#like what if she doesnt even allow herself to grieve

[ylceon]

i would've allowed you to grieve

[probablyalittletoosilly]

General Dating Headcanons w Bronya Rand (SFW + NSFW)

Warnings: smut written by a minor, grieving, brief talks of Cocolia's death, fluff, overworking, sub afab reader, dom!character, office sex, praise kink, fingering (r!receiving), accidental overstimulation (r!receiving) cockwarming (r!receiving), begging, dirty talk, potentially ooc

A/N: bronya is so silly fr

SFW

At the start of your relationship, Bronya wished to keep it more secretive than anything, not wanting any harm being brought your way due to her position as Surpreme Guardian. To the public, you're simply a friend to the ruler of Belobog.

Because of this, she keeps her affections kept in her personal quarters or even her office if she's sure that nobody will be requesting her presence for some time. Bronya does feel guilty about this, apologizing with gentle kisses on your forehead as you sit on her lap while she works.

Speaking of kisses, she loves kissing your forehead or hand! She enjoys the simple intimacy of the action and enjoys the way you immediately avert your gaze when she does this.

Bronya is a busy woman due to being the Surpreme Guardian, sometimes she doesnt join you in bed till late night when you're already asleep or is forced to cancel dates due to a meeting she's forced to go to.

A lot of the time, she overworks herself and forgets that she, too, is human. At times like these, you often are forced to wake her from her desk and help Bronya to your bed. Even in her tired state, she holds your body against hers, head resting on top of yours. The next day, when she's able to find the time after a meeting, she whisks you away from everyone to thank you for the day before, kissing you softly.

You don't know the truth about her mother's death or the Stellaron. Bronya wants to tell you, but she's afraid that you'd get upset with her or even begin to question her decisions. So, she leaves you in the dark about that aspect of things. She prefers to be honest about everything else, though, and prefers if you think the same way as well.

Often, she tells you about what meetings she's had today and asks how your day was while she holds you in her arms on a night she was able to get her work done earlier.

Bronya can be quite protective of you. To the point where even the newspaper caught wind of it, and you two had to keep it down low for a few months. The reason is that a man had been flirting with you and Bronya's patience being rather thin that day due to being stressed. Luckily, you two haven't been found out yet, but you cut it close when she put a firm hand onto your shoulder while asking the man in a sharp tone what he wanted.

She likes to tell you about the history of Belobog, and just sometimes, she speaks about her mother after she has another nightmare (although she shys away from telling you what its about due to it being a rather sensitive topic). She speaks in a softer, more somber tone when this happens. Bronya is mostly an open book, being honest and expecting the same back, but she only tells you of the good memories she has with her mother. The guilt eats away at her, but to preserve your hope, she chooses to hide the secret with her.

Bronya also enjoys buying you gifts. It doesn't need to be a special occasion to allow herself to indulge and spoil you. After all, she's the Surpreme Guardian. When you briefly mention something when talking to her, she'll give it to you as a present the next day.

She's a sucker for nicknames, often calling you "love" or "darling." Bronya gets embarrassed if you ever mention how often she calls you that. Cheeks dusted in red as she meekly asks if you don't enjoy the nickname.

Overall, she's a wonderful girlfriend, and even when she's busy or exhausted, she's attetive and treats you as if you're a princess. Bronya keeps your best interest and advice close to her heart.

NSFW

Bronya's gentleness carries into the bedroom as well. She's always gentle with you unless you specifically ask otherwise, but even then, she constantly asks if you're alright. She doesn't have the most experience, but she's a quick learner and up for most things as long as it doesn't hurt you. She usually is the one pleasuring you. Even when she's exhausted, she always makes sure you're pleased before thinking about herself.

She loves nothing more than you being on her lap while she's at her desk, her plastic cock buried deep in you as she does her work. Bronya ensures that her office doors are locked, as much as she likes doing this she wouldn't want someone to walk in and her reputation to be tarnished.

The Surpreme Guardian loves when you beg for her to start moving, her response always being, "One moment, love. I need to finish this paper. You can be a good girl and wait for me, can't you?" You always agree.

Once she's done her work, she'll praise you for being so good for her. She finally puts down her pen, her hands on your hips as she leans back on her chair. Bronya raises an eyebrow when you don't move, whispering in your ear with a hungry glint in her eyes, "Surely you didn't expect me to do all the work, hm? Go on now, love, give your Surpreme Guardian a show."

So, you do try and appease Bronya, your hands tightening on her back as you lift your hips up and down. The room filled with wet squelches and your whines, sounds Bronya wishes to remember for the rest of her life. She does need to remind you to be quiet, however, fingers gently rubbing your hips as Bronya muses, "You need to be quiet, darling." Soon enough, she does take pity on you and helps you lift your hips up and down on her strap, eyes fixated on how you've already coated it with how wet you were.

Her favourite body part on herself is her hands. Since she wears gloves constantly her hands are on the softer side despite her rigorous military training. Her more secretive reasoning that she'd take to the grave is the fact that she loves how you clench around her much more slender fingers as she stuffs you full of her. Bronya likes taking her time fingering you for that reason. Even when your nails are digging into her back as you plead with her to be quicker, she'll only murmer, "Patience." She sometimes gets too carried away, too focused on how wet her fingers are because of you. She only breaks focus when she notices the tears in your eyes and your tapping on her shoulder. Bronya instantly feels bad, pulling away and kissing your tears away and apologizing for getting so carried away.

Bronya's aftercare depends on how tired the two of you are after. She normally sets a bath for the two of you, holding you against her body as she washes your hair and cleans you. If you do the same to her, she quickly turns red, not being used to taken care of and quietly thanks you.

If both of you are too tired, she'll just hold you close to her, waiting until morning to get you both cleaned up, not minding if she's a bit late because its you and she cant be mad at you <3

[rosewinelonging]

ok now this is good this is an au that appeals to me veryyyy much bc it has the opportunity to keep my lalonde dynamics. specifically the girls and their mothers AND the girls themselves when they meet up. and then take it a step further to where they now have the opportunity to fufill their desires [mostly jus longing for what could have been] with the object of their desire rather than just eachother, though just because their mothers are back doesnt mean theyre not gonna be together anymore.

first im gonna do some context cause most of my ideas have been developed throughout a number of posts and little headcannons. for rose, she was the only one to actually know her mother, to live with her and know what it was like to have her. her childhood was filled with drunken kisses that always lasted a bit too long, hands accidentally slipping to places they shouldnt, and a desire for motherly love that surpassed that of most children. though in all accounts nothing ever went further, wouldnt dare set more than a couple feet across the line. no matter how hard rose tried as a child, pleasuring herself where she knew her mother could hear, forgoing undergarments [shed also know], or innocently asking questions she had already spent hours of research on. there was never any direct acknowledgment. shed stumble through excuse and excuse, brushing off her attempts as nothing but the whims of a child. it was endlessly frustrating. 

the only time she could get a fraction of what she really wanted was when her mother helped her to sleep. while most children have weaned off breastmilk as a baby her mother never stopped. although she stopped producing milk years ago she would always find the opportunity to seat her in her lap and tuck her face against her breast. her mother justified it as to help her fall asleep [for as long as she could remember shes been plagued by horrible nightmares] rose thinks it was the closest shed allow herself to indulge. there wasnt anything strange about having your child in your lap helping her to fall asleep. if she started to grind against her moms thigh wanting not only to be comforted but to feel good, you couldnt blame her for letting rose do what she wanted. as long as she kept her head firmly against her tit and rocked her till she knocked herself out. until rose stopped caring about comfort. her movement was messy, hips frantic as she humped her thigh, panting and mewling, all red-faced and doe-eyed. ignoring the shushing, moaning as she begged her mother to touch her, to do something. when a hand bigger than her own slipped under her night dress she knew she had finally won.

until she hadnt.

because her mother didnt come back to her room after that day. touches and kisses reduced to nothing. her mother couldnt even look her in the eyes, whether from shame or lack of coordination from one two many drinks, it pissed her off all the same. so she played the game, keeping her distance and engaging in passive agressive attacks as to fool her mother into thinking she could never have been lonely without her. but it was only a matter of time.

until she died.

it was absolutely devastating. never in her life could she have ever thought there would come a time that 'later' was no longer an option. the one person she wanted most in this world and she could never have it. so when she heard about meeting her mom in the new session she clung onto that. desperate and grieving, she would set things right this time, she didnt care about anything else.

while that was going on, roxy had a very different experience. it would be hard to say confidently which was worse, losing someone you had or never having them at. she grew up not knowing her mother outside of books and magezines and videos, nothing ever real. her mother was as much as a concept as the idea of a mother to begin with. of course shes read what mothers are supposed to be like but she knows nothing from experience and neither do any of her friends. it was awfully lonely, not only not knowing who she was, but who she was supposed to be. roxy resigned herself to her fate of attempting to visualize an unknown concept and that was that. 

but then she found something real. something completely different from the magazine interviews and red carpet recordings. she was ten years old snooping around boxes of stuff her mother left behind. the carapaces tell her it was organized at some point but not anymore, most likely caused by her careless organization. but it was at this point she was tall enough to reach boxes on the high shelves and grab at things pushed down the shelves. and thats when she stumbled upon an old vhs tape. she wasnt sure why it was vhs tape until she saw the note. the handwriting was barely legible but she recognized the words of dave strider anywhere. assuming it was a gift from him to her mother it must be special. so with a giddy smile she fished out an old vcr and put the tape in, unknowingly stumbling across her most prized possession.

it was exactly 47 minutes and 6 seconds long. a recording of her mother and dirks brother having sex, though she was wearing a strap and seemed in full control of the situation. she watches the whole thing without pause, eyes never leaving the screen as she fucked him hard, moving into different positions, keeping his hands tied or having him suck her strap. she watched completely enraptured with how real her mother was. how she laughed and spoke without a care in the world, completely open and honest. when the video ends she doesnt even think before hitting replay. its halfway through her second watch that she realizes how soaked her panties are. her fingers enter with no resistance as she sits and watches.

years later she doesnt know how many times shes watched that video. she has it completely memorized, front to back. the one thing that helps her understand who her mother really was. its those 47 minutes of her mother, naked with a strap, covered in sweat and cum. the confidence in every move she makes. and while shes learned that daughters dont watch their mothers have sex its only thing she has. and its what gets her through the night on the bad days

she always knew shed meet her mother in the game, even though she wouldnt really be her mother, not like the one she didnt know. but she was excited nonetheless!

 the universe must be a cruel thing. otherwise she wouldnt be here kneeling at the corpse of her mother. even if shes younger, had a different life experience, she must be her mother because she still doesnt know who she is. just a person she lost without ever having. [if she gets her lipstick smeared on bloodstained lips and down pale lifeless skin. and cum staining the orange just a shade darker. no one has to know that for just a brief moment, she had her.] 

not that any of that mattered anyway. she got to meet rose in the retconned timeline, just as desperate as she was. they talked for a long while, about their mothers. roxy told her about the video and rose told her about that night. they were what the other expected and that was okay. it was okay as they snuck off from the main group. it was okay when lips connected and handles scrambled to find places to hold and clothes to pull off. it was even okay when roxy let it slip what she did with roses corpse. and as the two girls found a place in eachothers arms, they knew that for all they lost and never had, it would at least be okay with eachother

until they beat the game and their respective guardians were revived.

it would be completely shocking and out of the blue, halting any and all plans for them to finally grieve together. it would be heart-warming, slightly awkward reunion. but more importantly it would be an opportunity. roxy would bring it up first, the idea of laying a trap to ensare the elder lalondes which rose would full-heartedly agree with. they could use each other to their advantage, they understood how themselves thought. it would be easy to convince them to give into any desires because who better to trust than yourself?

theyd prob team up to go after mom lalonde first. the girls inviting her to drink and catch up, shed be all to eager to indulge her daughter and younger self. the plan would be simple. rose knows her mother is interested, she wouldve stopped her actions years ago is she wasnt. but she never fully acts things out, always hesitating at the last minute or making excuses for any action. so the first step would be to lower inhabitions. easy enough seeing as she never turned down a drink. the next step would make her *want*. a task roxy was more than happy to assist with. 

it started as simply sitting together. her mother sitting in an armchair to the side while rose and roxy were together on the couch. there was more than enough room to sit apart but seeing as they were family there was no need. roxy was pressed against her shoulder and as the night went on she only got closer. moving her arm to drape across her shoulder and tucking her ahead against her bare throat. one hand kept permanently on her leg, first at the knee but slowly inching her way up, not stopping till she reached where skin was covered by skirt. [not that there was a lot, rose has purposefully chosen the shortest skirt she owned] her arm had found its way from her shoulder down to her chest where she was not so subtlety grouping her boobs. and the entire time as roxy cuddled up to her, too intimate for sisters, rose could feel her mothers stare. and just as she tilted her head slightly to give her a better view of roxy now kissing down her throat, she finally broke.

"rose." she looked back as her mother was leaning forward, lips parted and eyes lidded. "why dont you come here baby? hav- havent held you in a bit. and its getting late."

roxy squeezed her thigh and her mothers eyes flicked down. rose nodded moving to stand before turning back and kissing roxy on the mouth. she caught the words 'good luck' as she moved back to walk to her mother. she had grown a significant amount since they had last seen eachother but she still fit perfectly. 

=====

ok holy shit sorry for cutting off when its getting good but this is getting to long. [already over 2k] honestly ill actually edit this at some point and post it as an actual fic this is like. idk sneak peak first draft hehe. but basically. they fuck then rose helps roxy by basically telling alpha rose how it was fine and besides its not like she raised her, theyre practically stranger. pulls the ‘dont lie to yourself’ card. then i guess they have a foursome LOL

hope you still liked it even if i was to caught up in exposition and didnt even get to the point of the ask <333

[oceanforblues]

How it started

my father died when i was around 6 years old. we all lived in the same bulding.. kind of like a joint family. after my father died, people started to abuse my mom. she was distraught but also she was a working woman. you know how it was for women back in the day... she would go out to work and come home late and people would spread rumours like she was slutting around and hanging out with other men. the family would abuse me too. my cousins would sneak into my room and turn my tv off when id be watching tv. they would steal my toys. its like they made me a part of their family but at the same time treated me in a condescneding way. my mum ofc knew that because she was a grown woman. i didnt because i was a stupid kid. so i would always get upset with her that why would she get angry at my counsins because they were my friends. 

they would make fun of my weight all the time. their nickname for me would be “bidet” because my name is bushra. i dont know why i used to find tha funny back in the day. they would call me fat, they would make fat jokes around me like oh dont sit on the bed because you will break it. they would call me moti which means fatty. my uncle, their dad, would sexually harrass me actually. actually its really weird how many times i used to get touched as a child. my uncle would take my shirt off and roll me like dough on the floor. his wife wouldnt say anything but she would always look weird when she saw it. i didnt think much of it. they had a maid who used to work for them. she was also the first person who raped me. i woudl come home for lunch aroun 11am and around that time no one else would be around. so she would take me up to her bedroom, undress me, and she would do things with me that i feel like i shouldnt put in writing. i was 8. it felt weird when i saw her a few years ago when i went back home. 

oh, all of this happened while my mum was working. i guess she threw herself into her job after my dad died. which made sense. but she would focus on my brother more than me. her reasoning was that he never got his fathers love when i did so she needed to make sure he was loved more. which didnt make sense to me because he doesnt even remember father. i remember him. i remember his scent, his face, his memories, i remember the way he would hug me and hold me and how he would dance with me at night and sing with me and how he would do fun activities with me. wouldnt it make sense for her to care for me because ive been mourning him the most? she worked a lot because she wanted my brother to go to a private english school and not a boarding school like me.  my grandfather wouldnt allow it so she worked to pay for his tuition. she also paid for this math class i took, which honestly came in handy even now. but yeah. 

the other times i got harassed was when i went to my grammas place back in the villages. this one i remember so distinctively. it was some dude that worked for a neighbor. i remember he called me, took me upstairs to some corner and started to ask me some random questions while he slipped his hand under my shirt and felt me up. felt me up everywhere. i dont know why i didnt do anything. i never got touched like that before so i didnt know what to do. i just let him do it. all while my mum and my family was there with me. other times i got assaulted i guess would be the times some grown ass men would stare at me as i was walking to school, call me names, sing for some reason etc etc. i was unfamiliar with the concept of misogyny and sexual assault back in the day so i truly thought that was normal. i feel guilty at myself for not doing aynhting. i dont know why im crying now because it doesnt even affect me now. am i feeling bad for my past self? or am i actually grieving? 

but yeah. after my dad died all that stuff happened. after my grandfather died it got worse. he died around 2015 i think. he was basically my father bc he took care of me after my father died, when he saw that my mum was too busy focusing on my brother. he wasnt the best either i mean he treated my gramma like absolute garbage but he was nice to me. 

[halfhappyhooligan]

okay so. @hopalongfairywren i swear i was gonna just reply to this like a normal person but i have so many thoughts and feelings about c!hannah and the sister albums of folklore and evermore so i couldnt keep this under the limit in replied. i feel like a lot of the songs in these two albums can be attributed to the feeling of loss and guilt and need for evening some sort of score, which are what what i imagine c!hannah feels towards the massive amount if loss she obtained. but this exists kind of only in my mind bc canonically her character just. hasnt addressed the events of the one yr anniversary yet. (other than the confirmation that she just has her bunker now, still no house rebuilt or anything) even after the songs i associate with her via my own personal headcanons set aside though theres still a lot of folklore i associate her c!hannah

hoax, i personally see as when c!tina was comforting her and giving her a space to process the vast amount of grief held on the one year anniversary, and the fact that c!hannah choosing to believe it’ll be fine in the end (like that “yupp” to the acknowledgment of the loss of her wings is SO.) she doesnt want to have to face these strong emotions yet because itd be truly admitting the loss, her feelings in the aftermath. bc she hasnt allowed herself to truly grieve yet and i think that refusal of grief is such a big part of her character and confusing emotions about the past as well as how to move forward properly is a reoccurring theme in the album.

BUT ALSO! theres songs from folklore that i heavily identify as the beginnings of c!hannah’s character (mirrorball, cardigan, seven) so i definitely think hoax is an immediate emotional aftermath of losing everything, questioning the friendship of those who were with her, and like.. the fuck of it all i guess 😭 instead of those earlier sort of red egg corruption era of emotions

aaaand now im just rambling so YES i associate hoax and much of folklore with an aftermath of c!hannah’s many losses and how she deals with her grief but also with pre-egg lore feelings

[brensquared]

its fascinating to see how nott talks about her family and the clan in the time between the end of the pirate arc and when the nein go to felderwin for the first time. because on the one hand shes So vague about everything, avoids giving any straight answers, and in hindsight thats sus (and definitely foreshadowing the fact that almost everything we knew about her up until that point was missing some crucial information for context, or simply false).

on the OTHER hand, she keeps referring to Yeza as her "friend" (and interestingly, I dont think any of the other party members - even jester - have suggested Yeza might have been someone nott loved romantically?). which means that veth is two for two on "downplayed the depth of my romantic feelings/interest in a nerdy guy by referring to him as a friend/platonic relation".

and that, in and of itself, is interesting! at this point in time (episode 48), nott doesnt believe she could ever really be with Yeza again. she hasnt reunited with him, her family thinks shes dead. so instead of allowing herself to grieve that relationship, she puts a distance there. hes not her husband, hes a friend. hes just a guy she knew. she didnt grow up a halfling in felderwin, she was with the clan. she invents this elaborate fake backstory for goblin nott and yeza's "past" together - because she still loves him, so much, and she cant fully cut him out of her history and her life and her heart

and then theres caleb - nott clearly felt so so much for him, and it was so complicated. as nott she could freely admire him, and follow him, and be his friend and walk beside him and sleep curled up next to him (because veth was the one who slept next to yeza, and veth was dead, wasn't she?) The collision of her reluctant new identity as Nott and her history as Veth as the nein go to rescue Yeza brings those conflicting feelings to the forefront; in some ways they each represent her possible choices, in the span of time between late arc 3 and the beginnings of arc 5. live a peaceful life as a housewife with yeza, or continue adventuring with caleb.

We know, despite everything, that she did feel romantic attraction to Caleb because of a scene where she admits but also downplays it - she claims that on the night they first met, she felt some attraction to him, but then she got to know him and she stopped feeling that way. but then, right before they perform Transmogrification, she tells him he is the second love of her life and kisses him - the most honest about her feelings for him that I think she ever was, to herself and others.

she put that distance between herself and her feelings for caleb because she felt guilty, because it wasn't something she was supposed to still want, now that she had her husband back.

i think it's very interesting to see that that behavior isnt just something she did in regards to caleb, but that shes also seen doing it with her marriage; moreover, I think it all fits into the patterns of behavior where nott/veth prioritizes the needs of others over her own. shes so focused on other people because she cant stop and examine her own wants or needs without falling apart on some level, so she just pushes them aside, downplays what's going on, and acts like nothing is wrong

[femininetea]

"Always expecting betrayal... But never from you"

The general who became a father to his soldier (spoilers for rwby v8 ch13)

Personal impressions:

I was so mad last week, thinking IW would have been defeated already/too soon but they tricked us. And I'm so glad it's a Winter vs. Ironwood fight. And the emotions.... I can't.

He was her father figure and I'm sure it was viewed like that from both sides. We were clearly shown what IW would do if anyone was in his way. Even when she disobeyed he didn't shoot her. He trusted her until the last moment.... We saw him get mad, break down and hopeless. But never cry. It's not just any soldier he's fighting. He's fighting his right hand. Winter Schnee, someone who was like a daughter to him.

But let's get to their actual relationship.

An essay on Winter in RWBY is planned btw.

Winter seems to have the highest rank in the military next to Ironwood, which is impressive for her age and shows her determination but also how IW believes in her

In V4 Jacques claimed that IW "stole his daughter" and IW hinted at that they often had this conversation

In V7 Jacques asked IW if Winter knew that Weiss returned to Atlas

From the point of V2 and V3 it seems that Winter still had contact to Jacques but not as much anymore in V7, something happened and I think because of the dust embargo IW and Jacques had their confrontation and Winter obviously chose IW's side and detached from her father completely

(It was always hinted (and I think even stated in the remnant guide book) that Winter protected her siblings and had to take the most abuse. And you can clearly see that by her type of fight or flight trauma and how she's literally supposed to represent the ice queen with her hidden emotions and stuff

You see her in that state of shock, fear, panic, trauma etc. when she realizes that she failed Ironwood. He was proud of her for catching Yang, Ren and Jaune and put his hand on her since they would be useful. Harriet then told him and I think this represents how someone like IW would be able to hurt her that much emotionally since he is in the position of an authority and a father figure to her)

Also he was ready to shoot his people at any time like the council man or Marrow but he didn't shoot her and allowed her to stay by her side

That and how she defends IW most of the time show how she trusts her judgment, IW trusts her judgement as well as seen in V4 when he told Jacques that Winter told him that there was a threat in Mistral

In World of Remnant we see IW walking past soldiers and Winter standing out. It was about the technical grooming of atlas students to join the military but you can tell from what we know of Ironwood, that he has a good heart (eruption fang made a vid on that recently)

When Winter told Weiss that "the general would have a place for you" She said it with such happiness, atlas and the military was winter's new home and IW gave her the chance to repurpose her life

She even defended IW in front of Jacques, her biological father and she takes great personal offense when his judgement is mistreated. Even when Weiss talked about trust Winter said that he would never hide anything from her

The offer with the Winter Maiden... You could say that he did this to control her and I'd accept your opinion... But there's one thing that makes me think that he still obviously also cared for her. Over the years he knew how much the military meant to her. She even told Penny that her life doesnt matter and only her job does. It means everything to her and like Winter said herself, she saw the Maiden powers as a privilege and it makes me feel like Ironwood saw them as something that would make her unique and give her once again a purpose that is unique to her and not just her being one of many soldiers

He even apologized, knowing it wouldn't be easy for her (since he expected Winter and not Ozcar) and when he had his talk with RWBY he called Winter her/Weiss' sister instead of just her name and idk but that just made this even more special

In Volume 8 it is once again shown how Winter is basically the one who also trusted Ironwood until the end. And in ch 12 she didnt judge him... She expressed her worries for his behavior. She couldn't believe the man who made her feel like she was everything would ever become so cruel

They way their worry for each other looks so similar

And while I know that they have a theme for the Atlas military , I think it's obvious how Winter looked even more like IW in all her outfits compared to the rest of the military

Many people think Ironwood is dumb for over trusting Winter but I think it shows his flaw as a general. He let's his emotions get in the way since he cares about her and continues to trust her even though she disobeyed orders

His last words were "As my last order: step aside", he could've just shot her again as she layed defenseless on the ground but he didn't

Remember how in the first episode he said "Thank you Winter, I don't know what I would do without you"

Right before, she said that she'll be fine without him asking anything. It sounds a little more personal in my opinion. Why would you tell your boss that you'll be fine without him asking about your status? the conversation was literally about Qrow and Robyn before but he looked worried and wanted the room for themselves and she immediately said that.

Some people also talk about how they emphasized with Ironwood in volume 7 since wasn't shown to have family or a partner yet would do anything for Atlas. But again, he did care about Winter a lot and wanted her to be save.

Something I also noticed when writing this is that in volume 3 Ironwood called her Schnee yet in V7 he calls the Ace Ops and her via first name basis. Clover said that he trusts Ironwood with this life and I think that's how Winter and the Ace ops felt about him, the person who gave them hope. Especially Winter.

And now we're here. Seeing the man cry a tear. We know now, if Winter wins, she has to kill him. Imprisoning him wasn't enough. And I think that will be her final moment of her being a "Ice Queen", when she has to kill him, she will probably turn to her emotional side and grieve.

As mentioned, the military, her position, her rank and Ironwood meant everything to her. She talked so enthusiastically when she had her conversation with Weiss about moving in together without their father and how IW has a place for her younger sister. And now along with Ironwood, both are in a situation they never thought they'd be in.

That was it from me. In short form , I just wanted to share some ideas and things I've noticed about their relationship and dynamic. None of this is meant as a romantic way and you can of course disagree but please stay respectful. Thank you and we'll see each other next chapter<3

P. S. Winter please don't die

[legends-live-in-memories]

For The Love of a Father (Idea)

AYO it me! this was inspired by an idea by @1rosebyanyothername in the MGI server. (i copied this directly from the server so rip my punctuation)

“What if somehow Thomas Wayne managed to live but lost his memory, so he moved to Paris, taking on the name Thomas Dupain?

What if he then married Sabine Cheng, and then eventually had Marinette?

So Bruce would be Marinette’s half brother, around 8 years older than her.”

So this is what I came up with as a part of brainstorming for it. (again not a fic but an idea that i should not be allowed to have)

without further ado:

Okay so imagine they, Thomas and Martha, were pronounced dead on scene but when they get to the coroner's office Thomas wakes up but since this has already made big public scandal the coroner tries to be discrete and ships his unconscious body off to like Strange or someone who then confirms the memory loss or gasp does it himself and ships him off to who knows where cuz the underbelly of Gotham has plans and a living Wayne ruins that but he didnt kill him cuz the Wayne foundation funded Blackgate and Arkham so out of mercy he doesnt kill him but ships him off to Italy in the care of one (1) ☝ Gina Dupain who was all new son and rolled tf with it

now he is being careened off to Paris cuz his 'father' Roland lives there but since Thomas was already a grown man at this point he just tries to live on his own and this is where he meets Sabine and they have a lovely daughter named Marinette Martha Dupain-Cheng

he doesnt know why he chose Martha but the name comes with an intense feeling of love so of course he would name his first daughter after that name

now either this is set in like fox series Gotham where we have young pre!batman Bruce or whenever but if you choose that route then maybe immediately after the series during his sabbatical he finds himself in Paris and would you look at that his dad his sweeping floors while a girl no older than 6 is calling him papa and Bruce just fucking breaks and he doesnt know what to do cuz he thought this man was dead but no he has a new family a new wife a new kid and Bruce has spent all this time grieving this man so he walks in trying to figure out wtf is going on but then Thomas looks up at this now 18??? yr old Bruce and there's a pleasant smile and 'welcome to Tom and Sabines how can i help you' and no recognition and Bruce then realises he has truly lost his father and now when he becomes batman its not with the grief of losing his parents but with the pain of losing his father twice

so then fast forward and cue to 13 yr old Marinette and being ladybug and wonder woman tells the league of a problem in Paris and Bruce just like freezes cuz wtf and internally he's spiralling cuz he never recovered from his discovery of his father's new simple life but the mission comes first and the grieving 12 yr old inside has to take a backseat for now so he sends someone (maybe midnighter but idk much bout him so someone else like wonder woman) to find out more and get in contact with those dealing with the situation so they schedule a meeting with ladybug and chat noir and Bruce nearly swallows his tongue cuz he doesnt give a f bout magic and magic cant hide those eyes cuz he sees them every morning in the mirror the same shade of blue (idk if it was Thomas or Martha that had blue eyes and i dont think canon knows either) and Bruce just knows this is his father's daughter his sister and she's caught in the same life as he but not because she condemned herself to this life but cuz some ras al ghul wannabe forced her and now he's seeing red but he cant lose his cool cuz batman doesnt lose his cool

so they work together but this little girl no taller than his ribs is hesitant and cautious and she's cracking under the pressure cuz her partner has other responsibilities and she has to pick up the slack and she doesnt know what to do and now Bruce is this close to revealing himself to her and explaining everything so that she has a bigger shoulder to lean on but he cant cuz hawkmoth and magic and secret identities and its a whole mess

(he is absolutely ready to go apeshit during weredad but he doesnt but its a damn near thing)

NOW we cut to when Mari is like 16 and theyre closing in on hawkmoth but he cant focus too much on that cuz 38 yr old Bruce just picked up a child and holy shit how does one parent and his sister?? can he even call her that?? is handling the situation so he takes a bigger backseat on Paris and focuses more on cleaning up Gotham and training/raising robin

and now things are kinda mellowing out and everyone falls into their new routines and roles in life Bruce almost forgets that his dad is not dead and during an investigation he finds out that Hugo Strange was responsible for shipping his father off like cheap export and now he's torn because he knows Strange can undo it,,, the bastards done worse and more complicated shit over the years undoing memory loss that he caused should be piece of cake but he doesnt want to take away a father from his child cuz Bruce knows how that can absolutely ruin someone and he's grown fond of his sister even if the relationship is severely one-sided she's family and Bruce couldnt do that to family but ,,,, but he misses his father he loves Alfred truly but nothing replace the Thomas and Martha shape gape in his heart so he does nothing

NOW he does however want to bridge the gap between himself and Marinette cuz he wants to know his father's new family even if the thought of his father loving someone other than his mother and calling someone else his child makes him viscerally ill he is nothing if not addicted to self-inflicted punishment after all

so he invites her whole class over to metropolis as some scholarship trip (he'll be damned if he brings his tiny sister to gotham of all places) and tries to get to know her there but he cant do so under much professional settings so he lets it slip casually in a presentation about his parents and includes a picture of his parents and he sees the looks the girl’s classmates throw around cuz they know that man as her father not his but no one can deny the resemblance so after the presentation she discretely goes off to talk with him in private but everyone sees them and knows whats happening so there is no time for pretense but they go into a back room and they talk and talk and talk and cry a little bit maybe a lot and they make promises to get to know each other

[zenosanalytic]

Harrow the Ninth: Blood and Guts; With Feeling!!!

While I’m sure the physical trauma, gore, intentional autophagia, unintentional cannibalism, and necrophilia in the book will be what turns mainstream heads, what really grabbed me about Harrow the Ninth was its unabashed and sincere humanity.

Every character in Harrow the Ninth gets to be a full human being. The best example to my mind is Crux: a gruesome cadaver 2 parts loyalty, 3 parts shouting, and 5 parts sheer bloody-minded cussedness; who blew up a long-grieving, broken family(and their completely innocent pilot) for the “crime” of leaving the place that murdered their husband and father and broke them; who insulted, beat, and tortured Gideon her WHOLE DAMN LIFE. And, also, the major, if not only, source of kindness and sympathy in Harrow’s own.

CRUX!!! Kind uncle Crux sneaking her sweets once a year and whenever she gets sick? Reliable retainer Crux always honest with her about her hallucinations and never judging or dismissing her for them; doing EVERY BIT of what little he can to help and protect her? Soft-voiced and kind Crux being the only member of the household who DOESNT abandon her in the Nova AU? THIS IS HOW HARROW SEES CRUX! The guy who casually kicked and spit on Gideon, who treated her as less than trash and never showed her even the shadow of an ounce of kindness is, in Harrow’s mind, the kindest person in her life. That is Fucking Wild.

Everyone is allowed to be 3D in this book, even when Harrow and Gideon disdain them. Ortus -a too-big blubbering joke in Gideon the Ninth, and Gideon and Harrow’s minds both- doesn’t JUST get to be brave, to be selfless, to confront and face up to and SURMOUNT his mistakes and flaws and then ride off glorious and stupid into Valhalla, he gets something so much more important; to speak for himself. To be Known. Understood. Through Harrow’s petty sniping we get to see the love and care he has for his shitty poetry; through her defensively projected self-loathing his regret, his sympathy, the breadth of his Heart, the loyalty to Harrow which lets him be insulted and also the stubborn pride which insists those insults not go unanswered. I’m tearing up just writing this! We get to see, in his meeting Protesilaus, him struggle with the very image of EVERYTHING he wants to be but isn’t, AND we get to see him resolve that displaced self-hatred to BOTH men -who he is, and who he isn’t- and befriend them both, and realize that the physical distance between them is superficial before the siblinghood of souls, and even more: that the conceptual distance between his ideal and his reality doesn’t have to prevent him from being good. He’s still a side character but he gets an arc, development, a story, and resolution, and HE gets to give its summation. And he’s allowed to be Heroic in his own way! HIS words summon his Hero from The River to speak HIS meter while fighting to save them all powered by THEIR shared belief in HIS Art, and then a heaven of his own defining. What other book does that for a JOKE character?!

And again: this is everybody. Yes of course the souls Harrow unknowingly called up, all those too-soon dead from Gideon the Ninth; We get to see Abigail and Magnus’s love for one another -and the dreadful teens, and their universal big-heartedness- up close, and the refutation of(or perhaps counterpoint to) Ianthe’s selfish conception of love gets to come from Magnus’s lips(oh: and Abigail SAVES THE FLIPPIN DAY! Harrow gets to know her and, through this, we get to know the true tragic waste of her death at the same time that we get to watch her MAKE her own meaning from beyond the grave); we get to see Protesilaus’s bravery and grace and kindness; Dulcinea’s indefatigability and cleverness and morbidity; Marta’s selflessness and unshakeable faith in Judith; we get to see ALL OF THEM run literally soul-risking cosmic dangers to shepherd one grieving, suffering, traumatized young woman -their jailer!- not only THROUGH that grief, but also through spiritual invasion by the product of their society’s sins: Of COURSE that was Noble as Fuck and I was Sobbing.

but EVERYBODY! John, for all his exTREMELY fucked up morality and inability to understand her, GENUINELY cares for Harrow, GENUINELY tries to see the best in everyone(even if, I suspect, that’s for mostly selfish reasons), and we get to see the sincerity of that; his care, and the self-recrimination his missteps bring despite that unyielding, bullheaded, self-warping insistence to continue on one Faustian course after another. The Lyctors in all their twisted, ancient cruelty: we get to see their surviving virtues beside their ENORMOUS, demented, murderous flaws -Augustine’s cleverness, wit and charm; Mercymorn’s outrage at endangering the young; Gideon’s faithful dutifulness; the endless love and sorrow all of them have for their Cavaliers- in the context of the fear and strain and loneliness the Emperor has forced them to endure for ten thousand years. We get to see the true grief and betrayal, fresh and bloody even now, they feel at John’s lies and manipulations, the relief they feel at thinking it all finally over, and even some small glimpses of the love they’ve managed to carve out for themselves in all of that: Gideon’s necrophilic makeout with Cytherea’s corpse takes on a whole different meaning when you learn that the first soul he’s truly loved since Pyrra is driving it around. And this too is significant; for all the discomfort it brings Harrow, and the general gross-out factor, and despite their villainy, the Kindly Prince and his Lyctors, the “Adults in the Room”, are allowed to have desires; allowed to be full and sexual people.

And the same sentiment extends to how Ianthe is written. As much as she is Harrow’s tormentor(and she is); as much as she is a ghastly, gaslighting manipulator(and she absolutely is); we also clearly see that she is Harrow’s fellow prisoner and victim on that station. Her terror is real; her suffering is allowed to be real. As much as they would Harrow, the Lyctors would as soon kill Ianthe as help her, and the Emperor not only allows that mindset but orders it thinking it helpful; just so long as his deniability remains plausible throughout. She gets to be Harrow’s safest harbor in a sea of troubles while ALSO being the person fucking with her perceptions to build in her feelings of helplessness and dependency for the SOLE PURPOSE of getting in her pants. Yet Gideon herself names her joy at seeing Harrow alive Genuine; her love for Harrow, Genuine; as twisted and awful-made by the cruel ideals instilled by her life of entitlement and emotional abuse they are, those feelings are still allowed to be real and heart-felt. Her attraction to Harrow, expressed cruelly and selfishly as it is, isn’t dismissed; Muir treats it always seriously, as she does Harrow’s own desires, and repressed confusion over them, for Ianthe. Everybody in this book gets to be REAL.

Fuck even Alecto. Over and over again we get to hear the Lyctors call her a Freak, a Monster, Subhuman(and given her eyes, those white-on-black oddities, it’s very likely she ISNT human; either a Planet-Soul herself or something even stranger); we get to hear from John’s own lips -the person SHE guarded; HER Necromancer in a pairing we have seen presented as the epitome of intimacy through two books- how he betrayed and “killed” her to calm their fears of her; and yet all the while there she is with Harrow, comforting, advising, never shaming or judging, being the only real friend Harrow’s allowed herself to be aware of.

Harrow the Ninth may very well be “Genre” Fiction, but its emotional universal is not only meticulously naturalistic, it is radiantly understanding and humane.

[carrs-universe-writes]

How would the ROs feel if the MC died along with the baby they had with the RO during childbirth (sorry U don’t have to answer this one if it’s to depressing)

Casey: Numb. He throws himself into work even more, and absolutely never goes home. It reminds him of MC, so he can't go home.

Lee: Angry. She was finally happy again, MC was happy, but the universe wouldn't allow it. She stops talking to everyone except her daughter really.

Q: Heartbroken. They're angry, they're sad, they want to hit something, they want to just curl up and die. They also throw themselves into work and avoid the home they shared with MC.

Aeon: They plan a funeral for both, taking the time they need to properly grieve. They sit up at night in the nursery with MC's clothes crying and telling them how great of a parent they would have been.

--

WW:

Drew: They just become an empty shell of themselves. Doing nothing but working and sleeping. They don't cook, only eating what they need to barely survive.

Ezra: Disappears.

Aim: Disappears.

Gliss: Destroys everything that reminds them of MC then immediately regrets it. Disappears.

Bayle: Doesn't get out of bed or eat. Just stays in his room and cries.

Lux: Becomes more reserved and more of a hardass. Doesnt even communicate with the twins for a while.

Mewse: Just waits for MC in the Fog.

Lukas: Buries MC and the baby in the family plot next to his father. Gets a tattoo for each one.

Bethany: Locks herself in the nursery. Comes out a few weeks later seemingly fine, but she sleeps exclusively in the nursery and with MC's clothes.

Seline: Buries them both in her forest. Visits them every day to talk to them and make sure they don't get lonely.

Crow: Completely gone. He's only waking up to work and nothing else. Once he's done with his job, he'll just stop eating and sleeping, and waste away.

Rival!Dax: "That seems like Alex’s problem lol"

Friend!Dax: They snap at MC’s body that they never wanted kids anyway. That MC was stupid for getting pregnant. They make sure MC and the baby are buried together in MC's favorite place. They never visit, but they do get a tattoo to honor both of them.

[warriorsbutnotreally]

Goldenflower Becomes Mates With Leopardstar AU

I'm going in this with only a vague idea

cause there was a lot of things I could do

so I'm gonna go with the idea I like the most and roll from there -

After Tigerstar's death, but before with BloodClan, Goldenflower starts going to sunningrocks to grieve, not wanting anyone to think she still loves her former mate, since he was a terrible cat

A couple days before the BloodClan battle, she finds Leopardstar there, staring into the water with an intense look.

Goldenflower is nervous and Leopardstar assures she doesn't want a fight. The two sit in silence, neither of them talking. Though it's strange at first, eventually the two are at peace with each other and leave feeling a little more at piece without anything spoken.

The build up to the battle with BloodClan, the two had been sitting in silence together and when day comes, they greet each other calmly, like long-term friends

The fight breaks out and Leopardstar and Goldenflower are holding their own quite well. However, three BloodClan cats gang up on the RiverClan leader, attacking without mercy. Goldenflower runs to help her, saving her from losing a life but earning a nasty slash across her face in the process.

The two fight off the cats and Leopardstar aids the ThunderClan molly to the medicine cats after the fight, worried about her bleeding face

Goldenflower loses use of one eye, but is okay otherwise. She and Leopardstar have their first full conversation then, fretting over each other and talking about their families to calm their nerves.

A couple nights later, they meet at the sunningrocks again and talk more and more.

Over the next few nights, Leopardstar and Goldenflower learn a lot about each other and eventually the topic turns to Tigerstar. Goldenflower admits she loved him for the longest time, but she could never forgive him, nor would she want to be near him again. Leopardstar talks about how she thought he'd make RiverClan stronger, as she was struggling with her confidence as a leader, only for him to make everything worse.

Leopardstar starts crying, grieving over Stonefur and saying how she should've never let him die, talking how he would've been a much better leader than she is.

Goldenflower tries to comfort her, but Leopardstar shakes her head, saying she knows she wasn't a good leader, but then saying how she wants to improve, to make up for her mistakes by doing her best to protect her Clan with all nine of her lives.

She follows that up with thanking Goldenflower for helping her.

The two say goodbye that night and Goldenflower's mind is filled with Leopardstar.

It's a few moons later and Firestar is gone on a mission [to revive SkyClan, but Golden doesnt know that] She and Leopard had been meeting up often and their friendship has been getting more and more intense, with a couple of nights that the two spent sleeping in a makeshift nest at sunningrocks.

Goldenflower had made up her mind and has already spoken to Brambleclaw about leaving and informs Graystripe, who is the acting leader. Graystripe is saddened that she wants to leave ThunderClan, but doesn't stop her.

She has a heartfelt goodbye before going to sunningrocks. Leopardstar is waiting there.

The two go to RiverClan and Leopardstar and Goldenflower nuzzle each other after it's announced she's joining.

Goldenflower had some trouble adjusting at first, but becomes close with Mistyfoot, Blackclaw, and Mosspelt - the three of them helping her learn camp and the traditions of RiverClan Meanwhile, Leopardstar shows Goldenflower the basics of swimming before admitting that she's a bit of a drypaw herself, not liking the water despite being a full RiverClan warrior.

Goldenflower is instantly cautious of Hawkpaw and Mothpaw, especially since they both resemble her ex mate in their own ways, but she fights back these worries and helps Leopardstar mentor Hawkpaw.

She becomes a second mother to Mothpaw and Hawkpaw, especially after Sasha leaves. Her and Leopardstar treat them like their own kits, Goldenflower showing her mate how to be patient with younger cats.

After Mothpaw and Hawkpaw becomes Mothwing and Hawkfrost, the two actually start talking about possibly having kits of their own. Even as warriors, she's as supportive of the two as she is of Tawnypelt and Brambleclaw, whom she visits regularly and sees at gatherings.

While The Chosen Cats are gone finding the territory, Goldenflower and Leopardstar have put a pause on trying to find help having kits, only to learn their most recent donor had actually been successful and Goldenflower is expecting.

Leopardstar becomes fiercely protective of her mate, giving up her own prey to make sure Goldenflower eats.

During the move from the Forest to the Lake, Goldenflower tells the news to her biological kits, Brambleclaw and Tawnypelt, before turning and informing her adopted kits, Hawkfrost and Mothwing. All four are happy for her and excited to meet their younger siblings.

While the cats are deciding territories, Goldenflower has her kits - a golden tom she names Lionkit after her brother, a brown and golden tortoiseshell she-cat she names Sunkit, and a dark ginger tom named Brightkit.

When Hawkfrost dies, Leopard and Golden grieve heavily for the loss, unaware that their adopted son had been training in the dark forest with his biological father, Tigerstar. Lion, Sun, and Bright grieve, too, as they had a fairly positive relationship with their older brother.

As warriors, Lionkit becomes Lionfrost, Sunkit becomes Sunwing, and Brightkit becomes Brightwater. Sunwing, at this point, has come out as a trans tom and has a lot of support from his mothers and brothers. Lionfrost is stubborn and loud and can be quite hard to be around as he doesn't handle having his opinions challenged. Sunwing is patient and a jokester, with cats finding it easy to be around him. Brightwater is quite and reserved, but very affectionate to those close to him.

It's also not long after they're warriors that, with more help from a donor, Leopardstar is expecting their second litter of kits and is rather nervous about being a queen. Goldenflower comforts her and promises she's there with her.

Everything is going well until Goldenflower ends up getting really sick. Leopardstar is worried, but isn't allowed near her mate.

Goldenflower is still sick by the time Leopardstar has their other kits - Flowerkit and Mudkit, twin golden-brown mollies who look like darker versions of Leopardstar.

Thankfully, Goldenflower recovers and is really happy when she can meet her kits. Goldenflower teases Leopardstar about the name Flowerkit, but the leader acts like she doesn't know what her mate is talking about.

When the battle in Eclipse takes place, Flowerkit and Mudkit had just becomes Flowerpaw and Mudpaw. Mudpaw is outraged when she isn't allowed to go, but Flowerpaw doesn't seem to mind. Both are shocked when the eclipse happens and it's around this time that Flowerpaw feels a greater power tugging at her paws.

Leopardstar ends up passing away only a couple moons after her daughters earn their warrior names - Flowerpelt and Mudfang.

A few notes

Flower and Mud have lineage from The Sisters before they even know who the Sisters are, as the tom that helped Leopardstar was distantly from the Sisters. Neither can see ghosts naturally, but Flower has a higher sense for when ghosts are around than Mud does

Goldenflower retires not long after Leopardstar passes and is quick to defend Mothwing when Mistystar is mad that she doesn't believe in StarClan

Neither toms that helped them are important or have names, but they were both two different loners - an idea had by Goldenflower to avoid having kits with a Clan tom who'd want kits with someone else in the future.

Mistystar has Brightwater as her deputy, finding him easier to talk to and sees him as being a good leader after her. Sadly, Brightwater ends up being killed by Darktail and his Kin, making way for Flowerpelt to be deputy after him.

[erenenthusiast]

In that 2016 interview, Isayama spoke of Eren and Mikasa's eventual separation being ideological: 'If I were to draw the separation of Eren and Mikasa... Mikasa would have to endure the strain of being stuck between Eren and Armin. Even though she can sympathise with Armin, who considers things from a "globalism" perspective, it's possible that she can't just let the more self-focused Eren go'. This ideological separation begins the moment Eren defects from the SC. It's from this point onwards that EMA's paths truly begin to diverge, and Mikasa in particular is presented with a choice that she's never had to face before.

The choice she makes will most likely conclude Mikasa's character arc once and for all, and it's a choice that's been building since before the time-skip, represented by her interactions with two characters in particular:

1. Mikasa and Floch

At the award ceremony in Chapter 90, Floch points out something interesting about Mikasa in what is otherwise an easily overlooked moment in the manga. Although multiple people were present on the rooftop during Serumbowl, he is the only one to explicitly draw attention to the fact that Mikasa let go. She resigned herself to losing Armin because Hanji convinced her that Erwin was more important to humanity and Mikasa's grief at losing him was something that would pass.Floch sees this as maturity, but the realisation that she was willing to let Armin go for the sake of humanity is something that Mikasa is shocked by. It makes her falter, and let go of Eren.

Mikasa has always defined herself as Armin and Eren's protector; she's presented in the story as such, and she styles herself as such. She's the one who keeps Eren and Armin safe. But Floch's words make her realise that, on the rooftop, she was able to step away from that role - because her world has expanded beyond Armin and Eren. It has expanded to include Hanji and Levi and the other Scouts - and humanity.

Mikasa is capable of making choices that hurt her deeply for the sake of a greater cause.

2. Louise and Mikasa

Louise meets Mikasa on three occasions. The first time, Louise tells Mikasa she likes her because Mikasa saved her, and gave her something to strive for: 'You can't save anyone without power. It's okay for us to fight against unjust violence. That's what I learned' (109). In the same way Eren 'gave' Mikasa a motto to live by, Mikasa gave one to Louise.

The second time, Louise tells Mikasa that she's happy to be by her side again, fighting for the same goal. Mikasa is ambivalent towards her. And she leaves her scarf behind, choosing to go and fight the titans without it.

In between the second and third meetings, Mikasa talks to Armin. When Mikasa asks what should be done about Eren, Armin replies (due to bottling up stress and frustration) that there's nothing to be done and he doesnt know. After Armin leaves, Mikasa notices that the scarf is missing, and goes to retrieve it.

The third and last time they meet, Louise is dying. She tells Mikasa that Eren wanted her to throw the scarf away, but she thought that she could take it to be close to Mikasa. Though she appears to sympathise with Louise's plight, Mikasa demands the scarf back from her. She walks away from Louise even as Louise tells her that she had no regrets, because she chased after Mikasa, devoting her heart.

Each meeting between Louise and Mikasa mirrors, in an abbreviated way, the different stages Eren and Mikasa's relationship has gone through. 1: Louise's initial love and gratitude, and her taking Mikasa as an inspiration; 2: their fighting side by side as equals; and, finally, 3: their literal separation as Mikasa chooses to walk away.

Mikasa never seeks to stop Louise from talking about her feelings; instead, she listens. She might not reciprocate, but she does understand. She walks away, but she takes the scarf with her. Despite what Armin said, and what Louise told her about Eren and the scarf, Mikasa chooses to keep a hold of it in the way she keeps a hold of the hope that Eren can still be brought back.

Mikasa is capable of holding on to the person she loves even when he's gone too far.

Mikasa Chooses... Mikasa

Despite the apparently binary choice, Mikasa doesn't have to choose to side with Eren (allow the Rumbling to go ahead) or with the opt: kill Eren to stop him. She said it herself: there's a third option. Her way. Eren's wandered so far down his path that he's lost sight of Mikasa and of Armin; of what connects him to the world. Mikasa chooses, not to support him or to believe that he's a lost cause, but to remind him that walking away from his humanity doesn't mean that he can't turn around and walk back.

Kruger said 'Anyone can become a god or a devil. All it takes is for someone to claim it for it to be true' (88). But if there's someone to challenge that belief, then the possibility remains of breaking the facade and setting the story straight - thereby freeing that person from the role they've either taken on out of necessity, or been assigned. It's something we've already seen happen. All it takes is for one person to question it, and the goddess falls apart to reveal an empty, unloved young girl, or the devil's mask cracks open to show the boy still grieving for the world he's lost.

Ymir knows that Historia's faking it; Mikasa knows that Eren is kind. Each of them challenges the story that their loved one is telling in order to keep going: Historia to survive, Eren to achieve his dream.

It took Mikasa years to truly overcome the cruelty she had seen as a child. Despite everything, she did, in the end, go back to being that 'ordinary girl'. She came to acknowledge that cruelty exists, as does death - but life must nevertheless be lived, people loved, experiences had, and faith kept. Seeing the beauty in a world that is inherently cruel is, and always has been, Mikasa's greatest strength. It's something she is capable of offering Eren, who no longer seems to believe in that duality, or in his own humanity. She can show him what he showed her; that the world isn't black or white, cruel or beautiful, dark or light. It's both. And it's possible to live with that.

Conclusion

Mikasa is fighting to prevent a massacre and stop eren. She's the person best suited to do that not only because she's his family, but because Eren's despair and anger at the world is what she might have ended up with herself. If any character could have become as bitter about the world as him, it was Mikasa. But he stopped that from happening because his kindness showed her that the world, as bad as it was, had good in it.

Little by little, Eren's abandoned that view of the world himself. He no longer sees both its beauty and its cruelty, but has confined himself to seeing - and acting on - only one. When they fought Annie in Stohess, Mikasa had to remind Eren that the world was cruel, because Eren had lost sight of that truth. Now, Eren's lost sight of another, equally valid truth; that the world, as cruel as it is, is also beautiful. That he, as inhuman as he thinks he is, is also kind.

If Mikasa manages to 'bring Eren back', she'll have come full circle. She started off as a little girl who was seeking something, anything, to hold on to. She needed a saviour, and she got one in the form of Eren. In this scenario, she'll end as a saviour herself, someone who is now able to pass on the light that she once received. Her fear of the world and of losing her loved ones subsided; she managed to find the warmth she needed to carry on.

( analyst: u/lemmesay1stupidthing on reddit. I edited tho but it's by them)

[frankpunisher]

also can i get uhhh advice. am i allowed to br mad for the following scenario:

i sent my friend j****** a moderately lengthy paragraph about my dog being dead and how im worried for simon because he isnt taking it very well and she left me on read, which isnt a big deal bc i thought maybe she was busy and couldnt reply at that moment. and then she just.. changed the subject. without saying even im sorry or how are u or anything. so i didnt answer her message about her house being haunted because 1) i was disappointed that she didnt care about sabre and 2) i had just punched in for work and i cant just. go on my phone at work. and then a couple of hours later she messages me and asked if i got her message. i just said “yes” and she replied with “then why didnt you answer”. so i, petulantly, said “sorry my dog died and im feeling a bit upset. also im at work” and she replied, and i QUOTE, “its just a fucking dog” WHAT??????? i literally wasnt even mad until she said that!!!!! i was only slightly... hurt? its really hard to hurt my feelings and yet. she did it! and now im fucking livid. its worse bc she had JUST been at my house and she has been at my house thousands of times and she ALWAYS claimed to love sabre. like she doesnt like simon at ALL, which is fine. u dont have to lvoe my pets. she likes stinky but she said she loved sabre w all her heart and i feel like she’s disrespecting sabres memory somehow. she wasnt “just” a dog she was a BABYDOG. idk maybe im sad so im overreacting but i feel hugely disrespected and like something has just permanently shattered in our friendship but ive literally never felt so disgusted with someone i called a friend in my life. if she hadnt met sabre or pretended to love her so much i wouldnt be As upset. or if she didnt call herself a dog person, even. if she hated dogs i could see her having the just a dog attitude bc she wouldnt have the emotional attachment. but instead she gets mad at Me for grieving my best girl and acts like /i/ was disrespectful to HER because i ignored her meme after she ignored me telling her my dog died abd my puppy was inconsolable aboit it

[horde-princess]

How do you think Catra made peace with her role in Angella’s entrapment (or death, depending on how you interpret it, i’ve seen both)? When she’s speaking to Hordak, she seems quite proud of it- “It worked out for us, didn’t it? Their queen is gone, the rebellion’s a mess!” And following Catra joining the rebels, it isn’t really addressed, as I know you & others have lamented. I think your metas are extremely well-written & I was curious about your perspective on this. Do you think she was

(2/2) remorseful? How do you think she made peace w/ it after the fact? How do you think the others would go about forgiving her for it, if at all? (I’d imagine Glimmer would have the hardest time, but she’s also caused similar harm to Etheria, so maybe not? I believe that’s what allowed her to empathize most with Catra also.) I apologize if you’ve answered asks related to Angella before! Also, your religious metas have been extremely cathartic reads & I wanted to thank you for them!

--

thank YOU so much for reading them 😭💕 yeah the thing is there’s so little in canon to go off of so ill try to get that sorted first and go from there

thats an interesting quote to bring up from 4x01. part of me is like “noo she didnt mean it she just needed to sell her worth to hordak” and another part is like yeah it makes sense she’d be proud, the leader of their enemy was gone even if its not something she can really take credit for it was still a huge victory. but in my opinion it doesnt weigh for or against any conclusion since its pre-redemption so lets try looking at some other moments

there’s her confrontation about the portal with scorpia in the same episode, you could argue her extreme anger there and the way she forces herself to relax shows that she’s trying to shove down her guilt. then ofc she has that nightmare in 4x03, and afterward her anxious reaction when adora brings it up. this stuff is super consistent with the way catra’s character is written, like they never spell her feelings out you gotta dig a little deeper u know

also this is stretching honestly but its something ive been thinking about a lot???? in 5x07 when glimmer mentions her dad? why have catra jump off adoras lap after THAT particular line.. if not to associate her unease about returning to etheria with angella 🤔🤔 super curious what yall think about this

(side note, not canon per se but storyboard artist Mickey Quinn drew this picture of Catra saying “I’m sorry” to Angella during a livestream -- could just be her own thoughts but likely reflects general feelings of the crew!)

idr anything else in canon so yeah unfortunately the writers didnt want to address angella directly, but with these brief moments i think there WAS a deliberate intention for fans to kinda read between the lines and assume that catra’s guilt re: the portal also related specifically to angella. it took me forever to get over it lkdfjld im still not tbh

but as far as catra making peace with it, season 5 is proof enough that yeah she would take full responsibility and feel terrible about it, like next to hurting adora it would have to be her biggest regret... its not something she’d come to terms with on her own i think it would take everyone’s reassurance and thats part of the beauty of the show u know the theme of friendship and forgiveness 😌 but before that could happen personally i wouldve liked to see everyone have time to grieve and process and just be angry. but like i agree i think glimmer would logically understand why catra did it but the emotional process of forgiveness would be a much longer journey for her and itd be amazing to see their friendship deepen because of it.. also i dont think we talk about this enough but angella was like a mother to bow and adora as well!!! i think they’d be v protective/defensive of glimmer for a while and there’d be some interesting tension between the 4 of them..  thats in my perfect world like if the show had 10 seasons haha. heres a post that talks a little bit more about what i wouldve liked to see happen in canon

also self plug i wrote a fic about this actually where i explore some thoughts on how catra and others dealt with her role in angellas death if ur interested 😇 just bc i think it expresses my feelings better than anything else i could say

[inessencedevided]

The Untamed, episode 45 - watching notes

I'm at this stage of fandom rn where it's really hard to concentrate on anything else 😅

Every song I listen to gets dissected for how it relates to wangxian

I need to concentrate on my thesis but instead I'm pondering how the untamed raises questions about collectivism vs individualism and how my western perception of that might differ greatly from a native chinese person or even the author's intention

Can't I just write my thesis about THAT?

Alas, I digress ...

Back to our regular programming :D

Last time one Sophie watches the untamed wwx went all Sherlock on us and used his formidable skills of deduction to expose Backpfeifengesicht's plan of killing everyone and blaming it on wwx

I've heard from several people that the next few episodes are their favourites, so no high expectations at all :D

Nobody wipes the blood on their chins away. Might be about the aesthetic

I adore detective-duo-wangxian so much!! Especially because wwx does 99% of the talking but then lwj will chime in with a single word and it's 100% devastating :D

If anyone knows any well written case-fics for these two, please, I need recs! (For after the show)

Backpfeifengesicht makes good one point and that is that jgy already is at the top of the cultivation world. So what does he gain from all this?

Or is it simply that he's afraid of wwx because he's a rebel and might act against him? (Don't answer that. I wanna find out through the show ;))

Wwx just casually revealed that he's been to cloud recess and that he handles went to the restricted section forbidden chamber. What will you do about, Lan Qiren? Huh? 😂

Oooh! Backpfeifengesicht is the ghosted faced man! I thought it was Jiggy himself!!! 😱

That makes way more sense though!

Lan Sizhui! Jin Ling! Oh you brave boys! 😭

Someone hold me 😭

But why does he not take zidian now? He's done so before!

"You little fool!" Is "I love you" in Jiang-Cheng-speak :D

"We're done for! What can we do??" - wwx *strips*

Sorry

Bahahaha 😂😂😂

I just burst out laughing waaay to loudly for the fact that I've got people sleeping in the room next to mine

But look at Lan Qiren when he sees wwx strop to reveal anat is probably his nephew's undershirt 😂😂😂

He's probably questioning every decision that's let him to this point :D

This is completely inconsequential,but I couldn't keep quiet about it anymore because I every time he makes this motion, it always sends a shiver down my spine!!! Notice that wwx (or rather Xiao Zhan) is one of these people whose fingers bend in the opposite direction??? I know it's just a normal thing some people can do, but I can't watch it!! It makes my fingers hurt just looking at it 🙈🙈🙈

Is he turning himself into a demon lure flag?? 😱

Lan Jingyi 🥺🥺🥺

Also does wwx now just transfer his self-sacrificing tendencies to lwj?

Nothing is as hot as these two together in a fight scene

Jiang Cheng doesn't want to leave them behind. He does care! :') he just never unlearned how to unravel his love from his anger

Sizhui running up to greet his dads :')

Look at them! I'm soft guys 💔

He called him Yuan!! 😭😭😭

So this is it. Any doubts I ever had about Sizhui's identity are gone

Will he finally recognize him??

Why don't you say anything lwj? This one time, I beg you!!

Sect Leader Yao still at his gossip shit even 16 years later 🙄

Lam sizhyi is seasick! Why is this so cute! 😭

Oh Wen Ning!! He recognized A-Yuan? Right?

I want to hug Lan Sizhui for his openness and kindness towards everyone he meets, no matter their status or what other people say about them! (Wen Ning now or who he thought was Mo Xuanyu the supposed mad-man) and I wanna hug lan Wangji right after for raising him to be like this :')

Oh Wen Ning! 😭

That's how I'd look at Sizhui, too, if I met him - poor unadulterated wonder :')

And just think about what that means for Wen Ning! He's not the last of the Wens! All their fight wasn't for nothing. This child, their legacy, survived 😭😭😭

"Can I call you A-Yuan" "Of Course." God I'm gonna burst into tears 😭

I'm actually bursting into tears!!

Isn't this the dream of anyone who has ever lost someone? :')

"He's like a brother and father to me" :')

And he raised him from when he was 4 or 5? So ... A-Yuan was about 2 when the Wens died? Right? Then 5 would fit with lwj's 3 year isolation

Ob god, it's the butterfly-toy!!! 😭😭😭

Wen Nings smiling through his tears! I can't! 😭💔And he's got the one from the market!

Aww, wax isn't wearing the white undergarment anymore. Too bad

Oh poor Jin Ling ...

So much grieve that he could probably never process. There so many lost kids in this story, hurt by things they had no control over 😔

I mean, I get it. That's the person who killed his parents (without being in control, but he doesnt know that) and everyone is just talking to him as if it's normal and that didn't happen. But he can't forget,but he doesnt really understand either and he has no outlet. Of course he'd just ... crash 😥

And who would have thought I'd ever try at a flashback of Jin Zixuan's death :(

For once, it'd be nice if the adults actually acted like the parent figures they're supposed to be and explain things to their children 🤦‍♀️

I'm so thankful though, that no one even thinks of scolding him for crying. Jismg Cheng only asked who it was that made him cry (and looks like he'll kick their ass). Generally, thus show has a very healthy attitude towards tears. Most characters cry when they are faced with tragedy, regardless of gender. Men being allowed to have appropriate reactions to grieve (instead of a single men tear or just punching things) is really nice to see

Oh Yao dude whose courtesy name I can't remember, shut up!

Thanks Ouyang Zizhen! You get me

I live for these children standing up to their elders

Meanwhile Nie Huaisang is just on the sidelines, enjoying the show :D never change!

The Lotus Pier theme song alone is making me cry rn 😢

Why can't wen Ning come in?

Oh Sizhui!

He many times do you want to make me cry happy tears today?? :')

Little turnip-baby ❤

But why doesn't lwj say anything ??? 😭

Lan Wangji raised A-Yuan smong a bunch of rabbits??? 😭

Now he's a turnip baby with a taste for carrots, how cute is that? :')

Holy shit, wwx and lwj are really joined at the hip these days of lwj won't enter the hall if wwx isn't allowed to :D

Lwj 😑 "no misbehaviour"

Someone. Knows. Their. Husband.

Okay sorry, but as painful as these cuts must have been and yes, while you do see scars on this prostitute's face, they in no way warrant these horrified gasps as of they had all seen a monster 🙄

Xue yang. Fancy seeing you here in this not at all disturbing sub-plot 😬

Okay that's creepy. That's really creepy

Shouldn't Jin Guangyao have a bit more compassion for these women?

On the other hand, he was born to menacingly stand behind a curtain 🤷‍♀️

W. T. F. ????

Jin Guangshan??? o___O

That's the most skin we've ever seen on this show and it's in a scene like THIS? 😬

THIS IS HOW JIN GUANGSHAN DIED? 😱😱😱

How?

How can you die from sex?

And then jgy made them keep going?

UGH

These poor women :/

So there's someone who set her free on purpose, right?

Bicao has really interesting eyes!

Oh wait, took me some time to catch up. This is about Quin Su and why she killed herself, right?

WHAT??

They were siblings o_O

They just went full game of thrones on this ...

Hey Jin Guangshan, screw you for raping that woman

Wait, is that why jgy had him die like THAT?

I'm so confused about how that happened btw

But why would Jin Guangyao merry quin su anyway? Was this some kind of political marriage that he couldn't call off?

This episode answered some of my questions but raised about a dozen more 😅

@sweetlittlevampire @fandom-glazed @elenirlachlagos @allhailthedramallama @luckymoony @kyrrahbird @i-love-him-on-purpose

5 episodes to go. I'm both happy because I can't wait to brows the untamed tag without looking for spoilers and extremely sad 🥺

Right now I'm planning to watch one episode each day until friday and then watch the last two on Saturday, hopefully quite early, so I can spend the rest of the day crying my eyes out over it, without having to worry about such trivial things as being a functioning adult or a responsible student 😅

[iridescentides]

hi again dia! happy first day of december ❤️💚 i wanted to ask you what, in your opinion, are the 5 most underrated dcoms? i remember you saying before that you've watched all of them so i'd love to hear your opinions 😊 - 🎅🎁🎄

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH secret santa you are so good! asking me all the best questions 💜

okay so i literally had to make a list of all the dcoms i consider underrated and then narrow down a top 5. theres lots of dcoms that i love, but that i think got the right amount of attention and care (like lemonade mouth and the teen beach movies, for example), so this list just focuses on ones that deserved more hype for their quality level.

5. The Cheetah Girls: One World (2008)

okay so even as i type this i feel like a hypocrite. i have only watched this movie one time. BUT i can acknowledge that its one of the most criminally underrated dcoms ever, tons of people didnt watch it simply because raven wasnt in it. thats why i avoided it as a child, and i didnt get around to watching it until i did my big dcom binge in 2016. and it was so good. theres a really long post floating somewhere around tumblr full of specifics on why its actually the best cheetah girls movie (my favorite is the second one purely out of nostalgia), so to paraphrase some points from that post:

its a solid example of cultural appreciation, rather than appropriation, as the girls go and learn about bollywood and indian culture together

the indian characters arent treated like props or unimportant sides, they get their own agency and storylines that are important

the songs are good!!!

basically this movie was overlooked and slept on even though in terms of role modeling and social value, and just like the first two cheetah girls movies it was important and impactful.

4. Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure (2011)

okay so as someone whos very neutral and occasionally negative-leaning towards the hsm franchise (mostly bc its overhyped and not really representative of all dcoms), i was pleasantly surprised by sharpays fabulous adventure. this is another one that i know lots of people skipped right over and dont hold with as much esteem as the main hsm franchise, and that doesnt sit right with me.

i do not agree with the “uwu sharpay was the real victim in hsm” arguments bc in their efforts to look galaxy brained the people who say that overlook the fact that she was a rich white woman who used her power and status to exercise control over opportunities that should have been fairly and freely available for all; they were not “making a mockery of her theater” in the first movie, they were literally just kids who wanted to try out a new school activity that everyone was supposed to be allowed to participate in; and despite allegedly learning her lesson and singing we’re all in this together with everyone at the end of the first movie, she literally showed no growth in the second movie as she fostered an openly hostile environment and favored troy so heavily that it literally cost him his friends, all as part of yet another jealous plan to take things away from people who already have less than her. she was NOT the victim in the main franchise, and she did not seem to exhibit any growth or introspection either.

and that!!! is why sharpays fabulous adventure was so important. in focusing on sharpay as the main character, they finally had to make her likeable. they did this by showing actual real growth and putting her outside of her sphere of influence and control. we saw true vulnerability from her, instead of the basic ass “mean girl is sad bc shes actually just super insecure” trope (cough cough radio rebel), and this opened us up to finally learn about and care about her character. throughout the movie we see her learn, from her love interests example, how to care for others and be considerate. she faces actual adversity and works through it, asking herself what she truly wants and what shes capable of. and in the end, when she finally has her big moment, we’re happy for her bc she worked hard to get there. she becomes a star through her own merit and determination, rather than through money and connections. this movie is not perfect by any means, but it is severely underrated for the amount of substance it adds to sharpays character.

3. The Swap (2016)

okay i know im gonna get shit for this but thats why its on this list!!! just like sharpays fabulous adventure, its not perfect and definitely misses the mark sometimes, but it deserves more attention and love for all the things it did get right!

the swap follows two kids who accidentally switch bodies because of their emotional attachment to their dead/absent parents’ phones. and while i normally HATE the tv/movie trope of a dead parent being the only thing that builds quick sympathy for a young character, they definitely expanded well enough to where we could root for these kids even without the tragedy aspect. we see them go through their daily struggles and get a feel for their motivations as characters pretty well. as a body switching movie, we expect it to be all goofy and wacky and lighthearted, but it moves beyond that in unexpected ways.

the reason the swap is on this list is for its surprisingly thoughtful commentary on gender roles. its by no means a feminist masterpiece, and its not going to radicalize kids who watch it, but it conveys a subtle, heartfelt message that deserves more appreciation. the characters struggle with the concept of gender in a very accurate way for their age, making off-base comments and feeling trapped by the weight of expectations they cant quite put their finger on. we watch them feel both at odds with and relieved by the gender roles they are expected and allowed to perform in each others bodies, and one of the most interesting parts of the movie to me is their interactions with the other kids around them. as a result of their feeling out of place in each others environments, the kids inadvertently change each others friendships for the better by introducing new communication styles and brave authenticity. 

the value of this movie is the subtle, but genuine way it shows the characters growing through being given the space to act in conflicting ways to their expected norms. ellie realizes that relationships dont have to be complex, confusing, and painful, and that its okay to not live up to appearances and images. jack learns that emotional expression is good, healthy, and especially essential to the grieving process. one of the most powerful scenes in the movie comes at the end where, after ellie confronts jacks dad in his body, jack returns as himself to a very heartfelt apology from his father for being too hard on him; the explicit message (”boys can cry”) is paired with an open expression of love and appreciation for his kids that he didnt feel comfortable displaying until his son set an example through honest communication. this is such an empowering scene and overall an empowering movie for kids who may feel stuck in their expected roles, as it sets a positive example for having the courage to break the restrictive societal mold. for its overall message of the importance of introspection and emotional intelligence, the swap is extremely underrated.

2. Freaky Friday (2018)

this is my favorite dcom, and probably my favorite movie at this point. ive always assigned a lot of personal value to this movie (and i love every freaky friday in general), for the message of selfless familial love and understanding. i know i can get carried away talking about this topic; i got an anon ask MONTHS ago asking me about the freaky friday movies and i wrote a super super long detailed response that i never posted bc i didnt quite finish talking about the 2018 movie. and thats bc on a personal level, i cant adequately convey all the love i have for this movie. so i will try to keep this short.

first lets state the obvious: the reason people dont like this movie is bc its not the lindsay lohan version. and i get that, to an extent, bc i also love the 2003 version and its one of my ultimate comfort movies, and grew up watching it and ive seen it a billion times. i even watched it a couple days ago. but the nostalgia goggles that people have on from the early 2000s severely clouds their judgement of the wonderful 2018 remake.

yes, the 2018 version is dorky, overly simplistic plot wise, a bit stiff at times, and super cheesy like any dcom. the writing isnt 100% all the time. the narrative takes a couple confusing turns. the song biology probably shouldnt have been included. i understand this. but at the heart of it all, this movies value is love. and its edge over all the other freaky friday movies is the songs.

on a personal level, the movie speaks heavily to me. i cried very early into my first viewing of the movie bc i got to see dara renee, a dark-skinned, non-skinny actress, playing the mean popular girl on disney channel. that has never happened before. growing up, i saw the sharpays and all the other super thin white women get to be the “popular” girls on tv, and ultimately they were taken down in the end for being mean, but that doesnt change the fact that they were given power and status in the first place for being conventionally beautiful. so, watching dara renee strut around confidently and sing about being the queen bee at this high school got to me immediately. and in general, the supporting cast members of color really mean a lot to me in this movie. we get to see adam, an asian male love interest for the main character. we have a second interracial relationship in the movie with katherines marriage to mike. ellies best friend karl is hispanic. and we see these characters have depth and plot significance, we see them show love, care, and passion for the things they value. the brown faces in this movie are comforting to me personally. additionally, the loving, blended family dynamic is important to me as someone in a close-knit, affectionate step-family.

but on a more general level, this movie is underrated for its skillful musical storytelling and the way it conveys all kinds of love and appreciation. in true freaky friday fashion, we watch ellie and katherine stumble and misstep in their attempts to act like each other. its goofy and fun. but through it all, the music always captures the characters’ intimate thoughts and feelings. the opening song gives us a meaningful view into ellie and katherines relationship and the fundamental misunderstandings that play a role in straining their connection. ellie sings about how she thinks her mom wants her to be perfect, and her katherine sings about all the wonderful traits she sees in her daughter and how she wants her to be more open and self assured. this is meaningful bc even as theyre mad at each other, the love comes through. the songs continue to bring on the emotional weight of the story, as ellie sings to her little brother about her feelings of hurt and abandonment in her fathers absence. the song “go” and its accompanying hunt scene always make me cry bc of the childlike wonder and sense of adventure that it brings. for the kids, its a coming of age, introspective song. for katherine who gets to participate in ellies body, its a reminder of youth and the rich, full life her daughter has ahead of her. she is overcome with excitement, both from getting to be a teenager again for a day, and from the realization that her daughter has a support network and passions that are all her own. today and ev’ry day, the second to last song, is the culmination of the lessons learned throughout the movie, a mother and daughters tearful commitment to each other to love, protect, and understand one another. the line “if today is every day, i will hold you and protect you, i wont let this thing affect you” gets to me every time. even when things are hard and dont go according to plan, they still agree, in this moment, to be there for each other. and thats what all freaky friday stories are ultimately about.

freaky friday 2018 is a beautiful, inclusive, subversive display of familial love, sacrifice, and selflessness, and it is underrated and overlooked because of its more popular predecessor.

1. Let It Shine (2012)

this is another one of my favorite dcoms and movies in the whole world. unlike the other movies on this list, it is not the viewers themselves that contribute to the underrated-ness of this movie. disney severely under-promoted and under-hyped this movie in comparison to its other big musical franchises, and i will give you five guesses as to why, but youll only need one!

let it shine is the most beautifully, unapologetically black dcom in the whole collection. (i would put jump in! at a notable second in this category, but that one wasnt underrated). this movie was clearly crafted with care and consideration. little black kids got to see an entire dcom cast that represented them. the vernacular used in the script is still tailored mostly to white-favoring audiences, but with some relevant slang thrown in there. in short, the writers got away with the most blackness they were allowed to inject into a disney channel project.

the story centers on rap music and its underground community in atlanta, georgia. it portrays misconceptions surrounding rap, using a church setting as a catalyst for a very real debate surrounding a generational, mutlicultural conflict. this was not a “safe” movie for disney, given its emphasis on religious clashes with contemporary values. it lightly touches on issues of image policing within the black community (cyrus’s father talking about how “our boys” are running around with sagging pants and “our girls” are straying away from god), which is a very real and pressing problem for black kids who feel the pressure (from all sides) of representing their whole race with their actions. its a fun, adorable story about being yourself and staying true to your art, but also a skillful representation of struggles unique to black and brown kids and children from religious backgrounds.

on top of crafting a fun, wholesome, thoughtful narrative and likeable protagonists, let it shine brought us what is in my opinion the BEST dcom soundtrack of all time. every single song is a bop. theyre fast, fun, and lyrically engaging. “me and you” is my favorite disney channel song of all time due to its narrative significance; i will never forget my first time watching the movie and seeing that big reveal unfold onstage, as a conversation and a plot summary all wrapped into a song. the amount of thought and care that went into the music of this movie should have been rewarded with a level of attention on par with that of other musical dcoms.

if disney channel had simply cared about let it shine more, it couldve spanned franchises and sold songs the way that other musical dcoms have drawn in success. i would have loved for a sequel that explored and fleshed out cyrus’s neighborhood a little bit more, and maybe dipped into that underground scene they caught a glimpse of. i wanted a follow up on the changed church community once cyrus’s father started supporting his sons vision. i want so much more for these characters and this world than disney gave them in just one movie.

for its bold, unabashed representation of blackness and religion, subtle, nuanced presentation of race-specific issues, strong, likeable characters, and complex, thoughtful songs, let it shine is the most underrated dcom.

and because i made a full list before i started writing this post, here are some honorable mentions:

going to the mat (2004)

gotta kick it up! (2002)

tru confessions (2002)

dont look under the bed (1999)

invisible sister (2015)