#also re: love languages i think they're also both the same where they both want to receive words of affirmation

[swordmaid]

jb + 7, 15, 30, 34

7. How often do they say “I love you”?

i do think jaime's the type to say it in passing like if brienne were to ever crack a joke and jaime would cackle and LAUGH he'd def go like ohhh i do love you while wiping away a stray tear. but i don't think they'll be the type to say it constantly though, only in serious and/or intimate situations. they both know they love each other ofc, but i see them being the type to only say it in situations where it is just the two of them, no one else. like just imagine jaime whispering it to brienne's ear and her face is kind of turned to him and their figures are tucked to each other HRK!!!!!!!!! like ill combust right now god

15. What songs remind you of their relationship?

FUNNY that you bring up songs because i actually have a playlist for them called the lovers [:. you should have a listen i think it's pretty nice hihihihi. also unironincally and not even in jest, shrek soundtrack gives big jb energy like they got bangers in there

30. What are their respective love languages? Do their love languages work well together?

i think they're both acts of service with the way that they both want to protect the people that they care about (brienne with renly, jaime with tyrion and cersei). which--if you put throw two acts of service bitches at each other you get something like in the bear pit where they're both arguing who's going to be protecting who. not to mention brienne wanting to finish her quest not only because she promised catelyn but also for jaime's honor. and also i guess you can consider jaime's love language to be gift giving since he gave her a whole bunch of stuff to prep her for her affc povs but honestly i'd consider that as acts of service LOL.

but tbh the both of them wanting to protect the people they care about makes such GOOD conflict because it's like they're both willing to sacrifice themselves for the other but then the other would HATE that like how dare you throw your life away for ME when i should be the one doing that for YOU. and it's such an interesting place for both of them to be in because they've never had someone be THAT person for them before, because they've always been THAT person. and now they're in the receiving end!!! and they're both like HMM i don't know if i like that. like i can't ever see jaime being okay with brienne wanting to hang herself for HIM because first of all why would you hang yourself for me im literally the kingslayer second of all how dare you throw yourself away like that. like i love that whole conflict of brienne's self martyr nature not sitting right with him, because why should see sacrifice herself to the people who don't even give her half the respect that she deserves?? and brienne not understanding why jaime is so bothered by that, but also being bothered at his insistence that he doesn't have honor and he's IS the kingslayer that's all he's ever going to be and she's like well no you're not and i literally can't stay in the room if there's jaime haters bc they're so wrong about you. like idk to me they're SO similar!! but because of how similar their natures are they have conflicts over it!! and then they learn how to compromise... something something batb being about transformation of self from being influenced by the other.

34. Do they have any inside jokes?

jaime will have PLENTY, like it would be such a surprise if they don't even have any inside jokes. they already have the 'as if you could' line going on i want them to make more i need brienne to start cracking jokes with jaime you have no idea how much i crave that im starved for it. also, i def think they'll be the type to have conversations through eye contact alone. like jb standing at the opposite end of the room listening to someone's speech and jaime will just look at her with amusement in his eyes and a smirk that brienne knows he has a joke in his head already he's clowning at this person and she KNOWS he's clowning at them she already knows what he's going to say but she doesn't approve! she gives him a frown instead. and jaime will call that HIS frown, btw. that's the frown that brienne gives him when he makes a particularly funny quip that she insists is not funny at all and he's so wrong to think that what's wrong with you honestly except she's fighting not to smile

ship ask game

[commsroom]

cutter was born in the 20s, and he'd become "arthur keller" by the early 70s, so obviously pryce's story at the beginning of brave new world can't be taken literally - that's not even an old man, much less "older than anyone she had ever met." it's also inarguable she was an adult already working on her... ideas for the human body when cutter sought her out; "i want you to make a doll for me" and "i found people who had some very bold ideas about how to... tune up the human body [...] i funded their work, and provided them with a willing test subject" are pretty definitely referring to the same events. so, it's fairy tale language, but the question is: why? why frame it this way?

one part of it is the "fountain of youth" in connection to immortality, strength, and health. the implication isn't literally that cutter is very old and pryce is very young; it's that she represents this power, and that he wants her to bestow it upon him: "then you and i will fix the world. i will be young and you will be whole." cutter and pryce choose to look eternally 28, while referring to and conducting themselves as if they're very old: it's not just vanity, it's part of their self-mythology. simultaneously young and old, having overcome the natural order.

that mythology of "overcoming" natural limitations is especially significant for pryce: characterizing herself as a "little girl" within her own story is both self-victimizing and self-aggrandizing. pryce does not see herself as disabled so much as temporarily inconvenienced; even the usual limitations of the human body are something she hopes to transcend. "instead of being wretched or afraid, the little girl decided to be clever." she was put at a disadvantage, but overcame it all by herself because she was smarter and better than other people. by extension, anyone who can't do what she did just isn't good enough, even as she's closing doors behind her and making it harder for others like her. and at the same time: it's an underdog story that requires her to have been an underdog. she hasn't been in a very, very long time, but the power she holds over others remains justified in her self-perception by this image of a sick little girl who was hurt by the world. there's an implication of inherent worthiness, and even a sort of expected assumed innocence in characterizing it that way. the first thing people notice about pryce is her eyes, and... sure, maybe it's the technology, but if cutter can catch bullets without any visible signs, it seems likely to me that, like her age, this is at least in part an aesthetic choice. it intimidates people. she's turned this point of hurt and vulnerability into a power play, and remains attached to it.

and that's the other part of the mythologizing that's going on: presumably, pryce was not the only person who worked on all of this. cutter funded others. but the story retroactively simplifies it, in a childish fairy tale way, and paints an image of them as exceptional, uniquely capable and so uniquely deserving, people.

i think there's something interesting to consider here about pryce in contrast to hera: that pryce is a woman who self-justifies her cruelty via a mythologized girlhood, while hera is a woman who was never a girl, who was never considered innocent or even allowed the same recognition of the ways she's been a victim. pryce resents humanity and all it represents, resents her body and its limitations, feels that being human has only caused her suffering, but still clearly believes that she has more of a claim to humanity than hera does by nature of her biology and upbringing. pryce's "bootstraps" attitude re: disability and her own self-victimization are the crucial things here, but i think that is also particularly interesting if you read hera as a trans woman.

(incidentally, this is part of why i have a particular love for hera designs where she's just a regular woman, more angular, and maybe even older looking - a natural 30-something in contrast to an unnaturally maintained 28 - than pryce. they're both women who have chosen how they want to look, and it highlights something.)

[pikapeppa]

15 questions for 15 friends

Tagged by @elveny and @johaerys-writes -- thank you, my loves!

ARE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My mom. Apparently my dad really wanted to name me after my mom and she was like "ugh really fine" LOL. My dad is also named after his dad, who was named after his dad... REAL ORIGINAL. This is going to sound like a total humblebrag, but my mom and I are both published academic authors, so we have to use our middle initials to distinguish who published what 🙃

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Probably in therapy last Thursday LOL. Though I got a little prickly-eyed earlier this week watching the episode of ATLA where Zuko and Aang go on their lifechanging field trip to the Sun Warriors' secret village 😂❤

DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Nope! Childless by choice.

WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY/HAVE YOU PLAYED? I played T-ball when I was 5 or 6 (hated it, cried so much that my parents pulled me out LMAO) and I was on the volleyball team in Grade 6. I'm left-handed and I had a habit of serving into the wall, unfortunately, and the habit got worse when I was nervous. During one game, they took pity on me so much that they paused the game until I got the ball over the net. I was fucking humiliated and have never played a team sport since then. 🤣💀 Re: other physical activities, I like dancing! I've taken a ton of different kinds of dance classes including swing, salsa, bellydancing, and Bollywood dancing, and loved all of them!

DO YOU USE SARCASM? No. Me? Never. 🙃🤣 Forreal though yes. All the time.

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Uh...! I don't know if there's any one specific thing? I usually take in an "overall impression" of appearance. Vague, but that's all I've got. If the question was "what's the first thing you notice in people you're attracted to", that might be a different story 🤣

WHAT'S YOUR EYE COLOUR? Brown.

SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? I am going to copy Johaerys's answer and say it doesn't matter to me, as long as the story was good. But also, who says scary movies/horror media can't have happy endings?? 🤣Haunting of Hill House, anyone? (Bittersweet, maybe, but it counts as happy to me!)

ANY TALENTS? Would it be wretched if I said I feel like writing might be a talent? Whatever, I'm saying it. 🤣😅

WHERE WERE YOU BORN? In a hospital in the same city where I currently live! Which I will chose not to reveal openly! 🤣

WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES? Writing! It takes up a solid 75-90% of my free time. Also gaming (which I might count into the writing time since it often becomes Research™ for the writing 🤣). I also enjoy baking and cooking, though I don't know that I'd count those as hobbies since they're necessary ADLs?

DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS? A cat named Meeko. She is my daemon. We can never be apart when I am home. Case in point, a photo taken in real-time while completing this quiz:

HOW TALL ARE YOU? 5'3".

FAVOURITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL? Uhhh... what level of school are we talking here? In undergrad, I took an incredible linguistics/history course about writing systems, and that was probably my favourite class ever. I took a course during undergrad about different schools of psychotherapy that was pretty damned influential too.

DREAM JOB? I also loved Johaerys's answer here: "I don't think there's any sort of job anyone could do in this capitalist hellscape we're all currently living in that would be enjoyable enough to make up for, well... living in a capitalist hellscape." I'm lucky enough to work in the public healthcare system so I'm pretty safe from the worst of capitalism, I guess, though my job (speech-language pathologist) is one I chose more for practicality (certainty of employment) than because I was really passionate about it. If I could do something else and not have to worry about money, I would either want to be a fiction editor, or a sex therapist.

Tagging forward to @ranaspkillnarieth @iamcayc @heroofshield @fantasy-girl974 @hellas-himself @midnightacrobat @alyssalenko @vorchagirl @elinorbard @stuffforthestash @mwasaw @lordofthenerds97 @y0ureviltwin @ladyofthelake91 @perhapsrampancy @cha-mij and genuinely, anyone else who wants to share!!! Tag me so I can spy on your life! 🤣❤

[eonars]

Summer school update btw

I banded together with a bunch of the other women here (we're mostly women!!!) and we all agreed this one guy is giving us really bad vibes and had said really off color stuff to all of us at one point and we were all like oh thank god I didn't wanna be the first one to bring it up and act like I'm causing problems for no reason, and now also we're advising each other on relationship things and life stuff and I've got the two ladies from my university 100% behind me and ready to help however they can so I can report a really creepy professor who harassed me during my masters and has picked up where he left off now that I'm back for a PhD (unsure if I will chicken out but they're on my case, I am however a lil scared of rocking the boat and making enemies so early on in my career?) There's also THREE other iranians here 2 girls and a guy and the guy is going to be at my university in my same office when we get back, we've all been speaking farsi together nonstop which has been amazing practice for me but I swear to god any iranian I meet in any corner of the world will first of all not think I'm also iranian, will think I just have a super persian name for no reason, will then realize I AM iranian but will think I'm half white, will think I don't speak any of the language at all, will realize I do in fact speak it pretty decently and will ALWAYS end up with omg your farsi is so good wow! but at the same time akheyyyy che bamazeh farsi che bamazeh harf mizani and like mf this has happened to me like five times I need an answer bc it's either super good or it's akheyyy che bamazeh you can't have both!!! Either way a bunch of them went out for dinner and drinks tonight but I stayed back cause I have a massive headache (have not been able to get re hydrated since I got here) and I kind of just wanted some time to myself to have a nice shower and chill time in silence and tbh I'm loving it. 10pm now might chug this water bottle and bedge it 🛌

[1800titz]

Hi! I’ve read everything you’ve posted and I’m on patreon and your stuff is very *chefs kiss* and such creative story lines! I had one thought the other day and I mean this as like. Helpful critique one writer to another. Like in the way that you don’t have to take this advice but I mean to help not hurt. You’re really fantastic at using creative imagery and unique words and you write very poetically. And most of the time it’s so good. But every once in a while it feels like a bit much - like I just want to know where he’s actually touching her or what they are actually doing. Like sometimes it takes a while to get to the actual action or narrative. Other times it’s really beautiful and flows so nicely and you create a really wonderful rhythm with it as well. You use it as a great narrative tool. But yeah in a *critique* way not a *complain/mean* way, you might want to consider pulling back and occasionally putting in some simpler more direct language. Especially at like the climax of a scene when I’m thinking “hurry up I want to know what happens next!” Bc you’ve told such a good story and I want to know! In the same way that the poetic language is a wonderful tool for some things, I think the simpler more direct language can be a great tool for other things. And by incorporating both it might make it more interesting to read. I had a professor talk about how when you change the style of language the reader doesn’t always notice that, but they do notice that the mood is different.

Again I LOVE your work and I intend this to be helpful not hurtful and you know yourself and your work best so if you don’t want to do anything with these thoughts that’s so valid!!

Hi! This is totally valid and I want to thank you for the support and for writing this in such a polite, friendly manner, because other times people don't do it so nicely.

I think I can understand where you're coming from. That being said, I also definitely make purposeful, lyrical prose choices. I'll probably never be able to understand why when you google "purple prose," the first thing to come up is "how to avoid purple prose," because to me, most literature that I enjoy borders on purple prose, if it already isn't. Like, genuinely, the kind of prose that other people hate and actively try to avoid, I will actively look for. It's just a preference thing. It's what I enjoy reading from others, it's what I enjoy writing. I think writing and reading stylistic decisions/preferences are entirely subjective, and I can also agree with you that a line of "he smiles" or "he holds her hand," as opposed to a chunk of flowery narrative, can add a delicate touch of simplicity here and there that I can appreciate. I think, as writers, we're always evolving and experimenting with our stylistic choices. I also am totally down with re-writes, and going back months later to edit things, and add new things, and take whole chunks out altogether, because I feel like that is the essence of writing, and I've done it before for sure! I go back, and I rewrite, and I put things in, and remove things, even if they're already uploaded. I've noticed a lack of ~simplicity~ in the earlier patreon posts for sure, which is why I go through, and edit here and there, and add things, and take things out. That being said, I purposefully avoid depicting actions a lot of the time, unless it's in a passage of smut (where it's mostly touch and movement and it makes sense to spell things out), because those things kind of unfold on their own in my opinion, if that makes sense. You can illustrate the movement occurring in a scene in three or four words if you wanted to, but you can't sense the depth of an emotion/turmoil/context in the same way, which is why that is a massive, massive part of my passages. I absolutely do not claim to be a pro in anything by any means, in any shape or form. I'm well aware that there are people out there who don't like my writing style at all. I just write things the way that I would enjoy to read them, and the way that make my brain happy. The fact there are people out there who enjoy it enough to subscribe and support me is unfathomably flattering, and I am really grateful for that.

But yeah! I totally get what you're saying, and I am no stranger to changing things and trying new things and growing out of/into new things. I agree that direct, simple language here and there can add a nice touch, and I'm totally open to incorporating a "he smiles" or "he holds her hand" here and there. The flowery metaphors and imagery along scenes are just a purposeful stylistic choice that I couldn't ever bear to part with.

Thank you again for supporting me and sending this in a really kindly worded way! <3

[babydxhl]

👫

send a 👫 and I’ll write four headcanons I have about our muse’s relationship.

mary doesn't hate sibyl, let's be so real. at least not in any serious way — mary hates easier than she breathes, but there are different levels to it, and there's a kind of comfort in the almost mundane bickering they have going. frenemies, but as chill about it as they're capable of being

they entered and approached the entertainment industry in such different ways, with a bit of a time gap inbetween, and have been treated differently by it in a lot of ways — I feel like unlike other ex-actor or ex-performer rogues where there's an overlap of knowing the same people and places and techniques, when mary and sibyl get to swapping stories it's almost like. they're speaking the same language, but different dialects? there's always some gap or some stumbling block that reminds them of the differences

I will ALSO reference the hcs you posted re the casino and add onto it by saying I think what started out as just giving each other a hand once in a while slowly evolved into a lowkey sophisticated card counting operation, knowing each other's little signals and knowing when to cause a distraction, a million little tricks etc etc. it's not like a prearranged thing, but purely if they both happen to be at the casino at the same night they'll fall into it like some kind of vladimir and estragon double act

of course they're both using people. they both want to be adored and loved and are happy to manipulate to get it. I think for mary at least there's a sense of having a mirror held up to herself sometimes in a way that makes her go cold. she's more comfortable abusing henchmen, snapping and hitting and pinching at them, in front of sibyl than she would be around others, because there's this idea that they are "disposable"

[circular-jerkular]

Re: your question about frameworks other systems use for thinking about situations where system members have different beliefs, narratives, wants, urges, etc., The Fucked-Up Edition

It’s not something we talk much about, for a lot of reasons, but we definitely have parts of our system dynamic that just barely skirt the edges of pretty Messed Up—or actually just plain are Messed Up, just a somewhat-harm-reduced version. (And this is on top of a significant number of things—self-narratives, attractions, etc—about both of us individually that have very high Fucked-Up Potentials). I’m not going to bother getting more detailed, and just leave I at “we feel like this topic is definitely relevant to us too”.

To actually get into your question, pretty much the fundamental way we personally see ourselves as a system is that this is a relationship. “Parts of one self” has never really felt right to us (as you know, since you’ve heard us talk about it before lol), and a big reason why is that it’s never felt necessary, really? For instance, like you, we definitely see ways in which our various bits of Fucked Up Shit relate to each other’s experiences (and not only because a lot of it is in the relationships/connection/intimacy realm)—but, to us, it’s for the exact same reasons that singlets with Issues tend to gravitate towards partners with either parallel or directly-perpendicular traits to the (shitty) interpersonal dynamics they’re used to. Reenacting trauma in relationships and projecting your own needs and insecurities into partners is a timeless staple of couples therapy, and viewing ourselves through that lens makes sense to us. Yeah, it’s not like either one of us could just “break up and move out” if our relationship went to hell, but there’s plenty of partners who are working through very tough stuff together and still fundamentally committed to getting through it side by side.

As for specific harmful traits or behaviors, it doesn’t (again, just personally) feel necessary to think of it in terms of “if one of us believes it, both of us do”, especially since it’s not like we think of one of us as The Problem and the other one as “just putting up with them.” No one’s getting exiled or isolated in order to try to pretend we don’t have problems, and we don’t need to individually also “own” every one of each other’s issues in order to help each other work on them. (Not that some of them aren’t genuinely shared, or that they don’t ever interact, because of course they do sometimes.)

And yeah, being a system means that we really have a front-row seat to each other’s monsters. But, well:

“We don't fall in love with people because they're good people. We fall in love with people whose darkness we recognise. You can fall in love with a person for all of the right reasons, but that kind of love can still fall apart. But when you fall in love with a person because your monsters have found a home in them-- that's the kind of love that owns your skin and bones. Love, I am convinced, is found in the darkness. It is the candle in the night.”

― C. JoyBell C.

Anyways, that’s our take. I think it’s interesting/neat how we tend to agree with a lot of the takeaway behaviors that you (and others) get to via parts language, while personally using an entirely different framework for getting there ourselves. Cheers

Fucking CHEERS INDIGO, and thank you for your ask. It was really nice to read through, and it’s always so interesting to see others perspectives.

For me… I mean, call me co-dependent, it’s accurate, but this reflects a lot of what me and my partner are. It’s been hard, recognizing that my relationship with them is fundamentally different than my relationship with my/ourselves. I can’t read their mind; I can’t understand their reactions as well as my own.

I think that’s why I gravitate towards parts language and part-of-a-whole mentality. It’s hard for me to see my relationship with my parts as anything similar to my relationship with people, particularly with how close I am to my parts.

It’s wild to hear how others experience it so much differently 💜

[blackbird-brewster]

20 Author Questions

Tagged by @danielleitloudernow TY!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Still accredited to my name? 135. Total works on AO3 that I've written (including Anon & Orphans) -- somewhere around 150?

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1.1 MILLION!?!?!??! FUCKING WILD.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Criminal Minds (124). But also have some Thrilling Adventure Hour (4), Grey's (3), and a few other random fandoms where I've written one thing ever.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Caged (Kudos: 635)

The Disposition of Emily Prentiss (Kudos: 511)

I Won't Give Up (Kudos: 441)

A Series of Unfortunate Events (Kudos: 359)

i can't be wrong (to be craving you) (Kudos: 312) OMG I had no idea this fic had that many?!?!!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I respond to every single comment I get!! Since I can't actually reach through the screen and hug every reader who leaves a comment, a reply is all I have!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hmmm, Angstiest ending specifically? I would say 'The Five Horsemen of the Silent Chasm'. (Ends in major character death)

Angstiest overall fic? DEF, DEF, DEF my Jemily saga -- i can't be wrong (to be craving you)

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I've written so much tooth-rotting fluff tbrh. Some cute shit that comes to mind:

Quiet Love (Jara Wedding Fluff!)

Always You (Temily proposal)

I Know a Place (Jara)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I get entitled comments sometimes. To which I always reply, because I think it's important for other readers to see how not to behave in a comment section. This recent interaction comes to mind:

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

OF COURSE I DO!!! Lately, I have been writing a lot of smut because menopause has turned me into a 24/7 horny gay. All my fics are Femslash and I also write F/F/F threesomes because I have multiple OT3s 😇

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

I have written crossovers in the past! Two of my favourites are a TAH x Addams Family one : Beyond Belief: When Family Calls and a CM x Community crossover where Emily and Frankie Dart are estranged twins: Words Left Unsaid

11. Have you ever had a fiction stolen?

Not so much stolen, as I've seen parts of my own personal fanon lore being used in other fics sometimes. Which I find endearing. Me and @otahkoapisiakii have so many Jemily HCs that we often share the same background details in our fics and then, sometimes, readers see these things and mistakenly think they're canon.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yep! I've had a few fics translated into other languages. I think one was translated to Polish and another to Mandarin. Also, I think there's one in German somewhere too.

I LOVE when people ask to translate my works! It's such an honour.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

TONS. I think me and @otahkoapisiakii (Phoenix_falls on AO3) have about 6 or 7 we wrote together.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

That's an impossible question. My longest loved OTP will always be MSR. My most written OTP is JJ/Emily. My current favourite ships are JJ/Tara & Tara/Rebecca.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

When I retired from writing in 2015, I left behind a WIP (To Catch an Unsub). When I came back last year, I vowed to try and finish it. I re-wrote a lot of what had already been posted and managed a new chapter even -- but after nearly eight years, my writing style now is far different than when I started out in 2015. So I tied up the cliff-hanger and marked it as complete, because I know my heart isn't in it to continue that one.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I have a really good understanding of the characters, I know what makes them tick, their motives, their insecurities and I think that makes them feel more authentic in my works.

I'm also a very fast writer. Both physically (my typing speed is absurd), but also just being able to bang out 10k in a day when I have an idea.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

NUMBERS AND SELF-IMPOSED RULES! I used to have this thing (I still struggle with it, but less so now) where I'd be like 'Every one-shot or chapter can't be more than 4k words'. Or if it's a multi-chap fic it has to be at least x amount of words minimum.

When I started writing completely for myself, those rules stopped holding me back. Now, I write until I'm done writing. Thus why Fooled Around (and Fell in Love) - Part 3 is going to be around 200k long when it's done.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

If I use another language, it's usually French because I at least speak a bit of it and don't have to use Google translate or other horrible tools that butcher nuance.

I have a Spanish speaking character in Part 3 and that made me really have to dig out my limited Spanish speaking skills for her scenes. Which are probably grating to fluent speakers (apologies!)

I think the best thing you can do if you want to use a language you don't speak is to talk to people who do speak it. It helps make the dialogue more genuine.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Bones! During the WGA 2007 strike, I decided to fill the gap of TV hiatus with my own story. I wrote 'She Was My First' (Angela/Brennan) and posted it to LiveJournal (where I was in tons of Bones groups).

Since then, I ported it to AO3 around 2014. And now, it's the most read Angela/Brennan fic on there.

Fun Fact: Someone randomly leaving a comment on this fic last year was the reason I came back to writing!!

20. Favorite fic you've ever written?

I get this question a lot and I think my answer always changes because I love different fics for different reasons. So here are some of my top ones:

Fic I Love Everything About: Fooled Around (and Fell in Love) (Series)

Fics I Consider to be My Most Important: Head Full of Doubt & Journey Through the Silent Chasm (Series)

Fic I'm Most Proud of Writing: i can't be wrong (to be craving you)

My Comfort Fic (the one I re-read the most): Between You & Me

TAG YOU'RE IT: (no pressure!) @storiesofsvu || @gaelic-symphony || @ellegreenawayslover || @tedwinisconfused || @jenny-from-the-bau || @unitchiefs-blackbirdphoenix

[thedragonagelesbian]

Cyrus and Wyll: 14, 5, 33

Cyrus and Halsin: 7, 12, 34

Cyrus and Karlach: 21, 26, 36

BG3 Cyrus and Meredith (redacted): 13, 10, 12

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Ship asks :DDDDDD

CyrusXWyll

14. How would they describe one another if asked?

Cyrus about Wyll: Wyll is... gods, where to even begin? He's handsome, silly, charming, joyful, poetic, but most of all he's good. The kind of good that makes you believe in good again.

Wyll about Cyrus: Cyrus is a bit like a blackberry bush: sure, there are brambles and thorns, and even the leaves will prick you, but there's a great deal of sweetness to be found if you've a steady hand.

5. What’s their love language like? Are they compatible with one another?

Cyrus shows love through acts of service and likes to be shown love through physical touch.

Wyll shows love through words of affirmation and likes to be shown love through quality time.

They're immensely compatible, Wyll's words of affirmation make Cyrus blush and Cyrus' acts of service make Wyll swoon, and whether its sparring or gardening or listening to Wyll compose, they love to just be near each other.

The one fault line is Cyrus' desire for physical (and sexual) touch. They both have their hesitations-- Wyll's idealized chaste fairytale romance and worry about Mizora impinging on his intimacy, Cyrus' anxiety about being that vulnerable with someone again, it makes a lot of sense for both of them that they don't sleep together until Act 3, but even for non-sexual intimacy, it takes some time & negotiation & exploration. Very regency-esque. The first time they hold hands????????? woag...

33. Who was the first to say ‘I love you’?

I'm not sure yet, I have to play through more of Wyll's romance first, though I'm leaning toward Wyll, since this version of Cyrus has a much harder time with those words (which is heartbreaking given how readily he otherwise says it).

CyrusXHalsin

7. What do they argue about?

They're both so non-confrontational & default to prioritizing the other's feelings, it's hard to imagine them arguing. Even dealing with Cyrus' martyr complex, I picture Halsin being much more patient about it (if no less firm) than, say, Anders (as far as exasperated cyrusXhealer ships go). I could see them arguing about having children that were theirs in a deeper sense than the communal care for the orphans in the epilogue, as something Halsin might want but Cyrus really wouldn't. And I think they 'argue' about whose fault it was that Halsin got kidnapped by Orin, insofar as they both blame themselves.

12. What would they say each other’s worst quality is?

They'd say the same thing about each other: the impulse to minimize their pain.

34. Who is more stubborn?

Hmmmmm I'd say Cyrus but I think Halsin is uniquely well-equipped to manage that stubborness by triggering Cyrus' 'im not arguing with a thick hunk of an elf whatever you say beautiful' mode (especially when it comes to accepting care).

CyrusXKarlach

21. Who is better at games? Does the loser take it graciously?

For Cyrus, games are more a reason to hang out with people than something he actually cares about playing. For some games, especially those that involve gambling or deception, he'd much rather just be at the table watching his friends play & getting drunk & snuggling than actually participating.

I can see Karlach getting super competitive, and you're 80% sure she's exaggerating & playing it up for fun, but like... maybe she is really going to flip the table. At the same time, she handles losing better than Cyrus handles her losing. He roots for her very hard and (depending on how drunk he is) gets very sad on her behalf.

Also if they're on the same team for like a couples game or something, they get very loud and very excited together very fast.

26. Do any of them have bad habits that the other can’t stand?

Cyrus is much more on the fence about using the soul coins than Karlach is.

If Wyll reinitiates his pact with Mizora in Act 3, Karlach has a line to the effect of "you know, there's such a thing as being too good of a person. Someone should tell Wyll Ravengard." She feels similarly about Cyrus' worst sacrificial tendencies, especially when he's considering becoming a mindflayer at the end of the game.

36. How long have they been friends? Would they consider each other best friends?

Cyrus and Karlach kind of pass over becoming friends and skip right to wanting to jump each others' bones really bad. Especially because in my original playthrough, I ended up recruiting her super late (between defeating the goblin camp and the tiefling party), they hit the ground running with 'now i just need to find me a fire retardant lover' and 'i want to ride you until you see stars' and Cyrus giving himself third degree burns trying to hold her hand

Of course, in the absence of physical touch, they do develop a very close friendship leading up to Karlach's second round of engine repairs, but they'd name other party members as their besties (Shadowheart for Cyrus, Wyll for Karlach).

[REDACTED]

I was NOT expecting asks about this relationship, these took me out of left field & hurt a lot (<3)

13. What would they say each other’s best quality is?

Cyrus: her conviction

Meredith: his loyalty

10. How do they make up after a fight?

Cyrus apologies first; Meredith is always quick to forgive him, stressing how glad she is that he did the right thing so they can move past something that was probably her fault. If it's a big fight, she keeps avoiding him until she can be sure the apology will happen while she's seated in her court on her throne.

12. What would they say each other’s worst quality is?

Cyrus: her harshness

Meredith: she thinks he's perfect; even more inconvenient traits for the right hand of a tyrant, like his kindness, can be easily turned to her advantage

[omgpurplefattie]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

@nutcasewithaknife tagged me!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

49

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

320,560 -- they do pile up

What fandoms do you write for?

Started out with Star Trek TOS in the 1990s, now fully in several c-drama fandoms which I all throw in together in a modern AU.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

All English -- short funny Loki/Darcy fic I wrote for another Milliways player during the original MCU craze. Loki is robbed of his magic and a) stays blue b) can't understand a word c) hides in the lab.

Am I The Asshole For...? -- Jin Guangyao describes the 3zun dynamic in an AITA formatted ask piece. Modern AU or not, depending on how you look at it.

Blue Monsters -- sequel to 'All English'. Loki hates the movie 'Avatar'.

A Matter of Priorities -- the original fic in my expanding City AU for several C-dramas. After years of being friends with benefits with Ye Baiyi, Rong Changqing gets his shit together.

Merely a Cat -- Jin Guangyao is reincarnated as Lan Xichen's cat. 5 + 1 things, canonverse.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Always! I feel so flattered.

What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Never Held Him -- Ye Baiyi reminisces about the death of Rong Changqing. Canonverse, hard interpretation.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

A Polycule With Many Pointy Corners -- because at the end, Shulin is alive, Peizhi still loves him, and he gets to keep the baby. Part of my City AU.

Do you get hate on fics?

I did -- on both the AITA fic and 'Merely a Cat'. That was the time of the Xiyao Troll, who was so nasty and persistent they actually put some people off writing for the fandom altogether. I got the troll on the AITA fic, then realised it was a Known Problem, and then wrote the Jiggy!cat fic to pull aggro and take part in a fic exchange the fandom organised in order to drive the troll to distraction. I wrote Eternal Sunshine of a Drunken Lan for that exchange, and received a lovely, lovely visual take on my 3zun AITA concept.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes! I am going light on it in "Detoxify" so far, but sometimes, the plot needs it. Also, I tend to think that the characters deserve to bone. I very much thought that Ye Baiyi deserves to get all the sex from Rong Changqing, which is why "A Matter of Priorities" is very E-rated even though the sex as such is not the point.

Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

Yes, totally. The City AU, with lots of C-Drama characters all in the same modern AU and involved in each other's lives, is my main series now with more than 120K words.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

What's your all-time favorite ship?

Always my current blorbos!

What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

The World of the Morning After -- Ye Baiyi is isekai'd into a world where everything went well, he is with Rong Changqing, and they're both immortal. He immediately decides that it's too good to be truth and he won't have anything of it in order not to get hurt even worse. I posted two chapters, mostly wrote the third, and ran out of steam. Luckily, I have a complete and detailed outline in which I re-shuffle the entire plot of SHL/TYK to hinge on Ye Baiyi's happy ending. Spoiler: he's there to make sure WenZhou get together in that branch of reality, too.

What are your writing strengths?

Nasty surprises.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Consistency; I tend to go off on tangents.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I write everything in another language; English isn't my first language. That said, the special turn of phrase of saying "Our/your A-Fei/HuaHua/Xiaobao" that gets the trio by the feels every time somebody uses it in "Detoxify" makes a lot more sense in Chinese.

First fandom you wrote for?

Star Trek

Favorite fic you've written?

Not choosing!

Tagging @eleanorfenyxwrites @atthelamppost @dangerouscommiesubversive (no pressure)

If you're a fic writer, feel free to give it a go even if you're not tagged!!

[juuheizou]

hey! ^^ i really love hearing your thoughts on suzumutsu bc i feel like you understand their characters & dynamic so well, so i thought i'd ask a few random questions i've been thinking about, if u feel like sharing your thoughts on them. for one i've been wondering if animals would like/trust them bc honestly i can see both sides lol. juuzou clearly likes them and in the anime there was that cat in the zoo that liked him too but i can also see him constantly chasing after spooked stray cats... as for tooru i guess it'd depend on what we actually consider canon from whatever the hell his arc was💀 i've also been thinking about how they'd do with kids, like if they had to babysit or something lol. just awkward? terrible? surprisingly good? and finally, what do you think tooru's hobby would be? i can imagine juuzou with a bunch of different hobbies but i couldn't really think of anything for tooru... i think his character is a lot harder for me to understand than juuzou, maybe bc i'm autistic so i relate to juuzou way more lol😅 anyways sorry for this long ramble and hope u have a good day<3

NEVER apologize for sending me a long ramble about suzumutsu! I'm so flattered by the fact that you would want to hear (read? it just doesn't sound the same) me ramble about these things, and to say I do their characters and dynamic justice is probably the nicest, highest praise you could tell me about my suzumutsu ramblings, so thank you! My heart is exploding right now, and I hope I continue to do them justice with this rambling haha.

for one i've been wondering if animals would like/trust them bc honestly i can see both sides lol. juuzou clearly likes them and in the anime there was that cat in the zoo that liked him too but i can also see him constantly chasing after spooked stray cats...

That's a super valid point to bring up-- as someone who interacts with a critical mass of people who often like animals but don't know how to do right by them as my actual job, I have to admit I never even considered Suzuya being one of those people. That being said, maybe there is some bias involved because, like you, I relate really strongly to him myself, but part of why I never thought of it that way is he very easily clicks in my head as a fellow cat whisperer. Meaning someone who can even befriend the mean ones and soothe them when they're scared or hurt, with a strong intuition for when something isn't right. And I think being as blunt as he is at times, he would be the one telling people to stop chasing after spooked stray cats, probably with some vulgar word choices and his glare that can unsettle a Washuu into giving him what he wants. I do think that even though being perceptive of their subtle body language and understanding them enough for strays to let him pet them-- which he does habitually enough in :RE that some of Hanbee's last words to him in that omake where he gets sick are to please wash his hands after petting them, is intuitive, he took some trial and error to nail down the practical side of caring for animals. I have no doubt that he would have wanted a pet of his own from the day he learned that humans could not just be pets, but have them. His first was probably a stray he found and smuggled into his dorm as a teenager one day and he figured that having been one himself, he was an expert on what pets needed and how to care for them. He can't bring himself to hurt this precious little creature like Mama did with him, even as a reward, but he has the other things covered. Except he doesn't. He sneaks bits of his school meals back to it because he thinks that since that's what Mama sustained him on, all pets eat their owner's scraps. He's 16 with no job and only lunch money he pickpockets off of day students, so this cat is unvaccinated and has no veterinary care. He tries really hard to make it a warm, safe nest under his bed and the nicest collar he can make out of that he has around, but animals need more than that. It's just not a great situation, and he can tell his newly adopted stray isn't doing well but he doesn't want to let it go because he knows what no one else knows/believes yet about Tokage and for some reason he really doesn't want that fate for this cat. Within a couple of days, he finally confesses to Shinohara that he smuggled a cat into his room and now something really bad is happening with it, what does he do? He does end up having to relinquish the cat to a shelter-- he didn't fully grasp it at the time, but he never would have been able to offer it any quality of life under his bed at the Academy even if he did know how. Shinohara is there as his ride, for emotional support, and to make sure he actually does relinquish the cat. Frankly, he's shocked that Suzuya would care so much about a living thing. It break's Shinohara's heart seeing how devastated Suzuya is over losing the cat, but it also gives him an idea. He is an advocate for rehabilitating Suzuya after all, and now he's found something that can live and die and suffer and Suzuya isn't indifferent to it. It's pretty rare, since Suzuya can only leave the Academy with supervision and Shinohara is a busy investigator/teacher (my excuse for it only being a thing in my head and not in the series haha) but whenever the pieces fall into place, Suzuya gets to spend some time cleaning up after, feeding, grooming, and giving some human affection to the shelter cats, which also teaches him how to take care of them when he can one day get his own. As an adult, with that experience and his natural affinity for his feline friends, he is extremely good with them, and while I see them being his specialty, I think he's good with other animals too.

as for tooru i guess it'd depend on what we actually consider canon from whatever the hell his arc was?

OKAY everyone but anon and I, I promise I did not write this ask to myself, because anon, it is absolutely sending me how much this sounds like something I would say haha. I think the “we've known Tokage was killing animals since the original series, but what if it was Tokage AND Mutsuki now? not that it makes any pieces of anyone's story click into place or anything” thing doesn't make much sense and nothing makes me happier than compartmentalizing it straight into the garbage. Although you might think he is good at gaining their trust with how gentle and patient he is, I don't think Mutsuki is an animal lover per se and his nervousness around them makes them wary of him. I see him as a blank slate. He didn't grow up with any pets even before he became a ward of the CCG. He doesn't know much about animals, and he has a kind of respectful fear for what he doesn't know. He feels sad about and wants to help the poor animals in commercials and news stories suffering in bad conditions, and if he did have any idea about Tokage as a child (which, for this reason, I doubt) he would probably do something as reckless as getting into Torso's cab to try and help just one because that's just how he is about helping others. However, had he ever gotten the opportunity to be a good samaritan with an animal, he would have no idea how to handle the creature itself and probably be nervous to even touch it for fear that he will hurt it or it will just bite him without warning. However, once they grow close and Mutsuki starts hanging out at Suzuya's apartment, he does slowly come to like Suzuya's cats. It terrifies him when Suzuya teaches him that animals probably don't come up to him or let him pet them because they pick up on his fear. Once he realizes that he is the reason these little beasts that Suzuya adores don't like him, however, he gets really dedicated to learning as much as he can about how to win over a cat. It's actually good practice in controlling his reaction to fear, trying everything his research leads him to until finally, finally, the cats start coming to him for affection too. He's not as bad as he was before he met Suzuya, but to this day, though, he usually doesn't approach unfamiliar animals out of concern that he will bother them.

i've also been thinking about how they'd do with kids, like if they had to babysit or something lol. just awkward? terrible? surprisingly good?

Complete reversal of roles compared to animals. There are a lot of things that are great about Suzuya Juuzou, but patience, empathy, and discretion are not among those things. And those are pretty important when interacting with children. Plus, in a babysitting-type arrangement, he has a hard enough time taking care of himself on his own and believes sometimes to a fault in letting people of any age learn from making their own mistakes, so something will probably catch on fire. As if the experience wasn't already infernal enough without literal fire surrounding him and the hapless child he's been left in charge of. On the bright side, he is calm and competent in an emergency, so while his limited child-handling skills probably contributed to something being on fire or the kid getting a big scary gash across its head, he's in his element once the disaster is already happening. He'll control that bleeding head like a professional and probably distract the kid enough to get a laugh while they wait to be seen at urgent care. He'll put out that fire and teach himself how to repair the damage enough that it at least looks like it never happened. If you've ever seen the live action movie of “The Cat in the Hat,” that sums up Suzuya's skill set with kids pretty well. I also just don't see him liking or wanting to hang out with kids when he could be doing literally anything else. If someone was desperate enough to guilt and beg and annoy him into watching theirs, which if they did enough to sway Suzuya of all people, they probably deserve a hard time, I wouldn't put it past him to let the children watch a very age-inappropriate scary movie or just go through his most recent case file right before the parents came home. Not that he wants to harm the kids or blames them for the fact that he's stuck with them, but their psyche is acceptable collateral damage to him if it means their parents will never even consider him as a last resort again. Mutsuki, on the other hand, is both good with children and likes children, and he really cares about making every one he meets feel safe and loved and everything he wasn't at their age. Honestly, whenever I start scheming an AU that doesn't revolve around a certain vocation already and I need to give him a job other than ghoul investigator, teaching, counseling, and childcare are up there with my top choices for him because we know he cares deeply about helping and protecting others. Helping professions have their own unique rewards and challenges and while I think he would at least try helping anywhere he could, working with human(oid) children would have the challenges he could handle the best and the rewards that would keep him wanting to come back the most. In canonverse, if/when he has friends with kids, in addition to being good with them, we know he can be a bit of a pushover, so he would often get suckered into babysitting. Sometimes it goes so well he even questions if he really doesn't want his own kids. That said, as soon as an emergency goes down or his squeamish self ends up splattered in any bodily fluid or child-related mess, he immediately stops questioning it, and the first person he calls (second only if he has to call actual emergency services) is Suzuya. Although the latter might not be as good with children, he at least fills in the few but important strengths Mutsuki doesn't have mastered.

and finally, what do you think tooru's hobby would be? i can imagine juuzou with a bunch of different hobbies but i couldn't really think of anything for tooru... i think his character is a lot harder for me to understand than juuzou, maybe bc i'm autistic so i relate to juuzou way more lol?

It is hard, and in addition to some characters just clicking and being more relatable to certain people, I think it's also hard because he canonically gives so much time and energy and even puts himself in danger for others. I can actually see him neglecting to carve out nice things for himself, such as hobbies, in the manga. It's not just us, it's him! This is also the reason why these headcanons are, frankly, much more based on vibes than any panel, illustration, or omake I could even loosely tie them to. I think to keep from giving up on life as a whole, he needs an activity that makes him feel a glimmer of confidence, like he is good at something. Also, as much as he shies away from any eyes on him, appreciation for something he did secretly lights him up inside. Training with Suzuya is one thing that fills this need, but something that he does by himself that isn't career-related is cooking. We know from Shirazu that he can cook, but I think he also likes to. It's less about what he's cooking or who for, so much as it is that feeling of executing something with competence and having the people around him enjoy something he made so he knows it's good. Plus, it's hard to ruminate on your worries and frustrations and secrets when you're concentrating so hard on not burning something. He definitely strikes me as the type to stress-cook or stress-bake. He also strikes me as a journaler. I couldn't even begin to try justifying why with logic, but he just seems like the type. Trying to make beautiful aesthetic doodles would probably just make him think about how he's not good at drawing, but he would have a guilty pleasure for cute sticky notes, motivating stickers, nice pens, stuff like that to decorate and organize his cathartic writing about his day. Probably no one whose opinion matters would judge him for liking to make his journal look nice or thinking some little frog stickers are cute, but he feels paranoid about it and carefully hiding his journal with all his stationery and supplies and moving it to a new hiding place when he gets anxious that someone is going to find it is its own entirely separate hobby. Another reason why I think it's hard to see him with the same amount and variety of hobbies as Suzuya is I think he would find a couple of things to give him that sliver of “me time” and stick with them. Suzuya's reasons for doing a lot of what he does for fun are different from Mutsuki's, so for him, bouncing around between several things helps him keep it exciting and avoid boredom. Those things don't matter as much to Mutsuki, and what does matter to him is having something that makes him feel competent and/or helps him feel at ease, so actually diving into something new on the regular would do the opposite of fulfilling some of the things he needs in a hobby.

[aylaaescar]

6, 14, 15, 27 for Tysayla?

and well over a month later ksdfgjsg whoops. ty, Karolina!!

6. Do they have pet names for each other? Do they like them?

they're pretty boring on that front, tbh? Ayla calls him "Tysi" sometimes, but I don't think that really counts when everybody calls him that, haha. otherwise, she's not really a pet name person.

Tysinno will use "love" or "dearest" sometimes, and he gives me the feeling that he'd use some more personal ones sometimes? but that would require me to think up what, exactly, that is, so you've got me beat there. same problem with me saying that he writes poetry - then I have to think about the poetry, which is hard bc I suck at that. lol.

14. What little things remind them of each other?

for Tysinno re: Ayla: anything about Jalis. the wind, when it's blowing particularly hard. amber, like her eyes. Jalis sweetwater. morbid jokes and sarcastically blunt remarks. extra spicy food. this one shirt of his that she's prone to slipping on. defiance and doing what you want.

for Ayla re: Tysinno: ditto for the morbid and sarcastically blunt remarks. khav. landscape drawings. piercings. thorns. that herb smell from medicinal potions. that one shirt of his she likes stealing. silver piercings. blank, unimpressed stares.

15. What habits or characteristics have they picked up from each other?

Tysi's absolutely, 100% picked up some of Ayla's more colorful language dkfgjsg he was a lot more basic in his swearing before her. I think he's also started going to bed earlier and waking up earlier a bit more consistently, whereas before he just kind of... slept till whenever?

for her part, Ayla's picked up his habit of sitting and watching the sunrise or sunset with a cup of khav. also, running her fingers through her hair as a tic the way he does with his own.

27. What interests do they share? For interests they don't share, do they ever participate anyway?

a pair that absolutely, 100% enjoys going out on the town and getting into trouble together <3 gambling, drinking, dancing, the works. they also both share an interest in travel and trying new things, and they've had so very many conversations where one is describing a place they've seen and the other is listening attentively.

Tysinno joins Ayla sometimes in her workouts, though he isn't quite as physically inclined as she is so he can struggle to keep up. Ayla posed for a drawing of his once, which is kept in their room at the compound.

[isagisyoichi]

PINKY STAR (RUN) :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:･ﾟ’☆

SYNOPSIS: isagi as your boyfriend

CHARACTERS INCLUDED: isagi yoichi my boyfriend of many several years

WARNINGS: swearing? i think idk i forget also yah pretend they all go to the same school and stuff. also horribly self indulgent if u couldn't already tell

A/N: if you remember my old one delete it from your memory it was literally so bad help anyways the re-up because my boyfriend deserves better. also i really like this one and i feel like it’s more in character for him :P lol i've had this in my drafts for like, ever <3 but also my last post for a while because i have ap exams and my sat soon :P

FOR: the anon that asked me where my original isagi bf hcs went :’)

after the initial awkwardness of being in a new relationship fades and you two become comfortable with each other, a relationship with isagi would be like dating your slightly awkward best friend who you make out with sometimes.

like, i don’t really see isagi being high maintenance, so i feel like a relationship with him would definitely be on the relaxed side, but still romantic, you know?

isagi’s inner monologue is so funny and he definitely lets his thoughts out to you. it makes you laugh to see your usually friendly-to-all boyfriend have his moments, too.

you guys are one of those couples that give each other a look when someone’s doing something weird in public #telepathicconnection <3

but, isagi’s really such a sweetie with you. i know user isagisyoichi may be slightly biased when they say this, but believe me when i say that isagi’s 100% boyfriend material.

walks you to class whenever he can. always either holding your hand as he listens attentively to you complaining about school.

writes down things he feels are important about you in a digital note entitled “y/n 💗,” so he can remember them in the future.

isagi's used to talking to all kinds of people, so even if you're not the most talkative, he can adjust with no problem.

and he’ll always entertain you about whatever stupid conversation you wanna have.

kinda basic with pet names. babe, baby, dork (he would, i don’t wanna hear it), are his usual rotation.

randomly compliments you/says these really romantic things out of nowhere because he can’t control himself and often blurts things out.

“yeah, of course, when we get married, i’ll-”

“when we get married?” you inquire as you cut isagi off. you two have never discussed marriage, just but the thought of isagi wanting to spend the rest of his life with you is enough to make your head spin.

isagi’s eyes go wide when he realizes what he’s said. damn his mouth that moves faster than his mind.

swallowing hard and taking a breath, isagi says, “y-yeah, when we get married,” further affirming his statement with a nod, albeit a bit of a nervous one.

now both of you guys are flustered LOL.

likes to sit his head in your lap and have you play with his hair, while you two talk or just sit in silence.

such a good listener, perfect person to rant about anything with. he’s very understanding, he’ll hold you if you need him to, wipe your tears if you’re crying, give you advice if you need it, just overall so sweet.

also always knows when you're sad because of his intuition. isagi encourages you to open up to him, but ultimately doesn’t force you, just lets you know that he’s always there for you <3

(that's kind of lie because isagi does pry a little LOL, but he means well)

takes care of you! nags you a little, tries his best to make sure you're not doing anything stupid, and if you are, that someone responsible (him) is watching you, looks after you when you’re sick, etc.

gives you his jacket when you’re cold (he’s been waiting to do that his whole life bro LMAOO), carries your things, always texts you good morning and good night, just overall sooo good to you.

but as soft as he is for you, isagi does have this tendency to get these random spouts of confidence, so sometimes he’ll say or do something really bold out of nowhere.

like, he’ll suddenly grab your waist and pull you closer to him, or he’ll kiss you out of the blue. the flustered expression that rests on your face for a change always makes him smirk *heart eyes*

in general, though, isagi's still kind of awkward sometimes regardless and does say or do things that make you go "???" and make him be like "why did i do that" LOL he's so cute though <333

he’s pretty basic with dates, usually opts for things like restaurants, walks in the parks, movie nights, or stuff like that, but they’re still really fun!

but, if you ever want to do something out of the norm, he wouldn't be opposed to it, either. but, you do have to tell him ‘cause he's not a mind reader lol.

(okay but, one time, isagi tried to watch a scary movie with you because he wanted to do that thing where he wraps his arm around you during the scary parts, but HE ended up being scared instead 😭)

isagi’s the type to put your name with a heart emoji or the date you guys started dating in his instagram bio LOL

y/n 💓 IHS Forward #10 ⚽️ *insert some soccer quote about grinding*

it’s a bit middle school, but you let it slide because you know he just wants to show you off <3

study sessions are normal between you two but, you guys always get bored or distracted halfway through and start watching youtube or something LOL.

it’s canon he’s a thigh man lol, so if he ever sees you wearing an oversized shirt, especially one of his, with shorts, isagi will literally short circuit in real life.

he keeps his hand on your thigh when you guys cuddle that day, tracing patterns on your skin, or just squeezing it every now and then.

in general, though, isagi likes poking at and playing with them whenever they're out <3

once, isagi wanted you to do that trend on tiktok where he sits between your thighs and stuff, but he had no idea how to bring it up LOL

so, isagi just watched tiktoks of it in front of you and hoped eventually you would get the hint 🙄

and you did, thanks to his incredible lack of subtly. he doesn’t even care when you giggle and tell him how bad he is at being slick, isagi got your thighs around him, he won!!!!!!

takes a picture (or two or three) to savor the moment.

(even though he could literally just ask you to do it again in the future, but whatever, i guess)

when you’re dating isagi, the team comes with him too LOL

they’re always snapchatting you pictures of isagi when they’re hanging out without you, with stupid captions like, “look how sad your boyfriend is without you 😞”

isagi’s not even sad in the picture, he’s just confused as to why they’re shoving a camera in his face 😭

isagi one hundred percent attempts to get you to run the mile with him during gym if you don’t already.

“babe, just try!” isagi pants, as he catches up to you and your friends, as you guys are still on your second lap.

admittedly, the effort is cute, but beloved, i hate to break it to you- i will not be doing anything of the sort.

he will sit down or walk around with you after you finish the mile, though. if he’s not already playing soccer lollll.

when he does choose to go with you, expect exclamations from the team about how isagi “abandoned us for his little relationship” 👎

isagi’s receiving love language is words of affirmation (also basically canon LOL) so, he really values the compliments you give him with his whole heart.

you could tell him how his hair looks nice in the morning, and isagi will think about it all day.

whether it be about how cute he is, or how talented of a player he is, isagi really is happiest when you praise him <3

speaking of soccer, isagi has this tendency to get lost in the moment and talk your head off about some soccer related tangent that probably makes no sense to you.

his eyes light up and his voice is just oozing with passion for what he does as he goes into detail about how he made this crazy goal at practice while you stare at him with the biggest heart eyes ever, adoring his dedication.

and of course when isagi realizes he was rambling, he apologizes profusely for “boring” you, like the gentleman he is.

but when you reassure him that he could never bore you and that you want nothing more than for him to go on, isagi begins to feels lightheaded due to his adoration for you <3

if you're the type to go all out when it supporting isagi at soccer- like make one of those corny signs, yell from the crowd, wear his spare jersey to games, isagi will physically have to withhold his heart from jumping out his chest.

he's a little embarrassed that you're doing all that for him, but the effort means soooo much to him.

and speaking of soccer, it would mean a lot to isagi if you not only supported him at games and stuff, but expressed an interest in learning more about soccer as a whole, too.

you know, learn a little more about the game on your own accord, ask him to teach you how to properly play, or even challenge him to a one on one, do stuff like that, and he’ll literally be head over heels for you. well, more than he already is.

(he always goes easy on you on your guys 1v1's and he thinks your efforts are adorable, no matter how much you may or may not suck)

he'd repay the effort and try to get interested in whatever your hobbies are!

also, you can get him to do almost anything if you pout and beg hard enough, you’re literally so hard to say no to in isagi’s eyes <3

isagi’s the type to not realize when other people are flirting with him LOL

he just thinks they’re being nice (unless they’re being straight up) and i don’t think he would really process it because he’s so focused on you romantically, if that makes sense.

once he realizes you’re jealous, isagi apologizes earnestly, reassuring you over and over again that you're everything he could ask for and that he would never intentionally try to hurt you and all that jazz.

although, i will admit, sometimes isagi’s kinda smug when you're jealous, especially when it’s over a dumb reason 👎

however, when he’s jealous i feel like it could go one of two ways-

on normal days, isagi would just stand there to “intimidate” the other person, maybe cough a little for emphasis until they go away lol.

but on days where he’s already mad/filled with adrenaline/or someone’s really not taking a hint and you’re visibly uncomfortable- oh boy, it’s like a switch flips in him.

has those same fiery eyes he has during the climax of a game. the energy he’s exuding is dead serious, and that alone is enough for the person bothering you to go away. not bad for a man that’s only 5’8 🥰

adding on, isagi doesn’t take any shit about you, ever. even if it’s from his friends. usually isagi’s very neutral and doesn’t actively try to start conflict, but there are some things he’ll always defend and you’re one of them.

isagi always listens/watches/reads/etc whatever you recommend him (on that note, please recommend him good anime because isagi’s out here willingly telling people his favorite anime is darling in the franxx), even if he doesn’t necessarily like it LOL

you could show isagi objectively, the worst song ever and he would be like “yeah, it was good babe!” (it was not)

also does the same thing when you bring him shopping with you, like he's absolutely NO HELP 😭

you could try on the ugliest sweater known to man and he’d like “you look nice 🙂” pls be honest isagi, you can say it’s hideous!!!!!!

but isagi’s also being somewhat truthful in his statement because he does genuinely think you look nice in everything <3

also loves when you wear his clothes- always feels a mixture between pride and slight shyness?

kinda lol idk but overall, isagi really is sooo happy you wanna show him off that much, especially when you're wearing something of his around his friends :')

he says “i love you” first, no doubt.

he’s a bit nervous when he does because he doesn’t know if you’ll reciprocate, but he really does love you and he feels like he physically can’t hold it in anymore.

“i promise you don’t have to say it back!” isagi reassures anxiously. “i know it’s a really big commitment, and if it’s too early for you right now-”

“i love you, too.”

[shewholovestoread]

HI, I really love reading your analysis. And for some reason I've been obsessing over Dani's scene with Nat and Alice. I feel like I need to know more about Dani's train of thought since she gets asked about Gigi until her reaction about Gigi being really into her. Her body language and facial expressions are so charged. Dare to explore and dive into that scene?

I'd love to!

Upon re-watching that scene, a few things stood out for me.

When Nat asks Dani if Gigi's there with her and Dani says, "No, We're not..." This is Nat's expression:

Nat met Gigi after she and Dani had their conversation about clearing things with Bette. I think Gigi thought, based on their conversation, that Dani was into the relationship. And I think she conveyed that to Nat when they met for lunch so Nat's surprised when Dani says that they're not... together. I love her expression here because it prompts Dani to explain further. Also, Nat being an experienced therapist, knows how to get the other person to open up without much effort.

This entire play is so strange. Poor Dani being actually concerned about Bette's well-being and essentially being told that it's not a big deal at all, implying that Gigi never held much importance for her to begin with and we end with an awkward laugh from Dani. Another layer is that both of these women are Gigi's exes and yet to see them being so cavalier must be strange for Dani.

It's telling that we stay with Dani throughout this exchange. She's still trying to be sensitive only to be shut down again by Alice and this is the first time we see surprise on Dani's face. She's not sure what to make of what Nat and Alice are saying. I think she's also thinking of when Gigi told her that she didn't think Bette ever had serious feelings for her and she can see that being confirmed by the women in front of her, one of them being close friends with Bette and the other being Gigi's ex-wife.

I've always hated the way that both Nat and Alice treated Gigi, they're always mean and it gets old after a while. I don't see the point for all that meanness especially once Nat gets back together with Alice, effectively breaking up with Gigi all over again. And we never see the fallout of that with Gigi, we don't see how she dealt with losing Nat all over again. I can't imagine it was easy and yet she did deal with it and got to a point where she could be Nat and Alice without any lingering awkwardness on her part, I can't say the same for the other two women.

For once though, Nat comes through for Gigi, she knows that Gigi's really into Dani but i think she also sees some hesitance on Dani's part and so tells Dani that Gigi is into her. I love Alice's expression in the second image, like that's news to her. I think she expected Nat to joke and didn't expect the conversation to turn serious and earnest.

Dani's also turned serious, I think she's more than a little shocked by Nat's statement. She thought that Gigi was interested in her but wasn't sure and now to have that confirmed by someone else, and someone who knows Gigi really well, she's not sure what to make of it.

Alice and Nat leave but not before telling Dani, that Nat hasn't seen Gigi like this before. Again, this is big, coming from Nat who has such a messy history with Gigi. But what I find fascinating is Dani's expression. She's contemplative, considering, processing everything that Nat's told her, taking into account everything she knows, everything she's seen in Gigi.

Dani is in full protective mode, she's still dealing with what happened with Sophie and while she's not in love with her anymore, that hurt is still there and worse, she's just seen Sophie and Finley at the same event, seeing them be happy while Dani's still struggling. She's wary of being with someone new and yet she is drawn to Gigi, in her own words, she wants to spend time with her, she wants to be with her. Her fear of being hurt has kept her from fully committing and by the end of this scene, I think she's come to a decision. I think this entire exchange makes her leave the event and clear the air with Gigi, although running into Finley, alters her plan a little, but that's for another post, this one is long enough as it is..

I hope this post answered your question anon.

[colourful-void]

Supporting Satoshi - an examination and comparison of JN36 and XY121

Part One: Snowballs do not cure depression but it was worth a shot

You know that episode of Pokemon where a gym leader beats Satoshi in a battle so hard that one of his pokemon gets mildly hurt (though there's no long term effects) and because of it he becomes depressed, closing himself off from his friends before someone comes along to pull him out of that mental state, and also severe weather phenomena is involved and a reflection of a persons mental state? Or rather, the two episodes?

So when I was watching Journeys, I noticed an episode that had a similar-- but distinctly different-- plot to an xy episode I had seen before. And what was particularly interesting was that while I couldn't stand the xy episode, the journeys episode was one of my favourites. I won't drag this out for you guys, I love the journeys episode and re watch it a LOT and the xy episode sort of just leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth. and don't go claiming its solely ship bias, because i saw the xy episode first and disliked it then.

This will analyze both of these episodes, comparing them against each other. Specifically within the context of how Goh and Serena both help Satoshi through a similar situation There will be some discussion of AmourShipping and Satogou in this analysis. I'm going to be a bit negative regarding Serena's actions and the potential "romantic" weight of them here, but I want to be clear that I Do Not dislike Serena as a character. Personally, I wish the writers had given her more room to grow outside of her romantic interests, but I do not hate Serena as a character. I do, however, disagree with her actions in this episode. Please don't take this out of context and dont be ship fighting in the comments, it's boring. This is a comparison of These Two Episodes, not of Goh and Serena and their respective ships as a whole.

This part mainly focuses on the xy episode and the second will focus mainly on the journeys. It's only divided into parts because of the tumblr post limit.

(If you like the xy episode or hate the journeys episode, awesome! having your own opinions is great. these are mine though, so i hope you'll listen to them)

With that out of the way, let's start. And I'm going to use mostly japanese names here because I'm taking screencaps from the subbed japanese copies.

The set up for each of these episodes is eerily similar as pointed out in the gag at the start.

Xy has a bit more set up before the episode in question though, with the initial loss and retreat into the forest by Satoshi taking place the episode before. The episode opens up proper with Satoshi taking time to breathe to himself, alone in the forest.

Emphasis is placed on him taking a deep breath, aided by the visuals showing them (thanks cold air) and the silence of the rest of the soundscape, with the only other sounds being the wind and some bird pokemon, plus some falling snow.

Journeys Satoshi starts off in a better mental state than Xy, with the episode starting off with him jogging along with his pokemon.

However, we can still see that he's been affected by the last battle he lost, against Saitou, as he's putting a lot of effort into training and doing better.

Which, doesn't go well for him, as he loses his next two battles as well, and drops in the World Championship ranking as a result

And he's pretty upset about it too. Same thing as over in xy. In both cases, a respective friend/love interest notes that Satoshi is upset and expresses concern.

He's got support from his friends in both situations! But that support comes across in very different ways.

But, to understand how that support manages to affect Satoshi, we need to understand the problem at play.

Now, I wanna make something clear here. Satoshi's problem is not that he is a sore loser. I'm not arguing that's not a contributing factor, or that he's not upset about the loss (particularly in the world championships), He's still bitter about the lost part, but the root of the problem is not losing, he's been shown to be fine with losing (if not a bit more motivated to win now) in prior episodes.

Satoshi's problem is that his pokemon are getting hurt. Satoshi's problem is that his pokemon are getting hurt, because they're losing battles. Satoshi's problem is that his pokemon are losing battles because he's not training them well enough. And to clarify, that's not my viewpoint, it's his. Satoshi's problem is that he's not good enough for himself, and he feels that that's something he has to fix on his own.

So how do we help him?

Our weather event in question is introduced in separate points in the episodes, but I'll cover them both now.

In xy, it's this snowstorm, which conveniently becomes a problem directly after Serena returns to the Pokemon Centre.

In journeys, it's a sandstorm! That's in near direct contrast to a snowstorm! Incredible.

Heading back to xy Satoshi, things aren't going great in the forest. Luckily, Serena's run off to find him.

I think it's of note here that Serena runs off with the best intentions, she wants to help Satoshi, plain and simple. It just sort of goes wrong along the way.

It's worth noting that Xy Satoshi tries to bring himself out of being sad by the tried and true method of "stop being sad"

Despite telling himself this, he doesn't get anywhere. Which makes sense, because it's not getting the the root of the problem. It's not even addressing it at all. He's just trying to 'be better', which isn't even a battle strategy. However, it is something I can see him saying, so this isn't a critique of Satoshi's thought process, but me pointing out that this isn't really effective. Which is supported by the narrative, because again, he doesn't get anywhere, he doesn't even move.

I can't show it in screencaps but the lights in Satoshi's eyes are shaking here, something that they consistently do throughout the series when he's feeling a particularly strong emotion. Keep that in mind. It couples well with another trait of his, and that's his hat!

And by that I mean how he hides his eyes with the brim of it when upset, something he does exactly as Serena shows up and calls out to him. Now, he's not upset that Serena is here. He's upset about the pokemon stuff still. He's trying to hide the fact that he's upset from Serena.

Serena starts off with her speech well, trying to appeal to Satoshi to let her in and talk things out. And maybe it's because he wasn't ready for it yet, or because of the way she phrases it (a lot of 'i' and 'me' language which can be helpful but can also come across as though she's making it about her. not her intent i don't think, but a possible interpretation.), it's not her fault for how Satoshi reacts regardless.

But how Satoshi reacts is not good.

Now it's really interesting to note that before this, Serena was standing while Satoshi was sitting, putting her above him in terms of active power, when it comes to how the shot is presented, but when Satoshi stands up, the camera tilts with the movement so that they're on equal level. Neat!

And Serena yells in return, scolding Satoshi for not talking about it. Not the best move, since pushing someone to talk about something that's upsetting them isn't really productive, but she's trying here and she's frustrated.

Satoshi continues to withdraw and self isolate, claiming it is his problem and that he wants to be left be. Now, this is the mindset of a clearly upset person and isolation may not be the best option, but he did make the explicit request to be left alone here.

He's clearly upset as he turns away from Serena's eye and slumps over a little.

And then Serena throws a snowball at him.

Angry as he is, you can see Satoshi's expression change when he sees Serena's reaction.

Serena tells Satoshi that she's not like the Satoshi she knows, who is always full of energy and positive and a leader, and a bunch of other positive traits. The problem here, is that Serena's looking at an idealized version of Satoshi. And while the intent here was probably meant to be something more like "you have so many wonderful traits about you I know you can do this", coupled with the snowballs and the phrasing, it seems as though Serena is scolding Satoshi for being sad.

Or rather, being angry with him for not living up to her idealized version of him, and not wanting him to express any negitave emotions.

Which is sort of a really bad mindset.

The snowballs continue, never once does Satoshi fight back. In fact, he stops arguing entirely after the first one. Serena knocks him off his feet and tells him he's not being himself, before running off. (In the english dub, Serena claims that Satoshi isn't being "the real satoshi" and then demands that the real Satoshi be "given back", so it could be worse)

Satoshi decides to literally run his problems away, because it will help him reach some kind of conclusion, and immediately trips and falls down a large hill. No, I'm not making that up. Something like this just isn't like him. He's just gotta stop being sad!

Now personally, I really disagree with the idea that "being upset" isn't "like a person". That's because based off of my own experiences, I know it can be really damaging to hold the mindset that any negative emotions you feel aren't a part of you and that you shouldn't be upset because you're usually a positive and happy person. Not the case with every person, but I personally really have a problem with shows telling children that they just shouldn't be upset instead of processing their emotions in a meaningful way. (The journeys episode doesn't do an outstanding job of it either, but this is a bit of a tangent anyway. A show that does do this right is "OK KO! Let's be Heroes" which actually deals with this problem in greater depth and does a fantastic job of it.)

But the snowball scene ends here. Now I'll get back to Journeys in a moment, but since Serena has finished her part of the comparison for the most part, I'm going to summarize a bit more of the xy episode.

Satoshi decides to literally run his problems away, because it will help him reach some kind of conclusion, and immediately trips and falls down a large hill. No, I'm not making that up.

The snowstorm kicks in, Serena get back annoyed, then similarly groans and yells, and the whole xy gang + pokemon go running off in search of Satoshi. Pikachu appears the most concerned.

Now Serena tells the others she lost her cool and said something horrible to Satoshi, but explains its because Satoshi is someone she admires. Cool motive, I get it, still kinda bad.

and in the end, it's not Serena's words that get he message across to Satoshi. The solution to this problem was Satoshi finding a way to reaffirm his abilities and instinct.

In the xy episode, he helps some pokemon out of the tree, and when his very cool frog friend shows up, they're able to work together with their bond to save this one from falling off a cliff.

Here's the point. Satoshi learns by doing, by actions. He needs to see first hand that there are ways of getting past his problems, and that it's worth having the courage to keep going. The lesson is about valuing pokemon as equals and partners, and specifically that trying to be better as the trainer alone isn't going to help.

This is essentially where this plot line ends, team rocket is there for a bit as well but as much as i love them they're not relevant here, and some fun stuff with the league, love it not important right now its like 3am and I'm not sleeping until this is finished so we gotta keep things moving.

This was no doubt Serena's intent to get a similar point, but she goes about it the wrong way. She tries to convey this with words, as conversation and motivational words have helped her in the past (Elle's words of praise stick with her, Satoshi's words from when they were kids, etc). It's a good idea, but their different ways of learning and growing from a similar situation are incompatible, and that's why things don't work out in Serena's favour. There's also still the problem of "pulling yourself together" not being helpful in this case.

There's also a very similar line in this scene to the one at the end of the journeys episode, as Satoshi says to his frog that they should start over from scratch. It's essentially the same phrase with different wording. It's great. The Storm ends as he realizes this as well! Wonderful in terms of pathetic fallacy.

The gang all reunites, its nice. Satoshi thanks Serena for what she said after apologizing to everyone, which contradicts what he said earlier but I've already established that I dislike this message here so I won't go over it too much. I guess he's right in a literal sense in that in response to her words he went and ran until he tripped off a cliff but the emotional growth here was because of his own actions (and the frogs), not Serena's. Sorry Serena, you'll get em next time.

This is essentially where this plot line ends, team rocket is there for a bit as well but as much as i love them they're not relevant here, and some fun stuff with the league, love it not important right now its like 3am as I write this so we gotta keep things moving.

So. What about Goh?

Well...

(Part Two here on account of image limit!!)

[ghostofbambifanfiction]

(1) Dear SarahI usually don't leave in depth reviews on stories because I struggle to properly express my thoughts in a (for me) foreign language, so I apologize in advance if this is all over the place. I just had to comment on the symmetry of Lily and Beas friendship to James and Remus' friendship and how well it translates into their romantic compatibilty.

(2) Like how Lily's kindness and "down to earth" common sense is mirrored in Remus and James' dramatic, sometimes over the top antics are mirrored in Bea. And other writers so often focus only on the James / Sirius friendship and treat Remus and Peter more like hanger-ons who are pulled into the other twos orbit. But your James, he deliberately seeks out Remus, especially with topics he can't properly address with Sirius.

(3) Like he knows that Remus will take him seriously and give him some perspective (like in Covet). I know Remus' dry exasperated attitude to James drama could sometimes be perceived as condescending when considered very superficially, but then he's always there for James in the end, to an extent Sirius probably wouldn't be (if he considered the topic not worth it). And I love that so much, that we get to see and experience that strong foundation of their friendship, with true affection

(4) and respect on both sides. And it's amazing that James is attracted to Lily, who shares so many of these aspects with Remus, who will take him seriously because she sees the underlying issues, who will tell him truthfully when he's acting nuts, but always kindly, never in that condescending "I have to change his personality" way that she is often portrayed. And also I see so many similarities between James and Bea, who I believe would both do anything for the people they love, their intense

(5) loyalty. While Bea may appear a bit more self-involved than James on a first glance, we have seen that she has such a heart of gold and could easily be guilt-tripped (if she were friends with someone without Lily's kindness). So their personalities are matching up so perfectly and all this open affection and support is giving me hope for humankind ❤I'm not sure if I managed to express this blur of thoughts in my head, but I hope you can make sense of this mess. Basically, yay supportive

Um, so this made me cry at work and I had to go to the loo and collect myself????

So I find it sort of stunning and gratifying when people think this much about the way I write these characters, because I do, but I never expect other people to do the same? And literally everything you've just pointed out is exactly what I intend to put across when I write these characters, especially re: Beatrice. She's particularly special to me because she's just mine, and one of my big reasons for deciding to write this fic is because I wanted to show everyone who she is in more depth, and where her deepest insecurities lie. Because she has a lot of insecurities! Yeah, she knows how gorgeous and alluring and charming she is, she doesn't doubt her ability to "get the guy" as it were, but she also has no faith in her own intelligence. She thinks she's stupid. So she plays up to being shallow and silly as a defence mechanism, it's that classic "laugh at yourself so people laugh with you" thing, right? But ultimately, that means she's absolutely the kind of girl who certain, shitty types of guys would date because they think she's stupid, and then they'd condescend to her and talk down to her or try to use her to satiate their physical needs without caring for her at all, and make her feel like absolute shit about herself. Which is why Lily is so worried about her in ASOUFE, because she knows all of this. And it's also why putting her with Remus feels so deserved and lovely to me, because all four of them deserve to be with someone who sees them and thinks they're marvellous, and for James and Beatrice in particular I think it's absolutely life-affirming for them to be with sensible, reasonable people who keep them grounded but also celebrate their silliness??? It's always in my mind that J and B have a shared fundamental fear that, despite how funny and talented and attractive they both are, deep down they aren't worthy enough as people to be loved by anyone with substance, because they can't see their own. That's why James channels all of his anxiety into ridiculous non-issues and Beatrice acts all superficial. And this has been a ramble, but I love these characters so much and I care about what happens to them. They feel immensely real to me.