#but also do we really? they're in a high-stress situation

[cleverpaws]

one of these days i will drop an essay abt how there's actually no objectively correct characterization of any gen1 characters because they are, when in their most un-filtered state, supposed to be the streamers that play them, and to assume we know basically anything about who those people are is to miss the point of the social experiments entirely. and none of you are ready

[bumblingbabooshka]

The Doctor turning into women and having romantic dalliances with men is every kind of queer...to me.

[toskarin]

what do you make of the accusation that some manga/anime/VNs only have a high school setting because that's viewed as being more marketable even if the high school parts add little to the story/characters/lore etc?

I mean to some extent that's the case, but it's also a silly exercise in what's called "overthinking it" from people who (assuming they're adults) should really know better

it's not something specific to japanese media. basically everywhere does this. it's just setting things in...

a developmental life stage that is pretty widely understood as an important rite of passage, experienced by most readers regardless of background, to the point where even being adults in a school feels like an echo of it

an experience that is relatable to teenagers, remembered by young adults, and often thought of as something older adults wish they could redo with the benefit of hindsight

a context where you can rotate a specific cast of characters through a specific cast of older characters who are understood to have a measure of power over them (read: teachers)

and maybe most crucially, the exact moment in time where someone is usually at the cusp of adulthood while still not having the right to self determination that comes with it, feeling more strongly the contradiction between the end of their childhood and the expectations of being an adult than ever before

so the actual answer is that there's so much stuff set in high school because teenagers make for easy protagonists in stories about most things. teenagers are just in situations fairly often

it turns out that people we fairly universally put in stressful rites of passage, during the stressful rite of passage stage of their lives, might end up being easy shorthand for experiencing stressful rites of passage!

[necronatural]

The Reigen Arataka Deranged NormalMan Review

Do you ever think about how Reigen has like. A really strange belief in The System and How Things Should Be. Like REALLY strange. Whatever he's got going on is so much weirder than "scammer with a heart of gold".

I think it all comes together if you read the 10th Season 3 omake like, seriously interrogate this:

This is normal, if comedically thoughtful and realistic for a shounen character. This guy talks like a mandatory reporter. What's strange is what immediately follows:

"AS A SPIRITUAL SPECIALIST" DOING A LOT OF HEAVY LIFTING HERE REIGEN

Not only did he hunt down the families of the children bullying his client (insane. where did he get that info), he also contacted the school as if he were representing his own son in order to get justice, and then hunted down a source of complaints when the school fell through.

This is like a genuinely bizarre level of commitment to the bit, and the bit is "the system works, and if it doesn't work, we will find a system that does work, and if we cannot, hell or high water it is my PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY to make the system stop slouching so it works again".

Long thread on the manga with this reading⬇️

Before I start. Reigen adopting Teru is more IC than you think but I don't think it is IC in the way people think it is. I think about this a lot and I think people who do it because they like Reigen aren't understanding how into his bit he is. Guy who talks to social services

So remember the arc that won people over to Reigen despite the fact he's an asshole who takes advantage of Mob and derides him constantly in order to keep him complacent?

He has Mob's phone on his GPS. This makes sense; he's been taking him out and about since he was 11. Very responsible!

Reigen dismisses the "Boss" mistake thinking well, it's a misunderstanding, but it got me in. Yet as soon as he heard they're committing crimes, he VISIBLY puts on his Boss Pants to chastise them. Again, normal so far. I think any scammer with a heart of gold would do this. (And foreshadowing for why he retried reprimanding the Claw Cadres a second time after getting power.)

Again. He's a scumbag. So he leaves Mob to beat their asses using his previous rhetoric. But then!

Reigen's shady morality is more like "people who can take care of things should take care of things". To him, Mob is the Authority on Espers, and can handle conflict like this. Immediately upon becoming aware he can't, Reigen thinks "oh, okay, so the only person who can take care of things is someone who can deescalate". (Pictured: Deescalation)

Okay. Besides the fact this is insufferable as a general concept - YOU just told him to handle it YOU are the source of his stress - his first step in deescalation is to force Mob to back down. Rather than asking him not to fight, he reestablishes "rules" in order to convince Mob he must back down - the same way he tried using what he said to worm his way out of dealing with this shit - and then sets himself up as the authority figure to which the others must obviously defer in matters of His Boy, like a parent accepting criticism at a PTA meeting. This isn't Reigen claiming Mob so much as "in order for them to not attack Mob, they must view me as a representative for Mob".

And like a good authority figure:

Continuing with his phrasing:

If you think about it, this is like...an objectively very strange and incredibly bold approach to this situation. They're homicidal. Reigen is a DERANGED level of Normal Man. He has this image in his head of normalcy, of the world at standard operating procedures, and reinforces it right through an entire conflict. Carceral beliefs don't even factor into this, simply expressing his principles and expecting them to fold.

And they do lol. I keep wondering how Shou must have felt listening to him talk like that

We see a little more of his good side in work; when he was getting so little work it was affecting his grocery bills, this moneygrubbing scammer still asked for like $200 to clear an entire city of hauntings. (His regular exorcisms are around $30). Fair prices are part of his principles of how the business should be. He operates basically at-cost. He mentions he wanted to come out here because he's bored. He's killing time as a career.

Aside:

Just realized he called Mob in last minute so Mob didn't know he accepted crops instead of money. Shigeo didn't like that

So consider that he never got caught here and there was a call on the news to hunt him down at the end of this bit: for the average viewer of the anime, it's just funny, but this is part of the Mogami pre-arc so we've gotten a hold of him by now; he probably holds an inherent belief that the police will intercept him and not Mob. Why wouldn't they? Why would an adult man want to dress up in a highschool girl's uniform? The System will understand.

Not relevant to my point but I like how he realizes what's wrong with Mob way before the final arc, just not why it's happening. Also he doesn't say anything.

With the way his principles are, you really get the feeling that Reigen does his best to avoid culpability specifically because if something happened that was his fault, he'd have to step up to the plate to compensate for that, which is troublesome to him who is a career time-killer. It does not occur to him that an actual bad person and scammer would not step up to the plate as a matter of course. This is his way

What I find really interesting is that this Militant Insane NormalMan does have a sense of wanting something "special", but rather than whip Mob up the way Dimple did Ritsu, he ended up projecting his own values onto Mob, as if he could recreate a special "self" within him. He's always deriding him and baiting him and lying to him in hopes of creating a superb person that a special individual like Mob finds admirable, as if Mob is the authority on his quality of character. Sad! lol

Anyway, it adds a lot more kick to this famous line. Reigen genuinely believes in Authority

Authority works!

And if Mob (the authority on espers) doesn't work, who's the person who MUST step up to the plate [common sense]? You guessed it.

There are other aspects of Reigen's character that everyone and their dog has already picked up on (his self-loathing is the entire reason the way he talked to Mob in Confession arc hit so hard), but this one's my favourite. He's insane

[skeltrr]

woke up with the urge to talk about P1 again, and I got a request to share my thoughts on his diary entries.

lets find out why I really don't think p1 is secretly a good person worthy of any sympathy for his actions

I'm gonna start this off by saying that I truly believe not just anybody can be a killer. It's my opinion that Dude must have been a violent person before his delusions ever took hold. But that doesn't take away from the "this could happen to anybody" aspect. It could, if you incubate a guy in hate his whole life and hand him a gun, yeah, he could also turn out this way.

But I do not buy Dude's excuse that Paradise is absolutely an evil place that needs to be culled. Maybe it is dangerous, but his unreliable narration is something we shouldn't forget about.

Entry one. Dude is freaked out about losing his house and his stress/anxiety is obviously high. But it's important to note his solution to this is to buy a fuckin gun. Right off the bat we have his viscous and confrontational nature shining through. This also says he bought a sidearm, which generally refers to a pistol. I don't see why it would be any different here. Conceal and carry and all that.

This is not the only gun he owns, because we start the game with an AR.

And that tips me off to Dude planning his course of action at least a little bit. You don't need an AR (especially one illegally modified to be auto instead of semi-auto) more than you need a pistol in any given self-defense situation. Unless you think you will have multiple targets that need to be taken out in rapid succession, of course.

The rifle also has endless ammunition. Guess we can safely headcanon that he stocked up. For what? I DUNNO....

level 2 lets us know that immediately after shooting up his neighborhood, Dude is already stuck to the narrative that he is the only sane person around. He's trying to get to the sheriff, but it's not to help anyone but himself.

By level 3 he's already calling everyone animals. This is an important nod to how he views his fellow human beings. They're just animals. This 'sickness' has turned them into something he doesn't feel the need to empathize with. He has put himself on a huge pedestal here. Still not actively trying to save anyone, though.

Now he wants to napalm the whole town and he wants the Air Force to do it. He continues to be self-serving. 'Ensuring this madness doesn't contaminate the rest of the country' doesn't really ring out as a heroic statement after the things he's already done and said. I still think he's out to save his own skin by finding or creating some kind of safe haven.

It's important to note on this one that the "parade" was actually just a parade. These fools were literally just playing music down the street and Dude decided they were maniacs that needed to be put down. Not only that, after this experience he turns his diary into a "war journal". If his "me against them and that includes innocents" mindset hasn't become clear yet... Let's keep goin.

here he's just getting excited to have the advantage. Because I think he likes killing and the power that comes with it. He hasn't shown any remorse yet for any lives lost.

Now he's convinced himself he has to kill everyone and he's going to do it not only efficiently (what a wild word to use when referring to murder), but without any fucking remorse as well? I mean come on man, this guy thinks he's the dealer of divine punishment. And he isn't sparing anybody.

These two are the best evidence that he's trying to help anyone during this rampage of his, but these still sound incredibly self-serving to me. I mean, he does say he's going to warn them. I guess that's... Noble. Except that he doesn't even do that. He never mentions ever trying to do this at the train station or after. It's never brought up again.

Why he gotta kill the ostriches? They sick too? Or does he just like killin.

I feel like these are starting to speak for themselves. I'm still not seeing a savior complex or hidden compassion. Not seeing any tears for the lost on this one boys. also the "prepare for.... deconstruction!" is straight from the loading screens. The entire entry echoes what the demon's says.

Maybe he and the demon ain't so different, i dunno.

I don't take this one seriously. He is making jokes, he knows he's the deadliest thing out and about tonight.

The last 4 entries are just him worrying about his own skin again. Still not showing us any remorse because he famously regrets nothing. And at this point he just kinda seems tired of it all, I mean the game takes place over the course of a DAYS long spree.

I guess an argument could be made that the whole overarching plot of Dude trying to find the source of this 'infection' and put himself in harms way to do it would be the proof he thinks himself a savior. Howeverrrr.... If he does think that of himself, it has nothing to do with his compassion or his want to do good. This man is on a murder spree, his delusions are all wrapped up in his distrust and dislike of the government, authorities and even general public. He is killing and elevating himself on an insane power trip while also remaining the victim in his own mind to justify his actions.

I do not think Dude is an especially good person at his core and I don't believe his delusions popped out of nowhere due to stress alone. I believe the "demon" and the delusion/hallucinations as a whole were tailored to Dude's already shitty nature, desires and fears.

Okay well... I guess that's all I got to say for now. See ya

[wwaheoh]

maid x master are overrated booo tomato tomato /hj

i want more maid x maid wlw cuz i think they're cute :3

well since we talking about maid here can i request alexandrina x shy fem junior/trainee maid, for short rina teach y/n proper etiquette as they spend time together they start flirting or something like that (y/n working for months so they know each other a bit)

sorry man I can't write good prompt :(

anyways get enough sleep, sleep good you deserve it

"The One in Which You and a Ghost Lady Fall in Love” Alexandrina Sebastiane x gnReader

a/n: decided to do gender neutral rather than female, hope you don’t mind! but feel free to change the pronouns and such in your head!

a/n²: ironically pretty bad at writing a relationship that doesn't end in tragedy

As the newest addition of Victoria Housekeeping, you had to undergo various types of training- as expected. Ranging from household cleaning to taking down Ethereals in a fast and professional manner. Honestly you sorta expected it- even having been warned as you applied for the position about the additional forms of work Victoria Housekeeping did.

Though to be honest, it was pretty fun, being given training and permission to let go and duke it out with enemies whenever the need arose. The problem was the whole ‘interacting with clients’, it was really hard not to tremble or cringe while talking, feeling as though you were embarrassing Mister Lycaon and the rest of Victoria Housekeeping just by existing.

So, you had been given more training in customer relations, with your main teacher being Miss Sebastiane- though she preferred you call her Miss Rina. She was your senior, a woman with a serene gracefulness, kind and gentle- yet not afraid to put pressure on clients who got too handsy or Ethereals that entered the property they were hired to keep. She was so kind, strong, gentle, firm, a smile that made you at ease and inspired you to keep pushing away from the mental barrier of interacting with clients. Beautiful, with soft hair framing her mature face, eyes of ruby that kept you mesmerized…

Then those eyes blinked.

Today Miss Rina had been teaching you how to dance, a semi-often requested service. For when a client didn’t have a partner- either through choice or circumstance, they would call on Victoria Housekeeping to be their partner. It happened more often than one would think.

Yet as she lead you through the steps, you had become transfixed on the older lady, still mirroring her but losing yourself in her. Something she noticed as you lost your usual unsureness, steps becoming more loose rather than the high-strung nervousness you usually exhibited.

Truthfully she was very flattered, where people usually looked at her, it was with either lust or a passing by before turning to the other workers like Lycaon or Ellen. You looked at her with love, heart stolen by her. She had her eye on you for a bit, the cuteness of your bashfulness, how you aimed to do your best- much like Corin, yet fell flat at the more mental problems. You were cute yes, but also strong in your own way, a trait you shared with Corin as well. Always aiming to protect, eyes filled with warmth even when in stressful situations.

As the two of you finished your dance, she dipped you low, holding you steady, gaze looking deep back at you.

Words escaped you, “Would you grant me the honor of going to dinner with you?” You immediately slammed your palms to your mouth- leading you to fall and hit your bum on the ground. Internally you were panicking, doing everything you could to not look at Miss Rina, hoping you didn’t ruin the relationship between the two of you, having overstepped the bounds of the work-place.

Out of your view, she relaxed, sinking down and cupping your chin. Softly directing you to look at her, you followed, puddy in her hands. “Nothing would make me happier.” With her free hand she held you by the arm, pulling you up alongside her as she moved with the serenity of a flowing river. “Tonight at 8?” You nodded, not trusting your words to be able to convey what you wanted. There weren't any words possible to let her know what you felt.

The two of you danced once more, steps in sync.

[not-equippedforthis]

really love characters who have varied panic responses. kirk stating himself that he does not panic outright, externally, not in high-stress dangerous situations, but instead becomes tense and level like a wound string, on-guard: mostly because his role as captain necessitates that he maintain level rationality even when facing potential death as his training as 'the guy who tells you what to do when shit hits the fan' requires, but also because his childhood experiences taught him early that drowning in the desperate haziness of panic won't help you survive. especially as kirk already follows his intuition so deeply. he learned to grasp and contort the feeling. spock is the main person who represses his emotions, of course, but kirk does it to those deep-set, personal ones (this includes how he doesn't reveal anything truly personal about himself willingly 90% of the time, only what others already know/shallow anecdotes) in a much more subtle way that's really interesting to me. certified expert at avoiding the subject as long as he isnt caught out on the lie. professional bluffer.

in terms of past or parents we dont know much!!! hes known as the heart-on-his-sleeve guy!!! like yes he yells, he gets irritated, excited, hes a whirlwind of quick-thinking and plans and intuition, he goes out of his way to connect with his crew and shows it, when he puts on a little act or bluff he puts his heart into it and clearly enjoys the dramatics so much, at times he wears his heart on his sleeve, he laughs openly and is honest to spock about what he means to him, he's very sun-coded to me in a burning, passionate way, always intertwined with the stars and seeking them out, but when it comes to genuine deep-set turmoil? we dont actually know all that much about him??? hes so full of emotion and character (i love fics where spock characterises jim's mind/bond as a whirl of colour and sensations, hes a quick thinker!!! intuitive!! lively!!!) and yet its still so outwardly surface level. tarsus iv gets mentioned like twice? so especially here where kirk gets briefly jumpscared by the creature, because like:

its subtle but his eyes. his eyesss!!!!! kirk commands with his emotions but there's always some sort of level of control to it, or he transforms them into something that spurs on others or uses them to ascertain a goal: seeing unguarded fear/distress in his eyes even if its faint and brief (in this instance) makes me go insane every single time. like!!! its such a small moment!!! he isnt even panicking!!! really, he just got jumpscared!!! its insignificant!!!!!!! but seeing a two-second flash of actual, naked apprehension is just...oughhh,,,,,,,,,

oh god, and dont even get me started on the galileo seven episode where he assumes a tense level-headedness throughout the whole thing, irritated and apprehensive but not panicking, making sure he maintains intelligent rationality, even when he has to leave them behind, but when spock and the crew are confirmed safe and the bridge is occupied the camera pans to him and his eyes look like they're fucking watering and he's so achingly relieved. don't even talk to me. im. fuck.

he shows so so much but at the same time reveals so little.

[tozettastone]

What do you think Kakuzu enjoys/appreciates about Hidan in their relationship? And vice versa?

TLDR: TWO POORLY SOCIALISED CHARACTERS BEING POORLY SOCIALISED TOGETHER.

--

They're both very self centred people. Each man prefers the qualities in his partner which he also thinks are positive in himself.

Kakuzu likes Hidan's disregard for social bonds and persistent character (even though it annoys him to work around it) and admires his capacity for e-rated graphic violence. He clearly thinks of Hidan as a competent partner — that's why he's able to easily say things like "You're seriously underestimating Hidan," when Shikamaru draws him away from the fight with Kakashi.

I think Kakuzu also likes that Hidan is immortal. When he says that money is the most important thing, compared to bonds with other people or ideology, it's cost that Kakuzu has big problems with trusting the integrity of his interpersonal relationships. Aside from his off-screen history where his important social connections betrayed him (from his perspective), we can also extrapolate this from him being over 90 and still a ninja — most of his interpersonal relationships would have passed. Hidan could last forever, though, he's so poorly socialised that the likelihood of him making high quality relationships with anyone seems extraordinarily low. This is one of the reasons why Kakuzu likes his disregard for social bonds. It is way less stressful for Kakuzu to be attached to someone that cannot be forcibly taken from him, I think.

Even when Kakuzu says, like, we all die sometime, he's comforting himself with the impermanence of their relationship. He doesn't want anyone to take it from him but he also doesn't want to feel trapped by his commitment. What an exhausting man.

I think Hidan's feelings are a lot more romantic and poetic than Kakuzu's. He's a more romantic character. But they're still like... very similar.

Hidan likes that Kakuzu is an immortality trailblazer and looks up to him as an authority. He sees the things about Kakuzu that also exist in himself as beautiful: the deviations from humanity, the violence (even though Kakuzu uses it as a means to an end, and for Hidan violence IS the end), his capricious temper. Hidan has had few role models he really respects — that's why his entire history is very "abandoned his unworthy companions, sought inspiration in god, did some murder." He's poorly connected to other people. He relates strongly to Kakuzu because they're both bad at social connections, they share skills and some interests, and Kakuzu is older and provides a model of what immortality might look like in 69 years.

Hidan also trusts Kakuzu, which is interesting. He trusts him to let him take on fights, he trusts him to pick up pieces of his body and stitch them back together, and he even trusts his situational judgement — for example, when Ino is scouting for them, Kakuzu senses something and turns towards where he thinks she might be. Hidan clearly doesn't sense anything. But he immediately stops and waits for Kakuzu. He assumes, not that Kakuzu is jumping at shadows, but rather that he has spotted something that has escaped Hidan's senses.

Anyway.... hmm, how to wrap this up... oh, I know. Headcanon incoming: Hidan views Kakuzu's serial heart-stealing as his own little ritual. He's a bit patronising about how Kakuzu doesn't recognise it when it's soooo obvious to Hidan. The heart donor dies, and then Kakuzu carries their beating heart with him until it gives out or someone "kills" it, and then he also feels the death he granted them. Clearly a Jashinist ritual by another name.

ETA: I guess they also both think large violent men are hot. Like. Obviously. I don't know if Hidan is into the tentacles for like a deep psychological reason relating to his childhood or whatever... but he's definitely into the tentacles.

[siddyyyyyyyy]

University Romance

Johnny 'Soap' McTavish x female!Reader

this is part two to: University Romance, part three

Wc: ~2.1 k

warnings: none, no y/n used, 'crazy' chemistry professor Soap, Johnny and Reader are about the same age, the name of the university is fictional

summary: You and Johnny are two professors at a university, and he often catches you working late in your office. Also, you're just really good friends and there's probably more to it.

a/n: a lot of cringe in here and just yapping, I'm pretty sure I will make a third part to it and see how it goes. Have fun!

Redcrest High Academy, Wednesday 9:00 AM

Okay... maybe, hopefully, they haven't heard of these ridiculous assumptions from his students. First semester, they're still pretty young, stupid, and still have to get used to being in a university. Of course they will assume something like this, their frontal lobe hasn't even developed completely yet, has it? Is it even such a big deal to be mistaken as a couple?

»Stupid boom box...« Johnny mutters under his breath, making you confused at the same time.

»Carl, boom box; he asked if we were married. And I'm pretty sure he is the one who came up with all these rumors.« He adds, clarifying your confusion and making up a theory at the same time.

»Oh, so we should just have a talk with him, and then it's done.«

»No! It's too late!«

He surprises you by taking this situation so seriously. There must be something else.

»Okay, that's a bit dramatic, don't you think?«

He sighs out dramatically once more and throws his head back, eventually taking you by your shoulders and shaking you lightly.

»You don't get it! Soon, everyone will know, and I don't-«

The door swings open and, Kyle stands there, papers in his hand while his other still holds the doorknob. You're both looking over to him, Johnny having a rather stressed expression on his face. Kyle looks between the two of you, staying still in his spot while the silence stretches out.

»Am I interrupting something?« The physics professor breaks the silence, a faint smirk on his lips. Johnny almost squeezes your shoulders in a death grip before he lets go, being still a bit out of the wind.

»No! Of course not, what's up?« He answers almost too quickly and puts his hands on his hips, focused on Kyle and trying really hard to pretend nothing happened.

Kyle takes a small step back, closing the door just a tad bit but keeps his eyes on you both.

»I can also come in later if I was a bother. No worries.« He clarifies, earning a look from you both. He waves the stack of papers in his free hand, ready to just close the door and leave from the lack of response from the two of you.

»Wait, no, Kyle— you can just give me the papers and...« Johnny steps to him and takes the papers, glancing down at them before he looks to Kyle once more.

»Do you think we're married?« He asks, having a serious look on his face while awaiting Kyles answer. Kyle smrik widens, pretending to think he meant him and Johnny, instead the two of you.

»Aren't you guys something?« He asks back and points between you both, making you look away and regret every life decision that led to this. Johnny's eyes widen, a heavy sigh leaving his lips as he dramatically puts his hand over his face.

»Thanks, Kyle.« Johnny mutters before he closes the door right on his face. He looks back to you, seeing you still feeling mostly confused about the dramatics of Johnny, and why he seems to be more exasperated than the first time he learnt about the sun exploding in about five billion years.

You sigh out softly, talking in a calmer tone.

»Why are you so upset about this? Did I miss something, or are you really just dramatic?«

He looks to you and tries to find his words, placing the stack of papers down on his desk before he leans against it.

»I just don't get why they think we are a couple... I mean, sure, I check up on your lectures sometimes and talk about you; I make sure you don't fall asleep in your office or overwork yourself, we spend our breaks together... But that doesn't mean we're married.«

You listen to him but get hung up in his words, holding your hand up for him to stop rambling.

»What did you just say?«

»We spend our breaks together?« He guesses, making you shake your head and ask again.

»No, before that.« You wait for him to repeat his words, being unsure if you heard him right.

»That I make sure you don't fall asleep here? What is it that I said?«

He makes you roll your eyes at him as he guesses again, putting both hands up and gesturing to him more impatiently.

»No, before that.«

He purses his lips, unsure if he should say it again or just somehow ignore the question, realising he said too much earlier. His lack of response makes you cross your arms and silently demand him to answer you finally. Johnny relents a moment later, sighing out sheepishly as he rubs the back of his neck.

»Okay, okay, I talk about you in class, but that has nothing to do with this.« He finally admits and leans back against his desk more while avoiding eye contact. It seems like you have got him caught in something, and this explains a lot. You don't even want to know what other stuff his students have assumed, but you are also curious about what exactly he talks about in his lectures, considering he should be teaching them chemistry.

»Just- okay... Maybe that's why your students assume that.« You sigh out, having no motivation to be upset about him. At least there's someone to blame now, and it's Johnny. »And maybe you should actually teach them about chemicals instead of... whatever you are doing.« You add to, making him rub the back of his neck. It's clear he feels embarrassed if not ashamed about it. Maybe he was this dramatic all the time, because he knew he is at fault. But then again, he doesn't make sense as he said he doesn't want anyone to know.

»Look, let's just say nothing about it. Everything is normal for now, no one suspects a thing. But if your fathere finds out...« He takes a deep breath and shakes his head faintly. »He's gonna kill me.«

He finishes off, once again with fantastic dramatics.

»Wait, what about my dad? I thought you two were good friends.«

But before he could answer you, the bell rings and signals the beginning of the next lectures. He ushers you both out of his office, guiding you back to your lecture hall, since it's next to his, waving you goodbye before stepping into his class.

He's strange.

Once Johnny enters the lecture, he is greeted by the many faces of his students and one particular student speaks up. Before he could say word though, Johnny puts his hand up to silence everyone.

»I'm not gonna answer your stupid question, but we're gonna make coloured fire!«

----

Office of your own, Wednesday 8:53 PM

It took you exactly four coffees to stay awake and distract yourself from today's events. And completing your work early on again. Your students are going to be happy to receive their assignments back early, but will probably feel concerned too. Also, you're staying late in your office again, on accident. But now that your work is done and there's nothing else to do before the next day, you decided to look through your old pictures back from your early twenties.

It felt nice just studying and living at your parents house at that time, where you weren't plagued to actually do adult stuff. But the memories are nice, seeing how much fun you had most of the time, how different your style was, the fun things you could do with your friends... how lovely Johnny stared at you? Is the caffeine catching up?

You go on that picture again, your whole friendgroup from the different classes of the university at a park, it being sunny, and making the photo look even more nostalgic. Another look at Johnny confirms his stare. Whenever he isn't occupied with something in these photos, he is most likely looking your way with a soft, almost fond, expression.

A rhythmic knock pulls you out of your train of thoughts, looking to the door that opens up. Again, Johnny walks in, most likely to force you out of this room once more.

»Wow, that's a big stack of papers. Did you do all this?« He points to all the work you've done today on the desk, approaching you at the same time.

»No, the friendly poltergeist did it.«

He smiles at the sarcastic response and huffs out amused. Once he's close enough to your desk, he leans arms against your desk, inspecting the papers. While he does that, you go on to sort through them once more, standing up while doing so.

He watches your hands work, helping out a bit at the same time. Eventually, the stack of papers are neatly sorted out, going into your bag for the next lecture.

»Damn, I look good... looked good, at least.« He speaks up, eyeing the screen of your computer while leaning over your desk a little more. It seems like you forgot to turn your computer off as he came in, quickly closing the tab with the photos now. He groans as you closed the tab, looking back to you.

»Why'd you have that open? For motivation?«

He tilts his head at you, waiting for your answer, with a subtle smirk.

»Did you know dentures used to be made out of dead soldier's teeth?«

You try to distract him, it working as he blinks and grimaces at your fun fact. He leans off your desk and you take the opppurtunity to finally turn your computer off. Johnny takes a small breath, pointing at you with his finger.

»I really wish I didn't know that.«

----

Redcrest High Academy, Friday 12:02 PM

Johnny has thought a lot about you. Since he saw these pictures on your screen, he can't help but think back to your college and university years. It was fun being in that friend group, there was always something to laugh at and the hangout's were truly something else. He lost count of how many drunk black-outs he had already, how many times he pulled all-nighters to study, and how many times he tried to ask you out. If he only had the courage... if he weren't that hesitant, he is sure you two were indeed married by now.

But he remembers that time his friends and him hung out at your place for the first time, just before your university years as students started. Your house was rather big with two floors and a back yard. At that time of the summer, you used your back yard to grill and hang out at. He can remember how surprised he was when he saw how pretty it was, not having expected much. But that positive surprise surely died down quickly when your dad came by to help with the grill.

He looked intimidating then, a few inches taller than himself and looking rather rough. But then again, that small scare flew by once your dad introduced himself and finally smiled politely.

John Price, or 'mister Price' as how he calls him, even now. He knew he'd need to make a good impression on him and didn't drink as much as usual, trying to talk to your dad a little more. Of course, it was that same evening when your friends found out about his profession, or at least just knew that he was an SAS-soldier not too long ago. A captain as well.

At that point, he knew he probably had no real chance with you. He knew, if he fucked up, there's a whole SAS-team after him. So, he settled on just being good friends with you, mostly because of your father and his own fear of rejection.

Your father, on the other hand, befriended himself quickly with Johnny, having chatted about explosives most of the time in that same evening. He was sure Johnny and your friends were nice, not having anything against those.

You invited Johnny over more frequently, having had late study sessions, talking with your father about different stuff, and also more grill parties with your friend group. You could say your father became more fund of Johnny with time, having made more jokes and teases than necessary about you two.

»When are you marrying, son?«

He really wanted to ignore that question the first time your father asked him that. But he couldn't, and really tried his best to find the correct answer to it, but also not lie.

»We aren't together, sir.«

John waves a dismissive hand at him, huffing out lightly.

»Please, I've seen how you look at her. Don't waste your time before she finds someone else... and stop with the formalities. I told you that already.«

After a small pep talk from your father, he had some more courage to be closer to you, but still not enough to ask you out.

For some reason, it was harder than it looked like.

Even now, as your both fully grown adults and working together, he can't just walk up to you and propose something as a date. But now, with everyone thinking you are engaged, it might be the perfect oppurtunity to finally ask you out.

a/n: wow, again a cliffhanger, who would have thought!1!1! I hope you enjoyed it, I'm working on two fics right now, so I can't say when the next part is coming out. Probably soon.

[yuri-is-online]

List of characters that i think smoke a lil weed:

Riddle. He needs to chill the fuck out. I don't think he'd be able to handle smoking though, physically or mentally, so like. Trey should maybe slip him a strawberry tart with some ganja in it

Cater. Let him find the will the live and spiritually high five Morgan freeman or smth idk

Ace and Deuce. Another day, another heart attack cause Yuu got into a situation again

Trey. Partially because we both know damn well how stressed he is on a daily, but mostly because I just want the strict "Rule Following Dorm" to just be chalk full of stoners. Never let them know your next move! 🤙

Ruggie. He deserves it. Weirdly enough, he actually preforms better at his jobs when he's high as balls (this is based on one of my brother's. He can't drive for shit but he can smoke a blunt and then suddenly he turns into a chauffeur???)

Jade. I don't think he would need it or even really feel a desire to do it; he just wanted to know what it felt like the first time he did it, but then Yuu shotgunned him once and now he's much more willing to smoke. Probably makes the best food ever when he's high

Jamil. Look me in my eye and tell me he doesn't need Marijuana like a white mom needs a live laugh love sign. You cant. He can't do it too much though cause whenever he gets high he ends up just. Melting into his floor and stares at the ceiling for the next few hours and he can't do shit.

Kalim. He wants to be included. Also I think he would be a crier cause Lord knows he needs a good sob

Epel. He'll do just about anything if he thinks it'll make him cooler, and in his mind, weed is pretty cool. It is significantly less cool when he starts coughing like he's trying to puke out his organs though.

Vil. I don't really know why, he just would. He wouldn't smoke it though. Probably just eat an edible, and not the normal ones like a brownie or a cookie or some type of sweet, nah. He's going for the peanut butter. "Vil why is your peanut butter green?" "It's made with pistachios" "Ok but why are your eyes so red" "it's windy out here". He's so good at lying through his teeth when it comes to this but come on! He needs a break! Let him do this or he's gonna bite neiges head off!

I dont think Rook would. I don't why for this either, it's just the vibes. Rook is staying sober.

Idia tried it once to see what the hype was about and started choking. He's one if those people who isn't affected by Marijuana so he didn't really do it again. Until those cotton candy vapes came out and then he tried it again.

Lilia. I don't think I have to explain this.

Yuu. They were the one that got everyone else smoking. The probably grow it in their garden and tell people it's mint (also inspired by my brother). They're stressed constantly and making out with their boyfriend doesn't always take that stress away, so why not make out with their boyfriend, but high.

Honorable mention: Sam! He's just cool like that.

Honorable mention: Chen'ya! Cause I feel like he would.

I know nothing about smoking weed because the smell makes me kind of sick so I will take your word for it that this list is accurate. I do know a decent bit about drinking vodka straight from the bottle so allow me to give you my list of people who I think would do that:

Crewel- i think he's a cocktail guy but sometimes he just doesn't have the patience. He also has a big bottle of absinthe for emergencies. It's been getting a work out with all the overblots this year.

Lilia- used to back when he was traveling the world, nowadays he prefers not to so he can set a good example for Silver. Probably sticks to weed since it's more natural

Floyd- I feel like he makes those toxic jungle juice mixes that you can't tell the alcohol content of for "funzies" but then refuses to drink it himself and just drinks it from the bottle.

Epel- again he thinks it makes him look cool. He hates vodka because as a proud citizen of Harveston he strikes me as more of a cider guy but he still assumes he looked cool.

Sebek- he did it on a dare and he hated every second of it.

Ruggie- he does the thing where he gets cheap vodka and puts it through a brita filter to make it better.

Leona- he is too lazy to get himself something better. Do you think he smokes weed or sticks to catnip? And if you asked him that how loud do you think he would laugh before trying to beat your ass?

Yuu- at all times they look like this to me:

[gauntletqueen]

the italian boxer isn't a cop, isn't 100% white, and was crying because of her dead dad. she's come out in support of the other boxer people are using her as a weapon against to be racist. the way the olympics and the media is treating both boxers is really fucked up, i do not think the italian woman did anything wrong, she's just a useful tool of oppression people are utilizing against her will

Okay you're part right, part wrong. I've done some more looking into it and I'm glad I did cause it's Nuanced~ Not here to prove you wrong, just gonna list it all out clearly so we can all understand the situation better.

I haven't personally seen any racism coming into the controversy so I don't understand why you're bringing that up, or that Angela Carini isn't fully white. The most I can see is a few mentions of Italian politicians using the situation to try and earn some brownie points by standing behind Angela Carini, but even then they're also latching onto the narrative that Imane Khelif had an unfair advantage, due to her being transgender. She isn't, btw. She's a cis woman,another case of transphobes jumping at any opportunity to try to push their bullshit, even when the target isn't trans, and nobody had even accused them of being trans before that point.

While I can't find definitive proof that Angela herself is a cop, she was raised by cops and is a member of the boxing division of one of Italy's police forces. I can't figure out if that means that she is also an actual cop but that's probably where the assumption comes from.

"she was crying because of her dead dad" is true, but oversimplifying it. Specifically, she's said that her brother and late father were boxers before her, and taught her the sport. She wanted to honor them in the olympics, but the tension, stress and expectations got too much for her in the match against Imane, who it seems fought much harder than Angela was used to. This caused her to have an emotional breakdown. That's all extremely reasonable honestly I can't imagine having to handle to pressure of representing your country At The Olympics, especially not when there are also such big personal stakes. Supposedly she was cited as shouting "it's not fair!" as she left the ring. This is what got transphobes like JK Rowling and Musk to co-opt the story into their bigotted narrative that Imane must be transgender, as transphobic women in the past have blamed their losses on the fact that a transgender woman Was Involved.

It's likely that they might also have used Imane's disqualification from participating in the 2023 IBA Women's World Boxing championship. The organization had declared her testosterone levels to be too high, which supposedly "proved they had XY chromosomes". Since then, the International Olympic Committee has removed the IBA as the organizers of boxing at the olympics due to "continuing irregularity issues in the areas of finance, governance, ethics, refereeing, and judging" So. Perhaps they are a bad judge of chromosomes. Because again, Imane is a cis woman.

Anyway. Angela has stated (translation taken from Wikipedia, the original italian article is behind a paywall) "I want to apologize to her and everyone else. I was angry because my Olympics had gone up in smoke. I don't have anything against Khelif. If I were to meet her again, I would embrace her"

So yeah, she's done nothing wrong, she just cracked under immense pressure, and might be a cop or cop-sympathetic, but that doesn't seem to really have anything to do with the situation. The important thing is that rightwing bigots jumped at the chance to make her a martyr against her will, as you said.

[grison-in-space]

A friend of mine has a dog behavior challenge they're seeking advice for and I thought you might be able to help if you have time or direct them to someone who can! https://www.tumblr.com/nemertea/760896232858271744/does-anyone-have-any-good-resources-for-dealing

Here's a link for ease of clicking, but the issue overall seems to be "how do you cope with what seems to be a desire specifically to control a secondary animal's access to social resources rather than fear that the other animal will prevent the focal animal from accessing them?"

I really wish I had a clear set of resources for your friend, because it seems really similar to something I have been struggling with between Matilda (21 months) and my 13yo dog Tribble, in which Matilda appeared to want to herd Tribble into her crate and control her access to humans and social outlets. Working on this has been on pause for the past six weeks since Matilda's eye abscess exploded on us, but I'm beginning to pick it up again now: the dogs have been on crate and rotate since just before the eye abscess blew up, and that isn't a good long term solution, so now we see if we can actually resolve the problem.

My current opinion on how to move forward involves making it clear that I, the human, am not tolerating the "herding" behavior in my space and that it will result in being removed from the situation entirely. This means that you have to be able to prevent the dog causing the problem from redirecting onto the cat and doubling down when corrected, which is one of the failure modes I ran into initially. (It also means you have to rehab your cats' trust that you can and will fix the situation, and prevent your cats from inflaming the situation further by redirecting onto the problem dog.)

IDK, y'all, I'm still sketching out my treatment plan beyond the current stage, which is using shared licky mats with one dog crated to reduce the tension and memory of conflicts between the two dogs and replace them with memory of time spent licking in low-stress situations. We will be then leashing both dogs and spending time in the same room with (you guessed it) more licky and chewing time, with each dog rewarded for glancing at the other and disengaging. Eventually, I'd advance to both dogs leashed + direct interactions of the sort the "controlling" dog has tried to veto, and then treat that stimulus like reactivity counterconditioning: the "controlling" dog must sit without barking or pulling etc and will be body-blocked and interrupted if she tries to bother the other animal, but can earn infinite high-value rewards from simply looking quietly while the other animal receives the coveted attention.

Comments and suggestions from other trainers with similar experience would be welcomed, I suspect!

[finalgirlsamwinchester]

nothing makes my hackles rise more than seeing people ascribe to fanon labelling sam's empathy and compassionate nature as something purely cognitive, cold, and calculating. because for some reason, people are quicker to jump to the conclusion that deep down he's uncaring - that his compassion is purely scripted, that he's going through the motions. which is patently false! if you would spend more than two seconds paying attention to his character and his stated AND unstated motivations and core beliefs.

also. would you say the same thing to an EMT running through a script while dealing with a patient during an emergency. hunting mirrors a lot of emergency service work that puts workers in high stress, life-or-death situations, day in, day out! compassion fatigue is real, and anyone on the job will tell you that no one is surviving the work week running on pure compassion alone.

like emergency services workers in the real world, both brothers rely on scripts. dean often defaults to lines that let him take charge of a situation, especially useful for when decisive action needs to take place. sam on the other hand, usually defaults to supportive lines and does far better at defusing tense situations. they're also capable of swapping roles, and will readily do so when required. it's all part of why they're an effective hunting unit when working together, operating at their best.

because we repeatedly see in the show that tactical combat is only one facet of hunting. there's the research and detective work, but more importantly, there's the people work that comes with it. they're constantly having to work with people, often victims/survivors experiencing great distress.

like yeah they have their own host of issues when it comes to communicating with each other and managing close interpersonal conflicts. but i'd argue they're an effective unit out in the field. and i'm really not judging how they talk to people on their random case-of-the-week by the same standards i use to judge their familial dysfunction. lol.

[aroace-poly-show]

When does Sadness!Siffrin realize they're with the party again? Is it a sudden realization or a slow, gradual one?

sorry in advance this became a big sadfrin fight ramble (i’ve been thinking about this forever can you tell.) i tried to break it up a bit but it is a huge wall of me yapping on and on so tldr: party talks to him while they’re fighting trying to remind him it’s Them and they might be hurt but they still love him and don’t want to be fighting him or hurt him and siffrin is having Such a good time about this (distressed and confused like a stray abused animal being shown love) and flinches and gives the party and opening to pin him down. tears are shed (mostly by siffrin) but hey! at least he’s not trying to kill them anymore

as in like. recognizing its them. its like. gradual? and as slow as it can be during a fight to the death so;kljhdfj

its during their first encounter with everyone and them instinctively fighting everyone, because thats all they think to do now. their instincts are to attack practically anything that moves. no one Wants to attack siffrin, even in self defense, except for odile. i think i’ve mentioned part of this before? idk. but based off the bigfrin fight she wouldn’t be opposed to attacking in self defense, especially if she doesn’t know if this is even siffrin anymore. she also doesn’t want to attack, but what else is there to do? as far as she can tell, this isn’t siffrin anymore. this is a sadness attacking them, a strong one at that, and theres no way anyone here knows of to turn a sadness back, especially not in enough time to still be able to fight the king. it’s a really high stress situation with no time to try and brainstorm solutions that could be time consuming that might not even work, risking her and her allies lives, all to save an ally (who not even a day ago insulted them all to their faces) who might not even be able to be brought back? she’s not taking that risk. so she talks the rest of the party into attacking (albeit very very unwillingly. no one is happy about this) and eventually they get siffrin down but! whoopsies! he can loop back. wuh oh. thats not good.

(the way siffrins loops here are like. the way loop loops back during their fight? where they loop themselves but not siffrin, so they have all their health but siffrin does not, works the same here with siffrin recovering but the party does not. yk?) anyway the party now has to figure out what the crab to do now.

and like. the progression of siffrin going from mindless attacking to Not trying to kill them starts with bonnie where siffrin gets a bit knocked around and bit too close to bonnie and Would have a perfect opportunity to attack them but bonnie has that same expression they had back when siffrin jumped in to save them from that sadness and lost his eye and siffrin gets this overwhelming instinct to protect them. and bonnie notices the way his face changes for a second before looping back and fighting again. and no one listens to them when bonnie tries to tell them to stop attacking siffrin so they decide the best idea is to jump right in front of siffrin who’s about to attack. and siffrin doesn’t! he trips over himself trying to move so he doesn’t hurt bonnie and while bonnie’s celebrating that they were right and its still siffrin and the party is in shock over 1. the amount of danger bonnie just put themselves in and 2. holy shit siffrin really didn’t attack them do they have a chance at helping him??? siffrin over in his corner is having a teeny tiny breakdown between the part of his brain in attack mode and the other part like “holy fuck we almost just hurt a child we promised to protect”

the rest of the fight is simpler its just. party members taking turns talking to (or more like at) siffrin to show they stilllove him and dont want to be hurting him and dont want to kill him, and they want him to let them help him. all these words of love actually serve to make siffrin more distressed bc he’s literally just come out of the mal du pays fight convinced he was unloved and hated, has only been attacking and killing whatever he comes across and is now fighting things that both fight back, HAVENT died yet, and are talking to him???? and saying they love him?????? its all very overwhelming and confusing so he goes from being a really collected and ruthless enemy to being more like a feral animal pushed into a corner. so with all this going on and his attacks being more scattered and frantic he eventually gives the party an opening and they take it with mira knocking his dagger away and odile doing her sick ass stopping time craft thing and isa pinning him down and yay!! its over!! everyone is exhausted but glad to have finished!! siffrin is sobbing pathetically on the ground!! woooo!!!! but yeah around this point he gets past his whole bloodlust kill kill kill instinct and chills out. sorry for rambling this much i’m ill

[allwormdiet]

Agitation 3.11

The problems involving this motherfucking bank are no longer limited to the exterior of said motherfucking bank

It has to be fucking alarming for your power to stop working for you when you're so used to it as a part of yourself. Can't even imagine.

God the tension here is good. Amy's not much of a fighter, sure, not even compared to Taylor, but Taylor's making her feel like she's dying rn

Do people really paint Amy as some kind of suffering angel? Like I get that she's suffered, sure, she's a parahuman and the least-favorite child of New Wave and yadda yadda, but she's fucking mean. And honestly between her and her sister I get the impression that New Wave is uhh, not too big on treating criminals like they have human rights? Which isn't at all concerning when one of them is a lawyer.

...Man how do I get worse vibes off of New Wave than the Protectorate, I'm basically never on the side of government superheroes

You can't fool me Victoria Dallon, I know you practiced that landing

Also Jesus that's a lot of damage, couldn't you have just gone through one of the windows that broke already? Kid Win made that hole for nothing.

I know Amy doesn't do this (yet) but the fact that this is the first thing she threatens to do to a villain with a knife to her throat is fucking insane

Are the Dallons actually trained in hostage negotiation and conflict de-escalation? I hope they're not because otherwise I'd have a lot of really pressing and mean questions for their trainers

Also fucked up that Amy's threats involve destroying Taylor's sense of taste, giving her fatal diseases, or *checks notes* making her really really fat, what the hell girl

Hey Tattletale, love you Tattletale, please for the love of god be careful Tattletale

So people have written Tattletale and Glory Girl punching each other with their lips, right? If I'm picking up on some kismesis vibes there's no way other people haven't picked up kismesis vibes

(Sit. Stay. Good girl. Oh my god.)

Interesting that Tattletale seems willing to call Amy's bluff here, though I'm not sure how safe that is

Tattletale: you should know better than to make me monologue about something that'll help you

Glory Girl: yeah I know

Tattletale: but I'm gonna answer your question anyhow

Glory Girl:

Victoria continues to be a huge fucking nerd

Tattletale continues to be outrageously smug and also, tbh, isn't entirely wrong about the expectations of superpowers. She's lying like a rug of course but how should they know that?

Clever! And fucked up. And remarkably powerful on Amy's part, like holy shit. As if the cancer threat wasn't bad enough.

And all the while Tattletale is fucking up Panacea's play with nothing but a laser pointer, with GG too distracted by proving her wrong to realize it

Victoria what the fuck

I'm gonna try to be generous and chalk this up to being written in 2011, but hollllly shit this doesn't reflect well on the character or author

Current Thoughts

Okay so I'm not gonna dwell on the slur, much as I'd love to, let's just leave that one on the side

I find it fascinating that GG considers New Wave immune to the threat of dirty secrets, especially the part about "full transparency." We just saw her nearly kill a suspect on accident and then guilt trip Panacea into healing her to prevent a black mark on the team's record. Like maybe she theoretically believes that stuff as long as she doesn't think too hard about it, but this is absolutely hypocrisy on her part

Victoria and Amy both are just. Really showing their best selves in this arc. I'm not going to act like they're both monsters, they're not. As previously mentioned, they're teenagers in an extremely high-stress situation. Amy's got a knife to her throat and Victoria is extremely protective of her sister and they're facing down two relatively unknown villains on their own

...which I think just points more to the fact that they shouldn't be in this situation to begin with. Amy obviously didn't have much say about whether she'd be a hostage but she definitely didn't have to pick a fight with the villains who had lethally venomous spiders on all the hostages. Victoria, on the other hand, absolutely did not think about what she was doing before doing it, and punched a hole in the roof of what's probably an expensive-ass building in the doing. Is she gonna pay for that? Her millionaire boyfriend?

Next time: Tattletale proves she's the most dangerous Undersider, and nobody regrets this at all

[wilcze-kudly]

Reasons why YOU should ship Bolin and Wei Beifong:

1.Gay🏳️‍🌈

The Avatar universe has a lot of WLW characters, but not many MLM ones. And having another member of team avatar be comfirmed as queer is always a good thing (they're all canonicaly queer in my heart tho).

Also having Bolin be queer adds a lot of interesting dimension to the character, eapecially to his previous interactions with female love interests. I've always headcanoned Bolin as very comphet. Discovering you're queer is something I wish were more explored with Korrasami, but Bolin 'i have a new heterosexual love interest nearly every season' would also be an imteresting character to follow through that process. Feel like it would give him an existential crisis and I want to see that bisexual disaster happen.

Especially if contrasted by Wei, who comes from the very liberal Zaofu. Look me in the eyes and tell me Su doesn't support gay rights. Zaofu is like the gayest city in the Avatar universe. Just look at their slay outfits and Aiwei's cool nosering.

2.Good Chemistry

Between the cute little sparring moment with the pebble and the famed rescue scene, these two do have some excellent chemistry. Look at them. LOOK AT THEM.

The lil 'you impressed?' eyebrow raise and smirk from Bolin. Wei's smile. THE PAT PAT. Bolin's little confused bi moment. The fact that they're just CHILLIN with Bolin holding Wei bridal style while Toph is RIGHT THERE and the fact that they're in such a high stress situation and that the rest of Wei's family needs to be rescued. BUT NO, THEY'RE JUST STARING INTO EACH OTHER'S EYES BECAUSE THEY'RE IN LOVE, YOUR HONOUR.

3.Rivals to friends? to enemies to friends again to lovers???

Wei and Bolin's first interaction is a little squabble during sparring, where Wei sandwiches Bolin with 2 metal plates and Bolin smacks Wei with a pebble. They've got this whole cute little rivalry thing going on and i think it's adorable.

Assumedly, they start getting along more after Bolin and Opal start dating. This probably doesn't last long, since after Bolin joins Kuvira, his relationship with the Beifongs probably sours tremendously. Even outside of a shipping context I would wanna know what Bolin's relationship with the other Beifongs was at the time.

I imagine especially after the Beifongs get captured by Kuvira's forces, Wei wouldn't be too inclined to like Bolin. But when Bolin comes to rescue them, Wei is the first to get tossed over, which would require a lot of trust in both Lin and Bolin. And Wei's first interaction with Bolin after Bolin catches him is *ahem* very friendly. Which seems to imply that, at the very least, Bolin is somewhat forgiven.

I also think it's really fucking cute that Bolin brought metal wires for Wing and Wei to bend and I'm devastated that we didn't get the scene of him giving them to the twins. I am shaking my stick at the heavens as we speak.

Presumably, fighting side by side against Kuvira would have Wei and Bolin bonding more and perhaps striking up a genuine friendship. I love it when gays bond over traumatic events. It's the purest form of courtship.

Also whenever the twins are standing next to Bolin, Wei is always the one closer to the guy... like i know im grasping at straws here but i just... im not sane anymore

4.Lavabending/metalbending symbolism

Do I need to say more? They're both talented in two of the most prominent earthbending substyles. Also there is interesting symbolism to Bolin having struggled to learn metalbending his entire life and failing but then getting a metalbender boyfriend could be really cute. THEY LITERALLY COMPLETE EACH OTHER GUYS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND

(also you can't tell me that Wei wouldn't find lavabending incredibly.... hot....)

5.Tension filled sparring

Their first interaction was a sparring session during which they were playing litte dirty tricks on each other. Also we all love sexually charged sparring sessions.

6.Detecting lies/performer symbolism

So I've kinda talked at length about how Bolin is a 'performer'. (Which @thenamescaba has pointed out could very well be masking. Bolin is very autism) Bolin often seems to act in a manner that would make people like him, rather than genuinely. Which is pretty in line qith his childhood. Assumedly being homeless didn't win him any perks socially, so now he's compensating by trying to garner as much positive attention as he can nowadays.

This can have an interesting contrast with Wei, who comes from a family with the ability to detect lies and assumedly also has this skill. I could totally imagine Wei calling Bolin out on contorting himself in order to be more likeable.

7.Height/Size difference

This is just self indulgent to be honest. I headcanon all the Beifongs as a pretty short family in general and while I'm pretty sure that Wei isn't very small, I have a soft spot for tall/average characters who are absolutely dwarfed by their giant, bulky partners. Also, how strong is Bolin because he is just holding a guy his age with apparently no effort???

8.Daring rescue/princess carry aesthetic

Listen, fairytales had this trope down pat for a reason. Sure it's cliche and overdone but it is a guilty pleasure for a lot of folks. Plus, I do think there's a lot of humour a usually capable metalbender having a major case of damsel-in-distressitis.

There is also the fact that the scene is unintentionally (or intentionally, i feel like SOMEONE in the writer's room has it out for me) paralleling the Nuktuk posters, for which Bolin posed with a love interest.

9. The Freedom/belonging contrasts

Now this here is a stretch, but an interesting and fun one. With Bolin we see a huge, underlying theme of him 'trying to find himself', practically feom the first season. He bounces from job to job, tries new things but nothing feels good enough. This probably stems from his childhood in the streets, he may be compensating for all the lost opportunities or something else. What does matter is that Bolin is 'untethered' and floating rather aimlessly, to his great distress. It's shown in book 2 that he envies the rest of team Avatar, who have already found their places in life.

Now, for Wei we can only use context clues and his siblings as reference but bear with me. We see that Suyin is a slightly overprotective mother, who would rather all her kids stay at home with her. We see this with Opal's hesitance to leave doe the Air Temples and with how harshly Su reacted when Kuvira nad Baatar Jr left Zaofu. This, paired with the fact that Wing and Wei are the only ones of their siblings who are 'upholding the legacy of their mother and grandmother ' might place them under a lot of pressure.

Therefore, Wei, in stark contrast to Bolin has a firmly set place in the world, one from which it would be incredibly difficult to free himself. This is completely different from Bolin, who , while he hasn't found himself yet has the freedom to be whomever he wants to.

One could set forth the idea that Wei and Bolin envy one another.

Bolin, envying Wei for having everything Bolin had wanted as a child. A stable family and life and a meaningful legacy. While Wei could be jealous of Bolin being able to forge his own path, instead of treading water.

10.Good angst potential

Being in love with your sisters boyfriend (why yes, I cannot look at Satisfied from Hamilton the same way, how did you know) is angsty even of itself, but then said boyfriend joins your fascist estranged siblings? Is this a greek tragedy? Especially that the twins and Opal seem rather close, so I think it would be unlikely that Wei would try to interfere in his sister's happiness.

Even as an unrequited romance, weilin provides a lot of potential for an amazing story. And we get to torture one of Toph's grandkids. As a treat.

On Bolin's side, realising you're queer can be a long and arduous process, especially if you've been taught otherwise. And I don't exactly believe the Triple Threats would be super accepting. This could also lead to some really sweet moments between Bolin and Mako, because Mako, for all his flaws is a very good big brother. And Korrasami could be the cool bi mentors. DO YOU SEE MY VISION. (Also Opal would be 100 percent supportive she's an absolute queen)

11.Good comedy potential

Just two himbos, dumb as the rocks they bend, tryna get together but both being too stupid and nervous to actually take the plunge.

Bolin is usually very forward with his advances, but perhaps trying to get with a guy the first time would feel like unfamiliar territory and make him even more nervous. And even so, Bolin's usual flirting is a sight to behold.

While we don't exactly know how Wei would react to this i can see him being a bit of a tsun. He just has that vibe. I could also see him not knowing how to react to being flirted with, since I can imagine that he spent most of his childhood isolated with his siblings.

I can totally imagine them both being much too awkward to make the first move and everyone around them being absolutely mentally exhausted by this weird little himbo mating ritual.

12.Because i said so