has to be the only one in the group who is not allowed to have some dumb silly fun with the boys? Especially when Amy is a mirror to a lot of things Sonic does, like loving adventures and excitement and who energy can even overwhelm him (see for example their specual victory animation in the Olympics or even as early as SA1). Like, where did people got this idea that Amy is a killjoy/partypooper who gets annoyed at the dumb boys for not being as smart as she is? That's not Amy… that's a very different character more akin to Sally, whose schtick was getting frustrated that she didn't had control.

Heck, even on the topic of Amy expressing her affection, I think the real problem is not her, but Sonic himself and the way he sometimes is written to act in ways that if not ruse, can come off as insensible towards an Amy who IMO doesn't deserve to be treated like a Meg Griffin.

That Amy is childish, bratty, sometimes a bit aggressive/hot tempered are things that balance her sweet, bubbly and compassionate side, making her feel more like a "real" person (at least within the confines of fiction). I love and adore Amy as a character with both admirable virtues as well as a flawed side that not only makes her a fun and amusing character (even when she does embarrassing things), but most importantly, it humanizes her. I don't lie when I say this: if Amy were a one-dimentional, highly idealized character who is only all-virtues with none of her flaws, I wouldn't like her at all, for that type of characters are not only impossible and unrelatable, but also come off as condescending and offer no entertainment value.

Amy is perfect by being imperfect. And both writers and audiences need to grow up and let my girl be all she can be, never again having her personality be suppressed for any reason.

[zhoras-bitch]

Chiming into the UT/UB discussion with my two cents.

The reason I didn't like UT is because its whole conflict felt so very artificial. They push these ideas, but the story gives me no reason to believe them.

The story tries to push MC and Kit's relationship as a forbidden romance, but the only thing that makes it forbidden is that Austin will throw a temper tantrum when he finds out about MC and Kit. As trashy as affair books like TNA, FCL, and TBB are, at least the MC and LIs' relationships actually feel forbidden.

They try to say MC and Kit's relationship affects the ranch, but the story gave me no reason to believe that.

They try to push Kit as a heartbreaker and a player, hence Austin trying to "protect" MC from them, but all we ever get is two scenes of fangirls/fanboys flocking around Kit, with Kit being totally unresponsive (on that note, I personally found Kit to be textbook definition of a personality-less customizable LI).

They try to give MC and Austin this backstory about their parents passing away when they were young, hence Austin's overprotectiveness and infantilization of MC, but it felt very poorly set up compared to MC backstories/traumas like the ones in ACOR and ILITW. They just kind of throw the background details at you and expect you to roll with it. Also, was MC being set with having a business major even all that important?

Heck, it didn't even feel all that sexually charged to me outside of the CGs, despite being a "17+ sexy" book. I generally hate PB's style of smut writing but at least books like TNA and Surrender and Witness are interesting in that their smut is fun to mock. UT just had me either bored out of my mind or frustratedly yelling at my phone.

There's also a point that a lot of people have brought up, where the whole "older brother protects younger sibling from their player friend" is supposedly meant for wlm and doesn't make sense otherwise. In a mlw route, that attitude would come off as slut-shamey; and in a mlm or wlw route, it'd come off as homophobic. These can be interesting concepts to explore, but the story doesn't acknowledge them. Though I'm not fully sure how I feel about that aspect, so do with it what you will. Though even as someone who likes to see gender-reversals of typical cisheteronormative relationship tropes (hence why I generally play GOC LI stories with a mlw route when I can), this book still felt incredibly flat to me.

Now I haven't started UB yet, but I do think that part of what appeals to me is Mandy being a LI. And not just in the aspect of having two non-GOC LIs. Despite Mandy veering dangerously close into the stereotypical "girly girl talk best friend that only exists to validate your feelings for LI and be your walking wardrobe" back in UT, she was actually the only prominent character I found remotely likeable. Like, the only one I felt was able to bring some degree of common sense to the table while Austin was acting like Caillou over MC and Kit's relationship.

So seeing her return as a LI is pretty awesome. Buuuuuuut like someone else said, it is weird that they did this despite hinting towards Mandy/Austin at the end of UT. Like, why not a throuple relationship between MC and Mandy and Austin? I mean, as much as I hated Austin, that still would have been pretty interesting.

One last thing I will say though. Outside of Mandy... I'm not sure what connection UB and UT are even meant to have with each other. IIRC, PB even admitted that they couldn't be bothered to include the option to transfer data from UT to UB, hence why people were getting Kits and MCs in UB that didn't match the ones they chose. I'm gonna hazard a guess that even HSS:CA has more to do with OG HSS than UB has to do with UT. Not that UT had a lot going for it anyways, but you get the idea.

Sorry for the long post, but yeah these are pretty much my thoughts.

I somewhat agree. I think that UT conflict works in theory, but there are a bunch of issues with the book's implementation that make it hard for some readers to feel invested and even plot points that seem to work against it, thus lowering the stakes. I'll try to keep it as short as possible, but here are my thoughts:

The story would work better if MC was in high school. I understand that they wanted to write smut, and that's why they couldn't do it. But narratively, 'My parental figure doesn't approve of my crush' is 1) very juvenile 2) works better when the parental figure actually has legal power and authority over MC. But when MC is a 20 something adult it's like. Girl (gn) you can do whatever you want, what's Austin gonna do about it? Get mad?

Austin and MC’s relationship should've been a bigger focus since it's essentially the main conflict of the book. Specifically I wish we saw more of Austin's loving side, saw how much he did for MC and grown to care about him the way MC does. That's another reason to set the story earlier too. That way we could've seen more of the aftermath of their parents dying, MC relying on Austin more as their caregiver and their only living relative and him fighting tooth and nail to protect his sibling. Without that emotional investment Austin is just some asshole, and it's really unclear as to why I as a reader should care about hurting his feelings.

Kit should've been more problematic. I agree with your point about how them being a player is stated but never really shown. I guess they were too afraid to make them unlikeable, but you have to give Austin a legitimate reason to be against their relationship with MC. Give them and Austin a sour past. Or make them wear a leather jacket. Just something that would scream 'trouble' to an overprotective older brother.

Finally, the resolution of the whole Austin and MC's conflict felt a little too... easy to me? I wish MC could call out the problematic side of Austin's behaviour more overtly, Austin reflect and meaningfully change, and them both come together as a family again.

(Typing this all out, I now honestly want a retelling of UT with highschooler MC, which is set shortly after their parent's death and centers largely around MC's relationship with Austin and his struggle to keep custody of their sibling without letting the family ranch completely fall apart.)

As for Unbridled, I think it's pretty obvious what they were trying to do. They saw UT was successful, so they wanted to capture that audience again with a sequel. But UT had no more story to tell, hence the spin-off. So to answer your question, the connection between UB and UT is literally just smut+cowboys+grumpy ML. Mandy is really only there to tie these books together so that they can market it under the same brand and (hopefully) pull in the same audience again. Which makes it doubly funny that UT fans seem to hate UB and vice versa.

Maybe they did plan to make UB about Mandy and Austin initially and then back paddled when they saw that a lot of people didn't really like Austin all that much? It's kind of a conspiracy theory, but it is funny to think about. It does make the entire Austin and Mandy plot line in UT essentially irrelevant, which is objectively not very good writing. But I didn't like Austin, so I'll take it.

[clarabowmp3]

Could you please predict for me when we will be done with the meathead?

stoppp 💀💀 honestly I didn’t expect them to have lasted till now but also I fully expected that she’d end up marrying joe so what do I/anyone rlly know lmao 🤡🤡

Fully explained below but tl;dr - it’s either until the travis team (i legit forgot the name i know the colour is red or smthhhh) keeps winning the Super Bowl/maintains a relatively good reputation OR until Taylor gets bored of him and looks for another shiny toy to make a complete fool of herself over (so like by this time next year) OR they get married and ride off into the sunset towards some happily ever after.

Howeverrr just for funsies: the way I see it is by working backwards, starting with if I see them getting married, and honestly…based on ttpd, leaning towards yes. When they will get married I have no inkling and I don’t even feel like speculating cuz of all those gross pregnancy/marriage rumours going around 🤢 I think they’ll get married cuz:

their careers are such that they’re both lifting the other up when they show up for games/concerts, there is no conflict of interest (ie no competition) cuz of the vastly different fields they’re in. Also, he was more established than joe at the start of their r/ship which makes for a very rosy picturesque love story image which at least some part of Taylor desires (based on her interviews, the fearless/speak now eras) but she’s also become quite jaded (as per ttpd) so maybe she thinks this is the closest she’s going to get to it

i also think she’s in no rush to leave a r/ship this comfortable after her last 2 emotionally complex ones. Not saying this is good or bad of her; I do understand why she would want to take it easy now (and possibly forever) but given how little they seem to have in common, I don’t think she can find this r/ship as emotionally fulfilling as she would want with a life partner, so I don’t see them sticking it out forever. Ofc I could be wrong and maybe she’s changed, but based on her track record travis does not seem the type of person Taylor Swift would want to spend the rest of her life with (girlie was cringing so hard in the viva las vegas clip)

Possible triggers for the breakup and why:

She finds someone else to obsess over and for some weird reason…she suddenly realises what a temper travis has? And how aggressive he is?? Cue the breakup songs/album, swifties dig up That Clip and go omggg how did we not see this he was abusing mother 😢😢, rinse and repeat until she (hopefully) finds some self-worth NOT tied to a man

travis’ team starts losing the Super Bowl/not doing all that well in other competitions. I think the main reason swiftie are kind of sweeping his messed up tweets and behaviour under the rug is cuz they won. But what abt if/when they stop winning? All that’s left is a hot-tempered football player who isn’t even an “all-star” (am I using that term correctly?) and she’s not going to like being associated with that/have that tarnish her brand. I find it so absurdly hilarious but she would rather be seen as problematic (re: M*tty) than unsuccessful, so she’d prob drop him if this happened

very unlikely, but maybe she breaks up with him and enjoys being single for a while? No reason for thinking this tho

ngl as long as this reply is, im kind of apathetic cuz she’s changed so much recently that im becoming less and less invested in her. I’m not even rlly looking forward to rep tv despite it being such a formative album for me cuz that version/image of taylor has been sooo tarnished by recent events yk? So idc what she does, mostly cuz if I had her as an actual friend I’d cut her out of my life SO fast

again, the usual disclaimers apply, idk her/them or anything abt their relationship, I am literally just a girl sipping her ginger ale and watching this train wreck of whatever taylor swiftTM has become 🍹🍹

[daughter-of-melpomene]

drop five facts each abt all your Wednesday ocs pls!! (including Esther bc it’s a crime that I don’t know much abt her fr) -🍂

Ahhhh, thank you so much for asking about them, Alvita!! I am also gonna tag @luucypevensie and @dancingsunflowers-ocs since they’re my other Wednesday girlies. <3

We’ll do some facts about Esther first, since she’s my properly-introduced baby:

Given that I don’t think I’ve properly explained Esther’s outcast type to anyone besides Grace, I’ll explain it now: she’s a nephilim! Her mother, the woman who acted as a surrogate for her fathers when they were having her, was herself the daughter of an angel and a human, and because of this Esther is able to tap into a few different angel powers (if not all of the ones available to a nephilim, because Esther is a quarter angel rather than half).

These powers include being able to manipulate and generate light, being able to calm other people’s mental distress simply by projecting calming energy at them, being able to release powerful blasts of light that can cause physical destruction (which is what lead to the collapsed bell tower that got her transferred from her old school to Nevermore), and being able to wield a glowing angel sword by summoning it from the astral realm which is able to destroy demonic creatures (not that Esther has met any of those yet).

Esther’s family is actually pretty rich, with both of her fathers being lawyers and partners in their respective firms (which are actually rival firms, a fact that Esther and her younger brother Maddox find hilarious). Esther doesn’t like showing off or flaunting her family’s money, but she also doesn’t let it stop her from wearing nice clothes and buying her friends expensive gifts on their birthdays or other special occasions.

The St. Claire family also has a golden retriever, which Esther’s fathers rescued as a puppy when Esther was seven and Maddox was three. Esther was allowed to name her and chose the name Reno, after the main character in the musical Anything Goes, because her obsession with classic musicals had started even at that young age. Reno is an absolute sweetheart who always misses Esther whenever she’s away at school, and the entire family absolutely adores her.

Esther has never officially come out as a lesbian to her dads and Maddox - they’ve all pretty much known since Esther was pretty young, and when Esther finally comes home on a school break holding Wednesday and Enid’s hands, everyone just kind of shrugs and welcomes the two girls into their home.

Next, let’s talk about my beloved bitchy lesbian fairy Padma:

Every fairy has an affinity for one of the five forms of elemental magic: fire, water, earth, air, and metal. Padma’s affinity is for fire, because of course it is.

Padma is a twin! Her brother Akshat has an affinity for earth, doesn’t attend Nevermore - he is instead homeschooled as the majority of fairy kids are - and is pretty much the exact opposite of Padma in every way. He’s very quiet and passive, and doesn’t have even a hint of her quick temper.

Like Esther, Padma is also a rich girl (I mean, her family has been around for centuries since fairies live a really long time plus they can literally enchant people), but she is a lot less afraid to show it off. She’s always wearing the latest fashions and has her nails and makeup freshly done, and whenever she gets a coffee from the shop in Jericho she always leaves a twenty dollar tip or something even more because she just has no idea of how much thinks cost.

A really big part of the reason Padma is so determined to compete academically with Bianca for so long is because, deep down, she’s really afraid of people seeing her as just a stupid, pretty rich girl, when she’s actually wickedly smart and cunning. She’d rather rip out her own teeth than admit this, though, or at least it takes her a long time after they even start dating for her to admit it to Bianca.

Sometimes when Eugene’s not around and she’s stressed, Padma will go to the spot where he keeps his bees and just chill with them to calm herself down. Fairies, being forest creatures by nature, have an innate connection with all plants and insects, even if they don’t have an earth magic affinity, and Eugene’s bees really like Padma and will often bump against her face to say hello to her.

Now let us talk about Gus, my beloved stoner werewolf:

Despite werewolves very rarely maintaining canine characteristics when they’re in human form, Gus very much does - he always gets incredibly excited when someone he likes returns after being gone, even if they were only gone for a few minutes, and if you scratch a certain spot behind his ear he will just melt into a happy puddle.

Gus is also insanely clingy and affectionate when he’s high, and it doesn’t even really matter who it is he’s clinging to; if you’re close by and not already hugging or cuddling someone, you can expect a lap full of Gus, burrowing his head into your shoulder and giving you a bunch of compliments in a hazy voice.

Gus has had a bi flag hung up above his bed in his Nevermore dorm since he first arrived at the school. His first roommate, a haughty psychic who came from a super rich family, made a douchey comment about it, and it didn’t even take a whole week for Gus to report the incident to Weems and get his roommate expelled (Nevermore, thankfully, has a very strict no-discrimination policy). He doesn’t really care if people insult him, but he was not about to let the guy think that kind of behavior was okay and risk him repeating it with someone else.

As kind of a surprise given his general sunny disposition, Gus actually really likes true crime podcasts. On most given nights when there’s not some kind of get-together he needs to provide weed for, you can find him sitting on the window seat in his dorm room, smoking a joint with the window open and with his phone playing a podcast beside him.

Gus’s first kiss was actually with Yoko; it was at a little party thrown for Ajax’s birthday freshman year, after Yoko’s spin landed on Gus during a game of Spin the Bottle. The kiss was really quick, but it was also nice, and Gus is pretty proud to say it was his first kiss (and to tease Yoko about her supposedly wanting to kiss him again, which she always rolls her eyes at him for).

Speaking of Yoko, let’s finish these facts off with her new girlfriend, Holly:

I’m still not going to reveal exactly what Holly is just yet (you know, Alvita, of course, but I’d like to keep it a bit of a secret still), but I can tell you with absolute certainty that she hates it about herself. Despite attending a school full of what most people would consider “monsters,” Holly sees herself as an actual monster, and would give almost anything not to be the way she is.

What she is has also caused a lot of problems between her and her family, and as such, she’s one of only a handful of students who stay at Nevermore year-round, not going home for the holidays or summer break, which only serves to add to the layers of mystery and fear that most Nevermore students have around her.

Holly very nearly gives Xavier a heart attack the first time she speaks to him, after Wednesday defeats the Hyde and she decides to start trying to make friends - which, consequently, is the first time she’s really spoken to another person since coming to Nevermore. He nearly winds up falling off a balcony, she scares him so much, which Holly feels really bad about, but he’s also quick to reassure her about it and strike up a genuine conversation with her.

During the time when she kept to herself and didn’t speak, Holly would usually keep herself busy with embroidering various things, which she learned from her grandmother. She’s incredibly good at it, and even gifts Yoko a handkerchief embroidered with a quote from Dracula for their first anniversary.

Holly’s favorite holiday was always Halloween when she was a kid (coming from a family and a very long line of outcasts, it was kind of inevitable), but due to some very significant reasons from her past she can hardly stand it anymore. She now throws all of the energy she used to put towards Halloween into celebrating Christmas, and though of course everyone around her notices how much she avoids Halloween, they’ve learned by now not to question it.

Thanks again for asking me about my babies!! Love you!! <3

[soras-art-haven]

Team Pixie Dust Admins!

Hey! If you liked to watch MandJTV around the late 2010s like little ol' moi, you might recall the existence of Team Pixie Dust, his frankly AWESOME on-the-spot evil team. I like the team idea, so I decided to design its admins!

(Didn't really feel like sketching and lining full-detail full-bodies, so I traced over an IbisPaintX chibi base. Also, I tried some new stuff with my art- tell me if you like it!)

Naomi: The most hardline traditionalist of the Pixie Dust admins- her aesthetic is even based on Cure Dream from the popular magical girl show Yes! Pretty Cure 5! She uses exclusively Fairy-types and pink-colored Pokemon- basically like the grunts, but much stronger. Personality-wise, she acts like your typical magical girl anime protagonist, but more cunning and strategic. She often butts heads with the other admins about their less traditionally "cutesy" aesthetics. She often makes a non-poisoned version of Pixie Puffs for Pixie Dust's own use.

Aiden: Team Pixie Dust's resident tomboy. She primarily uses Fire-types like Flareon, and has a bit of a weird idea of what she considers "cute". If she were in Paldea, she would have a Fire-Tera type Blissey. She's hotheaded and rambunctious, going heavily on the offense in battle. Her temper is short and she's quite the sore loser. She often uses foul language, or at least the strongest language she really can within the parameters of an E10+ game.

Azaela: Teased a fair bit for her ridiculously long hair, but she doesn't care at all- though to be fair, she doesn't care about much other than the Pokemon in her and the rest of Team Pixie Dust's possession. Her team consists of Grass-types and flower-based Pokemon and the like. She's quiet and reserved, a woman of few words. She's regarded as one of the strongest battlers in Pixie Dust, and for good reason- whenever she's not doing the dirty work for Pixie Dust, upholding their public image, or tending to plants or Pokemon, she's training her team to be its very best. Often the first to snark when the grunts do stupid stuff that makes their plans go awry.

Noelle: The main planner for the team, and practically Shayla's second in command. Her team mainly consists of Ice- and Water-type Pokemon. She's cold, cunning, and ruthless in battle. The most intelligent and strategic of the team by far, and did a lot of the work perfecting the Pixie Puffs formula. She knows how to use psychological tricks to get what she wants, and this has proven extremely helpful for Pixie Dust. She presents a charming and kind persona in public, often by Shayla's side during speeches. Despite her usual calmness, coolness, and collectedness, she tends to flip out when things don't go according to plan.

Extra notes:

Each one of them has one Eeveelution, as the Eeveelutions are commonly considered cute and still can fit right in with their respective type preferences.

Arceus help you if your strategy relies on outspeeding your opponents. These girls' 'mons all have maxed-out IVs and EVs in Speed, as that stat loosely corresponds to the Cute condition in Pokemon contests. Aiden and Azaela's Pokemon also have some pretty good investments in Attack and Special Attack, respectively, since those stats have a connection to the Cool and Beautiful conditions, respectively. Put it all together, and this team is pretty menacing all around.

At their ultimate defeat, while they're getting hauled off by the authorities, Naomi is breaking down in distress, Aiden and Noelle are breaking down in anger, and Azaela is mostly unfazed- if anything, she's merely dissapointed, like "ah... what a shame..." or something.

I'll make some proper art for these girlies later, so stay tuned for that!

[cto10121]

Harry Potter Clown Takes Special Edition—Le Guin Again

In which an old Le Guin quote returns to bring all the HP clown shakes to the yard. Is it better than yours? Let’s find out.

So Le Guin made this comment in a 2005 interview, by which time Half-Blood Prince was published, the darkest and most morally complicated book of the series by that point. Apart from that, her criticism is not very good for these reasons:

1. Rowling never claimed her series was original. I even honestly doubt there were adult critics were calling her books original. Even in its heyday there were plenty of critics and even a lot of cranks suing Rowling for plagiarism for the magical school idea. Most likely the critics were referring to Rowling’s execution, which indeed much more fleshed out than Le Guin’s very cursory and drama-free treatment. At the very least Rowling’s characters have plausible personalities than the symbolic cyphers of A Wizard of Earthsea.

2. I’ve struggled with understanding what “ethically mean-spirited” even means, given the series’ singular preoccupation with morality and the blatant moral complication Rowling develops in the latter half of the books. If Le Guin means the karma potshots at the actual abusive and mean-spirited Dursleys or even Fred and George’s nastier pranks, then I suppose kids rebelling against their tormentors or, er, doing stupid kid shit can be said to be ethically mean-spirited. And even the Dursleys are given a quick and easy exit at the end of Book 7 with not even a loss in pride and a slightly reformed Dudley (!!).

I have a feeling that had the series had framed these petty revenges on the Dursleys negatively and urged forgiveness that Le Guin would have said the series legitimized abuse and ill-treatment. If anything Rowling is a sentimental softie compared to the likes of Roald Dahl. Brad Neely’s hilarious narration even makes fun of the corny coming-of-age tropes Harry Potter exemplifies.

‘90s sensibility is right! Boy, those ethnic stereotypes are a whopper. Cho Chang is a Ravenclaw, a Quidditch athlete, and an easy and sentimental crier, especially when it comes to relationship drama. Lee Jordan is the unofficial trickster pal of Fred and George and offered entertaining if funnily biased Quidditch commentary. Angelina Johnson is a very good Quidditch player, gets almost as fanatic as Wood when she becomes captain, goes with half the twins to the Yule Ball, and has dreadlocks (?). There isn’t much to Dean Thomas (half-blood, father walked out on him) except as a friend of Seamus; he later dates Ginny. Parvati is a girly girl who likes Divination and pals around with fellow girly girl Lavender. Kingsley Shacklebolt is an Order member, excellent at passing as a Muggle, and becomes Minister of Magic. Don’t all these description scream “stereotypical” to you???? I know it does to me.

As for moral sophistication…I guess you could write a whole ass kid series about how the government is not only ineffective and in denial of a white wizard supremacist threat but are actually intimately in bed with them and actually has no problem with their ideas. I guess you could portray the whole of wizard society as supremacist lite(tm) and even have a whole-ass plotline about supremacist attitudes against non-magical creatures. But that will be too morally unsophisticated for the kiddies, wouldn’t it?

Harry, who begins as a mild, polite (if sassy towards his asshole relatives and assholes in general), average and morally wholesome student, definitely ends the series as a mild, polite, and average and morally wholesome student. Nothing in Harry changed at all, nuh-uh, nope. He only just develops a fierce temper, learned how to properly cast the Cruciatus Curse and other war crime shit, learn and forgive both his mentor’s betrayal and a detested teacher who hated his guts, and sacrifice his life for the greater good. See? No change.

I read A Wizard of Earthsea about a year ago and if someone pointed a gun at my head and demanded to tell me what happened in that book, I would literally die. That said, The Left Hand of Darkness had very good style and craft, so I can only assume that Le Guin just isn’t a writer for the elementary set, period.

Because modern America and Britain is not at all characterized by mean and overly aggressive competition and tribalism between arbitrary groups disguised as wholesome fun and don’t have horrible colonialist histories or unethical lifestyles.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too, Clown OP. Either HP is a morally uncomplicated children’s fantasy that is not good representation of our real world ~or it has deeply problematic depictions of Anglo world and culture through the vehicle of fantasy. It can’t be both.

Harry was literally a child. Kids accept all kinds of shit because they don’t have a foundational understanding yet of what normal is! It’s child psychology 101. Hermione is the exception as the actual smart one and blatant author avatar. But prejudice against Muggleborns and half-bloods was never condoned or tolerated by the Golden Trio or anyone that wasn’t a pureblood supremacist sympathizer. And Harry himself did feel enraged over Riddle’s framing Hepzibah’s house elf for her murder and the Ministry easily accepting this.

I think the issue for most of the criticism is that HP is still a Bildungsroman at heart, so the plot focus is all about Harry’s education and his rise in power and status. But Harry’s actual power to enact real status-quo busting change has always been limited. As in, you know, real life.