#how not to resolve conflict

[nabi-unveiled]

I haven't talked enough about Two Husbands, One Wife. Because really, what do you say about perfection? It feels like any words I offer cannot do it justice.

I pretty much hold my breath every episode and pray to the show gods that they don't ruin the absolutely beautiful thing they've created.

And so far...as of episode 7...they haven't.

Because every episode has built on the idea that it really takes all THREE of them to make this relationship work. The framing reinforces this with frequent triangle shots (and even triangle dialogue). There must be a connection between all points, and no point is more important than the other. Every person is essential.

Because while Takuzo may be the "responsible" one, he's rigid in his ways.

And while Mia is the realist who easily speaks her mind and expresses what she wants, it can make her very focused on herself.

They already tried it with just the two of them. It didn't work.

And Mia and Shinpei have already tried it with just the two of them too. It doesn't work.

Because they struggle with managing responsibility on their own.

They are willing to do the work, but they need someone to guide them with structure and remind them the laundry exists. I feel that.

And although Shinpei is a free spirit who really brings "joy" to everything he does...

With just Mia, he still feels a bit insecure and not quite good enough.

And with a younger boyfriend that has so many fans, Mia can sometimes feels insecure too.

As the men have developed and taken their relationship further.

Takuzo is able to affirm Shinpei and give him the words he needs to hear.

And Shinpei's earnest and sweet nature is able to break through Takuzo's walls to help him see that his rigidity can have consequences.

His infectious energy pushes Takuzo to go places he wouldn't otherwise and encourages him to try new things.

But both men recognize that they NEED Mia.

She holds them together.

Because she's the one who can express words and speak her mind easily.

Who will make the first move when things get difficult.

And push them to make the necessary decisions.

Because they're a throuple. And no (good) relationship exists without all three of them.

Bonus: There's food symbolism (even more than I mention here). Be still my beating heart.

Mia is gyoza.

Takuzo is curry.

And it's best when the chef (Shinpei) serves both.

[sunnyknight-original]

Currently, my favorite potential Forgettable!AU Gaster and Papyrus dynamic:

My personal favorite interpretation of what Papyrus and Gasters relationship (whether it be (grand)father/son, or just mentor and trainee) would be like, is them both being equally as enthusiastic about everything, and in general just matching each others energy 100% 😭 ITS SO AMAZING ITS ALWAYS A TREAT WHEN A COMIC PORTRAYS THEM AS SUCH

“GASTER!!!!” “PAPYRUS!!!” “GUESS WHAT I DID TODAY!!!!” “WHAT DID YOU DO MY SON?????” “I FINISHED THAT PUZZLE I WAS WORKING ON!!!” “OH MY GOD!!! I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!!!! GIVE IT TO ME RIGHT NOW!!!!”

and sans sitting on the couch like: :)

Its just so pure….

SO ANYWHO, taking that dynamic and shoving it into this AU is currently my favorite thing to think about

Then its even better with Wingdings being canonically unnerved by Papyrus, and being (ID IMAGINE) not too thrilled with being in the same room as Gaster for too long.

I wanna make a Seinfeld ass sitcom series of all 3 of them living in an apartment together and also Sans and/or Alphys visits periodically

Gaster and Papyrus are like staring daggers at the newspaper puzzles tryna solve em, and Wingdings comes in all tired with a cup of coffee and as he’s about to greet them they both go “SHH!!!”

They’d kinda be like Spongebob, Patrick, and Squidward

There would be a running gag where they would always find clearly unintentional hidden messages in the horoscope because of the letters that they correspond to in the wingdings font

Gaster would just randomly talk in like jokerman font because he can

LET ME COOK 😭😭😭😭 id go on. And i probably will on my shitpost account

They should all have a group name like- “Papyrus and Co” or “The Three Skeleclones”

[bixels]

Be honest, what are your thoughts on appledash? Do you hate it or its more of not a big deal

Not a big deal to me. I like it, I see all the appeals, I just personally like Rarijack more.

[itwoodbeprefect]

the thing about bad buddy is that calling it enemies to lovers is not entirely wrong and is a very succinct and easy way to indicate the general plot, but also one of the only moments that the two main characters are actually personally in conflict with each other lasts about four minutes and is expressed mainly through upset shirtless xylophone playing contrasted with a montage of happy moments that features a time there was triumphant shirt-wearing xylophone playing. and then they both say sorry at literally the exact same time

[smile-files]

nickel and balloon stuff from spring on the breakfast!!! i'm keeping in mind that in the previous episode, both of them were under the impression that their friendship wasn't real...

in a way, ii3 balloon is a lot like late ii3 cabby. of course, balloon did something indisputably immoral (manipulate and exploit others), and cabby only did something thought to be immoral (keep and use files about her fellow contestants) -- but both did something wrong and had to subsequently undergo a disproportionate amount of abuse and malignment for it, ending up with them being apologetic and submissive to avoid any chance of being framed as bad again. the biggest difference is that cabby has internalized the guilt others have attributed to her, while balloon largely hasn't -- he understands the concept of rolling with the punches for the sake of keeping good connections, but he doesn't believe he deserves it.

nickel brushes off ii2 a LOT this episode. to rid himself of his guilt regarding that time, he necessarily has to delegitimize the hatred he felt towards balloon then, thus also ridding balloon of his guilt. he expresses this all vaguely, choosing to remember ii2 fondly and saying off-hand that its baggage should be laughed off -- implying that balloon has been forgiven. reasonably, balloon is happy that nickel seems to actually believe he's changed for the better, so initially this makes him happy.

of course, though, it becomes clear that nickel just wants to shove his own actions under the rug, and balloon reasonably gets pissed off. nickel treated balloon and suitcase like complete garbage in ii2, and balloon clearly hasn't forgotten that.

"it keeps things easy." it keeps things easy to roll with the punches, to endure nickel's abuse and accept his sudden friendship. note, also, that nickel is still placing the blame on balloon: he's saying that balloon didn't want to "make things better", as if nickel and balloon ever having a rift was entirely balloon's fault, and his problem to fix.

and as we can see, nickel still hasn't fully forgiven balloon for ii1. as i've discussed before, nickel seems to secretly feel incredible guilt about how he treated balloon in ii2 (which is why he goes to such lengths to repress the whole memory of it) -- but that guilt is about the way in which he expressed his disdain and distrust of balloon, not those opinions themselves, nor the motivations for them. this is all very interesting, then -- if he still believes balloon can't change from his old, bad self, why did nickel start being friends with him at all?

i think a large part of it is his projection onto balloon. nickel sees himself in balloon: someone who screwed up big-time and isn't able to become a better person after that (according to nickel). we tend to gravitate to people similar to us, after all. i wouldn't be surprised if nickel was also trying to overcompensate for his hostility towards balloon in ii2 by being very friendly with him in ii3, thereby helping him forget that he was ever hostile to him at all.

the most fascinating thing to me about balloon and nickel's relationship is how impersonal it is for balloon. he seems to value what nickel's affection represents rather than nickel himself -- and it represents that he's been forgiven. anyone who saw balloon and nickel's conflict in ii2, which was a product of balloon's nastiness in ii1 and nickel's subsequent inability to forgive that nastiness, would likely come to accept balloon and forgive him themselves if they then saw nickel being friendly with him -- because nickel is the epitome of the ii contestants' anger at him, and nickel of all people (seemingly) forgiving him would imply that he's really changed. the relationship is almost entirely a symbol in that regard. i don't think balloon has much residual guilt about is actions in ii1 -- he feels like he's adequately addressed them and changed -- but nickel having a positive relationship would be helpful in affirming that stance and proving to himself that he really has changed.

i wouldn't say it's cruel of balloon to keep this relationship going on under that pretense, but it is backhanded, and it helps explain why he was ever willing to accept nickel's friendliness unchallenged. he wanted his crimes to finally be laid to rest once and for all, and keeping nickel on good terms with him would let that happen. people would finally shut up about it. up until now, nickel wasn't explicitly denying his past cruelty towards balloon anyway, so balloon would be able to ignore that he neglected to ever bring it up; now, though, nickel is denying not only what he did to balloon but also to suitcase, which balloon is not able to tolerate. now that he's confronted nickel about that though, nickel snaps back with his condemnation of what balloon did in ii1, thereby uprooting the social stasis balloon had been able to maintain precisely because nickel refused to bring anything up before. in a way, then, balloon is purposefully shoving the past under the rug, just like nickel is.

we can't forget, though, that nickel has his own complex about fearing that he's incapable of change and incapable of forming positive, genuine relationships with people. balloon is essentially revealing that, in a way, he wasn't really friends with nickel -- at least not in the way nickel wished and fooled himself into thinking they were. if balloon truly were friends with nickel like that, then that would mean that balloon had forgiven him for his cruelty in ii2, and perhaps that he really has changed... but no. balloon hasn't forgiven him. why should he? nickel never apologized -- and given how he never apologized, it's impossible that he could've changed anyway: nickel doesn't want to apologize because that means addressing his guilt and allowing himself to feel it. he wants the forgiveness to be handed to him on a silver platter, without him having to do all of the painful work, and he's incredibly upset when it isn't. he wants to not be a bad person, but in order to do that, he has to feel like one, and he really doesn't want to. he hates who he was and doesn't want to associate with it at all.

(note how it's the suitcase robot who says "you can say sorry" when nickel says that nothing can be done about making things better...)

there's clearly an immeasurable amount of resentment these two have been harboring for each other throughout this season, which they'd only been hiding for the sake of fooling themselves into thinking they've changed (nickel) or thinking that others think they've changed (balloon). and now that they've let themselves explode with anger, partly related to the lies they'd been telling themselves falling apart, they yell at each other and balloon drops nickel down a hole!

ah, balloon and nickel's relationship... it's bizarre, it's toxic, it's convoluted, it's shady, and it's incredibly sad. i'm glad i'm revisiting ii3, especially this episode -- i used to be utterly baffled by nickel's writing, particularly in spring on the breakfast, but now it makes complete sense to me. also, i used to think balloon was entirely the victim in this relationship, while now i know that he has his own faults and own baggage in that regard. it's weird -- they hate each other, but at the same time they're dying to be liked by one another. god i love these freaks...

[luniviravosshipper]

So what if I said season 1 and season 7 of TDP are my favorites. Can you blame me?

And I'm tired of having to pretend those are some of the worst seasons of their retrospective arcs.

[whitestormsaystransrights]

I think Graystripe should have started an argument with or been jealous of Firestar about Firestar being able to raise his kits in Thunderclan but Graystripe had to watch his grow up from afar

[deiaiko]

#24.3 Hatz vs Grace

"Hatz, can you teach me how to wield a sword?"

Hatz recalled a conversation he had with Grace from a few years back. 

"Why?"

"I want to learn swordsmanship. And you seemed to be the best person to ask."

It had surprised him greatly then. After all, he knew that Grace was registered in the wave controller class. And it was a really hard favor to refuse, especially because he took pride in his swordsmanship, and it would be an honor to teach his friend.

Hatz let the memory fade into the present. He adjusted his grip on the wooden training sword that Agni's team had prepared, and took a deep breath to steady himself. 

In front of him, Grace mimicked his move. His form still needed some improvement, but it looked firmer than his first time learning.

"Five minutes. Start!" Dan cheered as he dropped the previously used wrinkled paper from his hand. It hit the ground rather uselessly as none of them took their chance to lunge forward.

Hatz walked carefully to his right, circling Grace. He wasn't sure if he should attack first or wait until Grace made his move.

Everything about Grace was confusing. He offered a hand and befriended him and spent a good amount of time getting to know everyone, but he left without saying goodbye. He knew a lot about the tower, but he didn't know how to play basic card games. He was a pacifist who wouldn't unsheathe his sword at the slightest conflict like Hatz did, but he decided to join FUG, which was the most dangerous criminal syndicate in the Tower. On top of it all, Hatz was still worried about whatever had happened to Grace a few days ago, yet Grace acted like it never happened.

Grace followed his pace and kept their distance, so Hatz decided to make the first move. He let some of his frustration out with the strike, giving it enough force to let Grace know how worried he had made him be for the past years.

However, Grace blocked it rather effortlessly. Just like how his feelings for Grace had never mattered to begin with.

Hatz gritted his teeth. With one smooth motion, he twisted his sword and aimed for another more powerful strike.

If it were a real sword, perhaps it would've cut Grace's palm, with the way he stopped the blade with his bare hands.

Grace let the sword go like it was molten hot. "Ah, oops. Reflex."

Hatz felt a smile tugging at his lips. It was the time like this that reminded Hatz, that Grace wasn't born a swordsman, just like how he wasn't born a wave controller.

There were just things that Grace did in his own way, whether purposely or not. Whether he was or wasn't aware of how his actions would affect others, both good and bad.

"To block that move, I suggest twisting your sword like this." Hatz angled Grace's hand to the image he had in mind, and rehearsed his previous move to make his point. "It'd allow you to block with minimal effort, and be able to prepare yourself for a follow up move."

"Oh that's smart. I'll remember that. Thank you." Grace sounded genuinely impressed that it filled Hatz with pride.

"I thought this was a match! Not a sword training session!" The princess booed from the audience seat.

Some chuckles and cheering could be heard afterward, and they resumed their match.

Hatz realized that Grace still remembered the lessons that he had taught him way back then. And not without improvement too, which proved that he had been practicing now and then.

While it neither solved any mystery regarding Grace nor eased his worry, just knowing that Grace took his teaching seriously had lifted a lot of weight off his heart. Because it showed that Grace cared about the thing that mattered to Hatz, and it made Hatz feel like he was worth something to his dear friend.

The match later ended with a draw, to the majority's prediction.

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[urdreamgirls-dreamgirl]

ppl are suddenly commenting on an old af fic that i haven’t updated in like two years but i’ve had the second chapter almost done for a while… should i update 🤭

[tea-twords]

HELLO?????!?!!? HI!!?!?!?!?

[epiphainie]

Is this a safe space to say that while i loved all the bucktommy scenes in 8x5 their chemistry felt a bit off to me. that little moment in 8x1 had more chemistry than anything in 8x05

i don't think their chemistry was off but i don't think the writing of the episode gave them much to play up their chemistry. we got domestic scenes but storywise it was a scene of buck being distracted and tommy being exhausted. every scene last season was them playing a romantic arc, this wasn't that. and like i said in that post (which motivated this ask i assume) i think tommy being involved in the silly and low-stakes episodes is a great thing. i think my only criticism can be that the loft scene could use some casual touches but that's the kind of stuff they don't really put in the script, it's something oliver and lou will find as they settle into playing established bucktommy vs bucktommy crushing on each other and sharing first kisses/dates

[szczekaczz]

an interesting dog interaction video from punk_mutts

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

forever salty about the fact that we never got a satisfactory conclusion to glimmer's and adora's conflict. of course i wanted them to reconcile and apologize to each other. but the way s5 did it was so.. unnatural. it's like the writers themselved forgot what the conflict was about.

glimmer wasn't the only one at fault. of course, she was the one who took things a bit too far but still, both of them were equally stubborn in s4. both of them were taking their frustration out on each other and creating misunderstandings and complications.

glimmer saying that adora was "right about everything" and adora just being like "dw we're cool now"... it was so anticlimatic. their conflict was a LOT more nuanced than just "glimmer hurting adora". we deserved a more in-depth conversation between those two where they BOTH apologize and explain their parts of the story.

not to mention, how come bow was allowed to stay mad at glimmer for longer? i'm not saying that he shouldn't have been mad at her, like of course glimmer was kinda mean to him in s4 too, but her conflict with adora was much more personal. she was being manipulated by adora's abuser and also, in a fit of grief and frustration, held adora responsible for her mother's death. if the writers were holding only glimmer accountable for her actions, which they were, shouldn't adora be the one whose forgiveness glimmer would have to earn? how come a five second apology is enough for adora but bow was somehow more hurt by glimmer's actions although none of them were targeted at him personally? it just felt off to me.

[fencecollapsed]

the book I just read was one my mom leant me cuz she wanted me to read it, called The Princess and the Fangirl and it was. like. fine. kinda cute, baseline entertaining enough to get through but not that good. cringey at times in a This-Is-A-Time-Capsule-Of-2010s-Fandom kind of way if u know what I mean.

I have something to RANT about though! the plot of this is a life-swap, the fangirl character Imogen bears a striking resemblance to celebrity actress Jess, and they end up deciding to swap lives and pretend to be each other for the weekend of this convention they're both at. both have their own reasons and they both end up falling for someone the other is close to. both romances are pretty half-baked imo but the dynamics involving ONE of them is so so frustrating to me for personal reasons djsknfksx

Imogen was supposed to meet her longtime internet friend Harper at this con, the first time they'd be meeting in person. she swaps lives with Jess before they can meet though, so Harper ends up meeting Jess posing as Imogen. it comes out eventually of course, and Harper's mad at first, but she forgives them both SO FUCKING EASILY and ends up dating Jess at the end and the way it's resolved just drives me NUTS!! the first time I met an internet friend in person was for a con too, and I love that friend a lot and it felt really special for us to meet there, y'know? I can't imagine being in Harper's position and being remotely cool forgiving either of them so fast lmao, her friend ditched their meet-up to pretend to be a celebrity and allowed a stranger to basically catfish her!! I'd end up on the news if that shit happened to me, Harper sweetheart you should've started BITING!!

the big thing that really gets me is like, the only real resolution is on the romantic side of this. Jess does a big public gesture of apology for Harper, promises she genuinely likes Harper and was being more authentically herself when she was posing as Imogen than she's been in years and blah-blah, it works, Harper forgives because she has feelings for Jess too.

but in terms of what Imogen did, all we get is. Harper saying "haha don't do that again next year!" and Imogen saying "haha I won't!" at the very end and that's it. just by nature of the kind of story this is their friendship isn't a focus, whatever, but I just can't!! believe!! that these two were friends for YEARS before this and Harper isn't going to be more pissed off that Imogen just. decided meeting her wasn't that important and pawned her off on a stranger lmao that sucks so bad!! you're telling me she can forgive that easily because she got a celebrity girlfriend out of it? you two mean THAT LITTLE to each other??? AAAGH

this just gets to me because it's so close to home I feel insulted by it djskfnd

[its-all-papaya]

Do over for overwinter 🥰

from here

is there anything i'd change or do differently with overwinter?

my knee-jerk reaction is to say 'NO' simply because the thought of returning to this fic to change anything stresses me out viscerally.

i thought about overwinter so hard for so long that having it out in the world where i can't overthink it or worry about it has been so freeing for me. i love the fic because of how much it's helped me grow as a writer, but the growing pains genuinely frustrated me to tears at certain points along the way. also - the process was long enough that i did go back and edit and change a lot of things already, so there's like... minimal content in it that has not been worked over and over and over.

i think that at this point, i don't have enough temporal space from overwinter yet to make this call, honestly. i'm still processing her.

so i guess to answer: no! there's not anything off the top of my head that i'd change about overwinter. she is what she is ✨

[helianthus21]

yennefer did nothing wrong ever, and if she did, that was her sexy era shut up