#TWILIGHT FANS UWU

[carouselunique]

Im SO SORRY, i am just bothering you at this point with the many asks, i hope u don't mind, i made some fanart of your Side Stars AU in your style, i just love it so much😭 the way u draw ponies is so inspiring, it makes me want to do something, i hope its ok, please keep with the amazing work❤️

omg NO you are not bothering me at all! I love audience participation and kind interactions it fuels the creative drive! I’m actually just saving questions until I have a good idea for a picture for them so if you don’t see answers right away it’s cause I’m planning!

And this is so good! I’m really happy my AU is inspiring you! And you did wonderfully drawing Minuette and Twilight! I especially love how big and prominent Minuette’s cutie mark is because designing that one took the most effort! Wonderful job!

[olderthannetfic]

People need to stop being weird about enemies- to-lovers ships. Especially enemies-to-lovers F/M ships.

I'm so sick and tired of seeing those ships automatically labeled "problematic" or "abusive" when there are similar M/M ships that are held as the literal pinnacle and backbone of fandom.

Why is it that M/M enemies to lovers its uwu and homoerotic, and F/M enemies to lovers is "ew he's abusing her"

People who are out there calling F/M shippers "nasty", "stupid" or "brainwashed by gender norms" are y'all okay?

Oh, no here's a straight couple straight women are horny for.

That can't be right.

And "Oh this is that classic bad boy/good girl" trope, as though it's not literally the most popular dynamics ever? Not just in straight media but in media in general?

Some of y'all just don't like that that certain ships are popping off and are finding audiences and are growing and attracting more people in fandom. And yeah, let's have a conversation about how fandom is changing. But also we can do it without being misogynistic toward new shippers (hopefully).

I'm tired of doing extensive blog search before reblogging something from a fellow fan. Someone might have a reasonable take on something and then I'll search their profile and see how they went on a literal rant calling an enemies to lovers ship an abusive power fantasy that only stupid or media illiterate women are getting off on.

Get a grip!

--

It's all very silly, isn't it? (It's not restricted to het though. Lots of idiots also think m/m enemies-to-lovers is bad.)

Fandom isn't changing. Draco/Ginny and Draco/Hermione were huge and much like Reylo.

The only difference is that slashers built the currently popular big hub, so the het shippers are flocking there and having to deal. 20 years ago, they'd have been homophobically whining about "OOC" for all m/m ships and chasing m/m off of the bigger platforms. Now, people in general are less likely to be openly homophobic.

The hand-wringing goes back to the birth of the novel, but "Twilight will make women into doormats, ohnoes!" was definitely very similar to the current enemies-to-lovers = Satan stuff.

[allastoredeer]

manlyman al/uwu lucifer, buff al/skinny lucifer, lucifer in a drag with al dressed in a suit - all the same crap, it's also very noticeable how much of luci in dress with al in a suit there is and how little the other way around or when they both in dresses and also luci in dress? 10000+ likes, while rare alastor in dress? well, barely 1000 or 2000. Same with any reverse of usual fandom versions of them. Very telling if you ask me. Blond, short, goofy, did a sad face few times? Of course it's the one who's we gonna make a girly girl here and there's can be only one in our mlm ship 🙄 People want fanon charlastor but without charlie in it because she's actually a female

Damn, you came in swinging.

But, like...I see no lies here. It is kind of funny that people put Lucifer in dresses more than Alastor when Alastor literally wore a nun outfit in the show. It's such a shame too because with Al's long legs and slim waist, DAMN he'd look so good in dresses.

It is very telling that in every fandom space, with at least one pairing - usually a very popular one - one of two becomes a girly girl and the other a darker, menacing, and more intimidating manly man. There's nothing wrong with feminine male characters, nor them being in mlm relationship, but when it happens to every. Single. Ship. where the characters are stripped down to basic archetypes.... ಠ_ಠ

It really is funny, because going by what we've seen in the show, Alastor is so much more of a girly pop than Lucifer is. Him and all his little wrist flicks and sassy remarks.

I mean

Look at this guy

Look at him

LOOK AT HIM

LOOOOOOK AT HIMMMMMMMM

How can people see this man as a super serious big bad muscle daddy? I don't understand. He's so unserious. So full of whimsy. He's a clowning troll. And I'm telling you, look at that thin waist and those long legs. He'd look amazing in a dress.

This actually reminds me of a previous ask I got a while back. The topic was centered around some fans saying that Alastor would never bottom and the over all characterizations of him and Lucifer, and this line here sums it up perfectly:

"shows such a patriarchal-ly drenched heterosexual view of sex, that they then apply to a MLM ship that drives me INSANE."

Particularly, the drenched in a patriarchally heterosexual view. Having one man in a mlm relationship be more feminine than the other is totally okay, there is nothing wrong with that, and there are a lot gay relationships like that.

But the way a lot of radioapple is depicted feels weirdly heterosexual, and it's because of the behaviors and archetypes that get assigned to them. Lucifer becomes this teeny tiny, wide-eyed, awkward little waif and Alastor this big dark possessive boyfriend who's always looming over his shoulder and glaring at anyone who looks at Lucifer. It reads like every other cringy straight romance I've read. Add in the trope of Alastor drinking Lucifer's blood and it's basically "Twilight" set in Hell.

Okay, not to derail, but there was this one AU that I was obsessed with. It's a Hades/Peresphone AU for radioapple, and it sounded amazing, but there were so many depictions of Alastor as Hades and Lucifer as Persephone and I was just...

I was flabbergasted.

You have Lucifer, the king of Hell, the DEVIL himself, be the goddess of spring instead of the Lord of the Underworld. I'm....whut?!!?!?! Alastor is literally a deer, he would be perfect to play Persephone. That guy would be hunting down all the people poaching and harming his domain and making them suffer, and I can totally see Niffty as a psycho little nymph that tags along on his "hunting trips."

I've seen one or two au's where Alastor is Persephone and Lucifer is Hades, and they are glorious, but every time I see the opposite I feel like I'm taking psychic damage. A year of my life gets taken away. I fear I'll be on my death bed soon.

Also this line "People want fanon charlastor but without charlie in it because she's actually a female" it's so true to fandom it hurts, but it's so fucking funny, I'm wheezing

You ate with this ask 🤌

[weaselbeaselpants]

Lindsay Ellis plagiarized a ndn author

This post isn't a callout and it's only my own post because the OP source I just learned it from, @neechees, doesn't allow rbgs at a certain point on that post.

After Hmbomberguy's expose on Illuminaughtii and James Somerton some people are giving a well deserved eye back to the leftube sphere that was kind of schism-d and held under scrutiny in what I feel was, a lot of the time, misinformed hate campaigns in response to genuine criticism; especially towards Lindsay Ellis who up left after she was canceled and hasn't returned to continuous video making publicly even after people have mostly agreed the hatedom directed for her Raya and the Last Dragon takes was stupid and was erasing actual SEA people's discussions of the culture. To hear and see a decent breakdown of that film's representation problems BEYOND the Ellis-parts because it's worth your wild regardless of if you've seen the movie, please watch the three part video series hosted by Xiran Jay Zhao.

To tl;dr the 2021 drama: people have held an ire towards Ellis for a long time feeling like her and her white-woman base talk over, steal, or just straight up don't apologize for their own racism towards women and ppl of color, and after Lindsay did a problematic by pointing out that Raya and the Last Dragon was like ATLA, people jumped on her.

Being both a longtime fan of Ellis and white as fucc, I personally feel like Lindsay kind of forgave herself and threw out the actual criticisms held against her every bit as much as people just kind of treated her like a punching bag. Or, to paraphrase @padawan-historian's old takes from then, they treated Lindsay like she was trying to be the ENTIRE conversation, not the start of one, and like every possible outcome that could happen over her videos was her fault personally. Some of Lindsay's loudest and nastiest 'critics' were, in fact, other white people or just people who have no good faith in addressing her fuck ups, like Lily Orchard, fe.

One 'Lindsay did a racism'point tho that I felt wasn't truly addressed in full though were claims by indigenous people that she was anti-native, especially in her videos about Twilight and Pocahontas, which yeah at the time I was very passive of you can 100% find post abt that. But then Neechees linked me to an article I, and I think a lot of other video essay-fans had never seen before. This article accused Lindsay of stealing half of her talking points on Disney's Pocahontas from theirs.

When people on the breadtube spectrum talk of Lindsay, even people who criticized her at the time. all kind of agree that the intensity of the backlash was uncalled for and, while not everyone agrees if her public silence is a 'canceling' or not, agree with her need to just take care of herself these days. For those curious, this is the article making this claim:

I am not saying you need to all unfollow and hate everything Lindsay ever touched, mkay? But I also genuinely hope that Lindsay addresses this+comes clean because holy fuck. Unlike Somerton, all I can tell you is I don't just 'believe Windsey wouldn't hurt nobody uwu~'. I am pretty certain that Lindsay care about the topics she covers, for whatever that's worth to say as another whiteperson. It's just that, like Contrapoints, I ALSO think she has a tendency to deflect criticism within that sphere and lump all her negative bagage together. This really sucks cuz not all of us are Lily Orchards or Vaush clones.

Most of us are/were casual watchers of Lindsay like we are Hbomber, Contra, Lady Emily, Folding Ideas, and ToddintheShadows (does he count as leftube idk?) and we really, genuinely don't want to believe that Lindsay stole from + refuses to listen to women of color when they call her out.

Where I like almost everyone in the leftoob analyst sphere that's ever growing and hopefully now weeding out Illumanaughtii-s and Sommerton-s of the world, there ARE controversies within the space that I don't agree with creators on. Some are dumb things like the exact takes Lindsay has about movies n shows that I just up and disagree with her on, Princess Weekes' proshipping apologia that I have LOTS of thoughts on. However, some matters are clearly personal and about maters that just don't involve me. Earlier this year, Folding Ideas and Lady Emily ctrl+alt+deleted some replies they made to Quinton Reviews, making clear that they very much still dislike him based on something that happened between Quinton, Lindsay and I think SarahZ. And by "dislike", I mean also still believeing his former editor over him on who was boundary pushing about who in their relationship. On the offchance any of those creators or their stans somehow see this, know that I'm not going to tell any of you guys how to feel about whatever Quinton did in private I'm not aware of; it's just that I also happen to believe Quinton on this issue and I don't like the guiltybyassociation mantra.

>>>>side note: I hate that every time someone says "I believe so and so after hearing their side now" ppl jump on the "you were just a stan from the beginning and never actually able to listen"-bs. Yeah, being more familiar with one creator over the other means there's bias, sure, but I kinda hate that that once held bias means you can't be held as any kind of source or form your own opinions. <<<

Big introvert vibes ahead: the thing about any big social circle of better-spoken people than you is they ALL seem like a scary meangirl's table from outside looking in. The kind that'll send goons after you with passive-aggressive "this is slander against me and I have the right to be upset abt it sorry if the stans eat you alive". They can also be made out by their fans to be harmless internet nobody's who YOU are at fault for getting mad and staying mad at cuz it's not like it matters on the internet and are clearly just out for drama and 'twofaced' yourself. I think the reality is the same thing that drives every community forward as well as drives them apart: these people are legitimate friends. They stick up for each other the same way we stick up for our personal internet friends whenever there's shit coming their way. The breadtube circle, whoever that is at this point, clearly know some shit we don't about themselves as much as they don't know shit about us and our true intentions. One of them has a platform and responsibility, where the other has power in masses and following them or not. We gotta all make the choices best for us.

Anyway. I guess, if any of the stuff about Lindsay ripping off that writer IS true, I really hope that she admits and apologizes for it. That's not cool to do to her indigenous audience, or even me, one of her white fans who expects actually allyship.

[popeheyward]

Big Ol' Fic/Writers Rec

disclaimer before we start: mind the tags of any fic you read or consider reading!! and please be respectful of all these authors <3

disclaimer part 2: im going to tag the different fandoms i've mentioned but will try to be specific so im not filling every secondary tag on tumblr! love you, also long post ahead uwu

tospreadthewingsofthesoul most of what i've read of theirs is DCU related but all their works are super good uwu ^^

intermundia star wars writer w/ such fun and engaging fics!! love love love them <3

himboskywalker also a SW writer for the most part <33 i want to read all their fics for the first time again!!

sanerontheinside SW part 3.......you know the drill............amazing fics + smut

sarahbeniel mostly marvel w/ a smattering of witcher. absolutely all of their works are incredible, though Meet Me At Sunset specifically has a soft-spot in my heart!!!

dordean someone im v lucky to have spoken with!! super sweet, super talented, i want to be them when i grow up, etc so on and so forth ^^ main fandom ive read from them is the witcher, but as is the case w/ all of these writers, any of their fics/fandoms are bound to be stunning <33

elizzablue their asoiaf works are primarily what i've read. winter came (with fire and blood) is one of the most stunningly beautiful fics i've ever come across. personally not a big fan of jonerys (bc im not the biggest fan of jon. im sorry + please don't hate me jon fans + if you love him you're so valid and im smooching you) but elizza makes it work. if you want a realistic yet still mostly happy ending for all GOT characters (especially daenerys) this fic is for you!! they have other works in other fandoms if asoiaf isn't for you, so you could always check those out too if you're interested!

lady_ragnell lovely lovely writer, whose fics I've read are primarily in the vikings tv show fandom <3 1000000/10 <33

underragingwaves (captain killy) also a vikings tv enjoyer, though writes for different characters than ragnell! has some x reader + OC works that are chefs kiss c:

ReganX also an asoiaf writer. forewarned specifically is an absolute perfect fic that i could read over and over <33

adlyb writes mostly for the vampire diaries/the originals universe. long fics that i want to physically injest!!

BlueKiwi another asoiaf writer whose fics are just brilliantly captivating! i am barking like a rabid dog btw c:

IMPoSTRSYNDRM writes for the twilight fandom!! some of the most incredibly detailed fics. so incredible in fact, i had to google how to spell "incredibly" because i was salivating over their writing!

Beckala the fics i've currently read myself are all from marvel but they have other fandoms they've written for if marvel isn't your style! they have such a good balance of humor + seriousness in their dialogue. it's just a joy to read <33

[ao3feed-twiyor]

my liege

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/c2ru4V5 by Wintergreen8 Yor Briar is a distinguished captain of the Ostanian Royal Guard. As a gesture of peace between Ostania and Westalis, she is deployed as retainer and bodyguard to Westalis' only heir, Prince Loid Tasogare. Yor isn't a fan of the decision or the prince, and it seems he's not too keen on her either. They take their bitterness out on each other in an unconventional way. Fantasy/Royalty AU! Words: 4509, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: SPY x FAMILY (Manga), SPY x FAMILY (Anime) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/M Characters: Yuri Briar, Millie (SPY x FAMILY), Camilla (SPY x FAMILY), Sharon (SPY x FAMILY) Relationships: Loid Forger | Twilight/Yor Briar Forger | Thorn Princess Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, fire emblem style fantasy AU, my liege (suggestive), Enemies to Lovers, Hate Sex, except they're both secretly obsessed w/ each other but don't realize it, Sparring, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Cunnilingus, Doggy Style, Vaginal Sex, Unsafe Sex, Happy Ending, sappy uwu ending, Not Beta Read read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/c2ru4V5

[tawus]

Who was your first fictional crush? Mine's was Sorey from Tales of Zestiria. I was like in middle school, back then, when I saw him on the anime adaptation and BOOM! Insta crush on this cutie. UwU

He IS a cutie wowaweeeo 👀 My first fictional crush was prob Edward Cullen. Which I know is a dull answer but when I tell you that my teenage years coincided perfectly with the Twilight craze...

But I've had crushes before this on real people, such as Dom Howard and Matt Bellamy from the band Muse (I was a hardcore fan for many years)

[arttheclown]

💖 + your MLP faves and your Digimon faves and why. Now

💖 send me this & i will ramble about my faves!

MY LITTLE PONY

🐴 discord — amazing slow-burn (& realistic) character development, excellent voice acting by one mr. john de lancie, has chemistry with nearly every character he interacts with, sympathetic while still retaining a wild & unpredictable edge. has NO right to be as funny as he is. my baby boy.

🐴 tirek — manages to be endearing & kind of stupid without erasing how dangerous he can be; surprising soft side that doesn’t erase his cruelty; interesting backstory & dynamics with his family; reluctant dad dynamic with cozy glow that melts my heart. also he’s super hot sowwy 😔

🐴 twilight — highly relatable 2 me on a personal level; an extremely dynamic main character that the writers weren’t afraid to depict as flawed or a little ugly sometimes. really good friend and big sister. needs to be nicer to herself 😭 i just care for her a lot & all of her accomplishments on the show felt really earned

🐴 celestia — ugghhh she has such a fascinating backstory & there are so many interesting implications about her character that i wish the show explored better. this lady has dealt with so much grief in her life while having to maintain an image of poise & dignity for her kingdom. i like that they showed us she has a sense of humour & is nowhere near as perfect as she seems but i do wish they took her. a Little more seriously. i care her 🥺

honourable mentions: fluttershy, pinkie pie, trixie lulamoon, queen chrysalis, rarity, applejack, spike, big mac.

DIGIMON:

👾 impmon / beelzemon — i like him for a lot of the reasons i like discord tbh. his character arc is one of my favourites in fiction, ever, and never ceases to rip my heart out every time i rewatch the show. i appreciate how seamlessly he goes from annoying comic relief to tragic to a near-complete monster to atoner to genuine friend to the main cast. in the span of less than 50 EPISODES too, wtf. not to mention he’s the other half of one of my fav. fictional ships & great with kids to boot. there’s little i Don’t like about that little man (or big man, depending on what form he’s in).

👾 renamon / sakuyamon — would defend her with my life tbqh. anyone who reduces her to being an uwu sexy furry bait or an extension of the people she cares about i will bite the FUCK out of you. she’s so much more than that & had a whole arc of her own, if not one of the best ones of the series, but people won’t mention it or all the interesting implicative lore surrounding her because she’s quiet or because they’re too busy ogling her. big sigh

👾 mitsuo yamaki — why does no one TALK ABOUT THIS DUDE. not only is he super funny in the english dub but his character development is fantastic in both versions of the show. (seeing a pattern here?) i love that he goes from a well-intentioned extremist to a villain to a weird uncle figure to the kids. he deserves way more attention than he gets & i get so excited every time i see fans acknowledging him at all 😔

honourable mentions: jeri katou / juri katou, janyu wong / janyu li zhenyu, terriermon, calumon / culumon, henry wong / lee jianliang, leomon.

[gaylonelydyke]

rules: shuffle your ‘on repeat’ playlist and post the first 10 tracks, then list 10 songs you really like, each by a different artist. then tag 10 people to do the same thing

i got tagged by @smoogieboogie , respect for skimbleshanks my dude! sorry or reposting late, i had it in my drafts and then forgot to post it

Celebrity Skin - Hole (very vibes)

For Tammy Rae - Bikini Kill (also very vibes but more chill)

Kiss Me - Sixpence None The Richer (cheesy romance song from 90s teen movies and for that reason its a source of unlimited serotonin for me)

Dress Down - Kaoru Akimoto (super fun city pop!! makes me feel like im living in sailor moon)

Our Truth - Lacuna Coil (truthfully i found this through guitar hero recently, v heavy metal with pretty lady voice uwu)

A Cruel Angel's Thesis - Yoko Takahashi (the most fun anime opening fr fr, this was my second top song this year coz i listened to ONLY this for like a month straight, and yet it still only got second so think about that huh)

Without Me - Eminem (eminem got introduced to me this year by my friend rose!! im a big fan of the funky 90s/00s sound, but more recent stuff not such a fan)

Just A Girl - No Doubt (not much to say here, fun 90s song innit)

Twilight - bôa (my top song this year 😎 if you want to know the vibes of me as a person this song is IT, it makes me feel like im in buffy, love the pained lady singing. to make u aware of just how much i like this song, i played it 647 times this year and im not sick of it yet babyyyy)

Phanta - Le Tigre (fun 90s vibes again ut this time with a weird culty twist that is appealing to me.)

I'm gonna skip the 10 songs i like coz the playlist this was shuffled from is basically already just the 12 songs i like atm 😅😅

tagging: @sewingcircuits @gayrightspippin @souppippin @nomexxy @gaykagome @chasingfictions, and anyone else who wants to do this 💕

[an-amber-in-the-ashes]

Thank u for answering my question, it was super interesting! Even though I am a shadow and bone fan I do wish there was more done with the Darkling as a villain, and that Alina learned it over more months instead of just a few. I think what throws me off is that a lot of MMCs nowadays have shadow powers cause of the idea that dark = bad. So then the authors think they're reversing it by making the brooding LI the bad boy who gets the girl. Which is so weird cause many of them are rude towards the FMC, but then the FMC is like "oh he's hot so it's fine uwu". I was a teenager when twilight was big and it pissed me off cause edward cullen was abusive and misogynistic, yet he was touted as the endgame for Bella. These MMCs with shadow powers just feel like another Edward. Not to mention, all the FMCs who get with these 'bad boys' are white, cisallohet, skinny and have some sort of light power. I love the idea of an FMC having shadow powers, but romantasy authors won't seem to do that. The only time I think it was done was with Baghra and her backstory, being the first ever shadow summoner and the baggage that came with prejudice against grisha, but we didn't get much of that in the trilogy in the first place.

I think you are right about them trying to subvert the dark=bad expectations and giving the LI such powers.

There are so many different magic systems that can be explored but people refuse to do it to focus on the romance.

I love romantasy as a genre but what's the point of a fantasy without a fleshed out world. Like how is it any different from our modern world. I feel like so many authors in the romantasy genre only turn to fantasy to add like royals or knights or stuff but they could literally write historical fic and it would be no different.

Edward and Bella were literally where this entire trope was born and I'll never forgive Stephanie Meyer for it.

[joeys-piss-pants-from-2002]

joey my beloved despising twilight

The entire thing

[invictarre-archive]

                     ❝  It’s cute that you think your guy feeling is enough to carry you through to an easy victory. As a Champion, you should know that it’s dangerous to go into a conflict underestimating your opponent.  ❞

[benyablinkakaeto]

I don't have any new drawings to show here yet ,but I do have SOME very OLD drawings of ponies...I love Twilight very much

Lots of weird stuff

[themetropolismarvel]

Ah yes, the cycle of comic fans.

[aislingyngaio-manga]

5 Delusions of Agent Nightfall I’m Hoping Will Be More Explicitly Debunked In-Universe

(Preferably by an in-universe character straight into Nightfall’s face)

Note to anime fans: spoiler alert up to Mission 60.

5. She would be a better fit for the mother role for Strix.

Even if you set aside the very specific circumstance of Anya’s origins (the internal image of Nightfall’s “mothering” methods would have simply recreated the cold sterility of Anya’s lab environment, a situation so harrowing for her that Anya, by age four, I repeat, FOUR, ran away from. ESPer or no, for a four-year-old child to run away from the only life she knows takes a LOT of trauma to overcome her fear of the outside world/unknown), even a normal child do not need to read minds to know their “mother” didn’t care for them and would absolutely start to rebel. Raising children isn’t a matter of min-maxing them into a “stellar star procurement machine”, they’re human beings too. Say what you like about Twilight’s shortcomings as a parent due to his long-suppressed EQ, he at least attempts to learn parenting when he acknowledges he doesn’t know much about it (just look at the mountain of books he checked out in Mission 1), and he is absolutely willing to take advice from Yor when she stops him with a gentle question of “does Anya want to be an imperial scholar?” - see Mission 10. Nightfall on the other hand, expects Anya, a four-pretending-to-be-six girl, to conform to her mission without a single thought to Anya’s wellbeing or needs. Even with any other child, this would have spelled failure for Strix from the beginning (and Twilight openly admits to this in Mission 35 - also see number 3 below).

4. She knows Twilight best.

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Sorry but that’s just so funny to me. Let me explain... the coffee incident in Mission 30. Nightfall thought Twilight drank his coffee black, only to be shocked when he pours milk into it. She then quickly decides it’s actually proof of how invested he is in the Loid Forger personality and “that’s why I love you”. Except... not five minutes ago she was berating him for personally walking Bond with Anya as part of his Loid Forger identity lmfao. So why was that not ok and grounds to openly question his handling of Strix, but the white coffee made her go “uwu that’s why I wuv u Twilight-senpai”, especially when you consider that publicly walking Bond actually helps reinforce his public image as a loving and attentive father to his daughter (i.e. not a spy with no attachments), while drinking his coffee with milk literally could not be less consequential to the role of Loid Forger? Well... because she attempted to use him walking Bond as a method to put down Yor’s suitability as a wife, while if she admitted that it is Twilight and not Loid Forger who drank his coffee with milk, it would shatter the delusion that she knows all of Twilight’s faces (”step down and let me handle this” will never not be funny to me in how wrong Nightfall is), and that it was in fact Yor who actually got his coffee preference correct, despite only being his wife - and fake wife at that - for a few months.

3. She was only not assigned to Operation Strix because she wasn’t available at the time of its commencement.

Nightfall works for WISE, the agency that’s infamous for being so short-staffed the entire manga storyline is basically WISE pulling Twilight out of Strix into other missions and overworking him to exhaustion. NIGHTFALL LITERALLY JUST GOT DONE REQUESTING TO TEMPORARILY PARTNER WITH HIM FOR TENNIS ARC WHILE HE WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF STRIX - see Mission 30. Is anyone actually expecting me to believe that, if Nightfall were the least bit suitable for Strix, a) WISE wouldn’t have assigned Nightfall from the very outset instead of expecting Twilight to trawl through the general Ostanian female population to find a wife IN A WEEK (AND RISK HIS SPY IDENTITY BEING EXPOSED BY A LIVE-IN WIFE), even if it meant double-booking her on missions like they constantly do to Twilight and b) Twilight couldn’t have put in a request to have her play the mother role for Strix temporarily (not wife though, since if he was willing to put Franky up to trying out for the mother role, it meant he clearly didn’t need a female WISE agent to fill the wife role either, just the mother role). In other words, both WISE top brass (Sylvia?) and Twilight independently assessed the remaining female WISE agents not yet caught up in the sweeps, and both actually concluded that risking exposure through a false marriage with a complete outsider is preferable to involving anyone internally - that’s how frickin unsuitable Nightfall is (TWILIGHT CONSIDERED FRANKY FOR ANYA’S PRETEND MOM, LET ME REMIND YALL AGAIN LMAO).

2. Her abilities as a spy is on par with Twilight / she’s the best fit as Twilight’s partner.

No she’s not lol. Don’t get me wrong, her technical spy skills are clearly excellent, but she does not possess the mentality or even worldview required to run a mutually beneficial course in her decision making - see Mission 60, where she actively sabotages her assets’ safety in order to engineer a situation where she plays the hero, or even Mission 30, where she actively disobeys a direct order from both Sylvia (HER BOSS) and Twilight (HER MENTOR) to not interfere with Strix, which leaves me to doubt her loyalty to WISE and even to Twilight when (not even if anymore) their interests start diverging from her own [Twilight and Sylvia both view peace as their end goal, but Nightfall views peace, specifically her being the driver of the peace Twilight seeks and not peace in and of itself, as a means to her own end - the trophy of Twilight’s affections. Twilight feels sorry for the people caught up in his spy activities, including both Karen and the bomb vest dog, even as he viewed it as a necessity, and he actually cared enough about Franky’s feelings to go drinking with him when Franky gets rejected, while Nightfall simply views even her assets as mere stepping stones to her goal, to the point of actively risking their anonymity and safety (I would almost say blackmailing their well-being), purely so she can get what she wants (with allies like Nightfall, who needs enemies amirite)]. She also doesn’t listen when Twilight tries to teach her, even back when she was in training - see Mission 30 - Twilight tells her “hide her emotions”, she decides he actually meant “stone-faced for the rest of my life” even when he’s like “no that’s not what I said”. Twilight knows the value of a fake smile, he knows that he gets more info with honey than vinegar, and he definitely knows the benefit of cultivating mutually beneficial relationships (again, see him and Franky vs Nightfall and Franky). Nightfall however, refuses to learn this from him because she decided that he told her to learn B when he actually told her to learn A.

1. She’s in love with Agent Twilight.

She’s not lol, not the actual Twilight at least. She’s just obsessed by the Twilight in her delusions, the one that constantly praises her and defers to her, and she wants the trophy that is his affections and considers that ‘love’, but she doesn’t respect Twilight’s consent, choices or advice. When real Twilight breaks this delusion she gets angry and insults him, projects her own shortcomings on him**, thinks he’s wrong and she’ll “show him” - see Mission 30)

** Nightfall is literally disobeying both Sylvia’s AND Twilight’s orders to not interfere with Strix because she believes her personal obsession feelings for Twilight justifies her actions, and if he isn’t fawning over/agreeing with her behaving as she believes he should, it must mean his feelings for his Forger family are “making him soft”. Pot, meet kettle. She completely ignores that every time she tried to interfere with Strix it was due solely to her personal ambition, WISE be damned. Whether or not Twilight is softening towards his family (and there is no denying that he absolutely is softening), to date he has yet to show that he would prioritize them over WISE or his mission for peace (not even the aquarium short mission count because the outing that he nearly refused another mission over [keyword: nearly] was specifically happening due to him overhearing his neighbours gossiping about his absence), even as he regrets having to constantly do so. The only two times I can recall him coming very close to the precipice (and that cannot be explained away as fOr dA mISHuN) was in Mission 1 (risking blowing his cover to save Anya) and Mission 5 (nearly punching that douchebag teacher out during the school interview) [again, keyword: nearly]. So where does Nightfall get the absolute gall to throw stones at Twilight?

[I sure hope Nightfall isn’t gradually escalating into Gaston/Prince Demand levels of obsessive entitlement over Twilight...]

[anthemxix]

I had an angsty interesting idea and thought you’d maybe like to hear it (since you’re a fan of Wars and Time bonding)

Time and Warriors get separated from the group and are fighting a big ol’ horde of monsters when Time gets hit hard. Like, he-needs-a-fairy-NOW hard. And Wars knows he can’t protect Time while fighting off all these monsters, he’s horribly outnumbered without him, he needs help, he needs more power-

Then he remembers the Fierce Diety mask.

anon, thank you for thinking of me!! i do adore these two bonding! <3 hope you enjoy this little thing i wrote~ uwu

The realization that this ragtag monster horde was capable of implementing a coordinated battle plan carries myriad unsettling implications, but Warriors puts all that aside for later consideration. Right now, he’s rather more preoccupied with his other realization: he and Time are kind of fucked.

Separated from the other heroes by the latest portal (and maybe that was all part of the enemies’ strategy, too?), Time and Warriors are severely outnumbered, two to two dozen. The only reason they haven't lost already is because they've managed to stay back-to-back, fighting together fluidly, watching each other's blind spots. Everything they're doing is purely defensive, purely reactionary, and their stamina is quickly getting whittled away by endless waves of brutal attacks.

And maybe their draining stamina is why there's a slip-up. Warriors hopes that's why there's a slip-up, because he can't bear the idea that his carelessness caused whatever just happened behind him to make Time shout in agony.

Warriors whirls around just as Time crumples to his knees. He steps in front of the Old Man in time to block the heavy stroke of a darknut's broadsword. The blunt impact forces him back half a foot. He grits his teeth and smashes his shield into the darknut's helmet as it winds up for another strike. Armor rattling, the monster stumbles back, briefly stunned.

Swinging around, Warriors throws out his shield against the thrust of a lizalfos' spear, but both weapon and shield collide instead with a translucent blue wall that materializes between them. Sapphire-colored and diamond-shaped, the sudden barrier surprises Warriors for a second before he remembers a child casting the same spell on battlefields some years ago.

"Can't hold it for long," Time says, voice strained, as he presses one hand against his side. Warriors drops down next to him, ignoring the sounds of baffled and angry monsters pounding on the barrier encasing them, and pulls Time's hand away to reveal a terribly deep gash.

Time coughs, and a trail of blood mars his chin. Cursing, Warriors carelessly rips a swatch from his scarf and stuffs it into the wound in the hopes of slowing the bleeding.

"Give it to me," he blurts before he knows what he's saying. His conscious mind takes a moment to catch up to his mouth, but then he feels it. Beneath the clean, blessed magic that Time exudes beats the pulse of something darker, something that wormed into Warriors’ mind without him even noticing.

Suddenly, Warriors knows with certainty how this fight is going to end. He reaches for Time's satchel without awaiting an answer. The Old Man clamps a surprisingly firm hand onto Warriors' wrist.

"No," he says, the tremble in his voice belying the sternness of his tone. "I won't allow it."

The magic, which feels like frenzy barely contained, wraps more securely around Warriors' heart. He wonders how it leaked into him without his consent, how it made him its pawn before he even considered using the mask.

"It's our only choice." Warriors drapes his other hand on top of Time's. The barrier around them flickers, disappearing for half an instant.

Time retrieves the mask from his bag without looking, like he knows exactly where it is. In the open, the mask's alluring magic is more potent. It feels like chaos masquerading as calm, like a threat camouflaged as salvation.

"I could do it," Time weakly offers, even as more blood beads on his lips, as more color drains from his wan face, as resignation clouds his eye.

When Warriors' fingers graze the mask's smooth wood, a shock runs along his spine, prickles the hair on his arms and the back of his neck. The faded red and blue lines that mirror Time's remind him that dabbling with something this powerful has irreversible consequences. In an odd moment of detached lucidity, Warriors recognizes that after he puts on this mask, his life is never going to be the same.

But as he takes the cursed object, he looks down at Time's weeping gash, poorly plugged by blood-drenched scraps of scarf, and feels at peace with his decision.

"I'll be fine, Sprite," he says. "Just promise me you'll be fine, too."

As Time's spell withers and the blue diamond barrier shatters, Warriors puts on the mask.

He's dropped into an abyss that somehow feels both bottomless and claustrophobic. He can't see or hear or touch any more, can't feel his body or what he's doing; he's confined to his mind, condemned to an inky, oceanic emptiness that is filling up with poisonous magic. The deity's overwhelming presence invades more and more of Warriors' mental space, grappling for control.

And it hurts. It's agonizing, the way the subjugating magic bleeds into his every crevice, sunders him at his seams. Peels him apart layer by layer. Breaks him down to his basest pieces. Divides. Consumes.

Rational thought disappears; his darkness is lit only by instinct now, and his instinct tells him to fight. So Warriors resists. As puny and piteous a creature as he is compared to the deity's wrath, he resists, struggling to retain a foothold in his own mind.

And just as abruptly as this hellish internal fight begins, it ends. Full consciousness slams back into Warriors with merciless force. The world seems like a hazy mess of colors and light that he can't decipher. His body feels foreign, and he can't distinguish, spatially, where he is, what he's doing. He thinks he's standing--no, he's falling--

Warriors tumbles back into something solid. Someone solid, who secures their arms around his middle and lowers him to the ground. Dizzy and muddled, he squints up at the concerned face hovering above him. Twilight. The Rancher's mouth is moving, but the words are distant and incomprehensible.

Simply holding his head up is a strain, and Warriors lets himself go limp in Twilight's arms. Through blurry vision, he can see the signs of a massacre: the decimated remains of all those monsters, strewn around the battlefield. He vaguely registers Twilight's fingers on his neck, checking for a pulse, and Twilight's hands running along his limbs, his torso, feeling for injuries.

There's a swirl of red and pink in his periphery. Legend, not bothering to conceal his concern, appears on one side of him. He's speaking, too, and though the words sound a bit clearer than before, Warriors still doesn't understand. Exhausted, he doesn't worry about it, and lets his eyes slip closed.

Twilight and Legend's conversation drones over his head as comforting white noise, and the Rancher's steady breaths begin to lull him to sleep. Then something tugs at his hand, and he pries his eyes open, annoyed, to see Legend trying to take the mask from him.

Warriors blinks down at the cursed item, surprised to see it still clasped in his fist, his unyielding fingers coiled through the eye holes.

"Let go of this damn thing, Pretty Boy," Legend says when he sees Warriors' eyes are open. The Captain can't decide if Legend's voice is actually quiet or if it still sounds weirdly far away. Regardless, he loosens his hold and watches Legend take the mask, grimace at it with a mix of revulsion and anger, and artlessly toss it out of view.

"Captain?"

Turning his heavy head, Warriors finds Wind kneeling at his other side. His expression is all unrefined concern, the watery eyes and exaggerated compassion of a child. Warriors wants to comfort him, but he can hardly move at the moment. He supposes speaking is out of the question, too.

"Are you okay?" the Sailor asks, taking up Warriors' hand in both his own.

Getting no reply, Wind glances between Twilight and Legend. "Why isn't he saying anything? He's okay, isn't he?"

"I'm sure he's fine," Twilight replies. It's a stilted, rote response that holds little conviction. Warriors thinks that should bother him, but he's too tired to care.

"What about those?" Wind says, nodding towards Warriors.

On reflex, Twilight brushes his fingers against the Captain's cheek, looking sadly at whatever is there. "The magic imprinted on him, but he wasn't changed for long. The marks will fade."

Marks? Warriors tunes out the rest of the conversation, trying to deduce what marks they're referring to--until he pictures the red and blue lines tattooed onto--

Time. Warriors twitches, wanting to sit up, wanting to ask after the Old Man. Legend puts a steadying hand on his shoulder, instructs him not to move. Still, he swivels his head around, trying to squint through the still-indistinct mass of shapes and lights that make up the world beyond his little sphere.

Finally, he sees, past Wind, the rest of their troupe. As Warriors is with Twilight, Time is reclined against Sky, with Four and Wild on either side of him. Hyrule is bent over him, hands aglow with golden healing magic that surges into the dangerous wound on Time's side.

Warriors tries to focus on the Old Man's face, and his eyes finally adjust enough that he can see Time, grim and weary, looking straight back at him. He looks sad, Warriors thinks. Sympathetic. Pitying.

It's off-putting, and Warriors looks away. He closes his eyes again and sinks back into Twilight, deciding for now that he'll pretend this is a nightmare, and soon, he'll wake up somewhere else with his soul and mind intact. Yes, he thinks, he’ll let himself pretend for a little while.