#and you know what they're both good shows so. ideally this gets someone to watch them ig.

[kpop---scenarios]

Blind Spot (1)

Pairing: Yang Jeongin x Reader x Lee Know

Warning: Smut, Threesome - ish [18+ ONLY. MINORS DO NOT INTERACT]

Word Count: 2.3k

Everything Taglist: @ivydoesit23 @wife2straykids @piscesrising01 @baby-stay92 @kisses-too-the-moon @dwaekkiiracha @rylea08 @imperfectlyperfectprincess1 @satosugu4l @iovecb97 @lordmaahes-nsc @sailorkoss @minh0scat @pixie0627 @50-husbands @jinnies-muse @yaorzu-blog

@silly250 @gabriellamarie @tsunderelino @1810cl

A/N: Part one of 3! Enjoy!

“Never have I ever… cheated in a relationship.” You say, watching your boyfriend, and best friend to see if they're going to drink. Neither of them do, honestly you're surprised that Chae doesn't drink, but not surprised your boyfriend, Jeongin doesn't.

“Never have I ever… been with two guys at the same time.” Chae giggles, both of you watching Jeongin.

“Oh come on you guys, as if.” He laughs. “Okay my turn.. mhmm..” he pauses. “Never have I ever… had a threesome with two girls.” Jeongin half whispers, his eyes darting between you and Chae. “That's a conversation for a later date.” You both laugh, you in particular because he was trying to be so nonchalant about it, but after 2 years, you knew Jeongin pretty well to know what he was hinting at, but you don't say anything about it, instead moving on to your turn, switching the subject. You knew he would bring it up again, it was just a matter of time.

*

"Hey, baby.." Your boyfriend murmurs, walking into the living room, glancing around the room before his eyes land on you. It had been a few days since Chae had been over drinking with the two of you.

"What's up love?" You say, smiling at Jeongin. He stares at the ceiling for a moment, taking a breath as he tries to come up with the words he wanted to utter.

"I know you said we'd talk about it at a later date..” he pauses. You had a feeling you knew where this conversation was going. “But it's been a few days, and I was wondering if you thought about…the.. um, threesome?" He says, forcing a laugh, while rubbing the back of his neck.

There it was. It wasn't that you were really opposed to having a threesome, honestly it seemed kind of exciting, but it was the fact that he was a little more persistent than you'd like.

"Who would we even bring in?" You sigh, closing your book. That was one thing that confused you about the entire thing.

"Oh, I don't know.. I mean, we could find someone random... it could maybe be Chae… it doesn't matter." He trails off.

"You know, this is the third time that you've mentioned Chae. Are you trying to tell me something?” You laugh, making him laugh.

“We could just find a girl at the bar.” He smiles.

“Let me think about it.. it might be better to have someone that we both know and are comfortable with.” You say. “I just worry about our friendship… I don't want this to ruin anything.”

“Babe, you guys are good friends. This won't ruin things at all. I love you, and who knows, maybe it'll make the two of you even closer.” He says, shrugging his shoulders.

You bite your lip, looking at Jeongin, trying to stop your smile, but you can't, it turns into a full-fledged grin. “I'm meeting her later tonight. I'll talk to her.”

Jeongin grins like a kid on Christmas, clapping his hands together, turning around, practically skipping off to another room. Part of you started to wonder why he was so giddy, yes you knew that she was gorgeous, sexy, and almost everyone's ideal type, so yes he'd probably be excited but it made you feel a little sad that he was so excited about it.

Later that evening, you showed up to the bar, finding Chae sitting in your usual spot, with your usual drink sitting across from her waiting for you.

“Hey you.” She smiles, scooting in closer to the table as you sit down across from her.

“Hey.” You grin, taking a sip of your drink. “Thank you for this, I really needed it.” You laugh. “So how are things? I feel like I never get to see you anymore. Even though I saw you last week.” You laugh.

“Things are… things, you know.” She laughs. “I broke up with that guy I met at the gym.” She sighs.

“Wait, was that the one who claimed to be tatted up but had two small tattoos? Or was it the one who did the part-time work at the store where he stood around shirtless?” You laugh.

“Oh my god, when you put it like that, it sounds so fucking bad.” She groans, dropping her head into her hands. “It's not my fault!” She yells, jolting her head back up, to defend her choices. “We can't all find a Mr. Perfect, like Jeongin who has good looks, a good job, smart, funny, nice and did I mention good looking?” She says, taking a sip of her drink.

This seemed like your chance to talk to her about your and Jeongin's plan.

“So you think he's good looking?” You giggle, watching her facial expression.

“I do have eyes, you know.”

“Well I'm glad you think so, cause I actually have something to ask you…” You pause.

“I'm intrigued…” She smiles. “Continue.”

“He and I have been… um discussing… a threesome.”

“Yes.” She almost yells.

“You didn't even let me finish.” You half chuckle. You noticed you were twiddling your fingers underneath the table, while your leg shook with what you could only assume was anxiety.

“Oh fuck.” She laughs. “You were going to ask me right? I didn't just agree to it and you were going to ask if it was a good idea or not.”

“I was going to ask you, yes.” You say, no expression on your face. “I'm glad you both are so eager about this.”

“You should be too… it's going to be so hot.” She gushes. “When were you thinking?”

“Saturday?” You suggest.

“Two days? I can wait that long.” She giggles.

A few hours later, you walk into your shared apartment, seeing Jeongin jolt off the couch at the sight of you, rushing towards you with puppy dog eyes like he was begging you for information.

“She agreed.” You say, setting your bag down, waiting to gauge his reaction.

“Yes! I was hoping she would.” He smiles, throwing his hands up in the air in excitement. “When's it for?”

“Saturday.” You say. “2 days.”

“Thanks babe, I can't wait.” He grins, heading to the bathroom. Part of you felt a little uneasy about the whole thing but you chalked it up to a little anxiety about trying something new. If Jeongin was excited, and Chae was excited, then why shouldn't you be as well?

“She'll be here soon.” You tell Jeongin, glancing down at your phone, looking at the text message she had sent. You wander to the kitchen, pouring yourself a shot, and then another one, and one more for good measure. Your stomach felt like a ball of knots as you waited for her, you felt like you couldn't sit still, constantly moving until the knock at the door broke you out of your nerves. Jeongin walks over to the door, opening it for Chae, letting her into your apartment.

“I need a fucking drink.” She grins, holding up a bottle. “Shots for everyone.” She finishes, heading to the kitchen. She grabs three shot glasses, pouring the liquor into each glass before passing you and Jeongin each a glass. “To good friends and good times.” She laughs, taking her shot, you and Jeongin taking yours seconds later.

The three of you stand there, the silence is deafening before Jeongin breaks it.

“Have you two ever kissed before?” He asks, looking between you both.

You both shake your heads no, you're feeling drunk enough already, while Chae takes a swig from the bottle before walking towards you. She cups your face with her hands, leaning in to press her lips against yours. You can hear Jeongin groan as he watches the two of you, slowly deepening the kiss, your tongues slipping into each other's mouths as you hold each other closer. Jeongin moves in, joining in on the kiss, his tongue swapping between your mouth and Chae’s until she breaks the kiss, licking her lips as she smiles at you and then Jeongin. Your heart is pounding, you feel flushed and tingly as you all look at each other. Chae's eyes are soft and sultry, Jeongin's lips are parted and panting.

“I guess we’re doing this,” She says, grabbing both your hands, leading you both to the bedroom.

Jeongin sits on the bed as he watches you and Chae undress each other, firstly discarding each other's shirts, and then pants and finally underwear. You both move towards him, undressing him, leaving his boxers last before finally letting his hard cock spring free. The three of you lay on the bed, Jeongin laying on his back. You hover your mouth over his cock as Chae immediately straddles his face, and he begins eating her pussy. You wrap your mouth around his cock, his fingers moving between your lips, to rub your clit as you shove his cock so deep down your throat, making him moan into her cunt. You spread your legs, giving Jeongin better access to your clit, his fingers were like magic on your body, making it almost impossible for you to last very long.

You cum quickly, as does Chae, you lay down on the bed as Chae gets off Jeongin's mouth, laying down on the other side of him. He gives you a half smile as he rolls over, towards Chae. You watch as he lifts her legs up, sliding his cock inside of her, making her moan. “Mhmm.” Jeongin groans. “Now for the main course.” He murmurs quietly. You're assuming he thinks you didn't hear him, but you most definitely did.

You notice how his eyes linger on hers, they both smile at each other as he slowly thrusts into her, a lot more sensually than it should be. He intertwined his fingers with hers as he leaned down to kiss her, the pace of the kiss matching the pace of his thrusts, slow and passionate. You clear your throat a few times but they don't notice you. You can hear him whispering in her ear, her moaning whispers in response but you can't hear what either of them are saying.

This wasn't what you expected when you three had decided to do a threesome. After a few more minutes of being ignored, you climbed out of bed, going into the bathroom to take a shower, trying to wash the shame and uncomfortable feeling you felt off your body. When you were done, you wrapped yourself in a towel, leaving the bathroom to your room where Jeongin was laying in bed, his chest heaving. You heard the front door slam shut, and you knew Chae left.

“That was.. wow.” He chuckles, wiping the sweat off his forehead. “Thank you.” He breathes.

You don't respond, you're so upset at what just happened you can barely wrap your head around what just happened.

You get yourself dressed, walking out of the room to the kitchen where you grab a snack, going to the living room to watch a show. You just wanted to forget for a little bit and watch your favorite show.

“You okay babe?” Jeongin asks, plopping down on the couch beside you.

“I just wanna watch my show.” You mutter, moving yourself away from Jeongin who sat too close.

“Hey.” He says, taking the remote to pause the show. “What's wrong?”

“I don't want to get into it now.” You sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose.

“Y/N.. talk to me.” He says, placing his hand on your knee.

“Don't!” You snap, pulling your knee away from him. “Don't touch me right now.”

“Okay, what is going on?” He asks, sitting back, almost as if he was offended.

“You and Chae are what's going on.” You snap. “You completely left me out to fuck her. Was that the plan all along?”

“What!?” Jeongin says, acting shocked. “We tried to involve you! You were so hesitant and we didn't want to force you! And then you left so we just assumed you didn't want to be involved anymore.” He explains.

“No.” You say. “You didn't try to involve me, not after you started fucking her. I saw the two of you.”

“Y/N.. were we in the same room?” He scoffs. “Yes we did, but you pulled away so many times. How much did you actually drink?” He asks.

“I didn't drink that much.” You murmur, but maybe you were wrong? Maybe you did drink too much.. maybe you weren't remembering it correctly?

“I wouldn't do that to you…” He half smiles. “I love you.”

You let out a big sigh, glancing over at your boyfriend. He had never previously done anything to make you feel like he was lying to you, so maybe the liquor did hit you harder than you realized.

“You're right… I'm sorry.” You say, snuggling into him. “I don't think I wanna do it again though.” You tell him.

“Mhmm… I agree.” He whispers, in a less than convincing tone.

A week later, you could cut the tension in the house between you and Jeongin with a knife and you didn't understand it. The night it happened, the two of you talked it out and everything was fine. But a few days later everything changed.

“He's distant, he won't talk to me, he's being really weird and I don't understand it. Everything was fine.” You complain to Chae.

“That's so weird.” She sighs, looking stumped.

“Has he told you anything?” You ask.

“What? No? I haven't heard from him… why would I hear from him?” She chuckles, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. You wanted to believe her, but she was also acting weird but it could also be in your head. To be honest, you weren't sure what to believe and it was driving you insane.

Chae reaches over the table grabbing your hand. “He loves you. Maybe it's just something with work.” She smiles. “Everything will be just fine.”

“Yeah.” You smile.

“Everything will be fine.”

[kevin-the-bruyne]

Branded Pairing Heteronormativity and the Subtle ways that First and Khaotung Spill Outside Those Outlines

Right off the bat I'm going to absolve myself of all culpability by saying that this is a solicited opinion so all anon hate can go to @kattyangel 🤣. The second thing is that this is an opinion that will talk about very nuanced subjective topics like heteronormative standards and conventional attractiveness in a country I'm not even from so go into it knowing that even subtle shifts in worldview can change the way we perceive these things. My only claim to fame here is that fan service is my hyperfixation and I have watched at least couples compilation videos of all GMM branded pairs but for the vast majority of them have watched shows/vlogs/interviews fairly extensively. So without any further ado let's get into what the connection is between First's height and his pairing's inability to perform heteronormativity well. A branded pair has two main ways of connecting to heteronormativity. One is via the individual's connection to their audience which at this point we know is majority female with some degree of romantic interest in men. Second, is via the dynamics of the couple itself.

For example, the ideal pairing is someone who's individual unit BOTH seem like they are interested in women but when put together can also believably fall into a 'top' and 'bottom' role. The categories of 'top' and 'bottom' here follow from the yaoi 'seme' and 'uke' narrative traditions but its less about who penetrates or is being penetrated and more along the lines of who's 'the wife and who's the husband' which is just a confusing mix of relative closeness to femininity, perceived dominance and certain physical features like height/resting bitch face and skin color.

The vast majority of branded pairs fall under this paradigm at GMM: GeminiFourth, TayNew, BrightWin, JoongDunk, PondPhuwin, ForceBook and the recently officially divorced Ohmnanon.

If the individuals have a strong connection to heteronormativity themselves, but fail to perform it with each other then they tend to fail like PerthChimon. So what happens when individuals within the unit aren't that straight to begin with? If at least one can perform traditional masculinity then they're in the clear! Famously, OffGun are husband and wife like no other and I hope they and Off's voodoo dolls of him and Gun prosper for the length of their lives. This format of pairings is not that common in GMM but litter the industry quite a bit, Zeenunew and MaxNat are pairings I'm quite familiar with that follow this.

What happens when both have low affinity towards traditional masculinity (especially in the way they interact with fans) or they're a little too queer in their dynamic for heteronormativity? Well that leaves you with *my* favorite pairings: EarthMix and FirstKhaotung But they're challenged in slightly different ways. EarthMix's primary dilemma comes from the fact that they're very likely actually dating and gay couples sometimes just won't have a heteronormative dynamic. Mix has always rebelled against being 'bottom' and he's usually the one refusing to play this game. Earth on the other hand just with his natural old man tendencies still fits into the top/husband role well while Mix can be pigeonholed into bratty wife/bottom when push comes to shove. But oh my poor sweet First, born with the personality of a man who's at least 5 inches shorter than him and obsessed with his idiot best friend who hated being the good little wife during his PoddKhao era so much that he really came into Firstkhao with his arms swinging like 'never again'. First and Khaotung have their personalities and aesthetics switched. Khaotung is both the more effeminate of the two and also the more dominant. If you've been following their dynamic since The Eclipse then you will know immediately what I'm talking about. So much of The Eclipse fan service felt like they were playing out top and bottom in reverse and then just remembering that First is indeed Too Tall for this to ever work lmao. I'm struggling to think of a single pair other than PerthSaint where the top was shorter let alone a full 4 inches. I mean fans nearly staged a coup at an event to have them renamed Khaofirst and I feel like they had come so close to convincing First too 😂 They've changed a lot now and Khaotung has cooled it, maybe to be more helpful to First but primarily because I think he's discovered that being the bottom in this dynamic comes with added benefits of being a sugar baby princess who gets waited on hand and foot. But First is also a sugar baby princess which is why he says things like 'I'm trying to be cool' or doing something macho and then immediately undercutting himself with a nervous little 'Was that cool?' or whining at fans to stop flirting with Khaotung instead of having a possessive lover dialogue like Phuwin's little 'you can flirt with him but he needs my permission to flirt with you'. First is performing machismo slightly worse than the 'bottom' of a different pair like what can I say askdjkfhdjh

Firstkhao are doing husband and wife well on stage nowadays but I think in less practiced formats they will revert to their original dynamic and First's 'top' persona breaks often. They hit a besotted wifeman equilibrium for First sometime during only friends and that kind of works for them both and I think they're trying to stay there for the most part. But that's what people who like First and Khaotung like. A vast majority of lesbians fall under the category of besotted wifeman so I mean it's really working out for me. It's just that sometimes it's a little painful seeing First try so hard to be more like Kant in RL and I'm just like babygirl please you're fine your friend over there looks like he likes getting fucked in the ass no matter what you do but alas 😔 Meanwhile every time Khaotung acts like a naive little helpless baby it feels like he's taken another step towards nirvana.

[bombsquad9]

𝐋𝗼𝐯𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 + 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫/𝐒𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝗼𝐧𝐬: 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐥 (PT. 1)

Characters Included: Ada Wong, Alcina Dimitrescu, Albert Wesker, Ashley Graham, Carlos Oliveira, Chris Redfield, Claire Redfield, Ethan Winters, and Finn Macauley.

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𝑨𝒅𝒂 𝑾𝒐𝒏𝒈;

—> Ciswoman (She/Her), Bisexual w/ no preference

✞ Gift Giving: God, this woman loves to spoil her significant other. Anything she sees and think they'll like? Boom, it's bought within a second and being taken home to them as soon as possible. Did you mention something? Boom, next thing her partner knows is that the same thing is on their bed with a little note. What's the point in having someone to love if you can't shower them in things they want?

✞ Physical Touch: It may not be full blown cuddling most of the time, but small subtle touches. The kind that leave a person wanting more in seconds. Ada loves having that charm on her partner, but of course she's a sucker for some hugs from behind and kisses. It really just depends with her, but she loves it regardless.

𝑨𝒍𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒂 𝑫𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒖;

—> Ciswoman (She/Her), Lesbian/Sapphic

✞ Gift Giving: Considering she is filthy rich and quite literally a lady of an entire castle, she'd like to spend some time pampering her significant other with all the things she can give them. Anything they mention wanting around her she'll find a way to acquire, even if it means a limb from one of her many maids. She'd do anything to get her partner's eyes to light up (within reason) and happily watch them as they get excited over the gifts. What can she say, she likes to spoil her baby.

✞ Quality Time: Alcina LOVES to spend time with her significant other. It doesn't matter if it's a small dinner with them, them sitting with her whilst she plays piano, etc. She loves the idea of being in the same room as her partner and having her full attention on them (and vice versa). She may be able to live a long time, but depending on the circumstances, her significant other may not be able to and she wants to have every moment with them. Don't get her started on if anything bad happens either, she just wants good memories with her special someone.

𝑨𝒍𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝑾𝒆𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒓;

—> Demiboy (He/They), Pansexual

✞ Gift Giving: Another gift giver, Wesker is not good with words, and he definitely does not like being touched. He's a powerful being, and why not show that he can do whatever by getting his significant other whatever they want?

✞ Quality Time: He's a very busy man, and if he likes his partner enough to actually be with them, then might as well spend time with them. His idea of quality time is quietly sitting in a room while both people are doing their own things. What's more ideal then spending time with your significant other and getting work done?

𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒍𝒆𝒚 𝑮𝒓𝒂𝒉𝒂𝒎;

—> Demigirl (She/They), Straight

✞ Gift Giving: Ashley is the presidents daughter, so she's bound to come from a wealthy family, why not spend some of that wealth on her partner? Gifts can range from expensive jewelry to expensive dates even. Though, I feel like she'd also like making little trinkets for her special someone.

✞ Physical Touch: Ashley would be a very touchy person, always holding her partner's hand, giving them small pecks on the cheek, etc. She loves to show affection to the ones she loves, and is shameless about it. She does know there's a time and a place though, and if they want space she'll gladly give it to them (with a bit of a pout).

𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒐𝒔 𝑶𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒊𝒓𝒂;

—> Cisman (He/Him), Pansexual

✞ Physical Touch: You cannot tell me this man wouldn't be touchy, he would be all over his significant other. He would have an arm draped around their shoulders, and arm around their waist, etc. If him and them were at home he'd be laying on them in their arms. He just loves the feeling of contact, it assures him that they're real and there, which puts a smile on his face just thinking about it.

✞ Acts of Service: Carlos would do anything to make his significant other's life easier, even if it was just by a little bit. The thought of lifting a weight off of his partner's shoulders when they're exhausted or have no motivation to do something makes him happy. It makes him feel useful, he thinks of it as a way to pay them back for putting up with his smart ass all the time.

𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔 𝑹𝒆𝒅𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅;

—> Cisman (He/Him), Bisexual/Demiromantic/Demisexual

✞ Quality Time: Chris has been through a lot, and has lost a lot of people. He can't get the thoughts out of his head that something bad is going to happen to his significant other, so he wants to make every second count. It doesn't matter how, him and his someone could be in the same room, quietly doing their own things even. He just wants to have enough time with his significant other before anything can get in the way and cut that short.

✞ Words of Affirmation: Sometimes he just needs to hear from his special someone that they aren't going to leave. As I said before, he's lost a lot of people, most of them being very meaningful to him. He can't bear the thought of another person leaving, so hearing the words come out of his significant other's mouth in sincerity helps soothe his nerves, even if it's just a little bit.

𝑪𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝑹𝒆𝒅𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒅;

—> Demigirl (She/They), Omnisexual w/ a preference for women

✞ Quality Time: Claire thinks making memories with her special someone is extremely important, and what better way to do that other than spending time together? Whether it be a little date night or just laying in each others arms and conversing, she cherishes every moment of it. She likes seeing her partner happy, it makes her happy to know she's doing something right.

✞ Words of Affirmation: Claire loves praising her significant other, whether it be something as simple as a "I'm proud of you" or an "I love you". She wants them to know she loves them, and words are definitely a good way to do that. Expect her to shower her special someone with compliments and praise as much as she can.

𝑬𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑾𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔;

—> Cisman (He/Him), Bisexual w/ a preference for women

✞ Acts of Service: Ethan would quite literally go through hell and back to make his significant other happy, so why not do simple things to make their life easier? He likes doing things for people, and he loves his partner so they're a prime target off that. He takes no protests, especially if it's something so simple he could do it in like five minutes.

✞ Physical Touch: I feel like Ethan would be the kinda guy to walk up behind his significant other while they're cooking, and give them a long hug from behind. He'd come home from work after a long day and just wanna lay down with his partner and embrace them.

𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒚;

—> Transman (He/Him), Omnisexual w/ a preference for men

✞ Acts of Service: Finny here would do anything for his significant other. Similarly to Carlos, it helps him feel useful when he makes your life easier. Since he did a lot of the C4 work for his BSAA team, he just kinda got used to doing things for people too. It's a win/win for him, he gets to keep his brain active and some of your needs get met.

✞ Gift Giving: I feel like Finn would love to give his significant other little trinkets he sees or finds, or little things that reminds him of them. He likes to see the smile on their face when he comes home with a little gift for them. It warms his heart and he can't help but smile too. He also loves to give them things with a lot of sentimental value, whether it be something related to an inside joke, or something they mentioned a while back.

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𝐓𝐚𝐠 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭: None Currently

A/N: Comments and reblogs are appreciated! <3

[utilitycaster]

How can Molly's death be considered a major mistake? It's the crux of the entire campaign.

so I think about this a lot, because you're right, and it really comes down to like...a lot of factors in how people interact with fiction, and some stuff I feel about fandom.

The short answer is that Molly is some people's favorite character, and they really wanted to watch him for 141 episodes and not just 26, and they didn't get to, and so it's valid to feel sad about that. But I think what personally grinds my gears is the idea that it's a mistake and because this is a Fan Favorite character he SHOULD have come back. Setting aside the fact that he had both his fans and his detractors from the start and a lot of people (myself included) who found him irritating didn't say much for a good chunk of C2 because, well, he was dead, this isn't a fucking competitive reality show. You don't get to vote on your phones to decide who wins a resurrection.

I think the longer answer is that there is a certain type of person in fandom, born of a certain type of person in social media communities, who just...is not willing or interested in considering not just that their experiences, preferences, and philosophy are not universal, but also that they are not objectively best and correct and that everyone who disagrees is wrong. It's often really common in, though not exclusive to, people who have particularly limited experiences - young (like, teenager/early 20s), people who haven't lived in a diverse area or in multiple different areas, people who for whatever reason do not get out much - which both makes sense (haven't been exposed to a ton of different perspectives irl) but also means that you get people who, for all they may talk about global politics, kind of unconsciously seem to act as though everyone they interact with online is a variant of someone from the same 3000 person town in the United States in which they've spent all 21 years of their life. ANYWAY getting back to the main point I feel like Molly attracted a lot of that kind of person, who just...doesn't get that while Molly is, to them, a deeply validating expression of gender identity, for many people he is "guy you meet at your friend's birthday party in a two-bedroom 6 floor walk up and within 5 seconds he has pissed you off so profoundly with his overfamiliarity that you go into the kitchen and mainline as much vanilla vodka as possible to not stab this guy with a secondhand knife that says "CHEESE!" on it even though you hate vanilla vodka and it's summer in NYC and you're on the 6th floor in a small apartment with too many people so it's approximately 117 degrees Fahrenheit in this kitchen and the vodka isn't much cooler, and you succeed in this goal, and then after sending your friend who couldn't make it because they were at a family thing that weekend a picture of a rat on the tracks of the 3 train with a caption "this u?" at 1:54 in the morning you're like "so this guy Molly was there" and they're like "oh my god I met him at Cameron's last party, he SUCKS" and you're like "I KNOW". Like a lot of people just do not get that Molly was very popular with their circle, and also a lot of people either were neutral-to-not-feeling-it. This is before we get into the post-death idealization of who he was that takes him from "irritating but I think he'd have grown on me in some ways eventually had he lived" to "horrible and insufferable fake-ass bitch."

And then we get to the true impasse: the idea that something that does not fulfill every single one of your personal wishes might still be a great story.

I'm certainly not perfect, and there's things I thought I wanted for the end of C2 that I didn't get, and there's some things I do wish we'd have gotten to see (or that we'd have done in C3), but I like to think that I try to remain at least partially open to the possibilities. I like to think that my enjoyment of a story isn't contingent on whether one single character survives, even if they are my favorite (and I say this as someone whose favorite ASOIAF character was immediately Ned Stark, a statement that should surprise no one who follows me) nor that the story precisely reaffirms my existing worldview. I want stories to tell me something new and interesting that wouldn't come from my own head, and I want them to sell me on it. I think that a lot of people lost the thread of the importance of representation, namely, they forgot that while it's great to see people like you in a story, you should also be trying to see people not like you and perspectives that aren't yours. I am extremely defensive of my and other people's right to say "I didn't like this story and here is why" without someone being like "Give it a chance! Here's why I think it's good" but at the same time, there is a difference between "I really wish Molly had stayed alive and I don't like that he died," and "everything that happened after he died was A Mistake because it wasn't what I Wanted, and someone should fix this." Like that's what toddlers do. That's not an adult way of interacting with narrative.

So those people don't even get to the point of "the entire campaign is deeply influenced by the loss of Molly; that is what binds the rest of the Nein together and makes them what they are; the fact that Lucien wears the face of a departed friend is crucial to the entire final arc comprising about 20% of the campaign; and the fact that he does not come back, but someone new, with new chances and new choices to make does is emblematic of a campaign about people who find that they cannot undo their pasts, but neither are they trapped or damned by them." They're stuck at "guy I liked died and I'm throwing a tantrum 6 years later."

[tetsunabouquet]

Ruby Gillman and what its reception showcases what's wrong with children's media today

Here is the link to the specific reblog that contains both a production fantheory about Chelsea and my initial review for anyone interested in that: https://www.tumblr.com/tetsunabouquet/722833498719879168/alright-considering-the-massive-heat-of-the-past?source=share Alright, as an aspiring children's author and as someone studying writing classes with children's literature as the particular focus, I have made a couple of posts about my issues with children's media already, or rather, the problems with the people making and critqueing it. Ruby Gillman's reception, like the reviews from critics and people who dislike the movie alike, actually showcases multiple examples of what makes so many movies/shows aimed at children or the family, poor nowadays: Ruby has been critiqued for being 'too cute', and that they should just 'embrace the monster'. Only this doesn't work when young children are also part of the target demographic. There's a reason to why bad guys are written to be ugly, and why good guys are written to be good looking: It's that the brain of the average child isn't developped enough to understand nuance. The younger the child, the more you have to REMOVE nuance. That's also why, when Queen Nerissa/Chelsea becomes all-powerful, she becomes ugly. It's because she's the bad guy in that moment. It's why she lacks a sympathetic backstory, as we see with a lot of villains nowadays. It's because, again, the more nuance there is to the character, the less a child will actually understand the character. It's why the Gillmans claim they're from Canada: because I've seen enough of American media to know Canadians are practically treated like another species. To a child, this explanation would actually somewhat work, especially to a 6 year old or younger The adults screaming about that and how anyone can see Ruby isn't human are thinking too much like adults. They don't try to see it from a child's perspective, and that's the main core to all the problems behind children's media nowadays: They don't 'dumb' themselves down enough to the perspective of a young child. When watching the movie, I definitely felt like the Gillman family was also close to its ideal target demographic: families with daughters ranged between 10-13 and younger siblings of about 5+ years old. And it did well for a movie aimed at such a group. It lacked enough nuance for young kids to understand, and the theme of womanhood would speak to pre-adolescent girls. Also, the way the media keeps comparing this to Turning Red because they were both magical metaphors for womanhood and female puberty and speaks of the generations of womanhood is annoying. Are you telling me that with the shitload of movies that America produce per year alone, they never produced 2 animated movies dealing with coming of age and manhood in the span of 16 months? This speaks once again, of how men have difficulty relating to female struggles and will hate on a movie centering girls growing up, opposed to how women have little to no difficulty symphatizing and relating to movies of boys growing up. Boys only want male protagonists, whilst we women can care less. The moment we get even more then one animated movie dealing with the idea of female puberty in the span of two years, the press immediately descends to pit one movie against another. Oh my god, imagine being that pathetic. That wouldn't be me.

[sapphic-agent]

I'm curious! What are your thoughts on Lilith? What are your theories and predictions on her? What do you hope to see from the show on her?

Thank you for asking!

I have a lot of thoughts on Lilith. For one, we know it can't be a coincidence that both her and Alastor left around the same time. We know Alastor isn't at full power because of a deal he made. There's a lot pointing to Lilith being the one he made a deal with, ergo her being the one who has him on a leash.

It explains why he sought Charlie out in the first place. He made it clear in the pilot (yes I finally watched it) that he doesn't think Sinners can be redeemed. So for him to disappear at the same time as Lilith and then reappear and partner with her daughter very much implies that she's the one he's indebted to.

Lilith and Adam made a deal and it's heavily implied that it was to grant her access to heaven. I think that Adam offered Lilith access to heaven to get her to stop influencing the uprising (as it's implied she does this in the first episode).

So what is Lilith and Alastor's deal and how did it come to be?

This is a stretch, but I think Alastor was hurt after a fight, maybe on the brink of death (either after his fight with Vox- Valentino says Alastor almost defeated him, this implies their fight ended in a draw- or maybe one of the Sins). Lilith found him and helped him, but didn't restore him to full power. Since, due to her deal, she could no longer encourage the uprising, she ensured that Charlie would be able to with the help of a powerful, cunning ally who could teach her how to influence, encourage, and lead.

(I mean, come on. The one thing Alastor taught her was how to use a smile to her advantage. To inspire her friends and leave her enemies guessing. And then he brought her to Rosie to test her abilities in gathering an army. Alastor is there to teach her, whether he shows it or not)

Charlie's love for her people had to have come from Lilith. Lucifer thinks lowly of Sinners after his attempts were crushed by Heaven, so it had to have been Lilith who encouraged that care. It was likely her influence that pushed Charlie to have those ideals. If More Than Anything is truly implying that she kept Charlie away from Lucifer, it could be so that his pessimism towards Sinners couldn't dissuade her.

Did you guys know that Charlie is apparently only 200 years old? Lucifer and Lilith have been in Hell for thousands of years, since the story of Adam and Eve. Isn't it kind of odd that they only had a kid in the 1800s? And why, after even that, did Lilith only get into Heaven 7 years before the current events?

Call me crazy, but I think Lilith has a game plan here. Here's what I think is happening:

Lilith loves her people. She doesn't think lowly of them because they're "bad people," she thinks they should be free to express themselves and be who they are

Lucifer regrets his choices. He regrets giving humans knowledge and blames himself for humanity being evil. Lilith realizes this and starts to resent him for it

Lilith thinks her people don't deserve to rot in Hell, as she resonates them being damned to her and Lucifer being punished when they had good intentions. She starts encouraging them to uprise and demand better

Sera, worried about the citizens of Heaven, gives Adam permission to start the Extermination

Lilith recognizes that this is a losing battle. Heaven is too strong and demons don't have the means to fight back. Her songs of influence haven't been enough and her people are suffering. So she convinces Lucifer to have a baby. Someone who will bring in a new era, and someone Heaven will never take as a serious threat until it's too late

Lilith has Charlie and raises her with love for their people and strong ideals. She tells the story of how her and Lucifer met, painting them as good people with good intentions and stressing that they were unfairly punished. Charlie takes this to heart, also wanting better for their people. Lilith keeps Charlie away from Lucifer, afraid that he'll have her thinking the worst of Sinners

As she raises Charlie, Lilith waits for the right moment she can put her plan into action. She happens upon the Radio Demon Alastor on the brink of death and takes the opportunity. She heals him, but seals his power, promising to restore it if he acts as a mentor to Charlie and teaches her how to lead the Demons against Heaven. Her end goal is either to complete the uprising against Heaven or redeem Sinners. I'm not sure, but getting rid of the Exterminations for good is definitely part of it. (I also think it's possible that Alastor challenged her, she made a deal depending on the outcome of their fight, and he lost. Either one works in this situation)

After making the deal with Alastor, Lilith reaches out to Adam. She agrees to stop the uprising if she can be welcomed to Heaven. This isn't to enjoy Heaven, it's to get herself out of the picture so that Sera and the other angels won't suspect that an uprising is what's actually happening

This is actually kind of supported by the deal Alastor and Charlie made. He gets a favor of his choosing at any time where she doesn't hurt anyone. This could very well be either getting her to convince Lilith to absolve their deal or pushing her into becoming the leader of Hell and liberating Hell, therefore fulfilling the deal.

Some people are suspecting that Lilith betrayed her husband, daughter, and people to live in paradise. And I can't believe that. Lilith, from what we've seen, takes pride in her people and was close with her daughter. And she's someone who prioritizes freedom, expression, knowledge, etc. I can't see her being content to live peacefully in Heaven. Ultimately, I think she's the one pulling the strings here and making sure Charlie is ready to be a leader when the time comes, liberating their people.

Lute is in for a ride awakening when Lilith does return to Hell

[lightwing-s]

the batboys' favorite male marvel heroes

Our golden boy, Dick, is a massive Spiderman fan. He’s not embarrassed in the least to admit it, and he’s also not worried people will think of him as just liking something popular. He has pretty good reasons to like Peter Parker and he’ll defend it to hell and back. He’s young, fun, and lighthearted. Heroic and smart and handsome and sweet and Dick can go on for hours and hours on that topic. At a young age, he sympathized with Peter for a number of reasons: they were both orphans, taken in by someone after this loss; even after all that pain they still grew up to be happy and joyful people to be around; both are very smart. As he grew into his super hero persona, they started sharing a whole lot more, like their flexible fighting style, the way they both deal with villains. And you’d often tell him they share the same bubbly personality. Also, Bruce used to spoil him rotten with spidey gifts. Comics, action figures, school supplies, spiderman shampoo and conditioner, towels… You name it, Dick has had it at home. Truly a spidey fanboy through and through. He also has a costume at home waiting for the day he can go on patrol wearing it.

Let's be honest here, we all know Jason would live for the anti-hero trope. Growing up, he’d always been drawn to more heroic types of antiheroes, like Wolverine for example, who’s hell bent on fulfilling his duty but does not live by the hero standards as some others do.  But after a certain incident with a crowbar and a clown, he saw refuge in the spirit of vengeance himself, the Ghost Rider. C'mon, a motorcycling maniac, whose body is completely covered in fire and who fights for justice no matter what? *side eyes a certain somebody* there's no way it isn't up to his alley. He’s in the comic store right after patrol, in the early mornings, to buy whatever issue was released next and reads it like it’s a Jane Austen novel. He also buys older issues, and keeps them wrapped and well stored like his precious babies and he ain’t letting anyone touch them. Perhaps with one dear exception, you.  Jay is into the classics though, if he had to pick between one out of all the riders he would have to choose the very first rider, Johnny Blaze. When riding his own bike, he’d pretend to be a rider, spitting lines he remembers from the comics and using them on random robbers he stops on the streets. Don’t talk to him about the movie though, that’s off topic.

Tim Drake is not one to pick “silly” heroes like his older brothers do. Or he at least pretends to do. He’s into the smart supes, with admirable brains and capacities well beyond imaginable. But he’s also a bit of a contrarian, so he won’t go for easy picks like Dick Iron Man. So when he sees a powerful AI turn into a nearly unstoppable android he instantly becomes a fan. Even before living with Bruce and becoming Robin, he would ask his parents to get him the new Avengers issue with Vision in it. However, unlike his brothers he’s very chill about it, he doesn’t feel like he needs to explain why his favorite is the best, or why they're a token of justice or a mad warrior. He knows Vision is good and that no one can fight him about it. He also wishes he could stay awake without the need for rest like he does, but he’d definitely miss the coffee.

Don’t really let anyone know it, but Damian’s favorite hero is his dad. But Batman is a real, flesh and bone man, so it won’t count here. He struggled to have a favorite hero, reading comics is “for children” and he’s too mature for that. He’s an adult. But when he caught a glimpse of Dick sleeping watching the new Moon Knight tv show, this boy got hooked. Not only is he a cool,  merciless fighter, he is also intelligent and has a cultural impact on him like no other. Marc’s internal conflict with all of his personalities feels like a reflection of Damian’s own troubles with his families’ contrasting ideals: is he supposed to be a deadly weapon just like his grandfather would want, much like Jake Lockely, or is he a nicer warrior-esque hero like Marc and his father? Anyway, that cape, Dami loves the hooded cape *see that, bats? much cooler!*

[noodles-doodles01]

Women and HOTD Pt 1: Alicent

All the women in the series are very passive, and not in a good way. Everything in the show just happens to them and they have no autonomy no matter what. I will admit that yes, Westeros is not kind to women, however within every confine there is some space. Rhaenyra is a princess and soon to be heir to the throne, Alicent is Queen consort. They hold some semblance of power whether it be between themselves or toward other male characters. The show seems to take on this false idea that women would never go to war because they're not hot headed like the men around them, but they place this idea in the most inopportune moments where it makes them seem stupid.

Going into specifics, let's start with Alicent: In FnB, she is more of an evil stepmother rather than an ex best friend. I did not mind this change because the opportunities were there: Alicent was treated as an equal by Rhaenyra when they were friends, so despite Rhaenyra's class above Alicent in society, she did not feel it. Then, post marriage to the king, Alicent is alone, and forced to pump out babies for a man the age of her father and cannot complain about it. Moreover, Rhaenyra seems to take out her anger and frustration on her, not seeing the pressures she endures frm her own father. That kind of reaction shows the first aspect of Rhaenyra's privilege: She can tell her father off about being married away. In Alicent's eyes, Rhaenyra's living her best life, and the lack of understanding would rub anyone the wrong way.

Like Alicent dealing with Rhaenyra's anger would hold so much of the following:

I did not choose to marry your father

Do you truly think if this was what I wanted that I wouldn't tell you?

You act as though producing heirs is your greatest fear and a burden you pity women for, yet here I sit before you and all you give me is contempt

Add that to the religious trauma she's inducing but clings to it anyway bc its how she copes (as we know from Alicent explaining how praying is the closest she can get to her own mother).

So right then, the shift of perceived equality is there. Alicent is Queen Consort but a child bride, who watches as the princess waltzes around huffing and puffing as she actively lives out being a baby factory.

But Alicent is someone driven by principle, hence her clutching to religion. She is doing this for duty. For the sake of her father. She is being rewarded for her perserverance, and would be punished for sinning.

Until Rhaenyra sleeps with Daemon and Cole.

I don't think it's entirely the fact that Rhaenyra did it unmarried, but rather the fact that she is able to do it without any sense of consequence. Add this to the fact that she lies to Alicent's face, swearing upon her mother (as though that isn't a soft spot for Alicent), and it results in getting Otto taken away.

Where is the justice Alicent sticks by in that?

Rhaenyra sinned, she lied to her face, and instead of dealing with any consequence, she is stranded amongst people she doesn't know, whilst Rhaenyra gets hush hush tea.

The shift grows wider.

Alicent, realizing she is all alone and is unsupported on all sides, decides to wear the green dress. Which is iconic in itself; she realizes that in her marriage to Viserys, the man who is meant to protect her in this context, is leaving her out to dry whilst tending for his daughter. This act of the dress is the first form of wiggle room Alicent gets in her cage; she has tried being nice and forgiving and she ended up alone for it.

By the end of the wedding, Criston Cole as her protector is added to her confinement. Another bit of growth, and the shift grows wider.

I do wish the show depicted how Alicent tormented Rhaenyra more, because that would display how Rhaenyra had grown more tension with Alicent, showing how both sides are at fault to some degree for their falling out. Nonetheless, the years pass and Rhaenyra has bastard sons, and its obvious (ideally for me they would follow some semblance of similarity to the books but we do with what we got), and Viserys does.not.care.

At this point, I feel like Alicent's resentment for Rhaenyra would not be solely from comparing their lives, but also because of how much Viserys ignores Alicent, removing any sense of power she may hold, for the sake of catering to Rhaenyra. We see this in his ignorance to the bastards, we see this in his lack of care for his children with Alicent, and his overall cheery attitude no matter what happens for the sake of "family". In Alicent's eyes, Rhaenyra is still the spoiled child from back when they were children.

Wouldn't that fill her with utter rage? The concept that Alicent is QUEEN, yet is constantly upstaged by the princess and her sinful whims whilst Alicent's children suffer for it? Wouldn't Otto's words echo in her mind that her children would not be safe should Rhaenyra be queen?

And, being the religious woman she is, she would spread those complaints to her children. She would spread her ideas of Rhaenyra and her children to Aemond, Aegon and even Helaena. She tells them out of fear, that they need to know that Rhaenyra acts kind but will hurt others to protect herself. Those ideas will stick in her kids brains because of course it does. I will go into more detail about Alicent's kids in a separate post.

This all comes to a peak when Aemond loses his eye, which is a personal fave episode of mine because I had thought we would get some glimpse of book Alicent after this. Aemond is fatally injured, especially considering the time they live in. Westeros is not kind to those who are visibly different, and it was the resul of a children's spat. Of COURSE Alicent would assume that the boys attacked her own son; it's a projection of sorts, she spreads this hatred against Rhaenyra's kids to her own children, she would assume Rhaenyra does the same. And her son has paid the price for it.

Yet Viserys gives Rhaenyra a slap on the wrist, and instead berates Aegon and Aemond about a comment made, completely ignoring the fact that Aemond is MISSING AN EYE. Alicent is given full proof here and now that Rhaenyra will always get what she wants no matter the cost, and her "Thank you father" acts as a way to rub it in. So of course, she grabs the knife and attacks Rhaenyra, where is duty? Where is sacrifice?

THIS is when she show decides "lol and then she forgot all about that"

Because afterwards, Alicent becomes passive; the usurpation is based on a stupid misunderstanding, when it could have simply been Alicent pushing for Aegon to protect her children, because she can control her own action, she cannot control Rhaenyra's.

In S2, they shift even further with this idea of Alicent being someone who has things happen to them, not even done to them. BnC should have had Alicent present, because it is her first view of consequence she gets from the Dance. It is a foretelling of tragedy and she only suffers more for it. Instead, she is with Criston Cole.

I will always hate the pairing, because I would never believe that Alicent, who has suffered SA at the hands of men, would simply turn to another man once Viserys is dead, when that man is CRISTON COLE. Alicent is canonically weirded out by Cole's interest in Rhaenyra in the books, and it makes perfect sense for that to translate in the show with Alicent being younger. Why on earth would she get with him?

Worst of all, they have Alicent almost depending on the men in her life for protection? As though she wouldn't already know that they're useless from her experiences with Viserys and her father?

And the worst part of it is that the writers STILL could have gotten the "woe is me im a victim of the patriarchy" idea of Alicent in S2, because that is when Aegon and Aemond do take the wheel. Aemond murdered a child, and in return Jahaerys was taken. She could have been depicted having little to no control over the actions after, and how her family suffers for it, because it is literally canon that later in the story, when she loses everything in the war, she regrets ever wearing the green dress.

So could you imagine, Alicent, a woman who has pushed past her position given the small amount of room she had in power, slowly being taken out of the picture because the situation soon snowballs into a tragedy she can no longer control? And how at the end of it all, she loses everything she fought tooth and nail to protect.

Instead, we get a wishy washy character, who could have been executed PERFECTLY by Olivia Cooke if done right, wandering around the castle because the writers don't know what to do with her anymore.

[vidavalor]

Hello! I trully love your metas ♥️

And I want to believe… but how do you match the fact that they have kissed (even fucked) for so many time with the only kiss we have seen which is so clumsly, so fist-time-type, and so turbovirgin?

Thank you!

Hi @margotmignard-blog Thank you and nice to meet you. :) Ok, this is for you and the few Anons who have sent me more or less the same Ask in the last 2 weeks or so as some of my posts have circulated a bit more so yeah, alright, I'll take it on. All of you please help yourself to hot chocolate and holiday M&Ms, even if you are making me think about Every again to write this lol.

Why do I think Crowley & Aziraphale are long-time lovers when Every is an awkward kiss? Because you know what looks just like clumsy, first-time kisses?

Old-married argument kisses of desperation when all other communication is failing that then wind up failing, too, that's what.

Two people kissing in distress is clumsy and messy no matter what stage of their relationship they're in and if they're upset and think the other is about to walk out the door and conflicted about opening up to the kiss because of the argument then all of that makes for a truly gut-wrenchingly awkward kiss. It didn't read as a first time kiss to me at all but I can understand how it might to someone.

I actually think that's the insanely evil genius of it lol. This show is such a bastard worth knowing, I tell ya. :) Right now, they have everyone being all "they need to have a better second kiss!" and just well... if you were them, wouldn't you want that? Would seem a good way to bury the surprise of an older kiss, wouldn't it? Would be a good way to sleight of hand some doubt into *checks notes* apparently everybody but me and a handful of others lol and so help to have everyone flailing again but for a better reason when they throw in an older, better kiss.

It's also a bolder move, both story-wise and performance-wise. Sadly, it's still a big deal that they've even kissed at all and it shouldn't be but, thankfully, it's becoming more common. In a way, though, that makes the fact that they made the first kiss you saw less than ideal a better choice and a better story.

Some more thoughts on this under the cut below that is beneath some gifs of these two who haven't apparently ever kissed before moments away from sex in the wall slam scene in S1... which is Every's parallel scene. By design. To illustrate a contrast. The first kiss we saw is a mirror of oh, just the start of some casual public sex that got interrupted by SatanicNun!Nina. Haven't we all had that relationship where we let someone throw us against a wall before we ever kissed? I mean...

Look at Aziraphale and his little 'getting up to some sexy trouble' smile here... does he not look like he knows *exactly* what he's asking for here and does Crowley not know what the request is and give it to him in a way that screams that this is not the first time? The tone here is a bit... You know, Crowley, I've always said I wanted to fuck in an empty broom closet in a former satanic nunnery and luck of the devil, you just kicked in a door and found one so you are sooooo nice throw me against the wall baby let's go... oh terrific of course this is exactly when the damn nun shows up oh well at least I can enjoy you slurring your S's in sexual frustration for now...

Good Omens throws something down and then gives you context for it later on that causes you to revisit what you thought when you initially watched it, right? They do this all the time. The scenes themselves always work fine on first viewing but they change and morph into a different scene when viewed with the added context the show gives you later. If you're writing a show in that way, you absolutely would make Every the first kiss you showed the audience... *especially* if it was in a cliffhanger-y season finale. Your Ask is exactly the reason why. You and I and a bonkers number of others are engaging with one another on the topic and we're engaging with the show as a result. Some of us are apparently willing to fight to the death insisting that Every is their first kiss. Some of us are like how you appear to be from your Ask, where you're willing to keep an open mind but you're leaning towards it was the first kiss. Some of us are like me and are feeling that, when all is said and done, they are building a relationship that is millennia old and that the show will wind up illustrating an entire history of it by its end and the idea that we have scenes out there already like Rome and The Globe Theatre and 1941 and Tadfield Manor but people think that they just kissed for the first time in 2023 is kind of head-scratching to me.

I've had people ask me how an ancient times vavoom would advance the story and I've answered in other meta how I think it would but I have an ask back for you all: how, honestly, would 2.06 being their first kiss advance the story? They've written characters who have had a relationship of some form with one another since before the Garden of Eden and have shown us that story throughout different points in time. S3 is going to be, at best, set a couple of years out from S2 and is probably set a lot sooner than that, so we're going to end their story sometime before 2026 on their timeline, probably... and the first kiss was in 2023? When you have the opportunity to write an entire millennia-old romantic relationship with all of its highs and lows and show it in the flashbacks and how they inform the relationship in the present? Because that story is already there. That's the story I see watching this and have since the first time I watched it. I'm frankly kinda floored by the number of people who insist that it's their first kiss, especially two seasons into the show. The same show that gave you this before it gave you The Blitz, Part 2?

I got accidentally spoiled for Every like a lot of people and when I saw Crowley's glasses on, I had the feeling that it was probably going to be a terrible kiss. I was hoping that it wasn't the only kiss in the season but when 2.05 finished without it showing up yet, it became obvious that it was going to be a big thing in the finale (hahaha oh God, remember when we didn't know? simpler times lol) and that meant that it was likely the only kiss in the season and while it ripped my heart out like it did everyone else, I never saw it as a first kiss for a second.

If you've been with somebody for a long time and, like everyone else, you have your disagreements and your things to work through but you tend to be the kind of couple where you can always or almost always rely on a baseline of physical communication that helps you express what you feel for one another-- which is a wordy way of saying 'when you've been with someone forever and the sex is amazing' lol-- maybe the worst thing that can happen between you is if that feels like it's falling apart, too. That's what I see in that kiss and, in particular, Aziraphale's reaction to it.

It's not 'turbo-virgin', in an unfamiliar with kissing way, imo-- it's a situation causing conflict for Aziraphale over whether or not he wants to give into the kiss. We've all seen it from every damn angle by now lol. We see him unable to not give in, just a little. He kisses Crowley back a bit. He touches his shoulder and his side. He doesn't pull away because he just can't, really, because he never really wants to not be kissing Crowley, but he also can't just give in because that's the situation that Crowley's set up by kissing him the way he did. Crowley wants him to run away with him and that's not a solution to any of this, either, and everything is a total mess and if Aziraphale just gives in and opens up more and really kisses Crowley, he's saying yes to just running off with him and they can't. There's really nowhere to go.

Even with all of that, he still can't resist kissing Crowley a bit and touching him because Crowley and because what he really wants is for them to be literally anywhere else, somewhere safe away from all of it, without having to worry about Heaven & Hell, but they aren't and he can't pretend that they are. That'd be even crueler, really, to really kiss Crowley and then still go to Heaven, right?

It's not a first kiss and at a bad time panic-- it's oh God, I think we broke it. It's the heartbreak of suddenly being in this place together where they aren't communicating well on any level and that going past having a verbal disagreement and into the pain of having an absolutely brutally bad kiss with someone with whom you've had countless passionate ones and the terror that it might be the last one and you're never going to feel any of that again.

That's happened to them before.

It's the brutal 1862 scene. Aziraphale in 1862's comment about The Agreement is the most embittered you won't touch me anymore thing ever. They've gone from The Arrangement in their looser, flirtier Globe Theatre era to now what Aziraphale calls The Agreement in 1862. The difference between an arrangement and an agreement is basically where the future is concerned. An agreement is, well, an agreement lol but it tends to be more formal, more restrained, while an arrangement is an agreement that contains more of a view to the future. It's a plan. You agree to meet up but you arrange how, basically. They don't have The Arrangement in 1862 anymore, they have The Agreement and it sounds like the exact fucking opposite of The Arrangement. The Agreement is "stay out of each other's way. Lend a hand, as needed," according to Aziraphale.

Read that again: "Stay out of each other's way. Lend a hand, as needed." See a problem here? If we're just talking about helping each other out with work assignments then this literally just doesn't make any sense at all as how can you both stay out of each other's way but lend a hand as needed? It's one or the other. It can't be both. It's "stay out of each other's way" when it comes to work assignments. It's "lend a hand, as needed" in their love life and Aziraphale is bitter as all holy fuck about it. They're barely having sex anymore.

That scene in 1862 actually also parallels part of the scene that contains Every. Funny how alike "we have a lot in common, you and me" sounds to what Crowley says in 2.06, isn't it? Dude has got to stop asking for holy water or to run away when they're both a mess-- it not working lol.

The point is that they've been together a long time and they've also both experienced a lot of trauma. They've have times where miscommunications snowballed and it felt broken beyond repair but it's not and it's not because they love each other and they eventually figure it out. That's part of the pain of Every, though, because what happened after Crowley came back from Hell in 1827 was bad and it took a long time to get to a better place with it but they did and better than before and then this kiss that they think could wind up being their last is a complete disaster straight out of the mid-1800s on top of the fact that they're in what feels like in the moment irreversible disagreement.

It's a painful kiss. It hurts to watch. It's supposed to. Not because they've never kissed before but because they've kissed a trillion times and this is by far the worst of the lot.

And these bastards decided it was the first one we should see lol. It's okay, though. These are coming soon, in the past and present:

[thecaffeinebookwarrior]

Am I the only person who doesn’t like Wonder Woman and thinks she is, in fact, a Mary Sue? I haven’t read or watched much with her in it so maybe I’m just basing my opinions on one Wonder Woman book I read where I thought she was written poorly.

But I don’t know. She’s literally everything a modern woman is supposed to be (sexy, strong, righteous, soft, etc.) and she never struggles. She’s always right, she never makes mistakes, and she’s very boring to me as a result. I haven’t seen the recent film, but I dislike the fact that they made her love babies. A lot of pressure is put on women to love babies/children and/or want one of their own, and if a woman doesn’t like or want them then she’s seen as a cold, callous bitch. So to me, that part seems like the writers put it in thinking ‘see she’s not an evil man hating feminist you guys, she loves babies!’

Idk. I know she’s seen as THE role model for women and girls but I just can’t understand her appeal. What exactly do you like about her?

Hello there!

As someone who grew up with a lot of Wonder Woman content, I have to personally disagree!

Like any major superhero, Wonder Woman gets a lot of good content and plenty of bad content, too.

Yes, she's idealized - but almost all superheroes are idealized. Superman is literally a mirror of the philosophical concept of the "Ubermensch," a term coined by Nietzsche meaning "superman" and describing an ideal human being. By this standard, he could also be described as a Mary Sue!

But just being beautiful, powerful, and good does not a Mary Sue make. These idyllic superheroes work well when they're put in circumstances that challenge them. It's fascinating to see characters that seemingly embody the highest reaches of human potential pushed to their limits, when we see that they too have flaws and weaknesses that they can overcome through perseverance.

You say that she "never struggles," but a good Wonder Woman writer knows that she NEEDS to struggle to be interesting. In shows like the animated Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, she and all the other major heroes are put in situations that challenge them on every level - physical (like fighting literal gods) and emotional (being banished from her home for bringing men to the island).

And also funny scenarios that put them at disadvantages, like being turned into children or a pig that then must be chased through the city by Batman (yes, both real episodes) that humanize them and show that they're not invulnerable.

For the more recent, live action movies, I liked the first Wonder Woman but not the second. I personally liked the fact that she was excited to see a baby, especially in the context that there were no babies on her island, because women are often expected to reject feminine characteristics to be strong.

I see your point, but I also have a different view regarding children: I think a lot of the oppression experienced by women is also experienced by children, and children are frequently dehumanized.

Not everyone who says they don't like kids is a bad person - I know plenty of great people who say they don't like kids - but I'm not really comfortable with the concept of disliking an entire group of human beings. Children have such varied personalities, just like any other group.

Granted, most people who say they don't like kids don't mean they dislike ALL kids, but it's still a sentiment I don't really like from a cultural standpoint.

As for women who don't WANT kids, I agree - it's deeply messed up that many people don't see women as complete or fulfilled unless they have kids. But (though it's been a while since I've seen it) I don't recall Wonder Woman in the 2017 movies planning to have children of her own. Plenty of women like children without intending to have them, myself included.

Again, though, I do see your point that the writers may have been trying to soften Wonder Woman in the eyes of the audience by having her love babies.

I still prefer that over the original Joss Whedon script, where a little girl at one point asks her to get a cat down from a tree (I think. Perhaps it was a lost toy) and Wonder Woman callously tells her to get it herself. To me, that plays into a sexist stereotype that women must reject all feminine attributes in order to be strong.

The sequel film, on the other hand, really embodies how NOT to write Wonder Woman in every way: largely exempt from moral criticism, inherently better than those around her, and with few meaningful challenges that aren't solved through plot convenience. She isn't "always right," however, because another flaw in that film's plot is the fact that she's learning a vague and contrived lesson of not cheating to get what she wants, though that's never explored in any way that feels human or applicable.

To conclude, I'll reiterate -- and this is just my opinion -- Wonder Woman is done GREAT when written by someone who understands the appeal of the character. Her idyllic characteristics apply to most superheroes, and can work great if the person writing her knows how to challenge her. I don't mind when she has feminine characteristics, and I love when all superheroes love kids, male and female. And last but not least, Justice League and Justice League unlimited reign supreme in terms of superhero content.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to ramble and spill my potentially controversial opinions!

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Hello Muffin and Vinelle! I have a question. How do you go about writing your dialogues? Is there a way to practice? I always struggle with that aspect of my writing and have no clue how to improve. Cheers!

Interesting question, anon, and I hope I can be at least a little helpful. As it is, I love dialogue, often my favorite part of writing.

Here's a few things I think of with dialogue.

Think About How People Talk

Think about plays, movies, and remember that while the characters see, think, and feel things what they hear is what the other person is saying. If they're participating in a conversation then they're responding to that conversation, to what another person said, how they said it, and not what they thought/things the character doesn't know.

People also speak differently than prose is written. They stumble over words, forget what they're saying. People speak in contractions unless they're a fucking asshole. People don't tend to monologue or if they do it better be a big moment/they're just weird like that.

Basically, when you're writing dialogue, keep in mind how people actually talk and the fact that in speaking with one another. Try to picture yourself sitting in the audience for a play or the set of a film, and you're watching the characters interact and following the flow of the conversation.

The conversation, whatever it is, should both sound correct (like what people would say) and make sense in that character A is believably responding to character B.

Think About How Characters Talk

How we speak is informed by who we are, where we are, and where we came from, this is true of everyone. The way a character speaks reveals not only their background but also in some cases who they want to be/what they're trying to accomplish.

And every character should have a distinctive voice that's informed by this.

Ideally, you should be able to follow a conversation of who is saying what if you had no speech tags and no descriptors. If you put the dialogue of Character A conversing with Character B you should be able to tell which is which.

Similarly, think about how they're saying something and why. Are they trying to impress someone? Are they putting on airs? Are they doing the opposite to fit in? Are they uncomfortable or at ease with their situation? Are they educated? Is English a second language?

A character should have a certain sound and you should know them well enough to know not only what they think like but what they speak like and if they're dialogue is sounding wrong in that it might be what they would say but now how they would say it.

Write What You Need, Not What You Want

Sometimes, it's very tempting as an author to just have the character say whatever you want to get across to the audience, or something they want another character to hear, because you don't know how else to do it.

It's tempting but don't fall into that trap.

Don't write what you want, what your point is, but write what the characters would say and try to find some other way to make that point or else let the point show in the subtext.

No character (well, unless it's a beautiful hilarious scene where someone's very drunk and sad) will ever say, "I love you, but I'm too damaged to say it properly because I'm a poor little meow meow!" You have to commit to what they'd actually say, even if it'd be much easier and you'd get to the 'fun' part if they just said what you wanted.

Think About What Works/What You Like

Be critical of your own work but also look to others for example. Was there dialogue somewhere you liked. If so, why? What was good about it? Why was it compelling?

I could throw out various authors here but off the top of my head I'm going to throw Hemmingway into the audience and particularly "The Hills Like White Elephants" in that it's a very believable compelling conversation between two characters we don't know but without either character telling us much information we somehow know exactly what the fuck is going on.

And Of Course... Practice

Keep writing, never settle, and improvement will be yours.

Any advice @therealvinelle?

[gofancyninjaworld]

Started watching Mob Psycho 100. About 5 episodes in and yeah, I get why this show is so popular. It's good, even real good, so far. Mob is a good protagonist and the animation has been really impressive.

I also recently started reading One Punch Man and it's fine. I like the art and every now and again it gives me a chuckle. But ultimately I think OPM has a fairly conservative world view that makes me hard to enjoy it as anything more than easy fluff. It's all about the power of the individual and has some really questionable class politics in places. I know it's not intended for a deep read, but I can't help it. I'm glad I'm reading it through the library instead of buying individual volumes. I think I'm like 21 volumes into it.

Back to MP100, I'm still early so I can't say for sure yet, but I feel like it is the better written and realized of the two. I'm a sucker for the monster-of-the-week style format and so far it has been nailing while also developing the characters pretty well.

I gotta say, I'm impressed. I'm usually pretty cautious around checking out popular things since I tend to not enjoy them. So far that's not the case here.

First, I'm glad that your library has a lot of the OPM volumes: it's great for the series and a very wise way to read. If I didn't have my library cards, I'd be perma-broke and out of space in my home. :D

Second, I hope by now that you've finished reading Mob Psycho 100. I think it's a fantastic work and while there's a part of me that hankers for ONE to find something more he wants to say in that world and tell another story, a bigger part of me really respects that he's known how to tell 'a big story of a small step' and end there. It is one of the best coming-of-age stories I've read or watched. If you haven't checked out the anime, DO! It is incredibly well-realised, imaginative, and every season builds better on the previous.

Yes, now that you mention it, One-Punch Man does feel more conservative than Mob Psycho 100 in *some* ways. Whereas the latter is about middle schoolers exploring how to shape themselves, OPM is about the challenge of having a sense of purpose as an adult and balancing act of being an individual and being part of society. And no one quite knows what they're doing...

The various kids in MP100 may have challenges as small as getting someone to sign up for a school club or as big as stopping a would-be megalomaniac from taking over Japan, but they're free to focus on those problems. Their parents keep a roof over their heads, cook dinner, draw up budgets, pay bills, and prompt them to do homework. Their schools give them a ready-made social context in which to interact repeatedly and shape their goals. They're free to be children and it's precious.

OPM, almost everyone is an adult, and adult life is both less and more structured than that of childhood. There's a lot more to balance, you don't have infinite energy, time, or resources, and if you get it wrong, life gets super hard. We get Saitama: he's become the strongest man in the world thanks to his singular focus on being so strong that he can send any enemy flying with a single punch -- and he's also homeless (he's squatting in an abandoned apartment), with no post-secondary qualifications, no steady job (he's held lots of menial jobs, keeping them only long enough to quit and live off them so he can be a hero). The idealism of being a hero may get you thanked, but thanks don't pay the rent: that's why the Hero Association came to exist, in order to enable people motivated to be heroes to actually focus on it. It'd be a short story if Genos hadn't introduced Saitama to the HA.

Those checks and compromises necessary to survive and thrive in society do give OPM a more conservative feel. However, on the other side, there's no one telling you how far you can go. Difficult as it is, there's more scope for self-actualisation for the characters in OPM than there is for those in MP100. And there's no one way to do it. Swings and roundabouts.

Not sure how OPM will end yet, but so far, I'm still finding it compelling.

Given how long this has been in my inbox, I have no idea if you will read this. If you do (and I hope you do), thank you. Thank you for an awesome ask.

[ggren-mainz]

Umineko - question arcs playthrough -> ep 2 - 1

last part - All parts and episodes - next part

Welcome back after an almost 2-week break, it's time for the next chapter ;P. Also i decided I'll introduce my gf and family to umineko via the stageplay, as i have heard that it's pretty good. Only up to ep 3 (soon 4) now, but anyways.

edit 2 days later as this sat in drafts : Watched it with my sis (my mom deemed it too tiring) and she loved it. Her favorite is George (both the character and the actor ;P), and she had some very interesting theories, one of them being that genji is kinzo's child, which damn. Age-wise i don't think it works but at least she's thinking. Also the outro was very confusing but i think it might've revealed some stuff. I'm not sure, but I'll keep it in mind. Anyways amazing watch.

She also did the tierlist and it's so funny

Anyways

I want to start this by saying that the culprit actually showed to me in a dream. That's right, i had a premonition. Basically the dream was me and some friends running in a destroyed world from Shannon with a gun. So what I'm getting to is that I now solved the mystery, and will now just laugh for the following 7 chapters. Ha ha ha.

(pls if shannon actually has any relation with the culprit/is the culprit, do not tell me or make any jokes/imply it. I am simply fooling around because of this quite funny dream i had)

rocking that victorian newspaper boy inspired fit.

and the hippie look. Perfect case of underdressed x overdressed. Also Tomitake Flash?????

this reads like some insane foreshadowing. Or at least it's definitely related to our little characters as well. You could say that they're like fish from the perspective of the witches. anyways, I'll put s mental pin to this line and perhaps rethink it later.

glad to see she's included in the credits now.

Anyways what's with this aquarium date?? When is it happening? Basically George and Shannon are on a date, and are just having fun, being very cute.

can't really figure out if this line should mean more or not. Cause like it's not that weird, but also it could turn into something more sinister later. I'll see.

And they say romance is dead.

Oh also another thing we (me and my sis) noticed yesterday while watching the play, but George is 23 and Shannon is 16.... raises one eyebrow. Ok george...ok...

....what magic? Hey shannon i think George will understand it very well why not explain it to us?

OOooohhh so this happens before the first game time wise. ok ok makes sense.

woah woah woah this is a bit of a change of atmosphere.

so from how much i'm getting this is Shannon talking about breaking free from her fate as 'furniture'. She is on the shrine's rock (the one that was destroyed at the beginning of ch 1) and wants to break some mirror that was offered as a sacrifice. I wonder, does that mean that because she broke this mirror, the shrine broke down and as such somehow started this entire tragedy?

is the key here metaphorical, or could it be referring to the key in the ephitath?

what promise? what wish? so many questions....question arc moment....

We then have a long scene of George and his family visiting the main house, and Shannon realising her crush on him, and some discussions between the George Jessica and her. These 2 are very cute, unfortunately it seems that Eva wants to marry George with someone who would benefit them financially/bussiness wise.

and as such it leads me to the question. Did she marry like this? Was her marriage with Hideyoshi like this oooorrr....

(before this she says that she loves her husband a lot), ah i see. I mean it's not like this doesn't happen nowadays too, except instead of getting married and then falling in love it's more like getting together and then falling in love. Which is fine, but idk if in this world this is ideal, as i doubt divorce is that accepted lol. And also ofc cause we know George loves Sayo.

anyways Eva continues talking and then takes George away and then tells the girls they'll also find men they love but then leans in and whispers something so vile and malicious in Shannon's ear, that my computer crashed and i had to restart the game lmao.

after a lot of ctrl-ing this is what she says. Bad but i think my computer overexaggerated.

So Shannon feels like shit and is caught with her head in the clouds by Natsuhi who punishes her to clean the entire reception.

mayhaps i shouldn't have wondered so far lmao. (for context i was curious if Lanon was an actual character or was just gonna remain a name and then i kept seeing yasu and here i am lol)

this is what detroit become human and what i also assume nier automata (idk i only played the prologue) wished they could be.

huuuuuh??? So again this brings me back to my question, does magic actually exist? i think so. But maybe Shannon is imagining this and all those flashy bunny rabbits I see online are Kinzo's personal strippers, idk.

Holly shit guys, look! it's the witch!!

Also is this story very related to love? I didn't expect that, interesting. Maybe it's just this chapter or a sub-genre but idk ill see. Also she already has the ring on.

hmm is it really that simple? You know how they say, don't make a deal with the devil, this is how this feels.

Huh i can't believe all my questions have been answered. So this is why she broke the mirror, this is the wish and also the promise and also the magic. Makes sense.

Also wait i just had a thought. Does Shannon break the mirror each loop, or did by any chance Kanon break it last time. Because you remember he said before he died that she should wait "another 100 years in hell for the next summoner" and assuming this summons the witch...

*shakes* who is it????

hmmm this sounds...suspiciously similar to Eva. Is she saying this because she wants to intimidate her and convince her to break the mirror or is Eva somehow behind this?

and this is just the exact quote. Why is she quoting her? Just to remind her? And if she doesn't just wanna remind her and she just thinks this then why call Kinzo Father? Is she related to him? Me and my sis have talked about the possibility of her being somehow related to Kinzo, like a daughter thingy. I'm not sure, and i definitely don't have enough clues to figure it out rn but anyways. Kinda hard to fake all of this tbh.

Immediatly after this line Kanon comes in to save Shannon, and after some more talking Beatrice gives both of them a butterfly shaped burn/bruise mark on their left palms. She does that by controlling their hands, which immediately remembered me of the ending scene in the stageplay, where Shannon and Kanon "shoot" each other with their hands in the shape of a pistol. who knows. I obviously dont.

these things are getting longer and longer...

next part

[thatgirl4815]

A few thoughts re. your post about Top/cheating double standards - I feel so bemused bout ppl who say they felt conflicted bout the Sand/Ray love scene cos it was cheating (if nothing else, just listen to the scoring! If you were meant to feel icky about it the music would tell you so! The way it was scored and filmed is 100% meant to convey a sense of romance and love and *fucking finally* - nothing about it indicates shenanigans are afoot!), because at this point literally EVERYONE knows Mew is faking his relationship with Ray - Mew knows it, Ray knows it, the audience has always known it. Just because they haven't explicitly verbalised it doesn't mean they don't know it. The last time they saw each other Ray accused him of still loving Top and Mew didn't deny it, nor did he try to stop Ray from leaving (some ppl might even consider that as good as a break-up...). Now compare that to Top: at the time of the Car Incident, both him and Mew have genuine feelings for each other and are genuinely having a go at making something of it; they are on good terms - they part on good terms. Like you said, yes Boston messes with his head, but that's literally all it takes to get him to cheat. Okay, ppl will bring their personal povs/experiences re. cheating to the table, as is their right, and I get that it's an emotive subject (and one for which I too have basically zero tolerance), but I'm not sure how anyone can say with a straight face that those two scenarios are comparable let alone that what Ray did was worse. I keep seeing ppl watch the Ray/Mew end scene and come away from it happily acknowledging that Mew consciously using Ray explains his indifference to Ray/Sand, whilst simultaneously still condemning Ray because they don't seem able to extend that reasoning to Ray's own behaviour - Mew's not the only one clued in! IMO there's no way Ray would be out there having ridiculously hot make-out sessions with Sand if he believed for one second that Mew was genuinely falling in love with him (or even genuinely trying to). Even when he's high as a kite in ep 8, it's obvious he knows what's up - when your so-called boyfriend (who up until a hot second ago repeatedly and flatly denied having any romantic interest in you whatsoever) recoils from you in private but plants one on you in front of his ex in public...like Ray said, you get the hint! You can argue semantics about cheating and sure, in an ideal world they'd have had that open and honest convo then and there because yes, it's always better to communicate your feelings instead of running away to interrupt a perfectly lovely platonic bestie sleepover, but have they MET these characters??? They're walking disasters! It just fascinates me that you have Mew, the so-called victim of Ray's nefarious betrayal, not only shrugging it off but actively giving Ray his blessing to have as much sweet sweet sex with Sand as he wants, and yet parts of the audience are still like 'I dunno, still feels wrong...'

As far as Top is concerned - like you, my issue with his character isn't so much the cheating, it's how two-faced he is: he's a completely different person in his interactions with anyone who isn't Mew/someone Mew is on good terms with. And to be honest, I like him the best in those scenes! I do believe he's trying to be a better person for Mew, or at least he thinks he is, but as other ppl have pointed out, at the moment it's only performative precisely because he doesn't bother when Mew's not around to see it/won't hear about it. Sand is the obvious example - even when Top's ostensibly offering him an olive branch, his words may be conciliatory but his tone of voice/facial expressions are anything but - they ooze scorn and smarm! And you could argue that he's making progress (not telling Mew about Ray/Sand, or bout him saving Ray from arrest), but to be honest I enjoy the Top that turns on a dime the second Boston or Sand show up (I love his chemistry with both of them - that little Top/Boston scene at the party in ep 8 cracked me up) because that keeps him interesting - you're always waiting for the facade to drop!

Excellent points all around! Your bit about the use of music and tone to highlight the purity and positivity surrounding the SandRay scene in Ep9 is really telling. Like you, I see a lot of people resisting the narratives’ attempts to guide us towards a positive/negative outlook on the plot—not to say people should not push back against these details when the characters’ actions are deserving of scorn, but these details give us a good sense of the characters’ head spaces. They wouldn’t be there if they weren’t meant to inform our impression of these situations.

The entire RayMew talk is so necessary to the conversation of whether SandRay is considered cheating. I won’t fault the pushback to a certain extent, because I can’t say that anything in this show is the most straightforward. But like you said, these characters are messy. In a perfect world, yeah, they’d lay everything out on the table and have the “what are we?” discussion before going forward with other people in any way. But especially for someone like Ray who is so conflicted in his feelings (and so clearly struggling to accept that Mew has never, and will never, love him romantically), that just isn’t plausible. The most important point to me is that MEW DOESN’T CARE. He might as well have said it before with how blatantly obvious it was. Like, what is Ray supposed to think about the status of your relationship (which was never explicitly defined) when you refuse to kiss him in private but make out in front of your ex-boyfriend?

Gonna list a few of your claims here that I connect with a lot because you really said it best:

“…when your so-called boyfriend (who up until a hot second ago repeatedly and flatly denied having any romantic interest in you whatsoever) recoils from you in private but plants one on you in front of his ex in public...like Ray said, you get the hint!”

“IMO there's no way Ray would be out there having ridiculously hot make-out sessions with Sand if he believed for one second that Mew was genuinely falling in love with him (or even genuinely trying to).”

I don’t think anyone is arguing that what Ray has done is the best way to handle the situation objectively (at least, no one that I’ve seen), but just that the circumstances and evidence we’ve been presented with are not 100% aligned for Top and Ray and should thus not be treated as equally wrong. When the characters themselves are not only demonstrating these lack of feelings but calling them out verbally, there’s substantially less room for the “Ray is just as bad as Top” thing. And I do expect to get flack for this but honestly, in my viewing experience, viewing the situations as objectively as I can, what Top did is worse for the reasons you outline. And this is not me saying that Ray can do no wrong. It’s in consideration of what was expressly defined by each couple.

Regarding Top’s character in general; Top is two-faced, and I also enjoy that aspect of his character because it’s the only thing that really gives him any dimension. I wish Mew could see him when he interacts one-on-one with Sand and Boston because I have a feeling that would enlighten him to aspects of Top’s character that he’s hidden away. The funny thing is that Mew seems to have suspected this right from the start, yet he hasn’t ever seen this part of Top.

[stars-tonight]

hii! i saw you were doing matchups and i would like to ask for one :D

i would like a long matchup if possible! ( romantic matchup.) i am a cis female and i go by she/her pronouns and i would like to be paired up with a guy.

my ideal partner is someone who is good with their words. for example, they know how to communicate and just know what to say based on the situation and if we get into an argument, they would try to talk it out instead of shutting down and sulking. i also like someone who knows how to make me laugh and likes to tease. someone who is genuinely sweet and kind and knows how to love someone. they also have to be taller than me!

i’m someone who can be very quiet and shy at first and always waits for someone to come up to me. if i don’t know anyone in a room, i literally won’t talk at all. but i will talk to others if i have to. (that’s why i’m friends with mostly extroverts 😭) i get told my resting face looks sad. but when i get comfortable around someone, i literally don’t know how to shut up. my mbti is istp and i’m a gemini!

i’m 5’1 with long, wavy hair and brown highlights. i have a pretty athletic build since i play volleyball as well. i’m a libero but i’m a setter at heart! i get pretty loud and hype on the court. when my teammates get a big play, i like to fall on the floor or jump around. other than playing vb, i like sleeping, baking, and watching anime. i also collect sonny angels and smiskis. i have a french bulldog that i love very much so my partner has to love him too.

my love languages are physical touch and quality time. i think spending time with each other is very important in a relationship. i’m not very good at using my words so instead, i use physical affection to show my love.

my ideal date would be a picnic at a park with different types foods/snacks, enjoying each others company and taking pictures.

thank you sooo so much <33

headcanons

🥛 akaashi is a master of words

🥛 somehow always knows what to say

🥛 if you're in an argument, he will probably give a day for you both to calm down before asking to talk

🥛 he's very mature so he realizes that shutting down isn't the way to solve problems efficiently

🥛 akaashi isn't a full on jokester but he does poke fun at those he's close with

🥛 he's also very protective and attentive to his friends and family

🥛 he'd probably notice you because your resting face looks sad

🥛 but he's not quick to judge and once he gets to know you, he'll realize there's so much more to you than your resting face

🥛 he also has experience with chatterboxes and he's generally used to taking a step back and listening instead of contributing a lot to conversations

🥛 so if you ever go on a passionate rant or just talk a lot he won't get annoyed at all

🥛 in fact he'd actually be really happy

🥛 he knows you can be really shy so he's honored that you trust him and are comfortable enough around him to share your thoughts and opinions

🥛 he'd definitely make time to play volleyball with you

🥛 i feel like post-timeskip, he'd kind of miss it

🥛 even though he doesn't miss the pressure that comes with competitive volleyball, he'll want to play for fun sometimes

🥛 so you'd definitely play together sometimes

🥛 even in his high school era he'd probably drag you out to extra practice with bokuto and sometimes kuroo

🥛 claims that it's easier when you're there because he doesn't have to suffer focusing on the two crazy third years

🥛 he loves that you like setting

🥛 will probably go over some plays with you to ask for your thoughts

🥛 he will definitely appreciate your dog

🥛 is determined to train him to do cool tricks

🥛 he definitely agrees that quality time is a big part of relationships

🥛 he loves spending time with you and others he cares about (like how he and bokuto eat lunch together even though they're in different years)

🥛 akaashi is very good at reading people so even though you might not verbally express your appreciation for him, he can feel your love through your hugs

🥛 akaashi on a picnic date??? cutest thing ever

🥛 he also likes it especially if it's in a quieter park because it's a good way to get to know you

runner up for you was sawamura daichi!

A/N: there you go, i hope you liked it! sorry about the long wait 😣 i'm also a setter but i LOVE defense like i wish i could be better at it and play lib lol (my jv coach turned me from libero to setter in freshman year lol)

[yanderes-galore]

Please I ask for a yandere alphabet Leonard (Halo Red VS Blue)??? Not sure if it sent before so feel free to delete this if it did

Sure! I did The Alpha and not Epsilon, if you wanted Epsilon please tell me next time :) Sorry for the long wait and if it isn't the best... falling out of motivation for Alphabets recently.

Original Church (Alpha) Concept Here

Yandere Alphabet - Leonard L. Church

(The Alpha)

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Manipulation, Violence, Jealousy, Possessive behavior, Controlling behavior, Kidnapping, Overprotective behavior, Stalking, Isolation, Slight delusional behavior, Forced relationship.

Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?

At first he just isn't very affectionate. He doesn't entirely like dealing with people, even his obsession at first. However... Things soon change.

Once he comes to terms with the fact he's obsessed with you... He's much more caring and affectionate. He's awkward about it but tries his best with hugs and... kisses if he can do those (Robot...).

He really tries to show you he cares... even if he sucks at it.

In terms of intensity, I'd say he's moderate. He isn't the worst.

Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?

He isn't going to kill anyone unless they tried to hurt you. However, I can see him getting into fights with others if they're too close to you. For example, Tucker would be someone he'd fight with over you.

Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?

I'm thinking things like fist fights and grappling, unless he snapped or is forced he won't pull a gun on anyone.

If you got hurt, however? Yeah... Then he may just pull out all the stops.

I imagine he tries to be patient and caring to the best of his ability. He wouldn't mock you and would actually try to care for you and respect you. However... He isn't the best at it without getting a bit frustrated at the fact you're not responding well.

That's a big part of Church, he tries... with not the best results.

Darling: Aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?

Not really, he actually wants to allow you to get comfortable with him before trying anything.

Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

Church doesn't seem like he'd be very vulnerable. He's actually very closed off emotionally. So he isn't super open with you.

He may vent sometimes though.

Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?

Frustrated, but said frustration may soon turn to disappointment at you fighting him.

Can't you see he's trying to be a good partner for you?

Game: Is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?

No and he doesn't like you trying to leave him. Is he just not putting enough work in for you to like him?

Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

When it comes to RvB, it's hard to answer this question. However, I'd say him kidnapping you or you just finding out about his... Obsession with you. They both most likely happen together, actually.

You try to distance yourself from him after learning the truth... And he cuts you off and drags you away.

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

He isn't quite sure. He just knows you make him feel... Human and happy. So maybe a future away from all the chaos with just you would be what he wants.

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?

Kisses: How do they act around or with their darling?

Yes and he would be childish about it. He's pouty and passive aggressive when you "neglect" him. The others on Blue Team already know how much of a fit he has when you aren't paying attention to him.

He can both find a way to cope or lash out. Depends on how jealous he is and how far his obsession has progressed.

Love letters: How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?

Obsessive, Controlling, Manipulative, Jealousy, Childish, In denial, Cold, Clingy behavior, Temperamental, Insecure.

He's... a mess.

Mask: Are their true colors drastically different from the way they act around everyone else?

He'd be in denial for a long time, often distancing himself from you. However, as time goes on, he realizes you're the most rational one in the group other than him.

He finds himself growing increasingly more worried for you. Often to the point of watching you through his sniper scope. It's not stalking... It's "looking out for you."

It's stalking.

As a result... He allows himself to get a bit closer. Soon closer becomes too close with you. Once you're the most important thought in his mind, he's gone too far in.

He tries to be more caring. He tries his best to appeal to you. He doesn't care how long it takes....

Now that he can't ignore you anymore... You're both going to be stuck with one another.

Not really, no.

Naughty: How would they punish their darling?

Oppression: How many rights would they take away from their darling?

Isolation is I think the furthest he'd go other than scolding you. He doesn't want to hurt you.

Others ogling you isn't your fault, right?

As many as he feels he needs to in order to make you his.

Patience: How patient are they with their darling?

Quit: If their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?

He tries really hard to be patient. He feels if he is... You'll fall for him. He just needs to give you time.

Although... His patience begins to falter the longer you fight with him. Eventually you'll love him... Won't you?

Or does he need a different approach?

Probably not. He'd feel horrible if he lost you because you were the only one who he felt understood him other than Tex. He would not be the same mentally if he lost you.

Regret: Would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling? Would they ever let their darling go?

A little and maybe.

Stigma: What brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?

It's complicated with him... Hard to say what exactly makes him drawn to you.

Tears: How do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

He isn't quite sure what to do but does what he can to comfort you.

Even if you kick and scream at him about it.

SKIPPED

Vice: What weakness can their darling exploit in order to escape?

Reciprocating just enough to keep him under control is the first thing that comes to my mind.

Wit’s end: Would they ever hurt their darling?

Not intentionally.

Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?

Yearn: How long do they pine after their darling before they snap?

I want to say he's a worship yandere... But I'm not entirely sure how?

He'd do anything to make you comfortable with him, yet he struggles with it.

He can't seem to process his emotions....

Months? Probably months as you live together in Blood Gulch.

Zenith: Would they ever break their darling?

Not intentionally.