#and wanted to have a real relationship with her but helen is just in a completely different place mentally

[avadaniels]

so maybe helen and dale have more parallels with tomshiv than i thought

[myheartissetinmotion]

thinking about how, in the midst of a color-saturated, reference-filled, slightly-cringey-yet-delightful, so-hollywood-it-hurts film adaptation that doesn’t get talked about much, lily and finn pulled off the most stunningly nuanced portrayal of delena’s relationship i’ve seen yet

[imajinxnation]

HI HI HI!!

First of all I wanted to start off by saying that I absolutely love your work and I saw that your requests are open so I was wondering if I could make one??

Could I request a one shot with John Wick x reader where they’re in a relationship and are out at a bar or something and someone is just being really creepy and hitting on a clearly uncomfortable reader? Cue protective John to the rescue!!

Honestly you can take this wherever you want or do whatever you want with this!

Thank you so much, but if not no worries at all :)

Have an amazing day/ night!!!

J & J (Jardani & Jealousy)

John Wick x Reader

SUMMARY // You get hit on by someone in a Café, which makes Jardani(John) get jealous and protective.

TW // Fluff, Creepy Girl, Sexy Protective Jardani, Cussing, Suggestive...

I switched between the names Jardani and John because I'm in love with his real name.

Also, decided on a Café because more people go to Café's than Bars (at least where I'm from).

Lmk if there are any mistakes, my dumb brain wants to say 'I' everytime I type 'you'.

ALL GIFS FROM PINTEREST

When John wanted to go on a quiet Café date with you, this was not what he had planned. Everything was going so well, until he left to use the washroom and came back to see a girl practically sitting on you, she was so close. Just by the expression on your face, he could tell you were extremely uncomfortable with this girl; and she wasn't taking a hint.

Her face gets closer to yours, he sees her whisper something in your ear and he starts to feel a fire burn in his soul, his protectiveness taking over.

That's what he's seeing now, but let's back it up a bit to when he first left to use the washroom and take a look at what happened that he didn't see.

You're sitting quietly in your booth, looking out the window at the street and all the different cars passing by, a dreamy look in your eyes. Obviously, you were thinking about the love of your life, Jardani. You knew about his old life and what happened with Helen, but that didn't tip you off from dating on him because you know that he is more than his past. You also know that Helen will always have a piece of his heart, and you don't mind as long as you also have a piece of his heart, too.

"Excuse me," a voice says.

You're taken out of your daydream when you hear a woman's voice speaking next to you. A waitress at the Café stands there, smiling at you with a weird look in her eyes. You smile politely at the waitress and sit up straight.

"Yes?" You ask, smiling gently.

"These are your orders. If I may ask, where'd your father go?" The waitress asked after setting the drinks and breakfast on the table, a grin on her face.

You freeze for a minute. 'Did this bitch just call Jardani my father?' You think. 'I get that he's older than me, but anyone can tell by the way we act that we're romantically involved!'

You give her the most obvious fake smile you could muster before replying,

"He went to use the washroom. Also, he's my boyfriend, not my father."

The waitress gave a shocked look, not expecting those words to come out of your lips. Suddenly she looked at you with fake concerned eyes. You raise a brow at her expression, waiting for some bullshit to come out of her mouth.

"Oh sweetie, you can tell me. Is he making you date him, are you okay?" She puts her hand on your shoulder and strokes down your arm before sliding into the seat right next to you, her hip and thigh squishing yours.

"What? No, he's not making me date him, I really do love him," you say, trying to be as polite as possible, not wanting to cause a huge scene.

"Honey, you don't have to lie to me! Besides, you can do so much better. You need someone closer to your age," she plays with your hair.

You look around nervously, checking to see if John had finished in the washroom yet. When you still didn't see him, you mentally cursed him for leaving you to deal with this crazy woman who doesn't understand what 'no' means. You also prayed he'd be back soon so you could stop playing nice and get her to leave.

"I really don't, trust me, I've tried to date people my age, they're rude assholes," I say, trying to hint at her.

"You just haven't met the right one yet.." she whispers in your ear, her breath making you shudder in disgust and lose your appetite for breakfast.

"What's going on here?" John asks politely as he walks up to the table.

Once the woman is no longer looking at you and is looking at John instead, you mouthed the word 'help' behind her back, giving your lover a distressed look. You see a look of understanding in his eyes.

"Yes, well, you can do that without sitting on their lap, and besides, don't you have other customers to tend to?" His words quickly made her feel embarrassed, and she quickly left to do just that, but not before glancing back at you, winking at you and mouthing 'call me!'.

"Oh nothing, I was just telling your.. partner.. that they looked lovely today," the woman lied, giving him an uninterested look, giving him a quick once over.

You let out a breath that you didn't even know you were holding, your body relaxing as John moved back to his seat across from you.

"That was awful, thank you for that.. I see that look on your face, no matter how much you, or even I, wanna kill her, she is technically an innocent," you point out.

John raises an eyebrow at you, "That? I can tell you right now there was nothing innocent about that.. thing."

You roll your eyes and can't help but smile at his protectiveness, the fire in his eyes burning you to the core. Seeing him angry and possessive was always a sight, and it never failed to make you squirm in your seat.

"You know.. she really tipped me off my breakfast, maybe we could just.. Oh, I don't know.. Go home, take a hot shower.." You say, not trying to be subtle at all with your intentions.

"Yeah, I think that's a great idea," he gives a small smirk, the fire in his eyes that was burning with anger, now burning with desire.

"Well, let's not wait.. Jardani," you tease him, riding your foot up his leg, getting him excited.

Jardani shivers, from both your touch on his leg and you saying his real name. You calling him by his birth name always does things to him, and it will get you anything you want.

[asha-mage]

WoT Meta: Prophecies, Fated Lovers, and Robert Jordan's knack for finding the nuance underneath the myth

One complaint I've never understood about the way Jordan writes romances is the persistent claim that he over uses the 'prophesied love' trope.

In part for me, I think it's a little bit folks not seeing the forest for the trees. WoT is fundamentally about the relationship between myth and reality: the place where the fallen angel meets the disgruntled academic, the bitter accountant, and the man who never got over being too short. It's a story where the messiah is real and dealing with chronic pain and PTSD from his stigmata. Where a legendary High Queen has to deal with both marching armies to the apocalypse, and the irritating banal realities of being pregnant at the same time. Of course Jordan digs into the idea of prophesied love- it's a huge theme in folklore and mythologies the world over. Jordan wants to dig into what it really means for there to be a person out there that you are destined to be with: that is a match for you, decreed so by the universe itself....and that you get absolutely no agency and choice in choosing. If anything Tumblr, which adores the 'red string of fate'/'soulmark'/'soulmates share pain'/'world is black until you look into your soulmates eyes' (to name a few of the more prevalent ones- some of which Tumblr practically invented), should be super on board for the parade of fated lovers to be found in WoT. It's nothing short of baffling to me that their not more fondly viewed.

And I think that is tied to the follow up complaint: the criticism that Jordan 'uses prophecy love as a replacement for a romance arc'. But that is something that is just. Patently untrue.

Cause the thing is that is how soulmates are often used...in the majority of soulmate au fanfics you find here and on AO3- an excuse to get the really hard part (two characters realizing they are right for each other and love each other, then having the communication skills to articulate that so they can start a relationship) out of the way, so the author can focus on the fluff or angst or other part they and the audience want to get to. And that's fine! But that's not at all what Jordan does. Just like he does with the Prophecies of the Dragon, or Elaida's fortellings, or even just most of Min's viewings- Jordan takes the idea of the prophecy soulmate, this person decreed by some higher power to be Perfect For You and being right about it, and digs deeper, shining it in different lights and attacking it from different angles. Jordan gives the concept of the soulmate teeth, explores the spines and the sharp points of it: is it real love if it's fated and not your choice? Can you trust your own feelings, or are they fate's design working against you as surely as Aphrodite worked against Helen or Eros against Apollo? What is it like, to see someone one day, and know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that you would love this stranger? This question mark? This wildcard?

Rand's relationships with Min and Aviendha, as well as Mat and Tuon's courtship are great examples of this conundrum. Min and Aviendha have completely opposite reactions to the same information that demonstrates their unique strengths and weaknesses as characters and people, while Tuon and Mat's courtship is all about two people who know they will marry trying to figure out what that means, without ever confronting the reality of those prophecies directly.

Min, as befits a Seer who has learned time and time again that her viewings can not be changed, has resigned herself in an almost fatalistic fashion to all of them, and to loving Rand no less. Min knows that she, and two others, will love him, and she accepts its inevitability the same way she accepts Colavere's death, or Logain's glory, or the shattering of the White Tower. What is, is, and there is no sense or point in struggling against it. What concerns her a great deal more is what she doesn't know- she doesn't know if Rand will love her in return, she doesn't know the identity of the other two women who will love him, and she doesn't know if he will fall in love with one or both of the others but not her. Add to that Min's own insecurities about how she stands out and doesn't fit what her society deems 'proper', between her crossdressing, and her offputting manners, and it makes perfect sense that she's worried about making Rand love her. She doesn't mind sharing him- she hates the idea of being in love with a man who doesn't love her in return, of being stuck like 'Elmindreda' of the stories, sighing and pining endlessly for a man instead of being able to act, to take control of her own fate. 

So she takes control: she learns to flirt from Leane, works hard at making herself desirable, and also indispensable: with her visions, her advice, even just her emotional support to Rand when he otherwise has no one else. The irony is that whenever Rand thinks of Min prior to her return to his side in LoC, it's about how much he liked her earthy honesty and lack of wiles: how she was earnest and made him feel at ease, and didn't 'spin his head like a top'- and that's still what he loves about her after they get together: the fact that she isn't fooled by his front, that she sees him clearly and refuses to be driven away the way so many others are so easily. The point is that Min never had to change, and in the ways that matter she didn't- she only thought she did because of her own fatalism.

Contrast that with Aviendha, who, after learning about being destined to fall in love with Rand, does everything in her power to prevent that outcome- because she is a warrior, a soldier, who has never yet met a problem that could not be killed, endured, or retreated from. Aviendha values nothing so much as her honor and her word- she has promised to keep Rand safe for Elayne and what greater act of dishonor could there be in that situation then not just failing in that promise, but despoiling (and she does view it that way) said man herself? So she is awful to him in the hopes of poisoning the well of affection or at least keeping him far enough away that she is never tempted. Aviendha hurls contempt and anger at him, berates him, does everything short of trying to stab him in an effort to make him hate her, and it doesn't work. Despite all her efforts to keep her thorny wall up, they are literally made for each other and can not help but be drawn together time and again. Despite all her efforts to insist, to him and herself, that she hates him, she can not hide entirely that the opposite is true: that she likes him, sees his strength and courage and resilience, and is a little in awe of his generous kindness. 

This is why she vacillates wildly between wanting desperately to get away from him in The Fires of Heaven, to not wanting to leave his side: they are two planets caught in each other's gravity, with about as much chance of escaping each other. When she resorts to the last recourse of a soldier- retreat- and runs headlong into a blizzard that would surely kill her, Rand follows to try and save her life and she can deny the truth that she loves him no longer, nor can she resist taking him, even knowing that to redress that balance, she will one day have to offer her life to Elayne (as she attempts to do in LoC)- though fate still has other plans in store.

But in many ways the apex of this, the relationship that really shows Jordan's deconstruction of this trope, is Mat and Tuon. Before they ever lay eyes on each other, each is given a prophecy that they will marry the other: not that they'll love each other, not that they will be able to trust each other, not even that that will like each other: just that they will marry. And their strange courtship is a result of this knowledge, as each attempts to suss out the other, to try and understand them without ever overplaying their own hand. Each believes that the moment they admit their prophecy they will destroy any chance of real connection or understanding.

To Tuon, if Mat learns he is destined to wed her he gains something she can not abide: power over her, leverage that could be used to subvert her own plans and visions- because nothing matters more to Tuon than control, especially over herself. So she keeps her 'fortune' secret and tries to figure out: What will it mean to be married to Mat? Will he be a pretty trophy? A liability? A threat to her Empire? Will she have to kill him once she gets her heirs?

To Mat, if Tuon learns of his prophecy, she gains the power to take away his freedom, to snare and collar him and bind him to her, because that's how Mat deep down views marriage: as a binding cord, a loss of freedom, and nothing matters to Mat more than freedom. So he keeps his *Finn gained knowledge secret and tries to figure out: What will it mean to be collared by Tuon? Will she she treat him as a pretty and plaything the way Tylin did? Will she try to use him against Rand and the Westlands? Will she make him a slave and sent him to be beaten anytime he disobeys her? Will he have no choice but to fight her one day, this woman he is going to swear to spend his life with? Will he have to kill her the way he did Melindhra, and carry that guilt of mariticide on top of all else?

So the two stay in their strange limbo, because as long as they don't admit it out loud to the other, they can pretend they are still two people forced together by happenstance, and (each thinks) they can continue to try and understand and figure out the other, to find out where this inevitability of their marriage will really leave them, and if there can be even the faintest possibility of love in such circumstances. And that limbo- that protracted refusal to act as if they are under fate's direction- is what allows them to build a genuine bond of trust and respect for each other, and to start seeing the other person with the clarity that love requires. All this, so that when Tuon finally does play her hand, and reveal the truth....it's obvious they've long since fallen in love with each other (even though Tuon won't admit that to herself), and come to trust each other (even though Mat won't admit that to himself).

And the thing is- all of Jordan’s prophecy romances are written like this: from Egwene seeing that loving Gawyn might be both their downfalls in LoC and seeking him out anyways, to Perrin misinterpreting the 'falcon and hawk' viewing and thinking Faile is a danger to him when she's the love of his life, to Galad and Berelain not even being AWARE they’re fated to fall in love and just....do, at wild first sight (Another classic folklore/mythology trope). They also never find out:  always remaining unaware that the Pattern had long since decreed that they would be together and being incredibly funny/annoying about it. The prophesied love is an example of classic Jordan: taking a common, maybe even ubiquitous premise, and asking those complicating questions that allow him to write it as something much more nuanced and interesting and fascinating. And he gets no credit for it, send tumble.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

i think you're onto something with the romance novels world and plot points needing to mirror the kind of outlandishness of the love story. bc the main characters are already inherently acting absurd just by falling madly in love in a month or whatever and then if you add in the contrivances of romance tropes, it starts to feel like whiplash trying to pretend the characters live in any sort of grounded "normal" world. Like when the author adds in a family conflict subplot where the MC is like in absolute shambles because her mom said something slightly passive aggressive at lunch. that reads as more jarring to me than like conflict being something ridiculous that her mom doesn't want her being a marine biologist bc they come from a long line of fishmongers. Give me absurd drama to match the over the top dialogue and character emotions, I knew it would be unrealistic it's a romance novel! I guess this applies more to romcoms, but the same would apply I think to an analogous serious scenario. Or at least that's my take on it

okay so having just finished genuinely the most boring romance novel I have ever read in my LIFE I'm going to expand on this a little so thank you for sending an ask that gives me such a great platform to do that

I personally generally prefer a romance that just gets fucking silly with it, like really outlandish. A Lady for the Duke (Alexis Hall) is obviously the dream, being a whole swoony historical trans-affirming fantasy, but contemporary fake relationship stories can also be fun in their sheer ridiculousness, like Love, Hate, and Clickbait (Liz Bowery), which I actually liked, and Unfortunately Yours (Tessa Bailey), which I did not like but was very funny. and let's not forget queen Helen Hoang's Bride Test, which has a premise that dances perilously close to human trafficking but all works out in the end!!!

BUT HAVING SAID THAT. I don't think that something needs to be totally implausible to be a good romance. two of my very favorites romance novels anywhere ever are Helen Hoang's Heart Principle (no one should be surprised Hoang is on her twice I adore her) and Akwaeke Emezi's You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty. both of these books are very grounded in reality but with very uncommon situations to heighten emotions and add urgency; in Hoang's case it's a character's adult autism diagnosis + death of a parent and in Emezi's case it's a very sudden and #problematic attraction coming out of absolutely nowhere. the stakes are very real, mostly centering around being true to yourself v disappointing your family, but the circumstances are still wild enough to make you say "god DAMN" and keep turning pages. hell, I'll even be extremely generous and include Mistakes Were Made (Meryl Wilsner) which is kind of a flop but does have the intriguing premise of "what if you were fucking a milf but her kid was YOUR BEST FRIEND and it was a secret?"

those are like the two sweet spots TO ME, and this book I just read (which was Thank You for Sharing by Rachel Runya Katz, I feel so bad putting it on blast but I know people are going to ask) really solidified it for me because TYFS didn't fall into either of those categories. I'm going to say something absolutely insane, which is that multiple times while I was reading it I found myself wishing that the book was fanfic, because on its own it just... didn't bring a lot to the table? it falls into the grounded category but doesn't really bring any of those heightened stakes to the story, it's just 330 pages of people in their late twenties complaining about dating and their office jobs. if I wanted that I could just ask my group chat! there's nothing particularly particularly gripping about watching made up strangers do it!

but then I was like oh hang on... if this was two fictional characters who are usually fighting with swords or throwing cars at each other or something this would be so gripping. it's literally the coffee shop AU principle, right? like seeing people in a very mundane setting having an office job and going to a bar is very shrimpteresting when they're normally defusing space bombs. I was explaining this to my housemates and I couldn't think of a straight couple to apply it to (the book is m/f) so I said Naruto and Sasuke, which is crazy because I've never seen a single episode of Naruto, but like. idk Naruto being a museum curator who has to work with Sasuke, a marketing specialist who he had beef with a summer camp 14 years ago, sounds kind of compelling, right? definitely more than just two people I don't know.

there's a post on here that I think about a lot that talks about why advertising a story with tropes doesn't work for original fiction as well as it does for fan fic because knowing the tropes is more helpful when you already have a sense of investment in the characters and their personalities, and I think this is related to that! I think sometimes you NEED to have a wider sense of scope for the characters for them to be interesting in a very mundane setting!

ANYWAY. much to consider, etc.

[magpod-confessions]

i love love love the dichotomy between michael and helen. they are both the distortion, they’re both avatars of the spiral, but they’re so different at the same time.

michael is clearly Not Human, even when he looks like a normal man, there’s something very deliberately strange about the way he talks and acts. he’s been an avatar for so long, he has almost completely lost his touch with humanity and real human experiences. he has no sense of identity, “michael” is just the name he uses first convenience than the name he identifies with, and meeting him is like a fever dream. you question your reality and your sanity, you don’t know if what you’re seeing is real or a hallucination. his laugh gives people a headache and there’s a strong sense of unreality when other characters interact with him.

helen, on the other hand, is intensely REAL. she has only been the distortion for a short period of time so it makes sense that she clearly still remembers human emotion and experience. and she uses that knowledge to manipulate people. she makes people trust her, even when they are fully aware that she is an avatar and probably has wrong intentions. helen uses her knowledge of having been a human at some point, and probably uses og!helen’s memories (since she definitely seems to know enough about og!helen) in order to play with people’s emotions and convince them that she is their friend. it’s like that one toxic relationship you have where you KNOW that the person doesn’t give shit about you, they have hurt you or betrayed your trust before, but you still want to stay with them. they’re nice SOMETIMES, and that sometimes is worth it.

if michael is an averagely human-looking guy (except for his reflection) whose behaviour comes off as strange and inhuman, helen imo decidedly looks very overtly inhuman, but she talks and acts like a human being so surely she’s not that bad, right? while michael manipulates you by distorting your reality and making you feel paranoid and confused, helen manipulates you by luring you into a false sense of security, making you feel like she’s at least not as bad as the other avatars, when she is.

both these characters are so unique and interesting, i find it absurd that people keep comparing them. you don’t have to like both of them, but you also don’t need to bash one of them or act like people are unreasonable for preferring one over the other.

.

[elialys]

why do you think Hellen said no to Dales proposal?

I’m glad I waited before answering your question because I’ve listened to the Emsolation podcast with Michael Lucas (the show writer) in which he answered all kinds of questions about season 2, and that was one of them!

(I’m paraphrasing here, it’s been a few days since I listened to it!)

According to Michael, one of the main reasons why Helen rejected Dale’s proposal is because Helen genuinely can’t see herself having that kind of ‘normal’ life, not just with Dale but in general. The fact that it was Dale proposing made it even ‘worse’ because of how…atypical their couple is. Michael said Anna was pretty set on the concept that if Helen had a choice, she wouldn’t be in any relationship at all, that she was with Dale because she genuinely loved him, but it wasn’t something she felt ‘fit’ her, so Helen basically freaked out at being proposed to.

Because I love spending hours analyzing character’s motivations, fears and limitations, I’ve also thought a lot about this, not just because I’m going to be writing about it 😅 While I absolutely loved hearing Michael’s explanation and obviously believes it to be true since, duh, he literally wrote those characters, I think it’s even more complicated than Helen ‘simply’ not wanting to get married.

To me, from what we’ve seen in season 2, between the hotel scene in 2x01 with Helen’s reaction to learning Gerry had propositioned Dale, and the return of Tim in 2x04 reminding her of what’s happened before, she still had a lot of insecurities regarding Dale’s sexuality. The way I see it, even though I’m sure she believes it when Dale says he loves her and that he’s not just a closeted gay man trying to convince himself he’s INTO WOMEN, I’m sure it’s still one of her fears, that Dale is basically hiding with her, even unconsciously. And that to Dale, proposing to her and making her his wife is another way to PROVE THAT HE’S LIKE EVERY OTHER MAN.

Which is what was actually happening, in my opinion?? Even if I one hundred percent believe Dale is bisexual and that he absolutely loves Helen, he’s clearly not comfortable with that bi side of himself, in great part because he lives in a world that doesn’t accept people like him, and he’s been traumatized as a teen for having feelings for another boy—not to mention how his mum clearly doesn’t support *not being straight*. I highly recommend listening to Sam Reid talking about Dale in the official podcast for ep 2x06, he explains this so much better than me right now haha.

Basically Dale is trying to mold himself into what he believes a REAL MAN should be. So yeah, like he told Garry in 2x03, ‘of course’ he wants to get married (“Doesn’t everyone?”), because if he marries a woman, he’s CLEARLY NOT HAVING GAY THOUGHTS.

What I’m trying to say is that I think Helen is very much aware of that on some level. Of the fact that her sweet bi babygirl Dale is desperate for STRAIGHT VALIDATION, and that she might have been afraid it would just blow up in her face one day when Dale realized he actually did need “more” than what she could give him as a woman.

I’m not even going to delve into Helen’s insecurities about herself as a ‘fucking disaster’, because I could write a 40-pages long essay about her to be honest, but hopefully you get the idea. These characters are complex and very messy, and I think they broke apart because they weren’t communicating properly, which is often why people break apart. Dale never *asked* Helen if she was actually interested in marriage, even after his shitty first proposal. If they had talked about it properly, I think a lot of this would have been avoided.

[intimidating-fettuccine]

here's a question that has probably been asked before: how did you come up with you rewrites for the characters? all of the backstories you gave them are really interesting and, while I haven't read the originals in a long time, I think I like what you did more. I found your work only in the past couple days, but I like it a lot; your versions of the creeps feel the most like real people that I've found since my interest in them reignited. but yeah, love your work.

(also, I may show back up in your ask box, so may I be "embroidery anon"?)

Firstly, thank you very much!! I tried really hard to make them much more realistic/three dimensional instead of just “oohhh I like to kill people!!” Ya know? I’m glad that people like you over time have liked that aspect of them :)) Prepare for some rambling though-

As for coming up for their specific backstories, that’s a little hard to answer I think just because of how long it’s been since I started doing that. I’ve been into the creeps since I was 11 and I’m turning 23 in a couple weeks so, it’s been a long ride. The creeps grew up alongside me and I think for some of them their stories just sort of evolved in my mind over the years. I mean I’ve literally been in the fandom for longer than several creeps like Toby, Pup, Helen, etc.

The basics are just I’d look at the original story for most of them, decide what I think I could keep, and what I’d like to change. For a creep like Toby, I wanted him to still have a good relationship with his mom and sister, and I still wanted his sister to die, but for Natalie I made her brother an ally to her and someone she loves and trusts instead of one of the bad guys. But I mostly wanted to make the writing darker and more in depth, I wanted them to be darker and more realistic as people.

I also wanted different backgrounds for them, like Toby/Helen/Natalie coming from very rich and influential families, EJ in my canon growing up in a cult, Jason and LJ both being toys instead of just LJ, things like that.

The thing about rewriting them I think is that most of the OG stories are not… The best written stories ever? Most of them were written by preteens/teens and not the most realistic pieces of media. Like in Jeff’s, being burned by fire made his hair turn black and his skin turn white, which is not really how fire and burns work?? And then he went on to burn off his eyelids which also not a great idea? I’ve actually had people get upset that my Jeff has eyelids but like if he didn’t he would be completely blind and in literal agony because his eyes would be completely dried out. That’s not a great design imo, but it was also written by a child so like, that’s why.

Most of my designs just sort of pop into my head randomly though. I get an idea like for BEN I wanted him to be close to his mom, but I didn’t want her to still be living so I went okay, how do I expand on that? And that’s how I came up with my version of his story, with his mom dying young from illness and his father being abusive and resentful.

I wish I had a better way of explaining it but that’s just sort of my general thought process. I started to look at them more as individual characters/OCs instead of just the original lore, which I mean most blogs for the creeps these days have their own lore too. I don’t think my creeps are the best ones ever (except in my heart), but I also had a lot of fun writing them and coming up with their backgrounds. I got influenced a lot by songs and media and they just gradually came into fruition :) I’m glad they were good enough to reignite your interest.

(And also yes, you may take that anon name ^^)

[syoddeye]

According to Plan / Part One

Finally got around to acting on this idea. Something to work on between chapters of For the Record. Think it'll be good practice.

Part one of Gaz getting leave to go on a rare holiday with his moms. He's put in the work to make the vacation absolutely perfect, but then he meets an American girl, and things just keep. Going. Wrong.

No smut. Yet.

My Italian is incredibly rusty. I am so sorry lol

The title may change I couldn't think of one :/

Mama's boy.

A phrase thrown at Gaz so often since he could remember it barely fazed him. He had a perfectly healthy relationship with his mums, thanks. He'd seen enough in his tenure in the SAS and the 141 that he knew he was lucky to have a family that liked one another, let alone a family at all. So when the opportunity for a two-week leave popped up on the horizon, he set his sights and strategized.

It took months and a level of coordination that surely rivaled Laswell, but he pulled off Operation Sorpresa. A tremendous success, he thought, to not only secure all the details but to ensure the dates aligned with the work schedules of both of his mothers.

He'd logged in for their usual video chat (weekly, when possible), and let them believe he was coming home the following month. The looks on their faces when he casually mentioned that he wasn't coming to visit them. They were going to meet him in Italy, in a little town called Florence.

All the planning proved worth it with their outrageous reactions.

With an art history professor and a fabrication instructor for mums, it was the perfect destination. And with his planning, it would be the perfect trip. He booked the best hotels and restaurants he could afford. Reserved tickets to museums and half a dozen tours, in and outside of the city. Just him and his two favorite people, exploring the cradle of the Renaissance.

'Course, the day he arrived, nearly knocked out by jet lag, there'd been an issue with the hotel reservation. Overbooked, dispiace, the receptionist explained, But we can accommodate you at our boutique hotel across the Arno. It wasn't the city center like he wanted, but he rolled with the change, hauling all three of their bags across the Ponte Sante Trinita without too much complaint.

"Kyle, would it be too much trouble for you to run out and find ibuprofen? I'm not acclimated to all the walking just yet," His mother, Helen, asked. She was crammed into the elevator with his other mum, Rebecca, and their bags.

He'd need one, too, given the combined weight of their bags. "Can do. I'll just put my things in my room and pop out."

Whatever they wanted, he'd see it done. It was the least he could do, given the fact they were his mothers. Practically saints, what with their endless font of patience for both raising him and never asking too much about work.

After butchering a conversation with two different shopkeepers, he returned to the hotel, tucked between what appeared to be a real estate office and a bistro. Eager to get his mothers moving to their dinner plans, he opened the ancient wooden door and–

What's this?

The tired hotel clerk and a young woman were absorbed in a frankly concerningly energetic conversation (argument?) at the tiny reception desk. He couldn't see her face, only that she looked…fancy. Overdressed, at least to him. She gripped the strap of a leather bag slung over her shoulder, knuckles nearly white. He couldn't understand a lick of what they were saying. Definitely nothing about apples or his non-existent niece's shoes. Thank you, worthless language app.

Her hand slapped down on the desk, and she shouted something that made the clerk's half-lidded eyes pop open. Was that…English? Italglish?

Gaz couldn't help himself.

"Hey, you," He said, crossing the small 'lobby' with the shop bag still in hand. "I don't know what's going on, but I'm pretty sure you can't just–"

The woman turned, face pinching into a confused expression as she saw him approach. "Excuse me?" She asked, this time in perfect English. Immediately, Gaz clocked her as American.

"You're yelling at the clerk. Anyone ever teach you that's rude?" He arched a brow, eyes raking over her face. She couldn't be a year or two younger or older than him.

The woman's eyebrows rose. She registered what he was saying, then glanced back at the clerk, who met her eye with a similarly confused look. Slowly, their expressions changed, and the pair broke into laughter.

"Pensa che stiamo litigando?" The clerk asked.

"Credo di si. Un momento."

One moment. Gaz got that. He stood, eyes darting between them expectantly. The tips of his ears heated in slight embarrassment from their laughter.

The woman turned back, head tilted. "We're not arguing," It was her turn to study him. "Is this your first time in Italy? Because this," She gestured between herself and the uniformed man. "Is a normal conversation."

Gaz frowned slightly, not exactly believing her, but now felt a little silly. "It didn't sound like that."

She grinned, a bit too smug for his tastes. "I was telling him a story about a group of English tourists making asses of themselves. Is that normal? If we're making assumptions and all."

It annoyed him how quick she was with the comment, but worse was how his lip curled in a smile before he could stop it. "I get it. Apologies."

"No harm done. Can't complain about a man who'd step in to defend a stranger like that," She said and glanced down at the shopping bag. "If you need more medicine, turn left outside the hotel and head down two blocks to Farmacia San Felice. Better prices." With that, she returned to the clerk to continue their lively conversation.

Gaz's grip tightened defensively, thinking he did a pretty decent job with his errand, then turned away to go upstairs to deliver the medicine to his mother.

The young woman and clerk watched him go. She couldn't help but admire how fit the man was, even if his Union Jack ballcap was ridiculous.

"Che muscoli," The clerk murmured.

"Infatti," She agreed, eyes lingering until he disappeared from view.

Translations:

Pensa che stiamo litigando? // Does he think we're arguing? Credo di si. Un momento. // I think so. One moment. Che muscoli. // What muscles. Infatti. // Indeed.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Everyone is demanding a season 3 of newsreader but have we considered what fucked up state Dale would be in after a timeskip? Do you think as his career becomes the only thing real to Dale he would seek out another relationship with a woman(maybe she’s aware), not out of desire like Helen, but to premeditatedly cover himself because he knows there are rumours out there? Seeing hate about Dale breaks my heart because all the alienation between him and those he cares about isn’t just caused by him but the pressure of the bigoted society of the time.

Actually, I would think his deal at the end of the season already hints at that, yes.

I mean, what other... "events" and details she could write about would he be able to provide? In the Sun's gossip section? So yes, I expect a (trophy) wife and maybe kids even. At least... for a while. And, of course, the career.

And I don't get hate on him, tbh (and not just because I like Sam btw). I also haven't seen much of it, but then I didn't go and look because... yeah. I expected it, tbh.

Dale is... almost too naïve, too head-driven. The traumatic experience with his school friend has driven all other motivations out of him, what's left is his feelings and needs (which he cannot fully suppress, obviously) and the ambition. He loves Helen, and he wants to keep her safe at any cost - ill-advised actions included.

And I must say that it hurt terribly to see them break apart then, Anna said in the podcast that the infidelity (the kiss) from s1 still influenced Helen, and... that's so terrible in a way, that she is still so insecure about it all at that point (and we already see hints of that in the hotel room) - but also that it whiplashes right back, because ill-advised proposal(s) or not... he meant it?! Twice.

And only then do they both do something stupid?!

He gets drunk and (abandoned by both Gerry and Tim?! The fuck? You don't do that guys.) and blackouts with someone, and she... goes to "the real man". Ouch.

(And I love and hate that scene in the hallway, where you can see how hurt he actually is, and how much she is reeling. Bravo to the acting but dammit.)

Dale then... loses some of his innocence, after. He has to, he has to own up in a way, or lose it all. It's why he rejects her (also absolutely) ill-advised proposal, after. He knows they're past that. He knows he is.

And so he does what Gerry did.

Pain, pain and more pain.

But hate?

No. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[hyperfixatedonstuff]

for a game/comic series with far more men than women tf2 writes their female characters very well.

like miss pauling, the administrator, and zhanna are the most prominent female characters and they’re all REAL CHARACTERS.

Miss Pauling is shown to be very good at her job but they also develop other parts of her character. For example, in Grey Mann’s death scene we learn that she isn’t just blindly following the administrator. She’s aware of what she’s doing and while she’s not fully aware of Helen’s plans, she knows that they likely aren’t well intentioned but she still follows through. In her scenes with the administrator(their death specifically) we see more of the trust she’s put in her starting to crumble or at least falter. Then with Zhanna she opens up about failing and not knowing what to do.

Even though a huge joke of her character is that she only gets one day off we still get to see part of her off work. In Gargoyles and Gravel we get to see that she’s creative and enjoys fantasy games and that she’s a bit nerdy! I just think it’s so sweet that she’s a woman dedicated to her job but that isn’t ALL she is yk?

And we get to see her relationships with all the different mercs! Like when she offers Sniper tips on disposing bodies or when she breaks down in front of Spy or when tfc Spy is pretending to be Heavy! She’s taken seriously by the other mercs and they often look to her to decide what to do next but it’s clear they also view her as their friend and i just like that a lot.

This is kind of a mess but my point is that she’s a very complex character that isn’t needlessly sexualized and watered down. She’s given equal and in some cases more development than her male counterparts.

Then there’s Zhanna, who is originally introduced as Heavy’s sister and then becomes Soldier’s fiancée. My favorite thing about this is that she’s capable of being both. I know it sounds stupid to say but in so much media women loose so much character once they’re paired off with a man. But Zhanna doesn’t! She still does stuff on her own like breaking herself and Soldier out from the tfc team. And then another thing is that her feud with Miss Pauling actually makes sense. Obviously Miss Pauling isn’t interested in him but when they first meet and go to New Zealand and Soldier and Pauling try to have that conversation abt her ofc it’s suspicious. Pauling was suspicious of her so ofc she’d be suspicious in return. But when Zhanna finds Miss Pauling stressed out abt her job and the australium and Pauling confides in her, she puts aside her doubts and reassures her that they are a team and they’ll figure it out!

Then there’s the Administrator. I don’t have much to say about her besides the fact that she’s constantly credited as a mastermind and everyone respects/fears her power.

This was completely unprompted and random so it’s very unorganized but i just wanted to talk abt it bc the way some of the tf2 fandom talks abt women sucks and it makes me happy that the writers don’t write them in that way ig.

[thewhumpcaretaker]

HALLOOOO wjat are some heartbreaking/or just upsetting headcanons you have on john wick characters? (the amount depends, it could be one or more!!)

Take a seat. This gets DARK.

TW: murder, suicidal ideation, animal death, childhood trauma, BDSM, dead dove do not eat

John

John was suicidal after Helen's death (this is nearly canon).

John has complex-PTSD and a trauma-bonded sort of relationship to The Director due to the way he was raised. He can't let go of his familial feelings towards her, despite the fact that she brought him into the assassin world and forced him to do terrible things. But he hates her for it at the same time.

John was forced to kill animals as practice before he began killing people. This started quite young.

John can't bring himself to do anything that even seems like hurting his partner in the bedroom, because it reminds him too much of the very real assassinations he's carried out (I know this is contradictory to the yandare/dominant John that we usually see but this is soft-John).

Helen

Helen is an orphan. This would give her and John something to initially bond over.

Helen is also no-contact with her adoptive family because she grew up in some form of severe dysfunction. Notice that no one is talking to John at her funeral, and none of her family members are ever mentioned. John would definitely try to support her relatives after her death if she were close to them, and vice versa, but we never see anything like that. So they can't have been close, in my opinion.

The thing that caused the rift between Helen and her family was really severe, perhaps even a homicide. This would give Helen a reason to want to understand and accept John despite the fact that he is an actual murderer. She has spent a long time trying to understand why people kill, how they get involved in organized crime, etc. Just trying to understand why.

Helen has a phobia of needles and IVs. Her illness was very difficult for her because she needed transfusions, and John donated blood to her because she felt a bit better about the process if the blood was coming from him. They have matching blood types.

Gianna/Cassian

Cassian was in love with Gianna, and she felt the same way, but she hadn't yet accepted her feelings for him. Shortly before her assassination, he asked her to run away with him, but she was too attached to her position in the High Table.

The Marquis Vincent Bisset de Gramont

All of your headcanons are now my headcanons - look what you did to me evren.

Also s/he has panic attacks.

[multifanrae]

Maybe I’m reading into this because I haven’t seen anyone talking about it, but Alice seems so Spiral coded. The “time isn’t real” and the personification of technology and the milk line and honestly everything she says seems to have something underneath it. Which leads into my idea that she’s also web aligned. This one is much less based in actual evidence and is possibly due to confirmation bias, but I’ve seen a lot of ideas discussing how she seems to know more than she lets on. And I’d say that’s pretty likely. But I can’t for certain tell if the things she says to Sam are a genuine warning, or reverse psychology. Here’s my argument for the latter: she and Sam have known each other for a very long time and she appears to have a decent understanding of him so she would probably know about his apparent proclivity for questions and mystery. So did she know that immediately warning him away from the Magnus Institute would make him more likely to look into it? And she’s the one who got him the job, knowing the type of shit they work with and how dangerous it is and how much Sam would be drawn to solving any puzzle or mystery (like how he tried to “solve” the organization system, she has to know about Sam’s compulsion to understand) even with the cases, did she emphatically warn against them because she knew it would make him more likely to listen to them? I want to believe she’s innocent because I love her, but making her evil also sounds like something Jonny and Alex would do, and also I want her to be evil because I love her.

Also her relationship with Colin I think furthers my point of her being spiral aligned. This might be reaching way too far, but the way she talks about the computers with Carl, does kinda seem like she’s trying to convince him he’s the one who doesn’t know what he’s doing, and that there isn’t actually anything wrong with Freddie. Also come on you can’t tell me her general vibe doesn’t just scream spiral. It’s probably just a crack theory with confirmation bias, but I swear since I thought of this, every time I hear her speak, all I hear is the spiral and the web.

So maybe (because I don’t think they’re going with the same 14-15 fears classification and maybe the fears haven’t separated or whatever) this all make her essentially predominately web and secondarily spiral aligned? Like instead of manipulating the way Annabelle did, maybe she’s using a bit more of a direct approach like the spiral tends to?? Because the web usually likes to be behind the scenes, but the spiral seems to really enjoy being up close and personal and doesn’t have much of an issue (not even with ‘special people’, Helen and the woman from “insomnia” both saw Michael in person) because it seems like she uses the tactics of the spiral with the intelligence and foresight of the web. That’s my theory anyway

[mayaheronthorn]

I honestly think that Kit leaving with Jem and Tessa was the best decision he could make.

Hear me out

If he stayed in LA with the Blackthorns, those who would take care of him and the rest of the kids would be Helen and Aline. We all know that they extremely love their family, but they're not very good at emotional support in my opinion.

Like, Helen would not understand Dru, couldn't talk to her normally and we all know that Kit and Ty are 15 so they seem like they are "grown up" and don't need to be taken care of. Which is WRONG!!!

Kit is a kid who lost everything in a day and for his whole life his father neglected him, Kit knew that Johnny didn't love him (personally I think he did in his own way but couldn't show it) and he had literally no one else left. Then he met Ty and Livvy, who were everything to him. Livvy died and I'm sure it hit Kit harder than we think and he SHOULD talk about it with someone.

So, the only person left for him was Ty

Now imagine if he stayed ( if non of that resurrection stuff happen) Kit would stick to Ty and only spend time with him or Dru. But this kid NEEDS parents who would actually talk with him and understand him.

Maybe Helen and Aline would try but he would absolutely not open up to them. They also said they wanted their own kids, so it would be even more complicated to take care of them all. And maybe he would talk with Julian or Emma but they have their own life, the Blackthorn Hall stuff and they wanted time for themselves (which is totally normal and fine) so Kit would be left in this situation where he has no actual parent figure.

And when Ty and Dru are perfectly fine people to talk to about his emotions, parental support is a totally different thing.

While living with Jessa and Mina, we can see (in gotsm) that they are just there for him in any kind of situation and love him deeply, give him space, understand him and try their best to be his parents. They also gave him a little sister - a baby, that he knew since she was born and he can take care of her. He actually feels like he's a part of this family, not an extra piece.

I'm so incredibly happy for him, because he will learn how it is to have real healthy relationships and feel all the love and support.

I'm not saying the Blackthorns would be a bad family, Jessa's is just a better one that would bring the best out of Kit.

(Sorry for all the errors, English is not my first language 🙆‍♀️)

[henghost]

Twig Liveblog for Arc 10

an arc double-stuffed with pain and suffering... from the very beginning i had a weight in my stomach even before anything crazy had happened. there's a real sense of inevitability: sy feels that it's inevitable that he will leave, that he will disappoint lillian, and i gotta say he's probably right, awful as it may be. i've alluded before to the fundamental contradiction between sy and lillian--their radically different relationships to the academy--and here it finally comes to a head. this is not to say, however, that sy handled it in the best way possible lmao. in many ways he made the worst decisions possible, though ultimately i support his decision to leave. for all the questions of morality in this arc, none but sy have remembered the major moral imperative here: harming the academy by any means possible.

in that vein, i read lainie as a kind of lillian from a different angle. and upper class girl who becomes enamored with sy and his rebel attitude, his monstrousness, his alterity. take the dinner with the parents chapter, for example: it came into sharp relief the extent to which lillian likes sy precisely because it pisses them off. it would drive me insane too. of course, sy ultimately forces lainie to leave her bourgeois life behind, so perhaps there is reason for optimism.

it's a similar situation with mary, though her reasons for staying with the academy are a little less understandable, frankly. was not her problem with percy that he was using children for his evil experiments? is that not exactly what the academy is doing with the people she loves?? anyway, she's amazing this arc. the shooting scene was an all-timer: one must imagine me sitting alone in my bedroom just going "OH NO OH NO OH NO" over and over again. in my twigfic where everything will be perfect sy will manipulate her and they will run away together and kiss and be happy. here's how they could still get together in canon.........

the fight with the baron was very satisfying. the duel in the hollowed out church was some s-tier wildbow-pilled over-the-top anime-style battle. the image of him just lobbing a giant ass rapier at this thirteen-year-old killed me lmao. meanwhile, with the duke of francis out of action, the lord infante is my new noblekin. that guy is so fucking cool. like i know he's evil but still. i want to be him.

and then jamie is the only lamb who came to join sy and in such tearjerking way 😭 the relationship between neojamie and the previous jamie seems so touching--some kind of terrible duty. i'm not honestly sure that i could do the same. it speaks to his essential sweetness... poor baby.

PREDICTIONS (or, embarrassing myself for your entertainment)

helen will kill ibbot (the interlude confirmed for me that he is "daddy")

the need for wyvern will force sy into fray's camp (pleaseeeee)

lamb factionalism will cause strife in radham (duncan + lil vs. ashton + helen et al.??)

[bluedalahorse]

Young Royals and the divine disruption of eros

Young Royals enthusiasts have a lot to say about the nature of love (specifically eros, or romantic and/or sexual love) in the show’s universe. Usually they identify an element of the divine in the love we see onscreen. The show itself nods to this with soundtrack choices like Elias’s “Holy” and through some of the imagery and filming choices. (Someone else can probably speak to that better than I can, and probably already has.)

But what does it mean, that love/eros has an element of the divine? Is divinity always benevolent, or kind? Does it always encourage someone toward more compassionate behavior? In a Christian context, we usually think of “love” as being associated with moral goodness, or at least a kind of selflessness or compassion. As a former classics major, however, I can’t help but look at YR’s divine eros through the lens of the ancient Mediterranean myth and folklore. Here, the divine is more a force of nature, and far more morally neutral.

Some background: in the ancient sources Greek gods and goddess are less like immortal, superpowered humanoid beings, and more like abstract and/or natural concepts personified. In Greek mythology, Aphrodite is the divine figure most associated with eros, and she is a powerful and at times vengeful goddess who should not be underestimated. Modern sources (and even a few ancient sources) tend to downplay or soften her influence—leaning into this idea of a beautiful goddess playing matchmaker for lonely individuals—but even when she’s bringing companionship into a person’s life, she’ll still shake things up in the process. The Trojan War begins because Paris chooses Aphrodite’s realm as his definition of beauty/excellence, and Aphrodite sets Paris and Helen’s relationship in motion.

What makes Aphrodite—and by extension, eros—so dangerous is that she is so disruptive to the social order. Marriages in the ancient Mediterranean tended to be arranged, and while eros certainly did exist within some of those marriages, it wasn’t a guarantee at all. You may well develop feelings for someone other than your spouse, and what if that destabilizes your marriage? You could also develop feelings for someone who makes you behave outside your assigned gender or class expectations, and then you aren’t fulfilling your class role, which causes a breakdown in the social hierarchy. Being in love may be euphoric, especially if the person you love loves you back and you’re of compatible social ranks, but it may also be unbearable if circumstances don’t work out for you. Unchecked eros can even lead to the birth of monsters, such as when Aphrodite dooms the Minoan queen Pasiphae to fall in love with a bull, which then eventually leads to Pasiphae giving birth to the Minotaur. Look at any selection of poems from the ancient Mediterranean and you’ll find as many poems cursing love as praising it.

And one of the wildest things about eros? Nothing about it is rational. People may try to rationalize their feelings of eros later, or come up with why they like a person… but feelings just are what they are. Actions can have a rational component, and an element of agency. You can technically control your actions. Still, feelings do not operate in the same way, and feelings are always trying to influence actions. Part of the reason it is important to respect Aphrodite is that she can always get you and hijack your heart when you least expect it. (Unless you’re aromantic I guess, which. Hooray exceptions?)

Let’s bring it back to the Swedish show. I think often, people want to talk about the wilmon and sargust pairings as being as far apart from one another on the spectrum as can be. I’ve even seen the idea thrown around that wilmon’s eros is the Most Real while sargust’s is Less Real, and while I get where that argument is coming from, I also don’t necessarily agree with it myself. On my end, when I look at love/eros in Young Royals as defined first and foremost not by moral goodness but by its power to disrupt, these two pairings feel very alike to me and deeply thematically connected. Moreover, they are equally exciting to watch play out onscreen. Each of the four characters involved develops feelings that conflict with something about who this character is as a person and the social role they hold. Each character at times resists their feelings and at other times gives in. Sometimes both characters give into their feelings together! (Those parts of the story are often gif’d and reblogged by tumblr, at least on the wilmon side of things.) You can also learn a lot about each character by how they deal with the disruptive power of eros, and what they allow eros to disrupt—ultimately, August tries to exert control over his romancey situation with Sara and make it fit his concept of the social order, and disrupts the well-being of the Eriksson family in the process. Wilhelm, meanwhile, is willing to challenge the structures of the monarchy and his own family because of his relationship with Simon. There’s also a lot of twists and turns along the way for each of them that are enjoyable to watch.

There’s a tendency in fandom to hold wilmon as a sort of Fixed And Unquestionable Religious Truth Of The Young Royals Universe, and I get why. There’s also a sort of tendency to see sargust as the devil to wilmon’s god, and again, I get why folks feel that way too. For me, though, I don’t really feel that way, in part because I see both pairings as equally subject to the divine nature of eros, and eros is something that is dynamic and morally neutral and constantly in flux and most of all, disruptive. I like that both pairings are a little chaotic and capable of making me feel a range of things, even if I always do come out of a YR marathon exhausted because of it. Eros is disruptive the way that war and revolution are disruptive, and sometimes they’re all happening at once, and in the end it makes a pretty good story.

Anyway, if you’re wondering, one of my favorite Greek plays is Hippolytus by Euripides, and Aphrodite is pretty terrifying there. I find her power to disrupt and destroy fascinating. And that’s probably why, against the expectations of my mlm slash-loving younger teenage self, I’m going to be writing fic about these trash-tragic horsey heteros for as long as this fandom exists and I feel compelled to do so. No apologies about that, really. You’ll all just have to put up with me.