#it’s like .. everyone else deals with their problems themselves and yeah it can get bad and toxic but why can’t i deal with it on my own too

[moonstruckme]

OOOOH Can i hop on the dr!rem train?!?! I would love to see how he is with someone who just doesn’t really take care of themselves. Like if something’s hurting they just power through. But of course he’s a dr so he’d know 🤔🤔💕💕💕💕

Ofc you can! This is precisely what I need him for haha. Also, when I wrote this my foot was still really hurting and now it feels tons better, so I think writing for him is healing me! Thanks for requesting my love <3

Doctor!Remus x fem!reader ♡ 1.1k words

Remus looks up from his laptop when you hold a bowl of pasta up in front of him enticingly. “Aw, thanks, sweetheart,” he says, taking it from you. He’s been so caught up in his paperwork he hadn’t even heard you bustling around in the kitchen, but you’d been thoughtful enough to bring him his dinner on the couch rather than call him to the table. “You’re too good to me. I’ll be finished here in a minute.” 

“It’s no problem,” you say with a smile. “Oh, I forgot I made you tea, too. Just a second.” 

You go back towards the kitchen, and Remus thinks to go back to his laptop for the interval of your absence, but something about the way you’re moving catches his attention. You’re walking oddly, shifting an almost imperceptible amount of your weight to one side. It’s not quite a limp, but there’s a stiffness there. 

You disappear into the kitchen for half a second, and Remus watches you carefully when you return. Your strides are as quick as if nothing were amiss, but there’s definitely something bothering you. It doesn’t look like the problem is in your foot, or your knee, but maybe your hip…

You pass him the tea, and Remus takes it quickly, chiding you for holding the hot part to pass him the handle. You roll your eyes as you sit, constantly discounting what you consider to be your boyfriend’s overcaution. You never worry about yourself, Remus thinks. Everything that happens to you is secondary, of little concern compared to whatever’s going on with everyone else. You don’t watch out for yourself, and you don’t always welcome others doing it for you either. It makes being someone who loves you an occasionally worrying task. 

“How was your day, dovey?” Remus asks, shutting his laptop to enjoy the meal you’ve prepared for him. “I’ve been so focussed on work I’ve barely talked to you since I got home. How are you doing?” 

Your smile is tinged with bemusement, but they’re not such odd questions as to draw much suspicion. “Don’t worry about it, I know it’s important stuff. I’m good, honey, how are you?”

“I’m good too,” he says, twirling pasta around his fork and inhaling the steamy aroma of the herbs you’ve mixed in. “Fantastic, now.” You blush, looking down at your own bowl. “Do much walking around today?” 

Now your brows furrow, and you bring your fork to your mouth, chewing pensively. “Some,” you answer after a while. “Why do you ask?”

“I just noticed you’re walking a bit funny,” he says as casually as he can, knowing too much attention will only lead to you belittling more than you’re already inclined. “Is there something bothering you, love?”

“Oh, yeah,” you say, looking back to your bowl as though forking your pasta suddenly requires your undivided attention. “Think I twinged something in my leg earlier. It’s not bad, it’s just one of those things, you know? I’ll wake up tomorrow and it’ll be fine.” 

It takes a heap of willpower to keep Remus from rolling his eyes. That’s your go-to reaction anytime something’s bothering you: power through and hope it goes away on its own. As someone who knows better, it nettles him incessantly. “Why didn’t you say something earlier? I might be able to help.” 

“Because it’s not a big deal,” you say through a mouthful. “Anyway, you were busy.” 

“Never too busy for you,” he hums, setting down his plate to lean closer to you, and fine, he’s pandering. If making light of this is what’s going to get you to let him help, that’s what he’ll do. “Let me have a look?” he asks you sweetly.

You look at him, sucking a stray noodle into your mouth. “What, now?” 

“Sure,” he says, already moving to perch on the coffee table across from you. “Just to make sure that it’s fine and I don’t need to run to the drug store before it closes or anything.”

You sigh like you’re doing him a big favor. “Okay, but it’s really not bad. You don’t need to worry.” 

He hums noncommittally. “Straighten your leg out for me?” You do, and he takes your foot in his hand. “What part hurts, dove?” 

“Kinda, like—” You strain to lift one hip off the couch, touching the back of your thigh, “—like, all down here, ish.” 

Remus cocks his head. “Does it hurt when you flex your foot?” 

“A little,” you reply, nonchalant. 

He nods, standing. “Okay, I think I get the picture,” he says. “Lay down for me, please?”

You give him a deadpan look. “Rem, I’m just trying to eat.” 

“It’ll only take a second.” 

With an eye-roll that you make sure he sees, you set your plate down next to his on the coffee table, laying on your back. Remus sits by your feet, lifting one of your calves so he can see the back of your thigh. He runs a knuckle over the skin there, noticing it’s a bit more swollen than your other leg. “Here?” he asks you.

“Yeah.” 

Remus laughs silently at the sudden tight quality to your voice, thinking he knows the cause. He takes a detour to test his theory, migrating his touch further down until his knuckle skims the crease of your buttcheek. 

“Careful,” you murmur, tone slightly teasing. 

Remus tries and fails to suppress his grin as he forces himself back on task. “It looks like it’s your hamstring,” he says. “It’s a bit more swollen, but in a lot of cases there’ll be bruising too, and I don’t see any of that. Do you remember when you hurt it?” 

“Mhm.”

Remus decides not to question you further on that for now; he’ll lecture you on telling him these things more quickly later. “Did you hear any sort of popping noise?”

“No,” you say, sounding unsure. “I think I would’ve noticed, right?”

“You would have,” Remus reassures you, relieved. “It’s probably just a pulled muscle, then. I’m going to test it really quickly to be sure, okay?”

“Okay,” you say warily, and Remus has you flex your foot, taking your leg in both hands as he straightens it and lifts it upward. You hiss, and he stops. 

“That hurts?” 

“Yeah.” Your voice is tight again, now for the wrong reasons, and Remus lowers your leg carefully. 

“Alright, sorry.” He kisses your knee. “Well, at least it shouldn’t take too long to heal. I’ll get you an ice pack when we’re done eating, and I want you to elevate it and take ibuprofen.” 

You sit up, clearly ready for your boyfriend’s mollycoddling to be over as you grab for your bowl. “Already am,” you say with a smile that Remus supposes is meant to be reassuring. Instead, he frowns.

“Sweetheart.” He gives you an admonishing look. “You were taking painkillers for this and you weren’t going to tell me about it?” 

“Don’t be mad at me,” you say lightly. “I made you pasta.” 

Now it’s Remus who’s sighing laboriously, pressing a reluctant kiss to the side of your head. “I suppose that does make up for everything, doesn’t it?”

[billdenbrough]

fundamentally disinterested in the recurring discourse about kevin's drinking that aims to a) make it his Specific Problem To Focus On And Overcome when it is a crutch and coping mechanism to get him through a Much Bigger Problem (emotional fallout he can't square with by himself, culture shock, trauma, loss of his extremely wildly co-dependent relationship w riko, losing the structure of the nest, mourning a future he was meant to have, processing a grave injustice, anger and fear and desperate grief, all of which is his Actual Specific Fox Problem) while he builds himself back up, and b) thinks that even if it is a problem (more on that later), it's the foxes' problem to deal with.

like. it's just not.

yeah, he doesn't drink until he meets them. they gave him that habit, and in traditional terms, they're (the monsters specifically) a 'bad influence'. but these are the foxes. this is kevin day, son of exy, whose meteor is crashing spectacularly through no fault of his own. there are no traditional terms to be found here. the framework for it literally doesn't exist. neil comes into the foxes with more conventional expectations—appalled at the athletes' substance use, his horror at matt's trip to columbia, his steadfast and early repeated stance that none of the foxes should let andrew treat them the way he does, and certainly not nicky—and tends to engage with them less as the series goes on and he folds himself into the foxes. the thing about the foxes is that they've all been in pits deeper than they are tall. and some of them got a helping hand on the way—erik, andrew's extreme intervention methods, stephanie walker—and wymack was always waiting for them on the other side, ready to throw down a rope, but all the foxes dragged themselves out of their own holes. often not alone, often not without assistance, but at the end of the day, they have to do it.

there's that line neil has about aaron in that scene that got deleted when the timeline shifted around, when he thinks about how aaron got this far in life on his own, surviving on willpower and sheer desperation. that applies to aaron in a way that's a little more acute than some of the rest of them—boy who doesn't let the foxes in bc of andrew, boy who doesn't let nicky in bc he doesn't know how, boy made of flinching and seeking an escape and grieving the one who hurt him—but is broadly true for the foxes en masse.

this isn't to say the foxes can't help each other, but it's not their job. it just isn't. they'll keep kevin alive, keep him safe, keep him flanked and contained within their ranks. they'll fight tooth and nail in this battle with him, fight to get him to that championship game, fight to get that trophy in his hands. but that's all they've agreed to. that's all they're responsible for, in this covenant they've made with him. he says they can make this happen, and they're going to get him to that final game, but it's up to him what state he's in when he gets there.

like. they're foxes. they've been triaging their whole lives. they hate each other and they hate everyone else more. they're the kids with their backs up against the wall. half of them are addicts. i don't think kevin is comparable, personally; he's getting through a horrific situation with a coping mechanism. that's not the same thing as battling yourself to stop using. but that's not really the point of this. what i'm getting at here is that to the foxes, it's easy math: kevin who can lean on vodka and andrew and wymack and the foxes to stay upright when he's not ready to stand on his own two feet is still a kevin who is standing. a kevin with one less piece of scaffolding to lean on is a kevin who falls over, a kevin at risk of complete collapse, a kevin one phone call away from running back to the master, a kevin one crucial loss away from not ever making it back to himself at all. they're triaging. this is low on the totem pole of things they have the room to care about. they very much have bigger problems, both individually and even just kevin-related. if alcohol makes seeing the boy he knew best in the world and moved in tandem with his whole life and who destroyed their entire legacy and his entire life in one move — if alcohol makes facing that boy easier to stomach, then, fuck, why would they take that away? they're foxes. they've all got their demons. this is what kevin needs this year and a half to let him face his, that's all. they can understand that. it doesn't have to be pretty, as long as it keeps him in the fight. that's the priority.

i think there's absolutely space to explore this in fic and art and fandom in a way that maybe does explore it as a Problem, both that it's an active problem for kevin & that it's something to explore other foxes helping him with (there's a t&n fic that i've been gnawing at the bit to read for months that seems poised to explore this premise, and that's super up my alley)! i just think we're in different territory when we're talking about the series—and its characters and dynamics—in a conversational rather than transformational way, and end up talking about this like the foxes are responsible for kevin's choices. i love kevin day. i read these back at the start of 2015 & he's so dear to me that loving him was the blueprint for how i feel abt kageyama. but it's been pretty weird to see how the conversation has been translating Loving Kevin Day into... thinking the foxes are doing wrong by him with respect to this in actual canon. like that's just not how it operates there

[erimeows]

Burnt Out

Working at Princeton-Plainsboro Hospital is brutal, to say the least. As the head of the cardiology department and a member of Gregory House’s diagnostic team, your job is not only hectic but also underappreciated. You spend most of your days cycling between helping your patients, helping your coworker’s patients, pouring over paperwork, being scolded by Cuddy, and being shat on by House, who insists that you stay on his team while constantly dismissing your ideas and implying that you’re an idiot like he does with damn-near everyone else he works with.

So, yeah. Life is great.

Currently, you’re sitting in the diagnostics conference room at the corner of the table. Chase, Cameron, Foreman, and Wilson are also sitting with you. Meanwhile, House is standing at the whiteboard, bouncing his tennis ball with one hand and using the other to write down your most recent patient’s symptoms.

“Eleven year old caucasian female, admitted two days ago after falling unconscious during her first ever track meet. Her family’s medical history is totally clean from what we can tell and she’s had no problems prior to this, though they seem to be way behind on taking her and themselves to the doctor for regular visits. However, since being admitted, she’s only displayed more symptoms and seems to be getting worse,” House explains, seemingly unenthused. You wouldn’t be surprised if he’d already figured it out. He likes to do that- to pretend that he has no idea what the patient’s affliction is and then rag on everyone else for not being able to figure it out. “So far, we’re dealing with high blood pressure, a one hundred one degree fever that refuses to break, hives, bloodshot eyes, and swelling across her entire body.”

“Rheumatoid arthritis?” Cameron suggests, eager to be the first one to get at the new case. “I know she’s young, but she could’ve developed it early and had it go undiagnosed.”

“Before we start discussing the possibility of chronic diseases, shouldn’t we test for strep and scarlet fever?” Chase questions. “If her parents are so bad about getting her medical care, it could have just been a minor illness that’s developed into this.”

“What about you two? (y/n), Foreman?” House pipes up, calling the two of you out since you’ve been totally silent since he started. You can’t help but notice that he doesn’t do the same to Wilson, who hasn’t said anything either. “Nothing to say?”

Foreman shrugs.

“This isn’t my ballpark. I’ll let you figure it out, House. I’m sure you’re just playing with us anyway. Compared to the last few cases, this seems like child’s play.”

Seemingly satisfied with that answer, House turns to you.

“And you?”

“Kawasaki disease? She has some of the symptoms,” You half-heartedly answer.

“Just because you’re a cardiologist doesn’t mean that every patient that comes through these doors has a heart disease, you know,” House scoffs with a roll of his icy blue eyes. “And she only has some of the symptoms for that. She doesn’t fit into the main demographic for it either. That’s the worst answer I’ve gotten out of you for a case all month. Are you even trying anymore?”

When House first hired you, you were excited- always trying your best and working after your already long hours to solve cases. As the years have gone by, though, you’ve lost your enthusiasm and frequently find yourself dreading the mornings where you and House’s paths have to collide. You know he’s only so cruel because he has problems of his own and because he has a motive (just like he has a motive for every other crazy thing he likes to do), but the fact that he picks on you so often when all you’re doing is trying your best gets under your skin.

A couple years ago, you might’ve tried to argue back with him. Now, all you can do is avert your eyes and stare at the table as if it’s the most interesting thing in the world. You’re praying for a hole to just appear underneath you and suck you into the vacuum of space- or at least for everyone to continue chatting until the embarrassing situation is long forgotten- but instead, Cameron pipes up to defend you. 

“Dr. House, was that really unnecessary? They’re trying their best and you’re being needlessly cruel.”

“What, are you jealous that I’m paying more attention to them than I am to you?” House snarks back at her. You hold your head in your hands and sigh. “Because next time, I can include you, too. Now do any of you have any better ideas than the crap you’ve just given me or am I going to be handling this case by myself?”

With that, the meeting continues. House ends up deciding that he’s going to order labs to see if the patient has strep or scarlet fever before doing anything else, leaving you to finish out your work day. 

You rush out of the office the moment he dismisses you all. Cameron tries to catch up to you to ask if you’re okay, but much to your relief, Chase stops her and tells her that you probably just need your space. You rush to your office, shut the door, sit down in your chair, and- for the first time in a long time- bawl your eyes out. 

House being a dick to you is typical, but on top of everything else that you have to deal with at your job, it pushes you over the edge. With the ungrateful patients, admin, and coworkers, the long hours, the physically and mentally draining work, and all of the drama that happens in the hospital, it’s almost impossible to keep going. The only thing- or, person- that makes it somewhat worth the turmoil is your partner, James Wilson, who you’ve been dating for some months now.

He’s a great comfort to you, and he’s always kind, unlike a lot of the people you find yourself surrounded by at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Your relationship is surprisingly healthy despite the amount of problems between the two of you. You don’t want to miss out on more time with him than you already do, though, so you find it hard to quit or even ask to be moved off of the diagnostics team. 

Conflicted and tired, you bury your head in your arms and cry even harder, glad that the walls are soundproof until you hear the sound of your doorknob turning.

And that’s when you realize that you forgot to lock the door.

You pop your head up, tears still covering your cheeks and welling up in your eyes. You probably look like shit and your partner has just walked in to see said display.

There, right in front of you, in the entryway of your office, stands James Wilson, looking at you like a deer caught in the headlights. The worst part is that you’re sure you’re looking at him the same way. The happy expression he walked in with has fallen completely.

“Did I come at a bad time?” He tentatively asks.

“No, sorry,” You answer and rush to wipe your tears away. You try to make yourself look presentable, probably to no avail considering the look of disbelief that James shoots your way. “What do you need?”

“Are you sure? I can leave if you want-” James starts and steps back towards the door.

“Don’t,” You interject, shaking your head. “Please. I know we’re at work right now, but…”

James sighs, then shuts and locks the door behind you. He quickly approaches your desk and sits on the edge of it, facing you.

“House really got to you today, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, I guess he did,” You shrug. “I don’t even know what to do about it anymore, James… I’m considering just quitting and going somewhere else. I feel so burnt out. It’s not even just House, it’s everything else, too. He’s the least of it.”

James nods.

“...I understand.”

“Do you really?”

“Well, maybe not in the exact same way. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t notice that House is a little less harsh on me than he is on the rest of you, but him and I have been friends for a long time. He knows what I’m capable of. The only reason he pushes your buttons so much is because he’s testing to see what your limits are. In a weird sort of way, he’s trying to get to know you,” James explains, though both of you know that isn’t much of a comfort to you. “I’m sure things have been difficult for you lately. You do a lot, and it goes unappreciated, but I promise you that you’re doing a good job and that there are people who appreciate what you do.”

At that, you smile. You don’t feel completely better, but the weight on your shoulders does feel a little lighter.

“Thank you. That means a lot to me.”

“I love you,” James says.

“I love you too.”

Hours pass. You work on paperwork while James responds to patient emails for you. The two of you knock out most of what’s been piling up on your end, much to your relief. You try not to think about the fact that James has probably neglected a lot of his day’s duties to help you out with this. 

“Should we head out?” You ask, looking at the clock.

“Probably… It is getting pretty late.”

Just then, the doorknob turns, only to go back since James had locked it just moments before. A second later, you hear obnoxiously loud knocking. Wilson goes to open it. Standing there is House, who’s holding a stack of papers.

“All the other tests came back negative. You were right,” House admits, looking straight at you. “It’s Kawasaki disease. Good job.”

Then, as fast as he came by your office, House leaves, just as elusive as ever- and all you and James can do is laugh.

[rosewaterandivy]

https://youtube.com/shorts/QuNRoe29bPA?feature=share

Something like that? PLS

Love you <3

Wow, thanks so much for the request! I tweaked it a bit to fill one of the prompts from here, hope that's okay. Love you 💜

83. “Stay there. I’m coming to get you.”

When you told him what you and Eddie would be up to Saturday night, Steve groaned so loud you could swear the couch vibrated.

You can’t be serious. And leaving me at the mercy of the gremlins?

“Yes,” you grin, “I’m sure the Harrington babysitting service can handle it.” And then you’re off to get ready for the party. “Knowing you, you’ll probably have some hot date booked for after you’ve dropped the gremlins off.”

It’s not that Steve worries, really he doesn’t, because you’ll be with Eddie and Robin will show up at some point, so at least you’ll be safe. But Saturdays were for movies with the party, taking full advantage of Steve and Robin’s (five-fingered) employee discount at Family Video and hanging out.

Recently, it’s been the only time when he can see you—busy with work and classes and helping Eddie with his GED. All your free time was accounted for, used up, leaving nothing left for him.

He tried (and failed) to be accommodating about it.

This resulted in frequent calls to your house, which your mother or father usually answered with thinly veiled annoyance (Sorry Steve, she just left. No, I don’t know when she’ll be back), interrupted study sessions at Forest Hills (Eddie’s exasperated, ‘Dude, what the fuck. You’re infringing on my right to an education here.’), and drop-ins while you were working at the diner.

In short, it was becoming a problem.

So when you mentioned, last minute mind you, that Eddie needed a hand dealing for a party this weekend and you’d agreed to help out, Steve took it about as well as could be expected.

Which is to say, not at all.

It’s bad enough that he’s making them watch Rocky IV, according to Dustin. But Steve pays him no mind and pops the tape into the VCR. The kids grumble and complain, but otherwise occupy themselves by half-watching the saga of Rocky and Drago.

His leg won’t stop bouncing as he reclines against the couch. It continues for the whole movie. When the film concludes with Apollo’s tragic demise, Max starts sorting through the rest of the tapes.

“What else is in here?” Throws out a few titles as she sees them, The Color Purple, 101 Dalmations, Out of Africa—

“Nope!”

Steve nearly hip checks Lucas in his haste to wrestle the tape from Max. They grapple for a bit, nearly coming to blows but Steve’s not about to hit a child and a girl at that. This sense of chivalry does not stop Max from smacking him upside the head, but he’s victorious in the end.

“And why can’t we watch that particular one?” Dustin ventures with a curious glance to Lucas before Steve settles back on the couch between them.

“I’ll, uh,” he stashes the tape behind the sofa, wedges its case against the wall. “Tell you when you’re older.”

Dustin and Lucas continue to eye each other warily.

Then El pipes up, “Friends don’t lie.” And before Steve can stop her from what will inevitably be an embarrassing calamity—

“It’s a … sad movie,” she continues, “The last time he watched it, he cried.”

Oh. Shit.

He wants nothing more than to bash his head against the wall, but can’t risk another concussion according to the doctors and literally everyone else. Maybe the earth could swallow him whole instead? Anything to end this humiliation.

“Didn’t you watch that with—” Mike begins, because he is an asshole.

“Oh yeah,” Dustin confirms, “They watched it like, a few weeks ago. I mean, her crying I get,” he turns to Steve, an incredulous look on his face, “But you—”

“Robert Redford is a good actor, okay?” He rushes to defend himself, “Very convincing.”

“Okaaayy,” Max drawls.

An uncomfortable silence ensues. The kids settle on watching Clue while Steve takes an opportunity to refill drinks and snacks. Tries to ignore the furtive whispers from the living room. Tries to focus on the popcorn in the microwave and not imagining what you may be up to at the house party with Eddie.

“Why don’t you just ask her out already?” Will says when Steve returns from the kitchen. 

The group falls silent, awaiting his response. Keep your cool, Harrington. He sets the bowl of popcorn on the table, doing his best to ignore Will’s probing question. Is almost successful until—

“Steve, you’re literally in love with her.”

He scoffs at Lucas’ blatant betrayal. Helped the kid practice everyday after school leading up to tryouts and this is how he’s repaid? 

“No,” he says with a tone to convey the end of this conversation. “We’re friends, just friends and that’s it.”

A beat of silence as everyone pretends to watch as Tim Curry greets the six strangers upon their arrival to the mansion.

Dustin coughs. “Friends don’t look at each other the way you look at her, Steve.”

“Oh my god.” Max looks like she wants to brain herself on the edge of the coffee table at the stupidity of it all. 

“Fuck off.” Steve huffs in annoyance, “Like I’m gonna take advice from a bunch of high schoolers.”

“Dude.”

“We’ve saved the world.”

“Like, multiple times.”

“And,” El annoyingly points out, “It’s good advice.”

Thankfully, Steve is saved by the bell. The phone trills its ring from somewhere beneath the couch cushions. Unable to find the cordless, he’s forced to answer it in the kitchen.

“Harrington residence.”

There’s music thumping and cross chatter down the line as he tries to make out who’s calling.

“Steve?”

“Rob, that you?”

A laugh, “Yeah, s’me. How you doin’ babe?”

Her voice has taken on that light, dreamy cadence it gets when she’s tipsy or high and, knowing her, it’s probably both.

“Uh, fine.” He turns to check on the kids in the living room, “Watching Clue. Did you need something?”

“Oh my god,” she rasps, “I love that movie!” A hiccup followed by a chuckle. “Nah, I’m good babe. I’m calling for someone else.”

He doesn’t know what to make of that.

“Rob, you know you called my house, right? The kids are here, if you wanna talk to them but—”

“Nonono Stevie,” she says in a rush, “M’callin’ about your girl.”

“My… girl.”

“Yep.”

The sounds of the phone being handed off to someone else. A few breaths and then, “Hi Steve.”

And oh.

Your voice is low and breathy through the phone, he can hear you giggling about something to Robin as you pull the speaker away from your mouth ‘I’m on the phone Buckley.’

He melts, just a bit. Because he knows that tone very well— when you fall asleep leaning against his shoulder during movie nights or take a brief nap sitting shotgun in his car, all raspy and sweet. 

“Hey honey,” he coos, voice incredibly fond. Steve turns, closing himself off from the din in the living room. “Y’doin’ okay?”

“Mmhm, tired though.”

“Is that right?’

A yawn. “Yeah,” he can hear the pout in your voice, “Rob doesn’t wanna leave yet and Eddie went upstairs with someone like, forever ago.”

Steve’s already grabbing his keys from the counter. “Stay with Robin, okay? I’m coming get you.”

“Thanks Stevie,” you sigh prettily, “You’re the best.”

_

Dustin (unhelpfully) advised him to get flowers before he left, so Steve put Max in charge, out of spite. Which unfortunately broke the levy for a barrage of romantic advice from literal children: hold the door, make eye contact, give her your jacket and be on the left side of the sidewalk.

It’d be endearing if it wasn’t so tragic.

He rolls up to the house to find not only Robin, but Eddie too, at your side seated on the sidewalk. He crosses the hood of the car as you stand with a soft smile, “Sorry Steve,” you say, less sloshed since the phone call, but still tired. “Didn’t mean to ruin your night.”

“C’mon honey,” he scoffs, “There’s no way you could ruin my night.” He ushers you to the passenger seat, arm around your waist. He can smell the beer from the keg and stale cigarettes on you, laced with the comforting scent your perfume. 

He shuts the door after reminding you to put on your seatbelt and turns back to Eddie and Robin. They look like they’re up to no good— Eddie’s smirking and got that glint in his eye that says he’ll be a problem, all the while Rob has a dopey grin on her face.

“She’s had water and we took the drinks from her a while ago,” Eddie says, waving back at you from the sidewalk. “Try to have her eat something.”

Steve rolls his eyes. Like he needs advice from a dungeon master on how to deal with a drunk.

Robin blinks owlishly, “Ooh, Hardee’s, get her that.”

Steve laughs as Eddie shepherds Robin away. Says something about not fucking it up and using protection. He can’t bring himself to care as he slides back into the car. The radio kicked on as he starts the car, David Byrne rhapsodizing about a girl as she was. 

He watched as you bop to the song in your seat, bringing an affectionate smile to his face— eyes closed, hair whipping back in the cool night breeze as you sing along. The axels squeak when Steve pulls into the drive-thru lane.

Try as he might to keep his gaze on you, to watch you a little longer, the intercom sputters to life—a young boy’s voice greeting mechanically but trying nonetheless to adhere to Hardee’s hospitality best he can.

The burger you’d gotten—medium, double meat, bacon, all toppings between—has completely fallen apart in a splat back onto the wax paper in your lap.

“Here, honey.”

He fumbles for napkins. But you wave his worries away, licking your fingers before diving in to deconstruct your food.

“Sorry—I promise I have my shit together.” Another giggle, “Not doing well here. Makin’ a mess your car and everything.”

“I, uh, I think you’re doin’ great.”

The words slip out before he can catch them and around a mouthful of fries, you thank him, and then you take a breath, and he can literally see you winding up for another enormous bite.

“Sorry,” you pause sheepishly, “M’ starving—skipped lunch on accident.” You take the enormous bite he saw coming, and then, “Also doesn’t help—mm—nervous.”

Steve chews on a fry and slurps his soda, driving with ease. “Nervous ‘bout what?”

You swallow and steal his drink, “Weren’t you on a date?”

He blinks.

You blink.

He blinks again.

“No, I was watching movies with the kids.”

His face is so hot that he thinks someone must have thrown a fire into him. Should he have just gone along with it instead? It’s old news by now that King Steve had turned in his crown for a walkie-talkie and chauffeuring a bunch of teens around.

A beat passes and he tries again, now at the end of the meal and the stain on your shirt starting to sink in and spread, heavy enough to dip toward the skin beneath. “Do you want to take your shirt off?”

You choke on soda and add another splatter down your chest, “What?”

“You can wear my jacket,” he clarifies. “Give it back later. I mean, if you…” He frowns. “Uh. Um.”

The beemer comes to a stop in front of he Harrington house. Lights still on in the living room signalling that the party is still there. 

You changed out of your shirt, ducking down in the front seat bashfully (“Look away, damn it.”), your old t-shirt in a crumple inside his pocket. His jacket hung a bit loose, but zipped up all the way and it was a good enough cover for a while.

There’s a smear of grease on your cheek from the burger and Steve knows it’s just a personality trait at this point. He laughs when you stick your tongue out, trying to find exactly where it is before giving up and asking him to wipe it off.

He shoves his hands in his pocket afterwards, thumb jammed inside his fist like a souvenir, keeping it there the rest of the walk up the drive, all the way up to the front door of his house before he wonders if he should have been trying to hold your hand.

Maybe not.

“I missed this,” he says, brushing his shoulder against yours.

You hum, knocking your hip against his. “Thanks for dinner,” you say, looking up at him.

“Yeah, of course.”

“And picking me up.” A beat passes. “And the jacket, too. It’s really nice… comfortable and, uh, smells… good. Like, cinnamon and… nice body wash and… trees.” You make a queasy face and close your eyes for a second, pinching the bridge of your nose uncomfortably as Steve looks on.

Oh, he realizes. You must be woozy.

Oh, he realizes. You’re gonna hurl.

“Steve,” Your voice is small and tight, and you look like you’re struggling to take steadying breaths. “I gotta sit down.”

“Right,” he replies. You laugh, rubbing the back of your neck before he turns and unlocks the door.

The kids are passed out on the sofa and reclining chairs in the living room. He locks the door and sneaks you upstairs, hands politely on your waist to steady you on your feet. Guides you to the left toward the guest bath and flips on the lights. 

“You alright?”

The fluorescents cast you in a hazy yellow glow, squinting at the bright light. You paw at the countertop for something, water? You turn to open a drawer and find a spare toothbrush— the blue one, yours, a freebie from a check-up and gloop some toothpaste on the bristles. With a nod in response, you begin to brush your teeth, faucet running as you fill a cup of water. 

Steve leaves you with a clean washcloth and towel, should you need them, and goes to check that his room isn’t a complete disaster. Bed sheets are clean-ish and he doesn’t have time to run them through the wash, though there’s always one of the guest rooms…

“Hey.”

He startles slightly, not hearing you walk in. You’ve toed off your shoes by the door and are looking sheepish, lip pulled between your teeth. “Can I borrow some clothes?”

“Yeah, sure.” 

Steve pulls open some drawers, rifling through for something for you to sleep in. Throws your top into his hamper while he’s at it. He turns back to you with a ‘Hawkins Athletics’ shirt that’s seen better days and a pair of flannel pajamas. Shoves them toward you awkwardly and then promptly turns around to let you have some privacy while you change.

“Thanks.”

He makes a strangled noise of confirmation and clears his throat. “No problem.”

Hearing the rustling of sheets, he turns back around and catches sight of your bare leg as you hunker down in his bed. Heat rushes to his cheeks when he spies the pajama pants neatly folded and placed on his nightstand. You turn on your side, burrowing and fluffing the pillows to your liking.

Steve makes quick work of brushing his teeth and getting ready for bed. Shoes by the door next to yours, jeans shucked into a pile by his desk, keeps his shirt on for the sake of decency, and slips in next to you. 

“I appreciate you coming to get me, y’didn’t have to do that.”

His arm drapes against your shoulder while you snuggle into him, casual affection being the norm between you two. He swallows thickly, tries to regulate his breathing when your hand rests against his chest.

“What’re friends for?”

“Hmm,” you consider for a moment. “Friends may not be the most accurate term.”

Steve bristles at that. 

“What do you mean?” He turns toward you, heart racing— did you not want to be friends anymore? Did he do something wrong?

Your face is impassive, blank. Steve couldn’t even begin to guess at what you’re thinking, is afraid to even try.

Then, you smile.

Fuck. That smile.

“S-so, not friends then?”

Steve is not a religious man, but he prays that your smile means what he thinks it does. Slowly reaching toward you, he brushes a lock of hair from your face, fingers grazing your cheek. 

Mischievously, you lean in, touch him soft on the lips and every beat of his pulse seems to be seeking out the sweet plush of your mouth. “If we were just friends, I shouldn’t wanna kiss you so bad, but we both seem to be … not good… at following decorum, so…” Your eyes light up teasingly, “What d’ya say?”

Steve makes a noise like a whimper. Wow. Babysitter extraordinaire with a bat of nails under his bed and it’s your smile that does him in.

You kiss him again, longer than the last, giggling softly and tugging on his bottom lip like you could pull his entire body toward you with just that. “I’m sure we could find a few more rules to break.”

[xitsensunmoon]

I am glad to know I'm not the only one who prefers Moon more as well

And if I can be completely honest, I don't like how Moon is constantly characterized in both the game and books. I can't stand how Moon is just written as 'he's just Sun's creepy and evil alterego' and that's it, I don't understand why they gave him no other character or personality beyond that. When they didn't do that with everyone else, Sun was only on screen for fifteen minutes, and you get a complete understanding of his character, personality, and story. But Moon gets nothing like that what-so ever and it hurts to see.

Because I have to ask, is Moon really evil? The games and books tell you he is, but we don't get to see how Moon feels about it or if he believes he is evil. Nor do we get a motive behind it other than he was 'programed that way' or 'it's the virus making him act that way' and no one seems to agree on which one is more likely. But I can't blame them since we have nothing to go on because the writers couldn't be bothered to give us any insight into Moon as a character.

And I was not happy with the daycare section in Ruin, It felt rushed and wasn't scary as the base game. But my biggest problem with the section was how we deal with Moon. The fact that we had to hurt Moon with the lights and hearing him crying out in pain made me extremely uncomfortable. And he clearly didn't want to merge Sun but we just ignore him and reboot him anyway.

Sorry for spilling this out on you, I'm just happy to meet someone who loves Moon as much as I do

I do agree with a lot of this, and yeah Moon is my fav, probably mostly because I can relate to him better.

That's a long post so I cut it

FNAF explanations for different things sometimes are very silly and don't make sense, but I don't agree that he's portraited evil in games, as in DLC we get very small amount of information that before virus he was okay?

Books and games are different universes as well, if I'm not mistaken and are not canon to each other.

The fact that we don't get to see his view on all of the situation is sad, yeah, but gotta be real, dca in general doesn't get enough screen time. Sun and Moon and Eclipse have a giant potential as characters but just never get that used, unfortunately. As FNAF is Freddy's game. Not dca's.

Ruin was harsh. It was supposed to be uncomfortable, as our favourite characters are hurt, crashed and forgotten. Everyone suffers there and DLC was much scarier (to me) just because of that fact, of how we literally hear our character cry and scream and save themselves.

My thoughts on ruin Moon are biased, as he's my fav but I do believe that he wanted to get back the control that he lost in the main game, as Sun was forced to lock him away. "Keep the lights on", and Moon was just going insane being locked away for so long.

That's why we see him not as angry in the main game, because Gregory turned the lights off, and Moon doesn't have any reason to be angry at him for that. All his actions after that, trying to catch Gregory, calling him a rulebreaker, as I think go from virus.

Meanwhile in the ruin Cassie tries to do the opposite, to turn the light back on, to try and lock him up again. Sun is crying about being trapped in an endless nap, but we just keep forgetting that Sun did the same to Moon in the main game. Moon just unlike Sun didn't have an opportunity to cry about it.

I also think that the more time passes the more broken they get. Light hurts Moon because he can't switch to Sun, as it would normally happen, because of the ar. That's why it hurts so bad. That's why they need a reboot. Sun was just the first one to realize it, while Moon is being consumed by anger, virus, and trying to regain the control that he lacked for years and years. He doesn't want a reboot, but he indeed needs it.

I don't think that he's evil. I think he's hurt. He's just another victim of the situation, unfortunately often misinterpreted as a villain. Unfortunately being the "angry" and "dangerous" and "scary" one, while he just wants the same things as Sun does. He doesn't want pain(so he tries to stop us from turning the lights on), he doesn't want being caged. He chooses the simplest for that moment solution, it doesn't hurt them to be in the dark, so he tries to keep the dark.

[21jumpstreet-x-reader]

Pretty Girl with a Pretty Boy

Summary: Tom & Y/n are set on a Blind Double-Date, but instead of having chemistry with his date, Tom seems to have his eyes on his pretty friend.

"Blind date? I don't need a blind date." Brooker rolled his eyes, before taking a drag on his cig. "Why aren't you taking your little friend- Uh, Penhall."

"He has a girlfriend-"

"Really? Him?" Brooker hummed in curiosity. "I never would have thought."

Tom rolled his eyes, "Do you want to come or not?"

"Is she pretty?"

"How would I know? It's a blind date," Hanson groaned, tired of this. He wouldn't have to be doing all this if his date hadn't had a friend. Hell, he didn't even want to go on the date; He only did it to get out of the house. "So, yes or no?"

"You know what, Hanson? I'll go."

Hanson was surprised, in fact he had thought Brooker would say no. Though, maybe it was a sign? No, this could never be a good sign. Not with Brooker.

---

Tom was surprised when he saw Y/n sitting with a girl, which only caused him to groan. Tom had no idea that Y/n was his blind date's friend. If he had known, he swears he wouldn’t have brought Dennis Brooker. That idiot didn’t deserve a girl like you, Tom did!

"Damn, I thought she was going to be ugly. I'm glad I decided to come."

Tom was starting to wish he didn't come, too.

"Oh, Hanson, what a surprise," You reached out your hand, causing Tom to quickly shake it.

"Oh, Y/n, you know you can call me Tom."

"I didn't know you knew Tom, Y/n."

"All Law Enforcement meet each other at one point or another."

Brooker sat down, popping on his elbows, "You're a cop?"

"DA."

"Ah, you get those bastards out of jail."

"Everyone deserves a decent defense, even the guilty. That's the law."

"Yeah," He takes a swig of his drink, "But, it's like you guys are saying we can't do our jobs."

You chuckle, eyeing your friend, "Well, when you don't, it does make my job easier."

----

Tom tried paying attention to his date, he swears he did, but he kept getting dragged by your conversations. It was getting intense and he was starting to sense some tension. If there was one thing Brooker was good at, it was pissing people off.

"Doesn't Internal Affairs deal with dirty cops?"

"Well, yeah, but they're not real cops."

"What do you mean?" You tilted your head, leaning on your hand. "Not real cops?"

"Cops aren't supposed to break the law."

"They do all the time and they get away with it. You must not be very high on the IAB podium or you'd know that."

"Excuse me?" He got closer to you, intimidatingly.

You straightened up, "I don't understand what your problem is."

"I have a problem with you giving a bad name to cops."

"A bad name? I don't have to do that. They do it to themselves."

Tom could see Dennis' hand twitch and he quickly swerved the conversation.

"So Y/n, why DA instead of Prosecutor."

Your friend groaned. She had noticed the way that Tom was looking at you.

"Um, well... You know... I've always been good at finding loopholes," You turn to your friend as she whispers in your ear.

You look at her, before nodding your head. You turn to the males, before looking for the waitress.

Your friend yawns, "You know, it's getting late. We should be heading out. Let's get the check. Where is that waitress?"

-----

You fiddled with your purse, annoyed at the dinner. Who did that Dennis guy think he was? You felt a hand grab your shoulder, and you grabbed his hand and twisted it, before dropping it and realizing it was just Tom.

"Sorry, Tom. I thought you were...Well, someone else."

"I'm sorry... You know," He tilts his head back towards the restaurant, "For Brooker. He's a.... You know, hard-ass."

"He's something alright," He smiles, before holding out his hand, "How about I drive you home?"

"No, it's fine. I'll take a cab."

"You'd rather get into the car with a stranger than with a cop you know?"

"I'm sure your date could use a ride, pretty boy."

He smiles, looking down at your hands, "Well, I was hoping for a different date tonight."

"Are you hitting on me, Officer Hanson?" You point at his chest and he grabs your hand.

"And if I am?"

"Well, I'd ask where's your car, Lover Boy?"

[amelias-zelda-calamity-quintet]

Monster Ecology w/ The Marksmen

Saddiqah: "You want to know more about monsters? Suppose that's not a half bad idea, so long as you're not going around trying to fight them. I know we might make it look easy, but that's years of training talking."

Link: "That's not entirely true. Most people can handle the little ones."

Saddiqah: "You're going to get someone hurt making it sound that simple, Sayre."

Link: "Maybe it'll give some people some confidence! As long as you've got a heavy enough object, a good stick or broom, just about anyone could handle the lowest threat monsters, things like Chus and Rats and Keese. But yeah, Saddiqah's right. Monsters like these aren't dangerous on their own, but they like to stay in groups. And the more monsters you have, the more dangerous it is to deal with them. You can only swing at one thing at a time."

Saddiqah: "Speak for yourself. But that does move beyond untrained fighter."

Link: "If you know the proper end of a weapon to use, you could probably handle basic monsters. Most town guards can, also in small numbers. That's things like Bokoblins, Wolfos, Deku Babas, Gibdos, Skulltulas, uh...what else?"

Saddiqah: "Something not local at that point. Oh, Poes, if you're anywhere near graveyards. Or Miniblins. Tektites. Kargarocs. Actually, there's a lot more, isn't there?"

Ambrose: "They don't need the whole bestiary."

Link: "Doesn't hurt though. Never know what you're going to run into these days."

Ambrose: "True. In that case, you should warn them about greater threat. Monsters like Wizzrobes, Redeads, and Moblins."

Saddiqah: "Now there's something nasty. Not only are they bigger, and mean enough to do real damage, they're smart too. Monsters in this tier of, what, three? (L: "We were counting?") Will start rallying monsters of lower threat levels. A Moblin's a tough fight. A Moblin with a pack of Wolfos helping it is deadly for most combatants. That's what we train to deal with."

Link: "And some! When you start talking about even more serious threats, like Lynels and Moldugas, even the guild doesn't send in members alone. The smallest hunting party I've seen for a Lynel was the three of us, and that was a close fight."

Saddiqah: "We were both barely out of apprenticeship then though. We could probably take one on our own now, Sayre. (L: "Ha, you think?") Particularly after what we've been up against lately. The real terrifying creatures, like the one we fought in the temple."

Link: "Oh, Boss Monsters, right. Those things are the stuff out of legends. Yeah, I'd definitely agree, that thing was probably pretty close to a Boss."

Saddiqah: "You think there's something worse out there than that thing?"

Link: "I mean, we don't know where that thing came from. Who knows if there's anything else out there worse."

Ambrose: "Threat levels of monsters aren't the only thing to worry about though. It's also their impact on where they settle that's an issue."

Saddiqah: "Old man's right. Monsters are always invasive in every habit they find, and they're highly adaptable. Which makes them good at being invasive. And all the magic left over the Convergence means they'll eventually come back."

Link: "That's why any monster hunter with real experience will tell you it's important to leave natural predators alone. Animals like bears and wolves and big cats provide a line of defense before folks like the Marksmen can get there to deal with problems, and can keep bigger monsters from being able to make camps or rally allies."

Saddiqah: "It's why trophy hunting is widely disliked in the guild. Your nice pelt just made our lives harder. And everyone in the area less safe. Unless a predator is regularly entering a settlement, leave them alone! They're doing more good than a stuffed head."

Ambrose: "Doubt that'll stop most knights, El Amin."

Saddiqah: "Yeah, well, they've all got stuffed heads themselves. Right, Sayre?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark of a Hero (Updates on Tuesdays & Fridays, 1 of 9)

Hyrule is at peace, or so the Royal Family would have its people believe. Something is afoot in the kingdom, and someone needs to do something about it. Least likely would be Marksmen Link Sayre- a mercenary and monster hunter doing his best to get by. Until a job goes wrong, and he gets roped into the secret plans of Hyrule's princess. Now Link must play the part of the Hero to dive deeper into the mystery, and maybe stumble into a legend of his own.

AO3 - Wattpad

[mountmortar]

as someone who only ever beat four swords adventures. can i hear the lore on why the newer games are annoying. if you dont want to get into it in public though i totally get it lol

OKAY SO LIKE. let me put this under a cut.

so me thinking the newer games are annoying is a personal thing. i'll put that out there to begin with. i completely understand why they're games that people love a lot—for people who like open-world games with lots of exploration and building shit and whatnot, and don't really care for games that have Plot and Stories and Meaning behind them, they're probably damn near perfect games.

but like. MY main problem with the games, specifically (which could be easily ignored if not for my MAIN BIG PROBLEM WITH THE FANDOM which i'll. get into after this), is that while i will concede that they may be Good Games to those who play them (i watched a playthrough of breath of the wild Once and am currently trying to get through it myself and not only am i bored to tears but i hate the art style and when i say the soundtrack fucking sucks. the soundtrack Fucking Sucks. like it is legitimately the WORST fucking game soundtrack i've ever heard in my LIFE which makes doing anything in the game absolutely unbearable to me) they are, absolutely, terrible ZELDA games.

the legend of zelda franchise for almost forty years now has built up a series dedicated not ONLY to exploration within the game, but also music and wonderful stories that each game tells. like pokémon, in its own way—but even in pokémon, when the story is bland (xy, swsh) or just plain bad (usum) you can always count on it to have a great soundtrack. breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom took both "plot" and "music" and just threw them out the window. the overworld music in breath of the wild is nothing except a few piano notes every five minutes. the battle music when you encounter an enemy is the most boring, lackluster shit i've ever heard in my life (AND THE MUSIC FOR THE BOSS BATTLES IS SOMEHOW EVEN WORSE). basically imagine pokémon legends arceus except instead of all the wonderful overworld music we got for all the different areas, you just have dead silence. that's pretty much what running around in breath of the wild is like.

and the story? get ready for the blandest characters you've ever met in your life. you will not get attached to a single one of those cardboard cutouts. anything that adds meaning to the story is locked behind paid DLC which automatically makes it not even worth my time or money. basically, breath of the wild was like "what if we took the original legend of zelda from 1986 and its sequel from 1987 and added modern mechanics to it. and throw in a new plot that isn't even worth getting attached to." i would literally prefer playing those old 2D games over that game. their plots were entirely constrained to the game manuals because they couldn't fit them into the actual games themselves because they were 80s games and they were STILL more interesting than botw/totk.

but whatever! it's not a big deal. i can ignore the games. it's not up to me to dictate what people should and should not play as part of a franchise. again, people love the games for a reason, and that reason is usually because breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom are like "what if legend of zelda but throw in some minecraft elements about it". like....okay. WHATEVER!

my problem is with the fandom. the Giant Portion Of The Fandom That Has Only Played BOTW and TOTK and NOTHING ELSE. you literally cannot escape it. you know the types of people that spam the tags of every game in their game series just to make EVERYONE look at their post about One Particular Game? yeah it's like a literal army of those people. i MAINLY stick to posting about the older games from the 80s/90s/early 2000s (i.e. four swords/four swords adventures, the original legend of zelda + its sequel, a link to the past, the minish cap, ocarina of time/majora's mask/etc etc etc you get me) and everywhere you look there's somebody doing everything in their power to bring botw/totk into it/spamming the tags with botw/totk posts/just spreading blatant misinfo regarding the older games???? because they've never played them???? and like whatever i can ignore that too but i mean!!!! at some point it just gets so ridiculously irritating!!!!!! basically it's like. do you know how the pokémon company keeps bringing kanto into literally every game somehow + will not stop with the charizard hype to the point where everyone is sick and tired of charizard. that's pretty much what's happening except it's botw/totk. and i am so tired of hearing about the metaphorical charizard HAHAHA

[fukuokadivision1]

Tasuku's Thoughts on Obihiro Division

Hisoka Tetsumasu

"Hisoka? You mean... this is the guy behind those shady mics?! Peh, can't say I'm too thrilled about him, if that's the case. Fukuoka's got enough problems without adding fuel to the fire with illegal gear. It's guys like him that make it tough for the rest of us, trying to live honest lives in a city that's already on the f'ing edge!"

Tasuku's expression hardens, his voice tinged with frustration, "I don't know if I'd blame him directly, but he's part of the problem, that's for sure. If I get the chance, I'd tell him straight up: 'Your actions have consequences, man! You might not have pulled the trigger, but you loaded the fucking gun.' And in Fukuoka, that's the last thing we need."

"...But hey, if he wants to throw down in a game, I'm all in. I'd like to see if he's got the guts to face me without any tricks up his sleeve. It's one thing to play with cards; it's another to play with people's lives. Let’s see if he can handle the real deal."

Daiki Kamiyama

"Daiki, the kid who's buddies with that sneaky-ass detective from Suginami who caused me to spend a night in jail? Yeah, I've heard about him."

"Look, I don't have anything against this kid personally, but if he's rolling with someone who's got it out for me, then we're gonna have us a serious problem. I don't need some wanna-be caped crusader judging me, my sister or my friend. He doesn't know the first thing about what any of us have been through. So who gave you the right to judge us, kid?"

"I mean, I get it, everyone's got their dreams, but this ain't no game. This is the real world, and it's rough. If this kid thinks he can just strut around like he's saving the f'ing day or something, he's gonna learn the hard way that actions have consequences. And if he steps out of line, he'll find out just how serious we are about protecting our turf."

Jack Verrill

"Sheesh, this guy may be the second butler to join this tournament after that Yuno guy here in Fukuoka. I didn't realize teams were so hard up that they had to have their servants joining their teams because they couldn't find anyone else."

"But anyway, this is the guy who’s always tailing that superhero kid, right? Can’t say I’m impressed. Anyone who lets their charge run wild like that obviously ain't doing their job right. And if he's enabling that kid's antics, then he's part of the problem. It's one thing to support someone's dreams, but it's another to let them put themselves in danger."

"I mean, I ain't exactly knowledgeable about how butlers work or anything, but I thought that a butler's supposed to have some sense, some control over the situation. But this Jack guy? Sounds like he's just along for the ride. And that's not gonna fly, not here in Fukuoka, and especially not in the D.R.B."

"And if he's not careful, his young master's gonna end up in a mess he can't exactly clean up with a dustpan and a brush. Just something to think about."

Veiled Vanguard

"Veiled Vanguard? Sounds like a crew straight out of a bad late-night TV drama. I don't see a team; I see a ticking time bomb. I mean, you've got their mysterious leader, whose illegal HypMics have caused more damage in a year than Chuohku's probably done in a lifetime, if that's possible, a naive little kid who's living in a fantasy world, and a butler who's probably cleaning up more messes than just spilled tea."

"They're like characters out of some twisted fairy tale, each with their own baggage and secrets. And let me tell you, secrets: they have a way of spilling out in the worst ways, possible. Sure, they might have some skills, but it takes more than that to make it in the D.R.B. It's about trust, unity, and knowing who's got your back. And with a lineup like that? I'd be watching my back every damn second."

"But hey, who knows? They might surprise me, though I seriously doubt it. When push comes to shove, I bet they'll scatter like leaves in the wind. And if they think they can step up to MIHANASA, they better be ready to bring more than just a fancy name and a couple of tricks. We're not just a team; we're family. And we fight like one."

[kitkatopinions]

Hey KitKat I have a question and sorry if this is a weird question:

Is there anything wrong with liking certain rwby characters that are not as popular?

I like Neptune even with the small scenes he had in canon yet I have met fans that didn’t like my opinion because of the whole dance arc.

I understand he is not perfect but I think the part that really bother me is that when I try addressing their character flaws apparently I was the bad guy?

Why is their character immune to criticism when they have just as much flaws?

I don't think there's anything wrong with liking pretty much any character so long as the flaws the character has are acknowledged and (if included in writing) are actually written as flaws.

Neptune is a great example and I also happen to like him, so this is a great place to discuss it. XD Neptune in canon severely suffered from the RWBY writers' misogyny, as he was written as a giant douchebag partially to prop up Jaune's 'nice guy' thing, but since the writers were misogynists, Neptune's own cool guy dudebro 'womanizer' thing was treated as not a big problem and not a deal breaker to the other characters even when he made women visibly uncomfortable and kept flirting like with Team NDGO and with Ilia. And since he was a side character without a lot of screentime and like zero growth, that's kinda like sixty percent of his character at least and the rest of it is pretty thin. In canon, there isn't much to him. And it's important that no one defends or refuses to admit that Neptune in canon is a douchebag who doesn't respect women. But also... Neptune is a fictional person. he isn't real, 'condemning him for his actions' seems kind of ridiculous, and making him better or making him get better in fanfics or just liking the rest of his non-douchey character traits and his design and wanting to have fun with that shouldn't be treated as bad. It's the same with any RWBY character, even much worse ones who have done worse things morally speaking than making women uncomfortable, like Ironwood, Adam, Emerald, Mercury, Roman, Neo, Cinder, Salem, JACQUES SCHNEE even. Like, I hate Jacques with the power of a thousand burning suns, he's evil and trash and I would never redeem him or have a better version of him in my headcanons (even though I love and value redemption arcs, I also personally think having characters that don't get redeemed and instead demonstrate examples of how even though everyone can be redeemed, some people won't be redeemed is beneficial) but if somebody else did... So long as they aren't excusing or defending his actions, so what? I write fanfictions about redeemed Kylo Ren and redeemed Count Olaf, so I have no space to judge.

People have this weird tendency to treat fictional characters like they're real people, like they need to answer for their crimes, like they 'can't change,' and it's so strange to me. Fictional characters are whatever people want them to be, and they don't exist, so their crimes are all fictional, so... Why would they 'need to be punished?' XD Also, the same people who have this 'we should condemn fictional characters,' 'how dare you like this character when they did X bad thing,' 'writing anything except hate for this character is abuse apologism' people... They almost always like a villain themselves. XD Whether it's a villain in RWBY like Cinder, Salem, Tyrian, Watts, Hazel, Raven, etc, or whether it's a villain outside of RWBY like the Joker, Harley Quinn, Azula, Darth Vader, Sephiroth, Catra, Lotor, Maleficent, etcetera.

But yeah, in general, I think you should ignore those people. If you like Neptune, more power to you! If you want to write fics or headcanons or what have you about Neptune realizing that the way he acted was wrong, even more power to you! If you write things where Neptune was never a womanizer or misogynist to begin with, cool! If people get angry at you over something like writing a teenage boy to deconstruct his misogyny or making said teenage boy not that way in the first place, then they're probably not people you want to know. Hope this helps. :)

[rotationalsymmetry]

Some thoughts on Steven Universe as a fan (bouncing off this post):

I actually think Steven Universe should if anything be less moralistic about individual characters’ actions. There’s space wars! There’s people getting locked up in household items for millennia! There’s intergenerational trauma! There’s ordinary people (well, to the extent that gems can be considered ordinary people) trying to tackle galaxy-sized problems! Of course a lot of characters don’t always handle things great — and it shouldn’t be called out every time, because that’s an impractical way to go through life. Sometimes in life you just gotta deal with people messing up and never apologizing or recognizing they were wrong, even in overall beneficial relationships. Expecting people to rake themselves over coals every single time they do something wrong is actually a lot MORE toxic than having the occasional thing you do wrong that you don’t apologize for and don’t really experience personal consequences for. If nothing else, people are often really bad at agreeing on what’s actually bad behavior and who’s in the wrong in a conflict.

And forgiveness is a central theme of Steven Universe. Not accountability. Forgiveness. Seeing the harm someone else did, or the harm they caused by not doing a particular thing, and taking a reasonable stab at guessing where that came from and realizing you might act the same way under the same circumstances and going “yeah, we’re all people, we all mess up.” Steven Universe doesn’t have a neat division between the heroes and irredeemable villains, it has heroes who are sometimes villainous and villains who can be forgiven, and the primary hero of the early show (Rose Quartz) turns out to literally also be one of the main villains of the series. That’s what this show is about. It wouldn’t make sense in a show like that for every bad deed to get narratively punished. This isn’t Goofus and Gallant. This is about how Gallant is Goofus and Goofus is Gallant and both can coexist.

On that note my main problem with Steven Universe Future is how Jasper was handled, because Jasper had every reason to prefer the previous order over the new one and is a perfect character to illustrate how no way of organizing things is going to be optimal for everyone and how you handle trying to make a better society when not everyone is going to think it’s better, and imo the show should have found a way to keep Jasper not liking things but have that be ok, instead of whatever the fuck actually happened. Steven not being able to tolerate anyone who didn’t fall in line with the New Homeworld program, basically. Which is a huge problem, because The Future is when SU transitions from being a story about scrappy underdogs fighting against evil powers, to a story about people running a new and hopefully better society. And the set of problems involved with being the people in charge — and trying to run things in a way that is just, in a way that is basically good for people, in a way that doesn’t make you the new evil empire — is very, very different from the set of problems involved in fighting the people in charge.

[weaselbeaselpants]

Since I don't want to link it back to two scenarios so...um...immediate, I'll just say; the "Suffering just makes you hurt"-mantra is one I def subscribe to in day to day life, even in small, trivial' things like fandomwars.

I had a person get pissed at me once cuz I defended antishippers. They explained and showed me how they'd been harassed and abused by antis for no reason other than calling themselves a proshiper - no, NOT for actually liking anything with r@pe/cest/p3doshipping - just Reylo *in theory*. They got treated like a literal predator not for anything they actually did but for the title that genuine creeps have decided to use for their kink as this person did for their safe shit and they got blasted for it....and then this person proceeded to call me a cword and accused me of condoning their abuse by proxy of me saying " I don't think antis are inherently evil, actually".

I get it. When you put up with harassment from people touting their selfdeclared fandomom as some kind of badge of honor, of COURSE I understand turning your back on everyone who calls themselves that same thing! That's just, like, a survival instinct. You don't want to be reminded of your tormentor(s) because you really shouldn't have to be reminded of your tormentor(s) while you're browsing fandumb inbetween school or work. You want to keep your tormentors at bay so no triggering shit ppl are romanticizing or covert bigotry someone's hiding under the language of criticism to get in the way of your vibes when this is your fandom and your space to be creative and unwind and be you. I really get it.

The problem is, and the reason I DON'T put up with antianti or antiproshipper shit, that's labeling a whole lot of strangers inherently bad over not having the exact fandom takes and conflating that with your legitimate ethics of outing predators and bigots...THAT is what's shitty.

I know for a fact that not all the people who tag their shit #proship even fully agree on what proship means. I know they are not all predators or even don't care about predators being in their fandoms. Trust me, they care. Some of the #antiship folks I know are the most lax mf w it comes to content warnings, horror, kinks and nuance and also really hate call out posts and want to avoid them as much as they can. I know they are not all self-righteous prudes and bigots trying to get kink out of pride or some shit. THAT SAID- if I haven't already seen creepypredatorybs from proshippers or bigotedbully-tactics from antis, I can definitely believe those things exist in those spaces. But again, those behaviors exist whether or not a person uses these self-given labels. You shouldn't throw your hands in defeat anymore then your shouldn't declare yourself the sole liberator.

Blocked the proshipper-stan I was of talking about because I kind of don't like being called a cant and told I'm okay with death threats...just like I did the antishipper who was sending me death threats that same day =). I know I don't have to deal with that bs and I'm glad I took that advice from a mutual abt my own personal boundaries.

Call out shitty behavior all you want, but the absolutist-rhetoric is not healthy and, more importantly, not doing anything to help people being abused by fandomculture anymore than you were when you first got accosted for disliking a thing that made you upset/liking a thing that made someone else upset. You gotta share your fandom with everyone so long as they're not bigoted, abusive or predatory. And yeah, I kind of reserve all those notions for people I can tell ARE doing those things...so, y'know Lily Orchard.

[itsclydebitches]

I'm honestly surprised the fandom never talks about how, similarly to Hazel, Yang's Semblance is incredibly tragic. She gets stronger from pain, specifically, but we see on multiple occasions like losing her arm and getting k-worded by Neo were too much for her. As much as controlling her rage was portrayed, I'm disappointed the show never explored this aspect of her character.

Yeah I really dislike that line (and I don’t think I’m alone) because first of all, does Yang feel the hits? That would imply that aura doesn’t protect from pain which, frankly, we haven’t really seen. Sure, the characters grunt on occasion while taking a hit, or sometimes need to reorient themselves after a particularly brutal attack - think Ren getting slammed into the pillar by the deathstalker and Nora shouting in alarm - but for the most part the characters treat the extreme violence they endure as something they can, literally, walk off. Which I’ve always attributed to aura. After all, if it’s basically a magic shield protecting you from the real damage, wouldn’t that protect you from most of the pain of the real damage too? If someone hits my shield I might stagger under the force of the blow, maybe deal some generalized pain just from the effort of maintaining that, but I shouldn’t feel it like I would if they’d hit my actual body with the same amount of force. That's why things like airbags exist.

So we have the aura situation, but even if we ignore that and claim that all the characters are fully experiencing this Legit Horrific Violence on the regular, then... why is Yang special again? I mean okay, she feels the hits she takes, but so does everyone else?? The only difference is that Yang gets to do something with that energy, whereas everyone else has to just take the pain as is. Framing Yang as someone who suffers from taking hits is really weird when every fighter ever is going through the same thing. I’d feel differently if her fighting style involved deliberately putting herself into painful situations in an effort to get a power boost, but that doesn’t happen. Yang dodges and blocks as much as the next teammate, only coming out with a badass powerup when she unintentionally gets hit (think Roman's mech battle and fighting Junior). Yang gets punched by a mech and Weiss gets punched by a grimm infested knight. They both deal with whatever level of pain that produces, except Weiss doesn't reap the benefit of collecting that energy and Yang certainly doesn't go out of her way to snag more. Hell, I’d say Nora takes on more deliberate (potential) pain in an effort to get stronger, what with Jaune ordering her up on mountains to catch lightning and Ruby hitting her unaware with electricity bullets.

Then we come to Adam. I suppose the implication is that he “doesn’t feel it” because he has to absorb the energy through a weapon, not his body, but good god, that’s a HUGE downside! Adam’s semblance is useless if he doesn’t have something to redirect it with, whereas Yang is never without that benefit. An enemy can literally never disarm her because she always has that boost in her back pocket. So sure, Adam doesn’t have to take a punch to his skin (or aura, whatever) to reap the benefits of that energy, but he sure is in trouble if he looses his sword--as we saw. I’d take the pain over that awful downside any day. Plus, how is this any different from a semblance that just doesn’t involve pain, period? For example, take Weiss again. Imagine Yang going, “She can create glyphs and summon allies without suffering for it first? That’s cheap.” As you point out, very few other characters have to deal with a negative in order to reap the positive aspects of their semblance (and then there are people like Qrow who don't have much of a positive at all), but Yang isn’t claiming that this is a problem for any of them. Because, you know, they’re the heroes. It’s only “cheap” when you’re the bad guy.

Now toss in the fact that NO ONE has control over their semblance and Yang is trying to equate a random bit of genetics with morality. (And I don't even want to get into the potential implications tied to his faunus heritage...)

Now also toss in, as you say, her following up this claim by winning the fight with her nerveless arm. What’s that? Fighters should make use of every advantage they have? Oh right, again, only if they’re heroes. It reminds me of the group's claim that it’s cowardly to fight 3+ vs. 1... right before they do that to Ironwood and then later Cinder. The characters only care about fairness in a fight when it benefits them, otherwise yeah, they understand the importance of doing whatever it takes to win.

Honestly, this is another example of RWBY just having the characters say things that supposedly sound cool and #deep without putting any thought into it. It’s purely surface stuff that falls apart the second you poke at it. Adam is bad, so Yang can make comments about his semblance that sound appropriately damning. Don’t examine that, just accept at face value that the hero of this situation will inevitably speak the truth.

[aizenat]

Here’s the thing about Meg and the allegations. So like as her lawyer pointed out, this person didn’t ever file any harassment complaints either to Megan or anyone else. Now you can argue “who would he complain to” but Meg had been managed by Roc nation since 2019. Even before she blew up with Savage. So like he could have complained to their hr so there was at least a record of it.

But he didn’t. So, seriously, when did Megan get a chance to know she was making him uncomfortable?

Like I feel like ppl need to really realize that celebrities are NOT like us. They may put their pants on one leg at time like us but they don’t live like us. AT ALL. Wild and crazy parties with things we couldn’t even imagine, all types of drugs everywhere, orgies and kinky sex galore: the real lives of the rich and famous would have even the more liberal of us clutching our damn pearls.

Just like with the Lizzo case, everyone is down to party until the party stops. Especially when the party stops because of their own actions (those backup dancers were obviously bad employees who got mad they got fired for not working the way they were supposed to). Then when the party stops, they want to expose the craziness of these celebs lifestyles, KNOWING it’s supposed to be an industry secret. You want to know why a lot of celebs will go quiet or distance themselves from ppl who get these accusations? Because they don’t want the truth of what THEY get up to to also come out as a result of someone else getting outed. Ppl like “weird she told the cameraman not to say anything” like it’s not well known that anyone working with Beyonce on anything has to sign an ironclad nda and speak no evil they see. And the connection plus the money is more than enough to incentivize them to keep their mouths shut.

This guy and those background dancers got good, cushy gigs and fumbled the bag and now have to go this route after trying to extort these women didn’t work. And they both existed in a way where it’d be hard for them to get another similar gig without a good reference. And if they didn’t leave in the best terms, that’s similar to getting blacklisted. And honestly no one will want to work with them after these lawsuits so they have nothing to lose other than time by filing these lawsuits and almost everything to gain if they win or (more likely) settle out of court.

Megan herself is not a business or company, and likely didn’t hire this guy formally. And if she did, he likely knew beforehand (either was told or quickly learned) what all he’d see and be taking pictures of. And especially if he was partying with Megan, he knew what would be going on. He’s a fucking liar.

Also, America is an at-will employment country (outside Montana lol). Meaning an employer can, technically, fire you at any time and that’s their right. But it also means that as a worker, you’re allowed to quit at any time (meaning no employer can force you to stay on once you decide to quit). He wasn’t forced to do anything he didn’t want to do. If he was uncomfortable, he could have filed a complaint with Roc Nation or her old label (considering the legal issues they were having, they would have LOVED to have that to hold over her I’m sure).

He worked for her for like 4 years! When the Tory stans were dragging her, he could have came out with this to bury her. When Nicki was having a meltdown, he could have brought this up. There were so many times where Megan was getting so much hate or dealing with so much shit and he could have given her enemies ammunition then. Why not then? Why now? You spent four years watching her fuck ppl and whatever and you apparently had a huge problem all those years and never said anything?

Megan’s entire persona is she a freak. I’m supposed to believe this photographer, this MAN, got a job following her around taking pictures of her and he was surprised and shocked to see her fucking in front of him? Yeah ok. Like use your brains ppl. What makes more sense: a group of young people excited to travel the world and be as freaky as they want having fun and wild parties that sure get crazy but that’s the point, or this young woman on the come up with no real power or foot in the industry yet hiring a photographer to only professionally take pictures of her in professional settings but she’s so evil and crazy that she couldn’t help but fuck ppl in front of him and viciously harass them.

Just a note too: funny how similar these accusations are to the accusations against Lizzo. The body shaming accusations against both women is definitely a calculated choice to purposely denigrate and undermine these women as they are both known for being body positive.

Also the “hostile” work environment in very non-traditional situations; both cases use situations outside of the work setting to try to argue that the artists created a hostile environment. But like you didn’t have to go to a strip club if you were so against it. You can say “well they had to for work” but no you don’t. There was a kid at my last job who was aggressively against doing anything outside business hours with the company. He went to zero company outings, never went to the holiday party in all his 10+ years of working there, refused to have anyone from the company be a friend on fb or any social media, never went to the company picnic, etc. People didn’t even know if he had siblings or whatever because he was determined to keep work and private life separate. And that wasn’t even close to the reason he got fired lol (he was constantly late/called out all the time so it finally caught up to him lol).

My point is that if these ppl were so against the lifestyle, why do they seem so into it until they get fired/are no longer able to collect a paycheck from these celebs? You on tour, go to your hotel after a performance. No one is forcing you to the strip club. You don’t want to be around someone who drinks a lot and gets freaky when she does? Take another car to where you’re staying and leave her to her antics. There are so many pretty big names on entertainment who don’t party and aren’t on drugs and shit; if they can figure it out, I think these employees can too.

And this to me is the tell tale sign these accusations have no merit. The things they always list sound like things friends do when hanging out. Going to clubs, drinking and making out with people. I’ve been at parties with ppl making out in front of me. I’ve drunkenly made out with a girl while a friend was awkwardly standing off to the side; shit happens when you put a bunch of young people in hot rooms with alcohol.

Like the work environment (for Megan; there are a few claims from the Lizzo case—tho not the ones directed at her but at her company and choreographer—that I do think have merit) claim this guy is trying to make is weird because you first have to establish what was work and what wasn’t. I used to go on outings with my old coworkers outside of work, and I wouldn’t blame my company if one of them did something to offend me or whatever. As a photographer, I would assume you’re taking pictures in very specific circumstances. So if you’re partying outside of work or having lunch outside of work, anything Megan does you claim you don’t like isn’t a work related issue.

Similar to the stripper story from the Lizzo story (also, learning that story supposedly happened at Crazy Horse is WILD for a host of reasons that invalidates the claim even more imo), going out after work isn’t required. And they can say pressured well they want; they’re grown and if Lizzo tried to fire them for not going, THAT would be a major HR violation and terms for a lawsuit right there. It’s so obvious in both cases that these ppl were down to party and got mad when the party stopped. They got a taste of that celeb life and got drunk. They wanted more. They didn’t want to return to their regular lives. So maybe a lawsuit would get some money to keep the party going.

The music industry is particularly shady. More so than the tv/movie industry. And these ppl are barely hiding it these days. The little bit we see we can bet the reality is that to the ♾️ power. And anyone getting into music knows that and has to decide how they want to navigate it. The very nature of these lawsuits and their allegations seem less about someone seeking justice (like we see in cases like, let’s say, the Diddy lawsuits) and more like someone trying to tear down a woman’s reputation.

Because with Diddy and R Kelly and the sort who get called out on these, it’s rarely a shock. Few ppl in general are living entirely separate double lives; that shit would be exhausting. Ppl been knew about Kelly; people been knew about Diddy. The lawsuits and documentaries and shit just exposed what we already knew/suspected. And based on their personalities and personas, there’s no real reason to doubt it.

But with these, notice how the accusations are not just surprising giving the nature, but how they specifically contradict the image the celebrity is portraying. Lizzo doing fat positivity but she’s actually not fat positive to others (despite making a point to hire big dancers but sure). Megan is all positive but she fat shamed me and told me not to eat! She’s so mean! Funny that.

It seems to me that these ppl have a vested interest tearing down these women’s reputation and shaming them. Or, at least, are leveraging their reputations to get some payouts, assuming they’d rather do that then fight this in court.

Also, and idc who hates this, but Johnny Depp, a man with a known and long recorded history of violence and drug and alcohol abuse, was able to convince the world his mostly unknown wife was the one abusing HIM by twisting moments she was trying to defend herself against her. And the world fell for it. Many still believe it because they didn’t do any real research, nor looked at the unsealed records that mostly support what Amber claimed. And it worked because ppl love to hate women and will find any reason too. And people have beef with Megan for unhinged and loser reasons. Meaning they will jump on this to vilify her immediately. And that’s what this asshole was banking on. That’s what all these people are banking on: that our hatred of women will lead to us harassing these women the way the world did Amber and get them to yield.

Johnny Depp started a trend of men (and the gender traitors) filing lawsuits against women to attack their character and force them to do what they want. And the threat is obvious: give me what I want or end up blacklisted, hated, and ostracized like Amber. And because everyone hates women, you idiots will fall for it every time.

Believe women means you believe them even when they’re being accused. Y’all are really not ready for real female solidarity. We’re never making it out the patriarchy.

[yuukei-yikes]

Tell us about Shinaya’s breakup :D

HEHDJEIDNEKFJEKDKEK ive had this ask since i posted i was thinking abt it MAN i cannot express to u i just. I WANNA WRITE A FIC SO BAD but AUGH im so bad at it it makes me cringe i cant do that but its basically like all my damn posts together u know. i keep thinking of shintaro's disastrous relationships post str going from ayano to kano to takane etcetc sorry im playing with him like a stress toy making him go thru hell but its so fun

srry i dont wanna have to rewrite a lot of stuff so erm im liking this answer 🫡🫡🫡 and i could link a bunch more just so u SEE MY VISION... but i think linking that is enough. ON AND OFF SHINAYA MY BELOVED

shintaro and ayano sort of having this ridiculous relationship because both are hurting and jumped in a relationship too quick but fighting/being sad about stupid shit is so much easier than dealing with their actual issues that they've got with themselves. like focusing on each other and what they don't like about each other and their relationship is so much easier than crying about how suicidal they are. lollllll SO LIKE this insanity sort of saves them at the same time??

i mean the most ideal would be that instead of getting together they got therapy and the normal kind not the relationship kind. you know. but also theyre traumatized and ugh. its so much easier to resent each other than themselves. its so much easier to be petty. its such a relief to cry over relationship problems than over timeline resets or dead parents and etc. YOU GET ME?????

they keep breaking up and getting back together ridiculously like it is 1000% so dramatic each and everytime. ayano crying her eyes out like its the end of the world and shintaro making 100 sad playlists. and it happens at least monthly. the first time everyone's like WHOA THEY BROKE UP!?!? SHIT!! the second time its like heyyy maybe they'll work it out like last time!! third time its like are you joking. fourth time they're already begging them to stop. by they i mean the dan but especially takane by the way. who do you think is picking up the pieces.

and by the way the one breaking up all the time and being dramatic as hell is shintaro. he gets angry and annoyed and weaponizes the LETS BREAK UP thing because he DOESNT MEAN IT. like he knows he and ayano will work it out later. he gets comfortable again. not to get on the ayano surviving thing, but i think ayano (and hiyori but especially ayano) making it out alive undoes a big part of the message abt moving on. like i love her so im not complaining thats i love having her alive :3 but i like to translate this into shintaro like. he's intensely trying to repress/process all the memories of the other timelines to cope and have a normal life and ends up being this way because he's sort of self sabotaging himself. like ayano's alive and she likes me??? lol. ok?? ill wake up any moment now!! and he feels guilty and undeserving and is sort of a dickhead to her in an unconscious attempt of keeping her away because that's what he deserves according to him. also why he's accepting of takane's intense obsession with him lol bc she's familiar and she is comfortable, unlike ayano who is so rare and one in its kind in all the timelines. he is sort of terrified of her in a way.

the lets break up isnt rly a breakup. its just a leave me alone see u later. LOL i think we talk too much abt kanoshin bringing the worst in each other but what about shinaya. they do that too. yeah we CAN have fluffy shinaya. but like i said it is so easy to focus all this bitterness and sadness into each other and it's so relieving to be sad and angry about this rather than everything else. because this is sort of in their control while everything else isn't, wasn't. and its so unfair. of course its unfair!! but they cant do anything abt it. so they just go crazy on each other. ayano is DESPERATE to be needed. i could link more replies but i will hold myself back. basically her siblings are used to being alone/know she has her own problems and ayano is dealing with this emptiness and feeling of failure bc no one needs her, from her perspective her sacrifice still failed to save everyone, her parents are gone so she needs to step up. like she puts herself under all this pressure and feels Not Good Enough for ANYTHING. and she is dating shintaro.

it's EASY to bother him and try to get him to open up and etc so she ridiculously focuses on that. but it gets on shintaro's nerves to say the least LOL plus all his other issues i mentioned 🫡plus she keeps being like we have to be normal. lets kiss and hold hands and cuddle. but she's too embarrassed to say it/do it and shintaro is even more pathetic about it. so theyre both frustrated about everything and can barely even sit next to each other without acting insane.

AND SORRY BUT I WILL TALK ABT TAKANE🫡💞💗💖💝💕💘ofc. codependent shintaka. of course. it drives ayano CRAZY because on top of all their problems takane is able to talk sense into shintaro each and every single time. and she is soooo jealous like she knows its stupid but she cant help ittt i ALSO TALKED ABT THIS SORRY I KEEP REPEATING MYSELF IM JUST SO CRzy abt it. hehe......the whole mess bringing drama to harutaka too bc shintaro and ayano are so messy theyre contagious is so fun to me. when it comes to shintaro and takane's horrible relationship both their romantic relationships suffer for it but deal with it completely differently. while both haruka and ayano deal with jealousy somewhat, ayano is so hurt and already at the verge of a mental breakdown so she's focusing so many negative emotions on it and AGAIN it just serves as another point of argument between shintaro and ayano while haruka is like. his mental state isnt as convoluted as ayanos, he's rather freaking out and terrified of being left alone. THIS IS ABT SHINAYA so i wont get into harutaka side but lol. heh. Looks at it. zooms in it. like what i mean is that haruka and takane talk and work through it and are like sighs yeah...this is messed up while shintaro and ayano are using it against each other instead of working on it LMAO

ANYWAYS. ayano breaks up with shintaro. vine boom. total breakdown moment like everyone out of the room i wanna talk to you alone. and this time its for REAL. like ayano isnt confrontational at all, all their arguments are always her being pushy abt idk mental health and shintaro's like godddd STOPPPPP and ayano crying and shintaro being like I CANNOT DEAL WITH THAT. IM SORRY I GUESS. CAN U GET OUT OF THE ROOM. WE'LL TALK LATER. but he also sucks so bad at letting the other person know they can count on him so he kind of assumes ayano will do it when she's ready because he KNOWS she's in pain. like. ofc it could go well. ofc shintaro and ayano could work through everything with kindness and comprehension for each other but they're both so sad and suddenly find themselves annoyed at each other one time and it felt so freeing to do that that they just keep doing it. especially shintaro. having ayano be mad at him is sort of relieving because he feels undeserving of her and its like yeah. Yeah!! i know its ooc but shinaya screaming match.god. sorry but all their bottled up emotions abt everything and they take it out on each other for no reason other than theyre giving each other the space and it plays out that way. theyre acting crazy about something so stupid like shintaro not wanting ayano to wear his clothes or whatever. like they scream about that but its not about that. it just feels so good to scream. it feels so good to scream and let it out even if they haven't given themselves the time to process that theyre not... actually screaming abt that at all. theyre screaming about everything else. not even about each other. its about themselves. its always been.its never been about each other. when it is, its stupid. thats why they do it. its just easier. God. they were just not ready for a relationship, especially not one with each other out of all people.

ayano breaks first, therefore dumps shintaro lol. he goes thru his own fucked up arc afterwards while ayano gets help. my man spirals DOWN. whether they get back together or not depends on my mood 🤨 but if they do, its by the time theyre in their mid twenties or something so a few years later LOL i picture them dating like for over a year maybe?? when theyre 18/19. hehe.

like. do you get it.

[raayllum]

just want to say thank you so much for appreciating season 4 so much tdp <3 i dont really understand why it is so disliked;  not without his problems, but still sweet, sad and thoughtful

Yeah it's like... 4x01-4x02 is the only time the show is presumably going to have any time for anything remotely resembling filler, which the previous three seasons also had some brief shares of (1x05, 2x04, honestly 3x01 for how much its two plotlines are drawn out the whole ep, and Rayllum's plot line in 3x02). So just like those filler eps, early S4 spends time getting us re-acquainted with the bulk of the main cast (everyone but Rayla really) and the ways they and the world are either different now, or have stayed the same, i.e.

Corvus and Callum have more than two lines of dialogue with each other, Soren is fully integrated as a crown guard, Ezran is being king in a very Ezran-y way (both good and bad), Callum is the same but also fronting and much more serious, and Claudia's stability is hanging on by a thread. Then 4x02 kicks off the plot for Claudia's side of things, and technically also for Callum (and Rayla) with Rayla's arrival, but 4x03 has to accordingly deal with some of that fallout. Claudia's actions directly kick off the plot, and then it's travel and stopping Aaravos time from 4x04 onwards (which again, is structured very similarly to 1x01-1x03 and 2x01-2x03 being the Castle / Moon Nexus arcs respectively). 4x04 gets the audience caught up with the fanatics (S4 is the first season to actually explain what type of elf Aaravos is - a Startouch elf - that he's ancient, etc etc), and Claudia and co. are also given what they need (Sir Sparklepuff) to be set into motion.

As you can see, I don't think the plot of the season bothered people (something if not multiple things are established every episode) but I do think people found some of the character interactions lacking. Which - I'd rather have people be awkward and unfair and not entirely honest with others than themselves and acting like people than anything else. Claudia can be awkward with over sharing (per usual) and Callum can be shut down (it's an interesting character turn and not an entirely unexpected one).

Like I genuinely feel bad for people who were disappointed or didn't like S4! It sucks when a show you love has a bad season you didn't enjoy, and it's not as though that's never happened to me. I just think I've typically either 1) borne it better, 2) got over it and looked at what the show was trying to do to, or 3) saw it coming ahead of time and left, lmao.

Like S4 of Infinity Train is really good but not nearly (to me) on the same level of S3, yet I know people how prefer it, and yeah - it does come down to preferences. JWCC S4 feels like it lost sight of what the show was (a simple fun premise executed very well) by adding in too many elements; I didn't make it past ep3, and the previous season had wrapped up 90% of what I was emotionally invested in anyway and works pretty well as a total finale. TDP wasn't this, as there were still a lot of loose ends following S3, and I think S4 carried them on just fine as well as setting up so many interesting things ahead (much the same way S1 did, and kind of to be expected when Arc 1 was so wrapped up). Getting to see the characters (somewhat) enjoy peace while not knowing the events were in motion to see it all come crashing down was a great sense of dramatic irony, iMO.

Anyway, I loved S4 plenty when I watched it for the first time, and I love it even more now! It's my 3rd fave season, which considering how much I adore and have nostalgia for S1, is saying something. If this is the show's 'lowpoint' I can't think of how even more incredible it's going to be