#i need to be able to exist without being a flaw

[faeparrish]

this is going to be adam’s arc in dreamer trilogy

[vaultureculture]

I could talk extensively about how I think Vere represents hedonism, whereas Mhin symbolizes self-repression, and that's why they're both enemies and foils. And I will. 

Hedonism. In broad terms (and without getting into distinctions between axiological and ethical hedonism), it could be defined as the theory that describes the pursuit of pleasure and satisfaction of desires as the end goal of life. 

Good music, fine clothing, quality champagne, drawing, sex. Vere gives himself to everything natural to the soul without restraint. One may even argue that his predilection for suffering (and I quote, it is precisely suffering that makes MC's soul "so irresistible" to him) may too be related to this. What is wallowing in sorrow but yet another excess of the heart? 

Vere is an ancient, supernatural being that seemingly exists purely through self-indulgence and physical demands. Hunger is a relevant theme to his character; he embodies both the primordial need for sustenance AND the fear of being preyed upon, a terror most animals —humans included— share. He craves what is authentic,��and, despite his continuous teasing and lying, he is undoubtedly the most honest character so far in letting us know what he is and does. Vere is natural, raw, and, for now, unashamed. 

Now Mhin, to me, they embody the concept of resistance. We've seen how their fatal flaw states they will try to resist change at any cost. They're a newcomer plagued by a curse they do not want, a monster that lives within them and they resent. If you look closely at their "monster forms" in the trailer, you may be able to appreciate that Mhin's (along with Kuras'...chest...face thing) is the only one that seems to be crying. 

There seems to be a clear divide between Mhin's human consciousness and the monstrous bird form that takes over them. This gap is insurmountable enough for them to feel as though their transformation involves a breach of emotional consent: they resist this metamorphosis, yet it happens violently regardless of their desires. This makes them repulsed by anything that side of them represents, sickened by what is inherent to them. 

If we consider Mhin's constant rejection of natural desires in opposition to Vere's embracing of them, it is easy to understand why they don't get along. They are what the other despises the most, and have a disposition towards life so antinatural to each other that any chances of meeting in the middle are immediately discarded. 

This just makes me want to see more of them interacting together, though. 

That is all. 

[aphroditelovesu]

Can you write for yandere Criston Cole and yandere Harwin Strong ?

❝🐉 lady l: of course, anon! I'm really in love with these two characters and since it wasn't specified, I decided to make a short and quick hc of them as a romantic!yandere, I hope it's ok! If you want to request something else, feel free!! Sorry for any mistakes I missed :)

❝tw: obsessive and possessive behavior, jealousy, mention of murder, a little of fluffly too 'cause i want to.

Ser Criston Cole

Criston Cole is the very definition of the word loyal, like a loyal dog that will follow you around like a loving and well-mannered puppy. He is very loving towards his darling, he wants to make you feel like the most sublime being that ever existed. Because to him, you are that and much more and he will make you love every part of yourself, even the ones you don't like.

He is a natural stalker, wherever you are he will be there. It's a little scary honestly how much this man knows about you, even the things you don't remember from your own childhood Criston somehow knows. There's nothing about you he doesn't know, Cole can find out all of your secrets and he might get upset if you try to keep something from him.

You are soulmates, right? There's no reason for you to try to hide anything from him. There are no secrets between you, you never need to feel embarrassed in front of him, he is a very understanding lover and will try to help you in any way he can. Just say their name and they won't bother you anymore. Do you need comfort in the middle of the night? Criston will be holding you in his arms and trying to comfort you. Weird cravings? He will fulfill them. Anything you ask is yours. Just ask and Criston will get it for you.

One of his favorite couple activities is the simplest of all: you lying naked on top of him while you talk about something. It may sound strange, but Criston loves the feel of your bare chest against his. He likes it because you are vulnerable and on trusting him and completely oblivious to the dark truth about your lover, you don't know what's going on in his head and he's grateful for that. Criston doesn't want you to be afraid of him, in fact that is his biggest fear. He must love and protect you at all times, you need never fear him.

You never have to be afraid of him, Criston would rather kill himself than allow himself to harm you. He would never, under any circumstances, be able to lift a finger to hurt you. Hurting you would be the same as hurting himself, you are everything to him, his life, the reason for his entire existence and he can't live without you anymore. If anything were to happen to you, Criston will be even more ruthless and violent, than he already is, in getting his revenge, and after getting it, he would kill himself. Not even death can separate you.

He is very jealous, getting to be possessive many times and he doesn't even feel guilty about it. And why should he? You belong to each other, he should not hesitate to defend your love. He will be violent and not discreet at all, showing jealousy of you and it is very possible that it will end in someone's death. He just wants you all to himself. Is that too much to ask? Criston wants so badly to be the only one to be able to look at you, see your beautiful smile and be gifted with your presence. You have no idea how much he wants to steal you.

There are many flaws in him that make him a complicated person to deal with, but if there's one thing that makes him literally docile and controlled, it's you. He will get into fights and kill many, but if you ask him not to, Criston will be on his knees in a matter of seconds, asking your forgiveness for going too far. Please don't hate him, he just can't control his yandere impulses for you. Every bit of common sense he has left is thrown to the side when you are in danger or are being harassed by someone and he is lost in his withering rage. But you need to know one thing about him, Criston will never hurt or harm you. He will only be happy if you are happy and, as his loyal knight, Criston Cole will make sure you are happy with him.

''You and I belong together. We were always meant to be together and we will be together forever and ever. You have no choice.''

Ser Harwin Strong

Harwin Strong is a perfect lover, he is everything you dream of in a loving relationship. He has his soft side that is only shown to you, he is so gentle when he touches you and loves to shower you with kisses and caresses all over your body. He worships you, idolizes you like a goddess/god and he is your most faithful follower, everything about you must be worshipped, from the ground you walk on to the roots of your hair. You are so perfect for him.

He is overprotective of you and your relationship, no one else is allowed in and he will get quite irritated if anyone tries to ''warn you about him''. As if Harwin could hurt you, you know you can trust him blindly, he would never do anything to harm or hurt you, he'd rather die than do something like this to you. Nothing and no one can hurt you as long as he's by your side. He promises you that.

There is nothing in this world that can hurt you and get away with it. Harwin isn't known as Breakbones for no reason, although he may be all love and affection towards you, he still has a murderous and dangerous side on him that kicks in when you're involved. All threats to your life will be quickly dealt with, he wants you to be able to sleep well at night without you feeling scared, and even if you still do, don't worry, Harwin will be there to comfort you. He will always be by your side, hugging you tightly, stroking your hair gently and drying any tears that come up. He will never leave you alone.

He absolutely loves holding you in his arms like you're a helpless princess, it's so adorable to see you curled up against his chest. Any chance to hug you that comes on his way he will take the chance. Some might consider it silly, but having you in his strong arms calms him down, you can calm his nerves and make him so vulnerable, his guard down as he allows himself to be wrapped up in the embrace, and he knows you will be safe while you're with him. If you and him are both naked that's even better, but in this case, it won't just end in a hug.

You can trust him with anything, literally anything, there are no limits to Harwin's obsession with you. Ask him anything, please ask, and he will be more than happy to comply with your wishes and demands. Strong wants to be your confidant, the only person you can trust, and he is your confidant, best friend and lover. He would gladly sacrifice himself for you, nothing matters more than your genuine happiness and although it will hurt him if the only way you can be happy is without him by your side then he will have to accept it. Even if it destroys him from the inside, you continuing to smile is the only thing he hopes and wants. He will still take care of you and protect you from a distance, so please keep smiling at him.

Harwin is jealous and possessive, many times when he gets jealous he becomes violent, but not with you, but with whoever made him jealous. He won't regret beating someone to death, they deserved it, but he will feel bad if you're upset that he killed someone, in which case Strong will apologize and try to make amends with you. He won't feel any kind of guilt, but he will be upset and even irritated if you fight him over an asshole which just makes him sure they deserved the death they got. Harwin gets jealous so easily it's ridiculous but he can't help it, he hates seeing someone too close to you. Why do others not understand that you are his? Can't you see he's furious about these interactions? Well, maybe he has to be tougher on marking you as his.

It can be quite complicated and even problematic to get involved with someone like Harwin Strong because of his violent and jealous nature, but his strengths are greater than his faults. His fierce loyalty to you and the way he cares for and protects the ones he loves, you. He would never cheat on you or purposefully hurt you, he is wholly yours and always has been, everything about him belongs to just you and no one else. He tries to control himself with his murderous impulses and he succeeds most of the time, but if he's provoked he won't have any control because that's just the way he is. Strong wants to be the best for you and he is always trying to impress you in every way and all he wants in return is your love. Harwin Strong will love you in the most intense and dangerous way, but it's a sincere and deep love that can never be erased.

''I just want to see you happy, make you happy. I want to be the best for you. I want to love you until the day I die. I swear never to hurt you.''

[barbatoss-teabag-leaves]

Obey Me elder brothers as romantic tropes

Obey me x gn!reader NOT PROOFREAD

Total words combined: 1878

I kind of went all out on Levi’s but I’m extremely excited to share this piece.

Lucifer [521] -enemies to lovers

You have been getting on Lucifer's nerves since the day you arrived at the Devildom. At first the idea of a human living in his space got on his nerves, but as be grew to know you his stubborn mind did everything to persuade himself to always despise you. You were on the list of things that he saw as the bane of his existence. He would try to avoid you, when he interacted with you he treated you like shit. Eventually you had evidently had enough when you started guarding your heart around him much harder than around anyone else and giving much shorter, vague answers to any of his questions over time. If he asked “where are you going?” you would say, “out.” You too did limit your interactions between the two of you by only talking to him when needed and clenching your teeth to keep you from screaming whenever he discarded your presence. To you he was a rude old man with his panties in a twist. You feared him at first which was only natural, slowly that fear morphed into irritation. Still, you were kind. You were always kind. Whenever you noticed him being more exhausted than usual you would do small gestures without letting him know it’s from you. He put it together after the first few times and suddenly you were on his mind more than he’d ever want to admit. You noticed that his eyes looked so desperate for sleep and the build up of sorrow from the centuries hidden beneath his mask. The most recent time you did something for him was when you looked at him and his deep red eyes were begging for help. You placed a cup of tea on his office desk on the way to your awaiting bed while he was in the common room to discuss a matter regarding a planner dinner for the nobles of RAD with Asmo. He had conflicting emotions to see the cup but he knew you did it. He always knew it was you. His first reaction would always be to question if you had an ulterior motive but you did it wordlessly, never acknowledging the gestures. Once he was finished with his work for the night he sighed and went to your room to ask you the meaning of the tea as he’s been wondering for months. You were soundly asleep as it was somewhere around 01:30 am. He peaked his head into your room to discover that you’ve fallen asleep with your head on top of your potions handbook. He doesn’t know why he did it almost naturally but he carefully lifted you from your chair and gently laid you down on your bed. You’ve stirred him in a new way. His feelings of annoyance slowly developing into a foreign emotion he was scared to discover. You weren’t fond of him and he knew that. So why? Why were you so kind a o him? He didn’t deserve it from you and he knew that. He had to make things right with you. Lucifer set the goal for himself to slowly morph your feelings of annoyance into something much sweeter, too.

Mammon [501]

-soulmates.

You and Mammon have been attached at the hip since shortly after you arrived at the Devildom. Wherever you were he would be found and vice versa. Sure, he feigned annoyance to hide his feelings but you knew. He knew. Everyone knew. The two of you are made for each other- two puzzle pieces slotting perfectly into one another. Everything was always so easy with him, it was easy to fall in love with Mammon. Your late night conversations were easy. Confiding in each other was easy. Making the most out of horrendous situations was easy. Heck, even getting in trouble together was easy. The two of you had flaws- as everyone does. Some may say loving someone is being able to look past the flaws, but what made the two of you so strong is that you acknowledged the other’s flaws and loved each other unconditionally. You chose to love his flaws and he chose to love yours. The choice happened subconsciously, it was as easy and as natural as breathing. He would defend you and protect you till he had no breath left in his lungs and you would protect his heart even if yours was ripped out in the process. The protectiveness you had over him had been proven when he needed you most. As a few witches were berating him and trying to catch up to him- wanting to take him away in order to cover his debt. You spoke without even thinking as though it was your heart speaking and your mouth only being an instrument. “You have no right to take him. He belongs to me and I belong to him. He’s my first demon, my first love and my boyfriend and I will not allow you to any harm to him. Do I make myself clear? You better run along before I get Lord Diavolo involved.” The witches scattered leaving you with a speechless Mammon. As was sat on the ground, you crouched down holding his face in his hand. “Are you alright Mams?” His expression was difficult to read, but his eyes told the truth. He loved you more than he ever thought was possible for a demon to. His hands were shaky as they reached to wrap around your waist, “I really thought I did it this time.” You pressed your forehead to his, your thumbs rubbing over his cheekbones. “I’ll always do everything in my power to protect you.” “I’m the one who’s supposed to be protecting ya.” He moved to hide his face in the crook of your neck and you carded your fingers through his hair. “We’ll protect each other, how about that?” He exhales a breathy chuckle against your shoulder, “What did I ever do to deserve you?” “Let’s go home, Mammon.” “I am home. Home is wherever ya are.” You are the cure Mammon’s been waiting for over the centuries, the salve on his wounded heart. He dare say, his saving grace deep he found deep inside hell.

Leviathan [856]

-Fake relationship/friends to lovers

Levi is your best friend. You can rely on him for anything and everything, he would get you the moon if you asked him to. That’s why you immediately turned to him for help. There’s a demon in one of your classes who has been bothering for quite some time now and he won’t listen to you when you say that you just aren’t interested. That’s why when you were walking with Levi you opened up to him and ask for an idea on how to get him to leave you alone. Levi felt anger built towards the asshole who was making you feel uncomfortable and blurted out, “Well if I was your boyfriend he would leave you alone! I would make damn sure of it.” You gasped before he could save himself, “Levi that’s brilliant! You can pretend to be my boyfriend to scare him off.” Red overtook his face, neck and ears while he processed what you just said his brain highlighted the words ‘you’ and ‘my boyfriend’ and he only responded after a minute. “Of course that’s what I meant!” As the weeks went by Levi stayed by your side everywhere you went. Even behind the walls of the HOL Levi would accompany you, he would lean against the door frame with his hands in his pockets while you were making tea in the kitchen, he would go do his homework in your room instead of yours. “Well we have to be convincing, which means we’ve got to do c-couply things. We’ve got to practice otherwise we’ll look like normies.” Was always his excuse, with a red face and shaky hands he would reach out to hold onto yours. Levi was falling even harder for you, the dream he’s created of being with you was just being fuelled even if it wasn’t officially real. When the demon who has been bothering you walked past you Levi’s protectiveness kicked in and he almost naturally pulled you into him and gave you a passionate kiss. The demon eventually got the message as you melted into Levi, your arms wrapping around his neck, deepening the kiss. Nothing about that kiss felt pretend, it felt real, the warmth of his cracked lips, the graze of his nose against yours, the smoothness of his fingers grasping your cheek. The explosion of adoration that bloomed in your stomach that led you to smile felt especially real. You pulled away to breathe and he hid his face inside the crook of your neck, “that normie won’t mess with you anymore.” You worried. Levi worried. You both worried. What would be the point of acting as a couple if the original reason was no more? You walked home in a tension filled silence that day. Little did you know that his heart longed to protect yours, his soul longed to become one with yours. He longed to be yours. The two of you both retreated to your own separate rooms with few words that night. You laid restlessly in your bed, continuously tossing and turning. Levi played with half attention into the wee hours of the night. You just could not take it anymore, you had to talk to him. You sat up in your bed with your legs thrown over the side, your head in your hands as you slipped your slippers on your feet. How you were going to address is you weren’t sure, but knowing your best friend you were certain you were going to have to be the one to speak up. You trudged down the hall and knocked on his door when you saw the colours of his computer shine through beneath the door, with a small voice you spoke up “Levi? It’s MC, I know you’re awake so please open the door.” You heard some shuffling and soon saw a wide eyed Levi. He stepped aside and gestured for you to come in with a closed lip smile, hes still still your best friend. He sat cross legged on the block next to his bathtub bed and he pulled his gaming chair closer to be able to face you. “So about that kiss-” he whined and ran his fingers through his hair, “I’m so sorry MC, that was too intense for a fake relationship- you probably regret choosing a yucky otaku like me to be your fake boyfriend.” You wore a soft expression “Maybe I do regret it.” “I knew it.” He said while looking down,

“I regret only having you as a fake boyfriend when I should have asked you to be my real boyfriend from the start. The titles may have been fake, but everything you made me feel was real. It still is real. Please look at me and tell me you feel the same because I know you do. Nothing about that kiss was pretend and we both know it.” To say he was shocked would be an understatement. “MC does that mean you’re asking me to b-be your real boyfriend?” You nodded and he looked at you as though you created the universe. Your best friend is now your lover, too.

[delfiore]

—DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT. (2/3)

pairing: natasha romanoff x android!reader

synopsis: a face-to-face with caesar confirms what you are already too afraid to admit, as your days as the mole are numbered.

word count: 2.1k

PART I, PART III

Caesar’s new command kept you on edge, you barely had time to do anything else. It was in your program to obey the instructions you were given, so even if you didn’t want to, your brain—CPU—was calculating the best possible way to kill Natasha. You thought about poisoning her, stabbing her in her sleep, pushing her off a ledge to make it look like an accident. The thought of killing Nat was horrifying, but it was even more horrifying to know that you were perfectly capable of doing it, or that you would not be able to stop yourself once the command has been entered.

You wiped the tears that had been running freely down your cheeks. Looking in the mirror, you saw no flaw, no imperfection, just a hollow shell of your face model staring back at you. You wondered whether whomever your face was modeled after lived a normal life, if they knew of your existence, or were they just trying to get home after a long week of work.

“Baby?”

“Huh?”

“Ibuprofen,” Nat called from the bedroom, “could you grab it from the cabinet, please?”

The last mission she went on left her with a dislocated shoulder. It had since been reset, but she needed painkillers to help with the ache.

“Uh, yeah,” you sniffled and grabbed what she needed. When you returned to the bedroom, she was already looking at you with furrowed eyebrows.

She was silent when you handed her the pill bottle, and when you climbed into bed wordlessly.

“Y/N, I didn’t wanna say anything because I wanted you to feel ready to talk to me about whatever it is, but I’m worried, my love.”

You let out a slow breath, and mustered up the best smile you were able to.

“I’m okay. It’s just, work has been a bit stressful.”

“Really? Has Tony been overworking you? I can tell him to—“

“No, no, Nat, please,” you exhaled sharply, “just let it go. Please.”

A beat of silence passed and you thought she might have decided to drop it when she said. “You’re hurting, and I don’t know how to help you. It hurts me to see you like this.”

You felt the guilt gnawing at the back of your throat, threatening to spill out of your mouth. It was a surprising thing to learn that you could feel guilt (you have been feeling it a lot lately). Caesar must have installed it to make you second-guess disobeying him; another failsafe in case you desert.

“I don’t know if I’m deserving of all this, Nat.”

“What do you mean?”

“This, being Tony’s assistant, this life here, you.” You cried quietly. “I don’t know i-if I deserve all this.”

“Of course you do,” Natasha cooed. She probably thought you were going insane.

Natasha was never one for words, and the repeated opening and closing of her mouth was enough to tell you that she didn’t know what to say. She brought you into her arms, and let you cry quietly against her chest.

You never let her see you cry. There was an unspoken shame that you felt whenever you felt the tears coming, like you didn’t deserve to cry, like it was a privilege reserved only for those with real emotions. But if what you were feeling then, that warm sensation spread across your chest, the safeness of being enveloped in Nat’s embrace as she whispered repeated I love you’s in your ears, if that wasn’t real, nothing else on Earth was. Everything would cease to exist, and life would have no meaning.

Maybe that way you would finally deserve her.

You would learn later that Caesar had managed to get on the Avengers’ radar. It wasn’t hard to tell why; VULCAN is one of the only organizations in the world that manufactured artificial intelligence smart enough to blend into society without compromise.

“Jeez,” Clint laughed, “wonder how many of those are walking around Time Square right now.”

“If I had to guess, it'd be a lot." Tony opened a computer screen. "Which is why I've installed scanners in our metal detectors, looking for abnormally high levels of iron in a body. Could be an indication of synthetic blood. Everyone coming into the Compound will be scanned.”

“People with heart diseases and diabetes could also have high levels of iron,” Vision chimed in.

“Sounds like our accuracy could be off,” Sam noted.

“We don’t know what we’re dealing with yet, or how human-like these things are. This is our best bet right now,” Tony shook his head.

“One thing for sure, though,” Nat said, “we have to find who’s behind this. And when we do, we have to shut those androids down to prevent a national security risk.”

You weren’t in the room when the conversation happened, but you were able to hack into F.R.I.D.A.Y’s memory drive to access the recording of the meeting anyway. You needed to know what they said, even when hearing what Nat suggested broke your heart.

It is believed that the sense of smell is closely tied to memory. It is because the olfactory bulb is directly connected to the hippocampus, the section of the limbic system that processes and stores memory. You remembered the smell of the Factory as soon as you set foot in it. It was your first ever memory since before you opened your eyes; it was a sterilized, and clean smell, too much as if to hide another smell. But once you got to Caesar’s office, though, it was replaced by a softer smell of wood, and lavender.

“FD700-16.” He smiled and beckoned you over to embrace you.

“Hello, Caesar.” You let him wrap his arms around you. “I do believe this is the first time we’ve met.”

Caesar was a man of tall stature, even for his age. Lines like rivers adorned his face, and he sported a mid-length head of grey hair. There was a glint in his blue eyes that you couldn't quite decipher; at first glance, he looked like a gentle older man. You tried to scan your database for his identity, because there was no way his real name was Caesar, but your records were blank.

“But oh, is it? I’ve always been here, even before you were born.” Caesar smiled, a wicked grin. “I’ve always been there, watching over you. You were always meant for greatness, there’s no denying that.”

You swallowed a lump in your throat. “About my new objective—“

“Ah, come, we’ll talk about that later. Come, sit. You are the best model I have created so far.”

“I’ve learned a lot, sire.” You said with a small smile. “Your program has allowed me to learn things, experience emotions. I feel . . . almost human.”

“What have you learned of the files, 16?” You could tell he was growing impatient. “The one you were tasked with retrieving?”

You blinked a few times, surprised he had brushed off your comments so easily. “I’m working on it, sire.”

Caesar let out a low sigh. “Do you know why I started VULCAN? At this point, I had worked for the CIA for years. Espionage was what I excelled at, but I’ve seen how emotion clouded many of my colleague’s judgments. But I couldn’t blame them; our intellect is humanity’s greatest gift, but also our biggest downfall. And in my line of work, it could get you killed, or worse, jeopardize the mission.

I know what you’re thinking, 16. How could jeopardizing a mission be worse than dying? When you believe in something, really believe in something, it becomes bigger than you. It affects everyone involved in it, it’s not just you anymore. That is how humans have become the apex predator; we work as one.”

You took a moment to digest everything Caesar told you. It wasn’t how you saw it, but surprisingly it made sense. “So you founded VULCAN to . . . eliminate human error?”

“Now you’re getting it,” he smiled, but it looked more like a grin, him baring his teeth. “The Red Room had the same idea, but slightly flawed as it relied on human assassins. I want to take that formula and modify it, make it perfect.”

“Perfect,” you mumbled, looking up at him. “Is that what you intended for me?”

Caesar leaned back against his chair. “Perfection is never what we are, 16, but who we have the potential to be.”

You had been in the lab for hours by the time you decided to check the time. You had been working on the same model for a few days, just like Tony wanted you to; a new algorithm to deploy his rockets faster, one that he can do so manually should F.R.I.D.A.Y. had been disconnected from taking damage—a failsafe of a sort. Instead of him having to push a button or speak a command, it would run the program using the synapses in his brain as the command.

You thought you’d do your job properly, as you wouldn’t have a job tomorrow if tonight goes accordingly.

It felt easy listening to Caesar, to heed his command. It went against your program to pretend to live in this fantasy you had with Natasha, that would never come to be anyway.

Happy endings are for humans, not androids.

Caesar was right, and he was all along. He was your maker after all.

Natasha came by to pick you up. You were supposed to go to the rooftop for a picnic with her. After that you’d go back to her room and watch a movie before calling it night, except there would be no movie because by the time you leave the rooftop, Natasha would have been dead.

You had opted for an odorless and tasteless poison that would put her to sleep first so that she wouldn’t feel anything; it would simply cause her heart to go into arrhythmia and stop beating.

Nat brought you flowers when she came into the lab.

New York at night was no less beautiful than a meadow at night; the light of the city resembled a field of fireflies in the dark of the sky. Natasha made sandwiches to share between you, you prepared some strawberries, grapes, and cheese, much easier to slip the poison into—fluid mixing with the juices of the fruit.

You brought a small lantern to light up the space where you would set up your date; it seemed almost beautiful and peaceful.

She gave you a kiss as soon as she sat down. “I love this, babe.”

You flashed a smile back. “Only the best for my best girl.”

There was a hint of a blush on her rosy cheeks. Please don’t eat the strawberries.

“Yelena says she’ll be in town next week, says she misses you. Almost like she only came to visit you.” Nat smiled with a roll of her eyes. “She mentioned something about wanting to go to an art museum. Maybe you guys should go to the Met together.”

“I’d like that,” you said, watching the way she put her chin on her fold knee. “How long is she staying?”

“A week, but she always overstays her welcome anyway.”

“Nat?”

“Hm?”

“Don’t eat the strawberries.”

“Hm? Why?”

“Cause they’re kinda going bad,” you grimaced. “I’m sorry, I was in the lab all day. Forgot to go pick up fresh ones.”

“Really? We bought these like two days ago.”

“Well, they are from Trader Joe’s.”

Your skin jumped when she picked up the fruit, bringing it up to smell it, before taking a small nibble from it.

“You didn’t think it’d be that easy, would you?”

“What?” You blinked.

She spat out the piece she had in her mouth, and set the strawberry down.

“How did you know?” You sighed.

“When you stopped using the main entrance to the Compound, and only used the entrance from the living quarters.” Natasha clenched her jaw. “I should have guessed sooner, but I guess I was too afraid to admit it.”

The loud bang of the door blowing off its hinges left you completely on edge. FBI agents shouting with their guns pointed at you, and soon enough you were entirely surrounded.

Your eyes filled with tears as you looked back at Nat, seeing her without emotion. But you knew her; she was trying really hard.

“I’m sorry, for everything,” you said before deploying a smoke bomb and jumping off the building to your escape.

Natasha sat, slumped on the picnic cloth still with food and her affection spread out. “I know,” she whispered, hoping the night’s wind would carry her words to you.

PART I, PART III

[howtofightwrite]

In real sword fight, kicking the sword to the enemies is just plain impossible right?

No, it's completely possible, it's just a terrible idea.

So, there's a practical stunt, where one performer picks up their opponent's discarded weapon and tosses it to them with their foot. That is completely doable. It's a popular, and fairly easy, stunt to perform. The actual motions could easily be executed during a fight by a skilled duelist, though, you wouldn't want to do that.

You also probably wouldn't want to throw a sword to an ally mid-fight, since there is a risk of them missing the incoming weapon, and being hit by a flying sword, or catching it poorly and injuring themselves. Cuts to the hand and fingers are really nasty in a fight, and something you'd want to avoid if at all possible, but if it's a choice between a risked injury, or death, you might decide to take the risk.

Passing a weapon to someone who is actively trying to kill you is not an appealing option for, what I hope are, obvious reasons. In case they're not: Your foe is trying to kill you. You just gave them a weapon that will help them kill you. This is a bad thing. Things were better when you had all weapons and they had none. Don't kick their sword to them, pick it up and kill them with it. You're both there for the same reason; just get it over with; kill them before someone gets seriously hurt.

This is a fairly common element in duels where the hero returns their enemy's weapon to them after they've been disarmed. It's supposed to illustrate how noble and principled they are, however, in a serious fight (which these almost always are), it's a show of dangerous naivete. If you've ever read something to the effect of, “why is good so dumb!?” this is an excellent example of the behavior which provokes that question.

In a formal dueling environment, or during training, this kind of maneuver starts to become less self-destructive. If this is, “a proper duel,” and killing an unarmed foe would be grossly inappropriate (and criminal), then yes, kicking their sword to them becomes a reasonable middle ground between handing them the weapon and resorting to murder. Especially because the risk of hand injuries turns into a boon rather than flaw. (Actually, flipping the script a little and having the villain return the hero's sword this way, specifically with the intent of letting them catch the blade, is a dick move with reasonable deniability.) Of course, in a proper duel it would probably be better form to hand the fallen weapon to the seconds, let them shuffle it between them, and return it to the other duelist by hand.

In a training environment, particularly with non-sharpened blades, a teacher could easily kick the weapon back to their student to maintain tempo. It's a little unusual, but not that out there, and learning to safely catch a blade without suffering injury isn't the worst trick to have up your sleeve. You'll probably never need it, but there's no downside to being able to catch a thrown weapon by reflex.

It should also go without saying that simply kicking it across the floor is another option. In my experience, kicked weapons don't tend to travel quite as far as you think they would. Obviously, if you practice kicking weapons around, this isn't going to be a problem, but why would you practice that?

This whole scenario tends to be a bit contrived, one of the participants in a duel is disarmed, by some means. This exists to extend the sequence and, in theory, let the characters express themselves a bit, but that expression suffers from this being a fairly rote sequence, rather than behavior that is unique to that character.

So, can it be done? Yeah, it's absolutely doable, however, in serious combat, it is a really bad idea.

-Starke

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[ouroborosorder]

okay fuck it i posted about hypothetical arknights fighting game and immediately got massive brainworms about it so without further ado:

My Pitch For An Arknights Fighting Game Roster

Amiya - Obligatory standard Shoto with her sword and Arts. She has relatively mediocre projectiles, but her metered projectiles are extremely strong to reflect that her Arts take a lot out of her to use. Honest, but with a lot of mastery required to truly excel. 

Ch’en - Rushdown Shoto with some close-range projectiles with Chi Xiao - Unsheathe and maybe the inkbrush Arts she uses in her skin because let’s face it, they’ll never give her the water cannon. The Sol to Amiya's Ky, the Ken to her Ryu.

Kal’tsit - Puppet character with Mon3tr. Her close range buttons are competent, but flawed, but they’re just enough to give her absurd combo synergy with Mon3tr. Can trade her own meter to heal Mon3tr’s Obligatory Pet Balance Meter.

Talulah - Midrange projectile-focused character who uses powerful multihit projectiles to confirm into brutal melee combos. Can enter an Install state where she does self-damage as she catches on fire, but hits like a goddamned truck. She stays back, destroying you from afar, then closing in to make you regret being born when she has to.

Frostnova - Full on zoner, keep the opponent away, dominate the stage, and freeze them in place before they can ever think of approaching you. Has a kit made of long-ranged, disjointed full-screen normals like Hilda (UNIST), but in exchange, they’re all highly situational with massive blindspots, forcing you to play smart, predict your opponent, or they’ll close in and overpower you.

Patriot - Bigbody Grappler. Hits like a truck, but advances slowly. Changes the entire pace of the match simply by existing, and feels like an unstoppable force who you are never safe from until you’re sure he’s dead.

Skadi - Midrange melee-focused character. Simple and honest, she doesn’t need a lot of frills to absolutely kick your ass. Has very little mechanics, but is nonetheless intimidating partially because of that. Has an Install providing herself with a buff that looks like the Corrupting Heart buffs. Honestly only here because she consistently tops popularity charts by a huge margin.

Texas the Omertosa - Extremely fast rushdown, Chipp Zanuff-style. Is able to extend combos that would otherwise drop with her Sword Rain that works similar to Seth (UNIST)’s Orbs. Either she ends the fight before you have a chance to even start it, or she dies quickly as a result.

Nearl the Radiant Knight - Mixup heavy aggressive character, pushes against the opponent with unrelenting force until they break, feeling like an unstoppable force that rushes in, full speed ahead. Has tools to punish basically any sort of behavior, but all her options are extremely reactable. But when you’re up against someone who is capable of so much, it may not matter that much. I-No (Strive) and what little I remember of Roa (MBTL) is a bit of a touchstone here.

Ling - Trap-heavy setplay character with powerful full-screen combo potential. Extremely powerful, but has to get her summons set up first, and if she is able to get the opponent playing her game, she is almost unstoppable with her summons’ projectiles and powerful combo-extending sword swings.

The Endspeaker - A technical, setplay and stage-control heavy midrange zoner. Can spread Nethersea Brand by summoning Sea Terror minion that, when killed, drops a patch of Brand. You can then fire projectiles that leave Shells on the Brand. You can dive into the Brand to pop out of the ground with a bite, consuming the shell to grow stronger. After consuming two shells, you cap out, and your teleport changes to a low that teleports you to your opponent, acting as a starter to do brutal melee combos on counterhit. Focuses on feeling like they control the very environment, like an unstoppable force of nature that only grows stronger as you desperately try to stop it. Yes, this is only here because I had a strong-ass pitch for it.

Emperor feat. Penguin Logistics - Joke character, kinda. Emperor’s kit involves summoning the other PL members for his specials, which are all really solid to cover for the fact that his normals are shit on account of his stubby little penguin body. Exusiai focuses on ranged attacks, allowing some sort of zoning in specific directions. Croissant gives approach tools by shielding him as he walks or by golfing him with a hammer. Texas gives combo extenders with Sword rain or with long flurries of blows that keep the opponent locked there for a short time. Sora is entirely in your taunts because she's not much of a fighter like the others.

But what would a fighting game be without DLC that's planned from launch?

DLC Lineup 1

Gavial the Invincible - A relatively mobile grappler, focusing on long combos and hitgrabs similar to Bullet (Blazblue), Beowulf (Skullgirls) or Grappler (DNF Duel). Has the ability to heal herself with a special that requires her to stand still, encouraging an opponent to approach her when they otherwise would play defensive, because Gavial is the kind of person who you have to face head-on, she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Specter the Unchained - Stance change, switching between Laurentina and Specter. Laurentina is a shield pressure monster, a mixup-heavy character with strong multihit overheads and lows like Bedman? (Strive) or Anji (Strive) (but good). Meanwhile Specter is a defensive neutral-heavy character with strong space control with her Arts, with high meter gain on her moves that Laurentina can easily capitalize on. Plays with the opponent like she is dancing, forcing them to keep up with her rhythm, confusing them with steps they can never understand, then asserting her own tempo if they try to take it back.

Mlynar - A highly defensive character who completely relies on counterhits for combo starters. But those combos, hoooly shit. Has parries and counters to play defensive, read the opponent’s options, and then strike when he is sure he can land a blow. He only draws his sword when he’s sure it will land.

Chongyue - A technical, rekka and cancel-focused close-range fighter similar to Jam (Xrd) and Enkidu (UNIST). Has a hard time getting in, but has massive reward when he does. Has the ability to use mid-range sandstorm-based strikes and Orbs like Aoko (MBTL), but has to focus to gain charges on his sandstorm specials like Jam (Xrd). Takes mastery, but when you learn his complicated kit, he’s an unstoppable force. Takes off his jacket in round 5, and yes, this is important.

Redblade - Install-focused character. Gains new Contracts as the match progresses similar to Susanoo (Blazblue), growing stronger with each Contract, until he gains 8 stacks, where he becomes the strongest character in the game. Maybe he straight up hijacks the music to play Operation Basepoint when he gets max Contract.

[stickandthorn]

Please write that meta on Imogen and Laudna if you want, I would love to read it.

Well anon, good news, I would love to talk about it! Bad news, it will be very rambly and mildly incoherent, as I am incredibly tired. I am keepin it below the cut for your sakes

(Disclaimer, this is not dissing anyone else’s interpretation, if you disagree that’s fine. I’m not here to say anyone is wrong for their views on the characters and their relationship. Even if I disagree with you, I don’t think you need to agree with me, because stories are filtered through the experience and analysis of the individual viewer and everyone has their own personalized interpretation etc.)

This is something I’ve believed for a long time, but Imogen and Laudna’s conversation this episode really solidified my thoughts on it. Imogen and Laudna love each other, but they don’t love each other for who the other is, they love each other for the certainty of the other’s existence in their life. They also don’t care how they exist in their life, only that they do.

I think the best one line summation of all this is when Laudna said their relationship “transcended words.” I think that’s the closest they’ve gotten to the uncomfortable truth of their relationship. Their relationship is not about communication, it isn’t about the messy work of making compatible the nitty gritty of who they are, it is about being able to have each other no matter what. No matter who each other is.

Every conversation Laudna and Imogen have had has been an almost lampshading-esque conversation about their relationship. It has always been assuaging doubt, reassuring the other that they’ll always be there, and that things will be ok. Talking about the optimistic future, comforting one another, maybe expressing a little sadness or uncertainty that they can find reassurance about. But they always very quickly drift away from any conversations that are either genuinely difficult and messy, or aren’t about the surety of their bond. The few times something genuinely difficult does come up, like the rock incident, it’s avoided till it can be moved on from without trouble and without that difficult communication.

Look at Ashton and Laudna’s conversation this episode. They were vulnerable and honest with each other about some really uncomfortable topics. It wasn’t a fun conversation, but they came out the other side of it understanding one another better, and maybe themselves as well. That is the foundation of a close, genuinely emotionally intimate relationships of any kind. That is what creates a bond that genuinely centers around who the people in it are.

But Laudna and Imogen avoid those topics. Imogen is often more emotionally honest with other people like Orym, and Laudna with Ashton, than they are with each other. That is where the true worries and flaws and truths that can’t be comforted away come out. They actually seem rather uncomfortable with emotional honesty with each other. In the conversation in question, Imogen started by saying she was fine, which she clearly wasn’t, and Laudna had to press her to get her to start being honest. Because they need their relationship to be positive, or else it might not always be there.

I don’t think this is because of denial or naivety, but because that is just not why they need each other. Laudna said so herself, she said she’d back up Imogen no matter what choice she made. The foundation of their relationship is not emotional honesty or love of who the other is as a person, but that the other was there after years of being lonely. Now that’s all there is to preserve. Purposefully avoiding or outright accepting all the negatives of the other and their relationship will always allow them to guarantee there they will never be alone again. And that’s all they need. To be blunt: the reason Imogen didn’t talk to Laudna after her resurrection, and why Laudna didn’t seem upset, was because all that matters in their relationship is that the other is there. The very act of Laudna being alive was all it took. Imogen holding Laudna after she came back was fulfilling what the relationship had been doing. It’s a very close relationship, but it is a purposefully somewhat hollow one.

This isn’t meant as invalidation of what is there. It’s an extremely important relationship to the characters, one which you can interpret any way, this is just my take on it.

[nerizys]

The Feeling In Your Hand - Boboiboy AU

Warning: OOC

___________________________

It hurts at first...

The day I realized I have lost all the feeling in my hands.

I wanted him to stop, I really did. It was all pointless though.

"You should be grateful to even have a master"

I should have known better. Then maybe... Maybe this tragedy wouldn't have happened, maybe no one would have had to lose their loved ones. My desire for survival clouded my judgement. My existence was doomed from the start.

So why do I exist?

It was a question I have thought of many times. A flawed existence. I couldn't even handle my own power despite it being me.

What's the point then?

I awaited the day my source would simply run out of power, and then I'll be able to fade away for good. I was so sure I had no more connections to this world. My energy can go to my brothers, they need it more than I do.

But then you came into the picture

I can see why the others wanted to bring you back to life so much, but I failed to feel the same as they do.

I feared that, when you grow up, you'll be like him too.

The energy we got from Ochobot was enough to keep me awake, so I opted to simply watch over you, purposely made my unlock conditions difficult so you will give up on me and focus on my brothers instead.

Ironically, it was me who reached out first, but even then, I endangered your life. I didn't know why I even did something so illogical. Only then did I understand how they felt when they almost lost you.

My arrogance had put you in danger, yet you still held my hand. Maybe it's because you don't know what's hidden beneath. Ignorance is bliss afterall.

Only when he returned, did I truly understand how important you've become. The pain was somewhat eased thanks to all the strength I regained, but it still hurts so much, watching as the tragedy from 100 years ago repeat, watching as my brothers despair.

Now that you've learnt of my past, I wonder if you see me in a different light... Master.

__________________________________

"Solar?"

The light element looked up from his book to see his master walking towards him, a rather complicated expression on his face. It has been 1 week after Boboiboy woke up from his coma. They are all recovering from the incident, bandages and all, at least he's well enough to be allowed to walk around now.

"Is something the matter Ori?"

"Is it true you guys get can hurt from your own power?"

"Yes, yes we can if we push ourselves to use more power than we can process. It will cause damage to our physical form. We can gradually heal if we had the energy though"

He could see Original's expression relax a bit.

"May I know why you're suddenly interested in this topic?"

"I saw new scars and injuries on you guys. Rek'taka wouldn't allow you guys to manifest, and you hardly get injured too. I asked Gempa about it and..."

Boboiboy looked at Solar's hands, Solar could already see where this is going. They stayed in silence for a moment.

"Solar... May I see your hands? Only if you want to of course!"

Now this is complicated. No matter what he does, it would confirm Boboiboy's suspicion either way. It's not like Boboiboy isn't someone he couldn't trust, but it's the thing that comes after that scares him, because he doesn't know how he will react.

After what seems like forever, Solar let his gloves disappear in particles of light, revealing the dark, charred hands underneath.

"May I hold your hand?"

This isn't the first time they held hands, but it's the first time they hold hands without the gloves. Solar nods, and Boboiboy reached out, holding Solar's hands in his own. The way he gently held it, and the way he intertwined their fingers together.

"Does it bother you?"

"Huh?"

"My hands, their state. I was so weak I couldn't even handle it, and it came to this"

If he didn't reach out to that child that day, maybe it wouldn't come to this.

"Solar... You know I don't care about that right?"

What is he trying to say now?

"I don't care if you're weak, because it's not true. It must have been really painful, but you endured it"

"I didn't have a choice, and it no longer hurts when you can't feel it"

Boboiboy looked up, and Solar regrets saying that as worry began to gather in his master's eyes again.

"You can't feel it? Can you feel your hands?"

"No, I lost the sensation in them a long time ago"

"Can't you heal yourself? Are you lacking energy?"

Solar shakes his head "No, it's not that. If we repeatedly overexert ourselves, then at one point the damage becomes permanent"

His master's face becomes sad, as he held Solar's hand a little tighter, letting the realization sink in. Boboiboy doesn't care about what Solar's hands looked like, but the fact that he had to suffer for what he didn't want to do.

Rek'taka can say what he wants, Boboiboy will believe what he wants. He believes the elementals deserve to be happy after this whe time. 100 years of mourn and loss, not knowing what happened to your loved ones, isolated must have been a nightmare.

He cups Solar's cheeks in his hands, catching the light element by suprise.

"I have an idea! Let's merge Solar!"

"But you're still recovering-"

"I'm fine now, pretty sure I could handle you"

"Okay. This is your idea. I don't want Gempa to ground me"

Boboiboy smiles ear to ear "I won't let that happen!"

The familiar feeling of the merge flows in his veins, it wasn't cold, it didn't hurt like when he was with Rek'taka. It was warm, and comforting, just like how Boboiboy is. He sees the elementals as his family and is willing to wait for the elementals to step forward, no matter how long it will take. It should be the opposite, because Boboiboy will live a much shorter life than they will, but he waited for them anyways.

Solar decided to go ahead and grab the book he has been reading. Then, he felt the sensation in his hands, the smooth texture of the book, the first thing he felt in more than 100 years.

"So? How did it feel?"

"It's- I don't know, it's so foreign, but not in a bad way"

After that, they had tried feeling the sensation of other things, like water. They tried making a cup of hot cocoa and Solar finally understood the feeling of touching a cup that's way too hot because usually he just holds it (much to the concern of everyone else)

"Can we do this again some time?"

"Sure thing! I'm okay with it, just don't touch a hot cup again"

He chuckles

"I won't"

[frequenceraph]

"Z is a bad character"

Xenoblade 1 and 3 spoilers incoming Ok so Z. I've seen so many people, mostly on twitter and reddit, complain about how this man is a bad character. The thing is though they're missing the point of Z. Z isn't supposed to be complex, he's a force created by origin as a response to the collective will of people to avoid confronting the inevitable collision and dissolution into light that the two worlds are destined for. He's a corrupting influence; an embodiment of the concept of the endless now. Z is compelling by means of the characters he influences. N is widely considered in the fandom to be an extremely well written character-- through the lens of one of the main characters' past lives, we get to experience the pain of loss that made him want to never have to lose anything anymore. Z is the fear of loss, and Noah choosing to confront Z and refuse to give in is him refusing to be afraid of losing the people he loves. He's lost Mio over and over, he had to leave his son behind, he's been unable to defeat moebius and break the cycle over and over, and Z-- his fear of loss-- eventually gets to him. These kinds of interactions make Z compelling and threatening. Z is a representation of the fear and vice that lives inside every single one of us. Even people who are extremely young like Joran can self sabotage and want to stay in a comfortable eternity when that's not the state that anything-- the world nor your interpersonal relationships-- can stay in. Joran is so mired in his assumptions that everyone of the main Keves party thinks he's useless that for a while he isn't able to escape the genuine abuse that he suffers at the hands of Moebius D. And that's Z at work. He (Joran's own assumptions and fears) has paralyzed Joran in a state of self loathing that he's inflicted on himself. There's also another aspect I think people ignore with regard to Z's relationship to past games. And that's that Z is a direct consequence of Shulk's decision at the end of Xenoblade 1 to walk towards the future hand in hand with everyone. Without a god to rule over them, people falling to their worst vices can directly influence the world. Z acts as a foil to Zanza in a sense, both serving as a demonstration of the flaws of a world with and without gods. Shulk's choice didn't result in utopia. There's always going to be something to fight for, and sometimes that thing is ourselves rather than some made up enemy. And that, I feel is the core message of Xenoblade 3. Given that western media has imbued us with the idea that characters need to be compelling in the same way that-- as hbomberguy said-- games need to be fun, it's easy to see why people would write off Z as being a bad character when they don't understand the broader context in which he exists. Like sure Z sits around and watches the main party do shit in a theatre in the middle of origin and that's all he does, but Z taking direct action would be against the spirit of his character. He (our internal vices, fear of change) operates through others, both figuratively and literally. We had to come to him in the final encounter because he-- from what I understand-- primarily exists in people's minds. TL;DR Z doesn't need to be a compelling character in the traditional sense. He's compelling by means of the characters he influences and what he represents; the flaws of a world without gods.

[tamelee]

Hey!

I love your analysis so much! You are the most impartial and nice person I met here so far ❤️❤️❤️

What do you think about the theory that Naruto invented harem jutsu because he wanted to get some men attention? It’s a little messed up since he was a kid, but I mean… Little girls have crushes on grown up men, boys probably have the same (Not saying he was doing it because he crushed on everyone in the village!) but there were times that he didn’t do it to gain something or anything. I’m confused. And I know that probably most of it was just for the fan service, but… I guess I like to have everything to make sense. I would love to hear you opinion on that!

Hi Nonee, thankyou so much ;-; 🧡🫶!! What a sweet thing to say! Hm' I don't think that's the right approach to the topic.. at all. In fact, I think that's very wrong tbh..

..we're talking about a neglected child here. Naruto created the Jutsu because he knows men think a certain way and thinks they're idiots for it. In the beginning he calls the villagers morons and he's quite full of himself (saving face) despite failing in class. Naruto is painfully aware of his own flaws though and so.. has an alternative for shits and giggles because he knows the reaction it'll draw out of men and laughs in their faces.

He gets scolded for it but remember, negative attention is still attention to a deprived and neglected mind of a child.

And yes, attention towards his existence, but it has nothing to do with sexual attention from Naruto's perspective. (wth.) For Naruto that's not why he's doing it and I think it's really weird to (whomever did to) suggest that. Big difference there because for Naruto it is a way to cause trouble as he knows he's already hated (at this point didn't know why) and it is a way to pay them back because they're (as grown men and 'elite Shinobi') humiliated for their severe reactions towards his Jutsu regardless of how negatively they think about him.

Let's see some examples.

Naruto got manipulated into stealing a super forbidden and dangerous scroll and somehow was easily able to do so by using this Jutsu on the Hokage and walked away with it without a problem for hours thanks to it... Apparently it was more effective than whatever Mizuki had in store because he needed a kid to get to the scroll. Obviously Naruto at this point is just toying with all these people and it makes sense that despite him glorifying the name 'Hokage' he doesn't think very highly of Hiruzen or men who fall for it. That's not to say he doesn't respect them in other regards, because he loved Iruka and Jiraiya. But still. "The nose-bleeder":

Ebisu earned his closet-pervert-name for a reason and Naruto wasn't happy with getting training from him instead of Kakashi.

He called Naruto trash at first, thought so lowly of him and told Konohamaru that if he decided to hang out with him longer he'd become stupid (like Naruto).

Naruto used his KBnJ and Ebisu got cocky about it... until..

Because Naruto knows it works. As in "who's stupid now? You fall and get defeated by my Jutsu despite me being all these things you say I am. You loser/pervert."

So later, Naruto even said that Ebisu was 'weaker than him' because he fell for the Jutsu and I think that says a lot about Naruto's perspective on the matter. Especially because he says it so.. passionately and he reeeaallyyy didn't want any training from him.

When he meets Jiraiya for the first time he severely disliked the man. Naruto screams and scolds him for the nasty book, peeping at the women in the bath, being a pervert and committing a crime, he calls Jiraiya a liar and flips him the bird..

It's genuinely wild. Naruto is wild I'll tell ya.

But then it gets more interesting.. because for some weird reason Kishimoto thinks he should let Jiraiya say during their argument that "he doesn't like men!!!".

Which is strange imo because Naruto is a child and not a man and it has nothing to do with his request for training. So what would that do to Naruto?? He's basically saying: "I won't train you because I don't like you the way you are, thus you have to transform into the thing I do like for me to change my mind because that's the only thing stopping me from training you." And what information has Naruto at this point? He knows shallow minded men fall for his Sexy no Jutsu easily, he knows and scolded Jiraiya just a minute ago for his book, peeping and being a pervert.. Naruto is actually so much smarter than people give him credit for (throughout the entire story actually)- put two and two together and he's forced to:

.. exactly.

Naruto even tried to compliment the "nasty book" first even though he obviously didn't mean it before resorting to this Jutsu knowing and even having said before that such behavior is distasteful doing so to humiliate and manipulate Jiraiya to get what he wants (because again, he thinks they're all idiots for this specific reason only). Naruto is very aware about the situation. He doesn't do it for attention, he does it to get trained and Jiraiya quite literally said "I don't like you, you're a rude brat, why would I train you anyway? I don't like men." So what's the alternative? Become a woman (in this case desirable to Jiraiya) and manipulate this fool into getting to train him.

Naruto is extremely uncomfortable and the second Jiraiya suggests he stays that way throughout the training he undoes the Jutsu immediately and gets angry. He throws more insults towards Jiraiya like "pervert" "nasty Sannin" and calls him "totally crazy". He doesn't enjoy to get perved on, he enjoys humiliating them for being fooled so easily because their first impressions of them weren't great to say the least. Iruka always scolded him, Ebisu called him literally trash and Jiraiya was literally the worst at first. Notice how he didn't try using it during the Bell Test on Kakashi for example. He wasn't nice but it wasn't personal towards Naruto.

[putellas11]

A/N: This little fic is an anon request based on the song ‘Forever My Love’ by Ed Sheeran and J Balvin. It’s a beautiful song about finding someone who loves you despite your imperfections and no matter the distance. A little different from how I’ve been writing lately but it’s nice to spice things up every once in a while. I hope I was able to do the song justice, and I hope you enjoy!

Forever My Love (Alexia Putellas x Reader)

La luz de tu mirar, tu hermoso caminar No existe nadie como tú The sky magenta blue, it's only me and you Your eyes lit up by just the moon

Gentle waves dance and crash upon the shore. In the distance, sailboats and small rowboats rock from side to side. Overhead, seagulls glide on the breeze of the wind against the backdrop of a sky painted magenta and indigo blue, the horizon turning a fiery orange with the setting of the sun. A light breeze wisps your hair as you walk along the shore, leaving sunken footprints on the soft sand.

So much beauty around you, but you only have eyes for Alexia.

Your attention is captivated by the warmth of her body pressed up against you. A warmth that keeps you grounded and reminds you that it’s all real.

A reminder that you’ve found the one.

Sé que habrán momentos de sufrimiento But we'll be okay No soy perfecto Pero

Walking together hand in hand, side by side, towards a future you only ever believed to be possible in your dreams. With her smile, Alexia introduced light to the darkest corners of your soul. In your worst moments, she refused to allow darkness to consume that light. Instead, Alexia cared for it tirelessly and because of her fierce determination, it continues to shine bright.

Compared to her, you are flawed. You’re made up of sharp, broken pieces, held together only by her love and affection. Despite your imperfections, in her eyes you are perfection.

“I love you as you are.”

Spoken in a whisper underneath bedsheets, her words seeped into your skin and brought you peace. In that moment you realized, the search for an honest and true love had come to an end.

Hey, dondequiera que estés, ahí estaré Hoy y mañana, por siempre, mi amor Y si me voy, recuerda que For now and tomorrow, forever, my love

When the time came for you to say goodbye to the colors Blaugrana, fear settled in the pit of your stomach. Fear of what you’d lose because of the distance— a fear of losing her.

Alexia sensed your fear and countered it with words of affirmation and gestures of her devotion to you.

“It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, I’ll be right there with you.”

She was right.

At first the distance was too much to bear, but you quickly realized that even in the farthest corner of the world, that light she sparked in your soul refused to dim. It kept you company in the loneliest of nights and reminded you of her love when you missed her the most.

The concept of time works differently when you’re in love. When apart from Alexia, time moved painfully slow. Seconds felt like hours, days like weeks, and months like years. In each others arms, however, days turn into night in the blink of an eye.

It took you a long time to get used to being without her for certain months out of the year, but it only made you appreciate the time spent together so much more.

Aunque no crea en mí, tú me haces sentir Que soy mejor de lo que pienso Cuando te conocí, me hiciste tan feliz Me diste un nuevo comienzo

A mistimed tackle almost put an abrupt end to your career. You continued to feel the pain days, weeks after you were carried off the pitch. Countless nights of waking up in a panic, frantically reaching for your knee as cold sweat trickled down your forehead. The bedsheets drenched by the pain and anguish of the memory.

With every failure and every setback, getting back on the pitch started to seem more and more like an impossible task. You wanted to fight but you felt so weak and powerless.

One day you wobbled in crutches to the front door and there she was. Her smile bright and her eyes as determined as ever. All she needed to do was hold you in her arms and a little of her strength was transferred on to you.

“I believe in you.”

The nightmares stopped. Doubt was kicked out as it was an unwanted visitor in your mind.

When you took the first few steps on your own, Alexia was there. At the final step, you almost lost your balance and immediately reached out to her. Like she had some many times before, Alexia was there to catch you when you needed her the most.

Sé que habrán momentos de sufrimiento But we'll be okay No soy perfecto Pero

Hey, dondequiera que estés, ahí estaré Hoy y mañana, por siempre, mi amor Y si me voy, recuerda que For now and tomorrow, por siempre, mi amor

The ocean is calm and the sun has bid farewell.

Alexia looks at you and her eyes reflect a love you would be a fool to ever allow dim. She has been your strength when you’ve felt weak. Your hope when all you’ve felt is despair. Your light in the darkness.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asks, a small smile on her lips.

One thing is for certain: you are forever in her debt. It’s a debt that will take you a lifetime to pay back and even then, you still wouldn’t come close. But, that doesn’t mean you’re not willing to try.

Your knee sinks into the sand and a small gasp escapes Alexia’s lips.

“I wish I had the right words to express how much I love you. All I can say is that I want to protect you from all things possible. I want to be your comfort when things are beyond your control. Today and tomorrow, I promise to love you forever.”

Trembling fingers tighten their grip on your hand and place a soft kiss on her knuckles to soothe them.

“Alexia, will you marry?”

Tears flow freely down her cheeks. In your hand is a tiny box, and inside the box is a ring. It's everything Alexia ever wanted for it's a representation of something she's longed for. Marriage, a family, and the promise of forever.

"Yes, my love."

Dondequiera que estés, ahí estaré Hoy y mañana, por siempre, mi amor Y si me voy, recuerda que For now and tomorrow, forever, my love

[butwhatifidothis]

Ultimately, I think one of the worst things Hopes does wrt its writing of Claude is take out all of the complexities and contradictions that had made him so interesting to begin with.

OG Claude lies and manipulates people and closes himself off while still searching for the truth and wanting people to come together and be open with each other, because of how his traumas meld together with his dreams. He says that he'll do whatever it takes to get what he wants and shows off opportunistic tendencies and then buckles at the first sight of innocents getting hurt, because no matter how much he wants what he wants he still prioritizes the lives of the people around him over anything else. He knows of people's capacity to hurt others for petty or illogical reasons - was raised with that knowledge beating its existence into him - and yet still dreams of a world where people of different lands and cultures can still be friends, because that is how tightly he holds onto his dreams. He's a kind person with the capacity for being a dick, and his contradictions add on so much to his character; they in large part are his character.

Hopes Claude? He lies and manipulates people and closes himself off... and that's it. He says he'll do whatever it takes to get what he wants... and he does. He knows of people's capacity to hurt others for petty or illogical reasons... and has no real dreams of stopping it (or dreams of anything in the future really, by his own admission) and he indulges in that very behavior himself, seemingly without any awareness. He is untrustworthy, and manipulative, and opportunist... and that's it. What you see is what you get. And if this were a character unto themselves, if we're kind and we ignore all of the other issues with Hopes!Claude's writing, that would be a fun enough villain to follow around.

But it's not; this is supposed to be Claude. This is a character who has so much of his foundations be built on the idea that what he presents on the surface isn't all that he seems. That he's more than a character who is just "tee hee I'm only pretending to be nice but I'm actually eeeeevil evil evil evil evil evil evil," but someone who both uses kindness as a means to an end and embodies it genuinely. Warm yet calculated, a good man with real flaws - THAT is who Claude is. Hopes Claude is who Claude is if you strip him of any complexity - He Is Only Pretending To Be Good, But Actually He Is Bad.

He's just... easier to swallow, in a sense. Claude is a good person who is willing and able to do bad things, but only up to a very specific, very clear point, all for a good dream he's held onto for years and plans extensively to make a reality in the future; Clyde is a shit person who's willing to do everything short of bombing specifically whatever land he himself is ruling, all for what essentially amounts to no concrete purpose. There's no need to think about Clyde as hard, since he just does what he does because he's doing it and that's enough.

It's why I'm glad I am Dev-Approved to just fuckin' ignore Hopes entirely as a horrific fever dream, because Hopes does not understand what made Claude so lovable at all

[missroserose]

Look at me and tell me that you like that 🫣❤️‍🔥

Been thinking a lot about how we treat sexuality as a culture, hiding it and surrounding it with shame. I can even sort of understand why; we can’t always control our sexual reactions, they aren’t always appropriate, and they can be outright destructive to our lives (and others’ lives) when we aren’t careful in how we express them. It’s a child’s logic—if we don’t talk about this terrible thing, if we hide it away and pretend it doesn’t exist, it can’t hurt us, yes? And surely it stops holding any power over us.

You’d think that centuries of evidence would convince us how flawed that line of thinking is. Sexuality is fundamental to our survival, it will absolutely fetishize that shame and make it serve its own ends. And in the process, stuffing something so powerful into our few narrow socially-prescribed contexts causes so much harm. We degrade performers and workers who make their living in a sexual milieu, because it’s dirty and shameful and therefore they must be too. We blame and despise people who incite sexual feelings within us, because it’s so much easier to criticize them for their dress/language/self-expression than it is to acknowledge those awful feelings. We look at people of alternative genders and sexualities with suspicion and hostility, because our view of what constitutes “acceptable” sex is so limited and anything outside it is a threat.

It makes me happy that there’s been so much movement towards a consent-based model of sexuality in recent years. Acknowledging its power and practicing sex mindfully is the single most powerful antidote to this culture of shame. Yet even within that framework, so many of us are still so invested in the current model that we find new ways to transpose it (witness the discourse around “harboring sexual fantasies about someone without their consent is rape,” or the many many things being referred to as “pedophilia” that have nothing to do with minor children). Shame is a potent means of gaining power, especially around something as charged and controversial as sexuality—and wielding it by positioning ourselves as the arbiter of what’s acceptable is a seductive power trip, especially for people who feel threatened or disempowered by changing mores.

I don’t have any real solutions—this isn’t the kind of thing that can be solved by a few people. Personally, I’m privileged enough to be able to openly practice a highly sexualized art form, so I do, both because I enjoy it and because there’s value in actively refusing to participate in shame culture. I communicate openly with my partners and respect their boundaries and consent. I let go of my own culturally-instilled shame and need to control others, and celebrate their personal expressions of gender and sexuality (or nongender and nonsexuality). And on the whole, I think I’m a better and happier person for it.

Won’t you join me?

[alittlebirb]

Hhhhhhh thinking about dialtown too long causes me to start bouncing off the walls-

It's about the self-actualization and the player's purpose in the story being to nudge every character along the path to personal fulfillment, from the dateables to Ticket Jerry to Gingi themselves. There is only one universe with Gingi in it, and it's the one where everyone becomes their best selves. It's about the fact that the canon timeline, where Norm takes center stage, purposefully includes the happy endings from each dateable in the same timeline, which doesn't make chronological sense but satisfies the need for each person living in this up and down world to find their joy and keep it.

It's about the fact that, despite Dialtown ostensibly being a dating simulator, Gingi's relationships with each character aren't shoehorned into the simplified box of romance, but occupy the messy and complex and REAL space between where their lives intersect. The character dynamics have CHARACTER, and the overarching purpose of each route isn't to date them, but to make them happy. Your stories don't end with true love's kiss. It ends when Karen says she has to leave to pursue her dream, but you're one thing in this town that she'll miss. It ends when Oliver is able to have a heart to heart with Mr. Dickens, understanding that all the sacrifices he made were so Oliver could fulfill his potential as a person and as a creator, and taking that knowledge to build something new. It ends when Norm lowers his gun and stops chasing revenge, choosing to instead find the kindness which exists in this world and make his own joy, in spite of all the pain it's put him through. It ends, and then it begins again.

It's about the burning dumpster fire of humanity that every person is a part of, and how they each are valued as people in their own right. They all have their own personal histories and stories outside of Gingi; Oliver values Mr. Dickens above everyone else in his life, Jerry has a herd of sick dogs to tend to, Karen knows Bigfoot and has a vault full of his bananas she delivers to him every Sunday, I could go on! I have never played a dating sim where every character is so full of life and interest and value, to the point where the player character themselves, Gingi, has their own distinct personality which could not be substituted with any other person without having the entire story collapse.

It's about the flawed but beautiful nature of their existences, filled with struggle and division but throughout it all they reach out to each other. Gingi helps Karen quit her job and profit as an artist. Oliver doesn't hesitate to shelter Gingi and Norm when they return from exile. Gabby indulges the kids who come into her shop and encourages them to experiment and find themselves. Dialtown itself might be shit, run by a corrupt system that leeches the soul out of its inhabitants, but the people care. The people matter, and they always have.

It's about the inherent queerness which runs through the very fabric of the game, inextricably shaping the story and the world it takes place in. It's about ostracization from a world which cannot understand and thus fears you. It's about finding family in the downtrodden and unwanted, building something pure and good in the midst of all this chaos. It's about not fitting in a box and fighting against the forces which try to force you to.

It's about how this story was made and filled to the fucking brim with love, and it's received with a heartfelt, wild kind of joy from the people it's touched. In a world which aims to commodify every morsel of humanity that's left, Dialtown is the farthest thing from that. It's weird, creepy, absurd and incredibly cursed, but there's something to connect to. And that's all that matters.

It's about Joy. It's about Kindness. It's about Living. And that makes me go fucking wild.

[ohmycale]

There is a tiktok that they hate Deruth and they literally hate him? Then somebody on Twitter countered that Zed was a worse father to Alver and he didnt get hate as much as Deruth. What's your take on it? Is there a double standard for you?

Okay, let's break it down, shall we?

First off, I don’t know about this particular TikTok video and I don’t use the platform so I am taking the things you said at face value.

Second, everyone who has heard of TCF/TBOAH and their characters will have an opinion about them. They are entitled to their opinions about anyone and everything and enjoy the same space and perks as people like me who usually have counter opinions about their opinions. It’s the internet at its finest. 

Third, Hate is a strong word for me and I don’t use it lightly. I try to avoid it. My feelings about Deruth are the same feelings I had for my father with acknowledged bias and projection. Yes, I felt disappointed and angry at him for a long time but I learned to manage my feelings and learned to not be bothered by people who didn’t treat me well. And as I project my feelings into Deruth and other characters, it’s the same thing I do for og!cale. Other fans do the same thing. 

Fourth on Zed and benign compared to Deruth. I don’t comment much on Zed because I believe that he is a trash father from day one and embodies the existence of sperm donors at their finest. What is there to be said, really when everyone agrees on one opinion about him?  Deruth, on the other hand, claims to be living his family motto and then sought out his personal happiness over his son. He is constantly characterized as a ‘good’ but flawed father. That opinion is dependent on whom you are asking, of course. My further opinion about this man is evident in my other posts. Overall, there is no incentive to talk about Zed when you already know from the get-go what kind of ‘father’ he is. Deruth is pretty much a controversial character in this context given his background and ‘progress’ in canon. 

In terms of double standards, I see them equally as men who shouldn't be fathers. That's putting it very lightly. I'm sure others I know personally would have more…colorful words to describe them.  And I’m somewhat irritated that mental neglect/trauma is seen as ‘lower’ than physical neglect/death. It's the invisible scars that grow over time that goes unnoticed and for some people, eventually, wish that they haven't lived or incapacitate them to live better lives. Worst-case scenario, you get judged for not being able to ‘move on’ and ‘be normal’ or shit things people say. Reminds of parents who do do-overs with new families and expect old kids and be a ‘family’ just because.  That's basically Deruth for you. 

Fifth, Alver still has his family with Tasha. Someone who knows understands and care for him just like his mother had done. I can’t say the same for Og!cale. Og!cale’s family is….just not there for him and didnt understand him when he needed it most. His father found a new family and tried to blend him in without actually considering his feelings. Or just thinking that og!cale having new family members = happiness. It doesn't matter if he accepted them eventually. The assumption that og!cale would just go with the flow is so insidious to assume.  His supposed family might care for him, but I don't really see the them understanding what he has gone through and still going through. Ron and Vicross, as we all know, left for their dreams of revenge. Hans, God bless his soul, is a servant to him and under Deruth’s command and authority. So, who is really there for him? 

Sixth, I like that Deruth’s actions are sparkling a debate. It means that people don’t see him as a one dimensioned character even though my feelings would want otherwise. People will have their judgment of him and agree to disagree is still a thing (I guess). The only thing that I care about is og!cale is happy wherever he is right now…with or without Deruth.  

Thanks for the Ask. Sorry for the wall of text.