#because he's actually important to the dynamics

[nostalgicmiscellaneous]

Knowing Pen lied to him was truly Colin's nightmare come true in many ways, because of his past experience, but it's deeper because he actually truly loves Pen and she wouldn't lie to him because she's Pen, and Pen is special, but the the more you watch, the heartbreak shapes more clearly. Colin's expressions and his questions, the many times he's asked Penelope if she's sure of her feelings, if she regrets getting engaged, if she doesn't return his feelings for now...everytime Colin notices she has something to tell him, that he can feel it, he's expecting her to say she doesn't love him, that he indeed is not enough on his own, not worthy. When she's 'sick' and he wants to be near her..."perhaps she's trying to keep me at distance and is regretting", he's so unsure. Her confession at the church, that follows him once again asking her, telling "if you'll still have me?" and clearly bracing himself for some type of rejection, gives him a bit of peace, he starts to believe and is so giddy. At the Mondrichs ball, he's so happy when she tells him he's worthy. It breaks my heart for what's to come. His world came crashing down, because if she lied about that, if she - even if deep down he knows it's true, and that's why it hurts more, because she sees him negatively, she knows his mask and what's hiding - said those things about him in her Column, then she likely doesn't love him, not really, not in the way he loves her. It's hammering in his head: "Why would she love me?, and then, everything that happens make it worse, because - to him - he doesn't seem to be able to show to her his value, to prove to her he deserves love, because she seems to not need him, he's unable to help her in an effective manner and he feels like a failure as her husband, unsure of himself and mistrustful of her loving him. That's why Pen's words to him at Francesca's wedding makes me so emotional. I am in love with her words, how she tells him her needs and how his love is important to her on its own, and how can he show her that love the best/the best way to show it, what she doesn't need, what he doesn't need to do, that he actually excels at loving her when he simply loves her. It's in his special smiles to her, in their little jokes together, it's in the way he made love to her, in the way he gazes at her, how he makes her feel beautiful, in the way he dances with her, how happy it makes them to be together, how they can be silly together, how he kisses and holds her. It's curious because Penelope doesn't seem to doubt his love is there anymore, their dynamic here has shifted ( until ep5, she was also very insecure) , despite their issues, have you notice that? She just wants him to allow himself to show, she wants him to want to love her, she knows it's there, she wants him to act on his love and show her, in the many ways he's so perfect in showing her, so that she can show him back and make him feel loved too. Her offering the annulment was about protecting him and his family and a way to tell him: You don't have to keep on loving me, to be by my side, if i don't make you happy with my love, if you don't want to, if you are scared, in pain. But of course he wants to. He'll always want to and seeing her being so brave, makes him brave too, brave to let himself believe, to accept and let his heart melt away the protections he built with his hurt, makes him understand, deep inside of him, she loves him, that brilliant woman loves him and her light, as he said, will never hurt him, it was never meant to hurt him, instead it will always brighten up his path. She exposed herself out of love, for herself, for him, for his family and he exposed all his feelings right back to her, his insecurities and his love, he finally felt with certain how much he is loved, and it's every bit as much as he loves her. And he knows how vast that is.

[ecoterrorist-katara]

Ka/taang: friends-to-lovers or the Friend Zone?

It’s almost axiomatic, in any ATLA shipping discussion, that Ka/taang is the friends-to-lovers ship while Zutara is the enemies-to-lovers ship, and that differences in shipping tastes can be boiled down to whether you prefer FTL or ETL.

My first ship was Percabeth. My biggest ship was Klaine. It took me until Mockingjay to let go of my Gale-and-Katniss-are-childhood-friends rose-tinted goggles and start liking Everlark. I started dabbling in ETL because of Zutara, but I’m incredibly picky about it (do not ask me how many Dramione fanfics made me irrationally, disproportionately mad).

All this to say: as a longtime friends-to-lovers enthusiast, I should theoretically love Ka/taang. But…

My difficulty with Ka/taang as a friends-to-lovers ship boils down to this: Aang and Katara’s friendship was always narratively framed as insufficient, because Aang liked her from the start and always wanted a romantic relationship. And imo that dynamic really colours their entire friendship.

I like to think Aang would’ve been a ride-or-die friend — the type to give up the Avatar State to rescue her, the type to commit ecoterrorism and help her get arrested, the type to make her a flower necklace to cheer her up — even if he didn’t have a crush on her, but I will never know that. We never got to see the pure friendship part of friends-to-lovers, because the spectre of the romantic relationship was always there. Before the last five minutes of the show, Katara’s feelings for Aang range from “plausibly interested” (The Headband, Cave of Two Lovers) to “doesn’t hate it” (Day of the Black Sun, The Fortuneteller) to “no” (Ember Island Players). Yet Katara’s eventual capitulation to reciprocation of Aang’s feelings was always depicted as inevitable, starting from s1 when the prisoners during Avatar Day reassured him that she’d “come around” because he’s a catch. It’s as if friendship, even one full of devotion and mutual love like the one they share, is not enough.

And that’s just totally antithetical to what I love about a friends-to-lovers dynamic. I love romances where characters value each other outside of attraction, when they see each other for who they are (this goes double for pretty characters like Katara, whose complexity and imperfections are just as important as her beauty and her care for others). I love the idiots in love sub-trope, where they’re obviously into each other, yet do a bunch of mental gymnastics to remain in comfortable denial (we got a little bit of this earlier in the series, but by s3 we were firmly in Aang-pines-and-Katara-deflects territory). In every friends-to-lovers story I’m simply obsessed with the confess-and-kiss scene, but the version we got in ATLA was ruined by the lack of reciprocation, twice.

Over time, because Aang was written as so insistent about his affections, Ka/taang went from a friends-to-lovers story to a Nice Guy Friend Zone “why doesn’t she like me” story. I mentioned Everlark earlier: I got the same ick for Gale in Mockingjay as I did for Aang in s3, where the woman is not interested yet he still badgers her about it. (And considering Gale is canonically hot, I don’t think the relative attractiveness of Aang is the issue here). But Gale’s insistence was presented as his problem, his lack of empathy, his self-righteousness; Aang’s insistence was just a part of his quest to get the girl.

A lot of people say Zutara is a female fantasy, whether they mean it in a positive or pejorative way. Nobody says the same about Ka/taang, even though women definitely have friends-to-lovers fantasies too. A good friends-to-lovers story reminds me of all the times when I was an idiot before getting together with a friend I was actually head-over-heels for. Ka/taang reminds me of all the times when I was not interested in a friend and they didn’t respect my preference. Friends-to-lovers is a delicate balance, maintained only by unerring mutual respect and unconditional care for each other, and it can veer into Nice Guyism if the writers aren’t thoughtful about why this dynamic is so appealing. Which is exactly what happened with Ka/taang.

[cozzzynook]

Who do you think would be carrying in blitzbee relationship, and what are your headcannons for them?

I personally love Bee carrying their bitty.

My headcanons for the two

- Blitzwing lets Bumblebee know he won’t abandon him but he disappears for a long time before coming back. When he does Bee is already starting to show just a tad but its only because he knows what to look for. Their species carry for years, literally, so they have time to plan.

- Bee is actually more willing to leave his faction. He’s not dumb and he actually can think when he needs to. A sparkling changes a bot and Bee is no exception. He’s still fun, loving, likes pranks and messing with bots but he grows and lets his other traits shine far more. The traits he was embarrassed to reveal or let it be known he had.

- Blitzwing watches as the young reckless mech becomes less brash, less reactive to situations and more thoughtful. He’s quite clever and he’s pretty crafty about the well thought out lie he tells his prime on the night he plans to leave for good when Bee feels the medic Ratchet is suspecting something. Bee knew he couldn’t fool Ratchet for long he’s just happy he lasted a year without the other knowing.

- Bee says his goodbyes without the others knowing its a goodbye and takes a small pod and leaves Earths atmosphere before trashing the communicator and tracker after leaving a final message. He’ll return when the war is over and reveals he’s resigned. He doesn’t say why but Ratchet puts the pieces together. bee feels guilty and misses his friends a lot but his sparkling is more important.

- Bee and Blitzwing take time getting used to this new dynamic. Blitzwing isn’t used to Bee being quiet or reserved. Bee doesn’t know what to do and his emotions are all over the place. He goes from giving Blitzwing a lot of space because he doesn’t know what to do and doesn’t want to push to screaming crying in the berth when Blitzwing is out getting fuel and things they need for their new home on a neutral planet they found.

- neither are very good at dealing with not talking or touching the other and it all comes to a head when Blitzwing looks up to see Bee crying over the fuel he’s secretly craved that Blitzwing made to try making him happy. He doesn’t even remember getting up, all he realizes is that he’s holding his hummel who’s crying and struggling to vent while holding him. He’s not very good at soothing but curling around his hummel and petting his doorwings seemed to be the right thing to do.

- they have a very long talk after that. Insecurities and apologies on Bumblebee’s end for getting sparked, for his baffles failing, for Blitzwing being away from his faction and deemed a traitor. Blitzwing revealing he’s afraid to frag up his own sparkling with his fractured processor and the many terrible things he’s done in his past.

- They have so much reassurance they have to give the other while waiting for their sparkling to emerge. Blitzwing simply tells Bee how he believes he’ll make a good creator by how much he’s changed and matured almost effortlessly and yet he’s still the mech Blitzwing fell in love with.

- Bee tells Blitzwing that he’s never felt more loved and content, at home, than he has now with Blitzwing fixing their home, building things for their sparkling with such care and feeling his tanks when he thinks Bee is asleep. How careful he is not to disturb him and how he makes his favorite meals and cravings without fuss.

- bumblebee shows his affection by plopping his frame on Blitzwing’s lap and curling up falling asleep. He’s tired now and falling asleep on Blitzwing means they both get a good rest or Blitzwing uses his frame as a grounding tool and just rubs him or carries him around.

- Bee waits until Blitzwing is asleep to groom his wings or work on detailing them. He’s gotten extremely good at this and it helps Blitzwing have a full nights worth of sleep. It also helps remove almost seventy nine percent of his stress, anxiety and tension.

- they do things together in silence. They don’t seem like the couple that can spend a day together in comfortable silence but they can and do it often. Bee has come to appreciate silence but he does still wear headphones and listen to music. He doesn’t have much energy to burn since carrying makes him tired but when he does have the energy Blitzwing takes him out. They’ll go roller wheeling or flying while Bee burns rubber and max’s out his speed meter.

- they’re that we hold each other in the wash racks under the steaming coolant couple. They spend a lot of time in the wash racks reconnecting to each other physically and mentally.

- bee can actually cook pretty well and so can Blitzwing, they take turns cooking but Blitzwing likes to have Bee sitting beside him while he cooks.

- blitzwing loves listening to Bee sing to their sparkling when he has a heavy carrying bump. Its still early but the bitty is taking more after Blitzwing than Bee. The med bot they’ve been seeing has shown proof Bee isn’t in danger but he will be on bed rest earlier than most carriers.

- they talk to their sparkling with Blitzwing first thing in the morning and bumblebee throughout the day and both of them at night.

- their new life still feels odd but its a welcome odd they don’t want to give up. Bee still misses his friends but he would never risk his sparkling or future conjunx.

[ikamigami]

HOT TAKE

New Moon was grieving a version of Solar he created in his own mind.

New Moon barely knew Solar. Even if he knew that he ran away from his dimension cause his Moon tired to kill him New Moon never seemed to realize how much traumatised Solar was. Nothing implies that they talked about Solar's trauma.

I remember how I complained that Solar seems to be a not good influence on New Moon because of how much a yes-man he was. But only now I realized that it was probably a trauma response from Solar. That he tried to be as helpful and productive as possible for New Moon so the latter wouldn't be disappointed in him. Or that he was agreeing and went along with most of New Moon's ideas so the latter would be happy. Or that he always tried to calm New Moon down and stir him from getting too caught up in anger because New Moon's anger reminded him too much of his Moon. Solar was probably scared to oppose New Moon hence why he so often agreed with him or with his ideas.

This is why when New Moon went missing Solar wnet into a panic mode and even if he was mean to Sun he indeed wanted Sun to be safe because who knows what could've happen with Moon being missing and potentially being violent or feral.

You may think that I'm exaggerating but why Solar should trust New Moon? Just because he's nice-r than his Moon? When Solar saw how New Moon acts when he's angry. And when Moon was missing Solar couldn't know for sure if he's angry or not because he wasn't there with him.

Solar likes New Moon but we can't and shouldn't forget that it was tainted with fear. Fear of being a disappointment. Maybe not many people realized that because these feelings of Solar's were unspoken. We could only clued it together from hints. It was more of a show don't tell thing.

And this were comes my hot take. New Moon only knows this ever helpful and agreeing with him Solar. Not a Solar who doesn't want to be a disappointment. Not a Solar who is afraid of angry Moon. Because Solar was never vulnerable around him. He was only vulnerable around Lunar and Earth.

I think that yes, New Moon misses Solar because he was his friend and a brother. But I think that he's probably missing that Solar was agreeing with him, was allowing him to do experiments and all that stuff. After all, New Moon said how much he's fed up with others telling him that he can't do this or that. Solar wasn't like that.

"You're not my Solar" might reflect more how New Moon perceived Solar rather than who Solar actually was. After all, a hallucination of Solar was disappointed in Moon. Solar wasn't.. or rather he never said he was. And he probably wouldn't dare to say that.

And I think that Solar told Sun and Moon that he's proud of them because of how much he was happier with them. He could live with both of them. New Moon wasn't constantly yelling at him and beating him to unconsciousness. And Sun was alive and safe. And all three of them could finally spend time together.

But all of this still doesn't erase Solar's trauma and the fact how he was acting towards Sun and Moon was recflecting his trauma caused by his Sun's death and his Moon's abuse. We can't and shouldn't forget that. This is what shaped Solar's friendship with New Moon as being more of a yes-man - which I think wasn't helping New Moon to change for the better (in a sense so New Moon wouldn't be too self-centered) and in fact I think that Earth did more to help New Moon than Solar did but that's beside the point of this post.

And because of such complexity of Solar's relationship with New Moon I dislike solarmoon ship because most of the time their dynamic is depicted far differently from what is in canon and most of the time they're ooc and most of the time their dynamic in this ship is flat and one-dimensional. It lacks this really important nuance and sadly I don't see people ever aknowledging that.

It's okay for anyone to like this ship and ship solarmoon but I dislike how many people just view Solar's and New Moon's relationship through shipping lenses completely stripping away the complexity of it. Many don't even seem to realize that if they infact were infatued with each other it'd be unhealthy relationship till they'd address Solar's trauma.

And ofc I'm talking only about these solarmoon shippers who confuse canon with their headcanons. Who only view Solar's relationship with New Moon through shipping lenses. Who don't aknowledge the complexity of it in canon. And sadly I've seen many times solarmoon being depicted in this flat one-dimensional ooc way.

[prentissluvr]

For your relationship he milestone event!

Character: Emily Prentiss (Criminal Minds)

Dynamic: Romantic

In the CM universe, my occupation would likely be a child/adolescent therapist (which is my dream job I'm currently going to college for). Four words l'd use to describe myself are sensitive, kind, anxious, and loyal. Some of my hobbies are listening to music (currently fav artist is Chappell Roan) and creating art (drawing and writing). My favorite love language to give and receive is quality time and/or words of affirmation. I have a bit of an obsession with birds and psychology. I really love learning about both subjects, they are so interesting! Finally, I'm afraid of being misunderstood (AuDHD) and of spiders.

Congrats on your milestone! I can't wait to see what other stuff you write and do! Have a good day/night!

—Jay💜💜

hello hello jay !! thank you so much sweetest!! so excited for an emily request!! i hope you have the loveliest day/night as well!!

+ .⠄ ꒱ SIT BACK, RELAX, AND IMAGINE . . .

[ 🖇 ] ahhh i totally think that you and emily would meet while she's on a case, maybe you'd be consulting to help them out!

[ 🖇 ] she would immediately be struck by your intelligence and by how much you care about your job and the children that you help

[ 🖇 ] she picks up very quickly on your sensitivity and kindness, and does her best to calm your anxieties (since talking with scary fbi people can be, well you know, scary)

[ 🖇 ] once again, she’s just immediately really drawn to your knowledge, kindness, and loyalty

[ 🖇 ] she’s really interested by you and leaves you her card (with her number underlined) and actually ends up being the first to call you again because she thinks you could help the team with a new case

[ 🖇 ] she’s all like “actually i know someone, they’re so smart and could totally help us”

[ 🖇 ] and the second time you meet she asks you to coffee

[ 🖇 ] she’s extra glad about that decision because she hears chappell roan playing from your office before you turn it off and it’s not her usual music style but she loves chappell roan so much and no one can change my mind about that

[ 🖇 ] in terms of your relationship in general after you start dating, she really just loves everything about you

[ 🖇 ] she finds you really interesting and enjoyable to be around, and her love language is definitely quality time as well, especially because it’s hard to find that

[ 🖇 ] that makes every moment she can spend with you so so special to her!!

[ 🖇 ] she’s also a fan of giving and receiving words of affirmation as well, she’s very likely to give lots of words of affirmation, especially when you’re feeling anxious or misunderstood

[ 🖇 ] she really does her best to reassure you, and she really likes to be the one who can make you smile again or help you to feel better

[ 🖇 ] though she doesn’t show it outwardly as much, she really really appreciates the fact that you also give words of affirmation

[ 🖇 ] she knows that she is capable and smart, but when you affirm to her that she’s a good lover to you, that’s so important and special to her and makes her feel loved <3

[ 🖇 ] emily also really appreciates the overlap in your interests about psychology!! she’s more than happy to blab on about profiling for you because she knows you love to hear it

[ 🖇 ] even moreso, she loves to hear you talk about psychology because you’ll know about certain areas and ideas that she doesn’t

[ 🖇 ] even if you’re repeating something she already knows, she doesn’t care because she just loves to listen to you talk, especially about the things you love!

[ 🖇 ] so this definitely applies to your obsession with birds!!

[ 🖇 ] ornithology isn’t something that emily is particularly interested in on her own, but she completely adores how much you love birds

[ 🖇 ] she’s more than happy to listen to you talk about birds and indulge your obsession by going bird watching with you or buying you plushies of your favorite kinds of birds

[ 🖇 ] while emily is totally a city girl, she really appreciates that your interest in birds makes her get out there and into city parks or somewhere much more nature-y with better birding!

[ 🖇 ] she might not remember a ton about all of the bird facts you feed her, but she does her best to file information away about it anyways

[ 🖇 ] she’ll find herself identifying birds you always point out to her while with the rest of the team and they’ll be like “i didn’t know you knew so much about birds” and if you don’t mind her talking about you, she’ll gush that it’s actually you and your amazing knowledge!

[ 🖇 ] if she’s going somewhere on a case where you can find certain birds that don’t live in the dc region, she’ll keep an eye out for birds that you told her she might see there!

[ 🖇 ] and she might not actually be able to identify most of them, but once she sent you a picture of a mountain bluebird when she was on a case in the west!

[ 🖇 ] alright away from the birds and ontothe fears lol

[ 🖇 ] once emily finds out that you worry about being misunderstood, she is always doing her best to never be the one to put you in that position

[ 🖇 ] she already has knowledge about audhd, but she’s going to do as much research as she can and ask you as many questions as you’re comfortable with to makes sure that she understands you to the best of her ability

[ 🖇 ] being nuerodivergent can be difficult, especially as an adult in the workforce who needs to mask a lot, so emily is always doing her best to help you ease the pressure by making sure you feel like you don’t have to mask around her

[ 🖇 ] and yes! emily will absolutely take swift care of any spiders that might come near you!

[ 🖇 ] she is your spider-killing knight in shining armor hehe

[ 🖇 ] oh! and i almost forgot about your creative hobbies!

[ 🖇 ] honestly, emily does not have the time or necessarily interest in creative hobbies herself, which make her love that about you even more!

[ 🖇 ] she is a huge huge fan of anything you create and is just in total awe with what you do!

[ 🖇 ] she’s so grateful and happy that you bring more creativity and art into her life, and is always so encouraging about you pursuing those hobbies!

[nutcraxker]

Barnabas is actually a cool character (at least for me) I mean, see how he's a king but at the same time he's the most loyal servant of Ultima? Yes. How he's a human but he doesn't have faith in them. How he actually dislikes human's condition right now—same as Clive—but he seeks different way to solve it? (extreme even) How he actually has his own will but he hates others? This one is complicated but you get this. He hates how humanity is now more corrupted and he then proceeds to follow Ultima's way to rebuild the world (without blight and mostly will, anything to be alive) he doesn't realize, his whole endeavour won't be real without his will. Yes he's more a puppet than a human being but I believe, for him to reach the whole thing that he have now needs a whole damn portion of will. Even after he nearly meets his end, he still trying his best to fulfill Ultima's job that he has given to him. That require not just loyalty, but will, and ambition too. Even though of course that's perhaps Ultima's doing, his will surely has its own portion to make it come true.

Also, cool thing is that he has always been consistent throughout the game. Even though Clive's words make a lot of sense than Ultima's words, he's not easily convinced to throw away everything he did for his master. He been a menace and will always be a menace. Moreover, he has a cool armor. That's a big plus point.

Another thing that I like about him is that he's just bored about everything so when Clive fights him, he's very exhilarated, excited, animated, elated, moved. Imagine everyday, you have to deal with annoying people (his allies) and nothing interesting. But finally, this guy (Clive) comes out and fights him and Clive is almost as strong as him? No wonder if Barnabas is happy. I guess just let him be

(edited some things but mostly they're still the same)

[makiswirl]

can i just say. and this is probably a niche hill to die on. that i am so gobsmacked every time someone vaguely hints at the idea that jotaro doesn't care meaningfully for the other crusaders, usually particularly kakyoin and joseph, when those two actually tend to be the ones he reacts to being hurt the hardest

like he cares for his loved ones!!!! that literally plays into his character motives in every single part he shows up in!!! stop lying to me!!!!!!!

[cowboysmp3]

ok not to be insane but the whole tom putting the bidding sticker on greg situ is SO indicative of their entire relationship bc its all about Tom’s desire for control and ownership over something (due to him feeling powerless and out of control in his relationship with shiv). Him putting that sticker on Greg wasnt just a hehe ill look after you way it was much more ‘I own you. You are reliant on me now and I OWN you’. Which is a sentiment that is the very FABRIC of their relationship, calling back to the ‘I will not let go of what is mine’ water bottle scene. Obsessed actually

[nottspocket]

Mermaid AUs are so lovely to see. Are they childhood friends in yours, too?

Maybe, i imagine Katsuki has kept gifts Izuku might have brought to him. Seashells, or nice looking rocks, probably with a few fossils inside them?

Ohoho I’m so glad you see my vision (prev here)

Ramblings in the tags

[kyouka-supremacy]

Tbh I think fandom's characterization of Akutagawa would improve drastically if people remembered he has a sister

[fuckwhoeverpickedallthefunnyurls]

Any fanfictions out there where Ed and Stede DO actually open the inn but Izzy survived so he's just kind of their mascot

[quillkiller]

sorry to say but barty + the rosier twins are in love and i’ve thought about nothing else since yesterday

[possamble]

realizing im kind of a weirdo about laios and marcille

[arabella-s-arts]

After watching the first two episodes of MAWS season 2 I can confidently say...

Lois what the #$%#!

[skitskatdacat63]

happy vettonso day!!!! I am smooching you back (also I imagine this must be similar to the ref you made that won't see the light of day)

and never apologize for rambling in tags!! I love them every time!! you are so right, fernando's answer is so much more loaded and he gives the game away in the process 😭 seb is so sure of himself, he just speaks his insane mind. COMPLETE? so...he's all you need then? 😏 heh! he was sooooo proud of that answer too.

fernando is obsessed with winning the encounter (I just counted, it took him 6 whole seconds to respond lmao) and seb's just like ??? could you just be for real for once 😒...but also maybe be my friend 🥺??? hahaha. thank you for peddling them, I love them so much

Happy (late) Vettonso day to you again!!!(also yes you are right, it is similar LOL. I'd post it but it makes me feel like a Larry shipper.)

You put it so well!! It's just such a key difference in them. Lmao I am about to read into this so hard, I'm normal I swear. I'm sure they both had answers instantly, but have completely different approachs. Seb, as you said, is so sure of himself! He lays all of his cards out instantly because it really is not that deep to him. Complimenting Fernando this one time is not going to have any negative affect, and he does not really see it as a game. The way he says it so quick, in addition to it already being a pretty good compliment, makes it more meaningful. It feels so honest, and like you said, is a friendly gesture. Maybe Fernando will be genuine too if Seb extends the olive branch?

Meanwhile Fernando has to think about it for six seconds, and you would think that time allowance would make his compliment more meaningful but NOPE. As you said, he has to win, but instead imo he comes off looking worse. You can just read into his answer so much more. Does he genuinely think Seb is fast? Did he want to say something else? Would that something else be more negative or more positive? Also "fast" is such a loaded answer imo in this sport; like it seems like such a non-answer at first. He had to think for six seconds, and imo was trying to think of an answer that would both: not compliment Seb too hard but not look like he's not trying(because he wants to win y'know.) But then it ends up with him basically bitterly admitting Seb is genuine compeition to him. I think if he didn't feel threatened by Seb, he would've answered instantly. He tries to keep his cards to his chest, but it's like he tripped and they all fell onto the floor face-up in front of him.

Fernando is NOT winning the idgaf war. I just find it funny that both of them are pretty terrible hiding their true emotion, but the way Fernando goes about it makes it explode in his face. So in his attempt to win the interaction at any cost, he just trips and lets Seb win by being too much a tryhard LOL. But I really love it about both of them. Seb isn't afraid to compliment and as I said, Fernando's avoidance in itself is a compliment(bcs it shows he sees Seb as a legitimate contender.) Your tag about Seb being passive agressive saying "Oh." is so real haha. He does not understand Fernando's evasiveness at all bcs this is really no big deal. And meanwhile Fernando doesn't understand Seb's openess at all; doesn't he understand the game??? Why isn't he playing along???

[acoraxia]

Mmm, the new au

How does Wukomg react to being betrayed by the people he thought he could trust? How did Macaque betray Wukong? What are the consequences of these differences that can be seen to the modern day? Is Nezha in the au? I definitely do not have a favourite

Also, is the Ivory Lady Guanyin? That's what I found online but I'm still not sure.

Anyways, your work is always really interesting and I love reading about the things you come up with

"I just wanna feel something, tell me where to go. 'Cause everybody knows something I don't wanna know."

first and foremost: the Ivory Lady is Lady Bone Demon before she went against Heaven to start her "journey" to complete her destiny.

When Wukong realizes people are betraying him — the first time isn't too bad, more or less, because he's sort-of betrayed by the Jade Emperor since he was lied to about his status. Second time is by Azure when he realizes he only used him to start a war against Heaven to try and take the Emperor's throne which cuts him deep enough to attack the Jade Emperor himself (directed blame/hate), third is by Erlang when he prevents Wukong from killing the Jade Emperor and the final one is by Macaque, which... kills a part of Wukong, ngl.

Nezha is involved in the AU and it's actually part of the reason why Wukong goes more berserk in the war against Heaven than he originally did.

Something, something, "you're just a boy... why is there a boy here, Azure, why did you send me to fight a child—"

(as for Macaque betraying Wukong, it involves a very selfish act based off the idea that Wukong was visited by Macaque when he was trapped under the mountain but those interactions were bitter)

Those consequences are... very evident in how people (yaoguai and yaojing included) see Wukong as an anti-hero instead of a normal hero. He's got a reputation of being powerful and praised, sure, but they're also terrified of him

also thank you sm!!! i wanna design the outfits and designs soon.. but idk when or how or when or how or if I should reuse the designs i already have for SWK and Macaque and.. yeah, anyways. TYSM!