#of course i wouldn't do this with the context of writing him bc it would be too op but; if ur sassy with him it has to be on a

[skitskatdacat63]

“Amore et Timore” - King Fernando I “El Animoso”

[oldestking]

/  If u deal with g.il u have to know that u will be constantly threading through the thin line between him deciding that u will die by his hands or u proving him that there’s something of worth in having u around

[scekrex]

First off, LOVE your writing. Like, I’m literally obsessed 😫😫

But I wanted to request something, basically, just Adam wanting to experiment with Y/n cause he’s a little curious (bi-curious 😉) and just him being really awkward with it, like, HE. HAS. NOT. BEEN. THIS ANXIOUS AND SCARED about doing sexual stuff since his first time with EVE. Like, you’d think it would be easy to give a handjob while frotting but WHOOPS his hands are too. fucking. sweaty and the damn dicks keep slipping away and now he wants to die from the embarrassment. Like it’s THAT serious for him. (And it’s TOTALLY not because he has f-f-feelings for Y/n…. Definitely not…)

I really just like nervous bi-curious guys who need a little comforting in their sexuality. Cause I know that poor boy has internalized homophobia RIDDLED in his bones. (Like, how does he know that Angel is a pornstar in hell, but not know Alastor, one of the most famous overloads in hell?? Bro’s been watching that shit on the down-low)

All in all, he gives Church Pastor’s Closeted Gay Son vibes.

But yeah, I just want this boy to know, it’s ok for him to want to suck a dick and MAYBE kiss the homies goodnight (IDK sounds a little gay/j) 😭🙏

Okay okay okay, so Adam struggling with being bi? Fuck yeah. Like it seriously messes with his fucking head and he doesn't understand it at fucking all.

Is this the life, the one from your dreams?

pairing: Adam x male!reader

warnings: language, handjob

note: not beta read bc fuck you I don't have beta readers

Adam's been acting kinda strange for the past few days - that means even stranger than he had been acting before. And somehow his strange behavior had led to the two of you sitting in your bedroom, dressed in nothing but boxershorts and having the most awkward conversation.

You and Adam had been close friends for a couple thousand years by now, he was your rotten soldier, your homeboy and you knew you meant just as much to him as he meant to you. But while you were okay with being queer, Adam had his problems with it. ‘I can't be gay, I'm fucking Adam, God didn't create me to be gay and suck dick' was one of the excuses he used the most whenever you addressed the topic. But this time it was different.

“So uhm, y'know how you're gay?” Good fucking job Adam, of course you would forget about something like that. You raised an eyebrow at his choice of words and crooked your head a little, “What kind of question is that?” Yeah, that he was asking himself as well, what kind of question was that? His sweaty palm ran through his hair in order to cool himself down, it wasn't helping. Not the slightest bit. He was still nervously sweating and twitching, leaving you confused. “Yeah, stupid thing to ask I- fuck. I was wondering-” how would you ask for something like that anyway? ‘So I know you've said you'd smash me in the past, is that offer still on the table?’ Fuck no. “Yeah, fuckhead, that offer’s still on the table,” was your more than casual response to his question - which he had apparently voiced out loud. The brunette’s head snapped towards you, meeting your eyes for the first time ever since he had entered your apartment today, “What?” He sounded so confused and overwhelmed at the same time, his eyes reflected both excitement and anxiety. He looked so confident yet so insecure.

“Y’know, if ya wanna fuck around to find out, I'm your guy,” oh and how Adam adored yet hated the sound of that - he desperately wanted you to be his guy, though not only in the context of sex but rather as his boyfriend - not that he'd tell you though. So he simply just stared at you because what the fuck had you just said? “So if I like-” You interrupted him by placing your hand firmly on his thigh, he looked at your hand, then sought eye contact. “If ya wanna hook up I'm cool with that.”

But were you? Were you cool with ‘just hooking up’? No. But it was the most you could get, the closest you'd ever be to Adam and if Adam wanted you to be his fuck-buddy, you wouldn't turn it down. If fuck-buddy was all the first man had to offer, you'd gladly swallow it. Adam seemed to have noticed the uncertainty in your eyes, yet he was too scared to ask if you were sure - he knew he should have asked, but he was too afraid you'd change your mind last minute.

Your hand slowly crept closer up to his crotch and the brunette sitting in front of you let you, his curious golden eyes watched your every move carefully and once your hand had finally reached its destination, a quiet moan escaped him. He immediately didn't like the feeling - not the feeling itself, the feeling itself was purely divine. It was rather the feeling of giving up control that he didn't like, he felt lost, vulnerable and exposed. So he grabbed a hold of your wrist and moved it away from his body entirely, that earned him another confused look by you. “I know what I like, don't fucking care if it's done by a fucking chick or a dude. I wanna fucking find out how to-” he wasn't even able to say it, to say that he wanted to learn how to pleasure dudes, how to pleasure you. But you understood him, of course you did. Aside from Lute you knew him best, you were the one who could look right through his tough guy act but you never said a word about it. You saw the tiniest of emotions in his eyes, mostly even emotions Adam himself hadn't noticed.

So you wiggled out of his grip, grabbed his wrist instead and guided it straight to your crotch instead. The feeling of Adam's palm against your most sensitive part was different from what you had imagined it - it was better. His large palm had no issue cupping all of you and you couldn't help but lightly thrust up against his hot skin. The brunette's eyes widened, not in shock but in lust, the way your body reacted to his simple touch was amazing, purely wonderful. The fact that you also managed to hold eye contact while thrusting up against his palm and tiny moans falling from your lips - though he was sure you just did that to tease him - all those things did something to him. “Are ya gonna jerk me off or do I need to do that myself?” Fuck, your words were tempting, so so sweet and tempting, how could he refuse? And seriously, giving you a handjob couldn't be any different than jerking himself off, could it?

Well it very much could. Once your underwear had been snapped away by the first man, his hand was so sweaty that it kept losing its grip, your dick kept slipping out of his hand and while you truly didn't seem to mind it all that much given the fact that it was his first experience, Adam minded. He wanted this to be good, he wanted you to remember how good he was in bed, that his hand was feeling so much better than yours but how could he make you feel that way when he didn't even manage to jerk you off properly? He looked stressed, his body was tense and he was feeling many things but enjoyment wasn't one of them. And of course you had to notice all of this.

“Adam,” your voice sounded so soft, so understanding, like he was a child that had just broken a mug and you were their father, telling them that it is okay and the world wouldn't burn down because of one broken mug. “Relax,” you continued to speak, his eyes snapped up, met yours and you couldn't hold back the sigh that escaped your lips as your eyes met his. Frustration and fear was visible in them and honestly, you understood his position, you had been there too. Of course it had been a while - quite a long while actually, but you had been there too. “I am fucking relaxed,” was his response as he tried to tighten the grip around your erection in order to jerk you off - yet his hand slipped away again. “Fuck- I-” you were quick to interrupt him, one hand came to rest on his knee, “We can stop, we don't-” “Fuck no, I'm not gonna stop.” Well that was certainly good to know, yet he didn't seem quite comfortable with the situation he was in, the exact opposite seemed to be the case - or was he just that nervous? Could it be?

You grabbed a hold of Adam's wrist, then guided his hand up and down by it. “Start slowly,” you hummed as you watched with delight how his hand moved up and down your shaft. While this was far from perfect, it was pretty good, better than using your own hand. The fact that it was Adam who was jerking you off added a lot of pleasure to the picture, it was always easier to get off when the person you fancied is the one doing the work. “I fucking know how to fucking jerk someone off, it’s not like I’ve never fucking done it,” he umbled, sounding slightly annoyed by you treating him like an inexperienced child - and while you certainly knew that, jerking yourself off and jerking your partner (or in this case someone else entirely) off were two completely different things to do. He knew how he liked it, he knew how he had to twist his own hand to cause pleasure to take over his body, he knew how fast and rough he liked it - he knew nothing about that when it came to you. So you let go of his wrist and watched as his hand slipped off your dick once again, frustation was written all over his face - fuck this was so . For that he had bragged about how fucking awesome he was in bed regardless the gender. He had said once or twice that he was certain he could pleasure a dude just as well as a chick, there was no big difference after all - his words, not yours. “Mhm, I can see,” you teased the first man with a soft chuckle, it wasn’t a big deal that he was nervous, you understood, you had been there too - that was a couple thousand years in the past, of course, but you had been there too. “Oh shut the fuck up,” he bit back - or well, at least he had intended to bite back, there was not a single bit of harshness in his voice though, if anything he sounded defeated. “This is not a competition, y’know? I’m not gonna go out of this and compare you to former experiences,” and in God’s mighty name, Adam truly didn’t know what he had done to deserve someone as patient and understanding as you. Because how? How could you stay so calm and collected yet looked so happy and pleased with the situation you were in while the brunette was going through one crisis after another? How was it possible for it to feel so right to have his hand wrapped around your erection and yet he felt so overwhelmed by it? Why couldn’t you simply yell at him for being a fuck-up? That way he could hate himself and you, but this way? This way the only person he could truly hate was himself. Because he wanted to pleasure you, wanted you to feel amazing, to come undone by his touch and voice and presence - simply by him and him alone. He wanted you to enjoy this, he didn’t want you, however, to guide him through this. But he knew that was part of the learning process. He had to learn what you liked and then he had to learn how to fulfill those desires of yours.

“This isn’t about how you have to be perfect,” your voice was filled with softness, Adam was sure at this point it was simply a warm, comforting blanket that you used to wrap around him in order to put his mind at ease. But it was, wasn’t it? Because who were to say you would fool around with him ever again if he wasn’t good? You’d either pleasure yourself or go and seek that somewhere else from someone else and that the first man really didn’t want. No way he wanted someone else to see how glorious you looked, drowning in lust and desire - he wanted to be the only one. His eyes seemed to be reflecting at least some of his wishes because your hand came up to cup his cheek and the second your warm, soothing palm made contact with his face - the gentle kind of contact, of course - he leaned into your touch like it was his second nature. “Lemme guide you, just this one time. Next time you can have all the control ya want.” The brunette’s eyes widened at your words, a promise for another time, “What?” You chuckled, clearly amused by his surprise, “You thought I’d let ya off the hook after I show you how I like my men?” Your men, your men, your men. Those words repeated in Adam’s head over and over again and while the logical part of him knew how you had meant it, the emotional side of him was going wild over your phrasing. Your men, your men, your men. He was your man - well, somehow that wasn’t wrong though, he was the one trying to get you off after all. His brain seemed to malfunction at the sheer thought of it, which caused another chuckle to bubble from your throat, “This won’t be a one-time-thing for as long as you don’t want it to remain a one-time-thing.”

Was that the right thing to say? Was it okay to offer more to him? You knew that one day you’d drown in this, one day the offer you had just made would backfire, would hurt you. It would crush your heart and leave a thousand little pieces, but right now you knew it was the closest you could get and you were willing to pay the price of ending up hurt in the future for as long as the present remained to feel so good, so pure, so fucking amazing. Adam pulled his hand from your dick, drawing a needy moan at the loss of friction from you, a grin stretched across his lips and a cocky, “Patience, babes,” followed quickly. The brunette wiped his hand off on the backsheets, getting rid of most of the sweat that had collected on the inside of his palm, then he went back to word and did as you had told him - he settled for a slower therefore firmer pace, and look at that, it worked. “Fuck,” you muttered underneath your breath as your head lulled backwards, exposing your throat to Adam and the first man wanted nothing more than to dive in and mark you up, he wanted everyone to see that you belonged to him, that he had claimed you as his and only his even though you didn’t know about that yet. But he didn’t. He wasn’t sure if that was a line he was allowed to cross, jerking you off and watching you fall apart by his hand was one thing, leaving marks that would stay for days was another level though. A level he had yet to reach. “Keep that- oh fucking shit, just like that,” you hummed as the first man twisted his hand experimentally and watched as your eyes slipped close. Pleasure was shooting through your veins and you made sure to be as vocal as possible about it to let him know he was doing a great job - directly praising Adam seemed like something that would scare the first man off, so you had to keep it subtle yet not hidden, he clearly needed the affirmation you offered him.

His movements became steadier, more confident and a little quicker as well, he was growing used to the feeling of having his hand wrapped around another dick and he loved to watch your face, he noticed the little details - how your eyes would squeeze shut whenever you were to moan for him, how your head twitched so slightly whenever he twisted his hand the right way. Adam had not known that someone could look this holy, like he had imagined you’d look absolutely heavenly falling apart underneath his touch, but the reality he was experiencing was so much better. Pride filled him as he felt you thrusting up into his touch - that meant he wasn’t completely fucking up which counted as a win in his book so far, yet he wanted to be better for you, he wanted you to remeber him as your best - not just any hook-up, his ego wouldn’t be able to handle that. He wouldn’t be able to handle that. “Talk to me,” you basically begged him with a needy whine and yet another thrust upwards and it took the brunette a moment to process your words and figure out what they were trying to tell him, then it clicked. Dirty talk. That would be the same as it is with chicks, right? “Look at the fucking dirty mess you are, fucking hell,” he breathed the words out as he leaned forwards, his lips were now gently brushing against your ear and he playfully tested the water by nibbling on your earlobe - a surprised yet not unpleasant gasp escaped your body, followed by a throaty groan and a harsh thrust of your hips, “More, please Adam.” And oh fuck, the brunette was sure he’d cream his fucking pants if you were to keep moaning his name like that. It was otherworldly, his name falling from your lips in the way they did, staining it, dirting it, and yet the first man couldn’t care less. His grip tightened a little, earning him a moan filled with pure desire and lust, to Adam it was music. “Keep it u- oh fuck,” the first man didn’t give you enough air to breathe, he had figured out how to move and twist his hand in order to get more of these delicious sounds to fall from your lips, he felt like you were an open book for him to read even though he basically knew nothing about your likes and dislikes yet. However, he planned on changing that in the future. For now, he wanted to make you cum. And his plan seemed to work out pretty well, because it was just a few moments later that you lifted your hips off the bed, your back hit the mattress as you fell backwards, exposing yourself to Adam in all your glory and the first man loved every single bit of it. “Close,” it was only a whisper, barely audible and the brunette had almost missed it - almost. He decided to try and quicken his pace a little, he swept his thumb over your slit, not only to tease you but also to use your pre-cum as lube - just how he had seen it in the demon porn he watched every now and then. The dudes that had fucked Angel Dust had made it all look so easy but now he knew better, it was hard word. But it was hard work he was willing to do if that meant he got to hear your soft cires and lusty moans.

And before his mind could even catch onto what was happening, your back was arching and hot white semen covered his hand and your stomach. You were breathing heavily and in amazement Adam watched as your chest rose and fell. “Fuck,” you muttered, your eyes were still closed as you tried your best to catch your breath, “Not fucking bad for your first time, big guy.” The grin on your lips was cocky, playful and definitely only there to tease Adam - he knew that. “Not fucking bad? I’d say I was pretty fucking amazing,” ah there it was his usual confidence. You had wondered where it had gone, it was good to know it was back. “Yeah, yeah, whatever you say,” you hummed and were about to turn around, yet the brunette stopped you by pinning your shoulders against the mattress, where the sudden return of his confidence came from he didn’t know, his body was on autopilot, he was done holding back. He had held back for too long and his body seemed pretty done with it. He looked down at you, your eyes met his as you opened them slowly. The first man was hovering above you, pinning you down firmly yet it wasn’t uncomfortable. “So?” you cockily asked, raising an eyebrow at the first man above you, “Are ya gonna kiss me now or what?”

[brinleyparke]

Has anyone else noticed that the team has the tendency to treat Street like 💩?

After Hondo kicked him off SWAT, they all took Hondo's side. I get that it was wrong that Street lied, but he had a point. If Street told Hondo it was something with his mom, Hondo might not have let him go help her. Plus, it would have been too long of a story (bc they didn't know about his uncle), and Street didn't exactly have time to explain. Street did the wrong thing for the right reason. They were all way too hard on him, especially Hondo and Luca. I get Luca not wanting to give Street a free pass, but that doesn't mean he has to be a dick to Street.

Luca and Tan kept pressuring Street to write a letter to a loved one, but they didn't consider the fact that he doesn't have anyone to write to.

Chris accused Nate of manipulating Street and getting Street in trouble. She also implied that Nate wasn't as important because he wasn't Street's brother by blood. Then, she didn't even apologize after Nate died trying to help Street put a drug dealer in prison.

On Street's first day, they treated him like a suspect instead of a team member.

They forget Street is a damn good cop that knows how to do his damn job.

They didn't trust his judgment when he said Alfaro couldn't be trusted. They just assumed he was being childish.

When he's friendly to anyone female, they automatically assume he's trying to get in their pants.

Stris was toxic because Chris didn't give a damn about how Street felt. She'd make false promises or flip-flop back and forth about how she felt.

Whenever Street messes up wven the tiniest bit, it's a huge deal, and Hondo and Deac are yelling in his face. But when someone else messes up, they get a slap on the wrist, and it's over. Take 1x11, for example: Street saw a guy with a gun, so he pulled out his gun, leading the rest of the team to pull out their guns. The guy wouldn't put the gun down and said, "Come and take it," so Street came and took it. The gun fell and went off accidentally, and the bullet hit the ceiling. Street cuffed the guy. Hondo and Deac jump all on Street's case about how the bullet could have hit a civilian or one of the team. While that would have been unfortunate, what else was Street supposed to do? The guy didn't look like he was about to put his gun down any time soon. Was he just supposed to wait for the guy to pull out the gun and point it at them or grab a civilian as a hostage and point it at his/her/their head? But then, at the end, Hondo threatens a guy, and Street calmly and quietly reminds him about "the golden rule," which is to keep your cool.

Everything about 1x13 (Hondo even said it was ICE's op. SWAT was just the backup, the muscle. That means ICE, a federal agency, had jurisdiction. Therefore, Street was correct in saying that he could not tell the ICE agent "no" when the agent asked for the guy's ID. Plus, Hondo was right there and saw the whole thing happen, and he didn't say a word. But, of course, the media had to blow things out of proportion and say, "To hell with context," and suddenly Hicks is yelling at Street in front of everyone – not even just the team, but everyone. This episode pisses me off.)

Hondo left for Mexico while Street was in the hospital. He didn't even text or call to see how Street was doing.

They don't consider his past and how that influences his behavior. For example, they get mad at him for not trusting anyone, but they forget he has been abandoned, neglected, manipulated, used, and abused by those who are supposed to love him and take care of him and protect him. They also get mad at him for not knowing the importance of family and what family means, but they forget that he's never had a real family.

All of 4x07. Don't even get me started.

[theneighborhoodwatch]

personally we need more evil and morally grey autistics. i am sick of the notion that autistics are inherently pure or need to be inherently pure and good in order to be good representation.

people do that with representation marginalized groups in general, too. good representation means that they break out of stereotypes and portray the experience accurately, not that the character themself is morally perfect.

(context)

good representation means that they break out of stereotypes and portray the experience accurately, not that the character themself is morally perfect.

i could see why people would be wary if this were, say, a more corporate production headed by someone whose knowledge of living with autism/neurodivergence/disability/mental illness/etc. amounts to "i volunteered for autism speaks one summer when i was in high school" at most, and if wally was the only autistic character on top of that, but that is so far from what we're dealing with that i'm tempted to say that it isn't even worth bringing up as a hypothetical. in general, i also kind of dislike looking at this aspect of welcome home solely through the lens of Representation, as though it has an obligation to reflect Everyone's lived experiences, when the creator has quite plainly stated that it's him drawing on his own experiences more than anything else. it's kinda like how "bury your gays" as a criticism holds less weight when you apply it to, say, a lesbian writing a webnovel about dead lesbians - because then it's not someone enforcing a status quo that is inherently hostile towards queer people, it's just a queer person writing about a more tragic aspect of their own life. the story can still be criticized in other ways, of course, but that's besides the point.

and like, i don't even think wally's straight up evil - i've said as much many, Many times throughout my speculation posts on this blog. i resent the idea of a purely villainous wally just as much as i do the idea that he could never make a morally questionable decision. but nice, well-meaning people can fuck up their loved ones And themselves in some absolutely horrific ways, especially if they're convinced that it's in service of some greater good or if it's specifically for those loved ones' sakes, especially if they themselves are in a desperate situation, and i wouldn't be surprised if wally ends up being a prime example of that.

OKAY FINAL EDIT I PROMISE: i also want to point out that i specifically quoted the second half of the ask and not the first bc i don't necessarily think it's that we need more ~morally gray~ autistic characters (even though i definitely wouldn't complain if we had more of those) it's just that we need more representations of autistic people as people, like, period.

[gregoftom]

i don't really know how to explain myself properly but i feel like some people are really concerned about Getting A Good Grade In Succession to the point where they've adopted a very cynical view of tg's relationship because being too earnest about them is ~not the point of the show~ or w/e. which is funny because every other relationship in the show is allowed to be nuanced but not theirs i guess? so you have people going "oh their relationship was only ever about them using each other from the start" when that's demonstrably not true and like. i have really mixed feelings about this season so far and i feel like anything could happen with them by virtue of weird writing choices and i hope with all my heart this doesn't end up being the case but even if the finale tries to diminish the depth of their relationship i don't understand the point of Us acting like there was never anything deeper there? but anyway, all this too say that i agree w/ you that the way people are very cynical and dismissive abt tg specifically has rubbed me the wrong way and thank u for your service ❤️

hiii sweet anon!

A GOOD GRADE IN SUCCESSION ASHAKJSA god honestly, i hear you.

i'm getting real tired of this "point of the show" shit bc it's like. just because tg isn't "the point", isn't a main focal plot [which it is, or at least is part of it], isn't integral to character development [which it is too; without tom greg would not be where he is now which is at a point where he actually could be seriously considered as a fucking CEO, without greg tom wouldn't have learned any self respect or self worth/we would never have been able to see him express himself beyond servitude towards shiv], it doesn't mean it can't be explored and considered as a serious part of the show?

media is created for us to enjoy. yes it's there to interpret and discuss but it doesn't always have to be that way? literally you can watch the show just for tomgreg and that is A OKAY. why? because you don't have to justify why you like something! surprise! and yeah i've noticed that too - other relationships get to be seen as nuanced, but not tg i guess. idk why, seeing as its dynamic is something to be studied under a microscope and fun to not only shippers but normies too lmao. clearly there is something more interesting to it than just, oh it's mutual corporate climbing.

exactly! there's even more contexts provided by the scripts, THE SACRED TEXTS lol that provide us with more knowledge and insight into the feelings of these characters, that show us that their relationship goes beyond using each other. there is an element of that of course, but that's not all they are. why reduce them to that when so very clearly on paper we are affirmed of what we thought we could read textually on the screen? it just baffles me.

i'm hoping too anon, like A Lot. from the looks of the trailer i have a. i have a little bit of hope. even if say, tom has to choose between greg and shiv, if he chooses shiv and has visible trouble with it, like it takes him time, it plagues him, it takes effort, it feels like a real decision affecting his life, like. that counts for something you know? that would, to me, not diminish his relationship with greg. obviously it would be heartbreaking after how loyal greg has been to tom, but the very fact that it would be difficult to tom would mean that greg is important to him in some fashion, and the show would be at least acknowledging it by doing that. like, it's that easy. i ain't asking for much. i know what i'd like, but what i would be satisfied/settle with, well i think the bar is reasonable, you know?

i'm glad you understand me! i mean, who knows maybe some of it is people trying to go on the defensive like, "it's the hope that kills you" so they are trying not to have any by lessening it, saying oh there was nothing there, there was no romance, nothing positive, it was all for mutual professional gain and that's it. but like, personally that doesn't work for me. i think you should at least acknowledge its importance otherwise we're regressing right back to the oh it's a mlm ship? never mind then. i'm not about that, i guess.

thanks for the message buddy god speed <3

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

I think that people who adapt Dracula prefer Van Helsing as Dracula's opposer because he's a more dynamic character. Jonathan is passive and compliant from the start. And while he does find the boxes, he's obeying Van Helsing's orders to do so. And after this he follows his lead instead of he himself leading the crew to save his wife. Van Helsing is active and leads throughout since his first appearance and vehemently reveals vampiric weaknesses so to kill Dracula. Naturally, he overshadows Jonathan (and the rest) in being the nemesis of vampirism.

Okay look I am not going to get my panties in a twist about adapting Van Helsing vs. Dracula, in my own fic I invent a lil' vampire hunting past for VH bc I mean it's fun, and it makes more sense than the book's assertation that he figured out it was vampirism as he went. And I get your point about how VH is the leader of the group, not Jonathan, and it's natural to pit leader against nemesis, but also I disagree that this naturally overshadows Jonathan.

First of all I deeply completely totally with my WHOLE ASS soul hate "Jonathan is passive and compliant from the start" bc... he's not. He's not passive he's not passive he's not passive! Not like being passive is a dirty word, Lucy and Arthur are both passive as fuck and I love them to bits- but if Jonathan were actually a passive character he never would have made it out of Dracula's castle. Being an active character doesn't mean you are always the leader, and it doesn't mean you don't listen to others and bow to their judgement from time to time. An active character, takes action within the plot of their own volition, while a more passive character waits for things to happen to them.

Jonathan is a very active character in the castle. He's not sitting around and waiting for death, he is hatching schemes and plots to get himself the fuck out, he's exploring and trying to get a sense of his surroundings, he's writing letters and trying to send them surrupticiously, he's paying attention when the Count speaks to try and see if there are clues there, he's looking for a key, he's climbing the walls to try and get into the Count's chamber, he's hitting the Count with a shovel, he's escaping. It's also important to me to notice that he is active from the beginning. Before the brides scene, when he just thinks that the Count is deeply unnatural and that he is being held prisoner he is already trying to think his way out.

I think the reason people think he's a passive character is because he is obligated to play along with the Count's act and bow to his wishes but that's just the context of his situation. You wouldn't call someone passive for following the instructions of someone holding them at gunpoint. He has to submit to the Count if he wants to live... and every chance he gets he looks for a way out.

Once he leaves the castle, it's actually the passivity that's killing him. Mina is I think more of a leader than Jonathan, but they both despise situtations where they can't take action. Mina was off the walls when she had no way to search for Jonathan, and Jonathan is just wilting and stagnating bc his mind will not allow him to accept his experiences as real, so he can't work through them. It's not passivity, it's trauma. Giving Mina the journal, instead of reading it himself, that's trauma. That's not how he acts most of the novel, its directly after a nervous breakdown.

In this Van Helsing does give him the push he needs, but it's not a "go do this" it's more of just a "you're not crazy." As soon as Jonathan feels confident again he is off doing things. Van Helsing asks him for help of course, but that's as specific as he gets. It's Jonathan who takes all the initiative to go to Whitby, come back with info, look up Thomas Snelling come back with info. I am sure in Jonathan's absence some one of the polycule would have done this task, but it's Jonathan that took the damn initiative. Not to mention the singlemindedness with which he pursues Dracula after he attacks Mina. Jonathan Harker is a team player, and he works with the polycule and takes instruction when he feels he is not the authority, but that doesn't make him passive.

Jonathan Harker is not a great leader of men, or a great man, or even a very memorable one, he is quiet and plain and his life's ambition is to earn a comfortable living and have a family- but that doesn't make him passive. At all points in the novel except for his trauma-coma time he is constantly taking initiative to try and solve his problems, he does not wait to be told what to do. That's why he's an active character.

In the novel itself he's there to take revenge and bring Dracula to justice. His rage is in my opinion more palpable than Van Helsing, who is angry certainly (I can think of a few monologues to that effect), but whose actions I would argue are more constantly rooted in a sense of duty and compassion. Jonathan is 10x more fiery than Van Helsing. All that is in the source material and it's so vivid and yet the directors Do Not See It and I don't get it. I don't get why there is the opinion that Jonathan is passive when I read the novel and he literally never was????

[wackus-bonkus-maximus]

I am enjoying your book even more on my reread- every good book should be reread to have the context lacking the first time through- Lila is so gross.

So my question was and is: how is she controlling Gabriel? Actually, I’m wondering how she’s controlling all of them besides Adrien. I’d guessing for Gabriel and maybe Felix, it’s the threat of what she can do to Adrien with the Amok? I don’t have a good guess for why Chloe seems to have sold her soul to the devil for a piece of the wish…

🥺💘 and here i thought i couldn't be more grateful and honored to have my writing liked to such a degree! thank you for coming back for a re-read 💗 and thank you also for enjoying!

you kinda hit the nail on the head already. lila controls gabriel, and all of her teammates by extension, with adrien's amok. it's like a remote that she could make him do anything with. and they all go along with what she says for fear of her hurting adrien.

her control over gabriel (chapter 27):

Gabriel looked at him, and then at Lila. She raised her brows coolly, toying with the chain around her neck, and something in Gabriel’s expression hardened.  “It’s already done,” he said heavily, and twisted the ring on his finger.

he's wearing a fake ring in this scene, and has been for years. she's hidden the real amok on her person, and when she wants adrien to do something, she makes it look like gabriel is giving the orders when really it's her.

her control over felix (chapter 31):

She had Adrien’s Amok, which meant she as good as had Félix’s, too. He doubted Gabriel had simply handed it over. The man was capable of many things, but not of that. He would not have relinquished his power with such ease. He would not have relinquished Adrien.

felix and adrien's amoks are a package deal in this au. if lila breaks adrien's amok, both felix and adrien will die. so basically felix sticks around to make sure lila doesn't force adrien into anything he wouldn't want to do under the influence of his amok, AND to make sure nothing happens to the amok itself. bc then they're both goners.

control over chloe (chapter 10)

chloe was afraid that, if she didn't help gabriel, lila, and felix, they would hurt her and her family. she pretended to be on their side out of a survival instinct - her own form of manipulation, coming from a sense of self-preservation.

There were a lot of things in Chloé’s life she knew she shouldn’t have done, but did anyway. Like turning to look as the fox and peacock Kwamis phased through the wall, or standing her ground as Félix, Lila, and Gabriel darted out of the office in hot pursuit. They all stared at her, and she stared back, refusing to let them know how hard her heart was pounding, or how much her palms were sweating.  Pretend! said a voice in her head. It’s what you’re best at. “Bonjour, M. Agreste,” Chloé said, rather proud of how calm she sounded. She set her shoes on the ugly carpeted floor and stepped back into them, holding her head high and balling her shaking fists as she approached.  She would not be afraid. She could not be afraid. She could never let them know.  “I’ve come for my interview.”

but of course lila found out, and, well. you see the consequences chloe had to face! (chapter 19)

“Besides,” said Volpina, coming forward to slide an arm around Kagami’s shoulders. “We’d like to offer you a demonstration. An example, if you please, of what will happen if you break our trust.”  “An example,” Kagami repeated, trying to shove down the sick lurch in her stomach. “I don’t need—” “Oh, I think you do.” Volpina winked at her, then inclined her head toward Mellona, letting her hair fall softly over her shoulder. “I think you've met her, too. Tell me, Ryuko, what do you know about Zoé Lee?”

not to mention lila headed straight over to kill chloe after she realized chloe had betrayed the team (chapter 30) 🤣

i hope this helps clarify! thank you again so much for reading 💗

[mrs-monaghan]

I'm kinda confused/curious about something, we've already established that jikook must be laying low because they'll be enlisting soon and we all know that the Korean government is not LGBTQ+ friendly so jikook don't want to attract any attention to themselves and raise questions about the nature of their relationship. Okay, but aren't taekook's actions lately basically manifesting the same results?

Don't get me wrong, taekook never did and can never do anything that would raise eyebrows like jikook do, their dynamic is very clearly nothing more than friendly and it's a bro/bff type of thing; but that's not how they're perceived by the public.

TK are THE most popular ship in kpop right now, if not the whole world, and everyone including them knows it, ppl who aren't even familiar with BTS or kpop hear the word 'Taekook' and immediately know it's that famous ship from BTS. Even Korean media has been writing articles about them recently calling Jungkook Taehyung's girlfriend and such; and the way that public talks about them is enough to make everyone, especially the ones who are not familiar with their dynamic (such as the government) attentive to them. With that thought in mind, I can't help but think that their actions lately, especially the very obvious/public ones like going to a movie premiere together, are very confusing...

Taehyung especially is being so extra about TK lately, and of course it's because he has nothing to hide or be afraid of bc he knows there's nothing between him and Jungkook like that, but he also knows that that's not how they're perceived by the public. He's making it seem like they're dating actually dating and that confuses me so much because 1) Wouldn't that put them both in an awkward position in the military?? Like that's the whole point of Jikook's laying low strategy, because raising even the smallest doubts can make their military experience hell.

And 2) isn't what Taehyung is doing basically queer-baiting?? He's making himself out to be a gay man in a relationship with Jungkook (don't tell me that he isn't doing it because that's exactly what he's been doing lately) when that's not true at all? Like, he knows that ppl think he's (or want him to be) dating JK and he's actually entertaining those assumptions/expectations. That's the textbook definition of queer-baiting.

I'm just so confused by this whole situation and I need other people's thoughts on this. What's the point of Jikook laying low to not raise suspicions when Taekook (specifically Tae) are being suspicious on purpose when it'll breed the same results with the military?

And please don't tell me it's because unlike Jikook, Taekook are just friends and have nothing to hide, I already know that. But the government isn't familiar with BTS’ inner bonds & dynamics like we are, they can't tell the difference. They'll treat Tae and JK based off what they've heard about them, and what they hear is what everyone is saying; that TK are dating.

(i've sent this to other blogs because i want to hear different opinions)

One word: perception.

Just like to you and me, it dont matter what V is doing or not doing, when you look at Taekook you see two friends. Think about how Taekook look like when they're hanging out and how Jikook look like when they're hanging out.

Those are 2 completely different vibes. Anybody watching them can clearly tell Jikook are the couple. And Karmy have cultural context on their side so Jikook to them are even louder.

It's all about perception. How are the two duos being perceived when they're together? What do people see when they look at them?

Perception

[motelpearl]

I'm watching star trek voyager so I'm gonna put my thoughts below & keep adding onto it (yes I'm going from tng -> voy & skipping ds9 for now at least even though I feel like I'm missing out on context bc trekkies seem to hold ds9 as like the gold standard of star trek but I watched a couple episodes & I just couldnt dig it)

the relationship of kes & neelix is so bewildering to me like what does she see in him like hes not even a bad person but he's just a lot dumber than her & has that "where's my hug" type guy energy also he's like so old not even in a sugar daddy way just in a boomer way like doesn't kes's species only live 9 years

I hope tom paris goes through some character development because as of right now he's soooooo annoying like referring to chakotay as an "indian" all the time......ugh one would hope we wouldn't still be doing that in the 25th century also I knew from seeing online discourse that chakotay's writing is stereotypical in a well intentioned but still badly-aged way & it's not ruining the show for me but whenever he closes his eyes & the panflute music kicks in I just sigh deeply

the vidiians are fucking terrifying bruh its giving a cure for wellness

I HATE HISTORICAL REVISIONISM IM SORRY BUT IT WILL NEVER FEEL COMFORTABLE TO ME EVEN IF THEYRE DEAD. NOT THE MARK TWAIN RPF IN TNG NOT THE AMELIA EARHART RPF HERE IT JUST AINT RIGHT

OKAY MAYBE I WAS WRONG WHEN I SAID NEELIX ISNT W BAD GUY BC WHAT DO YOU MEAN KES IS A PREPUBESCENT 2 YEAR OLD

not the voyager defeating an alien by becoming submissive & breedable (of course the voyager has a blue plasma trail & pronouns....)

JANEWAY WANTS CHAKOTAYS DICK SO BAD PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER GIRL WHERES YOUR DECORUM

tuvoks hairline is so fascinating to me

not belanna being lowkey in love with chakotay too & then them showing his bare ass in the next episode....rick berman was on this man like a fat kid on a smartie

FUCK THE KAZON UGLYASS BEASTS

seska needs to be in jail bruh

I SWEAR TO GOD IVE WATCHED ENOUGH STAR TREK THAT I CAN TELL JUST BY THE CAMERA ANGLES WHEN AN EPISODE IS DIRECTED BY JONATHAN FRAKES LIKE HE'S ALWAYS DOING WEIRD DUTCH ANGLE TRACKING SHOTS & STUFF LIKE THAT

so I heard that threshold is like the worst episode in the entirely of star trek & after watching it I honestly dont think it's that bad like sure it's an implausible premise but it's not as bad as like code of honor or sub rosa

NOT BEEF BEING A Q....TWO OF MY WEIRD NERDY INTERESTS ARE OVERLAPPING ALSO THE CAST LIST OF THIS EPISODE SCARES & EXCITES ME. FUCK Q SEXIST ASS MOTHERFUCKER FIRST HE CREEPS ON THAT TEENAGE Q THEN HE KILLS ALYSSA OGAWAS BABY NOW HE SAYS WOMEN CANT BE CAPTAINS & SEXUALLY HARRASSES JANEWAY. DIE.

I always wonder how they get the alien makeup on babies like in this episode with the baby with horns on its head & that one episode of tng where they showed baby borg. also the concept of teleporting a baby out of the womb for an easier delivery is hilarious

tuvok & neelix toxic yaoi?

bruh if this episode is setting up the possibility of suder just letting out his violent impulses one last time & going scorched earth on the kazon & the doctor helping him by means of holographic skulduggery & then tom paris showing up with a cavalry of fucking talaxians to lay the smack down I'm gonna laugh so hard

TOM PARIS FINALLY STARTING TO REDEEM HIMSELF

THE PORTRAYAL OF 1990S EARTH IS SO FUCKING FUNNY TUVOK WEARING A DURAG TO COVER HIS EARS PLEASEEEEE

time travel episodes stress me out so much though like PLEASEEE put the tricorder away. not belanna & chakotay getting kidnapped by hillbillies omg the shots where the guy kicks chakotay & then belanna kicks the guy were edited so weirdly

starling reminds me so much of elon musk

is the alien possessing kes bisexual?

too bad q got to die of old age instead of janeway giving him the electric chair

janeway gettin her lara croft on we love that

why cant vulcans just jack off during pon farr like I thought hand stuff was their whole thing

this isnt voyager specific but shuttlecrafts should really have seatbelts like the amount of times people randomly get injured because turbulence throws them out of their seats....WE SOLVED THIS ISSUE 500 YEARS AGO

not tuvok building the Doohickey

why are they leaving harry unattended on a borg cube WHY DOES STARFLEET NOT MANDATE THE BUDDY SYSTEM HES JUSTA LITTLE GUY & NOW HE'S GOING TO GET ASSIMILATED

WHAT THE JESUS IS THAT

awww bless kes I knew she would leave & I was worried she would die but I'm glad she left on a lighter note

"welcome to the worst day of my life" hi my name is belanna dark'ness dementia raven torres (yes I know losing the warp core is serious but that line was giving "we live in a society")

DID HARRY & SEVEN HAVE SEX. BRUH

eugh I wrote in my other star trek thread that borg assimilation is one thing that just gives me such deep discomfort like even though the borg gradually become sort of overdone the concept of assimilation becomes increasingly terrifying regardless like seven's backstory just creeps me out so much like the concept of her parents just being these sort of rebellious scientists who thought they were gonna make some great discovery out in the delta quadrant (sidenote I hope it gets explained more how exactly they got out there like did they go through a wormhole too?) & just stumbling upon these unimaginable horrors that they had no chance of fight & having to watch as their naivete & hubris destroyed their childs life & everyone they previously knew had no idea where they went or what happened to them EUGH ITS SO CHILLING

wait how did they get the warp core back was I not paying attention

tuvok getting his gilf certificate in the mail we love to see it

species 8472 are terrifying even though the CGI is so low-poly

okay this is a pretty pointless criticism but it annoys me how all the female characters wear heeled boots & on that note the grey turtleneck under the uniforms looks so ugly like post-s3 TNG had the best looking uniforms & this isnt coming from a biased place just bc tng is my favourite (also the movie era uniforms that were red & had random white straps were SO UGLYYYY & DUMB LIKE HOW CAN YOU TELL ANYONES RANK OR DEPARTMENT IF THEYRE ALL RED)

I hate the way the borg queens spine swings around like a cat's tail

opening the episode with harry kim getting his tiddies sucked....ON PRIMETIME TV? IN THE 90S?

I just know that anti-alien-sex law got put into place because of riker

since like late season 3 I'm finally starting to understand why trekkies say janeway has sexual tension with literally everyone

a vulcan shedding a single tear when hearing an artificial lifeform perform a piece of classical music? NOW WHERE HAVE I SEEN THAT BEFORE......*taps chin pensively*

tuvok & neelix detoxified yaoi?

BARCLAY & TROI YASSS

NEVERMIND NOT BARCLAY BACK ON HIS HOLODECK BULLSHIT

not the space Irish again (also from what I've seen irish people are apparently really offended by the irish reunification of 2024 meme <\\\3)

if janeway were alive in 2024 she'd be on tumblr making posts like "I need to get sent to the seaside for my health"

I didnt expect the episode "virtuoso" to suddenly take such a resonant turn but in the age of generative ai it's strangely prophetic

the double whammy of seeing jeffrey combs & the rock as the guest stars in this episode

I got injured the other day & have been pretty much bedbound because of it & whenever a scene takes place in sickbay I think "spare dermal regenerator 🤲"

they bring back kes just to give her makeup that makes her look like Christopher Walken <\\\3

ugh I love troi shes such a queen

why does the borg queen look like this -> 🥺

honestly I'm kinda sad that I'm on the final season

poor tuvok man first he almost gets assimilated, then he gets mind controlled, now hes just trying to fuck but he's thwarted by political tensions

I kind of want to rewatch st: picard since I know seven's backstory now & have the context of the borg's decline like I saw trekkies saying janeway "handled them" but now I know the exact circumstances

omg I know chakotay & seven somehow end up together (at least for a while) when the show ends bc I've had so much of voyager spoiled (tbh that seems to the usual reason i watch shows, I get a bunch of it spoiled & then I'm like "but how do those dots connect") anyway that literally makes no sense bc I can't think of a time theyve ever interacted since seven became a character but like chakotay & janeway were RIGHT THERE THEYVE HAD TENSION SINCE SEASON 1 IM NOT EVEN A SHIPPER CAUSE IDC THAT MUCH BUT IT WAS RIGHT THERE (& I read the wikipedia page for each episode after I watch them cause idk I like learning behind the scenes stuff & in the "reception" section of each page theres always something like "fans were disappointed that janeway & chakotay did not bang like screen doors in this episode") LIKE THE FANS WANTED IT IT WAS A LOGICAL COURSE OF ACTION IT WAS SET UP SINCE SEASON 1 & THE WRITERS CHICKENED OUT. WHY THOUGH?

noooo belanna dont do eugenics ur so sexy aha

POOR TUVOK BRUH SEASON 7 IS JUST A YEAR OF TUVOK SUFFERING

THE DOCTOR MAKING PHANTOM OF THE OPERA REFERENCES....DID HE JUST BECOME MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER (even though he pronounces "fantome" entirely wrong)

"she's suffering from dysphoria syndrome" janeway trans?

I know this show was made in the late 90s/early 2000s but nothing hammers that point home like seeing the same exact fishing rod toy I had as a kid in this episode that aired a month after I was conceived

just when I thought the Q couldnt get more annoying....one of them is a teenage boy

NOT SOME WRITERS BARELY DISGUISED FOOT FETISH SEEPING IN.....I COULD NEVER BE AN ACTRESS

one thing that has never stopped annoying me is the fact that we literally see naomi wildman be born onscreen & then she goes from newborn -> 9 year old over the course of like 2 seasons

okay I finished it & I'll need more time to collect my thoughts but the basic idea is: I liked the show but I feel like there was lots of possibilities that went unexplored but one thing I especially liked is that unlike TNG (which is still my favourite trek) the female characters got storylines that didnt just revolve around interpersonal stuff (ie. family/romance) but actually got to use their specific skills

but now I'm rewatching the first couple episodes of because I honestly had no idea what was going on (I didn't even realize the doctor was a hologram until like halfway through season 1 & I didn't realize tuvok was spying on the maquis until like season 3) & one thing I have noticed is that NEELIX WAS SO FUCKING UNHINGED IN THE FIRST EPISODE LIKE HE COMES OFF LIKE HEATH LEDGER AS THE JOKER IN THAT SCENE WHERE HE VIDEOCALLS VOYAGER & STRUTTING AROUND THE TRANSPORT ROOM IN HIS PIMP COAT & ALL THE WATER STUFF LIKE WHO IS THIS MAN also belanna's makeup was so bad I'm sorry <\\\3

[alluraaaa]

ahem. ask that features very obvious trans girl egg lance and he/him butch transbian keith and also kallura-if-they're-lesbians and also hatt minorly

earlier in the day

lance: hey keith you know how you're like. a girl now

keith: yea

lance: so i was just wondering um. how did you know? sorry if that's personal you don't have to answer--

keith: i dunno i just wanted to be.

lance: yeah everyone wants to be a /little/ but i'm asking how do you KNOW

keith: .... hm.

later

keith talking to allura: i'm saying something

allura: keith no! lance will figure it out eventually. this is something lance needs to figure out on. on lance's own

lance appearing out of nowhere: talking about me? probably about how cool/awesome/talented i am haha. wait what do i need to figure out on my own

keith: i'm saying something.

allura: keith no!

keith: (ignoring her) lance. you're a girl. at least some of the time.

lance: ... (lance thoughts: why do i like the sound of that)

lance: oh i get it! you're messing with me. nice try keith. this is one of your weirder strategies though

keith: i'm not messing with you. (has face that is so so serious) you're a girl.

lance: ok well you're wrong but now i'm curious. what would make you even think that

keith: you told me everyone kind of wants to be a girl. no they don't.

lance: yeah but you're already a girl so you wouldn't know!

lance: >:(

lance: (looking between keith and allura now) allura do /you/ think...

allura: (whistles and avoids eye contact)

lance: whatever! ask any guy ever they'll tell you the same thing.

keith: hm.

now they're on a call with matt because for some reason in the vld universe everyone has everyone's skype

keith: (providing zero context) hey matt do you ever kind of want to be a girl

matt: no??

keith: see?

lance: well of course he's not gonna admit it! it's a secret!

matt: a secret?

lance: yeah everyone kind of wants to be a girl bc girls are just better. we just don't talk about it really! it's not my fault you're too scared to admit it

matt: you sound like pidge when she was 12 lol. more like team volTRANS amirite

lance: ...

keith: ok bye matt thanks

matt: wait before you go how's hunk do-- (keith already hung up bc he's kind of rude)

lance: ...

lance: i... i need to go lie down.

endgame femslash kallurance. thank you.

who needs ao3 when arbor is writing this on tumblr for free

[astralartefact]

Crym and Punishment Sometimes murder is allowed as a treat. (Not for you though, peasant)

Nobody knows who Crym is so just pretend she's 2P and call this piece 2Crime 2Punishment... Incidentally a good alternate name for Yorda Hark Adopadypse

There's this funny thing about Y:DA that plagues my mind ever since I noticed it. I won't go into their context, but there are several nods and references to CrimePun in Y:DA like for starters

Konogg distracts the player with a silver watch just like Raskolnikov before he murders a woman

Glagg grows delirious and paranoid after his 'perfect plan' causes an unplanned death just like Raskolnikov after he murders a woman's sister

Themes of Social Hierarchies and Atonement

and of course

There is a quest literally called Crime & Punishment

and once you notice that you might start to see certain things about the story that will clear up to you that Yoko Taro is a crazy person wtf wtf wtf. Here? Here out of all places? Right in front of my Quirky Video Game Cross-Over?? Did you really think anybody would take this seriously enough to notice any of this???

And I'm perfectly fine with being that guy who shouts into the void that "actually Y:DA is the best, just read this 15-page essay I wrote about how this thing and this thing actually reference a book you don't care about and then three jumps of moon logic later we find ourselves discussing the social mobility of minorities and video games as an art form because I guess that's my life now" only to be told "Bro, It's not that deep" - There is just one problem:

The quest is not called "Crime & Punishment" in Japanese. It's vaguely resembling it in a "X and Y" scheme, but as far as I can tell (using google) it's only called Crime and Punishment in English and German (not in French though) which means my case for "this is defo on purpose" - the only metric of good writing besides "did i like it" - is relying on interpreting a piece of media, which as we all know is not a thing you do with video games.

This situation however also means that one of the following has to be true:

YT meant to do all these CrimePun references and expected people to pick up on them without namedropping the book and the Eng & Ger Localisations knew that (bc of translation notes or something like that) and added a direct reference bc the original quest name was similar anyways.

YT didn't mean to do that and the Eng & Ger Localisations either on their own or together realized that Y:DA had parallels to the book and decided to write CrimePun references into this quest line on their own.

This is just a massive coincidence and everybody involved referenced themes and details of a book that was then also mentioned in two seperate translations by name purely on accident.

Needless to say it's definitely the last one which makes me boo boo the fool as we all know Yoko Taro is a loser and has never used subtext in his life. But if I were ever able to ask him and/or the localisation (who kind of have to know bc they translated it) anything, I would ask them if Y:DA is referencing this book on purpose or not... (YT wouldn't answer that and laugh at me. And then he would call the cops to get me out of his house.)

Anyways, some final notes:

For the background I painted over a woodcut print of the Pulkovo Observatory bc I was lazy and backgrounds are hard. I will accept the withdrawal of my 'Mediocre Art Hobbyist' card for the sin of not being a real artist

Crym's outfit is supposed to resemble Raskolnikov's with his stupid little hat, but we all know that guy's clothes would not color match

....i am indeed actively working on a y:da video essay... i'm sorry in advance... i don't even care about anybody watching it i just want to talk about my favorite piece of video game ever (yes it has gotten that bad please call help)

[dual-domination]

For the "three fics you think I will never, ever, ever write" game!

a - Reunion!Pingxie cuddling on the couch, while Wu Xie thinks about their last adventure and how he almost lost his soulmate

b - Unrequited love, Luo Fusheng confessing to Luo Fei after leaving Dongjiang and all his past behind just to be with his dear detective, but Luo Fei rejects him

c - Shen Wei breaking up with Zhao Yunlan because he's in love with someone else, and Zhao Yunlan doing nothing about it except having a hurt ego

 Hi Luci! You go first bc you gave me 2 options I really would NEVER write. Well, option 1 only if it was very specific Ultimate Note PingXie, but I don’t think I’ll ever write anything other than HeiHua and PingSang for DMBJ. Option 2 is out of question, no matter the context, bc you specified “unrequited love”, if you didn’t, I could find an excuse for Luo Fei to reject dear Fusheng (or lots of excuses to reject someone you actually love). So, no, there’s no universe to me where Luo Fei won’t love Fusheng. 

So I’m going to an EASY choice. Option 3, just to see how works the other way around of what the team already wrote multiple times jkskjsjks YOU HAVE NO IDEA.

…

Zhao Yunlan thought that it was possible to happen. Of course, more subtly, but still possible. For a while, he'd seen it coming. It was just a matter of time, he thought. And that time had run out.

"You said you want to break up, but you still haven't told me why," he said, failing to hide a certain resentment that he didn't want to be visible to Shen Wei. Despite everything, he didn't think Shen Wei deserved it.

"You should know. And I know how wrong it sounds after all the time that..." Shen Wei looked at his feet, thinking about what life would be like if the center of his will was no longer the same. A painful uncertainty mingled with an exciting prospect he had never thought himself capable of having. Before.

"All this time means your entire existence, not mine," Zhao Yunlan sounded with disdain, and he himself didn't know whether that was accidental or intentional. Under the circumstances, perhaps he was more upset than he was admitting to himself.

"All the things I thought I couldn't bear, I found I could," Shen Wei said, as he raised his eyes to face the other, "Except for one. I don't know if I can live without you. But you once questioned how much of it was really love and how much of it was the shock of the sudden loss of the past." Inside, what was broken, he knew, there was no way to get it back. And Shen Wei had been a broken person for thousands of years until then.

Zhao Yunlan took the pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, placing one between his lips, and brought out the lighter to light it next, shielding the flame with his hand. He leaned back in his chair, taking a deep drag on his cigarette. He exhaled the smoke slowly, watching the white cloud dissipate in the surroundings, between him and Shen Wei. Different from that, the mist that danced in the ancient entity's eyes, would not dissipate.

"You say you don't know if you can live without me. But you've clearly decided to try."

"I didn't know I was capable of falling in love," Shen Wei was shy about it, partly as if he wasn't worthy of feeling that way; "For someone else. For someone who has nothing to do with everything you or I have ever lived and with whom I only had... an ordinary friendship."

"I would call your relationship many things, but not ordinary. An ordinary friendship wouldn't take you from me."

Shen Wei thought for a moment about that. Though all he'd been thinking about for several months was exactly that. It wasn't ordinary. It was special. And from the special, it became charming, alluring. For his heart. 

For a long time, he carried guilt about his feelings - and he still did now. Maybe that guilt would never go away.

"I never wanted to love anyone other than you. But I love him. Maybe I love him even more for knowing that his human time is fleeting and that I'm going to lose him in what, for me, is 'soon'. For him, maybe it's decades long. Just a blink of an eye in my time. And that makes him extremely precious. Because I'll lose him without any chance of getting him back. And all I'll have are memories I'll carry alone. Foolishly, maybe I like to believe that even without remembering me, in his soul he will still know that he was loved so much."

Zhao Yunlan shook his head while listening to Shen Wei's resolution. He never believed it would be final, but it seemed that unlikely person would take Shen Wei from him not for a while, but for good.

Leaving the cigarette in the ashtray, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he faced Shen Wei.

"If I didn't know Wu Xie well enough, I'd blame him for seducing you. But he's too stupid to know how to seduce anyone - and I'm afraid that stupidity is exactly what you like about him. Just don't forget... his profession disturbs souls and awakens what should never be roused from its slumber. Even if you choose to go blind, you know you cannot change the consequences."

Shen Wei's gaze turned sharp as he stared at his, now, former lover, "He didn't seduce me. He just accepted what I had to offer him. And I won't turn blind, I know my duties - and I know how to deal with my lover. It won't ever turn into a problem of yours. You don't have to worry about it. Wu Xie is none of your business, I assure you."

Zhao Yunlan went silent, leaning back on his chair once more. He wasn't going to admit how disappointed he was. But one thing was true: he was, indeed, both annoyed and curious about how special Wu Xie could be to mess with all Shen Wei's emotions and feelings like that. 

The feeling - real or unreal - that Shen Wei might have never felt anything but intense obsession for him and that, now, he had finally started to feel real love for someone - for Wu Xie - was definitely disturbing.

[trans-cuchulainn]

@probably-ace-ok, your tags on that classics post have me a wee bit feral

#ok but also #sons of tuireann reimagined with sci-fi aspects #the original text has plenty of things that could be interpreted as such #like a suit that lets you breath underwater #a self steering ship #and nuada and his prosthetic arm

bc there are SO MANY medieval irish texts that would be so fucking cool retold in a sci-fi setting! like immrama are the obvious choice, just make the different islands different planets, oh look we're in space now, space is a good place to go on a penitential journey and come back irrevocably changed having lost several members of your crew and seen things you don't have words for

and obvs yeah a lot of the mythological texts can take that angle, i've always thought cyborgs fit very neatly into medieval irish lit for obvious reasons like "magic prosthetic arms" and "people wearing their own fucking chariot into battle" and stuff like that

but also like. idk. togail bruidne da derga is a story about the shadowy forces behind the throne turning on the ruler they put there and trapping him in a hellspiral of disaster that will eventually destroy him and that's either a political thriller or a BANGING sff premise, especially if you lean into the weird fuckery of some of those prohibitions

the closest i have got to writing anything like this is my lil ficlet of cu chulainn and laeg stealing a spaceship and honestly that was just for the hell of it, but i would kind of LOVE to reimagine larger chunks of medieval lit into those kinds of settings?

and at the same time one of the things that makes medieval irish lit what it is is the way it's connected to the landscape and the dindshenchas that's present in so many of the stories, the constant reminder that this is why that mountain is that shape, this is why the rivers flow the way they do, this is why these are the names on your lips, stories are part of the geology and foundation of the country and so what do they become if you rip them out of the rocks and the earth and dislocate them into space? they become something else! they explain something else! but maybe they lose something too? and thinking about how you'd walk that line is. hmmmM! cronchy for the brain

immrama are of course the easiest to dislocate from the landscape bc they are inherently at sea, inherently about being dislocated from the world you come from and the landscape you know, and that is why they would be so good in space

but that doesn't mean other stories wouldn't be FASCINATING in a sci-fi context

[proudfreakmetarusonniku]

HI IM BACK- OK SO.

Everything starts at what would've been the 'finale', but instead of....everything that did happen, c!Dream is killed by c!Tubbo and remains dead. Tubbo gives c!Tommy the mask. And everything is almsot fine, for a while. They think this is the start of their healing arc, and it mostly is! Not for Tommy though- he keeps the mask. He isn't sure why either. Maybe as a symbol that he is finally free(though it doesn't feel like it)? Or maybe because that mask is weird as hell. As in. It has a weird type of energy around it. Most likely the second choice. Now, this part is kind of blury for me to as I'm not sure how exactly Tommy's first meeting with the ghost would happen. But ehm. Eventually he's met eye to eye with Dream once more.

The thing is, Dream's soul is kind of. Connected with his mask. Because that thing(the mask) for me became some type of relic in my head. But regardless of that, the person who can see Dream's ghost is the one who has the mask. And, well. That'd be Tommy in this context who isn't aware of how simply he could get rid of this issue. And of course Dream is not planning on telling him any time soon either(assuming he is actually aware of it himself). Anyone else is completely unaware. And most get eventually concerned(depends ig?) for Tommy because from their perspective he's talking with *air* most of the times. And he's also claiming that Dream is haunting him. Which perhaps wouldn't be so far fetched considering they all are aware of ghosts existing, but usually ghosts are *visible*.

In any case, clingyduo won the battle, Dream is going to win the war, as for him, besides the whole being dead thing, would be a win at some extent. Would this au have a happy ending? Probably not. Best case scenario instead of only Tommy being stuck with Dream, they'll both be stuck with eachother. Best case scenario.

Also Dream is exasperated by children's cartoons(<-resulting from Tommy babysitting Michael B)

Thank you for actually reading all this lol- also for the record i never thought I'd feel weird calling c!Dream, well, c!Dream. Recently Mr smiley face received a new name from me that well. I and like. One other person call him. It fitted him well in my head-

This au is slowly slipping into my own narrative for post dsmp-finale and that isn't good for Tommy.

Anyway- I'm sorry for asking if I can send this and then didn't do it yesterday, so also have a c!prime doodle

OMG YOUR ART IS GORGEOUS!

fun fact! one of my earliest ever dsmp headcanons (you can find it in my earliest fic even) is that c!dream used the revive book (which I just write as a “ok u can talk to dreamxd and make him do shit for you book” bc tbh it makes more sense than canon) before he even used it to revive the dead to connect his and c!tommy's soul forever. they’ll never be apart for long even if one or both of them died. they’re stuck together but c!dream does Not mind lol

[tolkien-feels]

So I too began rereading lotr (not bc of you pffft ofc not im my own person wdym) and i gotta ask. What do you think about the eomer and gimli's discussion of arwen vs galadriel. i didn't notice it as a kid but to present me it rlly turns me off their characters though esp eomer's bc he always talks so strangely about even eowyn or how he talked to the poc coded druedain characters too. do you think this whole ish is just the product of the time or is this a deliberate flaw put there specifically

Oof, this one is difficult to answer because I feel like there are several layers to this.

Usual disclaimer that I'm not the best person to talk about this, because scholars make entire careers out of exploring the interplay between author, society, and text. You've asked for how I personally interact with this scene so I'll say that but please take it with as many grains of salt as you can find.

Under a cut because this got long.

Okay, let me go through the layers I think of when I read this scene.

One layer is that Tolkien's work does contain sexist elements (although if you go through HoME, you can see his depiction of female characters improves a lot over time, which is why I feel this was very much him being a product of his time, and as he matures, he began to address his own biases, although of course, his portrayal ultimately doesn't hold up to modern day sensibilities, nor does intention stop readers from feeling uncomfortable), and his views on race are very problematic on multiple levels (and these remain more consistent, I would argue). So a part of that is definitely, imho, just Tolkien showing his biases.

Another layer, though, is that he's very much borrowing from medieval ideas. It's a major trope in medieval literature to have knights praise ladies and quarrel with each other over whose lady is best (which is often tied to beauty, although physical beauty is tied to virtue, so discussing beauty and discussing virtue are often one and the same in medieval literature.) Now, Tolkien started out having dwarves be all evil, and even in The Hobbit, the dwarves are not usually very courtly. That Gimli is shown repeatedly speaking of aesthetics, reciting poetry, and holding Galadriel as the lady whose favor he values strikes me as Tolkien trying to show Gimli's nobility, which is comparable to Eomer's, a prince/king.

Yet another layer is that Eomer specifically is meant to be a character who wouldn't be out of place in a story such as Beowulf. When his views seem Bad, I'm pretty sure they are meant to be, and some characters actually push back on that at times. Not just on his own personal views, but Rohan's as a whole. The people of Rohan are very honorable and heroic, but their views on elves are demonstrably wrong, and Tolkien is interested in how, while heroic, their ideas of death-as-a-noble-pursuit are ultimately out of step with how Middle-Earth works (where life is nearly always celebrated.) I'm not sure we can extend that to the Druedain, because Tolkien's own views on the Druedain seem to me veeeery problematic, but it's not impossible to headcanon that this, too, is a cultural bias of the Rohirrim.

(Side note: nobody comes off looking very good in the whole Eowyn fiasco, but Tolkien seems to be taking Eowyn's side while acknowledging that the people around her mean well and aren't out to make her miserable. For somebody who struggles writing female characters, Tolkien shows a marked interest in exploring the limited choices women have in life, especially in wartime, and how often even good, honorable men are horrible to them because they're simply too self-centered.)

Anyway, back to the issue at hand, I also think it's important to remember that in the context of the scene, Gimli and Eomer are clearly just being playful. I believe they're high off the end of war and joking around with hyperbole. I don't think we necessarily can extrapolate this is how they would normally think about the women around them, nor do I think Tolkien wants us to.

Finally, this scene is barely about Galadriel, or Arwen, or Gimli, or Eomer. It's about Morning that has become Evening. The time of the high elves (as represented by Galadriel) is ending, and now it's time for Gondor to protect and guide Middle-Earth (as represented by Arwen.) Elves are fading, men are coming into their inheritance. Galadriel and Arwen are personifying concepts here, and I don't think it's a coincidence that Gimli (who will also leave Middle-Earth soon-ish) is siding with the Morning and Eomer (a mortal man) is siding with Evening. Again, metaphors.

Sooooo basically, I think while the scene is uncomfortable to read (as are many scenes in Tolkien), my personal take is that any analysis that reads this scene as Free Of Authorial Bias is overlooking aspects, while any analysis that reads this scene as Just Typical Sexism is failing to consider other aspects. It's Complicated, as usual