#like I said it’s just my opinion based on enjoyment you don’t have to agree

[cosmicjoke]

i’m the red flag question anon! i have no intention to start a fight so just tell me if you’ve had enough… (also this has nothing to do with gabi or levi hate, i love them both) i don’t understand your point about art. yes it does engender empathy and understanding, but it doesn’t morally bind us the same way real life does, because it’s fiction. if you play monopoly with friends, do you feel bad about making them go bankrupt? no, it’s fun. characters are the same in my opinion. it’s a game of imagination. you’re allowed to not feel the need to protect a child because no child is actually harmed, and it doesn’t say anything about your empathy or lack of empathy. you’re allowed to dislike a character just because you don’t like their haircut, you don’t even need a better reason than that, it’s fiction, it doesn’t hurt anyone. you can feel empathy and understanding for a character who does bad things because they’re interesting, and it doesn’t mean you want to do the same as they do. you can dislike a character even if they’re kind without disliking kindness. i understand that if people actively hate on gabi or levi and come pour their hate on a blog that doesn’t, it’s rude. but disliking levi isn’t enough to make someone cynical. nobody has an obligation to like him just because he is defined by compassion and kindness. it’s not a moral flaw to dislike a morally good character. i agree that the way we respond to characters says a lot about who we are as people, but i don’t think it’s in a linear way. you don’t respond to characters exactly the same way you would respond to a person. it shows what interests and questions you rather than how you act and what your qualities are as a person

I disagree. Certainly, you can dislike a character for any number of shallow and ultimately meritless reasons. But then the question is, why. Why would someone actively dislike or hate a character for something as shallow as what they look like? I'm not talking about general disinterest or ambivalence, I'm talking about conscious dislike and hate that manifests in negative discourse about that character online. It says something about the person, what the reasons are for their dislike and hate. And when that dislike turns to active aggression against fans, when it leads to the active harassment of people, then it becomes evident to me that it's driven by something deeper than some simple, surface level dislike based on shallow prejudice. If someone is deliberately seeking out fan blogs of a character they supposedly dislike or hate and sending that person hate messages about said character, that goes beyond being "rude" and turns into bullying, which I shouldn't need to explain, if you're bullying someone online and on social media, it's a safe bet to assume you would do the same to people in real life. It speaks volumes about a person's character, that they would harass and actively attempt to antagonize someone for liking a specific character. I've never seen anyone offer a legitimate reason for hating Levi that went beyond the most petty and shallow of reasons, i.e. Levi is now a "cripple", Levi lost in some popularity poll to Eren, what a loser, Levi is short and ugly, etc, etc... These are absurd reasons for hating anyone, and if they're to be taken at face value, speak to a kind of character totally lacking in empathy and compassion. They're attacks based on arbitrary characteristics, and the consistent and constant utilization of them is routinely and obviously employed by certain individuals in an attempt to make fans of Levi miserable and to destroy any chance of actual enjoyment they might find in engaging with the fandom. Most attacks on Levi are disingenuous and only rooted in the desire to make people in real life unhappy. However, if someone is genuinely willing to be so judgmental toward anyone for something so meaningless, fictional or otherwise, if they truly believe what they say, that they find Levi to somehow now be "lesser" because he ended up in a wheelchair, for example, or because he's short, or because he isn't charismatic, etc, etc... if they truly believe that, then I wonder what exactly would recommend them in real life as a good friend or person to want to associate with? So either you have people attacking Levi for things they don't actually hold against him, but like to use as ammunition against his fans with the sole aim of ruining their day and fandom experience, or you have people who genuinely believe it's legitimate to dislike or hate someone based on something as meaningless and arbitrary as their physical appearance or lack of outgoing personality, in which case, you have someone who's clearly deeply prejudiced and shallow in mind, and again, there's nothing to recommend them as a person anyone would want to know or associate with in reality.

And then you have a third option, which is people who, if they genuinely dislike or hate Levi for who he actually is as a character, meaning a character defined by and driven by empathy, then you're dealing with something more malicious still. Someone who is genuinely turned off by and hostile toward a character for being a good person. Someone who dislikes or despises what Levi represents within the narrative of the story itself. And anyone who feels that way about Levi should probably engage in some self-reflection and ask themselves why they're so turned off by and even threatened by a character who only wants to help people. I don't agree with you at all that our responses to fictional characters don't in any way indicate or reflect who we are in real life or how we might treat others in real life. People expose their biases all the time while discussing fictional characters and works of fiction. They expose their inner feelings and subconscious inclinations. If someone thinks it's okay to badmouth Levi for being disabled, chances are, that person is also likely to mistreat a disabled person in real life, consciously or not. If someone thinks it's okay to badmouth or victim blame a character for being abused, then chances are that person will do the same to a real life victim of abuse, again, consciously or not. Oftentimes, these people, while speaking so ill of fictional characters, are completely unaware of how it sounds and what it exposes about themselves, and it's indicative of a general lack of awareness on their part, which is very much a real life character flaw which doubtless spills over into their everyday, actual comportment. Someone so totally lacking in introspection is, generally, a very toxic person to be around. And those sorts of inclinations and prejudices and views, whether you want to admit it or not, can have very real world consequences. How you treat people online can have very real world consequences.

I don't think many Levi haters actually fall under this last category. I think most Levi haters are just assholes who are insecure and take that insecurity out on other people. But it still says plenty about them, that they do. They're okay with harassing other people and trying to ruin their day, simply for liking a certain character that they've deemed unworthy, for whatever inane reason they come up with. It shows them to be absurdly insecure, shallow and petty people. And if their reasoning is actually rooted in truth, and not simply an expression of some shallow prejudice, but an actual, substantial criticism of Levi's character, in particular, if they really believe Levi to be a fundamentally unlikable or repulsive character, based on his core characteristics, then, yes, they prove themselves to be deeply cynical and hateful human beings. Because why the hell would anyone hate Levi for being a good person, if they themselves aren't a bad person?

So either you "hate" Levi, or engage in hateful rhetoric about him because you simply feel insecure about yourself and are threatened by his popularity, because you enjoy making other people unhappy, or because you really are just that stupid and shallow, that you think hating someone for their looks is legit. Or because everything Levi stands for, compassion, kindness, empathy, nonjudgmentalism, grates against your own core characteristics and causes you to rebel against him. In either instance, like I said before, you would have to be an actual asshole to qualify for any of these scenarios.

[ravenmichaelisstuff]

"Better late than never" Part 10

Painting nails

Soap’s sister was constantly sending the Scot photos of nail art, she was really excited to start her own small nail studio and wanted to hear her brother’s opinion since he was the only one, other MacTavish that was into art. Soap loved every single design he got sent, but also didn’t have anything to compare it to. He struggled with giving an honest opinion or criticism because he couldn’t compare it with anything. 

He tried to paint his own nails but his right hand always looked way worse no matter how much he tried to steady his left hand. He would also scrape off the nail polish right after it dried since he liked to fidget with it. He needed a model.

His obvious first thought was Gaz since he seemed like the only person that would agree, but then Soap looked closer at the sergeant's hands and it was evident that Kyle’s way of dealing with stress was munching on his poor nails.

Asking Price wasn’t even an option. John was already walking on thin ice with the man after he found out about the mess he and Ghost made in the kitchen so he preferred not to bother the old man for a while.

He didn’t know Konig or Horangi long enough to ask the casually if they wanted to have their nails painted and he was also aware that Konig could bear his obnoxiousness only for a short period of time. He was never mad about it, Konig is always so nice to him but his social battery visibly drained faster when around loud people.

The only two remaining options he had were the cadets or Ghost, and even if he had higher chances of succeeding by asking a random rookie, he preferred to at least try to nag Ghost to let him do it. 

WWWWWWWWWWWW

Soap and Ghost were assigned an evening guard in one of the watch towers around the base. For Soap it was probably the most boring duty he could get. He hated watching over the empty fields for hours knowing damn well that nothing would happen. Not that he wanted the base to be attacked, he just wished he could be doing something more thrilling. 

Despite the fact that Ghost was usually rather content with guard duties, especially that as an officer he didn’t get it very often. For Ghost, it was an enjoyable task, especially with Soap. He was well aware that MacTavish was a ball of sparkling energy and sitting in one place wasn’t his dream activity. But it was nice to just have him at his side, bouncing leg and all. He wished he could put his hand on Johnny's thigh, not because it was annoying or anything like that. Quite the opposite actually, Ghost wished to feel the energy surging through his sergeant.

“Ghooost…I have a wee request fur ye” Said Soap in a small voice.

Ghost closed his eyes and took a deep breath, bracing for whatever ridiculous thing Soap had in mind. “What is it, sergeant?”

“Would ye let me paint yer nails?”

Ghost looked at Soap, brows pulled together under the mask. 

“Nothing too extreme Lt. I just want to mess with nail art a bit for my sister Blair- the one ah talked tae ye aboot.”

“You talk about all of your siblings, and I counted at least 3 sisters.”

“Ye counted well.” Soap smiled at the fact that Simon actually listened to his constant family gossip. “She is th’ one opening a nail salon. I wanted to send her a photo of nails done by me and I need a model. My left hand is tae shaky.” Soap looked at Ghost expectantly. “And if ye don’t want me to take a photo- I won’t. The experience alone will be-”

“Ok.”

“-enough– Wait, come again?”

“I said ‘Ok’, what are you deaf now?”

“A little bit, yes.” Soap chuckled to himself. “But ah just thought it will take more to convince ye.”

“You want me to change my mind, Johnny?” 

“Not at all, I will clam up now.” Soap focused on the field again, smiling to himself.

“I didn’t tell you to shut up, Johnny.” Mumbled Ghost after a while.

And Soap couldn’t help himself to not look at the man with sparkles in his eyes.

WWW

After Gaz and Gromsko came to switch shifts, Soap told Ghost to go to his room and wait for the Scot while he grabs all the things he needed.

So there Ghost was, standing in the middle of his own room not knowing what to do with himself and wondering why the fuck did he agree to this so quickly. It felt like his mouth had its own mind that wanted to desperately sabotage him.

It’s not like Ghost didn’t want to have his nails painted, the idea of it seemed appealing and there was a time when as a teenager he wanted to do it himself. His father wouldn’t look kindly at it so finally, he never did it.

And fuck, now his hands are scared and rough, the only thing they are good for is bringing people pain. He realized that he never took off his gloves near Soap, what if he sees his hands and thinks they are disgusting?

Ghost rubbed his gloved hands together, squeezing and pulling on every finger in a nervous manner.

The doors to his room opened.

“Ye have no idea how excited ah am, Lt.!” Soap’s voice pulled Ghost out of his mind. Johnny looked so… cheerful. It eased the lieutenant a bit.

“I can see you are.”

Soap tossed a bag on Ghost’s bed, it landed with a clattering sound. Soap followed after the bag.

“Come on Ghost, ye can’t change your mind now.” He tapped the space in front of him on the bed. 

They both ended up sitting crisscrossed on the bed, knees touching. In the space between them lay the bad with colourful nail polishes. It wasn’t a lot, but still way too much for someone who picked up nail art only for his sister.

Johnny cared so much for the interests of others.

Ghost kept his hands on his thighs, playing with a loose thread in his jeans. Soap reached out with an open hand for Ghost to put his palm in.

Soap noticed Ghost’s nervousness, he knew him long enough to see past the mask. He didn’t know the reason for the anxiety though. It didn’t matter because Soap made it his mission to make this experience soothing for Ghost, and he will cherish the moment Ghost takes off his gloves. He will cherish the trust Ghost gives him, more and more with each day they spend together. If only he will let him.

“There is no point in doing it if you don’t want to, Simon. I was joking with the ‘You can’t change your mind’. But I swear I will try my best if you allow me.”

A slightly jittery hand immediately appeared in his.

“I am not changing my mind.” Ghost whispered, looking at their hands.

“Good.” Soap squeezed Ghost’s hand and proceed to take off the gloves.

 Ghost held his breath when he realized that his hands were dirty- he didn’t have time to wash them after a mission. There was dirt and blood under his nails, a couple of cuts with already dried blood. Ghost couldn’t look at Soap, afraid of the look of repulsion.

“I should go wash my hands-” He wanted to get up, but the grip on his hand tightened.

He looked at Soap and instead of disgust, he saw pure adoration in the sergeant’s eyes. Johnny looked at his hands with so much warmth he was sure he could replace the sun.

“Don’t worry about it, I have antiseptic wipes.” Soap pulled them out of his pocket and started to carefully wipe Ghost’s hands.

Simon’s hands were scared and calloused- hands of a hard-working man, a soldier. His fingers were long, and some of them crocked slightly probably as the result of untreated fractured bones. There was the tiniest beauty mark at the base of his thumb that Soap uncovered from all the mess. His hands had a slight shake to them. But what’s most important- they fitted perfectly in Johnny’s and he loved them.

He didn’t realize when he started to rub soothing circles into Ghost’s palm. Soap looked at Ghost. The man had closed his eyes, trying to burn into his memory how Johnny’s hands feel on his- gentle and caring. Ghost forgot that touching people could feel like that.

Why did whatever they did always feel so different?

“Did ye think about what ye want me to do?” Soap broke the silence.

“Just black will be fine.” 

“Of course.” Soap chuckled. “What about black n’ white? Let a man go a little crazy, huh? I want to draw something.”

“Fine. Don’t you dare to draw a cock or anything stupid or I will put you on bathroom cleaning for a week.” Warned Ghost.

Soap snorted. “Not what ah had in plans at all.”

Soap got to work, he never worked on something this small so it wasn’t his best work, but he did what he could as well as he could. 

“Sorry.” Simon muttered noticing that the constant small tremble in his hands made Soap put nail polish on his skin.

“Nothin’ I can’t fix, don’t worry.” Soap nudged Ghost with his knee. “Are they always this shaky? Just asking.” But Soap was slightly concerned about it, Ghost saw that.

“No just…”

 It’s mostly like that because you are around, and I just don’t know what to do with myself sometimes. I am not used to touching, good touching. And now you are just here, so close. I don’t know how to deal with the constant desire to be near you. 

“...Stress I guess. Happens in our line of work.”

“I get that too sometimes, but people don’t notice. I am kind of fidgety all the time as if you didn’t notice.” 

“I can tell the difference.” 

Soap smiled. “Of course, you can.”

When Soap was done Ghost had his nails painted black with skulls on his thumbs and middle finders.

“In case ye want to flip someone the bird, ya’ know.”

Ghost smirked under the balaclava. “It’s… nice Johnny. Thank you.” he never thought that he will be able to admire his hands again. but there he was. “Are you taking the photo for your sister?”

“You ok with that?” John perked up.

“If it’s just my hands, I don’t think I mind your family.” 

Ghost is not getting rid of those nails until the nail polish doesn’t chip off on its own.

BONUS:

To Blair >:3

Soap: *sends the photo of Ghost’s nails”

Blair: No, put the nail polish away. I can’t have you out best me at yet another thing!

Soap: I just wanted to see how it is! What do you think?

Blair: It honestly looks great, better than my first attempt.

Blair:Wait- WHOSE HANDSOME HANDS ARE THOSE???

Blair:JOHN MACTAVISH WHO IS THAT???????

Blair: I AM TELLING MOM.

Soap: NO U DON’T YOU MUPPET IT’S MY FRIEND!

Blair: MHM Suuuuureee.

YOO! I might have gone a little bit overboard with this one but I got really into it. Really enjoyed it and I hope you will to. I love reading all the feedback <3 Prompt from @u5an5 <3 I would also like to thank all the amazing people that make art and expand my little stories. Makes my heart swell <333 there is a hashtag bltn soapghost fic where you should find most of the parts

[survivalove]

hello! hope you have a good day! I love reading your meta.

as a fan of Katara, can you please share your opinion about the TSR episode? I love Katara very much, but this episode has always caused me discomfort, as if Katara's grief was used to hastily close this hole "zuko has redeemed himself and now they are friends." it seems to me that Katara and her grief (as well as Sokka's grief!) deserved a better attitude than to become a bargaining chip "we will write a hasty episode to redeem Zuko and will not return to this topic anymore." Yes, I understand that this episode is firstly dedicated to Katara, but it always seemed to me that it was written without due respect for her.

so I wasn’t gonna answer this because you mentioned voldemort but then like a hypocrite I broke my own rule and replied to an idiot so here it is:

while I think the premise of TSR is egregious I don’t think the episode as a whole is ruined because of it. I actually think it’s the climax of Katara’s entire arc as it builds off from multiple moments not just about her mother, but her as a bender, her power and always remaining in control of said power. not to mention all this time, she’s confronted and helped persons that have been oppressed throughout the war and now seeing someone who oppressed people for most of his life, of course inflicting unparalleled pain on her, but not letting him own that power and reducing him to (figurative not literal!!) shreds. very good stuff.

so yes, i enjoy it voldemort aside, however comma: the premise is indeed quite horrible.

i agree, the writers definitely used katara and sokka’s trauma as a means for this very middling redemption arc after 3, just as bad if not worse, episodes of the same stuff IN A ROW.

katara getting yelled at for not being so forgiving like everyone else, and then sokka’s trauma being used as a means of information for a trip he wasn’t invited on???

(can we be real for a second and admit that sokka and katara should have been the two persons on that trip in the first place?)

next up, my favorite line:

forgiveness is the same as doing nothing!

coming from the person that literally begged for forgiveness from every other person in the conversation, including katara hhhhhhhh

and then the racist comments to boot like 😭😭 may i remind you once again the premise is based on him needing to earn a genocide survivor’s forgiveness so of course he (the writers) couldn’t help himself and had to make fun of the other genocide survivor! he makes it so easy for me to be a hater.

(can we also talk about how some people like to frame this as him defending katara as if 1, katara can’t defend herself?? which she did and 2, didn’t need to be racist to do it???)

and then you have the sokka discourse which pisses me off because most people that harp over that line don’t even like him like that, and trying to pick and choose which sibling is correct when talking about their mother’s death?? both of their opinions were valid and it’s a reflection of their core personalities: sokka is pragmatic, rational and logical. he didn’t agree with aang because he suddenly adopted pacifism, he agreed with aang because yon rha no longer posed a threat to him and his loved ones and to him, confronting him wouldn’t be worth the effort or ease the pain of kya’s death. meanwhile, katara as we see throughout the show, dives headfirst into doing whatever she thinks is right (imprisoned, painted lady, waterbending scroll) she wasn’t concerned about the logistics, she was concerned about the principle and of course, having to essentially replace her mother’s role made her feel more tied to her death at large. one mean comment throughout sixty one episodes does not define her relationship with sokka. pretending otherwise is just annoying.

after that, i find the episode pretty enjoyable i can’t lie to you. getting kya’s story told and witnessing the satisfying climax to katara’s arc (which is far superior to anyone else’s in my opinion) makes the rest.. almost worth it.

[lil-princesshil]

I'm no expert, but what's the difference between peeing and getting excited and squirting? sorry for the question, bye kiss

I don’t think tumblr is the right place to answer this. People are going to get angry at my answer I think. But if you don’t mind asking again, I could answer it on here 🙃

Edit�� decided to actually post the answer here. Because whatever.

Thank you for asking me here instead of tumblr. This is going to be a long one and a people might disagree with me. If you don’t agree with me, that’s okay, you’re absolutely entitled to your own opinion and thoughts on the subject. But please please please don’t argue with me. I’ve heard every argument and you’re not going to persuade me.

This is based on my experience, my play partner at the time’s experience, her experience making other women squirt, watching her make other women squirt (she was talented af) and what a gynaecologist said when I asked them.

I’m going to preface this with: if you enjoy what you do, your partner enjoys what you do, then it doesn’t matter either way.

If you are asking what is the difference between peeing and what the women in porn that gush and call it “squirting” do, there is literally no difference. However, there is such a thing as squirting, but it’s different than what you see in most porn.

Here is why: There is no part of the female anatomy that can hold that much liquid and expel it with that much force other than the bladder. (Info from gynaecologist)

Let me run through the arguments that people have given me:

“Its clear! It doesn’t look like pee!” - have you never been so hydrated that your pee has ran clear?

“It doesn’t taste or smell like pee” - again well hydrated where you’re basically just peeing water.

“But it tastes sweet!” - that’s a porn star trick. When porn stars squirt on camera they obviously need to be well hydrated to be able to pee that much (just ask the squirt queen herself, Lola Jean, who has revealed she is peeing on camera)… well they use pedialyte. And it has the interesting affect of making your pee taste sweet.

Lastly: There was also a study done in 2014 where they measured the bladders of people that can “squirt”. They got them to squirt and measured their bladders afterwards. And guess what - there was less liquid in their bladder 🙃

Now that I have gotten that out of the way…

Women and people with vaginas can squirt. Females do have prostate tissue and other glands that can secrete liquid. But they’re a lot smaller and can’t hold a ridiculous amount of liquid (from gynaecologist)

Squirting looks a lot different than what you see in porn. 1) it doesn’t come GUSHING out like that, there isn’t that much force 2) a lot less comes out 3) it’s kind of this clear kinda milky looking liquid. (This is what happened to me, and what I saw from other women and what my play partner at the time had witnessed) 4. It feels very different than peeing (for me at least) I never got the “urge to pee” that a lot of women report.

Now… that being said… I can cum and pee at the same time. It’s difficult because it’s hard to play with myself, not pee, and then cum. When I do cum and pee with a full bladder it’s not controllable. I can’t stop myself from peeing. So, it is possible that some people with vaginas are confusing when they pee and cum at the same time for squirt. Which is completely understandable since porn makes us think squirting means bucket loads of liquid. Not only that, but if feels really amazing.

And I’ll reiterate: honestly, who really cares as long as it’s enjoyable for someone and their partner? Does it really matter at all?

As for the porn stars, cam girls, and those with an onlyfans that call what they do squirting - get your money 😍😍😍 do your thing.

[f0point5]

i defo agree with what you said abt wf1 not gaining enough traction to be as enjoyable but what did you mean when you said you can't make the f1 grid half female without destroying the integrity and fabric of the sport?

i don't mean it in a bad way i just didn't quite get what you meant

We all like to pretend F1 is based on merit, right? Obviously we know the money to get to F1 is a barrier, so is sponsorship and all the other politics, but we like to believe we are looking at the 20 best pilots in the world. If not the best there could ever be, at least that all 20 would be in the top 40, ya know?

I don’t think 10 of the best pilots in the world could conceivably be female. I’m not saying none of them would be, but men have a physical and probably a chemical advantage when it comes what is required in F1. It’s not a level playing field, so the distribution of the top pilots will never be 50/50 in my opinion. That is not to mention how karting at every level is male dominated and that isn’t because of sexism, the natural ratio of girls to boys interested in karting will always lean towards boys.

To make the grid half female you’d have to throw merit completely out of the window and put the women in via a quota. And that is not and never has been what F1 wants to be about. So you’d basically be unravelling the sport, and it would have no credibility. Because you can’t call it the pinnacle of motorsport when half your grid wouldn’t have earned their place there.

Again, do I think it’s possible for a woman to be on the f1 grid on merit theoretically. But I don’t think they will ever approach the numbers of driver that are men if they were ever to compete in regular series.

[das-gelelenk]

So I read the first chapter of your Cedric x Reader fanfic and came to share my thoughts.

I will say, I'm not too fond of x Reader, I'm more about reading about characters instead of being one. That being said, I liked that there was an effort to include other characters from stf, and I actually got invested from how the fic was formatted as a genuine stf episode.

I don't want to be too critical of the portrayal of some of the characters, but as a Roland enjoyer, I felt your portrayal of him was quite decent until it came to Cedric. I'm not sure at what point the story is supposed to take place in besides being between Great Auntventure and Day of the Sorcerers, but I feel that Roland being unhappy about Cedric coming along doesn't feel in character. At most points in the show, Roland is shown to not mind Cedric, let alone with Sofia. Cedric's Apprentice was an episode where Sofia literally became Cedric's apprentice so he could help her for a test, and Roland never once objects to her being with Cedric. I think Roland doesn't have as big of a gripe as people think because he's more disappointed at Cedric not being able to do magic than him as a person overall.

That being said, I love how you wrote him as someone who respected Sofia's wishes and let her bring Cedric along to the carnival. That is very much like Roland to see that Sofia likes something and sets aside his biases for his daughter. I can understand headcanoning Roland not liking Cedric as a person, and It's not something I'd agree with, but I absolutely agree with him respecting his children and their wishes.

As for the royal family as a whole, I didn't expect them to take as much of a focus as they did, and it was a pleasant surprise to have the children interact with Y/N. In fact, the format of the fic was so creative, with the royal family being so involved, I found myself being invested more in that than the x Reader parts. That's just me liking things not involving Cedric more because of how focused he is in the fandom. I wanted to talk more about the other aspects of the fic because I think people would find these elements such a treat.

While the royal family isn't THE main focus, I found Amber and Miranda to be a bit weird as characters. The fact I preferred the writing for James over them says something. With Miranda, I felt she wasn't a character like everyone else. The only role she seemed to have was as a mother and nothing else. The way she didn't have as much of a prominence as the others bummed me out. And it's not that she had to have a bigger role, but I felt myself questioning where she was.

My thoughts about Amber are based on my opinion, but the way she was written felt mixed to me. There were parts where she felt like Amber, like her excitement at getting her fortune told, but her being interested in whether she has a spouse?? I don't know, I personally don't think she would be too interested in that, or at least would be more interested in other aspects of her future. Plus the "I AM EASY" part caught me off guard. That part with the part before of Amber eating fast but elegantly did not pair well. It felt like Hildegard core.

These are just my thoughts though. I really enjoyed reading this fanfic despite some parts I didn't jive with. I would recommend it for anyone who likes a storyline with their smoochies with Cedric rjdbhdidjdjdjrj

Thanks for recommending me this fic /g /vpos

I ain’t reading all that I’m happy for you tho or sorry that happened /ref

No but seriously thank you so much for writing all this 😭😭

First of all I always try to make my one shots feel like they could more or less happen in the StF canon, so I’m glad it works!!

Regarding Roland, I know that you love him but I don’t necessarily like him that much. I think he’s okay most of the time, I just hate him for fun lmao (that’s probably why I wrote him as less likable than he actually is)

About the characters overall, this was my first piece of StF fan fiction and when I was writing this I hadn’t finished the show yet (I was maybe at the beginning of season 2) so the characters hadn’t gone through all the development they had to go through yet, and I guess I didn’t have that good of a grasp on their personalities. Now that you point it out, looking back Amber was never boy crazy so I agree that that bit doesn’t make any sense (😭), and yeah I guess Miranda ended up being just… mom.

All in all thanks for the feedback! ❤️❤️

[persephoneflouwers]

Angie, I am kinda new in the Larrie fandom. I get this that all the so called gfs are actually stunts and all that promo narrative. But could it be possible that Louis is really the father? Why would he drag a child into a stunt for this long. It's not like he's not had a long term stable relationship on the side. Why the need for this extra coverup? I guess maybe he could be the father afterall. Maybe some surrogacy shit was involved. Could it be possibly?

Hello, angel! Merry Christmas ✨

I am going to take time to answer this, because I don’t want to say things that can be misinterpreted. First thing first: welcome to Larryland! It’s fucking nuts, ngl. Secondly… I get where you are coming from. I get it, really I do. But guys… shit happens all the time. I know we like to believe life is easy and people come with high morality and good at hearts. I know that would be incredible if the world wasn’t indeed populated by greedy men who will find any possible solution to make their plans work. I know, I see why many people like you have the hardest time digesting babygate.

I’m not here to convince you on this, because we are not here to bear the pain of this on our shoulders and you should always find yourself navigating what’s comfortable to you and if this is not a safe topic for you to enter, then don’t do it. At the end of the day, you are a fan of his music not of his gossip agenda am I right? Believe what makes your staying here more enjoyable.

There are plenty of timelines, masterposts and stuff explaining why nothing around it makes sense. Have a read, if you want. What wasn’t real 7 years ago isn’t real now just because they keep doing it. It’s funny how blogs handle the discourse actually, because many times their points of discussion are going nowhere. We know nothing. Let this sink in: we. Know. Nothing. We don’t know who is running it behind the scenes. We don’t know in what extent the people who play pretend are actually involved. We don’t know who thinks what. We don’t know who is gaining what and who is not. I’ve seen people talking about trauma for the kid and what not. But seriously this is dangerous territory and there are so many things to say. But we can’t really, cause we don’t know.

I know it feels gross to have a child involved in this, but how is it worse than coming up with this in the first place?

Mind you. This is not Louis’ fault. You will never see me saying that. Ever. When you are part of the wrong mechanism, in the wrong environment, with wrong people behind your back… it’s so easy to get trapped into a mess like this.

The bigger the bait, the bigger the fish.

And we are common people, their rules don’t apply to us. Try not to use your knowledge of society and common sense for big multimillion dollars companies who will literally sell their souls to the devil to help their business rise. There are fields where there is no ethic for the workers and for the consumers (music being one of them). I know your next question is why they would agree to this, is it worthy? I can’t answer to that, because it’s not my call. It’s not my life, my dream, my job. Based on the person I am, I would never do it in the first place, but I am me.

I strongly believe (for now at least) this was their way to buy Louis out of that nightmare of a major label and I bet it wasn’t the only one clausole of the contract (include here no radio support, no huge promo, no media or other kind of important support). But this is just my opinion. I don’t have any proofs or tools to act like I’m right. And as a kind anon said I’m just a “doctor of idiots at best” lmao

I don’t know if this replies to your question, but no, angel, Louis doesn’t happen to just have a baby with a random american girl after he broke up with his fake long lasting girlfriend in the meantime a potentially dangerous rumour about his queerness and gay relationship with his also rumoured to be gay ex bandmate could ruin not only his band career, but their (Harry’s mostly) solo career.

Edit (because I misunderstood the question maybe): A surrogacy was involved for sure. Think of the fertility clinic sonogram we got last year. I just do not think Louis was involved. Why would a 25 years old boybander want to be involved after all? Looking for a baby’s surrogate mother instead of trying to fix his relationship with his gf of 4 years and then start a family with her? Doesn’t make sense not even for a rich person imo

[seeingteacupsindragons]

In your opinion, what are the most basics of basics to look for when analysing a piece of media (be it visual or written)? In other words, what's your framework for analysis, and how do you flesh out your interpretation of a work? (By the way, your blog posts are wonderful and informative and I for one am happy to read them, regardless of the length.)

Thanks, Anon! I'm hoping this one will be worth the read to...anyone. And it's taking way longer than expected, so hopefully in that regard, too.

Now this question.

This is interesting, because I don’t think what I do to start is necessarily the best way for a beginner to start, for a lot of reasons, some related to my own personality and some related to the fact that I have just been doing this for a long time now. That is, I’m not sure the way I start framing things to myself is really dedicated to the basics—I think a lot of people with experience in something are kind of that way. At some point, the basics become second nature.

Analyzing a piece of media really starts with critical thinking and critical close reading. And while these are important skills, they’re not skills everyone has or everyone is taught. I don’t know if I would even know how to teach these properly, but I do hope that my blog posts giving advice, analyzing things, laying out my thought processes and evidence as it were, is helpful in that regard. Especially when we’re talking about something maybe a little sillier and more accessible than things you might read in school. Enjoyment is an important part of getting good at anything.

So first, you start with what’s actually in the text (“text” here referring to the actual material contained in the piece of media). It will be easy to connect it to other things in other media you’ve seen or your own ideas because humans are pattern-seekers, but it’s really important to try to discard a lot of that, especially when you’re getting started.

The text is the text, and while it’s definitely going to get connected to other media and culture because no text can stand on its own, beginners especially and people who aren’t being careful will draw lines that aren’t necessarily strong, good, or accurate, just because It Seemed Right at the time. And then they might get attached to something pretty wrong.

This is a thing that happens. Finding good connections and comparisons, finding meaning in things, takes a lot of practice and experience and exposure to different kinds of things. But it’s very important that those connections are rooted in something in the text, that there’s a real reason for something. That it makes sense in context of the work itself.

…Kind of. This obviously doesn’t apply to the kind of fun reinterpretive fan work that isn’t actually trying to say what a piece of media says. Like. It just does not matter if fanfiction or fanart or shitposts or whatever are rooted in canon. Some people (me) prefer that, some people don’t, and it doesn’t really matter. But if you’re trying to read and analyze something, it’s important that the text is the focus. All of those connections that get drawn? Those are interpretations. Those are analysis.

And some interpretations and analyses are just. Stronger than others. Some are simpler. If I say William is blond, that’s an interpretation based on what the word “Blond” means (to most English speakers, blond would be something like “having hair with a yellowish tone”, but even just slightly adjusting that definition can include or exclude a lot of things). It depends on my determination of what color William’s hair is (not all cultures or people will draw the lines between colors the same way, as they all actually blend together in a spectrum and lines between the definitions are arbitrary). But me saying William is blond is an interpretation that…well…I think…just about everyone who speaks English would agree with.

This wouldn’t be an interpretation if, say, a character explicitly said, “William, the blond man—” because then it would be a thing in the text. But because William’s hair is a visual cue, turning it into words is an adaptive, interpretive action. So it’s important also to remember some interpretation is happening just because humans need it to communicate anything.

And remember, too, that sometimes multiple interpretations are valid. Me saying, “William is a redhead,” is…uh, not a valid interpretation. But if William happened to be strawberry blond (he is not), that probably would be.

There are multiple lenses to view things through, and there’s often multiple things a piece in canon could mean. You know how some people have told me they really like how I try to cover multiple angles of a topic? That’s because a lot of them are valid, even if I have specific ones I’m more attached to and believe in more. My preferring one interpretation doesn’t make another wrong. The interpretation not being rooted in the text makes it wrong. The interpretation being connected to something else that’s misinterpreted makes it wrong.

So. Start with what’s in the text. Try to look at it as clear-eyed and clear-headed as you can before trying to figure out what it means.

And that brings me to how I start my framework for meta: I actually really need a thesis statement. I need a point. I need something I am trying to say. Mentioning a list of things that happen, or a list of symbols connected to a thing just…doesn’t do it for me. I don’t see the point.

This is hilariously not at all how I write fiction, but shh. This is why I have notes and notes for meta, and why I go off the cuff with so many long meta posts based on asks that give me something to focus on.

But my analysis posts tend to be about, “This is how this piece of media uses this trope, compared to how it’s used in other media,” or, “Here is an interesting way that this media decided to convey this specific thing!” or, “Here is a really interesting theme in this media and all the ways it comes up.” I need to know what I’m saying before I can really do anything. I need to know what my topic statement is. I need a thesis.

Now, this works for me because I am very good and realizing these theses at least sort of accurately from the start. But it also works because I have a number  of posts saved on my computer that will never be posted because as I wrote them, I realized I was just plain wrong, or couldn’t really back up what I was saying, or the argument seemed weak to me, or I didn’t really end up having a point.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t want to embarrass myself by posting that, nor do I want to really share a bunch of bad and weak argumentation with people who might buy into it. I am good at setting things aside and I try to be good at realizing I’m wrong. I have practice doing this and analyzing my own writing to be able to do this. I appreciate corrections most of the time, and I try to edit posts when I fuck up.

A lot of beginners might get caught up in the “I did a thing! I wrote it! Let’s share and convince myself it’s great!” because that’s what excited beginners do. Which is fine. You have to be bad at things to get better at things. But it’s also good to learn how to filter your own wheat and chaff.

As for how I flesh out my analysis ideas: well, I think about the thing I’m analyzing as a creator and a writer myself. I prefer a genetic approach to literary criticism (note: this is apparently harder to google than I anticipated, having learned it in university, so: a genetic literary criticism angle is one focused on the author and their intent and process), and I really like to consider what the author was trying to do and how well it worked and why they might have done a thing. What their cultural context is and who they are. What they probably didn’t consider. Those are angles that really fascinate me, and I find them most useful, because it’s helpful for me to grow as my own writer.

And, I really like character stuff and thematic stuff because it’s my favorite things to write. I’m trying to get better about writing things about pacing, structure, etc. because I’d like to focus on it more myself.

Annnnd now I have written over 1k words about how to approach this, but it’s something I’ve been doing for a long time! It’s something I studied how to do in college! It’s something I think about a lot!

I have a lot of thoughts!

[it-me-butts]

Clearly we can see that Butts the mighty is into FS, and I admit most of my FS fics are a direct result of that, but the question I have is what got you into them in the first place, and your favorite thing about the ship!

Thank you for asking, my friend. I hope I can give you a good enough answer and I won’t be boring you with the long version.

Why I love Frosen Steel… I mean, solely because it’s Frosen Steel. They are best girls and they deserve to be happy.

I’d say the vol7 finale got me into Frosen Steel. I already shipped the components of FS separately. The finale was the last push to help my brain combine Whiterose and Nuts and Dolts into one ship. In short, my over active imagination got me into shipping it I guess.

If you’d like to see the long version, you can see it below. It is my own opinion and it’s totally okay if you don’t agree with it. Be warned, it is mostly unedited word-vomit. (That being said, please don’t come after my ass. I’m dumb, ok?)

On one hand, it’s wholesome af. I just think the moody(traumatized) one having a soft spot for the sunshine(equally traumatized) one trope is pretty neat.

There are three girls who all are under intense pressure from society and/or family. Speaking of family, have you ever imagined them, all coming from families that are limping in some way. And their intense desire to have a full, functioning and happy family? Even if it’s you, your two wives and an approx. of 10000 pet fish and every stray animal your wife sees on the street?

But back on track here: They share a mutual sense of this specific kind of alienation/loneliness (in my opinion, but yours is just as valid as mine).  Just think about it, Penny is an outsider from society, because she is synthetic. Weiss have been alienated from people through wealth and upbringing (I mean, she has a massive case of better-than-youitis in the early volumes). It’s not hard to see Ruby being the weirdo of the class with her hyper specific interests and tendency to chose staying in her comfort zone when it’s about people (at least in the early volumes I think she still has that tendency, but she got better at masking it). And she was moved ahead 2 years to attend Beacon! Tell me about feeling out of place in a new environment.

Also, you could also say all three of their values are hard based on the deeds and things they can offer and the use they can be for others. Penny is commanded by Ironwood, Weiss has her father to terrorize her and Ruby could have been one of Ozpin’s ace up the sleeve (you can’t tell me he didn’t intend to brainwash her into throwing herself in harm’s way so Oz would have a few extra years trying to figure out a plan against Salem). It clenches my heart to think all three of them had to grow up prematurely.

On the other hand, I’m not known for creating angst, but just think about the angst opportunity. (I’m not talking about vol8 finale. I don’t acknowledge it happened until I get further explanation from canon).

I have a whole alternate timeline in my head for them. Let’s venture into shippy head cannon territory, shall we?

Imagine early volumes Ruby with her high energy, must impress Weiss vibes. Of course Weiss has none of it, she’s too classy and prissy for that. I’d like to think Weiss would like to have honest and kind reactions for Ruby’s friendship and awkwardness. (At least after her conversation with professor Port.)

But coming from an abusing/neglecting household, I think she doesn’t know how not to react to most of Ruby’s antics other than rudeness sprouting from panic/not knowing how to manage her reactions. She’s doing her best to warm up to Ruby but if you’ve been there, you know how damn hard it is to change a kneejerk reaction at that scale. And I think she resents herself for that? Or at least for my own angsty enjoyment, I think so.

And in comes Penny. She’s someone who matches and even over achieves Ruby’s awkward energies. Of course they’d get along flawlessly. When you’re an outsider and find someone vaguely similar to yourself, it’s like finding the place on earth you belong to. Would Weiss see this and recognize this? Heck yeah.

Of all the heartaches, the cruelest is the one that makes you feel like you could have been the one, but in the end, you are not enough. So Weiss decides it was silly of her to think anything of it and lets it slide. After all, she promised to be the best teammate and not the best friend/girlfriend, did she? So she sticks to what she promised. Would this help Weiss come free of her unhealthy habits? Not likely.

Let’s jump to after the fall of Beacon. Just imagine how Ruby and Weiss found solace in each other during their grieving and dealing with survivor’s guilt. How it could have been no flashy, lovesick, grandiose gesture like in romantic movies. But it was a gradual process, a relationship built on mutual understanding. I can imagine how tender and sweet it could be. But make no mistake; it most certainly is not a fragile thing. (Rivals to friends to lovers trope, my beloved <3)

And now. Think how Weiss could have felt arriving to Atlas and learning about Penny, how confused Ruby could have been about her feelings. I don’t want to pull the Penny got amnesia because of her rebuild and acts like Ruby and she are a couple, thus hurting Weiss. (I’m not on board with the amnesia trope, but whatever floats your boat, you do you.)

So here we are: we have a massive catastrophe brewing.

Ruby, already burdened with so much bullshit because of all that’s happened in the last few years, is now stressed out about not knowing what to do. Remember, she is still an asocial dork with a love for weapons and a tight circle for comfort zone.

Weiss would be prematurely nursing her broken heart, her insecurities already plaguing her. I’ll die on the hill of Weiss having a whole baggage of them. I doubt she ever had any meaningful relationships aside of her sister, who was most likely always away because of military stuff. Her parents are not a good example how to resolve relationship conflicts either.

And Penny… Sweet Penny. Time stopped for her for about 2 years? We don’t know for sure how much time passes from the fall of Beacon and her actual rebuild, but boy…. Imagine how awkward it would be for you to see your (only) friends again. (The only people who actually see you as a person and not some dictator general’s robot.) And instead of enjoying each other’s company, there’s this constant underlying stress and tension.

Until they magically resolve the situation. (Whether it’s a peaceful and levelheaded conversation or a heated argument that turns deep real fast is up to you, reader.) We’ve seen Weiss and Ruby yell and fight with each other. The same amount of energy, but put into open and honest communication could do wonders with a relationship.

Imagine how it could be Weiss’ time to shine and do her homework on how to manage a healthy poly relationship, how she’d work her hardest to be her best self and how she’d bust her ass trying to be the support Ruby bottling-up-my-trauma Rose would need.

 I’m dying with the cuteness thinking about how Weiss and Penny would start tentatively, then discover how much they have in common. I really think they could work amazingly despite being so different in their personalities.

And that’s what I love. I can imagine them starting rocky and then slowly working their way through it, doing their best to make sense of it all.

I love how much potential they have together. You can just look at them and go “oh, they look so neat together”. These characters are whole on their own and they are even better together. You can also make up the wildest, most alternative timeline shit for them and have so much fun and heartache doing so. I just love that.

My most guiltiest pleasure is thinking how FS would form quietly in the background, while BY steals the spotlight. The idea of BY being cute and lovey-dovey and you just see PWR in the background, obviously going on a date and you just wonder “when the fu-“

[drifloonz]

hmm.. do you have any favourite Pokémon/Poképasta characters? If so, what do you like about them? Or.. if you could make your own Poképasta character, what would their concept or design be? Or name in general, you don’t have to do a fully fleshed out backstory for them. Orrr, what’s your favourite thing about being on the internet or being in a fandom?

i... to no ones surprise, reaaally like steven. glitchys up there, but i think his og pokepasta sort of sucks ( which is not an unpopular opinion ), but strangled red ( specifically strangled red, strangled and doors open are... neat, but sort of badly written and way more stereotypical ) is just... mwah. chefs kiss. stories about grief and abt a depressive spiral that gets worse and worse AND you get to see how he was like before it? soo good. you can argue the missingno plotline in it was unnecessary which i could agree but i think its just cool more than anything else, esp since most pokepastas based on gen 1 use it or other glitches in the 1st gens for horror a lot, which i think is interesting. missingno can be many things!

i like to think logically that glitches and stuff in game prob exist in the pokemon universe as well, since... well.. pokemon can be turned into data. you put them into the pc. missingno likely just exists and is a heavily corrupted pokemon that is not supposed to be there, or a glitch that the pc or something made real.

therefore, miki probably was "healed" because missingno "filled" her "missing data" or something like that, but i like to keep it more vague and ambiguous too. you can do a lot with strangled red and steven, miki, and mike too which just intrigues me. once again read lessons in guilt and grief and faulty on ao3. they explore this and steven, mike, ( and daisy who doesnt get enough attention ) in a way i 100% agree with and enjoy .

as for other characters i obviously enjoy glitchy but i much more enjoy the like... post-fnflull version of him cuz' in his original popularity he was just sort of prettyboy red who was also a creepypasta but ppl barely drew him like he was one ( i like fnf lulls interp bc of how his body constantly stutters and how when hes irate his mouth just stretches and shit like that. gmod ragdoll with broken physics ass mf ). also as said before his pokepastas sort of forgettable but i do like the concept of a red stuck in a game self aware bc im allll for that shit. i am an IHNMBIMS fan, i love AM, i love self aware AIs that feel trapped and take it out on every1 else or cope with it in Some Way... very interesting concept, idk.

honorable mentions for pokepastas that ppl prob know that i do not talk abt a lot that i like the writing or concepts for are DISABLED and Hell Bell.

hell bell you could argue has a stereotypical 'pasta ending of "ooooh you die in the game you die for real" but idk i eat up the way they did it in hell bell bc the person doesnt die but they sort of do since nobody can see em anymore ( iirc, i hvent read it in a bit ). also uses gen 4 which as someone who started mainline games with diamond and pearl respectively, i enjoy that a lot.

for DISABLED, its not super deep or scary or anything ( ok well its scary for the narrator obviously ) but its another one that just sorta makes me feel bad in all the right ways.

i have concepts for pokepasta aus of my ocs and some side characters but they arent pokepastas theyre just like... ppl who live in the world ( of fnf lull usually since i like to think everything there is connected and coexists somehow ), but i am not original to save my life so i dont think id make an actual pokepasta anytime soon, lol. the closest i got was making a super horrible choose your own adventure where you played as a cubone on deviantart when i was like idk 9

as for internet and fandom stuff, i dont associate myself w fandoms or fandom terminology and unironically i just start to call myself an "enjoyer" of things, bc i dont like being associated w anything... fandom oriented a lot of the time anymore. a lot of fanonization of characters also sucks. i do think the pokepasta fandom has some funny fanonizations though. like yes dilfify that man ( @ steven )

also esp for pokepastas bc i have Hyperfixation Shame. its why i have a sideblog for it, both so it has a concentrated place to go and so no one knows i like it enough to write abt it lol

thank u 4 asking :]!

[thetaekookcloset]

Hi! For transparency sake, I want to say that I am a Jikooker and I like to read other ships blogs to broaden my views on how others perceived certain duos. I came across your blog recently and I like your levelheadedness when approaching asks that are different from your views. I’m one who thinks that people/shippers don’t have to believe the same things and I enjoy reading about why people are passionate about their own ship even if I disagree in thinking there’s romantic potential there. My enjoyment halts when I come across people putting down members in favour of their ship or anything like that. Your blog seems far from that (to my knowledge) because it seems like you respect the other members even though Tae and JK are your faves. My question is how do you feel about the overall ‘reputation’ that Taekookers have as being the ship full of conspiracies about the company and Jimin preventing Taekook from happiness. I hope I am not coming across as rude because I don’t intend to offend or look like I’m a Jikooker “starting shit” on a Taekook blog. I am genuinely curious on how Taekookers who are nice and respecting of others feel when the louder more toxic Taekookers actions reflect badly on them as a whole. This ask is not to say that Jikookers/other shippers are perfect people with no toxicity in our/their ships because that’s not the case, every ship has bad apples. I ask this because I regularly see the public opinion (which includes non-shippers and non-Army’s) compare Taekookers to Larrys or say that they are the most delusional ship. I try to put myself in the shoes of cool Taekookers who don’t align with that behaviour and I would feel annoyed if I were lumped into that negative opinion that some people have on Taekookers. I saw a thread of non-shippers on Twitter basically agreeing with this post and I immediately thought that the cool Taekookers don’t deserve to be seen through that lens.

Hello and welcome!  Thanks for sending in such a respectful ask.

The short answer to your question is yeah, it’s frustrating for me sometimes lol.  I wish I could just brush it off and not care, but for me personally, that’s always been something I struggle with.  Especially if I put a lot of thought into something, even if other people don’t agree with me, it stings sometimes to see that effort and those thoughts brushed off as though they’re completely useless, based on the actions and beliefs of people I don’t know and don’t agree with.

There are a lot of Taekookers out there who either don’t think very critically about what they’re being told, or who see things through an overly simplistic lens, and there are definitely some who take things too far or bring shipping into spaces where it ought to be left out of.  I get that there are a lot of “us” who are like that, probably more than for other ships, though I would imagine that’s just because Taekook happens to be the most popular.

It annoys me to see that from Taekookers the same way it annoys me to see it from others -- in fact, probably more, because it’s frustrating when I know I’m going to be associated with them, and also because, in my opinion, no one needs to lean on false narratives or stretched truths or outright falsehoods in order to see the real possibility that Taehyung and Jungkook could be in a relationship.

As far as I’m concerned, there’s plenty of true, factual evidence to support that idea, so it does frustrate me when other Taekookers eschew that evidence to instead talk nonsense, and I do know that happens, I see it often myself.

That said, it’s also frustrating to have all of us immediately lumped together as though we’re a monolith who all believe the exact same things, because just like ARMY is itself not a monolith, neither is any one subcategory of it.  So like I said, it does grate on me to know that the real evidence is brushed aside by non-Taekookers, and the real analysis and genuine thoughtfulness of some Taekookers goes ignored and dismissed, just because a certain faction of people who also happen to like Taehyung and Jungkook, and might think they’re together, are ridiculous about it.

Those people’s actions and beliefs don’t automatically mean that the whole idea is absurd.  It’s like, I don’t know, assuming that everyone who believes in Santa make up all of the people in the world who like Christmas, and then disregarding the entire holiday as being fake just because of that.  Lol I have no idea if that metaphor works at all, but hopefully you get what I mean.

Anyway haha, at the end of the day this is just one topic of millions on the Internet and it doesn’t really matter if people agree or disagree, and if people are going to look down on me for seeing something between Taehyung and Jungkook that they don’t see, that’s their prerogative.  In my opinion, they’re missing out by doing so.  So I just try to keep to my own little corner where I can chat about what I like, and try not to let it get to me too much while I enjoy myself and keep supporting BTS because I genuinely enjoy and care about all of them.

I hope this answered your question!  Thanks for giving me a chance to address some of this stuff lol, and thanks again for being respectful and kind, it’s appreciated!

[treesap-blogs]

(yes this is abrupt shh) Some thoughts on “The Dragon’s Promise” by Elizabeth Lim!

Hello, Tumblrians! Due to my delay on my Gilded Ones review, I didn’t conduct a review for this book after I finished it. Oops. Hence why I’m publishing this in such a short period of time after my Gilded Ones review, as I had most of that prepared beforehand but I’m just typing this one out of my arse in the hopes I catch up with my reading records.

Whilst I may not have it documented on this blog(everything I’ve read is from January 2023 onwards), at the end of last year I finished reading Six Crimson Cranes. ‘Twas a solid book! (I did make an extensive review for it on a Padlet for my school dedicated to reviewing stories available from our library, though! I wish I could share it without being doxxed because then y’all would have more context!) Shiori’s character growth felt very earned, although I can’t say that I was 100% happy to see it under the circumstances she was in. I’m a sucker for fairytales too,  which is why I adore the fantasy genre to pieces (I am trying to branch out though), and the inspiration integrated into the story was pretty neat even if I’d never read The Wild Swans by Hans Christian Anderson. With that said, it still chose to forge a path for itself, and besides having different cultural influences in its world unlike the European origins of The Wild Swans, carried things out a bit differently narratively. It was appreciated, as someone who only needed to read the summary of the tale to know how it ended and didn’t want every plot twist and final word of Six Crimson Cranes to be spoiled to me as a result. Plus, even though I rated it 4 out of 5 stars, it not-so-steadily climbed up my mental ranks to become one of my favorite books. (Again with that “my personal enjoyment of a book is sometimes different from the rating I give it, which I base off of objective quality”.) So as you can expect, I picked up The Dragon’s Promise with zero hesitation after I saw it in a local library and clutched it with glee.

So as you can expect, I picked up The Dragon’s Promise with zero hesitation after I saw it in a local library and clutched it with glee.

I was a little bit disappointed with it, though. I had seen a review a few months ago, before I’d read Dragon’s Promise, saying it suffered from “sequel syndrome”, and couldn’t quite capture the lightning in a bottle from the first book, and it’s a sentiment I agree with. So much happened in this book, but it also feels like so little did too. And in an action that I think is supposed to be emotional, we have to say goodbye to a lot of the elements and characters we grew attached to in the first book. We only got to have one book with them! And now in a world with so much going on, but where everything now moves at an alarmingly quick pace, I didn’t even feel that sad. I just felt disappointed, like I was cheated somehow. We were introduced to all of these characters, and now we have to say farewell to them so abruptly. This issue also, in my opinion, stripped the plot of its permanence. 

I think the worst part of this though is that I don’t think there will be another book to fix the Sequel Syndrome present. Everything is wrapped up here. It’s a duology, soon to be a trilogy with a prequel book coming out about Raikama, but Shiori’s story is done. That realization probably hurt me more than most of the events within the story. I wish this could’ve been a trilogy, the pacing would work so much better.

Spoiler section! This does cover mainly Six Crimson Cranes content. So if you haven’t read that, tread lightly!

So the main issue I had with the book in my Padlet review for it was that I felt that Raikama, or rather Channari if we feel like using her real name, being revealed to not be the main villain after everything she did to Shiori and her brothers felt..strange. Her motivation was confirmed last-minute as she was dying, and they pulled a Darth Vader where they redeem a character with a sacrifice they make that leads to their death.

Sure, there were some memories that hinted at her not being as evil as our protagonist originally thought she was, but they felt more like trying to humanize a villain than foreshadowing the true events of the book? Yes, I get she messes with memories and stuff so we can’t have that much, but I found it convoluted that the explanation for this not being built up very well was because she was so scared of hurting Shiori by being close to her that she completely brainwashed her into thinking she was terrible. And then Shiori had that realization while being burned by that other sorceress or somewhere close to that point (forgot her name but it started with a Z?), and, fine, if we had more time to dig into Raikama’s character while she was still alive, maybe we could’ve seen what got her to be so desperate. But we didn’t get that, and the demon king got defeated by an amateur sorceress like..one book after he was introduced. This is when I start REALLY WISHING THIS WAS A TRILOGY because MAYBE WE COULD SEE MORE OF THE CATASTROPHIC EFFECTS THAT GOT RAIKAMA TO BE SO DESPERATE TO PROTECT HER KIDS AND SAVE HER FROM THEM THAT SHE DECIDED TO CURSE AND TRAUMATIZE SHIORI AS WELL AS PUT SHIORI’S BROTHERS IN AGONY😭😭BRO😭

(Being burned at the stake and technically dying a book later is pretty bad though. Maybe I’m being picky here. Parents who might be reading this help me out???)

Even though Dragon’s Promise essentially expanded onto what I disliked the most about Six Crimson Cranes (the..entire time), surprisingly though that was not the thing I was most bothered by. It was literally the pacing lmao. At some point I just got desensitized to Raikama/Channari’s tragic backstory and the attempts to make her as redeemable and morally good as they could. I literally couldn’t find it in myself to be annoyed anymore. Not that I enjoyed that? I don’t think I did, I was just exasperated.

I get that she isn’t as bad as most book antagonists, though. I guess I should take that into account. Maybe I should be less harsh and there’s something I’m missing idk.

With that said though, the depiction of Shiori’s grief, and how she felt it, was something I didn’t have an issue with. She didn’t fully recover from it, and it wasn’t a linear process. But it’s kind of a weird zone to be in, where I don’t take issue with the subject matter that follows but I do whatever spurred it. Ehhhhggghhh.

End of spoiler territory!! You may proceed.

Anyhow. Did I still burn through this in 4 days, give or take? Yeah. It wasn’t exactly a boring read, and I still liked it to a degree, but I was left wanting more. It didn’t feel like it was meant to be the book to conclude this series’ timeline, despite its poetic ending and all of the goodbyes(which Lim likely wanted the reader to do in their mind, too). I’m just disappointed.

Also! Different note, but: I’m going to have to develop a weekly book review schedule so I a.) don’t get freaked out, b.) can be persuaded to keep up with my Goodreads challenge of reading 50 books this year (4 books ahead of schedule!! Might end up doubling it to 100, it’s only the beginning of February that’s a lot), c.) have something to look forward to every week! I am never in a very good mental state, I find joy in whatever is possible to at this point.

This review is probably the most critical one on here so far. I wasn’t expecting that but I did it as I was writing, so… Hopefully you guys like to see Critical Paz though! Or at the very least don’t mind him. He’ll be going into hibernation shortly after this review is published, honk shoo mimimi.

Here’s some things I did like about it though: Takkan and Shiori’s relationship remained sweet, and although Shiori tried keeping secrets from him initially(for his well-being), it was encouraged for her to communicate honestly and so we didn’t have to do with the dreaded miscommunication trope that plagues most YA media. (Of which I’ve been thankful to have mostly avoided, but..eughhegfheb.) The descriptions of the different locations were very interesting, they felt vibrant like the first book! I also enjoyed Kiki more in this book, she made me giggle a couple of times with her bluntness and sarcastic remarks.

That shall be all.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars.

Paz, signing off!

(Book trigger/content warnings: Blood(a sizable amount, actually), grief, can’t think of any others except for that a character almost dies from drowning.)

[alltheselights]

I know it isn't an unpopular opinion. But I have unfollowed so many people just because I would like to see just content and less trying to connect every song lyric to harry or larry or anything of that sort. Why is there this constant -need- by some to always relate things either of the guys does to the other? Am i the only one who does not care if there is an ambiguous song or even a very blunt song? I want to hear and read -about- Louis because it feels like he has been able to be more open and free with so many aspects of this album and I am super excited and all I see is comments about sexuality and Larry/Harry and I hate it. If I go follow Non Larries I see gross comments about him, sexualizing his photos. Sorry to ramble here. I just wanna see more pure music more pure yes Louis look at you.

I totally agree. Honestly, most of the song analysis from every part of the fandom is annoying and I think the vast majority of it is inaccurate. It’s also just silly because the focus should be on Louis and the quality of the music, not trying to go six layers deep on every line. You lose so much enjoyment of the music and Louis’ (or Harry’s) artistry when you focus your attention on overanalyzing and twisting lyrics to make it fit a certain narrative. I actually think Larries are particularly bad with that because like you said, people want everything to have a hidden message about the boys’ sexuality or one another, and that’s just not going to be the reality because 1) they’re closeted, 2) they have certain public images to uphold, 3) they’re multifaceted human beings, and 4) we don’t know as much about them as we think we know.

At the end of the day, we really have no idea what these lyrics mean to them and I don’t mind a little bit of analysis or people sharing interpretations, but when that’s ALL you’re doing, when you have to make every song about their sexuality or relationship, or when you’ve decided your interpretation is the “right” one (because chances are, it’s not), that’s when I want people to stop.

People do it with Harry’s music too and it’s honestly ruined songs for me because people push their interpretations so hard. Some of the most ridiculous things to come out of the Harry’s House era was peoples’ determination to make Cinema into a gay sex anthem or to make the “choke her with a sea view” about anything other than Harry choking someone during sex. It’s like...can you just enjoy the songs and realize that not everything has to fit the narrative that you’ve decided, almost entirely in your mind based on no facts, is true?

Anyway, my point is, I understand your frustration. That’s why I try to avoid the analysis for the most part these days. And your mention of the sexualizing Louis’ photos, you may have seen some of my posts from a couple of days ago,  but sadly, some Larries are just as guilty of being weird about Louis these days. It’s tough out here....it really is. 😭😭😭

[bejeweled-13]

if you’re able to sleep at night knowing what you know and still STANNING this artist that’s your decision. you really did not need to make a post about it to just throw in everyone else’s face that you are such a devoted fan you can look past the associated racism and the fact that taylor has in essence been playing up her feminist ideology as a marketing strategy while not holding up those ideals for all women around her.

like idk why you would continue to idolize someone who manipulates women so much but sure you do you im sure you will live a very fulfilling life

I want to begin by saying that the first thing I noticed as I read your ask was the hypocrisy in the first couple of sentences. You say that it’s my decision to stan Taylor, but then you go on to refute your whole first sentence by saying the complete opposite. If expressing opinions has now become know as the phrase ‘throwing it in other’s faces’ then couldn’t I say that you’re doing that same to me? You come into my ask box, not to criticize my beliefs, but to criticize me for having and vocalizing my beliefs.

I’m not going to immediately stop being a fan of Taylor, especially when I don’t know the full story, nor do I know her personally or Matty personally. To no longer support Taylor solely based on who she associates herself with is lunacy and I am not wasting the money I’ve spent, the years of emotional investment, and my enjoyment of her music until she actually outright says she believes similar beliefs to his.

I never said that I agreed with him, his actions, or their relationship. Assuming things about her and correlating his past actions with her as a person is not what I stand for… not just for her but for anyone. I’m not going to shame a person for beliefs they do not have and assumptions I have made.

Lastly, I just want to say that calling her ‘manipulative’ because she has voiced her opinions in the past and is now dating someone who does not fit the stereotype of a person one might assume a person who holds her beliefs might choose to date is ridiculous. That’s an overused term and one that is often misused. Taylor has voiced her opinions and is choosing to date a person, albeit not a great person. But I will absolutely not be unstanning her until she directly voices beliefs of any racist, misogynist, or any other horrific beliefs.

Hopefully this clears things up for you.

[greenteaandtattoos]

I think it’s time we stop talking about RWBYtubers

At this point, it’s bringing more toxicity into the fandom than the so-called “toxic” RWBYtubers are. 

I don’t agree with a lot of Judgmental Critter’s opinions and criticisms, I feel that they are too negative for my particular tastes. 

Calxiyn has done some things I don’t agree with, including her response to rosegarden shippers getting excited when the V9 teaser dropped at RTX.

But what is being said to and about them is disgusting and often out of context, complete lies, or said in bad faith in an attempt to cause mass hatred in their direction. 

The opinions and actions that I don’t agree with don’t automatically mean that they are horrible people. And the assumption that they are just because you disagree on something is pretty fucking toxic.

We need to stop taking every negative post about them at face-value, especially from people who might find enjoyment in deliberately causing discourse. 

If you see something that suggests that they did something you morally cannot agree with, or that they said something you find a genuine problem with, then it’s my suggestion that you go directly to the source and find out for yourself if what you saw was true or not.

Calxiyn’s twitter is here: https://twitter.com/Calxiyn

Judgmental Critter’s twitter is here: https://twitter.com/JudgmentalThe

If you see something you don’t like, then don’t just post about it without getting the full story. Go to them, ask for clarification. I am almost certain you will get a reply in the comments. 

You cannot rely on second-hand information from Tumblr accounts that often enjoy sewing the seeds of discourse by using the so-called toxicity from RWBYtubers as their cover and excuse to be toxic themselves. 

Judgemental Critter may be more harsh with their opinions, but the defend their fellow RWBYtubers, and do not let people bash on other people with baseless and often inaccurate opinions. 

Calxiyn might associate with people you don’t agree with (VexedViewer, Judgmental Critter, twiins iink) because you personally have a problem with how they act, but they are rather fair with their criticisms and how they interact with people. 

GO TO THEM. ASK THEM QUESTIONS IF YOU HAVE THEM. IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT SOMETHING THEY DID, ASK SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THEM, OR BETTER YET, ASK THEM DIRECTLY!

I am guilty of this, I will admit. But I’ve talked to them, and while I don’t agree with some of the things they do, they’re really, truly not as bad as some people will make them out to be. 

And if you do all this, and still find a problem with them, BLOCK THEM. UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THEM. MUTE THEM. DON’T WATCH THEIR VIDEOS.

They don’t deserve to be lied about and slandered when they can’t defend themselves because others don’t like them and decide to use their dislike to cause more discourse. 

Just recently, Raijin Rising released a video commenting on the topic of toxicity in the fandom, and without even giving him a chance, people were ready to categorize him as a “hater”. What you didn’t know was that he was fair, he did not separate the fandom into positive toxicity and toxic haters, he addressed the fandom toxicity as a whole. 

That’s what the bloody word “fandom” means. It encompasses the people who watch the same show. 

But people have been so immersed in the “you vs us” mentality that they cannot imagine that a person who does not agree with them can still be a decent human being. 

You can’t judge someone based on their opinions on a fictional show. Do you know it’s called when you do? 

Toxic positivity.

In the end, we are contributing to the toxicity of the fandom just as much as they are, and if we want that to stop, we have to first learn to stop and think for ourselves. Don’t just take what someone says at face-value, certainly not a stranger on the internet. 

GO TO THEM SOURCE AND SEE FOR YOURSELF. 

And a PSA:

The tumblr blog known as CanonSeeker cannot be trusted as a source for reliable information. They have often lied and taken things out of context in order to sew chaos and get people to stop following certain individuals. 

Just last night, they went into Calxiyn’s Discord server, pretending to be someone else, in order to justify their actions and turn people against Judgmental Critter. 

In all honesty, there is honestly no reason to get into a feud with these RWBYtubers, not Calxiyn, not Judgmental Critter, because if you just asked them for clarification or blocked them if you really didn’t like what they said, we wouldn’t have this problem. 

What’s been going on is toxic, and I’m tired of it. 

The necessity to ask for clarification and proof applies to everyone, including me. If you want proof of any of this, please come to me, Calxiyn, Judgmental Critter. There are screenshots and text messages that can be shown.

If you would like more people to corroborate, there are many individuals in Calxiyn’s Discord Server who can do so, and you will also be able to talk to her yourself and get the proof that way. 

Her Discord is here: https://discord.gg/2s5xjdqvH6

Think critically, people, and think for yourselves.

[introvert--weeb]

Hello! Hooe your having a nice day! So please hear me out! Can i request for Mikey, draken, mitsuya,nahoya, ran,rindou,hanma,and baji with a sweet s/o but have a brutal threat to someone with sweet smile and said " were enjoying our day... Can you please kindly fuck off before i lose my cool and chop your dick/rip your ovary? " when someone interrupt them in date by flirting with either of you

Gotta get some jealous vibes on this blog one way! I love this idea! I hope you don't mind that I edited the line a little for each scenario so I don't end up writing the exact same dialogue over and over again

Thank you for requesting and I hope you enjoy it!!

--

Mikey, Draken, Mitsuya, Nahoya, Ran, Rindo, Hanma, Baji on a date that gets interrupted

TW: mentions of threats, language, jealousy, cringe-y insults that authour has made up based around the prompt :)

--

Mikey

It had all started off as a normal date between the two of you. Mikey had insisted that you both visit this new dessert cafe that had opened up not that long ago in Shibuya. He had been saving it as a date idea and resisted the urge to demand Draken to take him. It was torture for the sweet-tooth but it would be worth it when you both could experience it together.

You were as equally as excited as your boyfriend. It had been months since you were both able to just go on a date alone. After all, every other time someone who always show up and it would quickly devolve into a hang out session. Today though, Mikey had made sure to express how this time was just between you and anyone who dared interrupt will be dealt with. Sounds threatening but it mainly meant they would have to make it up to the two of you by buying bag loads of desserts for a week. Childish but effective.

It wasn't long until you were both seated at a table, one that was directly by the window. You couldn't believe how perfect this place was! The tables held a menu that was shaped as a crepe and even the napkins that were available had desserts printed along the surface. It was just so cute!

Nothing could do anything to ruin this date for you. You both ordered your favourite desserts (Mikey had to order something other than dorayaki and so simply ordered ice cream) and were now just waiting for the order to be brought over. All was well in the cafe.

That was until a girl around your age had approached the table. At first, you thought she might know Mikey or was maybe one of Emma's friends who simply wanted to say hi. However, that was quickly thrown out when she began to flirt with your boyfriend, twirling a strand of light brown hair around her finger. You simply watched, anger bubbling dangerously in your chest and you had to keep yourself from beating her ass. She must know you were there, after all, you were right beside her.

"Can you please stop flirting with my boyfriend?" You forced a dangerously sweet smile on your face. "We are enjoying our date. So please kindly fuck off before I rip your ovaries from your body," your tone didn't match your words. Every word was dripping in honey yet your eyes screamed 'murder'.

Mikey couldn't hold back his grin from how you threatened the girl. He knew you could be intimidating but this threat was something that amused him immensely. Rip her ovaries out? Over simply trying to flirt with him? Well, he sure couldn't get any more smug. You loved him that much, huh?

"Wow Y/N, never knew you could be so intimidating," the blond joked, amusement glinting in his dark irises. You simply blushed, feeling a little embarrassed but mainly proud of yourself.

The two of you continued on with your date as the waiter brought your desserts to the table. You couldn't have asked for a better day with your Mikey.

Draken

Draken had suggested that you both go to the beach for the day since the weather was so warm. You had packed a picnic for the two of you, wearing cute swimwear underneath a f/c t-shirt and shorts. Slipping on a pair of sandals, Ken had arrived not too long after and you were both off on your way to your destination.

You had both found the perfect spot and set up the towels. Draken simply threw his shirt off as he was already wearing his swim shorts, while you began to strip yourself of the outerwear. Your boyfriend couldn't stop staring once he realised how good you looked in the swimwear.

However, he wasn't the only one to notice and in fact, a group of boys had taken notice and were ogling at your now exposed figure. Draken nor yourself noticed and continued to enjoy your time together. After all, this was quite rare nowadays since Mikey would take up a lot of the blond's time. You didn't mind, it just made days like this extra special and much more enjoyable.

Ken had offered to grab the two of you drinks from the beach stall not too far from where you were situated. You were appreciative for the offer and asked your boyfriend to grab you your favourite cold beverage. He agreed before placing a soft kiss to your forehead, standing up to complete the errand.

It hadn't even been two minutes since the tall blond had left your side before one of the boys had approached you. If it wasn't for the cocky attitude that practically oozed out of him, you would have waved him off with a smile and an apology. In fact, you had tried. He just seemed to be incapable of taking no as an answer or accepting that you were with Draken and that's who you were going to remain with.

Speaking of Draken, he was beginning his way back to where you were, cold beverages in his hands. Everything seemed fine until he noticed the boy trying his hardest to flirt with his partner. No. He wasn't going to have that. And so your boyfriend began his march over to the towel, ready to smash his fists into this idiot's face once he had handed you your drink. However, as he got close enough, his anger and jealousy dissolved into pure amusement.

"Right, this obviously isn't getting through your stupidly thick skull," a heavy sigh indicated how annoyed you had become. "I am enjoying my date with my boyfriend and I really don't need you ruining it. Now, kindly fuck off back to wherever you crawled out from before I chop your dick off and ram it down your throat!" The smile that accompanied your words was too sweet for the threat. It was as if two personalities were clashing together in this one moment.

The boy, now scared for his own safety, was quick to scurry back to his friends. Draken watched before taking his rightful place at your side once again. Cold beverage now handed to you, he opened his own before taking a large mouthful. It cooled him down instantly and a breath of relief was released.

"So... About you threatening that boy..." Draken couldn't stop the smirk that tugged at his lips as your face instantly burned a bright pink. He was going to enjoy teasing you about this.

Mitsuya

The two of you were hanging out at the park with Luna and Mana. Takashi had invited you with him since the girls were asking about playing with you again. Ever since you both started dating, you had grown close to the two small girls, almost acting like an older sibling in some ways.

Luna and Mana were playing on the play equipment while you and Takashi were relaxing on a nearby bench, keeping an eye on the two young children. An arm around your shoulder as the two of you conversed about your weeks. You had a simple week so far; school and homework, while Mitsuya spoke about his Home Ec Club and the basics of his Toman life.

The date couldn't have been going any better, in your opinion. You were spending much needed time to unwind and be around the sweetest boy you knew. There was very little that could ruin this date, right? Well, Takashi had left the bench to make sure his sisters were entertained and safe. You had told the boy that you would watch over his jacket and bag, a soft smile directed in his direction before he went onto the playground.

Moments later and Takashi looked over towards where he had left you with his belongings. He was expecting to see you maybe scrolling through your phone or even looking over to watch the siblings. However, the sight that greeted him caused his blood to boil slightly and his jaw to clench. Some random boy had decided to begin flirting with you and it looked like you were quickly getting fed up with the advances. Telling Luna and Mana that he was going to check on you, he began to make his way back to you.

"C'mon beautiful! Just give me a chance!" Even his voice was starting to grate on Mitsuya's nerves. If he carried on, Takashi would not hesitate to teach him a lesson, even if it went against his more peaceful ways.

"Listen. For one, I don't know you nor do I wish to get to know you. Another thing, I have a boyfriend and we are currently on a date so he should be back soon. Finally, please fuck off before I rip off your nuts and use them to feed the damn squirrels!" You smiled softly at the boy, your eyes glinting with actual intent on carrying through with the threat. That was enough to scare the boy and for Mitsuya to chuckle to himself.

He understood how vicious you could get when you used your words. It was what had first got him to notice you after all. Internally, he was still seething at how the boy had tried to take what was his, but outwardly, the lilac-haired male gave you a soft smile and sat back down next to you.

Nahoya

Of course the two of you would be hanging out at the arcade. After all, you were both competitive and would settle disagreements with games. The current disagreement had came to be settled with a game of House of the Dead, a zombie shooting game. You would both take a turn and then whoever had gotten the furthest into the game would win this argument. Sure it was costing you more than if you were playing casually but this was your pride on the line here.

Currently, you were winning and Nahoya was refusing to back down. It got to the point where Smiley had dragged you away from the House of the Dead machine and decided this disagreement would be decided through the basketball hoop games. After all, he was much better at this than the shooting games. You just agreed, now enjoying the time you both were spending together as well as how desperate your boyfriend was becoming.

This had quickly evolved into a date, no matter how much Nahoya was insisting it was to settle the disagreement. In fact, he was enjoying himself and kept dragging you from one game to another. At this point, neither of you could remember the initial disagreement that started your trip to the arcade.

Collecting armfuls of tickets, your boyfriend had suggested you both head over to the prize counter to cash them in for a prize that you both could enjoy. And so you made your way to the counter where a girl a little older than you was stationed, looking bored out of her mind. That was until she had caught sight of Smiley. In an instant, she had gone from bored to cheerful and more than happy to help.

Nahoya had allowed you to choose the prize since, although he hated to admit it, the majority of the tickets were yours. However, your answer on what prize you wanted had fallen on deaf ears. In fact, this girl seemed too busy ogling at your boyfriend and trying to appear as appealing as she could. Not that Nahoya noticed.

You tried one more time only to be met with the same result. Part of you wanted to beat this girl's face yet the other part found yourself proud that you had been the one to get someone as desirable as Smiley. However, this was quickly dissolving into jealous anger as she reached across and 'accidentally' brushed against Nahoya's hand as she took the tickets he held. "Oops, sorry~!" Her voice was getting on your nerves along with those flirtatious giggles and glances.

"If you wish to keep your arms and ovaries where they belong, I recommend you stop flirting with my boyfriend and get the damn prize I have asked for twice. Please and thank you!"

Smiley was surprised at your actions. You never usually get so jealous. He noticed how you smiled at the girl, almost gritting your teeth behind the barrier of your closed lips. Nahoya couldn't help but find it so cute and savoured the moment. He was definitely going to be bragging to the boys later on about how badass you seemed right then.

The girl clicked her tongue before going off to collect what you had asked for. She must have been salty over the fact she couldn't continue to flaunt off her assets to Nahoya. What she didn't know though was that she was simply saving herself from your wrath. After all, you were not past dragging her outside to defend what was rightfully yours if she kept testing her luck.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side, babe!" Smiley joked, his usual grin growing. You simply rolled your eyes while agreeing with the peach-haired Kawata.

It wasn't long until you had your prize choice in your possession and the two of you continued what had quickly become a date. That meant a bike ride around Shibuya, heading to the local ramen shop that Smiley loved, and then back to either his or your house to watch a movie.

Ran

You would follow your boyfriend anywhere when you could spare the time. Currently, you were clinging to the taller Haitani's arm while Rindo was talking to his elder brother about some gang business. Although you were always around, you never did get involved in their conversation. After all, Ran had told you were too innocent and sweet to get involved in such a violent life. He did everything he could to protect you from his lifestyle.

Due to how intimidating Ran could look and act, you really didn't have to worry about girls trying to flirt with him, and guys knew who he was so there was no way they would risk it. And so you had no reason to be jealous. Ran however, he was constantly on edge in case someone decided to try and steal you away from him. But then he would remember that no-one would dare mess with the Haitani brothers and everything would be fine again.

"Babe? I just need to nip into the convenience store real quick." You pointed over to where the closest one was situated, remembering how you needed some odd bits of things. Your boyfriend simply nodded in acknowledgement, placed a quick peck on the top of your head before continuing his conversation with Rindo. Smiling over the affection, you quickly made your way to your destination. The quicker you got there, the sooner you could be back with Ran after all.

It was a pretty normal trip for you. You had collected all the items you needed, paid for them and started your way back to where your boyfriend and his brother were probably still waiting. Maybe they had finished the gang discussions and you could join in with whatever the next topic was! You sure hoped so since it was starting to get you down not being able to contribute to the conversation. It was as you stepped back onto the street that a boy had stopped you, a nervous yet confident look in his eyes.

Ran would occasionally shift his gaze from his younger brother towards the store you had entered. It was his way of making sure you were safe. After all, there were a lot of people in Roppongi that disliked the Haitani brothers due to their position. Anyone could decide to take out their grudge against him on you and he would not be having that.

It was one of the times when he glanced up that he had noticed the boy talking to you. Your facial expression was telling him that you were quickly losing patience and that something must be happening. Ran interrupted Rindo mid-sentence before trying to casually make his way over. After all, it could be nothing and he wasn't the one to jump to conclusions about a situation. However, he had a hard time keeping his anger in check once he heard the boy's flirting. It was just too bad the rod was left at home.

"You're either deaf or really stupid. I have said that I need to get back to my boyfriend. Now please, fuck off before I chop your dick off and turn your balls into fuckin' earrings," your expression was really sweet when you had uttered the threat. Your lips were curled into a soft smile while your eyes had shut to hide the murderous aura that would surely be seen within them. Maybe Ran was rubbing off on you too much. After all, you used to be such a sweet person who was unable to say boo to a goose. Now you were making threats that even had your boyfriend nervous.

The boy was quick to follow your advice, walking as fast as he could away from the area. You let out a deep sigh before moving your gaze to where Ran and Rindo would be situated. Instead, you were surprised to find the taller Haitani frozen in place not far from you.

"Hey baby! I got my things!" The hand carrying the bag lifted to display the items. Ran snapped out of this daze before giving you a soft smile. He would have to tell Rindo to not piss you off.

Rindo

Nobody would believe you but Rindo loved taking you to cafes that he would come across when he and his brother wandered the streets of Roppongi. It was more to make you happy but he really enjoyed these outings. He could spoil you with your favourite drink and dessert while it was a quiet space for you both to talk about your days. It was one of the only places where Rindo could get away from all the gang business. Here he was just Rindo Haitani, your boyfriend.

You both arrived at one of your favourite cafes, ready to start the first half of your date. Rindo had planned the day so you were unsure on what would occur but that just made it more exciting! Taking your usual table at the back, Rindo couldn't help but chuckle as he watched you scan the menu. He knew you would pick the same thing every time you visited and yet it was almost a ritual you had developed. Sit at the table, scan the menu, decide to have the same thing. He found this adorable and enjoyed the predictability of the situation. Made him feel like a normal middle-schooler for once.

It wasn't long until the waitress had come over to take your orders. You noticed how she must have been new since you had never seen her working here before. At least she wouldn't judge that you ordered the same thing, you thought. The exchange was starting well, she had taken your order with very little hassle which you appreciated. However, it turned sour when she turned her attention to your boyfriend. It was as if a switch was flicked within the waitress as she began to get a little too comfortable around the blond.

Small arm touches when pointing at something on the menu, leaning over so her cleavage was more pronounced, the flirty heart eyes and giggles. All of it was beginning to irk you. Surely she could discern for herself that this was a date. You really couldn't believe the nerve the girl had in doing what she was doing while you sat across from the scene. Thankfully, she had finally taken the order and went to grab the drinks and desserts.

"You OK babe?" Rindo noticed how your usual smile was tense and more forced in its appearance. It was concerning him since you were fine a moment ago. This poor boy didn't realise how much the waitress was flirting, if he even registered that there was flirting. It's not his fault really. He just hardly gets attention when they could simply flirt with his brother.

You didn't answer, just relaxed a little bit. You couldn't get mad at the blond in front of you. After all, he was clueless when it came to girls liking him. Really, you should have kept that in mind considering how long it took for you both to get together due to his obliviousness to that. Slowly your usual smile was reappearing and Rindo felt like he could relax again himself. That was until the waitress came back over.

"Here's your order, handsome! And a little something extra~!" The girl winked as she placed your boyfriend's drink and dessert in front of him. You had caught sight of a slip of paper and what appeared to be a lipstick kiss staining the surface. Oh hell no. This was not on. It was hurting your face by trying to maintain the sweet expression.

"Excuse me but can you not flirt with my boyfriend while I am sat right here?" Keep up the smile Y/N. "After all, we are on a date and before you decided to act like a desperate hooker, we were actually enjoying ourselves. So now that we have our order, can you please fuck off before I decide to rearrange your face and make it so you can't have children?"

Rindo's eyes were as wide as the plates that held the desserts. He didn't really know what to think at that moment. What had happened to his sweet Y/N? Where did you learn to threaten someone? What he wasn't realising was that he was rubbing off on you after all this time you spent together.

The waitress simply glared at you before storming off back to the counter. She must have seen just how serious you were being even though your face had remained as sweet as sugar throughout it. You were proud of yourself and turned your attention from the girl towards your dessert and drink. In excitement, you grabbed at the spoon and scooped some of the sweet dessert into your mouth like a small child would with ice cream. A happy hum left your body as you enjoyed your treat.

"You're scary, you know that right babe?"

"I'm just protecting what's mine, Rin."

Hanma

Hanma enjoyed having you around him most of the time. He loved how you made his days more fun, especially when it came to how jealous you would get. In fact, he thought it was probably one of the most amusing sights he had been blessed with. You were so sweet usually that it was a huge surprise to others when you got jealous.

That day, the lanky male had decided to take you to the amusement park, thinking it was the best way to spend his time away from Kisaki. It was also a good way to get you to cling to him as you were always nervous when it came to certain rides like the Ferris Wheel. You could handle rollercoasters and other rides, but once you were sat on the rickety bench of the Ferris Wheel, you would have to cling onto your boyfriend's arm in fear of falling out.

Just like most of the others, it was rare for you to get some alone time with Shuji anymore. After all, if he wasn't busy with Kisaki, he was busy with something else. But you knew he would show up at your bedroom window most nights to just say hi and get a kiss before he left again. It wasn't an ideal relationship but it worked for you two.

So when Hanma had text you about the date, you were quick to get yourself ready. You made sure that your outfit was super cute and dolled yourself up a little. Hanma would no doubt tease you about how much effort you put in for him but you knew he secretly loved it. You were his girl after all and he was a lucky man to have you on his arm.

The journey from your house to the amusement park was a pretty uneventful one. Hanma had picked you up on his bike but had decided he would follow the rules of the road. As unpredictable as ever. He parked up his bike and you both went to buy your tickets to start the date properly.

The day was spent like any other amusement park date people went on. You rode the rollercoasters and ate your fair share of snacks that you knew weren't good for you. Everything was perfect. Well, if you excluded having to hold Hanma back from beating up a boy that had tried flirting with you. That took some doing since an angry Hanma is a strong Hanma.

It was as the sun was starting to set that the incident occurred. A girl with long blond hair had decided that she would try her luck in getting THE Shuji Hanma. All while you were standing there, cuddling into his arm. At first, you tried being polite by making your presence known. If she knew he was already taken then she should lose interest and move on with her day. What wishful thinking, eh? Instead, it seemed to spur her on more, even commenting on how Shuji deserved a 'real woman' not a 'child'. That was the last straw.

"I don't know whether you are blind, stupid or have a fuckin death wish at this point." You let go of Hanma's arm and stepped towards the annoyance. "But as you could clearly see, Hanma is taken. Now, unless you want me to put you six feet under, I suggest you fuck off and leave my boyfriend alone."

Maybe it was the sweet smile that accompanied the threat but the girl was scared. You were obviously crazy, she thought as she rushed back over to her group of friends. She was probably lucky to only get off with the verbal threat. If she hadn't have left, you would have caused a lot of injuries to her. After all, you had to be strong enough to do that when Hanma was your boyfriend.

Speaking of Hanma, he had watched the whole exchange with an amused smirk on his face. This threat was tame compared to the others he had heard leave your mouth before. However, he was disappointed that the other girl ran off. He was hoping to see you make that threat a reality until he would have to stop you. However, he still got to see that cute angry pout that would always show up when you had calmed down.

"If only she had stuck around. Could have had some fun."

"Shut up beanpole."

Baji

Baji was the one who would mainly get jealous. After all, you were gorgeous and he felt he didn't deserve you. So when anyone paid a little too much attention to you than what he felt comfortable with, he would get annoyed and have to stop himself from getting violent.

You both had decided to hang out just the two of you for once. Chifuyu was busy working at the pet store after all so you could count that day as a date. Baji had his arm wrapped around your shoulders as you wandered the streets of Shibuya, entering stores that caught your attention.

The date was going well. Considering you both would usually have Chifuyu, and more recently Takemichi, joining you, it was nice to just have some time to be a couple without worrying about making the younger blonds feel like third and fourth wheels. That meant you couldn't really enjoy innocent physical contact like this without feeling guilty. So this was rare and you were enjoying it a lot.

"Hey sweetie, you want to go get some Peyoung Yakisoba?" Baji asked, starting to direct you towards the usual spot you would get the delicious dish. You weren't sure why he asked considering he knew the answer would be yes. So with a giggle, you snuggled into the boy's side with a grin.

Baji felt his heart skip about 10 beats at the sight. You were honestly too cute for him and moments like this proved it.

The walk was only a few minutes but you remained glued to the boy's side the entire way. It was your favourite spot to be. Baji had offered to go and order the noodles while you wait outside, something that you reluctantly agreed to. You only agreed since the noodle shop was so small that you couldn't realistically stick by your boyfriend. And so you sat on the bench not too far from the door.

Baji wanted to be quick, not entirely comfortable with you sitting alone. Usually Chifuyu would keep you company and that kept the boy calm but since he wasn't here, you were forced to be alone. And that didn't sit right with the 1st Division Captain.

You kept yourself entertained by scrolling through your phone but that was short-lived as a boy a little older than you turned up. Placing a smile on your face, you decided to hear out what the boy might want. After all, it could be as innocent of a request as asking for directions. However, you were a bit too naive in that regard.

Your boyfriend exited the building, the noodles in hand, when he saw the boy flirting with you. Anger bubbled almost instantly within his chest and he was about to march over and pummel this idiot into the ground. It was only what you said next that had him stop in his war path.

"As I have said about 14 times now, I have a loving boyfriend and if you think I'm going to leaving him for a limp dick like you, you're delusional. Now, fuck off before I chop your shrimp dick off and offer it to the restaurant to use in one of their dishes. Although there wouldn't be enough to use in even a kiddie's portion." You delivered the threat with your usual smile yet Baji could see that your eyes were sending daggers the boy's way.

Baji couldn't be more proud of you for how you threatened that idiot. It amused him so much that he couldn't prevent the laughter that erupted from him. The boy who had previously seemed filled with confidence, was now running off in fear that you would follow through with the threat. You just glanced over at your amazing boyfriend with a grin on your features.

"C'mon babe, we're heading home. I'm so proud of how you handled that though." Baji calmed his laughter before placing a kiss to your forehead. Arm wrapped around you, the two of you headed towards the apartment building Baji lived in.