#i kind of went on a tangent

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Lan Wangji Goes To Lotus Pier AU: Part 4: Deranged Bedfellows

(Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.5)

[cherrytraveller]

sorry that i've deprived you all of a wip preview, anyway; deity-fies your local bad future mystic magic nuke

[batsplat]

It's a thing I already knew but all your beautiful analysis really made obvious (to me) how much of a grudge holder vale is. That man is never letting it go he's gonna hold his grudges into his grave

you know, I do think this is an interesting issue, because I'm not sure this is true of all his grudges. just sticking here with the grudges he accumulated in his capacity as a competitor, rather than just his general approach to life or whatever... how you judge this will kinda depend on how you feel about the 'reconciliation' he's experienced with some of his rivals - and whether you read the whole thing as sincere or not. now, personally I reckon he still dislikes biaggi, but also you are allowed to just dislike people so I'll give him a pass for that. some of the others, I'm a little more convinced by the whole reconciliation schtick

let's get valentino's take:

interesting that he mentions those three together, isn't it? and like, he's still not messaging biaggi or inviting him to his home - "even with max" kind of tells you all you need to know - but the other two? they said some proper nasty things to each other over the years!! I mean, the casey rivalry, there's some remarks from both sides where quite frankly I think I would struggle just a touch to get over it

I don't know, obviously this could all be pr stuff, but I kind of feel like... y'know, why bother? it's 2022, you're retired, who gives a fuck? sure it's a good look to be all magnanimous, sure it can be a bit of a way of twisting in the knife to the guys left in the cold, but also, who would care if you don't play nice? I think especially with jorge, you surely don't need to do all that, inviting him to your home and dancing with him... (which, again, some of the spats those two had...) and with the casey rivalry, if there's one guy who's still hung up about what happened between the pair of them, it's obviously casey (speaking of blokes who can hold a grudge). maybe this is giving valentino too much credit, but personally I buy it's more or less sincere. there's nothing to really indicate he's still particularly bothered by any of their past disagreements - he's basically going for the 'all's fair in love and motorcycle racing' approach. he knows he was an asshole, he accepts they were assholes too, whatever, that's how these things work. he's generally a fan of drama in rivalries, unsurprisingly, and he was happy enough to contribute his fair share - but he does see it as fundamentally being part of the game

to point out the obvious, check out who he's left out: sete and marc. that's where he can't let go of the grudges... because it's not about the offence itself as much as it is about the betrayal. this is the thing with valentino, right, it's about what kind of bond you had with him. if you weren't his friend in the first place and then piss him off as a rival then, y'know, whatever. obviously he's going to be vicious in trying to get back at you, but also he's really not going to waste his time feeling too aggrieved by it. I mean, think about how all the bullshit between him and casey dropped off sharply post-2012... from valentino's end anyway. think about how jorge and valentino pretty quickly got on again whenever they weren't fighting for supremacy within yamaha. they weren't friends in the first place, then they were enemies for competitive reasons for a while there, then it's over and valentino is basically happy enough to call it bygones

but... if it's a certain kind of bond you had with him and then you wrong him... that little mental list of all his past grievances, all your past transgressions, that's where it comes in. that's where he ices you out. denies you any emotional warmth. ensures that any interaction going forward is conducted entirely on his terms. where even any public 'reconciliation' won't truly be sincere.... or, certainly he's not going to forget what happened. if something else happens... it's like you've always got the potential of triggering this lingering resentment, in a way, where all that past stuff is still primed and ready to be called upon. he certainly doesn't just let it go

or, as he puts it in his autobiography:

Biaggi and I never talk to each other. I mean, we've never had a real conversation, anything that's lasted more than the requisite time to insult each other or put each other down, in the nastiest way possible. In any case, I don't hate him. It's true, we've never been friends, but hatred is something different, and that's too serious a word to describe our relationship. Far too serious. No, we have a reciprocal antipathy. No doubt this is a result of what we do for a living and the fact that we both want to win every single time. And perhaps it's also a function of the fact that we have very different personalities and very different ways of seeing things. Still, I don't think this means we hate each other, as some journalists have written. I think I could feel hatred for someone, but only for someone far worse than anything Biaggi has done. For example, if I were betrayed by a friend, then, yes, I could hate him. But Biaggi will never betray my friendship for the simple reason that we are not, and never have been, friends. Our relationship is very clear: we compete on the track - outside the track, each goes his own way. You could say we detest each other cordially.

... I mean. he said it, not me. and given this book was first published in '05... biaggi can't betray his friendship because they were never friends... I'm not saying he's thinking about sete, but it has to at least be a possibility, right? he's talking about one rivalry here and refusing to even mention the other... and the one he's refusing to mention is the one where he was friends with the other bloke. I don't know, maybe that's reading too much into it! and anyway, even if this passage wasn't really about sete, it's obviously still revealing. "detest each other cordially" is essentially what he was doing with casey and jorge (or from his point of view in any case, not entirely sure they'd agree with that). the grudge comes when he feels let down by you... and then, yes, he'll never let it go

of course, he's willing to set aside his grievances for a while if there's sufficient motivation for him to do so. in 2009, when he had so definitively won that rivalry with sete, why bother kicking up a fuss? in 2016, quite frankly it was just too much, and it was getting to the point where it was obviously hurting him too. on the one hand there was the media furore that had been going on non-stop since sepang, on the other hand it was also hurting his own approach to racing. there's reports from the time how visibly aggrieved he still was in the first few races of the season, and it took until they got back to europe for him to... y'know, have fun again. it's not sustainable to be walking around with a constant dark cloud over your head and broadcasting burning resentment towards your two main rivals. certainly not for someone like valentino - he needs to be having fun! the slight rapprochement needed to happen, in a way, because otherwise those years would have been even worse for everyone involved. but that doesn't actually translate to forgetting any of those grudges. this is about convenience more than anything else

goes to show, really... most of the time he doesn't take these things personally. I talked about it a bit in this post, how maybe it's also something that changed over time for him: the question of whether he was willing to develop these kinds of bonds in the first place with competitors... because he does possess a certain level of self-awareness in terms of what these kinds of rivalries are like and what they do to interpersonal relationships. ideally, you don't want to be hurt by a friend like that, right? better not to have that kind of emotional attachment with your competitors in the first place. how unfortunate it'd be if all those years after sete the circumstances aligned for him to see a competitor as something like a friend again... because, after all, those are the only people who could betray him. those are the only people where he thinks he could truly hate them

[licorishh]

I have to ask is his name actually Dr. Ratio or is it a funny nickname for him because this has alluded me and racked my brain like a tennis ball on the court so I must know before the tennis ball gets launched any harder, breaking the barrier shielding my little brain from the elements

heavy sigh

Yeah that's his name. His first name is Veritas which is Latin for "truth" and apparently when you put them together "veritas ratio" means "true reason" but I CANNOT take that seriously (and neither can the entirety of the fandom). The "Dr." is because he's a professor and has, like, eight frickin' doctorates or something.

Also in his splash art he's holding up his hand and making an L which has led to countless "L + Ratio" jokes. Look at this maniac.

He's also the first 5 limited 5 star Hoyo have given out for free, and he's available to literally everybody. That's a big win for me as he's an Imaginary-type character and I am in DESPERATE need of an Imaginary damage-dealer because currently I have none.

He's a huge jerk but I love him. I could go on for a while as to why he's an incredibly cool character but I imagine that would lead to you banging your head on a wall begging to be released cause I'd be there a while.

He's also very pretty but that's another matter

[sciderman]

Sometimes i remember a comics moment i randomly came across somewhere, where Sam Wilson mentiones a musical and Steve Rodgers says he doesn't like musicals, to whitch Sam goes "Guess that means you really are straight" and even tho i don't care about Cap America or the Avengers, the moment stuck in me for that quote by Sam. And like....Sci, any ideas if straight men actually don't like musicals or is that bullshit?

actually i think i know more gay men who hate musicals than i know straight men who hate musicals. i've had a drag queen stop me point blank when i was about to sing a barbra streisand song, and i know so many gays who pointedly hate abba. so based on my experience i think the inverse is true. most of the straight men i know are kind of impartial about musicals, but gay men? hate.

my theory is that a lot of gay men don't want to fall into stereotypes, maybe. but thaaaaat's just a theory! a gay theory.

[maidstew]

Hey do you have any thoughts on the names in tbosas, especially the Capitol students? Like how they have Ancient Greek/roman names. Do you have names you like or don’t like? I just think the way Suzanne Collins names her characters is really interesting and I was wondering your thoughts on it

oh this is such a fun question!

honestly, i LOVE the way suzanne names her characters- especially the capitol’s tendency to go for roman names. i think the capitol’s roman names vs the districts industry-related names really drives home the divide between the two.

(i wish i was one of those very smart fans who could connect the use use of roman names and culture to the capitol and come up with brilliant ideas but alas. i am not.)

and honestly, i’ve seen some people hate how on the nose some of the district names are but i actually enjoy it a lot. i love the names like hy and sol and teslee and mizzen.

my only real complaint is that i would have loved to see district 12 characters have more industry inspired names! i like katniss and peeta well-enough but as someone from appalachia, i think something more on the nose for them as well could have been interesting.

or, alternatively, it would have been interesting to see historically common last names of the area being used rather than names like ‘everdeen’ or ‘mellark’. (but that’s probably just me, and tbf i guess a name like katniss smith wouldn’t sound very good for a dystopian novel.)

sorry, i know you said tbosas and especially capitol students but somehow i keep ending up back at talking about appalachia- oopsie

anyway, what are your thoughts? do you have any names that you really liked or didn’t like?

[candyredappledragon]

Does Furret participate in Pokémon battles or are they moral support?

both actually! furret is a support pokemon! he has a moveset to help others and- ah sorry i got a "little" into competitive but you know for fun! florian inspired me to make a team that involves with pokemon i love and build it from there. though furret prefers to be my moral support. i grab him, hug him tight and i forget about my loss.

though some of my pokemon do enjoy the quiet and relaxing life so its a win-win for us! i leave some of them with my grandparents to help them around the house or do activities. i am very grateful for them!

[kirkwallguy]

i think the reason why morrigan and anders' romances work for me and solas' doesn't is like... okay, romancing the first two will probably give you an emotional investment in their "twist" and you'll probably interpret it differently. but if you DON'T romance them you're not getting a worse experience. with solas i feel like i've missed out on emotional beats for my dalish inquisitor

[scorndotexe]

quite genuinely i am in awe of smut writers. i tried it once and nearly died of embarrassment and i'm not even particularly shy about sex.

[general-cyno]

I recently saw someone on YT talking about Zoro's past and while I agree that his flashback feels rushed within the story (which I think can be explained by how early it happens) what always surprises me is how unsettling it is for people. It's a simple but sharp reality in a fantasy world, quite similar to what happens in Usopp's past and perhaps not so common for the rest of the OP world, who have pasts more rooted in the rules of that universe. Kuina died after falling down the stairs. "In OP's world there are people who survive worse things..." they say. "It's absurd. She was trained and very strong." Yeah, sure, but Kuina died like that. Suddenly. Anticlimatically. She was as full of dreams and ambitions, fears and insecurities as everyone else. But she died in an accident. She died too soon. Without a reason. With no one to blame. Simple, cruel and real.

Y'know, I've seen this around a lot. especially in posts (on r/ddit and twt in my case) where people argue about zoro having a "mid" backstory or complain about wanting oda to give him a proper one. and ngl I feel like this pairs up with OP fandom's bad habit of powerscaling everything - even loss, trauma and grief.

Sure, if you compare kuina's death to all the other ones throughout OP it might not seem as "tragic", but this is one of those instances in which context and individual experiences matter most. kuina was just a kid who, despite her strength and training, was led to believe by her own father that her gender would become the reason she'd never achieve her dreams. and when she finally finds someone who believes in her, who sees her as an equal and a goal to strive towards to, who's willing fight against and alongside her - she dies. as you mention: she dies without reason, with no one to blame. that is plenty tragic to me, regardless of all other sad or abhorrent things that happen in the story's universe.

This is just me speculating but I've also wondered if the fact that zoro's relatively well-adjusted despite the hardships and losses he's lived through is part of what makes people downplay both kuina's death and the role it plays in zoro's backstory/motivations. because the thing is - zoro may not carry or express his losses and grief as outwardly as other characters do, but look at how he reacts when the people he loves are in danger and the kind of sacrifices he's willing to make so that they'll be safe. how he's usually always keeping an eye on and watching out for all of them some way or the other. look at how he cries (which iirc he's done on page only three times) when he loses the duel against mihawk.

Zoro, similarly to other straw hats, had his parents die due to pirates or bc of an illness, grew up as an orphan, and the only friend he had died in a manner he couldn't do anything to foresee or prevent as well; the latter of which has impacted his life all the way to adulthood. kuina's memory is one that's at the forefront of what he does, just like his promise to luffy. draw the parallel between this, how fiercely protective he is and how much he hates the idea of dying in circumstances out of his control (I'd argue it even terrifies him a little, judging by his reaction to the reaper in wano) and it's easy to see how much his experiences, and especially kuina's death, have shaped him as a character. just bc he's not crying, having breakdowns or generally brooding about it every time he appears on screen doesn't make his life story less important, sad or tragic than anyone else's. plus, the stability he provides to luffy and the crew is crucial, so he needs less narrative reasons to leave them, not more. zoro not having, for example, a centric rescue arc doesn't make him less of a straw hat member either.

[i3utterflyeffect]

How old is victim in your au?

shrugs.

technically in reality i guess they'd be 17 going on 18, but stick aging works a little differently ofc (especially with the hollowheads) so i suppose they'd be older. i think it'd be maybe equivalent to late 20s mayyybe early 30s?

victim has a lot less world experience than that however; most of their knowledge of the world comes from intense research from their early years and a LOT of bluffing. they were just lucky enough to fumble into a stable position.

they basically had no help initially which only contributed to their cynical view of people, and they lost out on a lot of emotional growth during their time in the void which makes them have a poor understanding of compassion and family as well.

it's not exactly their fault; it's just kind of what happens when you're condemned to ages of being alone in the void of half-death by your creator!

sometimes though it does show in the way that they view others.

[quinloki]

I think you will be the reason that one day Marco goes on my harem list °^°

I will happily do my best to help with that \o/

And I think that's the best part of being in this fandom, honestly. At least, from my perspective - I love One Piece, I love seeing the love other people have for it, but all the different shapes and sizes that love takes is the best.

I'm going to shout out some people, may they forgive me:

@swampstew - I might have been a bit of a Kid fan when I first came across her, but she's made me a MASSIVE Kid Pirate Crew fan - from top to bottom, I have a deeper appreciation of them then I would've had on my own.

@mew-ya - I was talking about them earlier in a discord channel, but Mew single-handedly made me a Kata fan - AND was the first person to make me just *adore* an OC (Maren is so awesome!).

@yamiyamiart - Yams has made me a hug fan of the Crocodile/Sanji rarepair in ways I never expected. Her art FEEDS me. Her creativity blesses me. I am full and invigorated.

@owlight - they were the sole reason I even LOOKED in Kaku's direction and gods save us all my list grew longer. (there's a multi-chapter for Kaku sitting in my queue, it's just a matter of time honestly).

@sanjis-all-blue and @downforsanji keep putting Sanji back into my head and I have two pending fics bubbling for him. (And it's not just with Sanji that these two inspire me either ♥ )

And Honestly? @some-piece did a call for a discord server, and it was the first of its kind I'd stumbled into. I doubt they realize it, but a lot of me today is from joining that server. I had never been in a community so directly before. xD 30+ years of fine anime appreciation, writing, and drawing and I was nearly 42 before I had ever even remotely felt like I was a part of a community.

That environment helped me reach out in other places, including being more comfortable here. So, ah - Not to get too poetical or anything, but I have said before (and I will say it again) I love how we can inspire and drive each other.

Adding to blorbo lists and head canons and daydreams is just the tip of the iceberg, yeah?

[mothwingwritings]

Hello!! :D First of all I love your blog soooo much!! You have such an amazing writing style, I really enjoy reading your story's! I had a question, which characters do you think would love a SO who fights them back and is also quite strong? 💞

TY so much bb!!! All of the love for you~<3

Take this with a grain of salt because this is all just entirely my humble opinion, BUT! Here is a list I compiled of several characters who I think prefers a stronger S/O, who prefers a more docile S/O, and who doesn’t have a strong preference. :3

(Also this is in regards to physical strength of course)

Prefers a strong/fighter S/O:

Yujiro Hanma, Jack Hanma, Kaoru Hanayama, Musashi Miyamoto, Koushou Shinogi, and Kureha Shinogi.

Prefers a weaker/non-fighter S/O:

Biscuit Olivia, Motobe Izou, Gouki Shibukawa, Gerry Strydum, Kiyosumi Katou, Pickle, and Muhammad Ali Jr.

Doesn’t matter to them/both are equally as good:

Doppo Orochi, Katsumi Orochi, Jun Guevara, Retsu Kaioh, Kozue Matsumoto, Gaia, and Baki Hanma.

My main reasoning is this: Some of them favor strong/fighter types because they love the lifestyle and prefer someone with similar hobbies, they think it would be more entertaining to have someone they can spar/train with, and/or they are kind of concerned if their S/O isn’t strong that they may accidentally hurt them. Potentially very badly. ^^;

The ones that may prefer weaker or non-fighter S/O’s I think would either A. just appreciate having someone chill who is not linked to the fighting scene,  B. think it’s more interesting to have someone in their life with different life experiences/worldview/hobbies, or C. like having a S/O around that they can easily protect/show off for loool. In Pickle’s case, I feel like he mainly equates strong people to opponents, threats, or a challenging hunting exercise, so meeker person=potential mate in his eyes.

The others don’t really have a strong preference. Both come with their own charms. <3

This all being said, they love you regardless of how strong or not you may be, they’ll probs just tease you a bit for being a muscle head/weakling depending on their preference. (๑╹ڡ╹)

It would basically be the same for yanderes too, however in that case there would be a much larger thrill involved with either fighting/overpowering their darling, and those that prefer stronger darlings have a tendency to be much crueler to them. The ones who favor weaker darlings get a bigger kick out of how easily they can control them, and also tend to be more delusional about their relationships.

[spiderman616]

Hmmmm, favourite character trait of archie sonic himself, and maybe like a moment you think really defines archie sonic

honestly he has a very wide emotional range, not really similar to game sonic in that regard, u could say its just bc he has to deal with a wider range of events but even still id say archie sonic has more varied reactions to things than games sonic. he also talks/thinks to himself like a good little comic book hero which i also like but theres not much to elaborate on there. for defining moments obviously endgame and 175 are standouts, sonic going berserk is always a treat to watch unfold. his big stupid sacrifice in 125 is fun too even if its kind of obvious since thats literally when he dies. honestly a good amount of times sonic kind of gets his agency taken away from him in the big plots and i KNOW its so other characters can have their moments but the detrimental effect is that sonic himself doesnt really get much big cool moments to call his own? despite being the hero of mobius and all he doesnt really have that much in terms of uniqueness. obviously all the little moments of sonic being cool action hero add up so its not a big deal but when looking for standout moments for his character there are less than youd expect. archie wouldve done good with a semimajor arc where sonic gets isolated from his usual support squad or something similar to really flesh him out. but thats idle speculation he is still a very good and compelling character end of the day

[ljesaw]

can’t stop thinking about somebody saying that zuko is constantly going against his very nature in order to be evil and i will be crying about it forever frankly

[ichorai]

Im watching succession rn and reading hell yeah simultaneously and YOOOOO the way its my lifeline rn, like fr fr. Its so so good!! Im currently in the third season and after i finish an episode i come back to tumblr to read the part of hell yeah from the ep 😭💕 i do have to confess that i mayyy or may not have read beyond the ep im currently in BUT idc bc it was so worth it !! Kept wondering as well, while i was reading, what wouldve happened if roman chose to fire the reader instead of “breaking up”?? How do you think the reader would have reacted?? I couldnt stop thinking if that possibility bc i love angst lmfao

ANYWAY !! Thank you so much for sharing the story with us!! Its absolutely amazing and your writing is so so good <3

omg thanks so much for reading dude :( makes me so happy that you guys are enjoying the series !!

as for an au where roman fires reader, she'd definitely not take him seriously at first. maybe laugh and tell roman to stop joking around but then does a double take when she realizes he's being forreal </3 roman also tries to alleviate the guilt he feels by repeatedly saying it was logan's decision, not his (don't blame the messenger and whatnot) but reader would be v hurt nonetheless. he'd start spouting out bs like, "i'm doing you a fucking favor, it's for the best, i'm putting the company's interests first, etc." from then, reader would grow furious and tells roman that if he fires her then whatever it was that they had between them would be over. roman, being roman, tells her they never stood a chance in the first place (he doesn't actually believe this, he's just swept up in the argument).

everyone's surprised / shocked when they hear she's been sacked, as she's so close to the family without acc being on the board and also has such a vital role keeping the company afloat. waystar itself would have a terrible adjusting period bcs they really underestimated just how much reader did for them (esp the small things that accumulated in her absence).

she leaves the company upset and bitter at first, but eventually realizes that she can finally live her own life and do what she wants to do without the constraints of the company / the roy family / her own absent parents. reporters are still constantly swarming her, asking her what happened, why she got fired, if she has any plans on going back, etc.

as for her relationship with roman, i can see them reconciliating eventually after a month or two because roman misses her like air and he fucking hates being in his dog cage the company without her there. would spam text her a million times one random day until she finally responds and would demand that she come to a fancy restaurant (he'll pay ofc, he's assumed she's gone totally broke now that she's not working w him), and they meet again and things just fall into place with the two of them :( reader is still pretty angry and hasn't forgiven roman yet, but she's missed him a lot too and couldn't ever permanently estrange herself from roman. as for the other siblings, reader wouldn't really keep in contact with shiv and kendall without roman in the equation, but she still gets check-up texts from connor, which she would briefly but fondly respond to </3

in this au, reader & roman wouldn't romantically get together probably until after the events of season four. they're terribly tragic soulmates in every universe i'm afraid !!